JOYFUL NOISE | GLOBE-TROTTING AND ROCK CLIMBING | PLANT LIKE A NATIVE
THE NEW HORIZON NORTH ALABAMA’S FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT
MARCH/APRIL $4.95
noalastudios.com
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March/April
features
20 Rolling Stones Ain’t no mountain high enough (or remote enough) for this pair of buddies to explore. by sara wright covington
28 Plant Like a Native It’s warming up outside—so now what do we do? A conversation with Harry and Linda Wallace
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by allen tomlinson
Cochlear implants open a new world for a Shoals family.
Joyful Noise
by sara wright covington photos by danny mitchell
Jim Hudson, co-founder of HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology
The New Horizon
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North Alabama’s future looks bright, and growth might come from some unexpected places. by allen tomlinson and sara wright covington photos by patrick hood
© Patrick Hood
Cover photo by Cliff Billingsley
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editor’s letter « Allen Tomlinson
no’ala huntsville advisory board Osie Adelfang ARC Design-Build, Inc.
What will the future hold? Sarah Brewer Click Photo Designs by Sarah Brewer Madeline Boswell Finery Bridal Boutique Macy Chapman Downtown Huntsville, Inc. Jennifer Doss Huntsville Hospital Leslie Ecklund Burritt on the Mountain Marcia Freeland Lowe Mill Arts & Entertainment Dan Halcomb Huntsville Symphony Orchestra Elizabeth Jones Burritt on the Mountain
Don’t we wish we could answer that question? We’re pretty certain that things in this part of the world are on a trajectory toward growth and all sorts of good things, so for this issue we decided to dream a little. We happen to think there are three exciting entities driving our future here in North Alabama, and we delve into our history, discuss how we got here, and talk about where we think we’re going. See something here that excites you? Roll up your sleeves and help make it happen! The future is truly in our hands. You’ll also meet some special people in this issue who have fascinating stories. Harry Wallace is the undisputed expert on native Alabama plants. You’ll meet a special family with adorable children who have had cochlear implants; you’ll learn about some daring rock climbers that will either thrill you or scare you. After our last issue, which featured area weddings and engagements and was photo-heavy, we traditionally present an issue geared more toward the reader. We hope you enjoy it!
Ginger Penney Liles Guy McClure, Jr. Athens State University Patrick Robbins Alabama Pain Center Ashley Vaughn White Rabbit Studios/Vertical Records Charles Vaughn Vaughn Lumber Company Anna Baker Warren Anna Baker Warren Interiors Andrew Wilmon Broadway Theatre League
One of the reasons we’re so optimistic about our future is because of the people here. We’re looking for Valley heroes—people who have made a positive impact on your life or the lives of those you know. Do you know someone who has made a positive contribution to life here who deserves recognition? Please let us know who they are. Email your suggestions and your reasons to allen@noalastudios.com. You have a couple of months to get these ideas to us—so please don’t put it off! Another reason for optimism about this area? We support our local businesses. Keep shopping the Valley, and thanks for your support and kind words about No’Ala Huntsville. Enjoy the spring—this is the best season of the year in Alabama!
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contents
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THE PLANT WHISPERER A conversation with Harry Wallace
everything else 8 10
Calendar Selected Events for March/April 2015
Cryin’ Out Loud “Disorderly Conduct”
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Market “Fresh Finds for Spring” by sara wright convington photos by patrick hood
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The Vine “The Gamut of Grenache” by amy collins
“The Death of Aunt Cora” by guy mcclure, jr.
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by sara wright covington
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Hear Tell Food for Thought “Waste Not, Want Not” by sarah gaede
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Parting Shot by patrick hood
MARCH/APRIL 2015 Volume 4: Issue 2 ••• Editor-in-Chief C. Allen Tomlinson Chief Operating Officer Matthew Liles Creative Director David Sims Advertising Director Heidi King Advertising Sales Roseanna Cox, Heidi King Features Manager Roy Hall Graphic Designer Rowan Finnegan Web Designer Justin Hall Editorial Assistant LuEllen Redding Videographer Justin Argo Retail Product Manager Sara Wright Covington Proofreader Carole Maynard Intern Isaac Ray Norris ••• Contributing Writers Amy C. Collins, Sara Wright Covington, Sarah Gaede, Roy Hall, Guy McClure, Jr., Allen Tomlinson ••• Contributing Photographers Cliff Billingsley, Patrick Hood, Danny Mitchell ••• No’Ala Huntsville is published six times annually by No’Ala Studios PO Box 2530, Florence, AL 35630 Phone: (800) 779-4222 | Fax: (256) 766-4106 Web: noalastudios.com Standard postage paid at Huntsville, AL. A one-year subscription is $19.95 for delivery in the United States. Signed articles reflect only the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors. Advertisers are solely responsible for the content of their advertisements. © 2008-2015 No’Ala Studios, All rights reserved. Send all correspondence to Allen Tomlinson, Editor, at the postal address above, or by e-mail to allen@noalastudios.com. Letters may be edited for space and style. To advertise, contact us at (256) 766-4222, or sales@noalastudios.com. The editor will provide writer’s guidelines upon request. Prospective authors should not submit unsolicited manuscripts; please query the editor first. No’Ala Huntsville is printed with vegetable-based inks. Please recycle.
Connect with us on Facebook: No’Ala Huntsville Twitter: @NoAla_Magazine and Pinterest: NoAlaStudios
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calendar
Saturday, February 28 – Sunday, June 14 Encounters: Dori DeCamillis Birmingham painter Dori DeCamillis uses animals to symbolize various aspects of her personality, taking her cue from the many cultures and religions around the world in which animals represent ideas, deities and demons, and human traits. Tues-Sat 11:00am-5:00pm, Thurs 11:00am-8:00pm, and Sun Noon-5:00pm; Admission charged; Huntsville Museum of Art, 300 Church St; (256) 535-4350; hsvmuseum.org Friday, March 6 – Saturday, March 7 12th Annual Trinity Market Place Over 50 vendors featuring arts, fashion, food, crafts, gifts, and much more, as well as a bake sale and a soup lunch. Trinity Methodist’s annual Market Place has raised over $120K for local missions and ministries. Fri and Sat 9:00am-4:00pm; Free; Trinity United Methodist Church, Airport Rd; facebook.com/TrinityMarketPlace Friday, March 6 – Sunday, March 8 Peter and the Starcatcher A musical adventure taking audiences on a behind-the-scenes journey to Neverland to find out how Peter Pan became The Boy Who Never Grew Up. Suitable for ages 10 and up. Fri 8:00pm, Sat 2:00pm and 8:00pm, Sun 2:00pm and 7:30pm; Admission charged; Von Braun Civic Center, 700 Monroe St; (256) 518-6155; broadwaytheatreleague.org Saturday, March 14 Strauss Connection 2015 is the 150th anniversary of Strauss’s birth, and Strauss was tremendously influenced by Mozart. In turn, contemporary composer John Williams was tremendously influenced by Strauss. The evening’s program showcases work from all three musical masters. 7:30pm; Admission charged; Mark C Smith Concert Hall, Von Braun Civic Center, 700 Monroe St; (256) 533-1953; hsvmuseum.org Sunday, March 15 – Thursday, April 30 Huntsville Blooms The Botanical Garden’s beautiful outdoor spaces take center stage during March and April. Spring-blooming trees, shrubs and perennials are highlighted by colorful bulbs and special flowering displays. Mon-Sat 9:00am-6:00pm, Thurs 9:00am-Dusk, Sun Noon-6:00pm; Admission charged; Huntsville Botanical Gardens, 4747 Bob Wallace Ave; (256) 830-4447; hsvbg.org Saturday, March 28 – Sunday, September 13 The Robot Zoo Visitors explore the biomechanics of complex animal robots to discover how real animals work in a 5,000-square-foot exhibit. Eight robot animals and more than a dozen hands-on activities illustrate fascinating real-life characteristics, such as how a chameleon changes colors, a giant squid propels itself, and a fly walks on the ceiling. Sun-Sat 9:00am-5:00pm; Admission charged; U.S. Space & Rocket Center, One Tranquility Base; (256) 837-3400; rocketcenter.com Sunday, April 19 The Science of Music Experience the fun relationships between music and science! Featuring musical selections from Johann Pachelbel, Henry Purcell, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Joseph Haydn. 3:30pm; Admission charged; Roberts Hall, UAH; (256) 533-1953; hsvmuseum.org Friday, April 24 – Sunday, April 26 Panoply Multiple stages feature regional and national dance, music, and theatrical performances, as well as make-and-take activities for children, an art marketplace, artist demonstrations, and more. Fri 5:00pm-9:00pm, Sat 10:00am-9:00pm, Sun Noon7:00pm; Admission charged; Big Spring Park; (256) 519-2787; artshuntsville.org
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cryin’ out loud » Sara Wright Covington I once looked for my spare set of keys for three days, before discovering them on the key hook in the kitchen, which would seem to be the most logical spot.
DISORDERLY CONDUCT Fewer tasks seem more daunting to me than the prospect of organization. I spend a good half of my days searching for something, be it keys, sippy cups, scraps of paper, Xanax, hand grenades, etc. I’m fascinated by people who shop at places like The Container Store because they enjoy organizing their things. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the need and benefit of the organizational concept of “everything needs to have a home,” but my brain is unable to categorize which items should go where, and most of them inevitably end up in one of my many “junk” drawers, where I file away most things I mentally label as miscellaneous. My house is for the most part clean—or as clean as my small children will allow—but it’s reminiscent of the Belk returns counter the day after Christmas. It’s a bit of a zoo, and searching for a particular item can be like looking for Barbie’s lost shoe in a bucket of Legos. Now it could be argued that anyone who has small children struggles to keep a tidy car/house/laundry room. This is certainly true, but I will not cop out on this one and blame my kids. Instead, like any mature adult with inherent flaws, I blame my parents. My disorganization was part of my DNA long before I procreated. My dad has been known to hoard everything from books to bullet casings, and my mother has no less than 53 boxes of stationery and 5,000 wine corks, which would be fine if these random collections actually had a space of their own. But for the most part, they don’t. They are all just vagrants lost in the many drawers, cabinets, closets, and shelves in the home where I grew up. I once actually witnessed my dad pull out a box of dog biscuits from the kitchen pantry and munch on at least two of them before declaring “these crackers are terrible” and putting them right back in the cabinet where he found them. Because dog biscuits and animal crackers belong in the same place, naturally. Having multiple “junk” drawers in a home never struck me as odd until my husband recently pointed it out to me when we were visiting my parents. He stood peering over my mother’s shoulder watching in fascination as she pillaged through a drawer looking, to no avail, for a cork screw, and coming up with everything from snapshots from 1983 to a dog collar for a dog that died 20 years ago. “This explains a lot,” he smirked, as if he had finally cracked the code to my dysfunction af-
ter six years of marriage. “THIS drawer is the reason that I find shoe polish in our silverware drawer and maternity clothes in the hall coat closet.” Believe me, I don’t enjoy being this way. It’s maddening at times. Through the years I have attempted to turn over a new leaf, often seeking out the help of orderly family and friends. One of my college roommates, who has an MBA and a selfproclaimed obsessive compulsive disorder, threw her hands up in frustration after spending 10 minutes in my closet declaring, “I’m sorry. I can’t help you.” Another friend surveyed the contents of my pantry and said, “I’m glad we never lived together, because I’m not sure that we would still be friends.” This generational disorganization is truly unfortunate, as I can already see it bleeding over into my children. “Mama, I bet the Pop-Tarts are in the car,” said my three-year-old daughter the other day as I rummaged through our pantry looking for diabetes-laden pastries. This, unfortunately, is a direct reflection of my flawed, organizationally challenged parenting, as it clearly already makes sense in her little mind that the car is where Pop-Tarts live. I gave up the search, defeated, and huffed as I pulled out the makings for cinnamon toast. Children are like little mirrors into the soul. And it has been a real awakening to me realizing that my every expression, word, action, and re-action are all molding these otherwise perfect little people into something else—into me. I’m often reminded of that expression “a cluttered desk equals a cluttered mind.” So does a closet in shambles equal cause for shame? I think not. I may not know where anything is most of the time, but I can take some comfort in knowing that it is likely somewhere in my house. And the more random the spot, the more likely I am to find it. I once looked for my spare set of keys for three days, before discovering them on the key hook in the kitchen, which would seem to be the most logical spot. But I do admit that there are the other things I have lost through the years here and there. A watch, a bracelet, a pair of glasses—the list goes on. And I find that even though they are likely forever lost into oblivion, I still find myself looking for them, even if it is on some unconscious level. Google has given me the diagnosis of “chronically disorganized,” which means that I am highly creative, innovative, and super fun to be around. I may have invented that last part, but I choose to believe that if you are going to spend time with dysfunctional people, at least the disorganized ones are always good for a fun surprise. After all, you never know what I might pull out of my purse.
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market » Sara Wright Covington » Photos by Patrick Hood
fresh finds for spring
Aveda Shampure Composition ($30) Salon Ka-Terra (256) 539-2916
Aveda Lipstick ($16) Salon Ka-Terra (256) 539-2916
Professional Compact ($28) Salon Ka-Terra (256) 539-2916 Aveda Botanical Kinetics Eye Cream ($35) Salon Ka-Terra (256) 539-2916
Assorted Aveda Eye Shadow Trios, Blushes, and Foundation ($24-$27 ea) Salon Ka-Terra (256) 539-2916
Stephanie Wolf Glass Bead Necklace ($120) Little Green Store (256) 539-9699
Vintage by Lorelai Natural Stone Necklace ($28) Leaf in Creek (256) 886-4362
Scarf ($24) Little Green Store (256) 539-9699
Makeup Brush Set ($65) Salon Ka-Terra (256) 539-2916
| noalastudios.com | march/april
Aveda Hydrating Crème ($40) Salon Ka-Terra (256) 539-2916
I can help you
GROW
your own way.
Emily Taylor 5510 Promenade Point Pkwy, Suite 160 Madison, AL 35757 256-430-2781
1114-519HO
Opens March 28, 2015 Programmable robots mimic how animals function in their environment. Enjoy engaging, hands-on activities and explore scientific principles in ecology, biology, physics and engineering. Experience imagination in motion in “The Robot Zoo!”
rocketcenter.com 1 Tranquility Base • Huntsville, AL 35805 (256) 837-3400 • (800) 637-7223 march/april | noalastudios.com |
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market » Sara Wright Covington » Photos by Patrick Hood Denim Jacket ($46) 202 Couture (256) 715-8650
Slightly Alabama Leather Bag ($925) Little Green Store (256) 539-9699
Belt ($88) 202 Couture (256) 715-8650 Maxi Dress ($95) 202 Couture (256) 715-8650
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Woodthumb Beer Caddy ($46) Little Green Store (256) 539-9699
Live Simply T-shirt ($35) Alabama Outdoors (256) 885-3561
Patagonia Windbreaker ($269) Alabama Outdoors (256) 885-3561
Meal Kit ($27.99) Alabama Outdoors (256) 885-3561
Bluetooth Speaker ($69.99) Alabama Outdoors (256) 885-3561
Water bottle ($13) Alabama Outdoors (256) 885-3561
Travel Boom Box ($35.99) Alabama Outdoors (256) 885-3561
Auto Emergency Tool ($14.99) Alabama Outdoors (256) 885-3561
Shorts ($54.99) Alabama Outdoors (256) 885-3561
Frogg Toggs Chilly Pad ($14.99) Leaf in Creek (256) 886-4362
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market » Sara Wright Covington » Photos by Patrick Hood Veranda Book ($60) The Greenery (256) 518-9836
Sun Face Haitian Art ($198) The Greenery (256) 518-9836
Wooden Sign ($44) The Greenery (256) 518-9836
Tres Taylor Tar Baby Wall Hanging ($150) Little Green Store (256) 539-9699 Spalted Elm and Turquoise Bowl ($315) Huntsville Museum of Art (256) 535-4350
Felted Wool Animal by Laurie Popp ($30) Huntsville Museum of Art (256) 535-4350
Wasp Trap ($39) The Greenery (256) 518-9836
Tuscan Fig Candle ($17) Huntsville Museum of Art (256) 535-4350 Owl Pillow ($56) Huntsville Museum of Art (256) 535-4350
| noalastudios.com | march/april
Mixed Media Painting on Canvas by Willoughby Hastings ($180) Little Green Store (256) 539-9699
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scene
Becky Quinn and Gay Money Judy Ryals, Katie Shaver, Van Brown, and Jennifer Moore
Jo Ann and Bob Moorman Emily and Jack Burwell
Bev and Henry Chase
Randy Roper and Ken Rivenbark Robert and Emily Rodgers
Julia Wynn King, Mary Drakey, and Sally Spencer
Photos by Guy McClure
A Century of Fashions and Wedding Gowns february , · weeden home, huntsville
Teresa Doughtery and Paige Bietel Kay Wheeler, Alan Spearman, and Evie Spearman Gay Money and Lynne Williams Pamela and Taze Shepard Mark Singer and Don Wheeler
Stanley Rodgers, Charles Money, and Wynn Rodgers *Names | noalastudios.com for photos are provided | march/april by the organization or business featured.
Kate Nobel and Mark Purvis
Kimberly Rodgers, Ann Connor, and Minnie Lois Neal
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text by sara wright covington » photos courtesy of seth bentley & robert atnip
| noalastudios.com | march/april
A
well-known rock climber by the name of Eric Beck once said “on either end of the social spectrum, there is a leisure class,” and Huntsville natives Seth Bentley and Robert Atnip are living this philosophy to the fullest in travels that take them all over the world. Armed with only backpacks and oneway tickets, these two friends follow their love of rock climbing from country to country, often letting the actual journey guide their destination. Sans hotel stays, rental cars, or tour guides, these friends live off the land, camping and hitchhiking from place to place, in a no-frills approach to travel that allows them to experience incredible adventures both on and off the beaten path. To say that Seth Bentley is a bit of rolling stone would be an extreme understatement. Born and raised in Hazel Green, Seth discovered rock climbing while living in Nashville and attending Lipscomb University, and he really hasn’t stayed in the same location for very long since. While in Nashville, Seth was part of a church group that took weekly climbing expeditions, and after just a couple of trips, he found himself hooked. “It fit me and my personality,” says Seth. “It has a weird way of being very addictive. I think you will hear a lot of climbers say ‘I didn’t really fit in. I was too little, and then too gangly and awkward for other sports.’ When I started climbing, I thought ‘this feels right.’”
Preceding page: Seth Bentley climbing near Lucerne, Switzerland Facing page: Seth’s fellow climber tackles El Delfin (the dolphin) in Rodellar, Spain.
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After his graduation, and over the next few years, Seth followed his love of rock climbing to California’s Yosemite Park, and cliffs in Kentucky, Thailand, New Guinea, New Zealand, France, and Utah, living and working for brief periods of time in certain spots. Seth is disciplined and frugal with his travel, and plans ahead months and years in advance. “I usually just find a job wherever I go,” he says. “I was fortunate enough to have my parents pay for my college, and I never buy anything that will tie me down. I basically just keep the bills low. When you have these
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misconception that you’re rich,” says Robert. “I’m definitely not rich. You just live on a really extreme budget.” On their travels they opt for camping in lieu of hotels, share rides along the way with fellow travelers, and make friends with locals who can tell them about the best, off-the-beaten path spots to climb and, if they are lucky, actually take them there. “It’s not a typical approach, living in squalor,” says Seth, “but I don’t mind it. I’ve had plenty of nights of cold feet. But I do try and avoid that.” Their trips abroad are definitely not the stereotypical post-college backpacking jaunt, as they make it a point to keep their itinerary loose and their loads light. “I will be out somewhere and I see someone who is going on a typical party backpacking trip and I’m like ‘what do they have? What is all that stuff?’” says Seth. “Everything I have is all climbing gear. I carry two pairs of pants and maybe five shirts. You have to keep it pretty minimal. You aren’t really going anywhere classy.”
Above: Robert Atnip climbing Aegealis in Kalymnos, Greece Facing page: Seth Bentley climbing in Céüse, France.
trips in mind, you stray away from anything that is going to tie you down too much.” Seth has worked in coffee shops and outdoor stores, and even spent time working with troubled teens taking them camping in the Utah wilderness. “After that job, I knew anything would be easier than that,” he says. In the fall of 2011, Seth met fellow rock climber Robert Atnip and soon the two were making plans for an extended trip to Spain. “Seth had bought a ticket to Spain in 2012 to go in the summer,” says Robert. “He asked me in passing if I wanted to go and I said ‘sure.’ We went out there for a month. When we travel, we try not to make anything too set in stone and take it as it comes.” Seth and Robert’s living-on-the-edge lifestyle definitely isn’t for the faint of heart, but they insist that really anyone of any means can share in these types of adventures. “When you are taking more extended trips, people have the
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On their 2012 trip to Spain, their arrival just happened to coincide with Spain’s famed running of the bulls. And even though it wasn’t in their initial plan, they both decided to run along with them. “I remember this complete resolution running with the bulls,” says Seth. “I had been afraid before, but now I felt completely resolved to what I was doing even though I knew it could end very badly. Was it completely frivolous and needless to be in such as risky position? Yes, of course, but people who go through life without going all in every now and again never really experience much.” Robert agrees that their decision to run with the bulls was a once in a lifetime adventure, likely never to be repeated. “If you don’t get hurt doing it, you don’t want to tempt your luck doing it a second time,” he says. Robert and Seth spent the rest of this trip climbing, eventually working their way through Spain, France, Germany, Greece, and Turkey, even though some of these spots weren’t on their initial agenda. “In France, we camped out for a month and then we ended up in Germany,” says Robert. “We never planned on going to Germany. But some guys we met offered to let us go there and stay with them for free. We rode there with a girl we met in Sweden along the way.” Once in Frankfort, Germany, they used a European service called Bla Bla Car, which is
“I LOVE THE NEW HORIZON. IT SOUNDS WEIRD TO A LOT OF PEOPLE, BUT I LOVE SHOWING UP TO AN AIRPORT I’VE NEVER BEEN TO BEFORE WITH NO IDEA HOW TO GET ANYWHERE. IT’S ALL TOTALLY NEW. YOU REALLY GET TO LIVE IN THE MOMENT AT THESE TIMES.” SETH BENTLEY
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“YOU HEAR ALL THE TIME FROM OLDER PEOPLE, ‘TRAVEL WHILE YOU’RE YOUNG,’ BUT THEN YOU ALSO HEAR, ‘MAYBE YOU SHOULD GROW UP.’” ROBERT ATNIP
Above: Seth Bentley climbing in Frankenjura, Germany Facing page: Telendos Island, Greece
a ride share system that connects travelers with drivers who have empty passenger seats. Once again, Robert and Seth put themselves in a less than comfortable spot, as ride shares with complete strangers can be risky. But Robert insists he actually feels safer in Europe than in the U.S. “I’ve told people I would rather hitchhike in the UK before I would hitchhike in the States.”
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Seth most recently followed his hobby to China, where he got a job teaching English that allowed him to stay for an extended period and explore the country. “I went to this area to climb in southern China, and it was a really remote region,” remembers Seth. “There is a farmers market there that happens twice a month. People come out of the backwoods with weird pheasants, turtles, and Chinese medicines. These people are living off the land and they don’t even actually
speak traditional Chinese. I hiked up into the mountains, and it was so cool to see a really primitive part of the world.” Although rock climbing is always first on their agenda, it is serving as an awesome excuse for Seth and Robert to see the world. “If I really want to go to a certain country, I will look to see if there is a climbing spot,” says Seth. “In Europe, climbing is world class, better than anything we have in the States.” Currently stateside, Seth is working on a two-year plan to prepare for an extended stay in South America. He is saving money, working on his Spanish, and planning to buy a good four-wheel drive vehicle for making his trip south. He hopes he will make it to the cliffs in Patagonia in southern Chile and Argentina. Robert is planning to make a trip to South Africa this coming August with friends he met while in France. Both men agree that they want to settle down eventually, but not likely anytime soon. “You hear all the time from older people, ‘travel while you’re young,’” says Robert. “But then you also hear, ‘maybe you should grow up.’” Seth admits that his short-term residency in any one place can make it difficult to commit to anything, from a car to a canine, but the way he sees it, a settled lifestyle can wait. “I love the new horizon,” says Seth. “It sounds weird to a lot of people, but I love showing up to an airport I’ve never been to before with no idea how to get anywhere. It’s all totally new. You really get to live in the moment at these times.”
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| noalastudios.com | march/april
[ Acer Palmatum or Japanese Maple ]
plant like a native text by allen tomlinson
march/april | noalastudios.com |
“March and April are the times to trim and get the dead out of the plants. You can trim just about everything except the azaleas, which get trimmed after they bloom. Shape crepe myrtles now, and mulch; add compost to your beds, especially your annual beds or your vegetable garden spots.”
[ Camellia ] | noalastudios.com | march/april
[ Cercis Canadensis or Eastern Redbud]
Springtime in Alabama is cruel. Not because it’s so beautiful outside—although if you work inside and have to look at it through a window without being able to get outside and play, that’s cruel; not because the days are getting longer and the sun is getting warmer and buds are starting to appear, because that’s the most wonderful thing about March and April in Alabama. No, springtime in Alabama is cruel because it plays with you. More than anything in the world, you want to get out in the yard or the garden and plant things, and as soon as you do, we get a killing frost or a dusting of snow, and everything you’ve planted dies. Springtime in Alabama is cruel because it teases you. The Alabama weather in general can be cruel. Travel to other parts of the country and fall in love with a particular flower or tree; bring it back to Alabama and watch it wither and die. Our soil, our weather, and our rainfall patterns can produce some of the most beautiful and lush vegetation in the world, but some plants love that and some do not. Ask anyone in North Alabama about native plants, or imported plants that do well in our region, and Harry Wallace’s name is going to come up. The things Harry knows about plants—just knows—would take volumes of books to contain, and the people he has taught, guided, and designed for would take volumes more. If you want to know about what to plant and where, Harry is the man to ask.
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[ Azalea]
“I was raised on a farm, and my mother was a big plant person,” said Harry. “I loved to help her, and I was the only one in the family who enjoyed it. After college, my wife, Linda, and I read an article in Southern Living and decided to landscape our home. It was a disaster. We connected with Pete McNeese, from Tuscumbia, who was a good plants man; he took us under his wing and introduced us to native plants. We started looking around to see what we could get that would thrive here, and traveled the southeast looking for plants for our garden. After a trip to Virginia and West Virginia in 1995, we decided to open a nursery that specialized in native plants, called Little Cypress Natives—and we’ve been doing it ever since.” One of the biggest problems amateur gardeners face is the influence of the big box stores. “When we go to the big stores and see all of the plants blooming in their greenhouses, we get excited, but we don’t necessarily know anything about where those plants will grow, or if they will do well here at all,” he said. “Just because a plant looks good at the store and does really well in Florida, doesn’t mean it’s going to do well here.” In fact, one of the first considerations when landscaping is drainage. “You want to get water away from foundations,” said Harry, “and you need to know whether a plant wants to have its feet wet or whether you need to drain water away from it.” Alabama is well-known for hot and sometimes dry summers, and
| noalastudios.com | march/april
[ Cornus Florida or Flowering Dogwood ] march/april | noalastudios.com |
[ Trillium]
“a native plant will basically go to sleep during a drought. Native hydrangea (Oakleaf and Arborescens) and native azaleas are an example; a drought won’t typically kill them.” The second consideration is what the plant will look like in five or ten years. Take the crepe myrtle. “This is a tree, not a shrub,” said Harry. “People plant them up against the house, and in five or six years they are chopping off the tops because they have grown so large.” Severe cutting back, called “crepe-murder” by some, creates weak spots in the tree and can lead to long-term problems. On the other hand, what is more beautiful than a mature crepe myrtle, trunks trimmed to show off their sculptural shape, a beautiful and blooming shade tree? Many times, contractors will build houses and put plants in to help the house sell—but they use plants that grow to be too large in five or six years, and end up being removed and replaced. Knowing that spring is teasing us, are there things we should be doing in March and April in our yards and gardens? Of course. “March and April are the times to trim and get the dead out of the plants. You can trim just about everything except the azaleas, which get trimmed after they bloom. Shape crepe myrtles now, and mulch; add compost to your beds, especially your annual beds or your vegetable garden spots. Fertilize in March, especially your shrubs, and add pre-emergence at the end of March or
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[ Mertensia Virginica or Virginia Bluebell ] march/april | noalastudios.com |
the first of April.” This is not the time to plant trees or shrubs, although annuals and perennials can be planted the end of April. “We plant trees and shrubs from winter through spring,” Harry said. Summer planting without irrigation is stressful to plants. Which leads us to the biggest question of all: what plants do well here? There is no easy answer, but it’s fun to listen to the excitement in Harry’s voice as he talks about the work being done to produce disease-resistant varieties of plants that do well in our region. Universities, nurseries, and even Southern Living are grafting, cutting, and reproducing variations of favorite plants to create long-lasting versions that do well for us. Here are some of Harry’s and Linda’s notes: People love lilacs, but they are susceptible to powdery mildew in the South. It’s a plant that does better north of Nashville, especially in Kentucky. The National Arboretum is developing some lilacs that are disease-resistant, called Betsy Ross, Declaration, and Independence. Lilacs tend to be larger than people think, but some of the new varieties are smaller. One trend these days is toward smaller houses—patio homes, condos, and homes with smaller yards. That means more people are planting in containers and small spaces, and the market is responding by creating smaller plants. There are some native Oak Leaf Hydrangeas, Munchkin and Ruby Slippers, and the Kaleidoscope abelia, from China, that are typically gigantic plants but are now being bred in smaller versions. Boxwoods are a traditional plant, used a lot here—and even though they are slow-growing, over time some are going to be huge. The Wallaces are testing some “Unraveled” boxwoods (small and weeping) and a vertical growth boxwood called Fastigata that won’t be on the market for another year or two, but which show incredible promise. “I love purple coneflower,” said Harry, “because they are nice and willowy. We found one in our garden with 30 blooms in one mound, and it never grew above two feet tall.” Because of advances in reproduction, the Wallaces are watching this plant to see if it can be replicated. Temperatures are increasing, and we are seeing some of the effects of that—“but we live in a temperate zone and are blessed with a certain amount of dependable rainfall,” said Harry. People are trying to plant more drought-resistant plants, but if you live along our
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creeks or rivers, it’s easy to irrigate. “If you live in the city and use city water, we would suggest plants that don’t need as much, or use a drip irrigation system because of the expense of irrigation. Everything, though, depends on the site, the shade and sunlight, and the water source.” Some plants should absolutely be avoided. Think “kudzu,” a plant introduced to the South to help with erosion, but which quickly overtook everything it touched. Privet is a shrub that originally came from China, but it’s invasive—as are some forms of bamboo, nandina, and Chinese wisteria. “There is a new version of Privet called Sunshine that is chartreuse in color, and it produces no seeds, so it’s sterile. I would never recommend Privet before, but this is one that’s fine.” No discussion of Southern plants is complete without the dogwood—but dogwoods are susceptible to disease and blight. “The University of Tennessee and the National Arboretum are working on a breed of American dogwoods that are combined with Chinese cornus kousa, with good results. Cloud Nine is an American dogwood, found in the wild, that has survived disease and blight, is considered “resistant,” and can be used when people want traditional American dogwoods. There’s also an American Heritage redbud that is pretty bulletproof, for color in the yard.” What is Harry’s favorite plant? “The one that’s blooming right now,” he said with a laugh. “I’m a little traditional, actually—I like boxwood and mountain laurel, and I love azaleas, especially the varieties that have been engineered to re-bloom, like Encore. I’m just crazy about native azaleas and can’t stop tinkering with them; I’ve even found a wild/natural cross right now that’s named for my wife. It may never become marketable, but it’s beautiful.”
Harry and Linda’s knowledge is too large to be contained in the pages of a magazine, but their nursery, which is open on Saturdays, is a great place to go see plants in their garden— and ask questions. They are located at 4970 County Road 41, by the old Forks of Cypress. For directions, visit www.littlecypressnatives.net.
[ Sanguinaria Canadensis or Bloodroot ]
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text by sara wright covington photos by danny mitchell
hree little girls, all with honey-blond ringlets, have taken over the home of Ryan and Lisa Clayton. When I arrive for a visit on a Thursday evening in January, I scarcely make it past the door step before these sweet, giggling girls gather around me to whisk me off like a little army of pink ants carrying away a crumb. Ella Marie, age five and the eldest, pulls me into her brightly colored bedroom with her identical twin sisters, Sophia and Isabella, age three, trailing closely behind. They all chatter excitedly, moving from one object to the next. “Look at my trophies!” exclaims Ella Marie, pointing proudly to soccer and dance awards. “And I painted these pictures!” she says proudly, showing me the many masterpieces lining the walls. “Do you want to see my closet?!” she asks. Um, are you kidding? Of course I do. I am,
T
after all, just a girl—who happens to love wall-to-wall shoes, princess dresses, and sparkly tiaras. As we leave the closet, I notice that in equal proportion to all the dolls and other toys are the books, which line the bookshelves from ceiling to floor. There are hundreds, and I’m willing to bet many of them, especially the ones on the lowest shelves within a tiny person’s reach, have the sticky, well-worn pages of any beloved book. Their little laughter is truly infectious, and my face already aches from smiling as Lisa and Ryan wrangle their living baby dolls into the family room where we can all sit and chat. As we sit down, the girls set about playing in the floor, shrieking with excitement as Ella Marie demonstrates a flawless cartwheel to her younger sisters. “Use your inside
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From left to right: Isabella, Ella Marie, and Sophia Clayton
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This implant is what makes the difference between hearing and not hearing for these three girls.
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“You teach a child who hears normally how to speak. But we had to teach them how to listen.” —Ryan Clayton
voices,” says Ryan. I have to admit, as the mother of two small girls myself, none of this seems at all unusual to me. This pink pandemonium of laughter and squealing is my everyday normal. But this everyday normal is not something the Claytons take for granted. As Ella Marie leaps up from her cartwheel, a small device pops off her ear, and I am reminded for the first time since my arrival that Ella Marie and both of her sisters were born completely deaf. She bounds over to her mom and says, “Fix my ear please, Mama.” Seconds later, device back in place, she has joined her sisters again and the three of them are singing “Old McDonald” in perfect, tiny-person pitch. This journey to hearing has been long, and the Claytons still work daily to help their daughters hear and speak, but for now, they are grateful just to sit back and listen to the sweet noise of their miracle children, who have come a very long way. Like all couples, when Ryan and Lisa met nearly 14 years ago, they had no idea what was in store for them. After they married, they had always planned on having children and, as all new parents, were overcome with the immediate, overwhelming love they felt when their first daughter, Ella Marie, was born. “Ryan was holding her in the hospital and he looked at her and said, ‘This is a special girl who is going to accomplish special things,’” says Lisa. “And it’s weird. I just knew something was wrong.” When Ella Marie failed the newborn hearing screen just a day before they were to leave the hospi-
tal, Ryan and Lisa were reassured that it was likely just fluid, and that they should just have her pediatrician rescreen her in two weeks. Even through the reassurances that everything was probably fine, Ryan remembers how overwhelming this news was, especially for Lisa, who was a teacher and is now an associate professor at the University of North Alabama’s Department of Elementary Education. “I told them, ‘My wife has never failed a test in her life and you are telling her that her child is a day old and has failed a test,’” says Ryan. The Claytons were worried, but mostly puzzled at first. “Deafness was never thought about,” says Lisa, “it was more like ‘why is she not passing this test?’ She had ear infections at birth, but that was coincidental. We went to see an ENT here in Florence and she failed there also.” As the next step, the ENT sent the Claytons to the Easter Seals of the Shoals who then referred them to the world-renowned Shea Clinic in Memphis for further testing. It was here where they would finally get some answers. “The doctor came in and said ‘We got nothing,’” remembers Lisa. “For a split second I thought he meant that they couldn’t find anything. And then we realized ‘we got nothing’ meant she had no hearing.” At three months old, Ella Marie was diagnosed with profound hearing loss, meaning she was legally deaf. Ryan and Lisa were told almost immediately that their daughter would be a candidate for cochlear implants, which are tiny electronic devices that are surgically in-
serted to help provide sound for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. With the aid of a small earpiece that serves as a sound processor, the device is turned on and sends electrical signals directly to the auditory nerve, bypassing the damaged cochlea. But the process isn’t as simple as just a surgery and then activating the device. Ella Marie would actually have to be taught how to hear. She would need to learn to recognize and respond to sound, a process that hearing babies pick up quickly and easily. The Claytons also faced many months of testing, counseling, paperwork, and prayers before Ella Marie would actually receive her first implant. She was immediately fitted for hearing aids, and then began auditory-verbal therapy, which is designed to help hearing-impaired children learn to listen actively and understand speech. Wendy Piazza, who is an auditoryverbal therapist and also the Director of the Hear Center at Children’s of Alabama, has worked closely with Ella Marie and explains part of the process. “When the implant gets turned on, the first thing we have to teach them is presence or absence of sound,” says Wendy. “Ella Marie had heard a little with her hearing aids, but the implant was like starting over, because it was a new way of hearing.” Although they now had some answers and a plan, Ryan and Lisa were still reeling from the news and would need to go through their own process of accepting Ella Marie’s diagnosis. “My worry was she was never going to hear
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“My worry was she is never going to hear me say ‘I love you.’” —Lisa Clayton
me say ‘I love you,’” says Lisa. “I wondered if it was something that was my fault. I thought ‘what did I do wrong? What did I not know?’” Ryan and Lisa had a genetic study done at UAB to see if they could determine a cause for Ella Marie’s deafness and learned that she had a complex genetic disorder, where a protein known as Connexin 26 causes mutations of certain cellular formations in the inner ear needed for hearing, resulting in deafness. “The only way you can have the Connexin 26 gene is if both of your parents are carriers, so Ryan and I knew we were carriers,” says Lisa. “One in 31 people has this.” When Ella Marie was 17 months old, she got her first implant in her right ear. Dr. Audie Woolley, an ear, nose, and throat doctor who specializes in pediatric otolaryngology, performed the surgery at Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham. She would receive the implant for her left ear just after her second birthday. It would now be up to Ryan and Lisa and their team of specialists to teach their daughter literally everything about sound. “We see the parents as the primary therapists,” says Wendy Piazza. “A big part of my job is to teach the parents what therapy to do when they are not in the clinic.” Working with the auditory-verbal therapists at Children’s, Lisa and Ryan learned how to train their daughter to do what hearing babies do naturally. “We had to teach presence of sound,” says Lisa. “So I would bang pots and pans. When
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they get implanted, you have to teach them what a sound is. Then you are just looking for them to have the reaction of wide eyes. You literally have to teach them how to react to sound.” Soon after Ella Marie’s surgery, Ryan and Lisa found out they were expecting again, and this time, they received the overwhelming news they were having twins. Because of the genetic testing they had done with Ella Marie, the Claytons knew that there was a 25 percent chance of deafness in any future children they had, so when both girls failed the hospital newborn hearing screen, Lisa and Ryan were more prepared to accept the news. “I had one day that I was really upset and overwhelmed,” says Lisa. “But I had already been talking with the surgeon. They were fitted for hearing aids at two weeks old.” Knowing almost immediately that the twins would be candidates for cochlear implants like their older sister, they turned again to Dr. Woolley at Children’s of Alabama to perform the surgery. When Sophia and Isabella were just eight months old, they both received implants for their right ears on the same day. They would receive implants for their left ears two months later. They were Dr. Woolley’s first and only set of twins to receive cochlear implants thus far. “We are just getting younger and younger each time,” says Woolley. “They were one of our youngest sets. We know that spoken language is so important to babies.” Dr. Woolley advocates that
performing cochlear implant surgery at a younger age is key in giving deaf children a leg up with their development. “Even the baby talk that you do with babies really makes a difference,” says Woolley. “It stimulates the pathways to understanding speech. We used to wait until age two, so we missed two years of their brains developing. So the sooner we can do it, the better.” Dr. Woolley agrees that the parents are the most important part of this learning equation. Speech and language development begins before a baby can even talk, and just spending time talking to them as babies can make a profound impact. “Babies who receive at least a million words spoken to them by the age of two seem to jump-start their academic success,” says Woolley. “There is a study that shows that if parents just speak to their babies, their speech develops sooner. That means our deaf babies need to be hearing as quickly as possible. Lisa is the perfect example; she is an education professor. She has been talking to them since they were born, and it shows.” Although they knew what to expect the second time around, Ryan and Lisa knew having three young daughters would mean triple the hard work and dedication to make sure their girls received the care it would take to help them learn to hear and speak. “You teach a child who hears normally how to speak,” says Ryan. “But we had to teach them how to listen.” With all three of their girls, this would mean
Lisa and Ryan Clayton with their daughters: twins Sophia and Isabella, and Ella Marie.
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in class, it’s not because she’s deaf.” Lisa asks to be sent vocabulary lessons for Ella Marie so she can pre-teach them and all three girls have weekly appointments at Children’s for their auditoryverbal therapy, where they focus on using their hearing to listen and communicate versus relying on lipreading or sign language. “Some of the research shows that sign language can become a crutch if the child is doing an auditory-verbal approach,” says Lisa. “They don’t do any lip reading, and in therapy their therapist actually covers her mouth.” The Claytons also go against their natural inclination to safeguard their daughters from everyday life, as
“Babies who receive at least a million words spoken to them by the age of two seem to jumpstart their academic success. There is a study that shows that if parents just speak to their babies, their speech develops sooner. That means our deaf babies need to be hearing as quickly as possible.” —Dr. Audie Woolley, Children’s of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama
beginning with the most basic facets of hearing and speech that a hearing person takes for granted. “Even when all they could do was coo, that was a skill,” says Lisa. “We had to work on pitch with their cooing so they wouldn’t speak in a monotone voice. Skills are more explicitly taught to them. We go to Children’s every Friday where there are people who work with cochlear implant kids.” Each week the girls work on using their implants for speech, language, listening, and auditory memory. “There are things we take for granted, like prepositional phrases, for example,” says Lisa. “They have to hear things so many more times before they catch on to it. When they were learning the word ‘up,’ we had to repeat the word ‘up, up, up,’ because they needed to hear it over and over. We listen for every little bit of a word they are say-
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ing. You are blessed for every little new word that they learn.” Over the next two years, the Claytons’ three girls would have a total of eight surgeries between them. Ryan and Lisa work daily with their girls to enhance their speech and listening skills. They read 10 books each night before bed, and Lisa admits that even when they play, she is always looking for a lesson that can be taught from it. “When they play, we just have to pull so many skills out of it,” says Lisa. “Even when we buy toys, I will look at a toy and think ‘I can teach this concept here.’” Ella Marie is now in kindergarten, where Lisa and Ryan make sure she stays ahead of the game. “I’m always thinking ahead of what she needs to learn,” says Lisa. “I want her treated the same as any other child in class. If she were to misbehave
all parents do. “You just want to shelter them,” says Lisa. “But you need to put them into everything so that they are in every type of situation that every other child is. So they play soccer and T-ball and also take dance and gymnastics.” Eventually when the girls are older, they will make safety accommodations throughout their home in the way of fire and smoke alarms, as the girls do not sleep with their earpieces on. “We try to explain to people, it’s not that they’re not deaf,” says Lisa. “They are still deaf. They just have some technology. It’s not natural hearing.” As we neared the end of our visit and in between my closing questions, Lisa quietly called out ballet positions to Ella Marie, who complied nimbly, her blond curls bobbing as she dipped and swayed in the center of the room.
Sophia was curled up in Ryan’s lap, and Isabella lay on the floor playing a game and singing softly. I asked them what the hardest part of their journey has been so far. “It’s probably worry,” says Lisa. “You are always worried about what you will come up against next. Another big worry is that since all three of them have hearing loss, we wonder ‘how do we give every child what they need? Am I still doing enough to make sure Ella Marie is doing enough for school?’ It’s just that constant worry about what’s to come next.” Lisa and Ryan also worry about the girls’ internal devices going out and possibly having to go through the entire process again. But no matter what, they take comfort in knowing that their girls are getting the absolute best care possible. “I told Dr. Woolley, ‘We will put our trust in you that everything will be OK,’” says Ryan. “I want our children to be the poster children for hearing loss,” says Ryan. The girls have done videos for the hospital and when I met with them, Lisa was preparing to present at a cochlear implant conference with Dr. Woolley, who has been such an integral part of helping these three profoundly deaf little girls. “One of the twins came to see me recently and she recited a bible verse and sang a song,” says Woolley. “Everyone at the clinic was just amazed.” Amazing girls they are, who will no doubt go on to do very special things, just as their father predicted when they were born. These sweet voices—which have already developed a Southern accent—are truly music to their parents’ ears. “I always say, ‘We are deaf-initely blessed,’” says Lisa. “They are our little miracle children. We’ve had a different type of journey and it doesn’t mean we won’t have hard days. But we have a lot of great days and love getting to watch them learn and grow.”
DEAFNESS IS THE MOST COMMON BIRTH DEFECT in the United States, with 1 in 1,000 children born deaf each year, and the Clayton family is not the only Alabama family who has been able to experience the extreme benefits of cochlear implants. When Molly and Frankie Tubbs’s son Trace was born in October of 2011 at Helen Keller Hospital, they faced the same scenario of a failed newborn hearing screen and reassurance that it was likely just fluid causing the failed test. But after seeing several specialists, the Tubbs learned that their son was profoundly deaf. “You know that deafness is NOT terminal,” says Molly. “And you are telling yourself as a parent that this is going to be okay, but you are dying inside thinking that he may never hear you say ‘I love you’ or listen to his favorite song or communicate in the only way that we know how to.” The Tubbs now faced the battle of choosing a next step, and Molly was told by friends to reach out to the Clayton family for guidance. “On our first phone conversation, Lisa told me the story of her girls and the remarkable miracle of cochlear implants that her oldest daughter was experiencing,” says Molly. “So I made an appointment at Children›s in Birmingham and the process began.” Genetic testing proved that Trace’s deafness was also caused by Connexin 26, and he wore hearing aids for a year until he received the implant on November 5, 2011. Trace is now three and thriving. “He knows his ABCs, counts to 20, says the Pledge of Allegiance, sings Kenny Chesney’s latest hits, and communicates just as the average three year-old does,” says Molly. “We work at it but are so grateful that we get to. The Hear Center in Birmingham is such a blessing to us and cochlear implants are a miracle that we praise God for daily.” Katy and Luke Smith of Jasper have also seen the benefits of cochlear implants, although their journey has been a bit different. Their daughter Harper, now six, was born in 2008 and actually passed her hospital hearing screen. It wasn’t until she was nine months old when they took her to the ENT for an ear infection that they discovered she had moderate hearing loss in both ears. Harper’s hearing loss was not severe enough to be considered for cochlear implants at that time, so she was fitted for hearing aids and began auditory-verbal therapy at Children’s of Alabama. She did well with the implants until she was retested before she entered kindergarten last year and her hearing had worsened, now qualifying her for the implant. “She has what is called a fluctuating progressive hearing loss, meaning it gets worse over time and it can go up and down,” says Katy. “The implant bypasses all that.” Because Harper was already a patient of Children’s and had been in auditory-verbal therapy for years, she would be able to receive the implant almost immediately. “A five-year old having surgery is a big deal,” remembers Katy, “just getting them to the hospital is a hurdle. You have to mentally prepare and tell them, ‘We think this is what is best for you’ is difficult. She wanted her hearing aids. So we said, ‘We’ll take you to Disney World.’ She shed not one tear the entire time!” One year later, Harper is in the first grade and hearing much better, thanks to her first cochlear implants. “She hears so much better,” says Katy. “She just started basketball again. Last year was hard because she couldn’t hear the ref, but this year has been like night and day. It’s been huge.”
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This is an article about the future. It doesn’t involve crystal balls or time machines, but it does speculate about what this place will look like in the years to come. North Alabama, especially the part of North Alabama around Huntsville, is an unusual place, seemingly immune to the worst of recessions and some of the problems of the rest of the state; in some ways, this isn’t North Alabama at all. And yet, in many other ways, it couldn’t be more representative. What will happen here in the future will be interesting, and this much is certain: change is coming. Fast.
To speculate about the future of this interesting place, we have to start with a look at our past. So, let’s get started. What happened in our history that provided the building blocks that will propel us into a bright future?
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text by allen tomlinson and sara wright covington photos by cliff billingsley and patrick hood additional photography from everett historical
Poverty and Progress One hundred fifty years ago, at the end of the Civil War, North Alabama was a poverty-stricken place. The War wreaked havoc on the economy, and although there was wealth here, the majority of residents were farmers or laborers, barely growing or earning enough to feed their families. Thankfully, our state’s natural resources were substantial—imagine if we did not have good soil and adequate rainfall—but according to the 1880 census, only slightly more than half of the farmers in the state owned their own land. The rest were tenants, and they were poor. A post-war social structure that included a 1901 state constitution that favored landowners and disenfranchised blacks, women, and white men who did not own land, meant there was not much opportunity for upward social mobility. The constitution also kept property taxes low to favor large landowners, which meant that education and social programs were underfunded or nonexistent. Alabama was a poor state, and it remained poor for a long time. In 1940, a statewide survey showed that only 1.4 percent of rural houses had running water, less than 1 percent had a flush toilet, and less than 12 percent had a refrigerator. And North Alabama was not immune to any of this; in the Tennessee Valley, we were about as poor as it gets. After the Civil War, however, there was one thing we could still do: grow cotton. And because our climate and soil is ideal for the growth of cotton, we attracted the attention of northern industrialists who decided to locate mills here. With economic incentives from our area, the first group, Dallas Manufacturing, opened Dallas Mill in 1891, followed quickly by Merrimack Manufacturing, Lowe Mill, Lincoln Mill, and a few other smaller textile businesses. The mills provided employment, housing, stores, churches, and entertainment for the laborers and their families, and Huntsville was able to enjoy a measure of prosperity that much of Alabama wouldn’t see for many generations.
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THE NEW HORIZON
© Everett Historical
On May 18, 1933, Congress passed the TVA Act and created “a corporation clothed with the power of government but possessed of the flexibility and initiative of a private enterprise,” according to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Through a series of power-producing dams along the Tennessee River, the TVA accomplished three major feats: they made the river navigable for commerce and reduced flooding and erosion problems; they provided electricity to this rural area of the country; and by doing those two things, they had a positive economic impact in the region and helped attract additional industry. Once again, the Huntsville area defied the rest of the state and enjoyed a measure of success. Life was not without its challenges. There were no child labor laws, and children as young as 12 years old could be found working in the mills. “Company stores” deducted purchases from wages, which meant workers might not bring home any money (although they also didn’t have any bills). Work in the mills was hard, and the days were long. And then came the Great Depression, which devastated an industry that was already beginning its decline.
Above, left: A workman with the Tennessee Valley Authority public works projects opens a pipeline valve at a dam. Right: An underage girl tends a cotton spinner. © Everett Historical
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THE NEW HORIZON
Suddenly, the best and brightest from all over the world were coming to Huntsville and North Alabama to be a part of the mission to put man on the moon.
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In 1934, because of federal legislation allowing workers to unionize, Huntsville mill workers organized and made four demands. First, they asked for the elimination of the “stretchout” policy of requiring workers to do more work without an increase in pay; asked for a minimum wage of $12 a week; asked for a 30-hour work week; and asked for reinstatement for any workers fired because of union organization. That didn’t work. On July 16, 1934, more than 4,000 mill workers in Huntsville walked off their jobs. Two days later, more than 20,000 textile workers in Alabama, about half the textile workforce, had joined the strike. As word spread, textile workers up the Eastern Seaboard also walked off the job, and the strike became huge. Then it got nasty; there were kidnappings, beatings, and confrontations, the worst of which centered around a mill in Decatur. The strike ended in September, and workers returned to their jobs, but in many ways this was a deathblow for mills in the Tennessee Valley, and their economic prominence began to subside. The irony was that Madison County continued to be the top cottonproducing county in the state. From Mills to Munitions In 1941, the U.S. Army selected a parcel of land on the southwest side of downtown Huntsville, 35,000 acres in size, to build three chemical munitions facilities for World War II. The three facilities were the Huntsville Arsenal, the Redstone Ordnance Plant (later renamed Redstone Arsenal), and the Gulf Chemical Warfare Depot. These entities operated through the War, employing as many as 20,000 people and providing opportunities for some of those who no longer had mill work. On the heels of the Great Recession, the work at the Arsenal helped sustain solid growth, even in time of war.
The Apollo 11 Lunar Module ascending from the moon’s surface.
© Everett Historical
Thankfully, the War ended. Unfortunately, so did the need for munitions. The three entities, now called Redstone Arsenal, were facing extinction, but a powerful political and business push began to attract new tenants. One, the Keller Automobile factory (profiled in the May/June 2014 issue of this magazine), produced only 18 cars before the untimely death of George Keller. Senator John Sparkman attracted some interest from the U.S. Air Force, who was looking for a
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THE NEW HORIZON
At the end of World War II, there were over 1,500 scientists, technicians, engineers, and professionals from Nazi Germany that were brought to the United States for employment.
testing facility, but that fell through. Redstone Arsenal prepared itself for disposal.
Paperclip” because of the paperclips used to attach their new profiles to their U.S. personnel files.
Enter Operation Paperclip
These rocket scientists began settling in the U.S. Wernher von Braun arrived at Fort Strong, in Boston Harbor; others were located at Fort Bliss, Texas, and White Sand Proving Grounds, New Mexico, all as “War Department Special Employees.”
For anyone younger than 50, it’s hard to imagine or remember the Cold War. World War II had ended, and the economy in the U.S. was booming. Returning soldiers were educating themselves, thanks to the G.I. Bill, marrying and starting families, and moving to the suburbs in droves. Gas was cheap and cars were huge; poodle skirts, radio shows, rock and roll, and a baby boom were underway. Life was good. Except for those damned Communists. Our society had a tremendous suspicion of the Russians and other post-war powerful countries, convinced (rightly so, perhaps) that they were spying on us and actively working to overthrow us for world dominance. The race for technical supremacy was on, and we were determined to win. At the end of World War II, there were over 1,500 scientists, technicians, engineers, and professionals from Nazi Germany that were brought to the United States for employment. The reason was twofold: these intelligent people were knowledgeable and had scientific expertise that could be used on our side, and, maybe just as importantly, we wanted to prevent these brilliant minds from going to the Soviet Union or remaining in post-war Germany to help our enemies. President Harry Truman’s orders expressly excluded anyone who had been a member of the Nazi Party or an active supporter of Nazi militarism, and that presented a problem: most of the leading scientists involved would have been rendered ineligible for recruitment under these rules. The solution came from the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency: they carefully scrubbed the identities of these scientists and created new backgrounds for them. The initiative was named “Operation
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Thank goodness for Senator John Sparkman and other area business leaders who were relentless in their search for a purpose for Redstone Arsenal. In 1950, the Arsenal was selected for the Army’s rocket and missile development program, and about 1,000 people were transferred from Fort Bliss to create the Ordnance Guided Missile Program. Joined by a group of scientists led by Wernher von Braun, just as the Korean War began, the OGMC was charged with the mission of developing what eventually became known as the Redstone Rocket, a rocket central to Army missile programs and the technology that eventually led to America’s space program. Huntsville was no longer a mill town; Huntsville was going to play a major role in putting man on the moon. From Missles to the Moon It makes sense to take a minute and contrast what was happening in Huntsville with what was happening in the rest of the state of Alabama. In 1960, more than 41 percent of Alabama’s counties had poverty rates of more than 20 percent. Even as recently as 2000, Alabama’s per capita income was 20 percent below the national average, and almost one in three African Americans in the state was living below the poverty level. (Eleven percent of white Alabamians were, too.) According to the 2000 census, Alabama was the seventh-poorest state in the
Dr. Wernher von Braun in his office at the Marshall Space Flight Center. Photo courtesy of NASA
© NASA
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country and contained eight of the 100 poorest counties in the nation. But once again, North Alabama was the exception. The 2010 census lists Shelby County and Madison County as the two Alabama counties with the highest per capita income, both higher than the national average. (Every other county in the state ranked below the 2010 national average of $27,334.) Mooresville, Alabama, is ranked as the second-wealthiest community in the state, with a per-capita income of $51,694, and the city of Madison is number 18, at $27,821. (Most of the other communities in the top twenty are around Mountain Brook in Birmingham.) Education is responsible for some of this. The State Department of Education reported a statewide graduation rate of 80 percent in 2013, and Madison County’s rate was 86 percent. The city of Madison, the fastest growing city in Alabama, can claim that 57 percent of its residents age 25 and older have bachelor’s degrees or greater; that’s compared to the entire state of Alabama, which can claim only 22 percent. The national average is 28 percent. Back to the story. On February 1, 1956, the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) was formed on Redstone Arsenal to develop the U.S. Army’s first large ballistic missile. Major John B. Medaris was in command, and Wernher von Braun was the technical director. Using technology from the German V-2 missile, the Redstone Rocket led to the design for a three-stage rocket, called the Jupiter, that could be used to launch satellites. America’s first satellite, Explorer 1, was launched in 1958; the Redstone was also used as a launch vehicle for Project Mercury, which put the first man into orbit around the earth. In 1960, ABMA, the new Army Ordnance Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico, and the Army Rocket and Guided Missile Agency were transferred to NASA, and the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center was formed. Wernher von Braun became its leader. The largest of the NASA Centers, Marshall Space Flight Center was located—where else?—on Redstone Arsenal. Cue the engineers. Suddenly, the best and brightest from all over the world were coming to Huntsville and North Ala-
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bama to be a part of the mission to put man on the moon.
Tommy Battle
For a long time, it got better and better. The major mission for Marshall Space Flight Center was to develop the Saturn boosters used in the Apollo Lunar Landing Program. Another facility, the Huntsville Operations Support Center, was created to monitor rocket launches from Cape Canaveral and to support ISS launch, payload, and experimental activities at Kennedy Space Flight Center. Project Apollo put 12 human beings on the moon between July 20, 1969, and December of 1972.
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Courtesy photo
“The growth of Huntsville is different from other towns,” said Mayor Tommy Battle, “because the growth here in the 1960s was explosive. We had a downtown area, but we outgrew it too fast. Things were happening so quickly, we expanded outward, and our downtown was left behind.” That is not a bad thing, as we will discuss later, but it meant that the area scrambled for a while to make sure infrastructure kept up with the growth. It also meant that Huntsville became an international town, unlike any other place in Alabama; engineers and scientists from everywhere were descending on this place and shaping its growth. Because they were educated, they demanded good education; because they were traveled, they demanded culture, such as a symphony, art museum, and other venues. As work continued to put man on the moon, attention was focused on this region, and it was all, mostly, good. Huntsville was the Rocket City, and we were being propelled upward and onward by the outstanding work being done here.
Transitions Huntsville faced a crossroads—and some tough economic times—when the Apollo program ended in the early 1970s. There was fear that the Arsenal would once again have to look for a purpose. But things were different, this time. The space program had spun off a variety of companies, many
Above: The Security Assistance Command headquarters on Redstone Arsenal. Below, left: Testing of the James Webb Telescope mirrors which took place at Marshall Space Flight Center. Photos courtesy of Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County
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© Cliff Billingsley
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“There is no doubt that the Arsenal will continue to play a major role in our future. As the city, we are working on infrastructure to continue to make it easier for the almost-40,000 people who work there every day to get on and off the Arsenal.” Tommy Battle
housed in Cummings Research Park; Milton Cummings, the president of Brown Engineering Company, and Joseph Moquin, his successor, had successfully proposed that the city of Huntsville develop 3,000 acres of land as a high-tech research park, and it was opened in 1962 with Brown Engineering (now Teledyne Brown Engineering) as its first tenant. That company was joined by a variety of other organizations, including Lockheed, IBM, Northrop, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Today, the park is approaching 4,000 acres in size and is the second largest research park in the United States, second in size only to Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. About 25,000 employees work in the Park in one of the more than 280 companies there, compared with about 37,000 or so who work on the Arsenal. Industries in the Park are varied, too, and that diversity has proven to be valuable; in addition to aerospace and defense companies, there are engineering, manufacturing, software, information technology, and biotech companies. ADTRAN, a telecommunications and internetworking products provider, is located there; Intergraph, one of the hundred largest software companies in the world, is nearby. And the space program is far from over. NASA programs, including the International Space Station, mean the Arsenal continues to be relevant, and the Army’s work in missile defense also takes place there. In 2005, Congress initiated a BRAC—Base Realignment and Closure. It was bad news for many communities who housed military installations, but it was good news for Huntsville. Army Materiel Command, in essence the purchasing department for the Army, was relocated to Redstone Arsenal, along with the Space and Missile Defense Command headquarters. It meant about 5,000 new jobs, with another 5,000 support jobs, and it was a win for North Alabama.
Three Areas to Watch As we go back to our crystal ball and contemplate the future for North Alabama, there are three areas to watch. The first is the Arsenal, with the Army and NASA; the second is an organization called HudsonAlpha; and the third is a unique place called Lowe Mill. “There is no doubt that the Arsenal will continue to play a major role in our future,” said Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle. “As the city, we are working on infrastructure to continue to make it easier for the almost-40,000 people who work there every day to get on and off the Arsenal.” That includes $7 million spent on Martin Road, the western entrance to the property, so that there will be four easy ways in and out. “A lot of other bases in the country are gridlocked and are over capacity,” he said, “but we still have room for development. By investing in that development, we support the work that’s being done there, and we can hopefully protect ourselves from future BRAC programs and sequestration that might negatively affect us.” But it goes deeper than that. Huntsville has a plan that includes investing $25 million a year in roads so that the city does not outgrow its infrastructure. “We’re working hard to manage our growth wisely, so that quality of life doesn’t suffer,” Battle said. That also means working to redevelop downtown. (See the sidebar about downtown Huntsville and development in Madison.) “Even after a decade of growth, we think that this will continue to be a big small town,” said Battle. “It’s nice to go places and see someone you know, but it’s also nice to see someone new. That’s a quality we don’t want to lose.”
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Jim Hudson, co-founder of HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology
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Courtesy photo
The space program is still important, according to Madison Mayor Troy Trulock, but one area of growth in the future will be cyber security—and we are perfectly positioned to be leaders in that field. “We have expertise in technology here, and cyber is going Troy Trulock to become more and more important moving into the future. As the world becomes more sophisticated, there will be more opportunities to help protect and manage security, and I think our area will be a leader.” Madison is also investing in infrastructure to make it easier for residents to move to and from major employment centers like the Arsenal and Research Park. (See sidebar, page 78.) Recent announcements about two major employers, Remington and Polaris, might lead one to think that we are diversifying by moving back into basic manufacturing, but both mayors are quick to point out that manufacturing these days is more high-tech than not. “Advanced manufacturing is high-tech,” said Battle, “and our challenge will be to continue to educate a workforce that is ready.” Biotechnology as the Next Wave Meet Jim Hudson. He’s an engaging, fascinating man, full of energy, quick to smile. He’s an entrepreneur, and civic minded; some of us are convinced he and a group of his friends may have started something that could be the next big thing. Jim is a Huntsville native (rarer and rarer these days), and as a child he was fascinated by the chemistry set he got when he was nine years old. He enrolled as a chemistry major at the University of Alabama and studied chemistry and physics “partly because it only required one year of English and humanities,” he said with a smile. He participated in ROTC in college, graduated and went to flight school, served tours in Vietnam, and then came home to Huntsville to join his father, also an entrepreneur, in Hudson Metals, an aluminum and grey iron foundry. Their company made parts for electrical motors and gear for boats, and things were going well, even though it was clear that more and more foundry prod-
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Above: The park outside HudsonAlpha headquarters is shaped like a DNA double helix. Below and facing page: The corporate headquarters of HudsonAlpha on the edge of Research Park.
ucts were being sourced from overseas. “And then one day, we got an offer on the foundry, so we sold it,” Jim said. With time on his hands and some money in the bank, he returned to school at UAH to earn his masters degree in biology. While he was there, he began a side business isolating genes for muscle development in cattle. It required a starter sample, which could be made synthetically, but the starter took four weeks to get. Not because it took four weeks to make, but because the company in California that provided the starters was so backed up with orders. “I learned that a synthesizer cost $25,000, so I invested in one and began creating my own starter,” he said. “And then I started advertising in science magazines and promised delivery of the starters to others within 48 hours,” thanks to a newly opened shipping company called FedEx. At the end of six months, he had six machines and employed 15 people. That company grew into Research Genetics, a world leader in genetic linkage products and an important partner in the Human Genome Project, a project to sequence the DNA found in human cells. In 1999, Research Genetics merged with Invitrogen Corpo-
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“I imagine the day, soon, when your DNA can be sequenced and converted to information contained on a thumb drive that you take with you to a pharmacy, so that medicine can be tailored to your specific DNA.” Jim Hudson
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ration (now Life Technologies, Inc.), and Jim found himself with “more money than I thought there was in the world.” Enter Lonnie McMillian. An engineer by training, McMillian is also an entrepreneur who cofounded a company that built mini computers; after that company sold in the early 1980s, Lonnie joined the team that founded ADTRAN, a global provider of networking and communications equipment. Fascinated by biotechnology, he retired from ADTRAN in 2001, sought out Jim Hudson, and the two laid out a plan for a non-profit research organization for biotechnology. The two contributed seed money, and with help from Alabama’s then-governor Bob Riley, who invested economic development dollars in the venture, created HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. Explaining HudsonAlpha, biotechnology, and DNA can be complicated, and for a more complete overview the HudsonAlpha Institute conducts regular educational sessions called “Biotech 101” and “Biotech 201,” taught by Dr. Neil Lamb and aimed at the non-scientist who wants to understand more. But here are some highlights: HudsonAlpha is a nonprofit organization focused on research. The fascinating part, though, is what that research can do. “There are a lot of medical applications,” said Jim. “I imagine the day, soon, when your DNA can be sequenced and converted to information contained on a thumb drive that you take with you to a pharmacy, so that medicine can be tailored to your specific DNA.” One research project at HudsonAlpha involves pediatric genetics and undiagnosed diseases in children; today, children in this study and their parents are having their DNA sequenced to arrive at the root cause of their disease. Another research project in agriculture involves sequencing the DNA of poplar trees from the West Coast, to determine why some trees contain a certain type of cellulose and others do not. That will lead to the ability to select poplar trees that are more suited for producing energy. Discoveries in the laboratories have resulted in businesses that are working to develop these discoveries into marketable products or treatments. Some may, in fact, lead to cures. HudsonAlpha’s president, Dr. Rick Myers, has an impressive resume. In 1986, Myers developed a technique for detecting genetic mutations that earned him an invitation to
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A DNA sequence
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participate in a scientific meeting, called by the Department of Defense, to see if new methods for determining genetic mutations could detect an increase in mutations among the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. The answer—“not without an enormous effort to map the entire human genome was undertaken”—led to the creation of the Human Genome Project. In 1990, when the Human Genome Project began in earnest, Myers’ lab was one of only four centers to receive funding to map and sequence the chromosomes that make up human DNA. Jim Hudson is passionate about the three driving forces behind the Institute. The first is research; the second is enterprise, the creation of businesses that take that research into the world and generate employment and economic development, and give back to contribute to more research. But the third is education; it is very important to Jim that future biotech leaders are educated, and the Institute’s outreach teams work through hands-on classroom programs, in-depth school and summer camp experiences for teachers and students, digital learning programs, and free seminars for the public, such as the Biotech 101 and 201 programs. What does this mean for the future? It’s quite possible that Huntsville and North Alabama will lead the way in biotech research and technology, which will change the face of medicine. “A child born today could possibly expect to live to 125 years old or more,” said Jim Hudson. “We already know that our bodies can last that long, and as medicine gets better, our lifespans will continue to rise.” Barring accidents and bad decisions, of course, it might be conceivable to imagine a day when diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, and other medical problems can be eliminated or controlled. And as a high-tech center here in North Alabama, who better to lead the way? We’ve already put 12 men on the moon; who could have imagined that, a hundred years ago? An Artist Uprising: Lowe Mill Arts and Entertainment Jim Hudson and his late wife Susie are unique not just because of Jim’s fascination with all things biotech and, during her life, Susie’s love for the City of Huntsville (Susie worked in the mayor’s office before her death, five years ago); they
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The new expansion at Lowe Mill Arts & Entertainment
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News, classical music and more 88.7 FM Muscle Shoals • 100.7 FM Huntsville www.apr.org
both were willing to invest in the things they were passionate about. For Susie, that meant leading a downtown revitalization (see sidebar); for Jim, it means an investment in the arts. “In 1979, I traveled to Arlington, Virginia, on business and got to tour a place called the Torpedo Factory,” said Jim. “It was a crude place, an old abandoned torpedo factory the city owned, which they rented to a community of artists for a dollar a year. It was fascinating.” It gave him an idea, too, for an artist’s complex in Huntsville. After all, all work and no creative play makes North Alabama a dull place, from a cultural standpoint. Not that Huntsville has ever been a creative wasteland. This place is home to the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, the longest continuously operating professional orchestra in the state (and maybe the southeast); it also boasts world-class museums and tourist attractions, the beautiful Botanical Gardens, and a community of artists, musicians, dancers,
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performers, and creative folk. It’s just that the tech side tends to dominate, since that’s what drives so much of the business in this area. “After Research Genetics merged, I was approached by a commercial realtor who asked me to look at the old Lowe Mill building,” said Jim. It was empty, but had been used first as a mill, then as the General Shoe Plant, and then as a storage facility for Martin Industries, who made wood burning stoves and heating appliances. The cost was $900,000, and Jim bought it. This would be Huntsville’s Torpedo Factory. Artists communities can’t happen without an angel, and Jim has been that; his investment in Lowe Mill to date is around $7 million, but his vision has become a reality. Lowe Mill is a creative beehive. “In my mind, engineering, math, and sciences are already a part of the creative process,” said Marcia Freeland, executive director of Lowe Mill Arts and Entertainment. “It’s just a natural combination.” Today, Lowe Mill is the largest independently owned facility of its kind, housing over 120 artists’ studios as well as restaurants, performance venues, and other small businesses. Since Lowe Mill first opened in 1901 as a cotton mill, it has been a part of Huntsville’s heritage, employing the forefathers whose descendants have become the engineers and scientists who made the Rocket City what it is today. As Huntsville moves into the future, Lowe Mill will continue to play a pivotal role as the center where education, creation, and a sense of community can all exist together. “Entry into this community is juried,” said Jim, “and that maintains a high standard for the quality of art represented there. Another important component is the requirement that every artist be in the studio at least 50 percent of the time during public hours. We did not want this to be a place where artists go to hide and create; we want the public to have access to this as an educational center, where they can come and learn from the artists and watch them work.” Once
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again, Jim’s commitment to education shines through in this endeavor, just as it is a central part of HudsonAlpha. Dustin Timbrook, media director for Lowe Mill, has a degree in art and initially came to Huntsville specifically for Lowe Mill. “The thing about an art degree is that you don’t go to art school just to learn how to paint and draw,” he said. “Art schools give you way more abstract things to think about.” Timbrook believes that Lowe Mill is already part of what is called the maker movement, an idea created at MIT, where artists, engineers, and entrepreneurs can co-exist in informal, industrial-type spaces such as Lowe Mill to solve problems and create things together. “Creativity is the ability to identify problems that aren’t obvious,” said Timbrook. And Mayor Battle agrees about the synergy that engineers and artists can create, pointing out that both need the other. “We need creative people to think up the projects, engineers to make them into products, and both to purchase them to make the economy work,” Battle said. This process of creation and the meeting of minds is increasingly made possible through facilities called fab labs, small scale workshops where ideas and prototypes can come to life through flexible manufacturing equipment like laser cutters, 3-D printers, and digital technology. (The maker movement suggests that in the future, people will increasingly learn to make and fix things on their own, without a dependency on mass manufacturers.) Fab labs are popping up all over the country to provide access to technology for anyone who wants to create or invent, but who cannot afford the expensive equipment. Mind Gear Labs is one such spot—and is now housed in Lowe Mill. “These guys are here now, and a lot of our artists are starting to use their services and take classes,” said Timbrook. “People from the community are also starting to use it and send their kids to take classes as well.” One of the classes offered for kids is for Lego-robotics, which is exactly what it sounds like—kids building struc-
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Today, Lowe Mill is the largest independently owned facility of its kind, housing over 120 artists’ studios as well as restaurants, performance venues, and other small businesses.
tures with Legos and then bringing them to life through fab lab technology. “Without creativity, all technology would be pointless,” said Anne Condid, a senior lab technician at Mind Gear. “The internet is all the result of creativity. We just provide the tools for people to use their creativity and make their visions a reality. We have memberships, because most people can’t purchase that equipment itself. The laser printer costs more than my first car! So for the ability to use that and the other tools, it’s a pretty good deal for a $60 membership.” Timbrook believes that as fab labs continue to grow, 3-D printers will be the wave of the future. Centers like Lowe Mill will be essential in helping to create prototypes and make it possible to make items that have formerly been mass produced. “A 3-D printer is a printer that can print out physical objects,” said Timbrook. “It has a little nozzle that gets hot and there is a filling that goes into it that’s like a harder kind of plastic. When it comes out, it cools down and hardens. The way it prints out these objects, is that it prints out a layer at a time and then stacks up the layers. The significance of that is that in the future, a lot of the things we would have to go to a store to get, we will be able to print at home on a printer.” Again, this will likely mean that engineers and artists will be coming together to create and implement designs, paving the way to eventually make it easy for the people to essentially print anything they want from a 3-D printer, including everything from sprockets to sculptures. “There are lots of other prototyping tools, like laser cutters, that artists are really excited about as well,” said Timbrook. “That kind of tool really lends itself to any kind of creation, whether it’s a mechanical engineer designing sophisticated sprockets, or a visual artist who wants to make some type of interactive sculpture.” As Lowe Mill moves into the future, one thing is certain: education will continue to be a huge part of its foundation.
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Marcia Freeland sees the property continuing to expand, with even more opportunities for creative artists and entrepreneurs to share space and take classes. Timbrook believes that we are quickly moving toward a society where creativity will be a vital skill, as certain mass production industries become obsolete. “We are setting the bar for what other communities need to be doing,” said Timbrook. “I think for a long time the arts in Huntsville were overshadowed by the technology culture of the city,” he added. “I think that’s starting to pass. I think what we will discover in coming years is that with art and technology and engineering, there is a huge gray area. I don’t think they are all that different. I think they all overlap and intersect, and I think that is happening at Lowe Mill specifically. In the future we’ll be a popular business that’s profitable, and what will follow is that other Lowe Mill-like entities will be popping up all over the world.” The Arsenal, HudsonAlpha, and the Arts Huntsville and the surrounding areas of North Alabama are very representative of the state of Alabama in a number of ways. We’re polite, generous, self-sufficient people, all Southern traits, and when newcomers move here, it doesn’t take them long to adopt those mannerisms. People let others merge in traffic; we smile and wave; as the Mayor points out, we speak to people we know and enjoy meeting people we don’t. This is a Southern town—a Southern city, actually— and that charm is likely to remain with us for the future. But in other ways, Huntsville is not an Alabama city at all. This is a place that helped man touch outer space, and we know that there are unlimited possibilities. With a mixture of thoughtful and planned growth, a focus on education in every aspect of our lives, and a combination of creative, engineering, and business expertise, we’ll continue to lead Alabama forward—and not just the state of Alabama, but the entire world. We see Huntsville’s horizon, and it looks pretty bright. Get ready for an interesting ride!
GIZEH
MAY
ARI
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Huntsville’s Downtown Development “When Huntsville grew so quickly, in the 1960’s, it outgrew our downtown,” said Mayor Tommy Battle. For years, downtown was the place to go only when you had to do city business, because of the courthouse and other city buildings there. Otherwise, storefronts and businesses along University Drive and Memorial Parkway provided just about everything you needed, and downtown fell into the same shape as many other downtowns in America: not desolate, but somewhat forgotten. Not anymore. Have you been downtown lately? Developers have taken older buildings and remodeled them to bring residents downtown, and where there are residents, retail follows. “By 2018, we will have more than 800 apartments downtown and between 1,200 and 1,600 people living there,” said the mayor. Several fine dining restaurants and retail stores are located on the square and right beyond, with more coming, and the new headquarters for al.com and the Huntsville Times and the continuing interest in Harrison Brothers mean there are more and more reasons to not only come downtown, but to stay. The historic homes near the square have always been desirable addresses, but it took investment from visionaries to make the rest happen. Cityscapes, a real estate company created by Jim and Susie Hudson, began buying buildings downtown and turning the upstairs into high-end condos (at the Terry Hutchens Building) and restaurants (including the current locations of The Bottle and Humphreys). Susie, who passed away in 2009, believed that if young people had things to do downtown, they wouldn’t leave—and her theory is proving to be true. Other far-sighted developers are also creating living space downtown, including Bristol Development’s Twickenham Square project, site of a new Publix grocery store, restaurants, and shops, and Artisan Lofts, 246 upper-end living spaces convenient to everything. Charlie and Sasha Sealy’s Belk Hudson Lofts took a former department store and created 75 living spaces, retaining the look and feel of the original building but giving residents the best of everything—including walking access to great restaurants and shopping.
Today, there’s even a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring attention downtown. Chad Emerson, CEO of Downtown Huntsville, Inc. has brought attention to downtown by encouraging food trucks, art installations, and even miniature golf on the sidewalks. Green Street Market, an initiative of Church of the Nativity, brings huge crowds downtown on Thursday afternoons during the warmer months. “This is an exciting time to be in downtown Huntsville,” said Mayor Battle. “Downtown is becoming a gathering place, once again, and a place that represents our identity as a city. We may be a small big city, but we have a wonderful quality of life.” Town Madison Madison, Alabama, is the fastest growing city in the state of Alabama. Madison started as a small rural community near the railroad tracks in 1869, in what is now called historic downtown Madison, and is continuing its explosive growth with the development of two new large expansion corridors: the County Line Road corridor and Town Madison. “When I first came to office, the city was finishing the Shops of Madison, a 30-acre development on Highway 72 anchored by a new Target store,” said Madison Mayor Troy Trulock. “For the long-term growth and prosperity of Madison, I knew we needed to open up two new large expansion corridors to support the city for the next 20 years. The first corridor is the County Line Road corridor, which encompasses about 800 acres of development; and the second corridor is Town Madison, which encompasses about 700 acres of development. The development of these two corridors will create about 1,500 acres of growth and thousands of jobs for the city and citizens of Madison.” The County Line Road corridor consists of a new interchange at I-565, as well as widening County Line Road to five lanes to support increased business and traffic growth. The new interchange is on track to open this summer and will provide a second interchange access point onto I-565 for Madison residents. Construction to widen County Line Road to five lanes will start in the spring of 2015 and finish in winter of 2016. This new County Line Road corridor will
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at Oakland Springs, will also start construction west of County Line Road and will be similar to Huntsville’s Village of Providence, with a mixture of retail and commercial businesses along with a variety of housing options, including apartments, condos, townhomes, and single-family dwellings. “Through tremendous teamwork with our city, county, state, and federal leaders, we are planning and growing for the next 20 years in Madison, and I am honored to be a part of that team”, said Madison Mayor Troy Trulock.
© Courtesy City of Madison
provide Madison residents faster access to I-565, Redstone Arsenal, and Research Park as well as allow for 800 acres of new growth along County Line Road.
Conceptual renderings for the Town Madison project show the area around Intergraph (above) and a concept of what the retail areas might look like (below).
Housing in Madison continues to boom, as well; there are currently over 1,000 lots for new residential development under construction in the city limits west of County Line Road. In 2015, a new development, called The Village
© Courtesy City of Madison
The second expansion corridor, called Town Madison, is a 700-acre project along I-565 from Wall Triana to Zeirdt Road and will incorporate land currently owned by five different organizations. Town Madison will include new retail, office buildings, shops, and restaurants, walking trails, and green space, providing thousands of new jobs and a great new development for many years for Madison residents.
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Madison continues to boom, in ways similar to Huntsville, but unlike Huntsville, it is more of a residential community than a manufacturing center. The development of infrastructure that makes
it easier for a resident to commute to Polaris, Remington, the Arsenal, Research Park, or even to the excellent schools in the community, contribute to a quality of life Madison residents are proud of. Madison’s boom continues.
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the vine » Amy C. Collins
THE GAMUT OF GRENACHE Grenache is one of the few grapes that comes in every color: grenache noir, grenache blanc, and grenache gris. Ampelographers—historians of the vine and its various species—have recorded that the grenache (noir) or garnacha was planted by the Spanish kingdom of Aragón across Northern Spain, which ruled the now French region of Languedoc-Roussillon, in the early 1600s and the four centuries previous. The grape is also grown in the Southern Rhône, France; the Italian island of Sardinia, where it’s named cannonau; South Africa; North Africa, in Morocco and Algeria; Australia, and California. Until the late 20th century, grenache was the world’s second most widely planted red variety, yet rarely do we see a single variety grenache wine today. It usually plays second fiddle to grapes with more backbone and color, like syrah, carignan, and cinsault. In the 1980s a group of self-described Rhône Rangers hailing from California fell in love with the rich, earthy reds of syrah and grenache from the hillsides that flanked the Rhône River in France, and discovered the vines did very well in the Golden State. Grenache in particular acclimates well to the hot, dry climates of Central California where dedicated supporters most often make the wines in a rich, voluptuous style. What does all this mean for us drinkers? Well, it means there are many, many gems on the shelves where the grenaches are integral players and a handful more of pleasures made from grenache alone in every hue. Here are some of my current favorites.
There are many, many gems on the shelves where the grenaches are integral players and a handful more of pleasures made from grenache alone in every hue.
From the small appellation Côte du Roussillon in Southern France, just inland from the Mediterranean and a few kilometers north of the sticky wine appellation of Banyuls, there’s a newcomer to the Alabama market from Huntsville-based importer Bjoern Lanwer called Leap of Faith. It’s a classic blend of 57 percent grenache, 27 percent syrah and 16 percent carignan. Opaque in color with a purple tinge, it’s rich and plummy on the nose with a dry finish and flavor profile that blends earth and young tannin with the subtle hint of new French oak, landing it in the middle of the Old World–New World spectrum. It’s a versatile sipper that might be a tad chewy for a party wine but pairs well with a variety of foods. From the high altitude vineyards of Terra Alta, Spain, the Las Colinas Rhône style blends in Spain, where garnacha plays a leading role, are hand harvested and fermented separately before syrah is blended in for the final cuvée. Cherry and raspberry flavors mingle with plum and a hint of pepper followed by a dry, satisfying finish. The winery also makes a Garnacha Blanca from garnacha’s green-skinned cousin. Stone fruit aromas follow on the palate with a chewiness that
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lends body and bite with some herbal notes and a dry finish. This one is a treat outside the ordinary. California winemaker Tuck Beckstoffer makes several labels from both family owned vineyards, which have been in the Beckstoffer family since the 1970s, and others, where he contracts the best quality fruit for his wines. Though he makes cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, and chardonnay, it might be the grenache project under the Melée label that’s the most intriguing in his portfolio. A relatively small production of only 1,500 cases, this elegant representation of Central Cali grenache grown on steep, rocky slopes is an homage to the wines of the Southern Rhône Tuck fell in love with many years ago. In a recent telephone conversation, he mentioned the uniqueness of this particular wine in a sea of typically high-alcohol, high-extraction grenache wines made from American soil. He also described his 100 percent grenache rosé wine, Hog Wash, as the quintessential BBQ wine, made, in fact, to accompany a whole hog event for some Southern chefs a few years ago. Fortunately you don’t have to wait until August to appreciate the party friendly juice in this bottle; it’s year-round yummy. Also from California, and a wine I continue to salivate for, is the Broc Cellars Cassia Grenache(s) Rosé. It’s higher on the price ladder and made more in the vin gris style than saignée—the first being a pale color from light pressing, the second a full-bleed off pressed red grapes, and is in fact a blend of grenache and grenache gris. The difference is the vin gris makes a delicate, elegant wine to be sipped slowly with cheese and charcuterie while daydreaming about your future prince or princess charming (or a better behaved present royal partner). The second, like the aforementioned Hog Wash, has the backbone to knock out unwanted suitors sniffing around spoken-for territory, if necessary. I’ve loved everything I’ve tasted from the Broc crew. An urban winery in Berkley, California, they make site-specific wines that lean toward organic and biodynamic production with natural fermentations and low sulphur addition in the winery. Triple win.
The Run Down Leap of Faith, Côtes du Roussillon, France 2013–$20 Las Colinas, Terra Alta, Spain 2012–$14 Las Colinas, Garnacha Blanca, Terra Alta, Spain 2013–$15 Melée Grenache, California 2011–$32 Hog Wash Grenache Rosé, California 2013–$18 Broc Cellars Cassia Grenache(s) Rosé, Mendocino, California 2013–$28
Follow Amy at pigandvine.com for more stories and wine suggestions. march/april | noalastudios.com |
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hear tell » Guy McClure, Jr. Aunt Cora was not really my aunt, but an extremely old woman who was my grandmother’s aunt who had lived next door to her as a child in Sulligent, Alabama—the smallest town I knew.
THE DEATH OF AUNT CORA I stood on the sidewalk looking down the straight path to Aunt Cora McKenzie’s house. My Sunday shoes slid on the mossy bricks as I walked toward the screened front porch with my parents, grandparents, and sister. The women were holding Corningware and I was holding my breath. I knew what to expect the second that door with the black wreath on it swung open—the very personal yet familiar smell of an old lady’s house—a smell of wool, overly sweet perfume, and undertones of Absorbine Junior. My father opened the screen door and the thin black spring yawned with that noise that they all make—a noise that could mean happiness, sadness, or fear, depending on who was holding the handle. We walked onto the screened porch that was furnished with metal patio furniture, moldy cushions, and stacks of old newspapers and magazines. A familiar feeling of dread enveloped me and, looking back, probably everyone else, as no one would take the initiative to ring the bell.
Aunt Cora was not really my aunt, but an extremely old woman who was my grandmother’s aunt who had lived next door to her as a child in Sulligent, Alabama—the smallest town I knew. My few memories of her were of seeing her in bed, propped up wearing a lace bed jacket with a big satin bow and having the longest earlobes I had ever seen—the result of wearing heavy costume jewelry, my grandmother explained. Aunt Cora had two daughters, Thelma and Geraldine, whom she never allowed to marry and who grew up to become old maids who were assigned to run the family drug store. I never really heard anything of an uncle, but I know there must’ve been such a character, and it is my thought that he must’ve faked his own death simply to get out of that hen house and that dusty little town. Without husbands or a father, Thelma and Geraldine became more and more masculine every day—to the point where they took on the male names of Tim and Jerry.
The telephone call had come two days earlier that Aunt Cora had died—a dramatic call from Jerry even though both she and Tim had been rehearsing that call for years.
The McKenzie women ran the local drug store. To my recollection, it was a sad storefront on a dirt road in downtown Sulligent within walking distance of the house. I do remember a rusty sign out front that said “curb service,” which I am sure was false advertising. Even as a small child I knew they more than likely would have more customers by foot traffic than by cars. The inside of the store was dark
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and silent, and I can barely remember anything other than a defunct soda fountain and a picture on the wall of Aunt Cora standing next to George Wallace. It was a neighbor who opened the front door and ushered us in from the porch. Jerry and Tim were in the living room wearing dresses, which was somewhat of a shock, not only because they never wore dresses, but because the dresses looked like they had come off the set of The Three Stooges. They were probably from the contents of their hope chests before Aunt Cora had dashed those hopes, and their trousseaus had eventually lost all resemblance of fashion. In their dresses they stood at attention, emitting the exact amount of grief that clearly sets apart the Methodists from the Catholics. There were hugs all around, and comforting words, and demure smiles. Ironed linen handkerchiefs dotted at eye sockets, catching the alligator tears, and then repeated for those who were looking around the room and didn’t see the gesture. There was a steady ebb and flow of visitors, and I couldn’t make out the difference between the relatives and the townspeople. Mostly they were people who were labeled as cousins I was supposed to know, but really only pretended to. There were a lot of other kids in attendance—some roughand-tumble boys whom I wanted no part of, some older girls who wanted no part of me—so I just kind of explored the house, yard, and the faces, wishing myself invisible. Apparently Aunt Cora had died in the house, in her bed, with her girls on either side each holding a hand, and both Tim and Jerry made her passing sound as if it happened on a Hollywood sound stage. But it was apparently now a closed set as the girls had locked the door of the room where she died and had no intention of opening it anytime soon. It was now a shrine and they couldn’t bear to change a thing or remove any of Aunt Cora’s mementos. I believe it was Tim’s idea to gather the children and have them pick one flower each from the garden just before we left for the church. What I picked I found out later was a weed. Little did we know what she had in mind. The mourners in the house emptied out onto the slimy sidewalk and boarded our cars for the short ride to the church funeral. As the family gathered on the steps of The Sulligent First (and only) Methodist Church to make our grand entrance, Tim brought together the children, asking us to go first, leading the way, each carrying our flower, and to place said flower on the casket at the front of the altar. Now first of all, I wasn’t happy about being in a room with a corpse, much less getting within smelling distance of it—so this whole funeral thing had gone from the sublime to the ridiculous and was certainly not
march/april | noalastudios.com |
There were a lot of other kids in attendance—some rough-and-tumble boys whom I wanted no part of, some older girls who wanted no part of me—so I just kind of explored the house, yard, and the faces, wishing myself invisible.
what I had signed on for. I was hoping to sing a few hymns, eat some random casserole, and be in an air-conditioned car heading back to Huntsville before the midday sun had totally scorched us. This creative floral addition—“creative” by our family’s standard of tradition—could have so many bad outcomes. I could vomit on the way to the casket, I could inexplicably begin to bawl, or I could faint dead away. I looked at my father who looked down at me with a mixture of compassion and humor, knowing, too, the three possible outcomes and hoping for a smooth, seamless parade to the casket, which is exactly what occurred. I did just fine, only catching a glimpse of her dead nose sticking up out of the casket and having complete control of my composure. The rest of the service I sat quietly in my pew almost giddy with pride of my accomplishment. After the service, and the solemn parade of cars to the cemetery, came the graveside portion of the production. The unfamiliar terrain of a more-southern county interested me. In the cemetery, the grass was crunchy and bare in spots, and her grave was on a hill that overlooked the Sulligent High School football field. There were other McKenzie names on simple headstones around her open grave. It was shocking to me how well my grandmother knew the place—this was, after all, her hometown and this crunchy grass must’ve felt very familiar under her feet. The service was a normal 15 minute kind, and I did not pay a bit of attention and let my mind wander around unsupervised—watching a bee buzz around a dry flower, watching the workmen smoking cigarettes as they were waiting to replace the dirt onto the grave, and watching the clouds going by. I was hoping no one would ask questions about the service as even 10 minutes after it was over I would not be able to recall a word. We returned to the house for lunch before heading back to Huntsville. There was a smorgasbord of every imaginable recipe to ever grace the pages of Southern Living. I am sure the contents of the casseroles alone created a Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup shortage from which western Alabama still has not recovered. The congealed salads stood tall and proud—displaying their contents of banana slices, olives, pecans, et al, as monuments to gravity defying ingredients. Every native fruit had been cobbled—peach and blackberry given special places of distinction. We dined on
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paper plates on our laps in the shady backyard and the mood was much lighter now that food was involved. With the women busy with kitchen chores, and the men and kids in the backyard, this was the perfect time to explore. The house was decorated with a Depression Era taste. I distinctly remember a large, upright piano in the front room and a large naive painting of a brook in the fall over the sofa. There were lots of awards and pictures and books and special things that were displayed with pride. Everything seemed as if it had a story—and the reason for that was that it did. These were the trophies of a lifetime of three women who, despite the odds of their small town existence, had done some remarkable things. Aunt Cora had, as a single widowed woman, fulfilled the pharmaceutical and general retail needs for that small town. Tim had at one point spent time in India with the Peace Corps, and I even seem to remember hearing that she had received her pilot’s license. Jerry had studied art and was the one responsible for the paintings that dot the walls of McKenzie homes from Alabama to California. As the time neared for us to take our leave, the feeling of dread was gone. My first funeral was over, and it wasn’t half as traumatic as I had expected. Actually, I was expecting to hate the day, but it turned out nice—and it even got much, much better. My Uncle Frank and Aunt Joyce had attended the funeral from Huntsville and asked me to ride back with them— not just ride back with them, but ride back in his new blue Corvette! Had I had known this was an option, I not only would have attended the funeral just to place a flower on Aunt Cora’s casket, but I would have jumped on top of it singing “Onward, Christian Soldiers” a capella in my underwear! The ride back was sheer bliss. I was crammed into the cubbyhole as the third person in a two-seater car with something sharp sticking in my leg and somehow getting grease on my clothes, but I didn’t care—I was in a Corvette, listening to rock music, and heading northward away from my first funeral. Life didn’t get much sweeter than that in 1972.
The Burritt Time Travel
Barnyard Bash
OPENS March 21st!
where PARTY ANIMALS come to raise hay!
Come meet our Adventurers Josie and Sam and join them for a fun filled, hands on, unique scavenger hunt through time as you journey to the 1800s. Successfully complete the hunt to become an official time traveler who has visited each decade of the century! On your journey play with toys and games of the time, find your way through the Underground Railroad maze, race miniature boats and rafts down the stream representing the Alabama River, build miniature cabins and villages, explore the steam engine playground, and much, much more. Learn facts about the United States, Alabama, Huntsville and Monte Sano, along the way. An adventure for the whole family!
A fundraiser for the Burritt Barnyard.
800 1900 1 1810 1890 1820 1880 1830 1870 1840 1860 1850
3101 Burritt Drive Huntsville, Alabama 35801 t t www.burrittonthemountain.com march/april | noalastudios.com |
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food for thought » Sarah Gaede
Rather than channeling my inner French woman and shopping every day for supper that night, I am challenging myself, at least twice a week, to come up with well-balanced meals using what I already have.
WASTE NOT, WANT NOT In , the most recent year estimates were available, Americans, individually and corporately, threw out 35 million tons of food. As much as 40 percent of the food produced in the U.S. goes uneaten. While we are throwing out food in this country, an estimated one in nine people in the world suffers from chronic hunger due to insufficient food. Even in the United States, some 13 percent of households struggle to put enough food on the table, to say nothing of nutritious food. Right here in Florence, Sidney’s Safe Foundation “Pack Them with Love” program sends 400 at-risk children home each Friday with enough food to help them through the weekend. I recently set the intention to address this problem of waste in my own small way. Rather than channeling my inner French woman and shopping every day for supper that night, I am challenging myself, at least twice a week, to come up with well-balanced meals using what I already have in the refrigerator, freezer, and pantry—without eating pasta four nights in a row, not that my husband would object. This leads to interesting experiments such as putting leftover canned pumpkin in my spaghetti sauce (it was fine), soup made with duck stock, or pasta with whatever is lying around, like cherry tomatoes, olives, capers, a couple handfuls of spinach, some frozen shrimp, and the end of a bottle of wine. It helps that I keep onions, garlic, canned tomatoes, and a full range of herbs and spices on hand. And a large variety of pasta shapes (I have a tiny bit of a pasta hoarding problem), rice, couscous, polenta (a fancy name for yellow grits), and other grains. One of the best ways to use up random leftovers is the frittata, which is essentially a baked omelet. Not only are frittatas ridiculously simple to make, but they are also the perfect vehicle for leftovers. Unlike quiche, which they resemble, frittatas do not have a crust, nor do they contain milk or cream. And they can be meatless, which fits with my resolution to eat meatless suppers, or suppers with meat as flavoring rather than the main event, at least twice a week. Bacon grease doesn’t count. You can put pretty much anything in a frittata: left-over roasted vegetables; blanched, chopped spinach, and ricotta; blanched asparagus, goat cheese, and basil; kalamata olives, cherry tomatoes, sliced and sauteed yellow squash, and Parmesan, etc. It’s a great way to get rid of mysterious nubs of cheese, or those last two slices of bacon that are beginning to molder. A dozen free-range eggs, which I recommend using, costs $3.50 at Jack-O-Lantern Farms. That’s an incredible value for something that is just about the perfect food. Eggs are a great source of protein, and they contain almost every essential vitamin and mineral our bodies need. Contrary to popular belief, egg yolks are not bad for you—in fact, most of an egg’s nutritional value is found in the yolk.
The fat in yolks can actually reduce LDL—the bad cholesterol. When you eat only the egg whites, you are missing out on most of an egg’s nutritional benefits, and are getting only half of the protein. In keeping with my theme, it is wasteful to throw away such a valuable source of nutrition based on false information. I think egg whites are boring unless they are enhanced in meringues, mousse, or angel food cake. There are various techniques for making frittatas, some of which involve broiling. Broiling is not my gift, so I use Mark Bittman’s method of starting on the stove and ending in the oven. My preferred pan is my 9 1/2-inch All-Clad nonstick skillet, but a well-seasoned cast iron skillet of similar size would work too. Just be sure whatever skillet you use is ovenproof. Most important, do not forget, when you go to turn the frittata out, that the handle is HOT! If this should happen, the best thing to do is fill a mixing bowl with lukewarm water and soak your scorched hand for at least 20 minutes. Aloe helps too. I now leave an oven mitt on the handle after I remove the pan from the oven.
Potato Frittata • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil • 1 medium onion, chopped • 12-ish ounces small red or yellow potatoes, sliced thin • 6-8 large eggs • 4 ounces (1 cup) grated sharp cheddar cheese • Salt and pepper to taste • 3 or 4 baby bell peppers, seeded and sliced thin (or a cup or so of grape tomatoes sliced in half) Preheat oven to 400° F. Heat oil in a 9- or 10-inch nonstick ovenproof skillet. Saute onions and potatoes until potatoes are soft and beginning to brown. Beat eggs in a medium bowl or a quart measuring cup. Add grated cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Spread potatoes and onions evenly on bottom of pan, and pour egg mixture on top. Use a spoon to even out the filling. Arrange sliced peppers or tomatoes decoratively over the top. Turn heat to medium-low and cook, undisturbed, until just firming on the edges, around 10 minutes. Transfer to the oven and bake until the top is just cooked, around 10 minutes more. Remove, turn out on a serving plate, and serve warm or at room temperature. Serves 3 to 4
Ham, Zucchini, and Gruyère Frittata • • • • • •
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 1 cup coarsely chopped deli ham (5 ounces) 2 small zucchini, sliced in 1/4-inch half-moons 6-8 large eggs 2 ounces (1/2 cup) grated Gruyère cheese Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400° F. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high. Add ham and zucchini, season with salt and pepper, and cook about 5 minutes. Beat eggs. Add cheese, salt, and pepper, and pour over ham and zucchini. Stir to combine. Proceed with cooking directions for potato frittata.
march/april | noalastudios.com |
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parting shot » Patrick Hood
NOSE OUT OF JOINT
Strauss Connection
Saturday, March 14, 7:30 p.m. • Mark C. Smith Concert Hall, VBC Join the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra for the two remaining Classical Series offerings. On March 14, enjoy Mozart, Strauss, and the John Williams Tuba Concerto, featuring Alan Baer, Principal tuba for the New York Philharmonic. On May 2, hear Liszt, Bartók, and Brahms, with Elina Vähälä on the violin. For more information, visit the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra website at www.hso.org.
For tickets or information:
256-539-4818 hso.org
On A High Note Saturday, May 2, 7:30 p.m. Mark C. Smith Concert Hall, VBC
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