Along with their day jobs in the classroom and office, many employees of the university also devote their time to interesting and rewarding hobbies.
Logan Light, director of campus life, runs his own art and design business, Ampersand Light. What initially was simply a hobby and creative release became a source of income when Light was asked to make chalkboards for a local business, Light said.
“I didn’t think I would earn money for it, I started because I was asked by Mr. Postman to do the boards there,” Light said. “As I experimented with different mediums, I got a better eye and chalkboard design and hand-lettering were coming into style then.”
Light has been designing chalkboards for three years, and now does chalkboard designs on commission, including the boards at Mr. Postman and the menu at Midnight Oil. His work is made from materials that are “designed for wear” so they are durable and will not simply rub off.
Light said his artistic and creative abilities emerged at a young age.
“I’ve always had a good eye, been good with drawing, been able to copy things well,” Light said. “My taste has developed, but the ability has always been there.”
Light does much of the advertisement design for the Campus Activities Board, and enjoys doing that as well as his chalkboard designs and lettering. He said that much of the appeal of his work lies in its unique quality and his ability to customize his work based on the desires of the client.
Dr. Mark Elrod, professor of political science, has his own hobby, born more out of necessity than a creative urge. Since 2007, Elrod has been trapping and releasing raccoons from his property in Searcy. The first raccoon he trapped he named “Rocky,” in reference to The Beatles’ song “Rocky Raccoon.” He has named them all “Rocky” since; Rocky the first through Rocky XXI. Elrod blames the oak trees on his property for the high number of raccoons, since racoons live in hardwood trees. In the more than six years he has been trapping them, he has caught 21 raccoons.
In 2008, Elrod came back from Greece to find that a raccoon had taken up shelter in his dormer, costing him $500 in damage. Elrod said that is the day he “declared war on them.” Since beginning to trap them, Elrod has researched raccoons and trapping methods quite a lot.
“I have a borderline obsession about it,” Elrod said.
Elrod described the raccoon as the “perfect urban animal” and pointed out many of the animal’s unique characteristics, such as cognitive and problem-solving abilities, long memory span, near-opposable thumbs and a collapsible spine, which allows raccoons to fit into very tight spaces.
After Elrod caught Rocky IV, a friend remarked that it looked just like a raccoon Elrod had caught before. Since then, Elrod said, he has been tagging them with a small spot of blue spray paint. He said he has never caught a raccoon twice since he has been tagging them.
Multiple people have offered to take the animals for him, due to the value of their pelts, Elrod said. Instead, after trapping them, Elrod takes them to an undisclosed location in Searcy near water and food sources so they will hopefully not find their way back into residential areas.
“I wouldn’t say I’m an animal rights activist,” Elrod said. “But I don’t like killing animals.”
