Hill topics
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 8A WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3,1997
EVENTS • ENTERTAINMENT • ISSUES • MUSIC • ART
Poetry of the back alleys
KU graduate student Patrick Sumner has an affinity for the space between buildings
Eighth Street Alley
For Patrick Sumner, the road to a bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas detoured through Kansas City's forgotten urban landscape, an environment which had a lasting impact on him.
Sumner's experiences in what he called the "urban jungle" became a catalyst for a documentary. The 31-year-old graduate student, in cooperation with his brother, Brandon Sumner, produced "Rear Entry: An Examination of the Rear." The film shows Sumner's vision of the alleyway mystique and earned the duo Best College Film and Best Open Film awards at the Kan Film Fest in 1996.
During the summer he worked toward a master's degree in historical administration. He also developed a television pilot about urban Midwest youth called "Flavoropak T.V." in association with the Kansas City magazine of the same name. His goal was to create an "on-the-road" show with an urban, regional flair. While researching the pilot, SUMner visited a low-rider show in Topeka, underground magazine conferences in Chicago and body piercing parlors and dance clubs in the Kansas City area.
Although they don't have a contract for the pilot, the brothers are searching for an audience, hopefully with public television or MTV. Eventually, they hope to enter the pilot in film festivals.
To go along with the documentary, Patrick Sumner wrote a book of poetry called "Rear Entry".
Reel life
"I chose alleys because I viewed them as an out-of-sight, out-of-mind space that was left alone," Sumner said. "I was trying to come to terms with the phenomenon of the space and dispel it into poetic form, incorporating sounds and smells and visual impact."
He attributes much of the film's success to his brother, the film's editor and videographer.
"Our collaboration was a perfect match. He was a kid who
you don't need
a snorkle
to go
dumpster divin'
an art and a science
that calls for
slow drivin'
eyeing the cans of treasure and trash it's how jeff with a j saves some cash
thought by some a societal discrace despite that a primary use of space
Story by Erinn R. Barcomb
Ninth Street Alley
had boxes of microphones and wires and walkie-talkies," he said. "I was more of a human interest person.
"I do what he calls 'concepts and continuity': to conceive concepts and know what it takes to see it all the way through. He has the ability to make it happen. It's a magical collaboration."
Sumner developed a love for the urban landscape as a child in Kansas City, Mo., where his grandfather owned a print shop near the downtown stockyards. At the site lay myriad relics from a dying age: a mule barn, tumbleweed and fading signs on brick facade.
The vision contradicted his upbringing in the suburbs, a place he described as having no connections between the people and the landscape.
At 17, Summer escaped to the city, where he observed the emerging punk scene of the early 1980s. He traveled around the city watching youth construct low-rider cars and bicycles, reading poetry along the streets of Westport, and visiting the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
"I felt it was my city because I could interact with everyone from the mayor to the guy at the bus stop. I could be a prince and a pauper," he said.
But Sumner also saw a side of the city that eroded his romantic views. Although he never used intravenous drugs, he held the bruised arms of friends who did and saw them become living skeletons.
Believing that a college education has allowed him to analyze what he saw on the streets, he described his journey as an evolution from urban explorer to academically-trained interpreter.
Higher learning
However, Sumner does not prescribe the same route for others.
"If people feel like they need to learn from the school of hard knocks, get a college education first," he said.
Sumner's attempts at higher education began at the University of Missouri-Kansas City
mortal micronotz girl only ten when they split her converse all-stars with their rubbery plip plop plip plop diagonally crossing
Photo by Steve Puppe
Tenth Street Alley
and Penn Valley Community College, also in Kansas City, where he became a political organizer on campus against apartheid and former President Reagan's foreign policy.
Sumner encourages students at KU to get involved.
"When I got into political organizing, I was a committed participant. I was the person carrying the signs," he said. "Soon, I was the person making the signs, and finally, I was telling people to make signs."
The University of Kansas was where the pieces came together for Summer. He found a discipline for his interest in urban and regional landscapes, called vernacular architecture.
"People come in and see this huge campus and bureaucracy. All you have to do is start to make an impact and make changes." Patrick Sumner said.
Professors Michael Swann and Dennis Domer, of KU's School of Architecture and Urban Design, helped Sumner find his niche. With their assistance, he earned 21 credit hours in independent study courses.
Domer said Sumner embraced his education and went beyond what was required.
"Every student that comes in is an individual," Domer said. "I responded to Patrick as I do to every student. I see students as individuals and mold a program that fits them. Patrick responded very well to that and worked hard."
Breaking with tradition
Along with conducting tours around Lawrence alleyways and working on his master's degree, Summer, a lawrence resident, is learning the ropes as a father to his five-month-old son. Benjamin.
"Talk about the poetic experience. That's beauty; that's life right there." he said.
Although Sumner jokes that it took him 14 years to get through school, his scholarship is meaningful to him.
"I'm a non-traditional student," he said. "I'm living proof that it's possible to return to school."
REAR ENTRANCE
is a notification of where to enter houses, buildings, and the people we love
Patrick Summer sits up in a old torn down building in an alley east of New Hampshire. Sumner produced a film along with his brother on alleyways.