One, two, three, four, Get my shoes and out the door.

Five, I'm alive.

Six, seven, eight, feeling great.

Nine, gonna shine, life is good, I'm doing fine.

Ten, gonna do it right and do it again.

Ya, I look into the sky with all it's beautiful color.

But there's more than just for me, so gonna share it with another.

I got to show, to give, let it out.

I want.

To sing and shout.

Take a look and see a beautiful morning.

That turns into a beautiful evening.

And together make a beautiful life.

And if you want to see then come along with me.

That's right.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Experience Michiana.

It's Kelly and Kelsy today.

And we are at St. Patrick's Park.

A beautiful day.

And you know, one of the things I love about living out here is there really is so much to do Kelsy.

And I am a very busy woman on this show.

You sure are.

And to start with, we're going to be at the Snite Museum a little bit later in the show.

And you guys have probably been there with us before in the past, but they're just now getting opened back up to the community.

We're so excited.

Yes.

So excited about that.

And then today, I'm going to take you all along some trails and you're going to find out about some really cool activities.

But then, you know, Dave has asked us to do this fitness challenge, right?

Yep.

Yep.

And I think this time he's got a spot for you someplace that he's been training on his own.

Do you know anything about it?

I don't yet.

So maybe it's I guess I'm about to find out.

Yes, I know.

Take it easy on him.

I'm a little scared.

Yeah.

So for anyone who's been watching Experience Michiana will know that I set myself a challenge and Kelly you're helping me on this.

Yes.

To try and get in shape this year.

And you wanted me to push you, didn't you?

I did.

I wanted you to push me.

But I took an initiative to go even further and I started doing boxing fit classes.

That's why I'm like, what am I doing standing here with boxing gloves?

So this time I wanted to bring Kelly into my life a little bit and show her what I've been doing in the mornings for the last couple of weeks.

And I'm here with Cory Brazier from BrazierFit.

Cory, tell people watching about this class what makes it different from going to other fitness classes?

Well, you know, I found out since I've been teaching the class for the last four to five years now, that when we come to this class, we take I mean, really, we build a community, a community of people, of accountability.

You know, we have fun, we laugh and we get it in almost like a boot camp.

And it's funny.

The funny thing about it is every time they leave a class, they think they nearly die, but they come back the next day.

I keep on telling myself that 7:00 to 8:00 a.m. passes, whether I'm at home sitting in bed or whether I'm here.

That hour is going to go by.

And every time what I love about this is like it pushes me beyond where I thought it was.

And that's the whole point of this class.

Isn't that pushing you out of your limits?

Listen to this.

The whole point of this class is to make you a better version of yourself.

Whatever level you at this this is this is for all skill levels, all ages.

Everybody can do it.

You go at your own pace.

But I'm going to push you no matter what.

I'm a build you up.

And it's sometimes I feel like this is the whole class against me.

I push them, they push me, I push them, they push me.

But all of us leave encouraged.

We bring you in right away.

We let you know it.

You're not to behind, not too far gone to make a difference in your body.

Health is wealth.

And we fightin' every day to get money.

So what does a class look like because I came in, you know.

Well, you know what?

Let me let me get these real quick.

Yeah.

Oh, you know, Kelly missed the start of the class today, so I think you should push her a little bit harder.

Yeah, well, basically what we do, we start out the class with a little warm up.

Warm up could be anything from, you know, stretches to a twisting movement to jump rope.

And we did a little jump roping and running up and down the neighborhood just to warm up.

Then when everybody gets into class and feel a little tired, OK, then that's when the class starts.

That's when you can start.

We get the gloves on, we throw a few punches, we run a few more laps.

We do jumping jacks.

You know, we just we just smile and we die.

And I like that because that's what it kind of felt like here.

But you know what happens, though?

You leave the class like this is what's happened me, because I've been coming for a couple of weeks.

You leave the class and I feel like taller.

I feel more proud.

I feel good, like just wearing t shirts outside, you know, all those self-conscious things.

This class like it pushes you out of that, because I'm not just saying this.

It makes you believe in yourself, not just your body.

And you're right about the camaraderie.

I feel like I, I feel like I got a bunch of brothers the second I moved in here, which I love.

So now I'm going to take you over a few things that we do, Dave.

Yep.

Center stage.

All right.

I'll say.

All right.

Here we go.

We got the whole the whole class is based off of six punches, and six steps.

We just going to go over the six punches.

OK, this is a left straight.

Call that a jab.

OK, right cross.

Left hook.

Right uppercut.

Left uppercut.

Right hook.

Oh six punches.

Six one, two, three, four, five, six.

Piece of cake!

Yeah.

That's how we get down.

That's how we get down.

Did somebody say cake?

Tell us a little bit about your career and what made you get started in boxing.

Before I started boxing, I used to wrestle, and I took Karate when I got out of high school.

Nineteen years old.

And the I did it for four and a half years.

And then, I was married with children decided to get into boxing.

Found a local gym.

I started training.

They told me I was too old at age twenty four to start, because most kids start at about ten/eleven years old.

And so they told me I was too old, I said I just want to have amateur fights.

You know.

And then so I had thirty one amateur fights.

And then I decided something else crazy.

I wanted to have at least one professional bout.

So I found an Indianapolis manager.

He, he, he gave me my first fight.

I wanted to be the guy to have 30 some fights, I had 31 amateur fights.

And then I pursued a professional career.

I had two world title fights I ranked number one in the world I fought in six different countries, all kind of top 10 fighters, olympic fighters, had a good career.

So what can boxing do?

Because obviously, I'm not ever going to be a boxer.

What is it do for me as a woman?

Boxing is the best, best exercise, anybody can do.

You have, people that do all kind of aerobics and exercises, similarly boxing you to be willing to do real technique and exercise, you'd be able to get in shape.

Boxing builds character, strengthens your body, your mind.

A lot of other athletes from other sports use boxing to get in shape.

Their peak condition.

And Kelly never say never.

I mean, there have been times where I've really annoyed you on the show.

Yeah, that's right.

Can you teach me a knockout... No?

Because it doesn't take much.

We don't teach real boxing as far as contact We teach you the exercises.

But what I really love about what I experienced here today is the camaraderie and the relationships that the minute I walked in, I could see that these relationships really mattered in each other's lives and that they brought me in.

I was only here, not even 30 seconds.

Like, come on in.

And and that's what I love, because really, that's what community is.

It's all about the relationships that people.

You know what it makes you want to keep turning up every day because you're not turning up to work out.

You're turning up for your brothers and sisters that are here.

And then it's a community.

I'm telling you, it's the best ever.

Yeah, I felt it, Dave.

I felt it It's so hard when I was boxing, I trained by myself most of the time.

It's the hardest thing to do when you have people training with you.

You have similar to the same goals.

It's great to keep motivating you.

There's there are two guys here at the class who have both lost 30 pounds.

So I'm going to be the third person to drive 30 pounds club.

That's the mission that we're on.

What do I have to lose?

You don't need to lose anything.

Maybe some of your jokes, but you don't need to lose any weight.

You're fine.

Dave, Thank you so much for inviting me.

I had a great time.

Thanks a lot.

Thanks.

Thank you so much.

Harold it's a pleasure to meet you.

Thank you so much.

One, two, three.

BRAZIERFIT!

Kelsy, that workout was not what I was expecting, but I had so much fun and can I tell you, I had some moves there and a little something something that I really found great was the energy in the room, how supportive everybody was of each other, even when they were kind of teasing each other.

It was just like that family atmosphere.

It was great camaraderie.

And I have to tell you, I got there and I was a little tired and boy, did I wake up really fast.

It's such a great class.

And you can find out more about how to take that class on ExperienceMichiana.org.

But I think everyone should go out there and take the class because it's not just about the physical challenge, but mentally, spiritually, emotionally.

And again, you leave on this big high because of the camaraderie.

Lots of fun.

Thanks a lot, Dave.

Another thing that you should experience because it's back open again is the Snite Museum.

And we're going to head there to find out about how they're opened back up now and an exhibit that's really cool.

And everyone should get there to experience After over a year and a half of having to close their doors because of the pandemic, we are thrilled to tell you that the Snite Museum's doors are open again.

And Joe I think this is your first time with us.

This is my first time with you.

Yes.

Here.

So happy to have you here.

Yeah.

So thrilled to be here.

You are the director here at the Snite Museum.

And I know because we've been here several times and we know how much you appreciate and love having the community come through the doors.

Last year and a half must have been very difficult for you all.

It was very difficult, most difficult for the staff.

It was difficult for the community.

It was certainly difficult for the Notre Dame community.

You know, the last semester or two semesters we were open to the Notre Dame community.

So it was restricted.

But, you know, we had all sorts of restrictions in place, you know, masks and distancing and so and so forth.

So, you know, we're starting to feel more like ourselves and we know that there is an aptitude, people want to be with other people.

People want to be with art.

So we're glad you're here.

We hope everybody else starts coming in soon.

And I hope they do, too.

I have to tell you, when I walk through the doors, I got goosebumps.

Good, because I we love being here.

And like I said, so does many people in the community.

But you opened up June 1st.

Correct.

And there are some protocols that are in place.

Why don't you tell us about some of those?

So we're the most important one is we're asking for people that are not vaccinated for whatever reason that they please do wear a mask.

We ask people to still be mindful of social distancing.

Those are the big ones that are that are there.

You know, the great thing about the museum is there's so many places to explore.

People can fan out even if you come in a group very easily.

You know, just looking at art gives you space to be, you know, with the art, but with somebody else.

So it's it's it's a healthy environment.

The courtyard is open, the sculpture park is open.

So parts of our being that aren't physically inside, outside, welcoming.

You know, one of the things we absolutely learned about the pandemic is how important art is to the human existence.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

We you know, we did a fantastic job pivoting and making the collections and exhibitions available online.

But, you know, there's just something about being with a real work of art, it's like being with another human being, you know?

I mean, this piece behind me is spectacular.

But, you know, seeing it in person is so very different than even the best photographs can offer because, you know, you get a sense of scale, you get a sense of color in a new way.

You get a sense of maybe sometimes even the smell.

It's a multisensory experience.

It's more than just a visual experience.

Yes it is.

Well, let's talk about this exhibit, it is Kevin Beasley's and it's "Chair of the Ministers of Defense".

Yes.

I have to tell you, when I walked in here, it was beautiful.

It was haunting at the same time and extremely thought-provoking.

Yeah, it is.

It's a really important exhibition for us that is on loan from the Joyner/Giuffrida collection and the Rennie collection.

And it really calls so much to the front of our minds about the world in which we live and the world in which we inherited.

So you walk into the space.

You're right.

You know, you're overwhelmed by the scale.

You know, it's it's 13, 14 feet tall.

You know, you're sort of overwhelmed by it.

It's very colorful.

There's lots of details.

And after you sort of adjust, it's kind of like walking into a dark, darker room.

You know, you begin to focus on what's going on here.

Tell us a little bit more about Kevin Beesley, because if I'm not mistaken, he's a fairly young artist.

He is a young artist.

He has a very important, critical body of work.

He has shown at the studio museum in Harlem, in New York, at the Guggenheim, at the Whitney.

He is a real staple in terms of some of the best artists that are working today in New York, really communicating to a large national audience.

His work is being shown and being collected by some of the nation's most important museums.

So very, very lucky to be working with Kevin and a great guy.

And how were you able to get it here?

Well, actually, one of the people that I mentioned, the Joyner/Giuffrida's, they're Allums and they have one of the most important collections of African-American art in the world.

And they came back to campus.

They were involved in a major exhibition that preceded my time here.

We've kept a very good relationship with them and they let us know about this work.

It was previously in Baltimore and before that in Los Angeles.

And we said, you know, what would it take?

And could we have it for more than just the traditional two to four months?

Could we have it for a year?

And they were generous on both accounts.

So it's here.

And the students got to enjoy it with the faculty last semester and now it's for everybody to enjoy.

What are some of the questions that are supposed to kind of run through people's minds when they see this?

Sure.

So, you know, the general framework is this this throne like a peacock chair.

And behind it is this great wall that seems to have a stained glass window in the center of it.

And really the basic idea is from the chair of St. Peter's, which is in in St. Peter's in Rome.

And, you know, it really sets you up to think about power and the theatrics of power and how is power expressed visually.

But the peacock chair is actually from a very significant photograph from the Black Panther movement.

And from there you begin to think about, well, what does power mean at any point in time in our history?

Who holds it, who challenges it, how does power change or not change things?

And then ultimately gathered around are all these figures and they are wearing their house dresses, you know, there do-rags, their sort of, you know, contemporary urban attire, their sort of frozen in time.

That's making us ask questions about what's happening today.

And, you know, although the world has changed so much culturally in the last two years, let's throw out blanket on it for for two years.

He was asking these questions long before.

And I think one of the most rewarding things of this piece is what you started out with is a young artist.

You know, here is someone who is going to make a difference and he's asking very important and profound questions at a very young age.

And, you know, I think about that a lot, especially here at a university environment.

You know, what are these young people going to do?

You know, how are they going to change the world?

You know, maybe my generation and above haven't done as much as they could have or should have.

But, you know, maybe people like Kevin are going to make a difference and he's making a difference through art.

That's what's legitimate to him.

Why is it important for that the community come, not just I mean, there's so many wonderful things to see, but particularly this exhibit.

And what are you hoping it will bring to this community?

Well, I think that my my my most profound wish is that it helps to sort of reenergize us about what art can do for us.

You know, for many of us, we've been away from it for a while.

And, you know, maybe we have things at home, but to go to a museum, you know, see some bigger ideas.

We've missed that.

So that that is my immediate hope, is that it just brings people back and say, you know, there's a charge, there's an energy, there's a dynamism that comes when you stand face to face with something.

But I also think that, you know, for us at the museum, you know, we have to work through art to help grow community.

We have to work through art to help enhance diversity in the most legitimate way.

We have to work through art to make the world a better place.

You know, just putting a statement out there, well, you know, other groups can do that.

But we have art.

You know, we have different ways to express and different ways to embrace and different ways to make everybody feel welcome.

And I hope people that come to the museum feel welcome.

And I hope that even though they might not understand modern and contemporary art, at least their interest is piqued and at least their levels of curiosity and wonder, you know, I mean, to feel like a seven year old again and be like, what's going on here?

I mean, that's magic.

And I like to think that the that the museum is a part of a magical experience.

Well, you all do a wonderful job of doing that.

I have to say that I will have to come back because there's so much more happening.

We'll have to cover that.

But what are your hours right now?

Right now, we are open to the public from Tuesday through Saturday, from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Thursdays we're open late.

OK, well, Joe, thank you so much for being with us.

Look forward to speaking with you again.

And if you don't mind, I'd like to spend a little more time here.

All day, all day.

That piece was amazing.

And like Joe talked about, it's different in person.

I mean, we showed it to you.

But unless you're there and experience the size of it and just the the color and the depth, it's really something else.

It was beautiful.

I.

Actually could have stayed there for hours because there was so much to see and like Joe said, there's nothing like live theater, live music and live art.

And there's nothing like being in a live park because that was virtual at one point.

Right.

And we're here at St. Pat's and there's quite a few activities going on right here.

Yes.

So you know what, Kelsy?

I will meet up with you later.

I'm about to go down there and find out about some of these activities.

Sounds great.

WNIT and our local communities are having a celebration this summer.

We're celebrating a good old friend, a constant companion.

It's the St. Joe River.

And today I'm at St. Patrick's Park and I'm taking the ripples and reflections self guided trail challenge.

And I have a map.

But if you all know me, I am extremely directionally challenged.

So thank you.

Amal is here to join me.

And I think this is the first stop right here.

Yes, you're here.

I thought I was lost.

You're not lost!

I know I can't read a map for anything.

Oh, my goodness.

Well, you did it.

I made it here.

So this is one of the first stops that the ripples and reflections?

Yes.

So tell us about it.

It's a self guided tour, right?

Right.

And obviously, it features the river because that's what we're celebrating right now.

So we have this map available in our main office in the white barn and also in the gatehouse.

And people can take the map and then there are eight little markers on it.

Oh, my goodness, that's so easy.

What was wrong with me?

And if people follow that trail right beside the river the whole way, they will find those eight markers.

And each marker features a different animal that is connected to the river.

OK, so so this is it right here.

This is the first one.

So this is the first one.

And oh, a painted turtle.

Painted turtles.

That's the first one.

That's the first one?

So we actually really have these along the river.

Yes.

All the animals that are on these posts along the river are ones that live right here.

These are easy to see, although sometimes it's hard to tell what type of turtle it is unless you're close up.

And, you know, I think a lot of times we take that for granted that we have this beautiful river and then we do have such a wonderful ecosystem and we do have so many wonderful animals along the way.

It's very diverse.

It is.

It is.

It's a very, very rich community.

Yes, it is.

OK, so when I get to this spot, what do I do?

So what you want to do is record the name of each of the eight animals that you find along the whole trail.

And then we have an email address there on the map.

And if you send in your list of eight animals to that email address, you'll be in a drawing to win some maple chocolate truffles.

That sounds really good.

I can imagine right now, parents, your kids are out of school already and you need to get them out of the house.

This is a great thing to do with the entire family.

It is.

And this particular trail is very easy.

It's level.

It's not particularly long.

And there's parking close by at the brown barn.

So it's a really good one.

Yes.

And it's extremely beautiful.

It is.

It's lovely out here.

So when did this start and how long will it be here?

This trail is up for the month of June.

So we've still got a little while that people can come out and enjoy it.

Great.

Now you have another trail called the BioBlitz and that started in June as well?

Yes, that started June 15 and that'll be active through July 15.

So that one goes a little bit longer.

OK, so a little bit more time.

Well, let's go take a look at that trail.

Please tell me that I don't have to follow the map.

No maps.

Oh, OK.

So there's another activity that people can participate in, and it's called the BioBlitz.

Now we're in St. Patrick's Park on the trail, but you don't have to be in the park or on the trail to take part in this?

That's right.

You can be anywhere along the lower St. Joseph River.

So anywhere in South Bend, Mishawaka, anywhere where you could be near the river.

So that means some people can go right in their backyard and do it if they really if they live on the river.

So what is this about?

So a BioBlitz is basically when people get together to identify as many species as possible in the natural world.

And in this case, we're trying to identify as many species as we can along the river.

So we do that through an app called iNaturalist that helps us all share our information with each other.

OK, well, I'm going to take out... well, I'll be honest.

It's Kelsy's phone everybody.

But OK, I'm taking out my phone.

OK, and then so what do what do you do then?

Yep.

So you're in the iNaturalist app and, yup, you want to add an observation.

I'm going to add one.

All right.

And now you're going to click the little camera to take a picture.

We're going to take a photo.

And let's take a picture of these leaves right here.

They're kind of heart shaped here.

Yep.

So just zoom right in on them.

So what are these?

Well, this is wild Ginger.

Oh!

Is it the ginger you can eat?

You can eat them.

But what we get in the store is something else.

Oh, it is.

Yeah.

So my question is, how will I know what to look for?

Because I would never have known that that was wild Ginger.

Honestly, you could take a picture of any plant and the app will help you identify it.

So let's see if it will hit, ok. All right.

And it's thinking about it.

And it's found out, you know, where it is, so.

What did you see just hit plant, only plant, if it doesn't if it can't figure it out, but it might.

It might.

Wild Ginger there it is.

Oh, look at that.

And it's actually this one.

Canadian wild Ginger.

Oh, my gosh.

See, I didn't know that.

That's really cool.

So you go along, you find something, you take a picture and then the app will tell you what it is.

That's exactly right.

So you can take pictures of plants, butterflies, I mean, anything, Whatever will sit still long enough for you to take a picture of.

Right.

So, yeah.

Yeah, whatever you see.

So then.. That is really cool.

That information will be included, will be combined with what everybody else who is signed into this project has observed and it'll be all put together in a big list.

That's a great idea and that's a lot of fun.

Now, I'm not even a kid and I can imagine look how excited I was.

Yeah.

I was like, oh my gosh, I can imagine that kids must love doing that.

And, you know, they always have their phones on them.

They do!

It's a really good use of your phone.

Yes, it really is.

And so how long is this going on until?

So this will be June 16 to July 16 is when we're compiling all this information.

And there's already been a lot of observations made and collected.

So that's really, really cool.

And so all they have to do is download the app to do this, They download the app, and then within the app there are projects and they have to go into the projects and find Celebrate the St. Joe BioBlitz and then they join it.

And then every time they make an observation, it'll be added into that BioBlitz.

It's very cool.

It's really fun.

A great educational component.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Well, tell me about how do you feel about celebrating the St. Joe?

Because I don't know.

I kind of feel like, you know, being someone who's not originally from this community, that's one of the things I fell in love with when I moved here.

And you know how it is when you have a great friend, you kind of take them for granted.

Absolutely.

And every now and then you've got to celebrate them.

It's like, you know, at a birthday party or something.

I think it's time to really acknowledge the river and how beautiful and important it is.

It is.

Well, thank you so much for the tour today.

Had a great time.

And I know there's a lot of other activities going on at St. Patrick's Park during the summer.

There are lots of things going on.

And actually we're going to be showing the WNIT documentary here on August 28.

Where are you going to do it?

In the Brown Barn.

And is there popcorn?

I certainly hope so.

OK, all right.

Well, I'll be there.

Do I have to make a reservation, though?

No.

So just come on out.

Well, I like that.

All right.

Well, thank you so much.

I think I'm going to continue down the trail and I'm going to use Kelsy's phone.

Maybe I can find something else.

See what else you can identify.

Thank you.

All right.

All right.

See you next time.

Well, I had a lot of fun doing the activities here at St. Patrick's Park and both of them really celebrating the St. Joe River Kelsy.

That's true.

And this is a whole summer of celebrating the St. Joe.

We'll bring you a lot of different activities over the summer as communities along the river celebrate the St. Joe along with us as WNIT is producing a documentary that will air in September called "Then, Now and Always the St. Joseph River Story".

And we look forward to premiering that in September.

But it will also premiere at places like here at St. Pat's Park before that.

Yes, it is.

And, you know, it's really cool to see all of the communities coming together to celebrate something that we all love and we all enjoy.

And I kind of love this whole idea about the watch parties, you know, and that's going to happen here at St. Patrick's Park.

So maybe you want to do a watch party, you know, show the documentary, get some popcorn.

There's going to be watch parties happening all along the river at different communities.

So if you want to find out that, check out our website, WNIT.org, and we'll have more information there about where you can see the movie ahead of its premiere on air.

Yeah, that sounds like a great idea.

Well, thank you so much for joining us.

Be sure to check us out again next week.

See you then.

See ya.

This WNIT local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.

Thank you.