All eyes on Christopher Barker

Christopher Barker would like to show you some magic tricks.

Barker, a sophomore history major, said he started picking up magic when he lived in a flat in Scotland with his brother Paul last summer. A professional magician from London named Rob Hemmens also lived in the flat, he said.

"He got me interested in a way," Barker said. "I kept asking him to show me tricks, and he never really taught me how to do tricks [except for] a couple of minor things. I brought those back, and I thought I should figure out how those [other] tricks were done. That's essentially how I got into magic."

He added that Rob reminded him of Christian Bale's character from the film "The Prestige" - professional and very mysterious. Barker said Rob walked with a limp because of an illness that limited the mobility of the lower half of his body, although not his hands, which is how he started doing magic.

"I think that's how most magicians end up doing things," Barker said. "They just pick something up and start working with it and make it disappear and think, 'Hey, I can do this.'"

He said that since he returned home, he's been consulting magic books for new tricks, in addition to practicing the ones he already knows and making up some of his own. Barker said he thinks anyone can learn magic.

"It doesn't matter how big your hands are or how your motor skills [are]," he said. "It's just all about [being] willing to do it."

Barker said much of magic is just sleight of hand, which plays on his own interest in psychology and how the human mind works.

"The way that people can just overlook the slightest thing or really be amazed by the simplest thing really intrigues me," he said.

Magic also involves a great amount of memory, including being able to remember where every card in a deck is at any point, Barker said. He added that a cardinal rule of magic is to never show the same trick multiple times in a row to the same person.

"If someone says, 'I want to see that trick again,' you don't show it again because obviously they're looking for the answer, and if they're looking hard enough, they might find it - or they might not," Barker said.

He said he has learned between 50 and 60 magic tricks, and he has about half of them fully mastered. His specialty at the moment is card tricks, which, most magicians start out with, he said.

Barker said the most difficult thing about magic is the art of patter, or talking to an audience to distract them during a trick.

"Anyone can make a card appear, but being able to make it nice and cool [is something else]," he said.

He said he performed street magic while he was in Scotland and also has done tricks in downtown Kirksville and in St. Louis, his hometown. Barker added that he would rather perform in front of small groups because street magic can become awkward sometimes.

"Some people just really don't like magic," he said. "I wouldn't say they're afraid of it, … [but] magicians, I think, freak people out. It's almost like professional lying in a way."

Despite some people's discomfort with magic, Pagliai's restaurant hired Barker to entertain patrons while they dine.

In addition to magic, which he considers a hobby, Barker is also interested in traveling, he said. Barker said he lived and worked in Honduras for two months in 2007 for his high school senior service project and that his family lived in Spain for a few months in summer of 2007.

"I feel kind of bad about it because when I come back [home], I really don't like being back," Barker said. "A lot of people get homesick, but I'm actually the complete opposite side of the spectrum. I don't really get homesick. I just love being out and away."

He also said he would like to start an improv group at the University in the manner of the Oxford Imps, a comedy group his brother Paul performed with in Scotland. He said that after college, he would like to become a paramedic and a firefighter.

"I think [I like] the idea of helping people ... and serving them," Barker said. "I just feel like I have talents I can utilize that would be good for that kind of job."