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VOLUME 40, NUMBER 34 ARKANSAS TIMES (ISSN 0164-6273) is published each week by Arkansas Times Limited Partnership, 201 East Markham Street, Suite 200, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72201, phone (501) 375-2985. Periodical postage paid at Little Rock, Arkansas, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ARKANSAS TIMES, EAST MARKHAM STREET, SUITE 200, Little Rock, AR, 72201. Subscription prices are $42 for one year, $78 for two years. Subscriptions outside Arkansas are $49 for one year, $88 for two years. Foreign (including Canadian) subscriptions are $168 a year. For subscriber service call (501) 375-2985. Current single-copy price is 75¢, free in Pulaski County. Single issues are available by mail at $2.50 each, postage paid. Payment must accompany all single-copy orders. Reproduction or use in whole or in part of the contents without the written consent of the publishers is prohibited. Manuscripts and artwork will not be returned or acknowledged unless sufficient return postage and a self-addressed stamped envelope are included. All materials are handled with due care; however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for care and safe return of unsolicited materials. All letters sent to ARKANSAS TIMES will be treated as intended for publication and are subject to ARKANSAS TIMES’ unrestricted right to edit or to comment editorially.

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APRIL 24, 2014

COMMENT

From the web In response to “Arkansas residents discover they can’t stop pipeline from crossing their land” (April 17) about the Diamond Project plan to dig for a pipeline through Arkansas: The proposed Diamond pipeline transporting Bakken Shale oil from Cushing, Okla., to Memphis, Tenn., spans three natural faults in eastern Oklahoma. These faults had been inactive for hundreds of years until that state started fracking. They have since become active and their seismic activity has increased, as documented on a Rachel Maddow show on Feb. 20 of this year. A rupture anywhere along this proposed pipeline would spell disaster for our state. It would make the Mayflower spill look like a walk in the park. The list of additives in this oil is unbelievably toxic to any environment outside the pipeline itself or its storage tanks. As far as I can tell, the only methods used by oil companies to clean up land spills are backhoes and paper towels. In other words, they have no state-of-the-art technology. I strongly urge anyone reading this article to contact Governor Beebe and ask him to review this proposed pipeline. In using our state to transport this oil, we assume all the risks and the oil companies make all the profits. Brad Bailey

DYKES

In response to “Pearls about Swine: Mystified by Dykes selection” (April 3) on UA Athletic Director Jeff Long’s hiring of Jimmy Dykes to coach women’s basketball: It’s inexplicable from the outside. And such a shame. Just reflect on a side issue with Petrino and Jessica Dorrell: One of the biggest regrets was that the incident set back the progress of women, legitimate women, find4

APRIL 24, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

ing positions in football operations departments. Now UAF hires an unqualified male to coach women’s basketball when there are so many truly qualified women that they could have hired. There are certainly some great women’s basketball coaches who are men. Gary Blair, once at UAF and now at Texas A&M, immediately comes to mind. (Wonder why UAF couldn’t keep him if they just have to have a male?) But I think it’s time that a male has to demonstrate exceptional skills, experience, and credentials in order

to be hired ahead of a woman to coach women. Would UAF have hired an unqualified woman to coach men’s basketball? I think this decision has boosterism written all over it. What a shame … I wish Jimmy Dykes well, but they should have hired a woman. Perplexed In response to the blog post on the new Razorback “secondary logo” showing a hog face-on: I suppose a secondary logo is appropriate for a secondary program, which Arkansas is right now. The front view does look like it came out of the same bag as the Red Wolf, and it also looks a bit like the Disney warthog. It’s unfortunate that so much time and money is being spent on how the teams look or where they practice when most of them are underperforming so badly. I say fix the teams, then worry about how fashionable they look. Terry G. Hawkins In response to a blog post on the fatal shooting of Bernard Sherrod on April 21: 6 homicides in 7 days. Something’s wrong with the world today. I blame “Stuff”. “Stuff” is too important. “Stuff” is taking over. “Stuff” is causing everyone to value it over life. People need BIG houses with BIG mortgages just to hold all their “Stuff.” People are working themselves silly in order to afford more “Stuff.” When the family breaks down and divorce occurs they fight over “Stuff.” People are dying over “Stuff.” People that don’t have any “Stuff” are mad at the world and killing other people and don’t even think about it because they got no “Stuff” to lose. My new goal in life is to get rid of stuff. A good day is when I have less stuff at the end of the day than I did that morning. People, stuff ain’t worth it. Citizen1

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WORD S

Who’s exasperated? “NEW YORK — IBM’s first-quarter earnings fell and revenues came in below Wall Street’s expectations amid ongoing decline in its hardware business, one that was exasperated by weaker demand in China and emerging markets.” Jim Newell was gripped by exasperation himself after reading this item in the business section. “Exacerbated” is the word the writer wanted, he sagely suggests. “Look here — in this TV Guide — I had this exact same idea 6 months ago! Another one of my ideas stolen!” “Ideas are like that — they’re in the air — the same idea pops up in many places at the same time — it’s called ‘zeitgeist’. “ I usually have to look up zeitgeist in the dictionary whenever I see it. Thanks to the comic strip “Too Much Coffee Man” for saving me the trouble. I know the feeling even if I don’t know the word very well. Many’s the time I’ve seen Stephen Hawking rush one of my ideas into print just before I had time to do it myself. Zombies are very much a part of the current zeitgeist. You can’t turn on the TV

without bumping into a pack of them. A little-known fact — zombi was the original spelling, according to DOUG Garner’s Modern SMITH American Usage: speedodoug40@gmail.com “Zombi derives from nzambi, the Bantu name of a West African python deity thought to raise the dead. A generally disparaging term in common use (in the sense ‘a dullard’), zombie was, for example, what Canadian Army regulars called draftees in World War II. The notion of a zombie as brain-eating monster evolved from horror movies, starting with White Zombie (1932), starring Bela Lugosi.” My favorite zombie movie is “I Walked with a Zombie (1943),” one of those old Val Lewton jobs that managed to be scary without the graphic disassembly popular today. Sports-page headline: “Johnson out to qwell doubters.” He hopes to qwench fans’ thirst for victories.

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WEEK THAT WAS

It was a good week for… CHELSEA CLINTON. The former first daughter and Arkansas native and her husband, Mark Mezvinksy, are expecting their first child. A BIG FIND. David Anderson, who moved to Murfreesboro to hunt for gems at Crater of Diamonds State Park, found a 6.19-carat white diamond at the park. He named it “Limitless Diamond” and plans to sell it and donate the proceeds to the Speed the Light charity. ARKANSAS VOTERS. The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas and the Arkansas Public Law Center filed a lawsuit in state court on behalf of four plaintiffs seeking to overturn the state’s voter I.D. law as violating the state constitution. Plaintiffs include a Hurricane Katrina refugee who lost all her possessions, including her ID, in the storm, and a 78-year-old man who was never issued a birth certificate because he was delivered by a midwife who did not properly record his birth HEALTH CARE COVERAGE. The Obama administration announced that 8 million Americans have signed up for health insurance on the new marketplaces created by

Obamacare. That includes around 45,000 Arkansans. Meanwhile more than 155,000 people have gained coverage under the state’s “private option” for Medicaid expansion, according to the latest data released by the Department of Human Services, and the pool of enrollees is leaning younger, good news for the rest of the marketplace. See “The Big Picture” on page 11 for more.

It was a bad week for… SEN. JOHN BOOZMAN. He underwent emergency heart surgery in Rogers on Tuesday. LITTLE ROCK’S HOMICIDE RATE. As the Times went to press on Tuesday, there had been five homicides in Little Rock in the past seven days. TOM COTTON. The Senate candidate’s refusal to take a position on the Arkansas private option — and his inability to explain what he would do to help the more than 150,000 Arkansans who would lose coverage if Cotton got his way and repealed Obamacare — led the national media to dub his dodgy answers on health care as “word salad.” Expect a few more helpings as the campaign drags on.

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APRIL 24, 2014

EDITORIAL

EYE ON ARKANSAS

Too many voters

APRIL 24, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

MATT AMARO

o contemporary Republicans, there can never be too much money in an election, but there can be too many voters. Nationally, Republicans — including those who are members of the United States Supreme Court — have worked hard and effectively to eliminate any restrictions on the amount of money that political donors can invest in their chosen candidates. Let the Koch brothers ring. Here in Arkansas, the Republican majority in the 2013 legislature enacted a law forcing would-be voters to produce photo identification or forfeit their right to participate in the democratic process. Gov. Mike Beebe vetoed the bill, and properly so, but the legislature overrode his veto. Now, champions of the people’s rights have gone to court. The new law is said by its supporters to be an antifraud measure, but they smirk when they say it. The only kind of fraud the law could prevent is already nonexistent. The true purpose of the law is to block voting by those who might not vote Republican — the young, the old, the impoverished, minorities. “This law stands between qualified voters and the ballot box,” says the legal director of the Arkansas ACLU, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed last week challenging the law. They want the law declared unconstitutional and thrown out before the May 20 primary. Fair elections are well worth saving. It’s good there are people willing to go to court to do so. Heaven knows there’s little else in Arkansas politics to be happy about these days. All across this small, poor state, irresponsible and unfeeling political candidates are promising to keep it that way. To them, the only good Arkansan is a rich Arkansan. Both the AARP and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare have blown the whistle on the Republican candidate for the United States Senate, who aspires to destroy these great social programs on which millions of Americans, including Arkansans, rely. In just about every state legislative race, candidates shout their opposition to the Affordable Care Act (they call it “Obamacare”), the greatest social program enacted since Social Security and Medicare. Deep-pocketed, small-hearted Republican donors make malicious malarkey possible. When not trying to deny medical care to the poor and middle class, the right-wingers are trying to close their schools. Better education could well lead to demands for better pay. So when a state Senate candidate in western Pulaski County says that education is her top priority, she means education for the children of families already comfortable. She supports voucher schools, which have failed to improve education wherever they’ve been tried. The true purpose of voucher schools is to grab public tax dollars for students who are already attending church schools, a forced mingling of church and state, the sort of thing the nation’s founders wholeheartedly opposed, knowing the loss of freedom it would bring. Dreary days, indeed.

SPRING GREEN: Fresh leaves on the trees surrounding the capitol dome.

Mike Maggio isn’t alone

backhanded defense follows for Circuit Judge Mike Maggio, who resigned a Court of Appeals race amid multiple ethics investigations. In due time, the state Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission will formally end his judicial career. But it’s already been effectively suspended by the Arkansas Supreme Court. So there’s little practical importance to the recent Democrat-Gazette report that another lawsuit pends in his court against a nursing home owned by Michael Morton, a major Maggio campaign contributor who benefitted from an earlier $4.2 million verdict reduction by Maggio in an unrelated nursing home damage case. Another judge will handle the pending case. To date, there’s also been no evidence Maggio was aware of Morton’s contributions when he issued that reduction of a jury verdict. The contributions were made and reported months later. Maggio’s attorney, Lauren White Hamilton, made a fair point about the focus on Maggio and his cases in an email to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that she also sent to me. Apart from reporting by the Arkansas Times, little comprehensive has been written about political campaign contributions — by Morton and others — to other judicial races. If it is fair to guiltily associate Maggio’s work with such money, why not other candidates, too, she asks. Morton has made enormous contributions — through multiple corporate veils and multiple PAC contributions — to many other political races, including judicial races by Supreme Court candidates Karen Baker, Rhonda Wood and Robin Wynne. He’s poured significant sums, too, into Faulkner County circuit court races by Doralee Chandler, Troy Braswell and David Clark. Hamilton wrote about more than Morton and other nursing home contributors. She noted, too, the contributions of powerful trial lawyers to other judicial candidates, including by Arkansas and out-of-state firms that have associated in suing a pharmaceutical company in an action similar to a recent big case in Arkansas. She

commented to the D-G: “There has been zero reporting on these contributions and on their timing which occurred just one month before the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled on this [simiMAX lar pharmaceutical] issue. There BRANTLEY is nothing wrong with what these maxbrantley@arktimes.com candidates did, but the standard should be the same for all judges at any level. Even a cursory review of contributions for all judicial candidates will reveal that the majority of contributions come from attorneys or law firms — all of which is perfectly legal and ethical. Until such time that Arkansas publicly finances judicial races or goes to an appointment system, judicial candidates will continue to receive contributions from trial lawyers associations, the health care industry, lawyers, and law firms.” She’s singing my song. Lawyers pay for judicial elections. It looks terrible, but it is legal. No judge is required to recuse from a case simply because a lawyer has made a contribution to his or her campaign. (At least up to a point. The U.S. Supreme Court has said a pivotal judge in a West Virginia coal case shouldn’t have heard the case after receiving $3 million in coal money.) The nursing home spigot to select judicial races this year seems to have been turned on through backroom work by former Republican Sen. Gilbert Baker of Conway, at the time a $130,000-a-year lobbyist for UCA as well as operator of a private political consulting company. He’d long been a paid shill for the business and Religious Right lobbies and his candidates are cut from the same cloth. Thanks to his injudicious postings on an LSU fan website, Maggio no longer poses a threat to justice in Arkansas courts. His paid vacation will end for good no later than Jan. 1. The big-money backers and politically partisan utterances by the judicial candidates who remain on the ballot are of more pressing concern.

OPINION

The right’s new Obamaploy: Common Core

onny Perdue, the veterinarian who marched the Republican Party to power in Georgia, defined American politics in 2014 better than the political scientists. “It’s the two P’s,” he said the other day, “polarization and paranoia.” Perdue was bemoaning what had happened to “the Common Core,” the great school reform on which he and other Republican governors, notably Jeb Bush and Mike Huckabee, had staked their political glory. Now Common Core is reviled by much of their party as Barack Obama’s takeover of our children. Denouncing “Obamacore” gets lusty cheers at Republican gatherings, although the president had virtually nothing to do with it. In 2010, the Republican-led National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers pushed

the learning benchmarks, which Huckabee can claim (and did until a few weeks ago) were ERNEST roughly modDUMAS eled after his own Smart Core school benchmarks in Arkansas a decade ago. Forty-six states quickly adopted the Core. Business groups lauded it because it was supposed to raise the English and math proficiency of graduates and reverse America’s declining competitiveness with Europe and Asia. Arkansas just phased in the last stage of the Common Core, in grades 9–12. Right-wing groups were agin’ it all along, as they were school reforms like George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind (2001) and other efforts over the years to establish nationwide

At ease, congressman

he 2014 U.S. Senate race has already produced its share of campaign advertisement “celebrities,” with more to certainly join them through their omnipresence on Arkansas television screens: Tom Cotton’s mother, Mark Pryor’s Bible and America for Prosperity’s “Wanda” and “Jerry.” They were joined this week by another as Tom Cotton’s U.S. Senate campaign released its second ad emphasizing the congressman’s military service. “At Ease” features Cotton in banter with his basic training drill sergeant, “Sgt. Norton.” After noting that Sgt. George Norton “taught me how to be a soldier” and the values that accompany such service, the ad closes with a red, white and blue bootprint stamping the screen with “Cotton. Senate.” For a variety of reasons, it’s probably the most effective ad of the Senate campaign to date. There’s little doubt that the Cotton team had the spot’s theme in mind since the campaign began, but a couple of things propelled the ad to production now. First, in one of the campaign’s rare unscripted moments, Sen.

Pryor stated his frustration with Cotton’s “sense of entitlement that he gives off … almost like, ‘I JAY served my counBARTH try, let me into the Senate’ ” in a national television interview last month. The Cotton campaign knew it must take advantage of that relatively minor misstep before it became stale, and Cotton begins the ad by restating the Pryor quote. Second, the ad comes at a time when a series of polls have shown that Pryor has fended off months and millions of dollars of attack ads, primarily centered on Obamacare, and remains more than competitive in the race. The Cotton campaign clearly felt that the race needed a jolt of energy going into the political doldrums that accompany Arkansas’s summer heat. While those factors may explain the timing of the ad, it is the campaign spot’s skilled deployment of military imagery that makes it successful. In Arkansas, only a handful of political symbols have the ability to move the

benchmarks that children were to achieve by grade levels. All the school standards, just like Social Security, Medicare, occupational safety and clean-air and -water rules, smacked of socialism and federal control to some. The critics found an opening when Obama’s education commissioner said he would give extra points to states applying for competitive school pilot grants or waivers from No Child Left Behind if they had adopted some Common Core standards. See, the opponents said, Obama was behind it all along and it furthers his goal of turning the United States into a totalitarian state. “Obamacore” comes at a good time because polls and the changing political races indicate that Obamacare — that is, the Affordable Care Act — is wearing a little thin as the wedge issue in the battleground races across the South and Midwest. People are tired of endless Obamacare ads and, besides, with more than 9 million Americans newly enrolled in private or government health plans, most of them for the first time, and tens of millions of Medicare enrollees seeing lower drug bills and free medical screen-

ings as a result of Obamacare, fewer people every day faint at the mention of “Obamacare.” Now they can get mad for a year or so about the coming Obamacore takeover of the neighborhood school. Obamacare and Obamacore enjoy a similar genesis. The health reform — or at least its one hated feature, mandatory coverage by private health plans — began as a Republican reform, first in the 1970s as Richard Nixon’s and Gerald Ford’s solution to universal health insurance and then as congressional Republicans’ answer in 1993, when Hillary Clinton tried to foist medical insurance on the needy. Last month, Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, President George H. W. Bush’s surgeon general, said he was still puzzled that Republicans had repudiated the big features of Obamacare, which he and the conservative Heritage Foundation had drafted in 1991-92 for President Bush to push through Congress if he were re-elected. It was all there: the exchanges, the mandate, the subsidies to help low-income families buy coverage — all but the pilot projects and the restrictions on insurance

electorate through their emotional resonance with the state’s voters. With well over nine in 10 Arkansans viewing the American military very favorably, military imagery is one of them. (We will see just how potent the symbol is in “Colonel” Conrad Reynolds’s race for Congress in the Second District.) The emphasis on basic training in the advertisement simultaneously connects with many Arkansans’ experiences with the military and emphasizes again that Cotton chose the toughest route into the Army rather than a cushier point of entry that his educational background would have allowed. More importantly, the ad, which follows on the holiday ad featuring Avis Cotton’s testimonial for the Cotton family commitment to military service, highlights Cotton more prominently than any to date and he shows comfort in front of the camera that he’s often lacked in public settings. The congressman’s personally detached style on the campaign trail has raised some question marks in a state that places such value on candidates’ personality, but in this piece Cotton successfully combines a bit of self-deprecation and some natural joshing with the drill sergeant. No matter how ill at ease Cotton remains in public settings, tens of

thousands more Arkansans will see him perform ably in “At Ease.” Despite its strength, the ad does come with one big risk. While gender gaps are now common in general elections — with Democrats performing well among women but poorly among men — the Cotton/Pryor match threatens to produce a gender chasm, as John Brummett discussed in his weekend column. The Cotton campaign’s hypermasculine emphasis on military (the bootprint now shows itself on the campaign website), combined with the ongoing Pryor outreach to women voters on issues such as Cotton’s votes against the Violence Against Women Act and Paycheck Fairness Act, promises to expand the significant gender gap emerging in the race even before this ad (the most recent Talk Business/ Hendrix College poll showed Pryor holding a 10-point lead with women; Cotton had a 7-point lead with male voters.) While it’s obvious that the new ad was developed by guys for guys, it’s likely to fall flatter with women. With recent history showing that women are more likely to show up to vote in Arkansas, making this race a referendum on gender brings with it some significant risks for the Cotton campaign.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

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APRIL 24, 2014

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companies to protect families from losing their insurance. Republican leaders in both houses sponsored it. Sullivan thinks Republicans should be given credit for the achievements of Obamacare, and not just Mitt Romney, who instituted it in Massachusetts. The Republican National Committee honored Dr. Sullivan as a Republican “trailblazer” two months ago, but he was kind enough not to bring it up. Now, Republicans are abandoning their other baby, Obamacore, in droves, especially the presidential candidates. Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul condemn it. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, one of its earliest champions, says he was mistaken and wants Louisiana to undo what he had coerced his state to do. Even Huckabee has bailed — well, on some days. He saw the tide turning in December and told his Fox News audience he no longer supported the learning standards. But when he met more privately with the Council of Chief State School Officers, he said the states should just change the name from

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ARKANSAS TIMES

Common Core to something else. It might then shed its association with Obama. “Rebrand it,” he said. That’s what several Republican governors are doing. Jeb Bush, who may be the leading Republican presidential candidate, stands almost alone as champion of the Core, although his successor in Florida has changed it to “Next Generation Sunshine State Standards.” Claim that, Barack Obama! In the House of Representatives, 42 of the party’s extremists, including Arkansas’s Tom Cotton, sponsored a resolution denouncing the federal government for “coercing” states into adopting Common Core goals for children. Rick Crawford, not so much an extremist most of the time, also signed it, but some of the more hysterical conspiracists in the world are in his home county. Before long, you’ll hear that Cotton’s opponent, Sen. Mark Pryor, is a secret Obamacore commando. As Sonny Perdue said, “There’s a great deal of paranoia in this country today.”

This is a great history of Arkansas that tells how public attitudes toward medicine, politics and race have shaped the public health battle against deadly and debilitating disease in the state. From the illnesses that plagued the state’s earliest residents to the creation of what became the Arkansas Department of Health, Sam Taggart’s “The Public’s Health: A Narrative History of Health and Disease in Arkansas” tells the fascinating medical history of Arkansas. Published by the Arkansas Times.

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THE OBSERVER NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

Gone fishin’ THE OBSERVER IS SERIOUSLY thinking of chuckin’ it all, putting a sign on the door, and going fishing. No, not just saying we’re going fishing and going home to drink Pabst Blue Ribbon and watch old episodes of the “Andy Griffith Show” in our boxer shorts like we usually do when we say we’re going fishing. This time we mean it: rod, reel, floppy hat, folding chair, umbrella, hooks, bobbers, ice chest full of tall boys and a squeaking cardboard tube full of terrified crickets. The woiks. This is quite a milestone for Yours Truly. Ma and Pa Observer had a place on Lake ExxonMobil (formerly Lake Conway) when we were but a pup, a ramshackle old joint whose sole redeeming feature was a long, sturdy boat dock strung with nekkid lightbulbs and hogwire to keep the cottonmouths visible in the dark and The Observer’s water-skeered mother from feeling like she was going to slip into Davy Jones’ locker. It seems like we spent every ... single ... summer ... weekend (and a few in the winter) there at the lake when The Observer was in elementary school, in that TV-less hell where the only thing to do was watch a cork float, the boredom broken only periodically by the experience of having your bait robbed by the lake’s skillet-sized brim, which seemed smarter than your average Blue Heeler. The Observer’s Ma and Pa were fisherpeople — fishers of fish, not fishers of men as in the Bible. They were content to take fish, and to hell with the men. They had fishing in their blood. Even after they sold that place on Conway, they went to the lake as often as they could, The Observer along with them. This is the saddest truth of most childhoods: You are tied to the whims of those who don’t care much for what you want other than food, shelter and clothing. Had Ma and Pa took a wild hair to move to Arizona and sell turquoise jewelry by the roadside, The Observer assumes we’d be writing this from a shack in the high desert, watching semi trucks and Winnebagos whizz past, hellbent for California or bust. When The Observer was in junior high, we spent a goodly number of our weekends on Lake Ouachita in a double-axle

camper. At least we could swim there, but it was still a particular kind of dull for a mannish boy without the inborn urge to wet a hook. The most exciting thing we can remember happening on those many, many trips, it seems like, was the time a huge cottonwood tree there by the edge of the lake, maybe 25 feet from our camper, just keeled over of its own accord one night as we sat outside by the fire. The tree, we recall, was bigger around than we can reach even to this day, having grown all those years before giving up to gravity while we happened to be there to grant it an audience. The Observer remembers the awe of watching it in the firelight: the tree maybe 40 years old, towering, then letting out a kind of solemn groan as it fell, the base rising out of the mucky earth, unburying tentacle roots, and then the mighty splash as the leafy crown of branches went into the water. A tree fell in the woods, and we were there to hear it, so we know it made a sound: an unearthly groan, a hiss of leaves moving through the air, then a splash and thud like the end of the world. Even remembering it now, the feeling is still that The Observer had witnessed something rare and secret: a tree committing suicide. But we digress, as we are prone to do. The Observer says all this to say that we got all the fishing we could stand as a lad, dragged to lakes all over Arkansas. There were good times, of course: the fires and marshmallows and looking for kindling with Ma, pissing outdoors and looking for crawdads and watching Pa gut catfish while he talked about his grandfather. The sitting and waiting for a bite, however, we never quite got a taste for. It’s odd, then, that the urge to sit by the water and wait for a nibble has found us again, at the coattail of our 30s. We don’t know if that means we’re maturing, or if we’re just tired of gray — the complicated hair-splitting of life that leads The Observer so often to question whether we’ve done the right thing these days. That’s the best thing about fishing, you know: There’s nothing gray about it. The only real question to consider when you’re there by the water with a rod and reel in your hand is: Are the fish biting or not? C

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APRIL 24, 2014

Arkansas Reporter

THE

IN S IDE R

Eric Francis, 38, of Bella Vista was arrested April 4 by State Police for rape of a 6-year-old child in his care. He is being held in the Benton County Jail in lieu of a $50,000 bond. The offense occurred at his home, but had a recent ripple effect in a State Police visit to a West Fork preschool owned by a state legislator. Francis had recently been head teacher at Growing God’s Kingdom Preschool at West Fork, which is owned by state Rep. Justin Harris and which receives state funding under the state’s ABC preschool program. Harris said he was devastated and sickened by news of the arrest, which occurred April 4, more than two months after Francis had left employment at the school. Harris said Francis had worked previously in early childhood education for the Bentonville School District and with a Head Start program, plus he had been through intensive state scrutiny in the course of adopting children. He also was a youth pastor at a church. “He came with a pristine record,” he said. Harris said he hired Francis in November, but ended his employment Jan. 28 for a poor work record, in either failing to show up or arriving late. He said he worked only 38 days over a three-month period. Harris notified parents of the allegation against Francis to prepare them for State Police investigators’ interviews with children at the school last week. They interviewed children who had regular contact with Francis. “I’m confident nothing happened to our children,” Harris said. He said rules require operation of a camera in the preschool classroom. It keeps a permanent record and is monitored in main offices, he said. Teachers also always are supposed to have another adult aide present. He said State Police investigators had informed him of no adverse findings. The State Police won’t comment on such investigations. The state Department of Human Services said it has no active investigation into Harris’ school and referred all other questions to the State Police. An affidavit prepared by Sgt. Ken Whillock for an arrest warrant said that the allegation arose when the victim was interviewed March 31 at the Benton County Child Advocacy Center, though it doesn’t say what triggered CONTINUED ON PAGE 11 10

APRIL 24, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

BRIAN CHILSON

Former preschool teacher charged with rape

Q&A with Stuart Thomas Arkansas Times reporter David Koon sat down with retiring Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas, who ends his 35-year career with the LRPD on June 27, to talk about his career. Here’s the Q & A: AT: I read somewhere that you got your start as a cop by coming to the department to complain about a car breakin? THOMAS: Yes, I don’t recommend it. But I did. AT: Which part, coming to complain or getting your car broken into? THOMAS: Either one. It’s not an easy experience. I was a much younger man at the time, and my appearance was quite different. I had an MGB convertible, and somebody cut a hole in the roof, even though the door was unlocked, and rum-

maged through the center console. It was on a snowy night, and the police took the report over the phone. I just didn’t think that was right. I wanted fingerprints and detectives like on TV, the whole nine yards. So I came down to the police department and started at the front desk, explaining my situation. I wanted to talk to whoever was in charge. One thing led to another and I happened to wind up visiting with a police captain who was, oddly, working nights. At the time, he was going to college during the day and working at night. I explained to him all the things that were wrong with the world and the police department and my world in particular. He graciously listened to me for awhile. Finally, he said: “Obviously you have some very strong ideas. Why don’t you come down here for a year

and try it, then see if you still have some of those same opinions?” I said something to the effect of: “How hard can it be to drive fast to the donut shop? Sign me up!” He actually had an application there. One thing led to another, and I filled out the paperwork and went through the process, and ultimately the department offered me a position. … I lived with my mother at the time. She basically said: “They called your bluff. I don’t particularly want you to do this, but you either need to shut up or go down there and do it.” I came to the department and was very quickly immersed in things I’d never seen or done. I quickly found that I enjoyed the work. The people were nowhere near what I thought they were. I made my year and decided to stay, and I’ve had a very fortunate career inasmuch as I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot of different things. It’s stayed interesting. Thirty-five years, I’ve pretty well done it. AT: You’ve done a little bit of everything here at the department: patrol, detective, internal affairs and administration. Does any of it stick out in your mind as the best of times? THOMAS: I don’t necessarily know. I’ve still got a few months, so maybe the best of times are ahead. But I think I felt the most productive and the most satisfied when I was in homicide. To me, that’s just the ultimate assignment. There’s a certain amount of satisfaction when you’re able to put that together. You’re dealing with families that have gone through the worst possible thing that can happen to them. While you don’t enjoy it, you do enjoy the opportunity to offer them some solace. I think I enjoyed that some. It was probably the most taxing. I was in homicide for two and a half years. I got promoted to sergeant and left homicide. It was physically and emotionally the most draining, but I think it was the most satisfying job. AT: In the movies, the old detectives always have the one that got away. The one that still nags at them. Do you have one of those? THOMAS: Not when I was in homicide, because I didn’t have any that got away (laughs). AT: Of course. THOMAS: But, yeah, really, all of them. To this day. You have a sense of incompleteness with the ones that go unsolved. It doesn’t matter if it’s a high-profile case or not. You want to solve them all. You want CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

LISTEN UP

THE

BIG PICTURE

THE PRIVATE OPTION BY THE NUMBERS

Earlier this week, the Department of Human Services released the latest enrollment numbers on the private option, the state’s unique plan that uses Medicaid funds to purchase private health insurance for low-income Arkansans. Through March 31, 155,567 Arkansans have been deemed eligible and gained coverage. Here’s how the demographics are breaking down so far:

11 PERCENT

of the people who have gained coverage were deemed “medically frail” after taking a health screener and were routed to the traditional Medicaid program instead of private plans.

61 PERCENT are women.

43 PERCENT ARE BETWEEN THE AGES OF 19 AND 34, the “young invincibles” group that insurers covet, and who tend to have the lowest health costs. By contrast, just 25 percent of the non-private-option Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace are 18-34 and 30 percent are 34 or younger (people under 19 are not eligible for the private option)*. Remember, the private option beneficiaries pick plans on the same Marketplace as people who are shopping for insurance but make too much money to qualify for the private option. It’s all one big risk pool, so if the private option continues to lean younger, that could be very good news in terms of stabilizing the Marketplace and bringing down premiums in the long term.

82 PERCENT of enrollees are below the poverty line, which means they would not have been eligible for subsidized coverage without the private option expansion. It also means that this year, they do not have any cost-sharing — such as copays — although the state plans to implement some cost sharing below the poverty lines next year.

74 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL NUMBER of people enrolled in the Marketplace are private option beneficiaries. More than 120,000 (and counting) have been fully enrolled in private plans via the private option, whereas around 45,000 people (those who make more than 138 percent of the federal poverty level and do not qualify for the private option) have purchased plans on the Marketplace. The private option has been the key to strong overall enrollment in the Marketplace.

AGE BREAKDOWN PRIVATE OPTION ENROLEES

PRIVATE OPTION

NON-PO MARKETPLACE

43%

30%

55-64 15%

35-44 21%

19-25 18%

26-34 25% 44-54 21%

34 OR YOUNGER

82% MAKE LESS THAN THE FEDERAL POVERTY LEVEL ($11,670 FOR AN INDIVIDUAL OR $23,850 FOR A FAMILY OF FOUR) 18% MAKE BETWEEN 100 AND 138 PERCENT OF THE FEDERAL POVERTY LEVEL (UP TO $16,104 FOR AN INDIVIDUAL, $32,913 FOR A FAMILY OF FOUR)

MARKETPLACE ENROLEES 26% NON-PO MARKETPLACE (MAKE MORE THAN 138 PERCENT FPL)

74% PRIVATE OPTION (MAKE LESS THAN 138 PERCENT FPL)

COUNTY BY COUNTY ENROLLMENT: The highest enrollment thus far has been in Pulaski County, with 20,281. For context, based on 2012 data**, there were approximately 24,000 uninsured people in Pulaski County eligible for the private option – so early returns give hope that the policy is helping to cover a large number of the uninsured, around 85 percent of the target population. By contrast, in Sevier County, where 758 people have signed up, around 2,000 people eligible people were uninsured based on 2012 data, so much work remains to be done, thus far reaching less than 40 percent of the target population.

* based on data through April 21 released by the Arkansas Insurance Department ** data approximated from the Census Bureau’s Small Area Health Insurance Estimates model

Tune in to the Times’ “Week In Review” podcast each Friday. Available on iTunes & arktimes.com

INSIDER, CONT. the interview. The victim said Francis, her temporary caregiver, had touched her vaginal area. She also said Francis had put his hand inside her panties and rubbed her vaginal area to help her go to sleep. On April 2, State Police Sgt. Kim Warren interviewed Francis. Said the affidavit: “After being advised of his rights, Mr. Francis admitted that during a two-week period while his wife was in Pennsylvania, that he was the primary caregiver for the victim involved in this case as well as her three-year-old sister. He stated that one night he lay down with the victim and began rubbing her back. He stated that the victim rolled over onto her back and he then began rubbing her stomach. He then stated that the victim asked him to rub on her vagina. He stated that he initially refused, but that she continued to ask him and so he placed his hand inside her panties and began rubbing on her vagina with his hand. He stated that he did not penetrate her vaginal opening; however he thinks that he rubbed inside the labia majora of her vagina. He stated that afterward he was sick and went into the bathroom and threw up because he knew what he did was wrong. Mr. Francis advised that he and his wife had been taking care of the victim and her sister from October 2013 until March 2014.” The affidavit doesn’t detail how the children came to be in Francis’ temporary care or who their custodial parents were. DHS said it couldn’t discuss family circumstances, including who has custody of the children now.

Cotton, pants on fire U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton, a Senate candidate, told a bodacious whopper to the Arkansas Farm Bureau Tuesday. In assailing the farm bill many of the farmers support as a “food stamp” bill, he proposed drug-testing food stamp recipients and also claimed that millionaires can receive food stamps. Newt Gingrich rolled out this lie once before on food stamps and the fact-checking service Politifact branded it as “pants on fire” stuff. Challenge for Odd Tom: Name an Arkansas millionaire on food stamps. It’d be a lot easier to find an Arkansas millionaire benefitting from corporate welfare and preferential tax treatment. www.arktimes.com

APRIL 24, 2014

THOMAS Q&A, CONT.

APRIL 24, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

done 35 years in law enforcement. That’s a nice, round number. Eighteen of those years, over half, I had the word “chief” associated with my name. Those are dog years. Regardless of anybody’s perspective of how cushy an assignment is, those are hard years. I would like to do some things for myself. I’d like to play a little golf. I’d like to play with my electric train. I’d like a few days off. Things that I rarely get in life: Fourth of July off. How good is that? I think the timing is good. It gives me a chance to de-escalate while I’m still healthy, to enjoy myself a little bit and have a little leisure time. AT: You think when something happens in Little Rock, you’ll still sort of sit up and start thinking about making decisions? THOMAS: Oh, no (laughs). I will recognize the difficulty of the situation. From the outside looking in, I will appreciate and understand how good or how bad the day

In that respect, I think we’re a lot better off. We’ve maintained our accreditation through three cycles while I’ve been chief. I’m very proud of that, because that’s not always easy. Our personnel have come through every time. So I think we’re positioned very, very well. Now, “better,” I’ll leave to other people to make their subjective judgments. Everybody has their own opinion of what’s good, bad or indifferent. But I think the department is positioned very well. AT: You talked about technology. I don’t guess being a cop bears much resemblance to what it was when you started in that respect. THOMAS: When I started, the radio had two channels. There was no such thing as a cell phone. The computers that existed were those big, chunky mainframes with black screens and the green type. In the patrol car, the blue lights had a choke rod.

BRIAN CHILSON

to give some resolution to families. You can appreciate, I think, the uncertainty and the anxiety the relatives have when they have situations where we haven’t brought it to a conclusion. You carry those with you. You wish you could solve them all. You hope someday something will turn. But on the main, you keep plugging away and you solve far, far more than you don’t. AT: You already retired once, in January of 2004. Why did you retire the first time and what brought you back? THOMAS: I retired the first time because I had the dream situation: I went to run a golf course (laughs). It was one of those “how can you say no” situations. It was a great job, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. But the situation at the department changed. The chief called me and asked if I’d come back to a business job. I’m of the generation that you just don’t say no to the chief of police. So, where the position [of police chief] vacated, I just felt like I wasn’t finished. I applied, and I was fortunate enough to be selected as the chief. AT: Has being chief been everything you thought it would be? Harder or easier than you thought it would be? THOMAS: You know, you have good days and bad days. I’ve been fortunate in my career. I’ve worked for a couple of chiefs and some very, very good assistant chiefs over the years. I spent nine years as an assistant chief, and I was able to see how they work on a daily basis, how they managed operations and how it affected them. But until you are in that position, I don’t think you truly appreciate it. You’re the ultimate arbiter. Everything that comes to the chief of police is a recommendation. It’s advice. Ultimately, the chief has to make a decision, and you have to make those decisions in a neutral, businesslike manner. That’s not always popular. It’s not always popular with just about any segment, whether it’s the press, the employees, whether it’s the citizens in general, one group or another. Rarely does any decision meet with universal approval. There’s always somebody that sees it a different way. You’re ultimately alone in that process. You have to do the best you can with what you have. Where you enjoy the job is seeing it all come together in the right way: people doing the right thing, working hard, producing good results. You have disappointments. You try to address those. But on the main, I can’t complain. It’s a great working environment, it’s a great job, it’s a great city. AT: So, why retire now? Why not two or three years down the road? THOMAS: I’m old! I am 58, and I think if you look back at my predecessors, they all left before that age. I got to looking at the pictures on the wall, and I realized that I was probably older than anybody since the pictures were black and white. I’ve

AFTER A NEAR-RIOT IN 2013: Talking to the media.

may be for some other people. They will always have my sympathy, my support and my admiration. But I’m going to think about other things. AT: You know, the Boy Scout Campsite Rule is to leave things better than you found it. Do you think the department and the city is in better shape now than when you became chief? THOMAS: Well, I don’t know that I can say that, because in my position, I rarely make direct impact on anything. It’s the people that are actually doing the work that produce results. I do think that the department, from the standpoint of technology, staffing and facilities, we’re in much better shape than we were five, six, seven years ago. That’s largely due to the 1-cent sales tax the voters passed a few years ago. We’ve been able to hire officers, we’ve been able to upgrade our technology and equipment. I think we’re positioned very well to face whatever challenges come in the future.

You pulled it and they rotated and went on. They were either on or off, and that was it. You look at a patrol car these days, with the laptop, with the in-car reporting, with Internet access for photographs and information that can be transmitted to the laptop, high-definition digital optics in there for recording of contacts, infrared devices, radar, GPS. The technology that’s in one patrol car now probably exceeds everything that the department had, collectively, when I started. It’s remarkable. And the practices, procedures and policies have changed. I think that’s a compliment to my predecessors, who worked very hard to improve and expand the department during their tenures. AT: Do you have any memorable failures or successes during you time here? Setbacks? Things you didn’t get done that you wanted to get done? THOMAS: You’d like everything to be done. You want to be the Olympic gymnast

who sticks the landing with arms up at the end of a vault. So I’d like for the buildings to be completed. The last class to be completed so we’re fully staffed. I’d like to finish on that note. But we’re so close right now that I feel very good about that. The disappointments? You’re always disappointed when you don’t solve something — when you have unfinished business out there. You’re always disappointed when your personnel, regardless of how well trained or how directed, sometimes they will fail you. We try to rectify that as quickly as we can, but it’s disappointing when you have those lapses in ethics. But, on the main, day in and day out, our personnel have always made me proud. They work hard, they try to do the right thing. Sometimes it doesn’t always work out. But when you look at the volume of transactions we do — 145,000 calls a year, 8,000 arrests, 25,000 tickets, and hundreds of thousands of individual contacts — and you look at the complaints, or the failures versus the successes and the commendations, it’s astonishing how professional the officers are, how well they deal with adversity, and how they keep coming back time and time again and doing the right thing. I mentioned once before, but the one thing that struck me: Several years ago, there was a tornado that came through Leawood and went up over Cammack. I happened to be the first officer on the scene because it was two blocks from my house and I was home when it came through. The first three people that I saw there were off-duty Little Rock Police officers. They weren’t called. They just knew that there was a problem — a bad situation. They were professionals and this is what they did. They immediately responded without any consideration for their own issues or problems. They knew it was a disaster and they responded. It’s that kind of spirit that the employees have that keeps you buoyed through a career. You see those things happen. You see people who are in a position to do the right thing, and they do it more often than not. That’s where you draw the pleasure from the job, to see that happen. THOMAS: You know, I was just thinking. I’m so old that I can remember when Max [Brantley, senior editor of the Arkansas Times] used a typewriter (laughs). AT: That’s pretty old! He’s been using a word processor for a while now. THOMAS: There you go. AT: You know, you talked about those ethical lapses among personnel. There have been some kind of high-profile useof-force cases while you were chief. The shooting of Eugene Ellison, Lt. David Hudson videotaped hitting a suspect, the Josh Hastings shooting. I know you might not be able to talk about specifics in any of those CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

THOMAS Q&A, CONT. incidents, but are you confident that the use-of-force investigations that have been done on your watch have been as thorough and impartial as they could be? THOMAS: Yes. I’m confident that we try to do the right thing, and we try to do it professionally. We try to go back and evaluate to see if we could have done anything differently. We have an enormous number of contacts and an enormous number of situations that law enforcement officers deal with, and sometimes the situations become extremely difficult. I wouldn’t necessarily categorize one of those situations [previously mentioned] as an ethical lapse. For me, an ethical lapse is more along the lines of criminal behavior, where we’ve had to discharge and send people to the penitentiary. But when you get into situations where things are quickly moving or hard to contain or control, and you’re having to make an immediate decision based on circumstances that are very, very fluid, you have to make a critical decision immediately. We have the opportunity to evaluate that without that criticality. You look at everything surrounding it. You try to make a complete case. And you try to provide the prosecutor with everything he needs to know. You try to do it the same way you would do any other incident similarly situated. That doesn’t necessarily mean that an act is criminal, and the prosecutor, when they issue their decision, they have a comment on that. They’ll say there’s clear evidence. A lot of times, people may or may not agree. That’s certainly a perogative, and that’s what you expect. But we ultimately try to provide as much information as we can in the course of an investigation, to ensure that our training is correct, our approach to situations is correct, our equipment and our processes are correct. [Use of force is] not the outcome that you ever want. Sometimes, what gets lost in the fog of these situations is that a deadly force situation is the absolute worst thing that can happen to a police officer in their career. It’s devastating. There is a tendency sometimes to think that officers just kind of walk away from it. They don’t. They carry that for the rest of their lives. They were ultimately faced with a situation where they or someone else may die, and they’ve got to go back to work at some point. They have to go back to work with that knowledge: I nearly got killed. But I’ve got to go back to work and do the same thing all over again. They live with that emotionally forever. They deal with it — with the outcome of their decisions. They may be litigating things for years to come. It’s the worst possible outcome. It’s not anything anybody solicits. You try to provide support, you try to provide training, you try to provide in other areas after the fact. But you do not want, under any circumstances, 14

APRIL 24, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

a situation where people are inclined to overreact. Now, the corrective methods that you apply may be different from what people think, but you try to do the best you can with the situation that you have. But given the number of contacts that we have, given the nature of the arrests, given the nature of the offenses in the city that we deal with, the actual number of those incidents, fortunately for us, is relatively few. Zero is where you’d like to be, but unfortunately there are situations where other people’s actions dictate the response. AT: Have you ever been in one of those situations? Ever fired your weapon in the line of duty? THOMAS: No. I got close once. The irony of the situation was, the man’s gun was empty. He’d just robbed a convenience store. He came out of the convenience store, gun in one hand and money in the other, and here we were on the parking lot waiting for him. Generally speaking, when confronted by an armed robber with a weapon, you’re on edge to begin with. He was not obeying commands to drop the weapon. You focus in very tightly on the weapon in a moment like that. To this

hope it never happens, but that’s one of the unfortunate realities of law enforcement. AT: Some people say that maybe police shouldn’t investigate use-of-force complaints against — or shootings by — other police officers, the argument being that the results are bound to be biased. What do you say to that argument, that cops shouldn’t investigate other cops in those situations? THOMAS: The question would be: Who should? We conduct investigations of law enforcement officers and policeinvolved shootings in the same way that we investigate anything else. The officers are Mirandized. I see statements where people say: “Well, the officer’s statement seems coached.” Well, for God’s sake, he’s got a lawyer. I can’t disregard the Constitution. If I’m preparing a case where the officer could conceivably be prosecuted, that officer is afforded the same legal rights that anyone else is. So we have to Mirandize, we have to protect the scene, we have to gather the evidence in a legal way that will withstand scrutiny by the courts, we’ve got to be able to introduce everything to the prosecutor in a practical fashion that they can subsequently use if they make a deter-

You can’t always adequately simulate that reality. These things happen in a quick second. A person’s gun comes out, then you react and respond. It’s a very difficult situation. You hope it never happens, but that’s one of the unfortunate realities of law enforcement. day, I couldn’t identify him if I saw him walking down the street, but I can tell you exactly what the barrel of his gun looked like, down to the grooves. I know exactly what that gun looked like. The unfortunate thing was, it being dark, I couldn’t tell he didn’t have bullets in it. But I was in the position where I made a decision that if the weapon reached a certain point of level, I was going to fire, because he was not responding. Fortunately, he finally let go, and I didn’t have to make that decision. But how would it play that I had shot and killed a man who had an empty gun? You talk about controversial. I guarantee you it would have been controversial. AT: When you’re talking about a decision there, you’re talking about five seconds, 10 seconds. THOMAS: You are moving fractionally. You are in a situation where the unfortunate reality is: If you’re late, you lose. These are extremely difficult situations. It doesn’t matter how much you train. You can’t always adequately simulate that reality. These things happen in a quick second. A person’s gun comes out, then you react and respond. It’s a very difficult situation. You

mination that a crime has been committed. We have to do that in that way. That’s our job. I think if you’ll talk to the prosecutor, I think we do our cases pretty well, comparatively. I don’t think we predetermine. We have sent our police officers to the penitentiary. We have made those cases. But it’s not just deadly force. We make cases on allegations of theft. We make cases on any type of criminal allegation against a police officer. We’re going to investigate those. If we can make a case, we’re going to make a case. That’s our job. If the suggestion is, another agency should investigate, and that somehow is going to result in a different perspective, police agencies are police agencies. Where do you go, and who has jurisdiction? We all know one another. Police agencies have relationships. The FBI investigates the FBI’s shootings. What is this “someone else” to investigate? The prosecuting attorney comes to the scene of all police-involved shootings to investigate the process and ask questions. We try to be as coordinated as possible with the prosecutor in these cases. We have to provide them with the legal means to take action if it’s appropriate. I think sometimes obser-

vations are outcome-driven. People see things and they say, “Well, that shouldn’t have happened.” Well, no, it shouldn’t have happened. In the ideal way you want to go, [police involved shootings] should never happen. But that doesn’t mean it was wrong or criminal. You see articles where people say, “This or that was murder.” Murder is a specific crime. It has elements that you have to prove. We have to look at it from that statutory aspect and say, If there is a charge, what is the appropriate charge?” That’s where we work with the prosecutor. Even as I leave and I live in this city, and will continue to live in this city, I’m very comfortable and confident that the department has the capacity to monitor and police. We’ve reached out when we thought we should reach out and utilized other resources in investigations, and I think that will continue. AT: Are you part of the discussions on who will be the next chief? THOMAS: No, not really. That’s up to the city manager. That’s why I’ve tried to have enough lead time. I think the manager would like to have a smooth transition and minimize the interim time. You’re just kind of treading water in those in-between times. Certainly if he asks my opinion, I’ll give it. But it’s just one of 190,000 opinions in this city, and it should be treated accordingly. AT: They say every president leaves a letter for the next guy in his desk in the Oval Office. If you’re going to leave a letter in your desk for the next guy, what will it say? THOMAS: Well, if I left one in the desk drawer and put it in the newspaper, it wouldn’t be much of a secret (laughs). But there will be a note. And once we go off the record, I’ll tell you what it’ll say. AT: It’s cold out there tonight, and there will be young officers out there on the streets in their cop cars. What do you say to a young person just starting out as an officer? THOMAS: Particularly if they’re starting with us, you have the opportunity in this organization to do anything you want. I hope they’ll look at me and see — and I tell recruit classes this — I started where they started: in the academy at the Little Rock Police Department. I hope I’ve worked hard and was productive at different assignments. That led to a very fortuitous career. I hope the men and women coming along will see that as an example — that you have an opportunity in an organization this large to pursue just about any type of law enforcement specialty you want. The sky is basically the limit, whether you want to be a detective or a school resource officer. Whatever you might want to do, this organization has that opportunity for you if you work hard and try to make a record for yourself as a professional.

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BRIAN CHILSON

A R K A N S A S T IME S

ANDREW WILLOUGHBY

THE 20TH TOP 20 The 2014 Arkansas Times Academic All-Star Team.

t’s time again to meet our judges’ choices for Arkansas’s top 20 high school seniors. The class of 2014, our 20th, is a dizzyingly smart bunch, with rarely a B on their transcripts and near perfect test scores. They fill their lives with far more than studies; when they’re not in school, they’re shadowing doctors, building robots, growing exotic plants, playing in orchestras and volunteering overseas. Back in 1995, we created the Academic All-Star Team to honor what we called then “the silent majority — the kids who go to school, do their homework (most of it, anyway), graduate and go on to be contributing members of society.” Too often, we argued then, all Arkansans heard about young people was how poorly they were faring. Or, when students did get positive attention, it came for athletic achievement. As you read profiles of this year’s All-Stars, it should be abundantly 16

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clear that good things are happening in Arkansas schools and that academic achievers deserve to be celebrated. To mark this milestone anniversary of Academic All-Stars, we checked in with alumni to see how far the promise of high school excellence has taken them. As you’ll see on page 26, today, alumni are doctors of every variety, research scientists, international aid workers, award-winning teachers, critically acclaimed filmmakers — the dozens we managed to contact are spread out around the world doing fascinating, meaningful work. Who knows where the future will take this year’s All-Stars? We can say with some confidence that most of them will attend a ceremony at UALR this week where they’ll be honored with plaques and $250 cash awards. The final deadline for college decisions has not yet arrived. College plans listed here are, therefore, not set in stone.

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A FUTURE WITHOUT BORDERS

itting in a peaceful classroom, it might HYTHAM AL-HINDI be hard to believe AGE: 18 that there are places in the HOMETOWN: Jonesboro world where people are HIGH SCHOOL: Jonesboro High dying for a drink of water, or School a plate of food, or the right PARENTS: Ahmad and Manal Al-Hindi to go to school. One scholar COLLEGE PLANS: Vanderbilt who keeps those truths in University mind every moment he’s in class, however, is Hytham Al-Hindi. The state student actions coordinator for Amnesty International, Hytham helps plan protests and student actions all over the state. Hytham said that helping people around the world has been a passion of his from a young age. This year, for example, he has been active in discussing and staging events in opposition to U.S. drone strikes in the Middle East, and advocating for the closing of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay. Hytham said it’s amazing that people have the power to change the life of someone on the other side of the world. “Just a couple of people who take the time to write letters and petitions can save the lives of people who are oppressed for their beliefs,” he said. “I really think it’s humbling and empowering for anybody, even if you’re in high school, to do something like that — to help people around the world just by doing activist work.” Hytham currently has a 4.33 GPA and runs on Jonesboro High School’s track and cross-country teams. He has been accepted into the Ingram Scholarship Program at Vanderbilt, which will allow him to work in the summertime with groups like Doctors Without Borders and the United Nations. He plans to become a doctor, and said his parents have been a huge influence on him. “They always taught me to try your hardest, no matter what situation you’re in,” he said. “They’ve taught me to just look to the future and do your best in the present.”

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THE ACCIDENTAL ALL-STAR

orth Little Rock High School’s MCKENZI BAKER McKenzi Baker AGE: 18 said she never set out to HOMETOWN: North Little Rock be the best in her class, she HIGH SCHOOL: North Little just happened to get there Rock High School on the way to achieving PARENTS: Willie and Kathy Baker her dreams. An avid writer COLLEGE PLANS: University of from a young age, McKenzi Arkansas at Little Rock — ranked No. 1 in her class at North Little Rock High with a 4.3 GPA — said that creative writing, and fiction in particular, has always been in her blood. “I love writing. I’ve always loved writing,” she said. “It’s a very special passion of mine. It is a way for me to understand things. When I write about them, I can see things from different perspectives. It makes me understand people’s perspectives as well.” McKenzi will be attending the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where she has been offered a scholarship in the school’s Donaghey Scholars Program. After college, McKenzi hopes to turn her love of the written word into a career in the publishing industry, though she hasn’t yet decided if she wants to work for a large publishing house or start her own press. Asked why she pushes herself to succeed, she said a lot of the credit for that drive goes to her parents, though she reserves some for herself. “They were responsible for establishing my studying habits when I was little,” she said. “But a lot of that would also have to come from having a plan of what I want to do after high school. Once you have a plan of where you’re trying to go, then you can figure out what you need to do to get there. ... I just wanted to make sure that I was on the right track to get to my dreams.”

A HOME RUN

iven how challenging it is — both in terms of time and energy — to be either a star high school athlete or a standout in the classroom, JOSEPH “JAY” it’s not surprising that we BOUSHELLE can count on one hand the AGE: 18 number of Arkansas Times HOMETOWN: Fayetteville Academic All Stars over the HIGH SCHOOL: Fayetteville High School years who have also been PARENTS: Chris and Mary members of high ranking Boushelle athletic teams. At some COLLEGE PLANS: University point, most students just of Tulsa have to choose: Do I want to devote the time to my studies or to the field? One of the rare students who has done both is Fayetteville’s Jay Boushelle, who normally plays right field on his school’s varsity baseball team, crowned state champions last year. With a pop-fly of a GPA — 4.34, for those into a player’s stats — he said he’s a “math and science person” whose particular love is calculus. “It’s been a life journey for me,” he said. “The process of improving, the process of making my way up in high school teams and competitive teams. Being able to improve myself is very fulfilling.” Boushelle said that splitting his time between academics and sports can be challenging, especially during baseball season, but he’s been able to make it work. “It really gets very challenging, especially when the spring semester comes around,” he said. “I’m at school until 6 p.m. almost every day, if not later. That gives me very little time to fit in my homework. I’m in five AP classes this year, five last year, so it’s been a challenge, but I’ve been able to work my way through it, and I’ve come out on top.” On the field and off, he said, he has always been working for a brighter tomorrow for himself. “I know that might be the stereotypical answer,” he said, “but that’s absolutely true for me. ... I’m always just working toward a better future.”

A R K A N S A S T IME S

SKETCHING HER DREAMS

hough science has pretty much debunked the idea that there’s a “right brain” and a MADELEINE CORBELL “left brain,” with one dediAGE: 18 cated to creative pursuits HOMETOWN: Fayetteville and the other tied to math HIGH SCHOOL: Fayetteville and science, you might High School not be able to convince PARENTS: Mark and Leslie Corbell Fayetteville High School’s COLLEGE PLANS: University of Madeleine Corbell of that. Arkansas A math and science whiz with a grade point average of 4.14 at last count, Madeleine has come to see her artistic pursuits as a welcome respite from her more numbers-heavy passions for math and science. She’s loved sketching and drawing her whole life, she said, but never pursued it until recently. Her art has since become a sort of mental cushion when the rigors of her challenging academic schedule become too much. “I have really come to love it really as a sort of escape from the strain of everyday life,” she said. “It’s a great way to direct my energy elsewhere so that my brain can rest. I love being creative and doing things handson. It’s a really relaxing and enriching experience for me.” These days, Madeleine — recently selected as a National Merit Scholar and awarded the Governor’s Distinguished Scholarship — paints in both oils and water, sculpts, and draws in pen and ink. She’ll put her pens to good use in coming years at the University of Arkansas, where she plans to study to be an architect. “I feel like I have quite a bit of inner motivation and self-discipline, the desire to perform to the best of my abilities, and not take an easier route. I know I can do better and I want to do the best that I can. I’m sure that stems from my family’s background. My parents have always stressed the pursuit of knowledge, and that inspired a love of learning.”

PRESSED FOR SUCCESS

he best class Seth Daniell ever took was a philosophy class, part of the Arkansas SETH DANIELL Governor’s School summer AGE: 17 program at Hendrix College. HOMETOWN: Arkadelphia “We talked about what is reHIGH SCHOOL: Arkadelphia ality and what is truth,” Seth High School said. “We spent a whole 90 PARENTS: Toby and Dorothy Daniell minutes discussing whether COLLEGE PLANS: Considering a tree was more real than Belmont University and the color red or the other Ouachita Baptist University way around.” When he isn’t considering the nature of reality, Seth is usually playing music. He plays trumpet in jazz band, sings in the choir and plays French horn in his school’s marching and symphonic bands. His parents are music lovers, he said, and he’s always had a gift for it. As you might expect, he is particular about his listening habits. “I’m not a huge fan of rap or hip-hop or that kind of thing. Though some pop music, I think, is good,” he says. He cites the contemporary Christian singer Michael W. Smith as an artist he especially looks up to. Aside from music, he also participates in Quiz Bowl, which he calls an “outlet for useless knowledge,” of which he has a lot. He remembers one recent victory — what word could mean both a support element on the wing of a plane and a way of walking? (Strut.) His classmates, for reasons he prefers not speculate about, voted him “Most Likely to Succeed.” “I kind of have mixed feelings about that,” he said, “because now I kind of have to succeed or else I’ll look like even more of a failure.” He plans to study music composition in college, and hopes to eventually write film scores. He cites John Williams, Hans Zimmer and Daft Punk as influences.

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STILL COOL

“I

always felt it was cool to know things,” says Andrew Fleming. “Even if they have no real meaning.” It’s a sentiment that ANDREW FLEMING Fleming, ranked No. 1 in AGE: 18 his class at Watson Chapel HOMETOWN: Pine Bluff High School in Pine Bluff, HIGH SCHOOL: Watson Chapel embodies daily as a star High School participant in Quiz Bowl, PARENTS: David Fleming and Karla Hefty which at Watson Chapel is COLLEGE PLANS: Hendrix taken fairly seriously. The College team practices every day at lunch and three days a week after school, competing in tournaments almost every weekend. He describes earning a reputation as a smart kid early in life and enjoying it. “People would always ask me things,” he said. “That was a time when it was really cool to be smart, and I guess I never really lost that — I held onto that.” He said his best area is history, though he’s also good at “trash questions: popular culture, sports, pop music.” Fleming also takes part in Modern Arab League, most recently representing Jordan. “We always hear about these other places, and sometimes I wonder if half the people in the U.S. know what the news is talking about,” he said. “Sometimes I don’t even know.” He also sings in the choir and has been All-State for the past two years. When his school band director needed a tuba player, he asked Fleming, who had no prior experience with the instrument. “Now I’m the only tuba in the band,” he said. ”Just because he asked me to.” Fleming has been selected as a Governor’s Distinguished Scholar.

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DETERMINED TO CARVE HER OWN PATH

hen Alex Glenn told her parents ALEXANDRA GLENN that she planned AGE: 18 to join Arkansas’s first allHOMETOWN: Little Rock girls ROTC program, they HIGH SCHOOL: Mount St. Mary were more than a little Academy concerned. “Are you sure PARENTS: John and Elisabeth Glenn you want to do this?” she COLLEGE PLANS: University of remembers them saying. North Carolina at Chapel Hill “You don’t want to join the military, right?” She laughs thinking about it now, offering that they were probably worried she would “sign up and, like, go to war.” Her friends at Little Rock’s Mount St. Mary Academy were equally surprised. “When I started showing up to school in a full-on military uniform,” she said, “they were a little taken aback at first.” But as Alex explained, “I was determined.” This has been a pattern in Alex’s life. She tells a story about a taekwondo tournament she attended in the sixth grade, in which she found herself the only girl participating in a group that included nine boys in her age bracket. She came in first. “They were a little mad,” she says. She eventually earned a black belt, and is now working toward her second degree. Is she planning to join the military? She acknowledges she’s thought about it. “I really want to go into a medical career,” she says. “So I’ve thought about becoming a military doctor.” She describes a visit to a veteran’s hospital as “eye-opening,” and said it left her convinced that she would go into a career working with veterans, “maybe physical therapy or psychiatry,” she said. Either way, she’s certainly capable. As her school guidance counselor explains, “There are strong academic students, and then there is Alex Glenn.”

CLASSIC ROCKER/ SCHOLAR

rman Hemmati’s calculus teacher ARMAN HEMMATI calls him “intelAGE: 18 lectually brilliant,” while HOMETOWN: Fort Smith his English teacher settles HIGH SCHOOL: Southside High for “gifted,” noting also that School working with Arman on PARENTS: Jill and Ignacio Guerra ACT prep questions “helped COLLEGE PLANS: Washington to improve my grammar University in St. Louis skills.” In a letter of recommendation written to the Arkansas Times on Hemmati’s behalf, his guidance counselor Amy Slater notes simply, “He is brilliant.” Arman is a National Merit finalist, one of six students in the state to earn a perfect score on his ACT, and also the captain of his high school soccer team. “It’s gotten more serious lately,” he said of his soccer obligations. “There are actually things at stake.” In addition to his various academic and athletic responsibilities, Arman is also a more than competent pianist and plays keyboard and rhythm guitar in a classic rock cover band called Just The Chips (“Like ‘no salsa, just the chips,’ ” he explains). Denizens of the greater Fort Smith area music scene will no doubt will be familiar with the band’s rendition of Boston’s prog-rock anthem “Foreplay/ Long Time,” which opens with a virtuosic keyboard intro from Arman. He cites the song as his favorite to play, along with Journey’s “Separate Ways.” They’ve played “some festivals and churches” and local spots like Neumeier’s Rib Room and La Heurta Mexican Restaurant. Arman plans to keep his piano lessons up in college but won’t make it his focus. Instead, he’s leaning toward “chemistry or physics, or just theoretical math, because that stuff is cool.”

CODE CREATOR

ike many scienceminded Arkansas students, Yeongwoo Hwang chose to leave home (in his case, Jonesboro) to attend the Arkansas School YEONGWOO HWANG for Mathematics, Sciences AGE: 17 and the Arts in Hot Springs HOMETOWN: Jonesboro so he could advance beyond HIGH SCHOOL: Arkansas the calculus class offered School for Mathematics, by his high school. “It’s reSciences and the Arts PARENTS: Dr. Yeonsang Hwang ally amazing,” he said of the and Kyoungsuk Ahn school: ASMSA has 10 comCOLLEGE PLANS: Carnegie puter science classes (there Mellon University were zero at his home high school) and has made it possible for him, for example, to do research into ad hoc networks for mobile devices. He’s given back to ASMSA too, writing the code for the school’s class registration website and creating an app that allows users to upload 3-D printer diagrams from the school’s server. We may all take comfort in the fact that Yeongwoo wants to work for the government as a network security analyst; sounds like he can do the job. Yeongwoo is a multidimensional sort of guy; he enjoys hiking in the national park with his friends and he plays clarinet in the Arkansas Youth Symphony. Music, he says, is “really cool. ... Every time you play music, it’s different from what you played before ... there are so many emotions and feelings” that go into it. Which is also why he likes computer science: “Every time you write a program, you’re always creating something new.” He’ll continue to pursue computer science and engineering studies at college.

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A R K A N S A S T IME S

PLANNER

atie McGraw’s high school counselor, Carla Choate, said Katie “doesn’t wait to be told what to do or to be shown how to do something. She MADISON KATE is already way ahead in her “KATIE” MCGRAW thinking and usually has a AGE: 18 plan already well in place.” HOMETOWN: Beebe So if you ask Katie what her HIGH SCHOOL: Beebe High School college and career plans are, PARENTS: Lance and Penny you get the idea that what McGraw she thinks now is what she’ll COLLEGE PLANS: Lyon College think in four years, and that is to enter medical school and specialize in anesthesiology. She knows this because she job-shadowed at White County Hospital and, while she’d hoped to shadow a cardiologist, was assigned to an anesthesiologist instead. She met him at 7 a.m., followed as he did seven surgeries, “and he told me all about the different things he was doing. … You wouldn’t expect surgery to be so calm,” she observed. Katie plans to do a dual major at Lyon, where she is attending on the full-ride Brown Scholarship, adding Spanish into the pre-med mix, with a minor in creative writing. (Why Spanish? “I’ve always wanted to go to Spain,” she said, again planning ahead.) Katie’s writing — on the need for primary care physicians — won her a first prize from the Clinton Foundation when she was just a junior. She got to meet President Clinton. “He talked to [all the contestants] for a long time about our essay ideas. ... I was kind of surprised because he actually read all of our essays.” Katie has a deep faith in God, and despite all her wide-ranging talents and honors — first in her class, National Merit scholar, winner in Stamp Out Smoking essay and poetry contests — she said her most significant achievement is “making it through school without sacrificing my Christian testimony.” She gave her career on the basketball team as an example: “There’s pressure to be ruthless on the floor and ruthless with your teammates. ... One of the things I believe is you have to love everyone just like Jesus did. Sometimes in athletics there’s a lot of jealousy that goes on and it’s really hard to keep a good, positive outlook. That’s something I’m kind of proud of myself because I haven’t really succumbed to that.”

on, on, on, to Victory...

MULTITALENTED

sther Park’s essay she submitted to be considered as an Arkansas Times Academic All-Star ESTHER PARK shows a real talent for writAGE: 18 ing, which she might put to HOMETOWN: Little Rock good use as a lawyer, one of HIGH SCHOOL: Little Rock the careers she’s considerCentral High ing: “I had my palm read once. PARENTS: Inyong Park and Miyoung Lee The lady gazed at my right COLLEGE PLANS: Brown hand, and then my left, and University or University of commented on the peculiar Pennsylvania palm lines I had. ‘Straight across the hand,’ she mused. She proceeded to tell me that I was clear-sighted and wise. I’m not sure how much of her personality reading was on divination, but after that event I began to think about my traits.” One of them: “I am essentially unable to procrastinate because it makes me feel terrible; any laziness I indulge in is usually preplanned.” You don’t become third in the senior class at Central by being lazy, that’s for sure. Besides earning a 4.46 grade point average and having 16 AP classes under her belt, Park also plays violin at Central and in the Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra, earning first runner-up at a National High School Honors Performance series at Carnegie Hall (and we all know how you get to Carnegie Hall). She said, by the way, that she hates K-pop music despite her Korean ancestry. Park also volunteers at Presbyterian Village, where she reads to residents and enjoys hearing the “interesting stories” they tell about their lives. Though Park is also considering pre-med in school, she said, “I’ve been thinking about law for a while. ... Maybe as a judge, but not a lifetime lawyer. I think that would not mess up my character, but it might tamper with it.” She could put her experience on Central’s Ethics Bowl to good use at the bar. She didn’t say so, but geology might be a good career choice: She loves rocks and fossils, picks them up whenever she travels to add to her collection of around 200. Writer, musician, volunteer, acing classes in microeconomics and calculus and Chinese and world history: Park can do it all. Can’t wait to catch up with her in 20 years, as we do with other All-Stars in this issue.

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COMPETITOR

aleigh Ramey is a serious competitor. “I like to beat people,” she said. “It’s one of the reasons I do so well. I like to be the best at everyKALEIGH RAMEY thing I do.” That takes hard AGE: 17 work, and she’s proud of the HOMETOWN: Searcy fact that she has worked her HIGH SCHOOL: Searcy High way to second in her class School of 258 students and has PARENTS: Kevin and Kelly Ramey earned a National Merit fiCOLLEGE PLANS: Harding nalist award. She didn’t alUniversity ways work hard — because schoolwork came so easily. But you’re not going to ace the eight AP classes you’ve taken without work. (She said she taught herself how to study in her junior year.) When she’s not hitting the books you might find Kaleigh playing golf, well enough to be on the school golf team and be named All-Conference. Kaleigh was born in Lubbock, Texas, but her family moved to Searcy so her father could take a job at Harding in the physical therapy program. She’s going to Harding too, and while she would have been able to attend at a much-reduced rate simply for being the daughter of a faculty member, she got a full ride for her National Merit standing. Her college plan is to pursue a double major in biology and criminal justice, and then head to graduate school to get a degree in forensic science. She wasn’t inspired by the spooky books of forensic pathologist and writer Patricia Cornwell, which is just as well since they can be fairly gruesome, but by the crime shows that she and mother enjoy watching on television. Asked how her friends would describe her, Kaleigh said “sarcastic ... but we all kind of are.” She’ll probably drop the sarcasm this summer when she goes on a mission trip to Houston to work with inner-city kinds. Then she’ll hit the links before diving in to academics again.

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TEAM PLAYER

THE COMFORT OF BOOKS

PERSONAL BESTS

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

race Thomasson credits her parents with her ideas about competition. Don’t compare your grades or swimming times with others, they said. Compare them with your own past efforts. “I strive for my personal best at everything I do, disregarding any other validation,” she wrote. She admits in an interview, almost sheepishly, that the results have never translated into Cs, though she insists GRACE THOMASSON she’d be fine with that if it was the best she could do. Not to AGE: 18 worry. Grace ranks first in her class of 111 with a 4.32 GPA. HOMETOWN: Maumelle HIGH SCHOOL: eStem Public She’s a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist. Her straight-A Charter School record covers such tough courses as AP statistics, Spanish 4, PARENTS: Bruce and Carol calculus, chemistry, history, English and environmental sciThomasson ence. Grace isn’t just a grind, piling up course credits. Louisa COLLEGE PLANS: Considering Rook, her counselor, said: “She’s not only first in her class, but Lyon and Hendrix colleges a true intellectual.” Others are equally admiring. She won an award for her off-campus internship, essentially a part-time job at the Department of Human Services compiling data for a program that moves people from nursing homes to community care. She works a couple of hours at it every day. She moved from data input to personal surveys of 370 people on how the program works. Grace thrives on such personal interaction. The personal touch explains her desire to get into biomedical engineering. She thought of learning to make “hospital gadget kinds of things,” but said, “I wanted to do something social with people.” That led her to prosthetics. She wants to learn to invent and fit prosthetic devices and talk to people about improving their lives. “That would be fun,” she says. She credits a project at UAMS, the Perry Initiative, for inspiring her. She was among a select group of girls who donned scrubs, heard talks, built things, worked on a cadaver and otherwise were shown a pathway to science careers. One lecturer, “a sweet woman who was a mom and a doctor,” persuaded her that you could be a successful doctor and have a family life, too. “If she could move into the medical world, I could, too. And I thought, well, that’s awesome.” Sort of like Grace.

Desperately seeking Olivia Tzeng: AT: We’d like to talk to you today or tomorrow. OT: I won’t be getting home until 10:30 tomorrow night because I have a soccer game to travel to right after school. Is that too late to call or is there a better time for you? I am free Saturday afternoon. AT: How about Monday? OLIVIA TZENG OT: I will be in Fayetteville all Monday morning and AGE: 18 early afternoon for their Fellowship Weekend. I should be HOMETOWN: Conway HIGH SCHOOL: Conway High free between 5 and 6:30 on Monday, though. Would that School work for you? PARENTS: Jason Tzeng and AT: How about Tuesday? Cathy Yang OT: I have a soccer game at 5:45 but my coach will want COLLEGE PLANS: Chicago, the team there at 4 to watch our JV team play. My game Vanderbilt, Duke or UA, among should be over by 7 p.m. Sorry for all the inconvenience! Sunothers day morning could work for me? Or Wednesday afternoon. What time should I expect a call? Or should I call. AT: How about 3 p.m.? OT: I will be in a Youth Leadership Session until 3:30. Would you be available at 4? Finally, we did talk with Olivia. We had been warned. Her counselor, Jeannie Moore, had told us Olivia’s high school record was a “feat,” between band, soccer and rigorous academics. And that’s not all. She has a healthy round of other activities, school and community, including a key role since her middle school years in Quiz Bowl. Olivia, whose brother Jevin, was also a Times All-Star, is ranked third in a class of 609 at Conway High, always stocked with top students. She views her busy schedule as more of a “juggling act” than a feat. But, she wrote, the activities are not merely balls, but “individual spheres of influence that represent aspects of more core self.” Some core. She’s active in the Faulkner county Youth Leadership Program, Key Club, Beta Club, Model United Nations and a raft of volunteer programs. Her 4.327 GPA came from a schedule packed with AP courses.

eam player seems a slightly unusual phrase to apply to someone so gifted in an individual sport, but Tiffany Tang uses the phrase and so does her coach about her role on the Rogers High tennis team. She’s only the third player on record to win four state championships in high school tennis — two in singles and two in doubles (with her TIFFANY TANG sister Katherine). She was undefeated in 101 matches. Though AGE: 17 singular in achievements, her influence was greater, her coach HOMETOWN: Rogers wrote. “She has a unique ability to lead the team through her HIGH SCHOOL: Rogers High gentle kindness and humble nature. Tiffany is a team-first School person. She is most proud of her two team championships PARENTS: Meng and Nga Tang COLLEGE PLANS: Rice ... a one-in-a-million kid.” Tiffany ranks second in a class of University 491 students at Rogers with a 4.38 GPA. Her ACT score of 35 is just one short of the best you can do. Her courses run the spectrum of AP work, from science to math, literature and government. “She is positive, genuine and always has a smile on her face,” said counselor Janna Gartman. Her high school life isn’t all about tennis. She’s also been a team leader (there’s that word again) in the Link Crew, which provides mentoring to freshmen students. She spent the year helping young students make the transition to their first year in high school. She’ll be off to Rice University in the fall to study mathematics. She doesn’t have clear career goals yet. “I just really like math.” Problem-solving is “fun,” she said. And she’ll be focused on it. College will end her team tennis career, though she expects she won’t stop playing a sport to which she devotes a couple of hours a day. Something has to give, though, as when she put aside competitive piano, a pastime she’d worked at since age 5. She still plays her favorite classical music, but competition? “I’m just too busy.” But, said counselor Gartman, she is never too busy not to help others. Gartman recalls a summer camp at which Tiffany quietly helped a physically challenged student participate in all the activities. “She’s always thinking of others,” she said. That’s teamwork.

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t’s a long way from China, where Christine Townsley spent her earliest years, to Rogers, Ark., where she’s managed to assimilate well enough to become a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist, top debater and a mentor to at-risk students at Heritage, where she ranks 12th in a class of 479. But she appreciates a retreat now CHRISTINE TOWNSLEY and then and does it by working in a nonprofit bookstore AGE: 17 that benefits the library. Her weeks “are loud,” she says. HOMETOWN: Rogers So weekends spent shelving books (in the sci-fi/fantasy/ HIGH SCHOOL: Heritage High horror section) are welcome. Pushing a book cart, she School finds “there is something calming in the smell of an old PARENTS: Lindel and Soonmee Townsley book, a comforting connection to the past.” Christine’s COLLEGE PLANS: Duke own past is full of movement, from China to Kansas, University back to China and then to Rogers. Her parents met at the University of Arkansas. Her mother was a native of Malaysia, with Chinese roots. Christine was born when her father worked in China and her years there equipped her with the ability to speak Chinese. She’s founded a Chinese Club at Rogers. Her counselor, Ericha Edgar, said the experience has forced Christine to redefine her cultural identity and also to stretch herself in less familiar subjects. There’s no doubt she’s got a gift for science and math. She finds applied engineering appealing, which explains a past summer program at UA and a plan to major in biomedical engineering at Duke. “It’s a way I could help,” she says, and a hands-on discipline to “really see the effects of what you are researching.” If it doesn’t work out, she says matter of factly, there’s always med school. She dropped debate after a successful season last year. Too many demands from a rigorous AP courseload and leadership of Chinese, math and engineering clubs.

MyFuture@Work

Trevor Collin s – Maumelle E-Commerce Sophomore Digital Strate gy Intern Likes Making Videos

I chose UALR to expand on the educational opportunities I started at eStem High School. I live on campus but am still close to home. I’ve been able to host a TV show, do public speaking, and have a close connection to students and faculty, my family away from home.

“

Check us out • ualr.at/allstar • #UALR

University of ArkAnsAs At LittLe rock

A R K A N S A S T IME S

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FUTURE LEADER, ENGINEER

li Westerman is a natural born leader. A four-year letterman in track and football, he served as team captain in both as a senior. He made All-Conference in football and was named Arkansas Scholar Athlete of the Year. But Eli said that more than awards, sports helped him develop his leadership skills — “to speak up and lead people, and to lead by example.” ELI WESTERMAN It’s no surprise, then, that Westerman became Student Council AGE: 18 president. He was inspired to run after Fountain Lake extended HOMETOWN: Hot Springs school times “in a way that I felt was not really democratic.” He HIGH SCHOOL: Fountain Lake ran on a platform opposing the change and pushing for more High School transparency in government. “I worked my tail off to try and get PARENTS: Bruce and Sharon it revoked,” Eli said, and though he wasn’t able to get the hours Westerman changed, he said, “I think the fact that I’ve taken that stand, that’s COLLEGE PLANS: Yale what’s important in the end.” Sound like anyone? Eli’s dad, Rep. University Bruce Westerman, was the Majority Leader in the Arkansas House of Representatives and is now running for Congress in the Fourth District. Eli said he wouldn’t completely rule out running for office himself someday, but “right now that’s not what I’m looking for.” Instead, he’s following in the footsteps of his father, an engineer; Eli plans to study biomedical engineering at Yale next year. “I realize that my favorite thing to do is solve problems, whether that’s student government or athletics or in the classroom, I just love solving problems. That’s basically what engineers do. Maybe that’s what God has given me as a task to do on this side of the dirt.” In addition to founding his school chapters of the National Honor Society and the Science Club, Eli successfully sought a grant to found a Robotics team at his former middle school. He wanted to foster enthusiasm for learning among younger students and give them an outlet beyond just making A’s. Eli served as a coach and mentor to the kids, who created robots that completed various challenges, and also developed a program to educate the community about preparedness for natural disasters. In addition to all of his activities and athletics, Eli — a National Merit finalist — took a whopping 11 AP courses and finished first in his class with a 4.23 GPA.

GREEN THUMB

hen Andrew Willoughby was 6 years old, the family’s cat clawed a hole in one of the leaves on a rubber fig plant his parents had. Andrew, naturally curious, was fascinated by the sticky white sap that oozed out. Thus began an interest in plants that has become the passion of his life. When his grandmother gave him a houseplant as a ANDREW WILLOUGHBY present, he found he had a natural green thumb — now if his AGE: 17 family asks what he wants for Christmas or a birthday, well, HOMETOWN: Little Rock they already know the answer. “I made an Amazon wishlist HIGH SCHOOL: eStem Public and filled it with plants,” Andrew said. “Here’s a link, order Charter School whatever you want and I’ll grow it. ... And ever since I’ve had PARENTS: Dorothy and Bill any kind of money of my own, I’ve spent it on plants.” Among Willoughby the plants he’s currently growing: several young citrus trees COLLEGE PLANS: University of (the lemon tree is his favorite), hot peppers, herbs, ornamental Oklahoma grasses, cacti. Andrew is heading to University of Oklahoma next year where he plans to study, of course, botany. He’s also interested in biotechnology and synthetic biology. He recently contributed to a Kickstarter project to genetically modify a plant to glow. “That’s the kind of thing I’d like to do,” Andrew said. “That is amazing to me and I like to think about all the possible applications of that and all the problems you could solve. Creating transgenic plants that could produce medicines, biofuels, perfumes.” Andrew said he loves science because it involves the practical application of math, and numbers have always come naturally to him (he fondly remembers his dad helping him with multiplication when he was just 3 or 4 years old). After finishing every math class on offer after his junior year, eStem had to add math classes this year to keep up with his needs. Andrew also pursued more advanced study in science and math on his own via open-source college courses online. In addition to his success in the classroom and turning his home into a veritable garden, Andrew — National Merit finalist — found time to captain the Quiz Bowl team, intern at the Democratic Party of Arkansas, and play clarinet and piano. 24

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WALKING ENCYCLOPEDIA

en Winter thought it would be cool, he said, to participate in a research fellowship at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences last summer. What he didn’t expect: It turned out to be a “life-altering experience that set me on the path to doing science as a career.” Working with cutting-edge equipment to research BENJAMIN WINTER stem cells and cancer, Ben was like a kid in a candy store. AGE: 18 “It was wonderful, just a really great environment for me,” HOMETOWN: Little Rock he said. “It was a place where I can imagine myself being HIGH SCHOOL: Episcopal happy in a career and fulfilled — a place where I can just Collegiate School kind of discover and experiment to my heart’s desire.” A PARENTS: Douglas and Angela Winter passion for scientific research runs in the family — Ben’s COLLEGE PLANS: University of grandfather was dean of research at UAMS, where he Virginia worked in biochemistry. “He passed away a few years ago but I’ve gotten to go back through some of his notes and look at what he was doing when it was happening, which was really interesting,” Ben said. Getting a peek at his grandfather’s work on the sodium-potassium pump from years ago was inspiring to Ben, whose hope now is to eventually do research in biology, too, perhaps with a focus on stem cells. Something else Ben might have gotten from his grandfather: He’s more than just a science whiz. “He was just an encyclopedia,” Ben said. “He had books all around his home — about architecture, poetry, Dickens novels. I kind of picked it up and I’ve always had an appreciation for a whole bunch of different things.” Ben writes poetry, was the captain of the Quiz Bowl team, runs track and makes chainmail shirts in his spare time. He serves as class vice-president, participates in Student Congress and was elected Speaker of the House at Boys State. A National Merit finalist who scored a perfect 36 on his ACT, Ben managed all these activities while maintaining a 4.5 GPA, first in his class.

WELL ROUNDED

lex Zhang is clearly a brilliant student — an ACT score just shy of perfect, second in his class with a 4.47 GPA — but don’t try to pigeonhole him. He is a photographer, a guitarist, a theater fanatic, a poet. He’s a star debater, will soon become an Eagle Scout, and has a passion for teaching and mentoring younger students. Alex, who ALEXANDER ZHANG plans to study political science, philosophy and economics at AGE: 17 Yale next year, said that though he likes science and math, he HOMETOWN: Little Rock rebels against the stereotype of Asian-American students. He HIGH SCHOOL: Little Rock sacrificed a potential valedictorian slot to pursue his passions, Central High School giving up the additional AP class he would need to secure PARENTS: Xuming Zhang and the top ranking so that he could captain the debate team and Monica Cai take a creative writing class, because those were the things COLLEGE PLANS: Yale he “really loved,” he said. Though he’s had a dominant record University in Arkansas as well as national success, he said his favorite part about debate is mentoring younger debaters. “It’s that feeling of community in our debate squad,” he said. “You can’t match it anywhere else.” As for writing — for which Alex has won several national awards — he said, “Writing lets me explore things that I never get to do in real life.” He’s written everything from science fiction to poetry about his experiences as an Asian American living in the South (some of his amazing slam poetry is online; check it out). There aren’t enough pages in this paper to cover all of Zhang’s wide range of impressive achievements. He’s been an editor of the Central High Memory Project, an oral history project. Along with three other students, he presented a film on Asian-American slam poetry at the CAAMFest in San Francisco, one of the largest Asian-American film festivals in the country. He’s won awards for his conceptual photography projects and is now doing senior portrait photography around Little Rock. (“The camera is like my third eye,” he said. “It’s about self-exploration. I feel like myself when I take photographs.”) He does drama tournaments, solo mime-improv performances and has acted as the lead in plays at the Arkansas Arts Center. “There are never enough hours in the day,” Alex said, “but I just do what I love to do.”

CONGRATULATIONS

TO THE 2014 ARKANSAS TIMES

ACADEMIC ALL-STARS Jay Boushelle Fayetteville High School

Eli Westerman Fountain Lake High School

Madeleine Corbell Fayetteville High School

Tiffany Tang Rogers High School

Seth Daniell Arkadelphia High School

Andrew Willoughby eStem High School

Alexandra Glenn Mount St. Mary Academy

Grace Thomasson eStem High School

Andrew Fleming Watson Chapel High School

Benjamin Winter Episcopal Collegiate School

Katie McGraw Beebe High School

Christine Ruth Townsley Heritage High School

Arman Hemmati Southside High School

Alexander Zhang Central High School

Esther Park Central High School

Olivia Tzeng Conway High Schol

Yeongwoo Hwang Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts

McKenzi Baker North Little Rock High School

Kaleigh Ramey Searcy High School

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Academic All-Star alumni are scattered around the world, still succeeding.

o mark the 20th anniversary of our first Academic All-Star class, we put out a call for All-Star alumni to let us know what they were up to. Based at least on those who responded, being selected as an Academic All-Star appears to be a strong predictor for future success. Aside from who/what/when/where ques-

tions, we asked all those below to give advice to their highschool self (though not everyone played along); All-Stars of 2014, take heed. A note to those All-Star alumni who missed our call for info (or their friends or parents): We still want to hear from you! Drop us a line at arktimes@arktimes.com.

1995 RANI CROAGER

Central High School Social entrepreneur, Oakland

Say you are interested in social justice, thanks to a multicultural background that has made you sensitive to all manner of issues, and want to teach or maybe go to law school. But you’ve just graduated from Duke University and you’ve got a load of student loans to pay back. Do you take a satisfying but low-paying job and stretch those loans out forever or take on more debt to go to law school? Rani Croager did neither. After she earned a degree in math and economics at Duke, Croager — one of the Arkansas Times’ first All-Stars in 1995, Indian by birth and adopted by parents of English and Indian-Chinese ancestry — made a different plan: Work a couple of years at a higher-paying job, then pursue her dream. She got a job at Stephens 26

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Inc., where the two years stretched to a decade of learning the ins and outs of investment banking. Croager, 36, now calls herself a “reformed investment banker turned social entrepreneur.” The experience she gained at Stephens and later at Credit Suisse, she said, “was a great platform to learn about business, capitalism, how deals get done.” But she shook off the “golden handcuffs,” she said, in 2008 and started Oakland Cooperative Education Ventures, to help students get a business education with a lower burden of debt. The

combined nonprofit/for-profit venture is, she believes, the first of its kind in the United States, one that uses a cooperative model of student and worker ownership — sort of like the employeeowned REI sports gear company for education. As part of Oakland Cooperative, Croager and business partner Seyed Amiry have launched Uptima Business Bootcamp, where student members of the co-op will be buying into the school with their tuition fees. As investors, they’ll eventually recoup their fees from profits earned by the cooperative and have

a say in the running of Uptima. The nine-month program will offer training in business start-ups, including funding, scaling and marketing. “We are creating a real community, where business owners are investing in each other,” Croager said. Croager is also working on a cooperative technical institute that would provide cooperating employers with skilled workers they need; both workers and employers would be owners. The first institute will be located in Oakland and its first classes will start at the techsupport level, preparing students for a Microsoft certification. She likened the school to the Mondragon Corp. in Spain, a worker cooperative founded in the 1950s by graduates of a technical college that is now a global enterprise. Croager said she’d love to “bring this model over to Arkansas. ... Our goal over time is to start setting up cooperatives in other parts of the U.S. and we specifically look at areas where there could be a high need.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

I knew I’d be throwing fastballs on the field, but I didn’t know I’d be on the fast track to Physical Therapy school.

Mason Reynolds, Senior, Biology Major at Tech Field

At Arkansas Tech, you’ll be able to excel in more ways than you thought. We offer all five of the most sought after degrees and we’ve added more than 50 new programs of study in the past two decades. Tech has one of the highest graduation rates in the state because we’re committed to providing the highest quality education, and the best overall experience for our students. With Greek Life, campus recreation and various student activities available both on campus and in the surrounding area, you’re sure to find your place at Tech. Take a tour of campus and discover what you don’t know about Tech. Get started at discover.atu.edu.

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AMY DRAKE WILSON

Rogers High School Doctor, Zionsville, Ind.

Wilson is a pediatric nephrologist and teacher at Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health in Indianapolis. She got her medical degree at Johns Hopkins and a master’s in science at the University of Cincinnati, where she also did her pediatric and pediatric nephrology fellowship training. She has two kids, ages 8 and 4. Advice she would give her 18-year-old self: “You’re not going to get me to go there!” she told the Times.

KIISHA MORROW

Pine Bluff High School Lawyer, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Morrow got a B.A. at Harvard and J.D. at Harvard Law, and was a corporate lawyer for in Manhattan two years before becoming a mentor for student interns of color at a nonprofit. She is now head of diversity and inclusion initiatives at Cravath, Swaine and Moore LLP, the firm where she began her legal career. Education is a passion, and she serves on the board of a Brooklyn charter school. She says she can often be found at Brooklyn Nets games (“I remember my days cheering for the Zebras!”).

CRYSTAL MORRISON

Arkansas School for Mathematics and Science, Hot Springs Scientist, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Morrison, who hailed from Bismarck, got her B.S. in chemistry at the University of Missouri-Rolla and her

master’s in science and Ph.D. in macromolecular science and engineering at the University of Michigan. She is now the principal investigator and senior materials scientist at R.J. Lee Group; her specialty is polymers, foams, elastomers, adhesives and composites. She is also an expert in “life extension programs” in nuclear weapons systems. She had advice for students at what is now the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Science and the Arts: “ASMS is an environment where you truly have the opportunity to learn from everything and everyone around you. Take advantage of that fully. ... You learn that no matter where you came from, you’re all at the same starting line at ASMS. ... And best of all, you learn that you are at the footstep of a giant world full of wonder and opportunities.”

JOSEPH LEASE

Lake Hamilton High School, Hot Springs College professor, Macon, Ga.

Lease got his bachelor’s degree in English at Fayetteville and an MAT at Duke University in Durham, N.C., where he taught high school English for a couple of years. He completed his doctorate degree from the University of Georgia in 2012 and now is assistant professor of English at Wesleyan College. Lease said he “got a kick out of reading the profiles from the original [Arkansas Times] article,” in which he was quoted as saying, “I love a good book” and that he enjoyed conversations with his friends. He made that love of literature and discussion a career.

b h s l r. e d u

a commitment beyond academics nursing histotechnology occupational therapy assistant

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medical technology nuclear medicine technology radiography sleep technology surgical technology

ARKANSAS TIMES

BRENT RAGAR

Cabot High School Doctor, Chelsea, Mass.

After graduating from the University of Arkansas and Washington University School of Medicine, Ragar completed his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. Today, he’s unit chief of Mass General’s largest community health center and serves on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. During an earlier twoyear stint working on the Zuni Indian Reservation in New Mexico, he helped start the Zuni Youth Enrichment Proj-

ect, a nonprofit aimed at improving child health on the reservation. “Be more appreciative of everyone along the way and recognize how much individuals and systems are responsible for success,” Ragar said he’d tell his high school self. “Hard work is only part of the equation and would not have been enough without all of the wonderful mentors and teachers that I had.”

1996

MIKAEL WOOD

North Little Rock High School Pop music writer, Los Angeles

From 2000 until 2012, Mikael Wood wrote for the biggest music and entertainment magazines in the country — Rolling Stone, SPIN, Entertainment Weekly, Billboard. For the last year and a half, he’s been a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times covering music. “I’ve ended up working at the intersection of two collapsing industries,” he said recently. “If you’re wearing your journalism hat and not you’re careersecurity hat, this is a tremendously exciting time. There are so many stories.” It helps that Wood is omnivorous when it comes to music. An L.A. Times staff memo announcing his hire praised him for being “as comfortable dissecting and assessing the world of hip-hop and R&B as he is country, gospel and bubblegum pop.” His byline has appeared recently on stories about Lady Gaga, the “Frozen” soundtrack and the awardshow showdown between the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association. Wood partially credits the influence of his father, Tom Wood, a longtime DJ and radio programmer in Little Rock, who toted Mikael and his brother to the studio and to concerts. Also, where a lot of music-besotted teenagers grow up playing in garage rock bands, Wood spent his high school years playing in Soophie Nun Squad, perhaps the strangest band

in recent memory to achieve wide popularity in Central Arkansas. They counted David Bowie, Salt N Peppa and Rites of Spring as influences; generally incorporated costumes and puppet shows into their performances, and once excited a house party in Little Rock so much that a floor caved in. The band got big enough to tour Europe. Another band of Wood’s, who was born Michael, led him to alter the spelling of his name. The band was called K, and Wood thought it would be cool to promote it by swapping the “ch” in his name for “k”. Gradually, it stuck. Because it was a unique spelling and there are other Michael Wood freelance writers, it later became useful. “It started out as a dumb high school thing and ended up being a vaguely savvy professional thing,” Wood said. Wood worked on the daily paper at Northwestern University, where he attended college, and started freelancing for other papers and alt-weeklies while still in college to a level that, by the time he graduated, he had enough writing gigs to survive. “To the extent that I have any advice to anyone,” Wood said, “I always say that you’re going to have to work [for a time] for free or appalling low.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

Apply online at bhslr.edu For additional information please call 501-202-6200 or 1-800-345-3046. Baptist Health Schools Little Rock does not discriminate on the basis of age, color, creed, physical challenges, gender, marital status, race, national origin, or religion. Gainful employment and consumer information can be found at bhslr.edu/outcomes

11900 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock, AR 72210

Congratulations to the Catholic High School Class of 2014 (Our 84th Graduating Class)

“Remember the Lord in all that you do, and He will show you the right way.” P rov e r b s 3 : 6

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CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL FOR BOYS

6300 Father Tribou St., Little Rock, Arkansas 72205 (501) 664-3939 www.lrchs.org

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JOHN CLAY KIRTLEY

Camden Fairview High School Pharmacist, Little Rock

After attending Ouachita Baptist, Kirtley received his doctor of pharmacy degree from UAMS. Since 2011, he’s served as the executive director of the Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy.

RASHOD OLLISON

Sylvan Hills High School Pop culture critic, Norfolk, Va.

Ollison, a University of Arkansas graduate, is entertainment writer and pop culture critic at The Virginian-Pilot, the state’s largest daily metro paper. In the last three years, he’s won five national writing awards from The Society for Features Journalism. He’s working on a memoir, tentatively titled “Soul Serenade,” about searching for his father and himself through the family record collection. Previously, he was pop music critic for The Baltimore Sun and music columnist for Jet.

1997

MARTHA BRANTLEY

Little Rock Central High School Nonprofit business development director, New York

Brantley, the daughter of Times senior editor Max Brantley, is director of business development for the Clinton Foundation’s agriculture work. She calls New York home, but spends 40 to 50 percent of her time overseeing projects in Malawi, Myanmar, Rwanda and Tanzania. She graduated Yale with honors and spent her early post-collegiate years working as a business consultant, an equity investor for a global bank and, later, at a large hedge fund. She said that a few years ago, she decided that she wasn’t passionate about that work. She started at the Clinton Foundation as a volunteer.

Arkansas School for Mathematics and Science, Hot Springs Librarian, Geneva, N.Y.

Isaac Chung, from the tiny Northwest Arkansas town of Lincoln, is an awardwinning filmmaker who has screened his films at festivals around the world, including Cannes. “Munyurangabo,” the debut film of the second-generation Korean American (the only minority in the class of 1997 at Lincoln High School), made on location in Rwanda with Rwandan actors, won grand prize at the American Film Institute Festival after its Cannes screening and has received wide critical acclaim. Roger Ebert said it was “in every frame a beautiful and powerful film — a masterpiece.” Chung wasn’t supposed to be a filmmaker. As a high school senior — then going by his first name, Lee — he told the Times he wanted to be president, an aspiration he said recently he didn’t remember. “Apparently, at age 18, I had the hubris of a 5-year-old,” he said. Once he got to Yale, he chose ecology as a major with an eye toward going to medical school. His senior year, to fulfill a graduation requirement he long put off, he took a film production course, where he was exposed to foreign and art house films for the first time. “I just really fell in love,” he said. “I found that I was spending all my time working on films.” His parents weren’t pleased. Chung told them he wanted to go to film school and be a filmmaker, not a doctor, just before a family trip to Disney World. “I remember standing in line waiting to get on a ride with my dad and mom just berating me on my decision. We’d go on this two-minute ride, and then it’s back to them telling me I’m wasting my life.” They’ve simmered down today, Chung said, though they still worry about the stability of the film industry. So does Chung; he and his wife recently had a child. “I’m definitely starting to think I gotta make some money.” He’s also had a “personality change” and wants to make films that his parents can enjoy. “The films I’ve made so far can be a kind of opaque for a lot people,” Chung said. “I’m ready to branch out.”

McDonald, the systems librarian at Hobart & William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y., graduated cum laude from Yale and received his masters in information science from the University of Michigan. But he wishes he would’ve been more adventurous as a student, though he left home in Leslie to attend ASMS. “I would tell my high school self to take more academic risks, the earlier the better. One of the most important skills you can pick up in life is how to go about learning something that is completely new and unfamiliar. And there’s just something wonderful about being able to say, ‘I don’t know a single word of Chinese. It might turn out that I hate it or am terrible at it, or it could be my undiscovered passion, but I’m going to spend the next term finding out.’ You don’t get too many opportunities to do that in life.”

Lincoln High School Filmmaker, New York

BUSINESS e e r F CHECKING 30

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ARKANSAS TIMES

BRIAN MCDONALD

ISAAC CHUNG

His second feature, “Lucky Life,” was inspired by the poetry of Gerald Stern. His latest, 2012’s “Abigail Harm,” reinterpreted the Korean folktale “The Woodcutter and the Nymph” and starred Amanda Plummer. All were made on micro-budgets. “Munyurangabo” came about after Chung’s wife, a longtime volunteer in Rwanda, asked him to travel to the country with her. There, he decided to teach locals filmmaking by drawing them into a real film project. He and frequent creative partner Samuel Anderson sketched out a story about two young men on a trip from the capital, Kigali, to the home of one the boys. The weight of the 1994 genocide — where at least 800,000 Tutsis and dissident Hutus were killed — is “underscored by the absence of graphic physical evidence,” according a New York Times review of the film. The experience sparked a film industry in Rwanda. Chung created a production company, Almond Tree Rwanda, in Kigali to channel equipment and money donated in the U.S. to Rwandan filmmakers. It’s been a success. Rwandan filmmakers now run a self-sustaining business fueled by for-hire film work such as documentaries, commercials and wedding videos. “A lot of men and women have jobs,” Chung said. “They’re making their films. They’re starting to get recognition for their work in international film festivals.” Chung, who lives in New York but will move soon to Los Angeles with his family, plans to return to Rwanda next year to finish a fiction-documentary on a Rwandan friend. Another future destination? Arkansas, to film a script set in his home state that he said he’s “finally started working on.”

1998

RICHARD BRUNO

Parkview Magnet High School Doctor, Baltimore

Bruno knew he was going to be a doctor at age 18 as he was headed off to Princeton University, his AllStar profile indicates. He got his medical degree at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Ore., and is now a family medicine resident. He also directed the VACUUM Project (Voices and Concerns of the Uninsured and Underinsure Millions), filming patient stories. His advice to his high-school self: “Keep it up! Your ideas and passions will inspire others and connect you with like-minded individuals who can work with you to build your shared visions of improving our planet.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

Where small businesses get rewarded.

Honoring the Class of 2014

CLASS OF 2014 HIGHLIGHTS · 2 Presidential Scholar Nominees · 7 National Merit Finalists and 1 National Achievement Finalist · Average ACT score of 28; 40% of class scored a 30 or above on the ACT · Morehead-Cain, Jefferson Scholar, and Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholarship Honorees

Ben Winter

· Performed over 9,200 hours of community service in high school

Academic All-Star TEAM Episcopal Collegiate School, Class of 2014

University of Virginia, Class of 2018 Jefferson Scholar The Episcopal Collegiate School Class of 2014 Congratulates Classmate Ben Winter on his designation as an Academic All-Star

· Multiple state, regional, and conference athletic championships · Multiple state, regional, and conference fine arts recognitions

Jackson T. Stephens Campus 1701 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, Arkansas

Serving Grades Pre-K3 thru 12.

www.episcopalcollegiate.org | 501.372.1194 Episcopal Collegiate School welcomes students of any race, color, religion, and national or ethnic origin.

A R K A N S A S T IME S

✭

A C A DE MIC A L L-S TA R S

SARA MANNING DREW

North Little Rock High School Nonprofit director, Little Rock

Drew is the development director of Literacy Action of Central Arkansas and is on the board of directors of KUAR, St. Joseph’s Center, the Museum of Discovery and Children’s House Montessori. She also volunteers with the Humane Society and historic preservation organizations (she expressed an interest in anthropology and archeology as a high school senior) and is interested in environmental issues. Her husband and son are her top priorities. Advice she would give her 18-year-old self: “You are fine the way you are. Stop trying to act different to please others and enjoy being yourself! You rock!”

MARIAH HARDER REESCANO

Alread High School Teacher, Little Rock

A theater arts major at Hendrix who earned a master’s in education theory from Arkansas State University, Reescano was named Teacher of the Year this year at Booker Arts Magnet, where she has taught drama to K-5 pupils for 11 years. She works with the Arkansas A+ program of the THEA Foundation as a fellow, working with teachers on

integrating the arts and creativity into academic subjects. Reescano said this was the advice she should have given herself: “Stop worrying about being from such a small town and wondering how you’ll do in the bigger world. You’ll adjust just fine.”

MARIBETH MOCK

1999

Little Rock Central High School Biotechnologist, Sunnyvale, Calif.

ROSS GLOTZBACH

Little Rock Central High School Investment banker, Memphis

Glotzbach, a Princeton graduate, is deputy director of research and a principal at Southeastern Asset Management in Memphis. In his spare time, he has taught financial seminars at the University of Memphis and served as treasurer for Ballet Memphis.

KASEY MILLER NEAL

Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School School teacher, Little Rock

After teaching regular math classes at Horace Mann Middle School for nine years, Miller now works as math coach for

Horace Mann. She was named the 2013 Little Rock School District Middle School Teacher of the Year in 2013. She received her bachelor’s and master’s in education from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

A Presidential Scholar in high school, Mock graduated from Stanford with a degree in biology and a minor in Japanese and then spent a year teaching English at Ehime Medical School in Shikoku, Japan. She now works for biotechnology firm Labcyte Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif. She has a blue belt in Aikido.

2000

ANDREW BRILL

Fayetteville High School Nonprofit staffer, Fayettevile

Brill, who received his undergraduate degree from Austin College and his master’s in literature from Boston College, works as a staffer for Fayetteville’s Lightbearers Ministries, a nonprofit that

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ARKANSAS TIMES

uses rental profits from residential ministry properties to fund mission projects overseas.

TOBY CHU

Little Rock Central High School Environmental analyst, Houston

After graduating from Duke with a major in biology, an internship with Audubon Arkansas inspired Chu to attend the University of California Santa Barbara to get a master’s degree in environmental sciences and management. She now works near Houston for Entergy as an environmental analyst. “I get to protect birds from power lines, train linemen, and generally help keep the company stay in environmental compliance,” she said.

ALLEN FROST

Conway High School Ph.D. student, Stanford, Palo Alto, Calif.

After graduating from Swarthmore College with high honors, Frost taught high school English for four years — including, for three years, at an international school in Hong Kong. He’s currently pursuing his Ph.D. in English at CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

Fountain Lake Schools salute

ELI DANIEL WESTERMAN 2014 ARKANSAS TIMES ACADEMIC ALL-STAR NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLAR ARKANSAS AIR GUARD SCHOLAR ATHLETE OF THE YEAR FOUNTAIN LAKE HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2014 YALE UNIVERSITY CLASS OF 2018

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APRIL 24, 2014

Stanford University. In 2011, he won the university’s Centennial Teaching Assistant Award.

Watson Chapel High School Watson Chapel School District

Watson Chapel High School

Congratulates

Andrew Fleming And All The 2014 Arkansas Times

Academic All-Stars

Alex Glenn

Must Be A Mount Girl! “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” - Romans 8:28 Mount St. Mary Academy would like to congratulate Alex for her outstanding accomplishments. She exemplifies the Mercy values in all that she does and exhibits the well-rounded qualities of what it means to be a “Mount girl.”

JOSHUA HILL

Brinkley High School Network engineer, Little Rock

Hill works as a data network engineer for Verizon Wireless in Little Rock. He received his degree in electrical engineering from the University of Arkansas and his MBA from University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

2001

DAVID DEITZ

Wilbur D. Mills University Studies High School Health care analyst, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Deitz graduated summa cum laude from the University of Arkansas, where he was student body president, with majors in biophysical chemistry, philosophy, political science and European Studies and a minor in mathematics. He then received a full ride to Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, where he received a master’s degree in history, philosophy and sociology of science, technology and medicine. After graduation, he helped grow Richard Branson’s health care start-up, Virgin Care, by 800 percent and was named employee of the year of the company in 2012. He now lives in Abu Dhabi and works on quality improvement and cost reduction for Abu Dhabi Health Services Co., the primary care provider in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

ANN GLOTZBACH

Little Rock Central High School Entrepreneur, Buenos Aires

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ARKANSAS TIMES

Ann Glotzbach, a Princeton graduate like her brother and fellow AllStar Ross Glotzbach, is the CEO and founder of Puentes, a business focused on providing

“customized and meaningful internships” in Buenos Aires. Previously, she worked for the Thomas J. Watson Foundation in New York and started the Buenos Aires office for TerraCycle, a U.S.-based recycling company.

2002

COLLEEN BARNHILL

Little Rock Central High School Lawyer, Little Rock

Barnhill is a lawyer in the Pulaski County Public Defender’s Office. Before law school and after graduating from Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., she worked as an AmeriCorps VISTA member in Colorado Springs, Colo. where she helped implement service-learning programs and projects in low achieving public schools.

2003

JAMIE KERN GIANI

Fort Smith Southside High School Lawyer, Fort Smith

Giani serves as career law clerk for federal district Judge P.K. Holmes III in Fort Smith. She came to the job with a sterling educational resume: She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Arkansas with majors in political science, Spanish, international relations and a co-major in Latin American Studies. At Vanderbilt University, which she attended on a Chancellor’s Scholarship, she interned with the nonprofit team of prosecutors who represented the families of those killed allegedly on order from former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori. Later she interned for a semester at the United States Embassy in Buenos Aires, where she met her husband.

HEATHER MAHURIN

El Dorado High School Lawyer, Austin, Texas

Mahurin made the president’s honor roll all eight semesters at University of Florida. She attended University of Texas law school and now serves as legal counsel for the Texas Municipal League. In her spare

There’s never been a better time to go to college or an easier way to apply for financial aid

The Arkansas Department of Higher Education reviews and approves academic programs for the state’s 11 public universities and 22 public two-year colleges. In addition, the agency is responsible for distributing approximately $150 million annually from state revenues and lottery funds in the form of financial aid. For complete information about our programs, visit www.adhe.edu to review program rules and regulations. The eligibility requirements and rules governing the programs administered by ADHE are subject to legislative and regulatory amendments. Please e-mail the Financial Aid Division at finaid@adhe.edu for additional information.

• Application period is from January 1 to June 1 for upcoming academic year • Must complete FAFSA as well as YOUniversal scholarship application • Download free YOUniversal app for any smart phone

ARKANSAS ACADEMIC CHALLENGE SCHOLARSHIP T he Arkansas Academic Challenge Program provides educational assistance to Arkansas residents in pursuit of a higher education. Additional funding made possible by the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery has allowed the expansion of the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship to provide higher education opportunities to previously underserved Arkansans (traditional, currently enrolled & nontraditional college students). Eligibility requirements for the Academic Challenge Scholarship are based on two student categories: Traditional (Current year high school graduates) and Nontraditional Students.

HOW TO APPLY Take advantage of the online universal application. It’s your one-stop shop for state and lottery funded financial aid. With the new online application you can: • Search and apply for scholarships and grants • Create your account • Check your status • Receive alerts and notices through email • Manage your account 24/7

AWARD AMOUNTS: The Arkansas General Assembly sets award amounts annually. Once determined, the amounts will be posted on the ADHE website - www.adhe.edu.

Advertising Supplement to Arkansas Times

BASIC ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: An applicant must: • Be an Arkansas resident and U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident • Be accepted for admission at an approved Arkansas institution of higher education in a program of study that leads to a baccalaureate degree, associate degree, qualified certificate or a nursing school diploma • Not have earned a baccalaureate degree • Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) (although there will be no income cap)

ADDITIONAL ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR THE TRADITIONAL STUDENT: • Enroll in fall semester immediately after high school • Enroll full-time each semester • Graduate from high school in current school year • Meet one of the following criteria:

DEADLINE DATES Must apply no later than June 1 immediately following graduation as a traditional student. All other students must also apply by June 1. For complete program details please visit

RESOURCES Arkansas Department of Higher Education: www.adhe.edu Free Application for Federal Student Aid: www.fafsa.ed.gov Arkansas Student Loan Authority: www.fundmyfuture.info Come Back: www.ComeBack2GoForward.com

www.adhe.edu

or contact the Arkansas Department of Higher Education’s Financial Aid department at the following: Email: finaid@adhe.edu (800) 54-STUDY (501) 371-2050 – Greater Little Rock

1. Graduate from an Arkansas public high school and complete the Smart Core curriculum; and either i. Achieve at least a 2.5 high school GPA; or ii. Achieve a 19 on the ACT or the equivalent score on an ACT equivalent test. 2. Graduate from a private, out-of-state or home school high school and achieve a minimum composite score of nineteen (19) on the ACT or the equivalent score on an ACT equivalent test.

Financial Aid Division 423 Main St., STE 400, Little Rock, AR 72201 (Entrance on Capitol Avenue) Email: finaid@adhe.edu (800) 54-STUDY (501) 371-2050 – Greater Little Rock facebook.com/ArkDeptHigherEd twitter.com/ArkDeptHigherEd

ADDITIONAL ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR THE NONTRADITIONAL STUDENT: • Enroll full-time or part-time each semester • Meet one of the following criteria: 1. Graduated from an Arkansas public high school and achieved a 2.5 high school GPA or had a 19 on the ACT or the equivalent score on an ACT equivalent test ; or 2. Has earned at least 12 hours towards a degree with a cumulative GPA of at least 2.5.

RENEWAL REQUIREMENTS: Traditional students must enroll in at least 12 hours the first fall semester following high school graduation and at least 15 hours each semester thereafter to receive funding. Traditional students must complete at least 27 hours first year and at least 30 hours each year thereafter with a 2.5 cumulative GPA. Nontraditional students may enroll in as few as 6 hours and receive a pro-rated scholarship amount. Nontraditional students must maintain a 2.5 cumulative GPA with continuing eligibility based on enrollment.

Advertising Supplement to Arkansas Times

Arkansas Academic Challenge

SCHOLARSHIP

LIVING YOUR DREAM THROUGH EDUCATION! With funding made possible by the

ARKANSAS SCHOLARSHIP LOTTERY, the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship provides opportunities for higher education to Arkansans.

If you’re planning to attend college in the fall, complete the YOUniversal financial aid application by June 1 at www.adhe.edu or download the free YOUniversal app for your smart phone.

time, she works on Battleground Texas, the push to put Texas in play for Democrats; volunteers for the Wendy Davis campaign, and serves as a competitive gymnastics judge for USA Gymnastics.

MARGARET WHIPPLE DOOSE

Arkadelphia High School Doctor, Minneapolis

Just as planned, Margaret Whipple went to Davidson College in North Carolina and later went to medical school, at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. (Her only deviation from the plan was to major in political science, not biology and pre-med, at Davidson.) Today, she is in her third year of residency in a combined internal medicine and pediatrics program at the University of Minnesota. When she completes her residency, she plans to become a hospitalist in her specialties.

2004

VIVEK BUCH

Wilbur D. Mills University Studies High School Resident in neurosurgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Vivek Buch wants to know how the brain learns. “We don’t know how the brain learns right now in normal people,” he said, but “if we can figure out how that process works, my goal is to use that information to learn why kids with mental retardation can’t learn.” Buch, now in his first year of a sevenyear residency at the University of Pennsylvania, earned his medical degree at Brown in the direct bachelor/MD program and was a Howard Hughes fellow at the National Institutes of Health for a year studying “connectomics,” the study of how different parts of the brain work to, for example, make decisions. “I hope to pioneer the field of pediatric functional neurosurgery,” he said, to treat childhood retardation, autism and neuropsychiatric diseases.

CLARK SMITH

Conway High School West Doctor, St. Louis

Clark Smith played bass guitar and dreamed of being a doctor when he headed off to the University of Arkansas on a Sturgis Fellowship in 2004. Today, he plays standard guitar and is in his second year of residency training in emergency medicine “with a scholarly focus on EMS/prehospital medicine” at Washington University’s Barnes-Jewish Hospital. A decade ago, Smith told the Times that medicine “would be the field in which I could use my talents to help the most people”; today he is a member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve Medical Corps, and will train as a critical care air transport team member and tactical critical care evacuation technician when he completes his residency.

2005

SOUTHSIDE HIGH SCHOOL CONGRATULATES

ARmAN HEmmATI We Are Proud Of You!

Sunday, April 27, 2014 10am-4pm Jewish Breakfast at 8:30am Bagels with Lox • Sweet Noodle Kugel • Blintzes

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War Memorial Stadium

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JOHANN KOMANDER

Arkansas School for Mathematics and Science, Hot Springs Credit trader, New York

Komander’s advice: Learn computer programming, start early in taking charge of your personal finances and learn basic finances, and “don’t study academics in a vacuum. Be mindful of the real world applications of what you’re learning.” Komander, who has a B.Sc. in materials science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, got interested in finance as a junior and went to work at Morgan Stanley after graduation. He is now on the investment house’s emerging markets credit trading team, working as a Latin American corporate bond trader. “I enjoy the fast-paced nature of trading,” Komander says; he also enjoys playing in a soccer league and dining out in the East Village.

2006

EMILY WHIPPLE

Arkadelphia High School Lawyer, Nashville

Emily Whipple was the second in her CONTINUED ON PAGE 40

Great Food Entertainment Unique Shopping Jewish Culture

scan this code with your smart phone to learn more about the festival. to scan this code, you will need a Qr code reader. Go to www.i-nigma.mobi and choose your phone. follow the instructions for downloading the free Qr code reader.

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Single Parent Scholarship Fund (SPSF)

4th Annual Perfect Gift Campaign

MAke thiS Mother’S DAy AnD FAther’S DAy

eXtrA SPeCiAL!

• Donate $50 and your name and the name of your honoree will appear in the June issue of Soirée (for Mom) or the June 16 issue of Arkansas Business (for Dad). • Donate $75 and your name and the name of your honoree will appear in the June issue of Soirée (for Mom) and the June 16 issue of Arkansas Business (for Dad). Yo u r g i f t p ro v i d e s s c h o l a r s h i p s a n d s u p p o r t s e r v i c e s t o h i g h a c h i e v i n g , single-parent students in Pulaski County. Deadline for names to appear in Soirée is May 8, 2014 and June 11, 2014 to appear in Arkansas Business.

Order at SPSFPulaski.org or 501-301-7773 www.arktimes.com

APRIL 24, 2014

family to become an All-Star, following her sister Margaret (2003). She did a double major in business and European history at Washington and Lee and got her law degree at Vanderbilt last year. She practices corporate law at Bass, Berry & Sims in Nashville, working primarily on mergers, acquisitions and governance for both privately held and publicly traded companies.

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And, while she may be suffering from Alzheimer’s, it in no way diminishes the place she holds in people’s hearts. The gifts and contributions she has shared. The story she has to tell. At Clarity Pointe Little Rock, our goal is to help her continue her story with a decidedly different approach to caring for those with memory loss. Clarity Pointe Little Rock is one of only two free-standing assisted living communities in Little Rock dedicated solely to enriching the lives of those with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

Learn about the difference Clarity Pointe Little Rock can make. Call 501.868.6270 or visit www.ClarityPointeLittleRock.com.

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 www.ClarityPointeLittleRock.com A CRSA Community A CRSA Community

NP/ARTimes/4-14 APRIL 24, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

A CRSA/LCS Community

What seemed like the wrong choice of college — Harvard — over Washington University turned out to be the right choice for Anselm Beach. “It took me two years of being at Harvard before I found out what I believe to be the reason God wanted me there: to truly find him. That was two years of really struggling to find my own, going from a setting where I stood out as one of the best to a setting where I was one among a sea of people who were all the best and even better than me.” At Harvard, Beach sang with the Kuumba Singers, who “specialize in music that rises from the African diaspora,” and worked with elementary and high school students in the Summer Urban Program — “some of the greatest experiences of my life.” Beach is now campus ministry leader for the Northern Mission Center of the Boston Church of Christ, serving students from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, Salem State, Merrimack and other colleges north of Boston.

SARAH COGGINS

8401 Ranch Blvd., Little Rock, AR 72223

ANSELM BEACH

Wilbur D. Mills University Studies High School Campus ministry leader, Peabody, Mass.

She is one-of-a-kind. Uniquely special. In every way.

A CRSA/LCS Community

2007

Cabot High School Medical student, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville

Coggins, who is in her third year of medical school at Vanderbilt, says that “hard work and dedication to one’s chosen profession is crucial to success and

rarely goes unnoticed.” She was noticed: She won full-tuition scholarships to attend both undergraduate and graduate school at Vanderbilt and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior. When she graduated summa cum laude in molecular and cellular biology, she won the Founder’s Medal of the College of Arts and Sciences. Her research is focused in the field of neonatology and she plans to be a pediatric intensive care doctor.

ALEX HEALD

Pulaski Academy College administrator, Abu Dhabi

Heald serves as student life coordinator for New York University’s Abu Dhabi branch. Working abroad for the last two and a half years, Heald said he’s gotten to travel to more than 20 new countries and has “loved living as an expat.” He graduated from NYU summa cum laude with majors in language and mind and minors in creative writing and media, communications and culture. During his senior year, he served as president of the school’s Inter-Residential Council, overseeing a constituency of more than 11,000 students.

NICOLE TOPICH

Pulaski Academy Archivist, Boston

Topich, who earned a bachelor’s degree in history at Swarthmore College and a master’s in library and information science from the University of Pittsburgh, is now an archivist at Harvard University. There, she coordinates the digital archive of Massachusetts Anti-Slavery and Anti-Segregation Petitions. As a student, she worked at the Clinton CONTINUED ON PAGE 42

Trevor Collin s – Maumelle E-Commerce Sophomore Digital Strate gy Intern Likes Making Videos

THANK YOU The Arkansas Times would like to thank the following sponsors for their support of the Academic All-star Team and its scholarship fund.

expand on the educational tarted at eStem High School. but am still close to home. I’ve st a TV show, do public speaking, e connection to students and y away from home.

“

t • ualr.at/allstar • #UALR

University of ArkAnsAs At LittLe rock

Arkansas education association Arkansas Federal Credit Union Baptist Health Schools Boswell Mourot Fine Art Cindy Conger Wealth Management Fountain Lake Public Schools

Iberia Bank Mount St. Mary’s Academy North Little Rock School District Southside High School Watson Chapel High School

A R K A N S A S T IME S

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A C A DE MIC A L L-S TA R S

Presidential Library, the Butler Institute for Arkansas Studies, the Library of Congress and other archives. Her most recent award: to present her paper “Black Historians and the Writing of History in the 19th and early 20th centuries: What Legacy?” last June at the University Paris Diderot.

ANDREW WALCHUK

Conway High School Law school, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

Andrew Walchuk, who was a Bodenhamer Fellow at the University of Arkansas, where he majored in political science, international relations, European studies and Spanish (“AP credits and summer studies made for a lot of room in my schedule”), is in his first year of law school at Yale University. Between college and law school, Walchuk taught in Madrid for a year on a Fulbright Scholarship and worked for the state’s Administrative Office of the Courts. He is interested in a career in inter-

national law and human rights; this summer he will study in Argentina and work in New York on LGBT rights at Lamda Legal. His advice to his high-school self and this year’s class of All-Stars: “1. Success in school does not necessarily equal success in life. 2. Your plans are always going to change, so stop stressing out about them. 3. Arkansas has its problems, but there really is no place like home.”

2008

CARESS REEVES

Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School Master’s candidate in digital arts, University of Southern California, Los Angeles

The winner of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Fellowship for graduate students, Reeves is in the John C. Hench Division of Animation and Digital Arts program. An animator herself, she has studied black animators and black images in animation, and last summer gave a talk, “Animation as Political Radicalism: Black Animators in the Field,” at the Soci-

ety for Animation Studies Conference. Advice for her high-school self: Do not be fooled by the amount of free time you will have as an undergrad.

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ARKANSAS TIMES

2009

JOHN LEPINE

Little Rock Christian Academy English teacher, Tulsa, Okla.

John Lepine, who graduated from the University of Tulsa with a degree in Spradley, who economics, teaches holds a bachelor’s 8th grade English degree in anthrothrough the Teach pology from the for American proUniversity of gram at McLain Arkansas, is getJunior High School, ting a Ph.D. in evowhere “I’ve learned lutionary anthroa lot, and my kids pology, with a tell me that they have, too, which I think research focus on is the idea.” At TU, Lepine was involved in paleontology, at the Presbyterian Church’s campus ministry, Duke. He’s gone Reformed University Fellowship; covered on fossil hunts in football for the student paper; spearheaded the Patagonia region of Argentina and the a project to renovate the racquetball courts, Big Bend region of West Texas. He teaches and brought the rock band Imagine Draganatomy to Duke undergraduates and medi- ons to campus. Lepine says he returns to cal school students (“just announced to be Arkansas “whenever possible” to see family in the top 5 percent of the best-rated classes “and eat a good rack of ribs.” Cabot High School Doctoral student, Duke University, Durham, N.C.

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at Duke!”) He quotes Albert Einstein: “The only sure way to avoid making mistakes is to have no new ideas.”

MAY 12-18, 2014

A R K A N S A S T IME S

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A C A DE MIC A L L-S TA R S

ACADEMIC ALL-STAR FINALISTS

ALL-STAR NOMINEES Here are the students nominated to be academic allstars. They are listed by their hometowns, as indicated by mailing addresses.

These 10 students made the final round of judging for the 2014 Arkansas Times Academic All-Star Team.

EMILY AUSTIN Russellville High School

LILLIAN JONES Jonesboro High School

CHRISTOPHER BALDWIN Bryant High Schoool

LAURA LANIER Episcopal Collegiate School

ANDREW BRODSKY Hot Springs Lakeside High School

DEV NAIR Pulaski Academy

WILLIAM BRYDEN JR. Conway High School REBECCA HUGHES Arkansas Baptist High School

Our newest addition, The Cottages

CENTER RIDGE MORGAN PRICE Nemo Vista High School

ARKADELPHIA MADELINE COOK Arkadelphia High School

BENTON AMY BUCKS Bryant High School

SETH DANIELL Arkadelphia High School

NATALIE HAMPEL Benton High School

ATKINS COURTNEY DOTSON Pottsville High School

T.J. WILLIAMS Benton High School BRADFORD MARILYN WILSON Southside High School

BATESVILLE ELIJAH CHILDRESS Batesville High School

MATTHEW SCOGGINS White Hall High School CLAIRE TURKAL Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts

EMILY PHAM Batesville High School

BRYANT CHRISTOPHER BALDWIN Bryant High School

BEARDEN JESSICA LESTER Bearden High School

CABOT ZACH LAUNIUS Cabot High School

MALLORY MCWHORTER Bearden High School

JAMIE MIDDLETON Cabot High School

BEEBE KATIE MCGRAW Beebe High School

CAMDEN BEN WORLEY Harmony Grove High School

• Affordable housing with no sacrifice to service • Five living facilities – the Moore, the Rhinehart, Shepherd’s Cove, and our latest addition, the Cottages, which all cater to independent living and then the Roberts Building, a Residential Care Facility • 24-hour Security and/or Staff on duty • On-site exercise facilities • On-site beauty salons • Personal emergency alert pendant systems

OLIVIA TZENG Conway High School DARDANELLE TAYLOR EUBANKS Dardanelle High School AUSTIN THAXTON Dardanelle High School DE QUEEN JORDAN BINGHAM De Queen High School BETHANY TATUM De Queen High School DONALDSON CHASE IVHY Ouachita High School DRASCO ANDREA PICHZARDO Concord High School CONTINUED ON PAGE 46

• Three full-service dining rooms offering home-cooked meals • Transportation with fully equipped wheelchair lift vans • An award-winning wellness program • A family atmosphere in a faith-based community • Now featuring The Cottages

Call TOday FOr MOre InFOrMaTIOn! 501-224-7200 www.goodshepherdcommunity.com

APRIL 24, 2014

CONWAY WILLIAM BRYDEN JR. Conway High School

Excellence Within Reach!

ur mission is to provide a quality, affordable living experience to the elderly in a faith-based community committed to the dignity of our residents. Good Shepherd sits on a 145-acre campus located off Aldersgate Road in the heart of West Little Rock and provides convenient access to West Little Rock’s medical, financial and retail business districts. Over four hundred and fifty elderly residents live in five apartment facilities surrounded by tree-covered landscape that includes an 8-acre lake.

CHIDESTER PEYTON HARRIS Harmony Grove High School

ARKANSAS TIMES

16 whole hogs! 16 chefs!

! w 25 o n at $ 1 s e t k e t s ay s t k tic uy tic y M groa r u to b ida geho o r a y y days : F erit u B i t e d d ay o m / h L im a s t e s . c L k t im

live music! sAtuRDAy, mAy 3RD Argenta Farmers Market Plaza

6th & Main St., Downtown North Little Rock (across from Mug’s Café)

S CHEDULE

— 5 p.m. —

— 6:30 —

Doors Open

Public Serving Time

BEER & WINE GARDEN

Gated festival area selling beer & wine ($5 each) he a dliner

Ghost toWN BluEs BAND TickeT supply limiTed!

Dine on 16 pit roasted, whole,

rain or shine

heritage breed hogs from Scott Heritage Farms Saturday, May 3rd. Doors open at 5p.m. with

+ RuNAWAy plANEt & thE sAlty DoGs

craft beers and wine available.

The fold RisToRAnTe cAPeo Whole hog

ARThuR’s PRime sTeAkhouse & oceAns The RooT

mAddie’s PlAce

cheeRs

PuRchAse noW AT

ArkTimes.com/ HeriTAgeHogroAsT

All-inclusiVe TickeTs - $25 ($30 day-of) Includes roast hog, sides and live music music-only TickeTs - $10 (Admission after 8p.m.)

cRegeen’s iRish Pub

midToWn The schlAfly billiARds nATchez TAP Room souTh on mAin & buTcheR And cRush Wine souTheRn bAR gouRmAsiAn Public

Reno’s ARgenTA cAfé TAco mAmA/ cAfé 1217

www.arktimes.com

APRIL 24, 2014

A R K A N S A S T IME S

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A C A DE MIC A L L-S TA R S

DUMAS JOHNNY GIBSON JR. Dumas High School EL DORADO CRYSTAL MEEKS El Dorado High School ZACHARY NEAL El Dorado High School JOHN TYSON Parkers Chapel High School CALEH WALL Parkers Chapel High School ELKINS TREVOR DELONY Elkins High School MEGAN KETCHER Elkins High School EMMET SHELBY WEATHERLY Nevada High School FAIRFIELD BAY NIKKI OWEN Shirley High School FARMINGTON JOHN LARABEE Farmington High School FAYETTEVILLE ALEX ALLRED Huntsville High School

JAY BOUSHELLE Fayetteville High School

MARY-CATHERINE QUALLS Union Christian Academy

LAUREN CHEEVERS Greenland High School

HARRISBURG MICHAEL ANDREW HUNTER Harrisburg High School

MADELEINE CORBELL Fayetteville High School ALI EZELL Har-Ber High School High TANNER WILSON Greenland High School FOREMAN SHAE ROGERS Foreman High School FORT SMITH ARMAN HEMMATI Southside High School DEREK PASCHAL Union Christian Academy

JONESBORO HYTHAM AL-HINDI Jonesboro High School NANCI FLORES Nettleton High School SETH GRAY Valley View High School

HOT SPRINGS BETHANY BUTLER Hot Springs High School

REBEKAH HARMON Ridgefield Christian School

CATHERINE CHANDLER Fountain Lake High School SHELBY HAMILTON Cutter Morning Star High School TYREN TIDWELL Hot Springs High School

LILLIAN JONES Jonesboro High School KATHRYN KING Valley View High School JAKE MCMASTERS Nettleton High School

ELI WESTERMAN Fountain Lake High School

HANNAH POWELL Crowley’s Ridge Academy

CHLOE WILLIAMS Southside High School

HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE CLAIRE TURKAL Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts

YEONGWOO HWANG Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts

GREENBRIER EUGENE PEGUES Quitman High School

HOUSTON BRYCE JOHNSON Perryville High School

KENSETT THANAYDI SANDOVAL Riverview High School

GREENWOOD KYLIE CLEAVENGER Greenwood High School

JACKSONVILLE ERICA BREWER Lonoke High School

LITTLE ROCK JAMIE ALLEN Little Rock Christian Academy

BENJAMEN KEISLING Greenwood High School

ROBERT MORRIS Abundant Life School

ANDREW CASH Parkview Arts/Science Magnet

ALEXANDRA GLENN Mount St. Mary Academy CHRISTYAL HOLLOWAY Parkview Arts/Science Magnet REBECCA HUGHES Arkansas Baptist High School LAURA LANIER Episcopal Collegiate School ZACK MCELRATH Arkansas Baptist High School DEV NAIR Pulaski Academy

LONOKE MICHAEL SHINN Lonoke High School LOWELL KAYVAN AFRASIABI Benton County School of the Arts MANILA TY MINTON Manila High School MARIANNA GARRETT MOORE Providence Classical Christian Academy

ESTHER PARK Central High School

MARION EASTON DAVIS Marion High School

LUKE SNYDER Little Rock Christian Academy

HANNAH PHIPPS Marion High School

CAROLINE SPAINHOUR Pulaski Academy

MAUMELLE GRACE THOMASSON eStem High School

ANDREW WILLOUGHBY eStem High School BENJAMIN WINTER Episcopal Collegiate School

MAYFLOWER KAYLEE WILCOX Mayflower High School

ALEXANDER ZHANG Central High School

MCGEHEE OLIVIA LEEK Dumas New Tech High School

LOCUST GROVE JACOB ROARK Concord High School

MCRAE BRANDON LERCHER Beebe High School

GENE WATSON April 25 | CenterStage Tickets | $10 Tickets available at , Branches Trading Company, ChoctawCasinos.com or charge-by-phone at 800.745.3000.

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APRIL 24, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

NORTH LITTLE ROCK MCKENZI BAKER North Little Rock High School

GARTH EVANS Searcy High School KALEIGH RAMEY Searcy High School

Don’t miss an evening of delicious food from some of Little Rock’s most talented chefs, rub elbows with local celebrities, and be an integral part of funding the Thea Foundation’s life-changing scholarship program.

JOSH MOODY Catholic High School for Boys

CARRIE STEWART Harding Academy

$100 Per Ticket • Purchase Tickets At governorsculinarychallenge.com

SHERIDAN LUCAS BRUNER Sheridan High School

8 Chefs • 2 Mixologists 10 Local Celebrities

JOHN VIA North Little Rock High School OSCEOLA CRISTIN ADCOCK Manila High School PARAGOULD ZACHARY DICUS Crowley’s Ridge Academy PINE BLUFF ANDREW FLEMING Watson Chapel High School ASHLEY GRAGG Pine Bluff ZACHARY FLUKER Pine Bluff PLAINVIEW MORGAN WEBB Perryville High School QUITMAN ROSEANNA EZELL Quitman High School RECTOR AMY DEMENT Rector High School ALEC SCOTT Rector High School ROGERS ANNE CRAFTON Providence Classical Christian Academy TY GALYEAN Rogers High School ADAM HERBERT Heritage High School TIFFANY TANG Rogers High School CHRISTINE TOWNSLEY Heritage High School ROLAND KARA QUAID Mills University Studies High School RUSSELLVILLE EMILY AUSTIN Russellville High School JONATHAN WILLIAMS Russellville High School SEARCY TREY DAVIS Harding Academy

April 28, 2014 • 6:30pm - 9:00pm • The Capital Hotel

SHELBY RHODES Sheridan High School

theafoundation.org ARKANSAS’S SOURCE FOR NEWS, POLITICS AND ENTERTAINMENT

SHERWOOD TRUNG DANG Mills High School REID FAWCETT Sylvan Hills High School ABIGAIL PERSSON Sylvan Hills High School SILOAM SPRINGS RACHEL FORD Siloam Springs High School GRAYSON MOORE Siloams Springs High School

!"#$ BLUE &GREEN Your

Photo Contest

JETTY SCHROEDER Shiloh Christian School SPRINGFIELD DAVID WAHRMUND Nemo Vista High School SPRINGDALE MARIA ESCOBAR Springdale High School JESUS ESPINOSA Springdale High School ABBY HUTTON Shiloh Christian School BENJAMIN O’BRIEN Har-Ber High School STEPHENS RYAN EPPINETTE Columbia Christian School SUMMERS JOHNNY YANG Lincoln High School WALDRON VANESSA OZUNA Waldron High School JASON PHETRAKOUN Waldron High School WEINER KACI MACK Harrisburg High School

April is National Donate Life Mo nth and ARORA would like you

enter our online contest for a ch ance to

WIN A $100 VISA GIFT CARD and other prizes.

Official entr y rules can be found at our Facebook and Instagram pages.

WHITE HALL MATTHEW SCOGGINS White Hall High School www.arktimes.com

APRIL 24, 2014

Arts Entertainment AND

LONG LIVE THE ARKANSAS LITERARY FESTIVAL Little Rock’s festival of books returns bigger than ever.

n the program for the first Arkansas Literary Festival, begun in 2004 as a fundraiser for the Arkansas Literacy Councils, there is a short letter from then Lt. Gov. Win Rockefeller. “If Arkansas is to remain competitive in the global economy,” he writes, “it must be a state of readers.” Now entering its 11th season with a program featuring New York Times bestsellers (and contributors), a U.S. congressman, professional puppeteers and graphic novelists alike, the Literary Festival remains the state’s largest and most vibrant celebration of books. The festival kicks off Thursday, April 24. A four-day series of readings, panel discussions, art shows, concerts and literary events of all stripes, the festival has been sponsored since 2008 by the Central Arkansas Library System, and is organized in a year-round effort led by Festival Coordinator Brad Mooy and a team of dedicated volunteers. This year’s event will include more than 80 presenters, selected by a talent committee that meets throughout the year, at more than 20 different local venues. “The turnout continues to grow,” Mooy said. “I think there’s a hunger for good literature in Little Rock.” “For me, it’s like Christmas,” said Little Rock novelist Kevin Brockmeier, the only author to have presented every year of the festival since ’04. “It’s the one weekend of the year when Little Rock experiences that buzz of literary activity, and it’s given me the chance to meet and listen to quite a few of my literary heroes.” This year’s festival offers a diverse lineup, including presentations on lucid dreaming, paleontology, robotics and Arkansas legends from Johnny Cash to Donald Harington. “There are so many,” said Mooy. ”It really just depends on your interests.” A complete list of events and presenters is available at arkansasliteraryfestival.org. Here are our picks for the weekend’s highlights:

THURSDAY 4/24 Noon. “Cash” (South on Main). Longtime Los Angeles Times rock critic Robert Hilburn, who toured the U.S. with The Sex Pistols and Israel with Bob 48

APRIL 24, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

BY WILL STEPHENSON

FRIDAY 4/25 10 a.m. FOCAL Book Sale (Main Library basement). Sponsored by Friends of the Central Arkansas Libraries (FOCAL), the book sale features $1 hardbacks and $0.50 paperbacks to benefit Summer Reading Club, Reading Is Fundamental and many other CALS programs.The sale will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday and Saturday (FOCAL members can get in at 9 a.m.) and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Noon. “Kill ’Em Clean” (Main Library, Darragh Center). A writing workshop hosted by bestselling author Catherine Coulter, whom Mooy notes, “has more than — and this number COULTER is so staggering to me — 70 million books in print. I can’t get my head around that number.” Tickets are $20. 8 p.m. “Author! Author!” (Main Library, 5th floor). A party to celebrate the festival’s presenting authors, with drinks and hors d’oeuvres ($25 advance, $40 day of).

SATURDAY 4/26

Dylan, will discuss his new biography, “Johnny Cash: The Life,” with Old 97’s frontman Rhett Miller contributing Cash songs, moderated by Oxford American associate editor Maxwell George. At 8 p.m., Miller will also play a solo set ($20). 6 p.m. “True Gratitude” (Sturgis Hall, Clinton School of Public Service). Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Finkel will present on his book, “Thank You For Your Service,” which follows the post-war lives of the soldiers of an infantry battalion returned from Baghdad. “One of the best reviewed books of 2013,” Mooy notes.

10 a.m. “Ecotone” (Arkansas Studies Institute, room 124). A panel featuring contributors to the literary journal Ecotone (Kevin Brockmeier, Cary Holladay and Rebecca Makkai), which Salman Rushdie once called one of a handful of magazines on which “the health of the American short story depends.” The talk will mark the publication of the anthology “Astoria to Zion: 26 Stories of Risk and Abandon from Ecotone’s First Decade.” 10 a.m. “Other People’s Secrets” (Ron Robinson Theater). A discussion between Mona Simpson, author of “Anywhere But Here” and “Casebook,” and Curtis Sittenfeld, author of “Prep” and “Sisterland,” CONTINUED ON PAGE 55

ROCK CANDY Check out the Times’ A&E blog arktimes.com

A&E NEWS THE LITTLE ROCK FILM FESTIVAL released the first rounds of its 2014 Narrative and Documentary lineups this week. The list includes the Sundance Special Jury Award-winning doc “The Overnighters,” Shawn Christendon’s “Before I Disappear” (starring Ron Perlman and Emmy Rossum, based on the 2013 Oscar-winning short), SXSW Audience Award winner “Big Significant Things,” Sundance Directing Award-winner “The Case Against 8” and SXSW Grand Jury Award winner “Fort Tilden.” There’s also the incredible-looking “Fishtail,” a Western tone poem narrated by Harry Dean Stanton, “Stop the Pounding Heart,” a film about teenagers in the American South by the Italian filmmaker Roberto Minervini, Joel Potrykus’s “Buzzard” and a screening of “Devil’s Knot” for those of you who can’t make it to the premiere. The opening night film, to be screened at 7:30 p.m. May 12, is “Happy Valley,” by Amir Bar-Lev, the documentary filmmaker behind “My Kid Could Paint That” and “The Tillman Story.” The full list is available at littlerockfilmfestival.org. Festival passes are on sale now.

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THE EISNER AWARDS, given out at an award ceremony on the last night of Comic-Con and often called the Oscars of the comic industry, announced the 2014 nominees last week, and “March: Book One,” the collaboration between North Little Rock native Nate Powell, Congressman John Lewis and co-writer Andrew Aydin, earned nods in three categories: Best Publication for Teens, Best Reality-Based Work and Best Penciller/Inker. Powell previously won an Eisner for his book “Swallow Me Whole.” Powell, Rep. Lewis and Aydin will be in town Sunday, April 27, talking about the book at the Mosaic Templars Culture Center (1:30 p.m.) as part of the Arkansas Literary Festival. THE WALMART AMP announced this week that Steely Dan will be playing at the auditorium on July 24. Tickets will go on sale at 9 a.m. Friday, April 25, and will range from $30-$100. They can be purchased by calling 479-4435600 or by visiting arkansasmusicpavilion.com. Other recently announced concerts at the venue include Darius Rucker (June 20), Dierks Bentley (June 28), Willie Nelson and Alison Krauss (July 7), Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers (Aug. 3) and Boston (Aug. 15). www.arktimes.com

APRIL 24, 2014

THE TO-DO

LIST

BY WILL STEPHENSON AND DAVID KOON

THURSDAY 4/24-SATURDAY 4/26

CHRIS TUCKER

7:30 p.m. Loony Bin. $35 (sold out).

It’s a dull, unavoidable fact that Chris Tucker was great in “Friday,” but what is there to even say about his performance in “The Fifth Element”? He plays a cross-dressing deep-space

talk show host named Ruby Rhod, and makes one of the great weird entrances in comedy, sliding onscreen in a leopard-print body suit as Bruce Willis looks on in confusion. He spontaneously lurches into Lionel Richie songs and grabs a glass of champagne only

to wave it around and throw it away and signs a row of autographs by just walking past them holding out a red paintbrush. It’s one of the most incredible things. After the second “Rush Hour” movie he earned a reputation as a recluse that he still hasn’t really

shaken, even after doing another “Rush Hour” movie. Tucker is probably only appearing in Little Rock as low-key, out-of-the-limelight preparation for some big casino shows he’s scheduled this summer in Vegas and Ontario. But we’ll take it. WS

SATURDAY 4/26

DOUG STANHOPE

7:30 p.m. Juanita’s. $25.

Doug Stanhope may be best known these days for playing Louis C.K.’s suicidal road-comic friend in season two of “Louie,” but he’s also a “comedian’s comedian” in the Bill Hicks mold, who’s been active on the stand-up circuit since the early 1990s. He ran for president once as a Libertarian, regularly drinks onstage and is an expert at the exasperated truth-to-power rant. He is also profiled, interestingly, in the latest issue of Harper’s, where writer Adrian Nicole LeBlanc argues, “Stanhope’s America isn’t the one still yammering on about its potential or struggling with losing hope. For the most part, hope is gone.” She quotes a line from his act: “America may be the best country, but that’s like being the prettiest Denny’s waitress. Just because you’re the best doesn’t make you good.” WS

SATURDAY 4/26

KEVIN GATES

10:30 p.m. Juanita’s. $30.

SEASONS: Future Islands will be at Stickyz Fright at 8:30 p.m. with Ed Schrader’s Music Beat and Fine Peduncle, $12.

FRIDAY 4/25

FUTURE ISLANDS

8:30 p.m. Stickyz. $12.

The North Carolina-by-way-of-Baltimore synth-pop band Future Islands, initially part of the Wham City scene that spawned Dan Deacon, is now, strangely enough, best known for having made the most popular David Let50

APRIL 24, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

terman musical appearance ever (at least in terms of YouTube views). It’s not entirely clear why, though the song, “Season (Waiting On You),” is good, kind of like Tears For Fears or early Depeche Mode, and front man Sam Herring’s angular dance moves are unexpected and a little hypnotic. It might also have

been the icy sincerity of the whole thing — Herring gives off a Broadway vibe, balling up his fists and furrowing his brow and pulling out every over-the-top vocal tic that you’d laugh at in a different context. They’ll share a bill at Stickyz with Ed Schrader’s Music Beat and Fine Peduncle. WS

If nothing else, Lil Boosie’s recent release from prison has given the media another reason to highlight the Baton Rouge rap scene, which has long since displaced New Orleans as Louisiana’s hip-hop mecca. Aside from Boosie, Kevin Gates has emerged in recent months as the city’s biggest local star, with endorsements by the likes of Lil Wayne and Rolling Stone and a record (“By Any Means”) in the Billboard Top 20. Gates’ mode is telling stories in the nonplussed first-person, often stark accounts of depression and violence. Plus, he just has one of those voices that, to quote one of my favorite YouTube comments on his biggest hit to date, “Satellites,” “makes you wanna have a glass of water.” WS

IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 4/24 Historian and author Ray Wilson will give a lecture on “The Battle of Jenkins’ Ferry” at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 7 p.m. Little Rock singer-songwriters Karen Jr. and Mandy McBryde will perform at Afterthought, 8 p.m. Nashville folk singer Cheyenne Medders will be at the Rev Room at 8:30 p.m. with Joseph LeMay and Little Rock’s The Coasts, $5. Nashville punk band Diarrhea Planet will be at Stickyz at 9 p.m., $8, and locals Booyah Dad will be at White Water Tavern at 10 p.m.

SATURDAY 4/26

PUB OR PERISH XI!

7 p.m., Stickyz. Free.

April means it’s time for the Arkansas Literary Festival, and the Lit Fest means it’s time once again for Pub or Perish, the Arkansas Times’ annual salute to the joys of drinking while listening to people read poetry. This year, our 11th, we’ll be at Stickyz at 107 River Market Ave. in the River Market district. While the readings will be great as always, we’re doing something a little different with the lineup this year: a (nearly) all-female bill, featuring some of the best writers from Central Arkansas and beyond. On the bill for POP XI: essayist and former CNN contributor Sally Graham, Randi Romo, Kara Bibb, Kim Olson, Hendrix prof Jessica Jacobs, UALR’s Nickole Brown, slam

FRIDAY 4/25

PUB OR PERISH: Readings in fiction, poetry and memoir, hosted by Arkansas Times on Saturday at Stickyz.

poetess Kita Marshall and Atlanta poet Megan Volpert (sponsored by Sibling Rivalry Press). As a special treat, we’ll also be featuring Little Rock’s own Jus-

tin Booth, reading from his soon-to-bereleased collection of poems ABOUT women. Got to let the XY chromosome represent somehow. DK

WEDNESDAY 4/30

SUNDAY 4/27

“MASCULIN FEMININ”

“NEUROSIS: A SUN THAT NEVER SETS”

8 p.m. Vino’s. Donations.

7:45 p.m. Market Street Cinema. $7.

“Masculin Feminin” is a largely improvised, digressive and makeshift sort of project from director Jean-Luc Godard, who planned it as a starring vehicle for Jean-Pierre Leaud (in between Antoine Doinel films for Truffaut) very distantly inspired by a pair of short stories by Maupassant. Godard called it a “talking film,” as it intersperses plot vignettes with direct, unscripted interviews with Paris youth — it’s preoccupied with youth culture, with music by pop singer Chantal Goya and long monologues about sex and politics. As one famous intertitle puts it, “This film could be called The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola.” Or: “This was the era of James Bond and Vietnam,” as Leaud says in one voiceover. As Godard said in an interview at the time, “I chose young people because I no longer know where I am from the point of view of cinema. I am in search of the cinema. I have the sense of having lost it.” WS

Neurosis, who always did things a little differently, who were always open to outside sounds seeping into their hoarse growl-and-doom rock universe, went truly and irrevocably out on a limb with their 2004 album “A Sun That Never Sets.” Aside from having one of the great album titles in metal, the record boasts production from Steve Albini, industrial scrapes and scratches and static, a credited violinist and occasional folk influences. In the ’90s, they’d toured with visuals with Ken Russell’s “Altered States,” but for this record they made a full-length film of their own (along the same, trippy lines), which will be screening at Market Street this weekend, followed by a performance from Nate Hall and the Poison Snakes. WS

WEDNESDAY 4/30 – SATURDAY 5/10

THE SECOND CITY

7 p.m. Arkansas Repertory Theatre. $35.

Like The Groundlings in L.A. or, more recently, Upright Citizens Brigade in New York, Second City is both an improv and sketch comedy group and a kind of train-

ing program, a system that has proven its value with a venerable list of alumni ranging from Harold Ramis, John Belushi, Dan Akroyd and Bill Murray to Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell. I haven’t heard of any of the current members of its touring company, who

will be in town through May 10, but that’s sort of the point — it’s a great, early-career break. The cast will also participate in an improv panel discussion led by Rep Artistic Director Bob Hupp at the Clinton School of Public Service at noon Tuesday, April 29. WS

Ballet Arkansas will premiere “Momentum” at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre at 7:30 p.m. (followed by two more performances, on Saturday, April 26, at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday, April 27, at 2 p.m.), $30-$35. Ramsey Lewis and John Pizzarelli will present “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” a jazz tribute to Nat King Cole, at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville, 8 p.m. $36-$52. Proggy dance-rock band Zoogma will bring their light show to the Rev Room at 9 p.m., $12, and indie rock groups Lost in the Trees and Wild Moccasins will play at Hot Springs’ Low Key Arts. Sway will host the House of Avalon’s 2nd Annual Britney Bxtch, a Britney Spearsthemed party featuring “celebrity guest” Chris Crocker, star of the “Leave Britney Alone” viral video, $10.

SATURDAY 4/26 The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center will host “Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Piece,” featuring local poetry group The Foreign Tongues, Central Arkansas Youth and College Poets, comedian Chris Rudley and jazz band Off the Cuff, 6 p.m. Chronic Ritual will be at Vino’s at 8:30 p.m. with Destroyer of Light, Widower and All Is At An End, $6. Eclectic roots music group Rising Appalachia will be at the Rev Room at 9 p.m., $15, and blues rock band Weakness for Blondes will be at White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m., $5.

SUNDAY 4/27 The Six Ten Center will host “A Sunday Kind of Love,” a jazz brunch and fundraising gala for the Weekend Theater at 11 a.m., $40. At 5 p.m., there will be a picnic on the grounds at Mount Holly Cemetery to raise money for its restoration, featuring wine, dinner, a silent auction and tour, $75. Devil You Know will perform at Juanita’s at 7 p.m., $17. Nate Hall and the Poison Snakes will be at Vino’s with The Sound of the Mountain, 8:30 p.m., $6. www.arktimes.com

APRIL 24, 2014

AFTER DARK Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG. Thomas East. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, April 25-26, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Zoogma. Revolution, 9 p.m., $10 adv., $12 day of. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com.

All events are in the Greater Little Rock area unless otherwise noted. To place an event in the Arkansas Times calendar, please email the listing and all pertinent information, including date, time, location, price and contact information, to calendar@arktimes.com.

THURSDAY, APRIL 24

MUSIC

Booyah Dad. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com. Cheyenne Medders, Joseph LeMay, The Coasts. Revolution, 8:30 p.m., $5. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com. Diarrhea Planet. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $8. 107 Commerce St. 501-3727707. www.stickyz.com. Funk Hammer (headliner), Chris DeClerk (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-3755351. www.cajunswharf.com. “Inferno.” DJs play pop, electro, house and more, plus drink specials and $1 cover before 11 p.m. Sway, 9 p.m. 412 Louisiana. 501-907-2582. Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Karen, Jr. and Mandy McBryde. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 8 p.m. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com. Krush Thursdays with DJ Kavaleer. Club Climax, free before 11 p.m. 824 W. Capitol. 501-554-3437. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Michael Eubanks. Newk’s Express Cafe, 6:30 p.m. 4317 Warden Road, NLR. 501-753-8559. newks.com. Mickey and Friends. Markham Street Grill and Pub, 6 p.m. 11321 W. Markham St. 501-224-2010. www.markhamst.com. Open jam with The Port Arthur Band. Parrot Beach Cafe, 9 p.m. 9611 MacArthur Drive, NLR. 771-2994. Rhett Miller. Solo acoustic performance by Old 97’s frontman. South on Main, 8 p.m., $20-$25. 1304 Main St. 501-244-9660. www.facebook. com/SouthonMainLR. RockUsaurus. Senor Tequila, 7-9 p.m. 10300 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-224-5505. www. senor-tequila.com. Spring Quartet in the Garden. Featuring the Soma String Quartet with Kate Weeks, Stephen Feldman, Beth Massa and Geoffrey Robson. Governor’s Mansion, 6:30 p.m., $65. 1800 Center St. 501-377-1121. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 7:30 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG. Whiskey Myers. George’s Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $10. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479442-4226.

COMEDY

Chris Tucker. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m., $35. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. www. loonybincomedy.com.

EVENTS

Art and Food. The art historian Mary Ann Caws will speak about “The Modern Art Cookbook,” followed by a special dinner inspired by its recipes. Arkansas Arts Center, 6 and 7 p.m. 501 E. 52

APRIL 24, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

COMEDY

Chris Tucker. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m., 10 p.m., $35. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-2285555. www.loonybincomedy.com. “Winter Sucks.” Original sketch comedy by The Main Thing. Call to make reservations. The Joint, 8 p.m., $20. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-3720205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

YOU KNOW THIS MAN: Chis Tucker will be at the Loony Bin Thursday 7:30 p.m., Friday 7:30 and 10 p.m. and Saturday 7:30 and 10 p.m. $35. 9th St. 501-372-4000. www.arkarts.com.

LECTURES

“The Battle of Jenkins’ Ferry.” Lecture by historian and author Roy Wilson. MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 7 p.m. 503 E. 9th St. 376-4602. www.arkmilitaryheritage.com.

SPORTS

Arkansas Travelers vs. Tulsa Drillers. DickeyStephens Park, 7:10 p.m., $6-$12. 400 W. Broadway St., NLR. 501-664-1555. www.travs. com.

BOOKS

Arkansas Literary Festival. Award-winning fiction writers, journalists, screenwriters and artists offer presentations, panels, workshops, readings and book signings. David Finkel. Presentation and book signing by the author of “Thank You For Your Service.” Sturgis Hall, 6 p.m. 1200 President Clinton Ave. 501-683-5200. clintonschool.uasys.edu.

FRIDAY, APRIL 25

MUSIC

Adrenaline. West End Smokehouse and Tavern, 10 p.m., $5. 215 N. Shackleford. 501-224-7665. www.westendsmokehouse.net. Club Nights at 1620 Savoy. Dance night, with

DJs, drink specials and bar menu, until 2 a.m. 1620 Savoy, 10 p.m. 1620 Market St. 501-2211620. www.1620savoy.com. Future Islands, Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, Fine Peduncle. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 8:30 p.m., $10 adv., $12 day of. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www.stickyz.com. House of Avalon’s 2nd Annual Britney Bxtch. Featuring Chris Crocker, of “Leave Britney Alone” fame. Sway, 9 p.m., $10. 412 Louisiana. 501907-2582. The Intruders. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 9 p.m. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com. Jet420. Thirst n’ Howl, 8:30 p.m. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Lost in the Trees, Wild Moccasins. Low Key Arts. 118 Arbor St., Hot Springs. Moonshine Mafia (headliner), Richie Johnson (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-3755351. www.cajunswharf.com. Ramsey Lewis and John Pizzarelli, “Straighten Up and Fly Right.” A tribute to Nat King Cole. Walton Arts Center, 8 p.m., $36-$52. 495 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-443-5600. Steve Bates. Cregeen’s Irish Pub, 9 p.m. 301 Main St., NLR. 501-376-7468. www.cregeens.com.

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DANCE

Ballet Arkansas, “Momentum.” Arkansas Repertory Theatre, April 25-26, 7:30 p.m.; April 27, 2 p.m., $30-$35. 601 Main St. 501-378-0405. www.therep.org. Ballroom Dancing. Free lessons begin at 7 p.m. Bess Chisum Stephens Community Center, 8-11 p.m., $7-$13. 12th & Cleveland streets. 501-2217568. www.blsdance.org. “Salsa Night.” Begins with a one-hour salsa lesson. Juanita’s, 9 p.m., $8. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.littlerocksalsa.com.

EVENTS

Author! Author! party. Meet and toast the authors at this year’s Arkansas Literary Festival at a party featuring drinks and hôrs d’oeuvres. Main Library, 8 p.m., $25 adv., $40 day of. 100 S. Rock St. www.cals.lib.ar.us. Fantastic Friday. Literary and music event, refreshments included. For reservations, call 479-968-2452 or email artscenter@centurytel. net. River Valley Arts Center, Every third Friday, 7 p.m., $10 suggested donation. 1001 E. B St., Russellville. 479-968-2452. www.arvartscenter.org. LGBTQ/SGL weekly meeting. Diverse Youth for Social Change is a group for LGBTQ/SGL and straight ally youth and young adults age 14 to 23. For more information, call 244-9690 or search “DYSC” on Facebook. LGBTQ/SGL Youth and Young Adult Group, 6:30 p.m. 800 Scott St.

LECTURES

Angie Maxwell. Presentation and book signing by the author of “The Indicted South: Public Criticism, Southern Inferiority, and the Politics of Whiteness.” Sturgis Hall, noon. 1200 President Clinton Ave. 501-683-5200. clintonschool.uasys. edu. “Kill ‘Em Clean” with Catherine Coulter. A writing workshop with the bestselling author, part of the Arkansas Literary Festival. Main Library, noon, $20. 100 S. Rock St. www.cals.lib.ar.us.

SPORTS

Arkansas Travelers vs. Springfield Cardinals. Dickey-Stephens Park, 7:10 p.m. 400 W. Broadway St., NLR. 501-664-1555. www.travs.com.

BOOKS

Arkansas Literary Festival. See April 24.

KIDS

“Sleeping Beauty.” Arkansas Arts Center, through May 11: 7 p.m., $12.50. 501 E. 9th St. 501-3724000. www.arkarts.com.

PARTY AT OUR PLACE! SATURDAY, APRIL 26

MUSIC

501 (five-o-one). Thirst n’ Howl, 8:30 p.m. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl. com. Chronic Ritual, Destroyer of Light, Widower, All Is At An End. Vino’s, 8:30 p.m., $6. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com. Club Nights at 1620 Savoy. See April 25. Jason Greenlaw and The Groove. West End Smokehouse and Tavern, 10 p.m., $5. 215 N. Shackleford. 501-224-7665. www.westendsmokehouse.net. Karaoke at Khalil’s. Khalil’s Pub, 7 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com. Karaoke. Casa Mexicana, 7 p.m. 6929 JFK Blvd., NLR. 501-835-7876. Karaoke with Kevin & Cara. All ages, on the restaurant side. Revolution, 9 p.m.-12:45 a.m., free. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com. Katmandu (headliner), Steve Bates (happy hour). Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 and 9 p.m., $5 after 8:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf.com. Kevin Gates. Juanita’s, 10:30 p.m., $30. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www. juanitas.com. K.I.S.S. Saturdays. Featuring DJ Silky Slim. Dress code enforced. Sway, 10 p.m. 412 Louisiana. 501-492-9802. Levi Weaver, Jenny and Tyler, Vanita Joines. Redeemer Community Church. 11114 Rocky Valley Drive. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Pickin’ Porch. Bring your instrument. All ages welcome. Faulkner County Library, 9:30 a.m. 1900 Tyler St., Conway. 501-327-7482. www.fcl.org. Rising Appalachia. Revolution, 9 p.m., $12 adv., $15 day of. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-8230090. revroom.com. Risque Soiree. DJs JMZ Dean, Bdubs, Sleepy Genius and The Tech Trix. Discovery Nightclub. 1021 Jessie Road. 501-664-4784. www.latenightdisco.com. Rodney Block. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 9 p.m., $10. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www. afterthoughtbar.com. Singer/Songwriters Showcase. Parrot Beach Cafe, 2-7 p.m., free. 9611 MacArthur Drive, NLR. 771-2994. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 9 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG. Thomas East. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www. sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Weakness for Blondes. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m., $5. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www. whitewatertavern.com. Zoogma. George’s Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $12. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-442-4226.

COMEDY

Chris Tucker. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m., $35. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. www. loonybincomedy.com. Doug Stanhope. Juanita’s, 7:30 p.m., $25. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com. “Winter Sucks.” See April 25.

Book Our Party Room Today! DANCE

Ballet Arkansas, “Momentum.” Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 7:30 p.m., $30-$35. 601 Main St. 501-378-0405. www.therep.org. Little Rock West Coast Dance Club. Dance lessons. Singles welcome. Ernie Biggs, 7 p.m., $2. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-247-5240. www. arstreetswing.com.

EVENTS

49th Annual Iris Show. Grace Lutheran Church, 1 p.m. 5124 Hillcrest Ave. 455-1478. www.centralarkansasiris.org. Argenta Farmers Market. Argenta Farmers Market, 7 a.m. 6th and Main St., NLR. 501-8317881. www.argentaartsdistrict.org/argenta-farmers-market/. Central Arkansas New Agrarian Society Conference. Participants will learn how to plant, grow, source, preserve and use fresh local food. Unitarian Universalist Church of Little Rock, 8:30 a.m., $25. 1818 Reservoir Road. Falun Gong meditation. Allsopp Park, 9 a.m., free. Cantrell & Cedar Hill Roads. Hillcrest Farmers Market. Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. 2200 Kavanaugh Blvd. Historic Neighborhoods Tour. Bike tour of historic neighborhoods includes bike, guide, helmets and maps. Bobby’s Bike Hike, 9 a.m., $8-$28. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-613-7001. Pork & Bourbon Tour. Bike tour includes bicycle, guide, helmets and maps. Bobby’s Bike Hike, 11:30 a.m., $35-$45. 400 President Clinton Ave. 501-613-7001.

POETRY

“Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Piece.” Featuring The Foreign Tongues, Central Arkansas Youth and College Poets, comedian Chris Rudly and jazz band Off the Cuff. Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, 6 p.m. 501 W. 9th St. 501-683-3593. www.mosaictemplarscenter.com.

SPORTS

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Arkansas Travelers vs. Springfield Cardinals. Dickey-Stephens Park, April 26, 6:10 p.m.; April 27, 2:10 p.m.; April 28, 7:10 p.m., $6-$12. 400 W. Broadway St., NLR. 501-664-1555. www.travs. com.

BENEFITS

Central Arkansas Heart Walk. 5K and 1 mile options available, begins at soccer fields 13 and 14. Burns Park Soccer Complex, 9 a.m. Burns Park, NLR.

BOOKS

Arkansas Literary Festival. See April 24.

KIDS

“Sleeping Beauty.” Arkansas Arts Center, through May 11: 2 p.m., $12.50. 501 E. 9th St. 501-3724000. www.arkarts.com.

SUNDAY, APRIL 27

MUSIC

Devil You Know. Juanita’s, 7 p.m., $15 adv., $17 day of. 614 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-1228. www.juanitas.com. Karaoke with DJ Sara. Hardrider Bar & Grill, 7 p.m., free. 6613 John Harden Drive, Cabot. 501-982-1939 . CONTINUED ON PAGE 54

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APRIL 24, 2014

MOVIE REVIEW

The beauty of ‘Bears’ Disneynature’s latest captures it. BY SAM EIFLING

o one who sees “Bears,” Disneynature’s latest horror film disguised as a wilderness documentary, will ever want to be a bear. Bears spend their entire day — yea, their entire year — simply

trying not to starve, or to become a meal for another animal (a larger, hungrier bear, quite likely). They wake up encased in snow. They slog across mountains to meadows to nosh on grass and dodge other bears. They

fend off wolves. They try not to drown while clam-digging ahead of high tide. They are reduced to turning over coastal boulders to scrap for eels. Maybe, if they’re lucky, they can survive long enough to scoop up some salmon and trudge back up the snowcaps to crawl back into a hibernation cave, where they could starve while sleeping out the winter months. In Alaska. It could just as easily be called “Fish,” for that is all the bears in “Bears” want to find. You really feel for the mother, Sky, and her two cubs, Amber and Scout, as they paw little black mussels off the sides of rocks like dried, crusted-on cereal, crunch crunch. It’s hard out there for an apex predator, at least until Mama can track down some proper salmon. Fish are full of protein and omega-3s and essential scales and such. They’re also enormous and glorious, and the slow-motion shots of Chinooks hurtling themselves up waterfalls on their way to spawn is one of the highlights of the film. The three hero bears spend so much time in pursuit of a proper fish meal that by the time they actually get to rip into one, as a confetti of burnished silver cheeks and flame-red gills, you’ll start to crave a salmon platter of your own. “Bears” is the perfect pre-dinner show before an 8-yearold’s first taste of sushi. Mostly the bear’s life is for the dogs, all stress and bugs and scavenging. Narrator John C. Reilly tells us early on, during a rare relaxing moment in the hibernation cave, that about half of bear cubs die in

their first year of life. It’s not hard to see why. Scout nearly drowns; Amber nearly gets her head crushed by a boulder her mother casually lets drop; both are set upon by a no-goodnik beta male bear. There are moments of real danger, such that even though you know it’s a Disney movie (and thus, that the parents are more likely to die than the children) nonfiction provides moments of actual peril. Think back to the previous release from Disneynature, “Chimpanzee,” also directed by Alastair Fothergill (sharing the credit in “Bears” with Keith Scholey). Among the primates, the key early plot point was the death of the mama ape, leaving the little star chimp to survive on his own. To see a wolf get to, well, wolf down a baby grizzly would be par, at least. Those gut-dropping moments of possible carnage lend narrative heft to what otherwise could just be a series of astonishing shots. The beauty of “Bears,” contrary to its cuddly poster, is in fact how casually raw it is. The bear-on-bear fighting yields virtual spider webs of spittle stranding in the wind; the fish split apart like pinatas; bugs swarm the bears during their every moment of repose. At the center of the story is a charismatic family beset with peril. This is Disney without the princesses, and if the script tilts kiddie at times, it’s truly all-ages. Animals are magical even when — especially when — they don’t talk. “Bears” puts them right into your lap, savagely.

AFTER DARK, CONT. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Lucas Murray. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 11 a.m. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com. Nate Hall and the Poison Snakes, The Sound of the Mountain. Vino’s, 8:30 p.m., $6. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com. Slightly Stoopid. George’s Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $27.50. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-442-4226.

DANCE

Ballet Arkansas, “Momentum.” Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 2 p.m., $30-$35. 601 Main St. 501-378-0405. www.therep.org.

EVENTS

MAY 23-25

APRIL 24, 2014

SPORTS

Arkansas Travelers vs. Springfield Cardinals. Dickey-Stephens Park, 2:10 p.m., $6-$12. 400 W. Broadway St., NLR. 501-664-1555. www.travs.com.

BENEFITS

A Picnic on the Grounds at Mount Holly. Wine, dinner, a silent auction and tour, to benefit Mount Holly Cemetery. Mount Holly Cemetery, 5 p.m., $75. 1200 Broadway. “A Sunday Kind of Love” Jazz Brunch. A fundraising gala for the Weekend Theater. Six Ten Center, 11 a.m., $40. 610 Center St. 501-374-4678.

BOOKS

Arkansas Literary Festival. See April 24.

Bernice Garden Farmer’s Market. Bernice Garden, 10 a.m. 1401 S. Main St. www.thebernicegarden.org. “Live from the Back Room.” Spoken word event.

Vino’s, 7 p.m. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www. vinosbrewpub.com.

KIDS

“Sleeping Beauty.” Arkansas Arts Center, through May 11: 2 p.m., $12.50. 501 E. 9th St.

501-372-4000. www.arkarts.com.

MONDAY, APRIL 28

MUSIC

Black Eyed Vermillion, Jeremiah James Baker. Vino’s, 9 p.m., $5. 923 W. 7th St. 501375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Monday Night Jazz. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 8 p.m., $5. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com. Scott H. Biram. George’s Majestic Lounge, 8:30 p.m., $10. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-442-4226.

EVENTS

Governor’s Culinary Challenge. Capital Hotel, 6:30 p.m., $100. 111 W. Markham St. 501-3747474. www.capitalhotel.com.

TUESDAY, APRIL 29

MUSIC

Comfortable Brother, Open Fields. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. www.whitewatertavern.com. GRIZ. George’s Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $18. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-442-4226. Jeff Ling. Khalil’s Pub, 6 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com. Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Karaoke Tuesday. Prost, 8 p.m., free. 322 President Clinton Blvd. 501-244-9550. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. CONTINUED ON PAGE 57

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ARKANSAS TIMES

Arkansas Grown Products www.arktimes.com

FEBRUARY 20, 2014

AFTER DARK, CONT. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Lucious Spiller Band. Copeland’s Restaurant of Little Rock, 6-9 p.m. 2602 S. Shackleford Road. 501-312-1616. www.copelandsrestaurantlittlerock. com. Music Jam. Hosted by Elliott Griffen and Joseph Fuller. The Joint, 8-11 p.m., free. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. Tuesday Jam Session with Carl Mouton. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com.

COMEDY

Stand-Up Tuesday. Hosted by Adam Hogg. The Joint, 8 p.m., $5. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

DANCE

“Latin Night.” Revolution, 7:30 p.m., $5 regular, $7 under 21. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501823-0090. www.littlerocksalsa.com.

EVENTS

Tales from the South. Authors tell true stories; schedule available on website. Dinner served 5-6:30 p.m., show at 7 p.m. Call for reservations. Starving Artist Cafe, 5 p.m. 411 N. Main St., NLR. 501-372-7976. www.starvingartistcafe.net. Trivia Bowl. Flying Saucer, 8:30 p.m. 323 President Clinton Ave. 501-372-8032. www.beerknurd.com/ stores/littlerock.

LECTURES

“Architectural Heritage and Innovation at the University of Chicago.” A lecture by University of Chicago architect Steve Wiesenthal. Arkansas Arts Center, 6 p.m. 501 E. 9th St. 501-372-4000. www.arkarts.com.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30

MUSIC

Acoustic Open Mic. Afterthought Bistro & Bar, 8 p.m., free. 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-1196. www.afterthoughtbar.com. Art Deco Trio. Jazz in the Park Riverfront Park, 6 p.m. 400 President Clinton Avenue. Brian and Nick. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf. com. Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com. Karaoke at Khalil’s. Khalil’s Pub, 7 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com. Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 Clinton Ave. 501-372-4782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com. Moot Davis. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 8 p.m. 107 Commerce St. 501-372-7707. www. stickyz.com. Open Mic Nite with Deuce. Thirst n’ Howl, 7:30 p.m., free. 14710 Cantrell Road. 501-379-8189. www.thirst-n-howl.com. St. Paul and The Broken Bones. George’s Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $10. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-442-4226. Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 7:30 p.m., free. 111 Markham St. 501-374-7474. www.capitalhotel.com/CBG.

COMEDY

The Joint Venture. Improv comedy group. The Joint, 8 p.m., $7. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com. The Second City. Arkansas Repertory Theatre, through May 10: 7 p.m., $35. 601 Main St. 501-

378-0405. www.therep.org.

DANCE

Little Rock Bop Club. Beginning dance lessons for ages 10 and older. Singles welcome. Bess Chisum Stephens Community Center, 7 p.m., $4 for members, $7 for guests. 12th & Cleveland streets. 501-350-4712. www.littlerockbopclub.

FILM

“Masculin Feminin.” Splice Microcinema. Vino’s, 8 p.m. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. www.vinosbrewpub.com.

POETRY

Wednesday Night Poetry. 21-and-older show. Maxine’s, 7 p.m., free. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. 501-321-0909. maxineslive.com/shows. html.

THIS WEEK IN THEATER

THEATER

“Come Blow Your Horn.” Dinner and a performance of Neil Simon’s first play. Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, through May 11: Tue.-Sat., 6 p.m.; Sun., 5:30 p.m., $33-$35. 6323 Col. Glenn Road. 501-562-3131. murrysdinnerplayhouse.com. “Hamlet.” Walton Arts Center, through April 30: Wed.-Sat., 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Sun., 2 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; Wed., 10 a.m., $10-$35. 495 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-443-5600. “Ripped and Wrinkled.” An original rock musical about a world famous band from North Little Rock called The Dogs. The Joint, through May 31: Fri., Sat., 8 p.m., $20. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

GALLERIES, MUSEUMS

NEW EXHIBITS, EVENTS

ARKANSAS ARTS CENTER, MacArthur Park: Lecture by Mary Ann Caws, author of “The Modern Art Cookbook,” 6 p.m. April 24, free to members, $5 to nonmembers, reserve at 3724000; also $20 artists buffet at Best Impressions Restaurant, reserve at 907-5946; “Feed Your Mind Friday” talk by Amy Azzarito, “Past & Present: 24 Favorite Moments in Decorative Arts History and 24 Modern DIY Projects Inspired by Them,” in collaboration with the Arkansas Literary Festival, noon-1 p.m. April 25, free; documentary film “Stay More: The World of Donald Harington,” Arkansas Literary Festival collaboration with filmmaker Brian Walter, noon April 27, free; “Art of Architecture: Steve Weisenthal,” 6 p.m. April 29, reception 5:30 p.m., free; “InCiteful Clay,” 35 ceramic sculptures that offer social commentary, through June 29, Winthrop Rockefeller Gallery; “The Crossroads of Memory: Carroll Cloar and the American South,” 70 paintings by the late Arkansas native, curated by Memphis’ Brooks Museum, through June 1; “Ties that Bind: Southern Art from the Collection,” atrium, through April 27. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. 372-4000. ARGENTA, downtown North Little Rock: THEA Arts Festival, more than 30 artist booths; live music by John Willis and the Misses (10-11:30 a.m.), The Funk A Nites (12:15-1:45 p.m.) and The Lagniappes (2:30-4 p.m.); relief printmaking; collaborative paint-by-number; artist demonstrations, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. April 26, Main Street from Broadway to Sixth Street. ART CONNECTION, 204 E. 4th St.: “Array of Humanity,” paintings by Angela Davis-Johnson, April 25-26, reception and talk by the artist 5:30-9 p.m. April 25, portion of proceeds from sales CONTINUED ON PAGE 58 www.arktimes.com

APRIL 24, 2014

AFTER DARK, CONT. to benefit Art Connection’s art career program for high school students. 319-7905. BOSWELL-MOUROT, 5815 Kavanaugh Blvd.: “New Works by Hans Feyerabend, Rod McGehee and Michael Warrick,” through May 10, reception 6-9 p.m. April 26. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat. and by appointment. 664-0030. HEARNE FINE ART, 1001 Wright Ave.: More than 40 illustrations on oil and canvas by author/ artist Kadir Nelson, Arkansas Literary Festival reception 5:30 p.m. April 24, exhibition through June 7. 372-6822. OLD STATE HOUSE MUSEUM, 300 W. Markham: Third annual “Seersucker Social,” croquet, mint juleps, live rhythm and blues, 6 p.m. April 24, $35; “Lights! Camera! Arkansas!”, the state’s ties to Hollywood, including costumes, scripts, film footage, photographs and more, through March 1, 2015. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9685. UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK, 2801 S. University Ave.: “Revision, Missing, Listen, Light, Fly: Drawings by David Bailin,” charcoal and mixed media drawings, Gallery II, through May 30, reception 6:30-8 p.m. May 15; “Annual Student Competition,” Gallery I, through May 5; “BFA Thesis Project Exhibition,” Jennifer Perren and Gaylan Lewallen, April 25-May 2. 3182.

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APRil 29 — MAY 10, 2014

ViSiT TicKETS.THEREP.ORg OR cAll (501) 378-0405 ARKANSAS REPERTORY T H E AT R E

BENTONVILLE CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, One Museum Way: “The Way of Color” talk, featuring Sam King on the “Interaction of Color,” Skyspace, 7-8:30 p.m. April 24; “Film + Artist Talk: Bo Bartlett and his film, ‘SEE: An Art Road Trip’,” 7-9 p.m. April 25, free but online registration required; “Artosphere Panel Discussion: Translating Earth,” with Robyn Horn, Sean Bitter, Laura Moriarty and Joan Hall, 7-8 p.m. April 30; “The William S. Paley Collection: A Taste for Modernism,” works by Paul Gaugin, Andre Derain, Henri Matisse, Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso and others, through July 7; permanent collection of American masterworks spanning four centuries. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon., Thu.; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Wed., Fri.; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun., closed Tue. 479-418-5700. FAYETTEVILLE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS: “Chere,” MFA thesis project by Wilson Borja, closing reception 5 p.m. April 25; “Fought in Ernest: “Civil War Arkansas,” documents, photographs, maps and artifacts, through April, Mullins Library; Fine Arts Center Gallery; “Wisdom of the Ages Athenaeum,” rare books from Remnant Trust, including a cuneiform tablet (2200 B.C.) to the first printing of the Emancipation Proclamation (1862), Mullins Library, through May 12. 479-575-4104.

CALL FOR ENTRIES

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FOR TICKETS GO TO CAREFORANIMALS.ORG OR CALL 501-603-CARE 58

APRIL 24, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

The Center for Artistic Revolution is seeking heart-shaped or heart-referencing works of art for its 10th annual “Corazon,” a benefit for the work of CAR. One entry will be used in promotional materials; deadline for application to be that entry is May 23. Deadline for other completed work is June 13. The event is set for 7 p.m. June 28 at Boswell-Mourot Fine Art, 5815 Kavanaugh Blvd. Plein Air on the White River 2014, to be held April 30-May 3, is accepting entries from artists to show work at the Vada Sheid Community Center at Mountain Home and to compete in the Quick Draw competition at the “Art, Music and Barbecue” in Cotter May 2. Landscape artist Bruce Peil will be judge. Artists’ registration will be April 30-May 2; entry fee is $50. Cash prizes to be awarded. Preregistration is encouraged.

For more information go to White River Artists on Facebook, email whiteriverartists@gmail.com or call 870-424-1051.

CONTINUING EXHIBITS

BUTLER CENTER GALLERIES, Arkansas Studies Institute, 401 President Clinton Ave.: “Drawn In: New Art from WWII Camps at Rohwer and Jerome,” through Aug. 23; “Detachment: Work by Robert Reep,” through July 24; “2nd annual Arkansas Printmakers Membership Exhibition,” through June 28; “Southern Voices,” contemporary quilts by the Studio Art Quilts Associates, through May 24. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 3205790. CANTRELL GALLERY, 8206 Cantrell Road: “Arkansas Weather Report,” new paintings by Daniel Coston, through April 27. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 224-1335. GALLERY 221 & ART STUDIOS 221, Pyramid Place: New work by Greg Lahti, also Tyler Arnold, Kathi Couch, Emile, Gino Hollander, Sean LeCrone, Mary Ann Stafford, Byron Taylor, Siri Hollander and Rae Ann Bayless. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. 801-0211. GALLERY 26, 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd.: Recent works by Ben Krain, Logan Hunter and Jason Smith, through May 10. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.Sat. 664-8996. GALLERY 360, 900 S. Rodney Parham Road: “Turnings: The Art and Function of Turned Wood,” work by Vernon Oberle, John Wilkins, Ken Glasscock, Charles Kokes, Gene Sperling, Bob Revell, Tim Hogan and Dick Easter, through May. J.W. WIGGINS NATIVE AMERICAN ART GALLERY, Sequoyah National Research Center, 2801 S. University Ave.: “Art from Above the Arctic Circle,” Inuit basketry, prints, drawings, carvings, beadwork, pottery, wool appliques, Greenland tupilaks, through May 16. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. 658-6360. L&L BECK ART GALLERY, 5705 Kavanaugh Blvd.: “Spring Flowers,” paintings by Louis Beck, through April. 660-4006. THEA FOUNDATION, 401 Main St., NLR: “Home Plate Heroes,” the Jim Elder Good Sport Fund exhibition of artists’ home plates to be auctioned in May. 379-9512.

ONGOING MUSEUM EXHIBITS

CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CENTER, 1200 President Clinton Ave.: “Spies, Traitors and Saboteurs: Fear and Freedom in America,” from the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., through April 27; permanent exhibits on the Clinton administration. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. $7 adults; $5 college students, seniors, retired military; $3 ages 6-17. 370-8000. ESSE, 1510 S. Main St.: “What’s Inside: A Century of Women and Handbags (1900-1999),” purses from the collection of Anita Davis, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tue.-Sun., $10-$8. 916-9022. HISTORIC ARKANSAS MUSEUM, 200 E. Third St.: “Patterns from the Ozarks: Contemporary Ceramics, Quilts and Folk Art Painting,” works by Karen Harmony, Jo Smith and Blakely Wilson, through June 8; “Ciara Long: A Different Perspective,” sketches, through May 4; “A Sure Defense: The Bowie Knife in America,” through June 22; “Arkansas Made,” ongoing. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9351. MacARTHUR MUSEUM OF ARKANSAS MILITARY HISTORY, MacArthur Park: “American Posters of World War I”; permanent exhibits. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun. 376-4602. MOSAIC TEMPLARS CULTURAL CENTER, 501 W. 9th St.: “Repurposed Wonders: The Sculpture of Danny Campbell,” permanent and changing exhibits on black entrepreneurship in Arkansas. 683-3593.

Y A D R U T A S S ! E E THI R F S â&#x20AC;&#x2122; T I AND

Pub or Perish! XI

Women Rule!

Pub or Perish will present a celebration of the double-X chromosome, with readings by some of the best female poets, essayists and fiction writers on the local scene. WITH

Sally Graham, Megan Volpert, Kara Bibb, Randi Romo, Kim Olson, Kita Marshall, Nickole Brown and Jessica Jacobs. PLUS: The love poetry of Justin Booth

Saturday, April 26 7 - 9 pm For more information, contact David Koon at (501) 375-2985 ext. 389, or david@arktimes.com.

arktimes.com

Dining WHAT’S COOKIN’ THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION ALLIANCE OF ARKANSAS hosts its annual crawfish boil fundraiser, Preservation Crustaceans, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, May 1, at the Argenta Farmer’s Market, 520 Main St., North Little Rock. They’ll have all-youcan-eat crawfish, shrimp, sausage and all the fixings, with all-you-can-drink beer (and kid-friendly beverages) included. Regular tickets are $45 with a $5 early-bird discount if purchased before April 24. Tickets for kids 9-17 are $10 and kids 8 and under eat for free. The V.I.P. party ($70 with a $10 early bird discount before April 24) is at the historic Barth-Hempfling House at 507 Main St. from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and includes live music from the Funk A Nites, handmade hurricanes and sweets from Loblolly. Members receive $10 off all regular ticket prices. Visit PreserveArkansas.org or call 501-3724757 for more information or to make reservations. KILWINS CHOCOLATES AND ICE CREAM has leased 1,200 square feet in the new Arcade Building in the River Market district, on the corner of President Clinton Avenue and the pedestrian alley next to the Ron Robinson Theater. Kilwins, a chain with more than 80 stores across the United States, will offer fresh chocolate, fudge, corns, caramel apples, brittle, shakes, sundaes, gourmet coffee, smoothies and specialty drinks. This is the first franchise location in Arkansas — they’re typically in tourist spots, so it should fit right in at the River Market. DON’T FORGET TO MAKE PLANS to attend the Arkansas Times Heritage Hog Roast on Saturday, May 3, where 19 of the finest local chefs and pitmasters will compete to see who can roast up heritage-breed hogs the best. Gates open at 5 p.m. and food, including pork and two sides from each team, will be served at 6:30 p.m. Buy tickets — $25 in advance or $30 day of the event — and get more info at arktimes.com/heritagehogroast. The ticket price also includes a great slate of music by Memphis’ Ghost Town Blues Band, Runaway Planet and The Salty Dogs. If you want to skip the pig and see the music, tickets are $10 after 8 p.m. 60

APRIL 24, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

Southern Salt Food Co. Locations vary 351-3838 facebook.com/southernsaltfood

QUICK BITE There aren’t many trucks in this town willing to serve rabbit or lamb, but Lauren McCants is taking risks and it’s paying off. The gaily painted truck, with a birdcage hanging off one side and a flower arrangement off another, can be found at various farmers markets and her menu includes breakfast dishes such as breakfast pies with bacon and herbed mascarpone. HOURS Check the truck’s Facebook page for information. OTHER INFO All credit cards accepted. HEFTY: Southern Salt Food Co.’s “cheesesteak,” which features pork instead of beef.

Don’t pass Salt Food truck fuses Southern fare with international flavors.

s Little Rock’s food truck scene continues to expand, we are fortunate to see people doing more adventurous things with food. Many operators work with a regularly changing menu, stretching their imaginations to provide new, exciting dishes. The food truck has become a playground for palates, a way to find out what works with diners and what doesn’t. One of the newest trucks on the scene does just that, offering a variety of items you won’t find anywhere else in Little Rock. Lauren McCants’ Southern Salt Food Co. has quietly been creeping up on Little Rock diners over the last few months, and those who’ve found them are making plenty of noise about how much they’ve enjoyed the truck’s offerings. It’s slightly difficult to fit Southern Salt into a certain cuisine. As the name implies, McCants, whose years in the food business include working with Scott McGehee at Boulevard Bread Co., has taken steps to channel some classic Southern dishes (barbecue often comes into play), but she also incorporates globe-spanning flavors of Korea, Italy and Mexico. The fusion is seamless. On our first visit to Southern Salt,

we sampled the “Vietnamese coconut curry ramen” with short ribs ($9). Ramen shops have been popping up across the nation, with patrons sometimes waiting for hours to slurp down fancier versions of what many of us were forced (financially) to choke down during those humbling days of college. Of course, Southern Salt’s version is a far cry from the four-for-a-dollar microwave-and-eat versions to which many are accustomed. McCants adds nicely cooked, long, flat noodles to a rich, slightly spicy coconut milk broth with crunchy carrots and bean sprouts, whole leaves of basil and lime. The pork short ribs were served in the broth, and while flavorful and tender, they were a little difficult to eat with nothing but a plastic spoon and chop sticks (although we were happy to see the cooks recently changed the recipe a bit, and are now serving this dish with shredded pork — a much easier-to-eat and better option overall). The dish could have also benefitted from a bit more noodles, but overall we were pleased. We also sampled a few of McCants’ sandwich options. Her version of “cheesesteak” ($8) did not actually feature any beef, but instead was made up

of shredded pork, provolone cheese, onions and peppers, all on a long, soft hoagie roll. The sandwich was well balanced, with warm melted cheese, tender vegetables and slightly sweetened pork. It was hefty, and we’d definitely order it again when needing a quick lunch on the go. We also got a sample of her “vegetarian BBQ sandwich” ($6), and while those terms might seem completely at odds, Southern Salt managed to produce another surprisingly tasty option. This was a crispy-fried tofu patty topped with onions, marinated cabbage, bell peppers, and lettuce, all tossed in a sweet and spicy barbecue sauce. It wasn’t enough to make us swear off meat forever, but it was a nice balance of texture and flavor, another winning item from the truck. Perhaps our favorite dish from McCants so far has been her “loaded bratwurst” ($7). It’s certainly not the prettiest thing to look at, but it gets the job done. She takes a toasted white roll and lays within it a perfectly cooked brat with a soft, tender inside and snappy outer casing. This comes “loaded” with sauteed onions and mushrooms, tangy and crunchy sauerkraut, red bell peppers and is sauced with mustard and barbecue sauce. It’s a wonderful and (again) generously portioned dish, and one we’ll be happy to order again on our next visit. Southern Salt is doing a fine job for being such a young truck. McCants is producing an imaginative and wellexecuted menu.

Information in our restaurant capsules reflects the opinions of the newspaper staff and its reviewers. The newspaper accepts no advertising or other considerations in exchange for reviews, which are conducted anonymously. We invite the opinions of readers who think we are in error.

LITTLE ROCK/ NORTH LITTLE ROCK

AMERICAN

4 SQUARE CAFE AND GIFTS Vegetarian salads, soups, wraps and paninis and a broad selection of smoothies in an Arkansas products gift shop. 405 President Clinton Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-244-2622. BLD daily. ARKANSAS BURGER CO. Good burgers, fries and shakes, plus salads and other entrees. Try the cheese dip. 7410 Cantrell Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-663-0600. LD Tue.-Sat. ASHLEY’S The premier fine dining restaurant in Little Rock. The menu is often daring and always delicious. 111 W. Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-374-7474. BLD Mon.-Sat. BR Sun. BELLWOOD DINER Traditional breakfasts and plate lunch specials are the norm at this lostin-time hole in the wall. 3815 MacArthur Drive. NLR. No alcohol, No CC. $. 501-753-1012. BL Mon.-Fri. THE BLIND PIG Tasty bar food, including Zweigle’s brand hot dogs. 6015 Chenonceau Blvd. Full bar, CC. $-$$. 501-868-8194. D: Tue.-Sun., L Sat.-Sun. BRAVE NEW RESTAURANT Chef/owner Peter Brave was doing “farm to table” before most of us knew the term. His focus is on fresh, highquality ingredients prepared elegantly but simply. Ordering the fish special is never a bad choice. His chocolate crème brulee sets the pace. 2300 Cottondale Lane. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-663-2677. LD Mon.-Fri. D Sat. BRAY GOURMET DELI AND CATERING Turkey spreads in four flavors — original, jalapeno, cajun and dill — and the homemade pimiento cheese are the signature items at Chris Bray’s delicatessen, which serves sandwiches, wraps, soups, stuffed potatoes and salads and sells the turkey spreads to go. 323 Center St. Suite 150. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-353-1045. BL Mon.-Fri. CAPITAL BAR AND GRILL Big hearty sandwiches, daily lunch specials and fine evening dining all rolled up into one at this landing spot downtown. Surprisingly inexpensive with a great bar staff and a good selection of unique desserts. 111 Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-374-7474. LD daily. CAPITOL BISTRO Serving breakfast and lunch items, including quiche, sandwiches, coffees and the like. 1401 W. Capitol Ave. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-371-9575. BL Mon.-Fri. CATERING TO YOU Painstakingly prepared entrees and great appetizers in this gourmetto-go location, attached to a gift shop. Caters everything from family dinners to weddings and large corporate events. 8121 Cantrell Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-614-9030. Serving meals to go: LD Mon.-Sat. CATFISH HOLE Downhome place for wellcooked catfish and tasty hushpuppies. 603 E. Spriggs. NLR. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-758-3516. D Tue.-Sat. CELLAR 220 Ecclectic menu and strong wine list. 220 W. 6th St. Full bar, CC. $$$. 501-374-5100. LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. CIAO BACI The focus is on fine dining in this casually elegant Hillcrest bungalow, though

B Breakfast L Lunch D Dinner $ Inexpensive (under $8/person) $$ Moderate ($8-$20/person) $$$ Expensive (over $20/person) CC Accepts credit cards

excellent tapas are out of this world. The treeshaded, light-strung deck is a popular destination. 605 N. Beechwood St. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-603-0238. D Mon.-Sat. CRAZEE’S COOL CAFE Good burgers, daily plate specials and bar food amid pool tables and TVs. 7626 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-221-9696. LD Mon.-Sat. DIXON ROAD BLUES CAFE Sandwiches, burgers and salads. 1505 W. Dixon Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-888-2233. D Fri.-Sat. DOE’S EAT PLACE A skid-row dive turned power brokers’ watering hole with huge steaks, great tamales and broiled shrimp, and killer burgers at lunch. 1023 W. Markham St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-376-1195. LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. EJ’S EATS AND DRINKS The friendly neighborhood hoagie shop downtown serves at a handful of tables and by delivery. The sandwiches are generous, the soup homemade and the salads cold. Vegetarians can craft any number of acceptable meals from the flexible menu. The housemade potato chips are da bomb. 523 Center St. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-3700. LD Mon.-Fri. FILIBUSTER’S BISTRO & LOUNGE Sandwiches, salads in the Legacy Hotel. 625 W. Capitol Ave. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-374-0100. D Mon.-Fri. FLYING FISH The fried seafood is fresh and crunchy and there are plenty of raw, boiled and grilled offerings, too. The hamburgers are a hit, too. It’s counter service; wander on through the screen door and you’ll find a slick team of cooks and servers doing a creditable job of serving big crowds. 511 President Clinton Ave. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-375-3474. LD daily. GRUMPY’S TOO Music venue and sports bar with lots of TVs, pub grub and regular drink specials. 1801 Green Mountain Drive. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-225-3768. LD Mon.-Sat. GUS’S WORLD FAMOUS FRIED CHICKEN The best fried chicken in town. Go for chicken and waffles on Sundays. 300 President Clinton Ave. Beer, CC. $-$$. 501-372-2211. LD daily. HOMER’S Great vegetables, huge yeast rolls and killer cobblers. Follow the mobs. 2001 E. Roosevelt Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-374-1400. BL Mon.-Fri. 9700 N Rodney Parham. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-224-6637. LD Mon.-Sat. IRONHORSE SALOON Bar and grill offering juicy hamburgers and cheeseburgers. 9125 Mann Road. Full bar, All CC. $. 501-562-4464. LD daily. J. GUMBO’S Fast-casual Cajun fare served, primarily, in a bowl. Better than expected. 12911 Cantrell Road. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-916-9635. LD daily. JIMMY’S SERIOUS SANDWICHES Consistently fine sandwiches, side orders and desserts for 30 years. Chicken salad’s among the best in town, and there are fun specialty sandwiches such as Thai One On and The Garden. Get there early for lunch. 5116 W. Markham St. No alcohol, CC. $-$$. 501-6663354. L Mon.-Sat., D Mon.-Sat. (drive-through only). K. HALL AND SONS Neighborhood grocery store with excellent lunch counter. The cheeseCONTINUED ON PAGE 62

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DINING CAPSULES, CONT.

SHOP ‘N’ SIP First thursday each month shop ’til 8pm and enjoy dining in one of the many area restaurants.

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ARKANSAS TIMES

501-353-2504 2612 Kavanaugh Blvd. Find your dream home at www.LiveInLittleRock.com

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burger is hard to beat. 1900 Wright Avenue. No alcohol, CC. $. 501-372-1513. BLD Mon.-Sat. (closes at 6 p.m.), BL Sun. KRAZY MIKE’S Po’Boys, catfish and shrimp and other fishes, fried chicken wings and all the expected sides served up fresh and hot to order on demand. 200 N. Bowman Road. Beer, All CC. $$. 501-907-6453. LD Mon.-Sat. LOCA LUNA Grilled meats, seafood and pasta dishes that never stray far from country roots, whether Italian, Spanish or Arkie. “Gourmet plate lunches” are good, as is Sunday brunch. 3519 Old Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-663-4666. BR Sun., LD Mon.-Fri., D Sat. THE MAIN CHEESE A restaurant devoted to grilled cheese. 14524 Cantrell Road. Beer, Wine. $-$$. 501-367-8082. LD Mon.-Sat. MILFORD TRACK Healthy and tasty are the key words at this deli/grill that serves breakfast and lunch. Hot entrees change daily and there are soups, sandwiches, salads and killer desserts. Bread is baked in-house, and there are several veggie options. 10809 Executive Center Dr., Searcy Building. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-223-2257. BL Mon.-Fri., L Sat. NATCHEZ RESTAURANT Smart, elegant takes on Southern classics. 323 Center St. Beer, Wine, CC. $$-$$$. L Tue.-Fri., D Wed.-Sat. OYSTER BAR Gumbo, red beans and rice (all you can eat on Mondays), peel-and-eat shrimp, oysters on the half shell, addictive po’ boys. Killer jukebox. 3003 W. Markham St. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-7100. LD Mon.-Sat. OZARK COUNTRY RESTAURANT A longstanding favorite with many Little Rock residents, the eatery specializes in big country breakfasts and pancakes plus sandwiches and several meat-and-two options for lunch and dinner. Try the pancakes and don’t leave without some sort of smoked meat. 202 Keightley Drive. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-663-7319. BL daily. PURPLE COW DINER 1950s fare — cheeseburgers, chili dogs, thick milk shakes — in a ‘50s setting at today’s prices. 8026 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-221-3555. LD daily, BR Sat.-Sun. 11602 Chenal Pkwy. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-224-4433. LD daily, BR Sat.-Sun. 1419 Higden Ferry Road. Hot Springs. Beer, All CC. $$. 501-625-7999. LD daily, B Sun. THE RELAY STATION This grill offers a short menu, which includes chicken strips, French fries, hamburgers, jalapeno poppers and cheese sticks. 12225 Stagecoach Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-455-9919. LD daily. THE ROOT CAFE Homey, local foods-focused cafe. With tasty burgers, homemade bratwurst, banh mi and a number of vegan and veggie options. Breakfast and Sunday brunch, too. 1500 S. Main St. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-414-0423. BL Tue.-Sat., BR Sun. SALUT BISTRO This bistro/late-night hangout does upscale tapas. 1501 N. University. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-660-4200. L Mon.-Fri., D Tue.-Sat. SANDY’S HOMEPLACE CAFE Specializing in home style buffet, with two meats and seven vegetables to choose from. It’s all-you-can-eat. 1710 E 15th St. No alcohol, No CC. $. 501-3753216. L Mon.-Fri. SCALLIONS Reliably good food, great desserts, pleasant atmosphere, able servers — a solid lunch spot. 5110 Kavanaugh Blvd. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-666-6468. L Mon.-Sat. SHORTY SMALL’S Land of big, juicy burgers, massive cheese logs, smoky barbecue platters and the signature onion loaf. 1100 N. Rodney Parham Road. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-224-3344. LD daily. SLIM CHICKENS Chicken tenders and wings served fast. Better than the Colonel. 4500 W. Markham. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-907-

0111. LD daily. SONNY WILLIAMS’ STEAK ROOM Steaks, chicken and seafood in a wonderful setting in the River Market. Steak gets pricey, though. Menu is seasonal, changes every few months. 500 President Clinton Ave. Full bar, All CC. $$$. 501-324-2999. D Mon.-Sat. SOUTH ON MAIN Fine, innovative takes on Southern fare in a casual, but well-appointed setting. 1304 Main St. Full bar, CC. $-$$. 501-244-9660. L Mon.-Fri., D Tue.-Sat. STAGECOACH GROCERY AND DELI Fine po’ boys and muffalettas — and cheap. 6024 Stagecoach Road. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-455-7676. BLD Mon.-Fri., BL Sat.-Sun. TABLE 28 Excellent fine dining with lots of creative flourishes. Branch out and try the Crispy Squid Filet and Quail Bird Lollipops. 1501 Merrill Drive. Full bar, CC. $$$-$$$$. 224-2828. D Mon.-Sat. TERRI-LYNN’S BBQ AND DELICATESSEN High-quality meats served on large sandwiches and good tamales served with chili or without (the better bargain). 10102 N. Rodney Parham Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-227-6371. L Tue.-Fri., LD Sat. (close at 5pm). WEST END SMOKEHOUSE AND TAVERN Its primary focus is a sports bar with 50-plus TVs, but the dinner entrees (grilled chicken, steaks and such) are plentiful and the bar food is upper quality. 215 N. Shackleford. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-224-7665. L Fri.-Sun., D daily. WINGSTOP It’s all about wings. The joint features ten flavors of chicken flappers for almost any palate, including mild, hot, Cajun and atomic, as well as specialty flavors like lemon pepper, teriyaki, Garlic parmesan and Hawaiian. 11321 West Markham St. Beer, All CC. $-$$. 501-224-9464. LD daily.

ASIAN

A.W. LIN’S ASIAN CUISINE Excellent panAsian with wonderful service. 17717 Chenal Parkway. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-821-5398. LD daily. CHINESE KITCHEN Good Chinese takeout. Try the Cantonese press duck. 11401 N. Rodney Parham Road. No alcohol, CC. $-$$. 501-2242100. LD Tue.-Sun. HANAROO SUSHI BAR One of the few spots in downtown Little Rock to serve sushi. With an expansive menu, featuring largely Japanese fare. Try the popular Tuna Tatari bento box. 205 W. Capitol Ave. Beer, Wine, All CC. $$. 501-3017900. L Mon.-Fri., D Mon.-Sat. LEMONGRASS ASIA BISTRO Fairly solid Thai bistro. Try the Tom Kha Kai and white wine alligator. They don’t have a full bar, but you can order beer, wine and sake. 4629 E. McCain Blvd. NLR. Beer, Wine, All CC. 501-945-4638. LD daily. MIKE’S CAFE VIETNAMESE Cheap Vietnamese that could use some more spice, typically. The pho is good. 5501 Asher Ave. Beer, CC. $-$$. 501-562-1515. LD daily. MR. CHEN’S ASIAN SUPERMARKET AND RESTAURANT A combination Asian restaurant and grocery with cheap, tasty and exotic offerings. 3901 S. University Ave. $. 501-562-7900. LD daily. PHO THANH MY It says “Vietnamese noodle soup” on the sign out front, and that’s what you should order. The pho comes in outrageously large portions with bean sprouts and fresh herbs. Traditional pork dishes, spring rolls and bubble tea also available. 302 N. Shackleford Road. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-312-7498. LD Mon., Wed.-Sun. SEKISUI Fresh-tasting sushi chain with fun hibachi grill and an overwhelming assortment of traditional entrees. Nice wine selecCONTINUED ON PAGE 64

www.arktimes.com

APRIL 24, 2014

DINING CAPSULES, CONT. tion, also serves sake and specialty drinks. 219 N. Shackleford Road. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-221-7070. LD daily. SHOGUN JAPANESE STEAKHOUSE The chefs will dazzle you, as will the variety of tasty stir-fry combinations and the sushi bar. Usually crowded at night. 2815 Cantrell Road. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-666-7070. D daily. WASABI Downtown sushi and Japanese cuisine. For lunch, there’s quick and hearty sushi samplers. 101 Main St. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-374-0777. L Mon.-Fri., D Mon.-Sat.

BARBECUE

CHIP’S BARBECUE Tasty, if a little pricey, barbecue piled high on sandwiches generously doused with the original tangy sauce or one of five other sauces. Better known for the incredible family recipe pies and cheesecakes, which come tall and wide. 9801 W. Markham St. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-225-4346. LD Mon.-Sat. PIT STOP BAR AND GRILL A working-man’s bar and grill, with barbecue, burgers, breakfast and bologna sandwiches, plus live music on Friday and Saturday nights. 5506 Baseline Road. Full bar, No CC. $$. 501-562-9635. BLD daily.

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CREGEEN’S IRISH PUB Irish-themed pub with a large selection of on-tap and bottled British beers and ales, an Irish inspired menu and lots of nooks and crannies to meet in. Specialties include fish ‘n’ chips and Guinness beef stew. Live music on weekends and $5 cover on Saturdays, special brunch on Sunday. 301 Main St. NLR. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-376-7468. LD daily. ISTANBUL MEDITERRANEAN RESTAURANT This Turkish eatery offers decent kebabs and great starters. The red pepper hummus is a winner. So are Cigar Pastries. Possibly the best Turkish coffee in Central Arkansas. 11525 Cantrell Road. No alcohol, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-223-9332. LD daily. LAYLA’S GYROS AND PIZZERIA Delicious Mediterranean fare — gyros, falafel, shawarma, kabobs, hummus and babaganush — that has a devoted following. All meat is slaughtered according to Islamic dietary law. 9501 N Rodney Parham Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-227-7272. LD daily (close 5 p.m. on Sun.). L E O ’ S G R E E K C A S T L E Wonderful Mediterranean food — gyro sandwiches or platters, falafel and tabouleh — plus dependable hamburgers, ham sandwiches, steak platters and BLTs. Breakfast offerings are expanded with gyro meat, pitas and triple berry pancakes. 2925 Kavanaugh Blvd. No alcohol, CC. $-$$. 501-666-7414. BLD Mon.-Sat., BL Sun. (close at 4 p.m.). LITTLE GREEK Fast casual chain with excellent Greek food. 11525 Cantrell Road. Beer, All CC. $$. LD daily. NEXT BISTRO & BAR Mediterranean food and drinks. 2611 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, All CC. 501-663-6398. D Tue.-Thu., Sat.

ITALIAN

CAFE PREGO Dependable entrees of pasta, pork, seafood, steak and the like, plus great sauces, fresh mixed greens and delicious dressings, crisp-crunchy-cold gazpacho and tempting desserts in a comfy bistro setting. Little Rock standard for 18 years. 5510 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-663-5355. LD Mon.- Fri, D Sat. CIAO ITALIAN RESTAURANT Don’t forget about this casual yet elegant bistro tucked into a downtown storefront. The fine pasta 64

APRIL 24, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

and seafood dishes, ambiance and overall charm combine to make it a relaxing, enjoyable, affordable choice. 405 W. Seventh St. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-372-0238. L Mon.-Fri., D Thu.-Sat. IRIANA’S PIZZA Unbelievably generous handtossed New York style pizza with unmatched zest. Good salads, too; grinders are great, particularly the Italian sausage. 201 E. Markham St. Beer, Wine, All CC. $-$$. 501-374-3656. LD Mon.-Sat. ZAFFINO’S BY NORI A high-quality Italian dining experience. Pastas, entrees (don’t miss the veal marsala) and salads are all outstanding. 2001 E. Kiehl Ave. NLR. Beer, Wine, All CC. 501-834-7530. D Tue.-Sat.

LATINO

BROWNING’S MEXICAN GRILL New rendition of a 65-year institution in Little Rock is a totally different experience. Large, renovated space is a Heights hangout with a huge bar, sports on TV and live music on weekends. Some holdover items in name only but recast fresher and tastier. Large menu with some hits and some misses. 5805 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-663-9956. LD daily, BR Sat-Sun. CANON GRILL Tex-Mex, pasta, sandwiches and salads. Creative appetizers come in huge quantities, and the varied main-course menu rarely disappoints, though it’s not as spicy as competitors’. 2811 Kavanaugh Blvd. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-664-2068. LD daily. CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL Burritos, burrito bowls, tacos and salads are the four main courses of choice — and there are four meats and several other options for filling them. Sizes are uniformly massive, quality is uniformly strong, and prices are uniformly low. 11525 Cantrell Road. All CC. $-$$. 501-221-0018. LD daily. COTIJA’S A branch off the famed La Hacienda family tree downtown, with a massive menu of tasty lunch and dinner specials, the familiar white cheese dip and sweet red and fieryhot green salsas, and friendly service. 406 S. Louisiana St. Full bar, All CC. $$. 501-244-0733. L Mon.-Fri. FONDA MEXICAN CUISINE Authentic Mex. The guisado (Mexican stew) is excellent. 400 N. Bowman Road. Full bar, CC. $$-$$$. 501-3134120. LD Tue.-Sun. LA REGIONAL A full-service grocery store catering to SWLR’s Latino community, it’s the small grill tucked away in the back corner that should excite lovers of adventurous cuisine. The menu offers a whirlwind trip through Latin America, with delicacies from all across the Spanish-speaking world (try the El Salvadorian papusas, they’re great). Bring your Spanish/ English dictionary. 7414 Baseline Road. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-565-4440. BLD daily. TAQUERIA KARINA AND CAFE A real Mexican neighborhood cantina from the owners, to freshly baked pan dulce, to Mexicanbottled Cokes, to first-rate guacamole, to inexpensive tacos, burritos, quesadillas and a broad selection of Mexican-style seafood. 5309 W. 65th St. Beer, No CC. $. 501-562-3951. BLD daily.

AROUND ARKANSAS

CABOT

JANE’S KITCHEN Typical neighborhood joint serving up breakfast and lunch to a crowd of regulars. 211 E Main St. Cabot. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. (501) 843-7171. BL Mon.-Sat. SORELLA’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT Big orders of pasta, pizza and salad. The sauces tend to CONTINUED ON PAGE 70

Hey, do this! AND

APRIL MAYFUN!

Food, Music, Entertainment and everything else that’s APRIL 25

MAY 2-4

Toad Suck Days is a free and fun-

filled weekend in Conway with live music, performances by the Arkansas Shakespeare Theater, 5K/10K, parade, arts, crafts, kids’ activities and the world famous toad races. This year’s headliners include MC Hammer, Sawyer Brown and Mac Powell. For more info, visit www.toadsuck.org.

Following its annual preview party, Sculpture at the River Market hosts Bronze & Brewskis, an artful after-party for young professionals, at 8:30 p.m. at the River Market Pavilions. Tickets are $30 in advance or $35 at the door and include live music, food, beer and wine. For tickets, visit www.sculptureattherivermarket.com or call 501-664-1919.

APRIL 27

APRIL 27, 28 and MAY 1

is back at an all-new location, War Memorial Stadium. The festivities begin with a classic Jewish breakfast of lox, bagels and cream cheese plus blintzes and kugel at 8:30 a.m. The full festival starts at 10 a.m. and includes food, music, dance and family friendly activities until 4 p.m.

presents Why We Sing on Sunday, April 27 at 3 p.m., Monday, April 28 at 7 p.m. and Thursday, May 1 at 7 p.m. Performances are held at the Trinity United Methodist Church at 1101 N. Mississippi in Little Rock. All are welcome.

The Jewish Food Festival

APRIL 30

The River Market Farmer’s Market

opens. Pick up farmfresh produce, homemade products and handmade arts and crafts in two openair pavilions. Open Tuesdays and Saturdays, 7 a.m.-3 p.m. through October 26.

Ballet Arkansas presents Momentum performed on the Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s MainStage. Directed by the ballet’s newly appointed Artistic Director, Michael Bearden, the production brings together the beauty of dance through exceptional variations of movement choreographed by Kiyon Gaines, Pacific Northwest Ballet’s soloist. For tickets and show times, visit www.therep.org.

APRIL 26

Etsy Little Rock hosts its annual Indie Arts and Music Festival

from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. in Hillcrest on Kavanaugh from Walnut to Palm. Browse handmade clothing, jewelry, art, home décor and much more from Arkansas artists. The free event includes live music from local bands and your favorite food trucks on hand.

APRIL 29

For two weeks only, catch The Second City at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. Many of comedy’s brightest stars have hit the road with The Second City. Check out this rising crop of talent on the Happily Ever Laughter tour. For tickets and show times, visit www.therep.org. The show runs through May 10.

MAY 1

MAY 3

Festival of the Arts, an

will compete in a pig roast at the Argenta Farmer’s Market at 5 p.m. Celebrity judges will select the winner based on style, flavor and presentation. Sample a little bit of everything along with tasty beer and wine, and enjoy live music by Ghost Town Blues Band, The Salty Dogs and Runaway Planet. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. n The Little Rock Zoo hosts Wild Wines of the World from 7-10 p.m. with a reserve wine room experience at 6 p.m. A premier wine and food event, the evening includes selections from 40 of Central Arkansas’s best restaurants. Tickets are $65 for general admission and $100 for the reserve room. For tickets and more info, visit www.littlerockzoo.com. n Red Door Gallery hosts its annual Spring Fling from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. with live painting, sculpting demonstrations and music by the Ted Ludwig Trio. The event is free and open to the public. Red Door Gallery is located at 3715 JFK Blvd. in North Little Rock. Call 501-753-5227 for more info.

Eureka Springs hosts its May

annual citywide, month-long event, including the ARTrageous parade, gallery walks, live music, food and more. Participating venues are located throughout the charming mountain town. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.eurekaspringsfestivalofthearts.com.

MAY 7

Planned Parenthood hosts its annual Garden Party, honoring Capi Peck, at the Historic Rogers House from 5:30-8 p.m. Tickets are $75 each or $125 for two and include live music, food and a silent auction. All proceeds support Planned Parenthood services in Arkansas. For tickets and more info, visit www.plannedparenthood.org.

MAY 8

River City Men’s Chorus

APRIL 25-27

Presented by the Arkansas Times and Golden Eagle, the Arkansas Repertory Theatre hosts Cidre Night featuring Stella Artois’ new Cidre. Toast to the brew’s debut and enjoy entertainment by Steve Davison and Micky Rigby’s band Finger Food before the 7 p.m. performance by The Second City.

The Arkansas Times Heritage Hog Roast is back. Pitting the state’s best chefs against each other, sixteen teams

MAY 7-11

Verizon Arena hosts Disney on Ice’s Rockin’ Ever After. See all of your classic favorites, like Ariel and Belle, plus appearances by the characters from Tangled, BRAVE, Rapunzel and more. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster by phone at 800-745-3000 and online at www.ticketmaster.com. For show times and more info, visit www.verizonarena.com.

MAY 20

Murry’s Dinner Playhouse presents

Church Basement Ladies 2, a hilarious second-helping of the Church Basement Ladies with good clean laughs and memorable characters. The show runs through June 21. For show times and reservations, visit www.murrysdp.com.

MAY 12-18

One of the most competitive film festivals in the country, the Little Rock Film Festival brings the best of the best to the capital city. Don’t miss the World’s Shorts Competition and Golden Rock Documentary Competition. The Oxford American awards the best Southern-themed film and Heifer International bestows honors on the film with the most social impact. After a week of screenings, workshops, panels and parties, Devil’s Knot will close the festival on Sunday, May 18 at 8:30 p.m. at the Ron Robinson Theater. For a chance to win an all-access gold pass (a $300 value) submit your entry to the ‘Breaking Big’ in 15 seconds contest. Make a short 15-second film, and post it to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the hashtags #15secfilm and #LRFF2014. For a complete schedule of events and more info, visit www. littlerockfilmfestival.org.

MAY 23-25

Arkansas’s largest music and arts festival is Riverfest. Held on the banks of the Arkansas River in downtown Little Rock, this year’s headliners include Ceelo Green, Chicago, Hank Williams Jr., The Fray, Buckcherry, Easton Corbin, Robert Randolph and the Family Band and The Wallflowers. or a complete schedule of events, visit www.riverfestarkansas.com.

MAY 31

Magic Springs Water and Theme Park presents Zendaya live at the Timberwood Amphitheater. The platinum recording artist is perhaps best known from her TV roles on the Disney Channel and for finishing runner-up on Season 16 of Dancing with the Stars. The concert is free with general admission and begins at 8 p.m. www.arktimes.com april 24, 2014

Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge Center

Eureka Springs Blues Weekend benefits the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge Center.

Spring Happenings in

Eureka Springs MAY FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS MAY 1– 31

Every May, the city of Eureka Springs shines a spotlight on the arts with a month-long festival that celebrates the visual and performing arts. The festival showcases more than 350 working artists that live in the community. Colorful, quirky, energetic and sometimes surprising, the ArtRageous Parade is the traditional kickoff of the May Festival of the Arts. It will begin in the evening this year, rolling down Spring Street at 6 p.m. on May 3. Grand Marshal Barbara Kennedy will lead the stream of floats, art cars, walkers, dancers, musicians, jugglers and the super popular Africa in the Ozarks drum and dance group. Gallery strolls, usually only held the second Saturday evening of each month, are scheduled for every Saturday evening this year. In addition to free refreshments at participating galleries, each gallery stroll will also include special artists’ receptions and shows. One of the month’s most festive and well-attended events is the annual White Street Studio Walk, which takes place from 4-10 p.m. May 16. Historic White Street is the working address of a large number of local artists who welcome the public into their homes and studios to tour, view their latest works and purchase directly from the artist. The North Main FAM (Food, Art & Music) Fest will take place at the Eureka Springs Music Park and throughout the North Main Street Arts district 66

APRIL 24, 2014

ADVERTISING SUPPLLEMENT TO ARKANSAS TIMES

all day on Saturday, May 24. North Main is bustling with a number of new galleries and restaurants, as well as a revitalized Art Colony. For more information about the Eureka Springs May Festival of the Arts, a full calendar of events and a printable weekly calendar, visit eurekaspringsfestivalofthearts.com.

sioned from the start as a way to celebrate the literary arts and give both the people who write books and those who love to read, a chance to come together in a lovely yet informal setting. It has become a treasured facet of the May Festival of the Arts in Eureka Springs. For a complete listing of participants, please visit www.BooksinBloom.org and make plans now to be a part of Books in Bloom 2014.

BLUES WEEKEND JUNE 12-15

Kathy Reichs is one of the authors that will be featured at this year’s Books in Bloom.

BOOKS IN BLOOM MAY 18

What singular event has attracted more than 60 New York Times Best-selling authors to a small mountain town in the Ozarks since its inception in 2005? Come to the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs on Sunday afternoon, May 18th and find out. Presentations begin at noon and end at 5 p.m. Now in its ninth year, Books in Bloom Literary Festival offers up a new bouquet of authors each year, many with international reputations and millions of books in print. And it all takes place over the course of a single afternoon. Even more incredible in this era of exclusive, ticketed author programs — this is a free event! A project of the Carroll and Madison Public Library Foundation, Books in Bloom was envi-

The 2014 Eureka Springs Blues Weekend, presented by The 1905 Basin Park Hotel, will be June 12-15 in historic Eureka Springs. Blues Weekend features local, regional, national and international blues acts, and is held in venues all around Eureka Springs, including headliner shows in the historic City Auditorium and free music in Basin Spring Park. Blues Weekend headliners include Chubby Carrier, Carolyn Wonderland and Walter “Wolfman” Washington. Blues Weekend is a fundraiser for Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, located just south of Eureka Springs. Turpentine Creek gives lifetime refuge to abused, neglected or abandoned wildlife, and is constantly building new natural habitats as funding permits. The Refuge conducted one of their largest rescues ever last year, so every dollar raised goes towards supporting even more lions, tigers and bears. For more information, please visit their web site at www.TurpentineCreek.org. Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge was founded in 1992 and has grown to become one of the Top 10 Attractions in Arkansas and the most popular in Eureka Springs. Lions, cougars, ligers, leopards, tigers, bobcats, servals and bears are displayed in large natural habitats surrounding the main com-

pound enclosures and gift shop. Each animal has its own story/history plaque for self-guided tours. The popular daily feeding times range from 4 p.m. (winter) to 5 p.m. (summer). Weekend Passes and individual show tickets are on sale at EurekaSpringsBlues.com. Hotel and ticket packages are also available at the 1905 Basin Park Hotel and Grand Central Hotel. For tickets, a complete schedule, to volunteer or for more information, please visit www.EurekaSpringsBlues.com.

AWARD – WINNING DINING

Both culinary and fine arts will be on display this month during “A Taste of Art.” Some of Eureka Springs’ restaurants will host local artists and their works while tempting the public with their cuisine. The area is filled with some of the finest restaurants, so be sure to please your palate while there. Here are some of our recommendations: Ermilio’s now has a new dining room look as well as a new Chef! Check out the new appetizers on the menu as well as the delicious Tuscan Chicken Pasta. The atmosphere is terrific and the menu is full of Italian favorites! Ermilio’s has won multiple Arkansas Times Readers Choice awards, including Best Italian Around the State and Best Restaurant in Eureka Springs in 2014. Try it and you’ll see why. DeVito’s will host a Taste of Art reception for artist Edward Robison May 1 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Its menu features Italian specialties, multiple trout dishes, plenty of pasta, and a menu for children. Mud Street Café was the winner for Best Breakfast Around the State in this year’s Arkansas Times Readers Choice awards. It also has great brunch, coffee, burgers, and sandwiches. It’s a great place to start your day!

Over 100 Big Cats Open Everyday Guided Tours Family Fun

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26 White Street • Eureka Springs Located on the upper Historic Loop, old Highway 62B, just a few short blocks from the Crescent Hotel. www.ermilios.com ADVERTISING SUPPLLEMENT TO ARKANSAS TIMES

APRIL 24, 2014

GET YOUR SEAT ON THE ARKANSAS TIMES CASH BUS!

MUSIC FESTIVAL

PER PERSON

CHARGE BY PHONE

(all major credit cards)

501-375-2985

Or mail check or money-order to Arkansas Times Cash Bus Box 34010 · Little Rock, AR · 72203

Featuring

REBA McENTIRE LORETTA LYNN & BOBBY BARE HOSTED BY MARK LOWRY

AUGUST 15, 2014 · 7pm · A-State CONVOCATION CENTER · JONESBORO, AR GENERAL ADMISSION TICKET TO THE CONCERT PRICE INCLUDES: 

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RESERVE YOUR SEAT TODAY! THE ARKANSAS TIMES CASH BUS LEAVES FROM DOWNTOWN LITTLE ROCK AT 1 PM FRIDAY, AUGUST 15 AND WILL RETURN THAT NIGHT AFTER THE CONCERT

hearsay ➥ The FLOATING LOTUS has a great Mother’s Day special: a massage and facial featuring the organic skincare line Eminence for $100. Call 501-664-0172 or visit www.floatinglotusyogastudio.com for more information. ➥ A sign on a new building next to Chipotle says a BASSETT furniture store will be open at Pleasant Ridge Town Center in early May. ➥ If you spent many a childhood afternoon riding the train at the Little Rock Zoo, then be sure to buy tickets for WILD WINES OF THE WORLD, scheduled for 7-10 p.m. May 3. The event, which features wines from around the world and food from 40 Central Arkansas restaurants, is a fundraiser to purchase a new train. General admission tickets are $65; for those of you who want the VIP experience, Reserve Room tickets are $100 and you get to start at 6 p.m. and enjoy food from Cache. You can purchase tickets from www.littlerockzoo.com. ➥ INDIGO, located at The Promenade at Chenal, is hosting a sweet sale: full-price handbags priced at $100 or more are now $20 off. Sale ends May 15. ➥ Speaking of the Promenade, women’s clothing store ALTAR’D STATE is now open. One unique aspect of the store is its “giving back” philosophy: Through what is known as Mission Mondays, the company donates 10 percent of net proceeds to various local charities every Monday. Altar’d State also gives back through an in-house clothing line in which a portion of every purchase goes to feed, clothe, educate and shelter children in need. ➥ ULTA COSMETICS and DRESS BARN are now open in the Lakewood Village Shopping Center next to STEINMART. ➥ Make plans now to attend the ARKANSAS TIMES HERITAGE HOG ROAST benefitting the Argenta Arts District on May 3 at the Argenta Farmers Market. Dine on 16 pit-roasted, whole, heritage (local) hogs from SCOTT HERITAGE FARM. Craft beers and wine are available. Doors open at 5 p.m. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. Go to arktimes.com/heritagehogroast to purchase tickets. Where else can you go to one place and dine with these fine restaurants: The Fold, Ristorante Capeo, Whole Hog Cafe, Arthur’s & Oceans, The Root, Maddie’s Place, The Schlafly Tap Room, Southern Gourmasian, Cheers in the Heights, Midtown Billiards, South on Main, Butcher and Public, Cregeen’s Irish Pub, Natchez, Crush Wine Bar, Reno’s Argenta Cafe, Taco Mama and Cafe 1217. Unbelieveable! Wait, there’s more: music headliner is Ghost Town Blues Band, and other performers include Runaway Planet and The Salty Dogs. Get your tickets now!

Mom M APRIL 24, 2014

celebrate

other’s Day is just around the corner and while cards and flowers are great, sometimes moms are looking for a gift with a little bit more spirit. Try these suggestions from Colonial Wine and Spirits and give her just that!

Nothing conjures up a celebration quite like a bottle of Champagne or Sparkling wine. Celebrate moms with these selections.

Domaine Chandon Toso Brut Carneros Unbelievable Brut Rose’ Vintage 2009 It’s one of quality for Possibly the the most the price and perfect food friendly best bargain globally for wines for Mother’s a Vintage around. Day Mimosa. Sparkling $21.99 $7.99 wine. $26.99

A delicious cordial is the perfect choice for the chocolate-loving moms in your life. These selctions are favorites:

Kahlua It is a blend of the richest Arabica coffee and the finest sugar cane spirit.

Frangelico Disaronno So versatile Amaretto to mix, with So rich and flavors of decadent, hazelnut, dark it’s like chocolate, and dessert in vanilla, it’s a bottle. also delicious on its own.

Godiva Chocolate Liqueur Milk Chocolate, Caramel & Dark Chocolate If all Mom wants this Mothers’ Day is Chocolate, why not treat her with Liqueurs from the company whose name is synonymous with chocolate for years ... Godiva.

Bailey’s Irish Cream and Bailey’s Flavored Cream Liqueurs Fresh cream and the finest spirits meld with aged Irish whiskey and chocolate making it delicious in coffee, in many cocktails, or over ice – or even ice cream.

Forty Two hosts beer dinner

uesday, April 15, the restaurant Forty Two, played host to a fantastic Beer Dinner hosted by Golden Eagle of Arkansas and it was a packed house! Special guest speaker was George F. Reisch, a fifth generation brewmaster by trade, a Brewmaster at Anheuser-Busch, Inc. and Director of Brewmaster Outreach for the company. Chef Stephen Burrow prepared a special menu that included beer in each recipe and each course was accompanied by an Anheuser-Busch

product. Mr. Reisch, instructed diners on proper pouring technique and the steps needed to truly appreciate the flavor of each course and the beer served with it. Interesting tips, which surprised most, included; not drinking beer out of the can, but to pour it into a glass; choosing the correct glass — a wine glass actually presents the product better and tastes better and the most surprising suggestion was to not pour beer down the side of the glass but directly into the glass, pausing to let the foam dissolve! ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO ARKANSAS TIMES

APRIL 24, 2014

DINING CAPSULES, CONT.

InstructIonal coordInator:K-3 (Little Rock, AR): Dev. instr. material & coord. eductional content w/ K-3 teachers at charter sch. Master’s in Education+2 yrs exp in the job or elem. teacher. Mail res.: Lisa Academy, 21 Corporate Hill Dr. Little Rock, AR 72205, Attn: HR, Refer to Ad#SB

Heifer International Acct Tech II – AP/ Procurement This is a termed 12- to 18-month position that provides detailed accting svcs & support. Exp. in invoice coding/payment, wire trans., gen. ledger, journal entry, bookkeeping, Procurement, & vendor accts. HS/GED + 3yrs exp. Apply at www.heifer.org/ careers. Heifer Int’l is AA/EOE.

be garlicky and the bread is a little salty, but it’s a pretty good deal for the money. 2006 S. Pine St. Cabot. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-941-7000. LD Tue.-Sat. UNCLE DEAN’S CATFISH AND SUCH Hot fresh American raised catfish and egg rolls are the stars at this eclectic restaurant. 818 S. 2nd St. Cabot. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-941-3474. LD Mon.-Sat.

Mexican consulate serving the coMMunity

CONWAY

Michel Leidermann Moderator

Thursday, april 24, 10:30 pM

In Spanish with English subtitles aetn.org

ENSO STRING QUARTET CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CENTER Thursday, April 24, 7:30

Performing string quartets by Beethoven, Britten & Verdi

BOB’S GRILL This popular spot for local diners features a meat-and-two-veg cafeteria style lunch and a decently large made-to-order breakfast menu. 1112 W. Oak St. Conway. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-379-9760. BL Daily. DUE AMICHE ITALIAN RESTAURANT Stromboli, pasta, pizza, calzones and other Italian favorites. 1600 Dave Ward Drive. Conway. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-336-0976. LD Mon.-Sun. FABY’S RESTAURANT Unheralded MexicanContinental fusion focuses on handmade sauces and tortillas. 1023 Front Street. Conway. No alcohol, All CC. $$. 501-513-1199. L daily, D Mon.-Sat. 2915 Dave Ward. Conway. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-329-5151. LD Mon.-Sun. LOS 3 POTRILLOS A big menu and lots of reasonably priced choices set this Mexican restaurant apart. 1090 Skyline Dr. Conway. Full bar, All CC. $-$$. 501-327-1144. LD Mon.-Sun. PITZA 42 You’ll find pizza made on pita bread and a broad salad menu here. 2235 Dave Ward Dr. Conway. No alcohol, All CC. $-$$. 501-205-1380.

ARKANSAS TIMES

MARKETPLACE TO ADVERTISE IN THIS SECTION, CALL LUIS AT 501.375.2985

Tickets $35, available at Chambermusiclr.com, at the door, or call 501-912-9867. Presented by Chamber Music Society of Little Rock

Director of Governmental affairs

arkansas advocates for children and families is accepting resumes for a Director of Governmental affairs. requires bachelor’s degree and at least 5 years of experience in advocacy, outreach, or lobbying. Send cover letter, resume, writing sample, and references to cneal@aradvocates.org. aacf is an equal opportunity employer.

APRIL 24, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

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SENIOR DEVELOPER Community Resources Technicians, Inc.

HUD Approved and State Approved Housing Counselors If you are behind with your mortgage payment, or if you think your interest rate is high or the value of your home has decreased, before you pay for a modification, please call our office to have a Housing Counselor assist you. There is no fee for these services. Call (501) 372-2611 to speak witH a Housing Counselor.

USAble Life seeks one Senior Developer in the Little Rock, AR area. Duties include analysis, design, development, implementation, maintenance, and testing of software applications. Assignments include analysis, data gathering, program logic development, coding, testing, documentation and various other tasks requested by the Manager for the IT integration or Web Development team. Position requires a minimum of bachelor’s degree (or foreign equivalent) in Computer Science or related field. Applicants must have a minimum of five years experience in a computer software developer position, or related position. Applicants must also have advanced programming skills and experience in VB.Net, C#, Java, Javascript, C or Perl; performing SQL queries in Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, DB2 or other database engines; using industry tools, i.e. Microsoft Reporting Services, Crystal Reports or Business Objects; using SOAP or other XML-based web services technologies; using HTML, JavaScript, AJAX, CSS and other web technologies. All applicants must be able to take and pass a standard program exam provided by employer. Mail résumé to June Timmermann, june.timmermann@lsvusa.com , 501-212-8896, USAble Life, 17500 Chenal Parkway, Little Rock, AR 72223. EOE. www.arktimes.com

APRIL 24, 2014

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