Paducah Life Magazine - December 2022 / January 2023

Bob is

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Treated for cancer at Baptist Health Paducah in 2018.

Retired and, as he says, “living large” in 2022.

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Paducah Life is published six times a year for the Paducah area. All contents copyright 2022 by Mazzone Communications. Reproduction or use of the contents without written permission is prohibited. Comments written in this magazine are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the ownership or management of Paducah Life.

Subscription rate is $29.95 for six issues. Subscription inquiries, all remittances and all advertising inquiries should be sent to Paducah Life, 2780 D New Holt Rd. #346, Paducah, KY 42001. Phone: (270) 556-1914. This magazine accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photography or artwork. All submissions may be edited for length, clarity and style.

FROM the EDITOR

ILOVE A HAPPY ENDING. (I MEAN, REALLY, WHO DOESN’T love a happy ending?)

OK, I’ll answer that. There seem to be many these days. In the infrequent times I actually take part in what some media call “news,” I am shocked and dismayed with the apparent plethora of pent-up anger and nigh onto actual hatred that spews from the various platforms (and on a continual basis.) Of course, I generally prefer to read the news than view it.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that I am an eternal optimist. I look for the good. That probably comes as no surprise to those who have been with us for the long haul. These pages have, since day one, been dedicated to finding the lightness in life, the good “news” in our little part of the world, the positive parts of our perspectives. And I’m HAPPY to say that we’ve found it over and over again.

So when you start to feel inundated with life’s irateness, here is my attempt at an antidote. Find the awe. Seek out the wonder.

It is ALL around us and often in the very smallest of encounters. A brilliant sunrise. A soft summer breeze. Warm cookies from the oven. The clasp of my hand by my four-year-old granddaughter. The simplicity of a smile from my best friend. The glow of a holiday fire. The sparkle of tinsel. Radom acts of kindness. A happy ending of a good book. These are the small wonders that can literally push away the darkness that sometimes feels as if it’s surrounding us.

Recently I was thumbing through one of my many folders of clippings and keepsakes and ripped-out pages of articles. I ran across an essay by Erma Bombeck that I had saved about the childlike innocence and awe of Christmas. It was from a 1996 publication! Yeah, I’m also in awe of words actually.

So thanks to my obsession with writers and their writings, I can now share it with you some 27 years later. And if you don’t remember Erma Bombeck, she was, indeed, a wonder!

This holiday, all of us at Paducah Life Magazine hope and pray that you never lose the personal and profound wonder that abounds.

There is nothing sadder than to awaken on Christmas morning and not be a child.

Not to feel the cold on your bare feet as you rush to the tree. Not to have your eyes sparkle with the wonderment of discovery. Not to rip the ribbons off the boxes with abandon.

What happened? When did bare feet give way to sensible slippers? When did a shiny box with a ribbon mean an item on the charge card?

If the Christmases you loved so well are gone, maybe they diminished the year you got too busy to sign your own name to the Christmas cards. Maybe it was the year you discovered the needles of the Frasier fur had to be vacuumed every three hours and you traded it for a revolving silver one.

Children of Christmas are givers. They give love, gratitude, joy, and themselves. The magic is in building a fire, grinding tinsel into the rug, licking frosting off a beater. It’s love, laughter, and at some point, falling to your knees and saying Thank You.

Time, apathy, bitterness, and exhaustion can take the Christmas out of the child, but you cannot take the child out of Christmas.

FROM the ASSOCIATE EDITOR

THIS IS A CONFESSION. I AM A FAILED CRUNCHY MOM.

If you don’t know what that means, that’s ok. Stop what you’re doing, go Google the handle @reallyverycrunchy, watch some videos and laugh your heinie off, and then come back here.

It all started with the birth of my first child. I was dedicated to an all-natural process. I did the meditations, practiced the breathing exercises, had a plan for a beautiful, candle-lit medication-free natural birth and then . . . my nearly 10-pound daughter arrived 12 days past her due date via forced evacuation. So much for plans.

Then, it came time for daycare. At 12-months-old, I typed an outline for her teacher explaining how our family adhered to a strictly plant-based diet and that I would provide oat milk and plant-based proteins for her instead of the standard milk and meals they provided. Nonvegan cookies or cupcakes for celebrations? I would provide an alternative! She didn’t like it? She would learn! Last night I let her eat the ketchup bread off a hot dog for dinner. So much for vegan.

Then, she became a toddler and started needing to learn things! I purchased enough Montessori learning materials to start my own school, took Montessori in the home courses, and made sure all her toys were wooden and beautiful and toxic free! These days, our toys look more like a Montessori pile than a shelf. And, yes, there are several that light up and make noise.

Our cover story this edition features the hilarious and truly dedicated crunchy mom and Internet sensation, Emily Morrow. I like the realistic observation she shared. Most people try for 80/20. If we make the best choices 80% of the time and take the easier route the other 20%, the kids will probably turn out

ok (although I’m pretty certain this highly successful crunchy mom is beating that statistic).

Some weeks our 20% is more like 40%, but overall, I think we’ve now reached a realistic balance for our family. On weekends we make homemade hummus together, giggling as we taste the sour lemons and experiment with new flavor additions. On road trips we get chicken nuggets and fries. On stay-athome days we take nature walks and make flower arrangements and work on everyday life skills using our handcrafted helper station. At night we make microwave popcorn and watch spooky movies.

What seems most important, whether we’re trying to be good parents or just trying to be good humans, is that we build community that assumes, using Emily’s words, that “everyone is doing what’s best for their nest.” Let’s replace judgement with cheerleading, and like Emily’s videos show us, learn to laugh at ourselves along the way.

stephanie@paducahlife.com

Pa ducah Celebrate s Te n Yea r s of CREATIVITY! W

HAT DO BEIJING, ROME, SYDNEY, AND LONDON HAVE IN common with Paducah, Kentucky? They’re all UNESCO Creative Cities!

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated Paducah a Creative City of Craft and Folk Art in 2013 due to the city’s important role in connecting cultures through creativity.

As one of only nine Creative Cities in the United States, Paducah fosters a culture of creative thinking through its artistic and innovative citizens. With quilt-making at the forefront of the city’s creative culture, Paducah touches cities all around the globe through fiber art. Paducah quilts have traveled the world thanks to the UNESCO Creative Cities program and Paducahans have made connections with other creative minds all over the globe.

2023 marks the 10th Anniversary of Paducah’s designation as a UNESCO Creative City, so we’re celebrating Paducah’s creative spirit all year long!

From fiber art to fine cuisine, music to engineering, Paducah citizens create new and innovative work every day. Keep an eye on each issue of PADUCAH LIFE Magazine as we celebrate creativity with captivating stories and inspiring images. You’ll learn more about the UNESCO Creative Cities program, hear from locals who have traveled to other Creative Cities, and celebrate those who embody the spirit of Creativity in Paducah. Let’s get the celebration started!

In cooperatIon wIth the paducah cVB

by S TEPHANIE WATSON

In less than a year, Emily Morrow’s online persona, the quirky crunchy mom of @reallyverycrunchy, has swept the social media world, winning her book deals, sponsorships, invitations to create exclusive content on multiple platforms, and a loyal base of 1.5 million followers. She’s funny, she’s gracious, she’s got high standards for natural living, and she’s leaving us in stiches along the way.

THE TIME OF YEAR AGAIN TO SETTLE IN, PUT ON THE CHRISTMAS TUNES, SNUGGLE UP WITH YOUR FAVORITE LOCAL MAGAZINE BY THE FIRE, AND . . . POUR A CUP OF HOME FERMENTED KOMBUCHA?

At least that’s what the one and only poster mom of crunchiness, Emily Morrow, is likely doing! After stringing dehydrated oranges onto twine, she’ll be foraging pinecones, holly, and evergreen branches for her Scandinavian-inspired mantle décor. Next, she’ll be knitting wool socks by the fire and making a list of plastic-free, sugar-free, anything-notorganic-free gift options for her in-laws to purchase her children. Cookies for Santa? Not likely! She’ll be spreading organic fruit preserves onto homemade sourdough and leaving a small glass of elderberry syrup to support Santa’s immune system on the cold winter flight.

So, who is this maven of the handmade, homespun, all-natural holiday? This was a question that sent a piece of the internet ablaze with rumors last February as theories about the newly famed “crunchy mom” of Tik Tok and Instagram emerged.

Known online simply by her social media handle, @reallyverycrunchy, Emily’s first video, which was posted on December 31 of last year, featured an ultimate crunchy mom move that left her audience in stitches. After her kids have been given a week to play with their new toys, it was time to donate the ones that didn’t align with their family’s values. Covered in toxic plastic and flashy? Donate! Makes a noise? Not here! Handmade foraging bag for nature hikes and meeting that 1,000 hours outside pledge? Keeper!

If you aren’t a parent of young kids or even remotely crunchy yourself—which makes you silky, by the way—you might be asking yourself what we’re talking about. The adjective crunchy has etymological origins you likely know. Crunchy moms were once labeled “granola” and even before that they were “hippie moms.” In fact, Urban Dictionary, the definer of all things pop culture, labels them neohippies, a new iteration of those dedicated to wholistic, natural, and environmentally conscious living.

For example, in a recent video posted for her 1.5 million followers on social media, “the crunchy mom,” choked down fire water, a homemade immune-boosting combination of fermented horseradish, red onion, and ginger. She only wears natural fibers, walks barefoot for its grounding benefits, jokes about spending a mere $1,000 for organic everything at the grocery store, and she takes bananas to a kid’s birthday because her kids aren’t allowed to eat the sugar-filled, food-dye-laden cake.

Because the account and videos never reveal the real identities of the creators, conspiracy theories started to emerge. Was she actually “crunchy” and, if not, how could her renditions be so on-point? One theory even proposed that she was secretly doing covert marketing for Young Living, an essential oil brand, because she mentioned essential oils in a couple of her videos. People were pausing videos, scouring the background for family photos, and sharing their theories about this mysterious mommy on TikTok and Instagram.

What they really wanted to know even more than who she was, however, was who, exactly, is she making fun of?

The drama surrounding Emily’s identity led to a feature in Buzzfeed News’s newsletter on top internet influencers. In this article, her true identify was revealed. She really was just another crunchy

IT’S

My goal is simple: to make people laugh. You can remove toxins from your life without adding them to your personality.”

mom from Paducah, Kentucky, although she was a very funny one at that. And the whole “Is it satire or is it reality” question? Her answer was a simple “yes.”

“We never stated who we were or if we were joking or for real, which increased our engagement early on because everyone wanted to figure it out. Everybody had a different opinion on who I was and started doing deep dives into our social media,” Emily explains. “No one expected to hear that we were just a bored husband and wife making these videos for fun.”

At the time, the account was growing by 10,000 followers a week, due in part to the drama. Their 7th video got 8 million views, and that’s when the couple knew they had tapped into something special.

“We noticed there really wasn’t any comedy in this space,” Jason, Emily’s husband and coproducer, explains. “After we saw the quick reception, we thought if we did one video a day for a year it would blow up.” It did.

Nine months after following through with that plan, Jason quit his job as marketing director of Mr. Cool to support the project full time. While Emily writes the script and stars in the videos, Jason is

responsible for filming and post-production, a job that, Emily explains, is actually about 80% of the whole process.

“Jason likes to call me the star, but really this was his idea to pursue to this level, and his leg work has gotten us this far,” she notes.

Last month, a book deal with Harper Collins was finalized after they received offers from the big five publishers. The book, which will share holistic living advice with a large dose of comedy, has a release date of March 2023. There is a children’s book in the works as well. They’ve also been approved to create a Snapchat show, a feature only granted to public content creators who have proven their ability to grow a significant audience.

Brands looking to capitalize on the video’s influencer status have also taken notice of the couple’s work. They recently partnered with the tech giant, Dell, as part of a promotion for Dell’s education discount. In the video’s over-the-top prank, Jason (aka crunchy husband) uses a Dell laptop to trick Emily into thinking the chanterelle mushrooms she’s found in the woods for a homeschool lesson are talking to her.

Consider shopping second-hand first for gifts to minimize your impact on the environment and your wallet.

Buy fewer gifts that are higher quality and will last longer.

Consider buying an experience instead of things. Buy tickets to a show at Market House or the Carson Center, pay for a horse drawn carriage ride downtown, buy an egift card to the movies, or book a local Airbnb for a fun staycation.

Take a day away from screens. Try to enjoy an activity with your family without feeling the need to document it. Just live fully present in the moment, enjoying the slow pace that comes from being disconnected.

Use the Furoshiki method for wrapping your presents. You can purchase decorative fabric or use scarves you no longer wear. Silk ones work best. Fabric wrapping is more sustainable and can be used again and again.

Spend less time watching Christmas movies and more time reading Christmas books as a family.

Pull out Grandma’s recipes and make memories by baking holiday treats from scratch instead of buying them premade. They will taste better and be healthier.

Head outside to gather pinecones and forage greenery for free, natural decor

Dehydrate orange slices to make an easy and beautiful garland.

No pinecones? No problem. Use twigs to make ornaments in the shape of a star or Christmas tree.

Pinterest is your friend.

Some of her hardest hitting videos, however, are the ones anyone can relate to. Competition with and intimidation around other crunchy moms are a regular feature of her work and are informed by her experience not only in the crunchy community but also just as a mom trying to do her best.

In one video, she frantically scurries through grocery store aisles, returning everything in her cart before a “crunchier” mom friend sees what she really buys. In another, a crunchier mom needs a ride home from the park, and she pretends to run to the bathroom so she can empty her car of juice boxes from a fast-food chain and a Disney songs CD that she fears will imply she lets her kids watch TV.

For any parent or any person who has felt sure they were about to get that judgy side glance, it is both funny and validating. “There is a portion of this culture and community that can become very toxic,” Emily explains. “When I first started this learning process myself, there were several times that I felt shamed for where I was in my journey or what I was able to afford. I NEVER want another person to feel that way, so yes, crunchy mom is making fun of that person while also laughing at herself. My goal is simple: to make people laugh. You can remove toxins from your life without adding them to your personality.”

With that goal in mind, Emily and Jason’s videos poke fun at the new crunchy, not crunchy, old crunchy, and even those who live with and love the crunchies (do yourself a favor and look up her videos with the raspy smoker aunt).

“We’ve accidentally created a very positive environment,” Jason notes. “We’ve had a lot of people tell us they usually never read comments on social media, but they read ours because they’re encouraging and uplifting. We don’t shame each other because nobody wins then.”

And while their goal is to make people laugh, they also hope they’re providing a fun, accessible way to learn. “My content presents information in a comedic way that gets people thinking. They can decide where to go from there,” Emily states. “A lot of crunchy information is preachy, and I’ve had a lot of people message me and say ‘I never thought of this or that, and you’ve got me thinking about making more natural decisions for my family.’ And that’s what everyone has to decide. What’s the best I can do?”

his isn’t the first time the Morrows have been featured in our magazine. In fact, in 2017 they were featured for an entirely different type of alternative lifestyle: living in an RV and teaching overseas! After graduating college from Murray State, the couple spent two years teaching English in South Korea, moved back to travel the country in an RV for a year, and then went back to South Korea for an additional year of teaching. During this time, their quest to eat thriftily on the road met what they’d learned about health-conscious living in South Korea, and the journey toward more natural living began.

“Once you start the process of educating yourself about healthier living, it snowballs in a good way. One piece of information leads to another, and while it can be overwhelming, it’s also illuminating,” Emily explains. “People think companies have their wellness in mind, but really companies want to make money so if there are shortcuts to be taken even at the detriment of their customers, they’re going to take it. We started understanding we had to take responsibility for our own health.”

When the couple moved back to South Korea for their third year of teaching, Emily was diagnosed with Lyme’s Disease, an illness that is often resistant to treatment with traditional medicines. Treating the disease further opened the couple’s eyes to the benefits of taking their health more seriously and informing themselves more fully about what they consume.

So how crunchy are they now? Emily rates herself about 6-7 out of 10, while Jason thinks she’s a solid 8. “If I was rating my knowledge level, I’d be a 12, but we are also practical and pragmatic. You just have to do what’s best for your nest.”

Gifting The Art of

★

There really IS an art to giving—whether it’s for yourself or a special someone. Because it’s the thoughtfulness that goes into the selection that truly gives a gift its meaning and its cherished longevity. Paducah has a plethora of perfect ways to show someone that you gave sincere consideration to the choices that you made.

And for more than 30 years PADUCAH LIFE Magazine has been making recommendations based on SHOPPING LOCAL–an act that not only shows good intentions, but also provides LIFE-giving support to the small businesses in our midst. Liven up someone’s holiday with a gift from the heart and the HOME.

Hoopers

Art Guild Leather Cuff Bracelet by Charlotte Erwin Sculptured Necklace by Bettie Griffin

Lepa Jewelry

Black Hematite Tassel Necklace

Rose Gold Wave Bangles and Stacking Rings

Selcouth

Beaded Rectangle Clutch Wool Felt Rancher Hat

Suede Square Buckle Belt

the Stylist

McClaran Manor

Dior and Valentino Coffee Table Books

Salvatore Ferragamo Vintage Scarf Clutch

Michelson Jewelers

Mariposa Bottle Opener and Napkin Holder Mixology Crystal Glass Set Waterford Crystal Decanter

Wagner Wine and Spirits

Yellowstone Single Barrel Bourbon Woodford Old Fashioned Cocktail Syrup Christmas Tea Towel

With Love from Kentucky

Bourbon Flight Tray Slate Bourbon Coasters

The A RT of GIFTING

the Christmas Kid

Slims Mercantile

Wordsworth Edition Vintage Books

Wooden Airplanes and Truck

Salted Caramel Popcorn Dog Plush CG

Toys

Assorted Silly Treats for Silly Kids

Learning Railroad

Vintage Ride-on Car

Maileg Tea and Biscuits Set

Jellycat Riverside Rambler Frog

Paducah’s Most Famous Piece of Firewood

(YULE BE GLAD YOU READ THIS)

★ by MATT JAEGER

BURNING A YULE LOG. IT’S NOT A CHRISTMAS tradition that we participate in anymore. Though we may build crackling fires (and maybe even try to roast chestnuts,) I’d daresay that none of us have ever sat around an actual Yule Log.

That’s because old-fashioned Yule Logs were very big.

How big?

Big enough to burn for twelve days straight, the entirety of the Christmas season, from Christmas Day (December 25) to the Day of Epiphany (January 6). The burning of a Yule Log involved a family or a community dragging an entire tree trunk from a nearby forest into a house, sticking one end into a massive fireplace, and leaving the other end sticking out into the room. Over the next week and half, they would slowly push the trunk into the fireplace as it burned down.

The tradition started in Europe and carried over into colonial America. Besides providing warmth and light for the entirety of the season, the burning of the Yule Log carried many other traditions. As long as the Yule Log burned, the house in which it crackled and sizzled was a place of welcome cheer for all visitors, be they prince or pauper. Staring at and counting the sparks was supposed to reveal your fortunes. Saving a charred piece of the burnt Yule Log was said to protect the inhabitants from house fires and lightning strikes for the coming year.

Our modern-day houses with their central heat and small (and perhaps non-existent) fireplaces are ill-equipped to burn such unwieldy firewood. Even by the turn of the 20th century, the burning of a Yule Log was considered a relic of ancient tradition.

However, on Christmas Day in 1903, some Paducah citizens got awfully close to burning a true Yule Log. They burned not just a trunk but a whole tree. And it wasn’t just any old tree that they burned, but a rather recognizable landmark in town.

The tree they burned was described as a “massive and stubby oak” and sat at what is now the intersection of Highway 45 and Lovelaceville Road. The tree was highly visible at that location as it was the only tree in the immediate area. People referenced the oak when giving directions. That single tree was so identifiable that it became synonymous with that section of town. In fact, people just started calling the area Lone Oak.

That’s right . . . the original tree for which Lone Oak was named was chopped down and used for a Christmas Day fire.

But don’t let this bit of trivia ruin your good cheer. This was no act of mischief, no bit of holiday vandalism. The tree was not cut down in its prime. The “lone oak” in question had already been dead for a couple years before that fated night.

In his 1976 “History of Lone Oak,” Bill Powell stated that a group of “playful young men,” including D.M. “Doc” Potts, got together on December 25, 1903 to finally bring the oak to rest. “There was no ceremony, no fond remembrances; the tree was just lying there in sawed-up sections.”

But there was respect. As Doc Potts said in a later interview, “It seemed like a good idea to burn it as a celebration.”

And a fitting tribute it seems to be. You can imagine there were many who warmed their hands and hearts around the old oak’s glow that night.

Becoming Santa

by J.T. Crawford

Tom Dolan’s family tradition “suits” him just fine

WE ARE ALL FAMILIAR WITH SANTA CLAUS’S modus operandi — flying reindeer, squeezing down chim neys, helper elves, knowing whether you’ve been naughty or nice, et al. We get the overall concept. But when it comes to how it all actually works — now there’s a whole big stocking full of mystery.

One of the biggest enigmas is Santa’s intelligence-gather ing operation in those weeks running up to Christmas day. Suddenly, there are seemingly Santas everywhere, making appearances in malls and parades. Helpers. That’s all the explanation we’ve ever been given. Santa has them everywhere. Hundreds of them. How does it all work?

Here, in the pages of Paducah Life Magazine, we offer a true rarity — an exclusive interview with one of Santa’s helpers.

Tom Dolan has, for many years, represented Santa in the Paducah area. Chosen to ask boys and girls what they want for Christmas, Tom, at certain times, becomes the eyes and ears of the big man, even undergoing an amazing transformation à la Scott Calvin in The Santa Clause, complete with a big white beard, the classic red suit, and a booming HO HO HO!

“My dad was one of Santa’s helpers,” says Tom, recalling his childhood in St. Louis. “He was a big guy with a big booming voice. He was the real deal for me. He appeared when we had our big Christmas party for the Cub Scouts. We’d all collect gifts and toys, and he would deliver them to a family we’d picked out. I’d go along even before I was in the Cub Scouts.”

In 1989, Tom was called on by Santa to make appearanc es at Kentucky Oaks Mall. “I did that for six years. I am on thousands of mantles,” laughs Tom, “all over this region. It’s kind of cool to think of how many photos were taken with kids over those years. And that was a peak time for mall Santas. We’d have days where there was a constant line.”

Tom remembers a few people who stood out. “There was one lady who was like a Santa groupie. I thought that was a little weird. She’d come by almost every day. There

Wwas also one little kid whose mom worked in the mall. He’d come by just about every afternoon, and we’d sit and talk when it was slow. I felt bad for the kid since he had to hang out in the mall every day.”

The mall during the holiday season provided plenty of challenges. “I was in the center court of the mall,” says Tom, “but I got ready down at JC Penney in an upstairs maintenance garage. On a busy Saturday afternoon, that walk from Penneys to center court could potentially take up to 45 minutes. Every kid wanted to stop and talk. Any other helper waiting on Santa in the middle of the mall was like c’mon man. And then you’d be there until ten or eleven o’clock at night the closer it got to Christmas. Let me tell you, those little kids being brought in at nearly eleven at night were not in the mood.” Santa eventually gave Tom new assign ments, seeing kids at places like Paducah Head Start, First Christian Preschool, Paducah Day Nursery, and others.

Santa faced a big crisis in 2020 when amid covid restrictions his helpers couldn’t see children face to face. Tom took his operation online, establishing santaiscomingtoyou.com, making personalized videos. “That really took off fast,” he says.

Giving us some rare insight, Tom divulges some info on how Santa gathers information. He already knows if a child is naughty and probably what they want for Christmas. But he gets corroborating information from parents. “It’s inter esting, knowing everything you need to know about a child,” says Tom. “When you call them by their name, their eyes get huge. I had one kid asking me a bunch of questions, and I knew all the right answers about him. Finally, he paused, stared me straight in the eyes, and asked do you work for the government? He was blown out of the water.”

In addition to confirming what a child wants for Christmas, Tom encourages behavior that keeps the nice tally higher than that of naughty. “When I mention something that their parents have been working with them on, they are like whoa! I talked to one kid who was fighting nap time, and after I mentioned it to her, things changed. If your parents tell you to do something, that’s one thing. But when you hear it from Santa, well, that’s something you want to do.”

Tom recalls one little girl who had a neighbor tell her there was no Santa. It upset her quite a bit, so when Tom’s transformation rolled around in December, he sent her a video. “I told her that if there was no Santa, then why would I be sending her a video? I didn’t send her little friend one because she doesn’t believe.”

The Christmas season is super busy for Tom, and that sometimes means long days and challenging moments. He recalls one instance where some of the Santa magic got a little crossed and he experienced a conversion malfunction.

“I went to a house to see a big group of kids,” he says. “I’d already been to about three other places. I get my bag together, go in, and get to work. Then one of the moms came over to me, leaned down, and whispered in my ear, ‘Santa. Your mustache is gone.’ It had ended up in my beard. I couldn’t find it. When I finally located it, it kept sticking to my glove. The parents were over in the corner laughing. I guess that was the result of a whole day’s worth of sweating.”

Tom finds there are windows of magic in a child’s life. “If they are young enough, they just stare at ya because you’re funny looking. Then you might have that period when they react in terror. They’re told to stay away from strangers, and then all of sudden they’re being tossed to some guy with a huge beard and a red velvet suit. But then it comes back around to where they get it, and you’re the coolest person on the planet. When you see those reactions, it makes it all worth it.

“It’s the whole spirit of Christmas. I’ve met a lot of great kids, and it is just truly the most awesome time of the year. There’s something in the air. It’s magic, and I love being a part of that.”

For more information on Santa’s work via Tom, visit santaclausiscomintoyou.com

The McGaughey Lecture on Press Freedom and Responsibility

The McGaughey Fund for Excellence In Journalism and Mass Communication

Dr. Robert “Doc” McGaughey

Marc Murphy

by J.T. Crawford

Out of Her Shell

NCE UPON A TIME, IN AN ENCHANTED BACKYARD NOT TOO FAR AWAY (Paducah), there was a brave little turtle named Shellie. Shellie lived in a wooded area on the edge of the yard with all her friends and family. She’d seen the humans at the house across the way for many years and watched them as they too found peace and comfort in this magical land. Over time, she felt her curiosity about them grow, and eventually, she decided to go in for a closer look.

Each day, she inched closer and closer to the man who would come out every morning and enjoy his coffee on the back patio. She noticed him eating bits of fruit—pretty colorful treats that she’d only heard about. She spied blueberries, straw berries, peaches, and bananas. She had to try them.

The man (Mike Stone) seemed friendly enough. One morning, she worked up the bravery to finally walk up to him and see if he was a nice enough man to share a bit of his breakfast.

“Shellie’s been hanging out in our backyard for seven or eight years,” says Mike. “At least that’s when we first noticed her and started taking photos of her.” Mike and his wife Debbie have come to recognize Shellie due to one distinctive mark in the yellow pattern on her shell. “It looks like a poodle in one spot,” laughs Mike. And indeed, the mark looks like a standard poodle that has been trimmed up for a show.

“Being a wild animal, you never know when she will show up,” says Mike. “We would see her regularly for a while, and

then we’d go a long time without seeing her. So we didn’t know if she left or something happened to her. But sure enough, eventually we’d spot her again. This past summer, for whatever reason, she decided she would hang out on our patio. She found a little hidey hole and would come out with me in the mornings and ask for food.”

Turns out, Shellie loves bananas. “That was her favorite for sure,” says Mike. “I’d feed her grapes, plums, and figs, whatever I had. But no doubt about it, her favorite was bananas. I’d sometimes put out several things, and if a banana was one of them, she’d go for it.”

Mike was impressed at the kind of connection he made with Shellie. “They say they have really good eyesight and can recognize things,” he says. “I’m pretty sure she recognizes me. And she got to where she would come out on the patio in the mornings early and be waiting on me. Some days I wouldn’t see her, so I’d sit down, start reading the news, and before long, I’d feel something biting my foot. And there she was, asking for her food. I’ve learned that if I am tardy, she’ll nip at me.”

Then, there would be periods of time when Shellie would be absent. But eventually, she’d turn up again. In August, Mike posted on Facebook: “We had been rather distraught because Shellie had been missing in action for the past couple of weeks. Probably out chasing men, that little hussy. Nevertheless, she showed up this morning on the patio under my chair where she normally waits for breakfast.”

Shellie’s not the only turtle in the area, but she’s been the only one brave enough to approach Mike. “Turtles generally have a territory of half an acre,” he says, “maybe an acre at the most. They are always around someplace close. And we’ve seen lots of box turtles back there. We’ve caught them breeding. Last summer, I was sitting out there, and I saw some plants in the flowerbed thrashing around. It was two box turtles going at it! I’ve also found another female laying eggs. They dig a hole with their hind legs, lay the eggs and bury them, and then they incubate 60 to 90 days. And those little guys, when they come out, are no bigger than a quarter. And they are on their own.”

Mike has learned way more about box turtles than he ever imagined. “It’s fun. We feel like she is a part of the family. It is a strange feeling to have that kind of connection with a wild animal who comes and goes as she pleases. I have learned as much as I can about them. When you have a turtle on your patio nipping on your foot, you want to know more.”

One fact is that turtles go into a semi-hibernation in the winter, so Mike is pretty sure Shellie may have already slowed down until warmer weather. He hopes to see her in the spring, but as always, it is up to her.

“She’s developed quite a following because of my posts on social me dia,” adds Mike. “I’ll be walking down the street, and people will come up and ask how Shellie is. I can’t believe how many people have fallen in love with her. People tell me they want to come to meet her. She’s become somewhat of a turtle celebrity. And she deserves it. She’s quite a creature.”

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★ by S USIE F ENWICK

the Kentuc

kyopry

A WELL-WORN STAGE, SOME CROONING COWBOYS, A LITTLE TOE-TAPPING BLUEGRASS, AND SOME GOOD TIME ROCK AND ROLL, ALL COME TOGETHER AT A LAKELAND SITE WITH A HARMONIOUS HISTORY

the Kentuckyopry

THERE’S A SPOT IN WESTERN KENTUCKY worn bare by the toe tapping of cowboy boots of country legends. Merle Haggard lamented the working man’s blues on that very spot. Kitty Wells woefully explained to a western Kentucky audience who really made honky tonk angels. Little Jimmy Dickens tapped wee boots and toted a big guitar while raring back and letting it fly that he was indeed little but loud. From just up the road in Rosine, Kentucky, Bill Monroe planted himself on the spot and strummed his mandolin in three quarter time. The Father of Bluegrass sang in his high lonesome tone about a blue moon shining over Kentucky and the audience’s hearts waltzed in time to the old familiar tune.

The stage of the Kentucky Opry is the home of the bare spot. The man responsible for the elite group of performers wearing out the stage and delighting audiences, young and old, is Clay Campbell, founder and owner of the Kentucky Opry. Clay has been standing on that very spot for 34 years introducing country music legends, classic rock and roll bands, comedians, bluegrass performers, and southern gospel groups. The house band and the Opry cast perform there and put on a Christmas show every year sure to instill holiday cheer into spirits of Christmas past, present, and future.

“There’s lots of history on this stage,” remarks Clay Campbell, owner and founder of the Kentucky Opry in Draffenville.

A gifted performer in his own right, Clay routinely welcomes patrons from sixteen counties in Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, and Missouri. He estimates tourists visiting the lakes make up about 10 percent of his total clientele. Clay and his wife Barbie take pride in providing family style entertainment in a wholesome environment where young and old and everybody in between can sit back in new theater chairs generously spaced to allow for ease of movement and plenty of toe tapping and hand clapping. A family environment is a high priority for the couple since Clay left performing on the road, and the vices often associated with the lifestyle, to live and perform in a wholesome setting more suited to raising their three sons, Clayton, Cody, and Casey.

On entry, Kentucky Opry visitors enjoy browsing an extensive photo gallery of stars, many of whom performed on the Opry stage. As proud as he is of providing first class entertainment to the area, Clay Campbell is equally proud of sponsoring a talent search in previous years as well as providing a venue for young performers to

hone their skills on stage with a live band. The pictures of young local stars who passed through the Kentucky Opry are exhibited prominently on the lobby walls right along with autographed images of famous stars.

Clay, the man with a bigger than life stage presence, also offers coaching to improve stage presence and teach aspiring performers how to deal with the ups and downs of the music industry. Many of Clay’s student performers have gone on to win presidential scholarships at the universities of their choice, while others have followed their passion to become professional musicians.

A retro concession stand decorated with Campbell’s favorite Pepsi motif serves up perennial favorites of fresh popcorn popped in a 50-year-old popcorn popper alongside an icy cold Pepsi product while the 60-year-old antique Pepsi Cola clock counts down the minutes to showtime.

The old-fashioned touches stop where the state of the art sound and lighting systems begin. Clay and Barbie give their customers a first-class concert experience by providing one of the finest audio/visual systems in the area. Every detail of the Kentucky Opry Theater is carefully curated to provide a professional yet intimate entertainment experience.

As if a line-up of multi-genre music wasn’t enough, Cowboy Church is held in the Kentucky

Opry theater every Sunday morning at 10:30 with Clay as the worship leader and real cowboy, Chris Clark, preaching the sermon.

On the worn spot of the Kentucky Opry Theater stage Bill Anderson whispered. Jerry Clower amused. Lee Greenwood implored blessings on the USA and young stars debuted in the spotlight. Let’s hope the worn spot where Ray Price crooned about “The Good Times” wears ever increasingly as Clay and Barbie Campbell continue their grand tradition of bringing the good times to the Kentucky Opry stage.

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Jacob Burton & Nate are Happy Buyers of a home in Paducah, Sept 2022! Kent Price with McMurry & Livingston PLLC handled the closing. Jennifer is making a donation in their Grandmothers (Alice W. Burton) honor to the Ajax Turner 50+ activity Center in Clarksville, TN.

Susie Withrow from IL is a very happy Seller of a property in Eddyville, Sept 2022! Jennifer had it listed to sell. Wilson Law Firm handled the closing. Jennifer is making a donation in her honor to Saratoga United Methodist Church in Eddyville, Ky. (Visit the church on facebook).

It’s Always The Most Wonderful Time of the Year in E.J. Abell’s Studio

by Elena Wrye

RIGHT AFTER CHRISTMAS LAST YEAR!” E.J. says with a chuckle.

It’s a joyous laugh at the proposed question of when artist E.J. Abell began the creation of the hundreds of Santas that are sitting on her studio table.

“I make Santas all year long. I start as soon as Christmas is over. I am often in the studio for a full eight-hour day. I miss very few days,” she realtes.

E.J., known best for her artistry work with assemblages and being a well-respected private art teacher, has been creating papier-mâché Santas for more than twenty years. However, she only started making them as a business in 2015, under the name SantaBabyByEJ.

“My happy place is my art studio. Lots of art materializes from that space - my work as well as my students’ work. I have taught art classes for 47 years and still have students now. But one constant type of art that is being made there, 24/7, is the hundreds of papier-mâché Santas that are created there each year.”

From a love of chalkware Santas, E.J.’s fascination to create her own version of Santa began.

“Initially I wanted to make something similar to the old chalkware Santas, made from molds. Using molds, however, would make the process more humdrum for me. Chalkware figurines were a cheap substitution for porcelain and flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were made of gypsum and painted with watercolors. The details were a bit softened and I liked that simple look. My first ones were kind of plain, simple, not a lot of details. But, as time has passed, they’ve gotten more,

E.J. ABELL’S STUDIO

I guess, elaborate would be the word I would use.”

She says the word humbly, yet honestly, as she glances at the rows of Santas standing on the studio table next to her - for elaborate they most certainly are.

E.J. has taken the iconic Christmas figure and reinvented him in a masterful way. And their captivating finished work is that of their artist’s ingenuity and toil.

Rows of red – red coats, red hats (with the occasional white or the color of one of Santa’s favorite schools peppered in) grace the table. Some stand tall and lean, others are of shorter stature and rounder figure. Their eyes vary in where they glance—all curiously looking at the world around them. They’re neighbored by figures of Mrs. Clause, snowmen and snowwomen, reindeer, and elves —all coming together to make an intriguing canvas that draws you in to study their figure, and (little did you know) their personality.

“As time passed I realized it was fun to personalize the figures a bit for friends and family members. Also, loving the ‘sparkle’ of Christmas, I started making them more festive; glitter and tinsel followed. Then, as more years have passed, I not only make Santas, but also make Mrs. Clauses, elves, snowmen and snowwomen and Rudolphs. My Santas have evolved even more now as I specialize with add-ons representing pets, careers, hobbies, vacations; you name it.”

The process of creating these one-of-a-kind pieces is 45 steps—not counting the add-ons (wrapping tiny presents, carving items from wood, making items from polymer clay, etc) which often add another eight to ten steps and many hours in the process.

“I wrap tiny presents, carve items from wood, make items from polymer clay, etc. And each Santa goes through six sandings alone,” EJ adds. “The process is tedious at times and working in miniature has its challenges for sure.”

But to begin, the Santas start with a sketch.

“At that point I decide what kind of feet they’re going to have, what

kind of beard they’re going to have, what kind of hair. Then, I decide how I want to make the clothes, like the hat—and I decide how I want to give them personality.

Next, she forms the armature. The armature being the structure inside, fashioned to support the sculpture.

“He is then hand-sculpted—no molds—just the whim of what I want that particular guy to look like. I start making the base and gradually, with drying time in between, add layers until I achieve the final look,” she concludes.

E.J. notes that the papier-mâché requires ten days to thoroughly dry, or all day in an oven.

“My oven doesn’t have what most have,” she says with a laugh. “After the Santas have dried from the oven, they go through their first sanding. I then apply the details to the Santa, with more papier-mâché—the beard, the face, the arms.”

“Then all of that has to dry and goes back in the oven. When it comes out of the oven at that stage, it goes through belt sanding, carving, hand sanding, and then I’m ready to paint. Each Santa has four coats of paint,” E.J. says of the continuous creative process. A true artist, she pauses to fine-tune a small detail on the current Santa that lays in her hands. “No matter how many times I look at these, I can always find something I need to tweak!”

“The add-ons are mostly hand-made at this point, as are the hats and Santa sacks,” EJ explains. “You will usually find me making some Santa accessory whenever I am in front of the TV. I have lost lots of needles in the couch!”

“The Santa itself is sturdy; even furniture can be made from papier-mâché. The add-ons need a little special care, however,” she says. “I always tell people to wrap the Santa in wax paper and never store Santa in any place that you would not want to be stored. The wax paper protects the paint from fluctuations in temperature.”

For the Santa architect, she’s drawn miniature blueprints that are nestled under Santa’s arm. Dog enthusiasts have had replicas made of their fourlegged friends that are then stowed away in Santa’s bag amidst perfectly wrapped presents. Gardening aficionados resonate with Santas that hold topiaries in their hands and have merry bluebirds or redbirds perched on their shoulder.

Another Santa, a more musical counterpart, stands by with his faithful trumpet in his left hand, beckoning fellow musical devotees to take a closer look at him and imagine a jolly St. Nick that could share their same melod ic musings.

And those are just a few of the many. Other Santas tow traditional Christmas decorations —miniature trees, garlands of holly—as if they are all headed into homes to help them prepare for the most wonderful time of the year.

“I have received much joy from my Santas. Who doesn’t love the red guy?,” E.J. says of her creations. “When I fill a special order or surprise a friend with a gifted Santa, the reaction is immediate and it pleases me greatly. And I must add, as Robert Louis Stevenson is quoted, ‘It is important to enjoy the journey, not just the destiny.’ I feel this way; the process is very rewarding.”

Gladman Humbles

With his voluminous words, this prolific Black writer embarked on a mission to forever chronicle the experiences and the history of Paducah’s African American community by Amanda Hutchison H

stantly writing. You may have seen his writings in the Paducah Sun or in his memoir published post mor tem in 2021. He wanted to be sure that his experiences and the history of the black community in Paducah would never be forgotten. In 2000 he told the Kentucky Historical Society, “I wished to be an advocate for trying to win people over…we all got to live in the world together.”

Gladman had a lot to tell, and his experiences as a civil rights leader, business owner, property owner, veteran of the Air Force, first African American firefighter in Paducah, assistant fire chief, and president of the local NAACP, enriched his words.

Gladman was born on December 3, 1930. His parents were William and Fannie Humbles of Virginia. They moved to Paducah in the early 1900s. He passed away in March of 2017 at 86.

Uplifting Others

Gladman’s outgoing personality made him a friend to many in the city. Local NAACP president JW Cleary remembers, “Everyone liked Gladman and he would stick with you to the very end.” Gladman had a way of uplifting others. In interviews with friends and family, many recalled the first compliment they received from Gladman. As Justice Bill Graves noted, “He called me the least imperial judge he had ever known. Unlike other judges, I did not mind talking to everyone.”

Gladman attributed a lot of

GladmanHumbles

his giving spirit to his father, William Humbles. In a 2009 Paducah Sun article, Gladman recalls something his father once told him. “If you have been over abundantly blessed and only help yourself,” he said, “you haven’t done very much. If you help others who haven’t been blessed, you will feel like you were on this earth for something.” His father supported and financed many projects to benefit the community. Of note, William formed the committee to establish Stuart Nelson Park and donated money to fund a public pool for the black community. His son continued that spirit of giving, with one example being that for many years he supported and worked with the African American youth in the city.

Sharing His Experiences

Gladman spent some years away from Paducah as a young adult, first in the Air Force and then as a pharmacy student at Creighton University. When his mother passed away, Gladman and his first wife Betty, moved back to the city to help care for his father. He and Betty were turned away by all of the laundromats in town because they were black. For

the Kentucky Historical Society, Gladman recalled telling his wife, “Well let’s not get angry, let’s get smart and build a laundromat.” He opened his laundromat to both black and white customers in 1959, which was a visionary step forward. When the other establishments saw how Glad man’s laundromat was thriving they too opened up their laundromats to everyone. “I guess you might say I was indirectly responsible for the first integration that came about in Paducah,” Gladman commented.

With so much competition, Gladman had difficulty keeping his business afloat. His friend and mayor at the time, George Jacobs, suggested that he join the fire de partment. In 1963, Gladman became the first black fire fighter in the city. “I knew I was walking into a hornet’s nest,” Gladman said in an interview. “It was like I was an invader. But I felt like this was not going to be too big for me to handle as long as I kept my mind on my job.” Gladman was given his own bed and sheets, so he would not use the same beds and linens as his white co-workers. He wasn’t allowed to eat with the other men. Gladman later became the city’s Assistant Fire Chief and President of the local Professional Firefighters Union. Working as a firefighter, particularly in the beginning when he was not accepted, was obviously stressful. “I didn’t always handle things well,” he once commented. “I’m not ashamed of it. That’s just how it was.”

These experiences were far from Gladman’s first brushes with overt discrimination. Though light-skinned, Gladman experienced racism in Paducah at a young age. For the Kentucky Historical Society in 2000, Gladman recalled working in a barbershop as a young boy and being dehumanized by a wealthy prominent white man. The man approached Gladman and said “I see you got a new n—here.” He then proceeded to ask Gladman if he could grin, if he could talk, and if he could run his hands through his hair. Gladman refused to comply, “No, I’d rather you not do that, just something bad might hap pen.” Gladman told the barber he quit and recounted the story to his father.

Later, while shopping at the market house (now the Market House Museum) Gladman pointed out the man to his father. His father approached the man and ‘gave him a good tongue lashing.’ The man apologized saying he did not know that this was his son. His father then took Gladman home and waited at the door with a gun. He understood the risk he had taken as a black man talking

Gladman and his father, William. • Humbles was the first Black Paducah firefighter. The grand opening of the Humbles family laundromat.

to a wealthy white man but did so to protect his son. “I wasn’t gonna let him get away with what he did to my son,” Gladman recalled his father saying, “I took a calculated gamble because I felt like he would not have wanted the embarrassment of a black man talking to him the way I did… my home is the only think I have that I cherish and therefore I came home and I got my gun because I wasn’t gonna let anybody in here without a warrant.”

Despite the adversities he faced, Gladman never lost his playfulness and zest for life. In addition to his unwav ering work ethic, Gladman’s friends and family remember his sense of humor, his love for gardening, as well as his loyal parrot, Gigi, who was often perched on his arm. He also loved the circus. His daughter Joan recalls their trips together to the circus. “He liked watching the elephants pull poles up on the circle tent. He would take the kids in the neighborhood to the circus.” In Gladman’s memoir, he tells the time he briefly ran away from home as a child to join the circus. As an adult, Gladman was an amateur magi cian who used magic to teach fire prevention and safety at public schools and to perform for charities.

“Gladman had a joy for life,” said David Shanahan. “He did so many things. You name it and he tried it once. He was great storyteller.” Gladman left Paducah a gift—his stories are recorded so that they may be shared for future generations. His legal pads and his many newspaper articles were transcribed into his memoir.

After Gladman’s death in 2017, William Hoffman wrote to the editor of the Paducah Sun, “So few writers have his rare ability. To take the reader along on past journeys; to live and experience life as a Black man. To feel the good, the bad, the ugly of an age gone by but not forgotten. His narrative is the reality of being Black. And of finding joy in his color.”

Finding Mama

Published post-mortem in 2021, Finding Mama is a book based on Gladman’s manuscript written in 2009. The book includes supple mental research completed by writer Gene Stowe. Gladman’s memoir is a touching account of his experience as a Black man growing up in Paducah, finding his own way, and pursuing

knowledge about his origins.

Gladman chronicles his journey to find his biologi cal mother. Growing up, he had heard rumors that his mother was not his biological mother, but his parents adamantly denied that. It was only in his late 20s, that his father finally admitted that his ‘mother’ was indeed, not his biological mother.

Gladman’s search took him to a stately home in Yazoo, Mississippi, where he discovered that his true mother was a woman named Alma Oakes, a professor of Spanish literature and the daughter of a respected and wealthy business man.

Oakes African American Cultural Center

In 1990 Alma Oakes’s family home—the very home that Humbles described in his memoir, was donated to the Yazoo County Fair and Civic League. Today it stands as the Oakes African-American Cultural Center. It is listed on both the Mississippi and National Register of Historic Places. In his memoir, Gladman marveled at the grand ness of the house. The home was restored in the 1990s. Today, it exhibits the family letters and business papers, as well as displays from local African American artists and craftsmen and exhibitions highlighting the accomplish ments of celebrated African Americans from Yazoo.

Gladman left Paducah a gift—his stories are recorded so that they may be shared for future generations

and Murals Macchiatos

by Rosemarie Steele

PADUCAH’S CREATIVE SPIRIT IS PAINTING THE TOWN literally! It’s evident on buildings, floodwalls, streets, and even fire hydrants. Our UNESCO Creative City is a becoming a city of murals. The styles vary from fine art realism on the floodwalls reflecting history and quilting, to a fast and vibrant modern trend that is leaving its mark on Paducah’s urban environment—street art!

Street art is a culture within itself that has its roots in the 70s and 80s as followers of rap, hip-hop, and punk music took to the streets and spray-painted stylized lettering in public places. It has since evolved as an accepted and popular artform with more compelling imagery and is appearing in cities across the globe. It was through the punk rock music scene that muralist Toney Little made his creative debut in Paducah.

A Florida native, Toney’s family relocated to Union City, Tennessee, when he was young. As a teenager, Paducah’s music scene was where it was happening for this guitarist, who came here for entertainment on weekends. Following high school graduation, Toney embarked on a two-week road trip as a roadie with punk rock band The Wish You Weres. After the tour, he wanted to stay but needed a job and a place to live. Enter his close friend and now wife, Jean Rhodes, who offered him work at Etcetera Coffeehouse. “I didn’t drink coffee and I really had no interest in coffee but I needed a job and Jean had an opening,” said Toney. “I’m going to hire you and you are never to tell anyone you don’t like coffee,” she told him. “That was a problem for like two weeks,” said Toney.

Etcetera Coffeehouse, established by former high school teachers Johanna and Allan Rhodes, has always featured art experiences including rotating exhibits and an outdoor labyrinth at the 320 N 6th Street location in Lowertown. Toney’s artistic abilities were no secret to the Rhodes. Allan offered Toney his first public art commission of creating a mural on the outdoor fence behind the Coffeehouse.

Etcetera barista and spray paint artist Toney Little serves up gourmet coffee and colorful street art in Paducah’s downtown and Lower Town

Toney Little

Soon afterward, Toney was the first featured solo artist when Etcetera transitioned from being a high school art student gallery to exhibiting the works of regional artists.

It wasn’t long before Toney’s street art began popping up around town. He scored an opportunity to create the “Eat Art” mural in Maiden Alley that memorializes some of the iconic imagery that represents the Kirchhoff’s Bakery tradition. In 2020, amidst the COVID pandemic, Toney did what most artists did during quarantine… create. He was awarded a grant through Yeiser Art Center and the City to paint the fence that spans the former Kresge building. The project features nine images, designed by his then fiancé Jean, that illustrate the steps for folding a five-point origami star. Toney and Jean worked late in the evening until early morning while all was isolated and quiet. Throughout the week, more imagery seemed to magically appear with the dawn of each new day.

The public art project Toney is currently most proud of is the dramatic mural on the exterior wall of Citizens Gym at 3rd and Broadway commissioned by owners Adam Moyers and Brandi Harless and funded through private donations and a micro-grant from the City. He was both intimidated and excited to paint this highly visible location that was larger than anything he had ever done. Brainstorming with Brandi, the project went from concept to completion in less than three weeks. “We didn’t want to create another ‘Welcome to Paducah’ sign, but the symbolism speaks for itself,” said Toney. The image depicts elements of Paducah’s industrial history, architecture, dogwoods, and other slices of life in our river town.

Toney had some experience with spray painting in high school, but over the years his technique as well as the products and processes have evolved. “The fundamentals of drawing have always been something I’ve struggled with but I’ve always found processes and methodologies to get to my image,” said Toney. “Where other people

have studied 2D drawing I’ve studied photo manipulating and stencil making.”

Though street art seems to be his forte, Toney also ap plies his painting processes to canvas for fine art paintings. His hard-edge architectural paintings are strongly reminiscent of the work of the late Jerry Watson, a former member of both the Paducah Area Painters Alliance and the Wastelanders, a group of eclectic independent artists who believe that exhibiting local artwork is a community responsibility. “A lot of people recognized Jerry’s influence in my work.” He attributes this to his invitation to be a guest artist in the Wastelanders 2018 New Years Eve exhibit at Yeiser. Toney is currently the youngest member of the group. His architectural paintings were featured in the Wastelanders Summer Show exhibit in July 2022 at the Paducah School of Art & Design.

Toney is amazed at the path his life has taken over

Besides his many public murals, you can see Toney’s fine art paintings at an upcoming solo exhibit at the Freight House, January 24-March 20, 2023.

the last decade. He attributes this to the connections he’s made through Etcetera and art. Toney still serves coffee but is now co-owner along with his wife Jean and other long-time employees. He continues to establish himself as a muralist and fine artist. Though there are some future murals in the planning stage, Toney intends to focus on his paintings and solo exhibits. “I was still in the amateur scope at the time of my solo exhibit at Etcetera and didn’t have a feel for what I really wanted to do,” said Toney. “Now I feel like I fully understand my processes. I’m getting more directive and more focused.”

C ARY and M ARK D UNHAM

★ by A MANDA H UTCHINSON

Brothers in NAME A

Committed Citzens in Concert

T FIRST GLANCE AND A CURSORY LOOK AT THEIR RESUMES, IT WOULD BE EASY TO conclude that the Dunham brothers are total opposites. Mark, a local artist and long-time environmental activist, will tell you there are at least six miles of gravel road before you can reach his home deep in Shawnee National Forest. Cary, a retired attorney from Chicago, will easily direct you to a traditional home in the city. Mark has longish hair and will most likely greet you wearing a music festival tee shirt. Cary, with a more closely cropped coif, will probably be neatly dressed in a polo shirt.

Photos by Christopher Klauburg

As much as these two appear to adhere to oppositional philosophies, they both asked the same question: “Why would anyone want to read about me?” Of course, all of us writers at Paducah Life Magazine are here to effectively ANSWER that question on many occassions. It’s their talent, their drive to continually create, and their community activism—characteristics that cement this sibling relationship despite their outward appearances.

Mark and Cary Dunham grew up in a small town in southern Illinois. After high school, they both made their way separately to Chicago to become musicians. Mark eventually moved south—settling outside of Paducah with his late wife, Kristi Hanson. Cary stayed in Chicago, and at 34 started law school. He was a partner at Taft Stettinus and Hollister for 24 years before retiring and moving with his wife, Becky Banks, to Paducah in 2020.

Early Creativity

When Mark was in elementary school he recalls the moment he discovered music. The band teacher had placed different musical instruments on tables in the gymnasium. The children were asked to go around and try out all of the instruments. Mark chose the clarinet. From the clarinet he moved to the saxophone, which he claims is a very easy transition. Today, Mark plays everything but mostly prefers guitar. Cary plays the guitar as well, but prefers to play the keyboard.

Both brothers continue to write and play music. They can be seen around town playing as a duo, solo, or with a band. Both spend time recording original music. Cary has recorded his music at Time on a String. Mark records at home using an app.

In addition to writing music, Mark is a prolific artist. He is an original member of the Wastelanders, a local artist group founded in 2007. Mark’s work can be viewed at Gallery 600. He works in the printmaking medium, which he learned in 2016 from artist and teacher, Michael Krouse. During the pandemic, Michael taught him a technique called dry pointing, which he fell in love with. “I love the plate marks from it. When you go to an art institute and see the works of Goya and Duhrer, all these greats from history that make prints, you can see their plate marks on their work. I feel like I am a part of that history by using this technique.” The technique involves etching into acrylic then printing onto wet paper.

C ARY and M ARK D UNHAM

Community Activism

Despite the brothers’ physical variances, it’s clear in conversation with them that they both care very deeply about politics, the environment, and the planet’s future. They talk about their father, a social studies teacher, who always kept them up to date on current events and encouraged them to read.

In the 1980s, after harvesting and planting trees for large paper companies, Mark and Kristi bought an old farmhouse in Shawnee Forest, where Mark still resides. “We wanted to find an inexpensive place where we could grow our own food and could focus on our artwork. Little did we know that by being neighbors of the national forest we would end up getting involved in the management of the forest.”

Soon after moving to Shawnee, Mark and Kristi observed white “balls” being dropped from a helicopter. Unable to get answers from the Forest Service, they went to then Illinois Representative Paul Simon. Turns out, the National Forest was spraying a herbicide nearby.

“There’s an old saying in the activist world, ‘once you grab a tiger by the tail, you can’t let go.’”

Mark and Kristi did not let go of the tiger’s tail. They fought. Mark represented himself in multiple lawsuits against the National Forest Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Energy—and won. Mark went on to chair the Department of Energy’s Citizens Advisory Board at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. In a 1998 article about Mark that appears in Mother Jones, Tom Buchele, an attorney for the Regional Association for Concerned Environmentalists, is quoted saying that Mark is ‘an equal in every respect. You’d think he’d gone to law school.”

Maybe it’s genetics or perhaps their familial upbringing, but it seemed both brothers were made for the strategic rigors of the law. At 34, Cary decided to give law school a chance. When looking into admission, Cary found that in order to make it into the next year’s pool of applicants he would have a fast turnaround. Within a week, Cary went from his cursory investigation into law school to passing the entrance exam with little time to study. As an

attorney, Carry worked on class action lawsuits for the Board of Education for the City of Chicago and the Chicago Fire Department.

But Cary’s work in activism started when he was enrolled at West Point. As a junior at West Point, Cary found himself repelled as he taught the younger cadets how to use a bayonet. He recalls how he had to say to the students, “What’s the spirit of the bayonet?” And they would reply, “To kill, sir.” After experiencing this and learning more about what was occurring in Vietnam, Cary applied for discharge from West Point as a conscientious objector. He was the first cadet to ever make such a request. His story ended up on the front page of the New York Times in 1970. Cary recently finished writing a book about his experiences at West Point. The book, titled A Wrinkle in the Long Gray Line will be published in December. An excerpt is available on Cary’s website peaceandpolitics.com.

Despite their overt differences, the Dunham brothers share more than a last name. They obviously share a conjoined desire to live lives of creativity, commitment, and conscientiousness.

Cover Art by Susan Cornelison. Cover Design by Marissa Kephart.

Antler Mans The ,

Exotic Wonderland ★

by S TEPHANIE WATSON

WALKING INTO

DANIAL MACPHAIL’S

studio in Kevil, Kentucky is stepping, literally, through a Hobbit door and into a wonderland of sorts. Big game pelts, exotic antlers, and furniture that looks crafted for the set of The Most Dangerous Game abound. Piles of moose and deer antler sit beside zebra pelt and kudu antler chairs fit for a throne room. An elk antler stool covered in Louis Vuitton leather waits to be shipped to a princess (and not a metaphorical one). And in the center of it all: the beginnings of a Christmas tree like no other. *

Danial’s work is known worldwide, and his pieces can be found in some of the top galleries and most prestigious homes in the world, but in his small hometown, this interesting, eclectic, and sometimes elusive artist is simply known as “Dan the Antler Man.”

Danial has traveled widely and has worked in a variety of industries (including a stint in D.C. politics), but it is his early training in the fine arts that he most utilizes today. Even as a young child, Danial displayed an early penchant for the arts. His home features framed works from his earliest years, first grade paintings that, honestly, are hard to believe were painted by someone that age. His parents encouraged this passion, and he went on to study fine art in high school and college.

Over the years, he’s nurtured a love for painting landscapes full of Texas bluebonnets, professionally restored paintings from all over the world, and even learned saddle making to hone his skills at upholstering leather. When he started making western-style furniture out of antlers in the early 1990s, however, he really found his unique voice.

Unlike many antler artists who come from carpentryrelated backgrounds, Danial’s fine arts training allows him to approach his pieces with a level of detail that distinguishes his work from all others in his industry.

“I didn’t invent this style,” he notes, “but I have tried to perfect it. Instead of adding moose antlers to a chair, for example, I allow the shape of the chair to emerges from the natural contours of the found material.”

Danial created his first antler-inspired piece while living in D.C. and missing his former Texas home. He had a friend mail him some Texas longhorn antlers, which he turned into a chair, setting his sights on an artform he’s been perfecting ever since.

From that chair, Danial moved on to chandeliers which turned into tables, lamps, and everything in between. One of his early successes was a moose antler piece, a

buttery leather club chair that now resides permanently in the Smithsonian Institute of Arts and Industries. The apparent ease of design is a hallmark of his work and an indicator of his unique approach to this artform.

“You want to trick the eye into seeing the work as all one piece,” he explains. “The key is to make it as though it wasn’t any effort to make.” While there is a niche audience for his western-inspired and big-game furniture pieces, at this time of year he is best known for his Christmas trees. These festive, rustic creations start humbly with bare PVC pipe and are built from the bottom up. Holes for wiring are drilled into the antlers before attaching them with screws to the PVC pipe. Each tree is built in sections so that it can be disassembled for shipping and fit through a door before being reassembled.

Customers can request specific antlers in their commissions, but generally Danial starts with elk antlers at the base, switches to mule deer for the middle, and finishes with white tail deer antlers at the top. This variation in type of antler allows for a progression of size and curvature that creates the natural tree shape. The antlers themselves, which Danial sources from distributors in Oregon and Idaho, are ethically sourced fallen antlers that are abundantly found in those regions and sold and shipped by the pound.

Next, the PVC and screws tops are covered in epoxy, which is shaped and textured using his own handmade

More information on Danial’s work and purchasing or commissioning items can be found at macphailstudio.com or through the HOME store at 216 Broadway Street in downtown Paducah.

Around& About

tools to mimic the realistic look of a tree trunk. Candle-shaped lights are then attached to the wiring. Finally, those fine arts skills are really put to use as he paints the “trunk” so that it seamlessly blends with the “branches” into one beautiful work of art.

Danial’s trees range anywhere from two feet to 16-foot massive structures that scrape at the sky. And at around $2,000 a foot, they have a price that matches their splendor. One tree, measuring nine and half feet tall and boasting over 100 antlers, was bought by a client in Sweden for $25,000.

One of Danial’s early trees won best of show at the Western Design Contest in 1995, and accolades for his work have continued ever since. He has won the Western Design Contest multiple times for various pieces of his work and has an antler tree on permanent display at the Buffalo Bill Museum Collection in Cody, Wyoming. While he has made trees for homes and galleries around the world, some of his most notable clients don’t come from too far away. Eddie and John Michael Montgomery (the former of Montgomery Gentry) as well as the famous Alabama music producer Rick Hall all celebrated their holidays around these antler creations.

Despite his years of success, it’s clear he’s never lost the sense of curiosity and wonder that accompanies the artistic process. “It’s just so fun to build something new out of the natural,” he notes. “I'm very fortunate to get to work in a medium I love and to have the finest customers you could ask for.”

Caring for our friends and neighbors is our mission. During this special time of year, it becomes even more important to reach out and touch those who may need it most. We hope you stay safe and healthy this holiday. Please call on us if we can provide the compassionate care you are seeking for someone you love. Thanks for the opportunity to work with each of you this past year.

ITH SMARTPHONES AND A constant connection to the world via the web, nearly every one of us is a poten tial news broadcaster at any given time. There remains, however, a need for structured, planned programming that conveys the stories around us in a thoughtful manner.

When Dan Sheppard, Television Department Coordina tor at West Kentucky Community and Technical College, began thinking about ways to partner with local high schools, the need to train the next generation of journalists and broadcasters how to gather and deliver news naturally came to mind.

“Our programmer, Andy Dew, and I had been discuss ing it,” says Dan. “Andy teaches media classes part-time at Community Christian Academy. We have a nicely

equipped studio at WKCTC, and we thought it would be great if high school students could get some experience here. Since a lot of the high schools already have classes that are producing videos, and in some cases their own newscasts, we decided to bring them together and produce a collaborative program for the region.”

Dan put out a call to area high school teachers and the visual communication department at the Paducah School of Art and Design, and in no time, they developed West Kentucky Student News (WKSN). “Student reporters submit their materials to us,” says Dan. “We load them into our switcher and get everything ready for a newscast using their stories. When they come to the studio, some of the students direct, and others run audio. We have tele prompter operators, floor directors, and news anchors. The result is a program that looks much like what you would

by J.T. Crawford

WEST KENTUCKY STUDENT NEWS

see from any news program on TV.”

Andy Dew adds, “We were already seeing the impacts at CCA of pre senting news for our students. It helps not only keep everyone informed but also fosters a sense of community. So that’s what I see West Kentucky Student News doing on a regional level. Not only is it a group effort to teach about video production and technology, but it also provides a service to the community. We get a glimpse into the lives of a huge segment of our population — high school students. I hope we all learn more about their lives and activities and maybe be entertained along the way.”

“When I heard about it, I thought it would be super fun,” says Mariane Puertollano, student at McCracken County High School, “and now that we are doing it, I really am enjoying it a lot.” Mariane anchored the first episode of West Kentucky Student News and while admitting that it was somewhat stressful, says she loves the experience. “I am not sure what I want to do in the future, but I know this is helping me make connections and get to know others. Those are good skills to have. And I want to use this experience to get more confident. I want to make sure I do things that get me out there more.”

Atleigh Stanley, McCracken County High School student, directed the inaugural edition of the show. “I enjoyed it,” she says. “I love being behind the scenes, pressing the buttons, telling people what to do. But there was some stress to it. Being just a second off could create a disconnect between me and the floor director.”

Atleigh knows this is a field she wants to pursue as a career. “Oh yeah,” she laughs. “Now I can’t see myself going into anything else. I really, really enjoy it. I found my passion.”

Peyton Weitlauf at Marshall County High School doesn’t know if she will go into a media field as a career, but she says she has definitely been

“Not only is it a group effort to teach about video production and technology, but it also provides a service to the community.”

-ANDY DEW

enriched by her education thus far. “I was put in a media arts class as a freshman,” says Peyton, who is now a senior. “I didn’t think I would like it. But it turned out that I loved it — so much so that I doubled up on classes.”

Peyton says she loved being exposed to many different things through media. “You go out with a camera to capture events and talk to people, and you become a part of those things,” she says. “For instance, I really didn’t know anything about football, but I was out there with a camera, making connections and being a part of something that other wise I didn’t know much about.”

There has also been a bit of friendly competition arise with each school learning from one another, resulting from a curiosity as to how they operate and how each of them can become better as a result.

“There are obviously many things students can get from this expe rience,” adds Dan. “I hope some of them discover a love for television production. I hope they have fun with it. And if nothing else, we have learned from the past few years, skills in presenting oneself virtually have become very valuable. So, no matter what they do, they will gain some abilities that will help them in other facets of life.”

Dan would love to see the program expand, adding more regional schools to the mix. If you would like to participate, contact Dan Sheppard at dan.sheppard@kctcs.edu West Kentucky Student News, visit Paducah 2 on YouTube

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Calling All Colors

THIS INTERRACIAL GROUP IS ON A MISSION TO FOSTER UNDERSTANDING AMONG AREA YOUTH

by J.T. Crawford H

WITH CLASSES HELD MOSTLY MONDAY THROUGH

Thursday at WKCTC, the campus on a Friday tends to be relatively quiet. There was one Friday, however, this past fall, when the college burst to life with the vibrancy of groups of children engaging in activities that would potentially become milestones in lifelong journeys of inclusiveness, understanding, and appreciating others no matter their back grounds, race, or culture.

For over twenty years, the Paducah Interracial Women’s group has hosted Calling All Colors, a program that brings together elementary and middle school students from the area to learn how to relate to and appreciate those from different backgrounds.

“A group of women came together after the Rodney King incident, and a

couple of years later, they wanted to do something that would impact our youth, helping to foster under standing of others,” says Stephanie Choudhury, current president of the group.

“It was all the brainchild of Con nie Donley,” adds Cornelia Reece, Chair of the Interracial Women’s Group. “She purposely worked to get a diversity of women to come togeth er, in a living room, and talk about is sues. That spread to getting together more, sharing meals, really getting to know one another, and truly becom ing friends. That experience was something that we knew we wanted the youth to experience. That’s where

Calling All Colors

real change can happen. They don’t quite have the same guards up that keep them from getting to know people from other communities and cultures.”

The aim of Calling all Colors was borne directly from the goal of the Inter racial Women’s group, which is “through friendship and programming strive to overcome racial and cultural prejudices, to provide for our youth a community that is free from the devastating impact of ignorance, and generate a communi ty we can be proud to call home.”

Each year, groups of students representing area schools meet and are introduced to new ideas through a variety of presenters. “This year, we did it a little differently,” says Stephanie. “We met with teachers and student represen tatives, and those students (from 5th to 8th grade) brainstormed on what they wanted the theme to be and what topics they wanted to learn about. This was a student-driven event.”

For 2022, they developed a program around the theme of Connecting CommUNITY. Students broke into groups with others they didn’t already know, and they learned about topics like talking out their feelings and differ ences, unity in the community, the Jewish community of Paducah, and hidden codes through quilting, an exploration of how slaves in America used quilts hanging on lines to convey information to one another about the Underground

Railroad. One session, Paducah Storm Watch: A New Kind of Storm, combined groups of students from multiple schools. They’d learned a dance, and on this day, they com bined their moves into one big group. Then, other students joined in, learn ing how to work with people they don’t know to accomplish a common goal.

High school students from Mc Cracken, Paducah Tilghman, and St. Mary volunteered throughout the day to chaperone and help with activ ities. After the day of learning is com plete, Calling All Colors is not over. The participating students return to their schools and create a program to present to their student body.

“I heard one student say at the end of the day,” says Cornelia, “that she met other students and now has

“You realize that we all have the same hopes and goals for our lives and families. We have so much in common regardless of our backgrounds.”

-Stephanie Choudhury

new friends. And she now knows it is ok to be different. I thought to myself, yes, she got it. This is what it’s about.”

“And that came out of the topic of Learning How to Talk Out Our Feelings and Differenc es,” adds Stephanie, “and that’s wonderful because that is one of the specific topics our students wanted to learn about.”

It all comes back to the feeling of unity enjoyed by the Interracial Women’s Group. The joy is simply too much to con tain. “How do you even measure that?” ponders Stephanie. “You realize that we all have the same hopes and goals for our lives and families. We have so much in common regardless of our backgrounds.”

“We have developed lifelong friendships,” adds Cornelia. “We don’t try to push one another to adopt personal beliefs. It’s about listening to others and learning to understand. From here we leave and go to our own churches and families and workplaces. And we know all of our differences won’t stop us from caring about each other.

“There is so much respect, and they are so open to ideas,” says Cornelia. “And these are elementary and middle school students. We recently asked about future topics they wanted to discuss. One asked to learn about the daily life of a person with a disability. How thoughtful is that? They are eager, and they truly are our future.”

Travel Teaches

by Barton Christmas

Vanderbilt Keegan Traveling Fellow Barton Christmas learns the benefits of a second language as he travels the globe seeking an understanding of the world we live in

IN THE LAST DECADE, CENSUS DATA HAS started to converge on a glaring, wakeup call statistic: over half of the human population is bilingual. For some parts of the world, that half-and-half split manifests right down on the community level. Certainly, it shows here in Europe, where roughly 56% of the population is bilingual or greater. Some regions go above and beyond—in Indonesia for instance, where over 70% of people have at least two languages under their belt. And if there are places where being a polyglot is a common thing, then there must be some place that’s dragging the statistics down, right? There must be some land of monolinguals that acts as a counterbalance.

God bless the U.S.A. Census data tells us that American bilingualism tips the scales at about 20%. As you might imagine, this 20% is largely thanks to the American Spanish-speaking popula tions concentrated in places like Texas and California. But that 20% number gets scarier when we start accounting for skill level: research from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences suggests that as few as 10% of Americans speak a second language with proficiency. And when you look at the state-by-state breakdown, things get even murkier. That’s when it becomes clear that some states aren’t taking measures to boost those numbers. Kentucky joins seven other states in the U.S. in having less than 13% of its K-12 students in a foreign language class.

This is an easy topic to rant about as a Vanderbilt Keegan Travel Fellow bouncing from language to language in each place I go. This is also, understandably, an easy topic to ignore when you’re an American who can drive for 12

hours in any direction and still understand every road sign, menu, and stranger that you come across. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve discounted the value of language-learning for most of my life. I cast aside AP Spanish in favor of other, more “practical” classes in high school, and my switch to an education major was borne partly out of an absolute detestation for my first-year Latin class. Education majors didn’t need a language credit, and I decided I didn’t need to know the meaning of the word “declension.”

So here I am today to sing you a different tune. As the only monolingual out of this year’s five Keegan Fellows, I am constantly regretting my disregard for other cultures’ tongues. For the first week of my travels, I wandered the streets of Paris in fear, lest anyone should try to speak to me and discover that I was incapable of understanding. For the last two weeks, I have scrambled to revive and grow my

fledgling bits of middle and high school Spanish, working desperately to be some thing more than the poor, monolingual American.

While I stew about in these European mornings, fretful about the deficiencies in my Spanish and how stupid they’ll make me look to the people of this country, I realize the most important lesson of language-learning: be patient with the learners! Be kind to each and every person you know who speaks accented English. Understand that many of their personal experiences are locked behind linguistic barriers, and while you might judge them for their inability to order a pastry, they’re thinking about all of the books they’ve read in their native language that no one around them has ever heard of. And for those of us in America willing to endure some humiliating stumbles (the Spanish verbs “to fail” and “to f***” are one letter off), perhaps we can finally shake off our comfort with knowing just enough to get by on vacation and start actively working to understand more languages, more people, more lenses through which to see the world.

Editor’s Note: This missive arrived from Leon, Spain after Barton had just finished his nine-day Camino de Santiago trek.

By dusTin WilCox

The Coding league

Young people are finding creative heroics inside the world of computer coding

HEN ONE THINKS OF “teams” at school, generally the image involves some kind of ball, some kind of uniform, and kids doing some kind of activ ity outdoors. But what if learning a cutting-edge career-skill could take on that same reputation of fun-filled teamwork and competition?

Enter the Youth Coding League, a team-based competition intended to educate students on the increasingly marketable skill of computer coding. Fifth and sixth graders attending various schools in McCracken County are tasked with bringing to life a new project each season to be ranked against others nationwide.

These projects, dubbed “epics,” utilize the Scratch block-based visual programming language developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab. Coders are scored on such traits as agility, aware ness, endurance, intellect, reliability, and collaboration as they attempt to clear certain “milestones” enroute to completion.

For the past year, the McCracken

County Public Library, with support from the Sprocket digital economic development organization, has worked to bring the league to local schools. Monica Bilak, Executive Director of Sprocket, said the league is “game-ified” to better engage students.

“Kids create these fun experiences that they can learn to code through,” Monica says. “Then, each of them gets scored like you would in baseball — you’ll get all these different types of metrics like your batting average. They actually have professional developers looking at their code.”

Schools are subject to fluctuating standings based on their overall per formance, measured in points. At the time of this writing, Morgan Elemen tary is ranked third, Heath Elementary eleventh, Clark Elementary twelfth, St. Mary Elementary fifteenth, Reidland Intermediate sixteenth, McNabb Ele mentary seventeenth, Paducah Middle twenty-second, and Lone Oak Inter mediate thirty-third.

Individuals are awarded prizes meant to further facilitate their ex citement for technology and creativity, including $500 in cash, a Chromebook,

a RePaper drawing tablet, a tablet computer with a mouse and key board, a projector, an instant camera with film, a portable photo printer, or an issue of Make Magazine.

Monica says Sprocket encouraged bringing the Youth Coding League to Paducah to help bolster a pipeline for talented students to get into coding, but the McCracken County Public Library now fully supports the fund ing and implementation of the pro gram. Coding, which is appraised as one of the most crucial modern-day job skills by Fast Company and Forbes, is a skill that can be accessed at a young age when presented in the right way.

“We know that digital careers are the fastest-growing careers in the world. The average salary for a programmer is around $75,000 to $80,000 a year,” she says. “We see this as a way to equip our kids in the community with skills that could really engage them, get them excited about careers that are increasing, and be part of industries that are growing.”

Justin Brasher, Director of the

McCracken County Public Library, says sponsoring the league enables the library to support the educational endeavors of young coders in a way that wouldn’t be finan cially or logistically feasible otherwise.

“The library wanted to help students foster an inter est in tech and learning, but we know our librarians can’t be everywhere at once,” Justin said. “Rather than trying to hire librarians who could teach coding and deploy them to schools, we partnered with Youth Coding League and invested those funds towards the league.”

And how are the kids reacting? They love it. The creativity, the open-ended ness, and the digital interface with which they are already so familiar is grabbing their imagination while helping these inquisitive minds to build the age-old skill of working on a team.

MORGAN ELEMENTARY RANKS 3RD NATIONWIDE IN YOUTH CODING LEAGUE!

by Stephanie Watson

JENNIFER WIERSMA HAS TAUGHT AT MORGAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FOR 22 YEARS, BUT when this 5th grade math teacher was asked to take on Youth Coding League (YCL) at her school, she wasn’t exactly sure what she was getting into.

“I had no background in coding, but I’ve seen the variety of skills that the program is helping students build,” she notes. “Apart from all the fun, these kids are learning to follow directions, innovate, create, collaborate, and be out-of-the-box thinkers when it comes to problem solv ing.”

The YCL program, which is the first step in a continuum of computer science opportunities in local schools, provides early exposure to high-earning fields that match the demands of the 21st century workplace.

As an afterschool extracurricular, YCL ensures access to students at all levels of academic achievement. Its athletic team style also provides a personal connection for youth from varied interests and aptitudes, helping them develop confidence and engagement.

The team meets weekly throughout the season to tackle key computer science principles. Each meeting includes instructional videos and the completion of individual projects that are scored by trained coders. They receive an individual ranking based on their creations and a team ranking based on com bined points. Last year, a Morgan Elementary student placed 8th out of over a hundred students, and so far this year, the team ranks 3rd nationwide.

And while their success is creating confidence now, it’s also clearly developing a foundation for the future. “In the past, kids were often told to become a doctor or a lawyer if they wanted to be successful,” Wiersma explains. “There are so many more options than that for our kids, and computer science is one of the most in-demand fields. YCL makes it easy and accessible for any kid to get started in coding by creating digital stories, games, and animations in a fun, team-based atmosphere.”

Kids love Coding

5th graders coding might be news to many of us, but, to them, it’s just plain fun! Here’s what they had to say about their experience.

“I’ve learned a lot through the Youth Coding team, and I love making my own videos. Computer Science is really fun and creative, and there is so much you can do with computers that I didn’t know about!”

“Imagination is key! You can make your own creations. It will help you to become successful later in life.”

-MaLeiah Hill

“Coding allows me to be ME through a computer. I love creating new things and expressing my ideas through coding.”

-Damian Driscoll

“I like coding! It is cool to make stuff on Scratch. I like to customize my characters and make them unique.”

-Brandon Sperry

I get to be creative and make things that not many people my age can do. We start with a sprite (digital character) and code it to move, make sounds, perform actions based on input. So, we get to go from almost nothing to something brand new! -Jeffery Lamb

-Maliyah Shannon

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by SuSie Fenwick

A Journey In Color: The Art of Ellis Wilson

“At a time when most folks saw the world in black and white, young Ellis Wilson watched colors dance across canvas.”

JAYNE MOORE WALDROP, WESTERN

Kentucky native, author and attorney, makes the words dance across the page in her soon to be released children’s book, “A Journey in Color: The Art of Ellis Wilson.”

Jayne teamed up with Tennessee-based artist, Michael McBride, to craft a beautiful ly illustrated, literary work about Mayfield native, Ellis Wilson. The book describes the young man’s desire and determination to become an artist. Following his passion as a young African-American man growing up in rural Kentucky in the early twentieth century led him down a complex trail.

Ellis was inspired by his father who was a successful barber who loved to paint as a hobby. As a young boy mesmerized by his father’s paint ing, Ellis expressed his desire to make his life’s work painting but his father dismissed it as foolishness and no way to make a living.

Ellis, a first-generation college student, was encouraged to pursue studies in the practical options of education or agriculture, either one providing pathways to gainful

employment. Ellis studied at the historically black Ken tucky State University but was still determined to follow his dreams to paint. In the Jim Crow era, Wilson’s search for an institution of higher learning offering classical art training, proved fruitless. He was shunned by countless universities before following the great migration north and enrolling into the Art Institute of Chicago. He went on to become one of the first African-American artists to be awarded a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship.

Pop culture brought Wilson to the forefront in the 1980s in Season 2 of the NBC sitcom, The Cosby Show. Claire Huxtable successfully bid on a painting by her great-uncle Ellis. The painting, Funeral Procession, by artist Ellis Wilson, remained prominently displayed over the living-room mantle throughout the series.

When asked why she chose to write a children’s book with Ellis Wilson as the subject, Jayne explained, “I’d love for children who read the book to be inspired to follow a dream and to be true to themselves and their passion. So often we get turned in different directions and we don’t follow our true passions. I would love for them to get that from this book because I know Ellis Wilson is a role model.”

Jayne expresses another objective related to Wilson’s hometown of Mayfield which is also her husband’s home town. “Another thing I hope comes out of this is that with Mayfield having such enormous loss from the tornado of so many historic sites, that this book helps reclaim a little bit of its missing history,” she adds.

Wilson’s art was shown in many galleries and museums in New York, Washington, DC, and Chicago but he once said the exhibitions of his paintings back home in Western Kentucky were the highlights of his career. Despite criti cal acclaim for his art, Ellis Wilson died in poverty in 1977 and was buried in a pauper’s grave.

Note: Jayne Moore Waldrop is the author of Drowned Town, an INDIES Book of the Year Award silver winner in fiction, and of Retracing My Steps and Pandemic Lent: A Season in Poems. A Journey in Color: The Art of Ellis Wilson is her debut children’s book.

Michael McBride and Jayne Moore Waldrop

ROBERT WORDEN’S Chance

Encounter Inspired A Lifetime of Giving

★ by S TEPHANIE WATSON

IT WAS A CRISP, CLEAR FEBRUARY MORNING IN 1962 WHEN THE 11-YEAR-OLD Robert Worden begrudgingly accompanied his parents across town to visit his cousins in downtown Memphis, TN. As his family pulled into the parking area of their apartment, he noticed a large crowd gathering across the street. Looking for any excuse to ditch his duties of entertaining young cousins, Robert set out toward the crowd. Mingling through the mass of people, he started noticing women in what he thought might be flight attendant or nursing uniforms. Their official-looking nature piqued his interest. He moved closer, gaping at the spectacle gathered when, suddenly, a man in a suit tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Young man, would you mind going up and telling Mr. Thomas we are ready?” Being an obliging child, he agreed, having no idea this short quest would have such an impact on his life.

“I knocked at the first door I could find at the top of the stairs. When the door opened, I was dumbstruck. I had been asked to retrieve Mr. Danny Thomas, famed TV celebrity and founder of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital,” Robert recalls. “I still didn’t fully understand what was happening, but I walked with Mr. Thomas back downstairs and stood just behind him as he unveiled the statue of St. Jude and passionately spoke to the crowd of around 9,000 people about promises of the past and the future.”

While he still had little understanding of the magnitude of what he’d experienced, this moment became a core memory for Robert Worden. As the years passed, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital became the invaluable institution that it is, Robert started to view this experience as providence.

“I believe that moment was my signal that I was meant to support the hospital’s mission in whatever capacity I was able,” he explains. “Of course, as a young person and even in early adulthood, I didn’t have much to give, but I kept telling my story to raise any kind of support or awareness that I could.”

As a young man, Robert entered the army and served in Vietnam before going back to school to become a minister of education, music, and youth. A job at a church in Lone Oak brought him to Kentucky. Later he transitioned careers and worked for Ashland Chemical Company in Calvert City.

A little boy was once serendipitously sent to fetch Danny Thomas onto a public stage. He never forgot that moment. And from that time forward, he’s never forgotten what it means to give back.

ROBERTWORDEN

He married. He had kids. He even became a dedicated member of the Paducah Ambassadors! But St. Jude and that pivotal moment were never far from his mind.

When his father passed away in 1999, Robert was finally able to use funds from the settlement of the estate to bring his story full circle and make his first notable financial contribution to the hospital’s foundation. Robert and his wife, Leslie, now make regular financial contributions, and they’ve sponsored a brick in the St. Jude campus’ Pathway to Hope. They are also recognized on the St. Jude Legacy Wall as sponsors who have named St. Jude in their will.

Through their contributions, they’ve earned membership in the Danny Thomas St. Jude Society, a group of donors who are invited to participate in fundraising events and learn more about the groundbreaking research and work of the hospital. According to Robert, when St. Jude calls, he comes, and the more he gives the more it seems he has to give.

“I don’t even know that Danny Thomas understood the significance of what he was doing,” Robert states. “I know none of us at the time could have imagined the impact this institution has had on the lives of millions of children worldwide. It is such an honor to be able to contribute to this cause and get an inside look at the life-changing work they do.”

It is also a world leader in developing new treatments for children with cancer, and conducts more clinical trials for cancer than any other children's hospital. All breakthroughs are shared worldwide so that the knowledge gained with every child saved at St. Jude helps save thousands more children.

From its first day of operation, families have never received a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food. Instead, families can focus on helping their child survive. Danny Thomas passed away in 1991, but he left the world with an enduring legacy and example of the power of giving back.

Since opening its doors on February 4, 1962, based on Danny's dream that “no child should die in the dawn of life,” St. Jude has made incredible strides in childhood cancer research. They’ve helped to improve the survival rate of childhood cancer from 20% to 80%. In 1962 childhood cancer was a virtual death sentence. It now has a survival rate of 94 percent.

“Every person I meet who has experienced St. Jude in any capacity talks about the graciousness of the people there as they guide families through one of the worst experiences a person can imagine. It is unlike any other facility in its love of its patients,” Robert notes. “I hope anyone with the ability to give will consider donating to this wonderful mission.”

Visit stjude.org for more information on how to give.

DANNY THOMAS , FOUNDER OF ST JUDE CHILDREN’S RESEARCH HOSPITAL

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A BLUE CHRISTMAS

We’ll have a blue Christmas without you. We’ll be so blue just thinking about you. And when those blue snowflakes start falling, that’s when those blue memories start calling. For nearly a decade, a group of determined citizens have been diligently working to save the beloved Columbia Art House (formerly Columbia Theater) from an ultimate demise. However, this team of taskmasters are now at a tipping point. Local architectural firm Ray Black & Son has begun to use the word dire in terms of the structure’s integrity. Consequently, the mission to save the Columbia has become urgent. If you would like to make a year-end gift to SAVE the COLUMBIA, please visit columbiaarthouse.org

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LEANN COTTON is a Canadian-based photographer with an emotional connection to Paducah—most notably as a result of her photographic passion for the historic Columbia Theater. Leann has produced a variety of artistic photography dedicated to western Kentucky’s iconic 1927 theater both from within and from without. Her distinct style and unique approach to her images adds an even more celebrated patina to this architectural marvel. Follow her on Instagram at leanncottonphotography