On the Job: Caterer

Nick Williams From the parking lot, Anita Jany’s easy-to-miss Columbia Catering Company doesn’t look like it could churn out meals fit for ’80s rock bands or presidential hopefuls. The restaurant-owner-turned-caterer spends six days a week cooking each meal by herself in her industrial kitchen, and not even a lap full of piping hot veggies can stop her.

Playing chess in Columbia

Ettie Berneking The members of the Columbia Chess Club are a part of Columbia’s underground chess scene. These enthusiasts of all ages and professions have no official supervising organizations, no school sponsors and no leagues to compete in. But they still manage to gather around town to partake in the ancient pastime and keep coming back each week for the thrill of a checkmate.

Portugal. The Band

Katlyn Keller For Portugal. The Man, cinder blocks substitute as drums, living rooms are the same as stages in an arena, and album artwork is a hallucinogenic pop-up book. The punctuation in the band’s name alone stretches the rules of grammar. Let’s just say the Wasilla, Alaska, band does things a little differently.

Curb your vandalism

Darren Orf As paint trickled down the wall of Strickland Hall’s north stairwell, the word “AGNO,” capitalized and underlined, looked like a scar. Cleaning crews rushed to remove the graffiti as Columbia faced a familiar foe — vandalism.