THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2002 NEWS THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN - 9A Student business breaks religious chains By Lindsay Hanson and Stuart McFadyen Special to the Kansan Becky Frye keeps her parents in the dark about the essence of her home-run business, Metallic Maiden Designs. CONTRIBUTED ART They know the Kansas City,Mo., senior, uses her metalsmithing talent to make fine jewelry. Frye has shown her parents the rings with pretty stones and the intricate necklaces. But, she said, they suspect she makes something more — and their suspicions are correct. Becky Frye, Kansas City, Mo., senior, creates lingerie out of metal and chain mail, similar to her piece above. Frye keeps her more risqué pieces — whips, aluminum corsets and floggers — a secret from her family. Her parents are devout Jehovah's Witnesses, and Frye knows they would never bless her business venture because it conflicts with their religious beliefs. Regardless of whether her parents approve, she said she planned to pursue her business after graduation. The more risqué pieces account for 90 percent of her profit. She estimated she made more than $700 per month with those pieces. By charging up to $200 for her complex work, she pays for college without the need of financial aid from her parents. Frye constructs her custommade products from aluminum wire and sheeting. She hand-coils the wire into small rings and links them together creating a chain mail, mesh layer. With these, she produces anything from skirts and vests to whips and bikinis. Frye uses the sheeting to make corsets. "I love my parents." Frye said. "But if it came to choosing between being happy by making my own living, and the support of my parents, I'd choose happiness." during her senior year of high school. As a jewelry and metal-smithing major, she consolidates class requirements and customer demand by choosing projects that make teachers and clients happy. She spends a minimum of eight hours per day filling orders. Frye said she had worked as many as 72-hours straight when orders piled up. Frye started selling jewelry "I don't really sleep much." Frye said. "I'm the sort of person who if I have something to get done, I'm never late. I'll get it done." A trip home for Thanksgiving last year confirmed Frye's fears about her parents' disapproval. Byaccident,her mother stumbled upon a chain mail flogger in her bag. "Mom was absolutely livid," she said. "They freaked and pretty much said I wasn't welcome anymore." Frye made amends with her parents, but she had to lie for penance — she told her parents she would never make a flogger again. Metallic Maiden Designs is not Frye's only source of income. Her parents are also unaware of her fetish troupe, Contra Naturam — Latin for "the unnatural" — which performed May 2 at the Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St. Under her stage name, "Sterling," Frye and five other members demonstrate various fetishes, from bondage, dominance and flagging, to the more obscure art of sploshing — playing around in food. She said the troupe had recently added shibari, the art of rope binding, to its show. Frye said her parents would "pass out" if they discovered her involvement with Contra Naturam. Frye's biography on Contra Naturam's Web site identifies "parents" as one of life's displeasures. She said people often associated fetishes with abuse, but those practiced fetishes applied three rules: safety, sanity and consensus. Frye said breaking one rule made the act wrong. "I'm an exhibitionist, but an exhibitionist with reservations," she said. "There are certain limits I don't cross, and some of these have to do with my religious upbringing." Although Frye initially conformed to her parents' strict religious beliefs, she chose against being baptized during middle school. At that time, she only was allowed to associate with other children of Jehovah's Witnesses. She said she struggled to decide whether she shared her parents' faith. "It's hard to think it isn't true when it's what you've known all your life," she said. Frye's parents still encourage her to be baptized even though she has not attended a church service in about a year. She said, however, she practiced spirituality instead of religion. "Some of my beliefs overlap with my parents", Frye said. "The only issue I have is when they try to push it on me." Alan Finney, who attends The Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in Lawrence, said practices the Bible decreed immoral or perverse were not in agreement with God. "God's Word doesn't say you can't make whips, but it gives you principles," he said. Finney referred to First Corinthians 10:31 in the Bible's New Testament. "If you are eating, drinking or doing anything else, do all things for God's glory," he said. "How would God be glorified in that type of work?" Finney said because Frye hid the true nature of her business from her parents, they had already helped her to determine between right and wrong. He said, however, her parents needed to help her come to scriptural understanding — the worship of God comes first. Finney said, as a parent, he would not want his daughter to think that pursuing business ventures such as Frye's was the only way to pay for college. He said he would rather she got a scholarship or a loan. Jehovah's Witnesses feel strongly about businesses providing for and supporting the community, Finney said. "We try our best to live a good life," he said. "We wouldn't want to bring any kind of shame on God's name." Regardless of religious conflicts, Frye plans to expand Metallic Maiden Designs with the creation of a Web site. Frye said the opportunity for clients to place orders online was a daunting one. "It scares me because of the whole concept of 'what if I can't keep up with my orders?'" she said. "I'm a one-woman business." Frye said he had hired people in the past to coil chain mail but would continue be the business' sole designer. In the beginning, Frye relied on word-of-mouth to promote her business. Now she also travels to Renaissance festivals and conventions around the country to sell her work. Frye said the new house she would move into this summer would allow her space to set up a work shop. After Frye graduates in December with a degree in design, she will dedicate all of her time to her business, she said. "It's a huge benefit because I know what I want to do and exactly where to go," she said. "A lot of students don't have that." In the meantime, Frye said she wanted to keep her plans under wraps from her parents. She admitted, however, the day when she would have to reveal all to her parents loomed darkly on the horizon. Contact Hanson and McFadyen at editor@kansan.com. This story was edited by Sarah Marsh. Fate of Replay's patio may be in the hands of neighbors By Richard Gintowt Special to the Kansan The Replay Lounge beer garden is open eight months a year, accounting for 40 percent of sales. These days, it does business in the shadow of development. In a former city parking lot next door, a four-story commercial and apartment building now towers above the Replay Lounge, 946 Massachusetts St. "We had no idea the city would ever put lofts on our public parking lot," said Replay owner Nick Carroll. "Until now, there was no one to bother. If the city shuts our patio down, we're done." The building, part of the Downtown 2000 project, is almost completed and has four apartment windows that look straight down on the Replay's beer garden. Carroll has good reason to be concerned. A clause in the Replay's site plan says that the bar can be forced to remove the patio garden if the city receives "legitimate complaints" from neighbors. Last January, Carroll and his lawyer went before the city commission to request the removal of the clause from the Replay's site plan. The city commission declined, leaving Carroll anxious about the future of his business. Carroll has co-owned the Replay since 1994, the last time he remembers a noise complaint. "It would be impossible to identify which crowd of people came from which establishment," said Bob Summ, owner of the neighboring Massachusetts Street Delicatessen, 941 Massachusetts St. "Crowds come from everywhere, all day long, seven nights of the week." Hundreds of people from downtown bars spill into the streets between midnight and 2 a.m. The Replay's main concern is that it does not get the blame for disturbances it is not responsible for. City Commissioner Mike Rundle voted to deny Carroll's request last January, but said he felt sympathetic to the Replay's situation. "I was leaning towards relaxing the code, but it would be inconsistent to relieve one bar of their responsibility," Rundle said. "I think we gave the Replay some assurance that we do value the importance of live music to the character of the downtown. Even though we didn't let Nick out of his requirement, we let the apartment owners know that this was a high-activity area." Martin Moore, a member of the 9-10 LC group responsible for the Downtown 2000 project, developed the apartments with high activity in mind. He could have made twice as much money by selling commercial space, but set aside the top two floors for apartment dwellers at the city's request. To mitigate possible noise disturbances, the units were designed with kitchen—not bedroom — windows looking out on the patio. Still, Martin is exercising caution. "We're going to remind tenants in their leases that they're not living in the suburbs," he said. "We don't want anyone to have the expectation that there won't be any noise." Even though Martin would prefer to develop commercial space, he acknowledges that residential space benefits the downtown area. "It's important to have people living and eating in the downtown," he said. "Compare Lawrence to Topeka, where the downtown shuts down at night, and I think you'll find that's true." John Nalbandian, professor of public administration, served on the City Commission in 1996 when Downtown 2000 began. He said the Replay Lounge never came up. "This is a multi-million dollar project that goes far beyond the impact it would have on one property," he said. "In the scheme of the whole downtown, the Replay Lounge is totally insignificant." But to the 25 employees of the Replay Lounge, it's anything but insignificant. Aaron Strelow has been a bartender there for three years. Regulars know him as the guy with the white T-shirt and the handkerchief tucked in his back pocket. "Some people move out to the country and find it's too quiet," he said. "I know how noisy it gets around here. Love the situation or leave it." In the meantime, Strelow and Carroll said the Replay would conduct business as usual, saying they had done all they could to prevent a conflict before it happens. "We're expecting everything will be all right, but we're just trying to be prepared," Carroll said. Contact Gintowt at editor@kansan.com. This story was edited by Angela Cox. BEDS • DESKS CHEST OF DRAWERS BOOK CASES unclaimed freight & damaged merchandise 936 Mass. 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