Sweetheart February 2015 by Do South Magazine

SWEETHEART

february 2015 DoSouthMagazine.com

CONTENTS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Catherine Frederick MANAGING EDITOR Marla Cantrell CONTRIBUTING WRITERS / PHOTOGRAPHERS Lauren Allen Robb McCormick Tonya McCoy Marla Cantrell Marcus Coker Catherine Frederick Laura Hobbs Anita Paddock Yvonne Pratt Glenn Wigington Janna Wilson Graphic Design Artifex 323 PROOFREADER Charity Chambers

PUBLISHER Read Chair Publishing, LLC

INSIDE 10 16

46 50

LEAVING A LEGACY Brenda Yelvington and her film crew are on the verge of releasing a heartfelt documentary that covers a year in the lives of a local high school band.

THE BAREFOOT TRIBE Palmer Chinchen's parents moved him deep into the jungle in Africa when he was only six, to live among many who didn't have even one pair of shoes. Today, he's a pastor working hard to change that.

CHEESECAKE FOR YOUR SWEETIE PIE Your sweetie will swoon over this White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake. Better still, it's easy to make. We'll even show you how to put those adorable hearts on top.

GIRLS' NIGHT OUT? SWEET! Get your best girlfriends together and plan your night on the town. We've mapped out some of the tastiest treats in downtown Fort Smith. All you need to add is the laughter.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

ADVERTISING INFORMATION Catherine Frederick 479.782.1500 Catherine@DoSouthMagazine.com EDITORIAL INFORMATION Marla Cantrell 479.831.9116 Marla@DoSouthMagazine.com ÂŠ2015 Read Chair Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. The opinions contained in Do South are exclusively those of the writers and do not represent those of Read Chair Publishing, LLC. as a whole or its affiliates. Any correspondence to Do South or Read Chair Publishing, LLC., including photography becomes the property of Read Chair Publishing, LLC. Do South reserves the right to edit content and images.

FOLLOW US Subscribe to Do South! 12 issues per year for only $30, within the contiguous United States. Subscribe online at DoSouthMagazine.com, or mail check to 7030 Taylor Avenue, Suite 5, Fort Smith, AR 72916.

letter from Catherine

ell, it’s happened. The

white chocolate, raspberry cheesecake. Want to have a few

big 4-0. I’d always told

people over for dinner? You'll need to see our tips on how to

everyone forty wasn’t go-

set an unforgettable table. Looking for a fun Sunday out with

ing to bother me. Nope, not

your family? We have everything you need to know about an

one bit. “Forty is just a num-

upcoming spaghetti dinner that's steeped in tradition.

ber” I’d say. Now that forty is here, I can tell you this,

There are stories aplenty in this issue, including Brenda Yelving-

that was a big, fat lie. Forty

ton's, a Fort Smith woman who's hard at work putting together

is hard to stomach. I started

a documentary about the band members at Northside High.

thinking things like, Well, if I

We're talking to a local musician, Robb McCormick, about his

only reach the age of eighty,

music, his life, and his devotion to the woman he loves.

my life’s half over – I’m on Photo by Kat Hardin

the downhill slide now. There

From there we're going far away, into the jungles of Africa,

are signs everywhere.

with Palmer Chinchen, a Mississippi native who moved there with his missionary parents when he was only six years old.

Just the other day, I had to buy a pair of readers. Opened up

What he learned in those years transformed his life.

a whole new world though, let me tell you. I’ve decided those aren’t so bad, I may actually love them. Now if I can just get my

We're also hearing from Laura Hobbs, who talks about her

nine-year-old to stop shoving things in my face, an inch away

husband, the story of the night they met, and the life they

from my eyes, when he wants me to see or read something.

built after falling in love. Read it and then check out our gorgeous Wedding Guide filled with ideas to help plan the

Then, the other night, hubby and I were driving home after

perfect day.

dark and I mentioned how glad I was he was driving because I don’t like to drive at night anymore because I don’t see as well

All this, plus a great book recommendation, a new album to

in the dark. He laughed and replied, “Well, I don’t either!” I

listen to, and a wonderful short story called "Seeing Leroy"

joked that soon we’d be saying things like, “Oh my, no, we

that will have you picking up the phone to call your mama.

can’t come to dinner that late, we don’t drive at night!” Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. We had become our parents.

That's about it. It's past 9:30 and I'm heading to bed. It's one of the perks of getting older. You get to do more of what

Speaking of parents, wouldn’t yours just love getting a Valen-

you want, say what you want, be who you are. I'm all for

tine this year? We have a fantastic DIY that fits the bill. We also

that. I've waited a really long time.

have a girls' night out already planned for you and your besties,

~Catherine

complete with lots of sweets and a whole lot of laughter. Feel like staying home and baking? You've got to try our

To reserve this free space for your charitable non-profit organization, email: Editors@DoSouthMagazine.com

06 poetry

spring garden LINES Glenn Wigington

My cobbely plot of gray soil, hand-turned with a pronged fork last October waits for the earth's March tilt to bring the year's first thunder. I can smell the moisture in the southwest wind rising off the winter coast. Dogwoods and maples frozen and bunched and waiting for warm mists to flow up the Ouachita hogbacks, cooling, coalescing, melting to droplets a thousand to the thimbleful that can rouse a turnip seed from its slumber or dissolve a mountain.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

Clint Wood, M.D. 7217 Cameron Park Drive Fort Smith, Arkansas 72903 479.434.3544

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

UPCLOSE&PERSONAL

About Clint Wood, M.D. I am board certified and fellowship trained to perform a wide range of minimally invasive image guided surgeries. The majority of my practice involves endovascular procedures ranging from

How old were you when you decided to become a doctor? Twenty. Where did you grow up? Bee Branch, Arkansas. What’s your idea of a perfect meal? Medium rare filet, salad, baked potato, homemade vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup.

peripheral artery disease and aortic repair to

What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done? African safari.

carotid stenosis and cerebral aneurysms. Huge

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be? Fly a plane.

technological advances have been made over the last decade in the treatment of vascular diseases

Name one thing most people don’t know about you. I like wood working.

in the brain including aneurysms, arterial venous

Name someone you admire. My brother, Jared Wood.

malformations and acute stroke. Similarly, the

What did you do as a kid that got you into trouble? Being late for the school bus more times than not.

tools we have to restore blood flow in legs and prevent amputations are amazing compared to just a few years ago. You will not find more

What’s the longest you've gone without sleep, and why? Seventy-two hours during my medical residency.

complex or technologically advanced procedures

If you had a year off, what would you want to do? Sail the Mediterranean and Caribbean.

performed anywhere in the country than what we do here in Fort Smith, Arkansas on a routine basis.

What was your first job? Ranch hand. What did you buy with your first paycheck? Saved it and every other paycheck for three years to buy my first truck.

Words to Live By: Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. Colossians 3:23

What model was your vehicle? 1993 Silverado Z71 truck. When was the last time someone surprised you? Surprise birthday party from my staff. What’s the craziest thing you've ever done for someone? Syringe fed a neighbor’s Basset Hound Benadryl at midnight for an allergic reaction due to a wasp sting. Still love Bassets to this day! Favorite food from your childhood? Vegetables from our garden. Where was your last road trip? Rocky Mountains in Colorado.

3 things Dr. Wood can’t live without:

Favorite song from your teen years? "Smells like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. What’s on your playlist right now? Mumford and Sons. Last movie you saw? Interstellar. Last book you read? Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. What was your favorite TV show as a child? Magnum PI.

Redwing Boots

Best advice your parents gave you? Don’t marry someone you can live with; marry someone you can’t live without. Most sentimental thing you own? 22 rifle given to me by my dad.

iPhone

Strangest place you’ve called the Hogs? Razorback Alumni Fan Club NYC. Favorite spot in Arkansas? My farm near Greers Ferry Lake.

High-Speed Internet

Farthest you’ve been away from home? Zimbabwe.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people In 2012, Brenda Yelvington went to see a movie in Fort Smith, Arkansas called Undefeated, a documentary film about the struggles and triumphs of a Memphis high school football team. “Within the first ten minutes, I knew I was supposed to make a documentary about the Northside band,” says Brenda. At that time, Brenda’s daughter was in the band at Northside High, one of the two public high schools in town, and Brenda had become involved taking pictures and helping manage their Facebook page. “People think they know Northside, and people think they know band,” says Brenda. “I discovered that I didn’t. These people aren’t teaching music; they’re teaching life. And I

words Marcus Coker images courtesy of ST Films

knew I needed to shine a light on that.” Still, she wasn’t sure how that was going to happen. “I had never done any video before,” says Brenda, whose background

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people

then included being a certified public accountant, a college-level

know anything about this. You’re crazy. But I felt like I had no

accounting instructor, co-owner of the recording studio Omega

choice. The idea wouldn’t let me go.”

Sound, and music director for the local Young Actors’ Guild (YAG). After mentally committing to the project, Brenda and her husband “After seeing Undefeated,” says Brenda, “I began composing. I have a background in music, and one

decided that they would finance it personally. To that end, they formed a production company called ST Films.

day I walked by the piano, sat down, and started

“I learned that I’m a storyteller,” says Brenda, “and

writing something. I realized it was going to be

that’s what ST stands for.” Next, she started thinking

the main melodic theme for the film score. And I

about who could help her film and edit. She decided

saw the opening for the movie, the music playing

on Chris Middleton of Branchout Studios in Fort

and the drum majors walking out on the field.

Smith. “Chris had filmed Les Miserables for YAG.

Interspersed between that, I saw kids getting ready

That’s all I knew about him. But I talked to him about

for their performance.”

the project, and he agreed.”

For the next year, Brenda worked on the main song for the film,

Next, Brenda approached Gordon Manley, the head band

keeping it recorded on her phone. “I spent about six months

director at Northside. “I brought him and his wife over to the

talking myself out of doing it. How can you do this? You don’t

house, and we watched Undefeated, and I told him what I

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people

wanted to do. He waited a day and called me back and said, ‘I’m

scholarship auditions, and, eventually, graduation. All told, they

in.’” From there, Brenda talked to the superintendent for Fort

logged 150 hours of footage, which they are currently in the

Smith Public Schools and the principal at Northside. Each time,

process of editing.

the response was the same: “What do you need from us?” In the film, the kids face life with all its ups and downs. In the fall of 2013, the band at Northside had 240 kids in it, and

They strive to fit in, to find their place. At an All-State Band

Brenda had to get releases (legal documents granting consent)

competition, they huddle around a TV monitor in a cafeteria,

from all of them before she could begin filming. As the school

waiting to find out if they made it in. Some are elated because

year started and the story for the film began to develop, Brenda

they did. Others, broken that they did not.

chose specific students to be featured. Brenda says that often the students don’t see their own Because Brenda wants the band members to be the first to

potential. One student is quoted as saying, “I don’t know what

see the film, she isn’t ready to reveal which students are being

they see in me.” But, like a drumbeat, there’s director Gordon

featured, but she gladly talks about them in general. There’s

Manley in the background, reminding the kids, “Be yourself and

one kid Brenda says has dabbled in gang activity, but is also

handle yourself with quiet confidence. Now this is important.

a hard worker that finds a better home in band. There’s a

Have confidence in yourself, ‘cause you’re gonna do just fine.”

natural leader, the one that other kids will follow whether he does right or wrong. There’s a girl weighed down with family

Brenda says, “It’s really just about people and relationships. It’s

responsibilities, and a family that’s struggled financially to

human. It’s the human experience. It’s not all a bed of roses, but

ensure their children can go to college.

you’re gonna connect with these people. You’re gonna like these people, and you’re gonna want their lives to turn out well.”

For the entire 2013/2014 school year, Brenda and Chris and their crew followed the kids to football games, competitions,

For months after filming, Brenda and Chris watched the footage

Aaron Durham Assistant Band Director

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people

B r e n d a Ye l v i n g t o n

they’d shot. “We’d sit in the dark and eat Werther’s candy. We

through what they leave behind. “All these kids, the band

probably ate ten bags.” Brenda took notes on the footage, and

directors, all are leaving something behind. And that’s why

an assistant created a 5,000-line Excel sheet that categorized

we’ve decided to call the film Leaving a Legacy.”

all the movie clips. Since then, they’ve been editing. “It takes about a week to put together three and a half minutes.”

Chris says, “The scary part about it all is that we are not making up characters. We’re putting these kids in the spotlight,

Currently, Brenda and Chris have edited about thirty minutes of

showing them on their good days and their bad days. For me,

what should end up being a ninety-seven minute documentary.

it’s been an honor to watch them succeed despite any struggles

The edits include the opening scene, which has come together

they’ve faced.”

just like Brenda saw it in her head three years ago. The music she wrote plays, the kids get ready, and the drum majors take

“Look at the trust they have put in us,” says Brenda. “The

the field. “The first song I wrote is called ‘Heartbeat.’ One

camera sees everything. And we have the responsibility to make

of the band directors said, ‘The heartbeat of the band is the

sure we tell a truthful story, and at the same time not betray

relationships developed in the pursuit of the performance.’ And

the trust put in us. And it has to be entertaining, not just for

that’s life—the relationships developed in the pursuit of the

the people involved. It has to be good independently of anyone

performance.”

knowing these people. It’s a line we walk every day.”

Brenda keeps the quote on a wall in her office. Beneath it,

If all goes as planned, Brenda and Chris will finish the film by

there’s another one that reads, “No one lives forever except

the middle of this year. “I keep saying May,” says Brenda, “but

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people

it could be August.” After that, Brenda hopes to premier the film at Northside. “I need to research the rules for film festivals because some of them require that the film be shown for the first time at their festival. But once I figure out the rules, I’ll be showing it locally.” In the best scenario, Leaving a Legacy will be picked up at a film festival, promoted, and distributed. But Brenda plans to explore other options as well, including public television and Netflix. Obviously, there’s a lot that goes into a project like Leaving a Legacy, especially if you’ve never made a movie before. And whereas Brenda is excited for the release of the film, for her, it’s less about potential success and more about simply shining a light on something the world needs to see. “There’s something incredible going on over on the north side of town, and the world needs to see it. And that’s however you define the world. It could just be the 240 band kids and their parents, and that’s fine with me. If the film just impacts one person, I’m happy.”

For more information about Leaving a

Legacy, check out ST Films on Facebook. Chris Middleton

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

52 16

people diy

Barefoot for Jesus words Marla Cantrell images courtesy Palmer Chinchen

"And that's the root of the problem; the kingdom of God is not being made tangible. In our Christian tradition, we have made the kingdom of God so spiritual, so internal, and so much about another life that it never affects the world we live in every day." -Palmer Chinchen DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people diy

53 17

almer Chinchen lives in Arizona, in a place where the stars

many Christians in this country weren’t living the life they were called

in the big night sky are compromised by the shimmer of the

to live. “For the last hundred years we equated becoming a Christian

big, bright city lights. But he grew up in a much different

with going to church, and we used language like, ‘come to church,’

place, deep inside Africa’s Sinoe jungle. His friends were members

or ‘bring them to church,’ and really the church is God’s people who

of the Sapo tribe, the Barefoot People of Liberia. He was six when

are sent out to our neighborhoods, and then to our own communities

he, along with his five brothers and sisters, arrived in this foreign

and to the rest of the world. ..We make the Good News of Jesus

land with his missionary parents. He tells the story incredibly well

about something that just happens internally and personally to us

in his book, Barefoot Tribe. The book opens with a single-engine

as individuals, and it’s ethereal, and we know that after we die we’ll

Cessna dropping his family off in a place so remote there was no

go to Heaven, and we’ve missed the ‘doing’ component. The gospel

electricity, no running water. He talks about his pet chimpanzee

includes living the Good News of Jesus, and that includes going into

named Tarzan, the nights spent reading by kerosene lamps, the

the blighted neighborhoods. If we’re not doing that, then the gospel

creek water they boiled in a big black pot so they could drink it

really hasn’t taken root, and Christians don’t like hearing that.”

and not get sick. As he considered all these things, he began plotting how to make a It is hard to imagine what it felt like to arrive in this distant place.

radical change. He became the pastor of a church called The Grove,

Perhaps being so young helped Palmer acclimate to a life so

in Chandler, Arizona. He spent a lot of time talking to his people

different from the one he'd lived in Picayune, Mississippi. There, his

about how to live the Word of God. He told them it was impossible

parents pastored a Presbyterian church, and during the church’s

to separate Jesus from justice, and there is injustice in people living in

first ever conference on missions, one of the speakers from Africa

extreme poverty. The subject of shoes kept surfacing. It’s estimated

asked who would answer the call to the mission field. His parents

that 1.3 million people in this world live without even one pair. The

believed he was talking to them, so they left their life in the Deep

average American has nineteen, many tossed to the back of a closet,

South for a life in the bush. Their youngest daughter was only two,

forgotten, collecting dust.

and there was plenty of fear. Malaria was and still is the number one killer in Liberia, and children are particularly ill prepared for the

Because of that disparity, Palmer asked for help. One Sunday in

ravages its fever brings.

September, 2009, he told his congregation to wear their best shoes. At the end of the service, he asked them to leave those shoes at the

Going there changed Palmer’s life. Most of his friends were shoeless.

altar. Two thousand pairs of shoes were left, and those were shipped

There were parasites that would find a home through tiny cuts on

to Africa. The parishioners spent the remainder of the day barefoot.

the kids’ feet, would enter their bloodstreams, would pull so many

They learned what it felt like, stepping on a sharp object, getting

nutrients from their bodies their hair would turn orange. Their urine

turned away from restaurants because they were shoeless, the pain

turned rust colored because they were bleeding internally, their bellies

of walking on hot sidewalks. The next year, The Grove had another

grew large from bloating. As he talks about them, he grows somber.

Barefoot Sunday, collecting 5,000 pairs of shoes. Palmer says, “I had

The average life expectancy in Liberia at that time was thirty-three,

never heard of a church anywhere trying something like this, but I

and by the time he’d finished high school, most of his friends from

was convinced that leaving church barefoot would help our people

the bush had died.

get that this world is a broken place. And understand the profound truth that with your one and very important life you can change

One of his most vivid memories of that time was the afternoon his

what is not right in this world—if we care less about things like shoes

family’s hut burned to the ground, his older sister fleeing without

and care more about people who hurt.”

her shoes, and how her best friend, a girl from the Sapo tribe, came to comfort her, slipped off her own shoes and put them on

Soon, others were hearing the story of the shoeless church. Pastors

Palmer’s sister’s feet.

from Florida, Illinois, and Maryland wanted to have Barefoot Sundays of their own. A college in Ohio asked the entire student body to

The act was one of love, but also of sacrifice, potentially a life-

give up their shoes. Jennifer Preyss, a twenty-something newspaper

threatening sacrifice, and Palmer never forgot it. When he finally

reporter in Victoria, Texas contacted Palmer and told him she was

returned to the States to live, he was struck by the feeling that

asking the entire town to donate. TV stations got involved. Twenty

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people

churches, five schools, a synagogue and a mosque joined in. On

As Palmer is telling the story, he is looking out the window of

the appointed day, the truck that was typically used to deliver

his church office at The Grove. A shipping container sits outside,

newspapers made its rounds, and then returned to pick up the

filled almost to the brim with even more shoes for Africa. To date,

thousands of shoes the town had collected.

the church has sent 30,000 pairs of shoes, and the need is even greater with the massive 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa that

Jennifer’s success thrilled Palmer, as well as the members of The

has taken more than 8,480 lives and infected as many as 21,400.

Grove. One hundred and two of the church’s members planned

Sturdy shoes – many who have any shoes at all have only flip flops

a trip to Africa, where they split up, going to Liberia, Uganda

– can keep people safe from contagious bodily fluids in outhouses

and Milawi. By that time they had 10,000 pairs of shoes. On

and in the villages where the disease has devastated the area.

that two-week trip something miraculous happened. They rented motorcycles that were used as taxis and strapped their cargo

Palmer considers it an honor to be able to help, and he is humbled

on the back. They went deep into the bush where there were

by his congregation, and the thousands of others who have taken

kids who’d never owned a pair of shoes. One of The Grove's

up the cause and sent shoes on their own. He wants every Christian

volunteers was a college student named Dustin, who met a

to know that spreading the Word of God is a practical thing. “It

village chief in Liberia, when he and eight others rode up on their

starts with your next door neighbor,” he says, “showing them

bikes. “Dustin said the chief told him, ‘Now I know Jesus Christ

the love of Christ. If you have a neighbor or co-worker who can’t

is alive, because the only way you could have come to my village

pay their rent, rally Christians to do that for them. If someone’s

with more than enough shoes for all my people is because Jesus

sick and can’t pay their medical bills, let’s meet that need. It starts

Christ sent you.'”

there. Every community has parts of town people avoid. Let’s change that; let’s start loving the people there.” That’s what The Grove has done in Chandler, Arizona, painting houses, feeding the hungry, meeting the needs of those desperate for help. And in doing so, Christ is being introduced to those who might otherwise never meet Him. He looks back on his life, on the decision his parents made to leave Mississippi and walk into the jungle. If they hadn't done that, if their house hadn't burned to the ground, he'd never have seen his sister's friend take off her shoes and offer them up, and the Barefoot Tribe might never have been born.

Palmer Chinchen, PhD, author of Barefoot Tribe, Take Off

Your Shoes and Dare to Live the Extraordinary Life, will be speaking on March 15 at 4 PM at First Presbyterian Church, located at 116 North 12th Street, Fort Smith, Arkansas. 479.783.8919 | 1pres.org The event is free and the public is welcome to attend. Palmer Chinchen

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

calendar

DO SOUTH FEBRUARY 2015 SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

SATURDAY

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 Make a Valentine as big as your love, page (32).

Groundhog Day

A marriage how-to guide for guys, page (44).

Shop local for your Valentine, page (36).

Harlem Globetrotters, 7 PM, Verizon Stadium, Little Rock.

Mardi Gras Mayor's Ball, 7 – 10 PM, Eureka Springs.

Classical guitarist S. Sean Six, 7:30 PM, UAFS, Fort Smith. uafs.edu

harlemglobetrotters.com

eurekaspringsmardigras. com

The Community Strikes Back, Bowling Fundraiser for Children’s Emergency Shelter, 12:30 PM, Fort Smith. childrensemergencyshelter. org

08 09 10 11 12 13 14 Fort Smith Marathon, 9 AM, Riverfront Pavilion, Fort Smith. fortsmithmarathon.com

Make our White Chocolate, Raspberry Cheesecake, page (46).

Our cocktail, Have Your Cake and Drink It Too, is scrumptious, page (49)

Plan your Girls Night Out! Page (50).

Empty Bowls dinner, 5:30 PM, Van Buren High School. vbsd.us

Mardi Gras dinner gala, Fort Smith Museum of History. fortsmithmuseum.org

Valentine’s Day

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Engaged? Plan your big day, pages (59-64).

U of A Extension Beekeeping course begins. Call 479.208.9946.

Mardi Gras

Ash Wednesday

Lose your shoes for a great cause, page (16).

(20th-22nd) Home and Living Show, Fort Smith. fortsmithhomebuilders.com

Van Gogh to Rothko Exhibit opens, Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville. crystalbridges.org

President's Day

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Immaculate Conception Spaghetti Dinner, 4 - 7 PM, Fort Smith. dolr.org

Meet two women who've been making Featherbed rolls for 45 years, page (53).

Find your forever friend, page (43).

Laura Hobbs’ real-life romance, page (40).

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scali speaks, 1 PM, Fort Smith. usmarshalsmuseum.com

Top 3 Songs for Lovers 1. At Last - Etta James 2. Come Away With Me - Norah Jones 3. Then - Brad Paisley

Top 3 Songs for Haters

Lose yourself in our short story, Seeing Leroy, page (54). Old Time Gospel Hour, 7:30 PM, Fort Smith. uafs.edu/academy

We hope you enjoy this issue. Don’t miss anything on our website or Facebook! Read Do South's digital edition at DoSouthMagazine.com Get one year of Do South for just $30. Subscribe online at DoSouthMagazine.com, or send a check to: Read Chair Publishing, LLC 7030 Taylor Ave, Ste 5 Fort Smith, AR 72916

1. Love Stinks - J. Geils Band 2. You Oughta Know - Alanis Morrisette 3. 2 Black Cadillacs - Carrie Underwod

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

Sparks Heart Expo, 9 AM - 2 PM, Fort Smith. sparkshealth.com

entertainment

Montevallo Sam Hunt

review Marla Cantrell

Sam

still early out in Cali," he sings, trying to make his case for

movie star gorgeous, six-foot

staying out late, and then sways the girl still on the fence

three inches tall, and proud to

about whether to stay home or go out by telling her "you're

be Southern. His hometown

killing in those Levi's."

Hunt,

twenty-nine,

Cedartown,

Georgia.

His

alma mater is the University of

There's a play on words in "Ex to See," about a girl using a new

Alabama at Birmingham. He

guy to make her old guy jealous. Hunt's voice is sweet and sultry

played football there, was the

and flirty and perfectly upbeat.

quarterback, and threw 1,900 passing yards in a single season. But it's his rise as a new country

"Break Up in a Small Town," begins with a spoken monologue

star that has people talking, that has people weighing in on his

and then swells into a musical number. There's a lot of angst in

debut album, Montevallo, which is named for a town in Alabama.

this song, the story of a couple breaking up and the girl moving on with a mutual acquaintance. If you now live in a small town,

One of the highlights on the album is "Cop Car," a tune originally

or ever have, you know the feeling of dread when you leave

written for Keith Urban. The song is about a young couple, sitting

your house with a broken heart, afraid you'll see your ex with

on the tailgate of a pickup truck in the no-trespassing zone late

someone new, while you're still aching from the split.

at night, and the chaos that follows when officers show up. The song was a big hit for Urban, but that didn't stop Hunt from

Not every song on this debut album will hit the right chord with

putting his own spin on it.

traditional country fans, but enough of them do for you to try this bright new talent. Hunt's story alone is enough to draw

There's been a lot of talk about Hunt and what to call his brand

interest: his life as a football player in high school, as a basketball

of country. He, like many other young stars, is bringing his own

player in high school, the image of him picking up an old guitar

ideas to the discussion of what country music is. And while he

when he was eighteen and teaching himself to play.

was influenced by greats like Merrell Haggard, whose covers he often plays, he likes other kinds of music, like pop and Americana,

As for the debate on whether or not Hunt's country is country

and both show up in his recordings.

enough, the answer is simple: He's a country boy writing and singing songs about country folks. And for him, that's the

On this album, the anchor song is "Leave the Night On." It's about a small town where the sidewalks get rolled up after dark, where shops shut down early and restaurants close when the working crowd heads home for the night. Hunt's voice is perfect

definition of true country music.

DO SOUTH RATING: 7 OUT OF 10

for this number, this anthem for young love and adventure. "It's

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

entertainment

Everything I Never Told You By Celeste Ng Penguin Press, 292 pages: $2695 review Anita Paddock

The title alone tells you this book is

will think she is sought after by all

about secrets. And that immediately

the right girls.

makes a reader curious. So when you take it from the shelf at the book

Her brother Nathan is a year older

store or the library, and open it to the

and has already been awarded a

first page, you’ll read these words:

scholarship to Harvard, but he

Lydia is dead. But they don’t know

is not the favorite of the family.

that yet. That sentence will reel you

Neither is Hannah, the youngest,

in. And once you read the next few

who

sentences, you’ll not be able to put

family that she sits under tables

this book down.

and chairs and quietly observes.

Actually,

neglected

Hannah

the

her

most

That’s exactly what happened to me.

likable of the entire family. She

I was immediately taken in by this

knows the most about Lydia and

family:

James, who is of Chinese

her disappearance. Add to the mix

descent and a professor of history at

a local bad boy who saw Lydia just

a college in Ohio; Marilyn, his blue-

before she went missing, and the

eyed wife; and his children Lydia,

mystery grows.

Nathan, and Hannah. This novel is set in the 1970s, a The story revolves around Lydia, who is her parents’ darling, and

time when a mixed-race family in a small Ohio college town

the police investigation into her disappearance. It is 1977, Lydia

was something of a rarity, and the family suffered because of

is sixteen, and she is a beauty, with her mother’s blue eyes and

it. The book unfolds by moving between Lydia’s story and her

her father’s black hair. Her parents think she’s beautiful and

family’s quest to find out what happened to her, what went

exceptionally talented. Her father has pushed her to be popular at

so terribly wrong. Along the way, they find out things about

school (because he wasn’t), and her mother’s dream is for her to

themselves and about Lydia that never would have surfaced if

become a doctor (she went to Radcliffe and planned on going to

tragedy hadn’t struck.

medical school, but ended up as a housewife instead). This is author Celeste Ng’s first novel, and it is an incredible Lydia tries to accommodate her parents’ wishes and doesn’t

read that’s being called a literary thriller. Her language is lyrical

want to disappoint them. In reality, Lydia has few friends

and carefully chosen. There is not an excess word in the book.

because as a Chinese-American, she just doesn’t fit in. She

The story is captivating and brilliantly told, and will pull at your

pretends to talk on the phone to different girls so her father

heartstrings to the very end.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people

words Marla Cantrell images courtesy Steve Newby

Robb is a big guy, soft spoken, polite. His brown hair is long, his beard is neat, his smile is bright the way the chandelier above him is bright. And while he’s here to talk about his music – the 1,500

ROBB

songs he’s written; his 5,000 performances; his seven CDs; the 2012 Beaux Arts Academy Performer of the Year award – it’s his wife and his faith that keep surfacing. As he speaks, there's an undercurrent of sound: the low hum of the nearby diners’ private conversations, the ping of ice against crystal glasses, the piped-in music that fills the room. Robb stops, looks around. These people will be his audience soon. He orders

Singer-songwriter Robb McCormick is late to the interview,

a Coke, he pushes a strand of hair behind his ear, he scans the

something he apologizes for with so much sincerity it thwarts

crowd. There are no pre-show jitters; at forty years of age he’s

any inkling of frustration. He’s driven an hour and fifteen minutes

been on stage far too many times for that. Robb likes the spotlight,

from his home in Russellville to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he will

he likes the people who come to hear him sing his brand of music,

take the stage at the Movie Lounge restaurant and bar in less than

which is folksy rock, rootsy blues, a touch of the balladeer.

two hours. He tried to be on time, he says, but at the last minute he decided to swing by the coffee shop and pick up a caramel

As he talks, he considers his life. It could have turned out a

macchiato for his wife, Jeri, just to surprise her. “You should have

hundred different ways. Growing up in Russellville, what he knew

seen the smile on her face,” Robb says, and then he smiles himself.

was the daily thrum of living in a college town where students

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people

from Arkansas Tech University energized the place, and the

It was in those early years, both before and after the swing set

ins and outs of helping his parents in the furniture store

incident, when Robb found another love. At home, he made

they owned for decades. The family also had a second

up songs. When he hit his teenage years, he discovered that

house, passed down from Robb’s grandfather, and it was

girls would talk to a guy with a guitar, so he learned to play and

in Colorado, near Telluride. That’s where Robb discovered

organized a band called Sympathy. He planned to graduate, study

a world outside Arkansas, with its people from across the

business, but one day during his senior year a representative from

globe who vacationed in the snowy mountains, and that’s

Arkansas Tech showed up to talk about choral scholarships, and

where his view of the world widened.

Robb tried out, singing his signature baritone, and got a full ride.

But even before that, when he was just a small boy passing

He stayed in school for only two years; his heart was in performing

through the doors of his kindergarten classroom for the first

and his band was still intact. "Honestly, I was a different person then.

time, something happened that sealed his destiny. He walked

I was young and arrogant and full of myself, and really not talented."

in and spotted a girl named Jeri. “She was the prettiest girl

Robb shakes his head. "I'm really not being humble. I listen to my old

I’d ever seen,” he says. “I waited six years to make my move.

tapes and I was pretty bad, the least important member of the band,

In the fifth grade I sent her a note asking her to check ‘yes’

with the biggest ego. And the band mates eventually left me one at

if she liked me. She did. She circled it twice, so I kind of

a time and it brought me to this really humble place.

consider that our engagement,” Robb jokes. “A couple of weeks later I saw her on the swing sets with someone else,

"I spent two years living in my parents' basement when I was

so we kind of took a twenty-two-year hiatus. When we got

probably twenty-two. I bought a piano. I focused on songwriting.

back together, she was still the most beautiful girl I’d seen."

When I came back I started playing music with just me and a

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people

guitar. It was frightening for someone who'd always been backed

met. When they married twelve years ago this month, it was in a small

by a band. All at once it was all on me. If anyone was messing

ceremony. "I wanted it to be about me and her and God," Robb says.

things up, it was me.” He is still so abundantly in love that he is releasing a song with the One night, while at Kelts, a pub and restaurant in Altus, the bartender

working title "Wife," on Valentine's Day. He hopes that the lyrics

picked up the phone. On the other end someone was asking who

will help counteract what he sees as Hollywood's skewed version

was slated to perform. He pinched the bridge of his nose, tried to

of romance, particularly the steamy movie Fifty Shades of Grey,

remember, and said, finally, "Some guy named Robb." The name

which will hit theaters one day before.

seemed perfect and it's the moniker he now uses. "I started thinking about our wedding vows, and what I would say to her It's been sixteen years since Robb, a.k.a. some guy named robb, quit

today. Ecclesiastes 9:9 says your wife is your treasure; she is mine. When

his day job and started earning a living from his music. Since then,

I was writing the song, the words 'I would fight for her' kept coming to

he's heard that some of his songs have been played at weddings

me. Jeri represents peace to me; her heart is my home. We can sit in a

and funerals, and during tumultuous times. "I was in Walmart two

room and be quiet and it's perfectly fine. We can laugh and be loud and

or three years after I released my first album and this guy came up

it's great. Men are born with a warrior spirit. The problem is we fight

to me. His name was Roman. He asked me if I remembered a wreck

for the wrong things. We need to be fighting for monogamy. Jeri and I

on Highway 7 that had happened the year before. Three people had

saved ourselves for each other. And she saw how badly I wanted to stay

died. I said I had, and out of nowhere he lifted his shirt and showed

with her and be with her. Doing that proved something to her about me

me where he'd been cut apart and sewed back together. There were

and how I loved her. I only have eyes for her."

tears in his eyes and he said, 'Me and your CD are all that survived that wreck, and I just wanted to thank you because it was part of

The talk turns again to Robb's music. There have been milestones —

the healing process to listen to it.' I gave him a hug and I teared up.

not so long ago he played in England and France—and he's gathered

You don't realize how many people's lives you're touching when you

awards that solidify his standing in the music community. But when

release art. That was my reminder not to put stuff out there that ten

asked what he wants to accomplish before he dies, he talks of his

years later you wish you hadn't."

children, walking his daughter down the aisle, watching his son become a father himself.

His music, and his devotion to what he thinks is important, shows up in his songs. He strives to be the kind of husband and father –

He has seen the brevity of life, has been beside the bedsides of

he and his wife have two children – who will bring honor to God

the dying, playing his guitar and singing softly. He's played inside

and to his family.

Tucker and Cummins prisons for men who will never take a free step again in this lifetime.

To do that he's studied the world's religions, he's examined his own life, he's spent time contemplating how he should live. "From the

The telling of these stories takes him back to his younger self, back

time I was fifteen and accepted Christ until I was twenty-three, I

when he thought he'd end up in the world of business. He is happy

felt like I just wasn't honest enough in my relationships. I felt like

that he ended up with the life he has. It wouldn't have happened

at that time, God tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Look at the

without the faith that keeps him yearning to be better, that keeps

brokenness, at the mess you've left behind you. This is what happens

him walking in the light of Christ, even on days that would otherwise

when you do things your way.' Today, my identity is not that I'm a

be rife with darkness.

musician or that I play guitar. I know that in a moment those things can and will be gone. My identity is who I will be eternally." It was because of this transformation that he got a second chance with Jeri. As Robb describes their courtship, it seems pure and sweet enough to be the plot for a Hallmark Channel movie. When he asked her to marry him, he did it in the kindergarten classroom where they'd first DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

For more on Robb's music or to buy his albums, visit sgnrobb.com. His music is available at soundcloud.com/some-guy-named-robb Upcoming local shows: February 10 – Joe’s Grill and Cantina, Fort Smith, 7 PM. February 13 – Landry’s Cajun Cuisine, Fort Smith, 7 PM.

home

C E N T E R P I E C E,

Center Stage words and images Yvonne Pratt

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

home

e love to sit down to a gorgeously decorated table, but setting it up is a different story. We know where to set the plates, napkins, and silverware but the process of designing a beautiful tablescape can stump us. My secret to a

well dressed table is a fabulous centerpiece. Follow my five tips for a centerpiece that will take center stage at your next gathering!

Local Flowers In spring and summer the most beautiful floral centerpieces can be picked right outside your back door. But during the cold days of winter, visit your local florist or grocery store. Gather up flowers in single color profusions and line them down the center of your table in glass mason jars. Or line several beverage bottles down your table with a single floral stem in each for a funky, vintage look. Even clipped greens and herbs look wonderful down the center of a table. An often overlooked flower, the mini-carnation, emits star qualities when cut and placed in a great bowl or vase. The key is to take some time to arrange them correctly. I love to cut the bottom of the stem so that the base of the flower touches the top of the container. My favorite flowers to arrange are hydrangeas. They make a beautiful, full, fluffy centerpiece. If you don’t have hydrangeas planted, consider planting them. They bloom all summer and make beautiful, effortless centerpieces.

Fruits and Vegetables Fruits and vegetables are as beautiful as a big bouquet of flowers. Bright, dramatic and edible. Mix fruit with other natural elements like willow balls, sticks, twigs and greens. But don’t discount a big bowl of apples, pomegranates or oranges, as a stand-alone centerpiece. It’s a breathtaking look. Fruits such as grapes are perfect for spilling over pedestals or cake plates, stacked on top of one another. Featuring grapes on a vertical centerpiece allows them to cascade over and gives a beautiful presentation

More Table Tips: • Make sure your guests can see above or through a centerpiece. No line-ofsight distractions. • Make sure all flowers and potted plants are fresh. • Put a plastic liner under your tablecloth and centerpiece if it contains water. Let’s not ruin our tables! • It’s fun to give away your centerpiece at the end of the night to someone who helped you, or who has a special day approaching.

home

Carry the Theme Use elements of a holiday or season in the centerpiece that will set the mood and theme for the entire table. I love repeated elements in décor and seeing things all tied together. If you're setting a table for Memorial Day consider using American flags and the colors red, white and blue in your centerpiece. Then, carry the theme throughout the rest of your tablescape so that it looks cohesive and well put together. For example, if you have dishes with a rooster motif, find a faux rooster at a home décor store to place in the centerpiece. By adding the theme of the table into the centerpiece, your tablescape goes from cute to fabulous.

Potted Plants Your local greenhouse is a fantastic centerpiece source. There are a lot of inexpensive indoor and seasonal plants. My favorite way to use them is to match or coordinate the rest of the table with them by color and season, or vice versa. For example, if you're setting a Valentine table, a low container planted with white or pink mini orchids would look romantic as a centerpiece. Or a pot of several mini roses, often sold at the grocery store, would look great. When repotted and grouped in a cluster of three, they make a centerpiece to warm anyone’s heart.

Repeated Elements Create drama by adding a line of like things down the center of a table as your centerpiece. Don’t just think flowers, but think collections: lanterns, candles, cake plates, the sky's the limit!

Yvonne is the creator of StoneGable, a beautiful and widely popular blog about all things home. Her love for American farmhouse living is evident throughout her posts on decorating, home décor, DIYs, gardening, cooking and much more. Visit StoneGable at stonegableblog.com.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

diy

Special Delivery words and images Janna Wilson

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

diy

alentine’s Day is an opportunity to show your love, indulge in sinful sweets and pen a special sentiment to your honey. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t cherish a heartfelt love note from time to time. As a Valentine tradition, I try to make the day special and significant for my whole family. This year, I’ve created oversized, keepsake Valentines inspired by a version I saw at Pottery Barn Kids. This felt project is easy enough that children can help. Make them extra unique with personalization. You can add notes, treats and gifts to the pockets.

Materials: • (4) Stiff felt sheets (12 x 18) for envelope • Contrasting colors of felt for embellishments • Needle and embroidery floss (contrasting color) • Ribbon for hanging (optional) • Embellishments (trims, ric-rac, ribbon, ruffles, lace) • Velcro or a button • Basic crafting tools: pencil, ruler, scissors, pinking/scallop shears • Pattern: download our patterns at DoSouthMagazine.com.

Flaps Front

Back

Envelope Pieces

Assemble

Trim felt sheet to 12” x 15” (save scrap pieces for embellishing).

Use our downloadable patterns (or make your own) and trace two flaps.

Use the flap pattern to cut away the opening for the envelope back.

Measure 5" from straight edge of flap pieces and make a horizontal fold.

Sandwich the flap pieces between the rectangle pieces and tack lightly with hot glue if you will be adding decorative trim (permanent gluing will be done at the end).

Use pattern to trace scallop trim from a contrasting color of felt. Tack these between the layers with glue. (This step takes some patience but the final look is worth the extra effort.)

TIP: Use premade pom trims, ric-rac or lace to design unique styles for each of your Valentines and save time in the process. Look for rosettes, hearts and fun buttons as well. Glittered fun foam is perfect for creating the 3-dimensional heart stamps like mine. DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

diy

Embellish 7

Stitch along flap edges and side edges with at least a ¼” running stitch with embroidery floss. Pre-mark the dots with a fine-point pen to help keep these stitches spaced consistently. If you want to add a hanger, tack a bit of ribbon between the layers. Securely glue all layers together with hot glue.

Embellish front side of envelope with hand-cut pieces (stamp with heart, child’s name, etc.) to create the look of a real piece of mail.

Attach a bit of Velcro for a closure, or use a button if desired.

NOTE: I cut the names out of black adhesive vinyl with my digital cutting machine (Silhouette Portrait). You could also purchase sticker letters or trace and cut names out of scrap felt.

Deliver this BIG Valentine filled with love notes and small gift items to your sweeties. Use these lovelies as GIANT place cards to decorate a fun Valentine tablescape. How ever you deliver these large letters, your loved ones will definitely feel the love!

Janna Wilson is a long-time crafter, graphic designer and teaches calligraphy workshops locally. Find more inspiration on her blog at JannaWilson.com.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

shop

little bit in

SPICE UP YOUR LIFE!

Amish Wedding salsas in mild, hot, and black bean.

Farmers Coop/15 locations - River Valley, Northwest Arkansas, Oklahoma/farmercoop.com

with…

SET THE MOOD!

Chandon Rose Champagne, champagne flute, and heart candle.

In Good Spirits 12100 Highway 71 South, Fort Smith

IT’S ALL IN THE EYES!

A BOLD STATEMENT OF LOVE!

Stiles Eye Group 2401 South Waldron Road, Fort Smith stileseyegroup.com

John Mays Jewelers 1401 Waldron Road, Suite 103, Fort Smith johnmaysjewelers.com

Naiade by Lafont®, black and red cat eye sunglasses.

Hearts on Fire Diamond Bands.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

shop

They say February is the month of love, and we’d have to agree since we fell in love over and over again as we searched out products to bring you. The best part is they’re all from local shops in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

WELCOME SPRING!

Mudpie photo frame and chalkboard herb planters.

Sunshine Gift Shop at Mercy 7301 Rogers Avenue, Fort Smith

NAUGHTY AND NICE!

The University of Arkansas® cologne, little devil stuffed animal, silver candle holders.

Jennifer’s Gift Shop at Sparks Health System 1001 Towson Avenue, Fort Smith

PLAY TO THEIR SENSES!

FROM PARIS WITH LOVE!

Olde Fashioned Foods, Fort Smith 123 North 18th Street / 8434 Phoenix Avenue, Suite E

Crossroads Antique Mall 3325 South 74th, Suite A, Fort Smith

Chocolove chocolate bars, sea salt truffles, and Zum® body products.

Paris themed stationery set, framed Eiffel Tower print, clock necklaces.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

community

U.S. MARSHALS COMMEMORATIVE COINS words Marla Cantrell images courtesy U.S. Marshals Museum

A TIMELINE OF HOW FORT SMITH

2015 is a big year for Fort Smith, Arkansas. Just days ago, the United States Mint released the new U.S. Marshals Service Commemorative Coins, including one that shows an Old West lawman holding a poster that reads “Wanted in Fort Smith.” It’s a strategic design, since a surcharge added to the price of the coins will be used to help construct the U.S. Marshals Museum, which is scheduled to open in just two years. LIMITED (MAXIMUM) QUANTITIES: 100,000 $5 gold coins $ cost varies due to fluctuating gold prices.

NATION’S OLDEST LAW AGENCY. SEPTEMBER 24, 1789 George Washington signed the Judiciary Act, as part of Senate Bill One, which created the U.S. Marshals Service. 1875 Judge Isaac C. Parker became the federal judge for the Western District of Arkansas, which had jurisdiction over the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). That same year, Bass Reeves was hired as a deputy U.S. marshal, making him one of the first black lawmen west of the Mississippi River. Parker was given the nickname “The Hanging Judge” because of the number of outlaws hanged under his watch. The federal courthouse, jail, and the gallows are now part of Fort Smith’s National Historic Site.

500,000 silver-dollar coins $46.95

1969 John Wayne played the fictional one-eyed U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, who rounded up criminals in the Indian Territory for trials held in Judge Isaac Parker’s court. Wayne won his only Oscar for playing the role.

750,000 clad (layered metal) half-dollars $14.95

UPCOMING EVENTS! February 7, 2015 – 6 PM. This drop-in launch party (free to attend) will be held at the Blue Lion, downtown Fort Smith. Marshals coins will be for sale, and the popular local musicians, The Crumbs, will be playing. March 14, 2015 – Kickin’ Up the Dust Gala, Expo Center at Kay Rodgers Park in Fort Smith. This fundraiser includes numerous entertainers, including Asleep at the Wheel. The center will be transformed into an Old West town, with food, drinks, Blackjack, Texas Hold’em, prizes, great food, a live auction, a raffle, and a mechanical bull. For details, visit usmarshalsmuseum.com/gala. 2017 – The estimated opening date for the U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith.

BECAME A BIG PLAYER IN THE

JANUARY, 2007 Fort Smith, Arkansas was selected as the site for a new U.S. Marshals Museum to be built near the Arkansas/Oklahoma border, overlooking the Arkansas River. JULY 23, 2014 Designs were unveiled for the $5 gold, the silver-dollar, and the clad half-dollar U.S. Marshals Commemorative Coins. The silverdollar shows an Old West marshal holding a wanted poster that reads, “Wanted in Fort Smith.” SEPTEMBER 24, 2014 A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the 50,000-square-foot, estimated $50 million U.S. Marshals Museum. JANUARY 29, 2015 The U.S. Mint began selling the commemorative U.S. Marshals coins.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people

......

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people

.. Disruptions in Continuity words and images Laura Hobbs

In the summer of 1999, I was at a house party hosted by a guy with wild eyes, head-banger hair and "FUN" tattooed in large, cartoony letters across the front of his neck. There was a live band in the living room and copious amounts of unidentifiable alcohol being served out of red plastic cups. I was 19 and, well...19. We'll leave it at that. At the party, I met a swooningly handsome guy with bleachblonde hair, Union Jack boots and charm so thick it'd coat the back of a spoon. His energy was warm and goodintentioned. His smile was a beacon. I was smitten. I'm leaving out chapters of important details and heaps of relevant information, but our party encounter in the summer of 1999 led to phone calls, which led to visits, which led to dinners, which led to kissing, which led to dating, which led to moving in together, which led to getting married in the summer of 2002. I was twenty-two, he was twenty-five. We were kids who loved playing house together. As we enter our sixteenth year of coupledom, we've reached that stage of familiarity-bordering-on-telepathy that longstanding partners have. We've gone so far down the road of togetherness, the briars that line the well-worn path of marriage have surrounded us and closed us in. We know each other better than we know our own self. And even in knowing each other to the Nth degree, there are still plenty of moments when we see each other in a new light. The shift in habits. The newfound opinions. The fresh speckles of gray. They're all welcome disruptions within the continuity. And it's a good thing I find his disruptions so damn charming. Laura Hobbs is a writer, photographer and Fayetteville native. She and her husband Eric now live in Boulder, Colorado with their dog Olive. Follow Laura's photographic adventures at lauraghobbs.com.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

beauty

Kiss & Makeup words and images Catherine Frederick

EYES & BROW

He bought the flowers. You bought the little black dress. He made reservations at that restaurant you both love, and now youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re getting ready for your romantic night out. You know what will make you look even more radiant? Using the right makeup brushes to apply everything from foundation to eye shadow!

FACE

Kabuki

Large Shadow

Powder

Doe Foot Blender

for applying loose face powders - use in a sweeping motion for full coverage or buff for an airbrushed look.

for compact powder, blush and bronzer. Load brush then shake off excess before applying to skin.

Flat Buffer

for buffing and blending color. Use with liquid, cream or powder.

Angle Brush

for highlighting, contouring, shading with bronzer or powders. Use with creams, gels, or powders.

Foundation

for applying liquid and cream foundations for a smooth, flawless finish.

Concealer

for applying concealer or highlighter under eyes and problem areas (broken veins, discoloration, acne).

for applying all over color to the lid, best used with light or medium colors.

for applying color, blending and contouring in the crease or applying mineral concealer around eyes.

Detail Shadow

for targeted, precise application, blending or smudging liner. Also to highlight brow bone or line lashes.

Pointed Blender

for contouring, shading, and adding drama to any look. Also for shading crease or defining eyes.

Medium Liner/Brow

for lining lids and defining and filling brows for a symmetrical appearance. Coastal Scents makeup brushes courtesy Makeup Lounge - 479.478.9414 1401 South Waldron/Fort Smith, Arkansas/Find them on Facebook.

pets

Give Them Your Heart Find your forever friend at the Sebastian County Human Society in Fort Smith, Arkansas

Bucky

Geronimo

Beth

Dono

Molly

Annie

Sebastian County Humane Society 3800 Kelley Hwy, Fort Smith | 479.783.4395 | SebastianCountyHumaneSociety.org Each month, Do South donates this page to local and regional non-profit animal shelters. If you work with a shelter and would like to reserve this space, please email editors@dosouthmagazine.com. DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

lifestyle

How to Save Your

words and images Robb McCormick a.k.a. some guy named robb

Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun. The wife God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil. Ecclesiastes 9:9 New Living Translation (NLT)

I've been married for twelve years this February and I can tell

dum da-dum), after a few months, real life inevitably sets in.

you this. Nothing prepares you for marriage. The good, the bad and the whoa I barely dodged that flying plate! But I've picked

And as it does, suddenly the little things start to become the

up some wisdom along the way and here are some helpful

big things. Suddenly you're arguing about toilet seat lids and

hints you might want to use. Let me offer these to you freely.

toothpaste squeezes. You've gone from doe-eyed, loveydovey, steamy kisses to shouting matches and long spells of

I'm going to speak to the men (because I am one). So ladies,

uncomfortable silences. You may even be asking yourself the

if you agree you can leave this on your husband's pillow if you

questions, "Did I make a mistake?" or saying, "Maybe she's not

think he needs to read this.

the right one for me?"

As a musician, I've played a lot of weddings over the years

Take a flashback moment to the second you said, "I do." You

and I have heard some amazing vows and promises made by

were looking into her eyes, full of love and hope, and you truly

both brides and grooms. My thought about marriages and

meant it. That's called a VOW. Now, a vow is not a promise to

how they differ from weddings is this: the wedding is the

be taken lightly. So you might want to go back and re-read your

first pinnacle of your relationship together. The Beginning!

vows. But let me tell you, overcoming this hurdle is simply a matter

The first day! The Blessed Union! Things are probably gonna

of perspective! That's the word for the day, kiddos, Perspective!

seem impossibly happy (at least I hope they are) but (dum

Here are some questions to help re-evaluate yours.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

lifestyle

Is she your treasure? I mean, is she? Is she really?

Is she the sunshine to your day? Yes? Excellent!

Do you remember what it was like before you were

married?

you know it, but does SHE know it? • Do you ever just get her flowers because it's Tuesday? • Do you ever get up from the couch and say, "Can I get you something to drink?" • Do you ever open her door for her? • Do you have a life insurance policy to take care of her if something happens to you? • Do you ever see her walk by and say in a New Jersey accent, "That's what I'm talkin' about!"? • Do you still flirt with her?

Let her know! Got a minute free at work?

Call her. Can't talk right now?

• When you were so crazy

Now, does SHE know it? I know

Surprise her! Married life becomes

mundane and boring because

Text her. She needs to know you

WE let it! SURPRISE HER! Who

about her and you couldn't

are thinking about her and YOU

knows your spouse better than

keep your eyes off her?

need to be the communicator.

you? (Hopefully, no one.) So

• When you would call her

what does she like? Does she

machine just to hear her

Call me old fashioned, but I

like to go out? Take her out.

voice message?

believe the man needs to pursue

Get a babysitter and head out

(in a healthy way, no stalking)

of town for the weekend. Don't

flirted/vied for/wanted and

his beloved. And that INCLUDES

have money? (Don't get me

needed her?

after the courting and after the

started on this.) If she is your

wedding.

treasure, then put your money

• When you thought/texted/

OK, well listen closely, you need

where your treasure is.

to remember those times. You

What did you first find amazing

can't go back, but I guarantee

about your wife? Well, guess

you can move forward to an

what? Chances are, it hasn't

even better place. Those times

changed. She's probably

are your reference point and

even grown more amazing in

proof that you guys know how

different ways. Find HONEST

to have fun together. Let these

things to compliment her about.

steps guide the way.

Women are often like flowers in that they bloom best when given

WELL YOU SHOULD!

light and air. Let your honesty be

If you answered "Yes" to all of these then you are well on your way to becoming Husband of the Year. (At least in your wife's eyes.) And that's all that matters.

the light and let your sincerity be the air. She will bloom and when she does, it will be for you.

For more of Robb’s insights into life and marriage, visit sgnrobb.wordpress.com.

Quick tips for men whose excuse is "I can't afford it": First of all, YES YOU CAN! A) If you smoke, stop smoking (better for health, save lots of money). The money you save will be immediate and you can take her some place amazing. B) If you buy video games, skip buying one and treat her to something that she would like. Maybe a spa day or movie night. C) Keep a change jar and put all your money from your pockets in there. Within a month, you'd be surprised how much you might have.

OK, but let's say you're paying off debt and you really can't afford it. NO PROBLEM! Because there are tons of events for free that you can take her to! Find a coffee shop where musicians play for free. Our state parks often host movie nights for free. Just walking around on top of Mt. Nebo at sunset is gorgeous. The more CREATIVE the better. Because it tells her you've been spending your time thinking of her!

But here's the thing, whatever you do, make HER the focus for the evening. Put away your cell phone and put away your work stresses and worries. Focus on her and she will, in turn, focus on you.

Trust me on this. And heed my warning, men. If you don't do these things you run the risk of someone else doing these things. Your bride deserves attention from her husband. Give it to her and you'll see.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

42 46

entertainment taste

cheesecake for your sweetie pie

words and images Lauren Allen recipe adapted from Cooking Classy

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

taste

If you’re looking for a beautiful, easy dessert to prepare and serve on Valentine’s Day or other special occasions, this White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake is the one! Now don’t stop at the word cheesecake. It’s common to feel uneasy about making them. I can’t tell you how many New York style cheesecakes I’ve attempted and failed at—and I consider myself a pretty good baker. This cheesecake, however, is fail proof! You don’t have to use a water bath to cook it, and you don’t need a spring-form pan unless you want to use one. The combination of white chocolate and raspberry is perfect and the texture is smooth and rich, just like cheesecake should be. It’s delicious made with a homemade graham cracker crust, but when in a time crunch, a store-bought crust tastes great too.

Ingredients Crust

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 (8 or 9”) graham cracker crust (unbaked)

1 cup white chocolate chips ¼ cup heavy whipping cream

Cheesecake Filling 12 oz. cream cheese (1 ½ packages), softened

Raspberry Sauce

½3 cup granulated sugar

1 Tablespoon granulated sugar

1 egg

1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch

1 egg white

½3 cup cold water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups fresh or frozen raspberries DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

taste

Method Preheat oven to 325°F. Make the raspberry sauce first. In a small saucepan, whisk together 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar and cornstarch until well blended. Stir in cold water and add raspberries. Cook over medium heat, whisking frequently, until mixture reaches a boil. Gently boil for about 5 minutes on mediumlow heat, whisking constantly until sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and press sauce through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds. Set aside. Now, make the cheesecake batter. In a large mixing bowl beat together cream cheese and granulated sugar

To make the heart design featured here, use a clean medicine syringe and pipe small circles of raspberry sauce in a circular pattern on top of the cheesecake. Then using a toothpick, start from the center circle of raspberry sauce, and drag it through the center of each raspberry circle in a circular pattern to form hearts. DO NOT lift the toothpick out until you finish the last circle.

until smooth and fluffy (about 1 minute). Beat in the egg and egg white. Add vanilla and lemon juice. Set mixture aside. Add white chocolate chips and cream to a microwavable bowl. Microwave on half power, for 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until melted and smooth. Add melted chocolate mixture to cream cheese mixture and stir until smooth.

Bake cheesecake for 40 minutes, turn off oven, and leave the cheesecake in the oven for 5 more minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Cover with tinfoil and refrigerate for about 6 hours, or until fully set.

Pour ¾ cup cheesecake mixture into the prepared graham cracker crust and spread evenly over bottom. Drizzle 2 large spoonfuls of the raspberry sauce over the cheesecake batter. Carefully ladle remaining cheesecake mixture over the drizzled raspberry sauce, making sure to cover all of the raspberry sauce, not allowing it to show through. Use a toothpick to gently swirl the cheesecake batter smooth. Jiggle the pan gently with your hands to even out the top. Now you can drizzle the remaining raspberry sauce on top of the cheesecake however you like. DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

Lauren Allen is the creator of TastesBetterFromScratch.com, an exciting and beautiful food blog dedicated to sharing her love of cooking and creating new recipes. Lauren truly believes that everything tastes better from scratch!

taste

Have your Cake, Drink it Too Image Catherine Frederick adapted from onemartini.com

Red Velvet Martini Ingredients For the martini: 2 oz. Pinnacle Cake Vodka Â˝ oz. Creme de Cacao Âź oz. grenadine Pinch of powdered sugar Cream cheese frosting Red velvet cupcake (store bought) Sprinkles (optional)

Method

Rim a martini glass with frosting. Dust frosting with sprinkles. Combine Pinnacle Cake Vodka, Creme de Cacao, powdered sugar and grenadine in cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into martini glass. Serve with a mini red velvet cupcake. Please drink responsibly. Never drink and drive. DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

taste

girls' night out? sweet! decadent desserts of downtown fort smith words Tonya McCoy and Marla Cantrell

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

Romantic love is the superstar of Valentine’s Day, but there are others we love, who’ve been with us through breakups and makeups and so many bouts of laughter and tears they’ve become like family. If you want to show your girlfriends just how special they are, plan your own night out, and get ready for some sweet treats in downtown Fort Smith, Arkansas.

taste

Decadent Cupcakes Creative Kitchen

Cost:

Sea Salt Caramel Fries 309 Garrison Ave.

Bricktown Brewery

Cost:

First, treat yourself like a princess at Creative Kitchen. This cozy shop makes you remember the days when Prince Charming still seemed real and you begged mom for cupcakes for your birthday. “What’s great about it is everyone grew up eating cupcakes, so it takes you back to when you were a child,” says Jami Coleman, co-owner of Creative Kitchen. Their bakery uses the highest quality ingredients including very finely ground powdered sugar. Each cupcake is handmade, and they’re almost too pretty to eat. They’re dressed up in elaborately decorated holders, some topped off with white chocolate hearts. Big sellers this month are: cherry almond, strawberry, red velvet, and white chocolate. Hours: 479.646.3233

Monday – Friday, 10 AM – 5:30 PM. Saturday, 10 AM – 4 PM.

318 Garrison Ave.

Fries - $6 | Crisp - $5

The new kid on the block, Bricktown Brewery, which opened in the fall of 2014, is housed inside one of Garrison Avenue’s oldest buildings. Go straight for the appetizer menu and find the Sea Salt Caramel Fries, made with sweet potatoes. Need more convincing? Sweet potatoes are trendy now because they're a superfood. (Super delicious!) These fries are topped with spicy caramel sauce and a little sea salt. What could make them even better? BACON. Bacon, bacon, bacon. Chopped into little pieces. Yummy! Feel like you could handle even more? Try the Sizzling Apple Crisp. Served in its own skillet, it’s one of those down-home desserts that remind you of dinner at grandma’s house. The difference is they add a caramel sauce over the top that turns this dish into something closer to a Crème Brule. Sounds delish, doesn’t it? Hours: 479.434.2739

Rolando’s Bananas Rolando’s Restaurante

Cost:

223 Garrison Ave.

Add some spice with “Nuevo Latino” cuisine at Rolando’s Restaurante. Before Rolando’s opened in Fort Smith, owner Rolando Cuzco carved out figures from the gold plaster walls of his restaurant to create decorative murals. He’s also carved up golden bananas creating his own version of bananas foster. This dish has quickly become a city favorite. Rolando’s recipe from his native country of Ecuador is creamy and tangy. The warm bananas are drizzled with rum and banana liqueur and sprinkled with brown sugar. The dessert is served ala mode with vanilla ice cream and topped with whipped cream. Hours: 479.573.0404

Monday – Thursday, 11 AM - 9:30 PM. Friday and Saturday, 11 AM – 10 PM. Sunday, 11 AM – 8 PM.

Monday – Thursday, 11 AM – 11 PM. Friday & Saturday, 11 AM – Midnight. Sunday, 11 AM – 10 PM.

Black Forest Torte Emmy’s German Restaurant

Cost:

200 North 13th St.

Head just off of Garrison to Emmy’s German Restaurant. There you’ll receive a warm willkommen (welcome) with some fantastic chocolate cake. The Black Forest Torte is a chocolate cake with a cherry twist. Chefs mix in chocolate chips and bits of maraschino cherries. Cream cheese strips are wedged between rich layers of chocolate. The cake is drizzled with kirsch cherry liqueur and topped with whipped cream. It’s as good as mom’s chocolate cake, because the recipe is from a mom - owner Joe Caldarera’s mother - who baked the cake for the restaurant for six months, then taught other chefs her secret. Hours: 479.242.3669

Tuesday – Saturday, 5-9 PM. DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

taste

Nutty Caucasian Martini

Bread Pudding

21 West End

R. Landry’s New Orleans Café

Cost:

21 North Second Street, Ste 102

Cost:

It’s not a girls' night out without a couple of martinis, right? How about dessert martinis? Go directly to 21 West End just off Garrison. Get a little nutty with 21 West End’s Nutty Caucasian. Owner Kevin Dorey was inspired by the “caucasian” (White Russian) drink from the cult classic movie The Big Lebowski. The Nutty Caucasian recipe includes a mix of vanilla vodka, Kahlua and a splash of cream. The crew adds Frangelico hazelnut liqueur to give the cocktail that “nutty” taste. Hours: 479.434.4213

Thursday, 5:30 – 9 PM. Friday and Saturday, 5:30 – 10:30 PM.

Cost:

Mardi Gras falls just after Valentine’s Day, so put on your beads and head to R. Landry’s New Orleans Café for a surprisingly addictive treat. Landry’s has what may be the best kept dessert secret around town: A New Orleans tradition – bread pudding. This dessert is one of the most often requested items on the menu. It’s perfect for a cold February night, and has been described by diners as “a little bowl of heaven.” These little squares of moist sweetness are drenched with a sweet creamy sauce and sprinkled with cinnamon. Tip: Some great musicians play at Landry’s. Check their website for upcoming performances. Some guy named robb (story page 24) is playing on February 13 at 7 PM. Hours: 479.783.2505

Lemon Drop Martini 21 West End

613 Garrison Ave.

21 North Second Street, Ste 102

Do you like extra sweet lemonade? If so, let the Lemon Drop take you back to summertime. This invigorating martini mixes freshly squeezed lemon juice with citrus vodka, Triple Sec, sweet and sour, and Splenda is added. Tip: If you’d like yours slightly more tart, kindly ask the bartender to add less Splenda.

(Lunch) Tuesday – Thursday, 11 AM – 2 PM. (Dinner) Monday – Thursday, 5-9 PM. Friday, 5 - 10 PM. Saturday, 1 – 10 PM.

French Bouquet Bravo Italian Restaurant

Cost:

424 Garrison Ave.

Hours: 479.434.4213

There's more than one way to enjoy flowers this Valentine's Day. The French Bouquet is a signature cocktail at Bravo Italian Restaurant. It's made with Grey Goose vodka, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, Grand Mariner, and cranberry juice. Fun fact: Elderflowers are the color of butter, smell sweet and spicy, and must be picked before noon to preserve their best qualities.

Thursday, 5:30 – 9 PM. Friday and Saturday, 5:30 – 10:30 PM.

Now that the night is over, CALL A TAXI, grab that bottle of water, a couple of aspirin, and don’t try to add up the calories. You can always work out tomorrow. Always drink responsibly. Never drink and drive.

The French Bouquet is served in a martini glass, is girly girl pink, and tastes like flowers. Wonderful! Hours: 479.226.3254

Sunday - Thursday, 11 AM – 2 PM, 5 PM - 9 PM. Friday & Saturday, 11 AM – 2 PM, 5 PM - 10 PM.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

taste diy

Forty-five Years of Spaghetti words Marla Cantrell

Forty-five years ago, when winter was bearing down on Fort Smith, Arkansas, Lona Seiter, who’s now eighty, and Rita Helfrich, who’s eighty-one, spent their mornings getting their children ready to go to Immaculate Conception Elementary. In the midst of all the bustling about, they were also helping prepare the school's first fundraising spaghetti dinner. For weeks before, on Saturday mornings, Lona and Rita would join the other volunteers in the roof garden, which housed the cafeteria at I.C., to make pasta and yeast rolls. “It was a primitive operation,” Lona, says. “We’d hang the pasta over clothes hangers to dry.” The two will not take any credit for this local tradition. The Featherbed Roll recipe was Connie Caldarera’s, whose son Tom owns Taliano’s Restaurant. Tom’s wife, Dorothy, was instrumental in getting the rolls and pasta made. As for the sauce, that was made in the homes of two other IC women. Jo Bushkuhl made the ground beef version; Connie Smith, the pork version. They carried it with them to the roof garden where the dinner was served. There was were candles, red and white checked tablecloths, and huge bowls of salad, made by Mary Ann McMahon and her crew. Lona and Rita estimate they served

Blentlinger, is now the principal at IC. “For over fifty years, since Sharon was in first grade, I have had consecutive children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren in the school. There has not been a skip at all.” “We’ve been doing this so long, there are now third-generation volunteers who show up to help,” Rita, the mother of eight, says. Last year, 132 people from the church and school volunteered, serving 2,500 dinners. The cooks went through 340 pounds of spaghetti, 5,000 rolls, eighty gallons of lemonade and tea, fourteen cases of lettuce, and 240 pounds of ice cream. This year’s dinner is on February 22, and they're ready for the crowds. Lona and Rita will be there, and they’ll be remembering the first dinner, the women who made it, and the joy it brought when they opened the doors to the roof garden and saw the crowds just waiting to come in.

200 diners that night. Each year after, more diners showed up on the last Sunday in February to support the school. They’ve now added a take-out option, and the spaghetti sauce is made in vats to accommodate the volume. The handmade pasta comes from Tontitown, but the rolls are still made at St. Anne’s Hall, on the church campus, and Lona and Rita, as well as other members of the IC Ladies Auxiliary, show up to help volunteers from the school make

Immaculate Conception Spaghetti Dinner

them, ten batches at a time. It takes about four weeks to make

February 22, 4 - 7 PM

enough for the dinner.

Msgr. Galvin Parish Center, 22 North 13th Street

The method of making the rolls is the same today as it was more

Fort Smith

than four decades ago. Something else that remains the same

Adults, $10. Kids, $5.

is the fellowship the dinner creates. Lona smiles as she considers

Tickets: Call 479.783.6798, or pay at the door.

this. She's the mother of five, and her oldest daughter, Sharon

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

southern lit

fiction Marla Cantrell

The road is wet with rain, and I am on it, gripping the steering

pools in all the low places. Inside, people are finding their seats and

wheel, heading to hear James Taylor sing the songs my mama

I locate my row, scoot past the gray-hairs that have been here since

played as she drove me to school, the ones she sang to me on those

the doors opened, my butt scraping shoulders, my feet kicking purses.

fevered nights with her head bowed over mine, her hand on my forehead, checking, worrying. That I love James Taylor now, that

When James Taylor comes on stage, the guy in front of me, fifty-

his voice plays on inside my head, keeping me up at night, is her

something, balding, whistling, holds JT's Walking Man vinyl album in

fault, and I have told her this many times, but more now that Leroy's

his hands and lifts it over his head like a trophy.

gone, now that he's left me for someone else, and I am mostly sad, and sometimes angry, and always afraid. Will my house fall down?

James Taylor is skinny, his jeans baggy, his sports coat wrinkled. When

Will my car give up? Will my hair go gray overnight?

he reaches the mike he stops for a moment, puts his hands together, bows from the waist. He looks serene the way I imagine a Buddhist

I think that it will.

monk looks, although I don't know any Buddhists. If I could get him alone, tell him my story, he could write it down. He could make my

The ticket that was Leroy's I carry with me and sell quickly, like a

sorrow rhyme if I told him all the ways I've been hurt.

drug deal, outside the arena in Little Rock, pocketing the eighty dollars, turning up the collar on my coat, looking nervously left and

The woman who bought Leroy's ticket is working her way down my

right, up and down the busy street. The rain has stopped, leaving

row. She's a big gal, twice my age, with crazy eyes and a bald spot on

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

southern lit

Leroy told me once that I never really saw him. That no one ever saw him. I think about how he held me in the beginning, how he wrapped the ends of my blond curls around his slender fingers, as if curls were miraculous things, as if I was a miraculous thing. The woman next to me shakes another pill from her bottle, holds out her palm. "Xanax?" she asks, and I say 'no,' and scoot as far away from her as I can. I have Valium in my purse. I have Ambien. I have the number of my therapist who tells me to write down my goals every morning and celebrate what I've accomplished every night. When intermission hits, I go to the lobby, get a hot dog, a Dr Pepper, and head out into the cold night. I call Leroy, get his voicemail, listen. He says his name this way: La-Roy. He told me that was the French pronunciation, that his name meant 'king.' Leave a message, he says. Surprise me, he says. I open my mouth to speak and nothing comes out. Back inside, JT retakes the stage. He picks up his guitar, bends his tall body toward the microphone, starts to sing "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight." The woman beside me sits holding her purse in her lap. She is glossy eyed since the Coca-Cola and the pill, still as an oak. She might as well be home in her housecoat, watching cable. I raise my hand, I wave it back and forth, a metronome for James Taylor to follow. I stand up, lean forward, try to get even an inch closer. His hands are fine things, beautiful, and his body moves as if it too is part of the song. the back of her head where her dyed black hair kind of fizzles out right on the back of her skull. She wheezes when she breathes and smells

What I love about my own body is its lankiness, the speakeasy

of cigarettes. When she sits down her thigh touches mine, her arm

way it moves. I'm wearing over-the-knee boots, skinny jeans, a

touches mine. She is damp as a camp dog and loud when she talks.

silky top that doesn't quite cover my mid-section. My coat is on the back of my seat, folded double, ready to cover me up if I want

"Heard JT seventeen times," she says. "First time when I was

it to. I don't believe I do.

twenty. In Tulsa. Fell in love. 'Sweet Baby James' did it for me. A cowboy song," she says, and shakes her head, laughs. "Still have

JT's song is about letting someone lie to us if that's what it takes

a thing for cowboys."

to get them to stay a little longer, until the sun rises again, until the morning light climbs over the mountain and shines on the valley

If Leroy was here, he'd be quiet. Last time I saw him he was

where our small lives eat us up. My mama used to sing this song to

standing on the boat dock behind his cabin, hands in his pockets,

me, back when I was young enough to like being sung to. My best

the fog of morning making a ghost of him.

friend's mama sang "You Are My Sunshine" to her and she turned out to be a happy adult, or at least she seems happy. I'm not sure you can

The woman pulls a can of Coca-Cola from her purse, uncaps a

tell the difference now that there's Facebook to mask your troubles,

prescription bottle and drops a blue pill inside the can. I'm so close

now that there's a virtual stage where we all live, trying to trick the rest

to the stage, James Taylor could look right into my eyes if he tried.

of the world into believing the better version of ourselves.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

southern lit

All around me cameras are flashing, people trying to capture this

"No, that's Leroy talk."

night. I keep standing, even when the lady behind me tells me to sit down. Near the end, when JT's singing "Shower the People" I

"You saw everything there was to see. A man with a string of

finally see him see me. We lock eyes and I feel his gaze softening

chicken houses who thought he was a king, who thought he was

all the tight places that hurt when I breathe, when I think. It lasts all

better than you were."

of five seconds, but it's enough. I don't wait for the encore that I know will come. I head back down the row, bumping people again,

"I stole a T-shirt at the concert."

scraping past fans who hate me for breaking the reverie. I pass the merchandise table, grab a T-shirt, keep walking.

My mama sighs. "Did it make you feel any better?"

In my car, I shimmy off my coat. I slip the too big T-shirt over my head,

"For a second, and then it hurt."

over my silky shirt. I hit Leroy's name on my phone and the dialing begins. When his voicemail message starts I lay my head against the

"Write a check, send it to James Taylor, tell him a man not worth washing

steering wheel. What was it I was not able to see in him? If I'd called

your feet made you crazy. He'll understand. He's had his own troubles."

him La-Roy instead of Lee-Roy would it have made a difference? "How do I quit calling Leroy?" I ask, and Mama says, "Delete his My therapist lets me talk about Leroy for only fifteen minutes of

number, get a job, start volunteering somewhere."

our forty-five minute sessions. After that, we have to talk about the future, what I'm going to do, how I'm going to "move forward in

A semi pulls in, stops, leaves its motor purring. The trucker gets out,

a positive, actionable way." Sometimes I tell her I'm taking online

stretches, shows his white belly when he raises his arms. The rain is

classes to learn how to be a medical transcriptionist. It's not true.

starting again, a fine mist, and I tell my mama I'll do all those things. It

During our last visit, she said, "Why do you lie so much, Sara?"

is not the truth, not right now, but not exactly a lie, either.

I told her lies were just the truth dressed in better clothes, and

I pull Leroy's number up as the lone trucker walks into the harsh light

then I asked her where she shopped. She didn't answer me. She

of the Stop & Shop. I want to call Leroy so bad my hand shakes, but

frowns a lot, takes notes. My file is growing fat with notes. I call

I don't. I can't erase him yet, but I'm closer now than I've ever been,

Leroy when I get close to the Clarksville exit. I listen to his message

and that's enough of something to matter.

again, wait for the beep. "I stole a T-shirt," I say. "I locked eyes with James Taylor. I'm going to be a medical transcriptionist."

My mama calls back. She says, "I forgot to tell you I love you." When I get home I will write a letter, not to JT but to Mama. I'll tell her what

I pull off the interstate, head for the nearest convenience store,

it was like to be a kid and sit in the car next to her, the windows

park under the lights where the gas pumps sit. I call my mama,

open, the cassette player loud with James Taylor's voice, the way her

who's all the way in Florida. When she answers I can't talk, and

dark hair whipped across her face, and how when she sang "Fire and

the tears start and she understands and only says "baby, baby,

Rain" I was as content as a person can be this side of glory. On those

baby," until I can breathe again.

days I saw her as clearly as I saw my own self, and it made the world spin the way it should. I got off track somewhere down the line, I'll

"Was James Taylor as good as his records?" she says, finally.

tell her, but not so far that I ever forgot how it felt to be the center of everything, how it felt to be somebody's best true love.

"He was better. So good he tore my heart in two." "Better him than that skunk, Leroy." Marla was awarded the Arkansas Arts Council 2014 "I couldn't see Leroy right," I say. "That's what did us in."

Individual Fellowship for her work in short fiction, an honor given to Arkansas artists who are recognized for their

"Is that therapy talk?"

artistic abilities.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

Welcome to our inaugural

Wedding Guide!

Welcome to our first ever Do South Wedding Guide! It’s a bride’s guide to local planners, caterers, venues, cakes & sweets, beauty, entertainment, florists, jewelers, and more. I know many of these professionals personally, and I’m thrilled to present their work to you. Please enjoy the Wedding Guide, and drop me a line to relay your thoughts and opinions about your favorite feature. You can also recommend a terrific local wedding professional, submit your own wedding photos for a future issue, or let me know what you'd like to see in a future guide!

—COMING NEXT MONTH—

BEAUTY & FASHION

Put your best self forward with help from our Beauty & Fashion Guide! Don’t miss the latest tips and trends from local fashion boutiques, dermatologists, stylists, spas, plastic surgeons, salons, aestheticians, dermatologists, cosmetic dentists, and many more in our upcoming Beauty & Fashion Guide! March April Beauty & Fashion All About Kids Want your business to appear in one of our upcoming guides? Find out about our great rates and digital extras. Give me a call at 479.782.1500 – I’d love to send you our 2015 Guide Calendar! See you in March!

Catherine

Owner/Editor-in-Chief • Do South Magazine • 479.782.1500

P.S. Check out our Health & Wellness Guide from January, available online at DoSouthMagazine.com/Guide!

Do South's guide to

Weddings

THIS. IS. YOUR. DAY.

ou’ve dreamt of this day since you were a little girl. The dress. The ring. The flowers. The honeymoon. You want the day to be picture perfect. Perfection takes a lot of planning, and

patience! Plan your dream wedding with a little help from the sponsors of the Do South Wedding Guide. Ensure that the day you’ve always dreamed of, is one you’ll never forget.

DO SOUTH MAGAZINE

WEDDING GUIDE

DO SOUTH MAGAZINE

WEDDING GUIDE

DO SOUTH MAGAZINE

WEDDING GUIDE

DO SOUTH MAGAZINE

WEDDING GUIDE

DO SOUTH MAGAZINE

WEDDING GUIDE

DO SOUTH MAGAZINE

WEDDING GUIDE

RIVER CITY 7320 Rogers Ave, Ste. 7 - Fort Smith 479.434.6474 myrivercitydeli.com

WEDDING GUIDE

More than a special day- the event of a lifetime! From bridal showers and wedding day brunches to rehearsal dinners and the main event â&#x20AC;&#x201C; River City can make your wedding spectacular. We offer wedding packages to fit every budget, from intimate casual gatherings to grand elegant affairs. Voted best caterer in Fort Smith for the third year in row, our food and service is second to none. With our versatility and wide range of offerings, we can create the perfect menu and service style to fit your every need. Take the stress out of planning your wedding. Let River City manage the details of finding the right cake, florist, rental companies, photographers and much more, so you can enjoy the moment. Call today to schedule an appointment with our chefs and coordinators!.

LET US HELP WITH:

DO SOUTH MAGAZINE

Pre-party Catering Brunch Catering

Wedding Planning Rehearsal Catering

Reception Catering Vendor Coordination

DO SOUTH MAGAZINE

WEDDING GUIDE

DO SOUTH MAGAZINE

WEDDING GUIDE

Read Chair Publishing, LLC 7030 Taylor Avenue, Suite 5 Fort Smith, AR 72916