Arkansas Times | May 2024

SUNDAY, MAY 26, AT 7 PM

MAY 2024

FEATURES

26 LECTERNGATE 101

How the governor’s $19K podium sparked a battle over transparency, and why it matters.

By Matt Campbell, Austin Gelder and Benjamin Hardy

33 ACADEMIC ALL-STARS

Our 30th roster of Academic All-Stars is here, representing the most stellar and promising high school seniors in the state.

By Rhett Brinkley, Matt Campbell, Griffin Coop, Austin Gelder, Daniel Grear, Mary Hennigan, Jeannie Roberts and Stephanie Smittle

9 THE FRONT

From the Vault: Marking the Arkansas Times’ golden anniversary, Ernie Dumas reflects on the publication’s first big scoop.

Q&A: With Caitlin Draper, who’s challenging longtime Republican delegate Steve Womack to represent the state’s 3rd Congressional District.

Big Pic: Crypto mines don’t make for good neighbors.

17 THE TO-DO LIST

Nickel Creek at The Hall, the Arkansas Times Film Series screens “Late Spring,” Ballet Arkansas at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, novelist Tommy Orange at Ron Robinson, the FreshGrass Festival and more.

24 NEWS

Snagging Calipari has Razorback fans feeling bullish on basketball.

By Rhett Brinkley and Brian Sorensen

56 SAVVY KIDS

We celebrate the 30th year of Arkansas Times Academic All-Stars by talking with a former honoree, scientist Crystal Morrison.

By Tricia Larson

60 CULTURE

Taking the temperature of the state’s karaoke scene.

By Daniel Ford

‘STAR MATERIAL’: We talk with 2024 Academic All-Star Daniel Schwammlein about his dedication to keeping the Latin language alive, vigor on the ultimate Frisbee field, passion during school plays, and creativity as the dungeon master for his Dungeons and Dragons group (Page 33).

64 CULTURE

A Q&A with author Garrard Conley about his latest, a Puritan-era queer love story.

By Carl Napolitano

66 FOOD & DRINK

A surprise discovery on the banks of a creek gave birth to a communal ethos for Orthodox Brewery.

By Brian Sorensen

70 CANNABIZ

Can a medical marijuana patient hold a concealed carry permit?

By

Griffin Coop

74 THE OBSERVER

Snapshots from totality at Hot Springs’ Ecliptic Festival.

COVER: Illustration by Mikael Space.

PUBLISHER Alan Leveritt

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Austin Gelder

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Mandy Keener

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Stephanie Smittle

MANAGING EDITOR Benjamin Hardy

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Rhett Brinkley

CANNABIZ EDITOR Griffin Coop

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Daniel Grear

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER Matt Campbell REPORTERS

Mary Hennigan, Debra Hale-Shelton and Jeannie Roberts

EDITOR EMERITUS Max Brantley

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Mara Leveritt

PHOTOGRAPHER Brian Chilson

DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER Madeline Chosich

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Wythe Walker

ADVERTISING ART DIRECTOR Mike Spain

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Sarah Holderfield

DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING/ SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS PUBLISHER Brooke Wallace

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Terrell Jacob, Kaitlyn Looney and Evan Ethridge

ADVERTISING TRAFFIC MANAGER Roland R. Gladden

SPECIAL SECTION MANAGING EDITOR Becca Bona EVENTS DIRECTOR Donavan Suitt

DIRECTOR OF CANNABIS SALES AND MARKETING Lee Major IT DIRECTOR Robert Curfman

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Jackson Gladden

CONTROLLER Weldon Wilson

BILLING/COLLECTIONS Charlotte Key CHAIR MAN Lindsey Millar

PRODUCTION MANAGER Ira Hocut (1954-2009)

ARKANSAS TIMES (ISSN 0164-6273) is published each month 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, 201 EAST MARKHAM STREET, SUITE 200, Little Rock, AR, 72201. Subscription prices are $60 for one year. For subscriber service call (501) 375-2985. Current single-copy price is $5, free in Pulaski County. Single issues are available by mail at $5.00 each, postage paid. Payment must accompany all 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. ©2024 ARKANSAS TIMES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP

‘IT’S IN THE TAPES’

SECRET TAPES, A MILLIONAIRE LIQUOR DEALER, HILLARY RODHAM AND THE ARKANSAS TIMES’ FIRST BIG SCOOP.

BY ERNEST DUMAS

My main contribution to the Arkansas Times’s first 50 years of publishing, starting in 1992, was to write a few hundred boring freelance columns on government and politics, which were supposed to give grieving subscribers of the late Arkansas Gazette a sense that they could still get some flavor of the Old Gray Lady by perusing the weekly Times. Cartoonist George Fisher and the crusading editor Bob McCord, along with other old Gazette regulars like Max Brantley, Doug Smith and Leslie Peacock, would supply the real goods.

entrapped the men. The risqué dialogue on the tapes did not put a good glow on either Hastings, the cops or their stooge, but it also didn’t look good for the rule of law.

Early Bird Tickets $35 Limited Time Only

But, in a larger sense, as Abe Lincoln would say, neither I nor the other old Gazette hands consecrated the ground of the Arkansas Times. Rather — here revealed for the first time in the local prints — it was Hillary Rodham, as she was known back then, in 1977. Yes, that Hillary, who would be elected president of the United States by nearly 3 million votes in 2016, only to have the electoral college assign the presidency to the serial adulterer and fraudster Donald Trump.

This obviously takes some explaining, lots of it. It involves one of the spookiest episodes of Arkansas’s modern history — the Hastings Family–Rogue Cop War — and the fledgling Arkansas Times’ first really big scoop, which was to reveal the contents of secretly taped recordings made by Little Rock cops of conversations of millionaire Little Rock liquor distributor Harry Hastings Sr. and an ex-con that led to criminal charges against Hastings and his two sons. The U.S. Justice Department in the latter days of President Gerald Ford ordered the U.S. attorney in Arkansas and the federal district court at Little Rock to withdraw or dismiss the charges against the Hastings men because it was pretty clear that the police, who had been involved in a running feud with the elder Hastings, had

The Times made good use of their scoop, a cover story in its July 1978 issue headlined “The Hastings Tapes/ Millionaire Liquor Dealer ‘Papa’ Hastings: Did the Cops Have a Case?” along with a gentle caricature of the old man in a yellow ballcap. The dialogue between Hastings and the con, although it did not endear either man to you, made fun reading.

People in Central Arkansas suddenly took notice of the little paper they could find in racks around the community, which continually beat the daily papers in the 1970s and later with a thread of stories on police misconduct and crime. There was Arlin Fields’ piece in May 1975 on police efforts to plant marijuana on a brash young prosecutor they didn’t like, Jim Guy Tucker, whose career was finally destroyed 20 years later by a conscienceless special U.S. prosecutor named Kenneth W. Starr for crimes that he didn’t commit. Another was the Times’ reporting on how the organized-crime unit of the Little Rock police set up the mutilationby-gunfire of a thug set up for slaying when he tried to rob a downtown drugstore with a revolver equipped with blanks.

The Times scoop on the Hastings tapes, with the unknown assistance of Hillary Rodham, happened to be at my expense. I had transcribed the tapes the previous year,

A RISQUÉ DIALOGUE: The July 1978 issue revealed the contents of secretly taped recordings made by Little Rock cops of conversations of millionaire Little Rock liquor distributor Harry Hastings Sr. and an ex-con, leading to criminal charges against Hastings and his two sons.

soon after the Justice Department halted the Hastings prosecutions, and Rodham, a recent hire by the Rose Law Firm, was one of the Gazette’s lawyers — my attorney, I guess you could say. She wrote a lengthy opinion advising the publisher of the Gazette not to publish my long story revealing the content of the Hastings tapes, not for any libelous content that was likely to cost the paper money, but because publishing the tapes would violate the Hastings family’s constitutional right to privacy. The courts at that time — but obviously no longer — recognized a right to privacy spelled out by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence and to a less clear extent in the Bill of Rights. Rather than reconstruct that story in my feeble condition, I will reprint what I wrote about it in the unread book that Bobby Roberts, who founded Butler Center Books, made me write in 2016, “The Education of Ernie Dumas.”

AN ARKANSAS POLITICS ARCHIVE: The Hastings saga is among the tales chronicled in “The Education of Ernie Dumas.”

Harry Hastings Sr. owned the largest liquor distributorship in the area, Moon Distributors. Rumors had circulated for years, fed by the Organized Crime and Intelligence Unit of the Little Rock Police Department,

that Hastings was cozy with the “Dixie Mafia,” a crime syndicate reputed to be run by Carlos Marcello out of the family’s restaurant, Mosca’s. (A nearly windowless shack across the Mississippi River from New Orleans, Mosca’s earned a national reputation owing to the writings of A.J. Liebling and Calvin Trillin in The New Yorker but, by my personal affirmation 40 years ago, it does prepare one of the South’s great indulgences, Oysters Mosca.)

The Little Rock Police Department’s organized crime team, headed by Forrest Parkman, itself had developed a reputation as a small-time crime syndicate. See Roger Glasgow’s 2016 memoir, “Down and Dirty Down South,” the lawyer’s account of how the Organized Crime squad helped set him up for a bogus smuggling rap at the Mexican border in 1972. (Glasgow was a senior law partner in the big establishment law firm of Wright, Lindsey & Jennings. A jacket blurb by former Mayor Jim Dailey said Glasgow’s book was “a dramatic reminder of what can happen when political power and police power become too cozy.”) The Union Station Times, predecessor to the Arkansas Times, had carried an article in 1975 alleging that Parkman’s men also had tried to stash marijuana in the car of Jim Guy Tucker, the young prosecutor who was sometimes at odds with the police leadership. Accompanying police on a raid, Tucker had kicked a door down and stuck a revolver in the face of the startled crook.

The Hastings-Parkman rivalry got personal. Parkman sued Hastings and another businessman for defamation and for holding him up to public ridicule, claiming that the businessmen had maliciously told one of Parkman’s deputies, Kenneth Pearson, that Parkman had raped two women. The Pulaski County circuit judge who heard the case dismissed Parkman’s suit, and in the spring of 1975 the Arkansas Supreme Court upheld the dismissal, wondering how Hastings and his friend could have held the cop up to ridicule if their accusation was recorded by

Pearson but was never rendered to print and never heard by another soul until Parkman filed his suit and the public prints wrote about it.

Six months later, Parkman got even for Hastings winning the lawsuit. He sprang a petty thief named Rayburn Hamilton out of the city jail and commissioned him to set up Hastings for a federal rap. The police wired a microphone to Hamilton’s chest and sent him on several visits to Hastings, whom the crook knew from some past association. In a series of visits and telephone calls, all secretly recorded, Hamilton talked to Hastings about stealing diamonds and other paraphernalia, and he piqued the liquor dealer’s interest in finding some free truck tires and an industrial air compressor, expensive paraphernalia that Hastings’ distributorship always needed. But there was no obvious agreement that Hamilton would steal those things for the businessman.

Lieutenant Parkman wanted Hastings to be charged in federal court, where he would be prosecuted by U.S. Attorney W. H. “Sonny” Dillahunty, so Hastings’ crime needed to be an interstate job. Hamilton and two cronies arranged with Parkman’s help to “steal” an air compressor from an obliging dealer and sell it to Hastings’ two sons for $1,000. Hamilton maintained that he had told the Hastings brothers that the compressor was stolen, although that conversation was not taped. Lieutenant Parkman, working with the Mississippi Highway Patrol, the Mississippi attorney general and Armstrong Tire & Rubber Company, arranged for the driver of an 18-wheeler loaded with Armstrong truck tires to leave the key in the ignition when he stopped for coffee at a truck stop in Senatobia, Mississippi. While the driver was sipping his java, Hamilton and his confederates jumped in and drove the big truck to downtown Little Rock. They parked it four blocks east of the Gazette building on East Third Street beside Dailey’s Office Furniture store, run by the father of the future mayor Jim Dailey.

According to the tapes, which I later laboriously transcribed over four days, Hamilton told Hastings excitedly that he had stolen a full load of truck tires for him. Where the hell are they? an obviously shocked Hastings asked.

When Hamilton told him that the stolen cargo was parked on one of the city’s busiest streets, Hastings cursed and told the thug to get the truck out of the city and meet him at

his duck-hunting lodge near Stuttgart. At that point, Parkman got the FBI involved for the first time so that it would obtain a federal search warrant to enter Hastings’ hunting premises. Dillahunty, the U.S. attorney, secured grand jury indictments of Hastings and the two accomplices in the “theft” of the truck tires and of his two sons for taking an air compressor that the prosecutor said they knew to have been stolen.

Before the case was to go to trial before U.S. District Judge Terry Shell in the summer of 1977, the Justice Department’s Richard L. Thornburgh — soon to be President Gerald Ford’s assistant attorney general — asked the court to dismiss the charges, because the Little Rock police’s rogue manner in setting up the crimes made prosecution of the men fundamentally unfair. It said Parkman and his men had overstepped the bounds of constitutionally permissible police behavior in setting up the arrests and that prosecuting the five men would be repugnant to a sense of fairness that was a fundamental doctrine of the Fifth Amendment. Judge Shell emphatically agreed and dismissed the charges.

Bill Williams, a member of the vice squad and a former Gazette photographer, had wired Hamilton and rigged up the recording system. The tape recordings were offered to the Gazette, and Bob Douglas, the managing editor and a drinking buddy of Police Chief Gale Weeks, took them. He thought both the content of the tapes and the manner of the arrests constituted news and asked me to transcribe the scratchy and sometimes nearly indecipherable tapes. I did and wrote a lengthy article, consisting almost entirely of quotes from the tapes. It could easily be deduced from the tapes that Harry Hastings Sr. did not recoil at the concept of a little larceny, whether of diamonds or tires, but also that Forrest Parkman and his men would go to any lengths to trap their prey. The dialogue between the con and the businessman provided amusing reading, owing to Hastings’ salty language and his sometimes derogatory references to family members.

Hugh B. Patterson Jr., the Gazette’s publisher, sent the article to the Rose Law Firm, and I went over to its conference room on West Markham Street while Webb Hubbell and Vincent Foster, two lawyers whose names will be recognized from the Whitewater era 20 years later, perused it and asked if I could back up certain sentences.

“It’s in the tapes,” I said each time. Foster and Hubbell said they saw no risk of libel, because the recordings substantiated everything I had written.

The next day, a lengthy opinion arrived. It was from the firm’s newest partner, Hillary

Rodham, who had not been present at our meeting. She advised the paper not to publish the story. While there seemed to be no risk of libel, she said the story violated the privacy rights of Mrs. Hastings and perhaps other members of the family on matters that had nothing to do with the crimes. Her opinion was studded with citations from case law on the privacy rights of individuals and the right to protection from self-incrimination.

Although I had private misgivings about the efficacy of a story that added little to the relevant public knowledge of a famous case except titillating dialogue and the implication

IF HILLARY RODHAM SAID THEY SHOULDN’T BE PUBLISHED, THE GAZETTE WOULD FOLLOW THE

ATTORNEY’S ADVICE.

that Hastings had a predisposition for venality, to no avail I argued for only editing out the most offending passages and publishing the story. The editors said no; if Hillary Rodham said they shouldn’t be published, the paper would follow the attorney’s advice.

Months later, in 1978, the Arkansas Times, by then a monthly magazine, obtained the tapes and devoted much of a monthly issue

to them.

Hillary’s brief suggested something more broadly about the article than the violation of the privacy of Mrs. Hastings and the sons by printing the old man’s unflattering references to them. Publication of Harry Hastings’ maunderings to the con, mostly disconnected from any expectation that he was engaged in a crime or that the jabberings would see publication, raised questions for Hillary Rodham about the sanctity of personal information that had no relevance to an alleged crime or to the public’s right to knowledge about a public activity. To her, the Fifth Amendment’s promises of due process and protection from self-incrimination were a constitutional guarantee of privacy for the individual, even for a man with disreputable impulses like Hastings. While she acknowledged that the newspaper probably risked no monetary damages from publishing the story, she said the paper might consider its duty to respect the privacy rights of even a man for whom the paper had no brief.

It was many years later, and repeatedly, that I was reminded of her legal essay on my Hastings story, which I had wanted to be published mainly because I had spent more than a week transcribing the trashy tapes and composing the article. The opinion exposed an unfortunate aspect of her character — not an undesirable one, but one that would serve her badly in a life devoted to politics. It was a literal obsession with personal privacy, a refusal to yield the private matters of her family, her business dealings, or how she went about her work, because they were nobody’s business. Just as they were not entitled to paw through the disreputable musings of an old man, people were not entitled to pry into what she considered the personal space of her life and that of her husband, even if both of them were involved in politics and more open to hostile public comment.

In politics, a privacy obsession is not sustainable. If you don’t want reporters, congressmen, Republican investigators like Kenneth Starr, Brett Kavanaugh and Rod Rosenstein, or just nosy voters rummaging through the billings of your law clients, your trivial business transactions, or your private conversations with family, friends or co-workers, which mutated into emails that became subject to freedom-of-information laws, you are going to experience a sea of troubles. It would lead circuitously to her husband’s impeachment and, owing to her use of a private email server rather than a government server that would be open to inspection by nosy reporters and political foes, to the end of her dream to be president of the United States.

DRAPER VS. DRACONIAN ABORTION LAWS

A Q&A WITH CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE CAITLIN DRAPER.

Holding a position in Congress would be Caitlin Draper’s first elected office, but she’s not afraid of being green. She said she’s ready to introduce legislation that would better the lives of Arkansans, particularly for women and members of the LGBTQ+ community. As she sees it, the state of reproductive rights in Arkansas is too dire to sit back and let current representatives continue to restrict the bodily autonomy of Arkansans. Draper, 35, is challenging longtime Republican delegate Steve Womack to represent the state’s 3rd Congressional District, which covers six counties in Northwest Arkansas. Womack’s conservative voting record — especially his stance against abortion rights — is among the factors that urged Draper to run for office. Women’s rights are at the top of Draper’s list of priorities, along with affordable housing, access to health care and addressing climate change. Draper runs her own private social work practice in Fayetteville, and in recent years has been an adjunct lecturer at the University of Arkansas. She has also been trying to get pregnant for four years, and has worked as many jobs to save up enough for in vitro fertilization. Her firsthand experience with Arkansas’s confusing and restrictive laws regarding abortion is something she’s taking with her on the campaign trail, and she’s not sugarcoating it.

PERFECT FAYETTEVILLE NIGHT

OUT: Dinner at Hugo’s and a show at TheatreSquared with my husband

SECRET TALENT: Can play the saxophone

CURRENT READ: “The House Across the Lake” by Riley Sager

As we are conducting this interview — and as you run for office — you’re actively experiencing a miscarriage. What prompted you to share your personal story during your campaign? I knew the pregnancy was no longer viable, and I was waiting for it to pass. … We didn’t really know what was going to happen and the doctor said they hadn’t ruled out that the pregnancy was ectopic. … I asked, “Obviously I live in Arkansas; we have trigger laws here. If it is ectopic or I need help passing it, am I going to be OK?” And the nurse replied, “I don’t know.” The doctor replied, “She should be OK.” And that “should” really bothered me. I was questioning if we should leave the state for a few weeks, wondering where we would need to go to be safe. And it really upset me. I can afford that; I have the resources to leave if I need to. But what about the women in the district who don’t? … I’m a fairly medically literate person. I’m a medical provider … and I was shocked I didn’t have the answers I needed. I was shocked that I didn’t feel safe trying to get pregnant in my state.

You’ve been open about your experience with your pregnancy and miscarriage. Are you getting pushback for it?

Honestly, no. None. I’ve gotten a lot of encouragement. Folks across the aisle are excited about restoring women’s rights. I think Republicans have gone too far this time. They’re practicing medicine without a license, and I’m not here for it.

What inspired you to run for Congress and challenge Rep. Steve Womack?

The fall of Roe v. Wade was probably the biggest push. That was devastating, and there were crickets from Womack. Also, as a social worker, I have clients every day that are suffering. … So much of the suffering is coming from things like the Dobbs [v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization] decision, from my clients who are having to leave the state for medical care. I’ve had clients leave the state who did not have the money to leave the state, both women and also LGBTQ+ clients who moved because they don’t feel safe here. It just troubles me that people would have to leave such a wonderful state because they don’t feel safe here.

How do you see your social work experience benefiting you if you were to be elected?

In so many beautiful ways. One thing that we as social workers understand is the multi-systems life course perspective. Essentially, that means we understand that there is a beautiful and broad connectedness between all the different systems in our life. So as a legislator, I [could] understand that, for example … making insulin more accessible to folks also impacts their mental health and impacts their ability to access other services.

Arkansas’s congressional delegates have historically been men. How do you think having a woman in this role — in this specific political climate — would shake things up?

I think it would be a phenomenal representation. Having a woman’s perspective — especially a woman who’s trying to have a family — helps improve policies related to families. It helps improve policies related to access to health care in general, and to children. That’s one reason why our family policies are so poor in this country: because there are not enough women represented in our government.

Mary Hennigan

GO-TO KARAOKE SONG: “What’s Up?” by 4 Non Blondes

TOO LOUD

The cooling fans that keep crypto computers from overheating can be heard across long distances, irritating neighbors.

MOUNTAIN PINE

POWER PLANT

Crypto mines suck up massive amounts of electricity.

SAD COW

Farmers who live near crypto mines report that the noise is affecting their animals, making them act strangely.

TALES FROM THE CRYPTO

CRYPTO MINES DON’T MAKE GOOD NEIGHBORS.

BY DAVID RAMSEY

In 2023, Arkansas lawmakers passed Act 851, which sharply curtailed the ability of city or county governments to regulate crypto mining. For the uninitiated, these aren’t literal mines: They’re networks of super-powerful computers used to solve a very difficult math puzzle (don’t ask), which is part of the process of creating bitcoin and verifying transactions. To oversimplify, the bitcoin miners who can get the right answer first are rewarded with a big payout.

The problem: Crypto mines don’t make for very good neighbors. A groundswell of complaints arose this year as more crypto mines started popping up. The noise from the fans used to cool the computers is loud, unpleasant and constant. People who live nearby say it’s ruining their quality of life and tanking their property values. The crypto mines use a massive amount of electricity and water, raising concerns about impacts on the local grid and water

supply. Farmers report livestock are spooked; naturalists worry the noise will alter migration patterns of birds and other wildlife. Critics have also questioned the rumored Chinese ownership of crypto mining operations. More than a dozen bitcoin mines have set up shop in Arkansas, some prior to the new law’s adoption and some after. Plans are reportedly in the works for that number to grow to 50 soon. Act 851, reportedly written by a crypto advocacy group, was passed with little discussion during last year’s legislative session. So far, crypto miners are using it to their advantage. A crypto mine near DeWitt leaned on 851 to sue Arkansas County after county officials tried to pass crypto regulations. The Legislature revisited the law during an April fiscal session, but lobbyists for the crypto industry continued to block more aggressive regulation.

RUSSELLVILLE

MONTICELLO

DEWITT

CALS SPEAKER SERIES

Tim Alberta, The Kingdom, the Power, and The Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism

THURSDAY, MAY 9 | 6:30PM

The staff writer for The Atlantic follows up his New York Times bestseller American Carnage with this rigorously reported, and deeply personal examination of the divisions that threaten to destroy the American evangelical movement. CALS Executive Director Nate Coulter will moderate this Speaker Series event.

Tommy Orange, There There and Wandering Stars

THURSDAY, MAY 16 | 6:30PM

The New York Times bestselling author writes about a side of America few of us have ever seen: the lives of urban Native Americans. There There was longlisted for the National Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Orange’s latest novel, Wandering Stars, was released earlier this year. NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.

BY DANIEL GREAR AND OMAYA JONES

FRESHGRASS FESTIVAL

FRIDAY 5/17-SATURDAY 5/18. MOMENTARY, BENTONVILLE. $85-$110 PER DAY; $160-$375 FOR BOTH.

While FORMAT Fest — the other Walton-affiliated music festival in Northwest Arkansas — is taking a break in 2024, raising questions about its operational longevity, the longerrunning FreshGrass is alive and well. The fourth annual, two-day plunge into all things roots and bluegrass has a few repeat names from 2023 (we’re not complaining about seeing full-voiced flatpicker Molly Tuttle with her band Golden Highway, Fayetteville folksters Arkansauce and progressive banjoist Alison Brown two years in a row!), but the lineup is mostly new, with the unblinking Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit and the occasionally frenzied Trampled by Turtles

(pictured) leading the way as headliners. Other newcomers include politically charged folk rocker S.G. Goodman, blues and soul singer-songwriter Ruthie Foster and Valerie June, praised by Rolling Stone for merging “pop ambition, folksy open-heartedness and blues wisdom” on her excellent 2021 album, “The Moon and Stars: Prescription for Dreamers.” Also on the agenda are festival-specific commissions by Aoife O’Donovan and Hawktail; Eric Mingus; and Mr. Sun, who will perform a reinterpretation of Duke Ellington’s own interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite.” Get tickets at freshgrass.com. DG

TOMMY ORANGE

THURSDAY 5/16. RON ROBINSON THEATER. 6:30 P.M. FREE.

“There There” — the 2018 Pulitzer Prize-nominated debut novel by Tommy Orange — never settles on a point of view, switching frequently between first-, second- and third-person perspectives as it juggles 12 separate protagonists, each a city-dwelling Native American headed to the same sacred gathering in Oakland for a different reason. In less capable hands, the book could have been a mess. For Orange, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, it’s “an ambitious meditation on identity and its broken alternatives, on myth filtered through the lens of time and poverty and urban life, on tradition all the more pressing because of its fragility,” according to The New York Times. His new book, “Wandering Stars,” hovers somewhere between being a prequel and sequel to “There There” by zeroing in on the ancestry of one of its characters, and spotlighting the ways in which violence and forced assimilation in the 19th century still impact the present moment. As part of the Central Arkansas Library System Speaker Series, Orange will discuss his work alongside moderator and Cherokee writer Andrea L. Rogers. Both Orange and Rogers are graduates of the Institute for American Indian Arts, the institution responsible for “Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s to 1970s,” which is on display at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts until May 26. Get tickets at cals.org. DG

NICKEL CREEK

THURSDAY 5/2. THE HALL. 8 P.M. $40-$154.

Despite being bluegrass aficionados, Nickel Creek — founded in 1989 by Chris Thile (mandolin) and siblings Sara (fiddle) and Sean Watkins (guitar) when all three were merely preteens — has always kept the genre at an arm’s length. The trio certainly boasts the chops to traffic exclusively in traditional music (no list of the best mandolin players in the world is complete without Thile), but they’ve always had a soft spot for poppiness, too, meaning that their respectful renditions of hand-me-down folk ditties and rhythmically sophisticated original instrumentals are sandwiched in between songs that highlight their gifts as sugary stringers of melody. No matter how technical the group can sometimes get, what keeps them from losing orbit is their vocal chemistry, with Sara Watkins’ often plaintive delivery offering a counterpoint to Thile’s piercingly precise tenor. Their last two albums — 2014’s “A Dotted Line” and 2023’s “Celebrants” — were both released after several years of hiatus, so don’t miss out on what might be another short-lived reunion. Guatemalan singersongwriter Gaby Moreno is set to open. Get tickets at littlerockhall.com. DG

JOSH

GOLEMAN

BALLET ARKANSAS: ‘BRAVO’

THURSDAY 5/2, SATURDAY 5/4-SUNDAY 5/5. ARKANSAS MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS. 7 P.M. THU.; 2:30 AND 7:30 P.M. SAT.; 2:30 P.M. SUN. $25-$45.

Zenith. Climax. These are just two of the auspicious words Ballet Arkansas is using to describe “Bravo,” the last mainstage show of their 45th season and their first performance at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Art’s Performing Arts Theater since the facility reopened in 2023. The reason for the hype probably has something to do with the fact that “Bravo,” a fusion of modern and classical dancing, features the world premiere of choreography by Tsai Hsi Hung, Alia Kache — set to a score by Little Rock’s Florence Price — and Executive and Artistic Director Michael Fothergill, who, alongside his wife Catherine, assumed leadership of the nonprofit in 2017. Pianist Fei-Fei Dong, a Juilliard graduate and a current doctoral student at the Manhattan School of Music who Cleveland Classical referred to as “remarkably talented,” will provide music for the entirety of the program, which also includes the regional debut of David Bintley’s “Galanteries,” with original sets and costumes borrowed from the Birmingham Royal Ballet in England. Get tickets at balletarkansas.org.

DG

ARKANSAS TALENT FINALS

SATURDAY 5/11-SUNDAY 5/12. ROBINSON CENTER. 7:30 SAT.; 3 P.M. SUN. $19-$92.

Whenever an Arkansan makes their way onto a show like “American Idol” or “The Voice,” it’s hard not to root for the hometown hero, even if you’re a little cynical. The next best thing might be the first-ever Arkansas Talent, an Arkansas Symphony Orchestra-sponsored singing competition that started with an open call for auditioners at the River Market Pavilion in November (nearly 100 singers showed up), and is now approaching its conclusion. Ranging in age from 13-52, only six contestants remain: Rachel Kamphausen, Marcus Murphy and Mya Little, who will compete on Saturday night; and Yni Bernalte, Kyndal Collins and Kim Qualls, who will compete on Sunday afternoon. Each will sing a song with symphony accompaniment, and two winners — one from each day — will be rewarded with a headlining spot in the ASO’s “Home for the Holidays” concert in December. The competition’s three judges — all of whom will also perform — are singer-songwriter Bonnie Montgomery, who comfortably straddles operatic prowess and country authenticity; Rodney Block, Little Rock’s favorite trumpeter and bandleader; and “American Idol” Season 8 winner Kris Allen. Get tickets at arkansassymphony.org. DG

ARKANSAS TIMES FILM SERIES: ‘LATE SPRING’

TUESDAY 5/21. RIVERDALE 10 VIP CINEMA. 7 P.M. $12$14.

In the Japanese drama “Late Spring” (1949), the 27-year-old Noriko (Setsuko Hara) happily shares a home with her father, Shukichi Somiya (Chishū Ryū), a professor and widower. They’ve found a sort of platonic ideal of a living arrangement with Noriko taking care of the house and seeing to her father’s needs — at least until Shukichi’s sister, Aunt Masa (Haruko Sugimura), exerts pressure on Noriko to get married before it’s too late and pushes Shukichi to let her go. Knowing that Noriko would never abandon him, Shukichi deceives his daughter by pretending to pursue a marriage of his own so that she will willingly move on with her life. Subtle and devastating, Roger Ebert described “Late Spring” as a film about two people who are “undone by their tact, their concern for each other, and their need to make others comfortable by seeming to agree with them.” It’s also the first entry in Japanese filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu’s “Noriko Trilogy,” a thematically united but narratively unconnected series of films. Each movie features Hara in the role of Noriko, but every Noriko is a different person, aside from their shared identity as a single woman in postwar Japan. Get tickets at riverdale10.com. OJ/DG

JANUS

FILMS

ZACH BRYAN

MONDAY 5/13-TUESDAY 5/14. SIMMONS BANK ARENA. 7 P.M. $59-$479.

For being one of the moment’s biggest country stars, Oklahoma native Zach Bryan is pretty rough around the edges. Remarkably comfortable with discontent, Bryan — who spent eight years as an active-duty member of the Navy — lugs around a tough and unmanicured voice that gives off the impression that he’s singing only for himself, not the 30 million monthly listeners he’s amassed on Spotify since releasing his first record in 2019. Even “I Remember Everything,” his Grammywinning collaboration with Kacey Musgraves, is carried by an understated chorus that doesn’t force the listener into submission. “Strange words come on out / Of a grown man’s mouth when his mind’s broke,” the pair sing together, providing just enough detail to get your imagination going. Bryan’s openers for his two-night stand at Simmons Bank Arena are The Middle East, an indie folk band from Australia, and singer-songwriter Levi Turner, the first artist signed to Bryan’s label imprint, Belting Bronco Records. Get tickets at ticketmaster.com. DG

PETT, ZILLA

SATURDAY 5/11. VINO’S. 7 P.M. $10.

It’s easy to slot PETT and Zilla (pictured) — two of Little Rock’s most engaging rock outfits — into opposing categories; the former is fundamentally serious and the latter is, well, fundamentally committed to goofing off. Put them on the same stage, though, and suddenly the middle of their Venn diagram begins blurring and expanding. Alongside Zilla’s zany antics, PETT starts to feel like a looser, more energetic band, their bouncy guitar work and dancy drums coming into focus. And with the help of PETT’s emotional attunement, Zilla’s jokester posture seems up to something deeper — an exploration of the limits of youthfulness, perhaps. Completing this bill are two singersongwriters: Russellville’s Joshua Cannon and Fort Smith’s Maxx Lemaster. Get tickets at vinosbrewpub.com. DG

MILES MASON

SHELL, YEAH!

Arkansas Times Tacos & Tequila is here to help you beat the heat.

BY BECCA BONA

If you think every day should be Taco Tuesday, then it’s time to salsa down to an event we designed exclusively for you. You’re invited to this year’s Arkansas Times Tacos & Tequila on Thursday, May 23, from 6-9 p.m. in the River Market Pavilion.

Peruse the best of the best, help vote for the coveted Golden Taco Award and sip on smooth tequila provided by Tres Generaciones and Hornitos Tequila. The evening promises delicious food, refreshing beverages and upbeat entertainment, all included in the price of admission.

Early-bird tickets are on sale now for just $35 each, but act soon because prices jump to $45 one week before the event. For those craving top-shelf treatment, $100 VIP tickets offer exclusive perks, including early entry to the event, private seating, an original catered menu, and the ultimate perk: access to a private bar and bartender.

Prepare to feast on the culinary delights of Mockingbird Bar & Tacos, Chepe’s Mexican Grill, Casa Manana (the River Market location), Capo’s Tacos and more! Tickets are available at centralarkansastickets.com; you must be 21 or older to enter.

CANNABIS & WELLNESS EXPO

SATURDAY, AUGUST 17 10 A.M. - 4:20 P.M.

SIMMONS BANK ARENA NORTH LITTLE ROCK

CALLING CALIPARI

HOW THE RAZORBACKS WOOED A BASKETBALL A-LISTER TO ARKANSAS.

BY RHETT BRINKLEY AND BRIAN SORENSEN

On the eve of April’s NCAA men’s national championship game between Connecticut and Purdue, it wasn’t the Huskies or the Boilermakers in ESPN’s top headline. The biggest game of the year had been eclipsed — for the moment, at least — with a story about Razorback basketball. Next to a picture of longtime Kentucky head coach John Calipari read the headline: “Sources: Calipari finalizing deal with Arkansas.”

Wess Moore of KLRT-TV, FOX16 in Little Rock provided the first report that Arkansas had zeroed in on Calipari. The news came less than two weeks after the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville’s athletic director, Hunter Yurachek, tweeted a campy video of himself boarding the “Muss Bus,” prompting many fans to believe Razorback head coach Eric Musselman would be returning for a sixth season in Fayetteville, despite heavily circulated rumors that he had taken an interest in several other recent head coaching vacancies. As it turns out, the video was doctored from a few years ago, and the new version wasn’t made in collaboration with Musselman, who packed his bags for the University of Southern California a week later.

Beau Wilcox wrote for the Arkansas Times that, athletically speaking, Calipari is the

splashiest hire ever made by the university. Calipari, 65, is a Naismith Hall of Famer who has won a national championship and been to six Final Fours with three different teams. Though his Final Four appearances at both the University of Massachusetts and Memphis were vacated due to infractions, Calipari was not implicated in either case. His record at the University of Kentucky in 15 seasons was 410-123 with four Final Four appearances and the 2012 national title.

The Wednesday following the 2024 national championship game, the UA Board of Trustees unanimously approved Calipari’s $7 million salary, which includes annual retention bonuses of $500,000 with incentive opportunities contingent on postseason wins. (Musselman, by contrast, made $4.2 million a year at Arkansas.) Later that evening, an estimated 7,000 Hog fans packed into Bud Walton Arena for Calipari’s introductory press conference.

Most of the lower bowl on the south side of Bud Walton was full. Several former players — Corey Beck, Joe Johnson and Joe Kleine, to name a few — were on hand. One important dignitary in attendance was John Tyson, chairman of the board of Tyson Foods and grandson of the company’s founder. Tyson had a major role in recruiting Calipari to Ar-

kansas (the two are longtime friends), and he received the second-loudest ovation from fans when introduced by Yurachek. Yurachek said the Tyson family and Warren Stephens and the Stephens family of Little Rock “joined forces together to make certain we could offer the type of package that would lure Coach Cal to Fayetteville.” Wilcox wrote for this publication that it is a bold, brazen declaration that Arkansas — and, in particular, John Tyson — isn’t going to be an NIL (name, image, likeness) doormat. Since the NCAA adopted an NIL policy in 2021, student athletes can legally earn compensation beyond scholarships through endorsement deals and promotional appearances. Schools have independent collectives — essentially legal booster pools made up of donations from fans and donors. Arkansas Edge is the collective that funds student athletes at the University of Arkansas. Though increases in NIL funding for Razorback recruits are private, Calipari — who is known for signing athletes that end up with first-round NBA contracts — likely wouldn’t have come to Arkansas if the NIL collective’s offers were lagging behind other schools.

“Making millions of dollars of commitment to the university and the program is a big deal for Tyson and his company. But it’s

A DIFFERENT KIND OF GREETING: Razorbacks basketball coach John Calipari (left) and athletic director Hunter Yurachek (right) field questions at Calipari’s introductory press conference.

BRIAN SORENSEN

a priceless endeavor to Hog fans everywhere, who have yearned for that kind of investment,” Wilcox wrote.

Unsurprisingly, the loudest response of the press conference was reserved for the new coach.

“I have never gotten that kind of greeting in this building,” Calipari said, referring to his previous visits as the coach of the opposing team. “As a matter of fact, you were probably in the building when they threw me out before the game ended.” He was referring to the 2020 matchup with the Hogs at Bud Walton in which he was ejected by the referees with the score tied. The game ended in a 73-66 win for Kentucky.

The coaching search conducted by Yurachek was quick, but not without drama. Message boards were filled with speculation about who the next leader of the basketball program would be. As each day passed, concern grew that the big names had gotten away and the Hogs would settle on a B-lister.

A B-lister John Calipari is not, and hauling him in is perhaps Yurachek’s finest accomplishment as the University of Arkansas’s top sports administrator.

The Razorbacks have a rich history of success under legendary coaches Eddie Sutton and Nolan Richardson, but the 1994 championship under Richardson is the standard by which all seasons will be judged. The years following Richardson’s firing in 2002 weren’t so fun. Stan Heath and John Pelphrey tried to reach the bar that was set in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, but had a hard time winning games and reaching postseason play. Richardson protege Mike Anderson returned to the Razorback bench in 2011 and restored respectability. Under Musselman’s guidance the Hogs reached NCAA Tournament relevance once again with a pair of Elite Eights and three Sweet Sixteens.

Now the hope is that Calipari can bring another championship to Fayetteville.

The new Hog head man was talkative, reflective and charming as he covered a range of topics during a Q&A with “The Voice of the Razorbacks,” Chuck Barrett. As he did in his video farewell to the Kentucky Wildcats the day before, Calipari expressed appreciation for his 15 years with the school. “We loved our time there,” he told the crowd. “We gave every ounce of everything we had to that job, that state and that school. So, I walk away sad, but no regrets. We left nothing on the table.”

Like many who leave a longtime place of employment, the feeling is bittersweet. Yes, he’s sad to say goodbye to old friends and colleagues. But he’s excited about a fresh start

and new challenge. “Kentucky is the bluest of the blue,” said Calipari, referencing the blue blood status of Wildcat basketball. “There’s only a few schools like that, and I hate to tell you, but Arkansas is one of ’em.”

It’s going to be a tough transition for some Razorback fans, who have spent years rooting against Calipari. He’s always been seen as a slick-talking guy from the northeast, a far cry from the salt-of-the-earth people here in Arkansas. What most didn’t realize back then — and what Calipari was quick to inform them of on Wednesday — is that he grew up like many in the audience.

“My dad worked in the mill in western PA [Pennsylvania],” he said. “Then he worked as a baggage handler. He worked until the age of 70 and he’s still going strong at 91. My mom worked in the cafeteria at the junior high school. She had the white suit and sold the ice cream. We grew up Friday-to-Friday. Some of you young people don’t know what Friday-to-Friday is. You get a paycheck and you’re making it to next Friday. Thursday is a tough day. It’s how I grew up.”

Top of mind was the question of how Calipari would manage to build a roster after the mass exodus of players following the 2023-24 season. At the time of the press conference there were zero scholarship players slated for next year’s roster. In late April at the time of this writing, two players had committed: Zvonimir Ivišić, a freshman from Croatia who played for Calipari at Kentucky last season; and Karter Knox, a five-star high school recruit who had previously committed to Kentucky.

“It may take a little longer because there are kids that put their names in the NBA Draft that are going to go through some of the process,” Calipari said. “Which means: Do you wait for that kid or take someone that’s not as good? So you’re going to be juggling balls.”

He was asked about the kind of players he’s looking to bring to Fayetteville.

“If you’re not into basketball, you won’t come here. If you’re smokin’, drinkin’, clubbin’, chasin,’ [you won’t come here]. This is about being at a place that is zeroed in on a culture that creates professional habits. And that includes academically.”

Calipari described himself as a “gatherer.” Bringing fans, a staff and a team together, he said, is his specialty.

“It’s what I’ve always tried to do,” he said. “It’s me getting a team to understand how you have to work — you ready for this? — together. Not work by yourself, you do it together. And then, having a dream and a burning desire to compete for championships. Why am I here? That’s why I’m here.”

THE FALCON IN THE ROOM: After the release of a legislative audit report on April 15, the governor finally deigned to allow the media to photograph her high-dollar lectern.

BRIAN CHILSON

HOW A $19K LECTERN STOLE THE SHOW.

BY MATT CAMPBELL, AUSTIN GELDER AND BENJAMIN HARDY

THE IRONY OF LECTERNGATE IS THAT

nobody would ever have known a thing about it had Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders not worked so hard to hide other information from the public.

In the spring and summer of 2023, the Arkansas State Police began withholding records on where the governor was flying on a state-owned airplane, who was going with her and how much it was all costing taxpayers. Such information had always been publicly available under the state Freedom of Information Act. But after Sanders took office, Arkansas State Police attorneys began denying FOIA requests about her flights, citing safety concerns for the governor and her family. (Security concerns generally aren’t considered a valid FOIA exemption.)

In June, Sanders and others took a trip to Europe for the Paris Air Show, with stopovers in England, Germany and Italy. After the state police refused to disclose the cost of sending deputies on the trade mission, Blue Hog Report blogger Matt Campbell filed a lawsuit for the records in early September.

Campbell may have had the law on his side, but the governor and her allies had the power to change it, or try to. Within days, Sanders called a special session of the Arkansas Legislature to rewrite the Arkansas FOIA, long hailed as one of the strongest state government transparency laws in the country.

By the time lawmakers convened Sept. 11, Sanders was pushing a bill that would have allowed the governor and other top state officials to essentially operate in the dark. Government agencies would have been able to conceal deliberative documents and communications, meaning anything regarding decisions not yet made. In other words, Arkansans would have the right to know about the workings of their government only after the fact.

In response to this broad attack on transparency, Campbell began tweeting examples of information that would be exempt from public disclosure under the proposed law. Among them was a $19,029 expenditure on the governor’s office’s state-issued credit card on June 12 to a company owned by Virginia Beckett, a D.C.-area events manager and

Editor’s note: Matt Campbell, the lead author of this piece, is also a key player in the story itself. The attorney behind the Blue Hog Report blog, Campbell submitted a Freedom of Information Act request last summer that first revealed a mysterious $19,000 payment from Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ office to a company owned by a friend of the governor. A subsequent FOIA request showed the expenditure was for the now-infamous lectern. For simplicity’s sake, this article refers to Campbell — who is now an investigative reporter for the Arkansas Times — in third person.

a friend of Sanders.

Ultimately, Sanders’ ambitions to gut the FOIA had to be scaled back in the face of bipartisan opposition. The special session ended a few days later, after legislators passed a narrower FOIA exemption that concealed only records related to the governor’s security detail and travel (along with a separate bill giving a tax cut to upper-income Arkansans). But the governor’s power grab had stirred up discontent among some Republican lawmakers that lingered long after the session was over — and focused new public attention on her spending.

Shortly after that tweet, Campbell heard through the grapevine that the $19,029 purchase was for “a podium.” (To set the semantic record straight: Technically, a lectern is the thing you stand behind while speaking, while a podium is something you stand on, though lecterns are often referred to as podiums.) A follow-up FOIA request turned up an invoice from Beckett Events for a “39-inch Custom Falcon Podium.” Falcon-style lecterns, which have a sleek, hourglass-esque profile, are patterned off a design created by the White House under George W. Bush and have been used by presidents ever since.

On the invoice was a handwritten note: “To be reimbursed –LH.” Unbeknownst to the governor’s staff, however, a state employee had already provided Campbell with a copy of the Beckett invoice, without the handwritten note, a day earlier.

As reporters began asking why the governor paid so much for a piece of furniture, the governor’s office went on the offensive.

“These desperate radical left keyboard warriors spread outright lies and try to manufacture a controversy where one does not exist,” Sanders spokeswoman Alexa Henning said at the time. Any issues with the purchase stemmed from an “accounting error,” and the Republican Party of Arkansas “reimbursed” the state for the expense, Henning said.

So it had — but it did so on Sept. 14, three months after the payment to Beckett Events, but just three days after Campbell began asking questions about it. “To be reimbursed” was written on the invoice only after the check arrived from the Republican Party in September, as emails from a state agency soon revealed. (The “LH” on the note appears to refer to Laura Hamilton, an executive assistant in the governor’s office.)

Those details and others were corroborated by the account of an anonymous whistleblower who stepped forward in late September. A former state employee, she claimed to have firsthand knowledge of how people in the governor’s office, including Henning, tried to keep records buried. By the end of September, state Sen. Jimmy Hickey (R-Texarkana) announced he was asking the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee to look into both the purchase of the lectern itself and any records newly rendered secret by Sanders’ FOIA rollback passed during the special session.

Lecterngate was national news by October, and the governor’s office’s surly, dismissive denials only added fuel to the fire. Red herrings soon spawned: Did the lectern even exist? Did the $19,000 go elsewhere? Some

thought the money may have covered the cost of a jaunt to England for Sanders and her friends during last summer’s trip to Europe, or perhaps first-class plane tickets for the governor’s children. Sophisticated theorists considered the possibility that Virginia Beckett and her business partner had been paid not for a lectern, but to arrange a quiet meeting between Sanders and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin to hash out plans for a possible 2024 Republican presidential ticket.

The answers remained hidden, as did the lectern itself: Though it was purchased from the governor’s office by the state GOP, neither Sanders nor any other Republican official used it for months on end. And so things stood for more than six months, until legislators finally released the audit results to the public April 15.

So how does one end up paying $19,000 for a lectern? The report includes a breakdown.

The lectern cost $11,575, and a travel case was another $2,200. Shipping and delivery for both items were $1,225 and $975, respectively. Beckett and her business partner, Hannah Salem Stone, reaped an unspecified $2,500 consulting fee. (Stone is Sanders’ former Trump White House co-worker, and her company, Salem Strategies, also worked on the governor’s campaign and inauguration.) Because the purchase was made with a state credit card, it included a $554 processing fee.

Auditors said the cost and shipping of the

CLAIM:

The audit exonerated the governor and was nothing more than “wasting significant taxpayer resources just to conclude … that no laws were broken.”

— Sanders’ Deputy Chief of Staff Judd Deere

FACT:

The report identified multiple laws potentially broken by Sanders’ office. Auditors referred their findings to Pulaski County Prosecutor Will Jones to determine whether any criminal charges should be filed.

CLAIM:

“The podium and travel case price was not found to be unreasonable.” — Sanders’ office, describing the audit report’s findings.

FACT:

Auditors said the $2,200 travel case price “appeared reasonable,” but they couldn’t say the same about the lectern, because the vendors used by the governor’s office refused to answer their questions. “It should be noted that similar non-customized Falcon-style podiums can be purchased from online vendors starting at approximately $7,000, as opposed to the $11,575 amount allocated to the custom Falcon podium listed on the Beckett Events invoice breakdown,” the report notes.

travel case “appeared reasonable,” as did the lectern shipping fee. They were unable to determine whether the cost of the lectern itself or the consulting charge was reasonable, however, because Beckett, Stone and the New York-based company that manufactured the lectern wouldn’t talk. Legislative audit staff “made repeated attempts to obtain the specific custom specifications of the podium from three vendors, and none responded,” the report says, adding that similar models “can be purchased from online vendors starting at approximately $7,000.”

Exorbitant pricing aside, the audit report paints a picture of a governor’s staff that dragged their collective feet during the investigation, failed to provide information requested by auditors and violated state transparency and purchasing laws. Sanders herself wouldn’t meet with auditors.

Auditors documented seven areas of potential noncompliance with state law. They include paying for the lectern before it was delivered, failing to properly record the purchase, selling state property without going through the proper channels, and modifying an invoice months after it was received, which conflicts with a state law about tampering with a public record.

Auditors referred their findings to Pulaski County Prosecutor Will Jones and Attorney General Tim Griffin to determine whether any criminal charges should be filed. While it remains to be seen whether Jones will do anything with the report, it is likely Griffin will not. The attorney general is a reliable supporter of Sanders’ authoritarian tendencies. Just days before the audit’s release, Griffin’s office put out an opinion saying governors are exempt from nearly all state procurement and property disposal laws.

Despite saying last fall that her office had followed “standard operating procedure” for any state purchase when it bought the lectern, Sanders latched onto Griffin’s argument. The governor’s office’s response to the audit declares that the office doesn’t need to follow the accounting rules that apply to other state entities. It calls the audit a “waste of state time and resources” and the report “deeply flawed,” while also insisting it exonerates both the office and the governor. “No laws were broken. No fraud was committed,” the letter says, while repeatedly lying about what the report actually contains.

The day after the report was released, the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee met to review the findings. Sanders did not attend, instead sending two senior staffers to answer legislators’ inquiries.

Lawmakers were split between those who

seemed concerned about the audit’s findings and those more concerned with providing cover for the governor. Sen. Mark Johnson (R-Little Rock) apologized to Sanders and her staff and claimed she was “the victim of a weaponized political process.”

But not every Republican was as eager to make excuses for Sanders. Sen. John Payton (R-Wilburn) asked why the governor had not simply admitted that her staffers made a mistake when the issue was discovered and apologized to the public. Deputy Chief of Staff Judd Deere wouldn’t hear of it.

“It was not a mistake,” Deere said. Taking issue with Payton’s claim that the “standard lectern” was not worth the price tag, Deere countered, “it is not a standard lectern; it is custom to a specific height.”

That’s false: The lectern Sanders received was 44 inches tall, the same as a standard Falcon-style model. The audit report describes how the lectern was commissioned to be 39 inches tall — to best accommodate Sanders while wearing 2-inch heels, according to Sanders’ chief legal counsel, Cortney Kennedy — but was not built to those specifications, despite the $2,500 “consulting fee” and inflated price.

Deere also struggled when Sen. Greg Leding (D-Fayetteville) asked him to explain the contradiction between the audit report’s finding that the lectern contained no elec-

ODIUM FROM THE PODIUM: Sanders, standing behind the borrowed lectern that would inspire her to purchase her own, used her inaugural address to attack “indoctrination,” Washington, D.C., and other right-wing bogeymen.

BRIAN CHILSON

QUESTIONS AND EVASIONS: (from top) Republican state Sen. Jimmy Hickey requested the legislative audit last fall; a schematic of the lectern included in the audit report; Sanders’ Deputy Chief of Staff Judd Deere and Chief Legal Counsel Cortney Kennedy testify before state lawmakers on April 16.

CLAIM:

“We would welcome the opportunity to show it, just as we have shown it to members of the press who have asked to see it.”

— Judd Deere to legislators

FACT:

Multiple media outlets had been asking to see the audit since September. With the exception of a single Arkansas DemocratGazette photographer, all were denied until after the audit hearing on April 16.

tronic components and a statement made by Sanders in October that the lectern’s cost was due in part to special audio features.

Deere said there was no discrepancy. The lectern includes a reading light and holes through which sound equipment wires could be run in the future, he said.

Rep. Tippi McCullough (D-Little Rock) asked whether the governor’s office had attempted to help auditors get in touch with Beckett or Stone, since staff had frequent communication with both women during the ordering process. Kennedy told McCullough she had “sent two emails,” one each to Beckett and Stone, at the auditors’ request. The governor’s office sent one additional email to the vendors in January, according to the audit report, but “failed to attach” auditors’ questions.

Rep. Carol Dalby (R-Texarkana), an attorney, asked Kennedy about the alteration of the Beckett invoice to say “To be reimbursed” after Campbell requested the document through the FOIA. Kennedy said adding such a note is a common government practice used to keep track of information.

The audit report does not exonerate Sanders. But it’s on brand for the governor to insist that it does.

BRIAN CHILSON

AN ABBREVIATED LECTERNGATE TIMELINE

January 2023:

Arkansas’s new governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, gives her inaugural address behind a blue-and-wood-grain, Falcon-style lectern provided by a company hired to help plan the inauguration, Salem Strategies. The company is owned by D.C. consultant Hannah Salem Stone, a friend of Sanders.

February-March:

The governor’s office asks Stone to get them a lectern like the one they’d borrowed from her for the inauguration. Stone estimates it will cost $10,000 to $15,000.

April:

The governor’s office asks Stone to proceed with the purchase. Stone’s business partner, Virginia Beckett, gets in on the deal.

May:

Stone sends the governor’s office a $21,475 invoice. Questioned about the higher-than-projected cost, Stone applies a $3,000 “Preferred Costumer [sic] Discount,” bringing the total down to $18,475. The Department of Transformation and Shared Services (DTSS), the state agency responsible for certain purchases and maintaining financial records, tells the governor’s staff they can’t prepay for something that hasn’t been delivered.

June:

Despite the inflated price, the governor’s staff pushes ahead. They dodge the restriction on prepayment by asking DTSS to raise the credit limit on a governor’s office credit card from $5,000 to $25,000.

August:

The lectern arrives at the Capitol. Its dimensions do not match the 39inch custom height specifications.

September:

The governor’s office asks the Republican Party of Arkansas to pay for the lectern after blogger Matt Campbell begins requesting documents about it. The RPA agrees. An executive assistant from the governor’s office is told to write “to be reimbursed” on the invoice, but not to date the notation.

October:

After a flurry of bad press surrounding the unorthodox purchase, lawmakers ask state auditors to investigate. Sanders tells reporters the purchase was handled in compliance with state law.

November:

Auditors try to get in touch with Beckett, Stone and Miller’s Millworks, the company that built the lectern. Despite multiple requests, none of the three will agree to be interviewed.

February 2024:

Auditors investigating the lectern purchase ask to speak with the governor. Sanders declines the invitation.

April:

The audit is released, detailing multiple instances of potential wrongdoing. Auditors send their findings to the Pulaski County prosecutor.

See if any of this sounds familiar: A first-time candidate spins name recognition, grievance politics and Lee Greenwood lyrics into a winning campaign. The leader soon fires or reassigns longtime employees and replaces them with loyal lackeys who have no clue how to run a government. It’s a bull-in-achina-shop approach to governing. That bull isn’t there to apologize! It’s there to cause a big scene, break stuff and then leave. Among the broken things is maybe a law or two.

Investigations ensue. With signature slack-faced delivery and muscle memory for shameless deflection, the leader accuses the accusers of the real wrongdoing. What do investigators know? It’s all fake news! But it’s also wise to cover one’s bases, so the leader dispatches the contradictory message that the results of any investigation, be it by Robert Mueller or Arkansas auditors, are both a witch hunt and a total exoneration. Repeat this line long enough and loudly enough and it might just take. When all else fails, put out some cringey social media posts and pretend none of it ever happened.

Following Donald Trump’s playbook makes perfect sense for a governor who staked her campaign mostly on her connection to Trump himself. And, honestly … why not? Trump might be in legal peril in multiple courts and jurisdictions, but he’s also the Republican choice for president in 2024. So far, criminal indictments have only supercharged his fundraising and poll numbers.

CLAIM:

“The

GO [governor’s office] welcomed this audit, encouraged the General Assembly to complete it quickly and was cooperative and accommodating to ALA’s [Legislative Audit’s] requests.”

—

Sanders’ response to auditors

FACT: Sanders declined auditors’ request for an interview.

Whether we’ll eventually see Sanders in a courtroom hot seat like her old boss remains to be seen. Local prosecutor Jones, who was elected in 2022, is relatively unknown and may be wary of taking on the governor.

There’s still the question of federal charges. Attorney Tom Mars, who represents the former state employee who blew the whistle last fall, has hinted on social media that something might be in the works. Asked recently whether federal law enforcement was looking into the matter, Mars responded, “I’m not trying to be evasive, but I can’t answer that.” He noted that a grand jury subpoena explicitly warns against disclosing even the receipt of such a subpoena.

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Star Material

Meet our 2024 class of Arkansas Times Academic All-Stars.

BY RHETT BRINKLEY, MATT CAMPBELL, GRIFFIN COOP, AUSTIN GELDER, DANIEL GREAR, MARY HENNIGAN, JEANNIE ROBERTS AND STEPHANIE SMITTLE

Just when we’re pulling out our boxes of Kleenex and donning our dark sunglasses to mourn the loss of decency and hope in the world, our new class of Academic All-Stars comes bounding into view, reminding us that all is not lost — that the kids are, in fact, alright. This year marks the 30th roster of Arkansas Times Academic All-Stars: 20 exceptional students chosen from a pool of applicants from across the state, each nominated by their high school counselor or principal. Past winners have gone on to become innovators in the fields of engineering, medicine, technology, the arts and science — like Crystal Morrison, a past All-Star we revisited in this month’s installment of Savvy (see Page 56). Read on and recharge your sense of optimism with our profiles of this year’s All-Stars — among them robotics whizzes, founders of nonprofits, math competition champs, budding health care trailblazers and tenacious food bank volunteers — followed by the list of finalists and nominees.

BRIAN CHILSON

JOSHUa OFODIlE

Age: 18

Hometown: Fayetteville High School: Haas Hall Academy

Parents: Uche Ewelukwa and Anthony Ofodile College plans: Yale University

Joshua Ofodile’s record consists of perfect marks, national merits and leadership positions in quiz bowl, basketball and tennis. He’s on track to attend Yale, and he doesn’t plan to pump the brakes on his successes any time soon. Joshua is the son of two Nigerian immigrants, and he carries an additional sense of pressure to make the most out of the opportunity his parents have given him, he said. Exposure to high school government classes and watching his mother take photos for her passport after 10 years in the naturalization process sparked Joshua’s interest in political science. “I want to amend the processes that alienate people rather than bring them together,” he said. In March, Joshua was one of two Arkansas students chosen for a trip to Washington, D.C., as part of the United States Senate Youth Program. Joshua sat in on the State of the Union address, met President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, heard from a variety of the country’s leaders and even asked Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg a question. He’s planning to use his interests in politics to further his education of the world around him and possibly as a propeller into law school. And maybe, one day down the road, Joshua might run for a local office as a way to give back to his community, he said. When he’s not busy with academics or sports, Joshua loves to watch and review movies. Ryan Gosling is his favorite actor and “La La Land,” “Whiplash” and “The Prestige” top his movie chart. MH

aHMaD alaM

Age: 17

Hometown: Little Rock

High School: Little Rock Central High School

Parents: Zainab Siddiqui and Muhammad Alam College Plans: Columbia University

Ahmad Alam knows how to have fun. He just has to schedule it first. The Little Rock Central High School senior’s schedule stays so full between multiple AP classes, Robotics Club and volunteer engagements that he keeps two calendars to keep up with it all: his online Google Calendar and a hard-copy planner. “I love to hang out with friends, bowling and playing pool, but I have to schedule it on my calendar or it won’t happen.” Ahmad is not only ranked third in his class of 531 students, but he’s also a co-author of a UA Little Rock research manuscript on sustainable materials. He spends several hours a week on the research, which has paid off by him winning multiple science fair competitions at both regional and state levels. Ahmad has made significant contributions to the Madina Afghani Resettlement Program, for which he tutors children of Afghani refugee families and helps them get accustomed to life in the U.S. He has also served as vice president of the Muslim Student Association, and helped organize several community events, including fundraisers for flood victims and food drives for the less fortunate. No doubt, all that time management will come in handy when he becomes a neurosurgeon. “I like to describe myself as someone who pushes themselves to the limit,” he said. “I work as hard as I can, but I also make sure I’m able to relax. It’s important to find a balance. That’s how I roll. I have to relax so I can keep everything rolling.” JR

Clara NiKKEl

Age: 18

Hometown: Batesville High School: Batesville High School

Parents: Brad and Amanda Nikkel College plans: University of Arkansas at Fayetteville

“Chemistry makes the world make sense” is not the kind of thing most of us will ever mutter. But, then again, most of us are not Clara Nikkel. The top-ranked senior at Batesville High School, Clara said her fascination with chemistry started in sixth grade but really took off her sophomore year when she took Pre-AP Chemistry

and Pre-AP Biology at the same time. “I was astonished by the similarities between them,” she explained. Her junior year, Clara got the opportunity to do college-level research at Lyon College, modifying tuberculosis medication to fight drug resistance. Not that chemistry or academics are the only thing Clara thinks about, mind you; her guidance counselor describes Clara as “one of the most academically and personally driven students” she’s seen in 25 years as an educator. That personal drive explains why, even with nine Advanced Placement courses in two years, Clara still finds time to run track and cross-country and coach gymnastics in her free time. “My schedule just kind of makes itself,” she said with a chuckle. That self-making schedule has worked out well for Clara, too, leading to 36 on the ACT, a 1540 on the SAT, and a 4.25 GPA and giving Clara plenty of options for where she could pursue her dream and study pharmaceutical research. Though she originally wanted to attend Washington University in St. Louis, she decided to stay in Arkansas and attend the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville after the school offered her an Honors College Fellowship. If keeping academic talent in-state got the same attention as landing a big football recruit, Clara’s decision to attend the U of A would be bigger news than any quarterback on The Hill in recent memory. MC

FiONa WOLtEr

Age: 18

Hometown: Little Rock

School: Episcopal Collegiate School

Parents: Dr. Keith Wolter and Dr. Jill Mhyre College plans: Princeton University

The award for Most Self-Aware Academic All-Star of 2024 goes to Fiona Wolter, a starry-eyed physicist and toga-partying Latin speaker who hits her reset button by hanging out with kids. Fiona accepts her well-deserved accolades with a caveat: “People who seem like they have it all together are doing it with a lot of support,” she said. “You don’t have to do it by yourself.” Keeping it together certainly requires support when the load includes varsity lacrosse, quiz bowl, Latin club, piano, math tutoring and camp counseling at Aldersgate and the Museum of Discovery. That’s all on top of maintaining the highest GPA in her class. At Princeton, Fiona hopes to study “the natural sciences, as well as the social sciences,” she said. Blending politics and philosophy to focus on environmental studies and environmental policy appeals to her. She’ll get to all that in the fall. This summer, though, she’s working at the Museum of Discovery. Fiona is a serious person, and being around enthusiastic children is both fun and rewarding. Plus, she gets to geek out about astronomy and physics with little people who are as curious as she is. AG

KeMiNG MeNG

Age: 17

Hometown: Fayetteville High School: Fayetteville High School

Parents: Aiying Shao and Xiangbo Meng College plans: Undecided

Keming Meng describes his father as “the hardest working person I’ve ever met,” and it sounds like the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Listing Keming’s achievements in math competitions alone would require about half the space on this magazine page, and what’s left would barely leave enough room for mentions of his successes in state, regional and national quiz bowls, science bowls and physics competitions. He brought home perfect scores on the ACT and PSAT, and his French horn playing qualified him for first chair of the Symphonic Band at the Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association. When this reporter suggested that he must be an exceptional French horn player to have attended a summer intensive at Interlochen Center for the Arts and acted as principal horn for Fayetteville High’s Wind Ensemble, Keming’s modesty was nearly comical. “I think I’m OK,” he said. Don’t mistake his reticence for dispassion, though; Keming lights up when he talks about his work with the Chinese Association of Northwest Arkansas Youth Service Club, where he’s helped coordinate an “Adopt A Street” event, assembled meal boxes for families in need through the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank, and helped organize a Chinese New Year celebration at his local library where he introduced his peers to traditions like the dragon dance. When he’s not tied up with that long list of noble pursuits, Keming likes to play Tetris and Minesweeper, and is a fan of Spider-Man comic books, which, he said, are entertaining “but also have a kernel of truth to them.” His college options are bountiful, but he’ll likely commit to attending Carnegie Mellon University, where he’ll study math and computer science. SS

aNaNYa UDDaNt I

Age: 17

Hometown: Little Rock

High School: Little Rock Central High School

Parents: Himabindu and Vithal Uddanti

College plans: Brown University and Brown Warren Alpert Medical School

Ananya Uddanti has been selling her homemade jewelry on Etsy since the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. But she doesn’t do it for herself. The Little Rock Central High senior uses the proceeds from the sales to support the education of two girls who live in the same part of India where her parents were raised. The girls speak Telugu, a language that Ananya can read, write and speak as well, including on her regular Zoom meetings with the two girls. The whole experience is important, Ananya said, because of the personal connections and because she knows the girls wouldn’t have the same educational opportunities without being a part of the program that brought them all together. “I’ve always valued education and I understand how privileged I am to be able to receive that,” she said. When she’s not helping people across the globe, Ananya is pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor. She’s the top-ranked student of 531 in her class and will enroll in an eight-year medical program at Brown University and Brown Warren Alpert Medical School in the fall. Ananya has also published a paper on post-colonial south India and is looking forward to the unique curriculum at Brown. Ananya said she wants to use her education and passions to make change in the world in whatever way she can. “I don’t think when I started making jewelry that I thought I’d be able to sponsor education, but here we are,” she said. GC

riLeY SaNDEr S

Age: 18

Hometown: Wynne High School: Wynne High School

Parents: Stephanie and Tom Sanders College plans: Emory University

Riley Sanders has won a statewide medical competition and has always liked biology, so it makes sense that she wants to enter the medical field where she can try her hand at research. Riley has already seen

the inside of a microbiology lab as part of clinicals for her medical lab class where she shadowed professionals working with culture samples, blood cultures and E. coli tests. Riley’s interest in the medical field is also evidenced by her work with Future Health Professionals. Riley won the organization’s statewide competition, which consisted of a 50-question test and performing one of 10 medical skills as directed by a judge. Riley’s work with sterile surgical gloves helped land her the competition’s top prize in medical assisting. It also happens to be where Riley sees herself in the future. “I definitely think health care is going to be where I have my career,” she said. Riley is the second-ranked student in her class of 171 at Wynne High School and her 1360 on the PSAT landed her a national award for high school students from rural areas. She is looking forward to continuing her education by majoring in biology at Emory University in Atlanta, which accepted her through Questbridge with a full-ride scholarship. Riley, who scored a 35 on the ACT, said she’s always been driven to learn new things and to get into a good college. “That’s always really motivated me,” she said. GC

EARLY LITERACY – WHERE IT STARTS,HOW IT’S GROWING

Early literacy development starts from birth and continues through the preschool years. It is the foundation of a child's journey towards achieving academic success and reaching their full potential. By investing in early childhood education programs, our fundholders are essential for ensuring the future growth and prosperity in Arkansas. Learn more about opportunities in every corner of our state.

I truly believe that supporting early childhood education solves social issues and makes our community a better place.

- Jane Hunt, Fundholder

“I love helping youth, and I love what I do. This isn’t work to me. This is a passion.”

–

Thurmeisha White, Youth Villages employee It takes a family to find just where you belong. Creative, adaptable, focused, resilient and determined. Is this you? The right path feels less like a job and more like a calling. Is this you? Doesn’t shy away from hard work with a powerful payoff. Is this you? A company with national reach that feels like a family. That’s Youth Villages.

DaNiEl SCHWaMMlEiN

Age: 18

Hometown: Fayetteville

High School: Thaden School

Parents: Jen and Brian Schwammlein College plans: Washington University

At 18, Daniel Schwammlein has already experienced some of life’s most grueling challenges. He’s watched two of his siblings receive cancer diagnoses, and saw one of them pass away as a child. Daniel quickly learned life isn’t guaranteed, and he has vowed to live a life that’s often bold, sometimes silly and always entirely himself. This comes through in Daniel’s academic excellence, his dedication to keep the Latin language alive, vigor on the ultimate Frisbee field, passion during school plays, and creativity as the dungeon master for his Dungeons and Dragons group. (He also made it a tradition to put caramel on pizza each time his party orders a pie for game night.) Every week, Daniel pushes the boundaries of style with “fashion risk Friday” — a day when Daniel may wear a soccer ball as a hat. “I love enjoying life [and] embracing my weirdness,” he said. But Daniel isn’t all play. A man of many talents already, Daniel’s interests primarily revolve around advancing storytelling, whether this be through drawing fantasy maps or leading a D&D campaign by candlelight. His dream is to become an independent video game developer, and he plans to hone his skills with a joint degree in computer science and business at Washington University in St. Louis. And if that’s not enough to keep him busy, Daniel also plans to continue studying Latin in college, where he hopes to find a larger Latin-speaking community. MH

CHaNDra SUDa

Age: 17

Hometown: Bentonville High School: Bentonville High School

Parents: Radhika and Vijaya Suda

College plans: Undecided

Bentonville High School senior Chandra Suda is the kind of kid who spends his free time thinking about how artificial intelligence can be harnessed to solve global health problems. To call this merely a curiosity, though, would be to sell short the myriad ways in which he’s put this passion into practice. One of the many fruits of his labor is the development of a mobile application with a machine learning model that uses cough audio recorded through the microphone of a smartphone to diagnose tuberculosis. “I like finding problems and fixing them,” Chandra said. “Tuberculosis is a common bacterial lung disease that disproportionately affects those in low- and middle-income countries. There’s a cure; it’s just the [lack of] access to the cure that’s causing those millions of deaths a year.” His work on the project has led to presentations at John Hopkins University and the NWA Summit; a four-week stint at MIT’s Beaver Works Summer Institute; internships at Harvard Medical School and Walmart Global Tech; and recognition as a Rise Global Winner. He has no interest in hoarding the knowledge he’s accumulated, though. Through AIMATE — his nonprofit organization — and a YouTube channel, he offers free, educational STEM content via articles, workshops and videos “because,” he said, “as of now, there isn’t much learning for AI questions for high school students.” He also volunteers extensively with the Missouri-Arkansas chapter of the American Red Cross, where he oversees over 250 people as the team lead of the organization’s Missing Maps project. Chandra plans to major in computer science at either Harvard or Stanford and hopes to one day found a startup that he can use to “benefit humanity.” It seems pretty inevitable that he’ll do just that. DG

ElLiE FeNG

Age: 17

Hometown: Conway

High School: Conway High School

Parents: Yu Sun and Zhidan Feng College plans: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Perfection can be a tricky thing to strive for, and when Ellie Feng scored the ACT’s golden 36 after her first attempt as a seventh-grader, she took it as a sign to not jinx it with another go. This alone was enough to earn legendary status in the Conway School District, and Ellie has gone on to share

her skills and lead tutoring specific to the daunting test. She focuses a lot on inner confidence, instilling in the test taker that they’re capable of more than they think. Tutoring is more of a side gig for Ellie, however, as her real passion is mathematics. Her love sprouted in the fifth grade during a statewide math competition, and it has blossomed into starting her school’s first math club and a middle school competition team, which she also helps coach. Math club meetings vary from eating pie on March 14 for Pi Day to Ellie informing her fellow peers of a new topic she’s learned about. Ellie has already noticed the math field is dominated by men and boys, but she said she’s met plenty of wonderful girls who study math through summer programs. Ellie’s excellence is powered by her love of learning, she said. Even in her many hobbies — quiz bowl, playing viola, folding origami, drawing and dance — she gives it her all. With interests that span the gamut and opportunity for the taking, Ellie is planning for a college experience filled with computer science, math and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MH

KAT WILSON

CHriS aBLONDI

Age: 18

Hometown: Conway High School: Conway High School

Parents: Fred and Susan Ablondi College plans: University of Arkansas at Fayetteville

2024 ViPS AWARD

A “tinkerer at heart,” Chris Ablondi said getting into robotics was a no-brainer. When he joined Conway High School’s robotics team at the behest of his computer science teacher during his 10th grade year, the team consisted of only sophomores. “Coming back from the [COVID-19] year, there were no upperclassmen to help,” he said. When we spoke in April, Chris was preparing for his team’s second consecutive invite to the VEX Robotics World Championship in Dallas. He serves as team captain for Conway’s VEX Robotics Club and president of the Wampus Cats’ chapter of the Arkansas Technology Student Association, and this year he was elected to the ARTSA 2024 state officer team. Helping lead the school’s robotics team and grow the program has been one of his proudest high school achievements. He said he was excited to compete in his third consecutive coding hackathon competition; his team finished first in 2023 and second in 2022. Chris is on track to be Conway’s 2024 valedictorian and is an AP Scholar with Distinction. Serving as vice president of Conway’s ACT Club, Chris has mentored other students to help bring up their test scores and, in doing so, has improved his own. “Sometimes in just explaining how to do things, you cement your knowledge in it, and that’s been very fun and rewarding,” he said. At home he made a smart mirror that can tell him the weather while he’s getting ready in the morning. He also used a Shop-Vac and scrap wood to fashion a backyard forge, which he uses to cast metal into complex jewelry. “Just kind of as a hobby, nothing at the professional level,” he said, modestly. Chris plans to study computer engineering and wrote in his All-Star student essay that he looks forward to tinkering with new technologies “and finding unique solutions to the future’s problems.” RB

Nominees & Winners

Mimi Abochale*

Katharine Adams*

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity

Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts*

LaKeitha Austin

Jessica Bartnik Saunders

Gabriel Bond - 2024 Jane Mendel Award*

Dr. LaTonya Brooks

Janet Meyer Buford*

Bullock Temple CME

Angel Burt*

Renada Burt*

CAAC - Delta Sigma Theta

Dr. John Carter

Dr. Laura D. Carter

John and Montana Chapman

City Connections, Inc.*

Marilyn Cobson

Melvin Collins

Morgan Crawford*

Annette Delaney

Angela Doyne

Morgan Ealy

Ashley East*

Shasta Elliot

Denise Ennett

Kim Evans-Jones

Jennifer Ferguson

FoodCorps Arkansas

Shannon Garrett

Grassroots Arkansas*

Amy Harkins

Muskie Harris*

Healing Waters Outreach Center

Hillcrest Residents Association

Marcus Jordan

Sherry and John Joyce

Tiffany Kehayov

Krystal Lall

Martha Jean Landrum

Chiquita Laster

Janice Lawrence*

Andrea Lewis of FSB*

Life Skills for Youth, Inc.

LR (AR) Chapter of The Links, Inc.

Little Rock Church

Yvette Lovelace

Roberta Mannon

Melanie Maupin

Xavier Mazique*

Tamara McCormack*

Dr. LaToya McElroy of the Betty & Romunda Herman Foundation

Vickie Mitchell

Kim Mitteer

LaToya Morgan

Roudy Neree*

Mayne Parker*

Ceola Parson

Kenneth Patterson*

Kishauna Peoples

Alexis Peters

Georgia Pettit

Pfeifer Kiwanis Camp and AmeriCorps Team

Santrice Price

Pulaski Co. Cooperative Extension*

Pulaski Heights United Methodist*

Derrick Rainey*

Shelly Rhodes*

Takira Robinson

Isaiah Ross

Rotary Club of Little Rock*

David Rouby*

Karen Ryall

Keith Saine

Brittanee Sanderson

Keneasha Scott*

Jerri Shertzer

Betsy Smith

St. James United Methodist

Starbucks Highway 10

Lizzie Swinton*

Yolanda Terry*

Courtney Vincent Walmart on Baseline

Wendy Welch*

Reginald & Sharanda Williams

Sandon Williams

Ginger Young

Keith Saine, Katharine Adams, Patty Barker, Nancy Rousseau, Debbie Bass, Gabriel Bond, Mimi Abochale, Muskie Harris, Lisa Hope, Amy Harkins and Denise Ennett

Mimi Abochale and Morgan Crawford

Derrick Rainey, Yolanda Terry, Roudy Neree and Renada Burt David Rouby, Mayne Parker and Lizzie Swinton Will and Gabriel Bond

Norma Johnson, Keneasha Scott and Dr. Jermall Wright Greta Freeman, Pat Bradley and Allie Freeman

Ya SH VYa S

Age: 18

Hometown: Little Rock

High School: Joe T. Robinson High School

Parents: Keyur and Kanan Vyas College plans: University of Arkansas at Fayetteville

Claire HUDNElL

Age: 18

Hometown: Hot Springs

High School: Lakeside High School

Parents: Jason and Melissa Hudnell

College plans: Baylor University

For someone who loves broadcast journalism and aims to get a law degree, Lakeside High School’s Claire Hudnell has just the right temperament. The 18-year-old Baylor-bound student from Hot Springs remains unflappable,

Yash Vyas scored a 34 on the ACT, has taken 10 AP courses, has a 4.28 GPA and is ranked first in his class, but he “doesn’t just spend his time with his nose in a book,” according to his counselor. What she means is that for Yash, immersing himself in the community — at Joe T. Robinson High School and otherwise — is just as important as academic excellence. In other words, it’s hard to find something he hasn’t at least dipped his toe into. If you looked at his volunteer contributions to the Arkansas Foodbank alone, where he spent over 70 hours last summer bagging, boxing and packaging foodstuffs, you’d probably be impressed, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. A sampling of the other extracurriculars Yash has racked up over the years: Arkansas Governor’s School, quiz bowl captain, trumpet section leader in band, five separate honor societies and the Library, Science and FCCLA [Family, Career and Community Leaders of America] clubs. Outside of school, he tutors kids of all ages at Gideon Math and Reading, volunteers as an assistant girls soccer coach and is part of the youth council at the Gujarati Samaj of Arkansas. In the fall, he’ll attend the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville with the help of an Honors College fellowship. He’s scoping out a major in biochemistry and has his eyes set on medical school. If all goes according to plan, he’ll eventually become an infectious disease specialist, just like his father. DG

even as expectations and obligations ratchet up. Her mad time management skills and rare ability to stay cool under pressure are what spurred Lakeside High Principal Blake Campbell to nominate Hudnell as a 2024 Arkansas Times Academic All-Star. “Claire’s ability to manage her time and achieve SO much sets her apart from other students,” he said. “Claire never lets feelings of being overwhelmed or stressed show.” This praise is all the more laudable when you consider how overwhelmed and stressed most of us would be with Claire’s schedule. Six of her seven classes this year are for advanced placement, and her GPA sits at 4.9. Claire is also senior class president, an actress, and an award-winning member of both her high school press association and the swim team. She shares those all-conference and all-state swimming bona fides with the children to whom she gives lessons. The secret, she said, is doing what you like. “Yes, I’m very busy. But I also love doing all the things I do, so it doesn’t feel like work so much.” While she’s lived in Hot Springs her whole life, Claire’s horizons are broad. She turned a 10-day mission trip to the Brazilian Amazon into a video, so those who didn’t get to go on the trip could experience it, too. And while she’s not been to Syria, she’s sent some of her heart there. After hearing humanitarian Omar Alshogre speak about the Syrian civil war, Claire produced a film that the Syrian Emergency Task Force used on its social media channels. Come fall, Claire heads to Waco, Texas, where she’ll enroll in a program that will let her focus on both film and political science. AG

JaMeS SiMPSON

Age: 18

Hometown: Keiser

High School: Academies at Rivercrest High School

Parent: Teresa Simpson College plans: Arkansas State University

James Simpson weathers hardship with an uncommon grace and maturity. When, about four years ago, his father’s sudden diagnosis of vascular dementia forced the family to relocate from outside Nashville, Tennessee, to the less expensive pastures of rural Mississippi County in

Arkansas, James grew up fast. “It’s hard as a young man to realize that your father is not going to be around. Everybody has to lose a parent at some point, but you hope it’s not going to be as early,” he said, reflecting on the fact that his father’s condition is fatal. “There’s a lot of things that haven’t exactly been permanent in my life. I stopped expecting things to be permanent and [started] more just trying to be exceptional in every opportunity that I get.” Amid the turmoil, James has excelled in the new environment, despite initially being a stranger to the Rivercrest School District and to public schooling in general (he’d been homeschooled up until the move). While Rivercrest may not offer as many AP classes as high schools in bigger cities, James compensated with coursework at Arkansas Northeastern College and will earn an associate’s degree before he even graduates from high school. When he’s not maintaining a dynamite GPA (he’s Rivercrest’s valedictorian), he plays percussion in the band, a passion that’s allowed him to mentor elementary school- and middle school-aged musicians, taken him to the Colt Cadets Drum & Bugle Corps for a whole summer of performances, and earned him a music scholarship at Arkansas State University, where he’s expecting to double major in computer science and data science. DG

S tEPHeN MitCHeLl

Age: 18

Hometown: Searcy

High School: Harding Academy

Parents: Brian and Laura Mitchell

College plans: Harding University

K areN UMEOra

Age: 18

Hometown: Jonesboro

High School: Valley View High School

Parents: Maryjoanne and OUJ Umeora

College plans: University of Notre Dame

In Karen Umeora’s alphabet, as she puts it, “there were 25 letters.” Though you’d never guess it from all the public speaking she does in her capacity as president of Valley View High School’s chapter of Future Health Professionals, Karen was once terrified to speak up in class because of her difficulty pronouncing the letter R. “My teachers would talk

If Searcy residents spotted Stephen Mitchell’s name in the local newspaper, it might have been because he helped Harding Academy’s robotics team put on a two-day regional engineering competition that generated around $20,000 for the city in tourism revenue. Or it could be his participation in a competitive vocal ensemble called Cross Eyed (a clever nod to the school’s Christian affiliation) where he sings the lowest voice part in the choir, Bass II. And singing isn’t the only endeavor in which Stephen likes to wade into the deep end. As a future divinity major and self-described theology nerd, Stephen likes to grapple with the big questions. “I find the Bible to be a really interesting book,” he said, “and I love diving into it and looking at theology, both Christian theology and also world religions.” Faith is a huge part of his life, he told us. “It’s really got me through a lot of tough struggles,” he said, “and it’s kind of what keeps me going.” As an aspiring professional communicator, he’s aiming to get a Bachelor’s Degree in Divinity at Harding University and an accelerated Master’s in Divinity, after which he’d like to go into preaching, or perhaps teaching as a college professor. A polished conversationalist already, Stephen said a job in ministry is where he thinks he could make the most impact. “I don’t want to just do something that’s gonna earn me money,” he said, “or that I’m gonna have a whole lot of fun with. I want to do something that’s actually going out and helping people.” SS

to my parents and say, ‘Your daughter doesn’t speak; you need to get her into therapy.’ But I would speak at home normally. I was just so scared that people wouldn’t understand me.” With some coaching from her sisters and a teacher who encouraged her to enter a spelling bee, Karen leapt over that speech hurdle and became one of the most social, communicative students at her school. She’s a member of the National Honor Society, the Science Club, the Spanish Honor Society and the Crown Club and, as a “patient ambassador” for the St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro, she shadows nurses and technicians, helping patients with day-to-day needs while they’re hospitalized. She’s also deeply involved in community work through programs like the Northeast Arkansas Chain Reaction Youth Council and the Mayor’s Youth Advancement Council, through which she helped organize a healthy baking class for the Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas, a donation drive for hygiene kits for Northeast Arkansans in need, and a Prom Fashion Show benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She’ll put that hospital volunteer experience to work at the University of Notre Dame, following in her physician father’s footsteps on a pre-med track with a minor in Global Health and Theology. “I’m Nigerian,” she said, “and I want to help develop medical care systems for places like Nigeria, where there are people who don’t have access to medical care.” SS

MarSHaLl Pa SSMOre

Age: 17

Hometown: North Little Rock High School: North Little Rock High School

Parents: Alison and Brent Passmore College plans: University of Arkansas at Fayetteville

For an AP Scholar with Distinction with a 4.3 GPA and a 34 ACT score, Marshall Passmore is modest and earnestly questioned how he made the Arkansas Times All-Star team. He knows he’s smart, but said that his experience at Arkansas Governor’s School after his junior year was eye-opening and

made him feel like he was coasting into his senior year. “There were kids just coughing up 36s [perfect ACT scores] in their sleep,” he said. “So it motivated me to be better than I am and try a little harder in my life.” After speaking with him, it’s clear he’s done exactly that. Marshall has volunteered roughly 300 hours of time to community service. For the last two years, he’s served in the STARS (Serving Today’s At-Risk Students) program as a mentor for several at-risk preschool children in the district. “We play games with them, do puzzles, read books and just let them laugh a little when it might not be too easy to do that at home,” he said. He also helps fix up bicycles for Recycle Bikes for Kids, a program that puts ready-to-ride bikes back into the community. “I rode my bike a lot as a kid,” he said. “That’s like your first little sense of freedom, and I just want other kids to be able to experience that.” He began running this school year and found it to be way more difficult than he imagined. Rather than giving up, he sought advice from friends in cross country and realized it’s OK to start slow and gradually build up a pace. He completed a half-marathon this year, and succeeded in his goal of finishing in under 2 hours. In his All-Star student essay, he wrote that what it took to succeed in running is similar to what it takes to be a successful student. “The challenges you face as a learner will never be easy,” he wrote, but with a little effort, “you have the power to face every challenge in your life.” RB

Congratulations to Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts senior Nasya Choy for being selected as an Arkansas Times Academic All-Stars!

Nasya plans to study aerospace engineering. She is a 2024 National Merit Scholarship Finalist, a 2024 U.S. Presidential Scholar Candidate, a 2024 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair Finalist, and a member of the World Science Scholars 2022 cohort. She has been accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Missouri University of Science and Technology, and Wichita State University among others, all of which have oustanding engineering programs.

ASMSA offers hundreds of young Arkansans an experience that combines the best parts of high school and college in a unique community of learning. It is the only school in the state to provide advanced course opportunities in STEM and the arts in an on-campus residential setting. Discover how you can engage in courses designed to challenge bright minds and grow as a student while earning more than a year of college credit.

K aLeB MarSHaLl

Age: 18

Hometown: Benton

High School: Benton High School

Parents: Michael and Amanda Marshall College plans: University of Arkansas at Fayetteville

It’d be reasonable to assume, looking at Kaleb Marshall’s chart-topping test scores and 4.418 grade average, that he didn’t have time for much of a social life. But for an extrovert like Kaleb, academic rigor and comradery with his classmates go hand in hand. He “can always be found in the center of laughter with a huge smile on his face,” his school counselor, Dot Zaunbrecher, wrote in her recommendation. Asked what the secret was to his vibrant friendships, Kaleb — likely positioned to be Benton High School’s 2023-24 valedictorian — said, “Sometimes all people are looking for is that kid that’s willing to smile first.” What makes Kaleb stand out, Zaunbrecher said, is that “he is more than just a brilliant mind and academically excellent. He is someone who changes lives around him and leads others to greater heights.” A soccer player since childhood and a member of the cross country and chess teams, Kaleb was among the many who volunteered time after the March 31, 2023, tornado, visiting communities with a chainsaw in hand and helping break down fallen trees. At the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, he’ll be an Honors College fellow with a double major in biology and history. After that, he says, he’ll follow his father’s footsteps into the medical field. He’s keeping his options open, but likes the idea of being a surgeon — one of the rare medical professions, he says, where you get to see the concrete results of your work right away. SS

Na SYa CHOY

Age: 17

Hometown: Conway

High School: Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts

Parents: Edmond Choy and Swee Heng Ang College plans: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nasya Choy’s parents accidentally altered the future of the aerospace industry when they named their daughter. “As a kid, I heard ‘NASA’ and thought, ‘that’s close to my name,” Nasya (pronounced NAH-shuh) said. That simple childhood realization fostered an interest in engineering for the self-described “robotics kid, through and through,” and she set her sights on working for NASA one day. Of course, plenty of kids dream of

working for America’s space agency. What sets Nasya apart and makes her goals seem less like a dream and more like a foregone conclusion is Nasya’s academic prowess. “Academically, Nasya is unparalleled,” said Bret Valun, Nasya’s college counselor at ASMSA. Nasya is a National Merit Finalist, with a 4.375 GPA and a perfect 36 on her ACT. She was recognized nationally by the Duke University Talent Identification Program in 2019, named a World Science Scholar in 2022, won the statewide Purple Comet math competition in 2023, and qualified for the National Chemistry Olympiad exam as one of the top 10 students in Arkansas. She has multiple regional and statewide robotics competition wins, including back-to-back statewide wins for Best Robot Performance in BEST Robotics competitions. And, though science- and math-heavy homework and participating in multiple STEM-related clubs would leave most folks with no time for anything else, Nasya has also managed to co-found and participate in a dance club at ASMSA. Or, as Valun put it, “Nasya is not just a student; she is a phenomenon.” The phenom, who won’t turn 18 until November, plans to attend MIT in the fall, majoring (of course) in aerospace engineering. While she cautions that “it’s hard to get a job at NASA,” everything about Nasya Choy suggests it is only a matter of time before she makes reaching that goal look easy. MC

CHLOE MCNaBB

Age: 17

Hometown: Morrilton

High School: Morrilton High School

Parents: Cody and Carin McNabb College plans: Harding University

When Chloe McNabb addressed the student body at Morrilton High in a bid for student council president, she didn’t make any promises she wouldn’t be able to keep, like telling her peers they’d be able to use their phones in class. “My pitch was, ‘I’m not going to do any of that,’” she said. But she did

make a few promises: “I will always be on your side, I will listen to you and I’ll use whatever power that I do have to try to make things better.” Morrilton Principal Craig Pinion described Chloe as extremely meticulous with leadership qualities well beyond her age. Starting high school in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic gave her an opportunity to put those leadership skills into action. As class president her sophomore year, she was tasked with designing a float for the school’s first homecoming parade in years. She initially began the project by herself, she said, but over time, more and more students got involved. Now, it’s become an annual competition between classes and “one of my absolute favorite things about high school,” she said — a tradition that creates excitement in her community and brings the school together. Chloe was also instrumental in relaunching the Puppies to Dogs program, in which Morrilton High seniors mentor kindergarteners. She described her senior year as “a big organizational undertaking” to restructure the student council to “define exactly what it is that we do,” she said. She’s also found the time to ace AP calculus, AP physics, AP biology and help her basketball team reach the state finals. Chloe loves kids and said her faith in God is a big part of her life. She plans to be a pediatrician and a medical missionary. “I think [it] would just be so incredible to take medical equipment and treatment to [developing] countries that never get to experience the level of care that we have here,” she said. RB

ACADEMIC ALL-STAR FINALISTS

ALI ABDEL-KARIM The Academies at Jonesboro High School

REEVES BETHEL Catholic High School for Boys

RHEA CHOUDHARY Pulaski Academy

MASON DELAMATER Cabot High School

WILLIAM DONHAM White Hall High School

HEMALI GAURI Haas Hall Academy Fayetteville

JAI GANDHI Rogers High School

CRAIG HOIEN Atkins High School

SARAH PALMER Bentonville High School

AYUSHI PATEL Lisa Academy West High School

HUDSON VACCA Mena High School

KATHERINE WENGER

Greene County Tech High School

Fayetteville High School!

CONGRATULATIONS

“Remember

AMITY

ANNA SUTTON Centerpoint High School

ATKINS

CRAIG HOIEN Atkins High School

BATESVILLE

CLARA NIKKEL Batesville High School

BAUXITE

TRINITY BRASHER Bauxite High School

THOMAS MORGAN Bauxite High School

BEE BRANCH

LAYNE FAULK South Side High School

ADDISON ZIMMERMAN South Side High School

BENTON

KALEB MARSHALL Benton High School

NATALIE WEEMS Benton High School

BENTONVILLE

JOHN HOBBIE Arkansas Connections Academy

SARAH PALMER Bentonville High School

DANIEL SCHWAMMLEIN Thaden School

ACADEMIC ALL-STAR NOMINEES

BRYANT

KAYLEIGH BAKER Bryant High School

JUSTEN MYLES Bryant High School

CABOT

CHANDRA SUDA Bentonville High School

NOELLE WILKINSON Thaden School

BRANCH

TRENTON JOHNSTON County Line High School

ETHAN PLOWMAN County Line High School

BROCKWELL

JUSTIN BREWER Izard County Consolidated High School

DAVID WILLIAMS Izard County Consolidated High School

MASON DELAMATER Cabot High School

MADALYN PECK Cabot High School

CENTERTON

PETER BELIN Bentonville West High School

KIERA SANDERS Bentonville West High School

CONCORD ALI CORNETT Concord High School

AVA NICHOLSON Concord High School

CONWAY

CHRISTOPHER ABLONDI Conway High School

ELLIE FENG Conway High School

CORNING

AVA GOODMAN Corning High School

EMILY LUTTRELL Corning High School

DANVILLE

ADDEY WRIGHT Danville High School

EL DORADO

FORDYCE ANDY LUNA Fordyce High School

FORREST CITY

JANAYA MOORE Forrest City High School

NIA WILLIAMS Forrest City High School

FORT SMITH

HEIDI WOLLSCHEID Northside High School

ASMA ZAINUBA Northside High School

GRAVETTE ASHLYN FOX Gravette High School

BELEN NELSON Gravette High School

GREENLAND

FATIMA PEREZ-RODRIGUEZ Greenland High School

EMMA VAUGHAN Greenland High School

HOPE TARA HENRY Hope Collegiate Academy

HOT SPRINGS NASYA CHOY Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts

ISHA BHATTACHARYYA The Academies at Jonesboro High School

LUCAS BULLINGTON Valley View High School

KATHERINE GOLDEN Nettleton High School

KAREN UMEORA Valley View High School

JUNCTION CITY

SHAELI BRADY Junction City High School

SAVANNAH BROWN Junction City High School

LEXA

JESALYN CARPINO Barton High School

LINCOLN KAYLIN OSNES Lincoln High School

KALEB ROY Lincoln High School

LITTLE ROCK

AHMAD ALAM Little Rock Central High School

REEVES BETHEL Catholic High School for Boys

ALAYNA CAMPBELL Joe T. Robinson High School

ALYSSA CAMPBELL Joe T. Robinson High School

BELLA FRISBY Parkers Chapel High School

EUREKA SPRINGS

JOSE ALPIZAR GARCIA Eureka Springs High School

FAYETTEVILLE

HEMALI GAURI Haas Hall Academy

TEHYA MEERS Fayetteville High School

KEMING MENG Fayetteville High School

JOSHUA OFODILE Haas Hall Academy

CALEB HERRING Fountain Lake Charter High School

ROMAN LANCASTER Lakeside High School

CELESTE REA-GARIBAY Fountain Lake Charter High School

AAROHI SONPUTRI Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts

CLAIRE HUDNELL Lakeside High School

JONESBORO

ALI ABDEL-KARIM The Academies at Jonesboro High School

RHEA CHOUDHARY Pulaski Academy

JERRY IGWEH Little Rock Christian Academy

MADELYN MCTIGRIT Joe T. Robinson High School

NATHAN MISHRA eStem High School

MOHAMMED NAIF Lisa Academy West High School

AYUSHI PATEL Lisa Academy West High School

SUMMER PRADO eStem High School

CLARA PRINCIPE Mount St. Mary Academy

JOHN “JACK” SCHUHMACHER

Episcopal Collegiate School

EITA SHINKAWA Pulaski Academy

EVA STOVER Little Rock Christian Academy

LYLA TONG Mount St. Mary Academy

ANANYA UDDANTI Little Rock Central High School

YASH VYAS Joe T. Robinson High School

SYDNIE WASHINGTON

Parkview Arts Science Magnet High School

FIONA WOLTER Episcopal Collegiate School

MABELVALE

E’MONI ALDERSON

Little Rock Southwest High School

ANNA BELIN

Little Rock Southwest High School

MALVERN

CADE DAVIS Magnet Cove High School

MARION

HALLEE WELLS

Buffalo Island Central High School

MORRILTON

LUKE CARNER Morrilton High School

CHLOE MCNABB Morrilton High School

MOUNTAINBURG

EDEN DEAN Mountainburg High School

MOUNT VERNON

SIENA OLIVE

Mt. Vernon-Enola High School

LOGAN TUCKER

Mt. Vernon-Enola High School

NORMAN

OLIVIA PHILLIPS Caddo Hills High School

NORTH LITTLE ROCK

BRYCE COLEMAN

Lisa Academy North Middle High School

JAMES COUCH

North Little Rock High School

VAIDEHI DESAI

Lisa Academy North Middle High School

TYLER GREEN North Little Rock High School

KATHRYN HIGH

Maumelle Charter High School

CORBIN BAILEY Paragould High School

KOLTON MORRIS Paragould High School

KATHERINE WENGER Greene County Tech High School

ELENA CABALLERO Marion High School

COBY HAYES Marion High School

MAUMELLE

ANDREW PITTMAN Maumelle High School

SAMANTHA LEE Maumelle High School

MENA

HUDSON VACCA Mena High School

MONETTE

ELLA JACKSON

Buffalo Island Central High School

KASSIDY NICHOLS North Little Rock Center of Excellence

MARSHALL PASSMORE North Little Rock High School

ANNIKA PECANTY Maumelle Charter High School

REBECCA ROSSI Central Arkansas Christian School

PARAGOULD

QUINCY ADAMS

Greene County Tech High School

PEARCY

SARAH HUMPHRIES Lake Hamilton High School

PHOEBE TRUSSELL Lake Hamilton High School

PRAIRIE GROVE

CAMRYN CASH Prairie Grove High School

ROGERS

WILLIAM BEVERIDGE Arkansas Arts Academy

SAGE DOUGLAS Rogers Heritage High School

JAI GANDHI Rogers High School

SAMANTHA JOHN Rogers High School

EMILY MALONE Arkansas Arts Academy

IVAN RAMOS Rogers Heritage High School

RUSSELLVILLE

CLARYN NUPP Russellville High School

MARGARET O’BRIEN Siloam Springs High School

SMACKOVER

KALEIGH JERRY Smackover High School

SOUTHSIDE

GRAYSON POOLE Southside Charter High School

JOY SKAGGS Russellville High School

SEARCY

STEPHEN MITCHELL Harding Academy

ANNA ROBERTSON Harding Academy

SHERWOOD

GRACE BURLISON Sylvan Hills High School

DENNISSA HARRIS Sylvan Hills High School

SILOAM SPRINGS

JAKIN MITCHELL Siloam Springs High School

KATELYN SHARP Southside Charter High School

SPRINGDALE

STEPHANIE BATRES Springdale High School

MARIO LOPEZ VAQUERANO Springdale High School

OLIVIA SMITH Haas Hall Academy at The Jones Center

STRAWBERRY

TAYLOR FOSTER Hillcrest High School

BROOKLYN PENN Hillcrest High School

TAYLOR

REESE FOWLER Taylor High School

ALEXANDRA MAY Taylor High School

WESTERN GROVE

HOLDEN BASS Ozark Mountain High School

WEST MEMPHIS

MASON ROBERSON Academies of West Memphis

WHITE HALL

WILLIAM DONHAM White Hall High School

WILSON

JERED ROBERTSON Rivercrest High School

JAMES SIMPSON Rivercrest High School

WYNNE

ALLY GLOVER

Wynne High School

RILEY SANDERS

Wynne High School

Celebrating Arkansas Nurses

Why did you choose to become a nurse? I chose to become a nurse because of my personal experience being raised by elderly grandparents. As a teenager, I witnessed the decline of my grandfather’s health, and this experience deeply impacted me, driving me to pursue a career in the healthcare field.

What is your nursing specialty? I am the critical care educator for Baptist Health — North Little Rock.

Why did you choose that specialty? I loved being a preceptor to new hires, witnessing their growth and evolution throughout their practice.

What do you love most about being a nurse? The opportunity to make a positive impact on people’s lives, whether it’s through direct patient care or as an educator. As an educator, it’s incredibly rewarding to see individuals develop their skills and confidence, knowing that I played a part in their journey. Through direct patient care, there is a sense of fulfillment in being able to help patients during some of their most vulnerable moments, providing care, comfort and support.

What qualities do you think are essential for being a nurse? I believe several qualities are essential for being a nurse, with compassion being at the forefront. Compassion allows nurses to connect with patients on a deeper level, showing empathy and understanding. Other vital qualities include patience, strong communication skills, critical thinking abilities and attention to detail.

“America’s nurses are the beating heart of our medical system.”

– Barack Obama

Dr. Susan Gatto knew she wanted to be a nurse from a young age. When her kindergarten teacher asked about her future career, Dr. Gatto quickly responded, “I wanted to be a nurse, teacher and go-go dancer. I always said that two out of three is not bad. Nursing is my calling.”

Over her four-decade career, Dr. Gatto gained experience in various specialties. From bedside to medical-surgical nursing, she’s also worked in orthopedics, nephrology, urology, home health and outpatient surgery. However, after landing in education, she feels she’s found her home as a professor and director of the University of Central Arkansas School of Nursing. “I’ve been at UCA for 35 years,” she said. “This is where I belong.”

Dr. Gatto believes all nurses are educators in their own right: “Sometimes we educate patients, sometimes we educate families, a population or other nurses.” Since becoming a professor and program director, however, Dr. Gatto has increased her reach and impact. “I’ve affected hundreds of thousands of patients because of all the nurses I’ve taught,” she said.

Dr. Gatto believes nurses are natural caretakers with service embedded in their hearts and a dedication to discipline. “You have to have a sense of taking care of others,” she said. She also believes great nurses are those who are nurturing without biases and judgements. “You have to be able to treat all patients with dignity.”

Lea Meserole, RN

At The Centers, we believe in creating a supportive and inclusive environment where every team member can thrive.

Competitive Pay & Benefits: We offer salaries that recognize your hard work and dedication and offer a comprehensive benefits package.

Supportive Culture: Be part of a community that values teamwork, respect, and professional growth.

Make a difference in the lives of those we serve while advancing your career in a fulfilling and respectful workplace. Apply today and help us shape the future of healthcare!

HONORING OUR

NURSING HEROES!

Every single day, and especially during National Nurses Week, we express our deepest appreciation for the extraordinary nurses at Baptist Health.

To all our nursing superheroes, including those recently acknowledged as nominees: THANK YOU for your steadfast devotion to care. You epitomize the heart and soul of Baptist Health, and we are profoundly thankful for your invaluable contributions. Nurses do make the difference!

Donya Alexander

Jennifer Greeno-Fletcher

Sally Haddox

Donna

Stephanie Hinkle

Sydney

Madison

Jasmine

Josie

Holly

Riley

Alexis

UAMS NURSES AR THE FUTURE

This year, in honor of our nurses and teams, UAMS will celebrate the 2024 Nurses Week with the theme, PROUD To Be A UAMS Nurse. Planned events include a ‘Welcome To Work’ with nursing leaders, ‘CNO Kick-off and Blessing of the Hands,’ annual Professional Nursing awards, and a Spirit Day to showcase our new T-shirts. We thank our nurses and teams for the difference they make for our patients, families, and each other every day. UAMS nurses embody excellence which is why our nurses are ‘PROUD To Be A UAMS Nurse! If you want to make a difference, come join us! You can ‘live chat’ with our nurse recruiter, email nurserecuitment@ uams.edu, or visit our website, nurses.uams.edu, to learn even more reasons why nurses choose UAMS Nursing! Sign-on Bonuses available for nurses (RN/LPN) who meet eligibility criteria (included RN new graduates). Follow us on Facebook and Instagram @UAMSNurses #ProudToBeAUAMSNurse #WorkFamilyMatters #GoNursing

“I am of certain convinced that the greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel.”

– Florence Nightingale

UCA NURSING

START A REWARDING CAREER

The School of Nursing at the University of Central Arkansas is committed to educating undergraduate and graduate students to become leaders in delivering quality health care and advancing the profession of nursing.

DEGREE PROGRAMS

Pre-licensure BSN

RN to BSN*

• Flat rate tuition of $295/credit hour with no additional fees

• Complete in 12 months

Master of Science in Nursing*

• Nurse Educator

• Complete in 5 semesters

• Tuition $336/credit hour

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

• BSN to DNP (Family Nurse Practitioner)

• Post-master’s DNP

Our BSN to DNP (FNP) and Post-master’s DNP graduate programs have been ranked in the top 5 most affordable in the country (NPSchools.com and OnlineU).

*100% online programs.

#ProudToBeAUAMSNurse

Celebrating Arkansas Nurses

At The Centers, our skilled nursing staff embodies the heart of compassionate care, providing support for clients across our spectrum

Nurses work with children and youth in our residential and Human Trafficking Treatment Program, provide holistic care for adults in day treatment and in Therapeutic Communities, and treat patients of all ages in our adjacent primary care clinic.

Our nurses not only provide medical care but also nurture healing and growth. They are holistic care providers who address physical, mental, and behavioral health needs with empathy and expertise.

The Centers offers a dynamic working environment that prioritizes patient care and professional development. We are committed to fostering a supportive, inclusive workplace that recognizes and rewards a strong, compassionate work ethic.

The Centers is always looking to add valuable healthcare professionals to our team. For more information about current opportunities and employment at The Centers, please visit TheCentersAR.com/careers.

TREATING the

at Arkansas Children’s Rheumatology

On the surface, it can be hard to tell when a child is living with an inflammatory disease affecting muscles, joints and connective tissues. However, these rheumatic conditions have lasting impacts on a child’s life.

Arkansas Children’s rheumatology experts empower our pediatric patients, from infancy to 21 years old, to live their lives alongside their chronic illnesses.

Our trained pediatric rheumatology specialists care for children with several rheumatic conditions and autoimmune diseases, including:

• Chronic Nonbacterial Osteomyelitis (CNO)

• Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA)

• Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)

• Juvenile Dermatomyositis (JDM)

• Uveitis

• Overlap Syndrome

• Vasculitis

• Systemic Autoinflammatory Diseases (SAIDs)

• Periodic Fever Syndrome

Arkansas Children’s rheumatology supports pediatric patients through telemedicine, dedicated patient support and specialty clinics, including our multispecialty vasculitis clinic, which brings together experts from both nephrology and rheumatology.

Start your child’s journey with Arkansas Children’s rheumatology by making their appointment today.

EVEN FAILURE IS DATA

AND OTHER LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY AND LIFE FROM DR. CRYSTAL MORRISON.

BY TRICIA LARSON

To tell Dr. Crystal Morrison’s story is to describe a series of firsts. Eighteen-year-old Crystal Morrison was one of the first high school seniors to be recognized as an Arkansas Times Academic All-Star; she was a first graduate of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts (ASMSA) in Hot Springs; the first in her family to earn a college degree; and a first-year recipient of the Harold Agnew National Security Postdoctoral Fellowship at Los Alamos National Laboratory after earning a master’s and Ph.D. in macromolecular science and engineering at the University of Michigan.

If you’re not impressed yet, she can also be described as an adviser, strategist, scientist, founder, tech entrepreneur, TEDxer, podcast host, author, wife and mother of three. Saying Morrison has “accomplished much” since her days in Bismarck (Hot Spring County) would be an epic understatement.

‘TAKES A VILLAGE’: Crystal Morrison, one of the first high school seniors to be recognized as an Arkansas Times Academic All-Star, blends business and science in her work these days.

As a young woman, Morrison knew she wanted to pursue a career in science. She was recruited by the University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR), now the Missouri University of Science and Technology, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. While she says the school wasn’t the best fit (she missed the diversity and progressive atmosphere of ASMSA), her undergraduate experience did afford her two summer internships that would guide her future pursuits.

One of those was at Lilly Coatings, a company that specializes in industrial paint and coatings. The next summer, she worked in New Mexico at Los Alamos, one of many labs the U.S. Department of Energy uses for research and development of national security strategies. Those experiences, she said, “helped me formulate what I wanted to do — and didn’t want to do — after college.”

Morrison said she knew she wanted to “lead, set scientific strategy and build programs” and that she would need a Ph.D. to do so. “UMR had great programs in polymer chemistry, so I got exposed to that area as an undergrad and through my internships,” Morrison said. “So that’s what I focused on in graduate school.”

Following grad school at the University of Michigan, the Harold Agnew National Security Postdoctoral Fellowship sent her back to the Los Alamos National Lab.

After two years as a fellow, Morrison was promoted to a technical staff member and team leader and held that position for nine years before moving to Pittsburgh in 2012 to lead business development and technical programs for polymers and plastics at RJ Lee Group, an industrial forensics analytical laboratory and consulting firm.

At the end of 2014, she was recruited by PPG’s corporate science and technology department and then led global research and development for industrial coatings. PPG is a global supplier of paints, coatings and specialty materials.

While Morrison was climbing the corporate ranks, she was also raising a family. Morrison is a mother to three children — one with autism and mental health diagnoses, and two adopted children who experienced early childhood trauma. And in 2018, she decided to take her career in a different direction. She left the corporate world to pursue consulting and other entrepreneurial pursuits, including co-founding the technology software company Meerkat Village.

“Just as I was growing my career as a professional, I was also spending an incredible amount of time navigating the system of care, trying to make sure that my children had access

to all of the resources that they needed and they deserved,” Morrison said. A huge problem for parents of children with additional needs or disabilities, she said, is that you have a lot of people in your life. “You have, you know, doctors, therapists, different types of caregivers and providers, and they refer to themselves as a treatment team, but they actually never talk to each other at all.”

Meerkat Village is a response to this problem. “Is there a way,” she wondered, “to leverage technology to literally take this concept of ‘it takes a village’ and make that village more effective and efficient?”

Meerkat Village, Morrison said, “allows the parent to invite in all of the professional supports like teachers or therapists, but also all of the natural supports that are a very important part of care. It might be a grandparent, it might be a neighbor, it might be a T-ball coach, but the people who are truly surrounding that child and providing care.”

Morrison argues that our health care system is too siloed and that a more holistic approach improves outcomes. She also describes Meerkat Village as an “equalizing tool” and a “framework for more equitable care,” as it helps equip people from all walks of life with additional tools to navigate the care system.

In addition to growing Meerkat Village, Morrison focuses her time on social impact initiatives around children with disability and other advocacy work in this area. She co-authored the book “Superheroes on the Spectrum,” which “celebrates the diversity of neurodiverse experiences and voices,” and she created the podcast “The Village Vision” to share the stories of people “working at the intersection of community, education, health care and mental health.”

The rest of Morrison’s professional time is spent consulting on the “strategic market side of chemicals and specialty materials,” often advising private equity companies looking to buy a company or expand their product portfolio. “I love it. It’s really fun work. I still get to be technical, but I also get to put my business and strategic hat on and really provide a lot of valuable insight and advice.”

She acknowledges that her advocacy work is very different from her technical background but says it stays true to her values and beliefs. “The thread that has always been very, very strong with me is this idea: There is this problem. Let’s figure out a way to solve it and really come up with something that’s disruptive, that’s innovative, that’s gonna change the game and the way that we do things now,” Morrison said.

One problem the Bismarck native didn’t have

WE’RE AVAILABLE FOR BIRTHDAY PARTIES, FAMILY REUNIONS, WORK EVENTS AND MORE! Call today for more info!

STEP INTO SUMMER

LAKE NIXON GEARS UP FOR DAY CAMP

Nestled on 220 acres, Lake Nixon Outdoor Center is enveloped in wooded hills, studded by an impressive lake, and is rife with opportunities to soak in everything nature has to offer. Open year-round and especially busy during the summer months, the area is the ultimate backdrop for summer day camps in Central Arkansas.

Part of its charm is its proximity to Little Rock. “It feels like you’re at a state park but we’re basically 3 or 4 minutes from Topgolf and 15 to 20 minutes from the capitol. You feel like you’re a world away,” Executive Director Andy Black said.

The outdoor center offers an avenue for all children to ditch the screens and explore nature just minutes from home.

“Additionally, we are grateful to be able to offer classic summer camp experiences to kids who might not otherwise get the opportunity to go to a sleepaway camp — or simply take part in these kinds of outdoor activities,” Black said. “This includes “camperships” for those who face financial barriers.”

This is nothing new for Lake Nixon, which actually has a history rooted in equity. “The cross section of diversity we have at camp is part of our DNA, and we strive to make sure that Lake Nixon is a place for everyone.”

Lake Nixon was part of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in the mid-’60s that applied the Civil Rights Act to membership-based establishments. As such, it’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places. During the case proceedings, the facility was purchased in 1969 by downtown Little Rock’s Second Baptist Church — the same organization that owns Lake Nixon today. “It’s a unique situation in that we’re owned by a single congregation. We’re not owned or supported by a larger denomination or other

institutional structure,” Black said. “Because of that, we consider this place as a blessing that we’ve received from God that we want to steward for everyone. We also need the help of our community to do that, whether it’s by joining our staff, volunteering in a myriad of ways or donating to our scholarship fund.”

Campers can experience a variety of activities, including fishing, boating, kayaking, archery, crafts and more. “It’s a space for kids to go outside, make new friends and try new things,” Black said. “We wholeheartedly believe that camp can be a special time and place when life changing experiences and friendships can happen . . . . but at a basic level, if our campers and staff come home from day camp happy, dirty and tired, then we know we’re doing something right.”

Registration is open for summer 2024! Beyond summer day camp, Lake Nixon Outdoor Center is available to rent for birthday parties, events and organizational retreats. There’s something for everyone at the outdoor facility, including newer amenities such as a mountain bike trail. “We’ve worked with a lot of volunteers and professional trailbuilders,” Black said. “Community members and families are welcome to explore these amenities and spend time together.”

When asked to describe their summer experience in one word, Lake Nixon campers enthusiastically offered the following: “awesome, community, fun, natural, memorable and beautiful.”

“It’s really about providing that classic camp experience,” Black said. Campers echoed the sentiment: “It’s an awesome place and a great way to spend your summer.”

Let nature’s beauty at Lake Nixon Outdoor Center help you fall in love with summertime nostalgia all over again.

to tackle was a lack of support and encouragement. “Growing up in Arkansas, I was never ever discouraged whatsoever from my family, my school system or whatever from pursuing science.”

Although Morrison may have been one of the few women in a research group in college or graduate school, she never felt like she was being held back because of her gender. “My postdoc adviser at Los Alamos was a woman, and there was tremendous representation of women in leadership positions there — even at that time.”

She said much has changed for women interested in a career in science. “Twenty, 30, 40 years ago, we tended to think of it as science and engineering, chemistry, physics, biology, chemical engineering and mechanical engineering,” Morrison said. “But today, I think the idea of women in STEM is much, much broader because you have a lot of interdisciplinary work — the intersection between medicine and technology or the intersection between consumers, computer science and finance.

“I’ve definitely seen over the past 30-plus years that the number of women in science, chemistry, biology and physics has grown tremendously.”

Morrison said she’s proud to have “unapologetically steered her own ship” throughout her career.

“I’ve been in academia, a national lab, a midsize family-owned company and a global corporation. I’ve started my own company and worked across a variety of different industries. I’ve pursued my commitment to social justice and equitable care. I’ve taken huge risks. I’ve failed. I’ve also succeeded at some unexpected things, and for that I’m grateful,” Morrison said. Her advice to this year’s Academic All-Stars? Remember that you don’t have to be just one thing.

“I feel like there’s this unrealistic expectation that you’re going to go to college for four years, and whatever you get your degree in is what you’re going to do for the rest of your life. That’s just ridiculous,” Morrison said. “Your career can shift, you can decide to do something different. It doesn’t matter as long as you’re learning and growing. Even failure is still data, it’s still learning.”

‘LOUD

may not always be professional quality,

the seriousness of a sound engineer.

KARAOKE IS ALIVE, WELL AND WEIRD IN ARKANSAS

SAMPLING THE STATE’S KARAOKE SCENE.

BY DANIEL FORD PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN CHILSON

Over the course of a decade, media reports estimate that anywhere from six to 12 people were killed in the Philippines in separate disputes stemming from karaoke performances of Frank Sinatra’s version of “My Way.” No one seems sure whether this bloodshed, ominously dubbed the “My Way Killings,” was the random result of a statistically popular karaoke song intersecting with a statistically violent population, or if there was something more nefarious happening with the performance of that song in particular.

I didn’t see a single murder during my recent trips to karaoke nights at the White Water Tavern and the Town Pump in Little Rock, Millennium Bowl in North Little Rock or Infusion in Fayetteville. But then again, I also didn’t see a single performance of “My Way,” so it’s hard to reach any firm conclusions.

What I can confirm after observing hours of amateur showstoppers and professional wannabes grab the microphone and perform songs by artists ranging from Incubus to Taylor Swift, however, is that karaoke remains a reliably good and weird time.

Few activities have the same democratizing effect, with people of all ages, races, backgrounds and tastes united in their desire to potentially make fools of themselves. I watched a middle-aged white guy wander among the tables of the Town Pump, flawlessly rapping a Dr. Dre song without so much as glancing at the lyrics. I watched two young Black men crush a Panic! at the Disco song that probably came out around the time they were born. I watched Avery Martin, the frontwoman of the talented Fayetteville punk band The Phlegms, lead Infusion in a rousing singalong to the Backstreet Boys.

Each of these performances highlights a cardinal rule of karaoke: More important than how you look or even how you sing is how you perform. Time and again I saw crowds go wild for bad singers who nonetheless sang with verve and personality, while they rewarded technically proficient but sleepy performances with muted applause.

In an effort to take the temperature of the karaoke scene in Arkansas, I embarked on a small tour through a number of different venues, each offering a unique vibe for devotees of the karaoke arts.

THE WHITE WATER TAVERN

In August of 2021, as it was reopening its doors after more than a year of pandemic-induced closure, the White Water Tavern convinced Ryan Mullins to come out of his own pandemic-induced retirement and begin

AND CLEAR’: The various voices at the White Water Tavern’s Tuesday karaoke night

but host Ryan Mullins (center) — who has over 15 years of experience — treats the job with

hosting Tuesday karaoke night at the storied Little Rock venue. Two and half years later, the White Water is perhaps the most popular spot in town for those looking to belt out a little 4 Non Blondes to a roomful of friends and strangers on a school night.

Mullins, who built and maintained a loyal karaoke community during his previous tenure helming Town Pump Tuesdays, was willing to give the White Water a shot on one condition: “Every night when we are doing karaoke, I want it to be as loud and clear as if you had a band up there.”

And, while the voices may not always be band quality, the production always is. Singers are bathed in blue and green stage lights, strutting beneath a disco ball as Mullins watches intently, like a roadie during sound check, adjusting levels on a large soundboard throughout each performance.

This attention to detail is at the core of the philosophy Mullins has developed over more than 15 years as a karaoke host, who began as a 21-year-old plucked from his kitchen job at the Conway Supper Club because of his knowledge of sound systems.

This focus on excellence, however, doesn’t mean the White Water’s karaoke night is a stuffy affair. Owing in large part to a younger and hipper crowd than I witnessed at other venues, the vibe is loose, with a strong and supportive energy.

One singer, Ray Rees, who along with his wife has shifted his karaoke allegiances to the White Water after the closure of Khalil’s Pub & Grill, values the venue’s lack of pretension.

“That’s the great part about coming to dive bars for karaoke, you can sing anything, just don’t fuck up the vibe,” Rees told me, moments before taking the stage in a tie-dye hoodie and shorts to sing “Comedown” by ’90s alt-rockers Bush.

Nestled within more traditional ’80s karaoke standards, I saw someone perform “Bohemia” from “Rent” (complete with a multi-minute speaking section), “Cold” by ’00s butt rock band Crossfade, and “Fuck This Job” by Wheeler Walker Jr., a ridiculous country musician akin to a more profane Johnny Paycheck on steroids (four of the top five songs on his Spotify landing page contain “fuck” in their title). All of that happened in a single-hour stretch.

The genre-du-jour, however, is clearly early ’00s pop-punk, with energetic performances of songs by Panic! at the Disco, Fall Out Boy and Green Day drawing the most feverish crowd reactions. I particularly enjoyed a performance of Green Day’s “Holiday” in which the singer chugged a nearly full beer during an instrumental break.

A caption on the White Water’s Instagram from last August captures it well: “Increasingly wild karaoke is happening tonight &

every Tuesday night from 8pm-midnight.” I don’t expect to see that change anytime soon.

THE TOWN PUMP

Every year, Facebook reminds me of a photo a complete stranger tagged me in on Sept. 20, 2012. In it, I’m standing on the Town Pump stage in a crouch, eyes clenched shut and mouth wide open, wailing into a microphone. My friend John, bordering on stankfaced, is straddling an empty microphone stand. My other friend Austin is turned away from the crowd beneath a Jägermeister sign, singing directly into the wood-paneled wall. We are almost certainly singing “I Try” by Macy Gray, because we did that nearly every Tuesday for a very long time.

This was the peak of my karaoke career, as I’m sure is the case for many people my age who were living in Little Rock at the time. Town Pump Tuesdays were a hot ticket, and it was not uncommon to see a line wrapped around the corner, exasperating the owner of the adjacent liquor store. Fueled by cheap PBR, we would write our song choices on small scraps of paper and hand them to Cara Huntsman and Kevin Myrick, the beloved hosts who sat on stage with the performers and often grabbed a microphone and joined in.

Mullins told me his craziest experience as a host of karaoke occurred at the Town Pump, when, during someone’s performance of an unidentified ’90s rap song, “like 45 people crowded the stage and the majority of them started doing The Worm.” If you were a regu lar then, this somehow sounds both physical ly impossible and entirely believable.

A recent Tuesday night at the Town Pump, however, revealed these halcyon days of fullto-the-brim karaoke to be gone, replaced with a calmer, older and sparser crowd of wouldbe crooners. Put another way, there was plen ty of room for everyone there to do The Worm, if they were so moved.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, with more crowd focus and camaraderie as op posed to the “karaoke as background noise” vibe that sometimes befalls busier venues. Plus, talented singers get more stage time. Highlights, interspersed between karaoke standards like “Don’t Stop Believin’,” includ ed a man in a leather jacket and thick goatee singing Hinder’s “Lips of an Angel,” complete with some solid microphone histrionics, and a woman who apparently really loves fast-ris ing pop-folk artist Noah Kahan singing three consecutive songs of his in a husky register. Friday night karaoke at the Pump, howev er, is Tuesday night karaoke’s bigger, wilder and drunker cousin. Despite buzzing energy and a jovial vibe, the karaoke feels like more of an undercurrent than the main event.

When I walked in, DJ Anthony Peppers, who has run the Town Pump’s karaoke nights

A SHAGGY, COMMUNAL VIBE: Jack Barr and Quanisha Hughes perform Usher’s “Nice & Slow” at Millennium Bowl in North Little Rock on a Saturday night (middle), the crowd and singers at the Town Pump on a Friday night (top and bottom).

since Mullins left, was singing a spirited version of “Cover Me Up,” a favorite Jason Isbell song of mine which, to my chagrin, was announced as a Morgan Wallen tune.

When Peppers wasn’t singing, he was working the crowd. “I’m working the levels, trying to make them sound the best they can,” Peppers said. “But if I can make them feel comfortable here, they’re gonna sing their ass off, and I don’t have much of a job to do.”

While the last performer I watched sang a sultry rendition of Daniel Caesar’s “Get You,” a substantial portion of his audience broke out into a bar fight of unknown origin. I don’t think they’ll remember his performance, even though he didn’t miss a note.

MILLENNIUM BOWL

The Razorback Bar & Grill, a glass-walled 21-and-up lounge in the corner of North Little Rock’s Millennium Bowl, is host to an R&B-centric Saturday karaoke night with a shaggy, communal vibe.

Rising above the muffled sounds of bowling balls striking pins are a series of exceptional singers, none of whom had any need for the lyrics scrolling down a wall-mounted television when I stopped by the bowling alley in early March.

As I entered, I could hear a man’s voice singing an impassioned version of “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims, but the stage area (really just a cleared section of the bar floor) was empty. Eventually, I found him standing behind me, casually leaning on the bar as the crowd sang along with his every word.

Later, an older man named Tony spoke over the instrumental intro to the smooth-as-silk “Send for Me” by Atlantic Starr. “I’m singing this for anyone who has ever lost someone,” he said, ominously, before continuing after a long pause with a sly smile, “and then they came crawling back.”

Crowd participation was consistent for every R&B song, no matter how old or obscure, resulting in an almost choral effect from the audience. The notable exception was when the DJ, Robert Butram of Feel Lucky Music, took a hard left turn with a performance of Blake Shelton’s “Ol’ Red.”

Butram’s dip into country felt like performance art: he sang, eyes closed, in the middle of a bar that ignored him almost completely, two muted televisions directly behind him showing, respectively, a “Law & Order” rerun and Josh Brolin stripping down and getting into an ice bath during his “Saturday Night Live” monologue.

Luckily, the next singer rescued the vibe with a bouncy, flawless performance of Monica’s “So Gone,” nearly every person in the bar rising from their seat to belt along in joyful unison.

INFUSION

Tucked like a used paperback into a bookshelf of much larger and newer books along Dickson Street’s main drag in Fayetteville, Infusion is a tiny karaoke spot that punches way above its weight class. It’s a smoky, shot-

gun-style bar with minimal décor, some light stickiness and cheap drinks.

There’s no stage, only an area the size of a small subway car just beyond the bar, with a karaoke booth stuffed in the corner and banquet seating along the walls. Performing karaoke there is, quite literally, performing karaoke in a large hallway through which people walk to get to the bathroom. It’s incredible.

The bar’s proximity to overflowing college bars, while distinctly not being a college bar itself, creates for an interesting juxtaposition, like an estuary where saltwater and freshwater mix. Young college students enter in search of a place to drink, with absolutely no idea what they’re getting into, meeting the regulars normally populating the bar and its unique karaoke confines. Surprisingly, they mostly stick around.

Infusion is open seven days a week and offers karaoke every night at approximately 8:30 p.m. My most recent trip, on a Friday, had the air of the surreal. I watched a woman sing a Shania Twain song who, upon finishing, picked up her juggling sticks and resumed her street performance on the sidewalk outside of the bar. Also, an old man in overalls with a ZZ Top beard elatedly watched nearly every performance from close proximity, without, I’m pretty sure, recognizing a single song.

I watched my friend Kevin crush a rendition of Seal’s “Kiss From a Rose” while I grimaced through a $1 Jell-O shot. I sang The Killers’ “All These Things That I’ve Done” while a girl celebrating her birthday slouched in her seat, eyes closed, strumming an inflatable guitar.

The KJ (Karaoke Jockey, as they call him) was a college-aged man wearing a sweatshirt plugging the Christian camp Kanakuk, who could not have been more willing to accept bribes to move you up the list and who, between requests, was looking at his grades on a computer that appeared to be at least 20 years old.

It was my platonic ideal of a karaoke experience: strange and unpredictable, with a solid mix of singers who are really good and singers who have no interest in goodness at all. It was extremely easy to forget about the outside world for a while.

The true appeal of karaoke is this form of escapism, a three-minute break from everyday life where you’re not a lawyer or server or HR professional but instead are a rapper or a Broadway star or the frontman of a hair metal band. It’s like singing in the shower or drumming on the steering wheel of your car, but with the gloss and adrenaline rush of professional lighting and sound equipment. All four of these venues, and dozens of other smaller ones dotting the state, are providing a form of a public service, and I hope it never goes out of style.

QUEER PASSION IN PURITAN NEW ENGLAND

A Q&A WITH ARKANSAS WRITER GARRARD CONLEY.

BY CARL NAPOLITANO

In “All the World Beside,” Garrard Conley — author of the bestselling memoir “Boy Erased” (2016) and an Arkansas native — imagines the depths and reverberations of an affair between a Puritan-era doctor and a preacher in a time and place that can only understand the love between the two men as sin.

QUEERNESS AND CHRISTIANITY: Arkansas native Garrard Conley’s latest, “All the World Beside,” came out in March.

jects populate the novel’s scenes like props for a play with a minimalist set design, and, like a play, the novel is propelled largely by dialogue-heavy scenes that carry the urgency of the characters’ pressing concerns. Facing judgment from outside and within, they make decisions that cause harm to themselves and each other. Still, the novel itself, a product of the 21st century and written by a queer author, does not pass judgment. The narrator roves between each character’s point of view with a sense of compassionate neutrality, allowing the reader to understand them better and join in that compassion. The result is a moving, sincere novel that asks difficult questions about the mysteries of faith and love in a hostile world and generously gives the reader a wealth of space to fully feel them.

Recently, I met with Conley over a video call to talk about his influences, intentions and hopes for “All the World Beside,” which came out in March via Riverhead Books.

What drew you to this period in American history as the setting for your first novel?

having an emotional reaction to things, many of those things can be traced directly back to [the Great Awakening]. So I was really interested in continuing the journey I began with my first book, “Boy Erased,” which looked at the origins of conversion therapy and also the origins of a kind of fundamentalist thinking that I grew up with.

My target in my writing is fundamentalism in any form, a black-and-white perspective that does not allow for the growth of the human spirit. I think a fundamentalist worldview is of the Pharisees … It is a very anti-Christ sort of thinking, in my opinion, and it can exist in any religion or even outside of it. And so, to me, the subject of the book is growing up in one of those places [a fundamentalist small town]. But what I found in writing the book was the joy of connection and the small, seemingly insignificant moments when people turn toward each other out of love, rather than away from each other out of hate.

As a historical novel, “All the World Beside” doesn’t convey setting to the reader through conventional means. Rather than heaping on period piece details or reproducing the stilted language readers might associate with literature and letters written in the 18th century, Conley instead drew from diaries kept at the time to create a formal yet direct narrative voice that may surprise readers with its modern feel. The novel does feature a few choice objects — an ornate wooden clock festooned with cherubs; a salve made of juniper berries, beeswax and mint applied to a wound; and a splintering white cross in the center of town — that anchor the reader’s sense of place through their specificity. But these ob-

I started all of this because I had conversations with my father in his study. You know, he has all these old books lining his shelves — he’s an unusual Missionary Baptist preacher. He reads a lot and pretty widely for someone like him. He had all these 18th century texts from Jonathan Edwards and all these ministers who were very popular back then. And they were in many ways responsible for the Great Awakening, which was this historical period that really shook up Protestantism and made many other expressions of devotion the staple in churches.

When you have in a Baptist church someone calling on people to come down the aisle to be saved … or in Pentecostal churches where people are screaming and crying and

As a queer lapsed Catholic raised in the South, I found it refreshing to read a contemporary queer literary novel where the characters’ belief in God was a given. And I admired how deeply you portrayed the different and singular ways each character wrestled with their faith, how that then impacted their actions in the material world of the story, and vice versa. So, to ask a broad question, how did writing this novel change your understanding of the relationship between the material and spiritual world?

Wow, I love the philosophy we’re bringing in. A big subject in the book is this battle that often occurs between the head and the heart. It’s been in philosophy since its origins. Obviously, religion and sexuality can be mapped onto some of that conflict. Fundamentalist religion often tells you that you must believe these things, even though everything inside of your body is screaming out that this is wrong. We tend to have this dichotomy, especially in America, between what we think we

BRANDON TAYLOR

should do and what we actually want to do. And the Puritans are at the center of that. So this book was the kind of map to my own understanding of faith and of Christianity. It’s a wrestling with those demons and angels that I grew up with. I wanted to honor the idea of the queer Christian as it exists today … In going around and speaking about “Boy Erased” and trying to do the activist work I’ve done in the past eight years, I’ve encountered a lot of people who come up to me and say, “Thank you so much for not attacking my religion or my faith. I’m a queer Christian.” … There aren’t many books that are written that allow for the seeming dichotomy between being queer and Christian to exist. [But] there’s nothing incompatible about it, because faith of any kind, especially the Christian faith, is full of almost miraculous, unbelievable things … Why is queerness and Christianity an impossible thing that we cannot reconcile? Why is your view of God so narrow that you can’t invite everyone into that world? So that’s what I wanted to do. It’s called “All the World Beside,” but really it’s about recentering many of these people who feel left out.

Given the current political moment in which state and local governments fueled by a conservative religious fervor, like here in Arkansas, are trying to restrict and censor queer books and stories in libraries and schools — not to mention all of the trans bans they’re trying to pass, too — what do you hope a novel like yours can offer readers? And what are the limitations of a novel?

Visibility is a tough thing because I received some of the most love I’ve ever received after “Boy Erased” became popular. And then I received some of the worst stuff I’ve ever seen in my life that triggered me a lot … So I think there’s always a cost to everything that you want … even your dreams and maybe especially your dreams. But within that, I think that the only way to move forward as a society seems to be telling the truth. Not when it’s convenient, but when it’s inconvenient. That’s when it matters. If you are a serious artist with truly moral concerns, you must be saying things that aren’t convenient to say.

This conversation has been edited for brevity. Find the full version at arktimes.com/ rock-candy.

FREETHINKERS LIVE HERE

LIKE

A ‘RUNNING STONE’: Orthodox Brewery co-owner Jesse Gagnon discovered a historic millstone from the former Goshen Milling Co. on a weekend fishing trip.

A THOUSAND POUNDS OF STONE

HOW JESSE GAGNON CAME TO SEE HIS SMALL-TOWN BREWERY AS A MODERN-DAY GRIST MILL.

BY BRIAN SORENSEN

Population growth and increasing income levels have brought prosperity to Northwest Arkansas, but economic booms often charge a price for admission — namely, a weakening of bonds that once tied small communities together. Losing touch with the past, many say, is happening in the Ozarks as outsiders move in and insiders are squeezed out.

Jesse Gagnon, co-owner and brewmaster at Orthodox Farmhouse Brewery in Goshen, is looking to keep a piece of Ozarks history alive despite a disappearing countryside. Along with his wife and fellow co-owner, Ashlyn, he opened his brewery and taproom on a dirt road in the eastern Washington County community nearly a year ago. Despite being new

in town, the couple realizes the importance of preserving old ways of doing things.

“In a small place like Goshen, where the population is booming, the communities are shrinking, which is a paradox,” Gagnon said. “Things like our brewery have the ability to draw the community together in a way that helps us celebrate our roots.”

Gagnon hails from Maine, but moved to Evening Shade, Arkansas, as a kid. He still has traces of that distinctive Mainer accent, and it’s easy to envision him clad in flannel shirts and boots from L.L. Bean.

Now, though, Gagnon is on the hunt for stories about his adopted home’s past. As luck would have it, he stumbled upon an artifact of that history last year while exploring

the banks of Richland Creek on a weekend fishing trip. It came in the form of a millstone that once belonged to a steam-powered grist mill located further upstream, just north of Arkansas Highway 45 on the Mill Branch river.

“It looked like a piece of exfoliated concrete because it’s made from conglomerate rock,” Gagnon said. “There are old bridge pilings in the area, so it sort of blended into the surroundings. I’m sure a million people saw it before me but didn’t know what it was. With my background in mills, I freaked out because I knew what I was looking at.”

Chances are, eyes previously laid on the millstone mistakenly saw an old canoe putin or low-water bridge. Gagnon, though, had the experience to know exactly what it was. He worked as a miller during his time at the College of the Ozarks, a small liberal arts school in Point Lookout, Missouri, where students are required to participate in a workstudy program.

“I was basically milling up a bunch of cornmeal that was sourced from local farmers in Missouri, and then bagging and selling it,” he said. “We had some massive thousand-pound stones, which were basically the same technology used at the old mill in Goshen. … Who knows how many decades-worth of people made their own bread from the grain that came off that millstone?”

The millstone Gagnon found was once a part of the Goshen Milling Co. According to a letter written by an early leader of the nearby Methodist Church — Reverend Moses Dutton — it was constructed in 1882 by Dr. Jesse Kelly, Tom Cannon and John Greenhill Tunstill.

Tunstill gets most of the credit for operating the mill. Originally from Kentucky, he moved to Washington County around 1872. Gagnon believes the millstone also originated in The Bluegrass State.

“The pattern of this stone suggests it came from Kentucky, based on its signature notching and being composed of conglomerate rock,” Gagnon said. Conglomerate is a sedimentary rock that consists of rounded pebbles of different types that are bound together by sand, silt or clay. It’s common in Kentucky, and many of the millstones made there were composed of conglomerates.

If true, it would have been a long and arduous wagon journey through the Upland South’s craggy terrain to reach its new home

SETH HAINES

in the Ozarks. Quite a chore, given the stones — it takes two stones to mill grain — were each 42 inches in diameter and weighed 1,100 to 1,200 pounds apiece.

The stone Gagnon discovered was the “running stone,” which provided the movement necessary to grind the grain. The “bed stone” was stationary, and is presumably still lost somewhere in the landscape or river. Working in tandem, these millstones turned crops into usable products.

Grist mills also served as social hubs for local residents, providing a place to meet, barter and share news with each other. Their importance to the social fabric of early rural America cannot be overstated, and it’s part of why Gagnon is so passionate about their history. “There’s something about the nostalgia that surrounds them,” he said, “and what they do for their communities.”

Tunstill’s grain mill was located on Mill Branch, so the millstone had moved a considerable distance over time. “Chances are that in some massive gully-washing flood — which there have no doubt been many since the 1880s — it started making its way to where it settled on Richland Creek,” Gagnon said.

Gagnon called his friend, Mike Evans, at the local Arkansas Archaeological Survey at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville to examine the millstone. Its location was marked as an archaeological site in the federal database. Great care was taken to obtain the proper permits to remove the stone since it was technically on a navigable waterway and in the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“A lot of people had to come together to pull this off,” Gagnon said. “The city loaned us a tractor, and we built a skid to get it up on the bank so we could load it up on a trailer. We were nervous about putting too much strain on the millstone, but it was undamaged in the process.”

Photographer Seth Haines took photos of the team’s efforts, documenting a process 100-plus years in the making. The millstone is currently displayed outside the Goshen Community Center, but it might be moved to nearby Mill Branch Park soon.

Gagnon said he and his wife weren’t looking specifically at Goshen as a place to open their brewery, but the rural outpost to nearby Fayetteville has checked all of Gagnon’s boxes. Unlike the bigger cities of Northwest

Congrats Carter Wallace! Class

3rd - Coyote Claw

4th - Magnolia Brown

10th - Dogtown Throwdown w/ Just Cuz 7pm (free outdoor show)

11th - Dogtown Throwdown w/ Nik Parr and the Selfless Lovers 7pm (free outdoor show)

16th-18th - Mutants of the monster Festival

24th - Big Dam Horns

25th - Mojo Depot

31st - Good Foot w/ Melly Moo

Arkansas, Goshen’s size means the Gagnons have gotten to know everyone in town.

“Anywhere we landed, we knew we wanted to positively impact the social fabric around us, and part of that is understanding the history of the place,” Gagnon said.

Even before his discovery of the Tunstill millstone, Gagnon was researching grist mills in the area. He reached out to Shiloh Museum of Ozark History in Springdale for information, but didn’t find much. He got his hands on maps of Goshen from 1908, which showed him where property lines were drawn and helped him identify possible milling sites. He fears much of the past will be forgotten if action isn’t taken quickly.

“It’s easy for places like the Ozarks to lose their history,” he said. “Especially when it’s not archived well. It’s shocking how fast it all disappears and all you’re left with are questions — and the occasional discovery in the dirt.”

Gagnon envisions Orthodox as a modern-day grist mill, providing a place for the community to gather and slow down in a

hectic and fast-paced modern world.

“We started our business with the intent of finding the parts of a traditional approach that reconnects us to the important things in life,” he said. “The millstone is a microcosm of that because it was something very important to this community.”

Last fall, the Gagnons hosted a “friendsgiving” celebration and invited neighbors that surround the brewery. They weren’t sure what kind of response they would get, but were pleasantly surprised to welcome 54 people to their dinner table. Since then, the Gagnons have seen many of those same people at Orthodox, joining each other for beer and potluck meals.

THE ORIGINAL GASTROBAR

“A lot of us go to work, and then we go straight home at the end of the day,” Gagnon said. “Maybe we see a few friends from time to time, but those friends may not even live in the same area. Community takes intention and effort, and we want Orthodox to be a place where people meet their neighbors and don’t get caught up in staring at their phones.”

SMOKING GUNS

STATE AND FEDERAL LAWS

CLASH ON WHETHER MEDICAL MARIJUANA USERS CAN HAVE CONCEALED CARRY PERMITS.

BY GRIFFIN COOP

Holding a medical marijuana patient card is no longer a disqualifier for obtaining a gun permit in Arkansas, not that such a permit was required in gun-happy Arkansas in the first place. Regardless, a recent change in state law has caught the attention of federal firearms officials who say the new law raises concerns about public safety.

Now, gun-toting medical marijuana users may be in a bind trying to navigate conflicting state and federal laws.

Arkansas residents don’t actually need a special permit to carry their favorite firearm in their home state, but concealed handgun carry licenses are available to those who want them. The licenses could come in handy for Arkansans who want to carry a gun in one of the states that does require permits.

Last year, the state passed a law to prevent the State Police from disqualifying medical marijuana cardholders who apply for concealed handgun permits. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wasn’t too happy about it.

The heart of the matter is that the ATF allows folks who hold an Arkansas carry license to skip a background check when buying from a licensed dealer. It makes sense that if the prospective buyer has already passed one background check, he wouldn’t need another one. Except Arkansas doesn’t disqualify medical marijuana cardholders anymore, and the feds still consider marijuana to be a controlled substance.

Mary Claire McLaurin, the vice president of

compliance at multistate cannabis operator Good Day Farms, said the competing demands of state and federal law have put the state’s lawmakers and state agencies in a bind. McLaurin is well-versed in the subject after spending seven years with the State Police as the agency’s regulatory counsel and legislative liaison.

The permit issue is particularly difficult to navigate in Arkansas because the right to be a medical marijuana patient and to bear arms are in the state Constitution. Such rights are considered to be on par with one another unless there is a specific exception in the law, she said.

“You are bound to uphold the Constitution of the state of Arkansas as well as the federal Constitution,” she said. “I think the [Arkansas] lawmakers and the state agencies are kind of in a bind until the federal government gets their stuff together and figures this out,” she said.

The law in question is Act 757 of 2023, sponsored by state Rep. Aaron Pilkington (R-Knoxville). The measure changed state law to prevent the Arkansas State Police from disqualifying cardholders and to prevent the state Department of Health from telling State Police who the cardholders are.

Pilkington said he sponsored the bill after hearing from constituents. One, Pilkington said, pointed out that a prescription for Percocet, a prescription pain reliever, does not disqualify anyone from legally owning a gun.

“I never thought about it that way,” Pilkington said.

The medical marijuana restriction on gun ownership was hypocritical in Pilkington’s

eyes. Some military veterans use medical marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, he said, but the law prevented them from “enjoying some of the liberties that they fought for.”

Pilkington wasn’t sure how the bill would be received by his legislative colleagues, joking that Republicans might hate it because it was a marijuana bill and Democrats might hate it because it was a gun bill. In the end, the bill was pretty popular with members of both parties, passing the House 82-5 and passing the Senate 26-3. Republican Gov. Sarah Sanders signed the bill into law.

In October, the ATF chimed in on the new law. Marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance and anyone who uses it is “prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms and ammunition,” its letter said.

Joan Shipley, a lawyer for the Arkansas State Police, said Arkansas can’t ensure that all of the state’s concealed carry handgun license holders and applicants are not controlled substance users because the application for the license doesn’t ask if the applicant holds a medical marijuana card. Shipley also said an applicant can’t be considered a chronic controlled substance abuser solely based on whether the person is a medical marijuana patient.

Arkansas isn’t the only state at an impasse with the ATF over discrepancies between state and federal law on cannabis and guns. Minnesota, Florida, Oklahoma and Mississippi are among the states that have passed laws to protect medical marijuana patients’ Second Amendment rights.

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NOTICE OF FILING APPLICATIONS FOR SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES FOR CONSUMPTION ON THE PREMISES

Notice is hereby given that the undersigned has filed an application with the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division of the State of Arkansas for a permit to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises described as: 12911 Cantrell Rd, Little Rock, Pulaski County. Said application was filed on March 14, 2024. The undersigned states that he/ she is a resident of Arkansas, of good moral character; that he/she has never been convicted of a felony or other crime involving moral turpitude; that no license to sell alcoholic beverages by the undersigned has been revoked within five (5) years last past; and, that the undersigned has never been convicted of violating the laws of this State, or any other State, relative to the sale of controlled beverages. Name of Applicant: Jose De Jesus Valadez. Name of Business: Los Cabos Mexican Restaurant. Sworn to before me this 15th day of March, 2024. Daniela Schindler, Notary Public. My commission Expires: December 11, 2026.

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THE OBSERVER

WE GOT MOONED

For a weekend, the eclipse was everywhere. If you were making the drive from Fayetteville (98.5% coverage) to Hot Springs for its four delirious minutes of totality, you would’ve started picking up on eclipse vibes circa Alma. The local Valero was selling glasses at the counter, but you had to wait for the cashier to return from out back, helping someone buy minnows.

The impression driving south on Saturday was of a state rallying to support and to milk a local attraction. Usually in Arkansas you see this sort of roadside siren call as you approach a famous cave or a natural spring: for-sale fudge, antiques, shiny mineral bits, or some combination of the lot. The eclipse got people working an old playbook in new ways. A visitor to the area might assume this is a local hobbyhorse, a routine occurrence, not the area’s first such eclipse in a couple of centuries.

Heading further down, eclipse anticipation gathered more force. In Russellville, yard signs popped up like mushrooms: “Welcome, eclipse chasers!” Roadside swag shops made parking lots resemble fireworks season, with $20 eclipse T-shirts for sale in a Rotary fundraiser. Schoolkids in Dardanelle were out for both the 8th and 9th, a four-day weekend that, as much as any celestial watchwork on display, was proof of a divine presence.

You had to ask, at every turn, what are the odds? The odds, for starters, that we’d be so lucky as to be in the path of totality? The last big American eclipse, in 2017, cut its swath north of Arkansas, gracing southern Illinois and western Kentucky with totality (for a relatively modest 160 seconds). What are the odds that you and the people you love will be around for the next cross-country eclipse in August of 2045 — which will also cut right across Arkansas? The odds that our planet would happen to have a moon one-400th the width of the sun and one-400th

as far away, a ratio that makes a total eclipse just barely possible? The odds of this version of the universe, the one with you at the center, gazing back into the clockwork void, existing at all?

Also — it’s not really going to rain, is it? Forecast for Monday said 15%, most of that late in the day. Sunday began overcast and drizzly. Tuesday would’ve been a wash. Monday, though … Monday looked, well, like everything was falling into place.

Nothing to do till then but look at the sky, or stop by Ecliptic, the joint venture between Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival and Atlas Obscura, which drew a mix of astronomy nerds and crunchy music lovers (about 2,500 in total, across its four days) to a grassy hilltop at Hot Springs’ Cedar Glades Park. Adam Savage, the former co-host of “Mythbusters,” was among a few dozen folks who sipped from little cups at a lecture Saturday on local sake. Then there was a presentation about the nature of time by LD Deutsch, which is a matter you, too, are welcome to debate.

You were alive on Monday, so you probably saw some or all of the eclipse. The afternoon’s Facebook posts from Northwest Arkansas and elsewhere around the country often said something like, “We got 98% here. It was neat. But I don’t see what the big deal is.”

If you saw totality, the words that come to mind are some variation of “oh, bless your heart.” There’s a reason why you take a copy of a house key back to the hardware store if they only got it 98% right. Why you don’t file your taxes as soon as they’re 98% done. Why no one cares about the time you hit 98% of a holein-one. Why you don’t wrap up your wedding ceremony before both parties say “I do.”

The sun did its part by sitting still. The moon announced itself as a baby nibble on the lowerright portion of the sun and then spent a solid hour scooching its way across. The temperature

dropped. The daylight seemed to kink.

At Ecliptic, a harpist named Mary Lattimore plucked on the stage as totality neared. She played a song she wrote in honor of Scott Kelly’s yearlong stay on the International Space Station, around the time she suffered a broken jaw in a fall and couldn’t talk for two months, and pondered isolation. She emailed the song to NASA and heard back that Scott Kelly listened to and enjoyed it. Broke-jawed music for long-orbiting astronauts is a perfect eclipse soundtrack.

A few minutes from totality, a man wearing a welding helmet joked to his friends, loudly enough for all to hear, “Who’s got the knives …? For the human sacrifice …?” People laughed.

The music stopped a few moments before totality snapped into place. Venus peeped out from the navy-blue sky. Then the sun became invisible behind the solar glasses, and everyone took theirs off to look around the dusky field, the pink-fringed horizon, and one another. If you saw it on Monday, you know: The backlit moon looked like a smoking bullet hole in the sky. The sun’s light curled around the stoneblack circle like electric smoke. It was neat. I see what the big deal is.

People gasped; then they laughed at their own sense of wonder; then they laughed at the sound of other people laughing. Cannabis smoke wafted. People murmured; people kissed. Someone howled like a wolf, and a few other folks howled like wolves in response, yet somehow the actual dogs on the field kept their composure. Four minutes passed, and then the tiniest scrap of sun peeked out, absolutely blinding. Within a few minutes, the catfish food truck reopened, and the lady at the tent selling crystals was telling folks her quartz was now supercharged. Bob’s Food City in Mount Ida already had its marquee teed up for the long drive home: “WE GOT MOONED.”

BRIAN CHILSON

RICARDO MORALES

HEAD BANQUET SERVER

For nearly thirty years, Ricardo Morales has carved a path for himself in the food service industry. “I’ve always loved interacting with the customers and getting to know them,” he said. Morales considers Little Rock’s long-standing Brave New Restaurant — an institution in culinary excellence in its own right — to be his chosen home. Soon, he’ll mark 20 years of service at the eatery, where he currently works as the head banquet server.

Owner and executive chef Peter Brave inspires Morales to strive for stellar service. “Peter Brave is an amazing boss,” said Morales, “Plus, you can’t beat the beautiful location with phenomenal river views, and we have the best customers.”

Morales mirrors Brave’s work ethic, as the executive chef leads by example. “Peter has always been so personable with the customers and always strives for top-quality produce and ingredients,” Morales said. “In the same way, I try to go that extra mile in making sure that the customers get a top-quality dining experience.”

Brave New specializes in fresh, seasonal dishes, offering customers a variety of culinary experiences and flavor combinations each visit. “I would love for those who dine in to get out of their comfort zone and explore more food. Our chefs always put together delicious specials,” Morales said.

Located in the Armor Bank Building, Brave New can be difficult to find for first-time visitors. Morales goes above and beyond to ensure that once customers step off the elevator, they feel right at home. “The food and service at Brave New makes all the difference,” he said. Say hello to Morales when you visit Brave New next. He’ll ensure your dining experience is second to none: “I want everyone to come in, lay back, relax and have an amazing time.”