KnoxZine | JUNE/JULY 2015 by Deb Hardison

Free! Issue four june j u ly 2015

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Free! Issue Four | june/july 2015

CONTENTS

FAN FAMS Two families engage in Cosplaying fun.

4 TRAIL TALES 5 GENIUS IN THE MAKING 14 THE UNSINKABLE CAROLE ANN

Bill Foster

16 RIGHT IN OUR OWN BACKYARD

GREG MILLER & THE PARACYCLISTS

How tandem racing gave Greg Miller a new perspective.

MASTER CLASS Dweezil Zappa shares his secrets with a lucky few.

For more content and videos, please visit Knoxzine.com

Editor Debra Dylan Managing Editor Buck Kahler Designer Deb Hardison Contributors Paul Clouse | Debra Dylan | Bill Foster | Kate Jayroe Cover Photograph Isbill Photography Cover Model Sam Siino Makeup Eric Brown Nolpix Media, LLC, 123A S Gay St. Knoxville, TN 37902 l knoxzine.com l (865) 659-8867

TRAILTAleS B y

J o a n n a

H e n n i n g

arbara Allen has been a hiker and backpacker for 30 years. She says, “I have been fortunate to experience many beautiful and exciting places in this country and in foreign countries.” In 2012, at age 71, Barbara became one of the oldest women to solo thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. She headed north from Springer Mountain, GA, in March and continued to the trail’s terminus on Mount Katahdin in Maine in September. Why hike the Appalachian Trail?

Living in the moment is enjoyable, but I need something to look forward to. I had thought about a long distance hike for many years, but the time never seemed appropriate. Upon returning from a trip with a group to Patagonia, I was feeling lonely and missing the outdoor adventure. It seemed that this was the appropriate time to attempt a long distance hike, and in November I started thinking seriously about the Appalachian Trail (AT). In February I thought about what needed to be implemented before leaving home for six months.

Have you always been physically active? Working in public health I have always been conscious of the importance of a healthy lifestyle. For many years, walking has been a big part of my life. Working out in the gym, riding my bike, canoeing and kayaking are also activities that keep me moving. I have always worked hard physically. I realized that at age 71, I was slowing down and had concerns about how my body would perform on such a long endeavor.

Did you train for this hike?

Since I am physically active, I did not train for this adventure. Mental toughness is probably more important than the physical aspect. I was conscious of staying positive each day, as the trail does not change to meet your needs.

w i t h

D e b r a

D y l a n

What kind of shoes did you wear? Starting the trail I wore LL Bean Cresta Goretex lined boots, as I thought I might experience snow at the higher elevations early in the season. As it turned out, I did not need the boots and my feet were always wet from sweat, even though I wore wool socks and sock liners. On Easter Sunday morning at I-26 “Quiet Paul” was cooking breakfast for hikers and I stopped to eat with him. While sitting there he says “Young lady, you need to get rid of those boots.” He told me I needed trail runners which weigh less, are dryer on the feet, and water runs out of the shoes easily, as I would be in water a lot, and that I would need more flexibility on the Pennsylvania rocks. I took his advice and purchased trail runner shoes in Damascus, VA, and have I never gone back to boots except in winter hiking.

What about food? Early in the hike I used a 2 oz. alcohol stove to cook my food, but I sent the cooking gear home in Damascus, VA. I ate good meals when I went to town for resupply. One day I ate an entire blueberry pie with ice cream. Otherwise I ate whatever I could find in the stores that did not have to be cooked, like dehydrated beans for burritos plus a fresh onion, bell pepper and cheese. I ate a lot of cheese. Couscous rehydrated in cold water with half a chopped apple and walnuts. I used dates and nuts or any dried fruit I could get. I also ate pepperoni, cream cheese, and boiled eggs, which can usually be found at convenience stores. I always left town with a couple cups of yogurt and fresh fruit. I also ate energy bars, granola bars, Snickers, peanut butter, and Gorp. The longest stretch without resupply was the 100 Mile Wilderness in Maine, but I did that in six days. Five thousand to 6,000 calories a day are needed to sustain a long distance hike. Overall, I lost 30-35 pounds.

What were some of your biggest challenges on the AT? Although my backpack never weighed more than 30 pounds, just hiking over very steep, rough, rocky, and muddy terrain with that attachment on my back was very tiring. The only time I didn’t carry my pack was for one day when I was recovering from Giardia

What was the most frightening experience you had? Storms were definitely a fear, as well as high winds. It was very unnerving when, on two occasions, a tree fell in the woods a few feet from me. On Albert Mountain, I crouched low on the ground on the balls of my feet as lightening came down around me, and I refused to climb higher until the storm had passed. I was fortunate in not having a lot of snow in 2012. I had two very cold nights on the trail where I could not get warm.

What was the most difficult section of the trail? The AT has numerous very rocky sections and much elevation gain and loss. I reached the boulder area [on Mt. Katahdin], which is about 2 miles from the finish…and I am stopped in my tracks. These boulders are car size and house size, and I can’t get up onto one of the large ones. I stood there and wanted to cry. A young man approaches and asks, “Mamaw, do you need some help?” With him standing behind me but never touching me, I am able to get up onto that boulder. I have encountered this psychological factor previously where I cannot do something when alone, but in the presence of someone, the object is surmountable or the fears overcome.

What were some of the most memorable experiences you had on the hike? I don’t believe anyone has ever had as much fun as I did hiking the AT. I never felt threatened or in danger on the trail. Although I hiked the trail alone, I hiked with other hikers a lot of the time. Rainbow, Nutter Butter and I [Mamaw B] hiked [intermittently] together from Northern Virginia to Vermont and Maine respectively before separating. [We] had so much fun that sometimes we had to separate in order to hike, or otherwise we were on the ground laughing. Since you carry everything you need on your back, you do not have many clothes. Putting on damp or wet clothes at 5 a.m. is not a pleasant experience but one gets used to it. I was staying in a motel in Virginia and put my clothes in the washer with the soap and the washer later malfunctioned. The repairman…didn’t show up. I ended up walking a half-mile down a busy four-lane highway to do grocery shopping and to eat dinner in a restaurant in my long underwear. I would never do that at home, but on the trail you adapt.

What about wildlife? Hiking near the Blue Ridge Parkway, I picked out a small log to sit on, and I did look before sitting down. A man comes along and stops to chat, and I notice he is not looking at me but beside me. He said, “Don’t be afraid but you have company.” I look and there is the biggest, black snake crawling out from under that log. I don’t know how he could have been there and I didn’t see him, but he was beautiful and we enjoyed playing with him before we let him go. I encountered seven bears on this long adventure, but they were not really a danger. One day, I saw something move up ahead of me and then recognized it was a very large black bear. I get out my camera, and I am trying to find him in the telephoto lens, and I see him get up and move down the trail towards me. He moves closer and finally moves off the trail. I finally see him rise up above the vegetation, and I raise my camera up high to get a photo. I swear this bear hissed at me, and I knew that was my warning that I am a threat to him and need to move on.

How did this hike change you? I can’t say I experienced a great epiphany, but I am sure that I am changed for having enjoyed this experience. I have developed arthritis since I hiked the AT, and I currently have some trouble walking. In 2013, I tried to hike the Continental Divide, but my legs became a problem and I left the trail.

What advice would you give to others regarding aging and fulfilling goals? I enjoy trying to inspire others to live their dreams. I leave you with this thought from Albert Einstein: “The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before.” D

IrinaPopovaPhotography

[intestinal parasite]. On that day, I left Woods Hole Hostel and a guest there delivered my backpack to Pearisburg, VA, where I met her and picked up my pack. Mice also chewed up my socks early in the hike in Georgia, which taught me to take care in avoiding those little critters. Two or three days of continuous rain can also take a toll on your emotional well being. When I experienced difficult times or felt really down, I would encounter something whether it be a pretty flower, beautiful scene, pretty butterfly, or small red spotted newt that would make me smile, and I would know why I was on the trail.

“A good snapshot stops a moment from running away.” Eudora Welty

make your memories last forever 865.232.7797 | irinapopova86@yahoo.com www.facebook.com/irinapopovatheartist 5

B y

K a t e

J a y r o e

P h o t o s

b y

B u c k

GENIUS

K a h l e r

THE

MAKING

pendently below the partially constructed canoe hanging from the rafters. Members enjoy 24 hour access to the studio space and use of a variety of resources and equipment, including a BuildLog.net 2x Lasercutter, a RepRap MendelMax 3D printer, a silhouette portrait machine, and a full size electronic workbench with more than enough tools to complete most any project. Knox Makers is a non-profit organization and most of its events are free and open to the general public. It is truly a paradise for both the creative and the technically minded. Laney says the maker movement grew from the 1990’s landmark DIY (do-ityourself) movement, but Knox Makers goes a step beyond being only instructional. At its core, Laney says Knox Makers “brings together people with common interests, who in turn share in exploring uncommon subjects.”

Make Me (far left): Sam McClanahan (seated), Jondale Stratton, Chris McCulley, James Broyles, Kacie Phillips, Justin Childress (plaid shirt), Issac Merkle, and Doug Laney work on projects.

nside the Knox Makers’ building one can practically hear the thrum of buzzing ideas. Members consult each other or work independently below the partially constructed canoe hanging from the rafters. An impressively weird array of knick-knacks, vintage posters, and projects are scattered throughout the room. Knox Makers’ President Doug Laney describes this community workshop space as “an inclusive gym membership for nerds.” Monthly dues range from $75 for a family, $50 for an individual, and $20 for full-time students. Children are welcome to work on a project with parental supervision. Members consult each other or work inde-

Everyone at Knox Makers is delighted when members can make their creative dreams a reality. James Broyles, Knox Makers’ Creative Director, says three members have created an independent business. Justin Childress, Kelly Chang, and Tobby Ryan created a 3D body scanner called Make Me. Broyles says an individual partakes in a full body scan for the purpose of creating a 3D printed figurine. The scan is e-mailed to a company called Shapeways. They can make the figurines out of materials like multicolor sandstone, acrylic, and various metals. Kelly Chang says a scan costs “$30 dollars and the figurines can run anywhere from $20 to $200, depending on the size and materials chosen. Tobby Ryan says Make Me was very busy scanning cosplayers at the Marble City Comicon.

Everyone at Knox Makers is delighted when members can make their creative dreams a reality.

Other Projects Other members are working on projects like an automated DIY smokehouse, innovative arts and crafts, robotics, and more. Broyles and Sam McClanahan are “working with library professionals to explore new library programs from educational outreach events to technology carts.” Broyles says, “Becca Baker at Blount County Library has been creating unique maker programming for children and young adults.” Every Tuesday, members can participate in a Show & Share about their projects. The audience can ask questions, offer polite criticism, or simply sit back and absorb the information. Knox Makers also hosts seminars on topics like open Internet capabilities.

On the move Knox Makers is presently located in Commerce Park in Oak Ridge, but they are hoping to move to Knoxville Center. Broyles says, “While we have seen unexpected delays, this has been for the purpose of erring on the

side of caution and safety while the kinks are worked out. Mayor Rogero’s office, the City of Knoxville, and Knox County Code Administration and Enforcement have all teamed up and worked very hard to help us get past these hurdles. We do not have a [move] date yet. Hopefully, we can be in our new location with resumed public programs before the summer is over. Once we are established in our new place closer to downtown, we hope to organize our own maker festivals and larger maker events.” You can find Make Me in booth #127 at the Fanboy Expo on June 5-7. Knox Makers and Make Me will be attending Pellissippi State’s Makerpalooza, a celebration of the National Day of Making. This event will be held on June 18 at the Harden Valley campus from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is free and open to the general public. For more information about Knox Makers, please visit www.knoxmakers.org. To learn more about Make Me, visit http://makeme-3d.com. D

FANFAMS F

Eric Brown

or the Peck family, it all started when they attended their first Dragoncon in 2009. Sean Peck says, “We loved it. We really wanted to get into something fun. We don’t have the body types for cosplay, but we thought steampunk looked fabulous and we wanted to do it.” Peck admits he’s a bit obsessive. “I don’t do anything halfway.” He is now a freelance “time traveling gentleman journalist” and videographer for the Steampunk Chronicle website. The family attends five to six fantasy/sci fi conventions a year. Peck was also the 2014 Knoxville

Savana jade Brown

Steampunk Carnivale emcee. He also outfitted his family’s simple base wardrobe with ornate leather and brass steampunk accessories. His wife Holly sports a dual gunslinger type belt with an attached saddle bag and a unique handcrafted holster containing a china teacup. Peck transformed a discarded chandelier into wearable video camera holders for himself and Holly. A leather kraken covers the GoPro camera mounted to his shoulder piece. His teenage daughter Karagen wields a souped up electric guitar. Peck says, “The guitar was one of my first ste-

By Debra Dylan | Photos by Isbill Photography

Karagen Peck

Sam Siino Sean Peck

Cosplay fun is all in the family for these imaginative friends who enjoy creating fave fan costumes. by debra dylan | photos by isbill photography Holly potter Peck ampunk projects. I bought it for $35 from Jerry’s Super Pawn.” Peck added skull motif tuning pegs. The guitar’s body was painted and adorned with rivet studded leather. He swapped the controls with porcelain drawer knobs. The output jack was removed and replaced with two LED candles covered with an ornate ink pen stand. “It still plays like a cheap guitar. It does work.” You can watch Peck’s steampunk videos on his You Tube channel: Steam Powered Pecktec. Eric Brown and his daughter Savannah Jade Brown began cosplaying together when she was around 11 years old. Now she is on the cusp of

beginning college and the family tradition is still going strong. When Brown’s fiancee, Sam Siino, joined the family she quickly became a cosplay reveler too. Brown says the family doesn’t wear store bought costumes. Each of them have cobbled together multiple getups. Brown’s artistic skills help with makeup and props. He has cosplayed the Joker, a troll, Master Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Skeksis from The Dark Crystal. Savannah has dressed as Baby Doll from Sucker Punch, Dead Doll, Tinkerbell, Alice from Wonderland, Ta Min

from Avatar: The Last Airbender, Cruella Deville, and Harley Quinn. Sam has portrayed Ursula from The Little Mermaid, Poison Ivy, and Day of the Dead (cover photo). For the past few years, Brown has been working pop culture conventions as a vendor called Creature Seeker. His wacky and macabre novelties have become so popular he is now pursuing Creature Seeker as a full-time business. You can visit his booth at the Fanboy Expo on June 5-7 at the Knoxville Convention Center. His merchandise is also available at www.creatureseekerstudios.com and on Facebook. D

n 2008, Greg Miller was burned out after decades of elite cycling and racing. “I was sick of it. I bought a race car, and I thought that’s what I was going to do.” Before he could use that car, he received an e-mail that changed his life. “It was an invitation to attend a training camp to learn how to race on a tandem bike with a disabled rider. This was unusual. I had bought my first tandem in 2001 and my family rode it all the time. I attended the eight day camp with blind and other physicaly impaired athletes at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs. It was a transformative week. It changed my outlook on everything.” Greg says, “Being sighted on the back of a tandem is scary, but blind riders really get into it. The University of Tennessee used to have a camp for vision impaired little kids. They would play team sports, ride horses, and go fishing, but cycling on the tandem was always their favorite activity.”

Today You Learned What Your Potential Is

In tandem cycling the pilot controls the steering, breaking, and speed. The second rider is the stoker. One of Greg’s regular stokers is Tim Jones. He and Greg met at the Harpeth Bike Club in Nashville, and they started racing together three years ago. Last year, the duo overcame adversity to win a state trial timed championship. Starting the race with a snapped chamber cable meant they couldn’t shift riding up the small hills. Greg says, “I was dragging Tim at the turnaround and we were the first tandem. Later, at the bottom of a hill we were in second place. Tim’s legs started cramping. I told him to keep peddling. At the top a hill Tim vomited. Now that his stomach was emptied out it freed up his blood flow. It was like riding with a different person. We won by over a minute. We even beat some able bodied cyclists. I told Tim, ‘Today you learned what your potential is.’”

Tennessee Paracycling Open

Greg was concerned about a lack of racing opportunities for young or beginner riders. With the help of several sponsors and volunteers, Greg created the first Tennessee Paracycling Open. This three day event in mid-May was

By Debra Dylan | Photos by Buck Kahler held in Oak Ridge one week before the U.S. Nationals race in Chattanooga. Twenty-seven cyclists from all over the country participated, including four Paralympians. Two of the paralympians were from Cuba and Columbia. Greg says the Open “exceeded all my expectations. This was the only multinational paracycling road race in the USA this year.” The Open included paracycling coach Jason Kimball’s “How to Race” lecture, a short road race, and a 40 mile timed race. Riders, including wounded Veterans, with a variety of experience and abilities competed on bikes, tandems, a trike, and numerous hand cyclists raced on recumbent bikes. Vision impaired stoker Davian “DJ” Robinson has been cycling for five years and racing for three years. “I didn’t know what I was getting into when I first began tandem racing,” he said. “It’s painful. It’s fun and it’s an adrenaline rush.” Robinson already had track and field, ballet, and yoga experience, but he said, “Developing as a cyclist takes time and patience. I met Greg in 2008 and he has impacted my life through cycling and meeting other disabled people. I wish I had met this guy sooner. I love every opportunity to be around him. It’s good that he has created the Tennessee Paracycling Open. It gives newer riders a chance to feel what racing is like. My first race was at the 2013 Nationals and my time was the worst.”

Unstoppable

Since the Open, Greg has attended or volunteered at: the U.S. Nationals, CX Worlds, the Volkswagen U.S. Pro Cycling Championships, and the 2015 Handcycling Criterium Championship. During a break in the action, Greg and some other tandem teams experienced thrills while riding tandem mountain bikes on a trail in Chattanooga. On June 6, he might be volunteering as a Catalyst Adaptive Climbing Assistant at RiverSports Outfitters. Greg’s biggest supporter, his wife Karen is also an athlete and enjoys long distance hikes and cruising around on their tandem. Somehow Greg also manages to have a day job, and to be a father to his two children. His indefatigable joy for life is an inspiration to everyone who knows him. D Todd Richardson

Karen and Greg Miller

greg miller & the

PARACYCLISTS

Greg Taylor

MASTER CLASS OUTSIDE THE BOX WITH DWEEZIL ZAPPA 12

N Brad Poyner (left) with Dweezil Zappa.

either Brad Poyner nor I knew what to expect when we showed up at Knoxville’s jewel box, the Bijou Theater, for a guitar masterclass with Dweezil Zappa. For the past 10 years, Dweezil, the late Frank Zappa’s eldest son, has been keeping his father’s music alive by touring as Zappa Plays Zappa. On March 15, his “One Size Fits All” 40th Anniversary Tour played in Knoxville. At each tour stop, Dweezil offers an afternoon guitar class for up to 15 fortunate students (for a fee, of course). Ten students, ranging in age from about 25 to 65, attended the Knoxville class in the upstairs merchandise room of the Bijou. I was there with Brad Poyner, of Three Star Revival, the Lost Fiddle String Band and Vagabond Philosophy, one of Knoxville’s seemingly inexhaustible supply of young hotshot guitar players. Unassuming is the first word that comes to mind when one meets Dweezil. He walks in dressed simply in jeans and a t-shirt looking at least ten years younger than his 45 years. No entourage or handlers. He simply says “Hi guys” and sits down to play, holding his main guitar, a custom walnut copy of his dad’s Gibson SG, complete with coil tap, phase switch and homemade tremolo. The lesson is both unstructured and informative as Dweezil sits and plays outlines of his way of thinking about soloing, picking technique, and how to think about the entirety of the neck of a guitar rather than thinking in boxes as many players do. Brad Poyner says, “When I look down at the guitar I see a box about 4 frets wide, and I know how my fingers will traverse between strings while staying in that box until I’m ready to move to the next box. “ But Dweezil sees the guitar as if you are standing at the head, looking down the length of the strings as you would to inspect a truss rod. Zappa explained that as he learned guitar as 3 sets of 2 strings, there are 5 sets of 4 notes that repeat themselves all over the neck. He doesn’t play scales like most would, with the occasional 3rd interval in between a string of adjacent notes. Instead, he plays them like one would draw constellations in a sky full of stars. He leaps from one note to another in ways that would never occur to

Article and photos by bill foster

most players. At the end of it the listener can see the picture, and it isn’t a Leo or a Capricorn. It’s just really badass music. Zappa says the most misunderstood part of soloing is how important rhythm is to the process. He demonstrated this by playing a recognizable version of “Happy Birthday” with incorrect notes. Rather than play five notes in a row, Zappa says a player can break the string into a series of two and then three notes, or into three and then two notes, or alternate between the two patterns. From here, Zappa demonstrated how a musician could take a phone number and construct a rhythm pattern from it. This is the same way his father wrote “Black Page” based on a drum solo he liked. To Zappa, there is no such thing as a wrong note as everything depends on context and how it is resolved. After the lesson, Zappa was happy to hang out and meet with students. A local maker of boutique distortion pedals brought him a sample. Many students had their guitars autographed. I was curious about how someone so technically skilled can find new inspiration. Zappa told me that he rarely listens to guitar [music] nowadays. For instance, he is presently focusing on the work of Bulgarian clarinetist Ivo Papazov. Most importantly, Zappa says he still finds new things in his father’s music every day, and that his father left behind a legacy that a lifetime of study cannot uncover. D

He plays [scales] like one would draw constellations in a sky full of stars.

THE UNSINKABLE CAROLE ANN

A life of passion, love, and determination, kept this talented writer going despite all odds.

by debra dylan | photos courtesy of carole ann borges 14

t the end of her maritime memoir, Dreamseeker’s Daughter, Carole Ann Borges was 19, married, and pregnant. She was also a high school drop-out due to her family’s lengthy aquatic adventure. After obtaining her GED, college would be many years away. In their early marriage, the young couple suffered the devastating loss of three babies. Years later, brighter days were ahead when the family, now with four healthy children, moved to a commune. “We all loved living in the country and growing most of our food. The commune was the first place I learned that a woman could stick

HELL FIRE Borges remarried and was barely scraping by when she received a phone call that her youngest son was the victim of a heinous crime. He moved back in with her and his step-father. Four days before Borges was to begin community college, her son accidently set a fire that burned down the rooming house where they lived. No one was injured but everything was destroyed. “My son had a breakdown and needed to be hospitalized. I was frantic. My husband left me. I had to hitch-hike to visit my son. The hospital later moved him closer to me, but they said they could not return him to me until my life was stable.” She was living on a friend’s screened in porch when she started college.

ARISTOTLE TO THE RESCUE “My son needed to be in a residential program, but it was expensive. Neither the school system nor welfare would pay for it. I learned only a judge could make the school system pay. The miracle was that I was studying Aristotle in college. I appeared alone in front of a judge and the school board’s seven attorneys. I presented each of them with my letter, based on Aristotle’s logic, about why they needed to provide this service to my son. The judge was the only one who read the letter. He said, ‘I think this makes a perfect argument. I mandate one year of residential services.’”

ACCELERATED PROGRAM

Every Easter we dressed in costume and picnicked in Lincoln Park. up for herself.” Later, she put her foot down when the family was living in a small docked boat during a harsh winter.

YOU’RE NEVER GOING TO MAKE IT Borges reinvented herself as the owner of a small vintage store in Massachusetts. Her husband’s refusal to let her go to college ended their marriage. Her children lived with her and she had to pay rent. “I went to a bank to apply for a loan to expand my business. I was told, ‘You’ll never get a loan. There isn’t a woman on the loan committee. You have no assets and you are single.’ I was depressed. I went to a welfare office and was told, ‘You’re never going to make it with four children. You need to sell your store.’” Her ex-husband and children moved to Amherst while she struggled to get back on her feet.

Borges was now living in a subsidized apartment. She excelled in community college and transferred to a university before she finished her associate’s degree. After a few semesters, for the first time in her life, she shared her poetry. The following week, “One professor said there’s nothing we can teach you about poetry.” She was told, “You have kids and are not getting younger. You need to start making a living. With a masters’ you can teach. You need to be in a low residency Master’s program.” Without a B.A., she was accepted into Vermont College of Norwich University. She reconciled with her estranged husband and she had her son back. Two years later, she graduated with an M.A., and Alice James Books published her manuscript, “Disciplining the Devil’s Country.”

LOW TEACHER PAY Borges loved teaching college English Composition and a poetry workshop, but the pay was not enough to support herself and her son. She had to work a second job at another school. “It was winter and it was difficult getting to the different schools. I had a broken down car and it was a long drive between schools.” She quit teaching to work with homeless women.After a move to Florida, and a divorce, Borges floundered working menial labor jobs until she returned to Massachusetts.

SANCTUARY

Carole with her family in Chicago.

“I eventually got a job at a GED program as an Adult Education Teacher. I fell in love with the students. After a while I became the curriculum coordinator at that school. I taught teachers how to be creative with standards. I had great success with the barely literate adult students. Because they had limited life experiences, I took them on many field trips. Simple things were important life lessons for them.” They practiced asking service workers questions. They wrote food reviews. “I taught them to be descriptive, and they wrote paragraphs loaded with adjectives and adverbs. It was the most wonderful job.” D

Right in Our Own Backyard

A switchgrass power engine that could change our lives is just a few miles down the road.

From the back lot of the Wampler’s Farm Sausage facility in Lenoir City, TN, Ted Wampler Jr., says a new technology is being tested that could have global implications. It’s called a Cellulose Hydrogen Power engine (CHyP engine). It has the potential to change the way we create and distribute electricity by generating an incredible amount of power using natural, sustainable fuel. Cellulose material, such as plants, sawdust, or even junk mail, can be used to power the CHyP engine, though switchgrass is generally preferred. Wampler says, “All the fuel we use to power the CHyP engine is produced on site. We just cut and sprayed it, but out there is a field of switchgrass. Eventually it’ll grow twelve feet tall with roots going fifteen feet deep. We want to show people what the world’s newest energy crop looks like.” The grass is harvested and fed into the engine where it is dropped into a chamber full of nitrogen and then heated to 2100 degrees Celcius. The nitrogen prevents the material from catching fire, but the intense heat breaks the switchgrass down into carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. The free hydrogen molecules get captured by the system where they are then combusted to power a generator and create electricity. The oxygen molecules either combine with the hydrogen or the carbon. When it combines with the hydrogen, it turns into super-heated water vapor that rises through the system and cleans the incoming switchgrass. The water returns to the engine

and is once again heated allowing the hydrogen another opportunity to be collected. When the oxygen combines with the carbon, it gets shuffled through the system until the carbon molecules reach the waste bin. However, the carbon’s journey is far from over. Dr. Sam Weaver, the inventor of the CHyP Engine and his company, Proton Power, discovered that when the waste carbon (called biochar) is mixed with nitrogen, it becomes an incredible fertilizer. Research is still pending, but in small experiments they have found plants grown using the nitrogen/biochar mix can produce a yield of over 300% compared to a plant grown only in soil. Further, the life of the biochar in the soil is expected to be over 10,000 years. If their estimates are accurate, this means even areas with arid, desolate soil could become lush farmland. Mr. Wampler explained how the CHyP engine can produce a half yield of water if configured properly. This means for every 1,000 pounds of switchgrass fed into the machine, it can produce 500 pounds of water. The water isn’t immediately potable. Calcium and other hardening agents have to be added, but once the water is treated, it is completely safe. Just a few months ago Proton Power discovered that if the machine was configured properly the engine could create synthetic oil that is chemically identical to natural oil. In a test, oil from the CHyP engine was successfully converted into diesel. It could also be converted to gasoline or any other liquid fuel. The machine costs in the low-to-mid millions, so it is well within the grasp of large businesses and governments to get on board. Lenoir City is already beginning to see an influx in the number of scientists, engineers, and government leaders arriving in their verdant hills for the chance to watch this machine in action. If the CHyP engine catches on, it could change the face of global politics. It would allow small communities in distant countries to have electricity. It could help alleviate our water shortage. It could reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. It could help us fight hunger. And it is all getting started right here in Tennessee. If you’d like to learn more about the CHyP engine, visit www.protonpower.com. D

Article and photo by Paul Clouse

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