Ophidiophobic Zookeeper
It's a good thing for Jim Marlett '69 that he got over his fear of snakes at age 11. After all, he grew up to enjoy a lengthy career at the Sedgwick County Zoo, including being its curator of herpetology. But as a youngster, he had a bad case of ophidiophobia. How bad? Well, consider that he couldn't even stand to look at pictures of snakes. And if he saw a real one, he couldn't eat spaghetti for weeks. As he says, "I was seriously phobic." The sea change happened when one of his boyhood pals introduced him to a garter snake at a Boy Scout camp. It was "an immediate transformation." With his fear of snakes gone, Marlett started at the zoo shortly after it opened in 1971, and retired this spring after 40 years of service.
Court Contest
For the first time in 31 years, Dave Dahl '71/74 wasn't courtside during Shocker men's basketball games in Charles Koch Arena this past season. He began providing color commentary alongside "Voice of the Shockers" Mike Kennedy '71 back in 1980. But last fall, Dahl decided to run for a Sedgwick County judge's post, meaning he would need a waiver of equal access from his opponent to be on the air. He didn't get it, so he went into the stands — and watched the Shockers from a different vantage. Come election day, Aug. 7, Dahl finds out if the hiatus from his seat by the court got him a seat in the court.
Golf Buzz
The Shocker men's golf team found itself in a sticky situation at the Texas-Arlington Invitational early in the season. A downed limb by the 18th green freed a swarm of bees from its hive, resulting in several players being stung. The possibility of bees returning to the hive, officials said, would increase the threat of more stings, so the event was called with WSU in the lead. We're guessing this victory is of a type new to the Shocker record books. And as head coach Grier Jones says, "As always, we are very happy to win."
Magic Man
As a magician, Mark Toland '09 has a problem. He says he doesn't really like magic. But then again, that's from a Shocker who claims to read minds — and seems to prove it! His show, he says, "is a contemporary take on the classic magic show. No big boxes. No trap doors. No top hats. Just your amazement, over and over and over again." A music theater graduate, this magic man is based in Wichita, but almost constantly on tour, performing especially at college and university campuses nationwide. His resort clients include Walt Disney World and the Trump International Hotel and Tower, while his corporate clients range from AEG Worldwide to Cessna.
Piñata Cookies
With thumbs-up recognition from Pee-wee Herman, Betty Crocker and some 40,000 Facebook "likers," Sandra Denneler's piñata cookies have burst onto the culinary scene. Denneler, an art director in Wichita State's creative services department, first made her three-in-one cookies (the middle cookie is hollow and spills out mini M&Ms when broken into — just like a piñata) for Cinco de Mayo 2011. Since then her recipe has made the digital rounds, gaining her creative concoction legions of fans. Denneler is enjoying the far-ranging attention ("I never thought Pee-wee Herman would be a fan of mine!"), but says she's still more a marketer and graphic designer at heart than a true baker — especially on such time-consuming projects as her piñata cookies. "Oh, yeah," she laughs, "they're a huge waste of time. Are you kidding me?"
Tales of Woo
Way back in the day, romantically inclined Shockers pitched woo at the spoonholder, a bench that once encircled an elm tree in front of Fairmount Hall (which burned in 1929). While it's unlikely you met your significant other at that long-gone bench, The Shocker is betting quite a few Shockers met their beloveds on campus. Do you have a tale of Shocker woo? Tell us. Email us at theshockermagazine@gmail.com, or visit the Wichita State University Alumni Association on Facebook and post your love story there.
Music at the Crescent
Wichita State's internationally acclaimed quartet in residence, the St. Petersburg String Quartet, spent a Saturday evening in May making music at the historic Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Ark. Led by Alla Aranovskaya, first violin, the quartet played to a full house. The other members are Evgeny Zvonnikov, second violin; Boris Vayner, viola; and Leonid Shukayev, cello. The performance — which began with Three Novelletts by Alexander Glazunov, a romantic piece from 19th-century Russia — was to raise funds for scholarships for the CICA Music Festival. The St. Petersburg Quartet will return to Eureka Springs to participate as instructors and performers at the festival, which runs from June 18 - July 7.
WuShock in Limestone
Through the 60-plus years of his existence, WuShock in his myriad forms has been crafted in just about every medium imaginable, rock included. This spring, Brian Martinie of Stoneworx Custom Engraved Signs — based in Manhattan, Kan., right in the middle of the beautiful and limestone-laden Flint Hills — has unveiled a whole new set of rock WuShocks, these in limestone quarried from Kansas sites used as sources for building projects all over the country for well over 150 years.
