Do South Magazine: Essential – May 2014

ESSENTIAL

MAY 2014 DoSouthMagazine.com

CONTENTS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Catherine Frederick MANAGING EDITOR Marla Cantrell CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jeromy Price CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Brenda Baskin Marla Cantrell Marcus Coker Catherine Frederick Rusty Henderson, DVM Ken O'Donnell Laurie Marshall Anita Paddock Tiffany Selvey Stoney Stamper Becca Whitson PHOTOGRAPHY Marcus Coker Catherine Frederick Jeromy Price

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PROOFREADER Charity Chambers PUBLISHER Read Chair Publishing, LLC

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Features

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52 FULL CIRCLE Overjoyed with love. Overcome by grief. Becca Whitson and her family’s journey through adoption has been filled with both. Discover her story of unconditional love and God’s unending grace.

KIRK CAMERON: AFTER THE 80'S Kirk Cameron starred as Mike Seaver on the 1980s sitcom, Growing Pains. Find out how walking away from Hollywood at the height of his career changed the course of his life forever.

SPIRIT IN THE SKY Louise McPhetridge Thaden. Bentonville, Arkansas native. American aviation pioneer. Flight record setter. Daredevil. At the height of her career, Louise was one of the most famous female American aviators – in the same league as Amelia Earhart.

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.

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MANNA FOR MOMMA Here in the south, nothing comes between us and our mommas. Show her how berry special she is this Mother’s Day by baking up our baked blueberry French toast or our fruit basket bread.

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.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

letter from Catherine This time of year makes

flicks, and Wheel of Fortune. I didn’t have a fancy phone or

me think of weekends

computer games to entertain me. We didn’t eat out often – that

spent as a little girl at my

was something special. Things moved at a slower pace. I didn’t

mamaw's house. I’d wake

have a care in the world. My entertainment didn’t cost a thing.

up and she’d have made

See what I mean? Magical.

my favorite breakfast: biscuits,

eggs,

We're taking a look back at an earlier, some might say, magical

and bacon. Hands down

gravy,

time in this issue. I was fascinated by the story of Louise Thaden,

the best breakfast in the

born in Bentonville in 1905. She became one of the world's

world — probably had a

most famous female pilots, right alongside Amelia Earhart.

little to do with the fact everything was cooked in a cast iron skillet with just a tad bit of grease. After breakfast, I’d race out to

We're also heading back to the 1980s. Remember the TV show

the backyard to make mud pies, mixed together in shiny silver

Growing Pains? We caught up with Kirk Cameron, who played

aluminum pie pans, topped with red berries from a dogwood

Mike Seaver. He and his wife now have six kids, all homeschooled,

tree. They’d bake all day in the hot sun.

and live a life far from the bright lights of Hollywood.

Mamaw kept watch over me while she hung the laundry on the

Take some time and read the heartwarming story of the Whitson

clotheslines out back. Those lines were long, but strong. Held

family. It’s a story of love, loss, and how adoption changed their

taut by metal poles, painted white, and chipping in places. Just

family’s lives forever.

past the lines was her small garden where she grew tomatoes and sage. If I close my eyes and be still, I’m back there. I can

Looking for recipes? We’ve got ‘em. Guinness Stout Brownie

smell the sage drifting through the breeze.

Pretzel Bars, Baked Blueberry French Toast, and Strawberry, Blueberry, Banana Bread. They are delicious, and make great

Lunch was usually a scrambled egg sandwich with mayo on

gifts for Mother’s and Father’s Day.

white bread or a warmed up can of Vienna Sausage and instant mashed potatoes. Mamaw didn’t drive, so on days we didn’t

There's more. Discover which veggies are staples in a foodie

walk to the Senior Center to paint ceramics or quilt, we’d stay

garden. Find out why the latest album by Oklahoma great

home and I’d work a puzzle, or draw for hours on a small, black

Leon Russell, rated 8 out of 10, and don’t miss our review of

chalkboard that used to be hers. While I played, Mamaw would

a phenomenal book by Southern fiction writer, Nic Pizzolatto.

make her version of fudge. It never quite hardened, but I had no

He’s the creator, writer, and producer of the hit HBO series True

trouble eating it with a spoon.

Detective - who just so happened to have graduated from the University of Arkansas.

Mamaw's gone now, and those days are long gone. I didn’t know it then, but those days were magical.

So fix yourself a glass of sweet tea. Relax and read. I’m going to detach my kids from their cell phones and see what kind of

No tech gadgets to speak of, unless you count the TV, which

magic we can make. Enjoy!

showed nothing but baseball, The Andy Griffith Show, cowboy To reserve this free space for your charitable non-profit organization, email: Editors@DoSouthMagazine.com

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lifestyle

Evening Storm WORDS Ken O'Donnell

Rocking chair branches barren and bold bent with a sudden wind, this wind, but a breeze, not a gust nor gale gently tolled the dinner bell, when out of the clouds a wolf sprang to swallow the moon and quietly devour the night.

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Ivy Owen

PCED, EDFP, Executive Director and CEO

Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority 7020 Taylor Avenue, Fort Smith AR 72916 479.452.4554 www.chaffeecrossing.com

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

UPCLOSE&PERSONAL Favorite spot in Arkansas? Lake Hamilton.

You can get anything you want in life if you help other people get what they want.

— Zig Ziglar

Favorite memory of your mom while you were growing up? She would ask the nuns if I could get out of school early on special days to go fishing with her and my dad. I learned so much from them during those fishing times.

Who's the one person that helped to make you who you are today? My dad.

What's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for you? The prayers from all the people during my bout with kidney failure in 2011. I'm convinced that I survived because of all those folks' prayers.

Favorite food from your childhood? My mom's fried chicken.

What's the one thing you'd like to bring to Chaffee Crossing? A brand name hotel and restaurant.

Where was your last road trip? Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi.

About Chaffee Crossing Chaffee Crossing truly is Arkansas’ premier economic development project. No other development in Arkansas offers everything we do: complete

What did you give your wife on her first Mother's Day? Dinner at Anthony's, our favorite Memphis restaurant at the time, and roses.

Do you have a nickname? Not currently, but as a child my neighbors fondly nicknamed me "Cookie Butch." I was always going to my next door neighbor's house asking for her fresh-baked cookies.

transportation infrastructure access including I-40 and I-49 (opening in October 2014), Arkansas River access, railroad access and airport access; open land, buildings available for lease or sale and a wetlands mitigation bank; a proposed high school and a proposed college of medicine; industrial and commercial retail development that has created over 1,100 jobs; residential developments totaling more than 1,110 units; a new fire station; a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with museums and WWII barracks ripe for renovation to create a walkable, urban district; amenities galore — the Huckabee Nature Center, the McClure Amphitheater, Deer Trails Country Club (golf), two NCAA standard soccer fields, an eight-field, tournament quality softball complex (construction begins July 2014), two recreational lakes, a safe place for 5K runs, mountain bike and hiking trails; and much more!

Friends

Favorite song from your teen years? The Beatles', "I Want to Hold Your Hand."

Last movie you saw? We're the Millers.

Last book you read? 24 Hours by Greg Iles.

Three words that best describe Arkansas? Home, beautiful, and peaceful.

Best advice you’ve ever been given? "Don't burn bridges." And, "Remember the people you pass on the way up the ladder of success because you will pass the same ones on the way down the ladder" Most sentimental thing you own? My mom's diary from 1930 and 1931.

What is it that makes a Southern gentleman? Culture, sincerity, politeness, and true respect for other people.

Farthest away from home you've ever traveled? Aruba.

3 things Ivy can’t live without:

Family

What's on your playlist right now? My Pandora app has albums from The Beatles, Elvis, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eagles, Three Dog Night and the J. Geils Band. It's obvious what my music genre is!

Faith

Best part of your job? The people with whom, and for whom, I work!

If you could go back and give your sixteen-year-old self advice, what would it be? Take to heart all you've learned from your parents.

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people

words Becca Whitson Images courtesy Matt and Becca Whitson, Troy Jarrell

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people

There is deep pain in knowing your joy is in the wake of someone else’s grief.

We would have never learned that truth if not for adoption. And we will never forget it.

Matt & Becca Whitson

My husband Matt and I started the adoption process with Bethany Christian Services after discovering a rare medical disorder that made pregnancies very risky for my babies. Our oldest son, Will, had survived the effects, but each subsequent pregnancy would be riskier than the one before. After the diagnosis, we knew it was a risk we weren’t willing to take.

We got the call from our social worker in February of 2007. I was sitting in the dentist’s chair when I saw the familiar number and answered immediately. The voice on the line said, “Becca, I need to talk to you and Matt. Can I come over?”

We met her at our home, where she sat at our kitchen table and said, “You’ve been chosen by an expectant mom to adopt her baby. She’s due very soon.” We felt a flurry of emotions — excitement and anticipation, anxiety and fear — but we did not set up a nursery or clean out the nearest Baby Gap®. Having felt the loss of a child through miscarriage, neither Matt nor I wanted to attach to this baby as our own. Not only would it hurt too much if something went wrong, but the baby wasn’t ours. That emotional disconnect was easier said than done.

We met Katie*, the mom who had chosen us, in her hometown several hours from ours. We joked that it felt like a blind date as we pulled into the restaurant parking lot. There were awkward silences, but it was more comfortable than I had expected. I can still see her face streaked with tears as the counselor asked what she wanted us to tell the baby about why she chose adoption. After a few heartbreaking seconds, she replied, “It’s just the best thing.”

On a Monday morning about a month later, we got the call that Katie was in labor. We finished packing our bags, took Will to my parents, and drove to Katie’s hospital. After delivery, we checked on her first and asked what we could do for her. We went to the nursery next, where we caught our first glimpse of the baby who would be our son. We stood at the window with wide smiles and tears flowing freely down our cheeks. He was red and screaming at the top of his lungs, but we thought he was perfect.

There was no hiding how hard it was for Katie the next day. No mother should ever have to say goodbye to her child, and no one else should have to watch it happen. We all cried and hugged, and then we left — with her baby boy. We loved him just like we loved our biological son; we felt like his parents from the moment we saw him. Yet we were driving away with a piece of his mother’s heart, and that is a feeling I cannot explain.

We were home with Cy for two precious days before our world turned upside

The Whitson Family

down. In Arkansas at that time, parents had ten days to reconsider their decision DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

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people after placing their child with an adoptive family. We learned

with Cy in my arms and sang to the God who had brought him

that Katie had decided to parent Cy on Thursday morning. We

back to me. God led me to a place I had never been before: a

had to give our son back. We put him in his best outfit and

place where I was at His feet, in awe and wonder of His work

sent him back to her with a trunk full of baby supplies.

in my life (when I’d thought He wasn’t working at all);

If we couldn’t be his parents, we wanted to help

a place where I could look down at Cy's tiny body

her take care of him in the only way we could.

in my arms and realize that he would be my

After putting him in the social worker's car,

son; a place where I could see the pain and

we walked inside, collapsed on our bed, and

questions I had endured for weeks and know

cried until we were too exhausted to move.

they had a purpose. We could never have known Katie’s grief in losing Cy or her joy in

For weeks, I was in a fog of grief. I didn’t see

having him back without having felt similar

family or friends and couldn’t pretend to be

emotions ourselves. Through our love and

normal. I couldn’t imagine ever feeling okay

pain, we are connected in a way I could have

again. Little by little, God gave me moments of

never imagined — and that is a gift to all of us

peace, but the grief was still overwhelming. After

and our son.

several weeks, I started to slowly phase back into my life, and two-year-old Will still asked me where “Baby Cy” was

When Cy was a challenging two-year-old, I felt an undeniable

every day.

call from God to adopt again. I argued and wondered if God had forgotten about my tornado of a boy. How could I have another

Six weeks after Cy had left our home, our lives changed forever.

baby along with a four-year-old and a two-year-old son? After I

We got the call that he was back in the custody of Bethany

finally surrendered, God truly changed the desires of my heart

Christian Services, and Katie wanted us to be his family again.

to match His. I began longing for another child, but Matt was

I fell to my knees on my living room floor and wept. The child I

not interested and felt no such call. Several potential adoption

had loved and lost was coming home.

situations came our way, and my heart fell each time as they didn’t work out.

We picked him up two days later. He’d changed so much in those six weeks. His cheeks had filled out; his light brown

Then, in November of 2013, we got yet another life-changing

newborn hair was gone, replaced sparingly by strawberry blond.

phone call. A four-year-old African American girl needed a home,

We were numb. We had five more days before the revocation

and we said yes. This time, Matt was as sure as I was, maybe

period was over for the second time, and we carried the weight

more. She’s been in our home since just before Thanksgiving

of it in every moment. We still felt the burden of Katie’s loss

of last year, and we’re still in the process of adopting her. It’s

but were comforted to know she had made the decision based

been challenging for all of us in so many ways, but God is slowly

solely on her love for him.

weaving us into a seamless family of five.

The following Sunday was Mother's Day, but the waiting period

A few weeks ago, I looked at my prayer journal from 2009 and

would not be over until the next day. I couldn't bear to hear

couldn’t stop the tears. The first time I’d felt the call to adopt

others’ reactions at church in the midst of my fear, so we went

again was just a few days after she was born. God has literally

directly to the sound booth as soon as we arrived. I stood

been preparing us her entire life.

You turned my wailing into dancing; You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.

Psalm 30:11-12 *Katie’s name has been changed to protect her privacy.

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entertainment

DO SOUTH: MAY 2014 SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

SATURDAY

01 02 03 1st Annual RAM Gala "An Art Affair", FSM.

Father Placidus Memorial Golf Tournament benefitting St. Boniface School, FSM.

A Night in the Carribean benefitting The Gregory Kistler Center.

Foam Fest, FAY.

04 05 06 07 08 09 10 Visit Farmers COOP for veggie plants.

Cinco De Mayo

National Teacher Day

Dine out tonight at River City Deli, FSM.

Read how a local family comes Full Circle, page 10.

Send in your nomination for our next "Do Gooder".

Western Arkansas Ballet presents Peter Pan, FSM. US Marshalls Museum Kids Safety Fair, FSM.

Visit Parks Brothers Greenhouses for beautiful flowers, VB.

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Mother's Day

Bake mom up some love. See our delicious recipes, page 52.

Reminder: Get your kiddo signed up for Fort Smith Cotillion, FSM.

19th Annual Greening of the Garden at Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, FAY.

You a foodie? Get a garden going. Read how on page 48.

Discover outdoor décor at Seasons, VB.

23rd Annual Atkins Pickle Fest.

Armed Forces Day Girl's Inc. Annual Crawfish Boil, FSM.

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Meet this month’s Do-Gooder, Rosemary Wingfield, page 26.

Reminder: Register kiddos for summer classes at Academy of the Arts, FSM.

10th Annual Mercy Birdies for Babies, FSM.

Open House at Eastside Animal Health Center, FSM.

Visit your local farmers' market.

3rd Annual Mercy Fort Smith Golf Invitational, FSM.

Read a good book.

Recommended: Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto, page 16.

Mix up our cocktail of the month, Mom's PB&J, page 56.

Take a hike at an Arkansas State Park.

25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Work on Father's Day gifts- see our ideas, pages 20-22.

Memorial Day

Adopt a furry friend, see page 24.

Old Fort Days Rodeo, Parade and 5K Color Dash, FSM.

Visit John Mays Jewelers, check out their Shinola watches for Father's Day, FSM.

Protect your pets from flea and ticksread how on page 25.

Farmers Markets Downtown Fort Smith Farmers' Market Tuesdays and Saturdays 7am – noon Farmers' and Artisans' Market Chaffee Crossing, Fort Smith Saturdays 8am – noon Fayetteville Farmers' Market Tuesdays and Thursdays 7am – 1pm Saturdays 7am – 2pm DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

American Cancer Society "Relay for Life", FSM.

Havana Nights benefitting Fort Smith's Children's Emergency Shelter, FSM.

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entertainment Galveston opens in 1987 with Roy Cody, who’s nicknamed Big Country because he’s tall, has long hair, a beard, and wears cowboy boots. He’s soon told his lungs are full of cancer and he doesn’t have long to live.

Ray works for a loan shark and bar owner in New Orleans, but his job is on shaky ground because of a woman who used to be his girlfriend, but is now involved with his boss. The boss plots to kill Roy, but he survives an ambush in a seedy hotel by killing three men, only to find Roxy, an eighteen-year-old prostitute in another room with her dead co-worker. He begrudgingly takes the girl with him, knowing both their lives are in danger.

Roy goes to his trailer and grabs some cash he’s saved for an emergency get-away. He also takes along some documents that could get a lot of people in trouble. They head for Galveston, and Roy plans to ditch Roxy as soon as he can. He is attracted to Roxy, but he doesn’t want to be. Along the way, she convinces him to stop in Orange, Texas, so she can pick up money owed to her. Roy lets her off at a shack out in the country, but instead of money, she picks up her three-and-a-half-year-old sister named Tiffany.

Always fearful they’ll be caught by either the police or the exboss and his thugs, the unlikely trio finally arrives in Galveston.

Roy shaves his head, assumes a new name, and they stay in a seedy motel five blocks from the beach. Roy takes the girls to J.C. Penney in the mall and buys them a few clothes and bathing

Galveston

suits. They swim in the Gulf and picnic at the beach. And for a moment, Roy feels like part of a family.

By Nic Pizzolatto Scribner, 258 pages: $2490

The other motel guests are drifters and down-and-outers, but

review Anita Paddock

two old sisters and the owner of the motel take an interest

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in Roxy and Tiffany. Roy tries to get Roxy a respectable job

Pizzolatto graduated from the Creative Writing Program of the

Pizzolatto makes you care about Roy, even with all his considerable

University of Arkansas as their brightest star. He got his start with

flaws, and that is one of this writer’s greatest triumphs.

ic Pizzolatto, author of this novel that came out four

downtown, so she can take care of Tiffany. He knows he’s either

years ago and the creator of the HBO series, True

going to be killed by his ex-boss or die of his cancer, and he

Detective, has hit it big. And I mean big!

can’t continue to help them.

a book of short stories published by MacAdam-Cage, a publishing house that is no more, but one that was especially interested in

Galveston depicts a harsh world, and it’s sometimes tough

launching new, talented writers. Nic took a chance and moved to

reading, but Pizzolatto’s writing is so hauntingly real that I could

Hollywood and got a job working on screenplays and from there

feel the sunburn on my back and taste the salt on my skin.

he took off. All this from a young man who left home and has been completely independent since the age of seventeen.

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entertainment was opening for Russell. But it's also his work as a songwriter that sets Russell apart. His work includes greats like “Delta Lady,” recorded by Joe Cocker, and “A Song For You” that's been recorded by forty artists, including Russell, The Carpenters, Amy Winehouse, and Whitney Houston.

There's something incredibly touching about listening to Russell, who's never lost his Oklahoma twang, sing big band music, jazz, honky tonk, all backed by an orchestra that's as smooth as satin next to his burlap voice.

On "Georgia On My Mind," Russell pronounces the Southern state's name "Joe-Jah," over and over until it feels as if it shouldn't be said any other way. And he’s extraordinary on Duke Ellington’s “I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good.”

One of the many highlights on this album is "That Lucky Old Sun," a song that was popular in 1949, the year Russell turned seven. It's been covered by dozens of artists over the years, including Johnny Cash, a duet by Willie Nelson and Kenny Chesney, and Aretha Franklin. But no one sings the song with the kind of heart that Russell does.

He ends the album with a song he wrote himself, "Down in Dixieland." It's a jazzy number, filled with soul, influenced by

Life Journey

old gospel. But it's on another track, "Think Of Me," written

Leon Russell: $10

by Mike Reid, that the sentiment of this album hits you, when

review Marla Cantrell

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you wonder if Russell picked it as a way of making sure he's remembered long after his own journey has ended.

eon Russell's voice is creased and worn and utterly spectacular in his thirty-seventh studio record, Life Journey.

In his photo accompanying Life Journey, Russell sits in a leather

But before you listen to one musical note, you should

chair, his trademark flowing white hair well past his shoulders.

read the liner notes written by this Oklahoma icon. In them, the

He is looking at the camera, unsmiling, a cane in one hand. It

seventy-two-year-old says he's nearing the close of his adventure

seems like such an honest image for this album, for this gift

and he thinks he may be the luckiest guy in the world. "To all of

he's given us after more than five decades perfecting his music,

you I say bless your hearts," Russell adds, and with that he sets

creating a sound like no other we've ever heard.

up this album, comprised of twelve songs, two of which he wrote (“Big Lips” and “Down In Dixie Land”).

What he's trying to accomplish in these dozen melodies is pay tribute to the musical journey of his life, to both the songs he's done and the songs he wanted to do but hadn't until now. It's a lot to ask, given that he started playing piano at four years of

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

age, was playing in clubs at fourteen, and by 1960 was touring as Jerry Lee Lewis' opening pianist. In the 1970s, Elton John DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

20 Here’s what we know about dads: They like to eat. They have to shave. And, what dad in his right mind doesn’t love a good comic? We’ve put together three of the best DIY Father’s Day gifts for dear old dad. Not too expensive (dads also like us to save our money), and not hard to make. Don’t choose just one — Words & diys Catherine Frederick

HOMEMADE SHAVE Adapted from foodformyfamily.com IMAGE Jeromy Price

make him all three. After all, he’s worth it.

Method In a small saucepan over low heat, combine ⅓ cup shea butter and ⅓ cup coconut oil.

Stir until melted. Transfer mixture to heat-safe bowl. Add ¼ cup sweet almond oil, 10 drops lavender essential oil, and 5 drops peppermint essential oil. Stir to combine.

Chill mixture in refrigerator until solid. Using a hand mixer, beat until creamy. Transfer to container. Store in a cool, dry place. Shave cream should keep for one month. *Always test in a small area, as your skin may be sensitive to essential oils. Since the recipe contains no soap, it will not lather, but will melt on your skin as you apply.

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Guinness Stout Brownie Pretzel Bars Adapted from hwtm.com IMAGE Jeromy Price

Method BROWNIES In microwave, melt 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate with 8 ounces unsalted butter. In separate bowl, combine 1 egg, ¾ cup sugar, ½ cup brown sugar.

Mix for 3 minutes. In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup cocoa, 1 ¼ cups flour, ½ teaspoon salt. Add chocolate/butter mixture to egg mixture. Mix in dry ingredients.

Add 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 cup Guinness®, stir gently until combined.

Spray 9” X 13” pan with non-stick spray. Pour mixture into pan, sprinkle 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips on top of batter. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.

BUTTERSCOTCH GANACHE In microwave, melt 3 ½ ounces butterscotch chips, 2 ½ ounces white chocolate chips, 1 ½ ounces heavy cream. Cook in 30 second increments, stir after each until smooth.

PRETZEL TOPPING Pour ganache over cooled brownies. Refrigerate until ganache is firm. Lightly chop ⅓ cup salted pretzels. Spread and lightly press chopped pretzels into ganache. Sprinkle ½ teaspoon sea salt over pretzels.

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Comic Coasters ADAPTED from modpodgerocksblog.com IMAGE Jeromy Price

Purchase 4 blank ceramic tiles. Select 4 images from *comic books. Place one tile over the comic book image and trace around the coaster. Cut out image. Lightly sand the top of the coaster with 220 grit sandpaper. Wipe off residue with paper towel. Apply thin layer of Mod Podge Matte to top of tile. Line up image and apply on top of tile. Working from center outward, press out any wrinkles or bubbles. Wipe off excess Mod Podge with damp paper towel. Allow to dry. Coat the top of the image with a layer of Mod Podge. Allow to dry. Spray top of tile with Mod Podge Clear Acrylic Sealer. Once dry, turn tile over, apply felt pads to ensure it will not scratch delicate surfaces. *This project can also be made using family photos!

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Make this Memorial Day even more memorable.

Adopt a furry friend.

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.

M

M

F

Charlie F

Daisy M

Soco

Rango F

Sal

Sue

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.

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Avoiding Bloodsuckers Tick and Flea Prevention Words Dr. Rusty Henderson, D.V.M. Eastside Animal Health Center, Fort Smith

Fleas and ticks are bona fide disease-carrying monsters.

The list of diseases is long and notorious. Of that list, zoonotic diseases (those infectious to humans) include Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and several strains of a bacterial-like infection called Ehrlichiosis. Our part of the country is thick with ticks. In fact, one strain of Ehrlichia (Ehrlichia Chaffeensis), was named after Fort Chaffee, where it was isolated. This time of year it's critical to provide protection for your pet, which translates over to protection for your home and family.

Gone are the days of harsh and smelly chemical dips, sprays and powders. Today there are many spot-on or topical products which are applied in small quantities directly to your pet’s skin. Popular choices are Frontline® and Advantage® products. Others, such as Comfortis®, are administered orally. There are also effective flea and tick collars which I will discuss below. While the vast majority of products are safe and meet certain standards, one product does not fit all. You must carefully select the one that meets the needs of your furry friend.

( WHAT TO LOOK FOR } I recommend two different types of pest control collars.

Preventic® collars are for ticks only and last for up to three months. Sevesto® collars cover ticks and fleas and can last for up to eight months. Some heartworm preventions, such as Trifexis® (taken orally) and Advantage Multi® (a topical), carry the added benefit of flea control as well as some internal parasites, and last for a month.

There's a new flea and tick product called Nextguard®, taken orally and given monthly, which so far has no failures recorded.

Many over the counter products have seen failures in our area of late, therefore I can't recommend them. Comfortis®, taken orally, is made from the by-products of the rum industry, and has demonstrated effectiveness at controlling fleas for a month, while proving to be very safe. In truth, there is no one product that's proven itself 100% effective for pests in our area. I recommend asking your veterinarian which combination of products they’ve found most effective and heeding their advice.

{ FOR YOUNG PETS } { WHAT TO CONSIDER } It’s never easy to answer when asked which flea and tick product I like best. I always consider the pet’s lifestyle — for example: Does he walk through the woods with you or is he a couch potato? I also like to ask how old the pet is, as caution must be used when applying any pesticide to very old or very young animals. The breed is also important. Certain breeds, like Collies, are sensitive to these types of products. Is your pet on medication, pregnant, or nursing? Mixing some pest control products and medications may result in unwanted side effects such as vomiting, hyperactivity, and lethargy. Also, some products can be passed to kittens and puppies via the mother’s milk. One of the most important things to keep in mind is to never apply products labeled as “dogs only” on your cat. Cats are simply not tiny dogs.

If you find fleas on a very young pet, use a flea comb, not a chemical product. You can also try using a mild dishwashing detergent, I recommend Joy®, to bathe puppies or kittens. After the bath, wrap them in a dry, white towel. Fleas will choose to cling to the towel instead of your pet. Afterward, definitely discard the towel.

While the myriad of choices can be overwhelming, put some thought into your decision by considering your particular pet.

By doing so, you can save yourself, and your pet, from dealing with these annoying, potentially dangerous, little creatures.

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.

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people

Rosemary W ingfield words Marla Cantrell Image Jeromy Price

Rosemary was nominated as a Do South Do-Gooder by her sister, Lucy Fry.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people Rosemary Wingfield, at age seventy-one, says one of her most

and no next of kin could be found. As Rosemary walks through

prized possessions is a cigarette case that had a marijuana leaf

the events of those sad days, she emphasizes Roger’s kindness,

on its cover.

the way his smile filled a room, how generous he was even though he had so little to give.

The case was given to her in a sack with about fifty ball point pens by a man named Roger, who was then a patient at the Good

And as heartbreaking as Roger’s story is, there is also hope in

Samaritan Clinic in Fort Smith, Arkansas, where she volunteers.

it. Rosemary and her sister, Lucy, befriended Roger. They let

Rosemary believes he found it inside a dumpster, the place he

him know they cared for him, and he, in return, was able to

often looked for discarded treasures.

return the favor. It is not a small thing, this friendship that was forged, the goodwill that passed between them, the feeling that

Rosemary thanked Roger, and when she got home she showed

someone who had previously felt totally alone was able to find

her husband, who smiled, shook his head, and then told his

true friendship in the last years of his life.

Master Gardener wife her newest possession was just the As for Rosemary, she understands how extraordinary her own

slightest bit illegal.

life has been. She began volunteering when the Good Samaritan As she’s telling the story, she glances out the window and her

Clinic opened in 2003. At the time, she was unable to work due

eyes grow a little misty. She talks about the day she met Roger,

to a neck injury, and a subsequent car accident. She was in

not long after the clinic opened. He had just been released from

a good deal of pain. “I felt sorry for myself for a little while,”

the hospital, had no family, almost no money, and he needed care.

Rosemary admits.

Good Samaritan Clinic is a faith-based ministry that provides

It helped a great deal to be able to come to this place, to help

affordable health care for our most vulnerable neighbors. Roger

others. Rosemary is in charge of getting free prescriptions for

certainly qualified. When Rosemary tried to determine his

the patients from drug companies, and, in doing so, she fills out

income so she could complete his paperwork, he told her he

mountains of paperwork. In the beginning, she and Lucy would

brought in $20 a week selling aluminum cans. She remembers

work once a week from eight in the morning until ten at night.

how proud he was of the money, how it served as the buffer

She remembers what an eye-opener it was. The desperation of

that kept him from feeling destitute, but was far too little to put

the working poor looking for health care, who were trying to

a roof over his head.

find a way to get health care for themselves and their children.

The hopelessness of the elderly and the homeless who had no

One of the first things she did was mention she had aluminum

idea how to get the medicine they needed.

cans she needed to get rid of. And then she said her sister, Lucy Fry, who also volunteers at the clinic, was in the same position.

Rosemary and Lucy have a kind of industrial compassion that

Before long, a routine began. Each Tuesday, Roger would come

always seems to take charge. One day, an older volunteer at the

to the door and collect their stash of cans.

clinic, who also helped prepare income tax forms for AARP, told the sisters she knew her time was running out.

And then, one Tuesday Roger didn’t show up. Rosemary knew something was terribly wrong. By that time Roger’s circumstances

“Her name was LaBerta,” Rosemary says. “She’d come in to work

had improved and he was no longer homeless. Rosemary thought

in medical records and she’d have her oxygen with her. She said,

about a news report she’d heard the night before. An unidentified

‘When I’m gone, someone has to take my place.’

man had been hit and killed by a motorcycle while he was “So, Lucy and I took the tax course after she was gone. That was

crossing “A” Street, not far from where Roger lived.

five years ago, and we’ve been volunteering with AARP two days Rosemary went to his house. She talked to his neighbor, who

a week during tax season since then.”

hadn’t seen him for far too long. She called the police. In the days that followed, she learned the victim was indeed Roger,

It may seem as if the two organizations have little in common,

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people but that’s not so. The patients needed proof of income, and

down and look at how many prescriptions $10 million dollars

that meant they needed a tax return. “It could cost them $150

pays for, you start to see the incredible need in our community.

dollars, and they couldn’t afford that,” Rosemary says. “We wanted to do it for free. It’s been so rewarding.”

Rosemary’s world view changed the first day she walked into the Good Samaritan Clinic. And each time she returned she felt

All this volunteering helps Rosemary. “When you get to be older,

a little lighter, knowing she was doing what she could to help.

you have to keep your mind active. And Lucy and I like to do taxes. And she and I, and our husbands, are Master Gardeners.

Again, she thinks of Roger. Their paths never would have

In 1996, when I was in a lot of pain from my accident, I first

crossed without the clinic. She remembers taking him ham and

took the gardening class. I didn’t think I could do any gardening,

turkey one Christmas Eve. He came to the door dressed in a

but my husband encouraged me. I went out and talked to the

wool toboggan and a woman’s heavy robe. The heat was not

Extension Service agent, and he was so nice. He said, ‘Take

on; perhaps the thought of the bill that would follow kept him

the class. We’ll find something for you to do, even if it’s just

in the cold. Whatever the reason, there he was, looking out his

answering the telephones.’

front door, certainly grateful that his path had led him to the Good Samaritan Clinic, and to such kind people who truly cared

“Well, I really liked it, and I was able to do more and more. And

about his health, certainly, but also for his soul.

that led me to a part-time job at Sharum’s Gardening Center.

And now my husband does some work there as well.”

Rosemary laughs, and when she does she is radiant with light.

Here she is, in her seventies, volunteering for two charities,

For more on the Good Samaritan clinic,

working at a job she loves, and planning a trip with her husband,

visit good-sam-clinic.net.

and her sister and brother-in-law, to France, where they’ll likely fall in love with the careful gardens, the blousy fields of flowers, the window boxes that show up in shops and apartments all along the city’s bustling streets. She’ll come back filled with ideas that will take root in her own yard in Fort Smith, that will spill over into her work as a Master Gardener.

When she gets home, she’ll head back to the clinic. Since Good Samaritan opened, Rosemary and the other volunteers have worked with drug companies to provide approximately $10 million dollars worth of prescriptions for patients who had no other way of getting the medicine they needed.

The dollar amount is staggering for two reasons. It feels a little miraculous that Rosemary’s been in charge of a program that’s been able to gather so much money. But if you break that number

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.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

30

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DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

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people

Kirk Cameron After the 80s

words Marla Cantrell Images courtesy Kirk Cameron and Harvest Time

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people

A

ctor Kirk Cameron walks across the stage inside Harvest

attended, he doesn’t know where he might have ended up,

Time in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and the 2,000 people

although he’s certain his future would have been a dark one.

who’ve come to see him break into applause. He stops

And to drive the point home, he talks about those closest to

at the tall table that will serve as his podium and flashes his

him at the time.

signature smile. The teen star from the 1980s sitcom, Growing Pains, is aging incredibly well. If not for the smattering of gray in

“So, I was this young guy working on Growing Pains,” Kirk says.

his hair, the forty-three-year-old could easily pass for someone

“There were a couple other guys on the side of me. River Phoenix,

much younger. He has a scruff of a beard. He wears a hoodie,

Corey Haim, we all auditioned for the same parts. Corey Haim

gray pants, sneakers. He is not a tall man, and he jokes about

died of a drug overdose [in 2010]. River Phoenix killed himself

looking bigger on television. There’s something generous and

[in 1993], they found him dead on the floor in the Viper Room,

electric in the way he moves, as if there’s a great party he’s just

a nightclub. My buddy [Andrew Koenig] who played Boner, my

been invited to and he can’t wait to get there.

best friend on Growing Pains, killed himself [in 2010].

Later in the evening, when his Love Worth Fighting For event

“You see these child stars and it's like you can predict it. Like the

begins, the subject will turn to marriage: the struggles, the

sunrise tomorrow morning. Because, like I said, that environment

need to be unselfish, the hovering fear of divorce. But now

is devoid of what you need to grow up and be healthy. What

he’s warming up the crowd, talking about Mike Seaver, the

happened to me was I had someone who cared enough about

mischievous character he played so well that people are still

me to say, 'Hey, you're not the most important person in this

talking about him. He leads the crowd in a rendition of the

world. You're a celebrity to everyone else around here, but if

Growing Pains’ theme song, “As Long As We Have Each Other.” It

you want to know who God is, you have to come to Him on His

sounds as if everyone in this auditorium is singing along. He then

terms. You're not the celebrity in that relationship. He's being

rolls up his pant legs to mimic the peg-legged jeans that were in

kind and gracious to you. You’ve got some things to learn.’ And

vogue at the height of his popularity, and in sixty seconds walks

that set me on a whole different course than my friends.”

the group through some of the best known scenes from the hit show, which ran from 1985 to 1992. Laughter shakes the room.

In the last season of Growing Pains, another young actor showed up on set. Leonardo DiCaprio was cast as Luke, a homeless boy

Kirk is laughing too. He scans the audience. He asks the women

who made his way into the Seavers’ home and heart. "He was

to raise their hands if they had a poster of Mike Seaver on their

about fourteen years old at the time. He was a little guy who

walls when they were younger. He shakes his head, then runs

was a talented actor and we all had a feeling he would go places

his fingers through his hair, acknowledging that the curls he was

in his career, and he certainly has.”

known for have now faded. He makes fun of the mullet he once wore, the parachute pants, the Reeboks, the acid-washed jeans.

By the time DiCaprio joined the cast, Kirk had grown disillusioned with fame. At one point it’s estimated Kirk was receiving 10,000

But he is not here to dwell on Hollywood; this is just his opening

fan letters a week. At home, he could talk about the pressure

act. His life took a drastic turn while he was still working on

of being a child star with his younger sister, Candace Cameron-

Growing Pains, and that’s what’s led him here on this Friday

Bure, who was playing DJ Tanner on the sitcom, Full House. She

night in April, to stand in front of this church and speak to

is currently competing on this season's Dancing with the Stars.

people he likely would never have met otherwise.

Kirk's world now revolves around his evangelical work and his He talks about his conversion to Christianity during intermission.

family. And he still does movies, working in the Christian genre.

We talk about the story of a fellow actor who asked him to

One of his best known roles was in the 2008 movie, Fireproof. He

go to church with her, at a time when he called himself an

played Captain Caleb Holt, a firefighter who works to win back

atheist. Behind the pulpit was Charles Swindoll, a well known

his wife’s heart. Two documentaries followed: UNSTOPPABLE and

conservative preacher and Christian author.

Monumental: In Search of America’s National Treasure.

By the end of the service, Kirk’s life had changed. If he hadn’t

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people

Love Worth Fighting at Harvest Time

His most recent release is Mercy Rule, a movie about “faith,

Let’s bring them together for a weeklong, all-expenses-paid

family, and baseball.” He’s particularly excited about this movie,

vacation. Give them time to be together, get away from needles

since his wife, Chelsea, stars in it with him. Those proficient in

and chemo and bills and work and just be together as a family.”

Growing Pains’ trivia will remember Chelsea Noble, who played Kate McDonald, Mike Seaver’s love interest. The chemistry both

As he’s explaining how the camp works, the music from the

onscreen and off was genuine, and in 1991, Kirk and Chelsea

auditorium starts to wind down. It’s Kirk’s cue that intermission is

married. In the years that followed, their family grew. They now

almost over. He mentions his upcoming movie called Christmas,

have six children, four of whom are adopted.

which will be out in time for the holidays. He seems to work at a breakneck pace, although none of that shows when you talk to

“We love being a big family. I just love my wife. She’s amazing,

him. He leans in when asked a question. He sometimes pauses

she’s wonderful. My wife herself is an adopted child, so she had

before answering, careful of his response. He is engaging,

a real heart for adopting children,” Kirk says.

charismatic, polite.

Tonight, his oldest, seventeen-year-old Jack, is with him. It is

When the subject of Dancing with the Stars came up, Kirk said

one of the great joys, having the flexibility to have his son along,

he’d been approached about the show but wouldn’t want to

since he and Chelsea home school their children. “We call it

compete. “If I'm going to dance with somebody, I'm going to

Sweet Freedom Academy,” he says.

dance with my wife,” he said, and then he smiled again, that crooked half-smirk that endeared him to so many all those

The subject of family branches out, and soon the conversation

years ago. When he returns to the stage, he’ll say a lot of things

turns to Camp Firefly, a charity that serves children with life-

about marriage and how to improve it. But it is in his statement

threatening illnesses, which began in 1989. “My family and I

about dancing that he seems to sum up how we should treat

started Camp Firefly when we were working on Growing Pains.

the one we chose to spend our lives with: adore them, let them

We met kids through the Make a Wish Foundation, and their wish

know it, and always choose them over everyone else.

was to come to the set, meet the cast, and get an autograph. I wanted to do something more than just sign a piece a paper.

So we thought, How could we really help this family? The dad’s working two jobs to pay these medical bills, mom’s often at the

For more about Kirk, his Love Worth Fighting For

hospital with the kids with cancer, or at chemo, or bone marrow

marriage conferences, and upcoming movies, visit

transplants, and the siblings are being raised by grandparents

kirkcameron.com

over here. The whole family’s being ripped apart. We thought, DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

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people

words & images Marcus Coker

In 2010, the Pew Forum on Religion issued the results of their latest survey. In it they found that seventy-nine percent of Americans believe in miracles. It’s an astounding number, but if you ask your friends, or read widely, or eavesdrop at your local coffee shop, you’ll likely hear stories that can’t be explained any other way.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people Lee Garrett, seventy-two, sits down on a Tuesday afternoon in Muldrow, Oklahoma, to talk about the night she experienced a miracle. For the last twenty years, she’s only told a few close friends and relatives because she’s been afraid that no one would believe her. But last fall, Lee opened the paper and read a story about the remains of three people that were recovered from the bottom of a lake after they’d been missing for decades.

Realizing that could have easily been her own fate, Lee recalls the night she almost died.

It was the spring of 1994, and Lee was visiting her friend Charles and his son near Greers Ferry Lake, which is about sixty miles north of Little Rock, Arkansas. Lee was interested in observing Passover, which celebrates God freeing the Israelites after years of slavery in Egypt. She and Charles planned to attend the service in Heber Springs that night. Lee says, “First, we went downtown to have lunch, and Charles had a dozen oysters in a half shell, and when we walked out, he bent over and started turning gray. Well, he had food poisoning.”

That evening, Charles said his son could take care of him and insisted that Lee go to the Passover service by herself. She agreed, took a hand-drawn map to find her way, and walked out into the rainy night.

The service was about four or five miles away, and Lee made it there fine. “It was over about 9:30, and it was still raining,” says Lee. “I don’t see too well in the dark, but I see less well when it’s raining. So before I left the parking lot, I pulled under a light to look at the map and I thought I had it pretty good in my head. But as I was driving down the road, I noticed a white wooden fence beside me, one I didn’t notice on the way there.

And I know I would have seen it because that’s my favorite kind of fence.”

Lee tried looking at the map again. “I couldn’t tell anything. I didn’t know where I was. Then all of a sudden, I heard, ‘Stop the car.’ It was just clear as day. I heard this male voice say, ‘Stop the car.’”

Lee slowed down, but she didn’t stop. Lost in an unfamiliar place and confused by the voice she’d just heard, she gripped the steering wheel harder and leaned forward to try to get her bearings. “I took my foot off the gas and thought, Who said that?

Where are you? I didn’t know what to think. I probably went

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people another half a block. And I’m just battling in my mind thinking,

As Lee drove away, she stopped in a little dirt driveway to turn

Why do I want to stop the car?”

around. “I still couldn’t see well because of the rain and the dark, and I thought, I don’t know where I am or how I’m going to

And then the voice spoke again — “Stop the car.”

get back. And the next thing I knew, I was sitting in the driveway of Charles’s house. I still don’t know how I got there. By the time

“It wasn’t in my head,” says Lee. “The car was

I got inside and looked at a clock, it was

filled with the sound of the voice. It wasn’t

10:40.”

screaming; it was very calm. And although it wasn’t demanding or commanding, it was

When Lee told her story to her friend

very authoritative. ‘Stop the car.’”

Charles, he cautioned her against sharing her experience with too many people. He

“My hands were frozen to the wheel. Then all

likely felt, as she did, that no one would

of a sudden — WHOMP — my car stopped.”

believe her. A disembodied voice, a dark

As Lee tells the story, she begins to cry, now

road, a rainy night — it sounded too much

knowing that her life was saved that night.

like fiction. But later, as Lee fought to go to

“My car just stopped. There was this huge

sleep, she understood what really occurred.

force, this thing, and it just stopped my car. It

“I sat in bed all night, trying to wrap my brain

didn’t skid to a stop; it didn’t lunge forward. I

around what happened. And I kept thinking,

was driving one second, and the next second,

This is a miracle. The hand of God came

I was just stopped.”

down out of heaven and stopped my car.”

“It was completely black, and all I could hear

For the last twenty years, Lee has thought

was my windshield wipers. I was scared to

about that night in 1994. She’s replayed it

death. You can’t imagine what your mind is going through, being

over and over again and tried to explain it logically, but she just

lost on a dark, rainy night and hearing a strange voice. I just sat

can’t. “Lately, I’ve been losing sleep over it. When I read about

there for what seemed like hours, but it was probably only two

the three teenagers who disappeared in 1970, it sent a chill up

minutes in reality.”

my spine. They were on their way to an Elk City football game and never showed up. Recently, their skeletons were found (still

Finally, Lee rolled down her window, a little at first, then a little

inside their car) in Foss Lake, in Custer County, Oklahoma. No one

more. “I saw this movement in front of me that made me dizzy, like

knows exactly what happened, but it made me think, That could

a rippling, and I realized it was water. And then it all made sense.”

have been me. I could have driven right off that boat ramp, and no one would have known where to look.”

Lee’s front tires were sitting at the edge of Greers Ferry Lake, and something, or someone, had kept her from driving her car

In opening up about that rainy night, Lee is hopeful for many

straight into it. “A chill went through me,” says Lee. “I’m terrified

things. She says, “For a long time, I’ve thought that boat ramps

of anything more than a bathtub full of water. I can’t swim a lick.”

should be marked more clearly, that families of missing persons should include local lakes in their search efforts. But mostly I

But there she was, sitting at the end of a poorly marked boat

think that if my story can help just one person in any way, I’ll be

ramp, shaking from fear, wet from the rain coming in her

happy.” Lee hopes that others will be encouraged to tell their

window. Knowing she had to do something, she decided to

own extraordinary stories, ones similar to hers, ones that will

back up cautiously. And as she reached for the gearshift, she

remind us that we are not alone, that we are cared for, and that

noticed that her car was sitting in drive, and her foot wasn’t on

the world is both a mysterious and miraculous place to live.

the brake. “I remember putting my foot on the brake to change the gear to reverse very distinctly,” says Lee. “You had to do that in that car.”

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people

words Brenda Baskin images courtesy Dr. Terry von Thaden

When astronaut Linda Godwin boarded the space shuttle Atlantis on April 5, 1991, she carried with her a good luck charm — the flight helmet of pilot Louise McPhetridge Thaden. It was a tribute to a unique trailblazer. During the Golden Age of Aviation, Louise Thaden helped pave the way for generations of women who, like Godwin, dreamed of soaring through the skies, thousands of miles above the earth. Though Amelia Earhart’s mysterious disappearance over the Pacific Ocean made hers the name most people recall, her friend, peer and competitor Louise was equally famous at the time. Throughout the late 1920s and early 30s, Louise fearlessly and successfully broke records and knocked down barriers for female pilots.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people Iris “Louise” McPhetridge was born in

and helmets helped combat the cold air rushing through.

Bentonville, Arkansas in 1905. Her parents

They zipped by each other in airplanes, waving and shouting

encouraged independence. Roy McPhetridge

as they passed. Pressurized cabins hadn’t even been thought

taught Louise to fish, hunt, and later, repair

of. When planning her record-breaking flight, Louise heard

cars. Her first attempt at flight came at age

horror stories of pilots climbing too high and fainting due to

seven, when she jumped off the roof of

loss of oxygen. She solved the problem by borrowing an air

their barn, using an umbrella as a parachute.

tank from a machine shop, attaching a rubber hose to one

At age fourteen, she paid a stunt pilot five

end and a surgical mask to the other. As she ascended, she

dollars to give her a ride in his biplane.

slipped on the mask. Using pliers to open the tank’s valve, she administered enough oxygen to keep climbing. She did

The Wright Brothers’ famous flight at Kitty Hawk,

pass out at one point, but awoke as the plane plunged to

North Carolina took place in 1903. Once they

16,000 feet, still leaving her enough time to land safely. The

proved air travel possible, the world

plane’s readout had recorded her record-breaking altitude:

rushed to get in on the act. During

20,260 feet.

the next few decades, improvements to “flying machines” were made at

Three months later, in March of 1929, she broke the world’s

lightning speed. World War I created

solo endurance record. Louise managed to stay in the air for

an added urgency for fast, dependable

twenty-two hours, three minutes and twenty-two seconds.

planes. By the war’s end, flight records

She reported in her autobiography High, Wide and Frightened

were broken weekly, and newspapers

that she’d stayed awake by whistling, chewing gum, drinking

sensationally reported on the latest

coffee and hanging her head from the side of the cockpit,

stunts and the newest developments,

letting the cold air hit her. She was terrified, especially when

all infused with the restless spirit of

the spinner broke off from her propeller, but told herself,

the Roaring Twenties.

“There’s no use being a sissy.”

Louise was restless too. In 1921, she tried her hand at college,

In April, she earned her transport pilot’s license, which

attending the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and

allowed her to fly commercial planes. She was the fourth

switching majors three times before dropping out in 1925.

woman in the US to do so. The same month, she shattered

She went to work for the J.H.J. Coal Company in Wichita,

the women’s speed record. To this day, she’s the only

Kansas. Among their customers was Travel Air Manufacturing

female to hold three simultaneous world flight records.

Company, one of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers.

She was only twenty-three years old. It was all thrillingly

Enthralled by the sight of their planes taking off and landing,

dangerous, but Louise was philosophical. “If your time has

Louise began spending every free moment at their air field.

come,” she said, “it is a glorious way to pass over...There

Sometimes, the pilots even took her up in their planes. Walter

has never been, nor will there ever be, progress without

Beech, the company’s owner, noticed her obsession. He

sacrifice of human life.”

offered her a sales position at his San Francisco office. The pay was low, he informed her, but flying lessons were included

She was a woman in an industry dominated by men, during an

in the benefits package. By May of 1928, Louise had earned

era in which many still held to the adage “a woman’s place is

her pilot’s license, signed by Orville Wright himself. The same

in the home.” Women were often viewed as physically weak

year, in keeping with her whirlwind pace, she fell in love and

and too emotionally fragile to fly competently, a view that

eloped to Reno, Nevada with Herbert von Thaden, a former

frustrated Louise. “I see this question of a woman’s ability to fly

WWI pilot and aeronautical engineer. By December, she’d

developing into the battle of the sexes,” she lamented. “Women

broken the women’s record for flight altitude.

can never hope to compete with men in the actual flying of airplanes. Not that a woman can’t handle a plane as well as a

In those days, pilots flew in an open cockpit. Warm jackets

man. She can, and many of them do the job a lot better.”

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people Louise entered the 1936 Bendix Race, though she later admitted she never thought she had a prayer of winning. She was up against pilots whose custom-designed, dual-engine racing planes were built especially for the event. Louise and co-pilot Blanche Noyes climbed into their worn, single-engine stock model biplane and hoped for the best. Dashing off from New York City, they flew for fifteen hours. At some point, they lost radio power, and with it, the ability to hear the race’s progress. When they finally landed in Los Angeles, they realized they’d crossed the finish line backwards. Believing that the Men were challenging each other in air races, but women weren’t allowed to compete. That changed in 1929, when the first National Women’s Air Derby (nicknamed “The Powder Puff Derby”) was held in California. Twenty female pilots, including Louise and her friend Amelia Earhart, competed in the crosscountry race, which proved to be a difficult and tragic one. A pilot was killed when her plane crashed; Amelia Earhart’s plane crashed as well. After eight days of flying, Louise won the event, but it was a bittersweet victory.

looked for someplace to hide. But it soon became apparent that the commotion was due to the fact that they’d won, not just the “Women’s Prize,” but the entire race. They received both cash prizes ($7,000) and Louise was awarded the trophy. “Well, that’s a surprise!” she told Time magazine. We expected to be the cow’s tail.” Shortly afterward, Louise was awarded the Harmon Trophy, aviation’s top honor.

Despite her achievements, Louise expressed conflicting feelings

Shortly afterward, she, Amelia Earhart and Ruth Nichols founded the Ninety-Nines, an organization that still exists today. Named for the number of female pilots who initially joined, the group dedicated themselves to promoting the equality of female pilots and the advancement of aviation. Louise turned down the office of president and instead became treasurer, and later, its national vice president.

regarding her passion for flying and her love of family. After her Bendix Trophy victory, she broke two more flight records for speed and endurance, but soon after her friend Amelia Earhart’s 1937 disappearance over the Pacific Ocean, Louise announced her retirement from competitive flying. She claimed she wanted to spend more time with her family, though she never completely retired from aviation. She continued her work for the NinetyNines, promoted air safety, performed volunteer work for a

All the while, she continued breaking records, among them for speed and refueling endurance. In 1930, after Louise and Herbert relocated to Pittsburgh, she flew around the country promoting air travel and safety in her role as Public Relations Director for Pittsburgh Aviation Industries. During that time, she also gave birth to two children, William and Patricia, both of whom grew up to be pilots as well.

civilian air ambulance service, served in the Civil Air Patrol and became a partner in her husband’s aircraft engineering firm. After his passing in 1969, she ran the company herself. Throughout her life, she was showered with awards and accolades. In 1951, the Bentonville Municipal Airport changed its name to the Louise M. Thaden Field. Nationally, she’s been inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame, the International Aerospace Hall of Fame and the Arkansas Aviation Hall of Fame, among others.

The granddaddy of all flying competitions was the Bendix Transcontinental Air Race, established in 1931. The winner received a $4,500 cash prize and a coveted trophy. Race officials worried about the competence and safety of female pilots, and banned them from the competition. The women objected for years, until finally, in 1935, the ban was lifted. Convinced that the girls would be no match for their daring male counterparts, in 1936 organizers offered a lesser $2,500 “Women’s Prize” to the fastest female pilot.

approaching crowd was coming to laugh at their mistake, they

The farm girl from Arkansas who ushered in the Golden Age of Aviation and lived to see the Space Age, died of a heart attack on November 9, 1979, three days before her seventy-fourth birthday. Eleven years later, Linda Godwin carried Louise’s flight helmet aboard the Atlantis, symbolically acknowledging the woman who’d made her flight possible. Perhaps more than anyone else, Louise McPhetridge Thaden proved to the world that up in the sky, all things are equal.

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people

I Fought the Mall and the Mall Won WORDS Stoney Stamper IMAGES courtesy Stoney and April Stamper

The Stamper Family

I'm a good gift buyer. I'm not bragging, or anything. I'm just saying, I'm an amazing gift buyer. Maybe the best ever. Maybe that's bragging a little. But I pay close attention to the things the recipient of my gift wants, and then I plan and shop for the best deal, well ahead of the special day. It's a wonderful, thoughtful process.

Ok. I'm going to be honest with you. That whole first paragraph was a big, fat, lie. I don't do any of that stuff. I wouldn't say I'm the worst gift giver in the world, but I definitely leave a lot to be desired. I may have an idea of what someone may like, but I don't plan it out early, and I'm just as likely to pay double what something’s worth, than shop early and get a good deal.

Of course, when it's the day before your wife’s birthday, and you've got nothing, worries about cost go straight out the window. Your only focus is having a good gift for her birthday. Four hundred dollars for a purse? Sold! I can't speak for all men, but I'd gladly pay $400 to stay out of the doghouse. But maybe that's just me.

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people My wife's birthday is February 11. Three days before Valentine's

The flutter of long eyelashes and adorable smiles gets the better

Day. Which is cruel and unusual punishment. To add insult to

of me. To put on a smidge of authority, I say, “Girls, you don’t

injury, I've got three daughters, and the two older ones, Abby

need one of those. They're big and expensive, and we're going

and Emma, want to give mom their own presents.

to eat dinner when we're done here.” But it’s all for nothing.

They know they’re getting the 2,000 calorie milkshake before

I’d rather get in a bare knuckles bar brawl with Mike Tyson, circa

the words have even left my mouth.

1985, than to take the girls to the mall. But I’d put it off as long as I could. So, on the day before April’s birthday, as much as it

So, I’ve spent $14 already, and we've yet to actually do any

pained me to do it, I pick the girls up from school and with the

shopping. Time to get down to business. “Where do we need to

bravery and courage of a kamikaze pilot, head to the mall.

go first, girls?” I ask.

Excitement oozes from their pores as we pull into the parking lot.

“Let’s go into Journeys®!” they emphatically reply.

There is non-stop giggling and talking. "Dad is taking us to the mall! This is so much fun! We’re going to spend all his money!"

I say, “Girls, Journeys® only has girls clothes. Your Mom is turning thirty-three years old tomorrow. I doubt there’s anything

As we walk in from the parking lot, I lay down the ground rules.

in there she'll want.” But, as usual, my opinion is ignored, and

"Ok, girls. Stay together. Do NOT run off by yourselves. We aren't

we go into Journeys®. They both ‘oohhh’ and ‘aahhh’ over the

here to shop for you. Let's find some presents your mom will

mountain of cute outfits.

like, buy them, and get out of here as quickly as possible. We all “Girls, remember. WE ARE SHOPPING FOR YOUR MOTHER!”

clear? Ok. Ready. Break!"

They giggle at each other, and continue looking at clothes — Before we even get into the main section of the mall where all the

for themselves.

stores are, I can tell my ground rules are going to be very hard to enforce. Emma takes off at a near run. “EMMA! GET BACK HERE!”

I am being taken advantage of. “GIRLS! LETS GO!” I say.

I scream, as she heads directly into a fancy jewelry store. I have nightmarish visions of broken glass and thousands of dollars

To which Abby replies, “But Stoney, they’ve got some really

of damage, as my energetic little blonde-haired tornado whirls

good deals! Can we please keep looking?” I realize the only way

around from one display to the next. I rush in and escort her out.

out of here is with brute force. I round them up and march them out of there, both of them looking back over their shoulders.

“Emma, I said DON’T run off!” She is completely unfazed by my instructions and heads off in another direction. Abby, although

“Hey, there’s The Sunglass Hut®. There’s a pair of Coach®

older and calmer, looks like a racehorse just before the gates

sunglasses your mom’s been wanting. Let’s go look over there.”

open. I gather them together in front of the food court to

The girls are as excited as if I had just asked them to go do their

reiterate my ground rules and make a plan.

math homework. I find the ones I’m pretty sure April wants, so I ask Abby for her opinion. She is thirteen and pretty fashionable.

Unfortunately, I choose to do this right in front of Cinnabon®. As

She is also kind of hormonal, and pouting because I just

I’m talking, I notice Emma is having a hard time paying attention.

embarrassed her by dragging her out of Journeys®.

“Emma, are you listening?” I ask.

I ask again, “What do you think of these?” as I hold up the She replies, “Can I pleeease have an Oreo® chocolate chip

sunglasses. She responds with a less than ecstatic, “I dunno.”

diabetic energy explosion?” (Ok, that’s not really what she calls I say, “What do you mean? These are cool; I think she’ll like

it, but it's something like that.)

them. I’m pretty sure these are the ones she wants.”

My kneejerk reaction is a resounding “NO!” But then they team up on me. Abby joins in. “Pretty please, can we have one?”

Abby says “I don’t like them. I don’t think she will like them.”

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people I was pretty confident about the glasses. Now, my confidence is

and racks of merchandise. I jerk spastically to try and catch it,

wavering. “You don’t think she will like them?” I am deflated. I

and when I do, I knock over a rack of headbands, sending them

thought I had done so well.

scattering across the floor. The lid flies off the cup, and cold, sticky milkshake, manages to cover anything, and everything, in a

Abby shrugs, “I’m going to go in Claire’s .” Emma screams,

ten foot radius. It's on me, on Emma, in her hair, and on a lady who

“YES!” and away they go.

just happens to be standing a little too close.

Well what now? I don’t really want to go the gift card route,

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?

®

but I also don’t want to spend a couple hundred bucks on a pair of sunglasses April doesn’t like, so with a bruised ego, I

I look around apologetically to anyone who would make eye

buy a gift card and make my way into Claire’s , where the girls

contact. I snap into action, grab some paper towels and make

are again abuzz with energy, gazing at the wonderland of hair

a miserable attempt to clean up the horrible mess we’d just

bows, earrings, necklaces, headbands, and bracelets. On one

created. I give a handful of paper towels to the unlucky lady

hand, most of this stuff is cheap. On the other hand, it’s mostly a

standing near us, and apologize profusely. I pay for our things,

bunch of glittery, sparkly trinkets. I find the girls, each with their

quickly, and get the heck out of there before we tear anything

own shopping bags, full of wonderful things they’ve selected

else up.

®

for their mom. Emma has a yellow hair bow, a yellow headband, some dangly earrings, and a funky bracelet. Abby has a couple

I am now in as big of a hurry to get out of there as the girls were

of bracelets, another headband, a necklace and a few other

when we first arrived. Emma is behind me, trying to keep up,

oddities. I don't think any of it looks like anything April would

and she suddenly yells, “Wait! We need to go to Build-a-Bear®!”

like. It looks like stuff that nine and thirteen-year-old girls like.

I say, “Emma, your mother does NOT want anything from Build-

I smell a conspiracy.

a-Bear®. I’m sure of it.”

I’m not going to argue about it. We’ve got the gift card for the sunglasses, and the girls each have several things to give their

Emma says, “Well, she probably don’t want any of this crap we

mom, which are only from them. The end is in sight. I might just

got her at Claire’s either, but we still got it for her!”

survive this after all. I ran a half marathon once, and this is how I felt when I could see the finish line. My heart is racing. I’m filled

That’s a very good point, Em. But no dice. Sorry, Mom. Better

with adrenaline. My confidence is soaring.

luck next year.

And then, as it usually does when Emma and I are involved, disaster strikes. Emma drops her $6 milkshake. It lands hard on the tile floor, the cup splits in half, exploding all over the floor

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.

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taste

The Foodie Garden Words Tiffany Selvey Images Catherine Frederick and Tiffany Selvey

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I

{ Tomatoes }

love the whole experience of gardening, from starting seeds to composting spent plants. I love to watch my plants grow, see how they develop, even watch the insects and how they

respond to my garden. Every season it’s like watching magic, all the inexplicable things that come together to grow food continues to amaze me each year.

All tomatoes are not created equal. When I get my favorite seed catalog from Baker Creek Seeds, the first thing I do is flip to the tomato section, featuring every color of the rainbow, from white, to green, to black. I read and dream about the new

Do you know what I love more than all that? Eating. I’m one of those girls. You know, the ones that order a big medium-rare steak instead of a dainty salad. Perhaps I eat myself into a food coma more than I should admit, but I have no shame. I put that fuel back to work in my garden. Growing may be magical, but if I’m honest, the best thing about it is the free food. Give me a garden tomato over a box of mac and cheese any day. Did you catch the phrasing there? It must be a true garden tomato, not to be confused with the varieties at the grocery store that are bred and grown for long-term storage and shipping. Many of

varieties, but inevitably I end up growing the tried, true and tasty tomatoes I know and love. For the best tasting slicing tomato, I grow Cherokee purple, a beefsteak type with large fruits. For consistent size, shape, flavor and production, I love Ozark pinks.

This variety grows well in hot, humid areas, is disease resistant, and is very productive with a classic, full tomato flavor. If you’re into snacking in the garden, grow a few Sungold grape tomato plants. You will need one plant for snacking and another for eating later so there’s a chance some of the tiny toms might actually make it to the dinner table.

{ Onions }

the best culinary varieties are simply not sturdy or long-lasting enough to distribute. These are the varieties you must grow yourself to enjoy. It's among the reasons that some of the best restaurants now have on-site organic gardens.

of onions. Bulb onions, shallots and leeks are flavorful members

It’s easy to take inspiration from those restaurants. Just plant your own foodie garden, enjoy watching your plants grow, and then have a blast whipping up some of the best meals you’ll ever make. Here are some low maintenance, versatile veggies and herbs to get you started.

We can’t talk about a foodie garden without including a variety of the allium family, a staple in nearly every cuisine. They are, I believe, the foundation for good meals. I like just about any recipe that begins with sautéing an onion in oil. For ease of growth, prolific reproduction and excellent flavor, I love Egyptian walking onions, a perennial onion you only have to purchase once to enjoy for a lifetime. This variety is a green onion that

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taste can be eaten at any part of development. In June, Egyptian walking onions produce a topset of bulblets, which cause the stem to fall over, thus replanting itself or “walking.” Remove the topset and separate the bulblets, divide the bulbs at the roots to transplant, or just let the onions walk for continuous crops.

This variety isn’t fussy about soil, so top dressing with half an inch of compost in the spring and fall should be sufficient.

{ Greens } I wouldn’t say all greens taste the same, but many can be used in recipes interchangeably with excellent results. Kale, both flat and curly, and Swiss chard are hardy varieties that grow from early spring to late fall with little maintenance. Harvest outer leaves frequently to encourage vigorous growth. Rainbow chard sells at a premium at farmers’ markets for its beauty and taste, but is easy to grow in any ornamental or vegetable garden.

{ Herbs }

best flavor. Harvesting before the first frost results in a more bitter

I could write a book on culinary herbs and the different varieties

Brussels sprouts. Harvesting properly and roasting the vegetables

that are best for different meals. Instead, let’s focus on common

ensures the sweetest flavor.

product, which is the reason most people think they don’t like

herbs that grow well in the South. Cilantro and parsley are cool-season herbs that bloom and produce seed when the summer approaches (known as bolting). During this process the cilantro plant becomes coriander — the seed of cilantro which is harvested and used as a spice, while fallen seed will regrow as the season cools, creating a fall crop. Oregano and thyme are perennial ground covers that grow well in almost all environments and soils, including containers. Basil, among one of the most popular culinary herbs, comes in many wonderful, flavorful varieties, and makes a stunning addition to a vegetable, herb or ornamental garden.

{ Brussels Sprouts }

Balsamic Brussels Sprouts 1 quart of fresh Brussels sprouts 2 Tablespoons olive oil 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar Salt and pepper to taste Slice Brussels sprouts in half and toss with olive oil and vinegar. Roast 30 minutes at 400°, tossing once after 15 minutes.

These are just a few of the hundreds of wonderful culinary

A long season veggie, Brussels sprouts can be started in late spring or early summer, and left to grow throughout the summer with little maintenance. The sprouts, which look like tiny cabbages, grow along the stem of the plant. As they get larger, remove the

varieties of herbs and vegetables, but they are a great beginning to a foodie garden. When deciding what to grow, always take your own tastes into consideration and talk to local gardeners about what varieties they love to grow and eat.

lower leaves to allow more space and easy access for harvesting.

Harvest sprouts beginning at the bottom, after the first frost for the

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Manna for Momma WORDS Catherine Frederick ADAPTED from Julia’s Album & Family Fresh Cooking images Catherine Frederick and Jeromy Price

Our mommas have put up with a lot from us over the years. Granted, some put up with more than others, but there’s no need to delve into the past, right?

Let’s just give thanks. Thanks for their patience, understanding, and unconditional love. And although we can never repay them for everything they’ve done for us, we can whip up some lovin’ from the oven, and that’s a great start.

Berries are the superstars in both of the breakfast recipes that follow. But if I’m being honest, and momma taught me to always be honest, these recipes would be delicious any time of day, any way you slice them.

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Baked B l u e b e r ry French Toast

I ngredients 8 pieces whole wheat bread 5 large eggs, whisked 1/4 cup milk 1/4 cup maple syrup (plus more for topping) 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 teaspoon sea salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 2 cups frozen blueberries, thawed Non-stick spray 8 slices butter

METHOD Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a large baking sheet with non-stick spray. In a large bowl, combine eggs, milk, maple syrup, salt, brown sugar, vanilla extract & cinnamon. Submerge each piece of bread in egg mixture for 5 minutes. Remove bread, allowing excess mixture to drip back into bowl. Place bread in single layer on baking sheet. Top bread with blueberries. Place pan on center oven rack and bake for 25-30 minutes – until golden brown and no longer soggy. Remove from oven, top with butter & extra maple syrup.

Serve hot.

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Strawberry, Blueberry, Banana Bread Ingredients 1/3 cup butter, melted 1 cup sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon butter flavored extract 1 teaspoon baking soda

Dash salt 1 1/2 cups flour Zest of one orange (1 Tablespoon) 3 ripe bananas, mashed 1/2 cup strawberries, roughly chopped 1/2 cup blueberries

Method Preheat oven to 350°. In large bowl, combine bananas and butter. Add sugar, egg, and vanilla. Stir. Add baking soda and salt. Stir to combine. Add flour and stir gently, just enough to blend ingredients. Fold orange zest, strawberries and blueberries gently into mixture. Butter 4×8 inch loaf pan. Butter a piece of parchment paper. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper (butter side up). Pour batter into pan. Bake for 1 hour until top is golden brown.

Remove. Cool slightly before serving.

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RECIPE Burford Distributing image Jeromy Price

4 oz *Nutliquor Peanut Flavored Vodka 1 oz Viral Raspberry Sherbet Vodka Raspberry jelly for glass rim Fresh raspberries for garnish *Nutliquor contains NO Peanut Allergens

Rim glass with raspberry jelly. Combine Nutliquor and Viral Raspberry Sherbet Vodka in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake, then strain into martini glass. Garnish with raspberries.

Please drink responsibly.

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Dripping Springs

Working the Land Words & Images Laurie Marshall

Taking a stroll around the Fayetteville, Arkansas square on a Saturday morning during farmers’ market season is a kind of Nirvana for anyone interested in the art and science of people-watching. One of the largest crowds gathered on the square each week surrounds the space occupied by Dripping Springs Garden. The garden’s founders, Mark Cain and Michael Crane, have created a go-to source for organically grown flowers and produce.

In the mid–1980s, Mark and Michael were both headed toward the same goal of spending their lives in a garden. Mark received a degree in biology from the University of Illinois and studied organic horticulture at U.C. Santa Cruz before heading for the Ozarks to find a place to start an organic farm.

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travel Michael, a native of Springfield, Missouri, was working as a landscaper and creating an enviable garden around his home in Eureka Springs. Friends say he not only has a green thumb, but “green fingers, feet, heart and mind as well.” After meeting through mutual friends, Mark and Michael decided to join forces and began looking for land. The small valley they found along the banks of Dry Fork Creek in Carroll County was home to a derelict blueberry farm, but they saw the potential for revival.

As you turn off Arkansas Highway 21 to drive the final few miles to the farm, it’s easy to see why they chose this location. The small creek that wanders through the woods beside the dirt

The Team at Dripping Springs

road feeds the irrigation source for Dripping Springs’ crops, and the bluffs lining the road are made up of “karst” stone

Farming Internships and Apprenticeships listing, and by word

— a natural limestone formation that acts as a filter system

of mouth from others who have worked on the farm.

for ground water in the Ozark mountain region. Karst geology also aids drainage in planted fields, helping keep plants from

Four to six interns arrive in April each year, when planting for

becoming waterlogged in wet seasons.

the summer crops begins in earnest, and they stay through October or November when the main gardens are put to bed for

There is indication that there have been fertile soils in the valley

the winter. Each intern is paid a stipend and provided with room

for much longer than the thirty years Mark and Michael have

and board. A hand-built timber-frame barn on the property

been there. As Michael gathered stones to build a pathway from

provides rooms for interns, and there are two yurts available as

the main house to the creek, he found a perfect fossil of a pre-

well. Mark and Michael have welcomed interns from just down

historic Cycad plant in one stone that is now featured in the herb

the road, and from around the world.

garden. But the forty acre farm is not only producing organicallygrown flowers, vegetables and mushrooms, they are also raising

If anyone arrives with bucolic dreams of living an easy life

an annual crop of young people who are determined to go out

on the land, those dreams are soon abandoned as the real

and make a difference in the world.

work of running a working organic farm begins. But despite long, physically demanding days, Mark says there has been

Since 1994, Mark and Michael have advertised a small number

a resurgence of interest in programs such as theirs in recent

of annual internship positions on websites specifically aimed

years. “The experience of working on a farm where income

at matching qualified applicants with farming internships and

comes from sales is different than working at an institutionally

apprenticeships such as theirs, a continuation of the kind of

supported program with a student garden.” Knowing that the

education Mark experienced in California. The methods used

work one does as an intern directly impacts the bottom line of

to grow their crops are sustainable and organic, and students

the farm creates a stronger commitment from the interns. There

who work with them learn by doing. As Mark says, “We’ve had

is no university budget line supporting Dripping Springs — only

people working with us on the farm since the beginning — this

the hands of the people living on the farm.

is the way I learned.”

Intern Patrick Jones is from Ava, Missouri, a small town southeast The Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture (MESA)

of Springfield. He toured Dripping Springs while working for

program connects young people across the globe with farms

Ozark Alternatives, a farm and orchard located in Fayetteville,

offering internships in the United States. Often, these students

and after a few more visits with Mark and Michael, he was asked

have already studied some form of agriculture and may even

to join them. This is his second summer to work at the farm. When

be working on farms in their home countries. Students in

asked what he plans to do after his time at the farm, he doesn’t

the United States find the farm through ATTRA’s Sustainable

hesitate; “I want to manage an organic farm myself. We’ll see what

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Patrick Jones

Michael Crane

Grace Hockenbeck

comes along.” Another intern, Grace Hockenbeck, is originally

where forty-nine percent of the country’s labor force is employed

from New Jersey, and also worked at Ozark Alternatives, where

in agriculture. Matt Champagne co-operates a stone mason and

she met Patrick. “I was WWOOFing, and heard about the farm

timber-framing business in Northwest Arkansas. In fact, he and

from people I met in Fayetteville.” The acronym “WWOOF” stands

his team hand-crafted the timber-frame barn and home on the

for Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms. As the WWOOF

farm using wood found and milled on the property. Chris Hiryak

website states, “WWOOF-USA is part of a worldwide effort to link

and Ryan Norman were hired straight off the farm to become

visitors with organic farmers, promote an educational exchange,

Garden Specialists with the Delta Garden Study, an initiative set

and build a global community conscious of ecological farming

up through the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute

practices.” WWOOFers, as individuals involved in the activity are

in Little Rock. Chris then went on to found Little Rock Urban

called, trade a short-term commitment to work on participating

Farming, a community organization that produces organic fruits,

farms for room and board. Grace and Patrick have decided to

vegetables and cut flowers for local markets. Phillip Bullard is a

work toward their individual goals of owning an organic farm

co-creator of the Dunbar Garden, a two-acre outdoor classroom

together, much as Mark and Michael did thirty years ago.

that provides hands-on education for school children, teenagers

®

and adults in downtown Little Rock.

Caroline Aoyama, an intern from San Francisco, touches on a different kind of value provided by the work she’s doing at the

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are harvest days at Dripping

farm. “I’m not a school person. This is our school.” For young

Springs, with Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings spent

people who are not interested in a traditional, college-based

in Fayetteville at the market. No sales are made at the farm,

education, internship programs such as the one at Dripping

but they do sell shares in a CSA program for individuals who

Springs provide an alternative foundation for building a career.

are interested in organic, locally-grown food options. Ozark

The farm’s sole source of income is its crops, so the six-day

Natural Foods, a cooperative grocery store in Fayetteville, sells

work weeks are full of planting, weeding, irrigating, harvesting,

produce and flowers from Dripping Springs year-round. Learn

planning, and solving problems. The work done here is not

more about Dripping Springs, internships available through ATTRA,

intended to be a fun summertime diversion — it’s serious

or WWOOFing, by visiting drippingspringsgarden.com, attra.ncat.

business. The work ethic taught in the gardens and the immersion

org, and wwoofusa.org. Support local farmers through your area

in a sustainable and organic lifestyle impacts the lives of those

CSA. Find a location near you at localharvest.org.

who spend a summer here, even if they do not choose agriculture or farming as a career. Many of the students who work on the farm are putting their hands-on education to good use in their lives after they leave Carroll county.

To buy flowers and veggies grown at Dripping Springs Farm, visit the Fayetteville Farmers’ Market on the

Tee Belón came to the farm as a student from Peru. After returning home to Lima, she created the first inner-city environmental education program of its kind in the city of 8.4 million people.

Fayetteville Square at 110 W. Mountain St. Thursday: 7 AM to 1 PM, Saturday: 7 AM to 2 PM

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southern lit

Discussing Life and Death at Shelby's Do-Nut Shop fiction Marla Cantrell

T

he whole thing started with an article I read in a magazine while sitting at the hair salon. In it, there was a black-and-white photo of a boy in his teens inside a pizza place, his head bowed, his hands in fists at his side. He was seeing a psychiatrist who worked exclusively with people who thought about dying every minute of every day. This guy was one of them. And he was near about tortured by it. The gist of the article was this: It’s hard to enjoy a pizza pie with the Grim Reaper sitting at your table, asking can he have a slice.

That night, even with my hair looking as good as it had in years, I realized how unhappy I was. I couldn't get that kid out of my head. And I couldn't quit thinking that my time was running out, and when I dreamed I was at a basketball game staring as the clock ran down: four minutes, two minutes, finally six seconds — that's when I woke up in a sweat, my hair wrecked, by the way.

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southern lit And then I thought about my own daddy, who’d had a heart attack just shy of fifty, and how for months afterward he sat in his recliner with two fingers on the opposite wrist, checking always for a pulse, certain if he got sloppy, if he let up even a little, he would surely die.

I was nineteen then. I’d think about the miracle of my own body. How new cells replaced the old, day after day, and how the thought of it made me feel reborn. I still had the skin of a toddler, and so much hair the weight of it gave me headaches when it grew past my shoulders.

Lately, though, I’d been worrying about my own health. My skin had roughened, as if I’d spent time surfing or skiing, though, of course, I had not. And I had odd pains, like someone pinching me inside my skull, near my left temple, and then my eyes would go all twitchy and the world blurred.

where the grass refused to grow. The red clay tugged at him, the smell like mildew, and something else, something chemical.

He was sucked in waist deep before his mother saw, and then screamed, and then called the fire department.

There’s yellow police tape around the spot now, and I haven’t stepped foot on my own lawn since.

My Taurus, thank goodness, is parked on the gravel drive, and as I open the door I wonder what will happen to it if I die. Who would take it? I don’t have a will. The car’s paid for. Old, I know, but still.

I adjust the rear view mirror and slowly pull out into the street.

My appointment is at nine, and it’s only seven-thirty. I pull into Shelby’s Do-Nut Shop, something I haven't done since I swore off carbs. The smell inside is like funnel cakes at the state fair: sugar, cooking oil old enough for a driver’s license, and yeast.

Strange, I thought, for someone only thirty-one.

And now I’m consumed with dying. The really smart people are, if what the magazine says is true. The delusional ones, they’re probably too busy watching reality TV, as easily distracted as a yard dog when company shows up. I got a physical — blood work, the whole nine yards — and my doctor said he wished all his patients were as healthy as me. For an entire day I believed him. But the next day, and every day after, I had this feeling of doom wake me each morning, and it dogged me everywhere I went. So, I found this psychiatrist’s office, not far from where I live, and I called him up.

The conversation that followed was with the receptionist, who took down my information and asked if I was suicidal. And I laughed because I was the opposite of suicidal. So, she had to ask again, and the whole thing made me feel like a giant loser.

My appointment is today. I’ve been up since five, trying to decide what to wear. I want the psychiatrist to like me. I also want him to fix me. In one visit.

Outside, the sun is starting to rise. The sky glows pink in places, and the beauty of it swells inside me. Pink used to be my favorite color, but lately it makes me think of all those pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness, and my pulse races. I start to check for lumps, and it takes all the willpower not to do it.

Just last week, the neighbor’s boy, a white-haired first grader, got stuck in the mud in his backyard after a downpour, in a spot

Diabetes, a slow death, is what I’m thinking as I order two cinnamon donuts made with potato flour. The coffee is hot and plain, made by a woman whose name tag reads Lou Ray, and who wouldn’t know a barista if one hit her in the face.

“My favorite,” Lou Ray says, “pointing to my donuts.”

“Mine too,” I say.

Lou Ray’s hair is the color of the steel counters behind her, her bosom ample, her legs surprisingly thin.

“You look nice,” she says. “Turquoise looks good on you. Me, I can’t wear bright colors.”

“I’m on my way to the airport,” I say, lying easily, the way I imagine all psychiatric patients do.

“Vacation?” Lou Ray asks.

“Hawaii,” I answer, and suddenly I can see myself there, if the plane actually made across the wide ocean.

“You know what I’d do if I could fly anywhere?” Lou Ray asks.

“I’d go to Oklahoma, where the wind comes right before the trains,” she says, and I don’t correct her.

“And then I’d go see Will Rogers’ museum in Claremore.”

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southern lit “Will Rogers died in a plane crash,” I say, and feel a kind of panic set in.

“Sure did,” Lou Ray says. “In an experimental plane. In Alaska.

With his buddy. Took his typewriter and clicked out little stories on the flight. Wouldn’t you just love to read what he was writing?”

I shake my head. No, I would not.

Lou Ray, unfazed, continues. “And before that he was a cowboy — he had a lot of Indian blood — but a cowboy nonetheless.

He was in vaudeville and then the silent movies and then the talkies. And then he started writing so good, things about the government and what not, that folks started paying attention.

Started showing up in droves to listen to him speak.”

“Never met a man I didn’t like,” I say, the only Will Rogers’ quote I remember.

“What he said was,” Lou Ray counters, “‘I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I didn’t like.’

“Think of it,” Lou Ray says, her hands sweeping out in front of her. “The guy goes around the world, what, four, five times.

He comes from nothing. Nothing. He doesn’t know how to act, doesn’t know a thing about Hollywood, but he learns. He doesn’t have a fancy education, but he has a good head on him and a quick wit, and he takes on the politicians. He meets an Arkansas girl and falls in love and she won’t give him the time of day, but he keeps coming back. ‘I love you,’ he says, so many times she starts to think she might love him too.”

I pull a five dollar bill from my wallet and drop it in Lou Ray’s tip jar. I walk out into the sunshine. The traffic has picked up. Those late to work or school are rushing to get in place on time.

I slide in behind the wheel and watch for a while. Not one accident, not even a fender bender. Joggers zig between the cars, as safe as birds in a nest. A man on a bicycle jumps his front tire up on the curb near the traffic light, and then back down again, so that the bike looks like a giant bouncing bedspring.

On the radio, a country star is singing about the pain that shoots through your heart after the man you love starts loving someone else. I haven’t had a date in almost a year, I realize, counting the months on my sugary fingers. I shake my head, amazed by this fact, and feel my pulse, squeezing my left wrist tight with two fingers from my right hand, a reflexive move that started three weeks ago. It is strong and steady. I pull out into the traffic, and touch my chest, feeling the thump, thump, thump that keeps me planted on this great earth.

There is still time before my appointment, so I pull onto the interstate, a dangerous place by any sane person's reasoning. I get my old car going fifty and then sixty and finally sixty-five. It shimmies and I tighten my grip, and I'm sweating, and my feet feel like ice, but I keep driving. There is a plane overhead, and it tips its wing as it begins its descent to the airport nearby.

I think about Will Rogers, and I think about Lou Ray, old as my grandma and still showing up for work every day, still full of dreams about Oklahoma. I think about my daddy, who finally rose from his Barcalounger, who finally said, “Enough is enough,” and went back to the factory.

“What happened to her?” I ask.

“Well, honey, he married her, made her rich, and then he whipped through his life like a guy holding onto the tail of a tornado. And he made a living speaking his mind, but not in a hateful way like you see on the TV today, with everybody being so snotty to each other. No sir, Will Rogers was a gentleman.”

“He died too soon.”

“But, my, what a life.”

I roll down my window and let the wind inside. It whips through my hair, it ruffles the edge of my skirt. There is a man wearing a suit in the car next to me, his shoulders hunched over the wheel, the corners of his mouth turned down. I honk and he looks over at me and I wave and he looks shocked, but then he smiles. He mouths “Thank you,” and I say it back, and the world feels a little more permanent, like maybe it will stay around a while. Like maybe I'll stay around with it, me and all my glorious cells that seem to be doing their job right now, making me new again, making me over, keeping me going down this long and winding road.

The bell above the door sounds. A harried mother with three little boys comes in. Only one has his shoes tied. Lou Ray pulls a new sheet of waxed paper from the box and waits for their order.

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