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Feature Writing
The flowers man: Lakeline Oaks resident surprises ladies with flowers every week
Nick Brothers, Hill Country News, February 2018
For 59 years, four months, two weeks, 17 hours and 15 minutes, Andy Carver made it a point to buy and surprise his wife Regina with flowers every Friday whenever he was stateside from his career in the military. They weren’t always roses—occasionally carnations—but she always loved them. About a year ago, Carver and his wife moved in to Lakeline Oaks in Cedar Park. The following day, after the movers moved in their furniture, she suffered a massive stroke and passed away.
The Weight of a Solider’s Heart
Nick Brothers, The Free Weekly October 2014 Awarded 1st Place for Feature Writing by Arkansas Press Association
First-time teacher strives at building student relationships
Nick Brothers, Hill Country News, September 2017 5th most-viewed story on hillcountrynews.com in 2017
Khione Stevenson knew she wanted to be a teacher when she was five years old. She dreamed about becoming one for 17 years, and now, at 22 and full of nervous hope, she taught her first day as a full time 5th grade math teacher at Rutledge Elementary School, Aug. 28.
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As hundreds of kids in their fresh cuts and new school clothes overflowed into the hallways of Rutledge — some giggling and screaming, others shyly shoegazing — Stevenson began her first day with an overview of classroom procedures and a slew of icebreaker games.
A Festival of Love: A Greenhorn’s Wakarusa Experience
Nick Brothers, The Free Weekly, June 2014 Awarded 1st Place for Best Issue by Arkansas Press Association
After the sun set on Mulberry mountain Friday night, The Flaming Lips took the stage. I was one person in a sea of 19,000, and it was hard to ignore the good vibes everyone was putting off.
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The Lips are known for their theatrical performances, and tonight would be no different.
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Wayne Coyne, the lead singer, looked like he had his insides exposed. He wore a skin-tight suit that looked like a biology chart of the human body’s muscular system. He also wore a courtesy silvery glitter pom-pom at his crotch. Behind him stood a 15-foot-tall animated rainbow wall that radiated into infinity, and above him hung what seemed like hundreds of rope lights that mimicked rainfall. The set up alone would have been satisfying.
Dogs of Distinction: Organization Pairs Dogs with Veterans In Need
Nick Brothers, The Free Weekly, October 2016
Gary Vickery patted his big black Labrador, Boss, on his belly and rubbed him back and forth, methodically and gently. Boss is an old dog, showing signs of old age in his tufts of white around his whiskers. He sits stoically at his master’s ankle, leaning into him. A few other couples with dogs sat nearby inside St. Paul Episcopal Church in downtown Fayetteville.
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Vickery is a veteran who has dealt with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder since returning to civilian life. For a time, his anxiety and depression led him to a crippling downward spiral. His anxiety attacks made it impossible to handle leaving the house.
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This was until he was paired with Boss, through Service Dogs of Distinction, a local non-profit that started last year that pairs shelter dogs with veterans and trains them to be full service.
Beloved by the Fayetteville community for his kindness and moral strength, Jacob David George, 32, was a humble man. He committed suicide Sept. 17, 2014 in his home in Fayetteville, about a week after President Obama announced military action would be taken on Syria and the Islamic State.
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George was a disabled veteran who served three tours as a U.S. Army Special Operations combat engineer with Operation Enduring Freedom. After serving, he returned home and attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He eventually took up songwriting and went on to record an album about his post-war condition he referred to as a “Soldier’s Heart,” which he explains in his lyric book was used in the Civil War era to explain post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. In the song, George extends the metaphor of the relationship of his solider heart with his country, and addressed his moral injury he suffered from when he returned from war and how he felt betrayed by his country.
Comedienne Finds Comedy Admist Stereotypes and Taboos
Nick Brothers, The Arkansas Traveler December 2013 Awarded 1st Place for Online Feature Writing at ACMA
After attending several open mic nights at the UARK Bowl on Dickson Street in Fayetteville for a month in 2012, Whitney Wasson noticed the comics were nearly all men and so was the audience. Some did well, but many others were left speaking to a deafening silence, forcing them to return to the drawing board once more.
Despite the seemingly strict pass or fail rate, Wasson still had the desire to get up there and chase a big laugh. She wondered if the crowd of mostly men would find her funny. Most of the comedians’ humor was on the vulgar side. A few were no stranger to pantomiming their penises with the microphone cord and others usually talked about how active or inactive their sex lives were. She wanted to avoid making jokes about having a vagina or her menstrual cycle—or “Hey ladies” jokes as she calls them, which she said pander to feminine interest and experience. That wasn’t her style.