WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2006
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 7
PROFILE
Student finds peace in photos
BY ADRIENNE BOMMARITO
abommarito@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Jade Reeves has learned a thing or two about life. At 20 years old, she has already learned about the severe downsides of alcoholism, how to accept diversity in her life and how to shoot a camera.
A Kansas City, Kan., sophomore majoring in English, Reeves is the oldest of six girls, ages ranging from 2 to 20.
Having five sisters is complicated in itself, but growing up with five sisters from different backgrounds and different parents makes it even harder.
Reeves is the only child from both parents; two of her sisters are stepisters and the other three are half sisters.
Although they didn't live together, Reeves credits her sisters for helping her better understand people from other cultures. Four of her sisters are half-African American and half-Caucasian, and the other is half-Hispanic and half-Caucasian. She said when she was growing up she never knew the difference, that they were her sisters and always would be.
"When I meet someone with a different culture, it's easier to meet them without having stereotypical differences," she said.
Reeves was raised mostly by her mother, except for the three years when she lived with her grandmother.
When Reeves was 8 years old, her mother checked herself in for alcohol abuse rehabilitation, and sent Reeves to her grandmother's.
Joshua Bickel/KANSAN
A few years later when Reeves was a freshman in college, her father, who she didn't meet until she was about 6 years old, also checked himself into rehabilitation for alcohol abuse.
Because both of her parents are recovering alcoholics, Reeves doesn't see the need for alcohol in her life. She goes out and has fun without it, but said if she does drink, "it's very limited and very controlled."
Jade Reeves has been photographing "people, things, anything I see" since she was 16. Photography is one of her main interests, but Reeves, a Kansas City, Kan., sophomore, also works at Pulse, the coffee shop in The Underground. Here, she's shown with some of her black-and-white work, dating back to when she first started taking photos in high school.
Reeves used her high school, JC Harmon High School, Kansas City, Kan., to get away from the chaos in her life. She threw herself into journalism, starting as a photographer and worked her way all the way up to being editor-in-chief for two years.
However, photography is her favorite hobby and thus is the one on
SEE PHOTOS PAGE 8