Spirit Magazine - August 2013 - (Page 66)

keting expert and to use that knowledge to book more shows, eventually earning enough money to buy a tent and put to an end the rain cancellations that cripple his family’s bottom line. Even Business 101 principles began to pay dividends. A lesson in supply and demand was quickly relayed to his dad, James, whose stock of cotton candy was running low. James raised the price to $4 from its usual $3—and the sweets sold out. “Supply and demand, man,” he told his son. But after a semester and a half on SMU’s leafy, urban campus, Jesse felt overwhelmed and out of place, and decided he didn’t need a college degree to help his family. So he quit school in April and rejoined his circus. Today, the unrelenting rain will take away what he loves most: the show. With no performance left to prepare for, Jesse trudges through the thick, wet grass, past an attentive camel, and toward the semi that holds props and then some. “This is the man cave,” he James says with a wheezy laugh, the mark of guy who has spent his life as a garrulous showman. They wed in 1991, after failed first marriages to other people. He was 35, and she was 28—so a union, James jokes, was “more respectable.” “We decided that we had everything in common,” Cristine remembers. “We both wanted children very bad, so we didn’t waste time.” Three babies later—Jesse’s sister, Star, is the firstborn, Jesse is the middle child, and Cole is the youngest—the couple did what came naturally and started a circus of their own. In need of a name, they stitched together the James Cristy Cole Circus and put in place a rule that most of their peers do not: The children would go to school full-time in their rural home of Mabank, Texas, and only join the circus during vacations. “It’s very addicting,” James says. “When you go in front of 6,000 people, and they give you a big round of applause, that’s instant gratification.” “The circus life is a hard life—well, it’s a good life,” says family patriarch James Plunkett. “Who said a hard life isn’t a good life?” says, swinging open the truck door and revealing a living space of maybe 100 square feet. The walls and floor are faded to a dull gray, and the only food in sight is a value-size box of Apple Jacks. Jesse’s 14-year-old brother, Cole, is planted in the middle of the tight space, playing Mortal Kombat on a small television that rests next to the kitchen sink. Jesse sleeps on a tattered couch embroidered with cheesy palm trees; Cole’s mattress is jammed into a loft above the bathroom. “We don’t live glamorously,” Jesse says. “I live in the front end of a semi, which for me is perfect.” “Yeah,” says Cole, who, in four years, will face the same decision Jesse just had to make about his future. “It’s perfect.” T he plunketts trace their performing roots to the late 1800s. At that time there were more than 100 small circuses trawling the country. Now there are maybe 25, the survivors of changing times, mostly serving the parts of America that Cirque du Soleil won’t bother with. James and Cristine, Jesse’s parents, met when they were 11 and 4, respectively. They both came from circus families. “It was love at first sight,” 66 spirit august 2013 This is James’ own adolescence talking: Long before he grew a belly, he toured the world performing a popular tightrope act in which he’d appear to drunkenly stumble from perilous heights. “I knew that once they got a taste of that, it was over.” It’s not that James and Cristine wanted their children banished from circus life. They encour-

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Spirit Magazine - August 2013

Spirit Magazine - August 2013
Contents
Gary’s Greeting
Gary’s Greeting en Español
Star of the Month
Freedom Story
From the Editor
Your Words
Your Pictures
Media Center
Eat Drink Sleep
The Numbers
Wise Guide
Business
The Greatest Show on Turf
Flipped Out
Your Adventure In Grand Rapids
Life Adventure In Grand Rapids
Calendar
Fun!
Spotlight
Community Outreach
Route Map
Rapid Rewards Partners
Flight Service
The “If” List

Spirit Magazine - August 2013