American Essence- Vol.2 Issue 2- Preview

A me rican Es s e nc e

American Essence FO R E V E RYO N E W H O LOV E S T H I S C O U N T RY

The Art of the Kayak A Nation of Inventors Our first president approved 156 new patents during his two terms. Since then, America has produced countless worldchanging inventions

In the spirit of his ancestors, kayak craftsman Kiliii Yuyan explores the powerful relationship between water and man

Railway to the Heavens

FEBRUARY 2022

Why entrepreneur Sylvester Marsh built a cog railway to scale all 6,288 feet of Mount Washington

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Contents

Features 8 | Angels Will Rise

Jeffrey and Neal Harmon founded a TV and film studio with the groundbreaking idea that media content should inspire positivity and be family-friendly.

12 | Zuckermann Harpsichord

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In the 1950s, early music saw a budding resurgence with pioneers like Zuckermann Harpsichord. Today, Richard Auber continues that musical legacy.

44 | Fifty Years of Enduring Love

18 | The Elegance of the Kayak

46 | Leadership With a Strong Basis

Greg and Karen Jeane have been married for five decades. All the while, sharing life’s joyous and bittersweet moments has strengthened their love.

Kiliii Yuyan builds kayaks according to the traditions of the Nanai people, who navigated the dangerous waters between Siberia and Alaska in these beautiful vessels.

Brian D. Molitor reaches millions with a message of faith, family, and mentorship, inspiring the next generation to find a God-given purpose.

24 | Nothing Goes to Waste

The mansion-lined streets of Newport, Rhode Island, form the type of imaginative scenery you’d expect to find if you were stuck inside a fairy tale.

While making yogurt according to her Iranian family’s recipe, Homa Dashtaki discovered that the leftover whey could be used to make tonics and Popsicles.

28 | The Brewing Clydesdales

A team of draft horses with gorgeous manes tour around the country every year to promote Budweiser. Here’s how they train for the job.

32 | Scaling the Olympic Peaks

50 | Calm Coasts

58 | Why I Love America

A convicted felon reflects on freedom and opportunity, the two most beautiful and profound things he loves about this country.

History

Nate Brown discovered the beauty of the Olympic Mountains and set out to capture it by trekking 30 peaks, camera in tow.

60 | Ten World-Changing Inventions

40 | Drinks Galore

64 | Who Invented the Television?

New beverage brands are sprouting up to satiate a growing number of Americans who prefer to go non-alcoholic when they’re out socializing.

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From the telephone to the transistor, many significant technological innovations have been realized in America.

Philo Farnsworth had the idea for transmitting images through electrons at the age of 14—but he didn’t get credit for the invention for much of his life.

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32 68 | Sight and Sound

The imagination of Thomas Edison, one of our brightest minds, helped us all view the world a little differently.

A Love of Learning 90 | Growth Through Friendship

Many of the Founding Fathers were inventors as well as innovative leaders.

Two classmates with autism leaned on each other and found support from their entire class through a unique project.

72 | Four Freedom Fighters

92 | Family as the School of Love

70 | Inventive Leaders

From one small corner of Virginia in the early 19th century, Nat Turner, Anthony Gardiner, Dred Scott, and John “Fed” Brown took different paths to freedom.

78 | The Secret President

When President Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke during his second term, his wife, Edith, quietly ran the executive branch for the remainder of his presidency.

80 | George Washington Carver

Born as a slave on a Southern plantation, the creative thinker would grow up to become a world-class scientist who came up with hundreds of inventions in his lifetime.

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We can understand the importance of connecting emotionally with children by examining and improving our relationships in the family.

94 | Partnering Helps Kids Succeed

Relations between parents and teachers can sometimes get tense, but when both parties work together as a team, it benefits all involved.

96 | Wisdom of the Ages

Since the founding of our nation, the classics have been prevalent in all aspects of our education, and they are still worthy of study and reflection today.

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Arts & Letters

The Great Outdoors

The eccentric Serbian-American inventor, engineer, and futurist worked with Thomas Edison and later played a key role in creating the AC electrical system.

100 | The Mind of Monticello

116 | Birds of Paradise

86 | ‘A Road to the Moon’

108 | Presidential Portraits This quintessential American art tradition has captured the spirit and legacy of every president since our nation’s founding.

120 | Acadia National Park

82 | Nikola Tesla

New Hampshire’s Mount Washington, the tallest peak in the Northeastern United States, features the world’s first mountain-climbing cog railway.

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The “Little Mountain” estate features one of America’s most recognized buildings, engineered through Thomas Jefferson’s architectural ingenuity.

A Catalina Island family raises birds of prey for pest abatement, educational outreach, and entertainment, keeping alive the island’s proud avian heritage.

Maine’s only national park offers miles and miles of snow-kissed trails for winter activities, as well as roads for scenic, horse-drawn carriage rides.

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Angels Will Rise Angel Studios is on a mission to reach a billion viewers through crowdfunded projects that highlight positivity WRITTEN BY

David Dudley

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effrey Harmon may be the most unlikely person to become a key player in the television industry. “We grew up on a potato farm in Idaho,” he told American Essence.

“We had a tube TV that got three channels. We could get PBS with an antenna.”

Harmon didn’t watch a lot of TV growing up.

Instead, he and his brothers spent their teenage years selling potatoes door-to-door in Utah before moving on to the landscaping business. But when 8

PHOTOGRAPHED BY

George Frey

he studied marketing and advertising at Brigham Young University from 2006 to 2008, his thinking began to shift. ”I roomed with a few film majors,” he said.

“Spending time with them opened up my thinking in a lot of ways.” Harmon said he pioneered the YouTube ad agency Orabrush, Inc., which generated 20 million views for its clients in 2009, well before YouTube’s popularity exploded.

From there, Jeffrey and his brother Neal AMERI CAN ESSE NCE

Entertainment | Features

The journey toward creating a new model for a film studio wasn’t easy.

above left Jeffrey (L) and Neal Harmon hold a photo of the Statue of Liberty’s arm and torch as displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. The brothers are inspired by the story of how newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer successfully held a fundraising campaign to bring the statue to New York City. above right Neal (R) discusses projects with a member of the Angel Studios team.

Harmon co-founded VidAngel, a service that gave parents the ability to filter explicit content on streaming video services like YouTube.

“It’s like a remote that skips sexual scenes, rape, and swearing,” Jeffrey said. Around that time, he and Neal began thinking that they could help make programming that didn’t require censorship.

While that may mean less business for VidAngel, it also meant the potential for a new, untapped market for “stories that amplify light.”

“We were inspired by Pixar,” Jeffrey said. “We began to seriously think that if they could do it, so could we.”

Transformation Now, Jeffrey Harmon is the chief content officer at Angel Studios, which he co-founded with Neal in January 2021. Angel Studios uses a crowdfunding model to raise money to produce shows like “The Chosen,” the first multi-season show about the life of Christ and the Gospels.

In “Freelancers,” a family-friendly sitcom, five friends try to make it as filmmakers, “one terrible

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job at a time,” according to the show’s fundraising site. “The Riot and the Dance,” which features rapper Kanye West’s track about his Christian faith, “Selah,” is the first faith-based nature docuseries that explores the idea that humans are “part of God’s plan, and not a poison to be ashamed of for living on this earth,” according to an Angel Studios press release. The company then distributes this content via video-on-demand services.

The studio also released a children’s show called “Tuttle Twins,” based on the best-selling series of books by Connor Boyack. The show follows lovable characters as they journey through time to teach kids about the country’s foundational principles of freedom, free-market capitalism, personal freedom, and more. Showrunner Daniel Harmon—another of the six Harmon brothers, not to be confused with the co-creator of the animated sitcom “Rick and Morty”—said “Tuttle Twins” was made possible by “we the people.”

“Thousands of supporters … have gotten behind 9

Features | Entrepreneurs

Early music saw a slow and sleepy resurgence in America in the 1950s, thanks in part to Zuckermann, and it has since become mainstream among classical music lovers, as many share anecdotally—largely among younger players and concertgoers. “Right now, the only limitation is the number of parts we can make,” Auber said.

He has a team of about a dozen people, mostly longtime employees, and a successful internship program that passes on the knowledge. Auber has ongoing efforts to locate and procure Zuckermann harpsichords, because many of those early harpsichords are no longer playable, and can end up being thrown away.

He said, “The phone rings all the time and we get these stories: ‘Oh, my father built this harpsichord for my mother, and we grew up with it, and the sound of harpsichord was always part of my life. Now my parents are gone, and I still have the harpsichord, and I would like to make it play again.

Can you still send me strings?’” Other times these people want to donate the instrument back, and Auber puts those unplayable instruments to good use, letting interns try their hand at a repair.

“I was corresponding today with cus16

Zuckermann decided that if people built the instruments themselves, they would know how to do everything.

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Entrepreneurs | Features

tomers who are like 30 years old, and there are a lot of them,” Auber said.

And there are kids, Auber added, like the 16-year-old in California who had ordered one of their clavichord kits.

Afterwards, his mother wrote Auber to say how meaningful the project had been to him during the pandemic.

Auber said, “He did such an amazing job, and it was such a growth opportunity and salvation for him, that she wanted to get him another harpsichord kit for Christmas, which she did, and he’s now finishing that.”

A colleague of Auber’s in California actually met that young man recently and called Auber to tell him what a brilliant young man he was, and what immaculate work he did. “You ask me why I do this; well, that’s why,” Auber explained.

above Harpsichords are adorned with periodaccurate decorative elements, masterfully re-created by the shop’s in-house artist. left The action work is what takes the longest, and it largely determines an instrument’s sound.

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Starry Night Epiphany Owning a harpsichord shop, Auber had put playing the flute on the back burner for many years, with the strange fear that he would lose credibility in the eyes of his early music colleagues if he played this modern instrument. But no longer. “So recently, I’ve actually been saying that I decided to come out as a modern flute player,” Auber said. It happened after a fall down a flight of stairs a few years ago.

Auber had been taking medication for high blood pressure that had a side effect of sleepwalking, which he hadn’t known about until one night when he got up and walked right off the staircase—waking up to unbelievable pain. “I couldn’t move. I was paralyzed, laying on the ground. I could not move, but I was in incredible pain. And my life was flashing before my eyes. I thought I was going to be in my warm, comfy bed. It was my birthday!”

The ambulance came, and it took hours to put a brace around Auber’s neck and carry him out of the house. “I remember I was lying on the stretcher, bumping along the driveway, and I was looking at the stars in the sky. It was a beautiful, clear night, and I was thinking, ‘My life is over. I’m going to be like Christopher Reeve.’” At that moment, his first thought was how sorry he was that he couldn’t play the flute anymore.

At the time, he hadn’t been playing the flute for about a decade.

It was hours more before Auber learned that he wasn’t in fact paralyzed. Instead, what he had suffered was severe whiplash. By morning, he could walk just fine; but for a while, his arms would not extend fully, “like T-rex,” he said.

Nine months later, Auber was at the family Christmas party, thinking back to his regrets during the night of his accident. He took out his flute, found a quiet corner in an empty room, and started playing Christmas carols. “I have a big family,” he said. “It’s like 22 of us when we’re all together; and one by one, all of the people came into the room when I was playing and started singing along with me. And it just really touched me.”

He thought, “You know, it’s a shame that I’m not playing. I always, from when I was young, had this belief that my music has somehow had this power to heal people and to bring joy to people, and sometimes, you don’t even know that it happened.” So, Auber just decided that he was not going to lose that.

He plays often nowadays, and says, “I play better than I ever played before.” He still hasn’t picked up a baroque flute, because between his harpsichord business, antique business, and a small farm, there are only so many hours in the day. But he has let go of the fears he had, and as a result, he has made various breakthroughs in his music. And of course, he still plays Bach.

Bach’s melodies can be so hauntingly beautiful, Auber says, and to be able to play them on the flute is like singing. “It’s like being able to sing music that you would never be able to sing with your voice. There are times when I’ve been playing, and I have tears streaming down my own cheeks while I’m playing, because it is so incredibly beautiful. There’s not too many people that do that for me. There’s a sublime quality to his music that really goes right to the soul, like you’re in communication with Eternal God or Creator or some fundamental goodness and beauty in the universe.” • 17

Kiliii Yuyan made this kayak from sealskin according to the traditions of the Nanai people, natives of the Arctic and Subarctic regions.

The Elegance of the Kayak Indigenous craftsman Kiliii Yuyan reveals what this humble boat can teach us about traditions and knowing our history WRITTEN BY

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Savannah Howe

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“

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f you hunt something, how can you love it? How can you both love an animal and hunt it?”

These words of National Geographic photographer and indigenous kayak craftsman Kiliii Yuyan reverberated in my mind as I floated down the Cedar River in Iowa on my last kayak trip of the year. It was early, just after 7 a.m., and dense mist hovered above the water, reluctant to let dawn give in to day. By

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this morning in late October, the wind that rattled near-naked tree limbs was brisk. Just a few months ago, I made this same exact float with thighs burning under the sun, but now, at the threshold of winter, I huddled in my trusty North Face fleece and let the steam wafting from my open coffee thermos warm my poor, red nose.

Gray, wintry waves lurched at the hull of my kayak. She’s a humble vessel, 10 feet of yellow polyethylene purchased at a big-box outdoors store, and was currently the only thing separating me from a 40-something-degree polar plunge. While this was not something I’d ever been particularly aware of in any of my countless prior kayak trips, Yuyan made me painfully conscious of a kayaker’s vulnerable position; with me being mostly submerged in the

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traveling staff, but by fans as well.

“I’ve never traveled with a rock star,” Trout stated, “but, pulling into a town with three semis of Clydesdales creates a similar response. It’s like you’re instantly famous.”

The gentle giants, with their signature feathered fetlocks, are recognized and admired not only across America but also beyond, as several of the Budweiser icons have traveled abroad, having visited China, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.

Their celebrity status should be no surprise, however. After all, their very first gig was an appearance in front of the White House, presenting a treasured case of Budweiser beer to President Franklin D. Roosevelt back in 1933 to commemorate the end of Prohibition. They were an instant success. It was soon thereafter that the six-horse hitch grew into an eighthorse one. Other teams were later added to accommodate the demand.

Although brewing draft beer while 30

simultaneously breeding draft horses is a rather strange unification of business strategies, it has grown them both.

Trout summed it up well, stating, “The Clydesdales exist because of Anheuser-Busch, and Anheuser-Busch exists because of the Clydesdales.”

The partnership between the two is why the famed beer company places so much emphasis and money in its Clydesdale program, and why the magnificent equines are front and center in everything from labels to commercials.

It’s an ingenious marketing strategy that has branded one right alongside the other.

Training Warm Springs is an example of the renowned beer company’s commitment to the animals and their brand. A topnotch breeding facility, it produces as many as 30 foals a year, employing not only qualified horse handlers but experts in breeding as well. Trout’s years on the road, as well as her pro-

motions within the Clydesdale-based organization, have perfectly prepared her for taking charge of breeding and foaling at the ranch.

Newborns are a huge celebration at Warm Springs. Since Clydesdales have an 11-month gestation period, all strategies toward pairing up the ideal sire and dam are anxiously anticipated.

Cameras are present in each of the large, 20-by-60-foot birthing stalls, and as the mares come within weeks of giving birth, a small microchip is stitched across the birthing canal so that when a newborn foot breaks through, Trout’s phone is alerted. “I can be here immediately,” she stated.

Newborn foals generally weigh between 120 and 170 pounds and stand approximately 3 feet tall. Their mothers produce as much as 40 to 50 pounds of milk per day, and as they nurse, foals gain approximately 5 pounds daily. Markings and size are the first indicators of whether or not the newborns hold potential of someAMERI CAN ESSE NCE

Horses | Features

“The Clydesdales exist because of Anheuser-Busch, and Anheuser-Busch exists because of the Clydesdales.”

—AM Y TRO U T, SU PERVI SOR & RANCH MANAGER AT WA RM SP RINGS RA NC H

day becoming part of the iconic eighthitch team. All Clydesdales that join a team must have four white socks, a white blaze down the face, and a black mane and tail. They are required to stand at least 18 hands high at the withers (the highest part of the back of the horse), and all are neutered.

Born late last fall, the ranch’s newest gangly colt, Justice, matches the bill so far. “He has a bright little future ahead of him,” commented Trout.

With all the markings and presumably the size, Justice will travel to the Grant’s Farm training facility upon being weaned. Located in St. Louis, and the original family property of the Busch family, Grant’s Farm is where young Clyde colts learn to be handled, haltered, tied, trailered, and groomed.

A bit like boarding school, it is there that they are introduced to manners and are taught all the social graces necessary while also growing into a nearly 2,000-pound giant that might someday

The ranch produces up to 30 foals a year, some of which go on to become iconic Clydesdales that pull Budweiser’s beer wagons.

above

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pull a beer wagon.

All that growing requires nutrition—no small investment for largesized breeds like Clydes. Consuming a daily per-horse average of 50 pounds of hay, 6 pounds of grain, and 30 gallons of water, keeping just one single Clydesdale fed is a monumental task.

Hay costs for one horse alone are over $2,000 per year—and that doesn’t even include grain or vet bills, or the expenses associated with trimming their hooves to fit into giant shoes weighing 5 pounds each.

After four years of eating and growing, Grant’s Farm trainees return home to Warm Springs, where they begin Clydesdale boot camp, so to speak.

Learning the ins and outs of working under harness, teaming up with other equines in tandem at first and eventually a full team, it is here that the full-grown potentials go from beautiful draft horse to famed Budweiser Clydesdale.

It’s worth noting, too, that boot camp for the Clydes is also hard-core training grounds for drivers. Without much demand nationwide for skilled, eighthitch team drivers, Anheuser-Busch

invests time and energy into training its own. Managing 16,000 pounds of horseflesh and approximately 75 pounds’ worth of pull and weight through the reins, driving one of the refurbished Studebaker wagons with a full hitch is not a task to be underestimated.

Potential Clydesdales-in-training, therefore, are helping to train the young drivers while simultaneously working to make the cut themselves.

Horses that don’t make the cut, however, still hold plenty of value behind the scenes. “Stan the Man,” a Clyde born the year that Cardinal baseball Hall-of-Famer Stan Musial passed away, is one of those golden boys. “Stan would rather ride on the wagon rather than pull the wagon,” Trout stated. “And it would require way too much energy in his opinion to run.”

Laid-back horses like Stan are the “go to” for training other horses, for calming young, nervous horses, and the chosen favorite for a crowd of people who want to pet or interact with the massive equines. Stan also enjoys photo-ops with the Musial family, who still visits him at Warm Springs and occasionally includes him in family portraits.

Several other Clydesdales named after celebrities reside in the AnheuserBusch herd, like Kid Rock, J. Lo, and Jay-Z, as well as baseball Cardinal favorites like LaRussa, Yadi, and McGee. Horses like these all carry a legacy in their name and add a bit of fun for connecting the four-legged celebrities to Hollywood or ESPN stars. They also add an element of prestige for those whose names they bear. After all, you know you have “arrived” if a Clydesdale is named after you.

Trout has yet to have a Clydesdale named after her, but she says that other special Anheuser-Busch employees and executives have. When asked about her future plans working with the beloved giants, she affirmed how much every new role within her career thus far has only made things more impressive.

“Every year gets better and better, but 2033 will be the 100-year anniversary for the Clydesdales, and I definitely need to be here for that,” she stated. “It will no doubt be one heck of a party!” • 31

Scaling the Olympic Peaks An Army veteran climbed and photographed 30 peaks in the Olympic Mountains of Washington, savoring the beauty along the way WRITTEN BY

Skylar Parker

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ate Brown’s deep appreciation for the Pacific Northwest stems from a four-day road trip across the Olympic Peninsula in 2013, during which he surveyed snow-capped mountains and lush forests nestled between the coastlines. An Army mission had brought Brown there, and he was captivated by the landscape that stood before him. After retiring from the Army in 2018, he made it his mission to fully explore the Olympic Mountains by climbing 30 summits within a period of just three years. In

September 2021, after hiking over 500 miles and climbing an astonishing 160,000 feet, he achieved just that.

While serving in the Army, Brown had set foot in almost every corner of the United States, but had not traversed the Pacific Northwest. So after a break from active duty, he decided to re-enlist under the condition that he be placed in Washington. Stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, southwest of Tacoma, Washington, Brown

was blown away by the natural beauty of the mountainous terrain. When his mission ended in March 2018, he was ordered to leave his base and serve at a different location—but he politely declined. After 13 years of service, Brown deemed it time to spend the rest of his life in the picturesque Pacific Northwest. Since then, Brown

Drinks Galore Going alcohol-free is a growing trend, with the ‘no-booze’ liquor, wine, and beer industry gaining traction as people lean toward healthier lifestyles. Cheers!

WRITTEN BY

Alice Giordano

Mocktail Club makes its potables out of about a dozen ingredients, creating layered drinks as sophisticated as cocktails.

PHOTOGRAPHED BY

Tatsiana Moon

No Booze | Features

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hen Tolu Obikunle was an intern on Wall Street, she was frequently invited to go out for drinks after work. But filling up with spirits was actually something that brought Obikunle’s spirits down.

“I found myself pretending to drink just to fit in with my colleagues,” said Obikunle. “I loved being out and socializing, but I did not like the feeling of getting buzzed.”

Obikunle couldn’t keep her feelings bottled up for much longer, and pretty soon, she uncorked Sapiens Beverage Company, a line of fine, non-alcoholic wines.

The company turns out full-bodied reds, sparkling rosés, and chardonnays that could easily fool the discerning palate of a traditional wine connoisseur.

Their wines start out with alcohol in them but then undergo a complex dealcoholization process called “vacuum distillation.” The wine is heated to a boil, beginning the separation process. The alcohol is suctioned out while a careful balance of temperatures is kept to continue the dealcoholization process while preserving the wine’s flavors and aromas.

“It can get pretty darn scientific,” said Obikunle.

She is far from the only teetotaler who has turned a disinterest in alcohol into one very intoxicating success story.

Makers of non-alcoholic wine, beer, aperitifs, gins, vermouths, bourbons, rums, and an array of cocktails sophisticatedly crafted into adult drinks are drinking up some pretty impressive profits while lifting the spirits of nephalists.

The already $923 million global non-alcoholic industry (which includes coffee, tea, bottled water, fruit beverages, and other traditional non-alcoholic drinks) is expected to see more than 8 percent growth annually, according to Fior Markets, which tracks and predicts global market trends.

Tastewise, a research and analytics company specializing in the food and drink industry, recently reported that web searches for non-alcoholic beverages shot up nearly 50 percent in just the past year.

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A New Trend The zero-proof adult beverage market has a relatively virgin niche, ranging from pregnant women to people with religious beliefs against consuming alcohol and those who like the taste of an alcoholic beverage without the alcohol.

Another relatively untapped audience is recovering alcoholics. In a blog Obikunle runs for people who have struggled with alcoholism, people from all walks of life candidly post about their experiences with alcoholism and their gratitude for the burgeoning non-alcoholic beverage industry.

One blogger, a financial analyst in Dallas who said she was “navigating sobriety as a millennial,” said her favorite way to celebrate now is “having a cute mocktail on a rooftop patio.”

Mocktail, one of the new buzz words for non-alcoholic drinks, is exactly the inspiration behind Pamela Idogho’s company based in Washington, D.C. Different from alcohol-free wines that start out with alcohol in them, mocktails are the product of sophisticated mixology.

Each of Mocktail Club’s alcohol-less potables

Sapiens’s wines start out with alcohol in them, but a vacuum distillation process extracts the alcohol. above

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Fifty Years of Enduring Love A couple married for five decades share their love story fit for a Valentine’s Day celebration WRITTEN & PHOTOGRAPHED BY

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Karim Shamsi-Basha

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Love Story | Features

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he letters’ edges are beginning to fray, and decades of time have cast a yellow tint on the fragile notebook paper. The date, 1971, is inscribed on the upper right-hand corner. The handwriting is eager, longing; and the sentences are sweet and amorous: “It’s difficult for me to explain how I felt when your plane took off,” and “I love you Karen and at times it so fills me with warmth.” Sweet love prose is sprinkled throughout the letters Greg and Karen Jeane exchanged while they were apart. She had kept them in a cherished box for 50 years.

They say best friends make the best lovers, but we all know there are no absolutes when it comes to love. Love is fluid. Love is always in motion—mysterious, demanding, ubiquitous, and hard to find at the same time. In his famous book, “The Prophet,” 19th-century poet Khalil Gibran said this about love: When love beckons to you, follow him, Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him, Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him, Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

Karen and Greg Jeane’s love blossomed from their close friendship while attending the University of Georgia. They went to lunch and swimming and other activities with others and as friends. Karen had been dating someone else. But when she returned home for the summer, something happened that drastically changed the course of her life.

Our stuff will always be in the same wagon. It’s the truth: our worlds rhyme.

“I never thought of Greg other than a friend, and I kept on saying, ‘my friend Greg,’ and, ‘my friend Greg.’ My mother said, ‘I wish you would stop referring to him as “my friend.”

He’s obviously more than that.’”

The Dawn of Love Her mother’s statement felt like a glass of cold water on Karen’s face. She realized at that moment that she loved Greg. She loved her best friend.

“He came back to Atlanta that summer. We had our first date, and he kissed me. It was magical,” Karen blushed while gazing at Greg. He peered right back at her. Then, they squeezed hands and nodded. The nod was subtle but all-knowing.

Greg added, “And it continued to be magical to this day.

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After we had six dates that summer, I asked Karen to marry me, and she accepted. Then I got my Ph.D., and we moved to Auburn [in Alabama], where I taught geography.”

Karen and Greg wrote love letters to each other while apart. One summer, Greg went to Europe for six weeks. The letters continued. They were married upon his return in 1971, and their love became profound and immeasurable.

Could Tragedy Bring Lovers Closer?

Karen became pregnant with their first baby, and the happy couple beamed. The American dream was happening.

Karen had a baby shower, bought a crib, and prepared all that went with a tiny bundle of love. But while Greg was out of town, Karen’s water broke, when she was six months pregnant. “We rushed to the hospital, and they delivered baby Allison, but she only lived for a few minutes. It was heart-wrenching and devastating. I thought it was my fault.

When Greg returned, he was so kind and comforting, and he gently convinced me that I was not responsible. The tragedy of losing baby Allison will always make me sad, but it also reminds me of the kind man I married.”

Greg squeezed Karen’s hand again, the hand he held the entire time of the interview. They looked at each other, and something mysterious transpired in the light air between them, something bigger than any tragedy.

The Magic of Ardent Love Still holding Karen’s hand, Greg peered into the distance like he just saw a ship’s sail after being stranded on an island. “The past 50 years have been more than I can ever describe. I can’t even imagine not being married to Karen.

It’s a powerful statement, but I really couldn’t. We have been through a lot together.”

Karen grinned, adding, “I love what Greg says about our marriage: Our stuff will always be in the same wagon. It’s the truth: our worlds rhyme. I knew early on that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Greg. Life flows easily in between us, and we enjoy it, this life.”

Greg and Karen sang in the choir of Independent Presbyterian Church in Birmingham for 18 years, and they still attend concerts and musical events. They read, take walks, and enjoy life with all of its surprises.

Karen summed up her 50 years of love with Greg: “The early romance will always be there, but what becomes equally important is the knowing, the respect, the trust, the mutual enjoyment, the sharing of everything, and the delight in serving each other.” Karen added, “I have absolutely loved being married to this wonderful man. Truly, the secret of our lasting marriage is the fact that I married my best friend.”

Greg peered lovingly at Karen, then down at their love letters scattered on the kitchen table. The 50-year-old papers with eager handwriting are tinted yellow, their edges frayed. Both reached for a letter and their hands touched. They smiled at each other, leaned over the table, and kissed. • 45

Features | Charming Towns

Newport’s wharfs have long been host to ships and sailing vessels.

Trading was a major part of the city’s economy during the colonial period, while the fishing industry and naval outposts are top employers today. The waterfront is easily accessible, with history lessons aplenty—docked vessels are often accompanied by signage documenting the sailing days of yore.

For a beachside town, Newport is fairly low-key, and even at the height of tourism season its beaches are not crowded. The town is tight-knit but not sleepy: shops in the downtown area remain primarily small businesses, and people like to dress up and go out ready to stroll around at night. No matter where you go in Newport, there’s a seemingly perfect backdrop for an impromptu photo op. • 52

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History | Inventions

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Inventions That Changed the World

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Inventions | History

Electricity Efforts to understand and harness electricity began in the 18th century.

Scientists thought electricity could be used to create a cheap way for people to light their homes. One of the most notable pioneers in electricity was Thomas Edison, who developed the first practical electrical light bulb in the late 1870s. Edison launched a company that would later become General Electric and opened America’s first central power plant in New York in 1882. Edison’s electrical system used direct current (DC), which was the standard in the United States during the early years of electricity. However, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse were in favor of alternating current (AC), which transmitted electricity over long distances more economically than DC. Worried that he would begin losing profits from his DC patents, Edison began a campaign to discredit AC. This bitter dispute between these inventors became known as the War of the Currents. This “war” came to an unofficial end during the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, when Westinghouse beat out General Electric in a bid to supply electricity to the fair using AC. AC soon became dominant in the electric power industry. Most of our electricity today is powered by AC, although DC has seen a bit of a resurgence in recent years.

Telephone During the early 19th century, several inventors started creating devices that used electric signals to transfer messages. Elisha Gray and Antonio Meucci were both noted in history to have designed devices that could transmit speech electrically. However, Alexander Graham Bell is credited ISSU E 2 | F E BRUA RY 2 0 2 2

with the invention of the telephone, and he received the first U.S. patent for it. Bell’s success with the telephone came from his efforts to create a harmonic telegraph, a device which could transmit multiple messages over a wire at a time. After an accidental discovery during one of his experiments, Bell began to explore a different idea—transmitting the human voice over the wires. He eventually succeeded in developing the telephone in 1876 and created the Bell Telephone Company (now known as AT&T) one year later. The telephone completely transformed human communication. It allowed people to connect in real time and share information with greater efficiency. It also spurred the development of telephone lines and later cellular phone networks. In 1993, IBM released a touchscreen cellular phone with Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) capabilities, a precursor to the Apple iPhone. Modern smartphones—more computers than telephones—allowed phones to become not only a productivity tool, but also a multimedia powerhouse.

Moving Assembly Line Henry Ford’s development of the Model T car brought about another very significant innovation—the moving assembly line. In the early 1900s, automobiles had been growing in popularity in the United States. The Model T became a favorite due to its affordability, yet Ford was constantly looking for ways to lower the price even more. In 1913, Ford introduced the idea of building cars one piece at a time instead of one car at a time. He used a conveyor belt to pull a vehicle down a line, where it could be built step-bystep, thereby creating the first moving assembly line. This reduced the time it took to build a car from over 12 hours to around 90 minutes. The assembly line enabled workers to be more

efficient by dividing up labor, which helped increase productivity and profits. It also allowed Ford to drop the price of the Model T from $825 in 1908 to just $260 in 1925. However, Ford’s employees quickly found assembly line work quite monotonous. In an effort to reduce turnover, Ford increased the wages of his employees and decreased shifts by one hour. Pretty soon, other factories began replicating the production process that Ford created.

Assembly lines are still used in most factories today, except many of the production steps are performed by machinery.

Personal Computer Early computers were hardly personal or portable. One of the first computers, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), was built for U.S. military applications during World War II. However, it weighed 60,000 pounds and took up almost 2,000 square feet of space. In 1971, the invention of the microprocessor really helped make the idea of a “personal” computer a reality. Microprocessors could also run computer programs, but they were only the size of a thumbnail. This led to the invention of the “minicomputer” and later “microcomputer,” which eventually developed into the personal computer. One of the first microcomputers, the Altair computer, quickly became popular among the public after Bill Gates and Paul Allen developed software for it that made it easier to use. Gates and Allen formed Microsoft (short for microcomputer software), which later led the development of software for computers. Meanwhile, Steve Jobs and Stephen Wozniak formed the Apple Computer Company and launched several computers that expanded upon the capabilities of the Altair. In 1977, Jobs and Wozniak introduced the Apple II, which included a colored screen, keyboard, and expansion slots.

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History | Inventors

Inventive Leaders Not only great statesmen, the Founding Fathers were inventors and scientists, too.

They created the first modern patent system that protected inventors and helped stimulate the most innovative economy the world has ever known WRITTEN BY

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mong the Founding Fathers of the United States were inventors and scientists.

More importantly, however, the Founders were truly inventive leaders. They were tremendous problem-solvers and great innovators across a wide spectrum of academic and practical pursuits. There seems to be no end to their involvement in research and development on behalf of the new nation. Their biographies always leave you wondering, “How did they find the time, and when did they sleep?” Hamilton, for example, led his battalion to victory in the decisive battle of Yorktown. He later became the very first treasury secretary. Without any previous template to follow, he 70

Ken O’Donnell

devised the national banking system that was necessary for the economic development of the United States.

Thanks to his genius, our very bankrupt country overcame the financial problems of its earliest years. Without capital from banks and loans, future inventors would never have been able to open businesses or sell their new products.

What was their motivation? Why were the Founders so inventive, and what hopes and dreams did they have for us? Their future vision rings as clearly in their writing and in their work as the Liberty Bell rang before the famous crack. They wanted prosperity and a rising GDP for us and for our children. Surrounded by European

military powers, economic independence was needed just to survive. To achieve it, the Founders carefully designed a more open business climate—a better kind of capitalism than the one that they had suffered with under the British Empire.

Jefferson worked to improve a farming plow and designed a device to copy letters. As secretary of state, he invented a “wheel cipher” that was part of an early attempt to send secretly encoded messages. Privacy must have been a problem even before the internet. Still, Jefferson’s greatest contribution to science probably took place when he sent Lewis and Clark to explore the vast Louisiana Purchase.

Their expedition into the unknown AMERI CAN ESSE NCE

Inventors | History

resulted in hundreds of geographic discoveries and encounters with many amazing new plants and animals.

Benjamin Rush was a pioneering advocate for the mentally ill at Pennsylvania Hospital, which Benjamin Franklin helped to charter.

Rush was the first American to argue that mental illness had a physical cause, and he made great advances in more humane patient treatment. The U.S. Psychiatric Association acknowledges Dr. Rush as the “Father of American Psychiatry.”

Franklin was already a world-renowned scientist and inventor when George Washington was only a teenager. His inventions are known, or should be known, to every schoolage child. There is the lightning rod, the bifocals, and the Franklin stove.

Electricity? By the end of the 1750s, his publication, “Experiments & Observations on Electricity,” had been printed in both French and German.

He developed many important electrical terms such as these common essentials that not a single modern electrician can live without: positive and negative.

Franklin helped to start the American Philosophical Society in 1743, and many of the other Founders later became members—Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, and Rush. This was the premier scientific group in colonial America. The members shared research and exciting new findings in all fields of science to promote the common good as well as the American economy. The APS building and library still stands in Philadelphia today. Its close proximity to Independence Hall is symbolic of the unbreakable connection between scientific life, invention, and the Founders’ vision for the new republic.

Inventors would need a way to protect their inventions. Adam Mossoff of George Mason University provides An illustration of Benjamin Franklin flying a kite during a thunderstorm and collecting ambient electrical charge in a Leyden jar, enabling him to demonstrate the connection between lightning and electricity. above left

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some excellent background: “Patents were granted by royal decree from the King. … They were expensive. … If you’re going to create a new, thriving free society, it’s not going to be based on aristocracy, the existing wealthy.

It’s going to be based on the creation of new wealth. They took the position that patents should be like property rights. Economists have called this the democratization of invention. The American Founding Fathers recognized that if you are going to have an innovative economy, … Congress would authorize protection of patents and copyrights.”

On April 10, 1790, Washington signed the Patent Act into law. The first president approved 156 new patents during his two terms.

James Madison made sure that patent protection was included in the original Constitution. It seems that whenever they considered the future, the Founders thought about each and every detail. Article I secures the patent right: “To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.”

“Buy American” and “Made in the USA” are not just recent ideas. Early in 1789, George Washington wrote to Lafayette about the American “improvements in manufactures.” He praised the cotton cloths, hats, leather goods, glass, shoes, and nails being produced that once were imported from Britain. He wrote about having a suit of clothes made with American cloth that he would later wear, famously, at his inauguration ceremony. “Indeed

we have already been to[o] long subject to British prejudices. I use no porter or cheese in my family, but such as is made in America—both … may now be purchased of an excellent quality.” Washington was no doubt tired of overpriced imported goods delivered by a hostile country that he had spent a lifetime fighting against, a country that held nothing but contempt for his own.

On April 10, 1790, Washington signed the Patent Act into law. The first president approved 156 new patents during his two terms. If you were lucky enough to be one of those 156, you received your document handsigned by Washington himself. The author B. Zorina Khan, in her book “The Democratization of Invention,” describes the impact: “The United States created the first modern patent system and its policies were the most liberal in the world toward inventors. Individuals who did not have the resources to directly exploit their inventions benefited disproportionately from secure property rights and the operation of efficient markets.”

The Founders set the wheels in motion for the greatest entrepreneurial economy that the world has ever seen. By their example, they taught us how to support science and research and to protect the rights of inventors.

Their incredible leadership and foresight helped us to achieve the security and the opportunities that we enjoy today. The Founders would be astonished by the things that we have come to take for granted, like our highways and the Empire State Building. They would probably be most impressed by medical advances that have reduced so much mortality. Still, they would caution us to continue to maintain our economic independence and our spirit of invention because there may yet be wolves at the door. Save for that rainy day, they would say. The Founders would echo this quote from economist Milton Friedman: “There is no alternative way so far discovered of improving the lot of ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by the free-enterprise system.” • 71

Arts & Letters | Architecture

vated house that we recognize today.

Jefferson planned his spaces around public and private functions. In the spirit of Palladio, the house is designed in deference to the rotation of the sun.

Rooms were situated for optimal natural illumination. The parlor, dining room, and tea room were placed in the northwestern quarter of the house to catch the last rays of evening light.

Their orientation northward served to protect diners from Virginia’s summer heat. His foyer served as a display of his many interests, a fitting place to receive his unending stream of visitors.

His bedchamber, in contrast, was created to facilitate his typical busy day. The bed was crafted in an alcove, placing it between the bedchamber and Jefferson’s study. Monticello tour guides help us to imagine the great statesman jumping out of bed to his “study” side to quickly note midnight ideas at his desk.

In the morning, he would exit the other side of his bed to dress in his bedchamber. This design allowed the great man to efficiently work at his daily tasks in one location—providing the ultimate home office. Here Jefferson would answer an unending stream of letters, record the weather, and attend to the management of his estate. The room is filled with Jefferson’s books, papers, globes, artwork, scientific apparatus, and a device that he called “the finest invention of our present age,” the polygraph. It is a device that allows writing a letter and making a copy to keep for your records in one operation. Also in the room is a copy of the Declaration of 104

Jefferson planned his spaces around public and private functions.

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left The Piazza served as a greenhouse for growing plants and housed Jefferson’s workbench, where he made locks and chains.

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Independence. Not one to waste space, Jefferson placed long-term storage above the bed alcove and ventilated it with “portholes” that opened into the bedchamber. Such inventiveness can be seen throughout the house: The French doors with a sub-floor mechanism to open them simultaneously, the dumb waiter for wine, and the “pass-through” shelf between service kitchen and dining room were all part of Jefferson’s passion to “design for living.”

The expansive estate surrounding his home gave Jefferson ample room to pursue his interest in farming. “Agriculture … is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to wealth, good morals and happiness,” wrote Thomas Jefferson in a letter to George Washington in 1787.

Today, only 2 percent of America’s population farm. In Jefferson’s era, locally grown foods were essential, and most of

the population were farmers. Even the first industries were tied to agriculture, such as the grinding of wheat and limestone as well as spinning and weaving.

Jefferson envisioned a nation tied to the soil. He made many investigations into better agricultural practices and new crops. He even invented the moldboard plow.

His gardens at Monticello were a place to investigate and showcase innovations in agriculture. Jefferson laid out his gardens at a slightly lower level than the house, in order to benefit from the reflection off the mountain behind them and capture the sun from the front. In doing so, he placed them in a slightly friendlier growing zone than the house site at the crest of the mountain. He experimented with 330 varieties of some 99 species of vegetables and herbs, conducting foundational agricultural research for the young country.

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Arts & Letters | Architecture

What he built would survive the Revolution and Civil War to stand as a monument to American innovation.

Jefferson used cover crops and rotation to maintain the quality of his soil. He grew cotton and wheat but abandoned the cash crop tobacco because it was too hard on the land.

Jefferson observed much during his time as ambassador in France. His cuisine at Monticello (and the gardens that provided it) would have to be called “half French, half Virginian.” The eightacre fruitery at Monticello produced over 170 varieties of 31 species. There was also the South Orchard with 400 trees, and “berry squares” of currants, gooseberries, and raspberries. The gardens and orchards of Monticello were also influenced by Philip Mazzei (1730–1816), a Florentine merchant, surgeon, and horticulturist, who arrived with a group of colonists from Tuscany in 1773. Jefferson, a lover of Renaissance ideas, was grateful for the friendship he cultivated with Mazzei. He offered him land near Monticello and added plants 106

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Architecture | Arts & Letters

Happy Accident Leads to Invention of the Post-It Note

far left A circular window inside the dome at Monticello.

The garden pavilion features double-hung sash windows, a Chinesestyle railing, and a pyramidal roof. above

left The garden pavilion was Jefferson’s favorite place to retreat to and read in the evening.

that did well in Tuscany to his own gardens. Although many of the tropical species Mazzei introduced died due to the brutal Virginia winter, his grapes survived. He and Jefferson would make the region’s first foray into viticulture. It would not be until the late 20th century that Virginia would actually develop a large wine industry, but it was first envisioned at Monticello.

It can truly be said that Jefferson’s gardens became a place where a vision was also cast for a rich and diverse agriculture to feed the bodies and souls of the citizens of a young republic. A model was made for a nation of independent farmers and artisans living in close connection with the soil. The estate grounds, along with the amazing innovations of his home’s architecture, interior spaces, and “design for living” inventions, made Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello a valuable part of his legacy to America. •

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“Please excuse Jimmy from PE today.”

“Oil, flour, sugar, yeast, blueberries, peaches—” (Why didn’t they make these notes bigger?)

“—eggs, garlic, coconut milk—Ahhh, dry cleaning.”

“Math homework, paper for history, ask Jill to prom—Can I do this?”

People all over the world use them, those sticky, smallish, yellow notes. Everyone loves them. They write everything on them, then they stick them on their computers, bulletin boards, calendars, notebooks, walls, and wrists and fingers. They started as a 3-inch square in yellow, but now they come in all sizes and colors.

The post-it note came about by accident. In 1968, 3M chemist Dr. Spencer Silver was trying to make a strong adhesive, but instead, he discovered a weak one.

Dr. Silver said, “It was part of my job to develop new adhesives, and at the time, we wanted to develop bigger, stronger, tougher adhesives. This was none of these.”

What Dr. Silver discovered was the new adhesive had microspheres that retained stickiness and had “removability characteristic.” This adhesive attached to surfaces and peeled apart easily.

For five years, no one at 3M knew what to do with the weak adhesive. Then, in 1974, Art Fry, one of Dr. Silver’s friends, used the weak adhesive on bookmarks in his choir hymnal. Fry partnered with Dr. Silver and used the weak adhesive on small notecards.

“I thought,” Dr. Silver said at the time, “what we have here isn’t just a bookmark. It’s a whole new way to communicate.”

3M began manufacturing the product with the name Press ‘n Peel. The initial response was tepid, but the notecards took off after renaming them. Now, the Post-it note is one of the hottest office products in the country.

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Arts & Letters | Paintings

Healy immortalized Lincoln, elevating him beyond the minutiae that the office of the presidency entails.

Healy immortalized Lincoln, elevating him beyond the minutiae that the office of the presidency entails. Lincoln sits cross-legged in an elegant chair and leans forward, lending an air of dynamism to an otherwise stoic composition.

He is characteristically pensive with his chin resting in his hand. While this is a posthumous portrait, Healy took considerable steps to ensure he faithfully captured the 16th president’s likeness. Viewers will recognize Lincoln’s gaunt face, famous beard, and diamond-shaped bow tie. Healy’s artistic brilliance lies in his ability to capture the president’s visage as well as his spirit.

Lincoln’s portrait is one of Healy’s most significant works of art and undoubtedly considered an 114

American masterpiece.

Presidential portraits are an enduring and quintessentially American art form. Generations of artists have captured the spirit and legacy of every president since our nation’s founding.

While these portraits help citizens visually connect with their elected officials, the insights they leave behind for future Americans are equally significant. They present contemporary audiences with a reflection of the times, while preserving key moments in the nation’s history for posterity.

As Americans reflect on the contributions of our leaders on Presidents Day, it is also imperative to acknowledge the invaluable institution of presidential portraiture. •

above left “Portrait of the Artist” by George Peter Alexander Healy, 1851. Oil on canvas.

Gift of Samuel P. Avery, Metropolitan Museum of Art. right “Abraham Lincoln” by George Peter Alexander Healy, 1869. Oil on canvas. White House.

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Acadia National Park

Along Maine’s coast, you can see waves crashing along cliffs, tranquil pools, and jagged shores—and any time of year is a great time to visit WRITTEN BY

Denice Rackley

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cadia National Park offers unique scenery. Cliffs dissolve into rocky shores and fade into the ocean, pristine lakes beg for canoes to glide across their surfaces, and forests glow when fall colors descend on the once emerald leaves.

The park’s 49,000 acres host 3.5 million visitors a year. Maine’s only national park, Acadia offers unique scenery on the eastern seaboard.

There are plenty of outdoor adventures to suit every individual.

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PHOTOGRAPHED BY

Peter Wood

With over 40 miles of shoreline encompassing several islands and 26 mountains, Acadia offers diverse outdoor activities; hiking, biking, and boating opportunities abound, and there is rock climbing for the adventurous or bird-watching for those who like to relax and wonder.

Rustic campsites, 18 miles of trails, and a lighthouse make a visit to Isle au Haut, which is only accessible by boat, worth the trip. Seeing the first rays of sunrise touching the ocean

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Sunrise at Boulder Beach in Acadia National Park.

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Photo Credits

On the cover Photo by Yugu Ningeok Pictured: Kiliii Yuyan on a photography assignment in Nuvuk, Alaska, in April 2017.

1 John S/500px/500px Prime/ Getty Images 4 Botanical illustration: rustemgurler/DigitalVision Vectors/Getty Images Portrait illustration: Michelle Xu for American Essence 12–17 Lux Aeterna Photography for American Essence 18 Kiliii Yuyan 20–21 Left: Courtesy of Kiliii Yuyan, photo by Princess Dazrahi Johnson Right: Kiliii Yuyan 22–23 Kiliii Yuyan 24–27 Lux Aeterna Photography for American Essence 28–31 Courtesy of Warm Springs Ranch 32–35 Nate Brown 36 Top: Nate Brown Bottom: Courtesy of Nate Brown, photo by The Wild Outsiders 37–39 Nate Brown 58 S-BELOV/Shutterstock 60 Top: R.W. for American Essence Bottom: tsaplia/Shutterstock 61 R.W. for American Essence

62 Bottom: Arthur Balitskii/ Shutterstock Others: R.W. for American Essence 63 Top: tsaplia/Shutterstock Others: R.W. for American Essence 64–67 Courtesy of TheHistoryOfTv.com 68 Everett Collection/ Shutterstock 69 Public Domain 70 Keith Lance/DigitalVision Vectors/Getty Images 72 Learn NC, University of North Carolina School of Education 73 Public Domain 74 R.W. for American Essence 75 “Documenting the American South,” University Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 76 Courtesy of Library of Congress

77 “Documenting the American South,” University Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 78 Public Domain 80 Photo: Public Domain Illustration: Hein Nouwens/ Shutterstock 82 ZU_09/DigitalVision Vectors/ Getty Images 83–84 Public Domain 86–87 Left: Joe Klementovich/Getty Images Top right: Sergey and Marina Pyataev/Shutterstock Bottom right: travelview/ Shutterstock 88–89 Left: Public Domain Right: travelview/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus 93 Julia Dobrovan/Shutterstock 95 Nataliia Tosun/Shutterstock 97 Fresh Stock/Shutterstock 98 Basic Books

99 Wordfire Press 100 Arthur T. LaBar 102–103 Left: Robert Llewellyn Right: Public Domain 104–105 Top left: Alan Levine Others: Robert Llewellyn 106–107 Top right: Harold Gronstrand Others: Robert Llewellyn 109–115 Public Domain 127 Bluberries/iStock/Getty Images Plus 129 Mihai_Andritoiu/Shutterstock