September, October 2016

Transcription

September, October 2016
Volume 11, Issue 2 • September/October 2016
Kyle L. Skinner, D.C. , C.C.S.P.
Ten Years and Counting
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3
THE ARTS
5
Meet Alisa Coffey,
ASO Principal Harpist
8
Kyle L. Skinner D.C. , C.C.S.P., Ten Years and Counting
By Marion Scott
D
r. Kyle Skinner has owned
and operated the Skinner
Chiropractic and Rehab
Clinic here in Maumelle
since 2006 making this
year its tenth anniversary. Practices
THE ARTS
Arkansas A+ Schools:
What A Difference The Arts Make!
11
such as Dr. Skinner’s have formed the backbone
Counting on Each Other –
a Well-Kept Secret Revealed
of a great medical community here.
Kyle was raised in Ponca, Oklahoma by
14
his parents, Randy and Barbara, and with his
siblings, older brother Scott, and twin brother
Kevin. Randy Skinner worked for Conoco but
spent a lot of time with his boys, teaching
POETRY........................................ 15
WINE............................................. 16
The Wave of The Future Is Here........................16
Be Kind or Be Quiet..........................................17
From Where You Sit - Plums, poetry,
politicians, and perspective............................... 25
18
Hunting Season and
All-Terrain Vehicles
Straight Teeth in
Six Months or Less
20
19
Two Issues Most People
Overlook with Weight
Loss and Health
September/October 2016
Arkansas
Children’s
Hospital
Coaching
Kids through
Weight Loss
22
4
23
Why Women Should
Lift Weights
Get Out of My Yard!....................................... 26
FICTION........................................ 27
Chapter’s End.................................................. 27
Minute With Maddox.................................... 28
FINANCIAL................................... 30
Planning For Your Personal Lifespan................ 30
PHOTOGRAPHY........................... 31
Understanding Histograms................................31
Maumelle Photography Club............................34
TECH TALK................................... 36
Quick Tip: How Do I Clean Up and
Optimize My Pc Using Ccleaner?.....................36
Bluetooth 5 Spec To Be Announced..................36
Publisher/Editor
Roger A. Frangieh
Publisher/President
RAFIMI Publishing LLC
RAFIMI Advertising & Strategic Marketing
[email protected]
them to enjoy the outdoors and all kinds of
sports - soccer, baseball, wrestling, basketball
and golf. Kyle loved golfing and obtained his
first college degree from Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, in golf course management. Working in the field, however, proved to
Art Director
Jeremy Henderson
be much less fun than golfing for pleasure. Six-
To Advertise in Maumelle Magazine
Call 501.960.6077
By email [email protected]
summer sun impelled Kyle to look for some-
day weeks of very long hours working in the
thing else. But more on that later.
Kyle and wife, Lindsay, daugher, Kinley, and son, Ethan.
Writers & Contributors
Mary Aitken, M.D., M.P.H.
Bryan Austin, D.D.S.
Christie Brooks, MS, RD, LD
Ken Forrester
Ken Grunewald
Carlette Henderson
Frank Howell, CFP
Linda Kennedy
Cary Maddox
Michelle McCon
Michae Orfanos
Prunella Pinetree
Austin Pittman
Troy Pousardien
Robyn D. Rektor
Pam Rudkin
Marion Scott
MaryAnn Stafford
Harding Stedler
Kathy Wheeler
The Serviceberry Tree...................................... 37
BOOK REVIEW............................. 38
Lily and the Octopus.........................................38
My Grandmother Asked Me
toTell You She’s Sorry.........................................38
MauMag (Maumelle Magazine) is published by RAFIMI
Publishing LLC.
All contents are copyrighted and cannot be reproduced in
any manner - including by electronic means - for any purpose
without written permission from the publisher.
My twin brother, Kevin and me on our first birthday
My twin brother, Kevin on the left and
me on the right after a successful day of
fishing.
Continued on next page >
www.MauMag.com
Reaping the Rhythms...................................... 15
5
After Dubai, the family moved to Corpus
Christi, Texas, then back “home” to Ponca for
Kyle’s last year of high school. College and
work in the golf field followed, then Kyle’s
twin, who was already a Chiropractor, suggested that it was a line of work his brother
would be suited to, since Kyle was already
interested in men’s fitness and worked out
frequently. Kyle completed his chiropractic
education at Parker College of Chiropractic in
Dallas in 2005. He worked for a year for another doctor in the Dallas area, learning all of
the things not taught in the classroom.
September/October 2016
6
Kyle and wife, Lindsay, in Maui on their wedding day.
It was during his early career that Kyle returned to Ponca for a friend’s wedding and ran
into the sister of his high school best friend.
They had grown up together but little sister
Lindsay was five years younger than Kyle and
his BFF Chad Niemann and she had thought
they were just rowdy boys during their high
school friendship. She recalls them breaking
the family’s trampoline and reminds them
of it regularly. She was more quiet and shy
than these older ruffians. But girls and boys
grow up and they established a new friendship during that visit to Ponca. They stayed
in touch when Kyle returned to Maumelle
and gradually their relationship matured with
them marrying in 2009. Since then they have
had son Ethan who is five and Hudson who is
14 months. Kyle has an older daughter, Kinley, 10, from a prior marriage.
During his early days in Maumelle, Kyle ran
and operated the office by himself. Gradually
he hired an office administrator, then a massage
therapist. Now he has two massage therapists,
a rehab specialist and two office personnel in
the Maumelle office. In Mayflower, his business
includes Dr. Fowler, two massage therapists,
and one office person. His goal is to eventually
be able to spend more time with his growing
family, to be involved in the community, and to
do other things he enjoys.
Kyle and wife, Lindsay skiing.
Day at the Masters in Augusta, GA.
Two years ago, one of his clients, Sandie
Kight, who is a fitness coach, got Kyle interested
in men’s fitness competitions. Strict meal plans
and workout routines are key to overall fitness.
Fitness competitions are different from body
building, as it takes in overall fitness, not just
muscle building. It was perfect for Kyle who
believes strongly that it’s important to lead by
example, living and looking healthy, for patients
and for his sons. In June, Kyle medaled in three
divisions of a fitness competition in Kansas
City. He was awarded third place in the “open”
category which is most important because
it qualifies him for national competition; he
placed fourth in novice and fourth in masters,
over a large field of competitors. Even more
fun, his twin, Kevin, competed with him for the
first time. You can tell by Kyle’s slender, strong
physique that he takes this aspect of his life seriously and works hard at it.
The Skinner Chiropractic and Rehab
Clinic, located at 103 Park Drive, says this in
their welcome letter: “At our office our main
focus is to correct nerve interference to allow
your body to function at 100%. Our first goal
is to figure out what is causing your problems.
When you visit our office, you will go through
an extensive history and orthopedic exam. If
necessary, we take digital x-rays to diagnose
any changes in your spine that may have occurred causing a nerve to become pinched.
We also use the Functional Movement
Screen. This test is used in the NFL to assess a
person’s risk for injury. We use it to check for
changes in the way you move to compensate
for weakness or mobility problems. This directs us to the proper type of rehab, because
we know that not everyone presents with
the same problem. We also have a machine
that scans the bottom of your feet to check
for flattening of the arches, which can affect
not only your feet, but your knees, hips, and
lower back. Once we get all this information,
we then have the ability to figure out if we
can help … and what is needed to correct
that person’s problem.”
The office offers an abundance of treatment options from “chiropractic adjustments,
massage therapy, corrective rehab techniques, physiotherapy, acupuncture, spinal
decompression therapy, class IV laser therapy” to custom orthotics. They carry many
home supplies as well.
M
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DOUG JANTZ
Oklahoma winter with our sheepdog,
Sally, older brother, Scott, mom, Barbara,
twin brother, Kevin and me.
Brother Kevin had already opened an
office in Vilonia and planned a second office
in Little Rock. Kevin provided moral support
to twin Kyle as he established himself, opening an office in Maumelle. However, with
the birth of Kevin’s first child, he and his wife
moved back to the Dallas area to be closer
to her parents. By then, Kyle was pretty well
established here in Maumelle and opened his
second clinic in Mayflower in 2011 which is
manned by Dr. Tray Fowler.
2016 Arkansas State Championships
Overall Novice Men’s Physique
Their offices in Maumelle and Mayflower
sincerely feel that their patients are like family.
They always have time to talk and answer any
questions clients might have.
Dr. Kyle Skinner and his family have made a
home, a business, and a future here in Maumelle.
Stop by, for treatment, or just to say “Happy Anniversary”…ten years and counting. MM
arion Scott has been a resident of Maumelle
since 2006. Retired, she enjoys gardening,
volunteering, and running, completing her eleventh marathon
this spring. She is also a Ward 3 Alderman.
You may contact her at [email protected] .
www.MauMag.com
My twin brother, Kevin, my dad, Randy,
and myself playing golf together.
During the boys’ youth, dad Randy took
a position in Dubai. For three years the family
lived there and the boys attended the “American School” which tends to be much more demanding than the education system in the U.S.
Not only was it challenging academically, but
it also introduced a cultural diversity few have
the opportunity to experience. The Skinners
took advantage of their overseas stay to travel
extensively. They toured Europe, Australia, Bali
and adventured into Africa twice, once in Zimbabwe and once in Botswana on safari. Kyle also
played soccer while there in such exotic places
as Cairo and Kuwait.
7
L.K.: When and why did you decide to major in music and where did you attend college?
Meet Alisa Coffey,
ASO Principal Harpist
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KELLY HICKS
September/October 2016
8
oped from a hunting bow and had
strings which were probably made
from hair or plant fiber. Evidence of these early
harps abounds in the wall paintings of Egyptian
tombs dating from as early as 3000 B.C. Gradually over the centuries improvements were made
by various means of strengthening the frame,
the addition of strings and levers, and ultimately the invention of foot pedals in the 1800’s. In
addition to being magnificent musical instruments, they also grace museums around the
world as pieces of art representative of their periods. During the past season of concerts by the
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (ASO), my eyes
have been drawn to the beautiful harp which
graces the stage and have thought it would be
interesting to get to know the lovely young lady
behind that harp. I am delighted to share with
you my recent visit with Alisa Coffey, principal
harpist for the ASO.
Linda Kennedy: Where did you grow up
and how did music enter your life?
Alisa Coffey: We moved around a little
when I was really young and then settled in
northern Virginia when I was nine years old.
My mother is an elementary band teacher; she
had me start piano lessons when I was six and I
studied piano through high school. When I was
in fourth grade, she said it was time for me to
pick a secondary instrument. We discussed a
variety of instruments, and eventually I told her
I wanted to play the harp. I had heard one often
at my godmother’s home; she had two daughters who played. I was drawn to the beautiful
sound. So my mom signed me up for lessons
through my school, and we went from there.
A.C.: A good friend of mine had been living in Little Rock and told me a lot about the AR
Symphony Orchestra. When the harp position
opened in 2010, I came to Little Rock to audition and was hired. The 2011 season was my
first with the ASO.
nities were there for a young harpist outside of
the orchestra?
A.C.: My private teachers had studio recitals for us, and I played at school and in churches
a lot. I also entered a few competitions. My
senior recital in high school was the first time I
performed an entire recital by myself.
A.C.: The pedal harp wasn’t invented until
the 1800’s so most of our solo repertoire begins
at that point. There is a lot of French music for
harp, and one of my favorite composers is Henriette Renie. She was a harpist and pedagogue
at the Paris Conservatory around the turn of the
century. Her music is so beautiful, sentimental,
and she has many epic works. There are also
many transcriptions of works from other periods, particularly works originally written for
piano.
L.K.: What about your favorite orchestral
composers?
A.C.: I especially love the works of Debussy
and Ravel. They were masters of color with
their orchestrations. They use the harp not just
as a solo instrument but in such a way that it
enhances and creates its own color within the
orchestral texture. They also knew how to take
full advantage of the chromatic capabilities
of the instrument. One of my favorite parts of
Debussy’s La Mer is where the first harp plays a
glissando in one chord going up the harp, and
the second harp plays a glissando in a different
chord (with a different pedal arrangement) going down the harp. This creates the sound of
a wave between the two harps. I also love the
grand scale and epic nature of the orchestral
works of Mahler and Wagner. Their orchestrations are so large that they use multiple harps to
be able to cut through the large texture.
L.K.: How many strings does a concert
harp have and what is its pitch range?
A.C.: There are 47 strings which relate to
the white keys of the piano. They range from
the piano’s lowest C to its highest G, spanning
seven octaves. There are seven pedals with
which you can sharp or flat any note. Smaller
harps have levers which serve that purpose.
Red strings represent all the C’s and black
strings are the F’s. They serve as markers for us
in the scale of strings much as the groups of two
or three black keys on the piano do for pianists.
L.K.: I imagine most of us just envision that
a harpist simply plucks the strings. What kinds
of special touches/effects do composers ask for
in their music?
A.C.: There are all sorts of different ways to
play the strings from plucking, scraping the wire
L.K.: Did you just study privately or were
you able to be part of a school orchestra?
A.C.: I attended a small private school, and
we did have a small school orchestra. But, when
I was in sixth grade, I auditioned and got into
the beginner level of the American Youth Philharmonic program. It is very similar to our Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Youth Ensembles
program. Over the next few years I advanced
through the various levels and enjoyed being a
part of it so much.
L.K.: What kinds of performance opportu-
Performing for family and friends over
the holiday age 9.
www.MauMag.com
T
he harp is one of the oldest
musical instruments in the
world. Initially the harp was devel-
L.K.: How did your move to Arkansas come
about?
L.K.: How much solo repertoire is there for
the harp?
By Linda Kennedy
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KELLY HICKS
A.C.: I really enjoyed being a part of the
musician community through the youth orchestra experience, and I loved the challenges
of the repertoire for harp. I majored in harp
performance and started out at a small college, Wheaton College, in Wheaton, Illinois. I
later transferred to the Royal Conservatory in
Toronto where I earned my bachelor’s degree
in harp performance. I then moved to Philadelphia and received my master’s degree in harp
performance at Temple University.
Practicing at home - age 9 on first instrument. Personal Photo: Student Spring Recital, Memorial Day weekend 2016.
Continued on next page >
9
L.K.: Do you teach private lessons and
what age do you recommend for beginners?
Performing Mozart’s Flute and Harp Concerto with ASO principal flutist, Carolyn
Brown, and the ASO. May 2014.
strings for a more metallic effect, swiping with
the hand for a swishy sound, and striking them.
In a section of Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra
the harpist is instructed to strike the strings
with spoon handles! Striking strings creates a
xylophone effect and playing very close to the
soundboard results in a sound very like that
of the guitar. I enjoy demonstrating the wide
range of effects possible when I do educational
outreach presentations in schools. I did a lot of
those in Philadelphia because there were some
harps in the school system.
L.K.: Do you ever have to edit or rearrange
your part because the composer did not really
know how to write for your instrument?
A.C.: There are several orchestral excerpts
that have been edited to be more playable, either with enharmonic spellings, pedals, or with
special fingerings. Sometimes when working
with new composers we do have to do a lot
of editing, but most composers are very good
about seeking direction and information when
writing for our instrument.
September/October 2016
L.K.: Have you composed or arranged any
music for the harp?
10
A.C.: I do not compose for the harp; it is
not my gift. However, I frequently arrange small
portions of songs for weddings. My funniest arrangement was Walk the Line by Johnny Cash.
L.K.: The piano is tuned in a tempered system which allows it to be played in any key. Is
the harp similarly tuned, or do you vary the tuning when playing with an orchestra?
A.C.: We tune in a tempered system exactly the same as a piano. I generally tune slightly
higher (A 442) when playing with the orches-
tra. Harps are notorious for always needing to
be tuned. Whenever they are moved or if the
temperature changes, they go out of tune quite
quickly. It’s best to tune them once a day and
then again whenever the instrument is moved.
L.K.: The harp is a very large instrument
and has such a magnificent presence on the
concert stage. I am wondering how difficult it is
for you to transport from place to place.
A.C.: My harp weighs about 80 pounds,
but it’s not that difficult to transport. Actually,
more than the weight is the fact that it’s fairly
unwieldy due to its shape, but, with my dolly it’s
no problem. You do have to have a car in which
it will fit, though!
L.K.: Have there been any performances
from which you have treasured memories?
A.C.: Two that stand out in my memory
would be playing in Carnegie Hall with my
Youth Orchestra and playing Wagner’s Götterdämmerung with the Philadelphia Orchestra. It
utilizes six harps and I got to play with my teachers.
L.K.: Have you had any scary or comical
moments during performances?
A.C.: Having a string break is the scariest
L
A.C.: Yes, I have my own studio but often
travel to students’ homes for lessons. I also
teach a few students at Ovation Music Academy. I accept students as young as five but want
them to be reading at that point. Harps come in
various sizes so there are smaller ones for young
students.
L.K.: What do you do for fun or relaxation
outside your busy world of music?
A.C.: I love to cook and am very much an
outdoor person. Arkansas is so beautiful, and
I enjoy hiking at Petit Jean State Park and Pinnacle Mountain.
L.K.: What’s the last great book you read?
A.C.: The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre
Dumas
L.K.: Are there any special people in your
life to whom you would like to give a “shout out”
for their support and inspiration?
A.C.: There have been many, but I definitely am so grateful to all my harp teachers from
whom I learned so much, not just about music
but also how to balance life with a family and
career. I’ve also been blessed with wonderful
parents who have always been so great and
supportive.
L.K.: To learn more about Alisa and hear
her perform visit:
www.alisacoffeyharpist.com MM
inda Kennedy has taught music through the piano
and theory/composition in her independent piano
studio in Maumelle for the past 22 years. She is also organist/
accompanist at NLR First United Methodist Church. Linda may be
contacted by email at [email protected].
Arkansas A+ Schools: What A Difference The Arts Make!
A
high school chemistry class focuses on chemical reactions by
making their own pigments
and using these colors to create individual works of art.
In a 5th grade history class, students listen
to the music from different periods and discuss how the musical selections highlight and
complement the happenings from that time.
These are examples from Arkansas
schools using the A+ method of integrating
arts throughout the curriculum. Students
are using their creativity and learning by discovery in their own ways with less reliance on
paper and pencil activities and assessments.
Discipline has improved, test scores are rising,
and classrooms are stress-free. Teachers are
supported with extensive training and are collaborating across disciplines to intertwine art,
drama, movement, music in math, history, science and literature curricula.
Where is this happening? This summer,
seventeen schools in Arkansas are part of the
Arkansas A+
By MaryAnn Stafford
ing from the 1970’s suggested that the arts
are not frills, but are essential to learning
and should be integrated throughout school
curricula. Even after retirement from the Arkansas Department of Education, I did what
I could to promote this concept consulting
with individual schools and teachers in Pine
Bluff and the Maumelle area to integrate the
arts into core subject classrooms.
Kindergarten students at a Jacksonville
school act out a play they developed from a
story they created together.
Since then, there have been countless
studies showing a direct correlation between
arts involvement and increased performance
in these other subjects. One such study noted
that students taking four years of art outscored
other students by 38 points in math and 58
Elementary school children make zebra
figures from clay and form a diorama
showing the zebras at a water hole in their
natural habitat.
Network which seeks to engage “school
communities in transformative experiences
that deepen understanding of the essential
commitments required to sustain creative
learning.” In other words, teaching the whole
child by creating a different classroom culture
– one based on experiential learning, critical
thinking, teacher collaboration, and arts-integrated activities. The teaching model also
incorporates Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences to teach to a broader range
of talents and skills.
Obviously, we live in an age of specialization – yet are we using all our brain cells? As
an art and English teacher in the Arkansas
Public School system for many years, I saw
firsthand the benefits of art education in
educating the whole child. Most of a school’s
curricula affects only logical and analytic
thinking and ignores creative and intuitive
thinking. In fact, many scientific studies dat-
Drawing is used in a high school math class studying circumference. Students constructed
their own compasses and made mandalas to better understand the concept.
Continued on next page >
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PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARTHA GRAHAM
thing that can happen to me on stage. I try to
do everything possible to avoid it. I regularly
check my strings for any fraying or weak points
that might signal an upcoming break, but
sometimes they can break suddenly for no apparent reason. During a solo performance I can
stop if absolutely necessary to make the string
change. During an orchestral performance I
cannot. I have a string bag with me at all times
and when needed I change the string as quickly
as possible. This has happened several times.
The percussion section which sits behind me
gets quite a kick out of how quickly I can make
a string change.
11
September/October 2016
method are required to infuse the arts into
each area of the curriculum – math, science,
history, and literature. Teachers and administrators are trained in a three-year cycle for full
implementation: a summer institute, on-site
professional development, and retreats. Thea
has 35 qualified teaching fellows who do the
training. There has to be at least an 85% vote
of the entire school to join the A+ network. In
the second and third years, emphasis is on curriculum development specific for each teacher’s content area and grade level.
12
Melanie Landrum, Executive Director
of the Arkansas A+ Schools Network
Upon talking to Landrum, I found that
a recent evaluation of this program showed
increased student achievement, better at-
tendance among students and teachers, and
significantly decreased discipline problems.
Not studied was teacher enthusiasm, but she
told me many stories about teachers who are
no longer stressed out, are highly motivated
and having fun; students who are no longer
bored or disengaged, and much fewer school
suspensions in the targeted schools.
It is too early for a comprehensive evaluation of Arkansas A+ schools, but Oklahoma
studies for the past ten years revealed that
A+ schools scored higher than other schools
not in the program. One of the first Arkansas schools using the model (Hugh Godwin
Elementary School in El Dorado) found that
disciplinary suspensions had dropped from
84 in 2005 to zero in 2007. In addition, literacy scores were increased by 278% and math
scores by 138%.
continued. “Students are no longer tied to
paper and pencil activities, but are able to discover concepts on their own and learn in their
own learning mode.” She gave the example of
a physical education teacher who used movement to help kindergarten students learn the
letters of the alphabet. Fifth and sixth teachers worked together to create a unit based on
the book No Summit Out of Sight by Jordan
Romero. Students read the book in English
class; in math class they learned how to grid
the coordinates of each summit; in art class
they built models of summits out of papers,
glue, and other materials; and in geography,
they learned about time zones. The drama
teacher taught the students a traditional Russian dance while they were reading about the
Russian summit experience.
This school district is planning to expand
the program to the upper level school in the
district in the near future.
In conclusion, I am quoting the vision of
the Thea Foundation. It’s a tall order, but with
the determination of Paul Leopoulos and
others like him, it shall be accomplished: “By
2025, we want to see a culture of creativity on
display in every school in Arkansas; students
have constant, diversified exposure to creative
expression and enriched learning with great
spaces, equipment, materials, instruction, and
encouragement.”
RESOURCES:
Brawner,
Steve,
“How Great Is Art?” Report Card: The Journal
of the Arkansas School
Boards
Association,
November 2012, pp.
12-19.
Puts Art in Academics”, Arkansas Times, January 2, 2013, pp.14-17.
Poulin, Jeff. “Transforming Schools and
Students Through A+ Schools,” Arts Link, Fall/
Winter 2015, pp.27-31.
“Thea Foundation”, The Encyclopedia of
Arkansas History and Culture, www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx (accessed June 8, 2016). MM
Patrons of the
Thea Foundation Discover the Gift Within,”
www.littlerocksoiree.
com, May 10, 2016 (Accessed June 6, 2015).
Peacock,
Leslie
Newell. “Arkansas A+
Interesting to note, this model has been
cited by state and federal agencies nationally
and internationally. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan noted that the A+ schools
model nurtures creativity in every student,
boosts attendance and deceases disciplinary
action. The Arkansas Department of Education is beginning to encourage school districts to investigate this teaching model.
I also spoke to Beverly Froud, principal
of White County Elementary School by telephone, and learned that her school is in its
third year of implementation – one of the first
schools to do this in the State. When I asked
her what changes she had noted in teachers
and students, she told me about one teacher
who was scheduled to retire at the end of the
school year after 32 years of teaching. This
teacher was worn out, and looking forward
to retirement, but became energized and
enthusiastic with the placement of the A+
model. It changed her way of thinking about
teaching, and she finished her year strong
and successful.
“Teachers collaborate and have freedom
to take risks, to try creative methods”, Froud
(Above) White County Elementary School in Judsonia show teachers working together to plan
curricula and the use of drama, mosaic, and puppetry as examples of integrating the arts.
M
aryAnn Stafford taught visual arts, humanities, and English
at Pine Bluff High School for many years before becoming an
Assistant Principal. She retired from the Arkansas Department of Education
in 1993. A teacher and an artist, she exhibits regularly and teaches drawing
at the Maumelle Senior Wellness Center. Dr. Stafford holds signature
membership in Mid-Southern Watercolorists, the Pastel Society of the
Southwest, and the Arkansas League of Artists. Her art can be seen at Eurekan
Art in Eureka Springs and Gallery 221 in Little Rock. Web sites are www.
staffordart.com, www.fineartamerica.com, and www.arkansasartists.com.
Her artists’ blog can be found at www.pastelanne.wordpress.com.
www.MauMag.com
confused with A+ Arkansas Schools). The
model began in North Carolina in 1995 and
is now in Oklahoma and Louisiana as well. In
2004, Hugh Goodwin Elementary
in the El Dorado School District
was funded by The Wingate Foundation to adopt the program.
Leopoulos became excited about
this program when he delivered
some artwork to Hugh GoodHowever, as we all know,
win Elementary in the El Dorado
the arts are the first to go when a
School district in 2006. He saw an
school system is facing financial
A+ sign outside the school but he
Paul Leopoulus,
difficulties. This was true when I
Director of Thea didn’t know what that meant. The
was teaching and is still true today.
Foundation
principal, Phillip Lansdale, invited
Just last year the state of Kansas
eliminated all of the arts from the public school him to visit a math classroom involved in the
system. Arkansas state standards require arts program. Paul states: “The kids were so ento be taught in elementary schools and in high gaged in their learning that I was blown away
schools as an elective, but do not include the and after the tour I called my wife, Linda, and
arts as a core subject, and art teachers are woe- told her that we have found another critical elfully underfunded, supplementing art materi- ement of Thea’s arts advocacy.” The El Dorado
school was the only one in Arkansas using this
als from their own income.
program at the time.
The bright spot in this situation is the
Since getting funded by Wingate, the Thea
Thea Foundation, founded by Paul and Linda
Leopoulos in 2002. The foundation is named Foundation has trained schools in eight counfor their daughter, Thea, who died in a car ac- ties as well as a mental health facility, Juvenile
cident at the age of 17. Thea had been a low- Detention Center, and two charter schools in
achieving student in high school until she be- the program. These schools are also part of a
gan taking art, acting, dance, and competitive University Consortium to inject this teaching
speech as a junior, and the change was dra- method into the education departments at
matic. She started making A’s in subjects like those universities. These include the Univertrigonometry, but her parents didn’t under- sity of Arkansas at Fayetteville, the University
stand the change until they read her journal of Arkansas at Little Rock, The University of
– her enthusiasm and interest in school had Central Arkansas. Henderson State University,
skyrocketed. The creativity she discovered in Harding University, Arkansas Technical Univerherself caused her to use all of her brain and sity, Ouachita Baptist College, Arkansas State
that had given her confidence. As a result, The University, and Central Baptist College. DirectThea Foundation formed in her memory by ing this state-wide program is Melanie Lanher parents now has five programs that con- drum, who was a principal at one of the first
nect school children to the arts.
three schools in Central Arkansas who piloted
Thea Foundation’s newest program is the program in 2012.
named ARKANSAS A+ SCHOOLS (not to be
The schools that buy into this teaching
points in the verbal sections of the SAT. A
study by over 25,000 middle school and high
school student conducted by the University of
California discovered that students
who take arts classes did better on
standardized achievement tests,
but also watched less TV and participated in more community activities that those who did not.
13
Reaping the
Rhythms
T
he poetry of Harding Stedler written during the past half century
has been governed by two definitions coined by him during different
periods of his writing career:
1. Poetry is the invisible heartbeat of a people kept young by dreaming.
~and~
2. The ultimate test of poetry is the degree to which it approximates music.
Harding Stedler
Poet, Poetry Editor
By Carlette Henderson
C
ounting on Each Other, Inc.
was formed to assist individual
seniors in the Maumelle area
and to support the City of Maumelle’s Department of Senior
Services.
This organization may be one
of the area’s best kept secrets assisting se-
Access to dental care was an early prior-
niors in our city. Counting on Each Other,
ity for the non-profit and in 2005 they began
Inc. (CEO, Inc.) first met on September 10th,
a partnership with local dentist offices, Austin
2004 and gained 501-c-3 tax status with the
Family Dentistry and Lewis Family Dentistry,
IRS early in 2005, developing hand-in-hand
with Maumelle’s Department of Senior Services. Initially, the organization received
a $75,000 grant from the Robert Woods
Johnson Foundation under the last funding cycle of their Faith in Action programs.
The Foundation partnered with local faith-
area to gain access to medically-necessary
dental care. CEO, Inc. screens the applicants
to ensure they are at or below poverty guidelines and the non-profit reimburses the local
dental clinics for lab fees with the dental clinics performing all labor pro bono.
kitchen supplies, craft items, lunches, vol-
Counting on Each Other, Inc. has also
unteer appreciation and other events, tech-
goals of the Maumelle Senior Wellness Cen-
assisted the City of Maumelle Department
nology updates and equipment, to name a
ter to advocate, through community out-
of Senior Services by serving as a fiduciary
few. Membership scholarships are available
reach, the physical and mental well-being
agent to receive donations from the pub-
at the Senior Wellness Center for qualify-
of seniors in the community.
lic, including memorials, honorariums and
ing low-income seniors, ensuring that all
sponsorships of memberships.
CEO, Inc.
seniors are able to participate in social and
has received and donated to the City over
health programs, lunch services, and learn-
$56,000 worth of items including furniture,
ing opportunities. MM
ed CEO, Inc. $10,000 to assist in funding the
September/October 2016
to assist low income seniors in the Maumelle
PRIVATE DONATIONS
ALSO HELP GREATLY
IN ALLOWING THE
ORGANIZATION TO
CONTINUE ITS WORK.
based organizations. They assisted the
In July of this year, Delta Dental awardimprovement of dental health for qualifying
seniors. Such generous donations are rare,
however, and the non-profit holds several
fundraisers throughout the year such as
Shred-it Identity Theft shredding held on
the premises of Bank of the Ozarks in Maumelle and rummage sales held at the Jess
Odom Community Center Gymnasium. Private donations also help greatly in allowing
14
Check Presentation to CEO. L to R. Cindy Vandenack, Carlette Henderson, Willa Black Sanders,
David Hodges, Brodie Watson, Jim Payseno, Weldon Johnson (Executive Director, Delta
Dental’s Arkansas Foundation). Absent Kathy Gibbs & Lawanda Sims.
the organization to continue its work.
C
arlette Henderson has been a Maumelle resident since
2000 and she serves on the Counting On Each Other
Board. After retirement, as the Executive Director of the City of
Little Rock’s Racial & Cultural Diversity Commission, she started the
non-profit The Stars Come Out, Inc. to raise monies for education
programs to support children with special needs, disabilities and to
send kids with Sickle Cell to Summer Youth Enrichment Camp.
RANCHING
DREAMCATCHER
Cattle ranching gets in your blood,
tending pastures, cows chewing cud.
The view’s magnificent, pastoral scenes,
cows meandering through the green.
Spunky calves with soft, curly hair
jump with joy for just being there.
The pasture home smells sweet in spring.
In the cold winter, hay bales we bring.
Feeding each morning on snowy days,
counting cattle to assure they are okay.
Laying out salt licks, putting up wire,
hauling off tree limbs for a bonfire.
Driving in pastures down to the creek.
Cows stand contented in water knee-deep,
gently protecting their babes with the herd,
sharing their fields with floating white birds.
O’er the lush green grass and rippling brook,
they trod curved paths with a sure foot.
It’s simple pleasure watching them graze
as Cicadas chirp on warm summer days.
If this isn’t heaven, give me death in the field
with my gentle cows where my sould is healed.
I guard you, she says, with a willow hoop:
inches in diameter, webbed with blood-red
yarn, adorned with feathers and beads, first
tied together by Ojibwe hands, brown and
splintered, a stone’s shot north of the Great
Lakes. The stretched quadrilaterals, those
subconscious gatekeepers, will filter out
what haunts you. Someday, one will break
tradition and seep through. Do not worry;
wake up next to me. Feel it shrivel, like
everything else, in the heat of the sun.
– Andrew Alexander Mobbs
Austin, AR
A FARMER’S CHOICE
When does a farmer know
it is time to find a woman?
Not one to tickle his fancy
or soothe his passion for
a night or week or so,
– Donna Alexander Smith
but one to be his wife,
Greenbrier, AR
the strong, faithful type
who will rise at 4 a.m.,
fix his breakfast,
WOLF
maybe deliver his lunch
out to the fields.
Ancient rhythms course her veins
Keep and turn his house into a home,
as primordial eyes gaze upon Cambrian landscapes.
raise his children to help him
Breath plumes crease the night air
when they get old enough.
as haunting songs pierce the vastness of infinity.
She may starve for passion
because he works so hard.
Phosphorous moons shine upon stark, uplifted plains
And what’s the reward?
as snow-painted mesas illuminate her realm.
Maybe when he parks the plow
The icy winds from nowhere howl
and passes the deeds to his children,
as the mottled strands of a million hairs protect her. he can court the wife he found.
Now, he really knows how
In skillful silence, she prowls over crystallized earth
to appreciate her.
as velvet-pawed pups await her triumphant return.
– Ken Grunewald
Maumelle, AR
Poet Profile
– Vivian Hoskins
Helena-West Helena, AR
ANDREW
ALEXANDER
MOBBS
A
ndrew Alexander Mobbs
has been writing poetry
for nearly decade now, primarily as an undergraduate student at the University of
Central Arkansas and as a Peace
Corps volunteer in Mongolia. Along
with Timothy Snediker, he co-founded
Nude Bruce Review, a non-profit online
literary magazine, just as he released his
debut poetry collection, Strangers and
Pilgrims (Six Gallery Press), in 2013. His
work has also appeared in Vortex Magazine, Deep South Magazine, New Plains
Review, Ghost Ocean Magazine, Calliope, Zetetikon, Gravel Literary Journal,
The Montucky Review, and The Round.
He was also a 2014 Pushcart Prize
nominee.
Beginning this autumn, Mobbs will
be living in central Asia, where he will be
teaching English to university students
as well as training prospective teachers
of English. MM
www.MauMag.com
Counting on Each Other – a Well-Kept Secret Revealed
15
By Ken Forrester
cheerfully admit that throughout
fifty of so years of writing about wine
I have often criticized many of the
wine practices I have encountered in
Arkansas. Now, I am happy to write something
positive; and here “positive” means just that. Without reservation.
I speak of the wine festival on June 8-10 at the Walton
Arts Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Any number of words
could be used to describe this festival but let’s just go with
the descriptive official title “Uncorked” the 16th Annual Art
Of Wine” presentation. This was indeed an event devoted to
the art of wine. Its obvious purposes were to raise funds for
a worthy cause, to present wine and food in the best possible
manner and to have fun. It succeeded remarkably well in all
three areas.
During the festival, we stayed at the upscale Chancellor
Hotel which is an easy walk from the Walton Arts Center but in
view of the evenings spent tasting wine, we took advantage of
hotel policy of free transportation (tips accepted) to the event
and, when we called, transportation back to the hotel.
Since I graduated from the University of Arkansas School
of Law shortly after the Civil War (or one of those big wars back
there) and don’t now know many people in Fayetteville, the
high point of the festival for my wife and me was the Thursday
night dinner with its perfect service of wine and food, prepared
and supervised by Chef Matthew Scott.
September/October 2016
Matthew started by bussing tables while in college and
has worked his way up through cook, sous-chef (under Michael
Richard, a James Beard Foundation Award winner) and Chef to
his present position of Executive Chef at Bordinos Restaurant &
Wine Bar in Fayetteville.
16
To summarize, reception wines at the dinner were Allegrini Palazzo della Torre and Pieropan Soave. The first course
was Whitefish Ceviche, with cucumber, watermelon, cilantro
and lime, accompanied by a J Pinot Gris wine. The second
course was Honey-Soy King Salmon with snow peas, baby
bok choy, accompanied by a Talbot Logan Vineyards Chardonnay. The third course was braised rabbit, seasonal greens, and
Fontina Cream Pollenta. The wine was a Talbott Sleepy Hollow
Vineyards Pinot Noir.
After tasting it, my totally subjective appraisal was that
this may well be the best Pinot Noir I have ever experienced. In
the mouth it retained all the Pinot Noir taste elements in balance and then, instead of fading at the end it seemed to burst
forth in a most pleasant manner, leaving me to insist on another sip, just to be sure. And then perhaps another, just a bit more.
production and significant sized towns, all within driving distance of Fayetteville, Arkansas. If we give this region a proper
name, we have a new wine region we may designate as the
Mid-America Wine Region and invite its wine lovers to the
next wine festival in Fayetteville. This would require as much or
as little effort as the interested parties felt like giving.
The fourth course was Mango sorbet and Blackberry
coulis featuring Arkansas blackberries. The fifth course was
grilled beef tenderloin, with Hasselback-style Yukon Gold Potatoes, glazed baby carrots, pearl onions, English peas, and red
wine demi-glace, accompanied by a Gallo Winery’s Signature
Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. The final course was a chocolate hazelnut mocha panna cotta made with organic Dagoba
Scharffen Berger and Hershey’s chocolate. The accompanying
wine was Gallo’s Signature Reserve Zinfandel.
Such an idea may or not be adopted but my feeling is that
the wine festival needs to get a lot more publicity. By way of
explanation, I have been a published wine writer in Arkansas
for many years and this is the sixteenth annual festival that has
been offered. The simple fact is that I had never heard of it until
Lorri Hambuchen wrote about it in her column in the Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette shortly before it happened. Surely a committee set up for the sole purpose of getting publicity would
not be amiss, in fact would be immeasurably helpful. Regular
news releases would be of great benefit, especially if a couple
were sent out a short time before the festival.
As an aside, this course emphasized the little known fact
that chocolate is indeed a happy accompaniment to red wine.
Don’t ask me why. I like it. If you haven’t tried it and wish to, let
me know what you think.
My thought is that for obvious reasons (at least to me)
this dinner could well be the last event of the festival, leaving
participants with an ongoing feeling that, wine-wise, Arkansas
has indeed arrived.
Named sponsors of the event: E & J Gallo, Hershey, Liquor
World, Central Wine and Spirits, Constellation Brands, Moon
Wine and Spirits, Glazer’s, Premium Brands, Magic 107.9 and
Regions Bank.
In the material furnished to me, some of the entries of
sponsors’ names were so small I could only guess at them.
My feeling is that any sponsor should get more and better
attention.
Then there is the matter of the hundreds of wines served.
An admittedly inaccurate count for the three days: 84 Pinot
Noirs, 30 Zinfandels, 25 Merlots, 15 Rieslings, more than 100
Cabernet Sauvignons, 96 Chardonnays, 19 Malbecs, others,
with effective representation of Arkansas wines. This is a lot of
wines. I’m not suggesting that the number be cut down, but a
bit of organizing, perhaps with at least a few written descriptions and comment about his/her wines by any wine maker
present (just ask them, they will come) , could well be helpful.
Well, that’s my description of an entirely positive wine
experience, which leads to the obvious conclusion: Arkansas is
on its way. Do join in. MM
Restaurant partners included 28 Springs, Apple Blossom Brewing Company, Arsagas at the Depot, Bordinos, Elite
Catering, The Hive, Hog Haus Brewing Company, Jammin Java,
Meijis Japanese Cuisine, Shogun and Vetro.
Now, let’s dream a bit.
In conventional but biased American thinking, New York
and California (with a bemused nod to a couple of other states)
are “wine country” and set the wine pace for the rest of the
country which is designated as “fly-over” country. However,
Arkansas is bordered by the states of Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma, all with some wine
K
en Forrester, a retired administrative
law judge, is the published author of
numerous articles and columns on wine.
Ken is a member of the Authors League, the American
Wine Society and the Society of Wine Educators.
By Michelle McCon
A
s I sit here in my current
space and time, somber
and sober and a little on
the hormonal side and not
the least bit happy about
any of it, trying to get that despicable
“Sister Time” song from Elena of Avalor
out of my head while simultaneously
choking down some sort of kale concoction because it’s “good for me,” I can’t
help but feel, well, like kale is the devil.
Like I’d be way better off with a Bloody Mary
and a Hershey Bar. I feel unsettled too. And low
on hope. See, I’m also pondering the state of
the world (such multitasking!), and it seems to
me that the world is an especially unkind place
right now.
Did I mention I’m hormonal?
I teach my children never to use the word
hate. They “strongly dislike” brushing their teeth.
Dinosaur Train is “not their favorite.” Asparagus
makes them “want to barf.” But let it be known
that I hate presidential election years. Hate.
Hate, hate, hate. LOATHE. Now there’s a good
word. See, I’m not politically minded. Not even
close. My mind literally shuts down the instant
a discussion turns to politics, and then I gag a
bit and find the nearest escape route. Mostly,
though, I hate all the anger and meanness and
the “paid for by the such-and-such campaign”
advertisements that o’ertake my telly and trash
up an otherwise perfectly respectable reality TV
show. And this year, sure, I’m particularly concerned about our options for leader of the U.S.
of A. But you’ll never, ever catch me on Facebook bashing anybody who favors a different
candidate than I do. You’re entitled to your beliefs, just as I am to mine, and (yaaaay!) we both
get a vote, and that’s part of what is supposed
to make our country so grand.
Seriously. Bloody Mary and a Hershey Bar.
Pronto.
And call me naïve and gullible, but I’ll never
understand why people can’t just get along in
general. My children don’t see color, and they
don’t care if you worship the God they talk about
in Vacation Bible School or another god of your
choosing or Ronald McDonald. All they see are
potential friends and playmates. I feel the same
way. I don’t care if you’re white or black or purple
or polka dotted, whether your handbag says
Michael Kors or Faded Glory, or you celebrate
my God or a different one. As long as you’re a
generally nice person and are kind to animals
and me and my family and you politely place
your shopping cart in a return bin when you’re
finished and don’t leave your nasty popcorn tub
and soda trash behind in a theater and you think
Aerosmith is the greatest rock band of all time
and you still clap along to Hall and Oates’s “Private Eyes,” we’re gonna get along just fine.
We moved to Maumelle a little over two
years ago. In our old non-Maumellean neighborhood, people rarely waved or smiled. They
marched right on by, eyes set steadfastly ahead
or directly at the ground, and the lady in the
house behind us delighted in loudly ridiculing
me to her dog each and every time she took
him for a pee. How I wish I were joking. Needless to say, we wanted something different for
our children…way different…way…and so we
moved here. Rest assured that we haven’t regretted it for a moment. See, Maumelle might
encounter a hiccup here or there, as every town
does, but people regularly smile and wave, and
not a single person has mocked me alongside
a dog. I love the town’s charm, its festivals and
events and hometown traditions. I love the
Maumelle Library, complete with Mrs. Kathy
and her magnificent story times. I adore the Shipley ladies and how they smile and slip my kids
bonus doughnut holes. Score! And he doesn’t
know it, but I’d totally love to adopt Mr. Willie
so I could fist bump him and squeal BAM any
time I needed an emotional lift. Like now. And
I also adore the Kroger gentleman who never
ceases to encourage me to have a highly satisfied shopping experience. Even as I’m leaving
the store. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him
in a while. I hope he’s okay and feeling highly
satisfied.
Maumelle is kind.
I don’t remember when it started, but my
children and I concocted this commitment or
tradition or whatever you want to call it of performing at least one act of kindness per day. I
mean, me? I wipe a minimum of one rear end
other than my own every day and make octopus hot dogs and crustless sandwiches out the
wazoo, but that doesn’t count. I must do good
for someone outside of my home. It can be as
simple as helping a neighbor search for a lost
dog or taking dinner to a sick friend or sending a random thank-you treat to my daughter’s
teacher or passing along my kids’ old clothes to
a family in need. Whatever the case, kindness
feels nice, and it makes others happy, and it gets
my children in the habit of thinking of someone
other than themselves on occasion. That’s a
marvelous habit for everyone, I think.
I’ve got a sign that hangs lovingly beside my
computer desk: “Be kind or be quiet.”Wiser words
have never been spoken, I dare say. It’s okay that
we’re all different. It’s okay to disagree. Just do it
respectfully. And it’s okay to toss this kale crap
and grab some Hershey and a REAL drink.
Feeling much better now. Highly satisfied
even. MM
M
ichelle McCon is a stay-at-home mom, writer, and sometimes
graphic designer. She enjoys the great outdoors, a good
book, trashy television, word games, music and lots of it, sewing, biking,
woodworking, Hershey Bars, kind people, and songs that involve clapping.
Have a question or comment? Please feel free to email her at msmccon@
gmail.com.
www.MauMag.com
I
Be Kind or Be Quiet
The Wave of The Future Is Here
17
Hunting Season and All-Terrain Vehicles
Straight Teeth in Six Months or Less
By Mary Aitken, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor, Department of Pediatrics – UAMS College of Medicine
Director of the Injury Prevention Center – Arkansas Children’s Hospital
By Dr. Bryan Austin
In 2014, about 26 percent of ATVrelated injuries involved children under 16. Since 1982, there have been
more than 3,000 fatalities of children
under 16.
Many also believe ATVs are stable
because of their size. However, their
structure causes them to flip easily.
It’s important you not underestimate
an ATV’s instability while operating it.
N
o matter the type of game,
all-terrain vehicles have
become synonymous with
hunting. Before heading out to
September/October 2016
the deer woods or duck blind this fall, make sure
you understand the risk factors involved with
ATVs and how to properly operate one.
In 2014, there were nearly 94,000 ATV-related injuries treated by emergency departments
across the country and 385 fatalities, according
to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. From 1982 through 2014, the CPSC reports
more than 13,600 people were killed due to an
ATV-related injury.
With so many using ATVs, and years’
worth of data showing nearly 100,000 ATVrelated injuries annually nationwide, identifying the risks involved and how to properly
manage an ATV is vital.
Myth vs. Reality
18
One of the biggest misconceptions regarding ATVs is that they are safe for children
to operate.
Another common belief is that
it’s safe to drive an ATV on public
roads or pavement. However, ATVs
are specifically made for off-road use.
An ATV’s tires are made to grip loose soil and
gravel, which causes them to behave differently
on pavement.
Driving ATVs on public roads also creates
opportunities to interact with cars and trucks,
which can be hazardous.
The size of the seat on ATVs leaves many to
believe they are safe for passengers, but most
are designed for only one person. The longer
seat allows the driver to use his or her body
weight to stabilize his or herself when encountering different terrain. Riding with a passenger
is only recommended on ATVs with side-byside seating.
Taking Precautions
Because of the risk of collision
or roll over when operating an ATV,
you should take certain precautions when driving one.
Most important is wearing
a standard motorcycle helmet.
The most serious, and among the
most common, ATV-related injuries occur to the
brain. Wearing an adequate helmet can reduce
the likelihood of injury or death.
It’s also important to wear eye protection,
such as sunglasses. This can prevent dust and
debris from obstructing your vision or causing
an eye injury and increasing the risk of losing
control of the ATV.
Sturdy shoes or boots are also important.
Riding barefoot or in flip flops or other flimsy
footwear can increase the chance of injury or
amputation in the event of an accident. Wearing long sleeves and pants can also protect you
from injuries from branches or trees.
If you are using an ATV while hunting, the
gun should be unloaded and secured in a gun
case while traveling.
It’s important for all ATV operators to be
properly trained how to operate the vehicle and
its capabilities. Hands-on training is available
through the University of Arkansas Cooperative
Extension Service (http://www.uaex.edu/4hyouth/activities-programs/atv-safety.aspx) and
the ATV Safety Institute (http://www.atvsafety.
org/). Make sure everyone in your family is
properly trained to operate an ATV so they can
enjoy their time spent on the vehicle.
For more information on ATV safety for
children, contact the Injury Prevention Center
at Arkansas Children’s Hospital 501-364-3400
or
http://www.archildrens.org/live-healthy/
injury-prevention-center/recreational-safety/
all-terrain-vehicle-safety. MM
Mary Aitken, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor, Department of Pediatrics
UAMS College of Medicine
Director of the Injury Prevention Center –
Arkansas Children’s Hospital
W
hen I first began
straightening teeth
some 20 something
years ago we only
had metal brackets
and stainless steel wires. The normal
treatment time was around 3 years. There
was quite a bit of pain because of how the
stainless steel wires moved the teeth. It has
changed drastically in the last 10 years. We
now have clear brackets, nickel titanium
wires and Invisalign (clear aligners). Treatment times have been cut in half with new
techniques and materials.
Another recent breakthrough has
helped shorten treatment time even further. The technique is called micro osseous perforation. I know that’s a mouthful
so let me explain. Propel is a company that
introduced this concept to the dental community. You can look up the company “Propel” on the internet to find tons of information, videos and patient testimonials. I will
just simply say that it is a way to soften the
bone surrounding the teeth to allow the
teeth to move much faster. The procedure
is done while you are numb so it is painless. It roughly takes 10 to 15 minutes to
perform the procedure. Its cost varies from
$300 to $600 depending on the dentist you
go to. It can literally cut the treatment time
in half. It is mainly used in adult patients
because the bone is not currently growing
and is much harder than in a child.
As I mentioned, we usually use Propel
on adult patients so this is perfect to use in
conjunction with Invisalign. Invisalign uses
a series of clear aligners to straighten teeth.
We can use Invisalign on teenagers but
more adults use it than teens. Most of the
Invisalign cases we perform are around 15
to 25 aligners. The patients will wear each
aligner for 2 weeks to straighten the teeth.
So lets say the patient needs to wear 25
aligners to straighten the teeth. At 2 weeks
per aligner that will be 50 weeks or roughly
a year of treatment. Here is where the exciting news is. With the use of Propel, the
same patient will only have to wear each
aligner for 1 week instead of 2 weeks. That
correlates to 25 weeks and not 50 weeks of
treatment. That equals roughly 6 months
of treatment for straight teeth. Many people are getting straight teeth in only 3 to
4 months of treatment. This is definitely
worth the extra $300 to $600 for Propel.
Obviously every person is different
and the degree and severity of the malocclusion will vary tremendously. It may
take much longer than 6 months for some
people. I am talking about the majority of
adult patients wanting straight teeth that
think it will take a few years to treat them.
Now there is a solution for faster treatment.
WITH THE USE OF PROPEL,
THE SAME PATIENT WILL
ONLY HAVE TO WEAR EACH
ALIGNER FOR 1 WEEK
INSTEAD OF 2 WEEKS.
THAT CORRELATES TO
25 WEEKS AND NOT
50 WEEKS OF TREATMENT.
For more information, call your local
dentist and ask if they provide Propel along
with Invisalign or braces. If they don’t,
hopefully they can refer you to a dentist
that does. It’s a great way to have a beautiful smile in a short period of time. MM
D
r. Bryan Austin graduated from Magnolia High School, University of
Central Arkansas, and obtained his Doctorate of Dental Surgery degree
at Baylor College of Dentistry. He attends church at New Life. He has a wonderful
son Gene. His hobbies are numerous and include hunting, fishing, travel and
golfing. He also plays lead guitar in a band, and he loves to fly airplanes. He
belongs to the American Dental Association, Academy of General Dentistry, Central
District Dental Society, Pulaski Dental Learning Society, Dental Organization for
Conscious Sedation, and the International Academy of Facial Aesthetics.
www.MauMag.com
An ATV requires maturity, experience and good judgment. If a child
is not old enough to drive a car, he or
she should not operate an ATV. In fact,
full-size ATVs are labeled to discourage children under 16 from operating
the vehicle.
19
Are you in PAIN?
Two Issues Most People Overlook with Weight Loss and Health
Living with Arthritis, Fibromyalgia,
Headaches or Back Pain?
By Christie Brooks, MS, RD, LD
Registered Dietitian, CrossFit Trainer, Essential Oils Educator
Why Weight Lifestyle Program - www.WhyWeightLifestsyle.com
working out harder or longer as
they become even more strict
with their calories. Both of these routes can
actually be detrimental to success. What is
often overlooked is something extremely
easy to fix, which will help them get back on
the road to success.
September/October 2016
Do you hit a feeling of NO ENERGY
around the hours of 2:00-3:00pm? Our
bodies should be mostly made up of water and protein substances along with the
bones. Considering how our bodies are
made, we can actually live without food for
over a month because our metabolism will
slow down and adjust to conserve. But our
body can not live very long without water.
Our bodies should be 65-75% water. Most
people stay around 50-55%, which is called
chronic dehydration (aka “slow metabolism”).
Everything – I’m talking organs, metabolism,
body functions – depends on water. You will
feel tired during the afternoon hours if you
are dehydrated.
20
Water is used for many different functions including breathing, perspiring and
urinating. Water loss in a day averages 10
cups and water accumulated through food
and metabolism averages only 4 cups. Water
does several more things:
• Flushes out toxins- kidneys require water to dissolve uric acid
• Cools the body during exercise
• Decreases water retention – the body is
known to retain water to compensate
• Relieves dehydration headaches
• Promotes good skin tone (Helps with
the wrinkles and decreases cellulite!)
• Lubricates the joints
• KEY ingredient to Weight Loss - water
is needed to metabolize fat adequately
So how much do we need? Take your
body weight and divide it by 2. Your answer is
the amount of ounces you will need to drink
daily. This does NOT include coffee or sugar
drinks (colas, sweet teas, sports drinks). You
can flavor a gallon of water with lemons and
mint to drink all day. It is best to have half of
your water consumed by noon and not wait
until right before bed to catch up! Another
good indicator of dehydration is just noticing
the coloration of your urine when you go to
the bathroom. If it’s slightly tinged yellow but
mostly clear, you are spot on. If it’s a dark yellow, start drinking water!
Of course, if our body is being fed, hydrated, and exercised properly, you need
to look at one more issue that could be
detrimental to reaching your goal. As the
years pass, our life seems to get busier and
busier, cramming in more “to-do’s” on our
daily list. So when do you sleep? And how
much do you sleep?
Did you know that our bodies reset during long periods of rest? Resetting the metabolism could just be your next ticket to
the journey of health success! Studies show
that if you get less than 7 hours of sleep, your
body will NOT reset. By getting 7-9 hours of
sleep each night (preferably uninterrupted
sleep), your body will:
 Joints will be able to make synovial
fluid for lubricating,
 Muscles will repair themselves from
the day’s workout,
 Pancreas will get rest to prevent
against diabetes,
 Heart rate along with Blood pressure will be closer to normal during
the day, and
 Much less munching on foods
(sugary and salty) during the day
to “give you energy” to stay awake
(those calories add up!!)
SERVICES
Of course, the worse thing to do is go
grab up coffee to keep you going in the afternoon. Coffee is a diuretic – so it will dehydrate you! Plus, when you are dehydrated,
drinking extra coffee to stay awake, consuming all the extra foods to stay awake (you
know your body really isn’t hungry), and you
are sleeping very little…you will eventually
start wearing down your body organs which
brings on disease or even adrenal fatigue.
This is not the environment for a good and
fast metabolism either!
So when you are on that road to health
and you hit that frustrating plateau, re-evaluate your sleep and your water intake before
you start working out harder and longer or
start making adjustments to your caloric/
macro intake. MM
• Chiropractic
• Massage Therapy
• Spinal Decompression
Therapy
• Acupuncture
• Cold Laser Therapy
Dr. Tray Fowler, D.C.
Kyle L. Skinner D.C. , C.C.S.P.
TWO LOCATIONS
103 Park Drive
Maumelle
C
hristie Brooks is a Registered Dietitian and a CrossFit Level 1
Trainer. She and her family live in Searcy. She has taught at
Harding University, worked at several hospitals, a dialysis clinic, and a
gym. She has also worked under a childhood obesity grant, diabetes and
HIV clinics, and has owned a restaurant.
She started the Why Weight Lifestyle Program, which is comprised of
an individualized meal plan and weekly one-hour consults targeting hormone balancing, detoxing, clean eating, exercise, and disease prevention.
More info can be found at www.WhyWeightLifestyle.com and www.
facebook.com/WhyWeightLifestyle. Email: [email protected]
501.851.6685
663 Highway 365
Mayflower
501.470.9855
www.skinnerchiropractic.com
www.MauMag.com
O
ften, dieters hit plateaus and
frustration sets in. They start
21
I
Provided by Arkansas Children’s Hospital
f there is one thing Dr. Samiya Razzaq tells every family she encounters, it’s this: Cut out the sugary
beverages.
Families that are concerned about their
child’s weight can ask their primary care provider for a referral to the clinic, which meets
four days a week. The team approach creates a positive and educational atmosphere
for families, as they start the weight loss
journey together.
“It’s really the devil in disguise,” says
Razzaq, medical director of the Center for Obesity And its Consequences in Health (COACH)
at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. “People will
gulp the beverages thinking they’re quenching thirst, but they’re drinking so many calories so fast that it tends to negate their other
healthy lifestyle choices.”
Each year she sees dozens of children in
the COACH Clinic whose families are frustrated
and unsure of what they can do to help their
kids lose weight. She gently reminds them
that they have the power to make changes
that ensure everyone in the home is healthier.
“Until they come to the clinic, they may
not realize how something like a simple
drink choice is going to change their health,”
she said.
September/October 2016
Razzaq tells parents and caregivers to
think about a kid playing soccer or baseball.
That athlete may burn 200 calories per game.
But then they immediately chug a small bottle
of orange juice or a sports drink. Now they’ve
taken in even more calories than they burned.
22
“I tell my patients the biggest bang they
can get is taking out those sugars they drink,”
Razzaq said. “Then we begin working on food
portions and choices, creating a balanced diet
and moving more.”
The COACH Clinic at ACH offers families
the expertise of physicians trained in weight
management. Families also have access to
the Arkansas Children’s Center for Exercise
and Nutrition Therapy, or ACCENT Clinic,
where dedicated nutritionists, psychologists
and physical therapists provide additional
support. The comprehensive, streamlined
approach gives kids the confidence to begin
their weight loss journey.
There’s no question that childhood obesity is one of the state’s biggest health challenges. Children who are overweight are more
likely to face diabetes, high cholesterol, joint
pain and even liver problems.
The COACH Clinic at ACH offers the highest level of weight loss support for children,
in accordance with national guidelines. The
patients Dr. Razzaq and the rest of the team
treats may be as young as 2 and as old as 17.
Most have a body mass index (BMI) greater
than the 97th percentile. Some have lower
BMIs, but are already facing issues like high
insulin, skyrocketing blood pressure and darkening skin around the neck — a sign of type
2 diabetes.
“They’re having problems in school.
They’re not able to keep up with their peers,”
Dr. Razzaq said. “They tell us they’re short of
breath. We tell them we can help.”
Why Women Should Lift Weights
A
s a personal trainer who
works mainly with women,
I’ve heard it all too often “I
only want to lose weight and
tone my muscles. I don’t want
“A child may be 30, 40 or 60 pounds
overweight, but the impact begins well before she notices her clothes fitting differently,” Dr. Razzaq said. “The inside of the body
feels better much sooner – even as soon as
three days of habit changes.”
to bulk up.” The misconception here is that
women think that they need to spend
hours on the treadmill and not lift anything
more than 5-10 pounds or they are going
to look like the hulk. What they don’t realize is that weightlifting won’t turn you into
a she-hulk (as women we don’t possess the
level of testosterone necessary to support
a bulky physique), it will however help you
gain confidence, self-esteem and fit into
those skinny jeans.
To learn more about the ACH COACH and
ACCENT Clinics, visit archildrens.org/coach
Here’s why women should lift and lift
heavier weights 2 or 3 times a week:
Dos and Don’ts for Making Changes
The Entire Family Can Stick To:
Your metabolism will soar
Do:
• Choose a healthy, balanced meal that
includes food from all five food groups
with smaller portion sizes.
• Exercise for 60 minutes daily. The American Academy of Pediatrics and Center for
Disease Control recommend an hour of
moderate activity every day.
• Know the facts. Check the nutrition label and follow the dietary recommendations of a health care professional.
Don’t:
• Drink sugary beverages. The best choice
is water. Keep a water bottle with you at all
times. Some alternatives include unsweetened tea, flavored water (Crystal Light,
Mio, etc.), or Powerade Zero.
• Spend a lot of time in front of a screen
(TV, phone, tablet, etc.). The American
Academy of Pediatrics recommends less
than two hours per day.
• Skip meals. Balanced meals and snacks
throughout the day are a good thing, so
long as the food choices are healthy and
in small portions. MM
By Kathy Wheeler
As women age they naturally lose muscle
mass. This causes your metabolism to slow,
which means it’s harder to lose weight and
you start building a spare tire around your
middle. The big advantage to weight training is your body’s ability to burn fat during
and after a lifting session. By challenging the
muscles and lifting weights, you increase your
lean muscle tissue. An increase in lean muscle tissue requires more calories to maintain,
therefore an increase in metabolism.
Your body will get tighter
While cardiovascular exercise is good
for your heart and will help burn fat, lifting weights help sculpt your body, creating
curves and definition right where you want
it. Besides, a pound of muscle takes up less
space than a pound of fat, therefore you
are able to fit into and look good in those
skinny jeans.
Reduces your risk of heart disease and diabetes
Pumping iron can reduce your risk of
heart disease and was approved by the American Heart Association as a healthy form of
Five pounds of muscle vs. five pounds of fat.
exercise. The AHA (www.heart.org) recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity cardiovascular exercise five days a week
for overall cardiovascular health. And for added health benefits, moderate to high intensity
strength training at least two days a week.
Those who lift weights are less likely to have
heart disease risk factors such as a large waist
circumference, high triglycerides, elevated
blood pressure, and elevated glucose levels.
It’s good for bone health
As you age, not only do you risk losing
muscle mass but you are also at risk of losing
bone mass. Postmenopausal women however are at a greater risk for osteoarthritis because the body no longer secretes estrogen.
Stressing the bones during a strength training
session can increase bone density and reduce
the risk of osteoporosis. Maintaining strong
muscles through weight training also helps
to maintain balance and coordination, which
helps to prevent falls which can lead to osteoporosis related fractures.
K
It can reduce stress
Let’s face it, we all know life is not a walk in
the park. It can get pretty stressful at times and
what better way to relieve stress than in the
weight room. Those who regularly strength
train tend to manage stress better and experience fewer adverse reactions to stressful
situations as those who do not exercise. What
better way to blow off some steam and burn
some calories than taking your stress out on a
punching bag or weights. In addition, older
adults who participate in moderate intensity
weightlifting can improve their memory and
cognitive function.
So, next time you are at the gym and find
yourself reaching for those five pound dumbbells, think about the many benefits of lifting
heavier weights. Your body will thank you.
*Consult your healthcare provider before
beginning a new exercise program. Lifting
heavier weights requires proper form, so consult a personal trainer at your local gym. MM
athy Wheeler is a nationally certified personal trainer
with over 10 years experience who works for 10 FitnessMaumelle. She is an ACE-certified Personal Fitness Trainer, Cooper
Institute Master Fitness Specialist, IDEA Professional Member, SCW Yoga
and mat Pilates certified and CPR/AED certified. To learn more about
personal training call 501-519-1746.
www.MauMag.com
Arkansas Children’s Hospital
Coaching Kids through Weight Loss
23
Plums, poetry, politicians, and perspective
By Robyn D. Rektor
Of course she, he, she are going to have different voting agendas than mine I realized. What can
each candidate offer these three
that will make them ultimately
cast a vote into that candidate’s
ballot box? How will the candidates speak to these people’s experiences, to reach their perspective of this American life?
I
’ve been thinking about perspective
lately. It started last month on the beach
one morning at Gulf Shores. I was doing my
usual oceanic vacation ritual of rising for
daybreak and sunrise to catch the show and
happily tromp solo along the water’s edge for
an hour or two before my companions and the
rest of the world come alive.
We cannot be anything other
than what we are, a sum of our
experiences and feelings about
them. The man will vote with the
experiences he has had and how
they affect his expectations of the
future. The mother will vote with
a heart that has been shrouded in
grief. I suppose one could rationalize his or her way out beyond feelings, but even that is still a part of
who we are, where we have been, and how will
feel about both.
As I looked streetwards and took stock of
the Pink Pony and then the Hangout, I recalled
that the night before I was in the same spot,
just further in, as I had stood on the public access beach entry between the Hangout and
Surf Style. I had watched dusk then nightfall
encroach upon the water and envelop it in a
cloak of darkness.
Looking down the beach and across the
water right now, it looked so different that
I had to keep checking that I was indeed
aligned. “How can nothing look the same?” I
kept wondering.
A few weeks earlier I had told a friend that
my sister and I remembered a thing from our
childhood as completely different. I feared
this meant I had a flawed memory, my greater fear that maybe I recall lots of things incorrectly. She said the difference came from perspective, that it was quite possible that both
of us were totally right, that we put what we
knew and how we felt on the moment, and
later, the memory of it, but that both views
while different could each be “True.”
A touch of nightfall or crowd, a splash of
noise or activity, and things look different.
Perspective changes everything.
It’s about where you sit.
September/October 2016
I’m not very political. I exercise my right to
vote in every election but often more to honor
the women and men who fight for our country
than to cast a vote for a certain politician. This
year I was hanging out with a friend who was
visiting from across the country when the Republican convention began.
24
I grew up and got through most of my
adulthood thinking about people and the
world in terms of wrong or right and good
or bad. But that’s just not true, I now see. Perspective allows for many, probably at least
fifty, shades of gray.
“We gotta watch it,” he gushed, “Man, I love
this stuff.” I deemed him nuts but begrudgingly
obliged and --much to my surprise-- I was
quickly suckered into the drama.
The next week, though my friend had
already left for his east coast, I found myself equally captivated by the other side. As I
watched the two hours of network coverage
each night, I was surprised at how emotionally involved I got. Tears flowed as I witnessed
a husband catalog his wife’s many and significant accomplishments, women sobbing openly as the first female presidential candidate of a
major party was officially nominated (I joined
in the tearpalooza, and, rather ashamedly I
admit, I had not given this historical moment
much thought beforehand), and a father visibly moved deeply by his daughter’s words as
she introduced her mother.
I was fascinated by the words from people in the crowds randomly chosen to give
impromptu interviews. For the first time, I
thought about what a candidate looks like
from a perspective other than my own. I saw
the voting desires of a mother who lost her
A while back I tried to make sense of a
loss through the Buddhist principle of nothing is good or bad, it just is. This did not work
for me. No matter how I tried, every argument
was someone’s fault, every move deemable
as wrong or right. I tried getting there by saying “that’s curious” instead of classifying actions. That worked until I got my feelings hurt
and then it was back to wrong or right, good
or bad.
For three hours I melt here
into the setting. I become an extension of the bench on which
I rest. I belong here as much as
the wisteria vine, the picnic table,
the reddish finch that rests on the
branch nearby. I only become
aware of my difference when
anatomy calls me out of this gentle reverie back to my room at the
guest house when my perspective shifts from transcendental
arbor dweller to regular ol’ human
being who drank too much iced
tea at lunch.
My very wise sagey friend said recently
that nothing is personal. The person having
a bad day snapping at us at the cash register,
when we unknowingly cross into their negative area, we may feel the effects, but it has
nothing to do with us. It is not personal. The
relationship that fails that you spend weeks,
months trying to unravel and make sense of,
the thread of wrongdoing you think you need
to untangle in order to understand what to
do differently next time, quite possibly, it has
nothing to do with you.
In a friendship, marriage, lives shared, a
breakup, two people often think of it so differently that it seems they cannot be talking
about the same people, the same events.
How can perspectives that merged, for at least
some space of time, also be so different?
Because there can be more than one
“true”?
As I write this, I am
sitting in the cool womb
of one of my favorite
spots in America, a wisteria enwrapped arbor
on the grounds of a beloved abbey with a picnic bench that has been
There’s a poem by William
Carlos Williams I adore, partly because it’s about my favorite fruit
but mostly because it captures the intensity of
emotions in just a few words. Its depth in brevity astonishes me anew every time I read it.
I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox .... forgive me they were delicious.
(There’s a few more words but not many,
that’s most of the poem.) I have used it as a dating screening tool. Read this and tell me what you
think. Give me your perspective. (Don’t judge! I
am an English major and college writing teacher
after all. It’s in my training!) In my younger days,
my friends swore I used When Harry Met Sally,
later Beautiful Girls, to determine from the corner
of my eye whether a guy and I had any compatibility. At least I have upgraded to literature.
The he of the last relationship pronounced
Plums “stupid.” I should’ve known then he
wouldn’t last. Nobody I have dated thus far has
loved this poem. Maybe it’s not such a good
screening tool. Or maybe it is. The answer to that,
I suppose, depends on your perspective. MM
R
obyn D. Rektor plays with words
for a semi-living and also teaches
writing for the University of Phoenix. Pen your
perspective on plums or other pleasantries to
[email protected].
www.MauMag.com
From Where You Sit
the scene of some of my deepest
pennings and most influential
readings. It’s one of my happy
places. Even when it’s 90 degrees
out like it is today, this spot feels
magically cool, its own climate,
its own universe. I long to return
to this nest often, it has taken up
residence inside my head and
heart, but I rarely make it back
more than once a year.
son to racial violence, of a man
who wanted protection for his
LGBT community, of a 65-year-old
African-American woman who
was overjoyed to see the day coming that she could cast a vote for a
woman president.
25
Get Out of My Yard!
By Prunella Pinetree
My imagination, all by its itty bitty self,
twists sounds or shadows completely out of
proportion within seconds. At just the mention
of a prisoner escaping or an ongoing manhunt,
I envision that my backyard instantly becomes
the best hiding place for any dirt-bag in the
continental U.S. I have no out-buildings, sheds
or vast amounts of wooded property to help
anyone disappear from the law, but I know he’s
out there: I can just sense it. Mi casa is probably listed on the ArkansasHideouts.com website for any wrong-doer to research. They need
only look for the big red X strategically marked
on any state map generously provided for free
inside your local tourism portal.
is hurt, doesn’t that generally make it more aggressive and unpredictable? Please don’t be aggressive and unpredictable!
To the average person, those mysterious
sounds that go “bump” in the night are basically
ignored. But to someone like me with the calm
demeanor of Barney Fife, they are clear signs of
intruders. So, just like Ralphie in “A Christmas
Story” movie, I grabbed for Ol’ Blue at the first
sign of danger. Actually, mine was more silver
and black. His was bolt action, but mine had
5 bullets sitting on go and 45 more as backup.
True to the movie warning, I was hoping not to
put someone’s eye out with it…..especially my
own. For all I knew, there were masked marauders and quite possibly Black Bart himself inching
towards my tiny homestead, so it was up to me
to protect the yellow-bellies who lived within it.
It was either me or the bad guys, and by golly,
it wasn’t going to be me. Sayonara, bad guys!
September/October 2016
The large shade-producing trees in my
yard tend to crank out bushels of dead, crackly
leaves in the fall, thus carpeting the spotty grass
and weed assortment I’ve got going out there.
The wind is never quite able to blow them completely away, so I attempt to rake up what I can,
even though my heart and soul are seldom in
it. It generally doesn’t take long before I give
up, and it becomes my version of ground cover
with outdoor alarm.
26
I like to raise the windows to fully enjoy the
crisp fresh air, but that also opens Pandora’s box
of night sounds. Last night as the temperature
dropped with the first winds of fall, I heard shuffling and crunching sounds from the back yard.
I figured the squirrels were all snug in their beds,
so I ruled them out completely. My fingers were
crossed that it was not a skunk with a vendetta. The possibility of raccoons or possums
was all too real, so I listened intently. Was this
a 4-legged trespasser or even worse….…the
dreaded 2-legged version? I swallowed hard.
The foreboding sounds of dry, brittle leaves
being displaced by feet were all too familiar.
The disturbance was moving, very slowly, down
the fence line from the back of the yard towards
the front. Was it searching for something? Was
it hurt? Could that explain the slow, deliberate
pace with resting intervals? Ugh! I hope it’s not
bleeding. (I faint seeing blood.) If something
Chapter’s End
I decided to go for broke and go on the offensive. Without peering out the window, I slithered back down the staircase to the living room.
From there, I could turn on the back porch lights
and change night into day. Aha! The bad guys’
positions would be exposed, and they would
immediately flee. I could do this! I needed to
do it now! I’m going on the count of three!
I jumped up to flip on the outside lights and
took off running back up the stairs to my vantage point. Apparently I’m not as light on my
feet as I had thought, because when I looked
out the window, there were 3 stocky deer staring up at me. They never flinched in surprise or
even appeared disturbed in any manner. After a
few seconds of the 4 of us staring, they dropped
their heads in boredom and continued to shuffle through the leaves.
I clapped my hands and made growling
sounds, both to no avail. They turned their
heads to one another as if having a brief discus-
By Michae Orfanos
T
ears crept into Claire’s eyes, and
spontaneously glided down her
cheeks as she hung up the phone.
Emotion was an unexpected tidal wave drowning her in its ferocity. Trying to come up for air,
she took a deep breath, shocked by her reaction
to such happy news; “I’m officially through with
high school.”
I belly crawled to the window, which was
silly since it is 30 feet off the ground and not
even floor length, but we ‘fraidy-cats do whatever we feel is best during stressful times. I froze
in my tracks to interpret the latest data headed
my way via the wind. It was closer. The resting intervals were lengthening. My heart was
thumping louder than the crunching leaves
outside. Could they hear me as clearly as I heard
them? I had to remain calm. I needed the element of surprise.
sion and then looked back up at me. Were they
waiting for more aggressive action on my part
or what? I was as confused as they were. There’s
no way that I was going outside to attempt
shooing them away: it’s spooky out there.
I’ve come to the conclusion that I may pay
the taxes on my little piece of Arkansas, but I
certainly don’t control who uses it after sunset.
Shhh! What was that noise?
[email protected] MM
“Congratulations, Honey I’m so proud of
you”, she had cheered back to her son before
ending the call. It was the last day of school
before graduation, and Jake was checking in to
share his joy. How could she feel so completely
deflated by loss when she should be on cloud
nine? This was a huge accomplishment for
them both, why was she crying? She chided
herself as she pulled tissues from the box sitting on her desk. Blotting the corners of her
eyes she tried to compose herself by reconciling
her heart and her mind. The problem was her
heart knew the significance of the conversation before the rest of her had caught up. Her
mind hadn’t yet recognized the sound her heart
heard in that call, the sound of the door to her
son’s childhood closing as he began his evolution to becoming an adult. This was a turning
point, and Claire knew that from now on she
would stand on one side of that door, and he
the other. Jake would always take a piece of her
with him, but no longer would he need her as
much. And as proud as she was that her son
was growing up to be a fine young man, she felt
the sharp pain of mourning the loss of her baby.
As Claire sat quietly at her desk so as not
to draw attention to herself, her eyes settled on
two photos pinned side by side on the bulletin
board in front of her. In one picture a young
man with a peppering of stubble on his chin
looked over his shoulder, and the other of a
baby boy with a toothless grin that smiled back
at her. It was impossible that the images were
of the same person. From time to time Claire
caught herself staring into Jake’s face trying to
see any semblance of the little one he once was,
but it was always a man looking back at her. In
Claire’s heart however, she saw Jake through a
prism of his entire life. She saw him as a baby, a
five year old, a tween, and a teenager all at once.
It was a special kind of vision that only a parent
can have, and a special kind of honor to know
someone that well.
For everyone around her it was just an
ordinary day. For Claire a milestone had been
reached. She remembered all the past milestones in Jake’s life, every step of childhood
left behind by growing; four dimples on each
chubby hand where knuckles would form, a
big round belly perfect for blowing “raspberries”
on that disappeared
as he grew taller. Ears
that felt like rose petals.
She remembered the
mispronounced words
that became standard
in the confines of their
little world; heccahoccer, frigifreighter, and
BenDonalds. Her mind wandered through road
trips and pony rides, girlfriends and broken
hearts. Deep inside Claire recognized that it was
now her turn to be left behind as he grew up.
Just like now, she wasn’t ready for the life
change when she chose to have Jake. Leaving behind a budding career to move across
the country, and be closer to family was, she
thought, going to be easy. She had no idea how
deep a chasm it would create in her identity, nor
how much effort it would take to regain her balance. Her focus was forced to shift from herself
to someone else. And up to that point considering someone else was completely alien. To her
surprise, being a mother came naturally, and
being each other’s world was effortless. Time
passed, and as it always does life went along.
Claire happened into a new field that she loved,
and created a new happy existence. She considered hers a success story, and this moment
was simply confirmation of that. She nodded in
agreement to no one, sitting at her desk as she
regained composure. She realized that simply a
page in the story had turned, and a new chapter
had begun. MM
M
ichae Orfanos lives in Maumelle
with her family and three dogs.
She has settled here after living in New York and
Los Angeles, and working in the entertainment
industry. After growing up in Arkansas and then
living in the big city, Maumelle is a perfect place to
raise her family and write stories.
www.MauMag.com
I
don’t need to see scary movies,
read frightening books or even
watch the 10 o’clock news to
become a little jittery at night.
27
Minute With Maddox
By Cary Maddox
App for your Smartphone. This allows you to
(cart path) you will need to determine your
click through and even search certain things.
nearest point of relief where the ball does
Now that we have an idea on how to
read through and somewhat understand the
S
ome time ago in this
space we discussed
some of the most commons Rules of Golf
that come up in a casual round
of golf. Well, with all the goings on in the
major championships involving the rules I
thought it would be good to revisit some of
them and even some new ones. The USGA
Rules of Golf book can be a little intimidating
at first glance. There is a lot of information
and you feel like you have to be a lawyer to
sort through it to figure something out. Yes
there are a lot of procedures and penalties,
but knowing and understanding the rules
can benefit you when you play.
Rules of Golf
First let’s try and go about understanding the rules, then we will look at some basic
rules that you see quite a bit over 18-holes.
To best understand the Rules of Golf
you must have a good understanding of the
definitions. Understanding the definitions
will help you as you begin to read each rule.
There are over fifty terms and they form the
foundation around which the Rules of Play
are written. A good knowledge of the terms
is very important to the correct application
of the Rules.
Once you have a good understanding of
the definitions, you must consider the facts
of the case in some detail. First identify the
Rules of Golf book, let’s look at some common situations you might encounter in a
round of golf.
form of play, match or stroke. Then identify
who is involved (player, partner, caddie, etc.).
Know your condition where the incident occurred (green, bunker, water hazard, etc.).
Some other facts to find out are a) what actually happened, what where the player’s
intentions, and what was the timing of the
incident. A lot of fact finding goes into understanding the situation.
After the fact finding mission refer back
to the book. Use the Rules of Play Index in
the Rule book. The Index covers the 34 Rules
of Golf. After you find out the information
you should be able to look at the Names of
each Rule and decide which Rule applies.
Another great reference is the Rules of Golf
I’m sure anyone who has ever played golf
has hit a ball into the water. Rule 26 discusses
the procedure for dealing with a ball in a water hazard. You probably know that it is a one
shot penalty for doing so. How to proceed is
always a good topic of discussion. First you
must know if it is a Water Hazard (defined
by yellow stakes and lines; photo A) or a Lateral Water Hazard (defined by red stakes and
not lie in or on the Obstruction. Once that
is determined you have one club-length (not
nearer the hole) to drop your ball in. There is
no penalty for taking this relief.
The last Rule I would like to discuss is
Rule 28: Ball Unplayable. The player may
deem his ball unplayable at any place on
the course, except when the ball is in a water hazard. The player is the sole judge as to
whether his ball is unplayable. Under a penalty of one stroke a player may play a ball
from where he originally played from, drop a
behind the point where the ball lay, keeping
that point directly between the hole and the
spot on which the ball is dropped (with no
limit to how far back), or drop a ball within
two club-lengths of the spot where the ball
lay, but not nearer to the hole. Most golfers
elect to use the two-club lengths when really going back to the original spot or dropping well behind unplayable position is the
better option.
Knowing the Rules of Golf can help
you through a round of golf. I encourage
all golfers to have a basic understanding of
the Rules. If you have any questions please
contact your local PGA Golf Professional or
reach out to the ASGA (Arkansas State Golf
Association).
Good luck! MM
lines; photo B). Both water hazards have the
same options; however a Lateral Water Hazard has an additional two options. Let’s start
with a Water Hazard. We will call it a “Regular Water Hazard.” If you hit your ball into a
Regular Water Hazard you have 3 options.
A) play it as it lies (which can obviously be
C
ary Maddox is the PGA Head Golf Professional at the Maumelle
Country Club. He has over 15 years of teaching experience
working with men, women, seniors, and juniors. For more information
on lessons contact him at [email protected]. Visit Cary on the web at
www.carymaddoxpga.com.
difficult), B) go back to the point where you
hit it into the water from, or C) take the point
flag and go back as far as you want to and
drop it. The last option is always debated
because some people will incorrectly think
that it is the point where it crossed and the
place where you hit it from. It is always the
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Hazard. If your ball goes into a water hazard
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options as a Regular Water Hazard, and also
a few additional options. D) take the point
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where it last crossed and take a drop within
Commercial Deliveries
two club-lengths of that point no closer to
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the hole, E) another option rarely used is to
September/October 2016
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point and the flag. Now to the Lateral Water
marked by a red line then you have the same
take the same approach as option D, but take
it from the other side of the hazard equidistant from the hole. The only other option for
both would be if the committee has an established drop area that would be marked by
a white circle and noted as a drop area.
Another common situation that requires
some knowledge to proceed under would be
a cart path. We now have read the definitions
28
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where it last crossed the yellow line and the
so we know that a cart path is an Obstruction
(Rule 24). To take relief from the Obstruction
29
Financial
or thousands of years,
life expectancy at birth
for humans was 25 to
35 years. By 1900, it had
However; if the gate attendant informed you before boarding that there
was a 5% chance that the engines could
fail causing the plane to crash before
reaching your destination, would you still
be willing to board the plane? The degree
of failure would be low, but the magnitude
of that failure (death) would be enormous.
Keep in mind this is average life
expectancy at birth. In other words,
roughly half the population will live
longer – often much longer.
How many years can you expect to
live in retirement? Obviously, as life expectancy grows, years spent in retirement
increases. It is interesting to note when Social Security was passed in 1935, average
time spent in retirement was about three
years. By 1980 that average had increased
to 13.6 years, by 1990 to 19.4 years, by 2000
from 20 to 30 years on average, and it this
time the average continues to increase.
Most married couples can expect a retirement lasting for 25 to 40 years. This lends
itself to using a long term time frame for
a large portion of retirement assets, rather
than the reduction in risk called for by conventional historical financial models.
One big mistake made in retirement planning is to use average life
expectancy at birth. This creates a
shorter life expectancy than what may
actually occur. If we assume a too-short
life expectancy, our distribution rate on
retirement assets may be too high.
We should really use life expectancy at age 65. For example, the chance
of at least one spouse living to age 95
is 31% - a pretty large margin of error
if you planned for age 76. You will notice that adding a second life greatly
increase the odds of one party living to
a specified age.
September/October 2016
Another consideration - Life expectancy
at age 65 is still based on the average. Affluent
people tend to live longer than the average due
to healthier lifestyles and access to better medical care. So for the people reading this article,
life expectancy may actually be longer than
shown on the chart!
One thought that sticks with me is that
“People do not have an expiration date.” Doctors rarely use “natural causes” as a reason for
By Austin Pittman
Photography by Alex Kent
www.alexkentphoto.com
The degree of failure would be high, but
the magnitude of that failure (no snack)
would be low.
inched up to 47 years. In
1928, penicillin was invented. By 2000,
life expectancy at birth had increased
to 76.5 years!
30
Understanding Histograms
Planning For Your Personal Lifespan
death. Death certificates usually show the failure of some vital organ, or detail some other
medical reason rather than “old age.
Statistics and probabilities are useful tools
when it comes to planning for contingencies.
Unfortunately running out of money in retirement may cause much more than a slight inconvenience.
If you were boarding a plane and were told
that there was a 95% chance that snacks would
not be served on that flight, due to turbulent
conditions you would probably look forward to
arrival at your destination and board the plane.
F
What can you do to prepare for the
probability of an extended period of
retirement living? Following are a few strategies which can be employed to make sure your
retirement income outlives you:
1. Consider postponing Social Security Benefits to later
2. Consider Lifetime pension options rather
than lump sums
3. Maintain A Stock Allocation To Foster
Growth
4. Reposition Assets For Tax Efficiency
Segment Assets Based Upon Investment
Time Horizon MM
rank B Howell, Jr. is a Certified Financial Planner ™ in Little Rock, AR
and developer of the Tax Efficient Asset Movement process.
No portion of this article is to be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell a security or to provide
personalized investment, tax, or legal advice. Frank can be reached by phone at 501-519-3280
or on the web at TaxEfficientAssetMovement.com. Frank B Howell, Jr. holds Arkansas Insurance
Consultant License # 829849 / CFP Board ID # 116373
space in between, so it doesn’t look like a traditional bar graph, but that
is essentially what it is. If your histogram is scaled more to the left side
of the graph, your image is darker or underexposed. If it is scaled more
to the right side of the graph, your image is brighter or overexposed. If
more of the data is in the middle ranges of the histogram, the image contains more mid tones. There is no such thing as a “correct” histogram, but
most ideal exposures look more like an even hill than mountain peaks. It
should reach from edge to edge on the graph, but not climb the sides,
A
professional photographer and an amateur photographer are standing side by side shooting
pictures of the same scene. After each shutter click,
both look at their LCD screens to check the exposure of their
respective images. The difference? The amateur is looking at
the image itself, which may be influenced by bright sunlight, LCD brightness settings on their camera, or any number of other factors. The pro is
looking at the histogram of his image, giving him an accurate representation of his exposure. Your LCD screen can be a great tool for checking the
sharpness, depth of field, and composition of your image, but to check the
accuracy of your exposure, the histogram is much more accurate.
High Contrast
“A histogram is a graphical representation of the tonal values of your
image. In other words, it shows the amount of tones of particular brightness found in your photograph ranging from total black to total white”
(Photography Life). A histogram is basically a bar graph, with each bar
representing a numerical value from 0 (total black) to 255 (total white)
along the horizontal (x) axis. The vertical (Y) axis shows the quantity of
light at each particular value (between 0 and 255). The number of pixels
that are at each respective value (0-255) determine how high the “peaks”
are at each of those values. The bars are all squeezed together with no
www.MauMag.com
F
By Frank Howell
Continued on next page >
31
the dynamic range
of your camera
being exceeded
is an interior shot
of a house with a
window letting in
bright sunlight. In
this situation, you
are either going to
have the interior
properly exposed
and the window
over exposed or
the window properly exposed and the interior under exposed. There is a technique called High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography in which you can take more
than one image of the same scene at different exposures and then use software
to combine the images. This allows you to obtain the correct exposure for each of
the high contrast areas of your image. So looking at our interior window example,
you would expose for the window and take one picture, expose for the interior and
take another picture, and then combine them together. Make sure you are using
a tripod or other device to make sure your composition is exactly the same so you
don’t have an issue blending the images.
High Contrast
and should be heavier in the middle ranges than at the edges. As with
most things in photography, there are exceptions to this histogram “rule”.
Images of lightning, fireworks, or other night scenes with small portions
of bright light will have histograms that have data heavily stacked on the
left (all of the pixels with the night sky) and some on the right (the bright
lightning or fireworks) but virtually no data in the middle (mid tones). A
landscape image of a snow covered scene will show most of the histogram data on the far right side of the graph, with very little on the left or
middle portions. Don’t think of “right” or “wrong”, use the histogram as a
tool to provide information about tones.
Understanding and utilizing your histogram will give you a much more accurate representation of your exposure. They can help you get your exposures right
when shooting the image, which is much easier and less time consuming than trying to correct it on the back end. Histograms contain real data, and cannot be influenced by ambient light or settings in your camera or monitor, and therefore can be
a very valuable tool to add to your photographic repertoire. MM
32
Low Contrast
A
ustin Pittman is the Vice President of
Operations for Bedford’s Camera and
Video stores in the Little Rock area. Austin has been
a Certified Photographic Consultant since 2000.
He lives in Maumelle with his wife Shannon and
son Andrew. Austin may be reached by email at
[email protected].
Underexposed
Properly Exposed
Overexposed
www.MauMag.com
September/October 2016
It is important to know that the sensor in your digital camera is not
nearly as good at gathering information from a high contrast scene as
the human eye. In other words, in a scene that has both very bright areas
(highlights) and very dark areas (shadows) will not look the same once
shot through your camera as your eyes see it. “In photography, dynamic
range is the difference between the lightest light and the darkest dark
which can be seen in a photo” (Ken Rockwell). So our eyes have a much
broader dynamic range than your cameras sensor. Once the dynamic
range of your camera has been exceeded, you lose detail in both the extreme highlights and the extreme shadows of your image. An example of
33
34
Roger A. Frangieh
35
www.MauMag.com
September/October 2016
Tree Tips from the Maumelle Tree Board
The Serviceberry Tree
O
QUICK TIP: HOW DO I CLEAN UP AND
OPTIMIZE MY PC USING CCLEANER?
C
Cleaner is one of the best and free PC cleanup and optimization tools around. Clean up your system’s tempo-
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is true for the Cleaner and the Registry sections of CCleaner.
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CCleaner by Piriform can be freely downloaded here:
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BLUETOOTH 5 SPEC
TO BE ANNOUNCED
In an email sent by the Bluetooth SIG Executive Director, the
Bluetooth 5 spec has been planned to be announced on June 16,
and promises to improve in many aspects over existing Bluetooth
technologies. Not much is known about what will be included in
the new spec aside from a few broad, yet exciting, promises such
as quadrupled range and twice as fast speed.
One of the most interesting promises made, though, is that
they are now increasing the “data broadcasting capacity” of devices by 800%. This broadcasting was initially intended for unpaired
devices to be able to tell each other what names they have been
given, making it easier to choose the right device to pair with.
However, this extra space can now be used for more arbitrary information, allowing devices to have more meaningful conversations with each other without the need to pair.
September/October 2016
From a security standpoint, this is can be somewhat worrying, as you will have to be more careful about what information
your devices will be willing to give out. Still, seeing as how the
Internet of Things continues to be pushed as being “the next big
thing,” this can certainly be seen as a step in the right direction,
since it lets devices communicate with each other without the
need of a middle man. MM
36
T
roy Pousardien owns and operates
Green Dragon Technology in
NLR. Working on computers since 1990 and
holding a B.S. in Information Technology, Troy
is ready to take on your computer challenges. Got a tech question, email Troy at techtips@
greendragonpc.com.
By Ken Grunewald
ne of our most striking trees
is also one of the most overlooked. The serviceberry is of-
ten referred to by its genus name,
Amelanchier, a member of the rose family. Settlers from Maine to Iowa and Louisiana to Canada referred to them by common names unique
to natural phenomenon occurring in their area
of the country. Some of these common names
you may have heard are: shadberry, shadblow, shad blossom and shadbush – in shad
spawning areas of the country; juneberry – for
their berries in June; and mountain blueberry
and sarvis tree. The name serviceberry may
have come from rural church -goers collecting branches from the tree in mid-winter and
forcing them to bloom to provide early decorations for their church services. There are over 25
species of Amelanchier including the common
serviceberry, or downy serviceberry, which we
have in our front yard in Maumelle. It is one of
the earliest blooming trees in central Arkansas,
commonly poking out from woodland edges
along our highways and rural roads and along
stream banks.
The serviceberry is definitely a tree for all
seasons, unusual for its ability to provide interest year round. Gardeners and birdwatchers
alike will particularly appreciate this tree, as
will those who want a focal point in their yard
or garden. Serviceberries are very impressive
when planted in groups. In early spring they
produce masses of showy white flowers that
transition to brilliant reddish purple berries
in June. These berries are delicacies for many
species of our state birds. This past spring we
were blessed when a pair of mockingbirds
chose to build their nest and raise their chicks
in a jasmine vine growing up a bamboo ladder
K
on our patio. Feeding their babies with berries
from our serviceberry in our front yard, we were
treated to days of spectacular aerobatics as the
parents flew back and forth over our roof until
the fledglings tumbled down and waddled off
to begin their flight training. In the fall these
trees explode with reddish orange colored
leaves and after the leaves fall from these deciduous trees their ornamental light colored bark,
streaked with a reddish cast, is very attractive in
winter. If you select a multi – trunked tree you
get the added benefit of an attractive “sculpture” in your yard during the winter. Cooks
may appreciate its edible berries, which have a
sweet blueberry - like flavor, for use in pies and
to make jams and jellies.
Serviceberries are considered small to
medium trees that are usually multi-trunked
en is a retired career air force officer with over 22 years of active service.
After his air force career he worked for the State of Arkansas retiring after
more than 18 years as director of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. Ken is
an avid environmentalist with a particular interest in the welfare of all living creatures
and habitat preservation. He is a master naturalist and a member of the Maumelle Tree
Board. He has a B.S. degree in Geography and a M.A. degree in Public Administration. Ken
has spent much of his seven years of retirement exploring remote vanishing indigenous
cultures around the world. His next trip is to Bhutan in the fall.
but also grow in a single trunk form. In their
natural habitat they grow up to 25 feet tall
and 15 to 20 feet in circumference. In urban settings, however, they normally grow
to about 12 feet tall and 10 feet wide. Hardy
and drought tolerant, they will grow in full
sun but prefer partial shade, making them an
excellent understory tree. They are adaptive
to a wide range of soil conditions but will not
tolerate poorly drained soils.
Underutilized in our area, the serviceberry is a hardy, hassle free native beauty. An excellent alternative to the dogwood, it can offer variety in your garden and neighborhood,
as it is not particularly well known in our neck
of the woods. MM
Mark your calendars for our next
Maumelle neighborhood walk
around with arborist Pete Rausch.
If you want to learn more about trees,
and how to best care for them, to be
conducted Sun., Sept.17 in the Club
Manner area. Also, the 2016 Arbor Day
festivities are scheduled for Sat., Nov. 5.
www.MauMag.com
By Troy Pousardien
37
By Pam Rudkin
Lily and the Octopus
T
by Steven Rowley
his extraordinary story is a love story—a
love story of a man
and his dog, Lily. And
I’m warning you here: if your heart
has been broken recently because
of the tragic loss of a pet, you may
want skip on to the next page of
the magazine. But I’ll also say, if you need an
understanding release of emotion, this may
just be the next read for you. Either way (and
even if you don’t have a pet) this tender love
story is the saga of Lily’s relationship with her
owner, and it will touch you and remind you
of whomever you’ve loved most.
Ted and Lily have been together long
enough that they are best friends. Ted talks
to Lily, and he believes he hears Lily talk back
to him. They have weekly routines. They play
Monopoly. Ted frequently reminds Lily of
how he came to bring her home. He reminds
her that her mother’s name was Witchie-poo.
(Lily loves that part of the story.)
Together, Ted and Lily fight off
a ferocious enemy—a cancerous
tumor--battling to the bitter end, and
Ted discovers that his love for Lily can
never be replicated.
This story is based on the author’s very real love for his Lily, his
dog, and he describes her as maybe
not the most heroic dog ever to live,
but that “taught me everything I know about
patience, kindness, strength, and unconditional love.” I think most of us, even the nonanimal people, will find this story moving,
thought-provoking, and a joy to read. I personally zipped right through, loving Lily all
the way to the end. MM
Placing your ad in Maumelle Magazine
guarantees you an attentive audience!
My Grandmother Asked Me toTell You She’s Sorry
38
And now, another love
story: no matter how well
you know someone, no
matter how much you love
them—you never really
know everything about them.
Seven-year-old Elsa learned
this about her grandmother,
the one who told her fairytales with Elsa as the center
of each story. Granny was
the one who kept secrets between just she and Elsa. She
was the one who invented a
secret language for her and
Elsa. Granny’s elaborate kingdom of Miamas
was based on real live people who lived in the
building with Elsa, as well as her mom and her
stepfather, George. Elsa’s mother is expecting
a baby (“Halfy,” as Elsa calls him) and Granny is
dying. Elsa’s whole world is falling apart.
This beautifully told story of the quirky
“Granny” and her wild and fierce love for her
granddaughter is narrated through Elsa’s
eyes, thoughts, and perceptions. Most poignant, Granny’s past is slowly revealed after
her death, as Elsa sets off to
secretly deliver letters to individuals with Granny’s instructions to do so—her “greatest
adventure.” The letters are all
apology letters, in one form or
another, and as Elsa coaxes the
recipients into reading the letters to her, her grandmother’s
theretofore unknown past is
revealed.
Elsa often quotes Granny’s
views on people, cigarettes,
beer, and Granny’s health (using very colorful language
she learned from Granny), all the while seeing deep into the souls of those around her in
ways seven-year-olds don’t usually see.
P
Elsa finds out that all the people around
her are connected through Granny’s enigmatic past, and as she copes with her loss, she also
finds friends in unexpected places.
This book will make you laugh out loud,
take a deep breath, and maybe even shed
a tear. But it won’t disappoint. Backman has
been featured here once before, and with
good reason. For those who find they love this
book as much as I do, there is a sequel that
can be read before, after, or stand-alone with
equal enjoyment: Britt-Marie was Here.
• 9,750 mailed directly to all households and businesses in zip code 72113
• Ad positioning for maximum visibility
• Devoted following and attentive audience
All of these books are available in multiple
formats to borrow and read free with your library
card from the Central Arkansas Library System.
Happy reading! MM
am Rudkin is the librarian for the Maumelle Library, a branch of the
Central Arkansas Library System. She is a graduate of Texas Woman’s
University, where she earned her Master of Library Science degree. Rudkin
grew up in Harrison, Arkansas and continued her education at the University of
Central Arkansas where she earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Pam is married and is the mother of three children. Her interests include
reading and music composition.
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September/October 2016
by Fredrik Backman
39
40
September/October 2016