®
LUCKY
MARCH 2017 DoSouthMagazine.com
CONTENTS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / OWNER Catherine Frederick CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Scott Frederick MANAGING EDITOR Marla Cantrell CONTRIBUTING WRITERS / PHOTOGRAPHERS Marla Cantrell Catherine Frederick Jade Graves Dwain Hebda Rachael McGrew Susan O’Dell Jessica Sowards Stoney Stamper James Stefiuk GRAPHIC DESIGNER Artifex 323 - Jessica Mays
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INSIDE
PROOFREADER Charity Chambers PUBLISHER Read Chair Publishing, LLC
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THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US Van Buren A&P Director Maryl Koeth is getting ready for the trip of a lifetime that only lasts the length of a church aisle. Read her endearing love story that started twenty-one years ago.
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PERKY PANTRY
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DECO-POTS
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IRISH LAMB STEW
Healthy eating is easy with Perky Pantry Girls! Find out how this local company got started, and what it’s doing to “Punch obesity in the face one calorie at a time!"
ADVERTISING INFORMATION Catherine Frederick - 479.782.1500 Catherine@DoSouthMagazine.com
EDITORIAL INFORMATION Marla Cantrell - 479.831.9116 Marla@DoSouthMagazine.com ©2017 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. Printed in the U.S.A. | ISSN 2373-1893 Cover Image: Stephaniellen
The herbs you grow for your kitchen just got a little sassier. These DIY Deco-Pots are the bee’s knees!
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with this delicious and simple Traditional Irish Lamb Stew. It’s so good, you’ll think you found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
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I
letter from the editor
I adore the signs of spring. Tiny birds sing good
We also have a heart-warming love story this
morning outside my window. Trees and flowers
month, The Distance Between Us, on page 12.
yearn to burst free with new blooms. Color
It’s a real-life love affair, which culminates
begins its slow creep back into the land-
with a wedding this month, more than
scape. Soon, every living thing will turn
twenty years in the making.
over a new leaf, a new life. One of the things I love most is the smell of
On page 20, we’re bringing you the
the earth – equal parts newly-turned
story about a new film in the works that
soil, rain and fresh blades of green
showcases Miss Laura’s in Fort Smith.
grass. I like to think it’s nature’s way
The history of this landmark captured
of reminding me that all things can be
the imagination of the filmmakers of Mad
made new given time and patience.
Possum Pictures.
March also brings celebrations at my house.
Once you’ve read all these wonderful stories,
My hubby and our son’s birthdays are this month.
check out our recipe for Irish Lamb Stew on page
And I celebrate the chance to spring clean and purge the
40. It’s the perfect dish for St. Patrick’s Day! If cooking is
clutter that has accumulated over the winter months. It’s also a
not your cup of tea, check out our story, What’s in Your Pantry,
time to freshen up the décor around the house, which is one of
on page 28, to find out where to get delicious ready-to-cook
the reasons I love this month’s DIY – deco pots! They’re on page
meals delivered right to your door.
34 and are the perfect containers for the fresh herbs in my kitchen. That’s just the beginning! We have so much to share, including I’ve yet to plant anything outside. I’m too afraid of that last frost
a look at how our local corporations and businesses give back to
nipping me in the bud. But I am busy planning my garden. We
the community. Those profiles begin on page 62.
have some tips on what you can do in your garden on page 48. Writer Jessica Sowards also suffers from that itch to get her farm
I hope you enjoy reading this issue as much as we enjoyed
going in the spring. This month, she tells us her story of learning
putting it together. It let me think about spring long before it
patience on her homestead, and what waiting can teach us all.
arrived, which is fine with me. I love this season, filled with hope,
Her story is on page 36.
and so fresh and new it makes anything seem possible.
If you love tulips, be sure to read our story Tulip Time on page 49 before you plan your visit to Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs, where you can take in over 150,000 tulips in bloom!
~Catherine
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To reserve this free space for your charitable non-profit organization, email: Editors@DoSouthMagazine.com.
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Do South® Gets Results for Your Business! images Jade Graves Photography
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advertiserSPOTLIGHT
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poetry
Revelation LINEs Susan O’Dell
My Mama is the blue blue butterfly that fandangos ahead of me held aloft by her fancy dance steps and the veiled breath of the Holy Spirit. I am left behind in a current of hot August air filled with trail dust and grief so new it still belongs to someone else. She loops and stalls tethered only by her own design as the distance between us becomes less and less. Until I can touch her, cradle her, or push her away. She leaves that choice to me...again. Today she comes to me where I am and I understand now, she always did.
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calendar
MARCH 3
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Submit your events to editors@dosouthmagazine.com March 5 Kathy Mattea with Bill Cooley Fort Smith artistaudiencecommunity.com Grammy Award-winner Kathy Mattea (“18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses”) and her longtime collaborator/guitarist Bill Cooley, will perform at AAC live in downtown Fort Smith. See website for pricing.
8-12
5
TH
March 11 A Night in the Caribbean Fort Smith kistlercenter.org
TH A Night in the Caribbean starts at 6pm at Golden Living, and features great food, an open bar, music by Mr. Cabbage Head and the Screaming Radishes, a live and silent auction, and tons of fun. Tickets are $75 with proceeds benefitting the Gregory Kistler Treatment Center.
March 3 Grape Escapes Fort Smith bost.org 479.652.4553 Grape Escapes offers an evening of fine wine, wonderful food, excellent music, and lively auctions for those 21 and older. The fun begins at 6pm at the Fort Smith City Center. Tickets are $100, and all proceeds benefit Bost, Inc.
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March 8-12 Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage Fayetteville waltonartscenter.org If you loved the movie, Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage at the Walton Arts Center is the show for you. This smash hit includes all the songs you love, including “Hungry Eyes,” and “Do You Love Me.” See website for pricing.
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March 11 Ruffles and Rust Expo Fayetteville rufflesandrustexpo.com Head to the Washington County Fairgrounds for one-of-a-kind shopping. If it’s rusty, sparkly, funky, or yummy, you’ll find it at Ruffles and Rust Expo. 9am to 5pm. $5 admission; 12 and under free!
calendar
THETOPTENTHETOPTEN 17
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The Fort Smith Convention Center transforms for this annual lawn and garden show. Learn about gardening, landscaping, see garden displays and meet local experts. 12 and older: $5. 11 and younger: Free.
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Acclaimed award-winning author Ann Patchett will be speaking at the Fayetteville Public Library at 7pm. Her latest book is Commonwealth, and she’s the winner of multiple awards including the PEN/Faulkner Award. Free to attend.
March 17 Women of Ireland Alma almapac.org Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with Women of Ireland at Alma PAC. Celtic music, song and dance from the next generation of Ireland’s leading female performers. Starts at 7:30pm. See website for pricing.
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March 31 An Evening with Ann Patchett Fayetteville faylib.org
March 18 River Valley Endurance Run Fort Smith Find them on Facebook
APRIL 1
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5K and half marathon takes place at Chaffee Crossing at the southwest corner of Darby Avenue. The run benefits the River Valley Marine Corps League 1248, River Valley Young Marines, and Toys for Tots.
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March 17-19 Arkansas Valley Lawn & Garden Show Fort Smith fslawngardenshow.com
April 1 Super Heroes for Autism 5K and 1 Mile Fun Run Fort Smith developmentalwings.com Dress like your favorite super hero, and get ready for a great time. Race begins at 8am near Wells Lake and the Janet Huckabee Nature Center. Late registration through March 31. See website for pricing and details.
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people
Distance
THE BETWEEN US
Words Marla Cantrell images courtesy Maryl Koeth and Bob Purvis
On March 26, 1996, Bob Purvis lay in a field outside West Memphis,
The comet, he thought, was a beautiful thing, but nothing
Arkansas, waiting to see the Hale-Bopp Comet, which had been
compared to Maryl Koeth.
discovered the year before. He stretched out his long legs. He looked up at the velvet sky, seeking that bright light with its two
Why she’d rejected him had a lot to do with her state of mind.
tails of blue and yellow. The comet was a thing of wonder, visible
She was getting out of a marriage, was waiting to sign divorce
to the naked eye, and so strong that in the months to come it
papers, and was feeling that trepidation common to those
would be seen in daylight in China, Mongolia, and eastern Siberia.
who’ve been stung by love.
But Bob had trouble concentrating as he felt the earth beneath
She also thought lying in a field in the middle of the night with
him, as he searched the sky above. He’d recently met a woman:
an astronomical wonder above you might be a bad idea, espe-
smart, intriguing, funny. He’d asked her to come with him, and
cially if you were with a man as good looking as Bob.
she’d tentatively agreed, but after waiting way too long for her to show up, he’d left alone. DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
people
Not that she didn’t like him. Earlier that day, the two had driven to Wapanocca National Wildlife Refuge in the Arkansas Delta, where Maryl was delighted by the dozens of muskrats she’d seen. They were in the area to attend a state tourism conference. Bob was representing Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce, and Maryl was (and is) the director of the Van Buren Advertising and Promotion Commission. So, there was Bob, alone in a field. He stayed three hours before driving back to the hotel.
“When you’re on the phone, there are no distractions. You can’t see the person, so you have to listen, and you get to know who they are.”
Three days later, Maryl called him. That call lasted maybe twenty minutes. A few nights after, Bob called Maryl. That call lasted
only other human contacts at night were City Police, State Police,
two hours. Soon, they were talking two or three times a day,
and Game and Fish who would patrol.
something that continues even now. “At the same time, he was building his house on a mountain in It was during those talks that the two got to know each other.
Eureka Springs. He would regale me with his adventures.”
“I think we’ve talked more to each other in the last twenty-one years than five married couples put together,” Bob says.
When May rolled around, Bob came off the mountain long enough to take Maryl to dinner. “It was my birthday, and our
“When you’re on the phone, there are no distractions,” Maryl
official first date,” Maryl says.
says. “You can’t see the person, so you have to listen, and you get to know who they are.”
After that, the two were inseparable. When Bob applied for a position in Pine Bluff two years later, the worry that the
Late on a Sunday night, less than a month after their first outing
move could damage their relationship surfaced, but only for a
to see the muskrats, an F3 tornado, a half-mile wide with winds
little while. What they felt for each other was real and strong.
reaching 200 miles an hour, hit Van Buren and Fort Smith, killing
When Bob got the job—he retired as executive director of the
two children in Fort Smith and injuring nearly 100 more across
Pine Bluff Convention Center and Advertising and Promotion
the area. In Sebastian and Crawford Counties, 500 houses were
Commission on March 1—they made plans to see each other as
destroyed, and more than 600 were damaged. When the sun came
much as they could.
out, the world had changed. One man found a car in his swimming pool. Another, who’d fought in Vietnam, said living through the
Twelve years ago, in a bouquet of red roses, Bob hid a diamond
tornado was the first time in his life that he’d been afraid. News
ring. The next logical step was marriage, but they didn’t want to
crews repeatedly said the path of destruction looked like a war
set a date while their jobs were keeping them 200 miles apart.
zone. This time, they were right. Now, Bob is sixty-six years old, newly retired, and ready. He’s Maryl’s parents’ house, a block from her own, was gone. Her house
been sorting through a lifetime of possessions to see what he’ll
was so damaged she had to move out while it was being repaired.
bring with him when he moves to Van Buren to live with Maryl.
But in those first days, before she’d relocated, those phone calls with
As he’s describing dismantling his kitchen, Maryl is grinning.
Bob were her lifeline. Maryl, getting by with the help of a generator, could look out the window and see piles of rubble everywhere.
When he talks about her, he’s very nearly evangelical. When he describes the first time he saw her, he says, “She was wearing a
“I was the only person left in my neighborhood,” Maryl says.
gray dress, dark stockings, and she had that blond hair.” His eyes
“We would talk on the phone for four or five hours at night. My
brighten. “She was gorgeous!”
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people
She still is. When they marry, it will be at Rock Creek Baptist Church in Mansfield. Bill Ross, Maryl’s middle child’s father-in-law, will officiate. The
two
have
five
children
between them and seven grandchildren, ranging in age from fifteen years old to two months. All of them will be at the wedding,
Bob and Maryl
along with a posse of Maryl’s close friends who have been waiting for this day for two decades. As for Maryl, she’s been to Tate’s Flower Shop, where she ordered her bouquet. “Make it small, I said to Mary Ann, and use some yellow
roses
and
something
white. And she said, ‘So you don’t want the Princess Dianna?’” during the week and talking so much on the phone, some of that Maryl laughs as she tells the story, and then she says that she was
stress was removed from the relationship.”
going to wear a “nice pair of slacks,” but her granddaughters stepped in, so now she’s in the market for a new dress.
As soon as Maryl’s finished, Bob says, “And another part is that we really like each other. We genuinely like each other. We have
Picking the date was the easiest part of all. They chose March
similar, warped senses of humor, our philosophies are similar.
26, a day they’ve dubbed Muskrat Day since that was the day
We come up with something wacky, and the other one says,
in 1996 when they drove to Wapanocca, just two people with a
‘Let’s do it!’”
mutual attraction who had no idea what the future held. This admission leads the two down a path filled with memoToday, they are the kind of couple you aspire to be. In the car,
ries. They’ve spent afternoons seeing where country roads take
at home on the sofa, they hold hands. If they have a disagree-
them. They’ve spent months remodeling Maryl’s home. They’ve
ment, they talk all the way through it until they get back to that
spent weekends planning the future. And they’ve spent the
defining sentence, “I love you.”
last twenty-one years loving each other so completely, they’ve become forged together.
Maryl and Bob feel immensely lucky to have found each other, and they both believe living separately has been part of the
They are smiling now like new lovers. They are smiling like two
formula that made their love work. “In our lives, we have
people who know a secret the rest of us don’t. Maybe what they
each had huge challenges that would have put a strain on any
understand is that the distance between them these last two
marriage, like the tornado and having to relocate my parents,”
decades was really no distance at all. Their hearts, at least, were
Maryl says. “But because we were apart and going through this
always in the same place.
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pets
Your New Best Friend F
M
Micah
F
Juno
River
F
M
Roy
F
Trinity
Candy
Sebastian County Humane Society 3800 Kelley Hwy., Fort Smith | 479.783.4395 |
| SebastianCountyHumaneSociety.org
Each month, Do SouthÂŽ 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.COM
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entertainment
Faithful
By Alice Hoffman | Simon and Schuster | $26 review Marla Cantrell
I love books for all kinds of reasons.
in her favor. She gets a job in a pet
Come to my house, and you’ll see the
store, and through a series of events,
bookcases filled, the nightstand by
gets promoted to manager.
my bed stacked high, the coffee table holding the next two or three books I
All the while, she’s getting postcards
plan to read.
sent to her parents’ home. They are lovely, with intricate drawings and
Occasionally, I come across a book that
messages like, Want Something, and
rises even higher than my expecta-
Rescue Something. These anonymous
tions for it. Faithful by Alice Hoffman
directives seem to be asking her to
is one of those books. It opens in Long
restart her life.
Island, on a snowy night in February, two years to the day after high school
And she does rescue something. She
seniors Shelby Richmond and Helene
sees an abused dog and steals it. The
Boyd were in a car accident that ruined
rescue works in her favor, helping her
both their lives.
realize she might not be as unredeemable as she believed.
Helene, in a coma, lies in a hospital bed at her parents’ home, and it’s
Still, the journey she takes is not an
believed she is somehow performing
easy one. She loses someone she loves
miracles, such as healing the sick. Shelby, riddled with guilt,
immensely, her love life is tumultuous, she makes bad choices.
has not seen Helene since the accident, cannot bear to see her. Shelby’s halted her life, a form of penance, living in her parents’
What I loved most about this novel, was that it felt almost as if a
basement, shaving her head, going out only to buy weed from a
fairy tale ran just beneath the surface. Here was Shelby, so full of
former classmate, Ben Mink.
pain she could barely exist. And there were these postcards that were leading her to hope again.
Ben was a misfit in high school, while Shelby and Helene were golden. But now, after the accident, Shelby has given up her popu-
The crowning glory was when the sender was revealed, and all
larity, her friends, her future. Ben sees Shelby’s guilt, her pain, and
the pieces of this shattered story started to pull themselves, and
he stands by her as much as he can, telling her the wreck was not
Shelby’s life, back together.
her fault, trying to make her see reason. I cannot recommend this book enough. Faithful is a masterpiece Finally, he convinces her to move with him to New York City.
and a story that will open both your eyes and your heart.
Shelby is an odd duck in an outrageous city, which seems to work
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community
Queen of the Row words Marla Cantrell images courtesy Mad Possum Pictures via: Manit Attakul (Miss Laura’s); Lane Breeden (on-set shots); Stacy Ericson (photo of Chuck King)
F
Fort Smith, Arkansas was a loud frontier town at the dawn
beer. Seven houses of ill-repute stood on Bordello Row near the
of the 1900s. Horse-drawn carriages clattered down streets.
river, all of them legal. After the sun surrendered to the moon
Trains pulled into the station, their brakes loud, their whistles
each night, you could hear pianos playing, the deep voices of men,
louder. On the Arkansas River, steamboats made their way to
the high pitch of women’s laughter.
shore, the men aboard elbowing their way off, many looking for a good time.
One of those houses, and undisputedly the most sophisticated, was Miss Laura’s Social Club. Miss Laura Ziegler, who always
They didn’t have to look far; the town was filled to the gills with
kept a six-gun nearby, charged three times as much as the other
saloons. And while a glimpse of a woman’s delicate ankle could
houses. Her “girls” were the prettiest around, she believed, and
set a man’s heart pounding in polite society, there were other
the most refined. She had high fences built to keep the curious
places where finding worldly pleasure was as easy as ordering a
from spying. She had rules that prohibited the women from
DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
community
being seen on the streets, in an effort, at least in part, to protect
Miss Laura’s, just six miles away, would be the perfect second
their identities. She displayed their certificates of good health,
installation into their Step Into series.
renewed each month, above their beds. Claude Legris and Carolyn Joyce with the Visitors Center talked In the parlor, a player piano hammered out the tunes of the day,
to him extensively. The staff at the Fort Smith Museum of History
and liquor flowed like a well-fed stream. The house was dressed
offered invaluable information. Shelli Henehan and Micki Voelkel,
in chandeliers, in stained glass windows, and in heavy draperies
from the University of Arkansas—Fort Smith, shared their exten-
where they were needed.
sive research on the house. And Joe Wasson shared the knowledge he’s gathered through countless hours of study.
When Miss Laura’s girls were called down from their rooms on the second floor, they were always fully clothed, another distinction of
What developed was a cinematic story of Miss Laura and four
the house. Whatever else happened took place in private.
other women who landed at the Social Club. The story of Bertha Gale Dean had to be told since she was a protégé of Miss Laura
There are stories about the upper-crust who frequented the
who ascended the ranks and eventually bought the house. While
place. There are stories that have survived about Miss Laura,
Chuck wrote her lines, he could feel Bertha come to life.
her instincts about money and business and human nature, that made her the top madam in town. There are stories about the girls, where they came from, and why they’d
Lauren Sweetser, Director Devon Parks, Marlane Barnes
turned to that life. One report claims many of them were from farms in the area, and once their careers ended, they married and lived quiet lives in simpler dresses. Much fascination surrounds Miss Laura’s and its sinstained history. Today, the building serves as Fort Smith’s Visitors Center, and tours are given regularly. From the site, you can see the churning waters of the Arkansas River; you can hear the wailing train whistles. Stand outside, and you can see all the way to Oklahoma, which was the Indian Territory when Bordello Row got its start in this border town. Two filmmakers found the intrigue irresistible. Chuck King and Devon Parks, from the Emmy award-winning production company, Mad Possum Pictures, started
Lead actress Marlane Barnes Director Devon Parks, Supporting Actress Claire Bermingham
talking about the possibility of a film in 2014, just after they’d finished Step Into: The King Opera House. The docu-drama tells the story of the iconic Van Buren theater and is now shown twice a week to tourists hungry for the legends of that historic place. They were on a creative high after filming ended. The idea of capturing Miss Laura’s showed up and stayed. Chuck, who wrote the screenplay, started doing research, adding fact upon fact, living with one foot in the present, and one in the past. He and Devon knew DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
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community
“Everyone calls the house ‘Miss Laura’s,’ and it was,” Chuck
(Winter’s Bone) who plays Rose grew up in Fayetteville. Completing
says, “but Bertha, who went to work there when she was about
the L.A. crew was Claire Bermingham (Choosing Signs) who came
eighteen years old, is the continuing thread throughout the
to L.A. from Ireland and plays Lanna.
history of the house.” Two local actors were also cast. Missy Gipson, the director of The other main characters are Kitty, Lanna, and Rose, whose
Fort Smith’s Young Actors Guild, plays Miss Laura. And Hannah
stories are based on the history Chuck gathered. “We look at
Lovins plays Kitty.
their situations and why they wound up at Miss Laura’s in Fort Smith, and what circumstances drove these young women to
It takes a good deal of talent to write these stories so tightly that
prostitution in order to survive.
they can be told in a thirty-minute film. But Chuck was able to do that. The day after Christmas 2016, the
“We wanted to give people a presen-
film crew all but took over Miss Laura’s,
tation of what life was like for these
working fourteen-hour days, and stayed
girls, starting in 1905, which was the
through New Year’s Eve. Extras showed
heyday of the house, and continuing
up to help. Local eateries brought
through the 1930s and ‘40s when
food and coffee and water, feeding
Bertha Dean passed away.”
fifty people each day. Other local businesses provided whatever services were
Even then, in the late 1940s when
needed. “We couldn’t have done it
Bertha’s life was nearly over, the
without the community,” Chuck says.
house was still operating as a brothel. The
was
Right now, the film is in post-produc-
outlawed in the mid-1920s didn’t
fact
that
prostitution
tion. When it’s finished, Step Into: Miss
seem to concern her much.
Laura’s will debut in Fort Smith, probably in late spring. Chuck and Devon
While Chuck was busy with the script, Devon, who directed the film, was
hope to have it shown on AETN, the state’s public television station. But
Chuck King
working just as hard. He’d moved
Chuck has an even greater mission.
from Van Buren to L.A., and knew award-winning producer/
“My hope is that this film ends up being the star in the crown of
casting director, Elizabeth Barnes Keener. Elizabeth, who grew
Fort Smith. I think it will be part of the great buzz that’s going on
up in Fort Smith, has many casting credits including movies, and
in the city, and that Mad Possum will be a part of that.”
several TV shows - Beyond, Revenge, Studio 60, and Sunset Strip. She’s also a producer and casting director for the soon-to-be-
In 1905, Miss Laura’s Social Club was the Queen of the Row.
released film, Parker’s Anchor, set in Arkansas.
Inside its walls, as the sky turned to velvet, the women waited for another night to begin. What they thought, and how they
“Elizabeth was our casting director. She brought in some
felt about the life they lived, is a mystery to us. But soon we’ll
Arkansas actors who are successful in L.A., and they were so
have a better idea of what they hoped and dreamed, thanks to
willing to come back here and get this done, I think in part as a
everyone who is a part of this film.
thank-you for their roots.” When the cast was complete, it included four actors living in L.A. with deep ties to our area. Those who spent their childhoods in Fort Smith are Marlane Barnes (Twilight series) who plays Bertha; Brandon Keener (He’s Just Not That Into You) who plays Gentry;
For more on Step Into: Miss Laura’s, visit madpossum.com. To learn more about Miss Laura’s Social Club, at 2 North B Street in downtown Fort Smith, visit fortsmith.org.
and Hunter Doohan (Mosh Opera) who plays Levi. Lauren Sweetser DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
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community lifestyle
DO SOUTH CARES
®
March is National Multiple Sclerosis Education and Awareness Month. As part of our Do South® Cares initiative, we’re doing our part to bring awareness to this disease, and to support those who deal with the chronic illness so courageously. The National MS Society estimates there are 2.3 million people affected by multiple sclerosis worldwide. While there are factors that may put people at higher risks of getting MS, there is no known cause for the disease. And while there are medicines and therapies to help live with the illness, researchers are still trying to find a cure.
WHAT IS MS? Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a potentially disabling disease
• Sex. Women are about twice as likely as men are to
of the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system). In
develop MS.
those with the disease, the immune system attacks the protective sheath (myelin) that covers nerve fibers and
• Family history. If one of your parents or siblings has
causes communication problems between the brain and
had MS, you are at higher risk of developing the disease.
the rest of the body. • Certain infections. A variety of viruses have been linked to MS, including Epstein-Barr, the virus that
WHO’S AT RISK?
causes infectious mononucleosis.
These factors may increase your risk of developing • Race. White people, particularly those of Northern
multiple sclerosis:
European descent, are at highest risk of developing MS. • Age. MS can occur at any age, but most commonly
People of Asian, African or Native American descent
affects people between the ages of 15 and 60.
have the lowest risk.
DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
lifestyle
• Climate. MS is far more common in countries with
• Partial or complete loss of vision, usually in one eye
temperate climates, including Canada, the northern United
States, New Zealand, southeastern Australia and Europe.
• Prolonged double vision
at a time, often with pain during eye movement
• Tingling or pain in parts of your body • Certain autoimmune diseases. You have a slightly
• Electric-shock sensations that occur with certain neck
higher risk of developing MS if you have thyroid disease,
type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.
• Tremor, lack of coordination or unsteady gait
movements, especially bending the neck forward
• Slurred speech • Smoking. Smokers who experience an initial event
• Fatigue
of symptoms that may signal MS are more likely than
• Dizziness
nonsmokers to develop a second event that confirms
• Problems with bowel and bladder function
relapsing-remitting MS.
WHAT TO DO. WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?
See a doctor if you experience any of the above symp-
Signs and symptoms may differ greatly from person to
toms for unknown reasons.
person and over the course of the disease depending on the location of affected nerve fibers. They may include:
Source: Mayo Clinic
• Numbness or weakness in one or more limbs that
For those already diagnosed, you can find support
typically occurs on one side of your body at a time, or the
and additional information at the National Multiple
legs and trunk
Sclerosis Society, nationalmssociety.org.
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lifestyle
does it work? Do South® Magazine reviews the
Leuke Citrus Sprayer Set. words Catherine Frederick images courtesy Leuke Citrus Sprayer Set
When contemplating which item to review for March, it became clear to me that I have a love affair with gadgets. I couldn’t decide between the Baseboard Buddy, the 360 Mop, the Red Copper pans, or the Leuke Citrus Sprayer Set. No need to run out and buy anything, I already owned them all! I may need an intervention. But first, let’s get on with the Leuke Citrus Sprayer Set review.
What’s the deal? I love water with lemon or lime, but I don’t like floating the slice in my glass after squeezing out the juice and worry about what could be seeping into my beverage from the rind. And I also like citrus flavors on certain foods like fish and salads, but I find it’s difficult to distribute it evenly. The Citrus Sprayer looked like a great way to get the fresh flavor I wanted without worrying about contamination from the outside of the rinds.
What’s the claim? Leuke claims you can turn citrus fruits (think lemons, limes, grapefruits) into self-spray bottles. Simply slice off the top portion of the fruit, insert the spray mechanism into the center, and spray the juice from the fruit onto drinks, salads, and more. The set comes with two sizes of sprayers (one for small fruits like limes, and one for larger fruits like oranges and grapefruits), a resting dish, and instructions.
What’s the cost? Available on Amazon for only $6.50 when you add it to a qualifying order of $25 or more, or online at Bed Bath & Beyond for $14.99 plus shipping and handling.
What’s the verdict? Have a product you’d like us to review? Send your ideas to editors@dosouthmagazine.com.
Does it work? Yes. It. Does! I found myself using citrus on so many food items. Especially handy is the resting dish which keeps fruit standing upright in the refrigerator when not in use. I was a little concerned that once the fruit was cut, juice would leak out everywhere, but the silicone ring prevents the juice from escaping. It’s a cinch to use, comes apart easily and is dishwasher safe. If you love fresh citrus in your drinks and on your favorite foods, I highly recommend that you run out and get a Leuke Citrus Sprayer Set of your very own! DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
entertainment
Fostering Fashion
FEATURING FASHION SHOW
Image courtesy Junior League of Fort Smith
SHOPPING
On March 10, from 6-9pm, the Junior League of Fort Smith is
FOOD, AND FUN
hosting Fostering Fashion, a designer fashion show held at the Fort Smith Convention Center.
FRIDAY MARCH 10, 2017 FORT SMITH
Do South® spoke with Felicia Norwood, Chair of Fostering Fashion for the Junior League of Fort Smith, about this new event.
CONVENTION CENTER
6:00 PM TILL 9:00 PM
What are we likely to see at the show?
Tickets $30 at www.jlfs.org
Local and regional stores will be displaying spring arrivals that
Fundraiser for JLFS focus area of Youth Aging Through Foster Care
they’ve held back for this event. We have the designs of Arkansas born and bred Laine Berry, who is the couture designer for Mon Cheri. She will be sending us new bridal and formal wear designs.
How will Junior League use the money that's raised? In this region of Arkansas, we have the highest percentage of foster
What will attendees be able to buy?
youth in the state, and as far as regions go, we have the second highest in the country. We have on average 1,000 foster youth,
We don’t want to give them all away, but we have Suite One,
with approximately 400 to 500 beds for those children. The goals
Simply Couture, Make-up Lounge, and Fashion Boutique, to
of JLFS are to provide support to the foster youth as well as their
name a few. Attendees will get the opportunity to grab up the
families during their time in care. We provide educational classes
items from the runway before they hit the racks, as well as fill
and mentoring to help them learn how to survive once they age
in any gaps they may have in their spring wardrobe.
out of the system. We also hold monthly outings. We hold events all year to help them understand that there are options for their future. Sadly, far too many foster youth fall victim to statistics of preg-
What about the men? We will have men’s fashions and children’s fashions. We’ll feature a “men’s den” furnished by Furniture Factory Outlet where we plan on having sporting events on display.
What about the raffle? Our raffle is for a Louis Vuitton handbag. We’ll have silent auction items ranging from golf gear to Hilton Head stays. We’ll also have
nancy, drugs, and incarceration. The Junior League of Fort Smith wants to eliminate those statistics for the foster youth in the River Valley, and eventually the rest of the country.
Tickets for Fostering Fashion are $30. If you’d like to purchase a VIP Table for 8, the cost is $400 and includes a complimentary bottle of champagne. Visit JLFS.org.
some beautiful jewelry pieces. DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
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What's in Your Pantry? WORDS Marla Cantrell IMAGES courtesy Perky Pantry Girls
I
It’s one o’clock on Sunday afternoon, and Jessica Irgens, Sarah Sawyer, and Jeremy Martin have already put in a day’s work. The three make up Perky Pantry Girls, a Fort Smith, Arkansas business that’s designed to make healthy eating easy. A big part of their services includes what’s going on today. They’ve taken over Patrick’s Butcher Boy Burgers on Rogers Avenue, which is closed on Sunday, and all morning they’ve been preparing ready-to-cook meals for their clients, which will either be picked up or delivered a bit later. But even before this team showed up for work, Jeremy, the chef in the trio, was at the market doing serious harm to the produce section. “They’ve gotten to know me at Walmart,” Jeremy says. “I’ll come in with my list, and they’ll say, ‘Let me see it,’ and they’ll go in the back and get everything they can. Before they did that, I was emptying their shelves in produce.” Jessica says, “I had a friend who said, ‘I don’t understand why I can’t find cilantro at Walmart anymore.’ And I said, ‘Are you shopping on Sunday?’ When she said she was, I told her she had to get to the store before Jeremy or she didn’t stand a chance.” While the story is funny, it also shows how successful Perky Pantry Girls has become since it opened in June 2016. Jessica and Sarah started the business and brought in Jeremy two months later. “I was teaching a weight loss class, and Jeremy was the chef,” Jessica says. “People would say, ‘Can I just take you home with me? Could you just cook for me? I wish you could shop for me.’ I’d done counseling for eight years and I knew what people wanted
DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
people
and needed. I felt like people knew what they needed too but they
everything on her plate and asking for seconds,” Jessica says.
were getting bogged down in the planning and the actual doing. “A lot of thought goes into the meals. Everything’s fresh, it’s “Think about celebrities. They have people who cook for them,
balanced, all the macro-nutrients are there, and it’s rich in fiber
who plan their meals, and when you look at them, you think, I
and minerals,” Sarah says. “Calories are usually between 350-450
could do that if I had the kind of support they do. That’s what
calories, and for the most part, you can prepare a meal in around
we’re doing. We’re giving you your own dietitian, your own chef.
thirty minutes, unless baking is involved.”
Only we’re much more affordable.” Sarah, a wizard at marketing who has a Nutrition degree, says, “We started out with Jessica, Jeremy, Sarah
this idea of how to help the community, to help them be conscious of their eating and give them that convenience factor. We wanted to keep them from going through the drive-thru.” They knew there was a market for meal delivery services like Hello Fresh and Blue Apron, both national companies with huge followings. With the expertise they had, they believed people in the area would support them. Now, they have loyal customers who rely on them for healthy, fresh food. One of their top sellers is the Veggie Burrito Bowl. “When we first put it out, we didn’t know if people would be excited,” Sarah says, “because it was a vegetarian dish. But from the first time we offered it, people loved it.” Each week, they offer a different menu. With dishes like Baja
"We started out with this idea of how to help the community, to help them be conscious of their eating
Chicken with Avocado Salsa and Cilantro Lime Rice; Flank Steak
and give them that convenience
with Chimichurri, Herbed Gold Potatoes, and Green Beans; and
factor. We wanted to keep them
Chicken and Cashews with Curry Rice Pilaf, everyone is happy. They even offer crock-pot meals. Every detail is taken care of,
from going through the drive-thru."
down to chopping the vegetables. All customers have to do is cook the meal using the simple recipes that are included.
Perky Pantry Girls offers several other services. Jessica works with clients on written meal plans. She’ll conduct consultations, discuss
As for the cost, their meals average eleven dollars for each person.
their goals, and talk to them about how to get there. Once she has that information, she’ll gather recipes, and Jeremy will tweak
One of the nicest compliments they’ve gotten was from a
them. If the clients need support, Jessica is available.
customer who had a picky five-year-old daughter. “She told me her daughter was only eating chicken nuggets until they started
If clients don’t have time to get to the market, Perky Pantry Girls
using Perky Pantry Girls, and now she’s cooking with her, eating
will even do the grocery shopping.
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Jeremy, who trained at Oklahoma State Culinary School in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, and has cooked for Tiger Woods, and the Cleveland Browns, will come to your house to cook a meal. “I collaborate with the host on the menu, and then I’ll either teach you how to cook or I’ll do the cooking and serve you,” Jeremy says. “For the cooking classes, I’ve worked with all levels, from those who can’t turn on an oven to those who make their own pasta. It’s just a whole lot of fun. “It’s a great learning experience. For example, if we’re making risotto I can show them how to make the one they’ve chosen, but I can also tell them how to make Wild Mushroom Risotto or Southwest Crab Risotto.” Jessica says, “We’ve done the cooking classes for birthday parties, and for friends.” And then she laughs. “Once, my husband singed his hair.” “Yeah,” Jeremy says, “it smelled a little like burnt hair for a while.” Sarah pats Jeremy on the shoulder. “People love Jeremy. I’ll get texts the day after he’s been to someone’s house to make dinner, and they’ll say, ‘That was the best time ever.’” Jeremy smiles. Growing up, his mom was a busy woman and while she was a killer baker, she, like most of us, would often turn to mixes and frozen foods to get a meal on the table.
November, we saw a big increase, and it’s just continued. It hasn’t
“I tell her I grew up on Stouffer’s,” Jeremy jokes. But when
even been a year, and people are responding so well.”
he went to visit his grandparents in Pennsylvania and Ohio, they’d make things like pork loin with sauerkraut. “I couldn’t
One of those goals is finding a permanent place. They want their
ask enough questions. ‘What is this flavor?’ I’d ask. When I
own kitchen, one where Jeremy can schedule cooking classes.
thought about college, I knew I either wanted to be a chef or
“My goal is to see people cooking at home again, getting their
teach in elementary school.
kids involved, loving it. I kind of want it to be like fifty years ago when cooking at home was what you did.”
“So now, I’ve gotten to combine what I love: cooking and teaching. I have a client right now who wants to cook with his two kids, and
The three believe life can be like that again. Each time they meet a
I’m working on that class. I couldn’t be happier.”
new customer, they feel like they’re working toward that dream. And that, to the Perky Pantry Girls, is the best part of this company
The Perky Pantry Girls’ slogan is, “Healthy just got easy.” Jeremy
they love so much.
says, “Yeah, they shot down my idea, which was: Punching obesity in the face one calorie at a time.” They laugh then, these three happy ambassadors of good health. Sarah says, “We have lofty goals, which we’re going to meet. We
For more on Perky Pantry Girls, visit perkypantrygirls.com. You can also find them on Facebook and Instagram.
started with just one client, and we watched the business grow. In DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
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shop
Feeling Lucky? words Catherine Frederick imageS Rachael McGrew & vendors
Taza Carpet and Rugs by Tuftex Carpets
D&D FLOOR COVERING 479.474.0533
Spring Wreath, Hummingbird Pillow, Glass Dispensers
JENNIFER’S GIFT SHOP AT SPARKS HEALTH
Delicious Cookie Cakes, Cookies and Brownies
GREAT AMERICAN COOKIES 479.452.9999
479.441.4221
Conundrum 2014 Sparkling Wine, Raptor Ridge Grüner Veltliner, Abita Mardi Gras Bock, Blackbird Vineyards 2015 Arriviste Rosé, Frisk Prickly Riesling
SODIE’S WINE & SPIRITS 479.783.8013
DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
Marquis Swim Spa Aquatic Training Vessel
LUTHER STEM POOLS & SPAS 479.646.7772
shop
March in to these adorable shops and tell them Do South® sent you! There’s no luck needed when shopping local – the gold at the end of the rainbow is right here at home.
Sospiri Eyewear
DR. STEVEN B. STILES OPTOMETRY 479.452.2020
Furnishings for the Home
H3 HOME + DÉCOR 479.434.4920
Blue Chair Bay Key Lime Rum Cream, Rogue Irish Style Lager, St. Patrick’s Day Glasses
IN GOOD SPIRITS 479.434.6604
William Henry Wooly Mammoth Rollerball Ink Pen
JOHN MAYS JEWELERS 479.452.2140
Aromatique® Candles, Decorative Fragrance, Room Fragrance Spray, Aroma Wax Melts
SUNSHINE SHOP AT MERCY FORT SMITH 479.314.6079
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diy
Deco-Pots words and images Catherine Frederick
DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
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diy
I love when a project comes along and I can repurpose something I already had to turn it into something not only cute, but useful! I chose to repurpose some old clay pots into herb planters for my kitchen, but you could also use them as containers for makeup brushes, utensils, or whatever floats your boat. Let’s do it!
Method
1
1. Gather materials.
Materials • Clay pots • Fabric of choice (I used Waverly® Fat Quarters from Walmart - $.97 each) • Mod Podge® (You can use Outdoor Mod Podge® if using outdoors, or if planting directly in the pot) • Spray adhesive • Foam brush • Scissors
2
3
4
2. Cover outside of pot (including bottom) with Mod Podge®, let dry. 3. Cut fabric so it’s 1 ½ times as long as the widest circumference of the pot. 4. Spray adhesive on sides and bottom of pot.
5
6
7
8
5. Apply fabric to pot, pressing out any wrinkles, adhering fabric as you work your way around the pot.
Cut excess fabric off at the seam. (Tip: non-directional fabrics work best)
6. Cut excess fabric away from bottom of pot, leaving ½” overhang. Fold fabric inward and press to secure
to bottom of pot.
7. Cut excess fabric away from top of the pot, leaving 1” overhang. Cut several vertical slits in top of fabric.
Fold fabric down to inside of pot, press to secure.
8. Brush a coat of Mod Podge® over fabric to seal. DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
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The Home Stretch words and images Jessica Sowards
I
I’m not a fan of the winter. I’ve bemoaned it in articles and whined about it to every listening ear. Unfortunately, my laments never keep it from coming. It still gets cold, the leaves fall off, and every day, bare branches summon me out to my gray and muddy mess of a farm. So, I wake, pull on layers of thermal, insulated overalls, wool socks, hat and scarf. I slip on boots and step out into air so cold it sears my lungs, where all my animals wait for my caring hand. This winter was fairly mild. Still, she had her fair share of frigid mornings. She evoked more than a few runny noses in livestock and small child alike. We hauled pots of boiling water day after day to thaw animal waterers. I complained but ultimately yielded,
“I’ve tried to stay enduring, but as my resolve cracked like dry wood under pressure, a realization came to me. A light bulb turned on, and winter smiled like a teacher to a student who figured out the trick question.”
because when up against the winter, I am the weaker entity.
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people
We’ve learned so many lessons in three short years on a small
One lesson, however, has far surpassed the rest in refining. With
Arkansas homestead. Some have been pricey lessons, where I
this farm, I’ve submitted myself as a student to the waiting, that
wept over lifeless, feathered bodies that I could not save. Some
lovely torture. Of the many things I’ve grown here, I can confi-
have been beautiful, rewarding lessons, the sort that bound
dently say, patience was the hardest of them all. Which brings
forth with the joyful, beating pulse of new life or the colorful
me back to winter, the impatient farmer’s bane.
prize of garden bounty. They’ve all been memorable, though, the good and the bad.
Having a homestead means living seasonally. Chickens lay
significantly less in the winter and begin filling the nest boxes
Three years ago, I was a city girl with a dream. We were closing
again in the spring. Leave the incubator off until late February,
on a country house, and my mind was wild with possibility. I was
to hatch spring chicks in mid-March so they can grow up as the
deeply convicted about food sources with a love for the kitchen
days get warmer. Start the peas as soon as the ground thaws;
and a mind to feed my sons real food. I’d read every book the
don’t start tomatoes until the ground won’t freeze again.
library could offer on homesteading. And my own collection of
Feeder piglets come home around planting time. Wild berry
books, with copyright dates reaching back into the 1960s, was something to be proud of. When the papers were signed, we set to work. Then we realized how little we knew. So, we learned, the enjoyable way and the hard way. We are still learning. My farm schooled me on the value of hard work. And the knowing that a handful of tiny seeds coupled with persistent labor can line the pantry shelves with jars of pasta sauce, salsa, jams, pickles, and peppers. We’ve learned that planning is invaluable and being flexible is often what keeps you from breaking. I’ve learned consistency, to mix the yeast with warm water while I stir honey in my morning tea so the bread can be done by lunch. This little hobby farm, which is much more a calling than it is a hobby, has deposited grit as it made over my city-girl ways. Where there
season then begins, so forage until your fingers are stained
was a faintness before, there is now an intensity and steel to
purple, and your legs are tattooed by briar scratches. Baby
have bloody hands and burning muscles. It’s given me the
goats are born in April and May, and the milk begins to flow.
ability to move quickly when an emergency comes, to doctor
June through August is hard. Days reach 100 degrees, shoul-
and nurture furred and feathered ones when needed, but the
ders get leathered, and the garden demands hours a day of
resolve to give thanks and move on when it’s out of my control.
weeding and picking. Then there’s the bounty. Summer and
This little farm, with all her teaching, has broken my heart and
fall bring overflowing baskets in to be dealt with or rot. By the
fulfilled my deepest dreams.
end of October, an Arkansas homesteader never wants to see
another pot of boiling water full of mason jars. DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
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people
So, the cycle goes, year after year. In my impatience, I’ve tried
figured out the trick question. I have five sons. Five little boys
to disregard it. I’ve welcomed chicks in November because I
who were carried in my skin, five times of counting weeks and
thought it would be fine. We ended up with a small coop set
trimesters. Five times that I made it to the home stretch.
up in our garage covered in heat lights. I’ve started seeds in January, thinking I could use a greenhouse for the first time
I was a patient pregnant woman. I saw how quickly my boys
and regulate the heat. I lost a lot of seeds that year. I’ve driven
grew so I enjoyed my days of carrying them. I found beauty in
myself crazy through the winter, drawing garden plans, making
my changing body and rested in the season that could not be
lists, insisting on my way. And it’s only grown frustration.
rushed. But every time, the last three weeks were different. Even
when my heart was set on waiting and enjoying the process,
This year, I tried a different approach. As a student who had
those last three weeks would begin to break something. The
failed the lesson miserably, I decided just to wait and rest.
discomfort and the sheer excitement to look upon their sweet
faces culminated into a raging impatience.
Through January, it was fine. I played it cool while I cracked
the shells of store-bought eggs and watched our free-loading
It was during my final pregnancy when my due date approached,
chickens peck in the yard. February came and my resolve did
and I was desperate to know my Benjamin, that God spoke to
not waver. I rested and took seed inventory, readying myself for
my heart about the waiting. I was praying, miserable, and feeling
the push spring would require. This is good, I thought. Patience
like I’d failed in patience as the desperation for my pregnancy
is relaxing. I can do patience.
to end grew. And suddenly, a thought came to me, if it weren’t
for the eagerness of the home stretch, could you labor with joy?
And I did. All winter, I endured. I grumbled as I carried boiling
water. I lamented as I brushed ice from my horses’ coats. But
Benjamin turns two this month. March 6. He was born in a late
I sang winter’s praises far more than I begrudged her. I was
ice storm that killed all my sown-too-soon seeds. And now, my
actually patient. But now, it is March. Oh, March. March is the
Teacher is driving home a lesson. What we feel in the home
home stretch. March feels like planting season, but the Farm-
stretch, when the time is so soon, but the gate isn’t open yet,
er’s Almanac assures me to wait until April 1. But March! How
is not impatience. It’s the very eagerness and excitement that
can a few short weeks feel like such an eternity?
drives us through the labor.
The garden beds are planned. The goats’ bellies are stretched
So, I haven’t planted the seeds yet. I haven’t hatched the chicks.
tight. The eggs in the incubator, when a light is shone on them,
I haven’t gotten ahead of myself, but I am so ready. I won’t say
show life beating inside. The bees will be in their hives within
I can’t wait because I can and I will. But I don’t want to wait.
weeks. The piglets will be here soon after. Now, I sit inside as
And that’s okay. This is the home stretch, and the hard work
the temperature flip-flops, and the threat of an early March ice
is coming. I’ll be rested and ready. I will embrace spring like
storm hangs over my farm and I feel my resolve breaking and
the gift she is, my perpetual yearly birthing that tests my heart
menacing impatience rearing its head.
and refines my soul. And truly, I will love her more because I’ve
submitted to the winter. Winter, the teacher that taught me the
I’ve tried to stay enduring, but as my resolve cracked like dry
lesson in waiting and pushed me joyfully into labor. Maybe one
wood under pressure, a realization came to me. A light bulb
day I’ll learn to enjoy her after all.
turned on, and winter smiled like a teacher to a student who
Follow Jessica on her blog @thehodgepodgedarling.blogspot.com.
DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
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Mama? Who’s Your
Do South® knows you love your mama. But we don’t know what makes her so special. There’s a solution, though. We’re looking for essays, 500 words or fewer, that celebrate your sweet mama. Tell us funny stories, heartwarming stories, stories only you can tell. We’ll pick one for our May issue of Do South®, and we’ll share even more of these tributes on our social media accounts. Here’s what we’ll need: 1. Your essay, either attached to an email as a Word document or pasted in the body of your email. No email? Mail your essay to Do South Magazine, 4300 Rogers Avenue, Suite 20-110, Fort Smith, AR, 72903. 2. The subject line on your email, or on the envelope if you’re using regular mail, should read: Essay Submission. 3. If you’re using email, attach a photo of your mama. If you’re using regular mail, we’ll contact you and ask for a photo if your essay is selected. A photo is mandatory. 4. Make sure all your contact information is included: Name, address, phone. 5. Remember, the top word count is 500. 6. We must have your essay by April 1, to be considered. 7. Stay posted! We’ll be requesting essays about your sweet daddy in our April issue.
DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
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taste
Traditional Irish
DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
Lamb Stew Recipe and image James Stefiuk
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taste
(Serves 8)
42
Ingredients
Method
•
4 pounds deboned lamb shoulder, cut into 2-inch pieces
Place the lamb pieces in a Dutch oven and
•
1 ½ cups sliced onions
simmer for ten minutes. Remove from heat
•
1 cup sliced leeks
•
1 cup sliced celery
•
2 Tablespoons chopped parsley
•
2 teaspoons dried thyme
•
Salt and pepper, to taste
•
2 ½ quarts chicken stock
•
2 cups peeled carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
•
16 small red potatoes, peeled
cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and
and drain. Cool by running the meat under cold water.
In the same Dutch oven, layer the meat, onions, leeks, celery, herbs, and salt and pepper. Cover with chicken stock. Simmer for one hour.
Add carrots and potatoes. Simmer the stew another thirty minutes or until vegetables are soft. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Serve, sprinkled with additional chopped parsley.
DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
taste
The Irish Spritzer image James Stefiuk recipe adapted from Bobby "G" Gleason, Master Mixologist
INGREDIENTS • 2 ounces Jim Beam Jacob’s Ghost White Whiskey • 1/2 ounce DeKuyper Peachtree Schnapps • Fresh mint leaves (6-8), more for garnish • Juice of half a lime, more for garnish • Club soda, cold
METHOD Muddle mint leaves in a mixing tin. Add whiskey, Peachtree, and lime juice. Pour into a highball glass filled with 3-4 ice cubes, top with cold club soda. Garnish with a lime wheel and mint sprig. Drink responsibly. Never drink and drive.
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SILENCE IS GOLDEN words Stoney Stamper Images courtesy April Stamper
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drive for hours in my truck and never turn on the radio. My wife and daughters think that’s just craziness, but I soak up all of that nothingness like a sponge, every opportunity I get. But here’s the deal; it doesn’t happen as much as I’d like anymore. You see, now I’m a dad. I’m a family man. I have a wife and three beautiful daughters, and they need me. At any given time, I am needed by one or all of them, and the things that they need from me are countless. Now don’t get me wrong, I love my role as their dad and husband. I am the provider and protector of my family, and that is not a responsibility that I take lightly. However, every once in a while, a little break wouldn’t be bad. Does that make me a bad parent? I sure hope not. I love these girls more than life itself, but Geez Louise, they can work a man to death and ask questions until the cows come home. Case in point, I got home one night last week after a long day at work. It was already dark outside as I walked in the door and sat my briefcase on the floor, ready to grab a drink and sit in my recliner. But oh no! These girls had other plans. First, Gracee, our youngest, sees me. “Dad!” she yells, and with her arms wide open she runs to me. With complete trust, she leaps into the air, knowing that Daddy will catch her. I catch her under her arms and pull her up to my face. She smells clean, and her hair is wet from the bath. I kiss her soft cheeks and neck with a fervor that always makes her giggle. Unfortunately, it also makes her squirm and kick. Just like clockwork, her little foot of fury connects solidly between my legs. There’s a big
I
groan from me as I sit her down, and she yells, “Sorry, Dad!” over her shoulder as she runs to her bedroom to play.
I enjoy being alone. I do. I love silence. I can go hours at a time without speaking to anyone, without any human interaction at
With my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath and get
all. Now, this revelation makes me quite a ball of complexities, I
this sick feeling out of my gut, I hear my other two daughters
will admit. Because anyone who knows me knows that I can talk
sauntering up to me. “Hey, how was your day?“ I ask, and they
as much as anyone you’ve ever met. Put me in a crowd or at a
tell me it was fine. It’s the same answer I get every day. My wife
party, give me a beer, and watch the stories begin to flow like
April comes in, gives me a kiss and asks me about my day. All in
Niagara Falls. As a matter of fact, how much I talked as a child
all, it was a warm, welcoming homecoming.
is still fodder for conversation at many of our family gatherings. By most accounts, the only time I wasn’t talking was when I was
And then, it begins. Emma has algebra homework in her hands
asleep. And I didn’t sleep very much. And not only do I talk a lot,
and a look of frustration on her face. “Stoney, I have no idea
but I have a very loud, deep, boisterous voice that can be heard
how to do these problems. The teacher hasn’t even shown us
from a mile away. So, I suppose it is odd for someone like me to
how to do them!” I tell her “Emma, the teacher is not going to
cherish silence and serenity as much as I do. Albeit, I’m not a quiet
give you homework on something that she’s never taught you.”
person, but as the old sayings goes, silence is golden. Often, I will DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
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“Yes, she would! I promise,” Emma says, “I don’t know how to
But I can feel the tiredness beginning to drag me down. I can
do these! I’m going to fail!”
feel it in my shoulders and neck. I am ready to relax. Just then I hear, “Dad, I need you to read me a book before I go to bed!”
We sit down at the kitchen table and begin to go over the
Now you may think that reading a three-year-old a bedtime
list of equations that has Emma nearly in tears. After fifteen
story would be an easy task, but you don’t know what kind of
minutes or so of arguing, fighting, crying and laughing, we
kid you’re dealing with.
finally have the right answer for the first problem. She finally understands. But before the ink is even dry on that algebra
If you refer to the first paragraph, you’ll see where I say that
nightmare, Abby is standing next to me, and she is talking.
I was a loud kid who never stopped talking. Well, Gracee is a
“Stoney, we’ve got to have my speech presentation completed and turned in by Saturday! We haven’t even started!” I say, “Wait, wait, wait. You’ve got to get the presentation done by Saturday, not me.” “But
Stoney!
I
need
your
help! Can we please start writing it tonight?” “OK, give me a minute. I grab a drink. We then spend the next hour discussing the topic of her upcoming speech that she will
carbon copy of me. Reading her
"I love these girls more than life itself, but Geez Louise, they can work a man to death and ask questions until the cows come home."
be presenting at the Houston
a book is a marathon of reading and intermittently having her own stories thrown in. So, I’ll read for a bit, then she’ll talk for a bit. And then when that’s over, she’s ready to read another book. And another. Until finally, I have to put my food down. “No ma’am,” I finally say. “No more. It’s time for bed.” After a few tears, she is snuggled into her bed, and I am headed back to the living room. My recliner is in sight, and I cannot wait to get into it. I sit down, close my eyes, let out a long exhale, releasing
Livestock Show and Rodeo. We have a good plan coming
all of the bad from my day. Ah yes, there it is. The silence I’ve
together, and I’m pleased with what she’ll present.
been waiting for all day. Sweet, beautiful silenc… and then, ”DAD!” Aw, crap. I guess there’s always tomorrow.
Stoney Stamper is the author of the popular parenting blog, The Daddy Diaries. He and his wife April have three daughters: Abby, Emma and Gracee. Originally from northeast Oklahoma, the Stampers now live in Tyler, Texas. For your daily dose of The Daddy Diaries, visit Stoney on Facebook or on his website, thedaddydiaries.net.
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garden
March in the Garden THE DIRT Now is a great time to plan your garden and visit your local co-op or garden center. Get your soil tested at your county extension office, so you’ll know the exact amount of fertilizer and other amendments to add to the soil before planting. Most offices perform this service for free! The Site We recommend the square foot gardening method for ease of planning and getting the most from the space you have. For more, visit squarefootgardening.org. Tips Know the mean date of your last frost before placing plants or seeds in the ground. Visit uaex.edu to determine your frost zone and date. DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
What to plant: (only a partial list)
Lettuce Brussels Sprouts Kale Carrots Radishes Cauliflower Cabbage Broccoli Turnips Swiss Chard Beets Irish Potatoes Onions Spinach English Peas
travel
Tulip Time
at Garvan Gardens
words Marla Cantrell Images courtesy Garvan Woodland Gardens
This month, Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs, Arkansas, becomes a kaleidoscope of color as more than 150,000 tulips bloom. There’s nothing like walking along the trails, seeing the tulips sway in the breeze, and seeing the joy these flowers bring. Kids love the tulips. Parents show up with cameras, getting those precious spring shots. Couples hold hands, families bring along their dog, and groups arrive in buses, ready to witness this eternal sign of the changing season. The Spring Tulip Festival runs through April. Since we’ve had a mild winter, the tulips are expected to bloom early, making March the most colorful month. While at the garden, enjoy the tranquility of this wooded wonderland, see the waterfall, stop by the koi pond, take in the views, and get in on the activities for kids. Another plus: the architectural masterpiece, Anthony Chapel, sits just outside the garden’s borders and is free to visit. It is open to the public unless there’s a wedding, rehearsal or private event taking place. The exact date the tulips begin to bloom is up to Mother Nature. Check Garvan Woodland Gardens’ website or Facebook page for updates. The garden is open from 9am-6pm every day except on major holidays and the month of January. Admission is $15 for those 13 and older; $5 for kids 4-12; Free for kids 3 and younger; $5 for dogs on leash. Parking is free. Golf carts with a driver can be rented for $15 per person, cannot be reserved.
Garvan Woodland Gardens 550 Arkridge Road, Hot Springs 800.366.4664 | garvangardens.org
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Toltec Mounds
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Walk into a portal to the past at one of Arkansas’ Archeological State Parks. The Toltec Mounds site is home to the location of an ancient American Indian ceremonial and governmental complex. See firsthand the grounds where the Plum Bayou people lived from A.D. 650-1050. Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park is ten miles southeast of Little Rock in Scott, AR. After touring the park, visitors can grab a legendary Hubcap Burger at Cotham’s Restaurant or dig into a piece of homemade pie at Charlotte’s.
For more information, visit ArkansasStateParks.com.
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Better than Texas THE BIG CHEESE
words Dwain Hebda images courtesy Heights Taco & Tamale, and Dwain Hebda
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travel taste
Scott McGehee draws a hand-made tortilla chip the size of a
got five restaurants that each serve a different type of cheese dip,”
poker card out of a basket on the table in front of him. It’s a
Scott says. “My favorite cheese dip is actually my father’s original
bracing Friday afternoon but that hasn’t kept the crowds away
(served at Big Orange, Scott’s gourmet burger emporium).
from Heights Taco & Tamale Co. and the din inside the eatery is deafening. “I can’t believe I’m still eating this stuff,” Scott says,
“I love that recipe ‘cause it’s so chunky with onions and five kinds
swirling the chip through a velvety pool crowned with a diadem of
of peppers. If cheese dip could be gourmet, then that would be
green chile sauce. “I’ve been eating so much of this lately you’d
the gourmet version.”
think I’d be sick of it.” But it’s the Five Families concoction, hustled out of the kitchen on
“This” is Scott’s signature Five Families cheese dip, the species
piping cast iron skillets, that’s special. Scott acquired an amalgam
served at his chic Ark-Mex joint in Little Rock’s elegant Heights
of iconic cheese dip recipes—among them, his father Frank McGe-
neighborhood. It’s one of a few versions woven throughout Scott’s
hee’s formula from the bygone Juanita’s and Browning’s, which
Little Rock restaurant empire that currently includes a handful of
operated for decades in the space he bought for Heights Taco &
establishments and the fastest-growing craft beer label in the
Tamale—dumped them into a pot and refined the brew until the
state under the umbrella company, Yellow Rocket Concepts. “I’ve
result was greater than the sum of its parts.
Scott McGehee, Jose Romero, Ben Brainard at the 2016 Cheese Dip World Championship in Little Rock
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What he came away with is edible archive; eighty years of Little
Texans were particularly prickly about the November 2016 Wall
Rock restaurant heritage on a plate. Heights Taco & Tamale can’t
Street Journal piece, not on the basis of origins (though they’re
ladle it up fast enough. “To me, [the component recipes] are the
loathe to concede that point), but because of the article’s conten-
greatest cheese dips in central Arkansas lore,” he says. “This recipe,
tion that Arkansas’ dish is superior to their beloved queso. When
I made over three thousand times in the development phase.”
Arkansas Senators Tom Cotton and John Boozman took to trashtweeting their Lone Star colleagues, Senators John Cornyn and Ted
Unsurprisingly, Scott’s formula is a closely guarded secret,
Cruz on the matter, it didn’t take long for things to bubble over.
the recipe locked in a vault at an undisclosed location. Many Arkansans might have been happy to have kept it that way, the better to enjoy the creamy delicacy for themselves,
A gauntlet was thrown down in the form of a blind dip duel to be held at an upcoming Senate Republican luncheon in
served straight up, topped with chili or a selection
December, to let the tortilla chips fall where they
of house-made sauces. Instead, the dish caught the attention of the Wall Street Journal last year, after Yellow Rocket’s PR man Jarrod Johnson phoned a contact he had there, more or less on a whim. To everyone’s surprise, the influential paper was intrigued, even more so after learning of Arkansas’ long-standing
may. Scott’s phone rang almost immediately.
To me cheese dip is fun, and it's delicious, and it’s a great appetizer.
claim as the birthplace of cheese dip.
“My father played for the Razorbacks under Frank Broyles,” he says. “I was raised in the Southwest Conference days when Texas was our arch enemy. I still, when I see orange, I don’t see Tennessee, I see Texas. “So, when I first heard about [the challenge], I immediately thought, ‘Well, we’ve got to represent Arkansas.’”
The way the well-worn story goes, an Arkansas
Heights Taco & Tamale didn’t have to lobby for
restaurateur named Blackie Donnely started serving
the honor. The restaurant had just come away from the
the dish in the mid-1930s. It’s unclear if it was available in
2016 World Cheese Dip Championships October 22 in Little Rock
Blackie’s early venture in Hot Springs or his next spot, the more-
with both judges’ and crowd favorite honors. Still, the Arkansas
famous and longer-lived original Mexico Chiquito in North Little
contingency was all business getting ready for the showdown.
Rock, which still serves the original recipe to this day. Regardless, Blackie’s product stands as a sort of Dead Sea Scroll in
“We made the cheese dip the day we left and cooled it down
cheese dip archeology.
in an ice bath,” Scott says. “Put it in very high dollar thermal containers, six of them, each holding half a gallon. We put it in
Frank McGehee was imbued with a passion for cheese dip and
our checked luggage.”
constantly tinkered with his own recipes during Scott’s growing up, a father-son outing typically included grabbing a bowl at Brown-
Scott’s team reserved a D.C. hotel room equipped with a mini
ing’s then walking up the block to the Heights Theater to take in a
kitchen where they reanimated the concoction. They even
movie. Discussing the dish today, Scott’s tone is more nostalgic than
researched tortilla chips in the nation’s capital until they found a
passionate, but he’s a fierce defender of its heritage.
variety they considered to be the best for completing the ensemble.
“To me cheese dip is fun, and it's delicious, and it’s a great appe-
Whether or not they were an underdog depends on who you ask.
tizer, but it’s not the pinnacle of Arkansas food. That’s way down
Their Texas-based chain rival Uncle Julio’s operates a location in
on the list,” Scott says. “I don’t want Arkansas food to be defined
Virginia, which gave them access to a professional kitchen and de
by cheese dip, I think that’s silly.
facto home field advantage. But Scott didn’t see it that way, at least initially. “I never considered the possibility of losing, not for
“But,” he adds emphatically, “it was invented here.”
a second. I didn’t think that would even be possible,” he says. “It wasn't until the other team showed up and they took our cheese
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Scott McGehee
dip and their queso into the luncheon and set up these little voting
sans celebrating while Texas fumed. Senator Cruz hinted the fix
boxes and shut the doors, that it occurred to me. If we lost, we
was in to which Senator Boozman responded by extending a
probably could not go back to Arkansas. I never even considered
standing invitation to his colleagues to cross the border anytime
the risk I was taking until it was too late.”
they wanted a taste of victory, something Scott is all too glad to oblige. “I don’t want to be known for cheese dip, but also I
The cooking teams were left to cool their heels for an hour in the
do,” Scott says. As he’s talking, he’s scanning the Heights Taco
hallway with what Scott estimated as some 100 members of the
& Tamale dining room jammed with Little Rock’s hipster elite,
press; all congregated to await the outcome of the blind taste test.
nouveaux riche and everyone in between who are sharing laughs
Scott burned nervous energy composing remarks on his phone
and chatter over skillets of Five Families. “If they ever want to redo
preparing for either outcome. At last, the door opened. “They
the competition, we’re happy to do it. What we serve is better
called us in and there was a big pile of tickets for Arkansas and a
than anything in Texas.”
small one for Texas,” he says. “I don’t know the exact score, but I do know there were about forty-five or fifty senators there and there was only six or seven tickets on the Texas side. We smoked them; they called Arkansas by a landslide.” It was the cheesy shot heard around the world. Reports of Arkansas’ win, in print and on airwaves coast to coast, set Arkan-
To try this famous cheese dip, visit: Heights Taco & Tamale Co. 5805 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock 501.313.4848 | facebook.com/heightstaco
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southern fiction
Snow in August FICTION Marla Cantrell
I
I used to believe in the equanimity of the world. I’d see panhan-
“Heard it from The Man.” Theo shook his head. “Sounds
dlers at intersections, their cardboard signs asking for help, and
about right.”
I’d believe that whatever they’d lost would be restored to them. I’d see a storm blow through, houses gone, and wait for the
America’s “Sister Golden Hair” was playing on the radio Theo
rebuilding of something better and stronger.
had brought with him. The song always got to me. Maybe it was the tambourines. Maybe it was the deep yearning, laid out
At home, when my daddy laid down the law, I’d wilt for a second,
like a banquet.
his red-faced proclamations crushing something inside me. But then I’d defer to him as best I could, hoping there was a better me
Theo turned to face me. Lifted a lock of my hair. Held it between
on the other side. If he, for example, believed that the music I was
his finger and thumb. “You have a mind of your own, Daisy,” he
listening to really was a hammer in the Devil’s toolbox, I’d break
said. “Don’t be afraid to use it.”
the record in two. If he thought that my favorite skirt was leading boys far from their charted course, I’d drop it in the Goodwill box
Theo’s eyes were the color of sapphires. His skin was eternally tan.
the next time I was in town.
I pulled him to me, and he kissed me. Kissing him was like swimming in the deep end of the pool, my feet never touching.
Theo said Daddy was flat-out brainwashing me. He told me this one afternoon while we were lying on our backs on a blanket
The blanket beneath us crushed the grass, which smelled like
in the field where Daddy would plant sweet corn the next day.
spring and looked like emeralds. If my daddy had driven up, he
Theo’s black hair caught the sun and held it. His jeans, faded
might have laid into Theo. He might have disowned me. I can’t
to baby blue, were torn at the knee. His knee was a slice of the
say that I cared as much as I should have. Sometimes what you’re
moon showing through, and it was all I could do not to reach
feeling in the moment is more powerful than what you think the
over and touch it.
rest of the time.
“If you play that Freddy Mercury song backwards, he’s telling kids
Later that night, Daddy knocked, and then opened my bedroom
to smoke pot,” I said. “Daddy heard about it at a Kiwanis meeting.”
door. “Still seeing the Tilden boy?” he asked.
Theo laughed. “So, a bunch of old dudes played a Queen song
“I am,” I said.
backwards? I’d be asking them what they’re smoking down at the Sizzler.”
“I don’t much like him.”
“They probably heard about it on the news,” I said.
“He’s got a heart of gold, Daddy.”
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southern fiction
“Hard to tell, what with the long hair and wide-legged jeans.”
“You’re eighteen,” he said.
“Bell-bottoms,” I said. “Everybody wears them.”
“I am.”
“Well, not everybody dates my little girl.”
“You can do anything you want.”
“Eighteen next month, Daddy. I won’t be your little girl much longer.”
The windows were rolled down a bit, and I felt a chill cross over me.
Daddy gripped the doorframe. His hair was getting gray, and he
“Cold?”
wore it swept back. “Daisy,” he said, and a deep furrow marked his forehead. I thought he’d say more, but he just stood there, the
“A little.”
hallway light framing him. It felt as if a stone had landed in my heart, though I couldn’t say why.
“Let’s fix that.”
The day I turned eighteen, Daddy threw a party. Theo came. Most
Theo turned off the road. He unhitched a cattle gate, and we
of my friends came. My mother, who lived in Louisiana by then,
bumped across a pasture, surprising cows here and there. The air
showed up wearing heels and red lipstick and a dress that showed
smelled of newly turned earth and honeysuckle. I took a breath.
her knees. When he stopped the truck, all I could hear was the wind shaking Daddy and I had hung mason jars in the trees, put candles inside
the leaves, and the tree frogs calling out to one another. “Let me
them. We’d set up card tables here and there and covered them
hold you,” he said.
with checkered cloths. We ate fried chicken and biscuits and corn on the cob. We drank sweet tea and Coca-Cola. We played records
There was a quilt behind the seat. We lay in the bed of the truck,
that caused my daddy to go inside before the sun went down.
the quilt beneath us, the stars above. He kissed me, and I could feel my heart, a race horse inside my chest.
Not long after, my mother followed. I wondered if I should go in and check on them, to make sure they weren’t at each other’s
“I got a job,” he said. “In Mississippi. On the oil rig. Sixteen days
throat, but then Theo appeared at my side. “We should get out
on. Four off. It pays a lot, Daisy. I’ll have so much bread I won’t
of here,” he said.
know what to do.”
“We haven’t even cut the cake.”
The thought of Theo leaving was a threat written on a brick and thrown through a window.
“Cake can wait, Daisy.” “I don’t want you to go,” I said. As much as Theo told me to think for myself, there were times when he didn’t want me to think at all. He wanted me to say yes,
“You could come with me,” Theo said, and his voice shook.
to go along, to bend to his will. His body was warm next to mine. “And be alone for weeks I said yes.
at a time?”
He’d driven his daddy’s work truck, which was littered with tools
I could barely see him in that dark night. “Think about the
and Styrofoam cups stained with coffee. We drove past the barn
reunions, though. Imagine that.”
and onto the dirt road that led to the highway. Theo had one hand on the wheel, the other on my thigh.
“Cynthia’s daddy died on a rig,” I said. Cynthia was my best friend in third grade. DOSOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
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Theo held my hand. “I know how to be careful, Daisy.”
My room was pink and ruffled, and my mother had been in it; I could smell her perfume, citrusy and sharp. The night she left,
I could see him flying across meadows on his dirt bike. I could see
she’d sat on my bed, her eyes rimmed in red, her nose raw from
him driving his daddy’s truck like a getaway car. I could see him
crying. “I’d give anything if I could stay,” she’d said. On my
with his forged I.D. buying Strawberry Hill at All-Nite Liquor when
dresser, there was a picture of the three of us at Six Flags. “But
he was sixteen. The only thing he’d been careful with was me.
staying would kill me, Daisy.”
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he said, but I couldn’t. I was
“Then go,” I’d said. I was thirteen, and angry.
thinking about what love had done to my daddy. When my mother finally left, I was almost relieved, although sometimes I still
She’d touched my cheek. “You see everything so clearly now, but
hated her for it.
life gets murkier as you go along. You make a decision that you think will save your life, but it near about kills you. You make
He seemed to read my mind. “We won’t be like anybody else,”
another decision that really will save your life, and it near about
he said.
kills everyone around you.”
We drove home later, so much later everyone had left my party.
I’d pulled the covers tight around me. “Just go,” I’d said, and she
We walked by the tables where paper plates holding chicken bones
rose from my bed and walked away.
sat abandoned. My birthday cake was mostly gone. Someone had left a corner piece, though, with its blue sugary rose.
My phone was pink and oblong, with numbers that lit up at night. I lifted the receiver. If I called Theo, he’d tell me to use my head, to
I walked by it all like I was in a museum, seeing a culture that had
think it through. “You love me, don’t you, Daisy?” he’d ask, and
passed away in the time it took this party to wind down. When
I’d feel that blind need rush through me.
Theo kissed me goodnight, I didn’t want to let him go. If I got my daddy to talk to me, he’d tell me to stay as far away Inside, my dad sat on the sofa, staring at nothing, his hands
from Theo as I could.
clasped. “You missed most of your party,” he said. I couldn’t keep them both. “I know,” I said. “I’m sorry.” I set the receiver down. My alarm clock ticked off the seconds. In He looked at me. I patted my hair, smoothing it down as best I could.
the living room, Daddy had put on a record, and George Jones
“You were with the Tilden boy.” He tugged his ear, something he
was singing “Why Baby Why.”
did when he was mad or nervous. “You think you know everything at eighteen, but you don’t know a thing, Daisy. I married your mother
In the morning, I found my mother at the Travelers Inn. When she
when she was seventeen. You see how that turned out.”
opened the door, she wrapped her arms around me. It had been five years since I was in her embrace, and I lingered there, covered
“I’m not like her,” I said.
by her imperfect love. Wrapped in her impossible choices. I felt a kinship then, as improbable as snow in August. She said, “It’s
“Oh, honey,” Daddy said, his voice hardening, “yes you are.”
going to be okay, Daisy.”
I felt as if he’d punched me.
It didn’t sound like the truth, but I didn’t care. The truth seemed to morph so easily, tainted by one opinion or another.
“You need to get to bed now,” Daddy said.
She led me inside, her small room already tidy. She was set to leave again, but I’d stopped her this time. This time, I’d been
I bent down to kiss his cheek, but he turned from me.
reason enough to stay.
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Equal Housing Lender and Member FDIC.
®
Center for Hearing is a private practice audiology clinic. We provide diagnostic hearing testing for people of all ages. Our patients can age anywhere from infancy to senior citizens and all ages in between. We also do industrial testing for several industries in Fort Smith and the River Valley area and for the military. We specialize in the treatment of hearing loss through the newest advancements in hearing aid technology. We are providers for most insurance companies and are thrilled that many of them have come on board to recognize the growing prevalence of hearing loss.
900 Rogers Avenue, Fort Smith, AR 479.783.2100 marriot.com Opened: 2007 / Employs: 40
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4300 Rogers Avenue, Suite #15, Fort Smith, AR 479.785.3277 centerforhearing.net Opened: 1998 / Employs: 8
Giving back is key to the operating culture of JQH’s Courtyard by Marriott Fort Smith Downtown in Arkansas. The 138-room hotel participates in the JQH national philanthropic partnership with Convoy of Hope, with a focus on feeding the world’s hungry children and tackling systemic poverty in the United States and globally. Hotel associates can participate in JQH’s Legacy of Giving cause with Convoy of Hope, where $10 a month can feed a child for an entire month internationally or provide $100 in food, goods and services to a family in need in the United States.
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Fort Smith Radiation Oncology Beauty through Health 8500 South 26th Terrace, Fort Smith, AR 479. 648.1800 fsro.net Opened: 1997 / Employs: 11 Our small ten-person clinic began nearly seventy years ago,
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with Dr. Gast joining the team in 1997. At Fort Smith Radiation Oncology and Beauty through Health, it’s our goal to make our community a better place! We participate as a team in many local events, raising money for local charities and the American Cancer Society. Our staff also donates their own time volunteering at local schools and at various local events. We lead by example, even when no one is watching. We may be a small company, but we have a big impact, because we care!
3700 Towson Avenue, Fort Smith, AR 479.646.5102 the-mower-shop-inc.com Opened: 1986 / Employs: 11 We are a full service Outdoor Power Equipment Dealer providing quality products for the homeowner and landscape professional. The only Grasshopper Dealer in the U.S. authorized to provide O.E.M. Grasshopper parts via the internet, our website has been on-line since 2000, and we ship to every state in the union from our location. We support many charities in our community, including the Sebastian County Humane Society, 3 Girls Animal Rescue, and Make-A-Wish Mid-South. We are also a sponsor of Harli White Racing who runs her sprint car nation-wide in the Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Series.
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479.646.5102
4601 North 6th Street, Fort Smith, AR 1.800.635.9441 okfoods.com Opened: 1933 / Employs: 3,000 (2,500 Locally)
8605 Hwy. 271 South, Fort Smith, AR 866.639.5767 sawyers-sunrooms.com Opened: 1998 / Employs: 2 office, 2 full crews
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Sawyer's is a local company, serving you since 1988. We offer Founded more than 80 years ago, OK Foods has evolved from
sun rooms and screen rooms, patio covers and systems, engi-
a livestock and poultry feed manufacturer to one of the world’s
neered driveways, siding and windows, metal and shingle
largest fully-integrated chicken producers. In November 2011,
roofs, even decks! We promise to never confuse you with price
OK Foods was integrated into Industrias Bachoco located in
games and to never pressure you for a sale. We stand behind
Celaya, Mexico. Today, the OK Foods family includes more
all our products and know the importance of a lifetime guar-
than 3,000 team members who are dedicated to producing
antee to you, the home owner. Making quality affordable is
consistently high-quality chicken products and nourishing
our priority. Free in-home estimates with no obligation and
people around the world. Learn more at www.okfoods.com.
financing available to fit your needs. Let us assist you in your next home improvement project.
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6515 Zero Street, Fort Smith, AR 479.452.1817 trinitymultifamily.com Opened: 2004 / Employs: 227
6500 Zero Street, Fort Smith, AR 479.646.7891 weatherbarr.com Opened: 1934 / Employs: 100
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WeatherBarr Windows is a family business with family values. Trinity Property Management maximizes investment returns for
In 1934, Harry G. Barr founded the company; today his
our clients while providing a home for thousands of families in
grandsons continue his tradition of helping families make
the mid-south region of the United States to include Arkansas,
dreams for their homes into reality. We provide energy
Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee. Since 2004
efficient products for new homes and remodeling projects
and with over 30 years of combined property management
for families across a nine-state region and our products are
experience we offer marketing, leasing, sales, renovation, new
covered with a limited lifetime warranty. Not many lifetime
development and Property Management with over 12,000
warranties are backed up by a company that's truly been
units currently and growing!
around a lifetime. We're proud to be part of Fort Smith's history and enthusiastic to be part of its future.
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living
WE MA K E A By WHAT WE GET B u t W E MA K E
by what we give. - W IN STO N CHUR CHILL
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a life
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Read Chair Publishing, LLC 4300 Rogers Avenue, Suite 20-110 Fort Smith, AR 72903