FASHION : Sole Digger: Footwear Photography

You may remember that last week we introduced you to trainer enthusiast, photographer and blogger, Sole Digger. Today sees the arrival of his first post exclusively for RWD, complete with stunning photographs of the best women’s and men’s trainers from his recent finds…Welcome To The World Of Sole Digger

It’s been a busy few weeks hitting the streets to find interesting ‘trainer stories’. I look for interesting people that wear and use trainers in an interesting way, and recently Sydney’s Hyde Park and its surrounding areas have been a happy hunting ground for the style and sneaker savvy.

Here are my favourite shots and stories from the last few weeks. Don’t forget to check out I Dig Your Sole Man each day for more great content.
adidas Ciero in Hyde Park, Sydney

First up is a skater called Hamish who I caught in action one weekend.  He is sponsored by adidas Skateboarding, and loves the fact that their trainers combine comfort with retro designs.  He will only wear one style though; the classic adidas Ciero, and with each pair only lasting him a few weeks it’s worth checking some of his local vintage stores as that’s where his near-new shoes go after only a couple of wears.
New Balance in Bondi Beach Market, Sydney

Atlanta is a jewellery designer whose taste in trainers is as eye-catching as the accessories that she makes. She loves trainers that stand out and make a statement, and after seeing these unique New Balance shoes her friends chipped in together to buy them for her as a birthday present.
Converse All Stars in Hyde Park, Sydney

This chilled Korean air stewardess is used to spending her working life in shoes, and loves to touch the ground so she can slip into the style and comfort of her beloved All Stars Converse trainers. They are the only style of trainer that she wears, no matter where she is in the world, due to their universal style and comfort.

Seniors make post-grad plans

As the semester wraps up and comes to a close, seniors are anxious about graduation and what their future holds.
“I'm hoping to get into law school this fall,” said senior administration of justice major Megan McCoy.

McCoy got involved in a number of clubs and activities at the college during her time on campus. She played pitcher on the softball team for four years, is an active member of the Theta Phi Alpha sorority and served on SGA. McCoy said she has enjoyed her time at UVa-Wise and values all the people she has met.

“My experience here has had its up and downs, but overall I love my professors, faculty, friends and sorority sisters so it was good,” McCoy said.

One of McCoy's fellow sorority sisters, Aceshia Wampler, is also graduating this semester. Wampler is a psychology major and a cheerleader at the college.

Wampler said she is planning to eventually attend graduate school at Lindsey Wilson School of Counseling. She hopes to work as a family and marriage counselor.

Wampler said she is going to miss the college —  especially her friends and her sorority sisters.

“My experience at this college was overall really positive,” said Wampler. “I feel like I've grown a lot over the past years and made many lasting bonds with a lot of different people.”

Some seniors are already packing up their rooms, even though graduation isn't until May 14.

Mark Phillips, a physical education major, has already been packing some of his belongings up and loading them in his vehicle.

“I've helped Mark carry stuff to his car,” said junior Jermaine Wright. “I can't blame him because he's really ready to graduate and get out of here, and I would be too.”

Phillips said he is seeking an internship after graduation with the Washington Wizards, the NBA team in Washington, D.C.

He said he wants to work in the Wizards' Media and Game Operations Department so he can utilize his education and training in sports management to its maximum potential.

Sam Eligwe, a senior business administration major, is also graduating in May and already has major plans for his future.

Eligwe was Phillips' teammate on the basketball team at UVa-Wise for the last two years.

“I want to fit in to every aspect of being an entrepreneur,” said Eligwe. “I want to open my own chain of men's boutiques and after I graduate I plan on working hard to get my business up and running.”

Eligwe said he has been developing this business idea with his brother for the past three years. The stores will have a “fashion forward” concept and will feature unique clothing and shoes for men.

He said he will also be traveling to different parts of the world this summer, including Las Vegas, London, New York and Nigeria. He will be doing philanthropy work in Nigeria, helping and giving back to the communities.

Overall, Eligwe said his experience at UVa-Wise was “different” and is something he will never forget.

“Before living here, I honestly had no clue where Wise was, and being from a big city I just couldn't get used to it at first,” said Eligwe. “But, over time, I saw the benefits of this little school and learned to appreciate all of them.”

Men's soccer team gets spring games and practices underway

The Sacramento State men's soccer team is using spring training to build a strong team after losing three graduating seniors last season.

Senior midfielder Adam Bettencourt and junior midfielder Matthew Tellez said it will not be hard to fill the players' shoes because the team has been training together all year.

“We're kind of trying to fill their roles,” Tellez said. “Two of them were playing in the midfield with me so we're looking for guys who can step up and take their positions. We're also trying to find a center back who can fill Diego's position.  All three were starters so we are hoping the new guys can come in and perform as well as they did.”

Linenberger said Diego Marroquin, Fernando Cabadas and Ernesto Carranza were very good players. He said Cabadas and Carranza were some of the best players that the soccer program has had and they were drafted into Major League Soccer.

“We only lost three seniors so we expect to have a good team again,” said head coach Michael Linenberger. “They are big shoes to fill but at the same time it was only three.”

After losing Marroquin, Cabadas and Carranza, the team has 22 returning players for spring training. The team has four new players who will be added to the fall season roster, giving the team 26 players for the spring season.

“We use the spring to get the guys that did not get to play much in the fall a chance and get them in some games,” Linenberger said. “The players get a full three months of training and play in six games so they get an opportunity to get their feet wet.”

The team has been working out in the weight room, running and working on attacking both sides of the ball to get in shape for the fall season.

“Spring practice is the same as fall practice, our coaches always emphasize working hard,” Tellez said. “We are not one of those teams that are gifted with the best players but all of our players have one quality and that's working hard. Working hard everyday is pretty much our main focus. Soccer is more of a collective kind of sport so we look for everyone to complete their roles and make sure they get their job done.”

Linenberger said he expects Adam Bettencourt, Tellez, Rory O'Day, and Chris Bettencourt to step up this season as key players. He expects O'Day to anchor the back line, Adam Bettencourt and Tellez to run the center of the midfield, and Chris Bettencourt to be the main goal scoring threat.

Both Adam Bettencourt and Tellez said they do not believe they are going to be key players this season and that it is going to be more of a team effort.

“It's going to be a majority of how well we gel together as a team,” Adam Bettencourt said.  “I don't think it's going to solely rest on one or two players.”

Linenberger also said he expects Max Alvarez to be an asset to the team because two years ago during his freshman season, Alvarez was the top scorer on the team with 10 goals. Alvarez did not get much playing time and only made one goal last season due to a hamstring injury.

“We feel we've got a good core of returning guys,” Linenberger said. “The new guys we have this spring are doing well and we hope they will come in and have an immediate impact in the fall.”

Capitol Showdown: Sexual Assault Awareness Month

“One in four women in college today have been victims of rape.” Look at that statistic, and then look around you. Many believe that number is even greater, due to unreported cases.
Take Back the Night is a march held on college campuses (Towson’s TBTN will on April 28). Survivors and supporters alike come together to speak out about sexual and domestic violence. Along with Walk a Mile in Her Shoes (which was held on campus on April 20), an event that targets men and challenges them help end sexual violence, Take Back the Night focuses on an issue that, for many college students hits home.
This issue is illustrated clearly by Katie Couric’s recently conducted interview on behalf of CBS News regarding the problem of sexual assault on college campuses, specifically the assault on Beckett Brennan at the University of the Pacific. Brennan, a member of the women’s basketball team, accepted a ride after a party from two men who were on the men’s basketball team. They led her upstairs in a building where she believed there would be another party, and three men proceeded to rape her multiple times.
One of her friends recorded Brennan’s story without her knowledge when she called them to report what had happened, prompting her assistant coach to call her once she had flown home. University Police questioned the alleged assailants four days after the alleged assault.
Later, she was urged by officials at the University to report the assault to the local police, where she was persuaded by a detective’s stories of trials-gone-wrong to not file criminal charges and instead go before the school’s judicial review board; the board, consisting of three students, a teacher, and an administrator, was an option for the Brennans that would conceal their daughter’s identity.
Brennan says many of the board’s questions focused on her behavior, such as drinking, rather than the alleged assault. The judicial review board ruled all three players guilty – one suspended for two semesters, and one suspended for a single semester; the third student was expelled, only to receive a full scholarship to the University of Idaho within three months [CBS].
This story should make you sick. It has notably been said that “we live in a society that teaches us ‘don’t get raped’ as opposed to ‘don’t rape.’” There is no reason why someone who is found guilty of rape should get off with only this so-called punishment. While the messages we send to men should consist of “walk a mile in her shoes” and “don’t rape”, this incident tells them they may even be able to get a full scholarship out of it.
Rape culture is everywhere. The war on women is spiraling out of control, practically unnoticed. Vice President Joe Biden traveled to the University of New Hampshire to address this very problem and explain the school’s guidelines.
Discussing a specific case, Biden explained how a young woman (whom he referred to as Jenny) didn’t have her allegation taken seriously because she had been drinking the night of the alleged assault; other questions by the student judicial panel included how she was dancing and what she was wearing. Biden said, “The student judicial panel said that they didn’t find Jenny credible because she had been drinking. They decided her rapist was a nice kid and didn’t deserve the punishment under the circumstances” [NPR].
If the Vice President of the United States has time to speak out about rape, so do you. There are numerous ways to get involved on any campus, one of which is to join us on April 28 and march in solidarity.


Recently, there was a rape involving a student athlete at the University of the Pacific which showed us how our system fails those that are sexually assaulted. The student in this case was raped by members of the basketball team. At the time she was scared to report it but her friends reported the assault to the police; thereby starting an inquiry. Instead of going through the judicial system the University “dealt” with the incident via a judicial board. The school suspended 2 of the rapists for periods ranging from a semester to a total academic year. The third rapist was sentenced to expulsion. The young lady had originally decided to leave school after the incident but after some time believed it was best to return in order for her to find some normalcy.
Unfortunately following her return she was shunned by her teammates because of new regulations put in place following her rape. This made it increasingly difficult for her to find any sense of a normal life as she knew it before she was raped.
Instead of having a student conduct hearing the police should have addressed situation. The courts in the area should have prosecuted the three young men so that the victim of rape wouldn’t have faced the additional humiliation and suffering that came with her name being made public because of the failures of the University. The University should have provided her with additional counseling to help her heal from the devastating crime committed against her instead of blaming her partly for the incident. Counseling and punishment through the proper channels is vital but there also needs to be harsher punishment for those convicted of the crime of rape and other sexual offenses. With harsher mandatory punishment accompanied by additional public campaigns communicating the mandatory limits along with the ability to remain anonymous for the victims to young men and women, there can be a dent made in the amount of attacks and an increase in the reporting of such crimes. With those actions there must also be a renewed effort to provide anonymous counseling for those affected by sexual assault.
In closing, if you have been the victim of a sexual assault, report the crime. It was not your fault and those that have committed the crime against you may do it again to another.

Boutique expands with shoes and men in mind

One of the coolest additions to Blake & Brady's expansion is the men's corner upstairs, says Chris Sullivan.

It's a bare space now, but a couch and TV will entertain men and children while the women in their lives shop at the Anderson boutique.

“I'm in that same boat," Sullivan said. “I can't do the shopping thing."

He and wife, Sissa Sullivan, like to do the business thing. Their store, in downtown Anderson, will double in size on May 2. A 1,100-square-foot-loft will hold denim and 50 styles of shoes. “When you get a box of shoes it's enormous," Chris Sullivan said. “You're getting one box with 12 pair. People were buying them like crazy, but we didn't have anywhere to store them."

The upstairs addition is an almost mirror image of the store's main floor, Sissa Sullivan said. The loft last housed an attorney's office cluttered with walls and forgotten furniture.An original 1898 hardwood floor lay beneath old tiles.

“It's like people came home from the Civil War, and they laid this floor down," Chris Sullivan said.

A wood bar will be used for after-hours parties. At least two dressing rooms will be to the side of the new space.

Word-of-mouth advertising and an active Blake & Brady Facebook page have led to a growth that has spread throughout the Southeast, California and soon, Ireland.

“It's nice to hear our names on a lot of people's lips," Sissa Sullivan said. “We want everyone to succeed in this town."

Much of the boost happened in the last year, and the Sullivans hired six more employees to meet demands.

Orders from such high-fashion locales as California amused Chris Sullivan.

“It's funny because I know they can find this stuff there because we get it from there so we receive it from California then model it and ship it back," he said.

For all the closings that plagued downtown through the winter, the opening of Mellow Mushroom on Monday brought hope, Sissa Sullivan said.

“Downtown is really starting to boom," she said. “It's showing people that downtown is definitely a place to be, which is nice."

A year ago she never imagined she'd be this close to meeting her goal of shipping to every state.

“My expectations have been met 10 times over," she said.

Students walk a mile in heels

A group Towson University students strapped on high heels and walked a full mile---all for a good cause.

It's National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. And for the second year in a row, members of Towson's football , soccer and golf teams participated in Walk a Mile in Her Shoes marching a mile on campus to stop violence against women.

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes: The International Men's March to Stop Rape, Sexual Assault and Gender Violence was founded in 2001 by Frank Baird, a psychotherapist and marriage counselor.

South County men contribute to rape awareness fundraiser

Several South County men, all wearing women's shoes, went for a mile-long stroll through downtown Redding Saturday, April 9, to raise awareness of sexual assault, gender violence and to bring an end to rape.

Along the way and for several weeks prior to the fourth annual Walk a Mile in Her Shoes® event, a fundraiser for the Shasta Women's Refuge, the men garnered support from donors, sponsors and supporters.

“We had 131 registered walkers who raised approximately $26,000 to benefit survivors of sexual assault, rape and domestic violence,” said Kristi Hanson, director of fund-raising for the refuge.

“The international men's march is a unique opportunity for men to educate our community about a very serious subject and to rally our community to take action to prevent sexualized violence, Hanson said.

District 5 Shasta County Supervisor Les Baugh of Anderson, walking for his fourth year in a row, raised $2,745 with much of that coming from a “Baugh Goes Prime” fundraising event that he held April 7 at the Prime 11 Cinemas at the Shasta Outlet Stores.

For the second year, Mary's Pizza Shack and theater owner Ken Hill co-sponsored Baugh's three-hour party that featured giveaways of movie passes for anyone who donated at least $15 toward Baugh's donation total.

Janet Applegarth-Yarbrough received a pair of Prime Cinema annual movie passes with the evening's largest single donation exceeding $1,000, Baugh said.

Of the men's walk, Baugh said, “It was actually encouraging to see so many guys out there doing it.”

Four-year-old Shih Tzu, Daisy, kept up with her master Baugh for most of the mile, but started to lag when Baugh decided to sprint for the finish line still wearing black pumps with inch-and-a-half heels cushioned by calf-high gray athletic men's socks.

When asked to describe the walk, “Ruff!” was all the little dog could pant.

Anderson Police Officer Robert Modin, representing the Anderson Police Officer Association, raised $1,310 while wearing size 15-wide women's patent black stretch vinyl boots that reached almost to his bare and very pale kneecaps visible beneath his khaki cargo shorts.

“We had a pretty good support group. I actually had only collected $655, but an anonymous donor matched that amount,” said Modin, who was walking for the second year. Modin said he raised $1,200 during last year's event.

“It was a fun event, although it was for a serious cause,” Modin said. “I've learned just how difficult it is to walk on a sloped driveway or curb cut with those high heels and I feel empathy for anyone who has to do it on a regular basis.”

Walking for the fourth year in a row was Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko, a resident of Palo Cedro, who presented the Women's Refuge organizers with $800 raised from various supporters.

A gold sheriff's seven-pointed star adorned the toe of each of Bosenko's two-inch-heeled black pumps. During the walk, he carried a placard supplied by event organizers that read, “Put yourself in HER shoes.”

Mark Lathrop, community relations manager at Sierra Pacific Industries in Anderson, turned in $220 for his efforts.

Walking as a large group were at least 12 men from Redding Rancheria and Win-River Casino. They raised $784 as well as contributing $2,500 as an event sponsor.

They couldn't be missed in their matching black pumps with two-inch heels and casino-themed black, red and white stockings featuring all four suits from a traditional deck of playing cards.

“Walk a Mile in Her Shoes® informs the community that services are available for recovery. It demonstrates that men in Shasta County are willing and able to be courageous partners with women in making our community a safer place,” Hanson said.