Paducah Life Magazine - October/November 2022

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2022 • $ 2.95

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The Challenger Learning Center

20 YEARS OF

EXPLORATION

MISSION POSSIBLE

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Sing a Song of Paducah

oct/nov 2022 ★ from the editor & associate editor pages 5 & 7 ★ last word page 84

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Local Teachers Visit Space Camp

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Mellisa Duncan Shares the Meaning Behind the Missions

25

Dr. Verbist Brings Hope and Healing to the Purchase Region

29

Robert Dafford Mentors the Next Generation of Painters

32

Heidi Suhrheinrich Retires from PCM

37

The LeBuhn Siblings Head to Harvard

40

Colby Holt and Sam Probst Return to Film Ganymede

44

Haunting Homesteads at Land Between the Lakes

51

CG Toys Cultivates Joy

55

Paducah’s Unexpected Connection to the World Series

58

Holly Walker’s Gardening Paradise

60

Patrick Ranval Goes from Seeds to Software

64

Susie Fenwick Reflects on the Farm Life

77

Poppy Faughn’s Delightful Dorm Decor

80

The Stuff(ing) of Legends

82

One Book Read is Back in Person

8 7 6

Challenger Learning Center Turns 20

Jackson Dodd Steps Into the Frame

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executive editor/ P U B L I S H E R Darlene M. Mazzone

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F RO M t h e E D I TO R T WAS 1973 AND I WAS THOROUGHLY enjoying my English literature class with an inspired young teacher who, as you will learn, became my life’s inspiration.

I had declared my major as business administration at Murray State, primarily because Miss Betty Graves, who taught typing and shorthand and accounting at Carlisle County High school, motivated me to be an active part of the Future Business Leaders of America organization. And from that association, and her further coaxing, I competed for the highest honor at the 1972 state convention, that of Miss Future Business Leader. I proudly brought that trophy and its accompanying laurels back to CCHS. But the story continued. A bus full of pimpled, pubescent FBLAers found ourselves in Miami that year at the National FBLA Convention (because of our many first-place honors at the state level) where I became one of 10 finalists in the nation for the acclaimed title. Needless to say, these were lifechanging experiences. ALL because of Miss Betty.

But back to the essays and literary critiques I was turning out sophomore year in the fine arts building at the hands of Dr. Anita Lawson. Midway through that semester, Dr. Lawson pulled me aside after class for a chat. “Your writing is exceptional,” she said, and asked me about my plans for my degree. Upon hearing of my business management path, she commented, “Would you consider teaching?” Not wanting to be unappreciative I lauded the nobleness of such a career choice, but had to admit, I didn’t see myself in that role. “What about journalism then?” she asked.

To be sure, I hadn’t thought about that. “Why don’t you go see Mr. McGaughey in the journalism department and maybe look into that.” I did just that. And HERE I am, writing one of hundreds of editorials in a magazine I have published for more than 30 years!

Dr. Anita Lawson literally changed my life. If this

attentive, caring young professor had not taken the initiative to personally counsel me about my future, I very much doubt this is where I would be today. And I must not either forget the next three years being guided by the one and only “Doc” McGaughey whose influence and journalistic instruction led me to being presented the Schmidt Award for Outstanding Senior in Journalism.

All. Because. Of. Teachers.

There are many exceptional influences in our lives as we live and learn. But I propose that the impact of teachers at EVERY LEVEL of the educational system is often the very essence of who we become. Beyond my own experience, I have now also been privy to the impact of these purveyors of providence in the lives of my three sons. My belief has never wavered.

If there is ANYONE who can serve as change agents in our lives and in the world we inhabit, it will be that of TEACHERS.

Darlene M. Mazzone darlene@paducahlife.com

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2022 • 5

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FROM the ASSOCIATE ED ITOR

D

arlene and I have been talking about the headlines in education recently. Education, like most industries, was turned on its head during the pandemic. From teacher shortages and staffing issues to restrictions and debates on what can and should be taught, teaching continues to be a momentous task that rarely receives the full admiration it deserves. And yet, there are teachers who persist. Those who continue to show up every day for every kid.

Being a teacher changed my life. Although it wasn’t my initial career plan and didn’t turn out to be my final one—young Stephanie wanted to be a journalist from an early age, but THAT is a story for another day—it was a wonderful journey and had as much impact on who I am as any other life experience. And while there were many students who impacted me over the years, it is their collective variety that stands out most strongly in my mind.

Some helped to grow my patience (and increase the number of gray hairs on my head), many taught me the complexity of the learning mind, and others truly helped renew my faith in humanity when it would start to grow thin.

I remember Alondra, a passionate but shy 7th grader, who knew the path she wanted to take and is now a first-generation college student heading to Harvard.

I remember Austin, the 6th grader who had an infectious charm but just couldn’t sit still, teaching me how to manage and command a group of people like no other student before or after. I remember Chris, who, bless his heart, was in my class three years in a row and never did quite grasp what a metaphor is, but he did know how to keep us all laughing. I remember many of my high school students who challenged me with fresh takes on literature and life, who shared some of their deepest joys and pains as they worked through the difficult task of growing up, and who kept me humble if I started to think I was still cool.

This edition, we share stories of individuals who are on both the giving and receiving ends of this whole cycle: those that represent the loving exchange of education in our community. I hope you are inspired, as I am, by the work being done for learners of every age as well as the rewards our community is reaping from the investments that have already been made. Education is a profession of love that serves people during some of their most vulnerable years, and it is a career that causes us to remember that we will reap what we sow. What we put into the future generation is exactly what we will get out of it.

Stephanie Watson stephanie@paducahlife.com

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2022 • 7

PADUCAH’S CHALLENGER CENTER CELEBRATES 20 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE IN STEM EDUCATION

★ Photo by B R A D R A N K I N

MISSION POSSIBLE

NORAGOODWIN FIFTH GRADER AT LONE OAK INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL Our cover model looks right at home in a space suit, and she loves studying science and math. Here’s what she had to say about the world of STEM. “I really like building things using science and math, particularly when materials are mixed to make changes. Explosions, bubbles, color changes—I’m all about it! I’ve even used different materials to build a small catapult and a color changing night light.”

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CHALLENGER CENTER

I

N AUGUST OF 1984, PRESIDENT REAGAN ANNOUNCED TO THE NATION THAT FOR THE first time in its history, a “citizen passenger” would be chosen to fly into space aboard a United State space shuttle. That citizen would be a teacher.

From a field of nearly 11,000 applicants, Christa McAuliffe, 36, was chosen to become the first teacher in space, inspiring people around the world with her plan to teach two, 15-minute lessons that would be broadcast into classrooms across America from the Space Shuttle Challenger.

Unfortunately, this was a mission that would prove fatal. On January 28, 1986, just 73 seconds into flight, at an altitude of 48,000 feet, the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded, leaving citizens and children in classrooms across the nation shocked and confused. Along with losing the entire flight crew, the nation had lost a beloved teacher.

In the aftermath of the Challenger accident, the families of the Challenger crew came together, firmly committed to the belief that they must carry on the spirit of their loved ones while continuing the Challenger’s mission of inspiring young people. They envisioned a place where children, teachers, and citizens could touch the future: manipulate equipment, conduct experiments, solve problems, and work together, immersing themselves in spacelike surroundings. Their goal was to spark youth interest and joy in science and engineering, believing that spark can change lives. With their collective efforts, they created Challenger Center for Space Science Education.

Today, more than 40 Challenger Centers are located across the world. As a leader in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, Challenger Centers use space-themed simulated learning environments to engage students in dynamic, hands-on opportunities that strengthen knowledge in STEM subjects and inspire students to pursue careers in these important fields.

The Challenger Learning Center at Paducah is part of that global network that reaches hundreds of thousands of students and tens of thousands of teachers each year. In partnership with West Kentucky Community and Technical College and with strong financial support from federal and state government, as well as members of the local community, ground was broken for the construction of the CLC in April of 2001.

On August 16, 2002, The Challenger Learning Center at Paducah officially opened as the 44th member of the national Challenger Center for Space Science Education network. Since the inaugural mission that September, Rendezvous with a Comet, the Challenger Learning Center at Paducah has flown thousands of “missions” with students of all ages and has added programming such as summer camps, scouting workshops, after-school programs, and professional development for area teachers.

Since opening, thousands of students, teachers, and community members of all ages have benefitted from the center’s mission to improve the quality of STEM education by providing opportunities for all in our region to participate in quality real-life experiences, attain knowledge, and become life-long learners.

To mark the center’s 20th anniversary of serving our community, we look back at its past and celebrate its future in cultivating the next generation of scientists, engineers, and critical thinkers who can impact our world.

DR.ANTON REECE

PRESIDENT/CEO, WEST KENTUCKY COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE

“I commend our WKCTC’s Challenger Learning Center team. They have provided exceptional service for two decades as a regional educational resource for K-12 students that raises awareness of the space industry, helps students build teamwork skills, and provides opportunities for hands-on exploration and understanding of space and STEM-related experiences.”

10 • PADUCAH LIFE

CHALLENGER CENTER

JENNIFER REED CHALLENGER EDUCATION COORDINATOR “Our goal is to inspire lifelong learning in the sciences and let students know that anyone can get involved in a STEM career.

When kids come here, they are in awe, and they leave believing that location doesn’t limit you. What we do every day is a living memorial to the crew that we tragically lost. We really do believe in that mission of inspiration, and we work to honor that memory in the experiences and education we provide.”

12 • PADUCAH LIFE

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES THAT ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD! STEM 4 GIRLS STEM 4 Girls is a partnership between Challenger Learning Center, WKCTC, and the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce that introduces girls to local and national STEM careers. Attendees get to hear a keynote speech by women in STEM and leadership positions while also attending breakout sessions led by local women in STEM such as engineers, WKCTC professors, doctors, nurses, midwives, computer experts, and members of the UK Engineering school Society of Women Engineers.

BRANDYROBERTS HEATH MIDDLE SCHOOL

ROBOTICS In December 2013, the Challenger Learning Center hosted its first robotics tournament on the campus of WKCTC in the Emerging Technology Center.

The First LEGO League, which is a nation-wide STEM program for 10–14-year-old students, brought participants from area schools, clubs, and homeschool teams to compete in research and robotics engineering themed challenges. In 2018, the center’s robotics program shifted, adopting RCX-Robot Challenge Extreme, a robotics competition that offers elementary, middle, and

“Our community is so very fortunate to have the Challenger Learning Center. As a sixth-grade science teacher at Heath Middle School, the standards I teach include quite a bit of space science, engineering standards, and the scientific method. The field trip to the Challenger Center is a wonderful culminating project where students can apply all they have studied in a hands-on, real-world way.

Since 2009, I’ve taken students on “missions” at the CLC. For several weeks leading up to the trip, we dive into our space related content and standards. Then we discuss all the jobs for the mission, and students complete a job application for the role they will be assigned. The week before we attend the Challenger Center, we complete a “mini-mission” to better prepare them for their specific job, and to bring together all the content we have been studying.

Once there, my sixth graders love the hands-on activities and adore the mission simulation. While many school assignments require students to all be working on the same type of project, the Challenger Center experience is unique because each student has a different job that they complete to create a successful mission.

It is truly an experience that I wish all our community members could see first-hand.

Apart from my experience with students, each summer I participate in the professional development that the CLC in Paducah offers. In my 25 years of teaching for McCracken County Public Schools, this is hands-down the best professional development I have ever attended. The teacher training always includes new NASA research related to current events, and there are multiple new hands-on activities that they train us on so that we may immediately implement them with our students.

Additionally, the CLC offers many opportunities where teachers can check out materials to use with our students that they would not otherwise have access to. Their professional development has included bringing in NASA educators from Langley to work with us here in Paducah as well as us traveling to Marshall to work with NASA educators and tour facilities in Huntsville. This past summer we were able to return to Huntsville for training which included Space Camp.

We love the partnership that CLC provides for our local schools, and we are grateful for the important role they play in our community.”

CHALLENGER CENTER

high schoolers a chance to compete with their own age levels, giving the center an opportunity to offer one robotics tournament for all ages. The tournament is held in March and those that place continue on to the state competition at Rupp Arena in April.

CLUB CHALLENGER AND SUMMER CAMPS

AIDEN LEDBETTER “I am a sophomore in high school, but I have participated in programs at the Challenger Learning Center since I was five years old. I have participated in every program offered at CLC including attending one or more camps each summer.

I always enjoyed the crafts, building the Mars colony, and going into the virtual spaceship. My favorite experience, however, was scuba diving at Mermet Springs and feeding the fish as part of the Underwater Astronaut Camp.

Now I volunteer at the center, helping other kids enjoy the same experiences that I did at their age.

I love seeing my ideas take shape with STEM, and the programs at CLC allow kids to do that in an exciting, hands-on way.”

14 • PADUCAH LIFE

First through fifth graders can explore the amazing wonders of science during the CLC’s after-school program, Club Challenger. Students meet once a month to participate in exciting, hands-on activities related to space and science. Themes include everything from the solar system to astronaut training and seasonal events like Halloween STEM. Summer camps also include a wide array of STEM experiences.

Students entering kindergarten (Astrotots) through 16 years of age can experience unique STEM themed camps. Campers can learn secret spy techniques, train like a Jedi, become a Challenger Special Investigator, code LEGO robots, fly to Mars in our simulators, SCUBA dive like astronauts in training and even fly a real airplane! Registration begins early every year around February 1. You want to register early as camps fill fast. 2022 had a record-breaking year with 535 registrations.

STEM SQUAD In an effort to expose rural area students to more NASA education programming, the CLC has received a TEAMII-CAAT grant award. This award designates the CLC as a NASA Community Anchor. The award enabled the CLC to create a new program called STEM Squad, which introduces area students in 5th-7th grades to various NASA educational themes, programs, and STEM curriculum.

Challenger STEM Squad members attend monthly meetings called Squad Summits (one virtual/one in-person, monthly) October 2022 through May 2023. Squad Summits will include hands-on STEM lessons, NASA speakers, information, and other monthly thematic activities.

Successful completion of the program qualifies participants to attend the U.S. Space & Rocket Center's Space Camp Titan Program.

JULIESHEFFER

CLARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

“For the past 20 years, the trip to CLC has been one of the highlights of the year for students. It never fails, at the first of the year when I share about the topics we will cover, 5th graders always ask if we are going to Challenger. Many of them have older siblings or friends that have visited, and there is always a cheerful “YES!” when I let them know they will go.

Since I am a K-5 Science Specialist, I teach students at all levels, and I get to see the excitement for Challenger reach every grade. I can't count the number of younger students who have rushed up to me to share about the great time they had in one Challenger Club/Camp or another or the times I hear, “We did something like that at Challenger!” The kids love the variety of STEM experiences they have there, not just the ones related to space and rockets.

When CLC first opened in 2002, teachers were trained in preparing for and conducting the simulation. While this is still a wonderful part of the core experience at the center, over the last 10-12 years, many more opportunities have opened for both students and educators. Thanks to the CLC of Paducah, I've been able to take part in some of the best professional trainings I've experienced in my 26 years of teaching. I’ve been to workshops on robotics, coding, rocketry, and solar ovens, and fieldtrips to local places like TVA and the Kentucky Dam. One particularly unforgettable opportunity was our trip to Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. I was quite starstruck to meet and listen to so many NASA experts and to see and witness their work. The men and women who work daily to see that our astronauts are safe are true science wizards. I learned many activities to share with my students during that professional development, but it is the people I met that I will never forget.

Because of my connection with the center, I’ve also had the opportunity to take on the instructor role as a NASA Teacher Leader. This role allowed me to work closely with two other area teachers, the staff of CLC Paducah, and an Educational Specialist from NASA Langley to plan, lead, and facilitate several days of professional development. It was a great chance to share what I've learned and my passion for STEM instruction in the classroom.

Because of these opportunities, I've been inspired to start a robotics team at my school, teach coding to all student in grades 1-5, bring new STEM ideas to the classroom, and work with some of the best teachers in our region. The CLC has certainly helped shape me into the science teacher I am today. I love what they have to offer educators, and I love even more sharing that experience with my students.”

★ by K ATHY M C H ANEY

WESTERN KENTUCKY TEACHERS “TRAVEL“ TO I NFINITY AND BEYOND

I

N EARLY JUNE, FOUR MEMBERS OF THE CHALLENGER LEARNING CENTER (CLC) staff, along with 24 teachers from the West Kentucky region, had the professional development trip of a lifetime when they visited NASA’s Space Camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. This trip was part of a grant from NASA Kentucky and was organized by the CLC. “We are thrilled to be able to provide this learning opportunity for our area educators,” says CLC Director Mellisa Duncan. “Because of the NASA Kentucky grant, educators were able to participate in unique STEM activities that they will use to inspire their students for years to come.”

Space Camp offers participants a unique opportunity to train like astronauts while building knowledge in STEM fields. Teachers participate in activities that build teamwork, encourage critical thinking, and apply STEM problems in a real-world setting.

The program was developed by Dr. Wernher von Braun, who was instrumental in the building of the Apollo-era rockets that took Americans to the moon, and Mr. Edward O. Buckbee, the first director of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. Many Space Camp participants have gone on to become astronauts, engineers,

16 • PADUCAH LIFE

SPACECAM P and scientists with the space program in the 40 years since it opened.

Brandy Roberts, Heath Middle School science teacher, was among the teachers in attendance this year. “I’ve been attending the CLC summer professional development for many years now,” she explains, “and they are hands-down the best professional development for teachers anywhere. Being able to bring back videos and pictures of this trip to my sixth graders is so exciting for me. I may not be able to bring every student here, but I can bring my experience back to every student.”

The first day in Huntsville started with an afternoon of educational activities that would be applicable in their classrooms. The workshop included two handson lessons geared toward elementary and middle school-age students that coincide with NASA’s Artemis missions to the moon scheduled to begin this year.

The teachers first learned an activity in designing and building a satellite made of an assortment of common classroom and craft supplies. The satellite would need to “orbit the moon” while carrying a combination of cameras, gravity probes, and heat sensors to navigate the moon’s surface. The effectiveness of their design would be tested with a one-meter drop.

The second activity was to design and build a lunar buggy that would travel down a ramp powered by potential and kinetic energy (in this case, powered by a tightly wound rubber band), using a specific combination of supplied items. Both lessons involved a variety of science and engineering concepts—math, physics, mechanical and civil engineering—as well as teamwork,

18 • PADUCAH LIFE

and may be adapted to different age and ability levels.

For the next two days the group participated in activities and experiments at the Space Camp facilities.

The teachers first visited the Intuitive Planetarium for a presentation on the solar system. They then experienced a multi-axis trainer—a device used to train astronauts how to deal with a tumble spin in space by simulating the feel of an “out of control” spin. Next up was a “one-sixth” trainer, which simulates walking in the 1/6th gravity on the moon’s surface, so they can experience how the original Apollo astronauts walked on the moon. They also took part in a workshop on how to program and use “Sphero” robots in their classroom and trained for a mission to outer space they would participate in later.

Building on their previous camp training, the teachers ultimately completed a mission to space, dividing into teams between mission control, “flying” the shuttle (an early training model of the Space Shuttle Endeavor), doing experiments in space, and building part of the International Space Station on a “spacewalk.”

The final experience at Space Camp involved learning about the tiles used by spacecraft for re-entry through the Earth’s atmosphere. The high-temperature reusable surface insulation tiles are an essential part of

the spacecraft’s exterior, as they are what protect the astronauts inside from the extreme temperatures created by friction as the craft descends through the upper atmosphere. The teachers were given an assortment of supplies to choose from to create their “tiles.” The course instructor subjected their creations to a direct flame from a blowtorch to measure the effectiveness by how well a fresh egg (called an “eggs-tronaut”) on the protected side of the “tile” fared after being exposed to intense heat. The activity was a great example of the science, details, and testing that go into even the smallest part of each spacecraft launched by NASA and was a fun moment for the group as they prepared to head home.

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“Experiencing these activities first-hand is the best way to be able to bring it back to our kids in a vibrant and exciting way.”

As the teachers finished the three-day event, Murray Middle School math teacher Tamsyn Vertrees noted her excitement for taking these activities back to her students. “I love integrating space into math instruction,” she states, “so I can’t wait to take all this space information and infuse it in my lessons. Experiencing these activities first-hand is the best way to be able to bring it back to our kids in a vibrant and exciting way.”

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2022 • 19

★ by K ATHY M C H ANEY

THE MEANING BEHIND THE

M I SS I O N S

Challenger Learning Center Director Mellisa Duncan has led students, teachers, and community members on simulated space missions since 2006. She shares the importance of the center and its role in creating a STEM-rich experience for local students.

P

ADUCAH’S CHALLENGER LEARNING CENTER DIRECTOR MELLISA Duncan did not start out as a science teacher. Rather, the stars aligned (so to speak) to launch her career in an out-of-this-world direction.

Duncan’s office in the Paducah CLC is filled with NASA memorabilia—models of lunar rovers, Snoopy astronauts, stickers and patches from different shuttle missions, and a coffee mug with the famous line from “Apollo 13”: Failure is not an option. “People think I love science, but it’s really the history of it, the human aspect of it that I love,” she says.

Duncan was an elementary school teacher in Kansas for ten years, teaching fourth and fifth grade history and language arts—a job she loved—before the magic of exploring space called to her. “What started me on this trajectory was finding a NASA Educator Workshop brochure in my mailbox at my elementary school,” she says. “It was a big application process—essay questions and three letters of recommendation. I mailed it in, and I was accepted to the workshop at the Kennedy Space Center.”

Duncan spent two weeks at Kennedy in the summer of 2001, an experience that changed

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her outlook on her profession. “That trip was inspiring to me,” she says. “And I found when I was a teacher that the most inspiring experiences were those where I learned, and I could pass that along to my kids.”

Her transition from the classroom to a Challenger Center also involved a moment of helping her elementary students understand the science behind sailing. “I taught in a low-income, underserved school. Our reading program was very scripted, and one week our lesson was a fantasy story about flying sailboats,” she says. “In Kansas there’s not many lakes, and my students didn’t understand sailboats. So, I went and bought Ivory soap—because it floats—and I took a few minutes out of our reading schedule to make sailboats out of the soap. We blew on them, and talked about rudders and all the different parts of a sailboat, and then they understood.” Even though the class had deviated from the scripted format of the reading lesson with the sailboat experiment, Duncan knew that the students had learned in a different way that day, something that spoke to her professionally.

Around that same time, a teacher friend told Duncan about a job as an education coordinator at the new Challenger Learning Center getting ready to open in Ferguson, Missouri. On a whim, she mailed in a resume and cover letter. She ended up getting the job, and moving to St. Louis. “We were opening the center there, so I got to help with that from the ground up,” she explains. “The week I started we took a group of school and community people who might be interested in a Challenger Center experience on a charter bus here to Paducah to this CLC, which had been open for about nine months, and this is where I flew my first mission!”

Just over two years later the director position at the Challenger Learning Center at Paducah opened, and again, on a whim, Duncan applied. “And the next thing you know, I was in Paducah!” she laughs.

Her 16 years at the Paducah CLC have not been without challenges. The center has weathered budget cuts—along with COVID, of course—but, according to Duncan, the CLC has come out stronger on the other end. “The core of our work is our school missions,” she notes, “but we’ve branched out into many other programs, diversifying our educational offerings and making the Center stronger.”

For Duncan, Paducah has been a great choice from the very beginning.

She is proud of the CLC’s relations and collaborations with the community.

2017 marked a memorable moment in community partnerships when the huge eclipse-watching party on the WKCTC campus brought in some 3,500 people.

She also points out that the CLC has traveled off campus to partner with various non-profits in the community. “We take the Starlab (a moveable planetarium) out as part of the regional outreach in schools. We help with STEM 4 Girls, robotics tournaments, and we’ve partnered with the National Quilt Museum, the Carson Center for the Performing Arts, the Paducah Symphony, and the River Discovery Center,” she says. “We really try to work with the community and capitalize on everyone’s strengths.”

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) has become a buzzword for all things science in the last two decades. The Paducah CLC has kept pace and adjusted from being labeled a space and science center into a STEM education center.

However, Duncan wants to clarify that this is not the only educational opportunity they offer.

“Our missions involve so much more than the STEM concepts,” she states. “Students must use communication, teamwork, decision making, critical thinking, reading, writing, and listening—all the 21st century skills employers are looking for. These missions are literally the entire package.”

With all the changes in technology in the last 20 years, and the increased use of computers, robotics, and even 3D printers, Duncan says that the Center staff finds that keeping their activities simple and hands-on is actually very attractive to their students. “If you think about it, NASA went to the moon on less computer power than you have on your phone,” she points out. “We find that when we give kids the opportunity to be hands-on with basics like popsicle sticks, yarn, plastic cups, and straws, they love it.”

Duncan said children are excited about the thought of space travel, and that is what makes the Paducah CLC footprint unique. “The thing we hear over and over again from the kids who go through our missions is, ‘this is the coolest field trip ever.’”

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Dr. Daniel Verbist

Helps Women Find Hope And Healing In Their Hometown

E

VERY OCTOBER, THE WORLD PULLS OUT ITS PINK RIBBONS, GATHERS TO

participate in fundraising events, and collectively remembers the impact that breast cancer has on women. Few can say they haven’t been impacted by the disease in some way, whether through their own experiences or that of others. In fact, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime. Of the roughly 100,000 women in the Kentucky Purchase, 13,000 have had, currently have, or will have breast cancer.

While eliminating cancer is, of course, at the forefront of any treatment, an often underdiscussed aspect of care is breast reconstruction. While some may think of reconstruction as an afterthought—something nice but not necessary—for plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr. Daniel Verbist, breast reconstruction is often a life-altering part of putting things back together.

Dr. Verbist, a native of Clarksville, TN is married to a native Paducahan and recently brought his family back to the region to open a full-spectrum plastic and reconstructive surgery clinic located at Baptist Health. While Dr. Verbist practices all aspects of plastic and reconstructive surgery—he’s served neonatal patients as young as one day all the way to those in their 90s—cancer reconstruction is a portion of his practice that is near and dear to his heart.

“Breast cancer is a journey that no one chooses to take but many are forced to embark on,” he notes. “Reconstructive

O C TO B E R / NOV E MB ER 2022 • 25

“Breast cancer is a journey that no one chooses to take but many are forced to embark on. Reconstructive surgery has been shown to improve psychological, social, and physical wellbeing...” - Dr. Daniel Verbist surgery has been shown to improve psychological, social, and physical wellbeing, and every woman who faces the diagnosis of breast cancer should, at the very least, have the opportunity to learn about reconstruction and explore the options.”

According to Dr. Verbist, there are many reasons why women do not undergo breast reconstruction. For some, forgoing reconstruction is simple a respected personal choice. For many others, forgoing reconstruction is not a choice at all but rather the result of unfortunate barriers.

Misunderstandings about the process—from cost and coverage to misperceptions about age—and the distance it takes to access a board-certified plastic surgeon are common obstacles many women face when having to make that choice.

“Part of my job is trying to inform the patient of what options exist while dispelling myths,” he explains. “The opportunity to reduce these distances and decrease these disparities is one of the reasons it is such an honor to bring breast reconstruction services to the Purchase.” Locating his practice on the Baptist campus was another intentional choice that further aids in decreasing barriers to access.

Many doctors play a role in the treatment of breast cancer.

According to Dr. Verbist, studies reveal that patients who must travel over 20 miles to receive reconstruction are 30% less likely to pursue the option than those who have access to it in the city where they receive care. Having the plastic surgeon on campus adds one more layer to the community of care and one less barrier for women.

He hopes that along with greater access, women will also feel a sense of normalization for the reconstruction process. “For some reason, with breast cancer people wonder if it makes them vain to pursue it,” he explains. “If you had an invasive skin cancer on your ear, you wouldn’t think twice about having your ear reconstructed. There is no age at which a person is too old to feel like they are putting things back together, and that light at the end of the tunnel can provide hope for many women.”

More than a nip and a tuck?

For many people, the term plastic surgery conjures images from the media and popular television series with a hot-

26 • PAD U CAH L I FE

shot doctor driving a Ferrari and making millions doing facelifts. For most plastic surgeons, the reality of their work is vastly different from these images.

Dr. Verbist has spent years honing the craft of helping put people back together, restoring form and function while also helping people feel themselves again.

“This is one of the most diverse surgical fields,” he notes. “It’s a field that’s geared toward problem solving, and it takes a lot of imagination and creativity because each unique patient is their own puzzle. My job is to help solve that puzzle with them.”

After attending medical school at the University of Louisville, Dr. Verbist completed residency at the University of Missouri Hospital, a level one trauma center that presented ample opportunity for him to hone his reconstructive surgery skills. After residency, he stayed on as a staff physician, training others in the art of plastic surgery while also serving as the primary call doctor for hand trauma reconstruction. While moving to the Paducah area and opening his private practice in the heart of one of its main medical facilities meant giving up some of that intensity, he hasn’t let go of his trauma surgery roots completely.

“I enjoy trauma reconstruction because it requires one to really think outside the box to put these things back together,” he notes. “In partnering with Baptist, I’m also working with their emergency room several days a month to help with injury-related or illness-related reconstructive needs.”

And what if you do desire a nip or a tuck? He can do that too, but for Dr. Verbist, even this process is about helping people to realistically explore their goals and find a healthy path for changes.

“Cosmetic and elective plastic surgery can be life changing for many people,” he notes. “Anyone I meet I’m going to try to treat with compassion and respect and be as truthful with them as I can or at least point them in the right direction. It’s about exploring their goals and desires and deciding if the goal is a healthy or harmful one. Surgeries like breast reduction, for example, can be completely life changing for a person’s health and overall well-being.”

O C TO B E R / NOV E MB ER 2022 • 27

RIVER & RAIL H by Elena Wrye Renowned muralist Robert Dafford completes the final floodwall mural while bringing a new generation of painters along with him

T

UCKED AWAY, YET ON FULL display, between the charming streets of downtown Paducah and the steady waters that make up the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers, lies Paducah’s historic floodwall.

Constructed between August 1939 and July 1949, it stands as a guardian between the waters that lie in its midst and the life that bustles along the streets of Paducah - offering protection from rising river levels such as those of the historic 1937 flood.

And yet while it stands as a barrier to potential peril, it also serves as an open door to years of Paducah’s history as it depicts pivotal moments in the city’s story through masterful murals painted by Robert Dafford and his team of muralists.

The line of murals stretches for three blocks along Water Street and, as of this summer, is now complete.

The remaining ten floodwall panels that Paducah Wall to Wall has always envisioned completing have sat patiently waiting behind Locomotive 1518 that sits on the tracks next to the Carson Center. A location that would seem difficult to procure a sponsor for.

“Finding sponsors for behind the train, we thought would be a challenge – because you have to get out and walk and make a real effort to view it. It’s not something you drive by, then turn around and can come back and see,” Paducah Wall to Wall Executive Director Ro Morse says. “But it’s so worth our rail

history. It’s just unbelievable how we connected the North and the South here in Paducah.”

The mural’s subject matter is that of the map that showed the main path for The City of New Orleans – the train that traveled from New Orleans to Chicago, with Paducah strategically located in the middle.

When the project became possible due to a generous donation from the family of Wally O. and Gerry Montgomery, conversation began taking place of what the mural could look like, and Dafford and fellow muralist Herb Roe made a sketch to follow suit. A sketch made in the Summer of 2016 at Paducah’s Barbeque on the River is one that was carried through the years until things “finally came together,” as Ro says, in 2022.

Dafford and his team of muralists gladly returned to Paducah to complete the three-block project with the new mural conception. However, this time, they had a new set of recruits.

The Dafford mural masterclass played host to nine students from seven different states. States such as Michigan, Illinois, Washington, New Jersey, and Arkansas were represented as students of all ages made their way to Paducah to sit under the tutelage of Dafford and work in accordance with his team. The workshop, Dafford’s first to teach, was in conjunction with West Kentucky Community and Technical College and the Paducah School of Art and Design.

Applicants for the masterclass had to be well-versed in the art of mural painting to keep up with the distinguished work that was needed to create the murals at hand.

“All of them had painted murals, all of them had some experience, so they were pretty advanced. We were able to move from lectures to the studio right away. I had developed an exercise for them to do that taught them each aspect of my process. Then we came out here (the floodwall) the end of the first week and they actually helped prepare, seal, and draw the first three panels, and then the next three panels,” Dafford says as he recaps his masterclass.

“They got the experience of doing the layout. We put up a grid drawing, and most of this was transferred from period maps. We drew a to-scale grid on the maps, and on the wall, and they transferred the boundaries and some of the railroad tracks and rivers and such. So, they actually helped get this started.”

O C TO B E R / NOV E MB ER 2022 • 29

The drawings were provided to the muralist team by Jack Johnson at the Railroad Museum – furnishing the artists with maps of the railroad that showed the main path of The City of New Orleans.

Dafford’s goal in the teaching of the masterclass? To spread the knowledge of mural painting that he has, and also to look for new apprentices. Experienced in his craft, Dafford recognizes the art that’s being done today and its lack of longevity with the products and techniques being used.

The 12-day masterclass brought not only a learning experience and a new mural to complete Paducah Wall to Wall’s Portraits of Our Past, but it also brought community. And community, along with community service, is one of Dafford’s passions.

“I’m completely bent towards community service. I like this kind of project. I like getting to know everybody. I like being a part of the community. The work we’re doing reflects who you are, not who I am,” he says.

Masterclass students were submerged into the welcoming arms of Paducah’s downtown and Lowertown communities, and Dafford made sure to foster community within their class as well.

At the end of the workshop, Dafford (a resident of Lafayette, Louisiana) cooked an authentic Cajun meal of shrimp etouffee and a chicken sausage sauce piquant for all of the students to commemorate the ending of a successful class. Shand (one of the masterclass students) and Mitch Stamper happily opened their home for the meal, making room for a grand finale to the course and an opportunity to say goodbyes amongst the students.

As Paducah was a vital stop in the connection of the City of New Orleans train route between the North and the South, it is even more so to numerous other routes of transportation today. Paducah residents and visitors alike are invited to view the 200 ft. long section of new murals, located beside the Carson Center, and learn more about our city’s railroad history.

30 • PAD U CAH L I FE

O C TO B E R / NOV E MBER 2022 • 31

Listen.

Learn.

Act. HEIDI SUHRHEINRICH HAS ENACTED THESE SIMPLE GOALS AS A DAILY COMMITMENT TO THOSE WHO TURN TO PCM FOR AID

H

by Kathy McHaney

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb in his skin and walk around in it. —Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird

E

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR HEIDI SUHRHEINRICH starts each day at Paducah Cooperative Ministry (PCM) making sure the staff, volunteers and offices are ready for anything. “When you deal in crises and emergencies you have to be ready for anything,” she says.

Ready for anything from offering groceries to a family who can’t keep up with the cost of food, to offering financial assistance to an elderly woman who can’t afford to pay her utility bill, to giving shelter to a mother and children who suddenly finds that she and her family are homeless and hopeless.

“The first thing we do each day is assess our building and get ready for the day,” says Heidi.“What do we have in the way of food? Do we need to get ready for senior commodities? We get the building ready, check in on who is volunteering and share with them what’s new. And at 9 a.m. the

32 • PAD U CAH L I FE

fun begins – the phones start ringing, the doors open.”

“We’re never bored!” she says, laughing. “No two days are the same, and no two stories are the same. Our challenge every day is to try to do it better than the day before.”

Heidi has decided to retire this fall after serving the ministry almost 25 years — nearly half the years PCM has been around. Her name is now synonymous with the good work, reputation, and trust PCM has in the community.

But Heidi is reluctant to take personal credit for any accolades given to the ministry. Rather, she credits the staff, volunteers, and past and present board members for the ministry’s success.

“I think it has to do with what the underlying mission is — to do God’s work with human hands,” she says. “They are doing something that is significant in the day-to-day of someone else who is going through a hard time. It is an opportunity for them to show their love.”

Paducah Cooperative Ministry was founded in 1973 as an inter-faith ministry of local congregations. The concept of the ministry was to combine efforts as an umbrella organization to address food insecurity, assist with emergency financial assistance, and other needs that individual churches were responding to individually. The ministry has since grown to include Fresh Start Village – a shelter community for women and children in need of short-term housing while they find ways to provide for themselves.

“The early PCM founders used the motto ‘God’s love in action,’ and I think that is still very appropriate,” says Heidi.“It is God’s love in action, and we are all God’s children to my way of thinking, and we are all meant to look out for each other. That was what PCM was established to do, and that’s what I believe we still continue to do the very best we can, and we re-interpret that every single day.”

When Heidi speaks of her work at PCM it is clear that her faith is foremost in her work. “I believe that I reflect the spirit of PCM that we feel that we are God-guided, and that God directs and provides the path of the ministry. It is important that we acknowledge and lean into that,” she says.

She says her work as director is as a “conduit.”“There were things that took place during my tenure that I had no idea how to do. Like build a ‘village,’ or to find a new building for PCM offices and renovate it, or to run a capital campaign,” she says.

“But when God puts you on a certain path he always provides for you what is needed, and he always sent to me the right people to do the right things at the right time.

So my job has been to be that conduit and not muck it up, but to get out of the way!” she says, laughing.

“You have to stay trusting and watchful,” she says.“Listen, and see how you can connect people.”

For those who know her work with PCM, what stands out so significantly is her innate ability to understand the needs of the clients who come to the ministry, and also to communicate the complicated factors of poverty, food insecurity and homelessness to the ministry’s member congregations, donors and supporters. She often finds she has to correct misunderstandings

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Heidi Suhrheinrich H Paducah Cooperative Ministry about the causes of why a person might need food, utility or housing assistance.

Heidi explains that poverty is often generational, as well as cyclical.“If you have grown up in poverty, and everyone in your family is in that economic circle, you don’t really know what it looks like or feels like to go up to, say, middle class.” Heidi says, citing lessons from the book, Bridges Out of Poverty: Strategies for Professionals and Communities.

“Recurring poverty isn’t just a matter of money,” she explains.“It also requires having certain mental resources to handle the mathematics of doing a budget and managing money. These days it requires computer skills to apply for a job, and emotional skills to handle the stress of uncomfortable situations. And you need to have a support system – if your car breaks down do you have someone you can call to give you a ride to work?”

“A support system is critical to long-term success.” she says. Listening is a skill she mentions often when speaking of her work with PCM clients.“You listen to a person’s sto-

ry, you ask all the nosy questions you think are appropriate to get a picture of what their need is, and you trust your gut at certain points, but always err on the side of generosity,” she says. “This is a lesson that I learned early on that is profound to me: you never really know what somebody is going through, you never do. I think what we are called to do is try to imagine what it is like to be in somebody’s else’s shoes. So we try to be respectful in that sense.”

As she retires, her hope for the future of PCM is simple.

“I hope that they are still connecting people and building relationships between people, yet being able to bend and sway with whatever is happening in our community,” she says. “You’ve got to have the vision of what you think God’s call is and to figure out how that looks.”

For now Heidi wants to spend time with her family and do some hiking, bird watching, and “tree hugging.”“I will rest and regroup and the next thing will come at the right time,” she says. “Just like everyone else, God will call me to do something else.”

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Harvard Here They Come PADUCAH TILGHMAN GRADUATES BEN AND KATE LEBUHN ARE HEADING TO THE IVY LEAGUE

F

OR MOST OF US, THE WORDS IVY

League conjure images of ivy-covered facades, curious students huddled in cozy libraries, lively debates among tree-lined quads, and generations of prestigious alum. With a history that reaches back to 1636 as the first institute of higher learning in our country— and an acceptance rate of a mere four percent—Harvard University is arguably the best-known and most competitive of this league. With lists of graduates that include United States presidents, Nobel Laureates, and numerous researchers and academics who have changed the world, it’s no surprise that Harvard is such an American icon.

But for the LeBuhn siblings, Harvard represents much more than status or even

participating in the continuation of a prestigious history.

For Kate and Ben, attending Harvard offers a higher calling: the pursuit of knowledge and learning for its own sake.

“Harvard appealed to us because it really is a scholarly place where we can explore academically while meeting new people and experiencing a whole new environment,” Ben explains. “It’s exciting to see the opportunities we’ll have to take courses that truly interest us while still preparing for a career.”

The siblings, who are just 16 months apart in age, knew attending Harvard would be a goal for them at an early age.

Kate and Ben LeBuhn’s interest in Harvard started when they attended their mother’s class reunion as elementary school students. The historic structures and hive of academic activity captured their imagination, igniting a spark that would drive their academic careers.

Kate, who is 18 and graduated from Paducah Tilghman High School in May 2022, refers to Harvard as her “reach school,” but one O C TO B E R / NOV E MBER 2022 • 37

BEN AND KATE LEBUHN look at her resume would indicate that this reach wasn’t much of a stretch.

Along with maintaining a GPA that allowed her to graduate second in her class and a list of accolades that impress, a wide variety of extra curriculars made her a well-rounded candidate when it came time to apply. From soccer, dance, and tennis to banjo, cello, and hand bells, it seems there isn’t much that Kate can’t do.

As a UNESCO Global Youth Orchestra Delegate, she travelled to Incheon, South Korea to play in an orchestra alongside youth groups from UNESCO cities across the world, and she has served as a youth community leader in several capacities including Rotary Interact, Youth LEAD, and Sustainability Club. She has been awarded AP Scholar with Honors, Kentucky Governor’s Scholar, and PTHS Class of 2022 Distinguished Student.

Ben, who is 19 and graduated in May of 2021 from Paducah Tilghman, also excels in in sports, academics, music, and leadership. He’s played football, tennis, and golf, and participated in band, mock trial, national Honors Society, the academic team, and various other clubs. He has been awarded AP Scholar with Honors.

After graduating, Ben was accepted to Harvard but decided to take a gap year before attending. Last fall, he volunteered with the nonprofit Living Lands and Waters, living on a barge on the Ohio River while participating in river cleanup efforts. In January of 2022, Ben left work on the river to intern in the United States Senate, immersing himself in the political world and gaining first-hand experience with the interworking of government.

While the siblings will be Public Memorial Hall at Harvard University in Boston entering as freshmen together, their housing placements have put them on opposite ends of the campus, allowing them to be there for one another while also building their own experiences. Ben, who hopes to study history and literature, is considering law school after graduation, but he isn’t restricting himself just yet. “I think there are a lot of careers that the study of history could prepare me for,” he notes. “I plan to use my time in college figuring out exactly what that is.”

Kate is hoping to eventually explore the medical field, possibly even following in her father’s footsteps as an infectious disease specialist, but she’s not planning to go strictly pre-med. Kate plans to pursue a history of science concentration, which pairs the study of anthropology with global health while also allowing her to complete pre-med requirements.

The pair also plans to continue their tradition of exploring both sports and the arts. Ben hopes to join club tennis and Kate is looking into the Harvard dance company. They also hope to form a bluegrass jam band— Kate plays the banjo and Ben plays the mandolin—to replace the one they currently play in with their parents.

38 • PAD U CAH L I FE

So how do parents raise not one, but two children who make it to Harvard? According to the siblings, it’s all about providing a village of support and encouraging lots of reading. “Our parents and grandparents always encouraged us to do our best,” Kate says.“When there is a core group of people that want to see you succeed, it makes it a lot easier to do the work it takes to get there.”

“They also always encouraged us to read a lot of books when we were young,” Ben adds. “I think that really created an early love of learning for us.”

Outside of their family support system, both Kate and Ben believe they can credit their experiences in the Paducah Public School system for much of their success. Both completed numerous advanced placement classes at Tilghman and participated in an array of academic and extracurricular activities that helped them to grow in diverse ways.

“I feel so prepared for college from my time at Tilghman,” Ben says.“From the teachers, to AP course offerings, to the extracurricular opportunities, I felt just as prepared and just as competitive as any other student applying. I can’t think of another high school in the country I would have rather attended or another city where I would have preferred to grow up.”

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O C TO B E R / NOV E MBER 2022 • 39

Horror Thirller DIRECTORS COLBY HOLT AND SAM PROBST FILM LGBTQ+

IN PADUCAH ★

T

by S TEPHANIE WATSON

HE PRODUCTION OF INDEPENDENT FILM in Paducah is nothing new for our artistic town, but the size and scope of one of the latest movies shot

here certainly is. This summer, native Paducahan

Colby Holt and his husband, Sam Probst, spent nearly a month back in Colby’s hometown filming Ganymede, an LGBTQ+ horror thriller produced under Kentucky’s tax credit for film production.

Ganymede tells the story of Lee Fletcher IV, a high school senior and third generation heir to a local political dynasty in a small town in the South. When he develops a crush on his openly gay classmate, Lee finds himself stalked by a grotesque, faceless creature that increasingly inhabits his thoughts and threatens physical harm. Part horror, part coming of age, Ganymede examines the experiences that many people identifying as LGBTQ+ face during their most formative years.

40 PADUCAH LIFE

40 • PAD U CAH L I FE

O C TO B E R / NOV E MBER 2022 • 41

“We were pulling from a modern Southern gothic lens, looking at how the past and future pull on each other, particularly on the issue of LGBTQ+ rights,” Colby explains. “While acceptance of the LGBTQ community may be at an all-time high, we also are facing a new wave of backlash, violence, and discrimination. That ideological split and its real-world implications are what we seek to dissect with this work. We wanted to explore the queer experience in the modern South, in both its unapologetic pride and the terror one can sometimes feel with the realization they are gay or queer identified.”

Filming took place over the course of 19 days (and several late nights) throughout the city and included several recognizable locations such as Paducah Tilghman High School, WKCTC, Jefferson Street, and the Lowertown neighborhood. The film stars breakout actors Jordan Doww and Pablo Castelblanco and features several seasoned actors including David Koechner (Anchorman and The Office), Robin Lively (9-1-1: Lone Star and Teen Witch), Joe Chrest (Stranger Things), and Marissa Reyes (Spirit Halloween and Raven’s Home). Many Paducah locals will also appear in the film as extras, a fact that has further excited local interest and investment in the film’s success.

Ganymede is produced by Stephen Stanley (What Lies Below), Kevin Greene, and Mark Goldberg in association with Iris Indie International. Geneva Wasserman of Dentsu’s The Story Lab (Spiderhead), J Craig Gordon, Kevin Stansberry, and Sean Fernald serve as Executive Producers. Ganymede is set to open with a festival premier in 2023.

Filming in Colby’s hometown was a goal for the pair from the beginning and investing locally was a priority

the CAST 42 • PADUCAH LIFE

for this proud Paducahan. “Not only is Paducah beautiful and a perfect setting for the type of film we were trying to make,” he notes, “but I’d rather spend the money in Paducah and invest into my hometown. Working with the city and local businesses from set locations to catering to costumes was a wonderful experience, and I think others will see that Paducah is a great place for filming.”

And while Colby and Sam note that they wanted to film here regardless of the tax credit, the cost benefits of filming a movie in McCracken County was a definite bonus. The Kentucky Entertainment Incentive Program, which started in 2009 and experienced a significant boost in 2015, now offers up to 35% in refundable tax credits for filmmakers who bring their work to our state. In January 2022, it further grew the program by opening the credit to production companies that aren’t Kentucky entities. Some counties, including our own, also offer an additional enhanced incentive package of a 5% tax credit, making the state a competitive location for filming.

“The changes made in January 2022 open the state to a whole new world of filming and production opportunities for entities outside our state, and I think people are really going to start to see that Kentucky is a great place to bring your film,” Colby states. “The film office in Kentucky is wonderful, and they offer a very competitive incentive program when compared with other states in this region.

One of our producers, Iris Indie International, is already considering shooting another film in Paducah because of their experience working with our film here.”

(photo by Castelblanco o bl Pa , a) an Font (photo by (photo by Luke , Robin Lively w n) so ow D hn Jo an e rd Jo Reyes).

Mande Left to Right: (photo by Tori hner (photo by es ec ey Ko R id sa av is D ar , M n) pictured), and Stephen Buske e Chrest (Not Jo , n) jia nd za Robert Za

Cinema with Substance

Producing film that engages people’s hearts and minds while exposing audiences to underrepresented perspectives is the primary motivation behind Colby and Sam’s work.

Their first feature film, Pig Hag, premiered in the Narrative Feature Competition at SXSW in 2019. It follows the story of a woman in her mid-thirties struggling with family and societal pressure to find a partner and have children. Pig Hag’s showing at SXSW was a huge turning point for the directors, solidifying their place in the independent film industry and giving them an even larger platform for sharing their perspectives.

“Film is our way of engaging with the world outside ourselves while also trying to use our voices to leave the world a little better than we found it,” Colby states. “We lean into stories that challenge people’s perceptions, and we hope we can help them feel something and come out a little bit better or, at least, more informed.”

Sam, who is a digital and video film editor by trade, is originally from South Bend, Indiana. He started making films when he was 10 years old with the family camera, and later graduated from The Illinois Institute of ArtChicago with a Bachelor’s in Digital Filmmaking & Video Production.

After graduating from Paducah Tilghman High School, Colby obtained a Bachelor’s in Psychology from Western Kentucky University. He later studied writing for film and television under Michael McCarthy (Mike & Molly, SNL, Sesame Street) at iO, an improv and theater training center in Chicago.

In 2012 while studying at the theater, Colby met Sam, and the couple’s personal and professional lives converged.

Together, they created Neighborhood Pictures, a production company dedicated to bringing diverse, LGBTQ, and heartfelt content to small screens, big screens, and stages.

While working professionally with one’s husband isn’t without some challenges, they wouldn’t have it any other way.

“This industry is intense, and the work is time consuming.

I can’t imagine how anyone does this alone,” Colby notes.

“Honestly, I love that we work together because it feels like we’re in this together, and it’s rewarding to get to be proud of what we’ve done together. Life is better shared, and, for us, that applies to work as well.”

Photographs courtesy of Oscar Partridge

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2022 • 43

DISCOVERING THE LAND BETWEEN THE LAKES THROUGH ITS OLD HOMESTEADS

by J.T. C RAW F O RD

An old Lyon County school bus sits on the old Homer Ray homestead.

he Land Between the Lakes is an outdoor person’s dream— 170,000 acres of largely undeveloped, natural land, open for public enjoyment.

Before its creation in the mid-1960s, this west Kentucky swath was home to many families and communities. Upon their relocation, most evidence of life before the LBL was erased. There are, however, several remaining sites that help tell the tales of those who lived there before the recreation area came to be. Here are just a few of the sites we visited this past summer.

*

Hotel California is the shell of the former home of Grover Marler who was a riverboat captain.

HOMER’S GARAGE It’s not unusual to find evidence of a house that once stood in the Land Between the Lakes. You can find an old fence row near what can be barely seen of an old foundation. Maybe there’s a decaying concrete step or part of a brick chimney still standing. But as far as we know, there’s only one school bus in the woods.

Homer Ray and his wife Marie lived a simple life. After serving in World War II, Homer returned to his wife who had given birth to their daughter.

He never met her, however, as she died before his discharge from service. He opened Ray’s Garage behind their Lyon County home, and everyone in the area who needed an auto repair knew to go to Homer.

Homer and Marie were not keen to leave their home with the creation of the Land Between the Lakes, but eventually, they did. According to a family member, they packed everything up, and Homer set up his garage in the new Eddyville. He continued operating his business until he passed away in 1981.

At his old homesite, you can find the remnants of life including a partially buried concrete pad, some fencing, and various metal remnants around the property. A little way behind where the house once stood is the most striking piece of Homer’s history—an old Lyon County school bus.

At best guess, the bus was brought to Homer and deemed unrepairable, or it was not financially viable to keep it running. Perhaps he used it for parts for other buses, or it simply sat, unclaimed. When workers cleaned up that area, apparently the bus was one item they did not want to touch.

Today, it sits in what now appears to be the middle of the woods, stripped of everything and adorned with graffiti.

Homer passed away in 1981. He, along with wife Marie and their infant daughter are at Sardis-Lady Cemetery near Lake Barkley. Homer finally returned to his home between the rivers.

HOTEL CALIFORNIA Perhaps the most famous heritage site in LBL is Hotel California. The imposing, concrete structure, adorned in a dayglo swirl of graffiti, can feel pretty spooky given its appearance and location. Thus the connection to the Eagle’s song about a creepy place.

According to one longtime visitor who grew up near LBL, its name wasn’t always so ominous. Once known simply as the Captain’s house or the Marler home, Hotel California is the shell of the former home of Grover Marler who was a riverboat captain.

He’d built the house, mostly of cinder block and concrete, to be a retirement

46 • PADUCAH LIFE

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2022 • 47

Over a century old, The Cleo Griffin home still stands

home for him and his wife. His dream quickly turned into a nightmare as the TVA took over the land, and Marler was told to leave his home. Capt. Marler refused.

In a 1966 newspaper article, 62-year-old Capt. Marler was quoted: “My wife took off on me. She’d had enough of this, but they’re not running me off. I don’t care about a road. I’ve got a private place where those TVA boys can’t just come nosin’ around.”

The road he referred to was the one way in and out that was subsequently cut off by Lake Barkley. Capt. Marler even went so far as to create a small, homemade ferry for his car. We are not sure when he finally left, but he ultimately moved to Louisville, presumably to be near family.

CLEO GRIFFIN’S HOME On the Tennessee side of Land Between the Lakes stands an entire house that is probably over a century old—a true rarity for the recreation area. Cleo Griffin was born there in 1923. The area was known as Model, Tennessee. Cleo left home to serve in World War II and ultimately ended up in the Battle of Monte Cristo, a brutal, four-month fight in Italy that resulted in 55,000 casualties for the allies. Cleo came back a changed man.

He returned to his home at Model where he was happy to spend the rest of his life. The creation of LBL changed that, however, when Cleo was faced with having to move. Family in Dover, Tennessee took him in, but every time they would bring him to Dover, he’d leave and walk 15 miles back to his home. Multiple attempts were made, and in every instance, he walked back.

Eventually, the TVA decided to let him stay, perhaps persuaded by new understandings about PTSD. They allowed him to keep electricity and a telephone line. His family brought him water and groceries every week and cooked for him on the weekends. He remained in the house until 1989, truly the last resident of Land Between the Lakes by twenty years. For eleven years, he lived in a nursing home until he passed away and was buried just a few miles from his beloved home.

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These are just a few of the traces left behind by those who once called the Land Between the Lakes home. Most can be found on geocaching apps or by searching for directions online. All of the recreation area is open to exploration including these sites.

But when visiting, respecting them as heritage/archeological sites is a must. Do not disturb, alter, or remove anything in any way.

The LBL is one of our region’s great wonders. And understanding its past and those who left this land helps us to appreciate it even more.

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50 • PAD U CAH L I FE

Curating Toys.

Cultivating Joy. Ten-Year-Old Colt Abanatha Is Entering The World Of Entrepreneurism One Toy At A Time

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★

by E LENA W RYE

T ORIGINALLY SERVED AS A WEIGH STATION FOR THE road department. The humble structure sitting in front of local clothing boutique The Dirt Road, that is. “ “Trucks would come up here, and there was a scale out front for them to get weighed,” owner Heather Abanatha says.

“And we ran electric to the building, because we always knew we wanted to do something with it—we just didn’t know what.”

Heather’s son, Colt, stands by her, smiling ear to ear, as Heather recounts the history of the 100-square-foot (floor to ceiling) building that they’re standing in. Now, it holds the weight of imagination, play,

creativity, silliness, and fun as it houses Paducah’s newest toy store—CG Toys.

When Colt celebrated his tenth birthday in February, the inception for CG Toys took place.

“For Career Day at school, he would always dress up as an entrepreneur—he always wanted to be a business man,” Heather says of Colt.

“He would wear his sport coat to school on Career Day and say ‘I want to own a business.’” Of course, it didn’t take long for the entrepreneurial family to get to work on making their idea come to life. Once Colt’s birthday came and went, the family put their dream into action and began the renovation of the structure, with Colt’s dad, Gary, at the helm of the project.

“In ‘CG,’ I’m the ‘C’ and he’s the ‘G’ for Gary,” Colt says proudly of their duo status.

The small but mighty toy store gleams inside The Dirt Road.

When you walk into CG Toys, you’re enveloped by a vast array of toys, candies, and collectables.

Colors and textures greet you from every corner. The well-organized display of toys stands out against the white shiplap that lines the store’s interior walls—making an inviting visual for customers to discover what Colt and the Abanatha family have cheerfully curated.

The striking new backdrop was all done (with great enthusiasm) by Gary, making it just the beginning of what is truly a joint venture, as he now helps run the register during the store’s open hours. “Gary loves the toy store. The kids come in and ask for ‘Mr. Gary.’ His favorite thing is to see the kids’ faces light up when they come in, Heather explains.

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2022 • 51

CG Toys ★ C OLT A BANATHA

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But before there was a register to run, and while dad was in the business of renovation, Colt dove in head first to finding products for the new venture.

While the retail family was familiar with visiting markets to procure items for The Dirt Road, the notion of a toy market was new.

“We had to find vendors—which was challenging for toys,” Heather says of the buying process. “It’s not like clothes,” Colt adds.

“No, it’s not. And the toy markets are at odd times. They’re often in California or Las Vegas, and we still had school. So it was more online searching, calling, and different methods,” Heather says. “We have about 25 different toy vendors right now—which is great! But it takes that many to source all the things.”

With the amount of attentiveness that Colt gives to what is trending, the retail-savvy family takes full use of utilizing the various toy vendors they have discovered, and have found that they are able to provide their customers with products that are difficult to find anywhere else.

The diligent research that both Heather and Colt do in regards to the store’s merchandise would often lead them back to the trendy “TikTok Famous” candies. These are edible treats that TikTok users perform challenges with and take videos of themselves eating. When the Abanatha family found that there was nowhere in Paducah where these could be purchased, they were elated to find a source and make them a part of the CG Toys product line.

But in order to provide his customers with unique finds such as these, Colt has experienced the hard work and time that it takes to do so. And as a young entrepreneur, Colt has quickly learned how valuable time is. Not only does he play an integral role in CG Toys, he also excels in his fifth-grade school work, is an avid baseball player, and is active in his church.

“It’s a little bit of a crunch on time,” Colt notes. “But it’s worth it.”

Colt is no stranger to hard work, however, as he has had a front-row seat to that of the determination that his family has shown in their store. “Watching my parents has taught me that you always need to be nice to your customers.

I see how hard work pays off. You can tell that hard work gets you good things.”

The good things for Colt? Besides saving for his college future and giving to his church, he finds the good in realizing that kids are choosing to spend their hard-earned allowance and chore money at CG Toys.

As parents and grandparents have shared stories with the Abanatha family of the chores that kids have so willingly done in order to earn spending money for CG Toys, the realization fills Colt with gratitude.

“It makes me happy to know that they want to do hard work to go to the toy store and that they care about coming here,” Colt says with a humble smile. And Colt has made sure to form a relationship and get acquainted with those who pay him a visit. He can expertly recall those who make frequent visits to the store—those whom he knows have saved up for their visit —and what products they usually gravitate to.

Colt’s aspirations didn’t stop at his storefront, however. Wanting to bring even more joy to the community, the team at CG Toys renovated the former Fork in the Road food truck into CG Toys’ very own traveling toy

truck that made its premier at this year’s Barbeque on The River.

The new toy store’s future is bright with its young visionary and his supportive family. To keep up with CG Toys’ journey—follow them on Facebook and catch their live videos on The Dirt Road’s Facebook and Instagram pages. The store carries, in Colt’s words, “all types of affordable toys.” To experience the joy that is cultivated at CG Toys, shoppers can visit on Fridays from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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PlayBall!

Early Paducah Resident Barney Dreyfuss Got His First Real Taste Of Baseball Right Here In Our Hometown. He Later Took That Passion And Used It To Create Baseball’s World Series.

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★

by R ICHARD PARKER

ADUCAH’S HISTORY IS PACKED FULL of people, places, and stories that have impacted the fabric of America. From Alben Barkley to Isaac Wolfe Bernheim to Irvin Cobb, and John Scopes, the city has seen its share of people who have gone on to make a dent in America’s story. Baseball typically does not come to mind when you think of the city’s history. Believe it or not, the man responsible for baseball’s modern-day success called Paducah home for eight years. That man, Barney Dreyfuss, would leave our small community and go on to create the World Series, turning baseball into the sport we know and love today. Impacted from his time here in Paducah, Dreyfuss returned with his team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, in 1928 to showcase a once-in-a-lifetime game for residents at James Hook field. Dubbed “the greatest baseball day in its history,” Paducah residents watched the Pittsburg Pirates take on the Fort Wayne Chiefs in front of a crowd of around 4,000 residents.

Barney Dreyfuss moved to Paducah in 1882 to take a clerk job with his cousins, Isaac and Bernard Bernheim, at their wholesale liquor business on North Second Street. Bernheim Brothers and Uri were successful rectifiers during their time in Paducah. It was here they created their famed I.W. Harper bourbon and won a Gold Medal at the 1885 World’s Fair in New Orleans.

Dreyfuss enjoyed working for his cousins but quickly gravitated to the game of baseball. Union

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2022 • 55

PlayBall troops brought the game with them during the Civil War, often playing games at Fort Anderson (now the location of the Paducah-McCracken County Convention and Expo Center). Later, during the 1880s, several semi-professional teams called Paducah home. It took little time for Dreyfuss to catch baseball fever; lucky for him, plenty of people were playing the game.

At first, Dreyfuss played the game recreationally and preferred second base as his position of choice. Around 1884, he began organizing his teams, including many men who worked with him at Bernheim Brothers and Uri. He successfully organized a team in 1885 by issuing stock certificates for a “Paducah Base Ball Association,” which cost $50 a share. One of these certificates still survives and is archived by the Baseball Hall of Fame, creating a small Paducah connection to the world-famous museum in Cooperstown, New York. When the Bernheim Brothers and Uri made the hard decision to leave Paducah and move their whiskey operation to Louisville, Dreyfuss saw his chance to turn his attention to the business of baseball.

Once in Louisville, Dreyfuss quickly immersed himself into the local baseball scene, realizing he was a better manager than a player. Eventually, with the help of his cousins (Isaac and Bernard), he purchased a share in the Louisville Colonels in 1890. The Colonels were a National League team that, during Dreyfuss’ years as a part owner,

boasted players like Fred Clarke, Tommy Leach, Deacon Phillippe, and Honus Wagner. Around 1899, the National League cut their 12 teams down to eight, which moved Louisville to the minor leagues. Dreyfuss saw an opportunity to expand his love of baseball and, with money loaned from Isaac and Bernard, purchased a share in the Pittsburgh Pirates, eventually gaining complete control of the club. Under Dreyfuss, the Pirates won National League championships in 1901, 1902, and 1903. In 1903, he wrote to Henry Killilea, the Boston Pilgrims (now the Red Socks) owner, and they worked out the first World Series as a best-of-nine series. Unfortunately, the Pirates lost 5 to 3 games to Boston, giving the American League the bragging rights as the first World Series winner.

Despite not winning the first World Series, the Pirates were the premier National League team. They won the World Series in 1909 and 1925 along with several National League championships. The team’s success made Dreyfuss a wealthy man. Despite this wealth, he never lost connection with his family back in Paducah.

He stayed in touch with his three cousins, Ben, Charles, and James Weille. For years, Barney’s cousins tried to convince him to bring his Pittsburg Pirates to Paducah to show the residents how well he had done for himself. Dreyfuss finally gave in and told his cousins he would bring his team—who had just won the 1927

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National League championship—in April of 1928.

Dreyfuss arrived in Paducah on April 9, 1928, to stay with his cousin Ben Weille at his home in the Rhodes apartments in Lowertown. He was honored at the Hotel Palmer the next day, where the local Lions Club held a luncheon. In addition to Dreyfuss, his son Samuel, Pirates manager Donie Bush, and Fort Wayne Chiefs manager Charles (Punch) Knoll of the opposing team were in attendance. The Pirates arrived from Jackson, Tennessee at 11:30, making their way to James Hook Field, where the game between the Pirates and the Chiefs occurred.

The First World Series in 1903 between the Boston Americans and Pittsburgh Pirates.

The next day’s headline read, “Pittsburg Pirates Bombard Fort Wayne to Win, 11-1.” The article said that over 4,000 fans witnessed the first big league baseball game in more than eight years since the Cincinnati Reds played the Toledo Mudhens at Hook Field. The Pirates were in control of the entire game, scoring three runs in the second inning alone. After the game, the Pirates traveled to St. Louis to play the Cardinals. The article says the Pirates “entered the National League race as favorites to retain their crown, and from their exhibition here they will succeed.”

The Pirates did not fare that well in 1928, ending the season in fourth place. The Pirates never again won a National League championship or another World Series under the ownership of Barney Dreyfuss. Among the many accolades of his baseball career, Dreyfuss served as the vice-president of the National League, a position he served in until his death at the age of 66. During his funeral, two of baseball’s most famous players, Honus Wagner and Deacon Phillippe—two former Louisville Colonels—served as pallbearers.

This fall when you tune in to the most exciting time in baseball, bear in mind that because of Barney Dreyfuss’s experiences in Paducah, you’re experiencing a world series that just might have been born of Barney’s passion for the game and his impressionable days here in the river city.

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A Growing Garden of Knowledge HOLLY WALKER LEARNS BY DOING AS SHE NURTURES NATURE IN HER OWN BACKYARD

S

TROLLING THROUGH HER GRANDPARENTS’ GARDEN AS A CHILD, HOLLY WALKER delighted, and thought nothing of, plucking a tomato from a vine and biting into its delectable, fresh, homegrown flavor. During extended stays with her grandparents, Holly would help them tend to the several acres of garden that they played host to.

“I helped. I always helped. That was my playground— the garden,” Holly says of her upbringing. “It was completely and totally normal to walk out in the garden and grab a tomato and eat it like an apple. That wasn’t a prized thing. That was simply our food. So, I’ve raised vegetables pretty much always.”

Rain drops of passion sprinkled on that seed of gardening that was planted in Holly’s heart and it grew. For although she still enjoys meandering through the garden and picking what she pleases to eat, her ever-increasing knowledge of plants, soil, and proper preservation of food, has transformed that passion into a lifestyle for her and her family.

“I canned about 689 jars last year. That’s a lot of canning. And that’s not one given thing—in fact, the majority of it I’ve run out of already. Which means I need to at least double the main things this year,” she adds. Amidst canning, Holly also preserves food through dehydrating, freeze drying, freezing, vacuum sealing, and fermenting.

Food preservation has grown into a lifestyle for Holly and her family over the years. And throughout the entire process—from starting seeds, to the greenhouse, to planting, harvesting, and preserving—they know the positive ways that they will reap the benefits of what they have sown.

58 • PAD U CAH L I FE

For Holly, she’ll be the first to say that it’s a matter of time for her.

“I can ground beef, which may sound crazy. But let’s say you’re going to cook tacos one night. All you have to do is open a pint size jar of taco meat that’s canned. It’s already got onions and salt and pepper in it. It’s already cooked fully. You open it, add some taco seasoning, and you’re done! Then there’s no time involved in having to cook the meat until browned,” Holly says.

She goes on to explain the same process with using canned chicken in meals as well, mentioning that it’s no different than opening a can of chicken meat that you bought at the store,“except you know it’s the real McCoy. There’s no extra sodium in it, there’s no extra anything in it.”

The other motivation? Accomplishment. Holly recognizes that you can purchase a plant from a big-box store, follow the instructions given, and receive something from their due diligence.

“I’ve always enjoyed that side of it: getting the reward of whatever comes off the plant. That’s great, but in later years, probably the last ten years, I’ve grown everything from seed. I don’t go to the store and pay five dollars for a tomato plant. Instead I’ll pay, at the most, three dollars for a whole packet of seed and grow multiple tomato plants out of that one packet. So, there’s a real gratification to it when you do it yourself.”

Amidst Holly’s garden, one will find a wide variety of both plants and herbs, varying anywhere from nine different flavors of mint, 14 or 15 different kinds of basil, to plants such as lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, and more.

But the usefulness doesn’t stop there, for Holly, ever the resourceful learner, has also stocked her garden with plants such as coneflowers (Echinacea), toothache plant, and one of their most useful plants, yarrow, to truly dive into the benefits of herbalism.

Yarrow is known to stop bleeding from a cut instantly when picked, moistened, and applied to a wound. It has been used by the family for this purpose, especially for Holly’s husband, Eric, who suffers from profuse bleeding due to a medical condition.

In the Walkers’ garden lies many things – there’s the medicinal herbs, the bounty of tomatoes, the budding fruit, and more. But what truly lies there is years of learning, days of trying, moments of enjoying, mornings of harvesting, and memories worth sharing.

“To new gardeners? Anybody can do it. You just have to stick it in the ground and do it. Even if you do it wrong, you’re learning something. If you make a mistake, you will have learned what doesn’t work. The only fail in gardening is not planting—because you will always learn something.

And you may not get to eat this year, but you might eat five times better next year, because you learned it,” Holly says.

O C TO B E R / NOV E MBER 2022 • 59

From Seeds to Software

PATRICK RANVAL’S SEEDSTORY SOFTWARE REVOLUTIONIZES RECORD KEEPING FOR ORGANIC FARMING

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T’S A HOT, SUNNY DAY AT MAGNEY Legacy Ridge Farm. Patrick Ranval is walking the rows, head shaded by a wide-brimmed straw hat, checking the tender shoots of organic green beans just starting to peak above ground. “I’ve always felt very much myself in gardens,” he explains without looking up. “I spent every summer as a child on my grandfather’s farm in Princeton, Kentucky. My parents were both doctors, so of course there was pressure to follow suit, but I knew I wanted to be a farmer from an early age.”

Patrick pauses our conversation, stopping mid row, and types into a spreadsheet on his phone. What may appear to be a distracted interlude, is, in fact, very much a part of his work on the farm. While the word farming still conjures a simple image for most of us—the farmer, the tractor, and the land—like most industries in the 21st century, agriculture has been transformed by technology. Once novel and now

60 • PAD U CAH L I FE

by Stephanie Watson

mainstream, technology like GPS, robotics, advanced data analytics, drone and satellite imaging, and digital tools to support the connectivity of infrastructure, all play a role in today’s agronomic landscape.

But, as in Patrick’s case, even the small to medium-scale organic vegetable farmer needs to be high tech these days.

“Just like the large-scale industrial farming, small-medium scale farms use technology every day,” Patrick explains.“Similar to electronic record keeping in the medical industry, we have complex systems of electronic documentation for each stage of the growth process so that the USDA can confidently certify farms as organic. Increased accountability and transparency that support food safety are important to both producers and consumers, and agricultural record keeping is just becoming a normal part of the industry landscape.”

How to best go about that record keeping is Patrick’s current project. Previously, this process included page after page

of electronic spreadsheets documenting the integrity of the farming process, from seed derivation to fertilization to harvesting the product. For farms producing one or two crops a year—carrots and peas, for example—maintaining records to continually recertify as organic is intense. But for a market garden like Magney Legacy Ridge that grows 30-40 different vegetable crops each year, demonstrating that same level of compliance for each separate crop was becoming a challenge.

During the Organic Association of Kentucky’s annual conference last year, Patrick heard the same story, almost across the board: they had similar systems of spreadsheets, none of which interacted with one another, and all of which were difficult to utilize on a phone or tablet while in the field.

“It was like we all had the same problems and were trying to use the same cumbersome solutions,” Patrick states. “It was clear that there had to be a way to work smarter, not harder so that we can keep these important high-level standards while also spending more time doing what we love: the actual farming.”

Last November, Patrick presented this problem along with his idea for a technology-driven solution at The West Kentucky Innovation Challenge, a regional competition that supports rural innovators in developing software solutions to their industry’s problems. Sponsored locally by Sprocket and in conjunction with Codefi of Cape Girardeau, the program provides access to software experts and the methods they use to rapidly develop software products, helping to building technology-driven solutions to a variety of industries

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“There are... a lot of things that would surprise people about how their food is grown. Some would be positive and better than they think. Some things they would be horrified by. By going all the way back to the seed, people have the chance to be fully informed consumers.”

PATRICK RANVAL SEEDSTORY around the region. Winners receive up to $50,000 in technical service grants to develop software products and customer development plans as well as access the vast network and training opportunities the nonprofits offer.

Patrick’s project, called SeedStory, was one of two winners of the competition.

“Codefi is specifically working with non-technical founders,” Patrick explains.

“These are people with an idea within a niche industry who understand that a problem that could be solved with software, but they don’t know how to build it themselves. My role has been very much guiding the design process while Codefi has been working on both the back end and the front end to build the technical side of the software.”

SeedStory’s purpose is to empower farmers to meet certification standards while solving the problem of all those spreadsheets with a user-friendly documentation interface built specifically for mobile applications. Taking inspiration from popular mobile games and apps (DuoLingo’s interface was one important muse) to allow the farmer to easily track a plant from the time it was a seed, to the day it was planted, to how and when it is cared for along the way, all the way to any treatment it received when it was harvested. The records are, of course, useful to the farmer to keep track of planting and practices, but they also help farms to answer questions the USDA may have for certifications, organic or otherwise.

At the same time, it can provide transparency for the customer. Patrick envisions future iterations that may include a QR code on produce labels that could share the entire growth process and soil inputs with consumers so they, too, can be more informed about the plant’s story, seed to sale.

“Nobody gets into farming to build spreadsheets,” Patrick adds, “but if we can find a better way to organize that data entry to make it easier for farmers, or maybe even make it fun, that creates value for all the other invested entities.”

This move is also on point with the direction of the food industry as a whole.

“People want to know more about how their food is produced so they can make good choices about what to eat.” Patrick notes. “There are, truthfully, a lot of things that would surprise people about how their food is grown. Some would be positive and better than they think. Some things they would be horrified by. By going all the way back to the seed, people have the chance to be fully informed consumers.”

Currently, SeedStory has validated a demo with a small focus group of farmers and is currently building a public beta to be launched in late fall. Codefi and Sprocket will be involved in this process until the software is complete and ready to exist on its own.

“And that’s really what an incubator does,” Patrick explains. “The team at Sprocket and Codefi are focused on building digital ecosystems in rural areas and helping to support rural innovators in all sectors. They help with grants and provide the assistance by shouldering the burden of the cost of developing a software with their tech team until the business is ready to stand on its own.”

Patrick is excited for the changes his software will bring to his industry, but he’s also just enjoying learning some new skills and connecting with the people driving economic change in our area. “I can’t say enough good things about Codefi and Sprocket,” he states. “The coworking space is tremendous and the people are wholly dedicated to building the tech industry in this region. I’m perpetually amazed at the quality of the relationship between the two organizations and the impact they are making locally.”

O C TO B E R / NOV E MBER 2022 • 63

H

There’s No Place Like Home . . .

An Essay by SuSie Fenwick

On The Farm T

HERE’S A PLACE that I dream of where bluebirds fly and troubles melt like lemon drops.

It’s not somewhere over the rainbow but maybe just down a gravel road past it. Down on the family farm or the old home place is a pot of experiences and memories as rich as a leprechaun’s pot of gold. In an increasingly technologically-driven world, the family farm is becoming almost as elusive as the pot of gold.

The family farm is a place where generations of tough little dirty bare feet are deeply rooted into life-giving soil. The soil is eternally imprinted by forefathers’ worn-soled, cracked leather brogans. The same land was worked by the calloused hands of overall-clad daddies and granddaddies through good years and bad, its garden spots coaxed into producing by aproned mommas and grandmommas. A land of enchanted beauty and of the wonders of changing seasons, the family farm is a place of great promise and crushing heartbreak.

“Get big or get out” was U.S. agriculture secretary Earl Butz’s mantra in the early 1970’s when he pushed the idea of large scale farming.

He sang an off-key swan song never making the hit parade of fiercely independent farmers who tilled multigenerational land with grit and determination and watered it with

64 • PAD U CAH LIFE

their sweat and blood. Some years they rejoiced in the plentiful bounty of the harvest while other years they barely eked out a living and just by the grace of God managed to feed their families.

The family farm is usually a place younger generations must abandon before they can fully appreciate a life unique to most. Frustrated youth expect adulthood is a fancy, paved freeway leading far away from the isolation of a childhood lived at the end of a desolate backroad; the lonesome road traveled only by those living on it or city slickers venturing out on farm business. Yesteryear, the occasional road grader blading over rutted gravel was a cause for celebration.

With chores and distance between them, it seemed friends might as well have been a universe away.

“I hate pigs.” The rustically written message left by a disenchanted farm girl on a hot summer morning was an open declaration of defiance on a sultry summer morning on a Western Kentucky farm.

Scribed on a roughly

hewn plank atop a woven wire fence, the egregious message was insubordination pure and simple on a farm where all abided by the law of the land, “No Work. No Eat.” Livestock with their pungent smells, unpredictability, and urgent neediness proved to be the showstopper interrupting more than one day of fun or evening of sweet escape from the work and worries of the farm. Adrenaline-producing phone calls or knocks at the front door delivered the dreaded message, “Cows are out!” Like a fire department responding to a five-alarm fire, the farm family mobilizes into quick response mode to drive cattle off the road or head them off at the pass.

Many a farm kid has railed against heat and humidity or cold and otherwise inclement weather conditions making challenging work miserable. They raised rebellious voices and clenched fists to the heavens vowing, “I will NEVER live on a farm when I grow up.”

Well-meaning agrarian parents are known to encourage their children to leave the farm to get their educations. Any farmer will tell you,“There’s easier ways to make a living than farming.”

The road to higher education promises a fast track to a better life. It promises a life not wedded to weather or nurse-maiding livestock. An education is a prescribed antidote to days beginning before sunrise and ending well after sundown.

Maturity and distance from farm life gives a fresh perspective to an old way of life. The siren song composed of mockingbird trills and bob white whistles wakes up the yearning in young hearts to return to the farm.

It’s then that Gone with the Wind’s Gerald O’Hara seems to whisper his philosophy to the prodigal farm son’s or daughter’s ear,“Why, land is the only thing in the world worth workin’ for, worth fightin’ for, worth dyin’ for, because it’s the only thing that lasts.”

As Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz learned so do generations eager to break free of the farm; the farm will always be the home of their heart.

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A PERSONAL NOTE

The disenchanted pig hater who was NEVER going to live on a farm when she grew up earned her degree in agriculture, married a local farmer, has lived on their family farms for decades, was named Graves County Agri-Business Woman Of The Year and traded her stick and mud for pen and paper to write this essay.

There’s no place like home.

WKCTC, a proud member of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), is an equal educational and employment opportunity institution.

O C TO B E R / NOV E MB ER 2022 • 65

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★

by S TEPHANIE

Stepping Frame WATSON

into the

Jackson Dodd Discovers New Landscapes and New Perspectives as He Uncovers Meaning and Beauty from Behind the Lens

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2022 • 67

F ★

Jackson Dodd

FEW 18-YEAR-OLDS FIND themselves on solitary journeys to a cabin in the woods, but it was in the tradition of artist-inisolation that local photographer Jackson Dodd found himself in the mountains of North Carolina and discovered his voice as a travel photographer.

“This was the first time I’d ever done anything like this,” he explains. “I’d never traveled on my own, but the world was shut down from COVID and I thought ‘Why not?’ In a way, I found myself and jumpstarted my passion for travel photography during my time in alone in the woods.”

Although he already had a stable business photographing high school seniors, engagements, and weddings, the young photographer’s dream was to incorporate travel into his work.

In the spring of 2020 while taking classes at the Paducah

68 • PADUCAH LIFE

School of Art and Design, he decided it was time for a school sabbatical, and the mountains surrounding Asheville, North Carolina were calling. For Jackson, the experience would be life changing.

“I grew so much on this trip,” he explains. “I took this one hike at 3:30 AM, alone, in the dark, no real trail head, but looking to make it to the top of this mountain by sunrise. I had a real ‘Come to Jesus’ moment as I stumbled through the dark and then came out to a clearing portraying a breathtaking landscape. I learned a lot about photographing nature, but I also really found myself out there, just me, God, and the wilderness.”

Jackson, who categorizes himself as a natural light photographer, works around the sun. Searching for the warm light of a sunrise or the golden hour of a sunset allows him to capture warm, high-contrast images that are moody and evocative. And if the weather isn’t right, he changes plans.

“This type of photography requires a collaboration with nature. I can make plans, but I also must follow its lead. Not the other way around,” he states.

After his first trip to photograph the mountains and waterfalls around Asheville, Jackson set his sights west. In October of 2020, he visited 13 national parks in one four-week road trip, creating a visual travelogue on Instagram that gained a huge following and

“I’m looking to capture that magical moment of discovering nature through the lens and discovering myself among the landscape.”

★

solidified his identity as a travel photographer.

Since then, he’s put 80,000 miles on his car and traveled west four times, cataloguing the diversity of the western landscape in places such as Death Valley’s salt flats, the red rock formations of Arches National Park, and the stark dessert scenery of Joshua Tree National Park.

“Every trip I try to plan is like trying to relive the experience I had in Asheville,” he explains. “I’m looking to capture that magical moment of discovering nature through the lens and discovering myself among the landscape.”

Embedding special moments in remarkable landscapes inspires Jackson’s work, and he now works with clients within those settings. “Landscapes are amazing on their own, but they are even more striking with a subject who can visually demonstrate the scale of what we’re witnessing,” he explains.

Jackson recently captured an engagement session, wedding, and senior pictures in the rocky dessert landscape just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada, and he is shooting weddings and senior photos in Colorado, Daytona Beach, and New York later this year. And if he doesn’t have a subject with him? He puts himself into the frame. In fact, this is one of the hallmarks of his work and, according to Jackson, a way for his clients to better understand who he is.

If this sounds like a dream job for a young photographer, it is. “My goal has always been getting paid to travel and now it’s happening,” he explains.

Jackson, who is from Benton, Kentucky and is a 2019 graduate of Marshall County High School, first picked up a camera at age 15. He was a natural, and as a high school senior, he photographed six other seniors for their senior photo sessions. His business grew from there. At 20, with a little over four years of photography under his belt, he now has his own studio across from Piper’s Coffee inside the Coke Plant in Paducah’s West End. “Being in the Coke Plant was another dream of mine,” he states. “This space has some of the most beautiful natural light of any building in Paducah. It’s also an easy place to make connections with clients and other businessminded people who I bounce ideas around with as my business grows.”

70 • PADUCAH LIFE

Jackson Dodd

Sing a Song of Paducah

by J.T. Crawford For those of us who love Paducah, it wouldn’t seem strange to find a song about our fair city gracing our lips. Over the years, several songwriters have felt the same, and tunes about Paducah entered into pop culture. Here’s a round-up of some of the best Paducah songs!

Paducah McKinney’s Cotton Pickers

It Rained in Every Town Except Paducah Tom T. Hall Paducah has always been well-known to those in the country music scene. Its proximity to Nashville as well as its location on well-traveled tour routes makes it not only a popular concert spot but the inspiration for songs as well. Tom T. Hall, a Kentucky native himself, wrote a melancholic tune called “It Rained in Every Town Except Paducah” for his 1975 album I Wrote a Song About It. The song was the B-side to “Deal,” a single from the album. “It Rained in Every Town Except Paducah” poetically equates the sunny disposition of Paducah to the bittersweet yet fond memories of lost love. And just like that last ray of sunlight before a storm, the love didn’t last forever, and eventually, it rained in Paducah, too.

72

One of the oldest Paducah songs we discovered is “Paducah”

by McKinney’s Cotton Pickers from 1928. The song is an instrumental typical of the big-band era, and it was ultimately recorded by several different bands. It was composed by Don Redman who took over as the Cotton Pickers musical director in the same year. He went on to arrange for Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, and Jimmy Dorsey. While the inspiration for “Paducah” is unknown, it may very well have come from the city’s prominence as a river town. In the late 1920s, jazz made its way from New Orleans to points north and east as small bands and orchestras provided entertainment on riverboats up and down our inland waterways. Many of the music leaders were familiar with Paducah as a river port.

Paducah Benny Goodman & Carmen Miranda

Mention My Name in Sheboygan Beatrice Kay The song “Mention My Name in Sheboygan” is not about Paducah per se, but one of the three verses is. And even though Paducah was probably chosen due to its unique and “funny-sounding name” (only to outsiders, and 99% of people who work in call centers, right?), the song is flattering and fun. The most popular version was recorded by the Everly Brothers who grew up just a little over 90 miles from here. But the most fun version of the song was recorded by Beatrice Kay in 1962. “Mention my name in Paducah. It’s the greatest little town in the world.

I know a gal there you’ll simply adore. She was Miss Paducah back in 1904.”

This may be the most well-known of the Paducah songs on our list. The song was part of the 1943 musical The Gang’s All Here starring Alice Faye, James Ellison, and Carmen Miranda. The movie cemented Carmen Miranda’s image as the lady with the big fruity hats. According to the University of Virginia Library, one scene shows dozens of women handling five-foot tall bananas, which caused the censors in Miranda’s home country of Portugal to block the film. US censors said that the chorus girls could hold the bananas at waist level, but not any lower. While bananas may have been an issue with censors, Paducah was not. “If you could see a certain town down south, I’ll bet you fifteen cents you’d holler ‘Shut my mouth!’ I’m not exaggeratin’ when I say there’s not a sweeter town in the U.S.A.”

Songs of Paducah

One Night in Paducah Chris Jones & The Night Drivers Chris Jones & the Night Drivers have been staples on the bluegrass scene for over a quarter of a century. And as any musician knows, if you play bluegrass, your songs will invariably want to return home to the Commonwealth where it all began.“One Night in Paducah” has it all— Highway 60, bourbon, and the convergence of the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers. Oh, and did we mention the tale of love gone wrong?

More Paducah Songs?

We know this list is not exhaustive. Did we miss your favorite Paducah song? Post about it on social media and tag us!

Paducah Nate Fredrick “Paducah” was the first single from Nate’s 2021 album Different Shade of Blue. It is a song about finding oneself during those long miles on the road in a car. “I traveled back home to Springfield, Missouri, every other weekend during my first few years of living in Nashville,” says Nate, “partly for a relationship, and partly from being truly homesick. Paducah was the halfway point, and during those long drives, I had the feeling I was leaving something but also heading to something from both directions. Home changed in meaning for me, and I changed a lot as a person.”

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Broadway Dental Paducah Bawn in the Mash No list of Paducah songs would be complete without one from our friends at Bawn in the Mash. This Paducah band chronicled many aspects of life in our area, and it all started with their first album Welcome to the Atomic City. With songs like “Land Between the Rivers,”“At the Hotel Irvin Cobb,”“Past the Painted Wall,” and the “Nuclear Waltz,” Bawn sets the life of our region to music like no one else. For our selection, we simply chose the song “Paducah”. “When you come ’round the bend to the mouth of the Tennessee, I’ll meet you on the old market square, where the streets are all brick, the ladies are charming; we’ll be docked in Paducah again.”

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O C TO B E R / NOV E MB ER 2022 • 75

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76 • PAD U CAH L I FE

H by Amy Sullivan

Poppy Faughn Adds Flair to Her Home Away from Home

M

CCRACKEN COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL 2021 GRADUATE Poppy Faughn may not be majoring in interior design, but she definitely displayed her freshman flair when she moved into Martin Hall at Ole Miss in August.

While 1980s college gals may remember poster-puttying a “big hair band” rock poster or Tiger Beat pull-out and hanging a lone string of lights on their cinder block walls, that drab décor is so yesterday. These days, TikTok and Instagram-inspired dorm elevations feature gorgeous artwork, custom-made cabinets and headboards, plush bedding, a seating area for guests, dazzling drapery, and even personalized neon light-up signs. The goal: an evolution from “dormy” to beautiful and roomy, a true “home away from home.”

At the University of Mississippi, many girls plan their room

designs months ahead of move-in.

Some go as far as hiring professional interior designers who choose colors, accents, wall hangings, furniture, and more, delivering and placing everything while students are out and then hosting a “big reveal” for residents.

Décor reflects personal preferences and styles, with some students aiming for a subdued and relaxing environment while others strive for comfort and practicality.

Poppy Faughn, fully aware of Ole Miss’s longstanding tradition of extravagant dorm decorating, was excited to plan and transform her new residence. But she wanted to incorporate her unique ideas to truly make it her own.

“I’m a very expressive person,” Poppy states. “Our entire room is a burst of loud color. It’s very hippie chic. All the girls in our hall have light-colored décor—blue or pink and white—but ours is absolutely filled with color. Our table is bamboo, and we have lots of baskets and boho elements that set it apart from the traditional expectations of an Ole Miss dorm room.”

Poppy’s roommate, Marina Trejo, also a freshman, is from Mississippi.

The two were fortunate to connect after each had experienced roommate conflicts close to registration deadline. They both learned they liked things clean, they each had a boyfriend, and they wanted their space to be welcoming to their guys or a small group of friends. With that much already in common, they decided to room together.

While many girls at Ole Miss coordinate their bedding so that both sides of the room are mirror images,

O C TO B E R / NOV E MBER 2022 • 77

DORM ROOM DECOR

Poppy and Marina agreed their beds should reflect their individual tastes. Their personalized comforters coordinate, but their larger pillows and accents on each side are different.

Poppy and her mother, Elizabeth, took the lead on the room’s design, though Marina requested the unique blue headboards. The Faughns hired designer Eden Montgomery of Essentials with Eden to create a few items, including custom-made headboards that complemented the room’s blue accents.

“Eden is one of those designers who usually goes in during move-in day slots and does everything, but I asked for that not to happen,” Poppy said. “I wanted to put things together myself. We just had her create the headboards, design the two stools beside our beds and the hutches that make our vanities, and then paint our big blue chest.”

Elizabeth then helped Poppy’s vision come to life. “My mom is an art minor and she’s very good at this kind of thing,” Poppy says. “She’s the ultimate manager for these kinds of projects which has earned her the nickname ‘Queen Lizzie’.”

Queen Lizzie facilitated Poppy’s picks of MacKenzie-Childs pottery and doorknobs for the nightstand resting

7878 • PAD U CAH L ILFE • PAD U CAH I FE

between the beds, giving the room a vintage vibe. The coordinating cube stools are also practical and functional; the lids open for storage and are sturdy for stepping up to the beds. The feature fabric is also found on Poppy’s plush bed pillow as well as the throw pillows.

When people walk into the girls’ room, without fail, they gasp. “It’s completely different from anyone else’s,” Poppy points out. “Besides the MacKenzie-Childs pieces, I got several unique items from Selcouth in downtown Paducah including a set of coasters with vintage photos and the gold star pillow that really pops on the couch.”

Another Faughn favorite is the framed Gucci vintage scarf on Poppy’s side of the room, designed with, you guessed it—poppies. Poppy also recognizes her dad Roger’s role in making her new room possible, as well as her brother Hayden, who took off a few days of work to help her move.

She was amazed at the truckload of things that went into creating her home away from home.

“It was a long process, and it may not be fully necessary for every person, for every room, or for every college, but it was important for me,” she explains. “It helped me feel at home, and I would not feel as comfortable if I didn’t make it my own.”

WEST WESTKENTUCKY KENTUCKYCOMMUNITY COMMUNITY&&TECHNICAL TECHNICAL COLLEGE COLLEGE

THE THE MOTHER/DAUGHTER MOTHER/DAUGHTER

DESIGN DESIGNTIPS TIPS for forDo-It-Yourself Do-It-Yourself Dorm DormDecorators Decorators

SOLUTION SOLUTION

TO TOYOUR YOUREMPLOYEE EMPLOYEE TRAINING TRAINING NEEDS NEEDS

WORKFORCE WORKFORCESOLUTIONS SOLUTIONS at at WKCTC WKCTC offers offers customized customizedtraining trainingand andaahost host of of services services including: including: •• Assessment Assessmentand andCertification Certification Center Center •• Leadership Leadership//Team TeamBuilding Building // Supervisory Supervisory Training Training MarineTraining Training •• Marine OSHASafety SafetyTraining Training •• OSHA ProfessionalLicensing LicensingRenewal Renewal (CEUs) (CEUs) •• Professional Findout outmore moreat at Find westkentucky.kctcs.edu/workforce-solutions westkentucky.kctcs.edu/workforce-solutions

270-534-3335 270-534-3335 Hide the room furnitureunder under RR Hide the room furniture beds, closets.

Uselong long beds, oror in in closets.

Use and short, drapes, curtains and short, drapes, curtains oror valences creatively thatslide slide valences creatively that open and cover things. open and cover things.

Use a queen comfortertotocover cover RR Use a queen comforter the twin mattress and hide the twin mattress and hide what’s underneath thebed. bed. what’s underneath the These can reusedwhen whenthe the These can bebe reused girls move to their next home girls move to their next home oror apartment. apartment.

Better lives lives for for a Better better Kentucky!

Kentucky! better

R Get rid of desk chairs.

R Get rid of desk chairs.

R Cover the floor with a fun rug.

R Cover the floor with a fun rug.

R Lighting is key to making a R Lighting is key to making a room look brighter and bigger. room look brighter and bigger.

A pair of lamps between the A pair of lamps between the beds gives light access to both beds gives light access to both roommates. roommates.

R Don’t hang too much on the R Don’t hang much on the walls; lesstoo clutter is better. walls; less clutter is better.

WKCTC, a proud member of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), is an equal educational and employment opportunity institution.

WKCTC, a proud member of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), is an equal educational and employment opportunity institution.

O C TO B E R / NOV E MBER 2022 • 79 OCTOBER/NOVEMB E R 2022 • 79

TRADITIONS

★

by M ATT J AEGER

The Stuff(ing) of Legends

I

A Brief History of the Best Part of Thanksgiving N THINKING AND WRITING ABOUT THE UPCOMING Thanksgiving holiday, my thoughts should be directed toward what that compound word dictates; I should be giving thanks. My mind should be filled with counted blessings, taking stock of the comforts provided by my family and friends, and, despite any travails and hiccups, my life is truly a horn of plenty.

Yet my mind is not doing these things.

Instead, whenever I think about Thanksgiving, I think about food, and more specifically, the stuffing.

Ahh stuffing! and I say this with the full realization that it is an odd portion to think about, particularly considering all the wonderful foods that grace a Thanksgiving table. After all, what is stuffing but sodden bread?

Sure, you can doctor it up with sage, celery, apples, sausage, and oysters. You can float it in gravy. You can substitute farmhouse white breads for brown breads, cornbread, rice, or oats. You can even call it something else: farce (the old French term), forcemeat (the English bastardization of the French term), or dressing (a relatively recent term that primarily refers to stuffing outside the bird). Whatever you do to it, for most of us, it is still just a gloppy mush.

And yet, what delicious mush it is! Stuffing is, hands down, the best part of the Thanksgiving meal.

While it may seem peculiar to proclaim an affinity so loudly for stuffing, I am not ashamed. In fact, I venture that I am not alone. Many of you, ravenous readers, doubtlessly feel the same way. Fellow Paducahan, author, and bon vivant, Irvin S. Cobb was in enthusiastic agreement. The man enjoyed his stuffing. Cobb was a gourmand, a lover of the gastronomic, and in his book Bill of Fare, Cobb wrote, “He [the turkey] had not been stuffed by a taxidermist or a curio collector, but by the master hand of

one of those natural-born home cooks—stuffed with corn bread dressing that had oysters or chestnuts or pecans stirred into it until it was a veritable mine of goodness, and this stuffing had caught up and retained all the delectable drippings and essences of his being.”

My sentiments exactly, Irvin.

And may I add that while I certainly eat the rest of the Thanksgiving meal with such thankfulness as to be akin to virtue, the stuffing is unabashedly devoured.

The practice of stuffing is ancient. The first known recipe comes from a Roman cookbook called Apicius dating back to 200 or 300 A.D. in which a variety of consumables (chicken, rabbits, and pig) are advisedly stuffed with a variety of other ingredients (vegetables, spices, and organ meat). With the Romans being so creative with their stuffings so early in history, one can only imagine the scope of stuffing ingredients before and since. Recent years have seen an increase in turkeys stuffed, not with vegetables and breads, but with other fowl. It is called a turducken and consists of a chicken stuffed into duck then stuffed into a turkey.

While this chimeric delicacy seems innovative, it is hardly new. The practice of stuffing animals with other animals is old as well. An Andalusian recipe from the 13th century advises stuffing a ram with a potpourri of small birds. In 1807, a French gastronomist, Grimod de La Reynière, recorded the following dish: a bustard stuffed with a turkey, a goose, a pheasant, a chicken, a duck, a guinea fowl, a teal, a woodcock, a partridge, a plover, a lapwing, a quail, a thrush, a lark, an ortolan, a bunting, and a garden warbler. He called this his “roast without equal,” and it must be, unless one believes the stories of the traditional Bedouin wedding feast in which cooked eggs are stuffed into fish, then the fish into chickens, then the chickens into sheep, then the sheep into a camel.

Surely, if true, this is the pinnacle of all stuffings! That being said, I probably wouldn’t eat it. The preparation of camel is laborious, and I find the flavor a bit gamey.

Despite all these variations, there is still room for experimentation, for a new chapter in the book of stuffing. Western Kentucky’s history and affinity for pork barbeque, combined with Thanksgiving tradition, is a place to start. Thusly, I propose the following recipe for Western Ken-turkey (as it must be called): Buy several barbeque sandwiches from your favorite barbeque joint (preferably pressed flat and dotted with hot sauce). Chop the sandwiches up (bun and all) and stuff them inside a turkey along with any other seasonings you may desire. Roast the stuffed turkey and serve with gravy.

O C TO B E R / NOV E MBER 2022 • 81

One Book Read WKCTC CELEBRATES THE JOY AND COMMUNION OF LITERATURE

H

by Amy Sullivan

For nearly fifteen years,WKCTC has helped staff, students, and the greater community dive deep into some of literature’s most poignant topics.They celebrate the return of in-person author visits with Ross Gay’s Book of Delights.

W F

OR NEARLY FIFTEEN

years, Western Kentucky Community and Technical College (WKCTC) has come together to read one book, explore one message, and unite around one visit from an influential author. Thousands of students, faculty, staff, and community members have

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participated in what is now known as The One Book Read.

Originally called One Book, One Campus, One Community Read, the program began in 2008 with the idea of bringing a bestselling author to WKCTC as a featured speaker. The inaugural session featured Homer Hickam, NASA engineer and author of Rocket Boys, the New York Times bestselling memoir that inspired the film “October Sky.” Hickam’s visit to Paducah opened to a full house at Maiden Alley Cinema for a screening of the movie “October Sky.” The author made presentations at a VIP reception, a town hall meeting for students, and a keynote presentation at the college.

The One Book event was so successful in attendance and participation, the college decided to make it an annual event that brings a bestselling and/or awardwinning author to campus. The project is dedicated year-round to focusing on literacy and encouraging reading not only across campus, but also throughout the community.

To generate excitement for the author’s arrival in the spring, events are planned throughout the academic year. These have included writing contests, art or photography contests and displays, and book discussions at WKCTC, McCracken County Public Library, and Graves County Public Library. Events that bring awareness to the issues discussed in the books play a part in generating excitement during both the fall and spring semesters.

The culminating event of the One Book Read is the author’s visit to Paducah and the college campus each spring. The visit includes receptions, presentations, books signings, and sometimes, even writing workshops with the author. All events are free and open to the public.

WKCTC aims for its authors to be thought-provoking, and for students— some of whom may have never read a book by choice—to be captivated by a memorable book with themes and topics that are relevant and timely. This academic year, the college is delighted to celebrate 15 years of the One Book Read in

2023 when Ross Gay, author of the Book of Delights, visits the campus on March 14 and 15.

The Book of Delights is a collection of brief essays by the National Book Award finalist and poet. In this collection, Gay spends a year documenting the small things which delight him, while never ignoring the presence of “undelightful” issues in our world. He touches on contemporary issues in disarming and thought-provoking ways, which WKCTC’s One Book Read selection committee felt students and community members would embrace.

“The committee thought this book, and all its joy, would be a perfect selection and vehicle for everyone to reflect on the hardships of the past few years, while moving forward and recognizing the small, unique things which bring all of us delight,” shared Britton Shurley, chair of the One Book Read Committee, and WKCTC Dean of Humanities, Fine Arts, Business and Social Sciences.

“We envision this book as a way for our campus to support mental and physical health, focusing our campus’s attention upon a ‘year of delights.’ We wondered what it would look like, if campus-wide, we each chose to focus on bringing more delight to students, faculty, staff and the community.”

Give the gift of LIFE! PADUCAH LIFE m a g a z i n e

Visit paducahlife.com or call 270.442.3338.

ROSS GAY will give a reading and book signing on Tuesday evening, March 14, and a daytime reading on Wednesday, March 15. Visit onebookread.com for more information on WKCTC’s One Book Read events.

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LastWord the

“If you stare at an object, as you do when you paint, there is no point at which you stop learning things from it!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Kentucky’s Keeneland fall racing runs from October 7 through October 29.

—WAYNE THIEBAUD ★

KELLY SMITH is a Paducah artist who spends her days teaching fourth and fifth grade art at Lone Oak Intermediate. In her free time, she makes her own unique art. Kelly shows her love for Kentucky through her paintings of horse racing, farm life, and bourbon! Her art is sold in Paducah, Lexington, and Seaside, Florida. Kelly is the 2023 featured artist for the Carson Center’s Party for a Purpose.

84 PADUCAH LIFE

Live Happily Ever After Memorable moments are frequently created in the place we spend most of our time—our home. From roasting a turkey, to watching football, to welcoming family for the holidays, every experience becomes a treasured part of the life you’re building together. In this season of gratitude, one of our greatest blessings is the happiness found in the place we call home.

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BEN CLAYTON CAN CLOSE YOUR HOME LOAN PROFICIENTLY AND EFFICIENTLY. He can also pass along a bushel and a peck of blueberries. When Ben isn’t working with Paducah Bank customers on a home loan, he can often be found cultivating a new crop of blueberries on the family farm in Lovelaceville. “We’re definitely weekend warriors,” explains Ben. “My family bought the farm ten years ago primarily for recreation and hunting. But somehow blueberries became a part of the plan, and now we’re selling to local restaurants and bakeries and people can also come out and pick!” We picked a winner in Ben Clayton.

All you have to do is pick up the phone and ask for Ben!

Give Ben a call today! 270.575.6233 / paducahbank.com /

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