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2
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COMMENT
Cotton rotten I find Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) to be disingenuous in his denial of President Trump’s racist remarks on the DACA program. Don’t cover up Trump’s ignorance and disdain for non-white immigrants. Cotton lied to protect the president. That doesn’t help compromise and distorts the issues. Thomas Dresser Oak Bluffs, Mass.
believed that marriage was between a man and a woman. He said it was a spiritual decision influenced by God. Does Dumas believe Clinton and Obama abhorred those same-sex couples who were obstructed from marrying for many years by these two presidents? Phillips only wanted to personally not take part in the wedding of one same-sex couple. Clinton and Obama made their statements in hope that it would enable them to win a presidential election and were rewarded. Phillips had no desire
for personal gain, but was punished with financial ruin for his convictions. Unlike Clinton and Obama, who seem to be able to put on and take off their religious beliefs and convictions like a pair of old shoes they use when comfortable and discard when not, Phillips continued to believe as Obama previously stated, marriage was between a man and a woman and it was a spiritual belief ordained by God. After reading his column, I believe a better case could be made that Dumas abhors Jack Phillips and those like
him who have not abandoned their belief that marriage is between a man and a woman. Ron West
Surprised? Is anyone really surprised at Trump’s latest racist comments? It’s not like this is a new thing. He has a history of this kind of behavior, even predating his GOP primary run. What’s disheartening is people continue to support Trump’s presidency despite his reprehensible behavior while in office. It’s almost as disheartening as knowing how many supported his candidacy in the first place. What does our own president’s world view, as he himself expresses it, say about us as a country? What does this say about what we value as Americans? It says this is either who we really are, or a minority of citizens has a disproportionate amount of influence over our nation’s political institutions. Whether the former or the latter is the case, neither represents the values of a true democracy. R.L. Hutson Cabot
On religious freedom I enjoy reading Ernest Dumas columns, especially the Sept. 28 column (“Stifling dissent”) containing a good discussion on the importance of religious freedom and freedom of speech. He applauded the court decision recognizing the religious freedom of Jehovah’s Witnesses who refused to salute the flag. Dumas did not seem to show the same understanding in his Dec. 14 column (“Silly acts, good law”) on the Masterpiece Cake Shop case, which he described as only a dispute over using religion and spiritual texts as a pretext for exercising individual prejudice. He seemed to believe he could understand the true motives of the cake shop owner when he said Jack Phillips abhorred the couple getting married. Is it not possible Phillips simply felt that his religious beliefs would not allow him to participate in a same-sex marriage by decorating the cake in the same way a Jehovah’s Witness could not salute the flag because of his religious beliefs? Phillips states, “As a Christian, I have neither the liberty nor the inclination to discriminate. God calls me to love and serve all, and that’s what I seek to do.” He did not refuse to serve them as Dumas said. He was willing to sell them a cake. He just refused to decorate it for them, just as he has refused to decorate cakes for Halloween and other celebrations that are not acceptable to his religious beliefs. Does Dumas think he abhors those who celebrate Halloween? In 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act. Joe Biden and many other Democrats voted for it. It defined marriage as only between a man and a woman and stated no state could be required to recognize a same gender marriage. During his 2008 campaign President Obama stated as a Christian he 4
JANUARY 18, 2018
ARKANSAS TIMES
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AD U N ID I S CO M T TR A m GR A S E o U s a s .c DE N
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In response to Autumn Tolbert’s Jan. 11 column, “Oprah!”:
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All the objections seem to echo what was said about Trump. Two of the insignificant differences are that she is a woman and she is black. Of the more significant differences are that she is a woman and she is black, she is honest, she was not born with the proverbial silver spoon and hasn’t filed for multiple bankruptcies. Too many other things to mention! Mytwocents
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In response to Ernest Dumas’ Jan. 11 column, “Sick health policy”: I’m so glad we live in a country that takes care of those who can’t 9 care of themselves, are disabled, 1take live way below the poverty level, and are disenfranchised. I’m so proud!! Grizzly456
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Dear Saint Peter, Please let me in. I can explain. I, uh, uh, uh … From: Asa Deadseasquirrel
In response to Gene Lyons’ Jan. 11 column “Playing to a crowd”:
much matter whether or not Trump In terms of international fallout, I The only possible reason for all does anything for them or not. After wonder about the timing of Trump’s the denials is that there has been all, they’re used to their own shitholes decision not to attend the opening of If you haven’t yet figured that some fallout internationally from and wouldn’t know any better anyway. our new embassy in London. I wonder out, perhaps you can’t. Trump is the comments. It won’t be long until Olphart if word got back to the White House triumphant in having created an our only friend on the world scene that he might be greeted by testy unforgettable character. He often will be Russia and that can only Tommy is a chronic liar and a very crowds, and rightfully so. refers to himself, that character, in bite us in the butt in the long term. hateful asshole. Doigotta the third person. He plays his role You’re right to say that his base is Warren superbly. It is unfortunate that he has absolutely thrilled by that kind of The Democrat Gazette’s silence on no ability to play a presidential role. rhetoric. They love it and would like Warren: that would be hateful Cottons willingness to lie for Trump I have never watched reality TV, much to hear it every day from the White shithole in the current vernacular. is deafening. less his previous shows, so I, too, did House. They have one of their own Going for the record again PVNasby not see this coming. Hilary Clinton was now as POTUS, they think. It doesn’t by far the best candidate we have ever seen in this country followed by Al Gore. Both lost their respective elections under suspicious circumstances. I was married to a much smarter narcissistic sociopath and compulsive liar for 20-plus years and did not recognize his pathology clearly until I happened upon a book titled The WINES OF Sociopath Next Door a few years after THE WEEK. our divorce. Trump is textbook material. What I find so odd is how the media and most everyone else tries to make sense of Trump’s behavior, Prisoner Red personality, actions, speech, etc. Wait $47.99 — I take that back. I did the same thing for decades with my ex-husband. Someone famous said something to the effect of “Once you know something, you can’t unknow it.” In this regard, I am woke. At this point, CHARDONNAYS MALBECS anyone who stands by Trump is as Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Karia $34.29 Layer Cake $15.99 Frank Family $26.69 Gascon $13.99 culpable and guilty as he is. Joel Gott 2015 $21.99 • Starmont $19.09 Anzule
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In response to the Jan. 14 Arkansas Blog post “Memory refreshed, Tom Cotton now disputes that Trump made ‘shithole’ comments”: Looks like Tommy will now have “a history of misrepresenting what happens in White House meetings.” Pot calling kettle black? Aren’t those guidelines being illegally placed on the state Capitol lawn pretty clear on these actions, Tommy? Looks like you are more into WWTD than WWJD. Oh, the irony of your convictions.
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This makes Tom Cotton look like an even bigger liar! If what he’s saying now is the truth, he would have denied Trump said “shithole” in the very beginning last Thursday. Are these meetings not recorded? Maybe Cotton had to be certain there were no recordings before his memory suddenly kicked in. Good grief? Is there no decency? Eutychus
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arktimes.com JANUARY 18, 2018
5
WEEK THAT WAS
Quote of the week “What I think the president is saying is that if you’re only appealing to people from countries that are behind the times, depraved countries, if that’s the element that you’re appealing to, and of course a lot of those folks are wanting to come to America and pursue the American dream, then he feels like that we should make the same or a better appeal to people from other European countries, et cetera, that can come in here and actually fit into the society as we know it and do the kinds of things that will make America a prosperous nation.” — Arkansas 3rd District U.S. Rep. Steve Womack defending President Trump’s question in an Oval Office meeting with lawmakers, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump was expressing frustration at protections of immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries. The remark has apparently derailed talks of a bipartisan immigration deal.
Quote of the week II “We all know the president is not the brightest, nor does it seem that history was among his favorite classes. These “shithole” countries did not get there on their own. The U.S. involvement in [the El Salvador] civil war has played a huge role in the destruction of the country, not to mention CAFTA [the Central America Free Trade Agreement], and the country now operating on the fiat U.S. dollar. “What I do know is that immigrants, especially brown immigrants, make this country run. If these countries are such “shitholes,” why are these immigrants literally paving roads?” — Blanca Estevez, a political refugee from El Salvador who now lives in Fayetteville and is the coordinator of the Women’s March there Jan. 20.
Hog farm permit denied The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality has denied 6
JANUARY 18, 2018
ARKANSAS TIMES
a new permit for the C&H Hog continue operating under an expired Farms’ concentrated animal feeding permit. operation near Mount Judea (Newton In a statement of basis for the County). This was a big and somewhat decision on the permit, ADEQ said: surprising victory for critics who “The permitting decision is based on have viewed C&H’s large-scale pig the permit application record. The farm and the pig waste it generates record consists of information and as an existential threat to the Buffalo data submitted by the applicant and National River. comments received from the public. This means the pig farm must shut ADEQ denies issuance of the permit down unless the Arkansas Pollution after determining that the record lacks Control and Ecology Commission necessary and critical information to grants a stay. C&H has said it will support granting of the permit.” appeal and asked the commission to grant a stay. C&H has been controversial since it won an ADEQ permit for its hog farm in 2012 in a process that critics complained was flawed and did not sufficiently take into account C&H’s proximity to Big Creek, which feeds into the Buffalo River. The denial is a long time coming. C&H applied for an updated liquid animal waste permit in April 2016. Walmart reportedly will cut The ADEQ had decided to eliminate 1,000 jobs, primarily at the retailer’s the permit C&H had been operating headquarters in Bentonville, by the end under; that permit expired in October of the company’s fiscal year on Jan. 31. 2016, and C&H has been operating It also closed more than 150 stores in on an indefinite extension of that 2016 and has reduced the pace of new permit. Opponents of the farm have openings. The company is said to be complained that it’s been allowed to making the cuts so it can invest more in
Money matters at Walmart
e-commerce to compete with Amazon. The news of the layoffs came the day after Walmart trumpeted a $1 boost in its minimum starting wage and bonuses starting at $250 for employees who have worked for the company for at least two years. The company dubiously claimed these moves came in response to the GOP tax bill, which handed a windfall of billions of dollars to the retail behemoth. As analysts pointed out, the costs of these moves were a tiny fraction of the mammoth tax benefit, which will likely amount to around $2 billion per year, and Walmart was almost certainly going to hike wages regardless of the tax cut because of competition for low-skilled hourly employees.
Share your Big Ideas to make Arkansas a better place The Arkansas Times is soliciting suggestions for its annual “Big Ideas” issue. As in years past, we’re searching for specific, potentially transformative suggestions for making Arkansas a better place to live. We’re open to the practical, wacky and everything in between. Send your ideas to lindseymillar@arktimes.com.
OPINION
On civil rights
A
convergence of events in recent days signaled again how far we have come and how far we have yet to go in civil rights. Donald Trump further diminished the U.S. presidency with coarse remarks about his aversion to non-white immigrants of modest means. The press and his defenders were reduced to quarreling about whether he’d referred to struggling foreign lands as shitholes or shithouses. Whatever the terminology, Arkansas Republican politicians — particularly U.S. 3rd District Rep. Steve Womack and U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton — if they didn’t lie for the president, sympathized with what they believed Trump was trying to say. It wasn’t pretty. In brief: Send us your rich, your talented, your white Norwegians, yearning to breathe in a place without universal health care, paid maternity leave, universal higher education, tiny defense expenditures, and nondiscriminatory social policies, and with an overabundance of gun crime.
The Republican efforts to wrap themselves in Martin Luther King Jr. rang hollow, if not MAX nakedly hypocritical. BRANTLEY Cotton, the meanest maxbrantley@arktimes.com of Trump’s antiimmigrant allies, actually distributed a tweet quoting King on his desire to open the doors of opportunity for all children, regardless of color or creed. This from a man wanting to send Salvadorans and their children back to certain death after decades of productive living in Arkansas. From a man who joins Trump in seeking a bar to entry based on religion and economic status and to toss out thousands of children who’ve known no home but the U.S. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, too, lauded King for fighting for equal justice for all. This from an elected official using tax money to litigate here and across the
The Oval outhouse
O
ne thing all Americans finally can agree upon is that public discourse has coarsened irretrievably in the era of Donald Trump and largely at his instance. We may argue over how bad that is, or whether it is bad at all. Some will make the case that the language of the parlor serves no better than the language of the street in the halls of government or in the public prints. Prudes may just need to get over it. Maybe there is another that we can agree upon: Facts are not sublime in public discourse anymore. Truth is what you prefer it to be, not what could be proven by observation or even casual research. The weekend tumults over the president’s allusions to “shithole countries” where dark-skinned people come from and his claim of having a great relationship with the dictator of North Korea have taken us clearly to those points. After avoiding it for 65 years, I cringed to type the s— word for print and so, I assume, did the editors at the Associated Press and many journals and the producers of television and radio shows, just as they verbally minced last summer when they had to report explicitly on Trump’s crude boasts
about his sexual assaults on women in the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape. Trump is not the first president to use what he c a l l e d l o c ke rroom language in everyday discourse ERNEST and, in fact, no DUMAS president might have passed such a test. But he is the first to force vulgarity into the public dialogue, even if it was not his plan. He also is the first president whose celebrity career was built upon prurience — his lecherous calls to the radio shows of shock jock Howard Stern to talk about sex with his wives and girlfriends and about women’s private parts, his prowling for publicity in the New York tabloids and People magazine about his affairs, and the big spread he arranged in a British girlie magazine with suggestive nude photos of his girlfriend and future first lady in his jet. While the shithole controversy was raging, news outlets reported that Trump’s lawyers in the campaign arranged pay for two porn actresses to keep silent. Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon was quoted in “Fire and Fury” as complimenting a Trump lawyer for “taking care of ”
country against equal justice. She would punish immigrants, deny women full medical rights, legalize discrimination against sexual minorities and support law that is resegregating public schools. Governor Hutchinson took credit, rightly, for signing the law that finally ended the state’s embarrassing dual observance of the birthdays of King and slavery defender Robert E. Lee. But he deserves “credit,” too, for supporting racially discriminatory voter ID law and all the same laws Rutledge defends, with their discriminatory and divisive outcomes. Also within the last week, a Kansas junior college reported that its black players were the object of racial taunts by fans at a game at North Arkansas College in Harrison, a city trying to distance itself from a past as a town where black people were warned of the dangers of being present after sundown. The state used King Day to tout its participating in a national effort to market historic sites of the civil rights movement as tourist attractions. These include Little Rock Central High. The school where federal troops were needed
to allow entry of nine black students is steadily becoming an all-black and brown high school, along with the rest of the school district, thanks to societal forces and the Walton-financed charter school drive. The Waltons are peddling statewide school “freedom of choice” no less segregative today than it was when employed as a resistance PR tool by the segs in the 1960s. By all means, bring on the civil rights trail. A dose of history might prevent repetition of the past. On the other hand, the rise of Trump, his support in Arkansas and his endorsement — both tacit and fullthroated — by elected Republican officials, might lead you to believe the Civil War never ended. It seems the Trumpian battle against “political correctness” was really a battle cry for a return to the open racism, exclusion and discrimination that was law and fact in Arkansas in the supposedly halcyon days of the 1950s. A place where the majority yearns openly for the old order might — rather than inspire a Norwegian to move here — cause her to conclude Arkansas worthy of the description Donald Trump bestowed on Haiti and Africa.
a hundred such women during the but the senatorial twins of David Perdue campaign. of Georgia and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, But who really cares? Even the after first saying they didn’t hear Trump religious right has adopted a moral reality saying the “precise words” mentioned stance. by Illinois’s Dick Durbin, said flatly that When the Supreme Court forced the Durbin had made up the vulgarity. Then disclosure of the content of Richard Trump embraced the lie. Perdue and Nixon’s secret Oval Office tapes, the Cotton didn’t back down. Cotton said phrase [expletive deleted] became part of he was as close to Trump as Durbin was, the news lexicon and a source of comedy. which a White House photo showed to But these were personal conversations, be false. not big conferences where public Next to Trump and Durbin was Rep. policy was being decided and where the Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), Trump’s discussion was certain to become public. favorite Senate candidate. McSally is Trump made his comments about the former fighter pilot who stood up the “shithole countries” of Haiti and in in a Republican conference and roared Africa at a big gathering of congressional “Let’s get this f––––– thing done” and leaders searching for a new immigration then posted: “I’m a fighter pilot and I talk policy. Accounts of the racist language like one. That’s why I told Washington spread as the senators and congressmen Republicans to grow a pair of ovaries and reported to their colleagues. It reached get the job done.” the media within the hour. The White Then came the White House House was thrilled, because it would go explanation. Cotton and Perdue told over well with the base. officials on the QT they had heard Then came the realization that the “shithouse,” not “shithole.” See, they whole world observes every tic at the U.S. hadn’t lied. White House. Derogating vast parts of Then Trump said The Wall Street the world and their people as filthy and Journal had misquoted him on North unworthy cast America in a bad light with Korea and that he had said “I’d” instead every nation. Trump’s new best friend of “I” have a great relationship with Kim in the Senate, Lindsey Graham of South Jong Un. It furnished the tape. My old Carolina, told him so bluntly at the end of ears hear “I.” But if you hear “I’d” then the meeting and then confirmed Trump his remark makes no sense. He would had used the foul words. have a great relationship with the tyrant The White House first said the … if what? president’s meaning was misunderstood, So there is never proof of the truth. Follow Arkansas Blog on Twitter: @ArkansasBlog
arktimes.com JANUARY 18, 2018
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The story follows Emily Doe, the victim of the January 17-18th sexual assault case of 2015 at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. The story shows the trauma, fear, and blame one faces after being the victim of sexual assault. With an ensemble of her peers telling the story, Emily must relive her experience one last time in hopes of shedding light on American rape culture and how our society blames victims and normalizes sexual violence.
Sex crusaders S
ome years ago, a married woman too far in denouncing the male of the of my acquaintance confided that species. Also in Paris, I’m glad to say, if a locally famous physician kept only because it lets me quote the French squeezing her thigh under the table at version of #MeToo. It’s #BalanceTona dinner party. Actually, the fellow was Porc, which translates roughly “expose famous for that, too. Removing his hand your pig.” hadn’t worked. She’d thought about Led by the legendary actress KathAN ORIGINAL PLAY WRITTEN BY HSU STUDENT, MAGGIE-LEE PRESTON stabbing him with a fork, but hadn’t erine Deneuve, French thinkers have wanted to make a scene. formed warring camps alternately However, my friend also didn’t denouncing and appear to feel diminished, ashamed or declaring solidarity “objectified,” as people say. Apart from with each other in taking her assigned seat at the table, the traditional way. RECOMMENDED FOR she’d done nothing to encourage him. Deneuve MATURE AUDIENCES He’d made his move; she’d ignored it. signed a manifesto Hosted by CALS Ron Robinson GENE Her tone was one of bemused contempt opposing “the LYONS Theater & Arkansas Coalition verging upon pity. new puritanism,” Against Sexual Assault If the survival of the human race declaring that “the depended upon her sleeping with Dr. liberty to seduce … [is] essential.” She 100 RIVER MARKET AVENUE LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS 72201 Feelgood, she made clear, it would go has since added that she “fraternally extinct. salute[s] all women victims of odious SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 2018 “What a total dork,” she said. “I just acts” who mistakenly thought her a 7:00PM-9:00PM feel terrible for his wife.” rape apologist. What would the world We wondered if such awkward do without French intellectuals? THEATER: (501) 320-5715 ACASA: (501) 246-3276 passes ever got him anywhere — doubtHere in America, it appears that ful — and whether his wife was as oblivi- many of the daffier campus sex cruous as she appeared. Also whether he saders of recent years have since graduacted that way at the hospital — pes- ated and taken the fight to another level. tering nurses, lab techs, interns, etc. If Item: The anonymous creator of so, how long could he get away with it? an online spreadsheet titled “Sh***ty Apparently not forever. Not long Media Men,” purportedly exposing the afterward, Dr. Feelgood’s career took sins of male journalists who’d allegan unexpected U-turn, and then ended edly mistreated women, freaked flat somewhat prematurely. People spec- out when she (erroneously) feared that ulated, but there was nothing in the her identity was about to be revealed newspaper. Anyway, he wasn’t seen as a in Harper’s Magazine. A great hullavillain so much as a fool. Good riddance. balloo broke out during which twentyIf the foregoing sounds as dated as a something New Republic editor Moira Jane Austen novel, blame my advanced Donegan outed herself. As near as I age. Sexual mores have mutated could tell, hardly anybody thought that so much during my lifetime that it unsourced, intimate denunciations of wouldn’t shock me to see a return to men by name — essentially a middle the pre-birth control attitudes of the school “slam book” updated to the 1950s — with pornography, of course. Internet age — were a problem. Also with role reversal: shaming Item: An online feminist journal wanton men instead of slutty women called Babe published a pseudonymous, appears to be the newest participation first-person account of a drunken oneAnnual Open House Now accepting sport among the literati. night-stand gone bad with comedian Now accepting Sunday, January 28, 2007 applications for (Historical note: in olden times, porn Aziz Ansari. The Atlantic’s Caitlyn Flaapplications for the the 2007-08 was considered degrading and shame- nagan correctly characterized the thing 2010-11 school year. Freshman Entrance Exam school year. Now accepting applications for the February 10, ful. A politician credibly reported to as “3,000 words of revenge porn. The Saturday, 2007 have paid hush money to a porn “star” clinical detail in which the story is told 2014-15 school year. would have had to emigrate to some is intended not to validate her account Annual Freshman Entrance Exam AnnualOpen OpenHouse House Freshmen Entrance Exam CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL Third World sh**hole.) as much as it is to hurt and humiliate Sunday, January 26, 2014 Saturday, February 8, 2014 Sunday, January 28, 2018 Saturday, February 3, 2018 FOR BOYS Like everything else, this is all Bill Ansari.” Again, anonymously. 12:30 - 2:30 12:30 - 2:30 6300 Father Tribou Street Clinton’s fault, although ever the sentiThen came Oprah Winfrey’s star Little Rock, Arkansas 72205 mentalist, he preferred amateur talent. turn at the Golden Globes, cheered Website CATHOLIC HIGH501-664-3939 SCHOOL www.lrchs.org In the wake of the Weinstein- on by scores of Hollywood actresses O’Reilly-Halperin-Lauer-Rose unmask- expressing their vast moral indignaFOR BOYS lrchs.org ings — utterly indefensible every one tion in black gowns cut dramatically 6300 Father Tribou Street — the going thing in New York journal- to the navel. 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‘Actual malice’ W
hile his words away from cameras in the Oval Office the following morning will have a more immediate impact on the futures of DACA recipients and America’s reputation around the globe, President Trump’s statement on libel law in the United States last week represents a more thorough assault on the country’s fundamental values through its disrespect for the rule of law and lack of understanding of the nation’s history. Trump’s critique of libel law — driven by his frustrations about Michael Wolff’s book that savaged the president and the chaos inside the White House — was immediately overwhelmed by the “shithole/shithouse” shit show that developed at the end of last week, but it’s important for Trump’s most important disparagement of a free press to date to not get lost. At a portion of a Cabinet meeting open to the media, Trump put forward a lengthy statement regarding current libel laws that he described as “a sham and a disgrace.” In one respect, the comments were not new news. As a presidential candidate, Trump made similar remarks about the need to “open up” libel laws. However, those off-handed words were said in a highoctane political rally setting by a longshot candidate; Wednesday’s prepared remarks were said in the sober setting of the White House by an elected president. Through its series of decisions on the topic going back to the 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan decision, the Supreme Court very carefully balanced the First Amendment’s interest in the free exchange of ideas with the very real need to protect the reputations of those who have been defamed. If a public official can make the case that a media outlet knows a statement is false and publishes it anyway, or does so with “reckless disregard” whether it is true, an official can still make a civil claim. That standard — “actual malice” — is a high bar, but certainly not an absolute one; it won the day over liberal justices on the Supreme Court who advocated for a total ban on such suits by public officials acting in their official capacity. Moreover, while public officials and public figures have to prove actual malice, plaintiffs who lack position or fame have only to prove “negligence” on the part of those who had disseminated the falsehood. Finally, while punitive awards are not available except in cases where actual malice is proved, the court has
determined that awards in defamation cases must be limited to actual damages. Thus, Trump’s statements show an obliviousness to the fact that the media remains very much subject to being taken to task for libelous writings — even against folks like him — but that the rule of law in this area was carefully constructed and has been cemented through precedent. Moreover, Trump showed a clear JAY ignorance of the BARTH history that guided the Supreme Court toward these careful compromises on libel, particularly the thoroughly scorned efforts by the John Adams administration early in the nation’s history to criminalize false statements about the federal government in the Sedition Act of 1798. As Justice William J. Brennan wrote in his Sullivan decision: “Although the Sedition Act was never tested in this Court, the attack upon its validity has carried the day in the court of history.” In the development of libel standards, the court showed an understanding of the lessons of history in a way that is inaccessible to the current president. Trump said last Wednesday that his administration will “take a strong look” at revising libel law. However, as libel is an issue governed by the laws of the 50 states, there is no federal libel law to be reformed. True change on the issue could only come through an explicit carve out in the First Amendment through amendment (fairly unfathomable) or through a revision to the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the free press provision of the First Amendment. While the latter is also unlikely, the suggestion that the Trump Administration might actually employ a prospective jurist’s stance on libel as a new “litmus test” in the appointment process is truly alarming. Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake has written a reflection on the first year of the Trump administration to be delivered later in the week. In it, Flake says, “It was the year in which an unrelenting daily assault on the constitutionally protected free press was launched by that same White House, an assault that is as unprecedented as it is unwarranted.” Last week’s comments on libel suggest the years ahead will be decidedly tougher ones for the Constitution.
DOCUMENTING HATE
HAVE YOU BEEN THE VICTIM OF A HATE CRIME? The Arkansas Times has joined the nonprofit news organization ProPublica’s “Documenting Hate” project, a collaboration with newsrooms across the country to track hate incidents that might otherwise go unreported. The project aims to create a comprehensive database of where hate crimes are happening and what groups are being targeted. If you have an incident to report, submit it at arktimes. com/dochate. Information provided will not be shared with law enforcement or to anyone outside the group working on the project.
arktimes.com JANUARY 18, 2018
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rkansas’s basketball season has lull so intolerable: the team can and been mercurial to say the least. should be better. There have been some Two narrow wins at home and really bright spots three losses in SEC play ranging from and some really frustratingly close to inexcusably gross nasty ones, and that have set these Hogs on the bubble or leaves the selection near it, and that’s not what fans ex- committee vexed on pected after this team shot its way up how to assess a team the national RPI and into the Top 25 like Arkansas. Every BEAU WILCOX for a fleeting moment. year, some team with The Razorbacks finished off Mis- double digit losses and a sketchy league souri on Saturday at Bud Walton to profile sits around on the sofas on Selecmove to 12-5 overall and 2-3 in confer- tion Sunday and wonders if it’ll make ence play, snapping a three-game skid that Top 68 or if those negatives are that was punctuated by the season’s going to put them on course to Madison lowest point, a 21-point embarrass- Square Garden for a poor consolation ment to unranked LSU before home prize opportunity. fans dying to see a better performance For this all to change for the betfrom this team. The Mizzou game was ter, the Hogs need Macon to break emblematic of the team’s problems and free from his current slump in a big virtues: Arkansas surged to an 18-point way. The senior from Parkview is first half lead on the strength of a boost simply too dynamic and shoots too from spot starter Darius Hall, who came pure to be a sixth man, or to mystein for Daryl Macon and gave the Hogs 10 riously start rattling free throws off points and good defensive energy. But the side of the iron. That resurgence in the second half, Missouri swished a is one that cannot wait: If he’s not up bunch of easy looks and ended up tak- for the two-step this week at Florida ing a lead late. and then back home for Ole Miss, two It all felt too familiar, and also felt teams that struggled outside of league possibly fatal to this team’s long-term play but have proven to be feisty in goals. This is ostensibly the most up- the new year, it may be time to sit him and-down gifted team that Mike Ander- for an entire game to let C.J. Jones or son has helmed in seven seasons, but Hall get even more extended work. the ship suddenly lost its rudder. Macon Secondly, the Hogs cannot get anygave everything he had in a career-high where until their defensive effort performance against Tennessee and has steadies. This team has permitted its mostly looked empty since, and Jaylen opponent 50 percent or better shooting Barford’s play has been inconsistent. in four of the five losses, and while there That’s why Daniel Gafford’s develop- have been some contested looks simply ment is so crucial, and why his 15 points going down, the number of unguarded and defensive effort in the 65-63 win or lightly guarded players sinking jumpover the Tigers were imperative. The ers or streaking to the hole is too high El Dorado freshman is being asked to for a team with this kind of talent and do a great deal because Trey Thompson supposed defensive acumen. When the doesn’t appear to be in game shape and Hogs got right in 2016-17, it was a funcbecause Adrio Bailey and Arlando Cook tion of that perimeter defense getting simply aren’t post weapons. Because stingier and more physical, but not to Gafford has almost as many dunks by the point of negligent, frequent fouling. himself halfway through this season as Barford is the centerpiece of this, as he the 2017-18 team did on the whole, he’s is strong but disciplined, and he’s got to carrying the interior burden as ably as lead the likes of Anton Beard, Macon, anyone could have expected, and yet Hall and Jones as well. that simply is not fair to him. That will feed the offense of those Arkansas is a team in desperation players, and will accordingly mean mode before Groundhog Day. Few Arkansas gets back to scoring 80 to 90 teams can sustain a four-game con- points per game, which represents a ference losing streak and nudge into the comfortable pace and benchmark for the tourney, but this team, blessed with a Hogs. This is still an NCAA Tournament senior backcourt and Gafford’s presence team and a potential darling in March if in the paint, is actually one that could. it can recover its mojo, and the remainAnd that’s what makes this midseason der of January offers that chance.
THE OBSERVER NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE
On shitholes
L
ike a lot of Americans, The right into the ground, leaving us sipObserver has been consider- ping Gatorade in the shade of the ing shitholes of late. Not the truck while still they toiled, unfazed shithole from which turdly human be- and smiling at their good fortune to ings like Donald Trump and his syco- have a job in a land where unbelievphants, apologists and enablers were able bounty was available for anyone born. We’re talking about Trump’s re- willing to work for it. The Observer cently expressed idea that we should used to drive some of those guys down shun those immigrants from “shit- to the corner store on Fridays so they hole countries;” un-Norwegian places, could sign on the dotted line and ship full of black and brown poor people, the lion’s share of their paychecks many of them yearning to scale our back to families in those far-off lands walls, tunnel under our moats, and our president would, no doubt, disset up shop, breathing all our free miss as shitholes. And yet Trump, and prosperous air. Folks from those and his supporters, would undoubtcountries will always see America as edly call those men criminals, thieves, a lamp lifted beside the golden door. refuse washed ashore to take a white Meanwhile, to residents of a country man’s job, when we know plenty of like Norway, the land whose flood white folks who wouldn’t cross the of Aryan immigrants Trump covets, street for a paycheck, much less work America — with our willingness to a pumper kettle or a shingle hoist in spend $600 billion a year on the mili- the broiling sun. tary even as our overall mortality rate The Observer, for the 10,000th increases, our infant mortality rate time since this man Trump — this spirals upward, the American Dream rough beast, his hour come round wilts under a mountain of student at last — assumed his office, thinks: loan debt and we express a proudly Who have we become? Why have we, dumb willingness to let folks die in a country built on opportunity and the street for want of basic health immigrants, become so afraid of the care — must look like quite a shithole outsider, the newcomer, the stranger indeed. Shitholery, it seems, is relative. in our strange land? Take a look at the The Observer, whose father was a complexion of your average Norweroofer, knew a few folks who fled what gian as opposed to the face of your our president would undoubtedly call average Haitian, and you will find a shithole countries as a youth, guys lot of your answer. Baked right into who told harrowing tales on lunch the cake, it is, right from the beginbreak of families left behind, friends ning, our Great American Original Sin, buried on the side of the road in the percolating through Dred Scott and long trek north, hopping freight trains the Klan, Mississippi and Little Rock, in Tijuana and dodging rattlesnakes a balcony in Memphis and a bridge in in the Arizona desert in order to get Selma, finally bubbling forth here, in across an invisible line that marked the far-off future of 2018, to swamp the divide between grinding, relent- and drown what has and always will less poverty and a land where we all make this country truly, really great: have so much to eat that we routinely our capacity to love anybody with the throw half of it away. A place where initiative and drive to come here, work they might have a chance to be pros- a day and make their way. Are we perous and free. Those same guys, really going to hang a sign that says: carrying stories in their heart that “You Must Be This White To Enter”? weighed a thousand pounds, would That, dear countrymen, would stake rise from their lunch and proceed our claim as the deepest, darkest shitto work a white boy like Yours Truly hole in the world.
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s the backlash to President the average Democratic state legislative Trump continues unabated, candidate received 24 more points from Democrats are poised to make the candidate’s district’s voters than his or gains in the Arkansas Senate for the first her most immediate predecessor. Arkantime since 1998. With 20 of the cham- sas has unquestionber’s 35 seats on the ballot this year, the ably lurched rightstate’s minority party should expect to ward over the last win eight of them. The latest modeling decade. But it’s run from political and data scientist John unlikely that the Ray and digital strategist Jesse Bacon, GOP’s unilateral BILLY both of Indivisible, shows Democrats control of state FLEMING Guest Columnist flipping three GOP-held seats and hold- government will ing all five of their own in 2018. Bacon, be insulated from Ray and I expect Democrats to hold a wave election of this scale. districts 4, 10, 24, 30, and 31 and to flip The state’s conventional political wisdistricts 19, 20 and 35 — though only one dom — recently delivered to me via Twitof those (District 35) has an announced ter where, I assume, a few conservative challenger thus far (Maureen Skinner). partisan hacks sense that, for the first With Republicans but a seat away from time in their adult lives, the wind is no wielding a supermajority in the Sen- longer at the backs of the Republican ate, any ability to make inroads should Party — would likely tell us that most of be viewed as significant for the state’s the 15 Senate seats without a challenger resurgent opposition party — even if it should remain that way. They aren’t winleaves the GOP with a 23-12 advantage, nable, the cynics and the pundits say. as our model expects. But as groups like Run for Something A crucial difference between the showed in Virginia and the Indivisible results of our first House and Senate Project has illuminated nearly everysimulations lies in the competitiveness where else, no one really knows what of each legislative chamber. For instance, can happen if you invest in running good we estimate that 57 of the state’s House candidates and good campaigns everyseats are truly safe — 25 for Democrats where — that if you invest in people and and 32 for Republicans. Forty-three of risk-taking instead of geography and the chamber’s 100 seats are reasonably recent history, all bets are off. competitive, 23 of which have no clear Nowhere is this more evident than lean toward one party or the other (we in the Arkansas Senate, where most termed these tossups in my last column). incumbents have never faced a serious In the Senate, every one of the 20 seats challenge. We intentionally omitted on the ballot this year are considered safe measures of candidate quality in this — eight for Democrats and 12 for Republi- modeling run, though we’ll find ways to cans, though three of those “safe” Demo- incorporate it once filings close March cratic seats are held by Republicans. This 1 and we can fully consider each race. lack of competitiveness is borne out by When we do, it’s likely that we’ll buck the Senate’s recent electoral history: 15 conventional wisdom once again by of 18 seats went unchallenged in 2014, 11 treating the chamber’s lack of competof 14 in 2016, and, thus far, 15 of 20 seats itiveness as a liability for incumbents. on the 2018 ballot are uncontested. It’s After all, the lack of competition — a hard to model competition where politi- cornerstone of conservative ideology — cal monopolies persist. allows fundraising and grassroots netThough I’ll dig into the mechanics of works to atrophy. It leaves candidates our work more in my next column, our unpolished and ill-prepared for the simulation models are based on the 169 great retail spectacle that still dominates state house and 52 state senate races held Arkansas’s political culture. since Nov. 8, 2016 — the full down-ballot In a state beset by the nation’s sixthrecord of the Trump era. The majority highest poverty rate and second-lowest of those races have been held in places median income, perhaps time has run traditionally considered hostile to Demo- out on the old guard of country club cancrats: the rural, exurban and suburban didates whose sole answer to the state’s state legislative districts of the South greatest social and economic challenges and Midwest. Yet in the 221 state legisla- is to once again cut taxes on the rich. Pertive races of the Trump era, Democrats haps the time has come for Arkansas’s have over-performed by an average of 24 legislative monopoly to be broken. Perpoints in state senate races and 23 points haps the time has come to challenge every in state houses races. Put another way, seat, everywhere, no matter the odds.
CANNABIZ
Pot and politics
T
he politics of medical marijuana in Arkansas will be an interesting story as it evolves. Could it, for example, become an issue in congressional races? It is an issue that doesn’t break as neatly along partisan lines as, say, abortion and gay rights. A group supporting legal marijuana notes today that 69 U.S. representatives are pushing legislation to ensure that federal Justice Department money cannot be used to interfere with states that have authorized some form of legal marijuana. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has threatened this. Will Arkansas’s congressmen support this measure? (Not likely, we’d guess.) Will candidates running against the state’s Republicans in Congress this year make it an issue? Voters of all sorts passed medical marijuana by a healthy margin in the state, after all. And what of the licensing process? Where big money can be made, big politics normally are intertwined. Here, for example, is a tidbit worth watching: The pile of applications for licenses to either cultivate or dispense medical marijuana in Arkansas include these: Texarkana Central LLC for a dispensary license, with the listed incorporator of Sheila Wagnon, and Regeneration Naturals LLC for a cultivation license, with the listed incorporator again being Sheila Wagnon. An incorporator is not necessarily an owner of an enterprise. Much of the information in the applications is redacted so that the marijuana commissioners reviewing the applications won’t be influenced by ownership information. But, a reader tells the Arkansas Times, Sheila Wagnon is the wife of Richard Wagnon, and they were leaders of the successful drive to repeal a nondiscrimination ordinance passed by the Texarkana City Council to protect the civil rights of gay people. So? From a Texarkana Gazette article on a meeting to organize the opposition, quoting Richard Wagnon: “ ‘This ordinance will lead to potential discrimination towards me, as a Christian, and my religious beliefs. And I want to take a stand on that. And yet you’re saying that you need protection from some perceived discrimination that I haven’t even heard of. Ultimately this is all going to boil down to the citizen’s vote.’ “Wagnon’s wife, Sheila Wagnon, introduced Arkansas Attorney Travis Story,
who has been involved in contesting similar ordinances in Fayetteville, Little Rock, Hot Springs, Eureka Springs and other cities throughout the state.” The article went on to quote Story extensively on ills of the ordinance. To complete the circle: Travis Story is a Fayetteville lawyer (a partner with Republican state Rep. Bob Ballinger (R-Berryville)) who was appointed to the Medical Marijuana Commission by House Speaker Jeremy Gillam (R-Judsonia). He will be voting on who gets the potentially lucrative cannabis permits. Hundreds of applications are being reviewed for 32 dispensary and five cultivation permits. It’s a good bet that the Wagnon-Story connection isn’t the only instance of past associations. This is a small, friendly state after all. Neither Wagnon nor Story returned calls for comment by press time. The state Department of Finance and Administration last week released the names of all 322 applicants for cultivation and dispensing of marijuana. According to our count, there are 20 applicants with the word “green” in their name, such as Green Moon LLC, Your Green Fountain, AR Green Spirit, Fiddler’s Green LLC, Green Apple Blossoms, Green Hearts LLC. There are 20 applicants with the word “wellness,” such as 28th Street Wellness, Native Bloom Wellness, Natural Root Wellness of Fayetteville, Natural State Wellness, Nature’s Herbs and Wellness of Arkansas LLC, Radiant Herbal Wellness Center, Tri-State Weed and Wellness. A special shout-out to those that combined common words, like “Native Green Wellness LLC” and “Serene Green Wellness.” The clear winning word, though, being used by medical marijuana companies is “natural.” Over 30 companies use “natural” in their name, including Arkansas Natural Remedies, Caddo Naturals, Natural Care Enterprises, Natural State of Kind, Natural State Wellness (another combo) and Regeneration Naturals. One company shares a name with the governor: Hutchinson and Steele Enterprises LLC, a dispensary planned for Waldron in Scott County. The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission will announce Feb. 27 the five companies it has chosen to receive cultivation licenses. Ninety-five applications were made. The commission will then review dispensary licenses; the law allows licensing of up to 32..
presents…
Adam Miller Thursday January 18 7:30 p.m. The Joint
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Tickets $25
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An Exhibition of Large Format & Experimental Printmaking.
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BAUM GALLERY On the campus of: University of Central Arkansas 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway, AR 72035
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MARCH ON! THE CAPITOL
Trumpism stirs Arkansas women to action. BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK
I
t is the worst of times, for people who see such things as
women’s autonomy, public education, fair taxation, clean air and water, scientific research and policies not guided
by antipathy for the “other” — the brown, the black, the gay, the BRIAN CHILSON
Muslim — as our moral touchstones, the definition of what it means to be an American. REAL GREATNESS: Inspired by personal and policy insults, women are fighting for a return to
And so, paradoxically, it is the best were called losers, when African the ideals of democracy. of times, for liberal-minded thinkers all Americans were told they had over the country, including in blood-red “nothing to lose,” their lives so dreadful. also a record-setting demonstration, pro- Mullinax said last week. “I was thinkArkansas, to shake off complacency. The It was OK to mock people with disabili- voked by the insult of Trump’s election ing, ‘That’s great, there’s energy again year 2017 has been especially motivat- ties, to equate all Muslims with terrorists. to women, minorities, the poor, the mar- for reproductive rights. We’ll see how ing for progressive women, who have With the election of Trump and the ginalized, the environment, to civil rights. long this can be sustained.’ I have been moved from the Pantsuit Nation to pussy Republican Party’s throwing its dignity Women have not stopped marching. pleasantly surprised at the energy and hats to working to assume the mantle of in the trash, the year 2017 saw bad ideas The inspiration to fight did not fizzle. On activism, in our state in particular.” It’s political power. put into bad policy. Women? Screw you Saturday, women — and their families — a welcome response, because reproducWomen have led the charge against if you want birth control. Transgender will march again to the Capitol, this year tive rights are facing “an attack like never regressive politics, heading up grass- people: Get lost. Health care? Not a right under the name “March on the Polls” and before,” Mullinax said. roots lobbying groups such as Indivisible; in the U.S. of A. Poor? Your fault. Nazis? joining up with the 8th annual Rally for At the state level, Planned Parenthood starting new progressive organizations at Some of them are very fine people. Reproductive Justice. has been the subject of attack by Govcity, county and statewide levels; formOn Jan. 21, 2017, the day after Trump’s Maybe 7,000 won’t turn out again. But, ernor Hutchinson, who terminated the ing political action committees; holding inauguration, the growing rumble of dis- “I’ve never seen energy like this before,” state’s Medicaid reimbursement contract candidacy trainings. A record number of belief and stunned dismay at the election Planned Parenthood Great Plains orga- with the health provider in 2015 after an women are running this year for state of a lying, crude, narcissistic and intem- nizer Christina Mullinax told the Times. anti-choice group used doctored videolegislative positions, and three are seek- perate — at best — man to the White Mullinax has seen passions rise and tapes to suggest Planned Parenthood was ing seats in Congress. House exploded into the dramatic and fall: In 2011, when women gathered at the misusing fetal tissue and again in 2017 If we have anything to thank President historic Woman’s March on Washing- legislature to fight bills to end women’s after the conservative 8th Circuit Court Trump for, it is that. ton, a protest the size the nation had right to abortion, and in 2013, when 500 of Appeals overturned a federal judge’s The 2016 campaign for president of never seen, 5 million strong and joined people — then considered a big crowd injunction against the state’s withholding the United States turned over a nasty simultaneously by marches all over the — turned out in the cold and the wet for of funds. Planned Parenthood clinics in rock in America, setting free a writhing planet. In Little Rock, an estimated 7,000 the Stop the War on Women rally at Arkansas are providing services — includmass of meanness. People cheered when men, women and children turned out on the Capitol. ing contraceptives, breast cancer screenMexicans were called murderers and that crisp, brilliantly sunny day to march “Quite honestly, when the Wom- ings, cervical cancer screenings and STD rapists, when American prisoners of war down Capitol Avenue, the protest here en’s March happened, I was skeptical,” treatments — to Medicaid-eligible for
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free for now, thanks to the post-Trump explosion of private support by people passionate about Planned Parenthood’s health care mission and disgusted by the cynical, misogynistic politicians who would defund it. People have been so turned off by reactionary policies and turned on to do something about them that new coalitions have been built, even among those with diverse causes, Mullinax said. For example, when Mullinax spoke at a rally to protect the Dreamers — undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children — from deportation, she stood beside Catholic Bishop Anthony
‘I moved on her like a bitch. … You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful. I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Whatever you want. Grab them by the pussy.’ — DONALD TRUMP, 2005
Taylor, and got no flack for her choicesupporting Planned Parenthood T-shirt. “He didn’t cozy up to me or anything,” Mullinax said, but neither was she shunned by the crowd. They had found common ground. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people …” — DONALD TRUMP ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL, 2016 BRIAN CHILSON
“These Dreamers … are the worst of the illegals.” — ANN COULTER IN AN INTERVIEW WITH FOX BUSINESS NEWS HOST LOU DOBBS LAST WEEK, CASTIGATING TRUMP FOR SUGGESTING HE MIGHT LET THE DREAMERS STAY.
As the Times goes to press, 15 women who have never sought political office have announced bids. Two more have run before and are trying again: Melissa
ON THE MARCH: The Women’s March of 2017 (above) drew the largest protest ever to Little Rock’s streets and was quickly followed by other rallies, including on in response to Trump’s move to forbid people from Muslim countries to enter the U.S. The ACLU’s Rita Sklar (left), speaking at that rally, declared herself in common cause with Muslims.
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BRIAN CHILSON
Fults, who this year is seeking the state columnist Billy Fleming). a chilly Sunday, another thousand people every single weekend, when will I have Senate District 33 seat, and Susan Inman, On Jan. 21 in Little Rock, a stunning turned out at the Capitol, responding time to go to Oaklawn?” the retired former Pulaski County Elec- turnout of pink-hatted humanity, enough to a call issued only the evening before “Women were the first to recognize tion Commissioner, who is running for to pack several long blocks, marched to to protest Trump’s ill-conceived and that Trump is a five-alarm fire for our Secretary of State (she calls herself the Capitol, shouting of “This is what unvetted executive order to immediately democracy,” Sklar said last week. “Over the “matriarch” of women candidates.) democracy looks like!” block travelers from majority Muslim the past year, we’ve seen a whole new Most, however, are political newcomIt was just the first of several mass countries, creating chaos at international generation of women use the power of ers, including Gwendolynn Combs, the protests. Another enormous crowd, one airports in the U.S. and around the world grassroots activism to push back against organizer of last year’s women’s march. dwarfing the 2013 rally, turned out the and prompting instant legal challenges. his extreme policies.” It’s a “groundCombs is seeking the Demoswell,” she said, that is throwcratic nomination for the 2nd ing a wrench in Trump’s agenda District congressional seat held and has “the potential to change by Republican Rep. French Hill. the political landscape for years Combs, 43, who like many to come.” newly politically active women is a schoolteacher, was stirred “The concept of global warming by her students. During the 2016 was created by and for the Chipresidential campaign, some of nese in order to make U.S. manuher kids at Stephens Elemenfacturing non-competitive.” tary School asked her if they — DONALD TRUMP, NOVEMwould be deported if Trump BER 2012 were elected. One even asked if he would be murdered. “It “In the East, it could be the was just kids talking,” Combs COLDEST New Year’s Eve on said, but she could see that the record. Perhaps we could use a political climate was enveloping little bit of that good old Global their lives and had them worWarming that our Country, but ried. “The internal me was connot other countries, was going to flicted dealing with not being pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS able to honestly console these to protect against. Bundle up!” kids, because I was experienc— DONALD TRUMP, DECEMing the same fears,” Combs said. BER 2017 When she learned of the plans for the Washington, D.C., Rallies continued to draw Women’s March after the inaugood crowds. The Arkansas guration, Combs decided women March for Science in April drew who couldn’t travel needed a a crowd that stretched from the march in Little Rock. “I created steps of the Capitol to Woodmy first Facebook event ever,” lane Street in front. Speakers she said, to organize the event, at the event, organized by state and was soon joined by other Sierra Club Executive Director women to help coordinate. Glen Hooks and Arkansas State Meanwhile, Pantsuit Nation University philosophy profesArkansas — supporters of Hillsor Dr. Michele Merritt, talked ary Clinton who functioned to about the threat of anti-intellecsupport the presidential canditual, anti-science positions taken date before the election and to by the Trump administration fight for what she represented and his supporters, including after she lost — drew hundreds the denial of climate change. A of women to an organizational young woman spoke about her PROTESTING MEDICAID CUT TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Christina Mullinax said women’s reproducmeeting Nov. 26 at the Arkanmedical research at the Unitive rights are under assault “like never before.” sas Education Association headversity of Arkansas for Medical quarters. That meeting was folSciences on multiple sclerosis — lowed by City Director Kathy Webb’s following Saturday for the 7th annual At that protest, Rita Sklar, the director disease she herself suffers from. UAMS’ “Little Rock 101” weekend meetings Reproductive Rights Rally, where of the ACLU of Arkansas, proclaimed, “I paucity of state support has come into at Trio’s Restaurant about how to get state Sen. Joyce Elliott (D-Little Rock) am the granddaughter of Russian Jewish high relief recently, with terminations of involved in city politics. The so-called reminded the assembled men, women immigrants, and today, until the end of 238 employees and 600 positions. Indivisible movement was born, thanks and children that her colleagues — “not this trouble, I am Muslim with all of you.” That Trumpism has the scientific to the Indivisible Guide to grassroots one of them a doctor” — had voted to It was an astonishing, moving moment. community running scared was illusaction written by former congressio- criminalize women’s health care, passing It was the third rally in eight days, trated dramatically with the Centers for nal and White House staffers (includ- an anti-abortion law that made no excep- and a sign held by one women read, “If Disease Control and Prevention’s own ing Arkansas native and Arkansas Times tion for rape or incest. The following day, I have to keep protesting Trump, like decision last month to avoid from its
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reports the words “diversity,” “entitlement,” “evidence-based,” “fetus,” “science-based,” “transgender” and “vulnerable.” The rallies continued: Rallies in Fort Smith and Rogers on National Immigrant Day. Black Lives Matter protests. Vigils for the victims of gun violence in Las Vegas. Protests against service cuts in the tax bill. And if anyone thought the president’s disdain for immigrants wasn’t prompted by his Aryan revulsion toward the black and brown, last week’s shocking comments in the Oval Office, when he described El Salvador, Haiti and African countries as “shitholes” and said he longed for more immigrants from places like Norway instead, should clear that right up. Thanks to Trump’s daily tweets, there has been plenty of fuel to keep women fired up and “nasty,” the word embraced after Trump used it to describe Clinton. “Every day [in 2017] was a punch in the stomach,” said ASU’s Merritt, who is also the leader of the Jonesboro Indivisible group. It was as if the political storm was mimicking the record-setting natural disasters of the year. Fires, floods, freezes, drought. Nevertheless, they persisted, and as the year grew older, protests were supplanted with day-to-day work to change the political picture. Congressional candidate Combs acknowledges that before the rise of Donald Trump, “I never had even the most remote interest in politics. I was just a voter. I never had it on my radar to run for office.” But that changed with the national retreat from the notion that all Americans had the right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and not just those who could afford it. When Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton voted in July to repeal the major provisions of the Affordable Care Act, Combs said, “that’s when I decided exactly what it was that I wanted to run for.” “I certainly think the current climate has woken a lot of us up,” Celeste Williams, a nurse practitioner in Bella Vista who is running for the District 95 state House seat against Republican Austin McCollum, told the Times. “You realize how much this is affecting us. It’s not OK for our children. We have to invest in the future, and that includes kids, families and policies that protect them.” The month after the election, there was a “flood of new faces” and stand-
ing room only at a meeting of Benton attempts to contact him on health care County Democrats, Williams said. Since issues. “If you’re going to be a representhen, she’s attended town hall meetings, tative, you need to answer your phone.” Ozark Indivisible huddles and United Indifference to constituents also motiProgressives meet-ups. vated Nicole Clowney, 35, who teaches “I wanted to hear what my members Greek and Latin at the University of of Congress have to say,” Williams said Arkansas at Fayetteville and is running of the town halls that Indivisible groups for the District 86 House seat. She’s not forced out of Arkansas’s congressional taking on Rep. Charlie Collins of Faydelegation. “I did not find their responses etteville — Adrienne Kvello and Denise always compassionate.” In fact, Wil- Garner are seeking the Democratic nomiliams said, her opponent in the General nation to challenge him — but as the Election has been unresponsive to her Northwest Arkansas leader of Moms
Demand Action for Gun Sense, Clowney was horrified at his legislation to allow guns on campuses, a move that contravened the wishes of college and university administrators and campus security officers. Clowney and a group of women from Northwest Arkansas traveled to Little Rock for hearings on Collins’ bill and returned for hearings on promulgation of rules for the new law. “I don’t understand how Rep. Collins, representing a college town, could claim to be representing the wishes of his con-
MORE TO COME. YOU CAN HELP!
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BRIAN CHILSON
WOMEN UNITE: To fight for civil rights, against the Republican Congress’ threat to the Children’s Health Insurance Program and efforts to deport America’s 800,000 Dreamers protected by the Obama administration.
stituents. I didn’t hear anybody support he support legislation to provide relief known for threatening to cut off funds people to let their congressmen know the bill, and I went to every meeting.” for educational loans? to the Arkansas Game and Fish Com- where constituents stand on issues. Clowney is convinced that a “good numWomack replied, no, he didn’t have mission after her husband was warned Benyr believes such calls to action — ber” of legislators did not know what student debt, because he had a job during for baiting wildlife — and Brown spon- both from home and with trips to D.C. — was in the bill. college, and he joined the military, which sored an amendment to limit how Tech helped halt the outright repeal of ObamHere’s what cinched Clowney’s deci- provided more college funding. He said could use state funds over the “Sex on acare. The midterm elections will get sion to run: It was after a “conversation there were options to four-year colleges; the Lawn” event. Indivisible’s attention this year. with my favorite teacher, my 7-year-old she and her husband could have learned Womack, at least, agreed to hold a few Women have played a major daughter. I was explaining to her what a trade or joined the military. College town halls — one on the north shore of role in the organization of India representative is, and she said, “Oh, is isn’t for everyone, he told her. Bull Shoals Lake, conveniently accessible visible and other groups, Benyr that one of those boy jobs?” Since he was holding the mic, he only by a 12-car ferry, though attendees guessed, because many are stay-atThere is indifference, and then there would not let her follow up that she could get there via Missouri, a long drive home mothers. Others, like Hayden is disdain. That’s what Teresa Gallegos of and her husband also worked their way around the lake. U.S. Sen. John Boozman Shamel of Hot Springs, a teacher at LakeRussellville encountered at a town hall through college — almost full time. “He never did hold a town hall, and it took side High School and chairman of the meeting with Republican U.S. Rep. Steve shamed me for using student loans,” she pressure from Ozark Indivisible and the Democratic Party of Garland County, say Womack at Arkansas Tech University. said. Gallegos wanted to tell him she terrible national publicity he got when it is because women are better at getting “Before I went, I did some research agreed that college was not for every- he locked his office doors in Springdale things done. and typed my question and printed it out, one, but it certainly was for her and her to get Sen. Tom Cotton to condescend to “Women are naturally empathetic. so I wouldn’t forget anything,” Gallegos, professor husband, and that the military meet with Arkansans. His town hall, at They work well with others — that’s 29, said. Her question was on how stu- is not for everyone, either. the Springdale High School Auditorium, important, because of the divisiveness [in dent loan debt was keeping young adults Gallegos is running for state Senate drew more than 2,200 people. the current climate]. People are turned from being able to own a home. District 16, now vacant. At a campaign Kim Benyr, who with three other off by that. They’re ready for individuals “I explained to Rep. Womack that my coffee on a recent Saturday at Penny’s women organized Ozark Indivisible, said who can work with all, who are moving husband and I have $160,000 in student University Roastery, Gallegos met with the group’s aim in meeting with Cotton toward collaborating.” loan debt for my bachelor’s degree and 21 people who wanted to talk about their was to advocate for the Affordable Care Shamel, 36, is running for 4th District my husband’s bachelor, master’s and issues: health care, education and pro- Act and other policies the ultra-right- Congress against Republican Rep. Bruce Ph.D.,” Gallegos said. Gallegos’ husband, tecting property rights. wing senator has shown himself averse Westerman. Dr. Nathaniel Chapman, is an assistant They did not want to talk about the to, like citizenship for immigrants. (Cot“After the 2016 election,” she said, professor of sociology at Arkansas Tech. horror of sex education on the Tech cam- ton once made the wild assertion that she thought, “the time is now, we have But before asking her question, Gal- pus. Unlike state legislators Rep. Trevor ISIS was working to get Mexican drug to have people who are willing to step legos asked the attendees at the town Brown (R-Dover) and Rep. Mary Bentley runners into the terrorist business and up and take our democracy back. I felt hall to raise their hands if they had stu- (R-Perryville), they did not find a dis- infiltrate Arkansas.) almost led to run. It’s almost spiritual. … dent debt. They were on a college cam- cussion of sex and health so offensive Ozark Indivisible and Arkansas’s I know what I’m doing is the right thing. pus; most raised their hands. She then — especially since it included LGBTQ other Indivisible chapters, in Cen- I’m completely at peace with my decision turned to Womack and said, “I noticed issues — that they would have shut down tral Arkansas and such unlikely places to run for office. … Everything in my life you didn’t raise your hand.” Did he and Tech’s Department of Diversity and as Jonesboro, Yellville, Harrison and has been leading up to this moment.” and his wife have student debt? Would Inclusion. Bentley — the legislator most Lonoke, use “calls to action” to engage Shamel said the recent tax cut leg-
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BRIAN CHILSON
islation in Congress and the past cuts in Arkansas are evidence that lawmakers are “focused on the wealthy instead of the ordinary.” Though it includes tax increases for the middle class after the midterm elections, the tax bill was praised by her Republican opponent as “relief for hardworking Americans.”
to step into the big girl chair.” “My big takeaway,” Shamel said, “is maybe it took something like what we are facing now in order for us to wake up and realize how critically important it is for all of us to be involved.” “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow … transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming … victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.’’
“My donors are basically saying, ‘Get it done or don’t ever call me again.’ ” — Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), on the new tax cut bill passed in Congress and signed by Trump. Shamel said the first priority of people she’s talked to in the district is health care, which includes lowering drug costs. She also sees public schools as under assault by tax-dollar draining charter schools. She shares those stands with another woman running for the 4th District seat: independent candidate Lee McQueen of Texarkana. McQueen, 47, said she’s been “on the fringes of political life,” volunteering for Ralph Nader and working for Jesse Jackson in their campaigns. “I’ve always been involved, mostly as support. Then I decided, with what’s been happening,
— DONALD TRUMP, JULY 2017
Tippi McCullough, 54, said her political “journey” began with her firing from Mount St. Mary Academy for marrying her longtime partner, Barb Mariani, in 2013. She joined the Stonewall Democrats and in 2015 fought House Bill 1228, a bill that would have legalized discrimination against LGBTQ people on religious grounds. Governor Hutchinson asked for the bill’s recall after major NASTY PATRIOT: Women embraced the term after Trump sneered at Hillary Clinton during a debate and called her a “nasty woman.”
WE THE PEOPLE For nearly 100 years, we’ve been fighting for women’s rights and gender equality: » Equal pay
» Violence against women
» Abortion rights and reproductive justice
» Equal rights in education
» Overincarceration of women and girls of color » Access to birth control and basic healthcare » RESPECT! » Pregnancy discrimination
And we won’t let anyone or anything drag us backwards – not after coming this far. Join the fight for fairness and justice for all: www.acluarkansas.org
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my children are going to be OK. Then I watched the way he was treated, the way he aged. …” Then Trump was elected. “It blew my mind,” Skinner said. “It was horrifying
vote against their best interests — such as Trump supporters — is fear of change, a willingness to latch on to promises (best health care, lowest taxes) rather than bursting the comfortable bubble of BRIAN CHILSON
corporations, including Walmart, Apple and Acxiom, criticized it, and the bill was later amended to mirror the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. McCullough, chair of the Democratic Party of Pulaski County, is now seeking the state House District 33 seat held by Warwick Sabin, who is running for Little Rock mayor. Her decision to run for higher office was not just “horror that someone like Donald Trump could be elected to the highest office, but that someone so supremely qualified as Hillary Clinton could not.” She said it was hard not to remember the Women’s March of 2017 without getting chills. McCullough, who teaches English at Central High School, said her students “don’t have the luxury of nostalgia, where we look back at where we had statesmen as leaders.” What they know is eight years of President Obama, and the backlash to Obama, “and now they’re immersed in the backlash to the backlash. I heard a young woman talking in the hall [at school] about her struggle to watch the news and stay caught up, matched with wanting to disconnect from it all.” Arkansas has a history of strong women leadership, McCullough said, rattling off the names of Hattie Caraway, the first woman elected to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate; Adolphine Terry and the Women’s Emergency Committee to open the schools after the desegregation crisis; Daisy Bates, who fought for desegregation and protected the Little Rock Nine; and Lottie Shackelford, the first woman to be elected mayor of Little Rock. All had to resist the notion that women should stay in the background, and women still do today. “Instead of recoiling, or going into a tunnel, I tend to think, ‘What can I do to help change this, to make sure in the next four years we aren’t harmed more,’ ” McCullough said. “I saw a sign about the characteristics of fascism [nationalism, sexism, efforts to control mass media, religion and government intertwined, disdain for intellectualism] … . Oh, my gosh, we are experiencing those.” A woman candidate who is up against one of the most ardent proponents of one of those characteristics of fascism — Sen. Jason Rapert (R-Conway), who believes his interpretation of the Holy Bible should rule Arkansas — is psychologist Maureen Skinner of Conway. She’s another newcomer to politics. When Obama was elected, Skinner said she thought, “I can breathe again;
AFTER CHARLOTTESVILLE: Indivisible groups called a rally at the state Capitol to stand in solidarity with those who protested at the deadly Nazi gathering in August.
to me. I ranted on Facebook and posted their existence by questioning. Skinner and shared and said surely somebody is said she’ll be a listener — it’s what she going to do something.” Then she went does for a living — rather than a promiser. to the Women’s March on Arkansas, and “If for some unforeseeable reason I there “were 7,000 other people feeling can’t get elected, I have met some of as strong about the election of 2016 as the most incredible women and men” I was, mobilized and mortified.” She by getting involved in politics, Skinner recalled thinking, “I have more formal said. “This is a life-changing experience. education than the president. I can con- It’s such a mobilization. It’s absolutely struct a complete sentence. Those were the only good thing that Donald Trump my mental talking points” for making a — accidentally — did.” race herself. A new PAC formed in 2017 in RapSkinner believes the reason people ert’s backyard: Faulkner Forward,
which board member Julee Jaeger will help “plan for the future and help move Faulkner County forward with progressive elected representation.” The group, which is nonpartisan, will support candidates “with strong commitments to education, access to physical and mental health care, science and technology, economic opportunities and social equality.” In other words, it won’t be supporting Rapert. It’s holding a ticketed fundraiser and informational meeting at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 23 at the EM Event Center, 1100 Oak St. in Conway. The mobilization that Skinner referred to can also be seen in the state Democratic Party, which has been seen as too “male, pale and old,” as one person in Northwest Arkansas put it. An example of this burst of enthusiasm within party politics is the Saline County Progressive Action caucus, a subset of the Saline County Democratic Party. The Progressives, as they call themselves, began forming in December 2016 after the meetings at the AEA with Pantsuit Nation women and City Director Kathy Webb. Cindy Bowen, one of the founders, said the numbers of interested women grew steadily from its inception, from 15 at its first gathering in 2016 to more than 200 at a later rally at the Bauxite Community Center. Bowen said 90 to 95 percent of the Progressives were new to the party. The group now has 260 members, half of whom are schoolteachers, Bowen said. At the rally, “We asked, what brought you here?” Bowen said. “Some were [LGBT] high school students who were bullied or their families. There were people who had friends or themselves who were going to be affected by [cuts to] certain organizations that help the underprivileged.” Some, she said, wanted to be “political animals”; others just wanted to help their children. Bowen, 63, said a lot of the group is too young to remember when Saline County was blue, “when it was the heart of the Democratic Party.” The Progressives have taken a community-help approach to activism, starting with the creation throughout Benton of five mini free pantries modeled on the free little libraries that have sprung up in neighborhoods all over Arkansas. Progressives also keep care bags — bags of water, peanut butter crackers, soap and such — to give to people they see holding signs asking for help. “It’s a psychological thing,” Bowen said. “Saline County is very red. Almost
like scary red. And so we try to present ourselves as people who come out and help those in need, which is what we feel the Democratic Party does — help the little guy. So people who don’t like politics, we want them to think that when it comes time to vote, when they see that “D,” they’re going to think, that’s the group that helped when my house burned, when I had no food, when my child was bullied.” The Progressive Arkansas Women PAC — or PAW PAC — did not need a goosing from Trump to begin work to elect more progressive women to the legislature. The PAC formed in 2016, and provides up to $2,700 to women candidates who support such ideas as the right of abortion, gun regulation, alternatives to incarceration, health care for all, social services for the needy. Bettina Brownstein, one of the PAC’s founders, said electing progressives to the Arkansas legislature is necessary if the state wants to attract “young people to move here and stay.” At a recent meeting of PAW PAC, 15 or 16 women crammed into a meeting room at a downtown law office to share information about new candidates, decide what amount of money to provide and when, and discuss ways to raise new funds and future candidate trainings. One of them was Jess Virden Mallett, who is running for House District 32 in Little Rock. A lawyer, Mallett worked against a proposed amendment to the state Contitution that would have capped the damages in medical lawsuits, a referred amendment backed by the nursing home industry. (The amendment was thrown off the ballot by a court.) Mallett believes many legislators didn’t know what the amendment would have done. “Women are just better at looking at the big picture,” she said. The women of PAW PAC operate by consensus; everyone is heard and what little disagreement there may be is discussed until all are satisfied with whatever action is to take place. “We’re very ambitious,” Brownstein said. Fundraising has gone well; “we must have hit a chord.” She said she wouldn’t be surprised if the number of progressive women candidates doesn’t hit 20 by the end of the filing period, noon on March 1. (Party filing begins Feb. 22.) “We’re looking forward to 2020,” Brownstein said. “This is a long game.”
Find great events and buy tickets at CentralArkansasTickets.com
PROGRESS MADE. STILL WORK TO BE DONE. From Hattie Wyatt Caraway, the first woman elected to serve a full term as a United States Senator and the first woman to preside over the Senate. To the Women’s March. THE TIME IS NOW.
DO YOU WANT TO BE INVOLVED? DO YOU WANT TO RUN FOR OFFICE? CONTACT US TODAY! Join Our Fight For Arkansas • www.arkdems.org/takeaction arktimes.com JANUARY 18, 2018
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GROW grow LOCAL ARKANSAS TIMES
THE WOMEN’S MARCH ON THE POLLS on Jan. 20 will assemble at the intersection of West Capitol Avenue and Pulaski Street at 11 a.m. and head to the state Capitol for the Reproductive Justice Rally starting at 1 p.m. There will be informational tables manned by several progressive organizations at the Capitol. Speakers will address not just health care but education, immigration, sex education and LGBTQ rights. Kendra Johnson of the Human Rights Campaign will emcee; speakers include Sklar of the ACLU; Dr. Anika Whitfield on the takeover of the Little Rock School District; Diana Pacheco on DACA and anti-immigrant sentiment; and Dr. Janet Cathy, an ob/gyn at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, on the medical needs of LGBTQ patients. Afterward, a campaign fundraiser for Combs will feature a MeToo panel on sexual assault with activist Shirley May Johnson of Nashville, Tenn., (3 p.m., the Studio Theatre); a poetry event on gun violence (3 p.m., Clinton School for Public Service); and the New Deal Salon and Galleries will exhibit “One Year Down,” a fine art and poetry event, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. (It opens Friday night, 6-9 p.m.) THE FAYETTEVILLE WOMEN’S MARCH is also Jan. 20, beginning with a rally and speakers at noon at the Downtown Square. Marchers will then head east on Mountain Street and up College Avenue to the Washington County Courthouse. Here’s a list of progressive women (Democrats and one Independent) who have announced they’ll seek elective office in 2018. It does not include incumbents:
SEXUAL ASSAULT IS NOT THE FAULT OF THE VICTIM n Most sexual violence is a crime of power and control, and as such, is a matter of social justice. n All survivors of sexual violence deserve full, compassionate responses and access to quality services. n Men and women must be partners in ending sexual violence. n Survivors have a right to determine their own course of action. n Sexual Violence is a public health and safety issue and deserves the complete attention of our elected officials.
1-866-63-ACASA • WWW.ACASA.US 22
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ARKANSAS TIMES
Gwendolynn Combs, 2nd District Congress Hayden Shamel, 4th District Congress Lee McQueen, 4th District Congress Susan Inman, Secretary of State Jess Virden Mallett, House District 32 Tippi McCullough, House District 33 Jamie Scott, House District 37 Monica Ball, House District 39 Kim Snow, House District 80 Denise Garner, House District 84 Adrienne Kvello, House District 84 Celeste Williams, House District 95 Kelly Scott Unger, House District 87 Nicole Clowney, House District 96 Teresa Gallegos, Senate District 16 Melissa Fults, Senate District 33 Maureen Skinner, Senate District 35
THE
Inconsequential News Quiz:
BIG I (Heart) Dick Edition Play in your favorite shithole country! PICTURE
1) U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) made national news this week with an action that drew plentiful public scorn. What did Tom do this time? A) Disrupted a screening of “The Post” by pumping his fist and shouting “I LOVE DICK!” every time President Richard Nixon appeared on screen. B) Skipped his 30,000-sneer oil change at the Koch Industries Political Cyborg Lab, resulting in a blown head gasket. C) Covered for Donald Trump’s “shithole countries” remark about Haiti and Africa by first saying he didn’t recall Trump making the statement even though he was in the room, and later doubling down to insinuate that other officials who did hear the statement were lying. D) Accidentally left his squalid basement unlocked, allowing the undocumented immigrant he keeps there, in case he ever needs a kidney transplant, to escape. 2) The Labette Community College men’s and women’s basketball teams made the trek from Parsons, Kan., to North Arkansas College in Arkansas’s notorious sundown town of Harrison for a game last week, and were reportedly greeted by something unsettling. What was it? A) A fully functional meth lab in the locker room shower, with a note saying it was there in case Labette players needed to “cook a little pick-me-up before the game.” B) “MAKE AMERICA GREAT A.F.” written in paint on the guts of 18 tubby fans, a stopgap measure after letters G, A, I and N were horribly burned in a whiskey still explosion. C) Blatant, shameless racism, natch, including NAC fans making “monkey noises” and crow caws when black players from Labette went to the free-throw line. D) Klan robes with their last names and player numbers embroidered on the back.
BRIAN CHILSON
3) Arkansas U.S. Rep. Steve Womack was among the chorus of Republicans who sought to minimize Donald Trump’s Oval Office comment that America needs fewer immigrants from “shithole countries” in Africa and more from very, very white Norway. What, in part, did Womack say to Northwest Arkansas station 40/29 News to try and explain away Trump’s racism? A) The countries Trump called shitholes are “behind the times.” B) The countries Trump called shitholes are “depraved.” C) That America should attempt to appeal to immigrants from European countries who can “actually fit into [American] society as we know it.” D) All of the above, and all so unabashedly racist we don’t know whether to shit or go blind. 4) The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality made an announcement recently that was lauded by environmentalists. What was it? A) They’ll no longer allow Tyson Foods to dump all their unsold turkey rectums into Bentonville’s drinking water reservoir. B) Charlene Pickle of Merkin Fork has been permanently banned from publicly wearing any swimsuits that “cover less than 30 percent of the buttocks and/or front overhang.” C) Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola will no longer be allowed to burn the blankets, sleeping bags and tents of homeless people to heat City Hall. D) That they had denied a permit for C&H Farms, an industrial-scale hog farming outfit that has two vast, liquid pig dookie lagoons in the watershed of the pristine Buffalo National River. 5) Far-right Republican gubernatorial challenger Jan Morgan — who made national news a few years back after she infamously declared her Hot Springs gun range a “Muslim Free Zone” — stopped by a meeting of the Miller County Republicans recently and said some stuff. What, according to a report by the Texarkana Gazette, was among the stuff she said? A) Firing two six-guns into the air, she shouted “I HATES RABBITS!” after being outsmarted, once again, by Bugs Bunny. B) That the government should “do nothing” when it comes to education and instead let the free market hold sway — an apparent sign that Morgan opposes taxpayer-funded public schools. C) Also declared her gun range a “Bigfoot Free Zone,” before lauding her perfect record of zero Sasquatch sightings there. D) Bragged that the .357 magnum revolver she carries on her person at all times can shoot through a cast iron engine block or one standard elementary school.
Answers: C, C, D, D, B arktimes.com JANUARY 18, 2018
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Arts Entertainment AND
CAMA TIME: Performers at the ceremony include (left, clockwise from top) Dazz & Brie, Yuni Wa, Adam Faucett, Princeaus, Greg and Zakk Binns and (right) The Brian Nahlen Band.
Can’t miss CAMA Central Arkansas Music Awards on Jan. 23. BY LINDSEY MILLAR
O
n Tuesday, Jan. 23, the Arkansas Times is throwing a party to celebrate Central Arkansas music at the Ron Robinson Theater, and you should clear your calendar/hire a babysitter/ ask off from work/sleep a lot the night before/find a date/launder your tuxedo, ball gown or favorite vintage concert T-shirt — to make sure you’re there and in full effect. Think of it as a local version of the Grammys, but without any of the lame parts. Our celebrity host is Kevin Kerby, aka “the poet laureate of Pulaski County,” “the king of the one-liner” and “the hirsute heckler.” 24
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The cover charge is only $5, and once inside, there’ll be complimentary beer courtesy of Glazer’s Beer and Shiner Bock and wine courtesy of 107 Liquor in Sherwood. Plus, the lineup of performers is a diverse mix of up-andcomers and local stars in all sorts of genres. We’ve got rock ’n’ soul dynamos Dazz & Brie, winners of the 2017 Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase; Hot Springs blues-rock band Brethren, the longtime backing band of the late, great CeDell Davis; the internationally renowned electronic producer Yuni Wa; rockabilly and Sun Records legends
The Legendary Pacers, who are still playing after more than half of a century together and the death of lead vocalist Sonny Burgess last August; singer/ songwriter Adam Faucett, whose voice makes the hairs stand up on your arms; experimental electro-pop-punk act Princeaus; and the good-time rockin’ Brian Nahlen Band of North Little Rock. Of course, there will be awards, too. We’re officially calling CAMA a ceremony of recognition, which may sound hokey, but it’s purposeful. We joined with Arkansas Sounds, a project of the Central Arkansas Library System’s Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, to launch and host the event because we don’t think Central Arkansas music and musicians get the attention they deserve, especially outside of Central Arkansas, but also sometimes within our bounds. To put CAMA together, we dreamed up 22 categories and then solicited a board of 10 eminent local members of the scene: Arkansas Sounds music coordinator and blue-eyed soul man extraordinaire John Miller, Thick Syrup Records head honcho and talent booker Travis McElroy, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra associate conductor and moonlighting honky-tonker Geoffrey Robson, Tree of Knowledge and Lucero merch impresario Mary Chamberlin, founder of Low Key Arts and Visit Hot Springs special events coordinator Bill Solleder, singer/songwriter and owner of Capitol View Studio Bryan Frazier, in-demand Little Rock jazz and soul vocalist Bijoux Pighee, Yellow Rocket Concepts creative guru Amber Brewer, educator and Little Rock rap O.G. Leron McAdoo and “Not Necessarily Nashville” host Flap Jones. Together with the board, the Arkansas Times staff put together a list of the acts and music that deserved to be nominated in each category and then asked the public to add nominations to an online form. After we had the full list of nominees (which you can see at arktimes.com/camanoms), we asked each board member to vote for his or her favorite in each category. Here is a shortlist of the finalists in
each category: Best Listening Venue: South on Main, White Water Tavern, CALS Ron Robinson Theater, Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack. Classical Innovator: Joe Joyner, Tatiana Roitman Mann, Izzy Getzov, Katherine Williamson. Expat of the Year: Kari Faux, Ben Nichols, Beth Ditto, Chris Maxwell. Best Supporting Role in a Scene: Matt White, N’ell Jones, Chris King, Peter Read. Best Album Art: Isaac Alexander, “Like a Sinking Stone”; Wildflower Revue, “Wildflower Revue”; Junkbomb, “Tourtape”; Sumokem, “The Guardian of Yosemite.” Best Live Performer Rock/Indie: Amasa Hines, Dazz & Brie, Ghost Bones, R.I.O.T.S. Best Live Performer Folk/Bluegrass: Runaway Planet, Sad Daddy, Lark in the Morning, The Creek Rocks. Best Live Performer Punk: Spirit Cuntz, Headcold, Ghost Bones, Attagirl. Best Live Performer Electronic/DJ: Country Florist, Yuni Wa, Princeaus, G-Force. Best Live Performer Funk/Soul: Dazz & Brie, Amasa Hines, Sean Fresh, The Rodney Block Collective. Best Live Performer Blues: CeDell Davis, Gil Franklin, Charles Woods, Charlotte Taylor & Gypsy Rain. Best Video: Couch Jackets, “The Brute”; Big Piph, “Celebrate”; The Uh Huhs, “Wrong Young Lady”; Bazi Owenz, “Don’t Blow My High”; Recognizer, “License to Kill.” Best Radio Show/Podcast: “NVRMND The Morning Show,” “Backroads,” “Shoog Radio,” “Arkansongs.” Best Festival: Harvestfest, Valley of the Vapors, Flux, Holiday Hangout. Best Live Performer Jazz: The Ted Ludwig
ROCK CANDY Check out the Times’ A&E blog arktimes.com
ARKANSAS TIMES
READ read
LOCAL Trio, The Rodney Block Collective, Chris Parker, Brandon Dorris. Best Live Performer Heavy Music: Living Sacrifice, Colour Design, Sumokem, Pallbearer. Best Live Performer Country: Bonnie Montgomery, Dylan Earl, The Wildflower Revue, The Salty Dogs. Best Live Performer Hip-Hop: Big Piph, 607, Rah Howard, Solo Jaxon. Album of the Year: Pallbearer, “Heartless”; Dazz & Brie, “Can’t Chase Girls & Your Money Too”; Wildflower Revue, “Wildflower Revue”; Big Piph, “Celebrate.” Best Songwriter: Joshua Asante, Adam Faucett, Shannon Boshears, Bonnie Montgomery. Artist of the Year: Big Piph, Bonnie Montgomery, Dazz & Brie, Joshua Asante. We’ll also give an award for Local Legend, our version of a lifetime achievement award. We’re hosting this on a Tuesday because it’s generally an off night for working musicians, and we want as many who can to be able to come. Advance ticket sales have been strong; you’re encouraged to buy your ticket in advance from centralarkansastickets. com to ensure you get a seat (all seating is open). Befitting a throw-down such as this, we’re starting early, with a pre-party at 5:30 p.m. at next-door Cache Restaurant’s private upstairs bar for drinks and appetizers at happyhour prices. Be prepared to make a grand entrance to the event; we’ll have photographers on hand. After CAMA, move down the block with us to the after-party at Revolution Taco & Tequila Lounge, where DJ Mike Poe will be on the ones and twos.
THE
CALL by TANYA BARFIELD directed by GILBERT MCCAULEY
ARKANSAS REPERTORY THEATRE JAN. 24 — FEB. 11 | THEREP.ORG | (501) 378-0405 Sponsored By
For suitability suggestions, visit the content information section of our website or call the Box Office. Follow Rock Candy on Twitter: @RockCandies
arktimes.com JANUARY 18, 2018
Chiara B. Motley (Annie), Benjamin Bauman (Peter), Crystal Sha’nae (Rebecca) and Soara-Joye Ross (Drea) in The Rep’s production of THE CALL. Photo by John David Pittman.
A THOUGHT-PROVOKING COMEDY-DRAMA ABOUT PARENTING AND PERSPECTIVE
25
THE
TO-DO
LIST
BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK AND STEPHANIE SMITTLE
THURSDAY 1/18
‘PICTURE PERFECT’
7 p.m. Calvary Baptist Church, 5700 Cantrell Road. $29.
Is it any wonder the Pennsylvania-born Samuel Barber chose to set James Agee’s “Knoxville: Summer of 1915” to music? It’s all right there in the text — the same lush, verdant sounds that inspired Joni Mitchell to name her seventh album “The Hissing of Summer Lawns,” set for soprano and orchestra: “Now is the night one blue dew, my father has drained, he has coiled the hose. … From damp strings morning glories hang their ancient faces. The dry and exalted noise of the locusts from all the air at once enchants my eardrums.” For this concert, as part of the Arkansas Symphony
Orchestra’s Intimate Neighborhood Concerts series, Barber’s meditation will be sung by soprano Keely Futterer, a Dover native studying for a doctoral degree at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. It is bookended by two other pieces: Respighi’s “Trittico Botticelliano, the intimate counterpart to the composer’s grandiose “Pines of Rome,” one of the first works the ASO performed upon its return to Robinson, and a suite on Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” from child prodigy turned father of film music, Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Tickets for students or military are $10, and you’ll get the chance to mingle/talk summer lawns and Respighi with Futterer and the orchestra members afterward. SS
THURSDAY 1/18
FUNKANITES, THE RIOS
9 p.m. White Water Tavern. $7.
There are plenty of U.S. cities where jazz and funk rhythms are relegated exclusively to academia and where horn sections play mostly under the Friday night lights of the football field. Lucky for us, this isn’t one of them. One of the principle outfits performing in Little
Rock today, The Funkanites, has the breadth of experience to blend in soul and Afrobeat elements seamlessly — and to play all that under more suitable lighting. If you haven’t heard them yet, make this a date. While you’re at it, go cue up the impossibly infectious “What I Need” by The Rios, who share the bill. That track should give you a pretty good idea of which shoes to wear Thursday night. SS
‘BEACON’: Sylvie Rosenthal’s sculpture is part of UA Little Rock’s “Building a Collection: Recent Acquisitions” show in the new Windgate Center.
THROUGH 3/11
‘BUILDING A COLLECTION: RECENT ACQUISITIONS’ ‘DISCOVERING KATE FREEMAN CLARK’ Windgate Center of Art and Design, UALR.
FRIDAY 1/19
ARGENTA ARTWALK
5-8 p.m. Main Street galleries, NLR.
Just because it’s the coldest January in years doesn’t mean hibernation is a must. Walking is possible, especially when the destination is to art exhibitions and things to do in a conveniently small area of downtown North Little Rock. Besides, what’s warmer than a sock? Especially a sock monster. You can’t wear Conway art teacher Chris Massengill’s creations in the show “Sock Monster Problems” at Mugs Cafe (515 Main St.), but these handmade monsters will warm you up with their accompanying stories. In the 400 block of Main, come in from out of the cold to spy “Lagniappe” at the Argenta Gallery (413B Main St.), an exhibition of figurative Fauvist oils 26
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ARKANSAS TIMES
by Greg Lahti. Next door, fans of architecture will be happy to see StudioMAIN’s display of AIA Design Award boards. Also on the west side of the block, Greg Thompson Fine Art continues its “Best of the South” and holiday sale show and Core Brewery is hosting sports-themed artwork in “The Games We Play.” Across the street, the Argenta Branch of the Laman Library is showing photography by Gary Cawood: Don’t pass this by. Off Main, the Innovation Hub will open its studios to the public and talk about its upcoming Beer, Burgers and Bots Tournament. Other participants in the gallery walk are Barry Thomas Fine Art & Studio, the House of Art and the NLR Heritage Center. LNP
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UA Little Rock’s new Windgate Center, built with a gift of $20.3 million from the Windgate Charitable Foundation, inaugurates the gallery season with two exhibitions. “Building a Collection,” in the Main Gallery, features artwork purchased thanks to Windgate’s largesse over the past seven years, including large-scale drawings, paintings, printmaking, contemporary crafts and sculpture. In the Lower Level Gallery, an exhibition of work by turn-of-the-century American impressionist Kate Freeman Clark will include painting, drawings and works on cigar boxes. Clark, from Holly Springs, Miss., was taught by William Merritt Chase in New York and was a prolific artist; her work is collected in a museum in Holly Springs. A grand opening of the Windgate Center is set for Feb. 18. LNP
IN BRIEF
THURSDAY 1/18
EBRU YILDIZ
FRIDAY 1/19
PALLBEARER, SUMOKEM, ADAM FAUCETT
8 p.m. Revolution Taco & Tequila Lounge. $12-$15.
‘SORRY IS GONE’: Guitarist/songwriter Jessica Lea Mayfield takes her powerful new record to Stickyz Thursday night.
THURSDAY 1/18
JESSICA LEA MAYFIELD
8:30 p.m. Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack. $12-$14.
Jessica Lea Mayfield played much of her new album, “Sorry Is Gone,” on a baritone Taylor acoustic guitar tuned A to A — a full fifth lower than a standard guitar tuning — instead of the more popular B to B tuning, a fourth lower than standard. She told Stereogum last October that doing so “just makes everything rattle. It sounds like Satan’s bathroom or something, I don’t know.” That “Satan’s bathroom” sound is part and parcel of the album’s blacker moments, some of which reflect on the abusive relationship that landed Mayfield in a hospital bed in July of last year, Instagramming a plea: “This is not uncommon. I want to tell anyone who is protecting their abuser that it’s not worth it. … My silence helps no one except the person who did this to me.” With “Sorry Is Gone,” Mayfield’s reckons with the trauma in the way that a woman who recorded her first album of original material at age 15 is wont to reckon with it: on tape. “Make My Head Sing” in 2014 may have been Mayfield’s heaviest, musically speaking, but “Sorry Is Gone,” for this listener, is a new pinnacle of heavy. It’s versatile and sage and devastating, and if you haven’t been paying attention to this songwriter and guitarist already, by all means, remedy that Thursday night in person. Sun Seeker, whose sunny debut EP was released on Third Man Records last summer, opens the show. SS
Last March, Pallbearer released one of the most crushingly beautiful albums to come out of the state, ever — “Heartless.” It’s symphonic in its approach, with terrifically complex rhythm combinations and melodies that take minutes and minutes to unfurl. Writers have gone apeshit trying to describe it, and fans have gone apeshit trying to figure out whether it’s metal. Suffice to say, it’s contemplative in a way Pallbearer fans may or may not have been ready for. If “Foundations of Burden” was the sound of the hammer to the glass, “Heartless” is the sound of the glass shattering fractal-style. The band spent much of 2017 touring France, Australia and Scandinavia in support of it, as bass player Joseph Rowland writes in a dispatch for Bandcamp’s “Artist Reflections” series: “Another natural result of releasing “Heartless” was playing shows far beyond the relative comfort of the underground doom scene. That has had its own unexpected — and occasionally outrageous — outcomes.” (That included a nearly amputated index finger and a belligerently sleepy fan, evidently.) Please, please don’t miss this one; Pallbearer’s a Natural State treasure, and it’s been a good while since they’ve been able to put this music in front of fellow Arkansans. Opening the show, as if you needed more reason to be there, are fellow doom rockers Sumokem and songwriting savant Adam Faucett. SS
FRIDAY 1/19
STEVE HOWELL & THE MIGHTY MEN
9:30 p.m. White Water Tavern. $8.
If the members of this blues outfit look familiar, they are — to fans of Little Rock jazz or boogie, anyway. Guitarist/ bassist Chris Michaels, drummer Dave Hoffpauir and keyboardist Jason Weinheimer have an eclectic collective resume: Lagniappe, The Boondogs, Love Ghost and a handful of other projects adjacent to Max Recordings and Fellowship Hall Sound. Here, they back up native Texan,
blues guitarist and independent oil and gas producer Steve Howell, whose 2014 release “Yes, I Believe I Will” covers the traditional Irish tune “Rake and Rambling Blade,” the traditional gospel call “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning” and plenty of ground in between. For a primer, check out the video for “Aberdeen, Mississippi” on YouTube. The Mighty Men are joined by Cherry Red, a Hill Country blues project from Hoffpauir, bassist Matt Floyd and guitarist Mark Simpson. SS
The Venture Center hosts a real-time “elevator pitch” competition with a $500 prize at Brewski’s Pub & Grub’s “Pitch ’n’ Pint,” 6 p.m., $15-$20. Erik Myers takes his stand-up set to The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat., 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat., $8-$12. The William F. Laman Library hosts John Neal as part of its Live @ Laman concert series, 7 p.m., free. The Arkansas Arts Center hosts trivia at Stone’s Throw Brewing, 6:30 p.m., free. Maxine’s in Hot Springs hosts The Gold Show Drag Show, 9 p.m., $5. Gospel/pop singer B.J. Thomas gives a concert at Reynolds Performance Hall on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas, 7:30 p.m., $27-$35.
FRIDAY 1/19 Jeff Coleman and The Feeders play an early set at Vino’s with Sabine Valley, 7:30 p.m., $10. CosmOcean performs for the late-night crowd at Oaklawn’s Silks Bar & Grill, Hot Springs, 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat., or catch the happy hour set from Mayday by Midnight at the casino’s Pops Lounge, 5 p.m. Fri.-Sat., free. The Matt Spinks Trio takes the stage at Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7. Brian Nahlen performs at Skinny J’s, 7 p.m. Bluesboy Jag plays a solo set at Cregeen’s Irish Pub, 8 p.m. The Electric 5 kick off the weekend with a dance party at Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m., $5. Couch Jackets perform at Blue Canoe Brewing Co.’s warehouse at 1637 E. 15th St., 7 p.m., $10. Tall Tall Trees and Urban Pioneers kick off the annual Ozark Mountain Music Festival in downtown Eureka Springs; on Saturday The Creek Rocks, Carrie Nation & The Speakeasy and American Lions perform, see ozarkmountainmusicfestival. com for details and tickets. The Harlem Globetrotters take their timehonored trick-shot repertoire to the floor at Verizon Arena, 7 p.m., $29$132. Ozark string band Sad Daddy lands at Kings Live Music in Conway, with a set from Kassi Moe, 8:30 p.m., $5. William Clark Green puts on a red dirt country show at Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $10-$12. Nuthin Fancy performs at Thirst N’ Howl Bar & Grill, 8:30 p.m., $5. The Statehouse Convention Center hosts the 36th annual Arkansas Marine Expo, noon Fri.-noon Sun., $6. The Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville hosts a reception for new exhibition, “The Grammar of Ornament,” 5-7 p.m.
SATURDAY 1/20 Mark Currey takes tunes from “Tar-
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CONTINUED ON PAGE 29 arktimes.com JANUARY 18, 2018
27
THE
TO-DO
LIST
BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK AND STEPHANIE SMITTLE
FRIDAY 1/19
‘ONE YEAR DOWN’
6-9 p.m. New Deal Studios, 2003 S. Louisiana St.
#METOO: Don Byram’s photograph, along with works from 43 other artists, is on display at New Deal Studios as part of the “One Year Down” exhibition.
Some people march in protest and lobby their lawmakers, others run for office to toss the scoundrels out. Another response to a year in which America saw the revival of anti-immigrant, anti-poor, anti-LGBTQ, antigun control, racist, misogynistic and other policies once considered to be shameful mistakes of the past, is the making of art. New Deal Studios opens a two-day poetry and art event that, it says, “seeks to provide a thoughtful and mature visual dialogue as artists respond to events and issues during the first year of the Trump administration.” Notice the word mature; participants do not resemble the president in any way. Poets Kai Coggin, Bryan Borland, Seth Pennington, Jeannie Snow, Karen Hayes, Bud Kenny, Susan Elder, Zachary Crow, Jessica Hylton, Akau Anyieth, Sarah Burns and C.S. Carrier will read poetry starting at 6:30 p.m.; work by 44 artists will give visual testimony to this most nasty era of American politics. The show will be open again from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday to coincide with the Women’s March On The Polls and the Rally for Reproductive Justice (see cover story). Depending on interest, the gallery may open Sunday afternoon, too. LNP
SATURDAY 1/20
BALLET ARKANSAS: WINTER WINE TASTE
7 p.m. The Space @ Ballet Arkansas, 520 Main St. $50.
If you have ever clicked on a link leading to an amazing tango video, dreamed of clutching the rose in your teeth yourself, or just really dig some
Astor Piazzolla, this one’s for you. Ballet Arkansas is throwing this little milonga as part of its Motion on Main series, inviting people in for Argentinian food from Buenos Aires Grill and Cafe, wines from Colonial Wines & Spirits, Latin American repertoire from cellist David Gerstein and violinist/conductor
Geoff Robson, a tango performance by 2016 Dancing into Dreamland Dance Competition Argentine tango winners Sarah and Rick Pinedo and a tango finale by the Ballet Arkansas company dancers. Find tickets at balletarkansas.org. SS
SATURDAY 1/20
ALAN JACKSON
7:30 p.m. Verizon Arena. $40-$130.
A few weeks ago around lunchtime, I was doing two things I do on a fairly irregular basis: driving down University Avenue and listening to KMJXFM, 105.1 (“The Wolf”). In a glorious moment of
synchronicity the likes of which I’m not bound to week. If you’re a child of the ’80s and you grew up experience again, the fizzy click of an aluminum Arkansas, your chances of avoiding “Tall, Tall Trees,” can opening echoed through my car’s speaker to cue “Gone Country” or “Chattahoochie” are next to nil, the opening of Alan Jackson’s “Pop A Top” just as which means you’re in prime position to pop a top I caught the vintage sign for Popatop Wine, Spirits and sing along. SS & Beer in my peripheral vision. Thanks, universe! Thanks, also, for bringing Alan Jackson our way this
SATURDAY 1/20
‘BULLETS INTO BELLS’
3 p.m. Clinton School of Public Service.
As Arkansas college students head off to campuses where guns are now allowed, thanks to one legislator’s notion that concealed carry will halt crazed shooters, the Clinton School of Public Service and the Oxford American will host poets and others speaking on America’s gun culture. The audience will hear from Brian Clements and Alexandra 28
JANUARY 18, 2018
ARKANSAS TIMES
Teague, poets and editors of the poetry anthology as Billy Collins with responses by gun violence “Bullets into Bells: Poets and Citizens Respond to survivors, activists and politicians. For example, Gun Violence”; poet Tarfia Faizullah; poet and “When I Think of Tamir Rice While Driving” by Clinton School student Crystal Mercer; activist Reginald Dwayne Betts: “in the backseat of my car and former gang-banger Leifel Jackson; state Rep. are my own sons, still not yet Tamir’s age, already Warwick Sabin (D-Little Rock); Hendrix College having heard / me warn them against playing with professor Dr. Jay Barth; a representative from Little toy pistols, / though my rhetoric is always about what Rock Police Department; and Austin Bailey of Moms I don’t / like, not what I fear, because sometimes / I Demand Action for Gun Sense. The volume “Bullets think of Tamir Rice & shed tears … . LNP into Bells” pairs poems by such celebrated writers
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IN BRIEF, CONT.
THE LINE FROM COTTON MATHER TO HIP-HOP: Ibram Kendi, the self-described “hardcore humanist, softcore vegan” who penned the acclaimed “Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America,” speaks at the Clinton School Monday at noon.
rant County” and others to Core Public House, 7 p.m., free admission. Jet 420 takes the stage at Thirst N’ Howl, 8:30 p.m., $5. Sad Daddy brings its clever lyrics to the White Water Tavern, 9 p.m. Khaki Onion reunites for a show at Revolution Taco & Tequila Lounge, 9 p.m., $10. After the Alan Jackson show ends, The Salty Dogs bring the twang to Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7. Marcellus Nash takes the stage at Gigi’s Soul Cafe & Lounge in Maumelle, 9 p.m., $15-$20. Brian Nahlen and Nick Devlin perform for happy hour at Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m., followed by a set from Rustenhaven, 9 p.m., $5. The Dirk Quinn Band plays a show at Kings Live Music, with Stuart Thomas, 8:30 p.m., $5. The Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre’s annual Bard Ball fundraiser kicks off onstage and backstage at Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, 6:30 p.m., $75. Author Jenette DuHart signs copies of her book, “The Happy Penny,” at the Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library, 1 p.m. College Station, Texas, rockers The Ex-Optimists share a bill with River Valley jazz trio Escape Tones at Maxine’s, 9 p.m., $5. Andy Tanas plays a free show at Markham Street Grill and Pub, 8:30 p.m.
SUNDAY 1/21
MONDAY 1/22
Professor Annette Trefzer of the University of Mississippi gives a talk on the exhibition “Discovering Kate Freeman Clark” at UALR’s Windgate Center, 2 p.m., Lecture Hall.
IBRAM KENDI
MONDAY 1/22
Noon. Sturgis Hall, Clinton School of Public Service. Free.
Think of Ibram Kendi’s National Book Award-winning treatise on racism as a sort of social expression of Newton’s third law. “Somebody who challenges discrimination,” Kendi writes in “Stamped From the Beginning,” “that has an effect, somebody who maintains it, that has an effect, and somebody who does nothing has an effect.” The book, subtitled “The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America,” landed on dozens of revered bestseller and best book lists when it dropped in 2016, and examines the lives of five individuals who effected the degree to which racist ideas were (or were not) able to gain a foothold in American identity and history — Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. DuBois and Angela Davis. And, maybe more urgently, it asks us to consider how inaction with regard to racism equates to complicity, challenging the idea that anyone can ever truly be “apolitical.” SS
Barry McVinney, Steve Hudelson, Brian Wolverton and Patrick Lindsey of The Goat Band play an evening of jazz at The Lobby Bar, 7:30 p.m., donations accepted.
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Arkansas has the second fastest growing Latino population in the country and smart businesses are targeting this market as they develop business relationships with these new consumers. El Latino is a free publication available at 185 pickup locations in Central Arkansas. www.ellatinoarkansas.com Facebook.com/ellatinoarkansas
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TUESDAY 1/23 Author and journalist Janis Kearney speaks about her memoir “Sundays with TJ: 100 Years of Memories on Varner Road” as part of the Arkansas State Archives’ “Pen to Podium” lecture series, 7 p.m., the Department of Arkansas Heritage, 1100 N. St., with a reception at 6:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY 1/24 The Joint Venture kicks off an improv show at The Joint, 8 p.m., $8. The Juke Joint Zombies host the Arkansas River Blues Society Blues Jam at Thirst N’ Howl, 7 p.m. At the Clinton School of Public Service, PBS NewsHour special correspondent Nick Schifrin unravels the implications of the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, 6 p.m., free. Follow Rock Candy on Twitter: @RockCandies
arktimes.com JANUARY 18, 2018
29
Dining WHAT’S COOKIN’
RICE AKARA (banana, sugar and rice flour with spicy red pepper sauce). Fried plantains. Skewers of beef and peanut butter. Cassava-based soup with beef, smoked turkey, tripe and smoked fish. Peanut-based soup with steamed basmati rice, chicken and beef. No, we are not in Kansas anymore. We are in Arkansas, though, at the Kontiki African Restaurant, on state Highway 111 in Alexander. Christian Domingo, a native of Sierra Leone who has lived in Arkansas for the past 19 years, and his family are the first to introduce African fare to Arkansas. Kontiki has had a soft opening, but will celebrate its grand opening at 11 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 21. See the full menu on Kontiki’s Facebook page. Phone number is 615-8504. POKE HULA IS now open at 419 E. Third St., in the River Market district, in the former home of Blue Canoe’s Taco Beer Burrito. IT’S TIME TO start making Fido’s costume for the annual “Barkus on Main” event coming Sunday, Feb. 11, in advance of Mardi Gras on Feb. 13. Gumbo, crawfish, the Rebel Kettle Brewing Co. beer garden and hurricane station, free beads and live music by Rodney Block will unleash spirits for the main attraction, the Crewe of Barkus parade on Main Street. The party starts at noon; at 2 p.m., dogs will parade down Main from Seventh Street north to Fourth Street. There will be a postparade block party in the 300 block of Main sponsored by Soul Fish Cafe, Brewski’s Pub & Grub and CJRW. The first 200 dogs to arrive will receive a complimentary Wag Bag from Bark Bar and prizes will be awarded to the Best Pet/Owner Looka-like Costume, Best Dressed, Best Small Dog Costume, Best Large Dog Costume, Most Original Costume, Best Float and Judge’s Choice. Registration for the parade is $30. Hounds Lounge Pet Resort and Spa is sponsoring the event. To register, go to barkusonmain. com or call the Downtown Little Rock Partnership at 375-0121. THE ARSAGA FAMILY has purchased Greenhouse Grille, one of Fayetteville’s favorite upscale restaurants and among the first to offer locally sourced foods. Grille owners Jerrmy Gawthrop and Clayton Suttle sold the restaurant in December; they are still operating Wood Stone Craft Pizza locations next door to the Greenhouse Grille and at a new spot at 3619 N. Mall Ave. The Arsagas operate Arsaga’s at the Depot, Arsaga’s at Church & Center and operations at the University of Arkansas Law Library and the Fayetteville Public Library. 30
JANUARY 18, 2018
ARKANSAS TIMES
BANCHAN AND BOUNTY: Kimchi’s Yuk Gae Jang (foreground, right) and Jeyuk Bookeum make for quintessential cold weather food.
Kimchi’s ginchy And Korean food is comfort food.
U
sually when a restaurant rebrands itself, it does so loudly and with fanfare. Signs reading “Under New Management!” issue a plea for soured customers to return. Almost always there is a new name above the door. Not so with Kimchi Korean Cuisine, nee the Vietnamese(ish) Van Lang Cuisine, where the transition from banh mi to bibimbap was a gradual, inconspicuous one. Back in the late aughts, a to-go portion of hot and sour soup this diner carried home from Van Lang was so potent that it expelled tiny crimson beads of condensation around its styrofoam takeout cup. Maybe that should have prompted some questions about the quality of Van Lang’s paper goods, but the soup was bright and spicy, and also potent enough, evidently, to banish all signs of an oncoming bout of sniffles,
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so we weren’t asking any questions. The experience also left us with a streak of loyalty to the strip mall spot — one that may well have faded if we’d visited more recently, when Van Lang’s reviews appear to have taken a turn for the dismal. Van Lang is no more, though; a Korean family took over the spot unceremoniously a couple of years ago, introducing new dishes and, reviews indicated, improved existing Korean staples like bibimbap and Yuk Gae Jang. Only in May 2017 did they adopt a new name and a new neon sign for the restaurant. We visited Kimchi for a weeknight dinner just after its nine-month anniversary, pulling into the parking lot across from UA Little Rock and pausing quizzically at the giant storefront curtain that’s stretched across both windows — a world map bifurcated by the restaurant’s double doors, w it h t he words
“Korean Restaurant” superimposed on Nevada. Wall posters of popular items like Gal-Bi (short ribs) and Jjampong (seafood noodle soup) shout to incoming diners, their names neatly printed below each supersized photo. Michael MacDonald’s Korean counterpa r t sa ng tenderly a nd emotively from a speaker near the back of the room, and near a display counter near the front door hung posed photos of the owners with Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner and the crew from a local news station. Kimchi’s extensive list of bubble teas was tempting, but this diner opted for one of Kimchi’s three Korean beers — a feather-light lager called Hite. If you’re into Stella Artois, you’ll dig Hite, which was served to us in a tall, elegant frosted glass. Our companion went for hot tea. We’d read the Nokdu-Jeon ($5.99), a Korean pancake, was a must. That turned out to be an understatement. Every culture, it seems, has its version of this comfort dish — the latke, the crepe or another no-frills pan fry number that can be easily churned out on a weeknight when time is scarce, or on a holiday to satiate famished
BELLY UP
Check out the Times’ food blog, Eat Arkansas arktimes.com
family members while the main attraction finishes its time in the oven. Kimchi’s version was, in our dining companion’s words, “like something somebody’s mom would make,” an eggy, dinner plate-sized disc streaked with julienned green onion and served so piping hot that it was spong y on the inside and irresistibly caramelized and crisp on the outside. It’s what we imagine we’d be handed from within the windows of a concession truck at the Arkansas State Fair named “Seoul Food,” were there such a thing. The Nokdu-Jeon didn’t make it out the door with us, but if it had, it would’ve been grounds for a midnight refrigerator raid. We also opted for the Spring Rolls ($3.99), inoffensive but unremarkable logs of rice paper stuffed with shrimp and lots of shredded green leaf lettuce. Those might have gone ignored altogether, were it not for the exercise in contrasts that came alongside: a delicate peanut sauce and a tangy red chili pepper sauce. For what it’s worth, the spring rolls offered a counterbalance to the heft elsewhere in the meal. The main dishes, the Yuk Gae Jang ($12.99) and the Jeyuk Bookeum ($12.99), arrived in short order, as did everything else on our visit. Perhaps it’s because the nighttime pace at Kimchi is a little more leisurely, but our server — a tall, jolly young man with thick black-rimmed glasses and a sweet disposition — was prompt, quick to laugh and unfailingly eager to answer any questions. The Yuk Gae Jang was a thick tangle of shredded brisket, shiitake mushroom, green and white onion, egg, mung bean sprouts and a Korean green called gosari or fernbrake, ser ved in a mixing-bowl-sized portion alongside a cup of perfectly steamed rice, sticky enough to hold its place in the soup, dry enough to soak up the deeply f lavored chili broth. If there is a Korean dish to eat when it is 23 degrees outside, this is it. The Jeyuk Bookeum was a hefty stir-fry of shredded pork, dotted with slivers of zucchini and carrot that had evidently been given time enough with the pork to lend it a rich depth. Warning: Jeyuk Bookeum can be on the oily side, so if you’re the type of person who cuts every bit of fat away from your butterflied pork chop, this probably isn’t the dish
Kimchi Korean Cuisine 3700 S. University Ave. 501-570-7700 Quick bite
For anyone who remembers the table flags from the days when Casa Bonita still made its home in the nearby Village Shopping Center at Asher and University, you might find a reminder at Kimchi: Each table has a tiny call button on its corner for summoning the server. We never needed it, but were tempted to use it anyway. Also, check out the lunch specials: beef stew ($9.99), kimchi stew ($9.99), bulgogi beef ($11.99) or the lunch portion of the Jeyuk Bookeum ($9.99). Desserts were nowhere to be found on the menu, but if you’ve got a sweet tooth, check out the array of bubble teas: mango, taro, coconut, honeydew and strawberry.
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for you. Korean places are perhaps known best by their banchan, the selection of small side dishes to be eaten on their own or as supplements to the main dish, and we’d heard Kimchi kept the banchan sparse. Maybe that’s true, but the four small accompaniments to our meal were just enough to vary the palette a little: a dish of cubed daikon radish covered in a gochujang paste, some noodle-like fish cakes with accents of carrot, a clump of cold mung bean sprouts and, of course, a small dish of kimchi, which our server told us was “fresh; just made a couple of days ago.” He was spot on; the dish was still crunchy and not wilted by the fermentation process kimchi undergoes. Despite swearing before that the cold weather had made us ravenous, we were full long before the bottom of our bowls was in sight, and most of our meal ended up coming home with us to double as lunch the next day. A nightcap wasn’t in the cards, but if it had been, we’d love to have mimicked the three older men in the corner booth, who were telling stories, leaning far back in their seats for big belly laughs and sipping cold, high-ABV soju from shot glasses.
North Little Rock | Conway
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31
MOVIE REVIEW
Brewers Dinner 1-25-18 • 6:30pm
Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom - new beer garden room
1010 MAIN ST, CONWAY, AR, 72032
4-course dinner
paired with selected craft brews and gift bag.
$75 per person Ticket gets you food, drink, and goodie bag. We will have live background music and a Certified Beer Guide/Cicerone hosting the event and describing the flavor combinations.
Proceeds to benefit the Children Advocacy Alliance in Conway Arkansas. Sponsored by:
Get tickets at centralarkansastickets.com
‘The Post’ a powerhouse It’s likely to win big at the Oscars. BY DAVID KOON
BARD BALL Lose yourself at the2018 theatre M Lose yourself at Bard Ball 2018 as we raise a toast to AST’s 12th season. Join emcee CHAD BRADFORD for an evening of magic and mystery: • Special performance by AST alum MICHELLE ALVES, “Anita” in our 2016 production of West Side Story and most recently seen on Broadway in the musical hit On Your Feet! • Heavy hors-d’oeuvres and complimentary drinks • Live and silent auctions BUY TICKETS AT ARKSHAKES.COM $75 a ticket/$800 per table of 10 COCKTAIL ATTIRE For more information, contact Geneva Galloway at 501-852-8223 or ggalloway@arkshakes.com
SATURDAY, JANUARY 20 AT 6:30 PM ONSTAGE & BACKSTAGE REYNOLDS PERFORMANCE HALL CONWAY, ARKANSAS
THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS 32
JANUARY 18, 2018
ARKANSAS TIMES
ovies, especially American movies, are always about one of two subjects: what to believe in or what to fear. Some of the best movies are about both, so it’s no accident they’re about newspapers — “Citizen Kane,” “All the President’s Men,” “Spotlight,” etc. Though the rustle of newsprint over breakfast has largely, and sadly, been silenced by the coming of the digital age, newspaper movies endure, and are steeped in that delicate balance of what to fear and what we should believe to help us triumph over that fear: specifically, the fear of explosive secrets hoarded by the wealthy and powerful for their benefit and enrichment, and the belief in the disinfectant of good journalism to expose those secrets and thus save the world. To the list of great movies about the press, add director Steven Spielberg’s “The Post.” The film is designed from the ground floor up to be something more like a heist flick, with the players boosting information that was never meant to be seen by the public instead of jewels or casino bankrolls, than a film about the sometimes dry world of chasing down facts and figures
over the telephone. Spielberg knows what he’s doing after all these years, and his film is a standout that should be richly rewarding, both for those in front of the camera and behind it, when they start handing out Oscar nominations. Before Nixon’s spectacular downfall and resignation finally Ol’ Yellered the American public’s belief that our leaders in government would never lie to us (an antique notion these days, even before the coming of Agent Orange), we got a preview of coming attractions in the Pentagon Papers. Leaked to The New York Times and Washington Post in 1971 after being smuggled out of the offices of government contractor the Rand Corporation bit by bit by proto-Snowden Daniel Ellsberg, the exhaustive, highly classified report on U.S. involvement in Vietnam between 1945 and 1967 turned out to be a trove of ugly truths the American public should have been trusted to know years before, including the fact that as early as 1965, the Johnson administration and the Pentagon knew the war was unwinnable no matter how many American lives they threw into the meat grinder of Southeast Asia.
UGLY TRUTHS: In Stephen Spielberg’s “The Post,” the Pentagon papers saga unfolds with a stellar cast: Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Philip Casnoff, David Cross, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford, Jessie Mueller and Carrie Coon.
“ T h e P o s t ” again stick a well-manicured finger in starts w i t h Donald Trump’s eye from the podium. Ellsberg’s theft As good, however, are the lesser lights in (or liberat ion, the cast, playing the kind of shoedepending on leather reporters whose names don’t how you see it) make the history books. Bob Odenkirk of the report, but of “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” quickly shifts to fame plays Washington Post reporter the offices of The Ben Bagdikian, and is a standout as the Washington Post, unsung hero who tracks down Ellsberg then a regional and serves as a middleman between paper amid a Ellsberg and the Post. There are lots fragile initial public offering, struggling of good performances out there this to play catch-up to The New York Times year, of course, but I’m going to call this with an untested and unsure publisher, one: In an age when people of good will Katherine Graham (Meryl Streep, are itching to reward truth tellers (and superb as always) at the helm. After depictions of them), Odenkirk will likely Ellsberg leaks the Pentagon Papers to get a Best Supporting Actor nomination the Times, Washington Post executive if not the statuette. editor Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) leads The Pentagon Papers saga is so vast his band of disheveled, inky pirates (the and multifaceted — encompassing sort that seems to hang around every everything from our current need newsroom) on a hunt for their own copy to mourn the great newspapers that of the report. Just as they manage to once strode the land like benevolent get their own set, a federal judge drops colossi, to the uneasy necessity and the hammer on the Times, ordering it resulting danger of official secrecy, to to print no more stories based on the the inside baseball of what happens leaked documents. That sets up some when money and information collide thrilling drama, with Graham torn — that as a viewer, I found myself between two, equally valid viewpoints. wishing “The Post” could have played On one side: Bradlee and his pirates, hot Streep a little less (sacrilege, I know) after the story, determined to publish in order to explore more of those and making grand speeches about the fascinating nooks and crannies. The freedom of the press. On the other, final arguments before the Supreme the attorneys and money men, telling Court, for example, arguments that Graham that the decision to publish will once and for all led to the creation possibly sink the newspaper her family of the notion of an unfettered press, had built and entrusted to her after are largely played off screen, which the unexpected death of her husband is a shame, both for posterity’s sake suddenly elevated her from socialite to and the chance that Jesse Plemons businesswoman. It all leads to both the (aka “Meth Damon” from “Breaking birth of the legal prohibition on prior Bad,” who plays the Washington Post’s restraint and the great Washington nervous lead attorney) will get in on Post as we know it today. the Oscar nomination-palooza that’s The ensemble cast of “The Post” sure to result. Still, Spielberg knows is incredible. Hanks and Streep will his stuff, and instead of trying to cram likely garner their umpteenth Oscar in everything, he takes a very smart nominations for the film, with Streep line in focusing instead on the circle maybe pulling out a win not only of confusion, greed, fear, selflessness because of the Swiss-watch quality of and righteousness inhabited by the her performance — which sees Graham government, the Pentagon, Graham, transform from a timid lady-who- Bradlee, the Greenback Dollar, the law lunches to a lioness taking on the Boys and the First Amendment. Such are the Club — but because the Academy will things that history, and great movies, want to see the Queen of Hollywood yet are made of.
E
van Wyler captures the attention of Alexa Vere de Vere, a black-clad woman of mystery who has made the work of celebrity her home. Maybe she’s a record producer, maybe she’s a film agent, what is clear is that she wants Evan to write the screenplay of her life story. Evan discovers a chain of people who have fallen under her spell and acted as her meal ticket. JANUARY 12, 13, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 2018 $16-ADULTS • $12-STUDENTS & SENIORS THURSDAY, FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT CURTAIN TIME IS 7:30 PM. SUNDAY AFTERNOON CURTAIN TIME IS 2:30 PM.
Please arrive promptly. There will be no late admission. The House opens 30 minutes prior to curtain. Box office opens one hour before curtain time. For more information contact us at 501.374.3761 or www.weekendtheater.org OUR 25TH SEASON IS SPONSORED BY PIANO KRAFT CentralArkansasTickets.com to purchase tickets and flex passes.
1001 W. 7th St. • Little Rock, AR 72201 • 501-374-3761
rooT CaFe AND ARKANSAs Times PReSenT:
LitTLe rocK’S 6th ANnUaL BearD & mUSTacHe ConTeST
GRoW it AND ShoW it!
JUDGMENT DAY (SOMA MARDI GRAS): SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10TH, 2018 AT THE BERNICE GARDEN Shave-in CategorieS
(Must have been “Certified Clean-Shaven” at the Root December 2nd or 3rd)
Fullest Beard • Most Original Beard
Lifetime Achievement CategorieS (Register day of contest; no pre-registration required)
Best Mustache • Best Santa Claus • Best Groomed Beard Best Natural Beard Under 6” • Best Natural Beard Over 6” Women’s Category
Best DIY Crafted Beard
PRiZeS FoR WinneRS! More Info: Phone: 414-0423 Email: theroot@therootcafe.com arktimes.com JANUARY 18, 2018
33
A&E NEWS THE LITTLE ROCK CONVENTION &
Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit play, there’s
Visitors Bureau has announced new
still hope: The Isbell outfit will be playing a
security screening procedures for all
show at 8 p.m. at El Dorado’s Griffin Music
ticketed live performances at Robinson
Hall on Saturday, May 5, and is welcoming
Center Performance Hall, First Security
legendar y British guitarist Richard
Amphitheater and the Statehouse
Thompson to sit in. Tickets, ranging from
Convention Center star ting Jan. 21.
$32 to $60, are available at eldomad.com
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit play a show
or by calling 870-444-3007.
at Robinson that day. Security will include walk-through magnetometers for all live.
BETH DITTO, WHITE COUNTY’S wailing
In a press release, Little Rock Convention
torchbearer for punk rock and body
and Visitors Bureau CEO Gretchen Hall
positivity, is kicking off her North American
said the new procedures “have become
Tour with a show at Revolution Taco &
common practice in public assembly
Tequila Lounge on Wednesday, March
venues, and many promoters are requiring
7. The former frontwoman for Gossip is
these type of security measures be in place.
performing in support of her solo debut
While there is no perfect system, patron
album, “Fake Sugar.” Tickets, $21, are
safety is our number one priority and
available at arkansaslivemusic.com.
concern. We strive to insure our patrons RON CAMPBELL, THE MAN WHO
have an enjoyable and safe experience at events in our managed facilities. We
brought animated versions of the Fab
hope all our patrons will be patient as
Four to film and television screens, is in
our staff adapts to this ‘new normal’ that
town. Campbell’s career includes work on
we all face.” Exceptions will be made for
“Yellow Submarine,” the Saturday morning
medically necessary reasons, the release
Beatles cartoon series and other animated
said. Expectant mothers and people with
shows (“Scooby Doo,” “Rugrats,” Smurfs,”
pacemakers, for example, will be scanned
“The Flintstones”). He’s showcasing his
with a handheld device.
paintings at 4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 19, and at noon Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 20-21,
Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit SPEAKING OF THE FORMER Drive By
at Stephano’s Fine Art Gallery, 1813 N.
Trucker: If you didn’t score tickets to see
Grant St.
A REMINDER FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT ARKANSAS TIMES: FROM MOMENT TO MOVEMENT
MARCH
ARKANSAS
2018
ON HHHHHHHHH
THE POLLS HHHHHHHHHHHH
#MARCHON #WEEKENDOFWOMEN
MARCH ON, ARKANSAS! LITTLE ROCK, AR
Saturday, January 20, 2018 Lineup begins at 11:00 am at the corner of West Capitol and South Pulaski in Little Rock. RSVP here: bit.ly/MarchOnArkansas18Tix
34
JANUARY 18, 2018
ARKANSAS TIMES
FACES OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS ON DECEMBER 15, 2016, we introduced our first
edition of Faces of Central Arkansas, which highlighted local entrepreneurs and business owners who started their business’ here and have played a big role in the success and continued growth of our city’s entrepreneurs.
A DIVERSE GROUP OF LOCAL BUSINESSES, BOTH LARGE AND SMALL PARTICIPATED LAST YEAR. TO TO RENEW A FACES CATEGORY OR INQUIRE ABOUT PARTICIPATING CALL 501.492.3994. LIMITED PARTICIPANTS, RESERVE YOUR EXCLUSIVE CATEGORY NOW! ISSUE DATE: MARCH 29,2018
arktimes.com JANUARY 18, 2018
35
ALSO IN THE ARTS
THEATER
seeking from The Weekend Theater. 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat., 2:30 p.m. Sun. through Jan. 27. $12-$16. 1001 W. 7th St. 501-374-3761.
“Grandpa Hasn’t Moved for Days.” The latewinter/spring comedy show from The Main Thing. 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat through March 24. $24. The Joint Theater & Coffeehouse. 301 Main St., NLR. 501-372-0205.
FINE ART, HISTORY EXHIBITS
MAJOR VENUES
“Greater Tuna.” Murry’s Dinner Playhouse puts up a comedy from Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard about “the third smallest town in Texas.” 7:30 p.m. Tue.-Sat., dinner at 6 p.m.; 12:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Sun., dinner at 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. through Dec. 31. $15-$37. 6323 Colonel Glenn Road. 501-562-3131.
ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, MacArthur Park: “Form and Fear: New Work by Julia Baugh,” ceramics, through Jan. 28. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. 372-4000.
“Glengarry Glen Ross.” Precipice Theater launches a run of David Mamet’s fiery salesroom drama. 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat. 2:30 p.m. Sun. through Jan. 21. 320 W. 7th St. See centralarkansastickets.com for tickets. “The Call.” The Rep tackles Tanya Barfield’s study on parenthood, adoption, privilege and race. 7 p.m. Sun., 7 p.m. Wed.-Thu., 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. through Feb. 11. $30-$65. 601 Main St. 501-378-0405. “The Humans.” TheatreSquared performs Stephen Karam’s drama, deemed the “Best Play of 2016” at the Tony Awards. 7:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sat.-Sun. Through Feb. 18. $10-$44. Walton Arts Center’s Studio Theater, 495 W. Dickson St. 479-443-5600. “As Bees in Honey Drown.” A production of Douglas Carter Beane’s jab at fame-
ARKANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY, Jonesboro: “2018 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition,” Jan. 18-Feb. 21, Bradbury Museum; “Sorting Out Race: Examining Racial Identity and Stereotypes in Thrift Store Donations,” objects on loan from the Kauffman Museum, ASU Museum, through March 10, panel discussion 5-7 p.m. Feb. 6. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, extended hours to 7 p.m. Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. 870-972-2074. ARTS & SCIENCE CENTER FOR SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS, 701 S. Main St.: “#GildTheDelta,” metallic pastels by Norwood Creech, Jan. 18-April 21. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. 870-536-3375. BUTLER CENTER GALLERIES, Arkansas Studies Institute, 401 President Clinton Ave.: “Reflections in Pastel,” the Arkansas Pastel Society’s national exhibition, through Feb. 24; “Education in Exile: Student Experience at Rohwer”; “Bret Aaker:
Conatus,” Loft Gallery, through Jan. 27. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 320-5790. CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL MUSEUM VISITOR CENTER, Bates and Park: Exhibits on the 1957 desegregation of Central and the civil rights movement. 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily. 374-1957. CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CENTER, 1200 President Clinton Ave.: “Mandela: The Journey to Ubuntu,” photographs by Matthew Willman and recreation of Mandela’s cell, through Feb. 19; “Art of Africa: One Continent, Limitless Vision,” pieces from the Clinton Presidential Center’s archives as well as from President Clinton’s own personal collection, through Feb. 12; permanent exhibits on the Clinton administration. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun., $10 adults, $8 seniors, retired military and college students, $6 youth 6-17, free to active military and children under 6, President Clinton’s birthday. 374-4242. CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, One Museum Way, Bentonville: “All or Nothing,” works from the permanent collection in black and white, through May 28; “Not to Scale: Highlights from the Fly’s Eye Dome Archive,” drawings and models of Fuller’s geodesic dome, through March; American masterworks spanning four centuries in the permanent collection. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon., Thu.; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Wed., Fri.; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun., closed Tue. 479418-5700.
ESSE PURSE MUSEUM & STORE, 1510 S. Main St.: “The Power of Plastics: Reshaping Midcentury Fashion,” plastic handbags from Anita Davis’ collection, through Jan. 7; “What’s Inside: A Century of Women and Handbags,” permanent exhibit. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sun. $10, $8 for students, seniors and military. 916-9022. FORT SMITH REGIONAL ART MUSEUM, 1601 Rogers Ave.: “Fort Smith Legend John Bell,” paintings and sculpture, through April 22; “Bonfire,” 21 environmentally focused works by textile artist Barbara Cade, through Feb. 11. 18. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 479784-2787. HISTORIC ARKANSAS MUSEUM, 200 E. 3rd St.: “These Various Threads I Drew,” 19th century needlepoint samplers, through June; “Going Unnoticed: Dustyn Bork and Carly Dahl,” through April 8; “Gordon and Wenonah Fay Holl: Collecting a Legacy,” through Feb. 4. Ticketed tours of renovated and replicated 19th century structures from original city, guided Monday and Tuesday on the hour, self-guided Wednesday through Sunday, $2.50 adults, $1 under 18, free to 65 and over. (Galleries free.) 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9351. MacARTHUR MUSEUM OF ARKANSAS MILITARY HISTORY, 503 E. 9th St. (MacArthur Park): “Waging Modern Warfare”; “Gen. Wesley Clark”; “Vietnam, America’s Conflict”; “Undaunted Courage, Proven
A Ceremony of Recognition
BRIAN NAHLEN BAND
PRINCEAUS
DAZZ & BRIE
ADAM FAUCETT Limited tickets available
CENTRALARKANSASTICKETS.COM
$5
Nominees selected by the public, winners selected by an esteemed board. 36
JANUARY 18, 2018
ARKANSAS TIMES
Back by Popular Demand
call today for vendor information!
SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 2018 NOW ACCEPTING VENDOR APPLICATIONS Brought to you by: War Memorial Stadium, the Arkansas Times, and Arkansas Made Magazine FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT RICK TILLEY AT 501.537.5224 OR ARKANSASMADEARKANSASPROUD@GMAIL.COM ArkansasMadeArkansasProudMarket
arktimes.com JANUARY 18, 2018
37
ALSO IN THE ARTS, CONT
UPCOMING EVENTS The Studio Theatre
JAN
18-21
Glengarry Glen Ross
Performed by Precipice Theatre JAN
The Weekend Theater As Bees in Honey Drown
19-21 25-27
CALS Ron Robinson Theater 2018 Central Arkansas Music Awards
JAN
23
An Arkansas Times & CALS Event
Old Chicago Conway
JAN
25
Old Chicago Charity Brewers Dinner CALS Ron Robinson Theater I Am Emily Doe
JAN
27
Sponsored by the Arkansas Coalition Against Sexual Assault
The Weekend Theater
FEB
2
Carnival Cabaret
FEB
The Studio Theatre Breakfast at Tiffany’s
8-11 16-18
Barkus on Main DLRP
FEB
A Mardi Gras Parade of Pet Proportion
11
presented by
HOUNDS LOUNGE P E T R E S O R T A N D S PA
The Studio Theatre
FEB
17
Pet Parade, Live Music, Beer Garden, Hurricane Station, Gumbo, and a Crawfish Boil! A free family friendly event!
Sunday, February 11, Noon – 5 pm
FTW - Family Theatre Workshop
300 Block of Main Street • Parade begins at 2:30 PM at 7th & Main
Loyalty: Japanese American Soldiers in World War II. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun. 376-4602. MOSAIC TEMPLARS CULTURAL CENTER, 9th and Broadway: “2018 Small Works on Paper,” Arkansas Arts Council traveling competitive show of works by 35 artists, through Jan. 27; exhibits African-American entrepreneurship and work by African-American artists. 9 a.m.5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 683-3593. MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY, 500 President Clinton Ave.: Interactive science exhibits and activities for children and teenagers. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun., $10 ages 13 and older, $8 ages 1-12, free to members and children under 1. 396-7050. OLD STATE HOUSE MUSEUM, 300 W. Markham St. “Cabinet of Curiosities: Treasures from the University of Arkansas Museum Collection”; “True Faith, True Light: The Devotional Art of Ed Stilley,” musical instruments, through 2017; “First Families: Mingling of Politics and Culture” permanent exhibit including first ladies’ gowns. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9685. SOUTH ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, 110 E. 5th St.: “Portraits: A Painted History of El Dorado, 1852-2016,” Merkle and Price Galleries, through January. 870-862-5474. TOLTEC MOUNDS STATE PARK, U.S. Hwy. 165, England: Major prehistoric Indian site with visitors’ center and museum. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., noon-5 p.m. Sun., closed Mon. $4 for adults, $3 for ages 6-12, $14 for family. 961-9442. UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT FORT SMITH, 535 N. Waldron Road: “The Erasing,” drawings by David Bailin, Windgate Art & Design Gallery, through Jan. 26. UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK: “Building a Collection,” works acquired with gifts from the Windgate Charitable Foundation, Main Gallery; “Discovering Kate Freeman Clark,” Lower Level Gallery, both through March 11, Windgate Center for Art and Design. WALTON ARTS CENTER, Fayetteville: “The Grammar of Ornament,” Jan. 18-March 17, contemporary works, reception 5-7 p.m. Jan. 19. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays, noon-4 p.m. Sat. 479-443-5600. SMALLER VENUES
Parade entry at BarkusOnMain.com
Go to CentralArkansasTickets.com to purchase these tickets and more!
Arkansas Times new local ticketing site! If you’re a non-profit, freestanding venue or business selling tickets thru eventbrite or another national seller – call us 501.492.3994 – we’re local, independent and offer a marketing package!
LOCAL TICKETS, ONE PLACE 30
NOVEMBER 23, 2017
ARKANSAS TIMES ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT
ARGENTA GALLERY, 413 Main St.: “Lagniappe,” oils by Greg Lahti, reception 5-8 p.m. Jan. 19, Argenta Art Walk. BARRY THOMAS FINE ART & STUDIO, 711 Main St., NLR: Paintings by Thomas, open 5-8 p.m. Jan. 19, Argenta Art Walk. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 349-2383. BOSWELL MOUROT, 5815 Kavanaugh Blvd.: Works by John Sykes, through Feb. 3. 664-0030. CORE BREWERY, 411 Main St., NLR: “The Games We Play,” sports-themed
artworks.. COX CREATIVE CENTER, 120 River Market Ave.: “Uncertain but Unafraid: Contemporary Portraits of the American South,” photographs by Joshua Asante and Matt White, through Feb. 28. 9183093. GALLERY 221, 2nd and Center Sts.: Work by George Dombek and gallery artists Tyler Arnold, Melissa Deerman, EMILE, Kasten Searles and others. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. 801-0211. GALLERY 26, 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd.: Recent works by Roger Bowman and Marcus McAllister, Jan. 20-March 10, reception 7-10 p.m. Jan. 28. GALLERY CENTRAL, 800 Central Ave., Hot Springs: Arkansas artists. 318-4278. GREG THOMPSON FINE ART, 429 Main St., NLR: “Best of the South,” work by Thomas Hart Benton, Carroll Cloar, Theora Hamblett and Clementine Hunter, Robyn Horn, Mark Blaney, Sammy Peters, Daniel Mark Cassity, Melissa Wilkinson and others, open 5-8 p.m. Jan. 19, Argenta Art Walk. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. 664-2787. HEARNE FINE ART, 1001 Wright Ave.: “Almost Famous,” oils by Curtis Gerhardt. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat. 372-6822. JUSTUS FINE ART GALLERY, 827 A Central Ave., Hot Springs: Textiles by Jennifer Libby Fay, 2D and 3D work by Robyn Horn, paintings by Dolores Justus, Laura Raborn, Jason Sacran and Tony Saladino, sculpture by Sandra Sell, woodworking by Gene Sparling. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.Sat. 321-2335. L&L BECK ART GALLERY, 5705 Kavanaugh Blvd.: “Landscapes,” work by Louis Beck, drawing for free giclee 7 p.m. Jan. 18. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 660-4006. LAMAN LIBRARY ARGENTA BRANCH, 420 Main St., NLR: Photographs by Gary Cawood, open 5-8 p.m. Jan. 19, Argenta Art Walk. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sat. 687-1061. LEGACY FINE ART, 804 Central Ave., Hot Springs: Blown glass chandeliers by Ed Pennington, paintings by Carole Katchen. 8 a.m.-5 LOCAL COLOUR GALLERY, 5811 Kavanaugh Blvd.: Artists collective. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 265-0422. M2 GALLERY, 11525 Cantrell Road: Works by gallery artists. 225-6257. MCLEOD FINE ART GALLERY, 106 W. 6th St.: Arkansas artists. 725-8508. MUGS CAFE, 506 Main St.: “Sock Monster Problems,” handmade monsters and their stories by Chris Massengill. STUDIOMAIN, 413 Main St., NLR: AIA Design Award boards, reception 5-8 p.m. Jan. 19, Argenta Art Walk.
ARKANSAS TIMES MARKETPLACE TO ADVERTISE IN THIS SECTION, CALL LUIS AT 501.375.2985
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IT’S ARKANSAS STATE LAW: USE OF BICYCLES OR ANIMALS
Every person riding a bicycle or an animal, or driving any animal drawing a vehicle upon a highway, shall have all the rights and all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle, except those provisions of this act which by their nature can have no applicability.
OVERTAKING A BICYCLE
NOW HIRING!
CDL Drivers, Mechanics, and Equipment Operators in Little Rock and Pine Bluff.
The driver of a motor vehicle overtaking a bicycle proceeding in the same direction on a roadway shall exercise due care and pass to the left at a safe distance of not less than three feet (3’) and shall not again drive to the right side of the roadway until safely clear of the overtaken bicycle.
AND CYCLISTS, PLEASE REMEMBER...
Your bike is a vehicle on the road just like any other vehicle and you must also obey traffic laws— use turning and slowing hand signals, ride on right and yield to traffic as if driving. Be sure to establish eye contact with drivers. Remain visible and predictable at all times.
Join us for our Hiring Event Thursday, January 25th from 9am – 4pm Location: Waste Management Facility 2900 W 68th Street - Little Rock, AR
WALK-INS WELCOME Competitive Pay, Great Benefits & Opportunities for Growth!
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TODAY, A WOMAN’S PLACE IS TODAY, A WOMAN’S PLACE IS WHEREVER SHE WANTS TO GO. WHEREVER SHE WANTS TO GO.
We’re proud to support these dynamic business leaders. We’re proud to support these dynamic business leaders.
CARMEN PORTILLO, Cocoa Belle Chocolates
ANITA SEDBERRY, Canine Country Club of Arkansas
KERRY MCCOY, Arkansas Flag and Banner
MARGIE RAIMONDO, Raimondo Winery
GINA RADKE, Galley Support Innovations
SUSAN MADDOX, Rosemont Inn & Cottages
2 0 0 R I V E R M A R K E T AV E N U E , S U I T E 4 0 0 | 8 0 0 . 2 1 6 . 7 2 3 7 | A R C A P I TA L . C O M 2 0 0 R I V E R M A R K E T AV E N U E , S U I T E 4 0 0 | 8 0 0 . 2 1 6 . 7 2 3 7 | A R C A P I TA L . C O M 40
JANUARY 18, 2018
ARKANSAS TIMES