That’s when he found an unlikely “ticket” to his dream career: working at a marketing company that specialized in teaching professional sports teams how to put fans in the seats.

Nearly 13 years later, King has worked his way up with the New York Mets from an entry-level sales position to his current position as group sales director, supervising 13.

Like any good pitcher hard at work, he was willing to bear down, learn a few new pitches, and look for weaknesses in the opposition.

Ticket sales are a good way to break into a tough job market, King said from his office at Citi Field in New York City. For those willing to endure low pay at first, high turnover can translate into upward opportunity.

There’s another lesson to be learned from Kings’ career path, too. You might be preparing for one batter only to face a pinch hitter. Be flexible and ready to change your strategy.

In 2001, King had been accepted to graduate school at University of California, Irvine. He had resigned from his teaching job and was just looking to fill the summer hours with a job that let him get a little closer to the sport he’d left behind in college.

While at Gameface, the sports marketing company in Portland, King decided he enjoyed the work and deferred his graduate school enrollment to stay in Oregon. Still there in the fall, he developed a rapport with marketing representatives from the New York Mets, who asked him to interview for a position.

Early in 2002, King moved across the country to start work as an inside sales representative for the Mets, giving up his grad school plans. He was an inside sales manager for two years and the season ticket and group sales manager for four years before moving to group sales.

King lives on Long Island with his wife, Susan, and two young children. He makes the drive of 30 miles one way to Citi Field.

He often stays to entertain clients for nearly all of the 81 home games, which sometimes means 14-hour days. He occasionally meets some of the Mets players. At a recent event, for example, clients greeted power hitter Mike Cuddyer, a Norfolk native who the Mets signed to a two-year contract from the Colorado Rockies.

“We allow some clients to interact with players. Season ticket holders get to attend chalk talks,” King said. “There is a division between baseball operations and business. The player’s time is so valuable, just from the media standpoint. We try to be targeted about how we go about asking for some of their time.”

King spent part of his youth in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where his father was big on playing softball and took him to see the Phillies as his first Major League outing.

Now that he’s in the majors, so to speak, he is always looking to help others into the big show.

“He gave me my first chance in sports … He took a chance on me and he really gives me the ability to be a decision maker,” says Christina Andrews, a manager in group sales who is entering her seventh season with the Mets. “He trusts the people that he hires and that we will do a good job.”

King is praised by as a team leader by long-time colleagues such as Barry Gorman, manager of group sales.

“He certainly leads by example. He sets people up to be successful,” Gorman says. “I look up to him when it comes to how he runs his team.”

King recognizes that his career path, from middle school math teacher to temp work to ticket sales, is unique. “I was fortunate to jump right in at the Major League level. It was a perfect match. I realize my story is pretty unique. If you are going to progress in sports, you have to move around the country and take opportunities when they come. You probably have to move to get those opportunities. I was fortunate to stay.”

Their film, “,” is helping to shape a national conversation about environmental justice, citizen activism, indigenous rights, and nonviolent resistance.

Largest open-pit mine ever?

The 45-minute film focuses on the proposed creation of the world’s largest open-pit mine – nearly four miles long, 1,000 feet wide and 900 feet deep – in the Penokee Hills, just miles from the world’s largest freshwater lake and several Native American communities that rely on the water source to preserve tribal traditions and economic well-being.

“91����Ƶ students are helping drive a very important dialogue about one of the major issues of our day,” says Moore, associate professor of and .

“This is a story that is far from over,” added Pete Rasmussen, co-founder of the and a prominent voice in the film. He noted the of a from mining company Gogebic Taconite to Governor Scott Walker’s recall campaign.

The film traces three compelling story lines – the extractive industry of open pit iron ore mining, its potential effect on one of the world’s largest freshwater lakes, and the multicultural group of citizen activists who have been monitoring the site and protesting the proposal. Woven into the narrative is a Greek chorus of West Virginia residents affected by the .

Alerting people of Wisconsin

The documentary is “a message to the people in Wisconsin of what will likely happen if the mining is continued,” said student filmmaker Anne Diller ’14. “After listening to the people from West Virginia share their warning to Wisconsin, it felt like we were piecing together a love letter.”

Since its premiere June 20 on the reservation of the Bad River band of the Lake Superior Chippewa tribe, the film has earned accolades from local activists.

Jill “Peach” Hartlev, a member of the tribe’s , helped host the premiere, which was open to the public and included a potluck, poetry, singing and dancing. Several of those interviewed in the film were also present, including tribal chair Mike Wiggins Jr.

“It was an overwhelmingly positive response among those present,” Hartlev said, who added that Moore’s presence made the event special. “It was very moving for me personally to see those faces and hear those voices. These are personal friends and also people who I work closely with. I was moved to tears.”

Rasmussen said he appreciated “the connections the students made, how it showed an understanding of how we’re all connected, from West Virginia to Virginia to what’s happening here.”

Putting all the pieces together

Local and national media had reported on the proposed project, Rasmussen said, but “the film put all the pieces together and has definitely had a broader impact with audiences who are not as familiar with the issue and the idea that we’re facing this all over the country in a systemic way.”

Hartlev and Rasmussen, who both attended multiple regional showings throughout the summer, noted that the various audiences shared an especially visceral reaction to Gogebic Taconite spokesman Bob Seitz’s statement about the presence at the proposed site of grunerite, a rare asbestiform rock that carries the risk of airborne carcinogens. Seitz’s statement contradicted both of the company’s own scientists, as well as that of Northlands College geologist Tom Fitz.

“There were gasps and laughter, expressions of disbelief during that segment,” said Rasmussen. “The people who have been paying attention in meetings and hearings have seen that denial, but there’s only a few people going to those meetings. So to get that on film is motivating to the public, because it’s something they’ve heard about, but they haven’t seen it.”

Moore – an experienced videographer who has produced documentaries aired by the Discovery Channel, PBS and National Geographic – noted that the experience of capturing that interview on film and dealing with the ethical aftermath was unsettling, though educational for her students.

“The students are really in the middle of this, and that interview segment shows that,” she said. “Here was a company spokesperson offering misleading information, right on film, and we spent a lot of time talking about the best way to handle it.”

Importance of bearing witness

Moore teaches a documentary filmmaking course every two years. (Previous student-involved projects include a and a feature about local cooperative restaurant .)

The challenges students – and professors, Moore says – to think about “91����Ƶ’s message of service and responsibility in a media industry which is so entitled and can be quite destructive and powerful.”

“How do we think about media as creating a sacred space?” Moore said. “What’s our role as a witness to the social justice movement?’

Moore was introduced to the documentary’s subject matter by Danielle Taylor, who holds a from 91����Ƶ. Taylor created the “” video project and blog.

Moore began filming in the fall of 2013. On several occasions, she stayed at a harvest camp established near the proposed site by the Lac Courte Oreilles band, where participants monitor a mining project entrance, conduct research, and practice traditional hunting and foraging skills.

By the time the spring 2014 documentary class began, she had dozens of hours of footage and faced the unique challenge of “getting my students excited about something I was already passionate about.”

Link to West Virginia chemical spill

That wasn’t a problem after the Elk River toxic chemical spill on January 9, which contaminated the water supply 300,000 residents of Charleston, West Virginia, for days.

Senior Emma King and junior Karla Hovde interviewed several West Virginia residents, including Bob Kincaid, host of and a frequent contributor to the anti-mining discussion in Wisconsin. Those interviews had a dramatic impact on King.

“I really saw how misusing the environment hurts everyone,” King said. “Talking to people firsthand, rather than reading about it in a book, put this into perspective for me.”

Her involvement in the project changed her from a casual supporter of environmental causes to a passionate proponent.

“We were able to amplify the voices of a group of people who were concerned about their community,” Diller said. “I felt like I had a personal relationship with the people as we edited their interviews. They opened up and shared their stories with us and trusted us to get their message out to the world.”

Moore says the film is an official selection of the . A spring showing on campus is also planned.

For more information on this issue, check out the reports on the , , and .

Editor’s note: In February 2015, Gogebic Taconite announced , citing unforeseen “wetland issues that make major continued investment unfeasible at this time,” as well as concern with impending environmental legislation. Though the company continues to claim that it will still work on securing permits to mine, some local officials and have suggested the press release is a sign of victory.

Nevertheless, Castillo, a national leader in advocating for immigration-law reform, says “deferred action” falls far short of addressing the plight of undocumented immigrants living in the United States. For Castillo, the solution lies in enacting the , along with larger immigration reform and community support.

DREAM (which stands for Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors) and Obama’s have parallel criteria to permit minors brought illegally to America to remain in the country after they become young adults. The criteria include:

• having arrived before the age of 16

• having lived in the U.S. for more than five years

• being between 15 and 35 at the age of applying

• no criminal record

The big difference between the two is that DACA is short term, while DREAM offers the hope of a permanent solution. DACA provides those eligible with work permits and is only valid for a two-year period, putting childhood arrivals at risk of deportation in the future.

“Deferred Action is very temporary, and it’s not a path for legalization,” Castillo says. “There’s still that risk that a new president could come in and cancel this program at any time.”

Castillo has been campaigning for the DREAM Act because it would permit “conditional legal status” – and a pathway to eventual citizenship – for those who meet certain criteria in terms of educational achievement or military service.

While thrilled to see any movement whatsoever in the direction of reform, Castillo feels DACA was a political move on President Obama’s part, timed to garner the votes of Latinos in the presidential election.

Brought from Mexico to the United States at age 6, Castillo has been fighting for immigration reform since graduating magna cum laude from 91����Ƶ with a social work degree. Unable to work legally, she decided to speak up on behalf of herself and other undocumented young adults, despite the risk of deportation and separation from her loved ones.

Castillo has been covered in the , , , and , a network that produces the second-largest amount of Spanish content in the world. She has spoken before governors, members of Congress and state legislatures, and university students, sharing her experiences and advocating legislative change. She has received an honorary doctorate from the University of San Francisco for her efforts.

The issues faced by immigrants like Castillo go beyond inability to find legal employment. Without a social security number, they cannot get driver’s licenses, apply for government-backed student loans, or even get admitted into most colleges, even if someone pays their way. James Madison University, for example, does not take undocumented students. These difficult realities motivate Castillo to go wherever she can – as close as churches and schools in the Shenandoah Valley to educate residents, as far south as Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to rally against “low-profile” deportations, and as far west as the University of Hawaii in O’ahu, where she discussed how to achieve equality for all immigrant youth, regardless of their legal status.

In October 2012, Castillo and supporters of immigration reform achieved a victory on the local level. Castillo spoke at the Rockingham (Va.) County Government Building on the topic of 287G, a contract signed between local government and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Though the ostensible purpose of 287G was to deport high-level criminals, Castillo and her allies found that of the 297 individuals deported under 287G, only 12 percent were high-level offenders.

Thanks to mass emails, phone calls, flyers, and informational meetings, over 100 came to an Oct. 24 rally to ask that 287G be terminated, including many from 91����Ƶ.

Professor Carol Snell-Feikema of 91����Ƶ’s , who attended the rally, said afterwards that she was thankful for Castillo’s “gifted voice, speaking on behalf of those most affected.” She added that Castillo “presented solid empirical evidence, as well presented the human side of the issue. She spoke from the heart, told personal stories with real impact, and did a great job of summarizing our work of interviewing Latinos in the community on the real-life effects of 287G in their daily lives.”

ICE wanted Rockingham County to extend 287G for three more months, but Rockingham County took no action at the meeting, causing 287G to end.

Supporters of 287G could attempt to reinstate it in December, and there is ever-constant work to do when it comes to local law enforcement, let alone that of the state and federal level. Castillo does not see herself giving up the struggle anytime soon for more humane laws.

A 1968 91����Ƶ history graduate has become the first Latino to be appointed to one of the highest-ranking positions in the judicial system of the state of New York.

New York Governor David A. Paterson named Luis A. Gonzalez of the Bronx, N.Y., to serve as presiding justice of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court for the First Judicial Department, New York City.

Justice Gonzalez earned a bachelor of arts degree in history from 91����Ƶ and his juris doctor degree from Columbia University School of Law in 1975. He was named 91����Ƶ’s “alumnus of the year” in 1989.

Gonzalez has been an associate justice on the Appellate Division, First Department, for the last seven years. He was the administrative judge of the Bronx Supreme Court, January 1999 to March 2002. In 1998, he served on the Appellate Term, First Department, and from 1993 to 1997 was a justice of the Supreme Court, Bronx County. He was an acting justice in that same court in 1992 and from 1987 to 1992 was a judge of the Civil Court of the City of New York.

From 1985 to 1986 he was in the Housing Part of the Civil Court, and before that was a hearing officer with the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal. From 1980 to 1981,Justice Gonzalez was general counsel of the South Bronx Community Housing and Development Corporation and from 1978 to 1980 was general counsel to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as legal counsel to the national director.

Gonzalez was in private law practice from 1976 to 1978 and served with the New York City Department of Investigation, 1975-76.

“Throughout his career, Justice Gonzalez has displayed the strength of character and profound respect for the law that makes him an outstanding choice,” said Governor Paterson. “I was presented seven outstanding candidates from which to choose, and I salute each of them.

“Justice Gonzalez has a compelling and inspiring life story, and I have no doubt that he will continue to serve New Yorkers with great distinction. He is a true leader,” the Governor added.

“I am humbled and grateful to the Governor for entrusting in me the stewardship of the Appellate Division, First Department,” Gonzalez said. “I am committed and dedicated to preserving the preeminence that this court enjoys in the legal community. I am very aware of the historical importance of this appointment and the trust and faith placed in me will always be appreciated.”

Gonzalez has two daughters, Aida and Nydia, with the former Vivian Baker, and attends the Times Square Church in New York City.

The language and literature department at 91����Ƶ will hold its first "Writers Read" program of the new school year Tuesday, Sept. 25.

Peggy Payne, a novelist, journalist and editorial consultant from Raleigh, N.C., will read from her works 5:30 p.m. in Martin Chapel of the seminary building at 91����Ƶ.

Payne’s research for her travel writing and novels has taken her to more than 25 countries. Her most recent novel, Sister India, is a New York Times Notable Book. She is author of the novel, Revelation (screen rights sold to Synergy Films), and co-author with Allan Luks of The Healing Power of Doing Good. She also wrote a book on a clothing firm, Doncaster: A Legacy of Personal Style.

"My critically acclaimed novels and very different nonfiction books all focus on some aspect of people boldly speaking out, acting on their beliefs, and living in their own vivid and characteristic ways," the author states. "In each of my books, there is a strong current of spirituality, based on the conviction that we must draw on our largest and most profound resources to unfold fully, powerfully, and authentically."

Her articles, reviews and essays have appeared in such publications as The New York Times, Ms. Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Family Circle, Travel+Leisure, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and many others. She offers market-oriented feedback on fiction and nonfiction, in book-length or shorter forms, and consults with writers about career issues, approaching agents and breaking into magazines, based on her more than 30 years of free-lance experience.

A lifelong North Carolina resident, Payne was born in Wilmington. She works with other writers in an office in the historic Oakwood section at the edge of downtown Raleigh.

Admission to the program, which includes dinner, is $14. Reservations are required and should be made by noon Friday, Sept. 21, by calling the language and literature department at 540-432-4168.

A season pass for all four Writers Read programs of the 2007-08 school year is available for $45.

Critically-acclaimed writer Robert Morgan will read and discuss his poetry 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 3, in Lehman Auditorium at 91����Ƶ.

Morgan, who teaches at Cornell University, was featured speaker for a "" last year at 91����Ƶ, where he read from his best-selling novels Gap Creek, The Truest Pleasure and Brave Enemies as well as from his latest poetry collection, The Strange Attractor.

He will focus on poetry this time since 91����Ƶ’s advanced writing classes are studying Morgan’s The Strange Attractor, according to , associate professor of English at 91����Ƶ.

Morgan’s writings poems have appeared in magazines such as Poetry, Paris Review, Antaeus, The Atlantic, American Poetry Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, TriQuarterly, Missouri Review, Kenyon Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, and in many anthologies. A craft interview was included in the Brockport Writers Forum video series.

He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Southern Poetry Review prize, the Eunice Tietjens prize for poetry and the New York Foundation.

The poetry reading is open to the public free of charge.

The sound of "76 trombones" will reverberate through Lehman Auditorium as presents the spring mainstage production of Meredith Willson’s "The Music Man."

The 45-member student cast, directed by L.B. Hamilton, recreates the Broadway musical that won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award and nine Tony Awards. The 1962 film version received an Academy Award for "best musical adaptation."

Professor of Theater Barb Graber handed over her responsibilities as director to Hamilton in order to fully recover from a 2003 vehicle accident. Graber continues to teach part-time and will stay involved with .

Confidence man Harold Hill (Michael Dezort) arrives at staid River City intending to cheat the community with his standard scam of offering to equip and train a boy’s marching band, then skip town with the money since he has no music skill anyway. Things go awry when he falls for librarian Marian Paroo (Bethany Blouse), whom he tries to divert from exposing him while he inadventently enriches the town with a love of music.

Guest director L.B. Hamilton began her theatrical career as an actor, then worked in the film, television and recording industries. An award-winning published/produced playwright, she continues free-lance work while serving as consulting director for C.L.I.M.B. Theater in Minnesota and as director of special programs for Washington Sheakespeare Company (WSC) in D.C.

Hamilton directed the 91����Ƶ Theater production of "Twelve Angry Jurors" the fall of 2002.

Performance times for "The Music Man" are 7:30 p.m. Feb. 17, 18 & 19 and Feb. 24, 25 & 26 in 91����Ƶ’s Lehman Auditorium. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, $8 non-91����Ƶ students, $6 senior citizens and children 12 and under.

To reserve tickets, call the 91����Ƶ box office at (540) 432-4582.

The language and literature department will hold its first “Writers Read” program of fall semester 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16 in Martin Chapel of the seminary building at 91����Ƶ.

Author Lauren F. Winner of Charlottesville, Va., will read from her works, Girl Meets God and Mudhouse Sabbath, published by Algonquin Books (Chapel Hill, N.C).

The child of a reform Jewish father and a Southern Baptist mother, Winner became an Orthodox Jew. But as she faithfully observes the Sabbath rituals and studies Jewish laws, she finds herself increasingly drawn to Christianity. Eventually she converts, but finds that her world is still shaped by her Jewish experiences.

Girl Meets God, by Lauren Winner

Winner

Brenda Anita Boyd Bell

Ruth Yoder Wenger

The STAR (Seminars on Trauma Awareness and Recovery) program at 91����Ƶ has announced the opening of an office in New York City and two local persons as program associates.

Brenda Anita Boyd Bell and Ruth Yoder Wenger, both city residents, will share responsibilities on a half-time basis at STAR NYC, located at Heartsease Home, 216 E. 70th Street, New York.

The appointments were announced by Ruth H. Zimmerman, co-director of the Conflict Transformation Program at 91����Ƶ.

The program expansion, including the positions, will be funded by a $1 million grant renewal from Church World Service (CWS) based in New York City.

STAR is a joint program of Church World Service and 91����Ƶ’s Conflict Transformation Program. It was created in the aftermath of September 11 to assist religious leaders and caregivers in congregations/communities affected by the trauma of this event and after-effects. Five-day workshops are offered monthly for up to 20 participants, 16 from the United States and four from conflict areas overseas. The first seminar was held in February, 2002. Carolyn E. Yoder directs the STAR program.

The pilot satellite STAR office in New York City “will coordinate and follow up trainings in the Metropolitan New York area and surrounding region, and provide information, referral, and/or coaching to STAR alumni and their communities on trauma/peacebuilding activities and projects,”Yoder said.

Dr. Boyd Bell is president and chief executive officer of Chrysallis Empowerment and Transformation, a professional and educational consulting firm. Her work in Brooklyn and its connecting boroughs has involved providing essential services to children, families, elders and to the private and corporate sector. She has given extensive time to working with children’s service agencies, the department of education, churches and community organizations. She is an ordained minister in the United Church of Jesus Christ-Apostolic. She was a Project Liberty counselor in the aftermath of Sept. 11.

She has served as tenured professor of English composition and literature at Queens College (CUNY); as adjunct professor and lecture at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York; New York City Technical College, the College of New Rochelle School of New Resources and Columbia University. She has a master’s degree in modern literature from Brooklyn College (CUNY) and a Ph.D. in literature from Cornell University.

Wenger is pastor of the multi-cultural North Bronx Mennonite Church. Through her consulting ministry, Breath of Fresh Air, she provides individual spiritual direction and leads workshops in staff development, conflict transformation and spirituality in the workplace. She has lived in New York City for 32 years with her husband David Wenger. They are the parents of three grown children.

Much of Wenger’s professional career has been with not-for-profit community education programs as a teacher, manager and consultant. She has had various leadership positions in North Bronx social justice and community development efforts in both secular and religious communities. Most recently, she acted as project manager for the Restoring Hope Project, the post 9/11 response operated by Mennonite Disaster Service in New York City.

Wenger was recently named moderator of the New York City Council of Mennonite Churches, a linking organization for the 17 MC-USA churches in the city. She has been president of the board of directors of Heartsease Home, Inc., an organization in Manhattan operated by Mennonite churches that provided life skills training for older adolescent women. She currently chairs the development committee for new and extended programming at Heartsease.

A 1969 91����Ƶ graduate, she earned a master’s degree from Columbia University Teachers College. She was licensed in September, 2001, as a lead pastor with Lancaster Mennonite Conference.