Last year, when local artist Iden Crockett launched “Gender X,” the art exhibition — which aimed to highlight the work and stories of trans and gender-nonconforming artists — was intended as a sort of alarm bell, as Crockett told the News at the time.
Launched in June — Pride Month — the show went up at YS Pizza Company and Trail Town Brewing amid a panoply of anti-trans legislation in Ohio and executive actions from the Trump administration. With “Gender X,” Crockett wanted to push back against what she described as the attempted erasure of trans and gender-nonconforming people.
This year, after mounting the second iteration of “Gender X,” she told the News the apprehension she felt last year, and named, still lingers.
“The rhetoric has not stopped, the legislative attacks haven’t stopped, and I think the danger is just as real,” Crockett said.
Nevertheless, she said something in her own thinking has shifted since last year; the “Gender X” show is larger this year, with work installed across three venues — YS Pizza Company, Trail Town Brewing and the Emporium — and with more artists. More to the point, last year’s sense of emergency has given way, she said, to a renewed hope.
“I feel less certain that they’re going to be successful in their attacks on us as time goes on,” Crockett said.
Last year, she said, she wondered if even staying in the U.S. was ultimately safe for her, and for other trans people in the country; now, she said, she believes her place is here.
“What I realized was that leaving the country wasn’t going to solve my problems,” she said. “It might save my life, in the short term, but … it’s a worldwide struggle.”
Local resident and artist Iden Crockett stood in protest against anti-trans measures near the courthouse in downtown Dayton last June. (Photo by Jen Hunter)
She added that the relationships she’s built within the trans and wider LGBTQ+ community — including those who might not have the money or flexibility to leave — weighed on her heart, too.
“I wouldn’t be able to leave them behind,” she said. “So it became like, OK, how do we stay and fight here and make our stand here?”
The second iteration of “Gender X” is part of that stand. The first exhibition, Crockett said, was organized quickly — “rough and basic,” as she put it — because she felt it was important to begin pushing back as soon as possible. This year, she wanted to return to the idea, but on a broader scale.
Last year’s show featured work by Crockett and fellow Ohio artists Ray Mathew-Santhosham, Dravyn Rosendahl and Lynn Jiminez. This year, Mathew-Santhosham and Rosendahl return, in addition to Nicki Graeling, Luna Cherry, Lola Betz and Lark Orbe. The exhibition includes digital collage, digital painting, found-object and wire work, mixed media on paper and acrylic painting.
Crockett said her primary requirement for the artists was practical: The submitted work had to be frameable and able to be installed in public-facing businesses where folks would be moving through their typical lives — approachable, both physically and in style and tone. That’s part of the central premise of the show as it was imagined last year, and this year: that your typical villager or visitor, out for a cup of coffee, a beer or a pizza, might encounter art by trans and gender-nonconforming artists and be drawn to engage with it.
And while they’re admiring the work, patrons of the host establishments will, with any luck, also read the short biographies and written responses to questions from Crockett, and get to know the artists as the fully-rounded people they are.
Last year, Crockett said, she received some good feedback from the venues where “Gender X” was installed. The most meaningful responses, though, came from the artists who participated.
“It seemed to make a great deal of difference to them, to have been able to speak and to share their work out,” she said. “For a lot of them, that was the first time that they’d shown any work.”
And though she hopes the show reaches people outside the trans community — people who might not otherwise seek out trans voices or stories — she said she has come to understand another benefit of the exhibition.
“I think that ultimately the real benefit of this is going to be in building community and giving strength to those other trans people and trans artists,” she said. “Building community is great, so if that’s all that comes out of it, then it’s worth the effort.”
She said she classifies community-building as its own brand of activism — maybe not the kind that upends legislation or incites large-scale public action, but the kind that, little by little, can result in cultural change.
“I think reaching people one on one and changing hearts and minds one at a time as you go is the sort of non-glamorous, dirty-in-the-trenches activism that we need more of,” she said. “We need more people to build personal connections, and to sort of risk their hearts and be vulnerable out there.”
Local resident Iden Crockett is the subject of a new documentary, “Iden: A Story of Love,” filmed by local resident and filmmaker — and Crockett’s aunt — Catherine Zimmerman.
And vulnerability often means sharing one’s own words, art and image in public, sometimes without knowing who will see them, or whether they’ll have the effect you hope they will, she said.
“You don’t really know if it makes a difference, and you have to have faith that it does,” Crockett said. “Maybe if 100 people look at your work, one person leaves different. But that’s one person who wasn’t going to be changed if you hadn’t put yourself out there, and that is what we build.”
Crockett said she knows the damage already done won’t resolve on its own, and that trans people can’t afford to “wait for people to wake up one day and care about” them. Full equality and acceptance for trans and gender-nonconforming people likely won’t come quickly — maybe not even in her lifetime.
Nevertheless, she said she doesn’t believe that work like what she hopes to build with “Gender X” is a drop in a bucket — or if it is, it’s one of the many drops that keep on dripping, and one day, the bucket will overflow.
“Things change very gradually — maybe they’ll change by the time I’m long gone,” she said. “But I was part of it, right? And we all have to step up and be part of it, and have that sort of faith, that hope, that this is worth it.”
“Gender X” is on display at YS Pizza Company, Trail Town Brewing and Emporium Wines and Underdog Cafe through June 30.
This year’s local celebration of Juneteenth will take place throughout the day Friday, June 19, beginning with a gathering at 9:45 a.m. in front of Antioch College’s Olive Kettering Library, where a historical walk will begin at 10 a.m., led by 365 Project youth walking-tour guides.
The walk will conclude at the John Bryan Community Center front lawn, where, at 11 a.m., the 2026 YS Juneteenth program will begin, featuring songs performed by the World House Choir; remarks on the meaning of Juneteenth and the ties between African cultural expressions of freedom and Juneteenth celebrations; and readings from narratives of formerly enslaved people. The program will conclude by 12:30 p.m., and will be followed by a free Juneteenth lunch prepared by local chef Locksley Harper.
From 12:30–3:30 p.m., the YS Juneteenth Community Fair will take place on the Bryan Center lawn with music by DJ Basim and performances by Tronee Threat, Misty Gill and Friends and Phenom Brown.
From 5–7 p.m., at Little Art Theatre, a fundraiser for the Coretta Scott King Center at Antioch College will feature a screening of the film “Chosen: A Love Letter to Black Trans Community,” about the 2025 Black Trans Reunion in New Orleans, followed by a panel discussion. Admission is $15.
Then, from 7:15–9 p.m., locally based artist Joshua Whitaker will be at the Village Cyclery courtyard on Dayton Street, where he will lead a Juneteenth Art Making Workshop honoring the legacy of Black American freedom. Participants may contribute to a group piece, make a piece to take home or both.
Donations for the day-long celebration may be made online at the365projectys.org. Questions may be emailed to the365Projectys@gmail.com.
Michael Casselli told the News this week that his years with Antioch College have been bound up with his belief in its continued mission of education within a structure of shared government, upheld by institutional memory.
An alumnus who graduated from the college with an art degree in 1987, Casselli — who had been working in the arts in the U.S. and abroad for two decades — returned to campus in 2008 after Antioch University announced the college’s closure, and decided to stay. He worked with the Nonstop Institute to keep the historic college’s mission visible and alive while the college gained independence from the university in 2009. After the revived Antioch opened to students in 2011, he became part of its arts faculty.
“I’ve spent 18 years of my life working on that place,” Casselli said. “I believe in it as an institution.”
That’s part of why, he said, his recent indefinite unpaid suspension feels larger than an employment dispute. Having earned tenure in 2021, Casselli said he believes the suspension undercuts the academic freedom that Antioch has always championed, and that tenure is designed to protect.
He told the News that being suspended indefinitely with conditions, in his view, amounts to being fired without the due process historically afforded to, and expected by, tenured faculty — a concern also raised by the American Association of University Professors, or AAUP.
Casselli was initially terminated by the College in February following what he called “a very heated disagreement with a colleague.” He said the disagreement was “primarily on my side,” and wrote in correspondence with the College that he apologized and viewed his own behavior as regrettable.
But the issue at hand for Casselli is not whether the January incident occurred; rather, he said, it’s “the process that was not used” to instigate his initial termination and later indefinite suspension without pay.
“I want to take responsibility,” Casselli said. “I thought we were going to move through a process similar to mediation.”
In a June 2 letter to Antioch President Jane Fernandes, the AAUP — a national union and membership association that advocates for faculty and other academic professionals — wrote that Casselli’s indefinite unpaid suspension is a “matter of serious concern,” and should have been preceded by a “dismissal-style hearing” before an elected faculty committee.
The College has framed the issue as being about workplace behavior within a professional environment. In letters reviewed by the News, Antioch described its actions as responses to documented conduct and safety concerns rather than disagreement over academic viewpoints or academic freedom.
Last week, ahead of running a letter to the editor that cited Casselli’s termination and later suspension, the News requested comment from Antioch College; Fernandes submitted a written statement in response, which was printed in full in last week’s “Community Forum” section.
In the statement, Fernandes said the College is “committed to maintaining a safe, respectful and inclusive environment for students, faculty and staff.” She wrote that when conduct concerns arise, the College follows policies designed to ensure “a fair, thorough and appropriate review,” but added that personnel privacy limits what the College can share publicly.
The News reached out to Antioch again this week after speaking with Casselli; the College declined to comment further and directed the News again toward its written statement.
The College first notified Casselli of disciplinary findings in a Feb. 9 letter following the January dispute and a later meeting between Casselli, then-Provost Brian Norman, a faculty advocate and the colleague involved in the dispute.
In that letter, Fernandes wrote that Casselli had engaged in misconduct constituting workplace violence under College policy. The letter cited “undisputed facts,” including “threatening, intimidating, and derogatory language in a public setting where students were present,” his “acknowledgment of responsibility” and a broader pattern of behavior. Any further violation, the letter stated, would result in immediate dismissal.
Casselli pushed back on the College’s findings in a Feb. 13 response, calling the assertions of “undisputed facts” and a documented pattern of behavior “incorrect statements.” He wrote that there had been “no evidentiary hearing,” and that the incident “did not involve violence or threats of any sort,” but was “only an argument that eventually did include some yelling.” He said the disagreement occurred in his office, that he was not aware of students nearby and that he had apologized for his behavior.
“I never threatened,” Casselli told the News. “I’m not a physically violent person.”
The Feb. 9 letter gave Casselli until Feb. 13 to make a decision between three options: undergo unpaid suspension with conditions for possible return, be terminated for cause or resign in lieu of termination.
The suspension option would have barred him from campus and contact with the colleague involved in the dispute, required anger management counseling and delayed a possible return to his position until at least Aug. 15, with at least six months of probation and a permanent final warning. He would also be required to sign nondisclosure and nondefamation agreements, and agree not to “weaponize students, alumni, or other community members against the College.”
Rather than select one of the options, Casselli requested “a full hearing before the Faculty Promotion and Review Committee and all other applicable processes, including the inclusion of the Board of Trustees.” He objected to being required to choose within four days from what he called “three equally unacceptable ‘options,’” and wrote that the nondisclosure and nondefamation requirement “violates the principles of free expression, academic freedom and the fundamental values of Antioch College.”
“I challenged it because I found it to be unfair, lacking process and arbitrary,” Casselli told the News.
On Feb. 19, Fernandes denied Casselli’s request for a hearing and terminated his employment for cause, effective that day, citing a provision in the College’s Faculty Personnel Handbook allowing termination of a tenured position due to “moral turpitude,” a term not defined in the handbook; the same provision had been cited in the College’s initial disciplinary findings.
Casselli argued in his Feb. 13 response that his January conduct did not constitute “moral turpitude,” and said he believed the College’s use of the term was intended to characterize his conduct as a fireable offense within the limited options the handbook outlines for terminating tenure.
On March 2, Fernandes emailed Casselli that the Board of Trustees had directed her to suspend his termination, restore his pay and benefits and continue further investigation, including review by the Faculty Promotion and Review Committee. While the process continued, Casselli was not allowed on campus or permitted to teach. Casselli said he believes the Board’s guidance to Fernandes reflected concerns about the process used to arrive at termination.
“I think it was presented to the board, and the board had questions,” he said.
The matter continued May 20, when Fernandes wrote that the College had reviewed its policies and concluded Casselli would be suspended without pay until he provided “satisfactory evidence” that he was “able and willing to return to work in full compliance with all College policies.”
The letter barred Casselli from faculty duties and campus access except with written permission, and made any change in status contingent on medical and psychological “fit for work” certificates; anger management, workplace behavioral coaching or similar training; demonstrated commitment to College policies; and agreement to any ongoing restrictions or monitoring requirements deemed necessary by the College.
Casselli wrote back May 26 and questioned why physician statements were required when he had not been on medical leave and said he had “no physical or mental impairments” preventing him from working. He also asked what would satisfy the College’s requirements and what restrictions he would be expected to accept, writing that “it is not reasonable to ask me to agree to something if I do not know what the terms are.”
In a June 4 response, Fernandes directed Casselli to complete a professional anger management or comparable conflict de-escalation program and sign a statement agreeing to follow College conduct and safety policies, but did not address his question about why medical certification was required.
Fernandes also wrote that the College retained “sole discretion” to determine whether its concerns had been addressed and when and whether he could return. The College could determine that Casselli would not return to his position even if he completed one or more requirements, the letter said.
In his interview with the News, Casselli said that “sole discretion” is why he believes his suspension is effectively permanent.
“When does it end?” he said. “It’s totally subjective.”
The AAUP, having already written to the College with concerns in May ahead of Casselli’s indefinite unpaid suspension — that letter was published in last week’s issue of the News — expanded on its concerns in its June 2 letter. AAUP Senior Program Officer Mark Criley wrote that the organization had previously contacted the College over concern that Casselli was facing termination for cause without a hearing before an elected faculty committee.
Criley wrote that while the AAUP was “heartened” that the College had not immediately dismissed Casselli without such a hearing, the indefinite unpaid suspension constituted a “major sanction, second in severity only to dismissal,” and reiterated that Casselli should be given a hearing. Criley added that an indefinite suspension with conditions for return is “tantamount to a dismissal,” particularly when the administration alone determines whether those conditions have been met.
“While we would welcome correction, it remains our understanding that Professor Casselli has not been afforded such a hearing,” Criley wrote. “The allegations against [Casselli] are serious and the sanctions he faces are severe; both threaten his career and his reputation. Common decency and basic principles of fairness call for them to be contested before a representative body of his professional peers.”
Casselli told the News that what drew him to Antioch College as a student were its “pedagogical ethos” and “community-based shared government ethos,” and they were part of what brought him back in 2008.
“I feel very strongly about the place, what it did for me and what it represented,” he said.
Through that lens, Casselli said he believes the way his case has been handled reflects an erosion of shared government and faculty process at the College. He said he doesn’t view the January incident itself as an academic freedom issue, but does view the process used afterward as such.
“If we don’t maintain these structures that we’ve all agreed upon for process, then our academic freedoms are being impinged,” he said.
At press time, Casselli remains barred from campus, though he said he’s continued to offer assistance to his students when they ask.
“I just lent a student my recliner for their senior project film and made stuff for their shoot,” he said. “I’ve talked to the students, and they’re upset, because I have a good relationship with them. They’re the reason I was there, right?”
On June 3, one of Casselli’s students began circulating a petition, with signers asking Antioch administration to allow Casselli to be on campus for upcoming events, including Reunion, where he was intended to be the recipient of the Alumni Association’s J.D. Dawson Award.
“We believe he should be there for it,” the petition reads. “Due to his contributions to student projects and the college as a whole, his presence at these events is important to us.”
Despite his dispute with the administration, Casselli said he “does not want to see [Antioch College] fail.”
“I believe it can continue, and I believe it can be successful,” he said. “And I believe if the community gives voice to asking questions, I think it has a chance.”
And though he said he is not sure what the final resolution should be — reinstatement, settlement or something else — he wants the process itself to be clear.
“If you have all this stuff on me,” he said, “let’s do the process.”
It’s every pet owner’s nightmare: At the worst possible time, they dash out the door into the unknown. A frantic search begins as the heaviest snow storm in eons bears down. Shouts are muffled entirely by the deep winter night. Your four-legged friend is gone without trace or track.
For occasional village resident Pierre Nagley and Antioch alumna Kya Kim, it was Boomer they lost last February — their 6-year-old cat, who the couple brought with them to an ancient mountain-top town in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, to celebrate their birthdays.
“Usually, Boomer is afraid of the cold and of the snow, but this time, something caught his attention in the bamboo groves,” Kim told the News earlier this month.
“He went out and wasn’t coming back,” Nagley added grimly.
All told, Boomer’s seven-day escape was a harrowing experience for all involved — but one that culminated in a way the title of the couple’s new storybook succinctly encapsulates: “Boomer Lives!”
Yes, Kim and Nagley’s beloved cat survived the ordeal of getting lost amid one of Japan’s snowiest winters and atop one of the country’s wildest mountains.
To immortalize the critter having successfully cashed in on one of his nine lives, Boomer’s parents rendered his story into a book. Written by Kim and illustrated by Nagley, “Boomer Lives!” was self-published on a limited edition run earlier this year from their home in Kyoto.
From the generous donations of family and friends from around the world, the couple gleaned about 440,000 yen — or roughly $2,700 in U.S. dollars — to self-publish 50 first editions of the book. Now, with the success of that round, the couple aims to generate enough interest for a second edition, and ideally, to land a professional publisher to aid those efforts.
Nearly a dozen of the donors who brought “Boomer Lives!” to print live in Yellow Springs — and they should be receiving their copy any day now, according to Kim.
“Boomer Lives!” isn’t exactly a children’s book, but an “anyone’s book,” as Nagley said. It features more than 20 hand-painted illustrations by the Yellow Springs-grown artist and Kim’s illustrious retelling of Boomer’s “there and back again” narrative.
“Boomer Lives!” features words by Kya Kim and illustrations by Pierre Nagley. (Submitted photo)
The book’s watercolors depict sprawling Japanese landscapes, from nighttime rooftops in Kyoto to the bucolic winter tundras of Imadera — the remote village where Boomer went astray, and where Kim’s mother, Myong Hee Kim, lives. News readers may remember the elder Kim from her visit to Yellow Springs last summer with the Peace Mask Project.
While mostly vast scenes, Nagley’s illustrations also zero on the details common in rural Japanese villages. Snow-capped jizo statues — stone Bodhisattvas and guardians of travellers — line pathways and blush in the snow. The “lost cat” poster in the book closely resembles what Kim and Nagley actually hung on their neighbors’ doors — and which led to, well, Boomer living.
Kim’s narration in “Boomer Lives!” are at once delicate and weighty. Her passages carry the whimsy one would hope to encounter in a story about a free-wheeling feeline, but are saturated with anxiety and fear for his fate.
But once their real-life cat was safely home and the couple decided after all to embark on the process of authoring a storybook, Kim and Nagley hastily got to work as the winter months thawed into spring.
“It was a real marathon to get it done,” Kim said. “We felt like we were short on time. I was on break from teaching university classes, and we didn’t want the story to get old. We decided a tight turnaround would be best, and wanted to keep it fresh in people’s minds.”
Kim would churn out sections of copy and Nagley would illustrate the images his wife’s words conjured, with his own memories of the ordeal as the base.
“I made about 30 illustrations,” he said. “Of course, some didn’t make the final cut. Each illustration took one to two days. But I’d have to go back and touch some up. Some pieces didn’t match the page concept at all — I think those were from me reading the text, but forgetting about it halfway through the painting.”
The same was largely true for Kim: She also had to return to the proverbial drawing board time and again.
“Sometimes, his illustrations informed my text,” she said. “There were revisions on both sides constantly. I probably revised the story eight or nine times.”
From the successes of their Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, Kim and Nagley were able to contract the usage of what Kim called the “highest quality, highest resolution color printer in all of Tokyo” to create the pages. Their home city of Kyoto had no such tool.
Near the end of May, the couple’s efforts paid off. In their hands were 50 copies of the book into which they poured their hearts, talents and love of Boomer.
“I don’t know if I would say it has a happy ending,” Kim said of the book. “I feel like the focus of the story is more about acceptance. Throughout the story, there’s this balance between desperation to find our cat and the hopelessness in the possibility that we never would. At the same time, I wanted to include gratitude for the little signs that he was alive, and for the words of encouragement from people near and far.”
Although Boomer got the happy ending he deserved this past winter, his story is still unfolding. Nagley said he’s gained all his lost weight back and has returned to his favorite pastime of patrolling fencetops in Kyoto. In addition to gaining a new neighborhood nemesis, Napoleon, Boomer also found himself a cute kitty girlfriend named Cleo.
Sure, the little guy still gets into trouble every now and again, but Boomer’s parents still let him go outside — to let him “climb trees, chase crickets, run around in the grass, and do whatever it is that’s good for his little soul,” Kim said.
But those adventures are tales to be told another day.
To help Kya Kim and Pierre Nagley with the efforts associated with printing a second round of “Boomer Lives!” email Kim at kimberlye.k@gmail.com with a note of interest, and she said she will respond with next steps.
Miami Township Trustees approved several fire department personnel changes during their regular meeting Monday, June 1, including hiring Andrew Reichert as a part-time firefighter/EMT.
Trustees also approved moving Jax Lawrence from part-time to full-time status, while returning Daniel Watt to part-time service after he accepted a full-time position elsewhere.
Following those votes, trustees approved a motion requesting that Fire Chief James Cannell develop formal criteria for hiring full-time firefighters and paramedics, create a continuous list of candidates interested in full-time positions and establish a process for lateral hires from other departments.
“It seems like we’re always [promoting to full-time] internally and not really opening up to the outside,” Trustee Chair Marilan Moir said, noting that most hires from outside the department are for part-time positions. “There may be people out there who want to be here, but don’t want to be here part-time and would consider a full-time position, but there’s no full-time positions available.”
Capt. Nate Ayers, standing in for Cannell during the meeting to deliver the fire and rescue report, said Miami Township Fire-Rescue has responded to about 500 calls so far this year and operated at about 90% staffing during May. The department is also preparing two federal grant applications, including a request for updated self-contained breathing apparatus equipment estimated to cost more than $100,000. Ayers added that preparations are underway for the June 13 Yellow Springs Street Fair, with 12 MTFR employees scheduled to staff the event and emergency units stationed near Mills Park Hotel and the Bryan Center.
In his monthly zoning report, Zoning Administrator Bryan Lucas reported that the Township issued three zoning permits in May — two for detached garages on State Route 370 and Huston Road and one for The Riding Centre on Hyde Road. He also reported that the Miami Township Board of Zoning Appeals approved a temporary use permit for 12 summer comedy shows to be hosted by Dave Chappelle at Wirrig Pavilion this summer.
Near the meeting’s end, the trustees returned briefly to an ongoing discussion of health insurance premium reimbursements for Trustee Chris Mucher. As the News reported last month, trustees voted in April to end a longstanding practice of reimbursing health care premiums for elected officials who opt out of the Township’s group health plan.
In May, Greene County Prosecutor David Hayes delivered a requested opinion letter that stated the Township could provide either premium reimbursements or a group healthcare plan, but not both, unless trustees passed a resolution permitting premium reimbursements; passing such a resolution, Hayes wrote, would potentially violate Affordable Care Act restrictions and “subject the Township to penalties by the IRS,” and Hayes suggested trustees consult with an attorney experienced in ACA and tax law.
During the June 1 meeting, the trustees voted unanimously to invite Hayes to attend a future meeting to discuss legal questions raised by the letter.
Looking ahead, Moir announced a June 11 work session to discuss a possible capital equipment levy for MTFR, to be placed on the November ballot. She said the levy under consideration would be less than one mill, and the revenue it would generate would help the Township establish a long-term replacement plan for MTFR equipment, including a new fire truck, rather than relying on the current “break-fix” model.
The trustees’ next regular meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 15.
Recent Comments