AMERICAN CUSTOM BARBERSHOP
Two new barbers, who offer precision haircuts and professional shaves, have recently moved into the American Square Building at 725 Center Avenue in Moorhead. They are Scott Slater and Matt Morris.
SA: Scott and Matt, tell us about you. Where are you from originally? Where did you graduate from high school? Where did you obtain your barber skills and education? How long does it generally take to earn a barber’s degree?
Scott: I grew up in Fargo, and graduated Fargo North class of ‘97. A few years later and a couple of bad decisions found me in a place with a lot of time on my hands. Always one who loved art, I worked my way into a job in the barber shop. For the next seven years I was able to practice art and hone a craft; two years ago upon my release, the N.D. Barber Board was kind enough to give me a second chance, and allowed me to enroll in the Moler Barber College. After 1550 hours, roughly ten months, I had something I could really be proud of: a beginning to the dream I have had for years.
Matt: I was born in Fargo but spent most of my school years in Iowa City, IA while my father was going to the University of Iowa. After high school, my family relocated back to Fargo where I began a laundry list of different jobs. I have cousins in Omaha who are barbers and spoke very highly of the profession, and as I was always in search of that elusive career, decided to try Moler Barber College. Thanks to Scott and my teacher Mary Cannon, it’s turning out to be the best decision I have ever made. I love cutting hair and even more importantly, I enjoy making people feel a little better about their appearance.
SA: How did the two of you meet? How long does it take to earn a Barber’s Degree? Is it much different than going to cosmetology school for hair styling or is it pretty much the same as far as the educational requirements? When did each of you graduate and what is your degree?
SS: Matt and I have known each other for the better part of 20 years, same group of friends. We lost contact for a while and then happened to both start barber school at roughly the same time. I graduated January of this year, and at the moment I am an apprentice barber.
MM: Barber school and Cosmetology school are two different creatures; the only similarities are we work on heads…there’s so much difference in the way each profession approaches the craft. Barbers concentrate on haircutting, shaving and beard trimming. Cosmetologists concentrate on hairstyling, skin care, manicures/pedicures and electrolysis. There are two very distinct differences: it’s illegal for a cosmetologist to perform traditional straight razor shaves, and it’s illegal for us (as barbers) to do manicures/pedicures. At the end of the day, my philosophy is: Real Men go to Barbers.
SA: Do you also cut hair for women? What about perms and coloring? Are you finding a lot of younger men are coloring their hair these days or is that something more women favor?
SS: We do women cuts, although not as many as men. No perms or colors, we tend to think of ourselves as a traditional barber shop in a modern world. We do not have a lot of younger men who want their hair colored; however, we do have color to accent designs, which is something that is becoming more and more stylish for the younger generation.
MM: We’re trying to be a traditional shop in the sense of bringing back the “man pampering” that used to come with going to the barbershop. It used to mean something (eventful) going to the barbershop once a week for a shave, a cut, scalp massage, or just a place to vent. But we’re not trying to limit ourselves to the past, like has been the downfall of many older barbers (who never moved on with the next generation of younger men’s specific wants) so we stay on the cutting edge (no pun intended) of styles and designs. There’s really no place in town that does what we do here – the quality cuts, designs, shaves, line-ups, beard trims; we’re a full package shop.
SA: What are the days and hours American Custom Barbershop is open? Do you only take scheduled appointments or are “walk-ins” welcomed as well?
SS/MM: Our hours of operation are, 9-7 Monday thru Friday, and 8-2 on Saturday. We take appointments and we LOVE walk-ins, so come on down or check us out on Facebook, American Custom Barbershop.
WELCOME TO MOORHEAD, MATT AND SCOTT! WE ARE ALWAYS HAPPY TO HAVE A NEW BUSINESS IN TOWN!
MESSAGE TO THE MOORHEAD SCHOOL BOARD: YES! I WOULD LIKE MY 26 PERCENT!
Three days ago The Forum reported a story about the Moorhead School Board sandbagging having their meetings taped for public viewing. I can’t help but wonder why. According to Superintendent Lynn Kovash, the ‘average cost per year’ would be about $3,000 to have the meetings taped and played on cable television. Her other concern is that not everyone in Moorhead has cable television hooked up and that “many people don’t have cable.”
I find Superintendent Kovash’s excuses and board member Kris Thompson’s reasoning that “there’s some merit to the proposal and I’m not sure this is the right time” are both lame. According to Tony Tilton, General Manager of MCAM (Moorhead Community Access Media; channel 12 on your local dial in Moorhead), they would do the taping for $125 per meeting. I also know that a retired member of the city of Moorhead’s IT department offered to come and tape the school board meetings, and was told “Well, there are a few members who just don’t want to be taped.” I can’t help but wonder why? What are they hiding or saying in these meetings that apparently someone does not want taped, let alone having the public at large actually view?
There are 7,800 subscribers to Cable One in Moorhead, according to Scott Geston, Cable One’s general manager. Midcontinent‘s cable company has another 5,000 members locked into its cable subscriber listing. That doesn’t figure into the number of folks who use their computer to keep up with the daily news, or web stations or watching anything on one of the cable companies providing cable service. That means that out of the approximate 15,300 household in Moorhead, at least 12,800 of them have cable lines into their homes. So does that mean Superintendent Kovash is more concerned about the 2,500 who do not have cable access and won’t be able to watch taped meetings of the school board than the 12,800 who do have access and could watch the board meetings? Geeze! No wonder our school system is in trouble!!
Frankly, I don’t buy it. I’ve known Lynn Kovash a long time and I do not believe she’s more concerned about the cost to those who do not have cable access versus those who do. If you peruse your recent tax bill, it will break down the amount going to each entity, and the school district in Moorhead is getting 26 percent of everyone who pays property taxes in Moorhead.
Our property taxes in the last year were approximately $1,400. That means our “26 percent “ paid to the school district was in the neighborhood of $364. We haven’t had any children in the Moorhead schools for nearly ten years!! And we lived here for nearly five and half years before we had any children attending the Moorhead School District. So, tell ya what, Moorhead School Board members: please apply our “26 percent” toward the $3,000 per year you have decided is too much money to keep all of the tax payers in Moorhead informed about what you are doing, the decisions you are making and the “big picture” on how you are spending our money and educating all our children and grandchildren, times the remainder of the years we live in Moorhead, and you will definitely have enough money to manage a taping session of each of the Moorhead School Board meetings for a long time to come. A decision, I might add, that this school board came to without input from the citizens it claims to represent.
At the very least, the school board could arrange to have the Moorhead School Board meetings video-taped by The People’s Press Project. They do an excellent job and can be produced for internet. Just call Duke Schempp or Cindy Gomez Schempp, or you can go on line and email them at: Cindy@fmppp.org or duke@fmppp.org .
In the meantime, Moorhead TAXPAYERS who would like to know what your district school board is doing, by having access to their meetings via taped video online or at Moorhead Access channel 12, send each one an email and tell them. The following people serve on the Moorhead Independent School District School Board: lisa.erickson@moorhead.k12.mn.us ;
cindy.fagerlie@moorhead.k12.mn.us ; Laurie. Johnson@moorhead.k12.mn.us
Bill. Tomhave@moorhead.k12.mn.us ; Mike. Siggerud@moorhead.k12.mn.us ;
Kristine. Thompson@moorhead.k12.mn.us and Superintendent Lynn Kovash at: lkovash@moorhead.k12.mn.us
All responses and questions can be sent to: sooasheim@aol.com