Arkansas Times | April 2020

HOMEBOUND TO-DOS | MOMENTARY FIRST LOOK | BALEADAS CON TODO

ARKANSASTIMES.COM

APRIL 2020

BUT FARMERS GROWING THE NON-DRUG CROP SAY THEY’RE STYMIED BY STATE RULES, FINICKY PLANTS

BY REBEKAH HALL

ARKANSASTIMES.COM

APRIL 2020 1

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ARKANSAS TIMES

APRIL 2020

FEATURE 28 THE HEMP HUMP

RETT PEEK

Farmers growing the potentially lucrative crop find it’s not the easy money they hoped for.

By Rebekah Hall

9 THE FRONT

Q&A: Milkdadd Eye on Arkansas: Governing from a distance.

The Inconsequential News Quiz: It’s the End of the World as We Know it Edition.

The Month (or so) That Was: Coronavirus, coronavirus, coronavirus.

Big Pic: Beard and Mustache Contest winners.

19 THE STAY-AT-HOME TO-DO LIST

Find live music, art classes, streaming movies, readings online, and other suggestions for the sheltering-at-home.

4 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

24 NEWS & POLITICS

63 HISTORY

42 CULTURE

67 CANNABIZ

Et tu, Biden? Et tu, coronavirus?

By Ernie Dumas

The Momentary opens in Bentonville.

By Leslie Newell Peacock

46 TRAVEL

Waterfalls in winter.

By Stephanie Smittle

An excerpt from a memoir by veteran and former prosecutor George Proctor.

A Q&A with budtender Micah Reynolds.

By Stephanie Smittle

72 CROSSWORD 74 THE OBSERVER

59 FOOD

El Sur brings Honduran food to Little Rock.

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PUBLISHER Alan Leveritt EDITOR Lindsey Millar CREATIVE DIRECTOR Mandy Keener SENIOR EDITOR Max Brantley MANAGING EDITOR Leslie Newell Peacock ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Stephanie Smittle ASSOCIATE EDITOR Rebekah Hall CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Benjamin Hardy, Mara Leveritt PHOTOGRAPHER Brian Chilson DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL STRATEGY Jordan Little ADVERTISING ART DIRECTOR Mike Spain GRAPHIC DESIGNER Katie Hassell DIGITAL MARKETING SPECIALIST Lucy Baehr DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING Phyllis A. Britton ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Brooke Wallace, Lee Major and Terrell Jacob ADVERTISING TRAFFIC MANAGER Roland R. Gladden IT DIRECTOR Robert Curfman CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Anitra Hickman CONTROLLER Weldon Wilson BILLING/COLLECTIONS Charlotte Key PRODUCTION MANAGER Ira Hocut (1954-2009)

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VOLUME 46 ISSUE 8 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. ©2020 ARKANSAS TIMES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP

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ARKANSAS TIMES

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THE FRONT Q&A

DAYDREAMS AND DROPCLOTHS A Q&A WITH MILKDADD

Choosing a subject isn’t very difficult for me. I like the way everyone looks. I do have certain features I have fallen in love with. I use a lot of different sources for the faces I recreate. I have had subjects over to my studio where I style and photograph them. I love going through old photographs, vintage magazines and textbooks as well. I usually work from a photograph, but I would like to do more live painting projects in the future.

To paraphrase an oft-paraphrased U.S. Supreme Court justice, we may not be able to tell you what art is, but we know it when we see it. Such is the case the first time we got a gander at the work of Hannah Lemke, better known to the aesthetes around these parts as “Milkdadd.” On a jaunt through one of the many fine neighborhood festivals to be found in our fair city, we stumbled upon a work of honest-to-goodness Art, a painting on a pane of glass and suspended from a wire, and sat ensorcelled for a whole cup of beer before beseeching our good friends at Visa to spot us a few bucks so we could move up a notch or two in the realm of art collecting. Commerce complete, we now count ourselves among the Art Crowd, and have Milkdadd to thank for it.

Since finding herself in the capital city, Milkdadd has been wowing seasoned art lovers and neophytes alike, and you can find her work — sometimes haunting, sometimes piercing, always striking — hanging in boutiques all about town. A transplant from Louisiana and a welcome addition to the art community in the River Valley, Milkdadd was kind enough to answer a few questions for us.

Your bio mentions a genesis in the swamps of deep Louisiana. What brings you to these (relatively!) northern climes? Is Little Rock where you’re planting the Milkdadd flag, or do you have your eyes set on other horizons?

After a couple of years in community college, I decided I wanted to get out of the state. I was barely 18 at the time when I visited UCA’s campus and fell in love. I spent my summer preparing for my big move. After a semester at UCA, I got knocked up, had a baby, decided to get married, and then figured I might as well get divorced, too. So college was no more. While raising the coolest little dude (who is now 3) and working in coffee shops, we landed in Little Rock.

Arkansas has become my home sweet home. I absolutely adore this city. I wouldn’t mind staying here for a while.

Both Louisiana folk and Arkansawyers place a lot of stock in place, and seem to draw a special

kind of sustenance from their geographical roots. Have these two unique places — the Louisiana swamps, the Arkansas River Valley — influenced your art in any way? Or do you think a singular vision will come out, regardless of where the artist might hang their hat?

My work, as well as who I am, is inspired by being raised in Louisiana. I grew up with the Mississippi River in my backyard. I spent every summer outside with my siblings playing in the lake and exploring through the woods. We had the opportunity to collect, observe and learn from the land around us. Long before I started painting faces, I painted swamps, cypress trees, old houses, wildflowers, bugs and berries. I learned a lot about color during that time. Most of my current palettes are still very inspired by my childhood. I believe the South is a magical place, and I will always want things to be warm, sweet and polite.

Your work includes a lot of character studies that invoke both hazy unreality and piercing clarity; your subjects read as real and solid even as they operate within an uncertain and immaterial space. Do you choose your subjects purposefully, and do they sit for a portrait? Are people you see and meet just the catalyst for your creative output? Or is it something else altogether?

How particular are you about your medium? I’ve seen your work on both canvas and glass, and while both are noticeably yours, they’re nonetheless quite different and seem to invoke a different kind of emotion in the viewer (or this viewer, at least). Is this or that medium a conscious decision for any given project?

Absolutely. Going into a project, I almost always have an idea of the feeling I want to invoke. The majority of my work is inspired by my emotions, daydreams and memories, so when I begin a piece, I choose mediums that can best recreate what I felt or saw or tasted, etc. When I’ve painted on glass, I want things to feel like a memory, sort of like something you might’ve watched through a window. I use paint for moods. Smeared and sad. Heavy and hot. Portraits on paper are quick and often abstract, usually inspired by a recent event. I also paint larger pieces on canvas drop cloths. Those pieces are big and loud and messy.

BUT, these things are just how I feel. The viewer may feel something totally different, and I think that’s even better. If my pieces can make you feel anything at all, then I’m satisfied. And if they make you feel nothing, then I’m still satisfied. I make things as a way for me to process my own emotions and events.

You always seem to have on an absolutely boss hat. No question, really. Let’s just talk about hats.

The real reason I wear hats: I am extremely self conscious. Things like hats, glasses and scarves are always my go-to. I’m always trying to stay incognito.

— Matt McNair ARKANSASTIMES.COM

APRIL 2020 9

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GOVERNING AT A DISTANCE

In response to the new coronavirus outbreak, the Little Rock Board of Directors moved its regular meeting March 17 to the Robinson Center’s William Grant Still Ballroom to allow directors, city staff, media and the public to maintain a safe distance from one another. Geoffry Vickery (foreground, in green) was the lone member of the public who showed up to deliver a comment to the board. He asked Mayor Frank Scott Jr. to reverse a midnight to 5 a.m. curfew announced to begin March 18, citing the financial impact it would have on employees of late-night bars and taxi and ride-share drivers. City Director Dean Kumpuris, who also heads the city’s COVID-19 Task Force, responding later, said, “I feel bad about people having these economic difficulties,” but said he feared a situation where the virus overwhelms city health care facilities.

ARKANSASTIMES.COM

APRIL 2020 11

THE FRONT

INCONSEQUENTIAL NEWS QUIZ

IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT EDITION Play at home, after scrubbing your hands until they’re cracked and bleeding!

1) The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery recently announced that revenue had dropped by almost $20 million compared to last year. To what do officials attribute the slide?

A) Somebody started calling the lottery “A Tax on Stupid People” and you know how Republicans hate taxes.

B) A blockbuster expose from the Merkin Fork Eagle-Tattler-Gazette discovered that the gray, scratchable stuff on scratch-off tickets is made entirely of uranium.

C) After a successful run of the Monopolythemed scratch-off ticket, officials found that Monopoly’s iconic, top-hat-wearing greed head Rich Uncle Pennybags had embezzled the funds before absconding in that tiny car.

D) A decline in sales of tickets for randomdraw games like the Powerball Lottery and Arkansas Mega Millions.

2) The Arkansas Court of Appeals recently made what might be considered a surprising decision in the case of a man who was convicted of carrying a weapon after he was found to be partying on Fayetteville’s Dickson Street with a loaded pistol in his pocket. What was the ruling?

A) That in Arkansas, a handgun can be legally considered an Emotional Support Animal.

B) That the man was, in fact, a footballcoaching Terminator, sent back through time to save fans from another bullshit season.

C) That the man and another drunk dude had, for reasons that are unclear, swapped pants moments before the arrest, and the handgun wasn’t even his.

D) The court reversed the man’s conviction, saying that the state didn’t prove that the man intended to actually use the weapon unlawfully.

3) Speaking of Fayetteville, tragedy struck the campus of the University of Arkansas in recent months. What happened?

A) The Delta Tau Chis gave a horse a heart attack in Dean Wormer’s office.

B) The “Westworld”-style copy they made of Frank Broyles keeps going crazy and trying to take over Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

C) Last semester, the Razorback football team’s starting lineup tried to enroll in Introduction to Television 101 but mistakenly got placed in Auditing and Attestation 2203 and liked it so much they’ve sworn off football to pursue degrees in the action-packed field of corporate accounting.

D) The Spoofer’s Stone — a large block of limestone left over from the construction of Old Main that has since become a beloved campus landmark — was smashed after being run over by construction workers.

4) Maumelle’s South Boulevard restaurant was one of the Central Arkansas eateries featured on Fox’s “24 Hours to Hell and Back,” a show in which world-renowned chef Gordon Ramsay jets in to spruce up the menu, service and decor of struggling restaurants in an attempt to revive their lackluster sales.

Things didn’t work out quite as planned, however. What was the issue?

A) In person, Ramsay is actually 4-foot-3 and really isn’t all that intimidating.

B) Ramsay’s British accent and restaurant employees’ Arkansas accents created an insurmountable language barrier that could not be overcome.

C) Coronavirus. Duh. D) Despite the changes Ramsay made, the restaurant closed weeks before the show aired.

5) A Little Rock janitor was recently sentenced to three years in prison. According to investigators, what did the sanitation specialist do to warrant the big house?

A) A teacher at Cloverdale Elementary caught him in the mop closet snorting that mintsmelling stuff they sprinkle on puke.

B) Assault with a deadly squeegee.

C) Angry over a pay cut, he mopped the marble floor of a local bank with peanut oil, resulting in madcap antics, three concussions, two broken arms and a dislocated shoulder.

D) While tidying up the Little Rock FBI Field Office in 2018, investigators said, the man took cellphone pictures of a chart detailing alleged members of a drug trafficking organization and later shared the photos with one of the targets of the probe.

6) Rural Newton County recently entertained ideas for ways to mitigate traffic jams along highways in the picturesque and normally lightly traveled Boxley Valley. What’s causing the traffic jams?

A) Elaborate Sasquatch mating dances and consummations sometimes block the road for hours.

B) Springtime sunbathing by legendary local nudist and two-time World’s Hairiest Hippie Dick “Silverback” Pickel.

C) Massive, drifting clouds of weed smoke are obscuring visibility.

D) Hundreds of sightseers regularly pull off and park while attempting to view the valley’s large elk herds.

ANSWERS: D, D, D, D, D, D 12 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

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THE FRONT

THE MONTH (OR SO) THAT WAS

CORONAVIRUS, CORONAVIRUS, CORONAVIRUS

Governor Hutchinson held his first press conference on the state’s preparation for the virus on Feb. 28 and the news has been fast and furious since. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, afflicted by a lack of leadership in the White House, which had dismantled its pandemic response team, was slow to get functioning tests to the states to identify spread.

The state Department of Health finally got test kits at the first of March, more than six weeks after the first case was reported in the United States, and began daily updates of how many people had been tested and how many were under house quarantine and being monitored because of travel histories. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences saw its first suspected case at the first of March, but COVID-19 was later ruled out; doctors said the hospital was prepared for eventual patients.

The University of Arkansas System also began making plans in case of an outbreak.

By the second week of March, the state issued a directive to nursing homes not to admit visitors with fever or a travel history, and some began to keep all visitors out. That was the first instance of facility quarantines. Closures of community centers followed. Soon, hand sanitizers began to disappear from stores. The state’s first known case of COVID-19 was reported March 12, in a patient hospitalized at Jefferson Regional Medical Center. As it turned out, the patient had likely been infected at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, officials said.

14 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

The governor asked people not to travel if they didn’t have to, and, following CDC guidelines, recommended limiting event attendance to 50.

The attorney general warned that price gougers would be prosecuted. The city of Little Rock put in place a curfew of midnight to 5 a.m. and later banned service in restaurant and bars, limiting them to providing delivery and takeout only.

President Trump and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, who had floated the idea that the virus was a Chinese bioweapon, were finally prevailed upon to change their tunes and suggest that people take safety precautions, though Cotton kept calling COVID-19 the “Wuhan virus.” Cotton closed his D.C. office.

In the first two weeks of March, cases rose from one to 22. One of those cases, a patient hospitalized at UAMS, had neither traveled nor come in contact, to the best of their knowledge, with a COVID-19 case, suggesting community spread of the disease. Others have travel histories — including a couple returned from an out-of-state conference — or contact with others infected with the virus.

As of March 19, as additional test kits became available in Arkansas, there were 46 cases of COVID-19 in eight counties, 113 under investigation and 441 people being monitored by the health department and self-quarantined. The number of persons suspected of contracting the virus who’d been tested but found negative was 301. Updated numbers are being provided daily by the health department, both with live press conferences and on its website.

IN OTHER NEWS LR SALES TAX PITCHED Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. announced a plan to raise $50.5 million a year with a new 1-cent sales tax to take effect after the city’s 3/8-cent sales tax expires. More than a third of the tax would be devoted to overhaul the city’s parks and build an indoor sports complex. The zoo, public safety, infrastructure, early childhood eduction and economic development would also get part of the pie. The city board was to take up the plan in late March or early April, after the Arkansas Times went to press.

GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES LEAN BUDGET Governor Hutchinson submitted a budget to the state Legislative Council that would increase spending by 1.5 percent, one that will set aside $50 million in surplus. Public schools and general education would get a measly increase of $4 million, or two-tenths of 1 percent. Meanwhile, the governor, legislators and other state officials and judges will get pay raises of 2.5 percent. The legislature has fallen short of the state Supreme Court’s Lake View decision’s adequacy standard for years. It will fall even farther behind if the governor’s budget is adopted. But it doesn’t matter. The Republican-controlled Arkansas Supreme Court isn’t likely to prove itself a friend of the Constitution against a Republican governor and legislature.

BIDEN ROARS BACK Former Vice President Joe Biden, who’d made poor showings in early Democratic presidential primary and caucus voting, zoomed past the crowded field during voting on Super Tuesday, March 3, outpolling Bernie Sanders in 10 of 14 states that day, including Arkansas, and followed that with nine more primary wins. It appears Biden, who vowed his running mate would be a woman, will prevail as the Democratic nominee to beat President Trump.

BRIAN CHILSON

The new coronavirus that has now circled the globe and, as of this writing, infected 46 people in Arkansas, was local news first when a female defendant who appeared in Mayflower District Court in February announced she believed she had the disease caused by the virus, COVID-19.

The Faulkner County Circuit Court was evacuated and the woman whisked away to a hospital, where it was determined that she was not sick.

Instead of a hospital room, the woman, who’d been in court to face misdemeanor drug charges, contracted new charges: contempt of court and filing a false report.

Quickly, all hell broke loose. Schools were closed in four counties in Central Arkansas because of other infections ­— and later Governor Hutchinson closed public schools statewide.

All sporting events, both at home and abroad, including NBA and NCAA games, were canceled.

Grocery store shelves were quickly emptied of toilet paper and cleaning products, and stock of other items, like cat and dog food, began to run low. Museums and libraries closed; colleges and universities sent students home. Theatrical and musical events were canceled. The city closed fitness centers and tennis courts. UAMS began screening individuals for symptoms away from the emergency room. Homeless shelters either quarantined or limited numbers. People began “social distancing,” staying home. Central Arkansas Water restored water to persons who’d been cut off because of nonpayment of bills so they could wash their hands, and put a hold on future turnoffs.

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THE FRONT BIG PIC

BEARD ENVY

AT THE 8TH ANNUAL LITTLE ROCK BEARD & MUSTACHE CONTEST. On Feb. 22, The Root Cafe hosted its Beard & Mustache Contest at Little Rock’s Bernice Garden. As usual, ace photograph Rett Peek was on hand to capture portraits of the hirsute competitors at the annual mustache competition in SoMa. Judges were Peek; Ansley Watson of KATV, Channel 7; Cody Mayes of Handle Barbershop and Noodle Eason of Dogtown Barber Lounge. Winners not pictured: Kara Clontz (Best DIY Crafted Beard), Todd McDonald (Best Mustache) and Alex Wells (Best Natural Beard Under 6 Inches). (The Arkansas Times was a sponsor.)

DENNIS COAST Best Original Beard

KEVIN ETHERIDGE Best Natural Beard Over 6 Inches

STUART WILLIAMSON Best Groomed Beard

KYLE ARKANSAS Contestant

ZACHARIAH PLATSON Contestant

RETT PEEK

GEORGE ANDERSON Best Partial Beard

16 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

RICK SUBLETT Contestant

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MUS ASE SHOWC

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE ARKANSAS TIMES 2020 MUSICIAN SHOWCASE FINALISTS:

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WINNERS LIVE PERFORMANCE AND PRIZE PACKAGE INCLUDES: Arkansas State Fair • Yadaloo Music Fest • Palmer Music Company Gift Certificates to Trio’s • Low Key Arts Superior Bathhouse Brewery • FestiVille Jacksonville Thursday Night Live at Murphy Arts District Valley of the Vapors and more to be announced.

18 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

the

STAY AT HOME TO-DO LIST

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE, LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK, GUY LANCASTER, STEPHEN KOCH AND DANIEL FORD

EVAN HALLMARK/GUY CHOATE

When the Arkansas Times went to press, confirmed coronavirus cases were cited in 10 Arkansas counties, public health officials were instituting curfews and Little Rock residents were beginning to come to terms with the ways in which the outbreak would change their daily lives. So, in lieu of our monthly compendium of calendar events, live music and cultural happenings around Arkansas, editors and contributors at the Times offer a collection of entertainment picks for enjoyment at home or otherwise outside the public sphere. Some, like the Argenta Reading Series, are events that became impossible to do in front of a crowd, for which we suggest you digitally “tailgate” from home. Others, like the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s “Bedtime with Bach” series, have sprung up from Central Arkansas artists holed up at home in quarantine and dreaming up ways to connect with a remote audience. Most of these performances and services are free, but crises like these can devastate arts organizations.

We’ve included donation links with each listing where applicable.

ARGENTA READING SERIES 12:30 P.M. DAILY. ARGENTA READING SERIES FACEBOOK PAGE. When essayist/humorist Guy Choate resigned himself to the idea that he’d have to cancel the next installations of the literary program he founded, Argenta Reading Series, he thought about the authors who’d lost a chance to read their new work in front of the sorts of attentive, thoughtful audiences the series has become known for. He probably thought about writers Brooke Elliott, Ethan Braziel, Samantha Woods and Julia Gallagher — the four finalists ARS had named for its annual High School Writing Contest, knowing they’d geared up for a March 14 reading of their work in front of an audience and would now need to wait until the makeup date in May. “It’s devastating

to work so hard on something and then, when it finally gets out into the world, have it collapse because of unknown forces like a pandemic, of all damned things,” Choate said. He would know; the Friday following the discovery of the first positive coronavirus case in Arkansas was the date Choate had planned to be at Central Arkansas Library System’s Bookstore at Library Square to sign copies of his first book, an essay on Army life called “Gas! Gas! Gas!” with pithy illustrations by Evan Hallmark. Now, Choate’s keeping the spirit of the series going digitally, by reading work from authors who have appeared at ARS in the past.

Donate at argentareadingseries.com. SS ARKANSASTIMES.COM

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STAY AT HOME TO-DO LIST

@TERRY_BORDER INSTAGRAM. FREE.

TERRY BORDER

Instagrammers, if you’re not following Indiana artist and photographer Terry Border on Instagram, and enjoying the way he’s adapting his brilliant catalog of “bent objects” for these troubled times, you’re missing out. Buy his latest, “Snack Attack,” at terryborder.com. SS

ROBERT BEAN’S FIGURE DRAWING EXERCISES ROBERT BEAN’S FACEBOOK PAGE. FREE. Robert Bean, the painting and drawing department chair at the Arkansas Arts Center, is one of many instructors who have moved their courses online, and he’s drawing right along with the students in his figure drawing class using models provided by the free Croquis Cafe video series (croquiscafe on Instagram or CroquisCafe.org). See his profiles in musculature and anatomy at his Facebook page, and check in on your favorite local artists; odds are they’ve got plenty to share from their studios, too. SS

BROWSE THE INTERNET ARCHIVE VISIT ARCHIVE.ORG. Maybe you’ve seen the archive.org URL floating around the internet and not paid it much mind. It’s a nonprofit library of music, books, websites and software where one can while away hours. (There’s a huge chunk of episodes of this author’s program, “Arkansongs,” to be found there, among countless other time-takers.) For example, scan the files of Help!, an innovative early 1960s magazine edited by famed cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman, best known for his satire in Mad, when it was still a comic book. Help! was never a breakout success on the newsstands, but lasted for five years and became known for its fumetti strips — comic strips that use photographs instead of illustrations. In addition to offering sick burns on Barry Goldwater, Help! provided pivotal early gigs to Gloria Steinem, Woody Allen, Gilbert Shelton and Robert Crumb, and was where future Monty Python members John Cleese and Terry Gilliam first met. SK 20 APRIL 2020

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OFF-THE-BEATEN-PATH STREAMING SERVICES BRITBOX.COM, ACORN.TV, PBS.ORG, MARQUEE.TV, CLASSIXAPP.COM, CRITERIONCHANNEL.COM. PRICING VARIES.

So you’ve been “socially distanced” for a while now and have driven yourself crazy trying to find something else on Netflix, Hulu or Prime that you might want to watch.

What now? Well, there are more streaming services than those Big Three. For example, if you have a hankering for British television, you might want to try out Acorn or Britbox. Recently, I’ve been binging on the Britcom “Red Dwarf” on Britbox, the story of Dave Lister, the lowest ranked and last-surviving person on a mining ship living with a hologram version of his hated, dead bunkmate; a creature evolved from the ship’s cat; and a sanitation droid. It’s hilarious, and the perfect show for a stretch of social isolation. If you need something more educational, you can get the PBS passport and stream both national and state PBS programming. Right now, the network is highlighting an old episode of “American Experience” on the influenza epidemic of 1918, appropriately enough.

Another educational and cultural resource is Marquee TV, which streams ballet, contemporary dance, opera and theater. Right now, Marquee TV is showcasing its collection of Shakespeare performances, including “King Lear,” the play Shakespeare famously wrote while under quarantine. If you have a young student stuck at home with you, this might be a good resource for you. Another favorite of mine is the Criterion Channel, featuring movies from the Criterion Collection, including “The Seventh Seal,” Ingmar Bergman’s classic meditation upon life and death during the time of the bubonic plague. If that’s a little intense for you, and if everything I’ve suggested just reminds you of current events, take a gander at Classix, which offers, for free, such classic television shows and movies as “The Beast of Borneo,” “Swamp Women” and “I Bury the Living.” Classix has a deep offering of sci-fi and horror B-movies, as well as “The Shadow of Chikara,” filmed in Arkansas, and “I’m from Arkansas,” reflecting the hillbilly tropes of the early 20th century. GL

‘SURVIVING Y2K’ ON A VARIETY OF PODCAST STREAMING SERVICES.

BEDTIME WITH BACH 9 P.M. DAILY. ARKANSAS SYMPHONY

In the last few weeks, as the coronavirus transformed from an interesting but far-removed story into something that required me to work remotely and become a reluctant prepper, I’ve been reminded of the build-up to the millennium and the global apprehension of the Y2K bug. I was young at the time and didn’t really understand much, but I’ll never forget the palpable unease and picking sides that occurred as society marched closer to the year 2000. Dan Taberski’s second season of his “Headlong” podcast series (sandwiched between equally interesting seasons focusing on Richard Simmons and the “Cops” television show) is a brilliant, six-episode deep dive into this strange moment in human history, one with some obvious and not so obvious parallels to today. Taberski examines Y2K from all angles: his own extremely personal story, the stories of doomsday preppers, religious zealots, bank robbers, pregnant women racing to have the first baby of the millennium and those both stoking the flames of panic and those seeking to blow the whistle on what they viewed as a hoax. It is a highly engrossing examination of how society fractures and responds to disruption and chaos, a topic made even more interesting by listening to it during a pandemic. If you’re looking for a podcast that provides both escapism and a case study on our current predicament, then look no further. DF

IMDB

ORCHESTRA FACEBOOK PAGE.

Creative people, as it turns out, don’t tend to stay still. So, when the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra canceled its mid-March Aretha Franklin tributes in accordance with social gathering guidelines from Little Rock Mayor Mayor Frank Scott, ASO Concertmaster Drew Irvin decided to give a little serenade on social media, which begat another the next night by ASO harpist Alisa Coffey, and another the next night from the ASO’s interim Artistic Director Geoff Robson, and so on, each night at 9 p.m. on the ASO’s Facebook page. “So, this was an idea that had kind of been fermenting,” Irvin told us, “when I first heard that they shut down Wuhan. … I thought, well, we have all this technology, and it’s kind of like this muscle we’ve never used before. ... We want to just keep it going every night that life allows us to keep it going. Let’s hope people can tune in for a little minute of some kind of beautiful music at the end of their day, maybe it’s Bach, maybe it’s a pop tune, maybe it’s some beautiful folk music, maybe it’s something else. It’s just a chance for us to have a little bit of community, and to smile and to wash the day away.” Musicians, Irvin said, are “used to this process of practice, rehearse, rehearse, concert. And it’s kind of like, we need to get our fix. We need our audience. We need to be playing for people. And we don’t have that, so hopefully we can have a new way of doing it for the time being, until we can get back in the hall.”

Donate at arkansassymphony.org/support. SS

TRILLIUM SALON SERIES: AMOS COCHRAN 7 P.M. SATURDAY 4/11. SOL STUDIOS FACEBOOK PAGE. Fayetteville native and acclaimed electronic composer/pianist Amos Cochran has a few projects in the rearview mirror whose names local film buffs will already know, even if they didn’t know he wrote the scores for them — Amman Abbasi’s “Dayveon,” Daniel Campbell’s “The Orderly,” Jesse Burks’ “Cured.”

Here, in this installment of Katy Henriksen and Glenn France’s concert series, Cochran celebrates the release of his latest album, “Niente.” Silence, Cochran says, “plays a huge role” in his work,” he said. “The overall emotional arc of my songs has this concept as well, often starting out in whispered silence to lay the ground for the largest emotional build possible.” The album’s three solo piano tunes and five pieces for piano, violin and cello will be performed and live-streamed from the Facebook page for Fort Smith’s SOL Studios, at which Cochran recorded the album with violinist Miranda Baker-Burns and cellist Christian Serrano-Torres. SS ARKANSASTIMES.COM

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STAY AT HOME

PUZZLE IT OUT @CARD TABLE; PAJAMAS OK. In these days of uncertainty, we all want to put the pieces together, make things fit, see the big picture. But no one, especially not the bronzed man with the flyaway hair, has all the answers on the coronavirus. Which is why, of course, we’re staying home. But you can still put the pieces together and get a big picture: Dust off that jigsaw puzzle you put aside that Christmas so long ago (or buy one new; as of this writing, bookstores are open). There’s nothing like obsessing over funny-shaped bits of cardboard, hooking them into other funny-shaped bits of cardboard and coming up with, say Tom Uttech’s immense woodland painting “Enassamishhinjijweian,” available at Wordsworth (simpler to just ask for that Crystal Bridges painting). Or order online a White Mountain Mystery Puzzle, which when completed shows a picture different from the one on the box, full of clues to figure out whodunnit. (May I suggest “Murder in Little Piddling,” $16.99 from White Mountain Puzzles. The company had a note on its website, whitemountainpuzzles.com, in mid-March that its warehouse was full and it was taking orders.) Or I can lend you the one I got for Christmas, Rebecca Campbell’s “Do Not Disturb,” a picture of a man sleeping beneath a gigantic bookcase full of lookalike volumes that will take you until next Christmas to finish. I gave up, and moved on to a peaceful scene of a Grecian isle. LNP

METROPOLITAN OPERA: NIGHTLY OPERA STREAMS MET OPERA ON DEMAND APP. 7:30 P.M. NIGHTLY. FREE. For fans of the Met’s simulcasts at movie theaters across the U.S., or for all of you who love opera and just don’t know it yet, one of the most prestigious opera institutions in the world is making its backlog available as a free streaming series. In some ways, fans of those Met simulcasts will tell you, the cinematography of these “televised” performances trump the genuine article; the sound is crystal clear, and the cameras being up close allow you to see so much more of the action and nuance. Also, notables like soprano Renee Fleming guide you through the shows as hosts. “In this time, I think art is even more essential, more necessary,” Met Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin said in a video announcing the series. “I think when we resume our life, we will realize what we have missed.” They’re accessible for 20 hours after they launch. To watch, download the free Met Opera on demand app on your phone, streaming device or smart TV and look for the subheading “Free Nightly Met Opera Streams.” Donate at metopera.org/support, and, while you’re at it, maybe send a note encouraging the Met, instead of citing force majeure, to pay the artists it contracted for the rest of the current season. SS 22 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

BRIAN CHILSON

TO-DO LIST

‘THE OVERSTORY’ CURBSIDE PICKUP AT YOUR LOCAL

INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE; EBOOK OR AUDIOBOOK PURCHASE THROUGH LIBRO.FM, WITH THE OPTION TO SUPPORT A LOCAL BOOKSTORE. If you’re tired of focusing on the global crisis presented by COVID-19, dear reader, might I suggest focusing on the global crisis presented by climate change and environmental destruction? Richard Powers’ 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Overstory,” however, is a must-read not because it hammers home the doom and gloom of our impending ecological catastrophe, but because it so beautifully highlights all that we have to lose. “The Overstory” gracefully weaves together the stories of a number of environmental activists, beginning the novel by detailing the individual lives that these affectionately rendered characters led before their activism, then satisfyingly bringing the characters together around a common pursuit. The novel is an enthralling contradiction: It is a page-turner about trees and a story about the natural world that highlights what makes us human. It’s also really long, perfect for filling up your suddenly free hours. Read it, and then find a secluded forest to stroll through. I guarantee you will not look at trees the same way after diving into this book. DF

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APRIL 2020 23

NEWS & POLITICS JOE BIDEN: His comeback — and the arrival of coronavirus —make trouble for Trump.

THE IDES OF MARCH FOR TRUMP BIDEN AND CORONAVIRUS ATTACK.

BY ERNEST DUMAS

T

oday as I write, it’s March 15, the Ides of March, and we will one day learn that some seer inside the White House — Stephen Miller, perhaps, after reading the entrails of a chicken — warned the president to beware of the day, as Spurinna did Caesar in early March of 44 B.C. Not to equate Donald Trump with Julius Caesar, although Trump would like the thought, but the first two weeks of March have the feeling of a dramatic turning point similar to that fateful day for the Roman Empire 2,064 years ago.

Certainly it is for Trump, who in the matter of 10 days saw his two receding hopes for retaining the presidency effectively vanish. His and Russia’s vain hopes of running against the avowed socialist Bernie Sanders slipped away after the South Carolina primary and Joe Biden’s sweep of 15 of the next 19 primaries. Then the coronavirus pandemic, the economic meltdown and Trump’s blundering reaction to it all undermined the one thing that had propped up his miserable poll numbers. He inherited the most resilient economy in history — more than seven years of uninterrupted growth — and in three years had not destroyed it. No matter what is responsible for it, a growing economy nearly al-

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ways re-elects a president.

As they were for the Romans, these foreboding days may be equally dramatic for the country, which in three years has lost the famous American confidence — the knowledge that we were the leader of the free world, the best hope of mankind, the nation that held up the beacon of freedom and equality to the rest of the world, the nation that sacrificed to lift up the downtrodden and the oppressed, that controlled the global agenda on matters like trade, peace, health and climate change. Fairly suddenly, we were a nation repelled by old allies, laughed at by much of the world, scorned by people and nations that were reviled by the president — and not just by his “shithole countries.” And we hated and blamed each other.

It will take a while to see whether we recovered that old arrogant confidence or buried it.

A little tiresome background: By the spring of 2019, the polls showed that, despite 44 years — a political lifetime — of controversial votes and verbal slips, the former vice president would beat Trump handily. Destroying Biden became the president’s obsession. Russia put out the word that the election interference that was the subject of the Mueller investigation was really

AGE, FLIP FLOPS AND ALL, JOE WAS THE ONE TRUMP PROVED HE COULD NOT BEAT.

the work of Ukrainian supporters of Hillary Clinton, not the Kremlin’s digital spies who were identified in all the Mueller indictments.

Rudy Giuliani told Trump that Vice President Biden had tried to thwart Giuliani’s Russian allies in Ukraine with the help of his son Hunter (the same Hunter Biden who got a Batesville girl pregnant out of wedlock).

So all that Americans heard — or at least lots of them — was that the Mueller investigation and all the impeachment fireworks by the Democrats were a ruse to cover up Joe Biden’s deceptions. The entire Republican Party, including Arkansas’s congressional roundup, joined the chorus. Joe Biden was the real villain in Ukraine, not the president who tried to bribe the country into announcing an investigation of the former president and keeping it going through the election.

It seemed for a long time to have worked. Biden slumped as Democrats assumed that the Trump strategy had made old Uncle Joe poison for too many voters. Biden barely registered in the Iowa and Nevada caucuses and the usually silly New Hampshire primary. Trump ridiculed him and played up Bernie Sanders’ popularity and suggested that he might be hard to beat. Russian social media and broadcast outlets in places like Kansas City promoted Bernie. In the early debates, the media played up Biden’s criticism of busing to achieve racial balance in the schools in the 1970s, which would surely poison black voters against him.

Then 79-year-old Rep. Jim Clyburn, the House majority whip, bearhugged Biden on the eve of the South Carolina primary, and South Carolina Democrats handed him a walloping victory over Sanders and the rest of the field. Overnight, Democrats everywhere — even the handful in Arkansas — thought: “Why, he ain’t dead at all.” Age, flip-flops and all, Joe was the one whom Trump had proved that he could not beat. Everyone but Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard surrendered to Biden, and Sanders chose to make a gradual but graceful exit by nudging Biden to make his ancient liberal propensities more evident.

Trump’s shock and fear were palpable. His carefully bronzed visage became stern and tortured. Then the virus came to America.

Trump had a single thought — the same thought that had motivated everything he did and said as president and for all his preceding life: How can I turn this to my advantage or else keep it from hurting my chances for stardom, Forbes’ recognition as one of the richest Americans, or re-election? His self-absorption was transparent in every one of his tweets and staged reactions as the seriousness of the virus grew and absorbed more

voters. It was hard for even his blindest supporters not to see. It was all about him. He alone among the world’s leaders had taken the right steps, although he fibbed about everything he was doing or had done. Each time he came back out to announce sterner steps, everything was political. He was stopping everyone from coming to the United States from Europe — although if they were coming from the United Kingdom they would still be welcome. Europeans could catch a train under the tunnel and continue on to America. The United Kingdom was a hotspot for the virus, but Trump had a golf resort there that he promoted, and he owed one to the prime minister, who was the only leader in Europe except for Hungary’s Victor Orban who showed any respect for him. All the others shun him, and he was showing them. Trump and Vladimir Putin had encouraged England to secede from the European Union and have been critical of the Atlantic alliance.

Trump blamed the terrible American response to the epidemic on his predecessor, the mixed-race man he had always maintained was an African who was neither fit nor eligible to be president of the United States. Never mind that it was Trump who had slashed health funding, tried to wipe out insurance protection for 20 million Americans and abolished the programs set up by Obama to prepare for the global epidemics that were sure to follow the H1N1 pandemic of 2009.

When the panic reached investors and the Dow — Trump’s measure of the American economy — sank, he demanded that the central bank and the other fiscal institutions of government do something to keep investors pumped up. At least through the election, he meant. After producing a big health bailout in the days before the big plunge, Democrats in the House of Representatives ginned up their own big program and he reluctantly accepted it.

On the eve of the Ides, he repeated that he had produced the greatest economy in American history, or the world. One little statistical comparison: When Barack Obama took office in 2009, the U.S. unemployment rate was 7.6 percent and rising fast, losing 2.5 million jobs a month. When Obama left office and handed it to Trump, the jobless rate was 4.6 percent and sinking. Under Trump in three years, with a global surge, it has gone from 4.6 percent to 3.5 percent. Wow! From now until November, he will have to contend with facts — what he has actually done, from North Korea to the economy. You would like to think that the public — the electorate — would demand it. Time will tell whether that is the case, again, and whether we have regained our national swagger.

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APRIL 2020 25

HOW ARKANSAS FARMERS ARE GROWING A NEW INDUSTRY, AND THE FUTURE OF HEMP IN THE NATURAL STATE. MATTHEW MARTIN

BY REBEKAH HALL

28 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

MATTHEW MARTIN

HOT HOUSE HEMP: Brad Fausett grows hemp indoors at his Hawgs Hemp Farm in Conway County.

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F

armers in Arkansas hoping to cash in on the state’s newly legal crop — industrial hemp, a variety of the cannabis plant low in intoxicants — are finding it’s tougher than they expected.

“I think a lot of people came into this program expecting to make the big bucks, or save the family farm, and we’re kind of learning that that’s not the case,” Caleb Allen, the coordinator of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s industrial hemp research program, told the Arkansas Times in February. “Maybe 20 or 30 years in the future, who knows, but it’s just too new right now to really say, ‘Yes, this is a definite crop that will save our farm.’ It’s a lot of hard work.”

Industrial hemp is a tempting crop for farmers because of its versatility.

The market for the hemp product cannabidiol, or CBD, has skyrocketed, with U.S. sales predicted to reach $20 billion in the next few years. CBD is used in creams and oils for pain relief and calming. A separate variety of hemp is sold for fiber; hemp has long been used to make rope and textiles. It’s been used to make shoes, even biofuel.

Arkansas farmers were allowed to start planting hemp in 2019, part of the state’s Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program approved under the federal 2014 Farm Bill. During the first year, the state Department of Agriculture licensed 125 farmers to grow hemp. A total of 1,818 acres of hemp were planted across Arkansas, in 51 of the state’s 75 counties.

But of those 1,818 acres, 213 were either destroyed voluntarily, some were planting failures, or others were grown solely for research and left unprocessed. Others were destroyed because they were too “hot” in the intoxicant chemical THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), exceeding the federal 0.3 percent limit on hemp.

Some of the state’s hemp industry’s problems can be traced to agricultural difficulties. The trouble started in the greenhouse for Kim Ellington, 55, a rice and soybean farmer with Jerome Farms Partnership outside of Dermott, who received his license to grow hemp in February 2019. During the germination process, some of his seedlings, which he started in his greenhouse, became diseased. It was a loss that Ellington said has “haunted me all year long.”

Ellington eventually planted around five acres of hemp on his 1,650-acre farm.

By the end of the growing season, only two acres were successful, and only half an acre produced plants that “were looking like they were supposed to.”

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MATTHEW MARTIN

MOTHERS AND CHICKS: Hawgs Hemp Farm chickens inspect the farm’s mother hemp plants, cloned to produce new plants.

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APRIL 2020 31

BRIAN CHILSON

BRINGING HEMP FARMING TO ARKANSAS: (Left) State Rep. David Hillman (R-Almyra), who introduced the state’s hemp legislation, and Caleb Allen, state industrial hemp research program coordinator, address the Arkansas Industrial Hemp Conference in Little Rock in February. (Below) Cabot farmer Kelly Carney believes in the efficacy of CBD to relieve pain.

HEMP HAS BEEN GROWN FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS.

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“If it had been a soybean field, I would have [dug] it up and started it over,” Ellington said.

A particularly wet spring in 2019 also led to poor growing conditions, and around 94 percent of the state’s hemp growers lost money on the crop. Arkansas hemp farmers find themselves at the bottom of a steep learning curve as the 2020 growing season begins. *** In addition to the challenges of cultivating a plant that’s new to the humid Arkansas climate, some farmers say that tricky state and federal regulations — and perhaps slow-walking of regulations thanks to a reluctant governor — have hindered the fledgling industry’s first steps.

One of the state’s regulations, in fact, is seen as the biggest impediment to growing hemp profitably: Growers may only sell raw hemp products — the living plant, its seed and leaf material — to licensed processors at wholesale, rather than directly to the public.

In 2019, farmers were unable to sell more than half their crops to processors. Of their yield of 190,554 pounds of flower (buds), 422 pounds of hemp fiber and 6,303 pounds of hemp grain, 107,704 pounds remain unsold (54.6 percent).

The product is in farmers’ storage.

The 2018 Farm Bill, which removed industrial hemp from the Controlled Substances Act, allows farmers to sell to consumers. But the state Plant Board promulgated its hemp growing rules under the 2014 bill, which required that hemp be grown only as research and to processors. The first opportunity to alter the rules to allow direct sales, program coordinator Allen said, will come in the 2021 General Assembly, when the Arkansas Industrial Hemp Act could be amended.

Farmers interviewed by the Times about the progress of hemp production in Arkansas were critical of the selling requirement. David Owen, who with his three brothers and Cesar Mendoza owns Hot Springs cannabis company Ouachita Farms, called the selling limitation the “biggest hurdle” for Arkansas hemp farmers. Kelly Carney, a licensed hemp grower and processor and owner of North Pulaski Farms in Cabot, agreed.

“The people who are losing right now, and will lose until that rule is changed, are the Arkansas farmers,” Carney said. *** State Rep. David Hillman (R-Almyra), the lead and sole sponsor of the Arkansas Industrial Hemp Act, said he wrote the legislation based on Kentucky’s hemp research pilot program.

When Hillman presented the bill on the House floor in March 2017, he told legislators he was initially skeptical of the hemp plant because he associated it with illicit marijuana, but the more he researched the crop and its history in the U.S., “the better I liked it.”

Hemp has been grown for tens of thousands of years around the globe. The fiber from the plant has been used to make garments and can-

vas for sails. Many early American settlers grew hemp, and in the 1700s, farmers were legally required to grow it as a staple crop. Early drafts of the Declaration of Independence were written on paper made from hemp.

Attitudes toward the plant changed in the early 1900s, when the U.S. government increased its efforts to combat drug use, including marijuana. In 1937, Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act, which placed an excise tax — the same kind of tax often imposed on cigarettes and alcohol — on all cannabis sales, including hemp, to deter the production and sale of the crop. But during WWII, the tax was briefly lifted to allow farmers to grow hemp fiber to be processed into rope for the U.S. Navy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture even produced a short documentary, “Hemp For Victory,” that encouraged farmers throughout the Southeast and Midwest to grow the crop. Over 400,000 acres of hemp were harvested between 1942-45.

After the war, hemp returned to its highly taxed status, and in 1970 its growth was officially outlawed by the passage of the Controlled Substances Act. This classified hemp as an illegal Schedule 1 drug and banned farming of the plant.

Hillman reminded legislators that though hemp may look like its illicit cousin, marijuana, hemp is significantly lower in THC content.

“You might say, ‘Well, it’s just a lighter version of marijuana,’” Hillman said. “I want to tell you: You could pile a pile [of hemp] up as big as this room and set it on fire, and there wouldn’t be enough THC in there to get anybody high. So that part of it’s safe.”

In addition to products made from CBD oil, hemp has myriad uses in multiple areas of industry. When oxidized, or dried, hemp oil from the plant’s seeds becomes solid and can be used in oil-based paints, in topical creams as a moisturizing agent and in plastics. Pure hemp fiber has a texture similar to linen, and can be used to make a variety of fabrics and furniture.

Henry Ford even created a prototype of a car using hemp materials in 1942. The body of the car was composed of a strong plastic material made with hemp fiber and the car was designed to run on hemp fuel. The car’s design was part of Ford’s effort to develop new building materials during the steel shortage of World War II. Concrete-like blocks made from hemp and lime — sometimes called “hempcrete” — are used as insulation in construction. Tennessee Wood Flooring in Sevierville, Tenn., produces hardwood flooring made from hemp, as does Fibonacci, a company that produces a wood substitute called HempWood in a 16,500-squarefoot facility in Murray, Ky. Hillman told the Times that the hemp plant’s ability to pull heavy metals and toxins out of soil and store it in the plant’s stalk is what “tipped the scales” for his favor of the crop. He added that his wife now gives CBD drops to their family’s dog Troy, a 17-year-old Pyrenees mix who “couldn’t hardly get around.”

“Now every afternoon at 4:30, he goes in the kitchen and stands there and looks at her until

she gives him that CBD oil,” Hillman said. “And he feels better, he walks better, he gets around better.” *** After the Arkansas Industrial Hemp Act bill passed the Senate in March 2017, Hillman said he received a call from Governor Hutchinson.

“He called me up [and said], ‘David, you know I was at [the Drug Enforcement Administration] ... ,’ ” Hillman said. “ ‘I just can’t have my name associated with anything to do with marijuana.

So, I’m not going to sign that bill, but I’ll let it become law without signing it.’ ” The bill, now known as Act 981, became law in 2017. Some hemp farmers, including David Owen of Ouachita Farms, believe the governor’s reluctance to support the legislation — and thus, the hemp program at large — put the Arkansas State Plant Board in a difficult position.

He claims the Arkansas State Plant Board received “basically no guidance” from both the governor’s administration and the attorney general, despite Arkansas farmers “begging” for direction and changes to the hemp program’s rules.

Asked if guidance from the governor on the hemp industry has been lacking, the Arkansas Department of Agriculture issued a statement: “The Department always has, and continues to work closely with the Governor’s office, federal, state, and local law enforcement, as well as legal counsel in the administration of the Industrial Hemp Research Program.” *** In 2019, over 90 percent of Arkansas hemp farmers cultivated the plant for CBD production.

CBD is sold for a variety of uses, including treatment of chronic pain, anxiety and inflammation. In 2018, the Food and Drug Administration approved Epidiolex, a highly concentrated CBD extract, for the treatment of seizures associated with two epilepsy syndromes. CBD products are widely available: They’re sold in specialty hemp or CBD stores, but also in pharmacies, gas stations, health food stores, grocery stores and with many online retailers.

Owen described himself as a “true believer” in the benefits of CBD and other cannabis products. In 2009, Owen was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, a chronic and often debilitating inflammatory bowel condition, and in 2010 he underwent a surgery that removed four feet of his small intestine. He uses a potent CBD extract that he says has allowed him to stop taking the biologic drugs he took for the disease.

Other Arkansas hemp farmers have described similar experiences with CBD products. Cabot grower and processor Carney sells a “full spectrum” CBD hemp balm, which means it contains trace amounts of cannabinoids other than CBD, and he uses the topical to relieve pain in his shoulder.

“One of the things that makes me feel good about growing [hemp] is that when I first startARKANSASTIMES.COM

APRIL 2020 33

ON THE FARM: Kim Ellington acknowledged he “didn’t do enough homework” before deciding to grow hemp for CBD oil.

KEEPING THC CONTENT BELOW O.3 PERCENT IS CRUCIAL.

34 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

ed, I was not necessarily as big a believer as I am now,” Carney said. “This stuff works.”

Though Hillman said his elderly dog seems to find relief from a CBD extract, he has not tried it himself.

“Does CBD oil work? I don’t know, and I don’t care,” Hillman said. “If you take it and it makes you feel better, whether it’s up here [in your mind] or in your body, doesn’t matter to me.”

BRIAN CHILSON

*** Dermott hemp farmer Ellington said he wanted to grow CBD because of what he read about the market and its success in the U.S., but acknowledged he “didn’t do enough homework” on the production of hemp for CBD. “I just kind of jumped into [hemp production] because I thought, ‘I can do this, [I can] do a few acres, we can handle it, [and it] won’t cost me a whole lot,’” Ellington said. “Which it didn’t, but I’m not gonna get a whole lot out of it.”

Ellington had a total vested interest of $12,000 in his hemp crop, saying that he didn’t invest any further because he “knew if I pumped a lot of money into it, I would not get it back.”

Owen and his three brothers, along with co-owner Cesar Mendoza, initially invested $200,000 in Ouachita Farms’ hemp-growing enterprise, which employs eight people in Saline County.

Owen said about half of the upfront cost was used to prepare the land for hemp production, including the digging of a well, the installation of an irrigation system, and the cost of seed, soil and manual labor. Damon Helton, who also owns Olde Crow General Store in Benton, owns the land that Owen farms.

Owen’s team planted five acres of hemp in 2019, but only three acres yielded saleable hemp. Because he’s growing to produce CBD, he used the buds from the plants, storing them in a temperature-controlled drying facility to preserve the plants’ terpenes, oils that give the plants their odor and taste.

“I feel like that was the most common mistake we saw in Arkansas this year: People weren’t fully versed on not just the drying process, but the curing process,” Owen said. “We’re talking about a five-week period here, and if you don’t do it right, your crop is just gonna smell like hay.”

The strain of hemp plant that’s used to grow fiber has been bred to grow 10-13 feet tall; the stalk of the plant is what’s processed into fiber. Hemp grown for fiber yields fewer and smaller flowers, or “buds.”

The strain of hemp grown for its high CBD concentration has been bred to produce more buds, which produce CBD, and these plants usually grow 4-5 feet tall. Hemp grown to make CBD products requires individual attention, and Allen said he’s heard some farmers describe their experience growing the plant as “boutique gardening and not farming.”

Just like those who cultivate cannabis for medical marijuana, hemp farmers must try to keep their crops free from male plants to keep the bud-producing female plants from being fertilized. If fertilized, female plants will focus on generating seed, reducing the CBD in the bud.

“It’s not as finicky as an heirloom tomato, but it does have vulnerabilities,” North Pulaski Farms’ Carney said.

Carney, who planted his crop to produce CBD in May, said his began flowering around late June. Carney said outdoor growers harvest in September and October, while indoor growers who cultivate the plant in greenhouses have more flexibility.

If you were to drive past Carney’s hemp fields in late summer or early fall, you’d probably be able to smell them from the road: “It reeks like marijuana, it looks like marijuana, it just doesn’t contain the THC that marijuana does,” Carney explained. *** Keeping a hemp crop’s THC level below 0.3 percent is crucial to putting the crop on the market, so monitoring and maintaining is important.

When hemp plants become “stressed,” they start producing higher levels of THC. Several factors or “stressors” can increase the THC concentration in a plant, including soil temperature (the growing range is roughly between 65-83 ºF), amount of shade, proximity to nearby plants, and type and amount of fertilizer or mulch.

Much of the research the state’s farmers did concerned the effects of these different stressors on a plant’s THC level.

State Department of Agriculture inspectors check greenhouses and plants in the field for compliance with the THC limit, and the department’s lab is the only one in the state authorized to run compliance testing.

Allowing farmers to receive compliance certification from third-party labs, Owen of Ouachita Farms said, would allow farmers to receive the compliance test from the same third-party lab from which they receive lab tests throughout the growing season; Owen said consistency in lab results is key to

a crop’s success. Farmers would also like a longer turnaround time to harvest their crops after the state deems a crop compliant: The window now is 15 days; Owen advocates for a 28-day window before harvest. *** Another profitability roadblock: There’s a big disparity (not just in Arkansas, but nationwide) between the number of farmers growing hemp and the number of processors processing hemp, and that gap has created what program coordinator Allen and many farmers described as a “bottle-necking effect” in the state’s hemp industry.

In 2019, 33 processors were licensed in Arkansas’s industrial hemp program, but not every processor processed material, Allen said. Only a bit more than half of those licensed accepted hemp material from Arkansas farmers in 2019. Those who did processed 197,263 pounds of hemp, bringing hemp farmers a total of $329,381.

Many hemp growers strongly recommend that any farmer considering applying for the Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program negotiate a contract with a processor before the growing season begins to guarantee a return on their investment. Otherwise, hemp has to be put in storage until a buyer is found. Jody Hardin, an organic farmer from Grady, said this can be a tricky step for farmers, as hemp needs to be stored securely in a low moisture facility or the crop will rot — and growers are left with no profit to show for their labor.

Despite the obstacles faced by Arkansas hemp farmers in their effort to turn a profit from their crop, many remain optimistic about the industry in the state, though they acknowledge its growth will be a gradual one. *** Ellington of Jerome Farms Partnership said that in his lifetime as a farmer, he’s learned the value of failure.

In 2020, Ellington is no longer growing hemp for CBD products. Instead, he’s growing industrial hemp for its seed and as a fiber crop. Because the strain of hemp used to grow fiber contains much lower concentrations of THC and CBD, Ellington said it’s his “hope” that the fiber crop will be easier for farmers to grow and be incorporated into their crop rotation along with other traditional row crops, such as soybeans, rice and corn.

“Growing [hemp] for the CBD oil is more of a horticultural-type growing, where you take a few acres with ARKANSASTIMES.COM

APRIL 2020 35

extremely high input,” Ellington explained.

“Our operation is just not geared for that. We’re geared for more production. The industrial hemp, I’m hoping, we can incorporate it into another crop in our cropping rotation. This is just me looking down the road … but I think the bigger picture for hemp is the fiber and stalk part of it.”

Carney echoed Ellington’s sentiment, saying the hemp fiber crop will be the “least risky play” for Arkansas farmers in the future — but only once the infrastructure required to purchase and process that fiber on a large scale is present in the state. Brad Fausett, a licensed hemp grower and processor and owner of Hawgs Hemp Farm in Conway County, noted that a fiber crop is unrealistic for smaller operations Arkansas hemp growers.

“A small grower can’t even consider a fiber crop,” Fausett said. “He doesn’t have enough land, he doesn’t have the equipment, he doesn’t have the $3 million he’s gonna have to spend to get new equipment for it. There’s just a lot of barriers ... for the bigger agricultural move here, with hemp.”

Hillman, the sponsor of the Arkansas Industrial Hemp Act, said he thinks it will take between 15-20 years for the state to develop the infrastructure needed to expand the fiber industry, but he added that it took decades for crops that are now staples in Arkansas to become ubiquitous.

“When [William] Fuller grew the first rice in Arkansas in 1906 ... he didn’t raise enough rice to replenish his seed. So it was a failure,” Hillman said. “When soybeans were introduced in Arkansas in the ’30s, they were mainly for a hay crop, and in the first couple years they were a total failure. And look where those two crops have us now. I can list a dozen other fads that came and went, but you don’t know until you try. And this is something that has enough potential that it needs to be tried in Arkansas, and I commend these people that are willing to go out there and try it and see if it works. They’re the most passionate people I’ve ever worked with in agriculture.”

Ellington said that in his experience as a business owner, five years is the “magic number” a new venture or industry takes before it starts becoming profitable. He said he’s confident that the hemp crop’s versatility, low impact and relatively quick yield time — a hemp crop can be harvested between 130-150 days after it’s planted — will position it as a worthwhile product for both farmers and consumers, so long as it’s not priced out of their reach.

36 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

Cabot hemp farmer Carney said he believes hemp fiber could eventually be a better crop for row farmers than some of the existing industry staples.

“To a cotton farmer who’s growing cotton, [hemp] is a much more profitable product they can grow in their soil,” Carney said. “To a corn farmer, they can make more money growing fiber, as long as there’s a place to buy it.” *** Ouachita Farms’ Owen, in defiance of state law, sold raw hemp products from his crop — including packaged CBD buds and pre-rolled CBD joints — to the general public. He did so because he believes the State Plant Board is in error in prohibiting the sale of smokable flower.

His argument, which he spelled out in comments to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in November, is that state rules include language that says if any state regulation conflicts with federal law, the federal provision “shall control to the extent of the conflict.” Because selling smokable flower is legal under the federal 2018 Farm Bill, he believes that should override the state’s prohibition on sales to the public.

After the newspaper published Owen’s comments, he received letters from the State Plant Board saying the board was moving to remove his growing and processing licenses. Owen and his partners then met with the board’s hemp committee and agreed to stop selling their raw material to the public and remain compliant with the state until the smokable hemp provision is changed.

Hemp law sponsor Hillman said the sales restriction was included in the legislation “as a safeguard” to comply with the 2014 Farm Bill.

“It was in [the legislation], and I knew why that was in there, but I did not foresee the chance we were missing here in Arkansas to sell our own product,” Hillman said.

Owen was hopeful that the Arkansas State Plant Board would remove its restriction at its March meeting, but it did not. He said he believes that several hemp growers who grew in 2019 will choose not to grow in 2020 because of the restriction. Otherwise, he said, they would face serious “financial risk.” Coupled with the issue of third-party labs not being able to test crops for compliance and a general lack of resources for the program, Owen said he sees little incentive for farmers to participate in the cultivation of hemp at all. ***

Program coordinator Allen said higher licensing fees on farmers and processors approved by the State Plant Board in March will bring in needed revenue for crucial aspects of the program, including more staffing and resources, equipment for sampling and testing hemp, and travel costs for state inspectors who drive to and from hemp farms and the Department of Agriculture’s lab. The Plant Board is now working to meet federal guidelines to put the state, rather than the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in charge of state hemp production plans. Requirements include licensing standards, procedures for testing for THC concentration levels in hemp and for the disposal of noncompliant hemp, and procedures for handling violations of the rules. The plans must be submitted by Oct. 31.

Meanwhile, Arkansas will continue to operate under the 2014 Farm Bill’s research pilot project provision for the 2020 grow season. Program coordinator Allen said the USDA is working with states on a “case by case basis” to help align their hemp programs with federal guidelines, adding that the Arkansas DOA is coordinating with the USDA on “Arkansas’s individual needs.”

Allen explained that the benefit of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture running its own hemp production program is rooted in the state’s ability to tailor its program to its own needs and experience.

“I think of it ... as, do you want Arkansans running the hemp program — we’re an agriculture state — or do you want Washington, D.C., coming in and running the program?” Allen said. “And I do know USDA’s program is pretty bare bones; they’re still trying to figure out what they’re going to do and how they’re going to implement their programs. But I can see a very large majority of states wanting to have control over hemp production in their state.”

Allen said the state department hopes to accomplish all of the necessary changes for USDA approval — including the creation of a “corrective action plan” for negligent license holders who violate the rules of the hemp program — through rule-making with the State Plant Board.

He’s hopeful about the future of hemp in Arkansas, but said its progress will take time. “I think Arkansas farmers, as soon as we learn more about this crop and this industry, I think they can really grab it by the horns and do some awesome things, because we’re an agriculture state,” Allen said. “I have total faith in our farmers to figure that out. But at the same time, we’ve got to crawl before we can run. Changes don’t happen overnight. It’s a slow crawl, but we’ll get there eventually.”

BRIAN CHILSON

‘WE’VE GOT TO CRAWL BEFORE WE CAN RUN’

CALLS FOR REGULATION FIX: David Owen, who with his three brothers and Cedar Mendoza invested $200,000 in Ouachita Farms’ hemp operation, says growers must be allowed to sell raw hemp products to the public if the industry is to survive.

ARKANSASTIMES.COM

APRIL 2020 37

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A Special Advertising Section

50th ANNUAL EARTH DAY Earth Day 2020, Wednesday, April 22, marks the 50th anniversary of the event celebrating and promoting environmental awareness. U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisconsin) introduced Earth Day on April 22 as an environmental teach-in. An estimated 20 million people participated in rallies and protests. Today, Earth Day is a global phenomenon. With the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic among us, plans for celebrations have dwindled. But there are still ways you can help everyday to make a difference. Thanks to Little Rock Water Reclamation’s “Can the Grease,” Metroplans’ “Ditch the Keys” campaign and Richard Mays’ Law firm for helping protect our environment with their efforts.

ARKANSAS EVENTS “Earth Day 2020” Wednesday, April 22, at UA Little Rock.

“Earth Day Festival” Saturday, April 12, at the Botanical Gardens of the Ozarks, Fayetteville.

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“Earth Day 2020 — Keep Arkansas Beautiful” Saturday, April 18, Fayetteville.

“Arkansas Earth Day Festival — Keep Arkansas Beautiful” Saturday, April 18, Heifer International Headquarters, 1 World Avenue, Little Rock Check all sources for updates and cancellations, as schedules are changing on a daily basis.

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ARKANSAS TIMES

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WALK TO SCHOOL OR WORK

A Special Advertising Section

SAVE THE EARTH AND DON’T FLUSH THAT! Before April 22nd was established as Earth Day in 1970, it was perfectly legal to pollute the air, water and environment.

Before Earth Day, there was no Clean Air Act or Clean Water Act. Before Earth Day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was not authorized as a federal agency to tackle environmental issues. Now, 50 years later, Earth Day is the world’s largest environmental movement, and is celebrated by more than a billion people every year.

Countless laws have been passed and thousands of organizations have been formed to ensure the world becomes healthier, safer and more sustainable.

Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority (LRWRA) is committed to protecting the environment, public health and its most valuable, natural resource – water. In honor of the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, LRWRA invites Arkansans to be part of the solution and think twice about what we put into our

flushed, rinsed or poured down the drain.

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KAT WILSON

CULTURE

BELONG, IN THE MOMENT

WALTON-BACKED VENUE OPENS (MOMENTARILY) IN BENTONVILLE.

BY LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK 42 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

FROM FACTORY TO MUSEUM: The new Walton project brings contemporary visual and performing arts in a repurposed Kraft factory.

BOSWELL MOUROT FINE ART IN ‘STATE OF THE ART 2020’: Jordan Seaberry’s painting “Blueberry (The Right to Self).”

JEFF HORTON

ROBIN HAZARD

T

he Momentary, the mini-MASS MoCa in Bentonville that Tom and Olivia Walton and Stueart Walton created in a former Kraft cheese factory in Bentonville, opened with fanfare on Feb. 22 with art, nonstop musical performances, trampoline bouncing and dancers rappelling down the side of the building. (And then closed temporarily March 15, as did every museum in Arkansas, because of the coronavirus outbreak.)

The industrial space has been transformed: A garage is now the RØDE theater, named for contributor RØDE Microphones, an audio company based in Sydney, Australia; the fermentation room, once a two-story-tall square space, is now a theater draped in wool acoustical curtains. There’s coffee from local roasters Onyx on the ground floor and a glass-walled bar on the top floor with a view, Director Lieven Bertels boasted, that reaches all the way to Oklahoma. The Breakroom cafe shares space with a large gallery, so that, for now at least, you can eat lunch while watching a kaleidoscopic video turning a pineapple into a Cubist’s dream at the same time.

Giant neon script on the side of the Momentary spells out its message: “You Belong Here.” Bertels calls the facility a “living room for arts” that stands in contrast to the traditional museums in which the importance of the art is reflected in Neoclassical architecture and grand entrances — like the steps to the Metropolitan, for example — and in which art is viewed in sort of “religious silence.” At the Momentary, Bertels said, “You can just come in and the art is around you. You can come in here to hang out. The idea is that you feel at home. … You can grab a coffee and you can take that coffee through the gallery.”

Paintings, sculpture, video installations and ceramics by a highly diverse group of artists make up the Momentary’s maiden exhibition, “State of the Art 2020,” more than 100 works in all that are divided between the 63,000-square-foot Momentary and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The most arresting work in the Momentary portion of “State of the Art 2020” is Paul Stephen Benjamin’s “Summer Breeze,” an installation in which a video repeating Billie Holiday singing “black bodies swinging” from her song “Strange Fruit” is paired with a wall of several high-contrast black-and-blue toned videos repeating the image of a child swinging toward the viewer. The child’s aggressive back-and-forth swinging set to Holiday’s song about lynching is tremendously moving. Located in a side gallery, Holiday’s “black bodies swinging” resonates throughout the ad-

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APRIL 2020 43

CRYSTAL BRIDGES

PICTURES FROM AN EXHIBITION: And from the exterior of the Momentary: At top, Tavares Strachan’s neon “You Belong Here” that welcomes the public to the museum; below, SuSu’s “A Life in the Woods,” part of the exhibition “State of the Art 2020.”

BANDALOOP: The dance troupe rapelled down the Momentary Tower on opening night.

44 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

jacent gallery and into the cafe: living room art space.

The diversity at the Momentary — from the curators to the cafe staff to the visitors and among the artists and their subject matter — is gratifying. The artists chosen for the show, by curators Lauren Haynes, Alejo Benedetti and Allison Glenn, are the face of America, like Sama Alshaibi of Tucson, Mae Aur of Memphis, Domingo Castillo of Miami, Jiha Moon of Atlanta, JooYoung Hoi of Houston, Suchitra Mattai of Denver. Also, drag queen Jody Kuehner (Cherdonna) of Seattle. Some of the works have been merged into the permanent collection in the main galleries at Crystal Bridges, such as photographer Mari Hernandez’s self-portrait “Colonizer” hanging amid the grand portraiture of early American aristocracy. (For “Colonizer,” Hernandez donned a prosthetic nose and chin and wears a costume; the colors are so arrestingly highly saturated the photograph could almost be mistaken for a painting).

The scale of the Momentary allows for the installation of Mattai’s “Dialectic,” a 480-by-180inch tapestry of vintage saris from India and from her Indo-Guyana family, rolled and woven together, Frances Bagley’s grouping of figures emerging from stone, “Shangri-la,” and the pink and yellow performance space “Ditch” for drag artist Kuehner/Cherdonna.

Refreshingly nonderivative paintings include Su Su’s “A Life in the Woods” and “Darwin,” cartoon-like oils that illustrate how stories — in this case “Bambi” and “Curious George” — are understood in different ways depending on the culture one grows up in. Jordan Seaberry’s wonderful “Blueberry (The Right to Self)” of a woman sort of hovering over a living room owes a lot to Kerry James Marshall’s paintings, such as “Our Town” at Crystal Bridges.

Ronald Jackson’s portrait of a woman behind a mask, “In a Day, she Became the Master of Her House,” and a companion piece mix the commonplace with the exotic in a flat, hard-edge style.

Our nasty Trumpian times are reflected in several artworks, including Larry Walker’s “Tweet, Tweet … Look Who’s Here … or Aliens, Wall Spirits and Other Manifestations,” a collage that incorporates a thatch of yellow hair, bits of “Mars Attacks” poster art and Trump’s hateful/ idiotic/juvenile/deranged tweets. Walker is the father of artist Kara Walker.

Wheeler Kearns Architects of Chicago, with lead architect Calli Verkamp (a native of Charleston, Ark.), turned an abandoned factory into a showplace. Oklahoma artist Addie Roanhorse’s arrow pattern — inspired by Osage attire — on the glass entryway walls and exterior glass of the Tower is clever and elegant. That 70-foottall Tower wall made a perfect backdrop for the dancers of Bandaloop, who rappelled down its face against a backdrop of projected art and pulsing music during the opening weekend.

“State of the Art 2020” runs through May 24, unless it’s extended because of the closure of the museum. Next up: The installation “Nick Cave: Until.”

MAR 24 – APR 25

IT’S THE DAY OF THE WEDDING, BUT THE GROOM WOKE UP IN BED NEXT TO A STRANGER AND HAS NO IDEA HOW SHE GOT THERE.

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APRIL 2020 45

TRAVEL

DON’T GO CHASING WATERFALLS

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

46 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

STEPHANIE SMITTLE

FOUR DAY HIKES FOR THE RAINY SEASON.

Bringing nature’s harmony to the Symphony Designer House

“April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain.”

Springtime vexed T.S. Eliot in 1921, when he penned his epic poem “The Waste Land.”

Chalk it up to his doomed marriage. Or, hey, maybe the fact that he didn’t live in Arkansas. For those in The Natural State itching to be outdoors after a dullsville winter — bereft of icy wonder, and the snow days we are so rightly owed — spring is prime time for casual hikers. The bugs haven’t yet launched a coordinated assault, and it’s not so hot that swimming becomes mandatory relief. It’s also a peak window for waterfalls, and getting to one can be a gratifying way to spend a half-day in April or May. It does, though, call for some common sense and good stewardship of our natural resources: Pack out what you pack in. Bring water and snacks. Download (or otherwise save) offline directions to your destination, lest your cell service provider leave you hanging in the middle of the tall Ozark pines. Don’t try and negotiate your balance and your camera simultaneously; save the selfies for when you’re on sure footing. Fill your gas tank before you go.

Seasonal crowds do tend to keep places like Bridal Veil Falls buzzing; here, we suggest a few alternatives where you’re more likely to get in some hiking solitude.

FALLS BRANCH TRAIL Lake Catherine State Park The whir of the dam’s machinery in the background may dampen the romance a little, but, hey, we know Lake Catherine is man-made stuff. Falls Branch Trail, which features a series of “mini-falls” and a swinging bridge, is a moderately easy 2-mile loop. You’ll find the trailhead at the bottom of the park’s slope, downhill from the visitor center and the campgrounds.

It serves as the starting point for three trails, of which Falls Branch is the shortest. The waterfall isn’t even the sole payoff. The hike up boasts a few smaller, nameless (but nevertheless photogenic) falls.

Pairs well with: dogs, preferably on a retractable leash, so they don’t drag you down a rocky incline.

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LITTLE ROCK’S INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE!

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Open 10 AM - 6 PM Mon - Sat 12-5 PM Sun 5920 R St, Little Rock 501-663-9198 www.wordsworthbookstore.com

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Steakhouse Serving Dinner Monday-Thursday 5 pm - 9:30 pm Friday & Saturday 5 pm - 10 pm

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APRIL 2020 47

48 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES COURTESY ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF PARKS, HERITAGE AND TOURISM

LITTLE ROCK’S LEADING PEST CONTROL EXPERTS FOR OVER 25 YEARS

Time to treat for spring pests: termites, ants, spiders, cockroaches, fleas & ticks.

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Simply everyone is getting excited about

EDEN FALLS Lost Valley Trail, Buffalo River The Lost Valley Trail in the heart of Buffalo River country packs a ton into 2 miles — Cobb Cave, Clark Creek, towering bluffs, a natural bridge and, during the rainy season, the idyllic Eden Falls. The first mile or so is pretty flat and wide, but the remainder should be completed in suitable shoes (especially since moss and/ or mud can make for slippery rock surfaces) and by hikers who don’t mind short stretches of more challenging terrain. A trip into Cobb Cave requires a reliable flashlight or headlamp; you’ll leave the cave damp but happy. To get to the trailhead, head south from Ponca on state Highway 43 about 1.5 miles, and look for a paved turnoff on the right. If you can, plan your hike so you can be in Boxley Valley just before twilight to catch the majestic elk that graze in the fields in the late afternoon.

May 2, 2020 Ticket and Sponsorship Information: MethodistFamily.org/ southern-silks 501-906-4209

Pairs well with: a leisurely schedule, as you’ll find the upper Buffalo area is hard to break away from. Naturalist and photographer Tim Ernst has spent a good chunk of his life meandering and documenting this very region, so maybe hit the library before you go and check out Ernst’s “Buffalo River Hiking Trails” or “Arkansas Waterfalls.” (Does not pair well with dogs. Not allowed.)

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50 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

CEDAR FALLS

COURTESY ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF PARKS, HERITAGE AND TOURISM

Petit Jean State Park Because views of Cedar Falls can be reached not only by a picturesque trail but by a barrier-free, wheelchair-accessible walkway to an overlook, this one gets our vote for accessibility. This Petit Jean State Park centerpiece has everything — a romantic origin story, sturdy old Civilian Conservation Corps-era stonework and a nearly-100-foot waterfall that can’t-stop-won’tstop, even when rains haven’t been heavy. You can get to the falls a number of ways: via the aforementioned Cedar Falls Overlook, via the moderate 1 1/2 -mile Cedar Creek Trail loop or via the strenuous (but so worth it) 2-mile Cedar Falls Trail loop. It’s only a little over an hour from Little Rock, and waypoints in Conway (J-Square Deli, Toadsuck One-Stop) offer some last-minute options for the makings of a picnic lunch.

Pairs well with: a Waterfall Mist Latte ($6/$6.50) or a Fern’s Elixir ($5.25) from nearby Petit Jean Coffeehouse.

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STEPHANIE SMITTLE 52 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

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PAM’S GROTTO State Highway 123, Ozark National Forest This one definitely gets our vote for “feels like something you’re not supposed to find.” The trailhead is, after all, marked solely by the word “PAM’S” scrawled in yellow spray paint on the roadside along a scenic stretch of state Highway 123. The best way to get there? Point your compass (or GPS) toward Haw Creek Falls near Hagarville (Johnson County), which was closed due to flash flood danger when we visited in early March. Just east of the Haw Creek Falls signs, you’ll spot a parking area to the south of Hwy. 123. Park, walk across the street and look for the trailhead. The hike up is short — about a mile in and out — but steep. (For the love of God, don’t do this in flip-flops.) Rounding the bend of the mountain, the behemoth boulders towering overhead open up into an amphitheater-like cave and, tumbling over a mossy incline at the rear, there’s a stream of water that coalesces in a green-blue pool.

Pairs well with: shoes with good grip, a backpack full of contemplative poetry anthologies.

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A Special Advertising Section

JUST SO OZARKS

Just So Ozarks is a family arts festival being held in conjunction with the Eureka Springs May 2020 Festival of the Arts, and is supported by the organizers of the 10th annual, award-winning Just So Festival in the United Kingdom. With a love of storytelling and childhood adventures at its heart, the Just So Ozarks festival enables families to step outside and into a wonderland of outdoor and art inspired activities, performances and creative pursuits. There will be 35 events and activities during the weekend — interactive art installations, workshops, music, dance, circus, drama, magicians, stories and more. Families are encouraged to pick an animal house (e.g., tigers, deer, fish), and join in the Animal House Tournament earning points with great costumes, by participating in events and just being their silly selves. Just So Ozarks, where art and nature collide, will be held 10 a.m.-4 p.m. May 9-10 at various venues in Eureka, and is free and open to the public.

EUREKA SPRINGS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS

This year, the Eureka Springs School of the Arts celebrates 22 years! When ESSA began in 1998, we were a school without walls, with passionate local artists offering up their studios to support workshops. A few years later, ESSA moved into a small campus with one building and an acre of land. Today, ESSA has grown into a 55-acre campus with seven teaching studios located in the beautiful Ozark Mountains of Northwest Arkansas. In the belief that art is vital to the human spirit, we are committed to cultivating, promoting and encouraging artistic expression by providing art education in a unique environment of beauty and creativity.

Workshops include Painting and Drawing, Small Metals, Clay, Iron, Wood and Special Media. Studio fees are now included in tuition in Iron, Wood, and Small Metals classes to cover the increased expenses of operating technical equipment.

Some classes have additional materials fees.

54 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

Our 33rd annual May Festival of the Arts is packed with one-of-a-kind art exhibits, demonstrations, performances, culinary arts, free music in the park, gallery strolls and the wildest street party thrown by artists – The White Street Walk!

2020 ArtRageous Lineup May 2: Art In The Park May 2: ArtRageous Parade May 2: Drumming In The Park May 8-9: Just So Ozarks May 9: Lighting of the relocated Goddess Aza May 9: Second Saturday FREE Music in the Park with the Kris Lager Band May 10: John Two-Hawks Annual Mother’s Day Concert live in The Aud - Tickets at TheAud.org May 12-15: Chalk Art Street Festival May 15: White Street Walk & Street Party

May 15-16: Arkansas Federation of Music Clubs Convention May 17: Books in Bloom Literary Festival May 20-23: 3rd Annual Plein Air Festival May 27-31: MCA National Eureka Springs Mustang Week May 29: Delbert McClinton live in The Aud with The Cate Brothers and Monte Montgomery Tickets at TheAud.org

Visit us online for info on the full May Festival Of The Arts lineup.

EurekaSprings.org • EurekaSpringsFestivalOfTheArts.org ARKANSASTIMES.COM

APRIL 2020 55

A Special Advertising Section

THE 15TH ANNUAL BOOKS IN BLOOM LITERARY FESTIVAL

SUNDAY, MAY 17, NOON TO 5 P.M.

BOOKS MAKE THIS GARDEN GROW It’s been said that everyone has a story worth telling. What compels a person to find his or her voice and take the long, complicated, often lonely, journey to tell their story, while others are content simply to read or perhaps dream of writing?

Gathering accomplished authors together and asking them to talk about what motivates them to write is one of the elements that gives Books in Bloom its ever-fresh appeal. Some writers speak of years of rejections and frustration. Others have experienced near-instant success. Whether it’s history or poetry or fiction, the common thread is a passion to share something meaningful with others. It’s their passion that draws crowds to come listen. It’s passion that holds an audience spellbound, makes them laugh with delight or nod in recognition.

Elizabeth Berg

Books in Bloom is a free festival that begins at noon Sunday, May 17, in Eureka Springs, and fills the afternoon with on-going readings, author talks and book signings. Authors occupy festive tents in the flower-filled gardens of the Crescent Hotel and Spa, and when they are not scheduled to speak, they are free to chat with attendees. That’s another aspect of the festival that sets it apart from more formal author events. The relaxed outdoor setting promotes casual conversations and mingling the way a good party does.

This year’s featured speakers include Elizabeth Berg, whose illustrious career has spanned decades; C.J. Box, the best-seller author of 27 novels, including the Joe Pickett series; Thrity Umirigar, internationally known novelist whose works have been translated into 15 languages; and Stephanie Storey, who brilliantly brings history to life through her mesmerizing novels.

Thrity Umirigar Stephanie Storey

The Authors Tent offers books on a variety of subjects, ensuring there will be something for every taste, including children’s books, history and fiction. Mysteries will reign supreme with the inclusion of Kelly J. Ford and Matt Coleman. Also joining Books in Bloom this year is Sidney Thompson, whose book “Follow the Angels, Follow the Doves” chronicles the life of Bass Reeves, who, born a slave, lived to be considered the gold standard in law enforcement. In all, 16 authors will grace Books in Bloom this year.

C. J. Box

BLUE SPRING HERITAGE CENTER

Come see the extraordinary beauty and rich cultural experience of the Blue Spring Heritage Center. Visit the historic bluff shelter, now on the National Register of Historic Places. Walk on ground that nurtured the Cherokee people during the Trail of Tears. Connect with the natural beauty of our many native gardens. See the power and wonder of Blue Spring, pouring 38 million gallons of cold, clear water each day into its trout-filled lagoon. Come discover the land of blue skies and laughing water.

Blue Spring Heritage Center 1537 County Road 210, Eureka Springs, AR 72632 bluespringheritage@gmail.com 479-253-9244 56 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

A Special Advertising Section

A Must-See Get Away

BOOKS in BLOOM

THE CARROLL AND MADISON PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION PRESENTS

Literary Festival

BooksinBloom.org

The Largest Spring in Northwest Arkansas Native Gardens on the Trail of Tears National Register Site Magical Setting for Weddings

479-253-9244

bluespringheritage.com Scenic Hwy. 62W

SAVE THESE DATES! May 2nd Art in the Park

15TH ANNUAL BOOKS IN BLOOM LITERARY FESTIVAL

SUNDAY, MAY 17, 2020 NOON - 5PM

THE 1886 CRESCENT HOTEL & SPA • EUREKA SPRINGS, ARKANSAS

MEET ELIZABETH BERG, C.J. BOX, KAT ROBINSON, STEPHANIE STOREY, THRITY UMRIGAR, AND MANY OTHER CELEBRATED AUTHORS

JOIN US FOR A FREE LITERARY FESTIVAL

May 2nd ArtRageous Parade May 9th Free Music in the Park with the Kris Lager Band

This project is supported in part by a grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

May 9th & 10th Just So Ozarks May 12th-15th Chalk Art Festival May 17th Books in Bloom May 29th Delbert McClinton

Business sponsors and individual donors in Carroll County and Madison County make it possible for the Carroll and Madison Public Library Foundation to put on this 15th annual festival, with special thanks to Festival Underwriter, the 1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa. Books in Bloom is supported in part by a grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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APRIL 2020 57

We’re thinking We’re thinking about you, too. about you, too.

58 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

FOOD & DRINK

EL SUR COUPLE: Darren Strayhorn (left) and Luis Vasquez.

CON TODO

EL SUR’S BALEADAS ARE WITHOUT RIVAL.

BY LINDSEY MILLAR PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN CHILSON

M

y favorite thing to eat in Little Rock right now is the baleada con todo from El Sur, Luis Vasquez’s Honduran food truck often found in the South Main neighborhood. In northern Honduras, where it’s a popular street food, the simplest version of the baleada is a flour tortilla filled with refried red beans and cheese and then folded over. You’ll get that, along with your pick of protein and Honduran crema, from El Sur when you order a sencilla baleada.

But when I witness someone order a sencilla, I feel the same sort of mild contempt as when I encounter an adult who still eats, like a child, only food that’s brown, beige or white. Because the immense delights of eating a baleada con todo are all about the con todo (with everything).

On top of the base of refried beans, crema, cheese and meat, the con todo comes with pickled onions, chunks of fresh avocado and the pièce de résistance, fried planARKANSASTIMES.COM

APRIL 2020 59

BALEADA CON TODO IN PROCESS: Vasquez feared that customers wouldn’t appreciate the Honduran street food speciality and its pickled onions and fried plantain, but it quickly became his bestseller.

tain. I usually get mine al pastor —with pork that’s marinated in pineapple juice and other spices and then cooked on a vertical spit.

Vasquez slices the meat off the spit and then briefly cooks it on the griddle. All that gets wrapped tightly like a burrito and sliced in half. The combination of those flavors and textures — the rich, creamy beans and avocado; the slightly sweet mush of plantain; the char on the tender, sweet and spicy pork; the sour pop of the pickled onions; the tart crema and gooey cheese — is so complex and satisfying I always find myself stopping midway through a meal to study it and try to figure out its secrets.

Vasquez, a 29-year-old native of Honduras, opened the food truck in April 2019 with his husband, Darren Strayhorn. Six years ago, Vasquez came to Perryville to volunteer for Heifer International’s ranch and work on his English. He stayed for two months, during which time he met Strayhorn, who lived in the area. After some time back in Honduras, Vasquez returned to Arkansas, where Strayhorn connected him with a lawyer who helped him successfully petition for asylum. “Honduras, after Russia, is the most dangerous place to live and be gay,” Vasquez said. “When I came to Heifer, it opened my eyes to how different people are here. People talk bad about how conservative the South is, but to me it was 360 degrees different.” He and Strayhorn married in 2016.

After working in construction, Vasquez got a job at The Root Cafe washing dishes. When a line cook quit, he asked to move to food prep. It was during a time when The Root was expanding into dinner service and shifting employees around. A spot cooking breakfast opened. “I never flip an egg before, but if you train me, I’ll do it,” Vasquez said he told management. After two years working at The Root, he helped create the menu at owners Jack and Corri Sundell’s Latin American restaurant, Dos Rocas (now Mockingbird Bar & Tacos after the original co-owners departed in 2019).

Shortly after Dos Rocas opened, Vasquez left to develop El Sur. He bought the food trailer from Richard Glasgow, who used it when he began kBird before he opened his brick-andmortar restaurant. The trailer had been sitting for years behind kBird. Vasquez used his construction background to completely restore the truck himself over the course of four months.

“In the beginning it was so scary to have [the baleada] out,” Vazquez said. “People were very scared of the plantains and pickled onions.” But Hondurans in Central Arkansas flocked to the truck as did other customers with stories of vacationing in Honduras or be60 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

ing deployed with the military there and craving baleadas ever since. The baleada quickly became El Sur’s bestseller, and the truck has developed a devoted following.

But don’t sleep on the rest of the menu. Everything is made from scratch. There are also street tacos and arepas, each of which you can get with familiar Latin American options: al pastor, carnitas, pollo asado, carne asada, birria, nopales (cactus) and cauliflower chorizo.

The tacos come on a corn tortilla made fresh as soon as you order and topped with cilantro and diced onion. The arepas come wrapped in a thick corn pancake and filled with your choice of guacamole, cheese or pico de gallo in addition to the chosen meats or vegetable stuffings.

Ask about specials, too. Vasquez recently served pupusas and has lately been offering Honduran-style tamales de cambray, which are masa heavy, filled with shredded pork and beef and diced carrots and potatoes and cooked in a banana leaf.

Maintaining authenticity is apparently a family affair. Vasquez said his mom came to Little Rock to make sure he was making the beans right. “The beans are very important,” he said. What’s the secret ingredient? “Love,” he joked. “Lard?” I countered. Nope — they’re vegan. “I try to make the food at a point that everybody could enjoy it,” he said. “It’s very authentic, but I figured out a way that vegans or people that are allergic to garlic or gluten or other things can still enjoy it.” He said a lot of people order a deconstructed baleada without the tortilla.

El Sur’s customers follow the food truck on Facebook (facebook.com/elsurstreetfoodco) and Instagram (@elsurstreetfoodco). Regular locations include The Bernice Garden, The Bramble Market, Rocktown Distillery, Stone’s Throw Stifft Station (in the parking lot of Jett’s service station), The Rail Yard and Flyway Brewing.

After El Sur (translation: The South) had been in business for six months, Strayhorn quit his longtime job as a manager at Sleep Number to join Vasquez in the truck this year.

“It was the plan from the beginning for us to create something we could both do together,” Strayhorn said. “I wasn’t going to step away until it got to where it needed to and that’s where it’s at.” We spoke in mid-March before the coronavirus had halted a lot of daily life for many in Central Arkansas. But El Sur planned to continue serving and asked on social media for community support.

As for long-term plans, Vasquez and Strayhorn say that friends and family are constantly asking them about a brick-and-mortar restaurant. “I’m 29 years old,” Vasquez said.” I’ve never owned a small business before. Right now I’m just going to keep learning. It is a lot of work involved, from the food to the paperwork to social media. Right now I’m just learning and making every skill work for me.”

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Are you bursting with pride?

JOIN OUR TEAM! THE 2019 LITTLE ROCK PRIDE FEST was a historic year for us. Over 10,000 people attended the festival! But that wasn’t the only big thing about last year. When we started, the Little Rock Pride Fest was just a parade with around 700 people attending. Now we have a year-round schedule of events! Last year we: • Held the first ever pride night at the Arkansas Travelers game • Brought the Kaleidoscope LGBTQ+ film festival into our line-up of events • Saw waves of purple shirts flooding Magic Springs and the Zoo CONTINUED OUR SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM We are doing all this to continue building a strong LGBTQ+ community in Central Arkansas. And we need you!

AS WE CONTINUE TO EDUCATE, unite, and

inspire, we need a good team of people to help guide the future of these events and programs. That’s where you can help! We are looking for people to serve on the following committees: • Marketing • Vendors • Kaleidoscope LGBTQ+ Film Festival • Parade • Special Events (Out Days at Zoo and Magic Springs, Travs game, Pride Week, and more!

There are also several volunteer positions to fill! We want individuals willing to join our all-volunteer team who have experience in marketing, graphic design, and more!

THERE IS A SPOT FOR EVERYONE WHO HAS THE PASSION AND DESIRE TO HELP! CAN WE COUNT ON YOU? JOIN US TODAY! www.lrpride.com PATIO WEATHER IS HERE!

DOE’S KNOWS LUNCH & DINNER. Lunch: Mon- Fri 11am-2pm Dinner: Mon-Thur 5-9pm • Fri & Sat 5-10pm FULL BAR & PRIVATE PARTY ROOM

BEST STEAK

1023 West Markham • Downtown Little Rock BEST BURGER 501-376-1195 • www.doeseatplacelr.com ARKANSASTIMES.COM

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Arkansas Times local ticketing: CentralArkansasTickets.com

UPCOMING EVENTS

D D E E N N O O TP29 TP 9 POSMAR POSAPR Main Street Barkus On Main 2020

The Mixing Room Chimney Safety

APR 30

War Memorial Stadium Arkansas Times Margarita Festival 2020

D E L E C CAN CHEDULED

RES 10 E APR B L L I W

South on Main Tyler Kinchen & The Right Pieces

D E L E C CAN CHEDULED

E RES 1 BMAY WILLSouth on Main Ray Scott

Go to CentralArkansasTickets.com to purchase these tickets and more!

Arkansas Times local ticketing site! If you’re a non-profit, freestanding venue or business selling tickets thru eventbrite or another national seller – email us phyllis@arktimes.com or lucy@arktimes.com – we’re local, independent and offer a marketing package!

LOCAL TICKETS, ONE PLACE

HISTORY

FROM MARINE TO PROSECUTOR ATTORNEY RECOUNTS HIS LIFE ‘OUTSIDE THE COMFORT ZONE.’

BY GEORGE PROCTOR EDITOR’S NOTE: George Proctor served in Vietnam as a U.S. Marine officer. After nine years of private law practice in Arkansas and a two-year term in the legislature, he was appointed United States Attorney by Presidents Carter and Reagan, and confirmed by the Senate. The Cotton Plant native prosecuted public corruption cases on Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands, and worked as a senior executive officer in Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. He served as an immigration judge in Los Angeles and San Francisco. What follows is an autobiographical excerpt from Proctor’s contribution to the forthcoming collection “Our Golden Age Kaleidoscope — Collected Memories of Post WWII Years,” published by Ed Nef, about his experience as a Marine and U.S. Attorney.

IN UNIFORM: George Proctor.

C

urrent literature is replete with theories explaining the role comfort zones play in our pursuit of happiness. Not so much has been written about that feeling you get when you’re so far outside your comfort zone that you become fearful. You could say that when I committed to football, worked on pipelines for two summers in Iowa and Michigan, joined the U.S. Marine Corps’ platoon leaders’ officer candidate school, or explored the interior of a ship at a depth of 140 feet scuba diving, I went outside most folks’ comfort zone.

Not mine; I had confidence in my athletic abilities and none of those was a stretch.

On the contrary, I had no confidence in academics. Hence, I was surprised (as was the Marine Corps) when my results from the General Classification Test placed my intelligent quotient higher than my fellow Marines who had bested me in tests on such topics as the operation of the M14 rifle — boring. As a result of my performance on the test, I was assigned study to become an aviation supply officer. The others, for the most part, were assigned to platoons in Vietnam. This was a far cry from my wish to become a pilot (too tall for the Marine Corps’ combat support aircraft) or an air delivery officer, which would mean jump school (no openings).

I never considered becoming a platoon leader, which, with no war in sight at the time meant to me running around in the boondocks shooting blanks, playing Marine at war. Unlike most of

my fellow Basic School classmates, I was married and soon to be a father.

Like many of my fellow Marine officer candidates, I was inspired to be a Marine by all the movies glamorizing the Marines in the Pacific campaign in WWII. I read everything I could find that related to the region or the campaign, including James Michener’s “Tales of the South Pacific.” Even the movie based on that book grabbed me. However, after I survived platoon leader’s training and was commissioned as a second lieutenant, I found that Joseph Heller’s book “Catch-22,” more than any of my other reads, captured the essence of serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. Likewise, the essence of military service is demonstrated in the hilarious encounters of the more recent “M*A*S*H” TV series based on the 1968 novel of the same name.

While we were still in Basic School at Quantico, Va., we were told that the Army’s Special Forces were taking on the North Vietnamese Communists. Cambodian, Vietnamese and other Southeast Asians who trained with us in Basic School struggled to carry a rifle, rucksack and other equipment we believed necessary to engage the enemy. Thus, we were confident that the Vietnam conflict, if one could even call it that, would be short-lived. Years after the war I was privileged to talk with former Viet Cong of our mutual experiences. They explained that they traveled light, relying on a bag of rice for sustenance and water from streams, left with

only a weapon for significant weight.

I had orders out of Basic School to Japan, but after under two months there we boarded an LST (landing ship, tank) destined for Vietnam. As in a favorite flick, “Sands of Iwo Jima,” I was John Wayne heading for the shores of a country (not an island, but close enough) in the Pacific. During two weeks at sea, unaware for security reasons of our landing site, we listened to the North Vietnam’s propaganda arm spout threats from the likes of a woman who went by Hanoi Hanna. No concerns there — Tokyo Rose had made similar threats and dire predictions for the greatest generation’s Pacific campaign, and we know how that turned out.

We landed with no organized opposition. There were a few potshots, but they were likely from disgruntled farmers who didn’t know what the hell was going on. We set up pup tents and later upgraded to general-purpose tents housing a dozen or so Marines in each. Though John Wayne made no appearances, I once eyed Robert Mitchum saddled up to our officers’ club bar drinking a beer, playing himself.

My year there was largely uneventful, with the exception of one night when incoming mortars had us diving into our foxholes dug beside our cots. The mortars, or possibly grenades — not sure which — struck only yards away. I shudder today over the fear that gripped me. Never being able to sleep with my wedding ring, I had placed it on an ammo box beside my cot. In my haste to ARKANSASTIMES.COM

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jump into my foxhole, I knocked the ring into the sand, where it was buried out of sight. Had I not been able to find it, my sweet Judy would have murdered me!

We were part of a Marine Expeditionary Force tasked with supporting an airstrip which the Seabees hastily constructed with planking composed of a lightweight metal alloy. The strip was hardly longer than the deck of an aircraft carrier and required a catapult to launch planes and arresting gear to keep them from going off the strip into the jungle on landing. In little more than a month, an A-4 jet made the first landing on our strip. Our base was located on a beach so

was more than even he could accomplish. Once, when our commanding officer asked him why he had brought a suitcase to our daily meeting, he replied that when the CO ordered him back to Japan he intended to be ready.

While we sweated it out in a war that was not going as planned, the doctor was eventually reassigned to air-conditioning in Japan.

He missed the night we slept outside our tents when intelligence warned that the Viet Cong would target our tent housing officers in an attack. And there was the time we assumed positions with weapons locked and loaded when the Viet Cong broke through our heavily guarded perimeter. (Why the Marine Corps trained all officers in the tactics and execution of the mission of a rifle platoon became obvious.) But like our psychiatrist, I was absent during a major infiltration of Viet Cong, on R&R enjoying the air-conditioned comfort of a room in Hong Kong’s Presidential Hotel.

Sad to say, but service in Vietnam presents a panoply of duplicity. We set sail from Japan to Vietnam in violation of the treaty prohibiting our deployment from Japan for hostile purposes. We were instructed to order our troops, if asked, to say that we had deployed from Okinawa (this preceded Okinawa becoming a Prefecture of Japan). To support the lie, we spent a night anchored off Okinawa Island. Many otherwise honorable participants in the Vietnam War found themselves a part of a larger lie. Most of the lies were above my pay grade as a first lieutenant.

Assigned to teach my unit the topic of why we were in Vietnam, I became passive aggressive, merely letting it slide. Truth is, I didn’t have a clue. In one of my letters home, I told my mother I was in charge of an excursion into the village to give the troops a taste of the local culture. Southern Vietnamese were not our enemy; that concept became less clear as the war progressed.

Charged with keeping track of some 300 Korean War surplus arctic sleeping bags, I failed to write them off according to Marine Corps regs. While they were inappropriate to the tropical conditions of Vietnam, Marines used them as cushion on their cots until they mildewed and were covered by mold. Then they were, in Marine Corps vernacular, shit-canned.

But lo and behold, when our commanding officer had to account for the worthless sleeping

MOST OF THE LIES WERE ABOVE MY PAY GRADE AS A FIRST LIEUTENANT.

that should it come to it, we could evacuate via the South China Sea — the Viet Cong had no navy.

Our unit was assigned the obligatory physician, dentist and clergy. Our dentist and clergy were not remarkable, though they drank too much (but that was the norm among those who weren’t crucial to the mission). Those of us who were crucial to the mission worked seven days a week.

Our physician, a psychiatrist, on the other hand, was straight out of “M*A*S*H.” Though he didn’t resort to dressing in drag, he deliberately wore his cap askance, responded to salutes from his corpsmen dismissively with Heil Hitler extended-arm salutes, and worked assiduously at being reassigned to our former base in Japan, realizing that getting back to the States 64 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

bags, I became the fall guy. As a consequence, in spite of otherwise glowing fitness reports, I was punished by a letter in my file. So when most of my contemporaries were promoted to captain, I continued wearing the silver bars of a first lieutenant. And that ended the “what-meworry?” saga of my life. I attribute the success I enjoyed for the remainder of my career to the fact that I clearly drove myself beyond my comfort zone. *** Politics was ingrained in me early on — progressive politics, that is. Must have been in my DNA, as my sisters were like-minded. Adlai Stevenson was my man. He was among those who created the United Nations, he stood up to the Red Scare, and he was believed to have laid the groundwork for the election of John F. Kennedy. Then there was Hubert Humphrey and a long line of liberal losers of the popular vote, but winners in my heart, nevertheless.

Not totally wedded to liberals, I also admired the pragmatists, their actions that can only be described as profiles in courage: FDR, LBJ and JFK. (That you recognize them by their initials speaks volumes of their contributions.) Still, until I took a political science course in my senior year of college, I did not realize that I would become a political junky.

With college, Vietnam, law school, a clerkship and two years’ solo law practice in the seat of the county I grew up in behind me, I filed for the Democratic nomination for state representative. When I asked my mother what she thought — she was, after all, the daughter of a former state senator on her father’s side and the granddaughter of a former speaker of the house on her mother’s side — she said, with a twinkle in her eye, that she’d likely vote for me if she found me the more qualified. Though uniquely qualified for representative of our agriculturally based district, my rice-farming opponent apparently did not win over my mother. When I only got 82 percent of the vote out of Cotton Plant, she became visibly angry at the 18 percent who voted for my opponent, who lived right outside Cotton Plant.

My district was one of the most conservative in the state. We were in the Mississippi River Delta, not in the state of Mississippi, but you get the picture. Upon my announcement that I would not seek re-election, a reporter wrote (presumably because of my support for a civil rights bill, unions, abolishing the death penalty, environmental preservation, criminal justice reform and ratification of the ERA for women) that the House was losing a stalwart liberal — a death knell for political ambition in Arkansas.

While in the Arkansas legislature, I was designated to present arguably the most important legislation of our term. The other sponsors of our bill to protect and preserve wetlands from exploitation were far senior to me. In fact, one was speaker for the house. But I was the only lawyer, maybe the only college graduate. The night before my presentation, the oldest and

longest-tenured legislator had the unfortunate experience of being mugged by a prostitute (his, in fact). He appeared for the hearing, a tragic figure with a black eye and his arm in a sling. With as much drama he could muster, he stood and announced that though he had intended to present the bill, due to the unfortunate circumstances of the previous evening, he had asked young Proctor to present it in his stead. Those legislators with thoughts of “but for the grace of God go I” (most of them) were in my pocket. The bill passed.

Conditions for women in Arkansas improved but not enough for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment for women, which I championed as a representative in the Arkansas legislature in the early ’70s. Of our 100 representatives, we had no more than a dozen female legislators.

One of our senior male members was infamous for maintaining women should be kept barefoot and pregnant. And so went the rights of women in our state and the nation. On the other hand, while serving as U.S. Attorney and later as a senior executive in the Department of Justice, the majority of my lawyer hires were women — on merit.

Though my solo practice was successful, it lacked the challenge and opportunity to prosecute wrongdoing, particularly public corruption — my growing interest, fed by my stint in the legislature. And, as my law practice became more lucrative, I was feeling more like the character Gordon Gekko in “Wall Street” than my hero Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson, an unabashed self-described liberal and my mentor during my time as a prosecutor in Woodruff County, is a close friend. He brokered with our senators my appointment as U.S. Attorney, a position I did not seek. Don’t know what he would have said had I not jumped at the chance of being a U.S. Attorney after he had persuaded the senators I was their man. Perhaps he knew that I would have been a fool not to go for it. This catapulted me from a solo law practice in rural (my urban friends say that “rural” is redundant) Arkansas to the world stage (hyperbolic, perhaps, but that’s the way I saw it then).

The most satisfying aspect of my career was my decade devoted to rooting out public corruption as a U.S. Attorney. That and the fact that my two-year term in the legislature paralleled the corruption uncovered in Watergate were fodder for public corruption prosecutions. And what better way to prepare one for prosecuting public officials than to have walked in their shoes, facing on a daily basis the temptations that become irresistible for far too many. During my nine years as U.S. Attorney we convicted 17 county judges and the Little Rock city attorney for corruption, largely based on kick-backs for government purchases. Most went to trial, and I participated as lead attorney in them all. I personally tried three county judges in my second year in office. … ***

It was not until Bill Clinton was serving his first term as president that I found myself on the opinion pages of a national newspaper. The Wall Street Journal opined in two editorials that I’d given Clinton’s brother, Roger, a sweet deal on cocaine distribution. In fact, that case against Roger was not even in my district. Rather, it was in the district of another U.S. Attorney, now governor of Arkansas. He was the one who (wisely, I think) gave Roger Clinton immunity in connection with bolstering an investigation in his district. The Journal criticized me as well for the plea deal we gave a junk-bond millionaire for providing cocaine gratis to young women as party treats. Under the agreement he was sentenced to six months in prison. He had, however, contributed more to Gov. Clinton’s campaign than anyone else. So the Journal was suspicious. Ironically, the Arkansas papers were suspicious for the opposite reason: My aggressive prosecution of a friend of Clinton was attributed to my appointment by the Reagan administration. The Arkansas papers, although mistaken, based their claim of partisanship on arguable facts, where the Wall Street Journal’s opinion piece was based on poor reporting, at best. *** To make sense of the problems that face us today, I go back to the years between WWI and WWII, when the great FDR addressed fears brought about by the Depression with his famous pronouncement: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

Beginning with Cotton Plant, where it all started for me, fear has virtually destroyed my hometown.

Today there are a mere 600 or so residents, mostly black. Friends there tell me no immigrant has chosen to live there, there is no longer a school of any sort, and as a sign of the times (for the U.S. but incongruous for my home town), the only employer is a marijuana processing operation authorized by the state.

To be frank, notwithstanding my obsession in my teens with Marines storming the beaches and the brave men of Normandy, I can’t imagine the courage of those Marines and soldiers. But a reasonable hypothesis espoused by many is that, while they have a fear of dying, it is subordinated to that of letting down their fellow Marines and soldiers. I do believe that in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, those who have fought even though they do not support the cause, do so for their comrades in arms. On the topic of our military involvement in the Middle East, never has FDR’s admonition of being governed by fear been more relevant. We developed

an irrational fear after 9/11 and sacrificed fine young men and women as well as our prestige to an area of the world where we were unwanted and unneeded.

Not that long ago, I saw tottering WWII vets. Now we Vietnam vets are the ones limping around on canes and walkers and, regrettably, most of the vets of WWII have died. By conceding that I’m offended when a middle-aged woman offers me her seat on the bus, can I claim that I am aging gracefully? Probably not.

Still, ironically, the fear I had in my 50s of death at age 78 is long gone. Death is inevitable, but only a tragedy for those who have been denied a full life by an early death. Not for me. While I would miss watching my sons and grandchildren continue to flourish and leaving the love of my life is unthinkable, I’m ready.

A friend described my life as serendipitous.

I can’t quarrel with that. Virtually every step of the way has been guided by good fortune. Perhaps because I have been lucky, I expect things to turn out for the better, and they always have. We all owe a great debt to those young soldiers who lost their lives at Normandy and the Marines who died in our Pacific campaign, most before they could experience the joy of family, career and the many opportunities offered us as Americans. And even more regrettable is the loss of life in the unfortunate conflicts of Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. For those of us who have led fruitful, complete lives, we

POLITICS WAS INGRAINED IN ME EARLY ON — PROGRESSIVE POLITICS, THAT IS. owe much to these heroes. I often think of my father, who died at such a young age, and my cousin at age 50. It really has been a good run, and, hey, may it continue!

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S H O P A R KA N SAS A RT ISA N C RA F TS AT L I T T L E R O C K’ S B IG G E ST V E N U E

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A WEED SCHOLAR’S LAB NOTES WE TALK TERPENES WITH A LITTLE ROCK BUDTENDER.

BY STEPHANIE SMITTLE

T

The stuff flying off the shelves of Arkansas’s medical marijuana dispensaries is a far cry from the innards of joints passed around the drum circles at Woodstock, or that dry shake you scored in the Pizza Hut parking lot in your college days. And, unless your weed dealer was especially nerdy about his or her business endeavors, you may not have known much about the contents of what you were enjoying. It’s 2020, though, and patients visiting the local MMJ dispensary are handed a sheet of paper with chemical profiles galore: a list of marijuana strain names with THC and CBD percentages, accompanied by words we’re accustomed to seeing on restaurant wine lists — “earthy,” “fruity, with sweet floral notes.” We talked terpenes (and the rest) with Micah Reynolds, a 28-year-old Camden native and self-described can-

nabis nerd who works as an “herbologist” at Little Rock’s Herbology dispensary.

We know that medical marijuana is targeted toward eliminating a variety of ailments — anxiety and insomnia and pain, to name a few.

What kind of feedback have you gotten from patients? Herbology only opened in early March, but I’d guess you might already have return customers.

We definitely do. We get a lot of patients who come in and know what they want, or know that they want the most potent product in terms of THC, and those are pretty quick transactions. I deal with a lot of new patients — patients who have never used cannabis, or who used cannabis back in the day and are being reintroduced to it, or patients who ARKANSASTIMES.COM

APRIL 2020 67

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have only ever had black market cannabis and are like, “OK, I’ve never tried any of this stuff.

What do you know about it?”

We try and treat patients the way they want to be treated. A lot of veterans come in — we offer a 10 percent discount for veterans — and so we get literal “war stories,” but also people who have been using cannabis for a while and feel comfortable talking about how it’s helped them.

That, and I think [patients] realize we’re actually knowledgeable. We’re trained, and we’re studying the product, trying it ourselves, giving each other feedback. We do some in-house journaling amongst staff members so we can make better product recommendations. So if a patient comes back to me and says, “Hey, I tried X product and it wasn’t for me,” we’re gonna take the next step and figure out what’s right for them. … You gotta start low and slow — a low dosage, and taken slowly, especially with edibles that take longer to have an onset. Wait a while, see exactly how this product will affect you. Journal your experience, write down your dose and what time you took it.

How about the guidelines for tracking different patients’ information as you consult?

As opposed to, say, a doctor’s office, where there are strict rules about confidentiality?

We can’t ask for a patient’s diagnosis, and we can’t ask for medical records. That stuff has to

68 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

You definitely did. What’s the difference between THC and THC-A? Those are the acid forms. For most flower, when you see the THC content listed, there’s a formula that formulates how much THC acid — that’s what the “a” stands for — is [in the batch], before heat is applied and breaks it down into delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol [THC], which is the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis that provides the euphoric feeling. The CBD, on the other hand, is a counterpart to THC, and acts on the endocannabinoid system mostly as an anti-inflammatory. So for a lot of pain patients, I’ll recommend something lower in THC, higher in CBD. And the terpenes are the compounds in can-

TERPENES PROVIDE SCENT, FLAVOR OF CANNABIS. be given to us voluntarily.

A lot of people that I’ve talked to are specifically trying to avoid opioids. Either they’ve been on them and cannabis has helped them wean [themselves] off of those, or there are just young people like me who just want to avoid those altogether — who, as soon as the doctor says, “You need this pill,” would rather not.

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ables of growing — the genealogy and the phenotypes. It’s an amalgamation of data. So when you analyze that stuff — your terpene profiles, your cannabinoids — it’s all subjective. I personally do my best to have the manager get all of the lab results from every cultivator from every batch that we bring in the back door. So that I can say, “Hey, this is the true 100 percent result for THC. This is the true 100 percent result for these terpenes,” if they test for those — they’re only legally obligated to test for the four main cannabinoids — THC, THC-A, CBD and CBD-A. So not all cultivators test for terpene analysis.

Let me know if I’m losing you here … .

It seems like there’s some trial and error to this, and some subjectivity according to a patient’s chemistry and how their body will respond to a specific strain. How well do you think you can target strains to ailments?

You’re absolutely right. There’s no way of saying with 100 percent certainty, “This is gonna work for you the way it works for me, or the way it works for him or her.” Especially when you’re dealing with raw flower, because [of] the vari-

nabis that provide the scent and flavor profile of a cannabis strain. They also provide therapeutic benefits. For example, limonene — which is found in a lot of citrus fruits like lemons and oranges, that kind of thing — provides an uplifting, energizing kind of feeling. Caryophyllene is a peppery note, and it’s a terpene that acts on the endocannabinoid system, like THC and CBD, and it’s an anti-inflammatory. If I know something’s heavy in that particular terpene, that’s always a good pain reliever.

So terpenes, along with THC and CBD, provide what’s called an “entourage effect” — the whole, rounded benefit of each particular strain. Scientists are just scratching the surface of cannabis, in terms of its medicinal potential, and still trying to figure out how all of these terpenes work together. … There’s a lot that is not yet understood. We have a great deal of information that lets us make educated recom-

mendations, but we’re not doctors. … Generally, when it comes to pain, I can hit the nail on the head because I’ve personally medicated for back pain. I always suggest Burkle; it’s my go-to flower for pain, and I haven’t received any feedback about steering anyone wrong on that one.

How do you know what you know about medical marijuana?

I’ve been medicating with cannabis for just over 10 years now. And what started as a good way to release stress and anxiety turned into a fascination with the cannabis plant as a whole. ... I really started bolstering my cannabis knowledge over the last seven years, I’d say. It’s all about experiments, and about my personal desire to figure out exactly what’s happening, why it’s providing so many therapeutic benefits for myself. And how I can apply that knowledge to try and help patients find that same relief.

Michael Pollan’s “The Botany of Desire” is an excellent resource I’ve valued, but I haven’t really gone to any official botanist training. …

Leafly has been there from the very beginning.

A lot of it has just been personal experience.

Field research, as it were.

How much of a believer are you here? There are definitely some people who might say the medicinal thing is bullshit, or just a stepping stone to legalize recreational marijuana, or to make a lot of money. But it sounds like this is personal for you.

Absolutely. I can’t speak for the state of the industry, but I have personally experienced ways in which cannabis has changed my life. I used to be a wild, nervous, anxiety-ridden person. Cannabis calms me down. … I have a flattened, herniated disc in my SI joint, right where my hips meet, and my nerve passages are so thin that going up stairs really hurts. Cannabis doesn’t just distract me from that pain, it provides therapeutic, anti-inflammatory benefits.

What was your initial reaction, as a cannabis user in Arkansas, when medicinal marijuana became legalized?

I definitely did a lot on my end to help with that initiative, but I kind of believed it was a little bit of a pipe dream for Arkansas — a kind of conservative state, [where] there are a lot of taboos surrounding cannabis. I always believed that decriminalization or legalization should be the goal, ultimately, but I thought I’d be way older than I am now when that happened. And then hearing about it actually passing — it was then, and is still now, amazing.

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APRIL MUST HAVES

70 APRIL 2020

ARKANSAS TIMES

A Special Advertising Section

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APRIL 2020 71

1

NUMBER THEORY

Sam Ezersky, 24, is the associate puzzles editor at The Times. A “puzzlehead” since childhood, he sold his first crossword to the paper, a Saturday, when he was 17. His job at The Times includes testing/fact-checking the daily Mini crossword and curating the daily digital Spelling Bee. This puzzle started when he noticed a curious property of 26-Across. — W.S. No. 0223

Across 1 “Consarn it!”

5 Kind of case in grammar 11 Shed some pounds 17 Edited, in a way 19 Sister channel of HBO 20 What the answer at 26-Across is written in 21 Low-level, as a class 22 Question that might be asked when hurrying into a meeting 23 Duty for a property owner 24 Relative of marmalade 26 FIFTEEN 28 Oval Office V.I.P. 29 Transition point 30 Period preceding a school break 34 What the answer at 45-Across is written in 36 “Yes, captain” 40 Gaping opening 41 Willem of “John Wick” 42 Toward the stern 43 Howe’er 44 Chicago mayor Lightfoot 45 ELEVEN 46 Whom Harry Potter frees from serving Draco Malfoy’s family 50 Spicy, crunchy snack tidbit 53 “Ars Amatoria” writer 54 Area the Chinese call Xizang 55 “Make sense?”

56 Hell 58 Square up with 59 & 60 Take control after a coup 61 SIXTEEN 62 “Just ____ boy, born and raised in South Detroit” (lyric from “Don’t Stop Believin’ ”) 63 Specks 64 Sleep: Prefix 65 Not quite right 66 Full of tension 67 “Hallelujah, praise the Lord!”

71 Because 75 TWO 76 Cozy spots to stop 77 Miss in the future, maybe 78 Buzz source 79 Cocktail specification 81 Fictional creature made from slime 82 Restaurant handouts for calorie counters 84 What the answer at 61-Across is written in 86 Final authority 88 Rainbows, e.g.

89 Flour filter 90 & 92 Alternative title for this puzzle 98 On-the-go sort 10 1It’s SW of Erie, Pa. 103 See 106-Across 104 What the answer at 75-Across is written in 105 Life lessons?

106 With 103-Across, character in Episodes I through IX of “Star Wars” ARKANSAS TIMES

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BY SAM EZERSKY EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ

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Down 1 Title host of radio’s first major quiz show 2 Contact-lens-care brand 3 Broadway opening 4 Declare for the draft, say 5 Items that, ironically, contain nickel 6 “Slumdog Millionaire” co-star ____ Kapoor 7 Be a snitch 8 Wishy-washy R.S.V.P. 9 Plant holder?

10 Funeral ceremony 11 Go across 12 Soldier on horseback 13 Word before card or fund 14 Sloan School of Management sch.

15 Team ____ 16 Major Southwest hub, for short 18 In store 19 Like some New Orleans cooking 20 Sloppy 25 Letter in the classical spelling of “Athena” 27 “Here’s something that’ll help” 29 Some battery ends 31 Amorphous creatures 32 Dreaded musician of the 1960s-’70s

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109 “Butt out!”

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33 Brisk 34 Luxurious affair 35 Symbols of failure 36 1974 Eurovision winner that went on to international stardom 37 “Wahoo!”

38 Immature stage of a salamander 39 Letters of credit?

41 Drops on the ground?

42 “Not on ____!”

44 Where Wagner was born and Bach died 46 Scatterbrained 47 Man’s name that sounds like two consecutive letters of the alphabet 48 At any time 49 Oktoberfest vessels 51 Some unfair hiring managers 52 “Go ahead,” in Shakespeare 56 Openly controversial opinions 57 Knock out 58 Invoice directive 59 Like most medical-journal articles 60 High hairstyle 61 Club ____ 62 Egypt’s “king of the gods” 63 Excellent conductors 64 N.Y.C. neighborhood near NoLIta 65 “Ciao” 66 Put in jeopardy 67 Muscle cars of the ’60s 68 Lyrical, as poetry

95 103 106 109

69 Facetious response to a verbal jab 70 “E.T.” actress Wallace 72 “Ugh, stop talking already!”

73 Sack 74 Sun ____, “The Art of War” philosopher 79 Where most of America’s gold is mined 80 Like the presidency of John Adams 82 Joint 83 Longtime Eagles QB Donovan 84 Suspect 85 Bible study: Abbr.

87 With a wink 89 Kisses, in Cambridge 91 Brown 92 Bring (out) for display 93 Candy wrapped in a tube 94 “I’ll come to you ____”: Macbeth 95 Eensy-weensy 96 New pedometer reading 97 Beginner, in modern lingo 98 Mammoth 99 Western tribe 100 ____ Salvador 102 What will happily sell its Soul?

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APRIL 2020 73

THE OBSERVER

BUGGED

I

t’s Friday the 13th as The Observer writes, the Dow Jones is a dumpster fire, a deadly virus is sweeping across the land and a 73-year-old, truth-phobic toddler is flying the jumbo jet on which we are all passengers for at least the next 10 months. Given that, allow Your Old Pal to hopefully brighten your quarantine cell, secluded cabin or hermetically sealed containment unit with a tale of the good ol’ days: When The Observer was a lad getting ready to head to college at good ol’ UALR back in 1992, having secured a scholarship to the joint kinda outta the blue after managing to pull off a high ACT score despite our solid 2.1 GPA in high school, our Dearly Departed Pa found a 1965 Volkswagen Beetle with 41,000 actual miles on it, sitting under the shed of an aging hippie couple. It was cream colored, with an ivory interior, and other than flat tires, a splatter of rust on the hubcaps and a few door dings, it was in absolutely mint condition inside and out. Pa, who was a roofer, traded a small job for it.

He was always looking for a horse swap like that.

We took a trailer and some fresh tires to get it, but on a longshot, we cleaned out the gas tank, put a hot battery on it, poured some gasoline in it and shot a little starting fluid down the carburetor. Hit the key and, lo and behold, she fired right up, slipped smoothly into gear and pulled out of the ruts where the car had sat since at least 1978.

As we changed the tires and looked it over and got it fired up, mentally preparing for the daredevil drive home with spongy brakes and a who-the-hell-knows electrical and fuel delivery system, the two oldies who had owned it regaled us with stories about how the Beetle

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had been purchased from a VW dealership when they lived in Southern California. It had been their second car, rarely used, mostly because the wife didn’t like driving a four-speed stick in L.A. traffic, though they had driven the car on several trips to see friends in Mexico. Finally, just before we all waved goodbye, they told us about how in the early ’70s, when the scene in L.A. was getting, like, real weird, man, they’d ventured across the scorching desert, through Texas to Arkansas, where one of them had originally been born and raised, a flower child in training, way back in the beehive hairdo days.

When we got the car home, The Observer rolled it up in Pa’s dirt-floor shop and set about getting it squared away: the brakes flushed and bled, the engine sorted out and the oil changed, all the mouse turds and spider webs vacuumed from the spotless, time-capsule interior, spick and span just like the outside. One of our most vivid memories of those days was that when we got the radio fuse replaced one night and turned on the key, the little radio glowed to life there in the shop, The Observer sitting in the driver’s seat, 18 years old, covered head to toe in grease and grime, and the dial was tuned to color coverage of an Arkansas Travelers game at old Ray Winder Field, the signal swimming in and out on the static-y AM airwaves. The other thing we recall was that when The Observer pulled out the perfect, VW-label rubber floor mats to vacuum under them, in each rear floorboard of that car, someone had razored out a hank of the square-weave wool carpet and then blowtorched a rectangular hole into the metal below, into which had been welded a lidded steel box, each just big enough for a goodly amount of the item of your choice. Perfect for

extra storage while visiting friends in Mexico.

Because of the Beetle’s German heritage and the paint job that made it look like a scoop of melting vanilla ice cream, the car’s name was Hermann Böring. Hermann ran like a little sewing machine, but would absolutely freeze your ass to death in the winter, which you wouldn’t expect from a car designed by folks in snowy Bavaria. The Observer drove it for two years, until just before we met Spouse.

The engine developed a knock, and back to slumber it went, stashed in a stall in Pa’s 1,000-bale hay barn out in the dark heart of Saline County. There it stayed until just a few years before he died, when The Observer sold it to an admirer for much, much less than it would be worth to us now so Spouse and I could rent a U-Haul and head for the Iowa Writers Workshop in the frozen north. The Observer really loved that little car. Still do.

Some of them just stick with you, ya know?

Another weird thing we remember about Hermann Böring, and the entire reason Yours Truly thought to tell you this story, if you can believe it: That car had a German-spec ignition switch in it, and on the ring of chrome around the switch into which the key inserts, the position you had to put the key in to crank the car and make it run was marked “Fahrt,” which is apparently German for “Journey” or “Go.” Every damn time The Observer’s brother got in that car to head somewhere, every single time, he’d say: “Let’s Fahrt!” That bugged the young man we used to be to no end. But it sure brings a smile to a graying old face now.

Stay safe, friends. Wash your hands. Other than the toilet paper hoarders and Trump, The Observer smiles upon you all, and wishes you good fortune and health.

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APRIL 2020 75

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