An Arkies Musings

Back in 2013, I was contacted by Cameron Von St. James. He came across An Arkie's Musings, and saw that fighting back against cancer was a priority here. He contacted me and offered to tell his story to my readers. We corresponded and he sent me his story . It is both compelling and informative. I posted his story on An Arkie's Musings and then wrote a blog post that was an update on his story  a few month later. Not long ago I received an email from Virgil Anderson. He came across An Arkie's Musings because of the previous posts about Cameron and Heather St. James. He contacted me and asked if I would write a post highlighting www.mesothelioma.net Virgil told a bit about himself. He said, "I was recently diagnosed with mesothelioma, which is a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. From automotive to demolition work, I’ve had many jobs in my life that contributed to my exposure. On some jobs, the air was so thick with debris and asbestos you could taste ...

My An Arkie's Faith column from the January 25, 2017, issue of The Mena Star. This winter there have been quite a few foggy days. I like a little bit of fog. I like the ethereal, otherworldly way the countryside looks in the fog. Too much fog is another story. One morning on my way to work the fog was so thick that I couldn’t see things that were right beside the road. That wasn’t fun. It can be unnerving to drive in that kind of fog. One foggy drive that I made was quite memorable. Back in 2000, my wife and I made a trip to Nova Scotia to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. We flew into Boston where we met my son-in-law’s uncle who took us on a whirlwind tour of the area including the Old North Church, the USS Constitution, and Buckman Tavern in Lexington. He had recently traveled to Nova Scotia and told us that we needed to be sure and visit Cape Breton Island. He told us that he had enjoyed driving the Cabot Trail and visiting the Fortress of Louisbourg. He told us ...

I recently saw Shreveport, Louisiana native Dylan LeBlanc in concert at South on Main in Little Rock, Arkansas. My favorite band is Smokey and the Mirror . When I found out that they would be opening for Dylan LeBlanc I made plans to attend. I hadn't heard of him, but before the concert I listened to his newest album, Cautionary Tale. I enjoyed the album with it's stripped down simplicity. The concert wasn't quite what I expected. I am a big fan of singer songwriters and acoustic music. In this show Dylan had a full band and they were loud. On the album, Dylan's voice is expressive and evocative. His lyrics are deep and personal. In the concert the band overpowered his voice to the point that the lyrics were not understandable. The band was tight but I found myself wondering what a more stripped down quieter version of Dylan LeBlanc would sound like. The title track of his album Cautionary Tale features Dylan's haunting vocals accompanied by a stri...

Last Wednesday we attended a concert at South on Main in Little Rock. Smokey and the Mirror was opening for Dylan Leblanc. South on Main is a restaurant and performance venue featuring the best of Southern cuisine and culture. The food was amazing and the music venue is great. Smokey and the Mirror is the musical project of Bryan and Bernice Hembree. I first heard Bryan and Bernice when they came with the band 3 Penny Acre to my hometown here in Mena, Arkansas and gave a concert at The Ouachita Little Theater. I went to the concert because my friend Richie Owens was opening for them and I was curious about the band because Bernice Hembree grew up here in Mena. I was blown away by how talented they were. Since then I have tried to attend as many of their concerts as I can. I have attended concerts in Fayetteville, Eureka Springs, Harrison, Mena and Bentonville in Arkansas and have traveled out of state to Oklahoma City, Shreveport, and Houston to hear them play. My favorite Smoke...

When I was a boy, I learned to play the trumpet. Ed, a family friend, was an awesome trumpet player and I wanted to learn to play. Our pastor said that whenever Ed played for church, it made him nervous. He gave me lessons and taught me the basics. When I was a freshman, I started attending Boulder Junior Academy.  I joined the band and started taking trumpet lessons from Mrs. Carlisle. Because I hadn’t been playing trumpet for very long, I played third chair in the band. On one particular piece, the first chair trumpet player thought it would be great fun if we would switch parts. I practiced and practiced and got to where I could play the first part fairly well. We decided to make our big switch during a concert. I never did well under pressure, and I can tell you that it was a disaster. Mrs. Carlisle was not amused. The trumpet has a long and rich history. Trumpets were used as signaling devices in Ancient Egypt, Greece and the Near East. Pictures of a trumpet were fou...

My An Arkie's Faith column from the January 18, 2017, issue of The Mena Star. Recently my niece came to visit us for a few days. We enjoyed the visit even if the weather was snowy and cold. What we enjoyed the most was getting to know her little boy. He is just over a year old and a very busy little guy. During his visit more and more things kept getting put up out of his reach. He accepted the challenge and would find more things to get in to. He might be the busiest one-year-old I have ever seen. Although he is very active, the thing that made the biggest impression on me is how personable he is. He wants to interact with everyone. He is a bubbly outgoing little boy who loves to laugh. He liked to take his great grandma’s hand and walk her around the house. He didn’t want her to stop but kept on walking with her. She said that she was going to get her steps in while he was here. After potluck at church, his great grandpa was vacuuming the floor. He wanted to help, ...

Article from the January 2017 issue of the Southwestern Union Record Louisiana youth from four Pathfinder clubs and two Adventurer clubs went backpacking in early November. Fourteen Pathfinders with four Adventurers and 16 adults backpacked 15 miles along the Eagle Rock Loop Trail in the Ouachita National Forest in Western Arkansas. Participating clubs were the Shreveport Tornados, the Minden Cardinals, the Marthaville Mustangs, and the Baton Rouge Red Sticks. Adventurers from the Shreveport Whirlwinds and the Baton Rouge Red Twigs also completed the trip. These Pathfinders and Adventurers spent most of September and October learning about backpacking and preparing for this hike. David Grant organized the trip, selected the location and taught the necessary skills needed to survive. He stressed the importance of being prepared and of bringing what was needed but not carrying unnecessary items. The group reached Winding Stairs, the beginning point of the hike, on Friday afte...

My An Arkie's Faith column from the January 11, 2017, issue of The Mena Star. How successful have you been so far in keeping your New Year’s resolutions? I have a track record of failed resolutions. I always resolve to get more organized and to keep better records, but I am not good at organization. I resolve to get more exercise, but January is not a good time of the year to try to be more active. New Year's resolutions have a long history. Over 2,500 years ago in Babylon, people would make promises to their gods at the beginning of each year. Popular promises were things such as paying debts and returning borrowed items. It is fitting that we now make resolutions on January 1st because January is named for the Roman god Janus. The Romans traditionally made annual promises to Janus. What about the God that you serve? Does He want you to make promises to Him? Is there a right and wrong way to make resolutions? There is a story in the Bible about a very ambitious s...

The Mena Seventh-day Adventist Church food pantry, located at 149 Polk Road 43 across from the Polk County Fairgrounds, is scheduled to re-open on January 16th. The pantry will provide individuals and families with non-perishable food, personal care items, and nutritional help. Everyone will be served and no one will be turned away. For the past several years the Mena Seventh-day Adventist Church has operated a soup kitchen and food pantry on Tuesdays. In an effort to be more accessible to the working poor, the decision was made to close the soup kitchen and expand the food pantry, with hours of operation that made it accessible to those who work. The new hours of operation for the food pantry will be from 3:30 P.M. until 6:30 P.M. on the first and third Mondays of each month. According to Pat Lawry, Community Services Director of the Mena Seventh-day Adventist Church, the mission of the food pantry is to work with other food pantries in the area to eliminate hunger in our co...

My An Arkie's Faith column from the January 4, 2017, issue of The Mena Star. As I sit at my computer to write this week’s column, it is only a couple of days until the New Year. I remember my first New Year’s Day in Arkansas, thirty-five years ago. A few days before New Year’s, someone from the auto parts store that I traded with stopped by my shop and gave me a specially labeled can of black-eyed peas. I took the can home to my wife who was puzzled by the strange gift from the auto parts store.  I asked another bodyman if the auto parts store had given him a can of black-eyed peas. He said, “yes, why do you ask?” I told him that I thought it was a bit strange. He explained that it was a long-standing tradition to eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day. The only New Year’s tradition that I had heard of was making New Year’s resolutions. Southern Living magazine says, “according to folklore, this auspicious New Year’s Day tradition dates back to the Civil War, when U...