Do South Magazine: Boil – July 2014

BOIL

JuLY 2014 DoSouthMagazine.com

CONTENTS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Catherine Frederick MANAGING EDITOR Marla Cantrell CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jeromy Price CONTRIBUTING WRITERS / PHOTOGRAPHERS Marla Cantrell Marcus Coker Catherine Frederick Rusty Henderson, DVM Laurie Marshall Tonya McCoy Mark Mundorff Anita Paddock Jeromy Price Tiffany Selvey Jessica Sowards April Stamper Stoney Stamper

28

PROOFREADER Charity Chambers PUBLISHER Read Chair Publishing, LLC COVER IMAGE Kim Standridge

18

inside

54

18 28 54 58

58

Stored in Style Getting ready for a cookout? Where will you put all that that silverware? Grab six empty tin cans, a little paint, and a board they’ll cut for you at the home improvement store.

The results? A gorgeous caddy that you can customize for a variety of uses!

NATURAL MILK IN THE NATURAL STATE Until recently, you couldn’t buy raw (unpasteurized) milk in Arkansas, but a lawmaker from Springdale changed all that. How are small dairy farmers responding? We’ll take you to Summer Kitchen Farm to show you why two farmers are saying it’s absolutely moo-velous.

sweet tart Plump strawberries, juicy blueberries, sweet raspberries.

What could be better? How ‘bout a cookie crust and lemony cream cheese filling! A little sweet and a little tart your family and friends will love.

ADVERTISING INFORMATION Catherine Frederick 479.782.1500 Catherine@DoSouthMagazine.com EDITORIAL INFORMATION Marla Cantrell 479.831.9116 Marla@DoSouthMagazine.com ©2014 Read Chair Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. The opinions contained in Do South are exclusively those of the writers and do not represent those of Read Chair Publishing, LLC. as a whole or its affiliates. Any correspondence to Do South or Read Chair Publishing, LLC., including photography becomes the property of Read Chair Publishing, LLC. Do South reserves the right to edit content and images.

FOLLOW US

Only in Alma Spend a day exploring Alma, Arkansas, a little town known for its big splashy water park, a hiking trail that takes you deep into nature, fishing, and mom and pop diners — where the owners really do know you by name. There’s even a live music venue for when your day is done.

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

Subscribe to Do South! 12 issues per year for only $20, within the contiguous United States. Subscribe online at DoSouthMagazine.com, or mail check to 7030 Taylor Avenue, Suite 5, Fort Smith, AR 72916.

letter from Catherine

Usually, I’m the one asking the

I Wish I Lived: On a farm in Arkansas

questions, (there’s a lot to ask when you’re putting a magazine

I Hoard: Seashells, organizational planners and calendars; however,

together) but this month I decided

my husband would say, “everything.”

to turn the tables and ANSWER a few, in an effort to let y’all get to

I Want To Own: An old Ford Bronco and a lake house with a boat

know me a little better.

(the boat is not optional).

Here goes! I’m Catherine Frederick

I’m Addicted To: Coffee and dessert after dinner.

and I’m the editor and publisher at Do South Magazine, where I write

If I Could Teach Myself Anything It Would Be To: Play the acoustic

the DIY and Recipe features and

guitar and speak Italian.

also wear the hats of accountant, sales executive, and occasional photographer. I live in Fort Smith, Arkansas with my husband, three

I Love The Smell Of: Rain, fresh mown grass, puppy breath, hamburgers

kiddos, and three fur babies.

on the grill.

I Don’t Care What They Say: I eat dessert after every meal, even

The First Thing I Do In The Morning Is: Let my dogs out to potty.

late at night.

I Use: A Keurig coffee maker…every single day, Gain fabric softener, My Drinks: Vodka Cranberry with a splash of lime, 14 Hands

Crest 3D White toothpaste, Method® household cleaners.

Merlot, a Bahama Bob from Bahama Bob’s Restaurant in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

I Miss: My mom.

My Shoes: Flip flops, boots, Nike Free Tennis Shoes.

I Admire: Angelina Jolie (don’t judge me).

My Foods: Chicken and Dumplings like my Mamaw used to make,

I Respect: My husband.

chicken fried steak with white gravy, tuna casserole with cheese and crushed Lays® potato chips on top, filet mignon, crab legs,

What Wows Me: My kiddos.

oysters on the half, white chicken chili – my special recipe, Kraft® Whew! Now I know how the people in our stories feel when we sit

macaroni and cheese.

down with them for an interview. Lots and lots of questions! But My Remedies: NyQuil , Green Apple Moisturizing Chapstick , ®

®

you know what? It was also a lot of fun.

Nutrogena® Daily Face Wash Speaking of fun, I’ve just returned from my family’s annual trip to I Love(d) Reading: It’s All Over but the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg, 50

the beach. We ate too much and laughed until we drew attention

Shades of Gray by E.L. James, The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, The

to ourselves. We gathered seashells and built sandcastles. It was

Host by Stephenie Meyer, A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle.

our last vacation before our oldest goes off to college, so we savored every minute.

I Love Listening To: James Taylor, Tanya Tucker, Indigo Girls, Mumford & Sons, Johnny Cash, Colbie Calliat, Dolly Parton, Jimmy Buffet,

I hope you treasure your summer as well, and that you stop to

Michael Buble, Lennon & Maisey, Yael Naim, Nicole Nordeman.

count the blessings that friends and family bring. And, as always, thank you for reading Do South Magazine. You are such faithful

I Love(d) Watching: Walking Dead TV Series, Nashville TV Series, A Long Kiss Goodnight with Samuel L. Jackson and Geena Davis, Elf with Will Farrell, The Hangover with Bradley Cooper.

readers, and I am grateful for each of you, every single month.

05

06

Nine Months LINES Jessica Sowards

It was summer when we planted you.

In a stolen afternoon or a rare and coveted night.

I don’t know which.

I can only be sure that it was the kind of happening that comes and goes in married life without fanfare.

The kind that you don’t recognize at the time as extraordinary.

But a few weeks later, as the leaves turned crimson and gold but I did not bleed, I knew.

You were there.

And your brother learned to crawl and still clutched at my breast and my time for recovery turned back into the first trimester.

I was angry.

At your father who loved you already and who trusted God so easily.

I was angry at God and the load He found me capable of bearing.

I did not feel capable.

So I asked Him to help me be.

And we grew.

And when the ice snapped the branches and Christmas sat packed in cardboard boxes on the kitchen floor, I felt you stir for the first time.

And they told me you would be my fourth son.

And then you were real.

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

07

Daffodils sprouted in a warm week in February.

Then hung their yellow heads after a late March freeze.

And my excitement waxed and waned like the moon, a bright shining beacon one night and then swallowed by darkness the next.

I was afraid.

You see, there isn’t much left of a mother after everyone has had their share.

And the piece I had, I wanted to keep, to put my name on it and place it on a high, safe shelf, out of reach of tiny, grasping hands.

I was afraid to give up the assurance that there would always be enough of me.

But the fear is melting now.

The days are longer and the new life of spring is exploding in and around me.

April has brought warmth at last.

And you are running out of space.

You are healthy.

I feel your bones and their strength pressing from the inside against my skin.

I feel the rhythmic rumblings of your hiccups deep inside my hips.

I dream of the infinite possibility of you.

Of how you will laugh and who you will be.

Of the change you will effect on this world as you have in my heart.

I have fallen in love with you. Later than I would have liked.

But hard and deep just the same.

And I realize now that the piece left of me is just the right size for one more small boy.

And it has had your name on it all along.

Ezra. It means Help.

And Jude. Which means praise.

I will see you soon.

08

DO SOUTH: JULY 2014 SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

01 02 03 04 05 Pamper yourself at Opulence Day Spa with their July Hawaiian Special.

70th Annual Rodeo of the Ozarks, Springdale.

The perfect recipes for July 4th: Sweet Tart, page 56 and Watermelon Tequila Refresco, page 52.

Independence Day The Mayor’s Annual Fourth of July Celebration, Fort Smith.

Organize in style with our DIY, page 18.

06 07 08 09 10 11 12 Sports Day! Sidewalk Sunday at the Walmart Museum, Bentonville.

Willie Nelson & Alison Krauss in concert at the Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville.

4th Annual Fleur Kiddy Kamps: S is for Delicious Weekend 8th Snake at the Janet – 13th, Eureka Springs. Huckabee Nature Center, Fort Smith.

Day trip to Alma, Arkansas, see page 58.

Owl Prowl and Summer Night Hike at the Janet Huckabee Nature Center, Fort Smith.

Freshen up your home with color!

Check out the new OPI Paint colors at your local Yeagers.

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Motley Crue in concert at the BOK Center, Tulsa.

What do a former queen and spaghetti have in common?

Find out on page 48.

Book your date to paint at Cross My Art in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

“The Splendors & Horrors of the Battlefield” at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, Springdale.

Protect your family.

Check out The Refuge Storm Shelters at Luther Stem.

2nd Annual Crystal Music Festival, Mena.

Firefly Fling at the Botanical Garden, Fayetteville.

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Thinking about a move to the country?

First read Becoming Country on page 22.

It’s Monday. Wake up to the story of local coffee roasters, Hawk and Horse, page 42.

RAM Art Camp, Fort Smith.

Break the chain, dine local at River City Deli.

What’s your take on raw milk? Read our story on page 28.

31st Annual Altus Grape Festival.

Give a furry friend a forever home, see page 20.

75th Annual Johnson County Peach Festival, Clarksville.

27 28 29 30 31 Meet the pastors of First Presbyterian Church, husband and wife team, Phillip and Tasha Blackburn, page 10.

Relax to the tunes of Ben and Ellen Harper on their new album, Childhood Home, page 17.

Nature Discovery Youth Camp, Russellville.

Want a good summer book with local ties?

Check out our review of Where the Wind Leads, page 16.

9 to 5: The Musical at the Fort Smith Little Theater.

Submit your event to editors @dosouthmagazine.com

DO SUMMER: BUG OFF Keep bugs out of your drinks this summer. Place a muffin liner upside down on your glass. Insert straw.

BEACH BABY At the beach and there’s sand in every crevice?

Rub baby powder on your skin to shed sand in no time flat.

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

10

Phillip and Tasha Blackburn Co-pastors, First Presbyterian Church

First Presbyterian Church 116 North 12th St. Fort Smith, Arkansas 479.783.8919 www.1pres.org

Photography by John Aubrey D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

UPCLOSE&PERSONAL

Heaven enough for me would be this world as I know it, but redeemed of our abuse of it and one another. It would be the Heaven of knowing again.

— Wendell Berry

About First Presbyterian Church First Presbyterian Church was one of the first established congregations in Fort Smith. For over 150 years we have proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, served the people of Fort Smith, and worshipped God. Today we remain committed to those same values and strive to be a place where people can gather to serve others and grow in their faith. We remain especially committed to the people of Fort Smith and continue to seek new ways to serve our neighbors in a spirit of service of humility.

3 things Phillip can’t live without:

Family, Books, Baseball 3 things Tasha can’t live without:

Family, Faith, a Shower

If you could go back in time to change one thing what would it be?

PHILLIP — I’d have asked for Apple stock for my fifth birthday. I don’t even remember what I got.

TASHA — I think I would go back to the thirteen-year-old me and tell her to not be afraid of everything. I wish I’d known then that everybody has insecurities and questions, you aren’t the only one.

Favorite song from your teen years?

PHILLIP — Almost anything off Achtung Baby by U2.

TASHA — Probably “Hungry Eyes” from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. I had a terrible and obsessive crush on Patrick Swayze.

What did you do growing up that got you into trouble?

PHILLIP — I got caught stealing a Transformer from Skaggs Alpha Beta in second grade. That was a doozy.

TASHA — I come from a long line of daughters who struggle with, as my mother would call it, “sass.” It was a good bet that if I was in trouble, my mouth was the reason.

What’s something you learned last week?

PHILLIP — I learned you can camp on islands in Lake Ouachita. Who knew?

TASHA — Our kids were away at their grandparents’ last week so I learned you should not try to watch more than 4 episodes of House of Cards in any one sitting.

What’s your favorite food from childhood?

PHILLIP — A #9 from Johnnie’s Charcoal Broiler in Oklahoma City.

TASHA — Macaroni and cheese from the blue box. If I’m honest, it is still one of my favorite guilty pleasures. There must be something they put in that cheese powder.

If you could work on only one project for the next year, what would it be?

PHILLIP — Microloans at fair rates for at risk people in Fort Smith.

TASHA — I think it would be to research, plan, write and preach sermons. I love the biblical study that goes with that process and I love preaching.

What makes you nostalgic?

PHILLIP — Baseball.

TASHA — Everything! It could be clothes my kids have outgrown or pictures of our former dog, all of those things make me nostalgic. Also, the Folgers commercials where someone comes home to surprise their family. They get me every time.

What’s the best part of leading a church with your spouse?

PHILLIP — When we collaborate to pull something off that we think is really great, it’s pretty special.

TASHA — The best part is also the hardest part: we get to talk about what we love — faith, God, church, the Bible — 24/7. It is terrific to be able to talk through something at the church around the breakfast table and know we are united in a goal but, it’s still the breakfast table! So, you have to be careful to talk about cereal and the weather sometimes too.

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

11

12

lifestyle

Kam r i e E w in g words Marla Cantrell Images Courtesy Melanie Ewing

Kamrie was nominated as a Do South Do-Gooder by Christie Reams

Kamrie Ewing and Korey Heath

O

n a sweltering day much like this one,

The idea wasn’t so much about how much

cancer, and lived nearby in Russellville. Kamrie

Melanie Ewing, of Dover, Arkansas,

money her daughter would make, or even

decided she’d make the ponytail holders and

was brainstorming about how to

about the bike she’d be helping to buy. It was

give the money to her.

keep her kids entertained until school

about the project, focusing on something,

began. It was July, 2012, and her teenage

and meeting a goal. When she presented the

And so the plan took form. Melanie and

son, the oldest, was fairly busy with baseball.

proposal to Kamrie, she said she didn’t want

Kamrie went to Hobby Lobby with their half-

But her nine-year-old daughter, Kamrie, was

a bike at all. What she wanted, she told her

off coupon in hand, stocked up on supplies,

running out of things to do. What Kamrie

mom, was to help orphans.

mainly spools of patterned ribbons that were

wanted at the time was a new bicycle, and

cut into different lengths and then tied to the

Melanie thought she could convince her to

The problem was, in the small town of Dover

ponytail holders. Kamrie furrows her brow,

make ponytail holders in her idle hours that

(population 1,378), neither Kamrie nor Melanie

trying to remember how long one of her

she could sell to close friends and family.

knew any orphans. She had heard, however,

creations took to make. “About a minute or

about an eleven-year-old girl who was fighting

two, I think.”

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

lifestyle

Even if it was only a minute, those minutes

studio, and works by appointment. She

sponsors, via a Facebook post, to donate

began to collect, turning into half hours,

began spending more and more time helping

$20 for a teacher they wanted to help,

and then hours, and finally days. Kamrie’s

Kamrie, particularly selling the ponytail

and then Kamrie and Melanie would make

Colorful Creations (as she came to call her

holders at craft shows and festivals. Places,

bookmarks for all the kids in that class.

venture and now non-profit organization)

like Harley Davidson in Conway, let them

They would deliver them before the holiday

was a big hit, in part because of their price

set up a booth on certain days. Everywhere

break, which was slated to begin at the end

— they cost three or four dollars. And partly

they went, people were moved by this little

of the following week.

because Kamrie got a big stick, wrapped it

dynamo and her dream of helping a girl she

with the brightly colored ponytail holders

barely knew.

and took them to her brother’s baseball tournaments and set up shop.

Melanie remembers the day they hit the $2,000 mark. It was a Wednesday in

“I remember at one of my brother’s games,

December. She remembers thinking what

I was selling so many so fast, I was having

a great thing Kamrie had done, and she

to sit on the money” — Kamrie points to

remembers thinking, Now, this is over.

her thigh — “I’d just stick it under here and keep selling. It was so chaotic.”

But then Sunday came, and the family drove to The Journey Church in Russellville.

Kamrie is a fireball of a girl: shiny red hair,

Their pastor was asking for donations for

freckles, braces, blue eyeglasses, toenails

Christmas, for Southern Christian Home,

painted orange and blue. She gestures a lot:

a home for orphaned, neglected and

pointing, running her fingers through her

dependent children, which is in Morrilton,

long hair, throwing her arms around herself

only about thirty minutes away. Melanie

when she talks about how much she loves

remembers the feeling of hearing the word

something, like her dogs, for example, or the

“orphaned.” Tears fell, she felt a lump in

cookies she makes with her grandmother,

her throat. Helping orphans was Kamrie’s

The problem with posting on Facebook is that

and apparently selling things.

original goal. “I knew we weren’t done

you never know just how far your message

then,” she says.

will go. By the time they went to bed on

As she’s talking, she is smiling, bright as

that Sunday night, they had ten sponsors.

the morning sun, and the orange bands on

“When we got home, Kamrie said, ‘I want to

By Wednesday, they had fifty-two, and by

her braces show. “That one night, the first

raise a hundred dollars for those kids.’ There

Friday there were 106 in four different states:

Friday, I made $100. I couldn’t believe it.”

were forty-nine kids there. I’d lived here my

Arkansas, Iowa, California, Ohio. That meant

And then her eyes grow wide. “And after

whole life,” Melanie says, “and I’d never

well over 2,000 bookmarks, something

about six weeks, the very first day of fourth

heard about this place.” Melanie shakes her

Melanie knew they’d never be able to pull

grade, I’d raised $1,000!”

head, awed still at what happened that day.

off. So, Melanie put on a plea for volunteers,

“It was totally God, I’m sure of it.”

and the very next day twenty-seven helpers

Melanie remembers the joy of taking the

showed up at The Journey Church to

money to the eleven-year-old. It was the

Melanie and Kamrie needed to come up

first time the girls had met. After the visit,

with a fast moneymaker. Melanie’s friend,

as Melanie was pulling out of the driveway,

a fourth grade teacher in Fayetteville, had

One of the best things that came out of

Kamrie said, teary-eyed, “I want to do this

sent her a link to a craft project that took

this project was Melanie finding out that

again. I want to give her another $1,000.”

paper clips and ribbon and turned them into

her friend who sent her the idea for the

bookmarks. There was a lot of scrap ribbon

bookmarks was married to a man who

For Melanie, it meant that she would be doing

left over from the ponytail holders, so the

grew up at Southern Christian Home. She

a lot of rescheduling. She has a photography

project would cost very little. They asked for

said to me, ‘He told me he would not be

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

assemble the bookmarks.

13

14

lifestyle

the devout Christian man he is today if he

the best salespeople you’ll ever meet.

pastor preached on the day she learned

hadn’t grown up there.’”

While at Starbucks in Russellville on this

about Southern Christian Home. He was

Saturday morning, she sits beneath a

quoting Mother Teresa who said, “If you

Again, Melanie brings up God. Call it

canopy, shielded from the rain, and sells

can’t feed a hundred, feed just one.”

coincidence, serendipity, whatever you

her signature T-shirts to the early morning

Kamrie tweaked it a little. She says, “If you

want, but when Melanie heard those

crowd. “They’re only five dollars,” she says,

can’t help a hundred kids, help just one.”

words, she felt sure God was at work, once

“and we need to get rid of them.”

again, in her life and in Kamrie’s.

That’s how it all started with Kamrie. She Once the customer is lured in, she tells

found one girl who was battling cancer, and

In six days, they raised more than $2,000 for

them about her mission to help kids,

that young girl was surprised that someone

the home. Kamrie’s family went there, met

and mentions the dog show. “One lady

she didn’t know would do so much for her,

the kids, and gave them the money. Kamrie

donated sixty dollars,” she says, “and now

would do everything she could to make her

made friends, and she’s been back several

her dog’s entered in four categories in the

life a little easier at such a hard time.

times. “I could feel the love in that place,”

Pooch Palooza! Isn’t that great?” she asks.

Melanie says. “They have several house

Kamrie saw her recently. “She has hair

parents, and those kids have a family with

Before her mom can answer, another

now!” Kamrie says. Melanie breaks in,

them... They help them with their homework

customer walks up. He is a silver-haired

“We heard she’s gotten a really good

every night, they feed them, they take them

gentleman, dressed in a paint splattered

report, she’s doing really well.”

to the dentist. One little boy, about three, had

T-shirt and shorts. It’s likely a workday for

long curls and he was kind of shy, and he had

him, but he’s curious enough to stop and

At eleven years old, Kamrie has already

his little arms wrapped around his dad’s legs.

chat. When he hears what Kamrie’s doing,

raised more than $15,000 to help kids in

I remember that dad, who’s not his biological

he says, “Sounds to me like you got your

our area. In the process, she’s discovered

dad, putting his hand on the boy’s head. It

mind made up. Your foot’s on the rock.

something some of us never learn: To get

was such an affectionate moment.”

You ever heard that song?” he asks. “It’s

joy, you have to give joy. And so she does,

a good gospel song. I’m gonna give you

every chance she gets, every time she sees

Since that time, Kamrie’s projects have

a donation. The Bible tells us it don’t take

a way to make the world a better place to

included getting new shoes for some of

many to do wonderful things, it just takes a

call home.

the students at Dover schools, gathering

few. You hang in there.”

backpacks for foster kids who often have to keep their possessions in garbage bags

“I will,” Kamrie says, and then the

when they’re moved from one home to

man continues. “I’m assistant pastor of

another. And on June 14, she held Kamrie’s

Community Church in Tennessee. When I go

Pooch Palooza, a dog show in Russellville to

home, I’ll tell them about you. Six hundred

raise money for the schoolchildren affected

miles away kids will know about you.”

by the deadly tornado that devastated Vilonia and Mayflower on April 27.

Everywhere

she

looks,

Kamrie

Kamrie is beaming. She hands over two of

For more on Kamrie’s mission, visit

her wristbands to the man, multi-colored

kamriescolorfulcreations.com

sees

rubber bracelets with the message, “Just

opportunities to help. And she is one of

one.” The line came from the sermon her

Nominate a Do-Gooder!

Each month, Do South Magazine features the story of someone in our community who is making the world a better place. If you have someone you’d like to nominate, email editors@dosouthmagazine.com.

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

16

entertainment

From there they were taken to a refugee camp in Singapore and waited to be sponsored. Because there were so many in their family, they were the last to get a call. Finally, they were notified that Our

Where the Wind Leads

By Vinh Chung with Tim Downs Thomas Nelson Publishing Co, 353 pages: $23

W

review Anita Paddock

Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fort Smith, Arkansas was going to help them start a new life. They flew into Fort Smith and were greeted by a welcoming party that took them to their new home.

The house had three bedrooms and two baths. It felt like a mansion to them. Their refrigerator and cabinets were stocked but the food was unfamiliar to them. For six months they lived there for free, and then they moved to an apartment complex where other refugees lived.

here the Wind Leads is a memoir told by one of eight children whose parents fled South Vietnam in 1979.

Mr. Chung worked at local factories, and the children enrolled in

The Chung family was Chinese by ancestry but born

school. They knew no English, and their clothes were hand-me-

in Vietnam. They owned a large rice mill and were worth millions

downs. Eventually they bought a small house in Barling, but they

by today’s standards. When their country fell to the Communists,

felt more isolated there. They did attend services for Vietnamese

they believed they could adapt to a new government like they had

at Grand Avenue Baptist Church and enjoyed the fellowship and

before when various political regimes had taken over. But that

teachings of Jesus.

didn’t happen. They lost their fortune and fled to a small farm that was eventually confiscated by the Communists.

Their biggest fear was that they would do something wrong and would be sent back, and so the family fearfully walked a very

When they realized they had to escape, they became part of the

narrow road, afraid of unknowingly disobeying a rule.

huge influx of boat people who sailed into the South China Sea with only the clothes on their back. They knew that over 200,000

Even though author Vinh Chung was three when he left Vietnam,

people had already died on boats, but they had no other way out.

he found it difficult to adjust to a new life in Arkansas. His memoir

They sewed jewelry into secret compartments of their clothing

is easy to read, and it’s easy to find yourself ensconced in their

because their money was worthless. But those jewels were stolen

lives. He tells what it was like living in Fort Smith, and how his

or bartered for food and soon they had nothing.

family opened a business, Chungking Chinese Restaurant, on Rogers Avenue, partly as a way to keep the children out of trouble

The Chungs made this desperate journey with eight children —

by working in the restaurant when school was dismissed.

among them a child not yet four and a set of infant twins — aboard an Asian fishing boat that held 290 people. One of the

Vinh played football for Northside High and excelled in math. He

biggest fears was being robbed and killed by pirates, and if they

met his future wife at Governor’s School, was admitted to Harvard,

survived that, they faced terrible living conditions aboard the ship

graduating from Harvard Medical School. He now practices medicine

and treacherous seas.

in Colorado Springs and is on the board of World Vision USA. His story is inspirational indeed, and it’s told with great joy and love for

They survived that initial voyage and landed on a beach in Malaysia,

family, teachers, and friends. There are pictures that illustrate both

but the Malaysians didn’t want them, and the Chungs were

the hardships and joys the Chungs experienced. He quotes one

shuffled to several camps until they were towed out to sea and left

Vietnamese proverb that I found especially applicable to this story. It

to die. They were packed shoulder to shoulder, with no food or

is “When you eat the fruit, remember who planted the tree.”

water. On the sixth day their boat was rescued by Seasweep, a ship

staffed by the Christian relief organization, World Relief USA. The

This is a book that should be read by everyone, particularly those

Chungs were treated kindly and well fed. “The meal went past our

of us who call Fort Smith home, the home we share with these

stomachs and directly into our souls,” the Chungs recall.

brave people from Vietnam.

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

entertainment

music lessons, and Ben took plenty from his grandmother. And when he got out of school in those years, he showed up to work with Ellen, helping however he could. Ellen continues to run the center today.

Ben said that music was such a part of their lives that it felt like another brother (he has two others), always around, always sitting at the table with them. As he grew older, his talent grew with him, and he started making waves in the industry. But there was always this thought that he could produce something with his mom, something his own children (he has four) would be proud of.

Recently, he said he’s heard them singing songs from Childhood Home, something that makes him ridiculously happy.

Childhood Home

This album feels like it’s been around forever. It could be that it’s

Ben and Ellen Harper: $10

I

the tone of it: folksy, bluesy, at times heartbreaking. But it’s the voices too. At certain points, Ellen sounds a little like Emmylou

review Marla Cantrell

n May, a new album was released by Ben and Ellen Harper.

Ben’s fans were intrigued. This three-time GRAMMY winner has garnered quite a following over the last twenty years. Not

nearly as many remembered Ellen, who was a folk singer decades ago but never gained as much fame or attention as her son. When Childhood Home came out, Ben’s die-hard fans and those curious about this new collaboration raced to get this album. On it, there are ten songs: six written by Ben and four written by his mom, Ellen. In one of his first interviews about the recording, Ben said it was produced the same way the early Elvis songs were. Nothing was plugged in, everything was acoustic. As for the genre, it’s likely going to be categorized as folk or Americana. No matter what box you put it in, rest assured, this is some of the best music you’ll ever hear.

Harris. On “City of Dreams,” she sings about the town she grew up in, and how it isn’t the same anymore, not since the orange groves were paved over, and the freeways took over, and the landmarks were lost to parking lots.

But it’s on “Learn It All Again Tomorrow” where both Ben and Ellen shine. The song is one of the best on the album, and reads like an anthem for those of us who feel we’re forced to repeat the same mistakes until we finally figure things out. “If my wheels were square but the earth was jagged/I’d roll along and be no less ragged / Than I seem to be today / I’m usually this way.”

Other standouts are “Altar Of Love,” about a wife who does everything right but still loses her husband to a woman who hangs on his every word and makes him feel like a god. Old love, it

The album starts out with “A House Is A Home,” a profound song about what home means, and why it matters, even if there’s no picket fence around it, even if everything inside is not how it ought to be. “A house is a home even when it’s dark/Even when the grass is overgrown in the yard/Even when the dog is too old to bark/And you’re sitting at the table trying not to starve.”

What makes this record even better is the way Ben and Ellen’s voices meld together, so perfectly, so seamlessly. It helps that they’ve sung together all of Ben’s life. Ellen, a single mom, worked with her parents at The Folk Music Center and Museum in Claremont,

seems, is no match for what’s shiny and new. “Break Your Heart” is a song that looks at the end of a relationship before it’s even begun, why we jump in anyway, knowing there’s disaster right around the corner.

Childhood Home has been called honest and intimate. And it’s both. It’s also the kind of music that stands the test of time. Thank goodness Ben and Ellen Harper decided to take the leap, to put their deepest thoughts on paper, and let us listen in.

D O SO U TH R AT I N G : 8 O U T O F 10

California, while Ben was growing up. Part of the program was

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

17

18

Stored in Style ORIGIN madamcreativa.com images Catherine Frederick and Jeromy Price

A place for everything and everything in its place. Who doesn’t love organization?

I know I do. So when I came across this silverware caddy, I fell in love. Not only for its shabby style, but also for its simplicity to create. And the storage possibilities?

Endless. I am already working on a beauty caddy for my college-bound step-daughter to use in her dorm room. I envision it holding everything from make-up, shampoo bottles, hairbrushes, and more — all organized and tidy. Well…a mom can dream.

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

19

Materials »

Total cost under $20 (excludes * items)

6 Empty Vegetable / Fruit Cans with Pull Tab Top ( Same Sized Cans )

1 Package Wood Flat Phillips #6 X ¾” Screws

1 Can Valspar® Color Radiance Spray Paint

1 Package #10 Lock Washers

Piece of Leather

Piece of Wood Cut to 9 ¾” X 1”X 6 ½”

1 Package #6 Lock Washers

Super Glue®

Sandpaper

1 Jar Valspar Sample Paint

*Paintbrush, Scissors, Screwdriver, Hammer, Drill (Optional for Predrilling Holes)

1 Package Metal Pan Phillips #10 X ¾”Screws

®

Method » Wash cans, remove labels, let dry.

Sand wood on all sides, eliminating rough edges.

Using a paintbrush, apply two coats of Valspar paint from sample jar to the piece of wood. Allow to dry completely between coats.

Spray cans outdoors. Place on cardboard or newspaper to protect underlying surface and spray cans evenly with one coat of paint. Don’t forget to spray the interior of the cans. Allow to dry completely. Continue to apply coats of paint, allowing to dry completely between coats, until cans are evenly and thoroughly coated. Tip: Hold spray paint 6”– 8” away from cans when spraying to ensure even coverage and eliminate dripping.

If predrilling, drill holes in cans and in the top and on both sides of wood where each can will be located. Predrilling makes it easier to turn in the screws, but is optional. Tip: If you are not using a drill, use a hammer and a nail to make a hole in the side of each can as well as in the top and on sides of wood.

Using a pencil, place a mark on the wood where each can will be permanently affixed. Use the #6 screws and the #6 lock washers to affix three cans, evenly spaced and level with the bottom of the wood, to each side of the wood.

Using scissors, cut a strip of leather for the handle. The length is up to you, depending on how long a handle you prefer. Using a nail, create a small hole in each end of the leather. This is where you will place the screws. Using two #10 screws and two #10 lock washers, attach the leather to the wood, creating the handle.

Optional: Label each can using a Sharpie® and a piece of leather cut in the shape of your choice. Apply with Super Glue®.

Note: Lock washers are threaded over the ends of the screws.

20

Dog Days of Summer There’s no better friend. Adopt a shelter animal.

These are just a few of the loving animals in need of a home. Please consider adoption or a donation — especially newspapers, food, or financial assistance.

F

M

Annie

F

Chuck M

F

Holly

Boo F

Dave

Roxy

Sebastian County Humane Society 3800 Kelley Hwy, Fort Smith | 479.783.4395 | SebastianCountyHumaneSociety.org Each month, Do South donates this page to local and regional non-profit animal shelters. If you work with a shelter and would like to reserve this space, please email editors@dosouthmagazine.com.

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

21

HOT DOGS Words Dr. Rusty Henderson, D.V.M. Eastside Animal Health Center, Fort Smith Over the last twenty-eight years, I’ve seen people become much better caregivers to their pets. I think, in part, it’s because we’ve moved from thinking of ourselves as merely pet owners, to thinking of our pets as family members. We feel the need to protect our furry friends who share so much, but require so little in return.

Thankfully, I’ve also seen the number of heat related emergencies decline. The list of summer maladies are impressive. It includes hyperthermia (heat stroke), skin anomalies, respiratory distress, pet/auto accidents, toxic exposures, and insect/snake bites, just to name a few. Hyperthermia, however, is the most devastating and preventable, and, as such, we could all use a reminder on how to keep our pets safe in the heat of summer.

A typical scenario from the past would be that a pet owner stops to pick up the dry cleaning. Meaning to take only a moment, they leave their pet locked in the car, windows up. That moment turns into several, as temperatures in the car soar as high as those typically found inside a kitchen oven. In no time, the pet succumbs to heat stroke and dies.

Fortunately, these days, that type of story is rare. The modern sequence of events, however, reads like a tragic play. Recently, a very good pet owner suffered a devastating event while unloading the family SUV after a camping trip. The family dog jumped back into the vehicle, eagerly awaiting the next trip. The owner, unaware, closed the door and retired to the house. The result, sadly, was the same as in the first scenario.

Our pets are at a disadvantage due to their physical and physiological make up. The only way they can reduce heat is by air exchange, what we commonly refer to as panting.

If air exchange is the only way to cool their bodies, then it stands to reason that anything that might interfere with the exchange would predispose them to hyperthermia, or heat stroke. Conditions like obesity, a compromised cardiovascular system, and pulmonary disease are common conditions that make pets susceptible to hyperthermia.

Also, the short snouts of breeds such as Boxers, Pekinese, Bull Dogs, and Persians, can hinder air exchange. Once a pet experiences hyperthermia, they are more likely to experience ailments such as neurologic and blood clotting disorders, so it’s essential to avoid accidental exposure.

stroke is an emergency that requires immediate recognition and prompt treatment. Know the signs of heat stroke and ways to prevent it. Don’t hesitate to take action if you suspect heat stroke.

Immediately get your pet to a cool place, apply cooling first aids such as cool (not cold) towels or cool to lukewarm water, while you make your way to your veterinarian.

SYMPTOMS Rapid panting

Bright red tongue

Red or pale gums

Thick, sticky saliva

Depression

Weakness

Dizziness

Vomiting — sometimes with blood

Diarrhea

Shock

Coma

PREVENTION Pets with conditions such as heart disease, breathing problems, advanced age, or obesity, should be kept cool and in the shade, as even typical activities can induce heat stroke.

Make sure your pet has access to fresh water at all times. Outdoor pets should have access to shade.

Never leave your pet in a vehicle, even in the shade, or even for just a short time. Temperatures in vehicles can quickly reach up to 140°.

On hot days, do not take your dog on long walks or runs.

Don’t muzzle or otherwise restrict the breathing, or the ability of your dog to pant.

Maintain your pet’s normal body temperature by allowing them to swim, or wet them down with cool, not cold, water.

Have a question you’d like to see answered here?

Email it to editors@DoSouthMagazine.com.

Information contained in this article should not be construed as specific medical advice for your pet. If you have a concern about your pet, contact your veterinarian.

One thing we know for sure, heat

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

22

people

Becoming

C OU N T RY words & Images Jessica Sowards

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

people

You will never really understand how city you are

your imaginary muck boots. Four acres is no farm. It will never

until your life shifts and you find yourself removed from suburbia.

pay the bills. But coming from a sleepy suburban neighborhood,

I’ve harbored a homestead dream for as long as my memory can

a stack of books, and a far off dream, four acres is everything I’ve

reach. At the age of twelve, my cousin walked me through his

ever wanted.

Texas back yard, showing me the neat rows of vegetables and how to feed chickens. Then he introduced me to the pig.

I would have been content to leave the house packed until October, instead spending the summer elbow deep in the earth,

“This is Bacon,” he said.

but reason won out. I suppose it’s a good thing. It would have been a long few months with five children at home and only a

“Why’s he called Bacon?” I asked.

garden to entertain them. We worked through the spring and now the inside of our home is functional. The walls are painted

“Because. We’re gonna eat him,” he replied nonchalantly. Seeing

and the boxes are unpacked. And I am the proud owner of a big

my alarm, he added “But we’re good to him, see. It’s kinder this

pile of wood that my husband assures me will take the form of

way. Better than how factories raise them up like they don’t matter.”

raised beds and a chicken coop in the coming months.

“Cool.” I said. And I meant it.

Patience has never been my strong suit. I like to think I live with abandon because that somehow seems more admirable, but you

That evening, my sister sat at the table and downright refused her

could call me reckless and you wouldn’t be lying. This is a trait that

dinner that we learned came from their last pig, Porkchop. I, on

I fight. Recklessness usually yields regret. So while I stand at the

the other hand, decided then and there. One day I would have a

brink of breaking ground on the homestead of my dreams, I am

pig named Bacon, too.

repeatedly reminding myself of something. Waiting rooms are great classrooms. These transitions between the before and the after

The dream didn’t die. While my peers pledged sororities, I read

are often the places that require stillness the most, or else we risk

books on goat husbandry and growing things. While they

missing out on valuable lessons from our wise and patient Teacher.

purchased starter homes, my pile of books grew, books on beekeeping and chicken care and living off the land. For years I

While I wait, I am learning to become country.

have perused seed catalogs with prayers on my lips and buried deep in my heart. Please, God, could I have this?

Surely, you think, the difference between city dwellers and country folks is merely one of geographical location. But you would be

He answered in the most unplanned timing, when I had finally

wrong. I was wrong. I thought that because I so ardently desired

chosen to be content. I had just agreed to wait until the kids were

to build a life outside the city limits, and because I was so well

older and money was less scarce when my dream came true by

read on the process of doing this, that there wouldn’t be many

way of a vandalized foreclosure on four acres. It was the kind

necessary adjustments. I was born for this life.

of deal people could hardly believe. “This is God,” I told them, “He, who hears my prayers.” They all awed at the house, and the

It doesn’t matter how badly you want it, adjustments are going to

potential for equity. But it was the land that captivated me. To my

be necessary.

homesteader’s heart, just the idea of four acres caused a flutter of disbelief. It ignited my imagination.

Being twenty-five minutes from town makes a difference. I thought it would just alter how I plan my days and eliminate late night

Four acres. Do you feel it?

Kroger-runs for ice cream. But now I’m finding myself with this mindset of my comfort zone, which is home, and the rest of the

If you are like me, you hear four acres and you instantly see the

world, which takes almost half an hour and three dollars in gas to

gentle glow of an orange bell pepper lit up in the Arkansas sun.

reach. I never imagined that I would feel like I’d moved so far and

You can almost feel the skin of a freshly picked berry bursting warm

that things had changed so much. Home is where I want to be.

against your teeth and hear the sound of chickens clucking around D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

23

24

people

It’s not the drive that makes me feel this way

I have watched my sons take to this new

either. I enjoy the drive. I expected to hate

ground like transplanted tomato plants.

the extra time spent in the car just to do

Tobias, the toddler, has been in the creek as

things like go to church and buy groceries.

often as the dog. As soon as his eyes open

Instead, I’ve found it so incredibly peaceful.

in the morning, the first word he shouts is

I make the rural trek to town, admiring the

“Milk!” and the second is “Outside!” Mud

explosion of wildflowers on the roadside, and

seems to run in his veins. Ezra, the baby, is

am in awe. I get to live here. Before, in all my

fearless, toddling through the grass, giggling

years of being city, I had never seen a horse

as he grabs for fireflies. Jackson and Asher,

play, running full bore down a hillside and

my second and third-grade sons, are less

rolling in the grass with hooves aloft. Now,

sure. They were a little root bound where

thanks to my drive, I have seen it many times.

they were planted, with their sidewalks and

I have stopped on the side of the road to look

after-school Baskin Robbins. It was all they

into the doleful eyes of a heifer nursing a

knew, and this new life seemed to offer

newborn calf. “I know how you feel,” I told

much less at first glance. Then they learned

her. Under blue skies and toiling dark ones,

to climb trees. We explored the woods and

I have talked to God in the very midst of His

found blackberries. They caught a blue-tailed

creation. This drive is good for me.

lizard and started to believe that they, deep down, were country too.

There is something about the country that just makes me feel so completely alive and

When this house and it’s impossibly cheap

small, and so undeniably created. It’s easy

price tag, which was all we could afford,

to become so submerged into a manmade

fell into our laps, I kept coming back to

world that we are blinded to that which

Ephesians 3:20. “Now all glory to God, who

God made. Now, even though the land and

is able, through his mighty power at work

creatures around me are divided by our fences and cultivated by

within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or

our tools, I am overwhelmed by the inexplicable wildness of it all.

think.” I just thought He was giving me my homestead dream.

But I have realized in this short time of waiting that God didn’t

The winged things that get trapped on our screened porch are

give me this house just so I could make my own pickles and eat

the stuff of nightmares. I couldn’t name them if I tried, and it

fresh eggs every morning. He was handing me a tool to raise our

amazes me that they have been living so near for so long. They

kids in a different world, a world where we can easily teach them

are as foreign to me as if they were from Africa. The ivy and the

hard work because there is so much of it to do. He was enabling

honeysuckle and every form of plant grows like maybe they know

us to teach them quiet in a generation that was born into noise

how greatly they outnumber us and our weed whackers. They

and screens and distractions. It is a home to raise our family, not

stretch out with ferocity, glorious victors of a revolution. There is

just a house.

never a moment without some noise, some chirp or hum or buzz.

Oh, and the stars. How have I gone my whole life without being

He gave us four acres, a little bit of this earth He crafted, a little

able to see these stars every night? Of course, they are direction

living piece of His creative wonder.

for the lost with how brightly they shine. They are diamonds, artwork, with marvelous constellations. How many nights did we

Four acres.

waste with our darkness lit by streetlights and a TV screen while these very stars burned on past the light pollution and our range

Do you feel it?

of view? Such a shame.

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

26

garden

words Tiffany Selvey

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

garden

J

uly is one of the best gardening months as you harvest a

seeds to the compost bin will potentially create more weeds for

seemingly endless supply of fresh food daily. The only thing

you in the future.

left to do is weed and water.

PREVENTION

Mulch is good for water retention, but it’s also the best weed preventative. If weed roots and seeds are not exposed to the

{ Wat e r i n g }

sun, they’re far less likely to spread and sprout. Straw (not hay)

July in the South, otherwise known as oppressive heat. With the hot weather comes evaporation. Plants get stressed easily by extreme heat so it’s important to stay on top of watering.

and wood chips make the best mulch, but shredded leaves and newspaper will also do the job. In areas where the weeds have already gotten away from you, put down a layer of cardboard and top it with mulch to suffocate existing weeds.

HOW A drip irrigation system, the most efficient watering option, can be purchased at your local Farmers Coop, and it is easy to customize

{ H a rv e s t i n g }

for the size of your garden. However, a plain old garden hose with

Sure, there are heat and bugs in the summer but there’s also food,

a sprinkler works well too! Regardless of your watering method,

and lots of it. All that fresh food needs to be harvested frequently

it’s important to keep your crops, particularly tomatoes, mulched

to make the most of all your hard work.

with wood chips or straw. This will prevent fungus spores from

HOW

splashing up from the soil and causing problems such as blight.

Many vegetables, like tomatoes, will pop right off the vine with a

WHEN

gentle tug, but thicker-stemmed veggies like squash and okra can

Water early in the morning when the soil is dry to the touch

be cut off with a sharp pair of pruning shears. Avoid pulling on a

one inch below the surface. Morning watering will allow time

plant, since stems can break easily.

for the water to sink in, eliminating loss due to evaporation.

Evening watering is another option but can cause mildew issues

WHEN

because moisture remains on leaves overnight. You should never

Harvesting should always be done in the morning. I call this pajama

water during the heat of day, as most of the water will be lost

gardening. If you’re concerned about the neighbor’s judgment,

to evaporation. Water your garden any time the soil is dry one

share a few fresh tomatoes to win them over.

inch below the surface. The amount of time it takes to get the garden sufficiently watered will depend on your watering method,

Morning is when the moisture and sugars are most dense in

but generally it’s time to turn off the water when water starts to

fruits and veggies. During the heat of the day, plants draw more

puddle on the surface.

moisture away from fruits and into roots, leaving still tasty, but not optimum, produce. For obvious reasons, the harvesting process is more pleasant before the heat of the day hits. Reserve your

{ Weeding }

garden work for early morning and late evening. There’s no point

You know the phrase “growing like a weed”? I’m pretty sure that phrase was coined in July. Weeds are rampant this month and

in pouring sweat, risking sunburn, and being miserable if you can avoid it.

prevention and regular maintenance are the keys to success.

REMOVAL If you want to remove weeds by hand, use a hoe or hand cultivator to loosen the soil and remove the plant by its roots. Weeds without blooms can go into the compost bin, but if there are blooms on the plant, you’ll want to put it in the garbage. Returning weed

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

27

28

people

words & Images Laurie Marshall

“The cow is of the bovine ilk; one end is moo, the other milk.�

Ogden Nash, Free Wheeling

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

people

F

or decades now, the unique taste of raw milk has been a memory of days gone by. It is now known only to our elders, and perhaps those living in communities where it is

not uncommon to see a Jersey cow standing in the yard beside a small farmhouse. For the rest of us, milk has always been snowy white in color and available only from a grocery store in jugs and cartons. But thanks to the passage last year of House Bill 1536, more and more people in Arkansas are learning what milk straight from the cow tastes like.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Randy Alexander of Springdale, presented the legislation to support the idea that Arkansas citizens are capable of making their own choices about what kind of food they want to serve to their families. After several years of discussion and revision, the most recent draft of the bill passed in August of 2013.

Rep. Alexander stated before the House Agriculture Committee, “Safety’s not the only question, or in my mind even the most important question that we have to consider here. In my view, diluting the God-given freedom of our people is what constitutes an unacceptable risk. That erosion of our rights is a clear and present danger to our citizens and even to our way of life.” makes for the best tasting pork.” The addition of raw milk to the Under the new law, producers can sell up to 500 gallons of

farm’s list of available products also provides added income that is

unpasteurized milk, but they can only sell directly from their farm.

dependable year-round, which is important during winter months

Standardized signs must be posted at the point of sale notifying

when their produce sales are reduced.

buyers that the milk is unpasteurized, the farm and cows are not inspected by the state, and the buyer assumes all liability for any

Why buy raw?

health problems that may arise from consuming the milk. The

According to consumer research, the unique flavor that is found

container of milk must also bear a label with the name and address

in unpasteurized milk is one of the most popular reasons to drink

of the farm along with same statement mandated for the sign.

it. The sweet grasses and other forage plants available to cows in the field provide a flavor with more complexity than the standard

Mariah and Ira White operate Summer Kitchen Farm, an eighteen-

pasteurized milk found in the grocery store. The texture is also

acre property in south Fayetteville on which they raise fresh eggs,

creamier because the natural fats are still intact.

pasture-fed pork and chicken, and produce for their CSA farmshare program. Their three dairy cows can produce three to four

But aside from a taste, many people believe raw milk is a healthier

gallons of milk per day, and they currently provide milk to forty-

option because pasteurization kills not only pathogens such as E.

five local families, but the Whites still have a waiting list for the

coli, salmonella and listeria, but also destroys beneficial bacteria,

half-gallon mason jars they sell.

proteins and enzymes. The Whites claim that most of their customers are interested in the nutritional content and enzymes

The Whites’ story is similar to other farmers who are selling

found in unpasteurized milk.

unpasteurized milk. “We started with one dairy cow for ourselves and a few friends and really fell in love. [The cows] are amazing

In a survey conducted by the Weston A. Price Foundation, eighty

animals with sweet and sassy personalities. Dairy is a big part of

percent of the 700 families surveyed reported a reduction or

our diet and provides a great source of feed for our hogs, which

elimination of digestive problems when they switched to raw milk.

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

29

30

people

A large study done in England and reported in the publication

dairy products. Illnesses associated with dairy products generally

Clinical and Experimental Allergy in 2007 concluded that

involve gastrointestinal discomfort, and only a handful of deaths

consumption of raw milk may offer protection against asthma and

have occurred from the consumption of pasteurized milk over the

allergies similar to the way consumption of local honey has been

past decade.

found to reduce allergy symptoms by “immunizing” the individual through consumption of the same pollens that are likely to cause

There has not been a single death attributed to raw fluid milk

problems for sensitive individuals.

since the mid-1980s, in spite of the fact that approximately 10 million people consume it regularly. It should be noted that

For those interested in connecting with their food supply, the

the FDA banned interstate sales of unpasteurized milk in 1987,

availability of unpasteurized milk is just one more way to support

although individual states determine how raw milk is bought and

their community. The restriction in HB 1536 that requires

sold within their borders.

consumers to buy raw milk directly from the farm also forces a relationship between consumer and farmer – something many

The bottom line is that the option of buying raw milk is now

people, including the farmers, appreciate. As the Whites say, “Our

available for those who are interested in consuming it. Mariah and

role as farmers in the community...we can’t tell you how good it

Ira White, their children, and the two interns who work on their

feels to feed people good food and the people in this community

farm drink upwards of ten gallons a week, without experiencing

have been overwhelmingly supportive. We absolutely love what

illness. They believe their customers are able to decide for

we do.”

themselves if raw milk is right for them. “The sale of the milk, the cows and the farm is completely unregulated. It is up to the

Food Safety Issues

consumer to educate themselves about raw milk and inspect the

The discussions on the path to legalize raw milk in Arkansas included

farm where they buy from.” They will be expanding their CSA

arguments leveled by the Arkansas Agriculture Department, the

offerings in the future, as well as adding bee hives to their farm.

state’s Milk Stabilization Board and the Arkansas Department of

Perhaps they truly are living in the land of milk and honey.

Health, all of which voiced concern that the unpasteurized milk could be contaminated with pathogens that can cause illness.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, there were 24,000

For a list of farms that sell raw milk in Arkansas, visit

foodborne illnesses reported each year from 1990 – 2006. Out of

realmilk.com/real-milk-finder/arkansas/.

that annual number, 315 (or 1.3%) were reported to be caused by D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

people

Ira and Mariah White

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

31

32

people

Bill Womble

Life Above Ground words Anita Paddock Images Jeromy Price and courtesy Bill Womble

“She went to work as the attendance clerk at Fort Smith Senior High [now Northside High School] and later became the registrar,” Bill says. “It was a particularly hard time for a teenage boy to lose his father, but my dad’s brother, Ben, stepped up and gave me my

It was evident early on that Bill Womble’s life would revolve around flight.

first flying lessons.”

As a young boy he often spent hours at Tilles Park in Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he played with his model airplanes, the kind made from kits found at dime-stores across

Bill graduated from Fort Smith Senior High

the nation. Those were idyllic days, and he remembers them fondly. But life changed

in 1959 and attended the University of

suddenly when he was fourteen. Bill’s father died and he felt the immeasurable weight

Arkansas in Fayetteville. He immediately

of it. His mother, Anna Lee, told him not to worry. She felt certain she could find work,

joined the Arkansas Air National Guard and

and she began intently searching for a job.

was commissioned in the 188th

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

Fighter

people

Debris from 1972 crash

Wing. He attended Air Force Pilot Training School at Craig AFB in

But even during those times, he was aware that what he was doing

Selma, Alabama.

was dangerous. On a spring day in 1972, Bill, who was then in his early thirties, invited Lieutenant Colonel Joe Jamell, an officer in the

His fellow trainees came from the Air Force Academy, ROTC, and

188th, to go for a ride in an F-101B two-seater trainer jet. Things

two students from Iran and Pakistan. Bill, who represented the

were fine, until it was time to return to the base. The landing gear

Arkansas Air National Guard, graduated at the top of his class in

wouldn’t engage, and Bill was trying everything he could think of

flying, and his Uncle Ben was there to witness the ceremony.

to get the plane safely home. When nothing worked, he flew the jet across the Arkansas River to the Peno Bottoms, not far from

After Bill’s time in Alabama, he landed at Luke AFB in Phoenix,

Spiro, Oklahoma. He and Lieutenant Colonel Jamell jumped from

Arizona, for twenty-eight weeks of combat training in the F-100

the plane, which then crashed, caught fire, and scattered in pieces

Super Saber jet fighter. “The F-100 was the hottest fighter of its

across the field. “Jamell [who landed in a tree] got a bad case of

time,” Bill says. “It was the most coveted aircraft assignment.”

poison ivy,” Bill says. “I got a broken back.”

He remembers flying a low-level training mission that took him

As a keepsake of sorts, or maybe a good luck charm, Bill kept the

over the Grand Canyon. He dropped down well below the canyon

small valve that was found among the plane’s wreckage, the valve

rim where he got a close look at its grandeur, something that could

that caused the landing gear to malfunction.

never happen today. “That was well before the FAA prohibited such flying over the canyon.”

It took six months for Bill to heal and return to the cockpit. He flew for another twenty-three years and retired at the mandatory age

From there, Bill returned to Fort Smith where he flew jets for

of fifty-five in May, 1996.

testing and evaluation purposes. Some of the required tests were conducted above the speed of sound until the government

He felt a little lost after that, and knew he needed a hobby. He

prohibited supersonic flying over the continental US. “They

thought about buying a motorcycle or an ultra-light airplane. But

made this big boom when we crossed the sound barrier,” Bill

neither of those things happened. Instead, he took up flying radio-

explains. “Farmers complained that they made their chickens

controlled model airplanes.

stop laying eggs, their cows go dry, and cracked the foundation in their houses.”

Bill had known there was a group called the Flightmasters. He had seen their flying field along Highway 71 South a mile or so past

Whatever was happening on the ground, up in the sky things

Rye Hill, on the outskirts of Fort Smith. “I just stopped by one day

were wonderful. Bill loved these flights, the speed, the power of

and was warmly welcomed. The next thing I knew I had joined the

the jets, the world dropping away as he rose high in the sky.

club. I’ve enjoyed the fellowship because we all share a fascination with airplanes and a passion for aviation in general.”

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

33

34

people

model plane that looks like the one his dad flew in World War II. When that plane is finished, it will weigh about thirty-five pounds.

One of the best things about the club is how they encourage new members. To help them get started, the more experienced flyer will link his controller to the trainee’s plane, and if things start to go south, the older member takes over, which is a great comfort to those still learning.

In 2013, the Flightmasters had to move their field from the familiar one on Highway 71 because it was located in the path of the Interstate 49 construction work. Their new field is past Barling, off Highway 22, and a little east of Highway 59. In order to use the land, the club received permission from Ivy Owen and the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority.

The group, which currently has more than forty members, held its first national event last September, bringing in pilots from as far away as Chicago and San Antonio. While hosting other pilots is great fun for the group, their real joy is giving back to the community. They attend functions year round, and last summer, on the parking lot of Grace Community Church, Bible School attendees were treated with candy dropped out of the “bomb bays” of specially equipped models.

Bill loves every aspect of the group. Flightmasters has been a great Bill Womble

experience for him. He found the group at a time when he felt a little lost, and he’s met so many people and made so many friends.

The Fort Smith Flightmasters Model Airplane Club is chartered by

“There’s a lot of camaraderie, a lot of hangar talk, and we drink a

both the Academy of Model Aeronautics and the International

lot of coffee,” he says, and then smiles. “It really is a great group

Miniature Aircraft Association. The group started back in 1957, and

of people.”

one of the original members, Ron Roberts, is still active in the club.

It seems fitting that Bill’s fondness for planes continues today. As Bill bought his first radio-controlled airplane for $250. “The

a young boy, he dreamed of flying, playing in the park with his

first time I flew it, it crashed immediately. The same laws of

simple model planes. As a young man he studied diligently to learn

aerodynamics that apply to full size airplanes equally apply to

all he could about flying, and now, retired, he’s flying again, this

model airplanes. That humbled me some, but I was hooked.”

time using a controller to set his plane in action, to watch it soar across the bright blue skies, to carefully bring it home again.

Some of the planes are built by their owners (with help from their friends) and some are bought as kits or already assembled. The planes are flown by hand-held computer controlled transmitters, and like the airplanes they fly, come in a wide price range. Right

For more on Flightmasters, how to join, and when they

now, Bill is finishing up an orange and black plane he ordered

meet, visit fortsmithflightmasters.com.

online. It has a six foot wingspan, is six feet long, and has a gas engine. He’s also helping the club president, who’s building a D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

36

people

Gabe and Kaity Gould, who live in Fort Smith

now thirty, says, “Before I worked as a barista, I never knew the

and own Hawk and Horse Coffee Roasting Company, are just

difference between freshly roasted coffee and coffee on the shelf

beginning to live their dream, a dream that started in Australia

at the store. It’s like the difference between freshly baked bread

in 2006. At that time, Kaity was a barista in a coffee shop, and

and commercially processed bread, which sits for days and has

Gabe didn’t even like coffee. But once he tried it freshly roasted,

preservatives. There’s a taste difference. Most of the coffee you

he was sold. “Since then, when we travel, we always seek out the

buy off the shelf is essentially stale. But since people are used to

local roasters,” says Gabe, who’s thirty-one. “But there wasn’t

that, they don’t know.”

one in Fort Smith, so we wanted to be the first. We wanted to start something that would grow.”

Coffee comes from the coffee plant, which produces a red berry as fruit.

The coffee bean that gets roasted for your morning brew is actually the

A graduate of Southside High School, Gabe grew up in Fort Smith.

pit or seed of that fruit and is green in its raw state. Gabe says, “There are

After graduating, he joined the Navy and met Kaity in California in

different methods of harvesting raw beans, but the process from when

2001. In 2004, they married, and in 2006, they moved to Australia

it’s picked to when it gets to the roaster is not quite as essential as from

when Gabe joined a church leadership program. Kaity, who’s

when it’s roasted to when it goes to your cup.”

A Fresh Approach to Coffee words Marcus Coker Images Courtesy of Hawk and Horse Coffee Roasting Company

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

people

After leaving Australia and Kaity’s job as a barista, Gabe and Kaity

me, Richer than wealth, prouder than garments’ cost, Of more

moved around a lot, mostly to be near their families. Gabe worked

delight than hawks or horses be; And having thee, of all men’s

at a bank and a medical technologies company, and he and Kaity

pride I boast.” Kaity says, “We assume he’s talking about a

even started their own cleaning business. But by the end of 2013,

woman, but it’s something that’s greater than earthly delight. For

they settled in Fort Smith, with Gabe working at Gerber and Kaity

us, we have God as more important than our business.” Gabe

taking care of their four children. She says, “We just wanted to be

says, “The name has multiple levels to it. We put God in front of

back here.”

everything. But on another level, we think our coffee is better than any other thing on earth.”

Since their latest move, Gabe and Kaity have become more and more interested in roasting coffee, the process by which heat is

In February of this year, Gabe and Kaity bought a commercial-

applied to a green coffee bean and transforms it chemically and

sized fluid air roaster, which roasts approximately three pounds

physically into what most people think of as coffee.

of green coffee beans at a time. Gabe says, “The average coffee shop probably uses four to five pounds a day of roasted coffee.

“We started hobby roasting on a mini fluid air roaster about a year

The bags we used can hold about a pound, so we roast two and

ago. I totally fried the first batch,” says Kaity as she laughs. “Most

a half bags at a time.”

places use a drum roaster, which tumbles beans around on a hot surface. The fluid air roaster is a large glass cylinder with a metal

Kaity says, “The beans go from a green, grassy color to an earthy

bottom that has holes in it. The raw beans go in the machine, and

color, getting progressively darker for light, medium, and dark

air comes up from underneath and rotates the beans.” Gabe adds,

roasts. It takes about ten to eighteen minutes depending on

“It’s supposed to have a more even roast, a shorter roast time, and

what we are going for.” The air in the roaster rises to about 395

yield different flavors.”

degrees. At that point, the beans experience what is called “first crack,” the point at which enough moisture is released from the

Katy says, “We were roasting mostly for friends and family and

beans that they begin to pop. Kaity says, “You want first crack,

would give roasted coffee as a gift in mason jars. Then enough

but not second crack, unless you are wanting a dark roast. The

people started asking about it, so we decided to start Hawk and

sound is really subtle. If you’re not listening, you wouldn’t notice.

Horse as an online business.”

We gauge it by site, smell, and sound.”

The name for the company comes from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 91,

Gabe says, “If you heat the beans up too fast, you get a more

which includes these lines: “Thy love is better than high birth to

acidic flavor. If you go too slow, you get a burnt flavor. The more

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

37

38

people

origin. The differences are subtle, but we have customers that swear by each one. They are all Arabica coffees, which is the type of bean.

Another type would be Robusta. The difference is the elevation at which they are grown.” Robusta coffees also contain twice the caffeine as Arabica coffees, meaning they are more bitter.

The coffees are sold for $9 for a half-pound and $16 for a full pound. (A full pound yields thirty-two espresso shots.) Since opening, Hawk and Horse has filled orders as far away as California and Virginia.

“We can grind the coffee for people, but prefer to sell whole bean,” says Kaity. “The more surface area that’s exposed by grinding, the more it’s exposed to air and humidity and heat, all those enemies of coffee. So it’s best to grind right before your brew it. We recommend a type called a burr grinder for a consistent grind. It’s not a special brand, but one with a specific mechanism for grinding. They can be purchased on Ebay or Amazon.”

For now, Gabe and Kaity are roasting their coffee from home and selling their product through their website and Facebook page.

But they have bigger plans—much bigger. She says, “You’re seeing grassroots, the very start of pursuing a dream. We want to be the coffee roaster for this area. And we want to be face to face, maybe one day have a place where people can have fresh coffee and we can provide other local products like soaps and extracts and produce.”

Of course, dreams, just like a good cup of coffee, take time. But the extra effort is surely worth the taste of success that comes from the fruits of your labor. And what’s more, as Kaity says, “This is just the beginning, which is very exciting.” you define those parameters of how you’re heating it up and how long, you can pinpoint how you want it to taste.” To help them do just that, Gabe and Kaity use what’s called Advanced Definition Roasting (ADR), which allows them to save the temperature and length of time roasted for each batch to their computer via

For more information, find Hawk and Horse on Facebook,

Bluetooth. Kaity says,“ ADR gives us consistency. Because we have

visit their website at www.hawkandhorse.com, or call

a record of what we did with each batch, we can drink coffee and

479.226.2437.

tweak the next batch to personal and customer preferences.”

Hawk and Horse gets their beans from an online distributor and offers four types of coffee: Mexico Chiapas (Fair Trade Organic), Brazil (Fair Trade Organic), Costa Rican, and Mexican Esmeralda Decaf. Kaity says, “They are named for the country and state of D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

40

people

WORDS Stoney Stamper IMAGES courtesy Stoney and April Stamper

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

people

I was born and raised on a large Quarter Horse ranch in Northeastern Oklahoma. Getting dirty was just a given. Fixing fences, cleaning stalls, doctoring horses and cattle, it was all just a part of a normal day. I went to college on an equine scholarship, where, among other things, I became a certified A.I. technician, which means that on any given day, you could find me shoulder deep in the nether regions of a cow, horse, or pig.

I can do all of those things, and really never bat an eye. I guess, because they seem part of my DNA, I don’t even hesitate. Getting dirty while working the land or handling my farm animals doesn’t bother me. But, here’s the kicker. People germs make me want to bathe in acid. I do not like touching people. Adults, kids, doesn’t matter. I hate it. And public bathrooms, don’t even get me started.

Case in point, last week, I had to use a gas station restroom. I drive a lot for my job. And drink loads of coffee. I found a station that looked clean enough, and since I was about to pee my pants, I decided to give it a try. Mistake. This bathroom only had an electric hand dryer in it. Not an automatic hand dryer, either, but one you have to push the button on. I didn’t want to touch that button.

It looked filthy and wet. However, I couldn’t leave my hands wet, nor could I use toilet paper to dry my hands. I would have felt even more disgusted touching toilet paper that had been sitting in the dirty bathroom than touching the button on that hand dryer.

So I washed my hands and pushed the nasty button with my arm so I could dry them. But when I touched the button with my arm, it felt totally gross and skanky, so I then felt the overwhelming need to wash my hands, and arm, again.

Back at the sink, I washed to the elbows like I was getting ready to perform a friggin’ emergency appendectomy. But of course, I was still in the predicament of how to turn on the hand dryer.

This time, I tried to use my cloth-covered shoulder, but there was a problem. This button was one that you just touch, and it uses the body heat from your hand, or some such sorcery, to turn it on.

And my clothed shoulder wasn’t working.

Reluctantly, I tried to use my elbow, and it worked. The dryer came on. And I felt fairly certain that if I were to hold my wet hands in front of my face, and blow as hard as I could with my own mouth and lungs, that I could’ve dried my hands more quickly. Also, when the dryer started blowing, it put out a horrible, sulfuric smell, which made my hands feel dirty all over again. I think if I’d have asked the D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

41

42

people

gas station clerk to just fart on my hands they would’ve been just

mix. For someone as particular and completely anal-retentive as

as dry, and just as clean. I knew I had to get the hell out of that

I am, this was about the most traumatic thing that could have

bathroom. I turned to leave, and OF COURSE, the door had a knob,

happened. I can only imagine how unbearable I was to live with

and it had to be pulled open, and not kicked open like a SWAT team

those first few months. My neat little world had been turned

would, which is exactly what I felt like doing.

upside down.

I untucked my shirt, so I could use my shirttail to grab the doorknob

Where I had once found clean countertops, I now found spilled

and open the door. Just as I twisted the knob and unlocked it, a

Kool-Aid, bobby pins and strands of hair. Where I had once seen

dude from the outside hit the door like a Spanish Fighting Bull,

shiny and clean bathroom floors, I now found an unimaginable

and the doorknob touched my bare belly. And the door touched

pile of little girls’ pants and underwear and socks and towels.

my cheek. IT. TOUCHED. MY. CHEEK.

Where there had once been a clean kitchen sink, there was now a plate filled with food, laying there. The things I have seen, the

Shock. Horror. Mayhem. Pandemonium, and whatnot. I rushed

messes I have cleaned up, the chaos that is raising children, was

as quickly as I could from the restroom to my truck. It was time

something that I could never have planned for. But it was exactly

for total damage control. I bathed myself in antibacterial gel. My

what I needed.

hands, arms, and face. And stomach. It burned my eyes, and a cut on my hand, so I knew it was working. Then I drove straight

Now, don’t get me wrong, I still lose my mind from time to time. I

across town about fifteen minutes to this big, nice gas station,

still use antibacterial gel like it’s going out of style. I wash my hands

that I KNEW had nice, clean bathrooms, with the zigzag entrances,

every thirty minutes, all day long, often until my knuckles are raw. I

automatic faucets, and Dyson Airblade hand dryers. And I washed

still lock the front and back doors three times, before going to bed.

my hands. Oooooh, I washed my hands. And it was glorious.

I still tap my toes three times into the bottom of my boots before putting them on. Because hey, I’m still me, and I’m still a little odd.

Unfortunately, this is just one example of the countless stories in

But wouldn’t life be boring if it weren’t for all the variety?

my life that end eerily similar to this one. My germaphobic ways were completely manageable when I lived all by my lonesome. I

I’ve learned that everything in life cannot be planned for. Planning,

could line my boots up under the stairs just the way I wanted. I

structure, and keeping everything clean all of the time is a great

could vacuum every night, without fear of disturbing someone, or

thought. But what these girls have shown me is beautiful things

waking them up. I could wash my one plate, my one fork, and one

happen when you least expect them. They aren’t planned. And

whiskey tumbler, and put them right back into my cabinet. My

making messes happens when you let your guard down and allow

world was a neatly folded, perfectly kempt environment.

yourself to stop worrying over every little thing and just love the beautiful life you’ve been given, messes and all.

But then, something happened. I married a woman who had two young daughters. And then we added another daughter to the

Stoney Stamper

is the author of the popular parenting blog, The Daddy Diaries. He and his wife April have three daughters: Abby, Emma and Gracee. Originally from northeast Oklahoma, the Stampers now live in Tyler, Texas. For your daily dose of The Daddy Diaries, visit Stoney on Facebook or on his website, thedaddydiaries.net.

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

44

people

words Tonya McCoy Images Jeromy Price and courtesy Jacob Siler

In a not-yet-released video game, Sky Bridge: Fallen Stars, a zeppelin floats through the

“In some cases you might be on a quest

air casting a long shadow on the ground in front of a character named Ant and her

where you’re an ambassador and you go

steam-powered carriage that’s rolling across a lush green field. She’s leaving home. Her

to another country and sometimes you

parents and sister were killed by pirates and she’s seeking justice. She’s on a journey to

may even be a spy,” says twenty-two-year-

become the first female Skylark, a military group that protects an alliance of countries

old Jacob Siler from Van Buren, one of the

on her home planet of Stella. Soon Ant hopes to be fighting outlaws like the ones who

game’s creators.

murdered her family.

Co-creator and brother, Zachary Siler, who’s Ant is one of two characters Arkansas game-makers hope you’ll fall in love with. Players

twenty-five, and lives in Hot Springs, says,

will choose the character Ant or River, a farm boy also aspiring to join Skylark. The game

“There’s action, but there’s also espionage

will be an RPG, or role playing game, meaning as Ant or River, players will complete

and covert operations.”

quests, earning experience on their way to becoming Skylarks.

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

people

It’s a ‘steampunk’ genre game which means your character is

“One of my first games was on an old computer with a big three

surrounded by high-tech, steam-powered machinery such as

and a half inch floppy disc. It was Donkey Kong and King’s Quest,”

flying ships, horseless carriages and geared-up motorcycles. To

says Zachary.

help you better understand the setting, think of the movies Hugo, and Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr. Video games such as

“We spent hours on that game, you know, just trying to get over

Final Fantasy and Epic Mickey are also steampunk.

the barrels and save the princess,” laughs Jacob. He was three when he began playing Donkey Kong in the early nineties.

The game’s home planet, Stella, also has a culture similar to the Victorian era. The inspiration came from our own Clayton House,

Video games have come a long way since the poorly pixilated

right here in Fort Smith. Allyson Siler, the brothers’ twenty-seven-

graphics Donkey Kong. And while Fallen Stars is years beyond

year-old sister, has also been working to develop the game. She

such games, the siblings have bigger goals. Their plans started at

spent years working at Clayton House where their mother was

the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith.

director at the time. The whole family volunteered at the historic building, learning the traditions and fashions which helped bring

Jacob explains, “In the Science Technology Engineering and Math

the characters to life.

(STEM) department there is a Bachelor of Science with a major in Animation Technology. So when we came here, we said we want

“We volunteered there a lot and they had certain events where

to start an internship program with you. They were really excited.

people would come dressed in Victorian clothes and it just kind

And it’s just been overwhelming because every student wants to

of got in our brains, the Victorian era...The idea of using Victorian

do it.”

technology to achieve what we could do today,” says Zachary.

Jacob, Allyson and Zachary have joined their video game ambitions,

The internship program began in June, and animation students

their love for steampunk, and their initials to create JAZ Games.

receive college credit for their work. They’ve also recruited impressive

But their interest in games began way before they learned about

talent off campus.

steampunk.

Audio editor Stephen Muir who’s worked on the recent movie

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

45

46

people

truth eight years ago. “I woke up one morning and my arm was numb, and it stayed numb as I went about my routine. I noticed as the day went on that the numbness spread until it covered the right half of my body. It was like I could draw a line where I could feel on one side, and not on the other. A week passed and I had what I thought was my first migraine ever. The headache faded fairly quickly, however the upper right quadrant of my vision had a blurred spot left in it.”

An ophthalmologist referred Jacob to a neurologist who, after a series of tests, diagnosed Jacob with Multiple Sclerosis. MS is an unpredictable disease of the central nervous system in which the immune system attacks the patient’s own nerves. This disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body.

According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, women are Elysium starring Matt

two to three times more likely to be diagnosed with MS, and

Damon, and the popular

only between two and five percent of people diagnosed with

video game Red Dead

MS experience pediatric MS with symptoms occurring before

Redemption has agreed

the age of eighteen. Jacob was a sixteen-year-old boy. It may

to work on the game.

be surprising, but Jacob sees his diagnosis as a positive. “I think

Plus, G. Aaron Siler, an

it was a call to me, just kind of a knock over my head, like I need

uncle of the siblings, is an award winning sound designer, and will

to be doing something important with my life. I don’t need to be

work on Fallen Stars. His previous work includes audio editing and

wasting my time.”

engineering for the Dallas Cowboys and for the TV series Barney.

Jacob’s goals are important to him because he hopes to build a In the future, the siblings hope to develop a Sky Bridge MMO, or a

game that’s less violent and more accessible to younger ages than

massively multiplayer online game. Think the size of Halo or World

today’s main-stream role playing and massive multiplayer games.

of Warcraft games, where millions of people play online.

He also plans to encourage something that’s rare for popular video games: play with moderation.

And if that goal wasn’t big enough, they hope to make their game a virtual reality as well. Jacob explains, “What we want to

The aspirations of JAZ Games are neatly summed up by a quote

do is build gaming centers, virtual reality pods. They already exist,

from a YouTube video the brothers made in an attempt to draw

they almost look like hamster balls on a track. You just jump in

support for the game. “When destiny calls, will you listen, will you

them and run around in an object on a stationary track. It’s like

do what’s necessary to become the person you dream of?”

an omnidirectional treadmill almost, and we want to link these centers together so whatever center you go to, you can hop in and play the game networked with every other person that’s in there.”

For information on Animation Technology programs or the video game internship at UAFS call the ‘STEM’

And if that isn’t enough, they’ve even considered doing a 3D

department at 479.788.7129.

scanning of the player, so your avatar will look just like you. Yes, there are big plans for Sky Bridge: Fallen Stars, and in a world full

Check out the game’s progress on Facebook under

of cynicism, it takes courage to live your dreams. You never know

JazGaming or www.skybridgesaga.us.

what the future holds for you. Jacob became all too aware of this D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

48

people

Queen Concordia August: 1954

aloft and placed it on her head, she was the kind of happy songs are written about.

Her coronation as Queen Concordia was the highlight of the Tontitown Grape Festival,

words Marla Cantrell Images Mark Mundorff and courtesy Tontitown Historical Museum and Shiloh Museum of Ozark History

hosted by St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. The festival had begun as a day of thanksgiving

by Italian immigrants who came to the area

In the summer of 1954, on a muggy August night in Tontitown,

beginning in 1898, bringing with them their

Arkansas, Antoinette Zulpo (now Pianalto) became a queen. The dress she wore was

expertise for growing grapes and a belief in

white and ruffled; her jewelry – a necklace, bracelet, and earrings – was costume; and her

the American Dream. As the years passed

crown was cardboard, made by a man named J.H. Posey, who could do wonders with a

and the vineyards flourished, the celebration

little glue and a lot of sparkle. When her uncle, Mayor Harry Sbanotto, held the crown

grew, and more and more people showed

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

people

Antoinette Pianalto

up, due in large part to the cooking skills of the ladies. No one

really good to me. Each girl had sponsors, and mine were Richard

could get enough of their Italian food.

and Nettie Mae Ardemagni, who owned the Tontitown Mercantile Company. They were so good to me. Nettie Mae would take me

Antoinette doesn’t remember her decision to run for queen. “It

to sell. We went to other churches, as far away as Harrison, and

was just expected, I think, since I grew up helping with the festival.

I’d sell chances after church.

It takes a lot of work to get ready. We’d start in July making the spaghetti, and when you’re really small you show up with your

“On a certain Sunday evening, they counted the votes. I’d sold

mother and do things like carry the eggs and flour to the women

$1,200 in chances.” Antoinette laughs. “That’s a lot of tickets.”

of the church. There’s a lot of mixing and rolling out the dough, and cutting it into strips. You get to visit. There’s a lot of talking

In fact, it’s 4,800. All bought from Antoinette, including the

and laughing and catching up. There’s so much tradition in it;

winning one that was purchased by the aunt of the man who

there’s really nothing else like it.”

would soon marry Antoinette’s older sister.

There was also nothing else like being queen, although it was not

With her title secured, she started getting ready for her coronation.

an easy task. The contestants sold chances on a big-ticket item. In

Again, her sponsors stepped in. “Richard gave Nettie Mae $200,

recent years the prize has been a pickup truck, (this year it will be

which was a lot of money at that time. He said, ‘Take her shopping

a 2014 Dodge pickup from Everett Chrysler Dodge) but in 1954, it

and don’t come home with a dime.’ She bought my dress, which

was a brand new black-and-white TV. Since Tontitown was such

was beautiful, all my undergarments, my shoes. She bought my

a small place, it was imperative that the girls traveled outside the

jewelry, a matched set of necklace, bracelet, earrings. We had

area to find enough buyers. The cost of each raffle ticket was

a few dollars left over and she said, ‘I can’t go home with this

twenty-five cents.

money.’ She asked me what I wanted, and I said, ‘I’d love a pretty rosary.’ And she got me one.

Antoinette, who was fourteen at the time, had a hurdle to overcome; her parents didn’t own a car, so she had to depend

“The night I was crowned, they had part of a circus come to town.

on others to chauffer her. “I had people who would come pick

They had an elephant, and somebody wanted me to ride in on this

me up at eight in the morning and take me back home at night.

elephant up to the stage. And I said, ‘I’m not getting on that dirty

I had a friend who was an assistant coach at the University of

elephant in this white dress!’ I was the type that if I was told to do

Arkansas, and he took me there. I had a lot of people that were

something, I’d do it. But I drew the line there.”

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

49

50

people

Antoinette is laughing as she tells the story. At seventy-four she

through about twenty cases of lettuce a night.”

is still beautiful, still carries herself regally. When she talks about Tontitown, there is so much love in her voice it feels like listening

In all these years, Antoinette has yet to miss one night of the yearly

to music. Each year, she says, her mother made her three dresses

Grape Festival. She gestures with her hands, holding them out in

to wear during the festival. Looking back, she realizes they were

front of her. “You can’t miss the festival,” she says, emphatically.

actually clothes for the new school year, but it never once occurred

It’s been sixty years since her uncle and mayor of Tontitown

to her then.

crowned her Queen Concordia (named for the Concord grape, which flourished in the Arkansas soil). She taps her lip with her

Her memory reaches so far back that she can tell you how the

index finger, and then excuses herself for a moment. When she

spaghetti dinners came to include the now famous fried chicken.

comes back she’s carrying a brass trophy that was given to her

“Men would go around and ask for donations and then some

the day she relinquished her reign to the new queen, Nora Piazza.

women would donate tea towels, some would donate eggs for

“Governor Orval Faubus presented me with this trophy on August

the spaghetti, and a lot of people would donate live chickens

25, 1955,” she says.

that they’d put in these coops, and that’s how it came about: spaghetti and chicken. The women would go up there and scald

And while meeting the governor was thrilling for the fifteen-year-

the chickens and pick the chickens and dress them. One of my first

old, there was someone else in the crowd who stole her heart.

jobs was to clean the gizzards.

“My mother was sick. She had cancer at the time, but I didn’t know it. And still, she showed up to see me give up my crown, and

“We served maybe two to three hundred people a night. Now we

then she had to go right back home. That meant the world to me,

serve several thousand a night. We have a man who comes and

that she came to see me that night.”

fries our chicken now. But the women still make the hot rolls every day. They make the sauce in a pot that holds ninety gallons. It’s so

That year was heartbreaking for Antoinette. Her dad, who’d been

tall they’ve made us a couple of stools to stand on to stir it with

bedridden from a stroke for five years, died of a heart attack. Her

aluminum boat paddles. We make five pots starting on Tuesday

mother succumbed to the cancer, dying before Antoinette turned

and going through Saturday. We make twenty-two batches of hot

sixteen. “They passed away eight months apart,” she says.

rolls a day. We have a machine that chops the lettuce. We go

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

people

Soon after, Antoinette went to live with her older sister. She graduated, moved to Tulsa, and fell in love with Richard Pianalto, who also grew up in Tontitown. Eventually they moved back, had a farm, and raised their children. At the center, always, was Antoinette’s faith and devotion to St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.

There is a guide that’s given out each year at the Grape Festival. In it is the history of the area, the memories of the earliest residents of Tontitown, each a celebration of their Italian heritage. An entire page is devoted to the former queens, with a list of surnames such as Fiori and Sabatini, Mantegani, Franco. And of course, Pianalto and Zulpo. Antoinette is proud to be among them. Her own father came to Arkansas from Italy, as did both her mother-in-law and father-in-law.

116th Tontitown Grape Festival

“The Italians who came here were such hard working people,” she says, “and this place looked a lot like Italy, which is why they thought the grapes would do well here. They had a hard time for a while; most could only speak Italian, and it took some of the people here a while to accept them. My mother-in-law remembers seeing the Statue of Liberty from the boat she was on when she arrived. She was five.” Antoinette smiles, “Can you imagine what an impact that made?”

August 5 -9 Free Parking Free Admission Free Nightly Entertainment Grape Stomp Tuesday & Wednesday Spaghetti Dinners served Thursday-Saturday Arts & Crafts Open Thursday-Saturday

In a few more days Antoinette will join the other volunteers from her church to start making pasta for this year’s festival. She’ll sign up to work in the dining hall on Friday night, and wait for the crowds that line up well before the doors open, ready for a homemade Italian meal that’s second to none. She is already excited, so happy to be part of a tradition that’s been around for 116 years. So proud to be part of a community that opens its

Carnival Every Night w/Armband Specials 116th Queen Concordia Crowned Friday Run for the Grapes 5K Walk/Run & Kids Fun Run Saturday tontitowngrapefestival.com Find them on Facebook — Tontitown Grape Festival

doors and has a party every August, honoring the good, strong people who took a chance on America and made Tontitown their home sweet home.

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

51

52

taste

5 ½ cups seedless watermelon, chopped ¾ cup Coney Island Carlo Spriits Tequila 6 Tablespoons Triple Sec 5 Tablespoons fresh lime juice ¼ teaspoon salt 2 ¼ cups club soda, chilled 6 lime wedges plus extra to add to container Makes six, one-cup servings

RECIPE Burford Distributing image Jeromy Price

Place watermelon in blender and blend until smooth. Pass watermelon through a strainer into a large bowl.

Press watermelon with back of a spoon to extract as much juice as possible, discarding remaining solids. Add three cups of watermelon juice, tequila, Triple Sec, lime juice, lime wedges and salt to a pitcher; stir to combine.

Gently mix in club soda. Serve over ice, garnish with lime wedge.

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

54

taste

ORIGIN glorioustreats.com images Catherine Frederick and Jeromy Price

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

taste

A little tart, a little sweet. I’m not talking about the candy, I’m talking about my favorite type of dessert. I think my love of “tart” came from my dad. When I was little he would cut a lemon in half, salt it, then squeeze the salty juice right into my mouth. I’d squeal and make a terrible face, of course, but I loved every drop. As for the sweet, that came from my mom, who loved rich and creamy desserts, but especially sweet summer berries.

This tart recipe is perfect. It has a deliciously simple cookie crust. It gets its tang from the lemon-cream cheese filling and is topped with three of my favorite summer berries: strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. But feel free to top it with any fruit you like. You can’t go wrong with this easy to make, gorgeous, sweet tart!

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

55

58 56

travel taste

1 ½ cups flour 1/2 cup brown sugar 2/3 cup butter, softened 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 egg

½ cup store bought lemon curd 8 oz ( 1 pkg. ) cream cheese

( 2-3 cups rinsed & dried ) I used sliced strawberries, whole raspberries and blueberries.

For the crust, using a hand mixer or food processor, combine all ingredients, mix until soft dough forms. Press dough into ungreased 10” tart or pie pan. Place pan in freezer for 10 minutes. Remove, place on baking sheet, put pan in 400° oven for 10 - 12 minutes, until light brown. Let cool completely.

For the filling, using a hand mixer, mix cream cheese until smooth. Add lemon curd.

Mix until combined. Spread filling over crust. Cover loosely, refrigerate 1 hour until slightly firm.

Top with fresh berries or other fruit. For a shiny appearance, warm red currant jelly, brush onto fruit. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to 4 hours.

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

58

travel

Only in Alma words Marla Cantrell Images Marla Cantrell, Mark Mundorff, and courtesy Let’s Eat, Crawpappy’s Cajun Cuisine, and Warren’s Rec Room

There’s nothing like life in a small Southern town. Neighbors know each other, you go to school at the same place your parents did, and often have the very same teachers. But there is something else about small towns that makes life wonderful. People band together, volunteering on projects like building hiking trails. They open small diners, using recipes from family and friends, and they usually have at least one place in town where musicians gather to perform.

All of this is true about Alma, Arkansas, a place with a population that’s not yet reached the 6,000 mark. And yet, you could spend an entire day doing things you can only find in Alma.

Morning

If you don’t eat a hearty breakfast, you’re not going to be ready for the rest of your day.

J&J Restaurant Highway 64 & 71 479.632.4066 Open: Monday – Saturday 6 am – 2 pm J&J Restaurant, which celebrated its twenty-ninth anniversary in April, is situated on a pie-shaped piece of land that’s called the “Y”, just behind Harps Food Store. There’s nothing fancy about the building itself, or the sign that bears its name. The restaurant is painted Airedale (the school’s mascot) green, and inside the tables are covered with ads featuring everything from insurance companies to auto repair.

What makes this place so special is the food. Everything is homemade, and it’s old fashioned country food. They stay busy all the time but their biggest day is Saturday. You know you’re in a place that gets Southern cooking when you can get your gravy with or without sausage. Or if you’re lucky, you’ll show up on a day when one of the specials is the chocolate gravy.

Besides biscuits and gravy, there are also waffles that are crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, something that’s both

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

travel

irresistible and hard to find. Most diners gravitate to the ham and

If you decide to walk the entire 3.8 miles, be prepared. It is a lot

eggs, and almost everyone orders the homemade biscuits.

rockier and steeper. You’ll end up at the fishing dock.

A

recent daily special was a six ounce Ribeye with two eggs, hash browns or grits, toast or biscuits and gravy, all for $9.85.

Bonus: There’s also an eighteen-hole disc golf course near the trail, a handicap accessible paved, one-half mile trail, and a handicap

If you don’t leave stuffed, you’re not trying hard enough. Just

accessible fishing pier.

don’t show up on Sunday. They close on the Lord’s Day. Tip: Wear sturdy shoes for hiking, and take plenty of water.

After breakfast, it’s time to burn off a few calories and get in touch with nature.

Noon

After a morning of hiking, fishing, and disc golf, you’re bound to be hungry. There are many options in Alma, including several fast food locations, but you’ll want to eat local. If you’re in town any day but Monday, try out Let’s Eat.

Lake Alma Trail The entrance to the trail is on Mountain Grove Road, just past the two big, green Alma water tanks, on the east side of the lake.

You’ll see the parking lot, picnic tables, and the town’s disc golf course.

Let’s Eat 208 Collum Lane West

One of the best additions the town’s seen in recent years is the Lake Alma Trail, built by volunteers. It is 3.8 miles long, but can be

479.632.6322

broken up into shorter treks, such as hiking only as far as the first

Open: Tuesday through Friday, 10:30 am to 7:00 pm

landmark, McWater Falls, which takes only about twenty minutes

Saturday and Sunday, 11:00 am to 3:00 pm Closed Monday

to reach.

Father along, at the 1.3 mile mark, is an old homestead set off

Owner Tara Way and three employees keep this little mom-and-

in the woods. There’s still a wood cook stove at the site, and the

pop shop hopping. It’s in a small shopping center, and seats thirty-

remnants of an old, stone hexagon house that looks big enough

eight. There are daily plate lunch specials like lasagna, Frito chili

for a small family of Hobbits. It’s a great place to stop for a bit –

pie, and chicken fettuccini alfredo.

there’s a bench nearby for that purpose – and imagine what it was You can also order off the regular menu, which has lots of salads,

like to live in these woods, so long ago.

sandwiches (served on the sourdough bread that’s made daily), The minute you step onto the trail, the world changes. Ferns grow

soups, and pies. Fiesta salad, chicken berry salad, and chicken

at the base of trees, the air smells of wildflowers, songbirds call

apple salad are some of the best sellers, along with the club

back and forth, and foot bridges cross the creek that runs along

sandwich. Tara loves to cook and she uses recipes her mom gave

the trail.

her, family favorites, and some from pastors’ wives who’ve shared D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

59

60

travel

their secrets. “I cook everything from scratch,” she says, “and I tell

Many visitors end up spending most of the day here, and they

people my secret ingredient is love.”

take advantage of the Snack Shack, where you can eat for about $4. There’s pizza, nachos, barbeque sandwiches, Frito chili pies,

She has a pie she created called “The Elvis” that has peanut

drinks, chips and candy.

butter, sautéed bananas, and banana pudding in it. She also came up with a strawberry chocolate pie that’s a big hit, a Nutter Butter

Bonus: There are four tennis courts on the park property, which

pie, and her standards like apple and cherry.

are free to use, and are equipped with lights for nighttime play.

You can also book a private party at the water park, for after

A recent daily special was meatloaf, green beans, smashed baked

hours. Call for prices.

potato, homemade bread and a drink, for $9.25 (tax included).

Buy a meal on Friday and you get a free slice of pie. Sometimes there’s even cobbler.

Evening Hungry again? Of course you are. Dry off and head to Crawpappy’s

Afternoon

Cajun Cuisine.

Wait an hour or so, and then it’s time to hit the water.

Crawpappy’s 1911 Highway 71 North

Alma Aquatic Center

479.430.0034

731 City Park Road, north of Collum Lane East

Open: Wednesday through Saturday, 11:00 am to 8:30 pm

479.632.0700 Open: Daily (Season closes on Labor Day weekend)

In June of 2012, Tom and Scharlet Griffin parked a food truck

12:00 pm - 6:30 pm

in front of their house and started selling Cajun food. Twenty

Admission:

years ago, Tom had visited Louisiana, and he fell in love with the

$7.00

food, music, and people. Back at home he kept wondering why

$1 for those 3 years and younger

somebody in his hometown wasn’t cashing in on Cajun cuisine,

Free for 65 years and older

and as the “chief cook and bottle washer” at home he felt like he could pull it off.

Located inside the city park, this water park offers nine slides, including two thirty-foot ones, three swimming pools, and a

It appears he was right. Their following grew so quickly, they

covered wading pool. One of the biggest attractions is the Splash

decided to build a restaurant around the food truck, which now

Bowl, which catapults you into a massive bowl that you circle

is a permanent fixture inside the diner, serving as the kitchen.

three or four times, and then sends you on your way to a seven-

Today, the Griffins have seating for fifty-four inside, and forty-

foot pool. There is also a fifteen-foot vertical climbing wall that

two on the patio.

angles out over one of the pools.

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

travel

Their menu includes etoufee, gumbo, red beans and rice, po’boys, Boudin and Andouille, oysters, crawfish wraps, shrimp and

Selfie Sites

crawfish boils, crab legs (starting at 4:00 pm, Thursday through Saturday), corn on the cob, crawfish cornbread, and desserts such as bread pudding.

Tom says it’s hard to say what’s the top seller. The boiled shrimp is a contender but he says they sell almost everything on the menu every day. And he’s had customers stop by from deep in Cajun country. “They say it tastes just like home,” something that makes him proud.

Bonus: Crawpappy’s has a private club license, meaning they can serve alcohol, so you can have Cajun food, a beer or a cocktail in the dry town in a dry county.

Popeye Park

— In downtown Alma, just before you reach

the high school, you’ll find Popeye Park on the left hand side of the street. There’s a mural depicting the history of the town, and there’s a bronze statue of Popeye in the center of a fountain. It’s a popular park and a great place for photos, and a few couples have

Nightlife

even been married there, inside the nearby gazebo.

Alma PAC — A few yards away is the Performing Arts Center, which is watched over by an impressive statue of an Airedale.

Warren’s Rec Room

Check the PAC’s website for upcoming shows. In the meantime,

1437 West Newberry Road

have your picture made beside this mighty, mighty Airedale.

warrensrecroom.com 479.208.8863

A to Z — Most out-of-towners know Alma for the A to Z discount

Before you plan your trip to Alma, check the venue’s website to see which musicians will be playing. In July, local favorites like Crooked and Steep, Left of Center, and Shannon Wurst will be performing at Warren’s Rec Room, which seats 150 to 200.

Warren and Christie Robertson officially opened in January, and offer everything from gospel to Southern rock concerts. They have food, including barbeque they are especially proud of, a bar, and

shopping empire, which sprawls across both sides of the highway, just north of town. Shop for furniture, sporting and hunting goods, tools, clothing (including wedding dresses), gifts, and everything in between. There’s even a diner on site, in case you get hungry.

Best selfie site? Inside the sporting goods/hunting store, where there are stuffed animals galore. Open Monday through Saturday, 8 am to 6 pm. 3700 North Highway 71. 479.632.2656.

are a smoke-free establishment.

Bonus: Warren’s Rec Room can be rented for private events. There is a private club license, so alcohol is available.

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

61

62

southern lit

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt fiction Marla Cantrell based on a true story

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

southern lit

August 28, 1934

spray, like gunmetal and dandelion root. My fingers trembled, and then my legs and arms shook. A bright light sang from the open

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt,

window, and then just as quick it looked like midnight. I woke up on the floor and I couldn’t see good for a while.

If the apple trees had blossomed this year I wouldn’t be writing to you today. But that did not happen, and it’s not likely to again

Doc Boyer looked me over the next day. I thought he might tell me

in my lifetime without some kind of miracle. I will miss the sight

I was going to die, but instead he took my hand and said, “Mrs.

of it, those pink flowers struggling free from their buds, first on

Monroe, you are suffering from nothing more than the natural

top of the hill where the red hawks play, then on the ridge near

process of becoming a mother.”

the spring, and finally on the trees I can just barely see from my kitchen window. They looked like a great congregation to me,

Can you imagine? There I was four months past my fortieth

rising one pew after another, just waiting for the invitation so they

birthday, and for the first time in my life I was going to have a

could get right with God.

baby. Garland didn’t believe me for a while. And then he did believe me and he said, “Well, I’ll be damned.” I can’t explain it,

Oh my, I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Tibbedeau Frances

but it didn’t sound a thing like swearing.

Walker Monroe. Everyone I know calls me Doe. When I got married I tried to switch to Frances, so I wouldn’t be saddled with

We’d just been scraping by for years when the happy news came.

a name like Doe Monroe, but some folks around here thought I

The flood of ’31 hit us hard. We lost the chickens and most of our

was putting on airs, and so I live with it, a name that rhymes, that

cows. We had neighbors, an old couple named the Harvells, who

falls off your tongue like a joke, even in the hard times, even when

died crossing Turtle Creek, trying to make it to Sunday service. I

you’re beat down low from the long wait for a good harvest.

cried for a week when I heard.

I spend my days working with my husband. At night I paint a little,

The next year, the drought came. The ground cracked, our new

a hobby I picked up in an earlier time when things weren’t so hard,

apple trees turned to sticks in the miserly ground. Corn stalks

when a girl could take lessons, could take a sketchbook and sit

rattled in the field, the cows we had left lived on bitter weed, so

near a creek bank and spend hours considering how the light falls

their milk was no good.

on rushing water, how it shimmies across the gray rocks below.

But back to my husband, Garland. You would like him very much,

And then the coddling moths showed up, and every year after our

I think. He is strong and true and kind.

crops faltered a little more, so much so that we started selling our cattle, and finally we had to take out a loan at the bank so that we

As I said, I work alongside this man I married almost twenty years

could make it to the next year, when we prayed and prayed for

ago. It’s hard work, the kind that wears at your muscles and

kinder weather, for stronger trees.

wearies your bones. Last spring we were hit hard with coddling moths, and we were spraying against them, Garland driving the

What a world it was to bring a baby into.

mules and me in the very back of the wagon, standing on my tiptoes, guiding the hose to the tops of the apple trees. Garland

Still, Garland stood strong. I’m not a small woman, Mrs. Roosevelt,

can’t spray anymore; his nose bleeds something awful. He still

and stubborn, but he treated me as kindly as if I were a little child and

does the mixing, though, adding arsenic at the very end, from a

couldn’t do for myself. I didn’t go out in the fields again, even though

bottle the color of molasses. On a Thursday we worked the north

it was a great burden for Garland, who struggled alone. Instead I

orchard until the sun sank low and the sky turned gray.

stayed inside, and took up my paintbrush again. Mostly I painted the orchards, the apples changing color, and the springtime when the

I was black as a coal miner when we finished, covered up with that

lacey yarrow grows as tall as your waist along the fencerow.

dope, and tired as I think I’ve ever been.

When my labor started, he fetched my mama, and then he went When I got to the kitchen, I washed up. I could still taste the

‘round telling the neighbors all up and down the ridge. I looked

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

63

64

southern lit

out my bedroom window that afternoon and there were at least a

and again, until I thought he’d never stop saying it. I led him back

dozen of our friends outside, standing watch. A few of the ladies

inside. He sat at the kitchen table while I made coffee. His eyes

had brought fried chicken and biscuits. It was like they were at

looked as empty as burnt holes in a blanket, and his hands shook

a picture show except the only thing to watch was my flowered

when I handed him the cup.

bedroom curtains dancing a little bit when the wind picked up.

A great grief washed over him. He’s been low sick ever since. He All day and night I struggled. My neighbors finally went home. I

stays in his bed most days. I take him food and he says, “Just pull

never hurt so much in all my days, but I kept thinking, There’s a

the door to and leave me be.”

baby at the end of all this trouble, and that’s what got me through.

But I can’t let him be. I think of you and how you must comfort the We named her Gloria. She did not take one breath. We buried

President, how in those dark times when the country is suffering, you

her the next day at noon and I could not leave the grave. Garland

must know just what to say. I think about how you lost your own

stayed with me, leaning up against an oak whose branches

baby, and I believe you might know the sorrow I’m feeling right now.

twitched in the hot breeze.

But you must be thinking: What does this woman want? Why I will never have another child. Doc Boyer told me so with a grim

is she writing to me? And I must admit I do want something.

face, looking like a banker who has to tell you he’s taking back

Not money or a handout. I know my story is not the saddest one

your house.

you’ve heard, and I hope I don’t sound like a complaining woman who can’t pull herself back up after a fall. As I mentioned before, I

Garland stowed away the cradle and the little clothes I’d made. In

do a little painting now and again. When I was a girl I took lessons

a month I was back in the fields. The apples from our older trees

from a man who studied in Paris, France, and then came back to

were coming on with a fury. We started picking on a Wednesday

our little town in Arkansas and opened a school. For a time, when

and by Sunday the packing shed was full. “We’re about to be in

there was money in everybody’s pocket, I sold a few landscapes to

high cotton, Sweetie Pie,” Garland said, and the sound of his voice

my neighbors. I’m not good enough to be in a museum, I know

made me feel the same way you do when you see the first Easter

that, but I did hope that I might send you a few of my best pieces,

flower pop through the cold old earth.

and maybe you’d know of someone who could tell you if they would be worth anything.

The wind rattling the windows was what woke me that night.

Outside, lightning danced across the hills. Garland was already

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt, I hope I haven’t asked too much. I know in

pulling on his overalls when the quiet came. “Oh Lawd,” he said,

my heart that if it was me taken to my bed, Garland would do

and pushed me into the hallway. The storm roared. The walls

whatever he could to pull me back up with the living. If we can

seemed to breathe, moving in and out, in and out, our house

only find a little respite, a small time to recover, perhaps we can

becoming a living thing.

resurrect this lovely piece of land we saved for so long and worked for so hard. Perhaps one day the apples could come back, and the

I thought we would die.

hills could sing when the breeze blows by and causes the blossoms to dance. Perhaps every good thing could return to this land that

But we did not die. We lit a lantern and walked to the porch. The

we love so much.

shed lay in splinters. Apples, small and large, bobbed in the murky puddles. We knew we were in a sorry state, but it wasn’t until

God bless you for listening. And please tell the President how much

the sun came up that we saw the trees. It looked as if a giant had

I admire him, and that I remember him always in my nightly prayers.

reached down and pulled them from the earth, like you do the

I pray for you as well, Mrs. Roosevelt. Oh, how I pray for you!

carrots in the fall.

Very truly yours, Garland shook his head. He wrung his calloused hands. “It don’t make sense,” he said. “It just don’t make sense.” He said it again

Tibbedeau Frances Walker Monroe

D O S O U T H M A G A Z IN E

Read Chair Publishing, LLC 7030 Taylor Avenue, Suite 5 Fort Smith, AR 72916