After getting his culinary training in Boulder, Colo., and the Provence region of France, Rob Nelson settled about five years ago in Bentonville and, in the summer of 2011, opened Tusk and Trotter, a snout-to-tail restaurant with a focus on charcuterie, the art of curing meats.

"Northwest Arkansas is home, I love it," said Nelson, who grew up in Hope and did his undergrad at the University of Arkansas. The area "was an untapped resource five years ago and now the explosion's happened."

The timing for Nelson couldn't have been better. Bentonville — a once sleepy Ozark town until some guy named Sam opened a five-and-dime there — has recently been getting attention for more than just its status as Walmart Stores Inc. headquarters. With the opening of world-class Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in late 2011, the hospitality industry in downtown Bentonville has boomed. The town has become a cultural destination; the Washington Post highlighted the Bentonville dining scene as its go-to spot on the 2013 "In/Out List" (sorry Charleston, S.C., you're out). The James Beard House in New York, the mecca of good eats, recently hosted a multi-course tasting event featuring only Bentonville chefs, including Nelson.

Nelson had been thinking of his concept for Tusk and Trotter — a French-style brasserie with Ozark flavors, specializing in creative pork dishes — for a while. "My favorite animal in the world is the pig, of course," he said. "We take the entire pig and show its versatility. ... I wanted to do something focused on that, but also local sustainability is also a passion of mine. I've got 25 different [local] purveyors that I use week in and week out." Nelson focuses on getting as much as possible from Arkansas or nearby — everything comes from within 200 miles. "The closer it is, the better the food tastes," he said.

Nelson trained in the art of charcuterie and whole-animal cooking with master chefs in the south of France. It's fitting that he brought this refined training to hog-crazy Arkansas.

"It's been a part of our culture since the beginning," Nelson said. "A lot of people forget — farm to table, the slow food movement — it really isn't something new to the people of Arkansas, who have been farming and ranching for generations. Now we're just trying to refine our cooking and bring it up to the next level, but still try not to stray from ... our roots."

Nelson said he aims to apply the "standards of Old World charcuterie but give it a modern Southern flair."

Nelson and other Bentonville chefs (Matthew McClure at the Hive, Case Dighero at Eleven) have come up with the name "High South" to describe their approach, giving a cultivated touch and creative flourishes to traditional Southern cooking, all with ingredients locally available in Northwest Arkansas.

"It's anything that you can do sticking with the Ozark region," Nelson said. "Lake fish and river fish — trout and walleyes — things that you can get up here. Ducks and pig, of course. All the grass-fed beef. Everything that's indigenous to Northwest Arkansas."

Tusk and Trotter's menu is an extravaganza of carnivorous decadence: pork belly cheese stix, poutine, the Hogzilla sandwich (a wild boar patty with housemade bacon, face bacon jam and boursin cheese), crispy pig ear nachos, pork tongue galette, a charcuterie board featuring alligator sausage and duck pastrami, just to name a few.

"We start with trying to figure out what's a little different, what's unique that the customer hasn't experienced yet," Nelson said. "You can go anywhere and you can get a filet, you can get a ribeye. But have you tried the hanger steak, which is from the diaphragm? Have you tried a pig's ear?"

"We try to take the odds and ends, take the odd bits of the animal and try to elevate it," he said.

The artisanal approach at Tusk and Trotter isn't limited to butchering and preparing meats in house — there are also housemade pickles, jellies and jams, cheeses, sauces and more. Behind the bar, mixologist Scott Baker makes dozens of house-infused liquors for cocktails, including six different Bloody Marys (the bacon-infused version is garnished, of course, with bacon made by Nelson; the ghost-chile infused version is astounding but recommended only for the brave; best of all is the pickle-infused, packed with sharp flavor).

On a recent visit, we sampled the risotto balls, the perfect deep-fried comfort food, and a heaping portion of housemade spicy pork rinds, served piping hot and still crackling from the grease. We also tried the lovely lemon souffle pancakes from the brunch menu and the charcuterie burger, a treat-yourself fantasy sandwich with a sausage patty, duck pate, bacon, pickled vegetables and roasted garlic-red grape cheese — all made in-house — on a perfect brioche bun made by a baker just down the road.

Our only regret was finally running out of room in our bellies. Next time we're eager to try the "lamb four ways"— Nelson uses the loin to make "lamb ham," makes a stock out of the bone for lamb stew, cures a strip of meat from the back to make lamb bacon and finishes off with lamb meatballs.

Sounds like a bravura performance: four ambitiously crafted tastings from the same animal. Of course, the important part isn't just panache and technique, which Nelson has in spades. The real test is simply making delicious food. Based on our recent visit, Nelson has that bit well covered.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Brunch is a vague and indefinite practice, suspended restlessly between two more traditionally established mealtimes, and what dish better reflects this ambiguity than chicken and waffles? Sweet and savory, neither entirely breakfast nor lunch, the meal marks an almost psychedelic blurring of food categories, an imprecision that extends to its complicated heritage. Though clearly rooted on the soul food spectrum, the combo was popularized in 1920s Harlem and later L.A., leading food writer John T. Edge, in an interview with NPR, to call it "a Southern dish once or twice removed from the South." But as folks in Little Rock know, chicken and waffles have come home.

BOULEVARD BREAD CO.

I can highly recommend the chicken and waffles at Boulevard Bread in the Heights, but it's going to take some strategy and patience on your part. I first found them here by accident, a Sunday special scribbled on a whiteboard off to the side of the regular menu. I was shocked when they asked how I liked my egg — a very unorthodox supplement to a delicate formula — but in retrospect I endorse it. Fair warning: The waffle was a little thin; but I don't know, some people prefer that. Hot sauce was served on the side for dipping and spreading, an intelligent and compassionate move on their part; key to the success of the whole thing.

GUS'S WORLD FAMOUS

Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken dives right into the middle of one of the more polarizing debates in the chicken and waffle community, namely: bones or boneless? At Gus's, you decide. On your table, if you come here for brunch one Sunday, you'll find a small yellow menu with very few and very important options: You can have your waffle alongside two pieces of white meat, two pieces of dark meat, or three tenders. This stumped me; I figured there was no real right answer. Because I love Gus's chicken during the week, and because tenders seem like a cop-out, I went with white meat. It turns out that there is a right answer, however, and it is boneless. I spent the meal arduously disassembling a chicken breast. Great waffle.

B-SIDE

One other Sunday morning, I was shivering in the parking lot of a strip mall on Rodney Parham, looking for breakfast and not finding it, when a friend rescued me by pulling me into a dim sum restaurant called Lilly's. In the mornings, part of it serves as the diner B-Side, an important battleground in the chicken and waffle renaissance, though the only sign indicating this was written in Sharpie on printer paper. Not that it matters — the place was packed. The chicken was loosely breaded and flaky, the waffle crisp and extensive. The portions were generous, so much so that it seemed perverse to serve them on such small plates. It was a constant struggle not to spill the meal in my lap, but that seems like nitpicking. This place is the real thing.

WAFFLE WAGON

On Sundays, you can find the Waffle Wagon outside Stone's Throw Brewing, at Ninth and Rock streets, but I sought it out on a Tuesday and found it, sort of ironically, at the state Department of Health office. A particpant in the food truck festival last October, the Wagon is actually more of a nondescript trailer, but make no mistake, they do important work here. Their menu varies, but $10 chicken and waffles seems to be a staple, and so what if it's served in a box. We can't always sit around leisurely for an hour on plush leather booths drinking mimosas — some of us have to keep moving, to get out into the world. Enter the Waffle Wagon. They don't serve hot sauce on the side here, they lather it on boldly and unapologetically. Their credit card reader wasn't working when I showed up, so they asked me to just write down my card number and leave it with them. Normally that would seem like a red flag, but I trust these guys. And you should, too.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The road to Little Rock food truck dominance for The Southern Gourmasian wasn't an easy one. When Justin Patterson first left his job at the Country Club of Little Rock and decided he would open his own gourmet eatery on wheels with a "Southern cooking meets Asian cuisine" theme, many folks had no idea what to expect — and there were fears that the new truck would be an experiment in fusion cuisine gone horribly wrong. After all, Little Rock had never seen the sort of menu presented by Patterson and crew, and it's unlikely that anyone could replicate it easily.

Patterson drew his initial inspiration from David Chang, the James Beard award-winning chef who made his name with New York City's Momofuku restaurant group. Chang's specialty is classic steamed buns served with sliced pork belly — a simple sandwich of pork, pickle and hoisin sauce that was trendy in the early 2000s. Patterson made Chang's buns for a party once, and they were such a hit that friends and family encouraged him to make them part of a professional menu. Coincidentally, Patterson had also been looking for work that would allow him to spend more time with his young daughter, and opening his own business seemed to be the best route toward that end.

The Southern Gourmasian food truck debuted in the summer of 2012 at the now-defunct University Market at 4 Corners and immediately exceeded all expectations among local food truck lovers. Keeping the idea of the steamed bun as the main thrust of his menu, Patterson tweaked the recipe by replacing the pork belly with smoky Southern-style pulled pork, chopped beef brisket and shredded chicken, creating something that combines the best of good barbecue with unique Asian-influenced techniques. This genius is also on display with Patterson's chicken and dumplings, a spicy broth loaded with shredded chicken poured over rice cake "dumplings" that quickly has become one of his most popular dishes.

By the fall of 2012, the University Market had fallen apart, and Patterson's crew had its own internal issues to contend with, including a stolen generator that sidelined them for a time. Running a kitchen from the back of a truck means two things: Having all the problems that come with maintaining kitchen equipment and all that comes with maintaining a work truck — and problems on both sides have grounded the Gourmasian truck several times over the years. Undaunted, Patterson and his crew still seem to be everywhere, popping up for lunch all around Little Rock, serving a breakfast menu at the Hillcrest and Bernice Garden farmers markets, and maintaining a catering schedule that keeps them booked months in advance.

As for the future, Patterson has his eye on several brick and mortar locations, although he won't reveal any specific locations. The transition from truck to storefront brings with it an entirely new set of challenges, especially for a chef like Patterson who refuses to lower his standards on ingredients to squeeze a little more profit out of his food. Given the steady rise in popularity that Gourmasian has experienced since its inception, a brick and mortar store seems inevitable, and Patterson has plans drawn up for how he wants the stationary location to look. While more at home creating menus and executing them, Patterson has proven himself to be a capable businessman, weighing issues of location, lease price and kitchen equipment prices simultaneously as he poaches an egg and crisps up a pan full of his beloved Benton's ham. This new chapter in the story of Southern Gourmasian will see if the ingenuity and resolve that have pulled the yellow truck with the red dragon to the top of the food truck game in Little Rock can see it through when it's competing with established favorites. If the lines that stretch out from the truck window are any indication, success seems almost inevitable.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

What do folks think of when they think of Arkansas? The Clintons? Football fanatics? Natural beauty? Fine cuisine is probably not high on the list. There have always been great restaurants here and there, but the Arkansas food scene has probably had more ebbs than flows over the years.

Lately, however, things are looking up. Just take a look at our "Best Of" list. If our readers are the judge, two of the state's best restaurants — South on Main in Little Rock and the Hive in Bentonville — just opened in the last year.

If we are to search for the beginning of this happy wave, a good place to start might be 2006, when Lee Richardson arrived as executive chef at the Capital Hotel and reopened the upscale Ashley's restaurant.

Richardson, a New Orleans native who had worked under John Besh, among others, was a wonderfully gifted chef, but he also set about building an unusually talented team at the Capital. Richardson recruited folks with Arkansas roots who had been trained at some of the best restaurants in the country — Little Rock native Brian Deloney returned home after spending 10 years with Emeril; another Little Rock native, Matthew McClure, came back from Boston; Conway native Travis McConnell returned from Portland, and Mountain Home native Cassidee Dabney left the world-renowned Blackberry Farm in east Tennessee to come to the Capital.

"We had traveled around, and we walked into Ashley's like we already knew how to cook; we already had these ideas about food," McClure said. "Then we got exposed to the Arkansas farmers markets, and all those networks of farmers evolved and cultivated the way we thought about what we could do in the state of Arkansas and really expanded it.

"It was amazing to work in the same kitchen as these guys. Now that we've all kind of gone our separate ways, there's an unspoken brotherhood or club that we're in. You don't realize you joined it, but you did."

Before he left the Capital in 2012, Richardson drew national acclaim for his work in Little Rock, with multiple nominations for the James Beard Foundation Awards, the prestigious honors awarded to the nation's top chefs and restaurateurs. As those who worked under him have started to branch out on their own, there's been a ripple effect that has impacted the culinary scene in Arkansas, which Richardson said "was my intention from the beginning. ... If I could provide an opportunity for people to learn and to develop and to grow, the reward for that is that they're going to go and do their own thing." Slowly but surely, restaurants are popping up with the same ambition and quality that Richardson brought to the Capital, and the same vision of meticulously crafted food sourced by local ingredients.

Longtime Little Rock residents remember Jacques and Suzanne, which opened in 1975 and drew nearly universal acclaim as the finest restaurant in the city for the next decade. It closed in 1986, but alums from Jacques and Suzanne went on to work at or founded dozens of restaurants, forming the bedrock of the city's dining scene in the decades to come.

Something similar is afoot among Capital alums. McClure is now the executive chef at The Hive, the Bentonville restaurant in the 21c Museum Hotel. The restaurant, which opened last February, is the choice of Times readers for numerous "Best of" categories, and is already in the conversation for best restaurant in the state; it's also getting national acclaim, with McClure recently named a James Beard semifinalist.

"Every chef in the country that has a clue is looking at that [James Beard] list to see if their name is going to be called," McClure said. "It's amazing. To be from Arkansas and bring something like that ... it's just a huge win for Arkansas. We're competing on that level."

McClure loved working in a big food town like Boston, but said he has been inspired by the challenge of leaving a well-established foodie culture and moving to a place still finding its sea legs.

"It's like, OK, what is this actually accomplishing?" McClure said. "What are my long-term goals about changing food? You've got to move to the middle of the country where there's not the movement, and my home state is a great example. I'm from here. I'm an Arkansan through and through. To be able to do it here, and feel like I'm not compromising anything ... that's the absolute cherry on top. ... I'm serving the same food I would serve if I was in a bigger market but I'm doing it in my home state successfully, and trying to just change the way people think about what Arkansas contributes to the culinary world."

Last August, Capital alum Matt Bell opened South on Main, another multiple-category winner in this year's "Best of Arkansas." Bell, a Montana native, was hired by Richardson in fall 2008. He started as a pastry player, "low man on the totem pole," as he puts it. Bell worked his way up to sous chef, eventually writing the menu and running the kitchen at Ashley's, but it wasn't easy.

"My first six months, I would go home repeatedly and tell my wife, 'I am so in over my head,'" Bell said. "Cassidee Dabney and Matt McClure really pushed the boundaries of what I thought was professional cooking, especially for this town. With Cassidee, Matt, Travis [McConnell] — it was a realization for me that these people are not only the best in Arkansas, they could be anywhere cooking and they could compete on a top level at any restaurant."

Ashley's and the Capital, Bell said, "set a new expectation for what great food is and what great service is. ... Lee spent over a year researching Arkansas and food providers and food preparers. ... Ultimately, with all the talent in the world, he really managed to focus it and try and tell this food story that is locally sourced, locally grown and honing it with an eye for what is Arkansas cuisine."

Working on that question —what is Arkansas cuisine?— seems to be a mission statement of sorts for places like The Hive and South on Main.

"I think as the people kind of go and seed from the Capital Hotel, I think we're finding our answer," Bell said. "I think Matt McClure will be that second huge wave of what is Arkansas food and what can we do with stuff we can get within a couple hundred miles."

McClure said he's rooting for fellow Capital alums like Bell as they start other projects in the state (see sidebar for more). "I want them to do great," he said. "As long as they stick to the philosophy that was the philosophy at the Capital, just being honest about your food, then I want everybody to do well. When I go back to Little Rock, I want to go eat at chef-driven restaurants. I want to eat food that is interesting and delicious as opposed to just slopping it out for the crowds because that's what they've done for the last 30 or 40 years."

Both McClure and Bell have continued the careful preparation and adventurous menus from Ashley's but both have, thankfully, left the stuffy ambience behind. The Hive and South on Main certainly qualify as fine dining, but both restaurants are inviting and relaxed.

"I wanted to make sure it was fun," McClure said. "The food at Ashley's was fun and very creative, but the whole dining experience was stuffy. People were not comfortable laughing or being able to have a good time. [At the Hive] the passion and the seriousness that comes with sourcing all the ingredients and taking care of them and cooking that, that is all the same, or even elevated. But the casual dining experience is really what I felt like more people wanted."

Bell takes a similar approach. "An environment where people don't feel like they have to dress up, don't have to make advance plans, I think that puts people at ease and opens them up to the idea of trying new things," he said. "Like our rabbit boudin is really popular. That's not something you see everywhere on a refined menu, that's a roadside menu. Same with our pork rinds: It's something we have; it's something we love to do. But it's also just fun to sit down and eat a bowl of pork rinds."

Bell and McClure are too talented to be pigeonholed, but both have a particular knack, as Richardson did, for offering a refined and cultivated spin on familiar country classics. This approach (we'd call it downhome gourmet, but Bell said he hates the word "gourmet") has anchored some of the best new restaurants in New Orleans, where Richardson was born and raised and first cut his teeth as a rising chef. Richardson came to Little Rock in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

"I was very focused on trying to preserve the integrity of my own heritage in Louisiana," Richardson said. "That's where my mind was. But when I came to Arkansas, I saw a food culture and a food story that was under-recognized and essentially untold. I felt the same sort of calling. My driver is cultural preservation. We're at great risk of losing some of the meaningfulness, some of the soulfulness of life, as we barrel into the future."

"I'm damn proud to be cooking food in Arkansas, this food in Arkansas. We have the opportunity to become a culinary destination, and the fact that I'm a part of the conversation, I couldn't be happier."

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

»I was born in the Philippines. My dad was in the Navy. He retired in Louisiana. By the time I turned 18, he was like, "OK, it's time for you guys to ship over here." I'm the oldest of nine siblings. It's a his, hers and ours combination. My mother was the hostess with the mostest. If there was a party, it would end up at our house. I get the technical side of my personality from my dad, also the humility, the politeness. The tenacity comes from my mom.

»I've always been in food service. My first job was in a Chinese restaurant in Louisiana. I worked at the Capital Hotel for 18 years. Now I'm at Cache. I wanted a fresh start. Just to see if I can share what I do and get Cache off to a good start. I call it spreading Jo Jo's love.

»I look at this industry like a stage. I have to make sure everyone is happy. I like to live in a happy world. What you see is what you get with me. I'm an open book. I like to take charge of the situation. I look at it as a challenge. You never know who's going to come in and what mood they're in. I guess I've got a little gift of being able to read people. I like to look in people's eyes, and I can pretty much judge, "OK, this is the road that we have to take."

»One time I waited on this guy from New York who had every allergy known to man. We literally had to open a new saute pan that had never been used because it couldn't have any residue of salt and pepper. He could only drink a certain vodka because he's allergic to the other ingredients. For five minutes, we were doing this tango, and so I pretty much told him, "Dude, why don't you just off yourself. You can't have any good food." That guy turned from being this really strong Italian influence, "I know everything 'cause I'm from New York" kind of guy to saying, "I love you! Oh my God, no one's ever told me to off myself because of my allergies!"

»You want people to have a good experience. That's what it is, it's an experience. It's not just about the food. It has to have a soul, a character, so that when they can go home they go, "You know what, that place is fun." That's kind of my middle name.

»Look people in the eye. Family of five walks in. Mom, dad, three kids. Each one had a phone. They never looked me in the eye when they walked in. Within two minutes of greeting them, they still hadn't made eye contact with me. I pretty much said, "I'm not going to feed you guys until I collect all of your phones." The mother looked at me like, "Oh my God, did you really say that?" She was embarrassed. She started telling her kids, "Yeah, we need to do this." Then I said, "Now, see each others faces. Have you seen them in a while?"

»I've waited on presidents, dignitaries, actors, comedians, the tattooed guy that bartends down the street. Everyone for the most part is memorable.

»When people say, "Why don't you get a real job?" I say, "I have a real job." I've raised four kids. Three are in the military. I'm actually a grandmother. I'm closing in on the big 5-0. My family is my emphasis. If they're happy, I'm happy. I worry a lot more now that I'm getting older, but I've got my husband to help buffer that. Riding motorcycles with him helps. It's the best stress reliever.

As told to Lindsey Millar.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

What do a hunted convict on the run, a dance hall girl seeking love, a woman on trial for killing her husband, a humbug wizard and a medieval prince have in common? They're all coming to the stage this spring, in a theater season heavy on musicals with a good measure of Shakespeare and rising comedians thrown in so that there's something for everyone.

You will hear the people sing at The Arkansas Repertory Theatre's production of the epic and enormously popular "Les Miserables" (Wednesday through Sunday through April 6), Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg's musical based on Victor Hugo's novel. It stars Douglas Webster, who's played the role of the hounded Jean Valjean for a quarter of a century, so he's got it down pat. The play is a co-production with Arizona's Phoenix Theatre.

The jazzy and funny musical "CHICAGO" (nightly through March 16) at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville stars John O'Hurley (J Peterman on "Seinfeld") in the role of slick lawyer Billy Flynn. The story of rouged-knee dancers/killers Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly won six Tonys and a Grammy and deserved them all.

Charity Hope Valentine is a dancer, too, but the resemblance stops there in "Sweet Charity," Neil Simon's story of the unlucky-in-love romantic. This is the musical that brought us "Hey Big Spender"; it will be staged for one night only, at 7:30 p.m. March 20, at UCA's Reynolds Performance Hall.

If there's a big musical to compete with "Les Mis," it's Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Wizard of Oz," coming to the Walton Arts Center (nightly April 1-6).

The Community Theatre of Little Rock stages Horton Foote's "A Trip to Bountiful" (April 25-May 11) at the Public Theatre, 616 Center St. (auditions are at 2 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 15-16.)

The Arkansas Shakespeare Theater, whose season starts in June, departs from the Bard midway through to put on the musical "Pippin," about a medieval prince and palace politics (June 11-27), at Reynolds Performance Hall.

Now for the big laughs: The Second City brings back its adult humor and amazing improv to The Rep for a two-week run (Wednesday through Sunday, April 29-May 11) on its "Happily Ever After" tour. The Second City in Chicago and its touring company have produced star performers Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Amy Poehler and other big names; see the troupe's latest batch before they get too big to come to Little Rock. Rep producing director Bob Hupp and the cast will make a noon appearance at the Clinton School of Public Service on April 29.

The Rep keeps our spirits up with "The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged)" (Wednesday through Sunday, June 4-29), directed by Nicole Capri and written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield. The shtick: The works of the Bard are crammed into one play in under two hours (keep your ears open for the 43-second "Hamlet"), in what the New York Times has called a "goofy production" that "speaks, quite loudly, to the sophomore in all of us."

If 43 seconds is not enough "Hamlet" for you, you're in luck: Two companies are performing it this spring. Shakespeare's famed existential question once again be posed as Fayetteville's TheatreSquared performs the play in the Studio Theatre at the Walton Arts Center's Nadine Baum Studios and in the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre's production. Whether you decided to go, or not to go, the TheatreSquared performance is Thursdays through Sundays April 10 through May 4 and the Shakespeare Theatre's June 20-29 at Reynolds Performance Hall.

The Shakespeare Theatre will also stage "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" (June 5-22), to be performed outdoors at the Village at Hendrix and the Laman Library Argenta Branch; and "The Comedy of Errors" (June 24-28), at Reynolds Performance Hall.

Tickets to the season's plays can be bought online at therep.org, uca.edu/publicappearances, waltonartscenter.org, theatre2.org and arkshakes.com.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

It's spring, the birds are singing, and music is being made by the human persuasion, too. On March 20, the Robinson Center Music Hall will host weirdo, novelty a cappella singers Pentatonix, who cover pop songs with unsettling sonic precision and were the season three winners on "The Sing Off," an NBC show about weirdo, novelty a cappella acts. The next night, the Clear Channel Metroplex will welcome upstart Atlanta rapper Rich Homie Quan, best known for his once-ubiquitous street hit, "Type of Way." Quan hasn't won any NBC shows (yet), but he's a hero in Georgia and his star is rising.

Prolific local songwriter and butcher Kevin Kerby will play at White Water Tavern on March 22 alongside Brent Best, sharing a bill with Denton, Texas, garage rock duo RTB2. That same night, over at Stickyz, Little Rock rapper Big Piph, fresh from his adventures in Africa (ask him about it), will perform with his band Tomorrow Maybe.

Little Rock's honky-tonk heroes, The Salty Dogs, will be at South on Main on March 26 celebrating the release of their new EP, "Too Old To Fight," and will follow it up with a show at White Water on March 28 with the Buffalo City Ramblers. Meanwhile, Cher's "Dressed to Kill" Tour will roll through town March 28, stopping at the Verizon Arena with special guests Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo. Chicago native and former child prodigy violinist Rachel Barton Pine will perform with the Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra at Wildwood Performing Arts Center on March 30. On April 2, Amasa Hines will bring its cinematic, lavishly orchestrated indie rock to South on Main. That same night, Outlaw Country legend and irrepressible curmudgeon Merle Haggard will be at Robinson Center Music Hall.

In Fayetteville, on April 3, world-renowned soprano Laura Aiken will perform at the Walton Arts Center, and Red Dirt country artist Stoney LaRue will be at George's Majestic Lounge. That same day in Little Rock, Dax Riggs, former frontman of the '90s sludge metal group Acid Bath, will play at Stickyz.

On April 4, swamp pop act Shinyribs, the solo project of The Gourds' Kevin Russell, will come to White Water, which, the following night, will showcase the best of Arkansas garage punk's youngest generation, featuring Bombay Harambee, Teenagers and Pagiins.

Country singer and Rogers native Joe Nichols will headline the Washington Regional Gala at the Walton Arts Center with Backroad Anthem on April 8, and Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase finalist John Willis will play a free show as part of South on Main's Local Live series on April 9.

On April 10, the Rev Room will host Kansas City underground rap legend Tech N9ne and Gary, Ind., country rapper Freddie Gibbs, alongside Krizz Kaliko, Jarren Benton, Psych Ward Druggies and 870 Underground. Grammy-nominated English R&B singer and former Floetry member Marsha Ambrosius will perform at Juanita's on April 11.

In honor of the recently deceased country icon, South on Main will present "That Nashville Sound: A Tribute to Ray Price" on April 13, featuring performances by Katmandu, Amy Garland, Bonnie Montgomery, Mark Currey, Dave Almond, Ben Meade, Lauralee Williard, Buddy Case and John Talley.

Birmingham, Ala., Sub Pop-signees Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires will be at White Water on April 15 playing ruthless Southern rock. On April 17, Houston rap stalwart Paul Wall will take over the Rev Room with Triggaman, Young Jose and The Corner Kingz. Fellow Texan Adam Carroll, who otherwise has absolutely nothing in common with Paul Wall, will celebrate his new record release at White Water April 18, with opener Christian Marie Carroll.

Country star and Georgia native Brantley Gilbert will bring his "Let It Ride" tour to Verizon Arena on April 19, featuring Thomas Rhett and Eric Paslay. Legendary jazz pianist Chick Corea, who began his career performing with Cab Calloway and Miles Davis, will be at UCA's Reynolds Performance Hall on April 22 with Bela Fleck, the world's most famous banjo player.

Also on April 22, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra's chamber group will perform an ambitious program of Beethoven and Wagner compositions at the Clinton Presidential Center, and Cirque Du Soleil will present its "Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour" show at Verizon Arena. The show features 49 dancers, acrobats and musicians, many of whom toured with Jackson while he was alive.

On April 25, The Walton Arts Center will offer a tribute to Nat King Cole, "Straighten Up and Fly Right," featuring Ramsey Lewis and John Pizzarelli. In Little Rock, synth-heavy North Carolina indie rock band Future Islands will be at Stickyz with Ed Schrader's Music Beat and Fine Peduncle. (Ballet Arkansas's "Momentum" will open on April 25 as well, and will run through the 27th.)

Athens, Ga., group Of Montreal will bring its colorful and hyper-disorienting dance-pop funhouse vibe to the Rev Room on May 2. The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, maybe anticipating his August appearance at the Verizon Arena, will perform a tribute to the music of James Taylor at the Robinson Center Music Hall May 3-4.

Grammy-winning L.A.-based mariachi ensemble Mariachi Los Camperos will play at Walton Arts Center on May 3, and alt-rock-mathcore group The Dillinger Escape Plan will be at Juanita's on May 5 with Tera Melos, Vattnet Viskar and Fear The Aftermath. On May 6, country singer Lyle Lovett and His Acoustic Group will be at Walton Arts Center. REO Speedwagon, meanwhile, is still around and will perform at Robinson Center Music Hall on May 8, while Arkansas native Iris DeMent will be at the Ron Robinson Theater on May 10.

On May 14, you can bliss out to Brit Floyd's "Discovery World Tour," a Pink Floyd tribute and laser show, at Verizon Arena, and on May 15 the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra will perform "Mozart by Candlelight," set at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Bruno Mars will take his incredibly named "Moonshine Jungle" Tour to Verizon Arena on June 10.

Music festival season kicks off with Riverfest 2014 on May 23-25. Headliners this year will include Hank Williams, Jr., Salt-N-Pepa, Buckcherry, Chicago, Three Days Grace, Len Brice and many others yet to be announced. The Hot Springs Music Festival is next, June 1-14. On June 5, the giant campout and music festival Wakarusa will take place at Mulberry Mountain in Ozark. This year's lineup includes The Flaming Lips, The String Cheese Incident, STS9, BASSNECTAR, Umphrey's McGee, Dr. Dog and many others.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

You'll hear a symphony
by Will Stephenson
And Cher, Salty Dogs, Salt-N-Pepa and more.

Don't just dream a dream
by Leslie Newell Peacock
Live it, with "Les Mis,""The Wizard of Oz" and more.

Spring film guide
by David Koon
Cinema blooms in the spring, including Horror Show, LR Film Festival, Foothills and the Ron Robinson Theater.

2014 spring arts calendar
Books, music, theater, film and more.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Greater Little Rock

BOOKS

APRIL 10: An Evening with Murphy Visiting Writer Trenton Lee Stewart. Hendrix College, 7:30 p.m.

APRIL 24-27: Arkansas Literary Festival. Award-winning fiction writers, journalists, screenwriters and artists offer presentations, panels, workshops, readings and book signings. Various venues in downtown Little Rock.

COMEDY

APRIL 30-MAY 11: The Second City. Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 7 p.m. Wed.-Sun., 9:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat. $35.

APRIL 4: Mike Epps and Friends. Robinson Center Music Hall, 8 p.m., $50.15-$58.85.

CULTURAL EVENTS

MARCH 20: Bless the Mic: Paula White. Philander Smith College, 7 p.m., free.

APRIL 26: 4th Annual Indie Arts and Music Festival. Kavanaugh Boulevard between Walnut and Palm streets, 11 a.m.

APRIL 27: Jewish Food Festival. War Memorial Stadium, 8:30 a.m.

MAY 3: Arkansas Times Heritage Hog Roast. Whole-hog cooking competition, with live music, beer and more. Argenta Farmers Market Plaza, 5 p.m.

JUNE 7-8. AnimeCon Arkansas. Clarion Hotel Medical Center, $15-$35.

DANCE

APRIL 25-27: Ballet Arkansas, "Momentum." Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., $30-$35.

FILM

MARCH 20: "Girl Rising." Gathr Film Series screening. UA Breckenridge Village, 7:30 p.m., $10.

MARCH 20-23: Little Rock Horror Picture Show. 3rd annual horror film series. Day passes can be purchased for $20, festival passes for $50. Ron Robinson Theater, 10 p.m.

MARCH 27: "Hide Your Smiling Faces." Gathr Film Series screening. Ron Robinson Theater, 7 p.m., $10.

MARCH 28: Del Shores'"Southern Baptist Sissies." Presented by The Weekend Theater and the Little Rock Film Festival to kick-off Shores' appearance at the Ron Robinson Theater. Ron Robinson Theater, 7:30 p.m., $13.50.

MARCH 30: "Fruitvale Station." Ron Robinson Theater, 7 p.m., $5.

APRIL 4-6: "Mandela." Ron Robinson Theater, 7 p.m., $5.

APRIL 18-20: "Inside Llewyn Davis." Ron Robinson Theater, 7 p.m., $5.

MAY 2: "Her." Ron Robinson Theater, 7 p.m., $5.

MAY 13-18: Little Rock Film Festival. The Ron Robinson Theater, The Argenta Community Theater, The Arkansas Repertory Theatre, and other Little Rock venues.

MAY 29-31: "The Grandmaster." Ron Robinson Theater, 7 p.m., $5.

MUSIC, large venues

MARCH 20: Pentatonix. Robinson Center Music Hall, 8 p.m.

MARCH 21: Rich Homie Quan. Clear Channel Metroplex, 9 p.m., $20-$50.

MARCH 28: Cher."Dressed to Kill" Tour, featuring Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo. Verizon Arena, 8 p.m., $36.50-$127.

March 30: Rachel Barton Pine and the Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra. Wildwood Performing Arts Center, 3 p.m., $10-$30.

APRIL 2: Merle Haggard. Robinson Center Music Hall, 7 p.m., $50-$80.

APRIL 12-13: Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Mahler's Fifth Symphony. Robinson Center Music Hall, 8 p.m. April 12, 3 p.m. April 13, $14-$53.

APRIL 19: Brantley Gilbert. The "Let It Ride" tour. Verizon Arena, 7:30 p.m., $36-$48.50.

APRIL 22: Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, chamber, Beethoven and Wagner. Clinton Presidental Center, 7 p.m., $23.

APRIL 22-23: Cirque Du Soleil: Michael Jackson, The Immortal World Tour. Featuring 49 international dancers, musicians, and acrobats. Verizon Arena, 8 p.m., $52.50-$152.50.

APRIL 24: Little Rock Wind Symphony, "Pictures at an Exhibition." Second Presbyterian Church, 7:30 p.m.

MAY 3-4: Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Pops, "The Music of James Taylor." Robinson Center Music Hall, 8 p.m. May 3, 3 p.m. May 4, $18-$59.

MAY 8: REO Speedwagon. Robinson Center Music Hall, 8 p.m., $52-$88.50.

MAY 10: Iris Dement. Ron Robinson Theater.

MAY 14: Brit Floyd "Discovery World Tour." Featuring music from all 14 Pink Floyd studio albums and a light and laser show. Verizon Arena, 8 p.m., $55.

MAY 15: Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, "Mozart by Candlelight." Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 7 p.m.

MAY 23-25: Riverfest. Featuring Hank Williams Jr., Salt-N-Pepa, Buckcherry and other performers to be announced. First Security Amphitheatre and other stages, $20 adv.

JUNE 1: Little Rock Wind Symphony, "Sunday Serenade." St. Paul United Methodist Church, 3 p.m.

JUNE 7: Little Rock Wind Symphony, A Stars and Stripes Celebration. MacArthur Park, 7 p.m.

JUNE 10: Bruno Mars. The "Moonshine Jungle" Tour. Verizon Arena, 8 p.m., $66-$99.

JUNE 16: Glenn Miller Orchestra. Robinson Center Music Hall, 8 p.m., $50.50-$66.50.

JUNE 20: Night of the Proms. Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, The Pointer Sisters and Nile Rodgers backed by Il Novecento and Fine Fleur. Verizon Arena, 7:30 p.m., $45-$99.

MUSIC, small venues

MARCH 20: Sister Sparrow and The Dirty Birds, Stays in Vegas. Juanita's, 9 p.m., $10 adv., $12 day of.

MARCH 22: Kevin Kerby and Brent Best, RTB2. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m.

MARCH 22: Big Piph, Tomorrow Maybe. Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack, 10 p.m.

MARCH 23: Protest the Hero, Battlecross, Safety Fire, Intervals, Night Verses. Juanita's, 7 p.m., $12 adv., $15 day of.

MARCH 23: Lost and Nameless Orchestra. Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack, 7:30 p.m., $5.

MARCH 25: Air Loom. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m.

MARCH 26: The Salty Dogs. South on Main, 7:30 p.m., free.

MARCH 27: AfroZep. Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $7.

MARCH 28: Benjamin Del Shreve. Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack, 8:30 p.m., $7.

MARCH 28: The Salty Dogs. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m.

MARCH 29: Matt Stell and Deep Roots. Revolution, 9 p.m., $8 adv., $10 day of.

MARCH 29: Graham Wilkinson, Sarah Hughes. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m.

APRIL 2: Local Live: Amasa Hines. South on Main, 7:30 p.m., free.

APRIL 3: Dax Riggs. Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $10.

APRIL 4: Shinyribs. White Water Tavern, 10 p.m.

APRIL 5: Bombay Harambee, Teenagers, Pagiins. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m.

APRIL 5: Tyler Bryant and The Shakedown. Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack, 8:30 p.m., $8 adv., $10 day of.

APRIL 8: The Goddamn Gallows. Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $7 adv., $10 day of.

APRIL 9: Local Live: John Willis. South on Main, 7:30 p.m., free.

APRIL 9: The Slackers. Juanita's, 9 p.m.

APRIL 10: G-Eazy, Torey Lanez. Juanita's, 9 p.m., $15.

APRIL 10: Tech N9ne, Freddie Gibbs, Krizz Kaliko, Jarren Benton, Psych Ward Druggies, 870 Underground. Revolution, 9 p.m., $25 adv., $30 day of.

APRIL 11: Marsha Ambrosius. Juanita's, 9 p.m.

APRIL 12: Michael Shipp Band. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m.

APRIL 13: Midnight Special, "The Classic Rock Experience." Juanita's, 8 p.m., $15.

APRIL 13: "That Nashville Sound": A Tribute to Ray Price. Featuring performances by Katmandu, Amy Garland, Bonnie Montgomery, Mark Currey, Dave Almond, Ben Meade, Lauralee Williard, Buddy Case, and John Talley. South on Main, 5 p.m., $10.

APRIL 14: Rehab. Juanita's, 8 p.m.

APRIL 15: Eisley, Merriment. Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack, 8 p.m., $12 adv., $15 day of.

APRIL 15: Lee Bains, The Glory Fires. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m.

APRIL 17: Paul Wall, Triggaman, Young Jose, The Corner Kingz. Revolution, 9 p.m., $20-$30.

APRIL 17: The Sideshow Tragedy. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m., $5.

APRIL 18: Adam Carroll record release. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m.

APRIL 18: Wrangler Space, "Widespread Panic Tribute." Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack, 9:30 p.m., $6 adv., $8 day of.

APRIL 19: Four On The Floor. Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $6.

APRIL 20: Touch, "Grateful Dead Tribute." Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack, 8 p.m., $4.

APRIL 20: Wayne Static, We Are The Riot, Dark From Day One. Juanita's, 7 p.m., $15 adv.

APRIL 25: Future Islands, Ed Schrader's Music Beat, Fine Peduncle. Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack, 8:30 p.m., $10 adv., $12 day of.

APRIL 25: Zoogma. Revolution, 9 p.m., $10 adv., $12 day of.

APRIL 30: Moot Davis. Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack, 8 p.m.

MAY 2: Of Montreal. Revolution, 9 p.m., $15 adv., $18 day of.

MAY 4: Black Star Riders. Juanita's, 8 p.m.

MAY 5: The Dillinger Escape Plan, Tera Melos, Vattnet Viskar, Fear The Aftermath. Juanita's, 7:30 p.m., $14 adv., $16 day of.

MAY 6: Old Man Markley. Juanita's, 9 p.m., $8 adv., $10 day of.

MAY 9: Mayday Parade, We Are The In Crowd, Transit, Divided By Friday. Juanita's, 8 p.m.

MAY 15: Wild Belle, Caught A Ghost. Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack, 8:30 p.m., $10 adv., $12 day of.

THEATER

MARCH 5-APRIL 6: "Les Miserables." All-new production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg's adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel. Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 7 p.m. Wed.-Thu., Sun.; 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., $50-$55.

MARCH 7-22: "The Water Children." The Weekend Theater, 7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., $12-$16.

MARCH 20-30: "Fool for Love." A play by Sam Shepard. The Public Theatre, 7 p.m. Thu.-Sat., $14.

MARCH 29: Del Shores'"My Sordid Best." Del Shores' one-man show. VIP tickets available. Ron Robinson Theater, 7:30 p.m., $28.50-$48.50.

JUNE 4-29: The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged). Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 7 p.m. Wed.-Thu., Sun.; 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. $30-$35.

VISUAL ARTS, HISTORICAL EXHIBITS

THROUGH MARCH 2014:"Lights! Camera! Arkansas!" Old State House Museum.

THROUGH APRIL 6: Mid-Southern Watercolorists "44th Annual Juried Exhibition," Historic Arkansas Museum.

THROUGH APRIL 20: "Earthly Delights: Modern and Contemporary Highlights from the Collection," Arkansas Arts Center.

THROUGH APRIL 27:"Ties that Bind: Southern Art from the Collection," Arkansas Arts Center.

THROUGH APRIL 27:"Spies, Traitors and Saboteurs: Fear and Freedom in America," Clinton Presiden tial Center, $7 adults, $5 college students, $3 ages 6-17.

THROUGH MAY 4:"Ciara Long: A Different Perspective," Historic Arkansas Museum.

THROUGH MAY 24: "Southern Voices," contemporary quilts, Butler Center Galleries.

THROUGH JUNE 1: "The Crossroads of Memory: Carroll Cloar and the American South," Arkansas Arts Center.

THROUGH JUNE 22:"A Sure Defense: The Bowie Knife in America," Historic Arkansas Museum.

THROUGH JUNE 29: "Inciteful Clay," ceramics dedicated to social commentary, Arkansas Arts Center.

MAY 9-JULY 27: "53rd Young Arkansas Artists," Arkansas Arts Center.

JUNE 27-SEPT. 28: "56th annual Delta Exhibition," Arkansas Arts Center.

JUNE 27-SEPT. 28: "Susan Paulson: Wilmot," Arkansas Arts Center.

Batesville

FILM

APRIL 2-6: Ozark Foothills FilmFest. Screenings of narrative and documentary features, shorts and animation, with visiting filmmakers and a screenwriting workshop. Various venues in Batesville, $25.

Bentonville

VISUAL ARTS

THROUGH APRIL 21: "At First Sight," watercolors from the collection of Alice Walton, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

THROUGH JULY 7:"The William S. Paley Collection: A Taste for Modernism," works by Paul Gaugin, Andre Derain, Henri Matisse, Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso and others, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

MAY 17-SEPT. 15:"American Encounters: Anglo-American Portraiture in an Era of Revolution," Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Conway

MUSIC

APRIL 7: Pianist Norm Boehm. Reves Recital Hall, Hendrix College, 7:30 p.m.

APRIL 21: Wind Ensemble Outdoor Concert. Grounds outside Staples Auditorium, Hendrix College, 5:30 p.m.

APRIL 22: Chick Corea and Bela Fleck. Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, 7:30 p.m., $30-$40.

THEATER

MARCH 20: "Sweet Charity." Neil Simon and Bob Fosse's 1966 musical. Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, 7:30 p.m., $30-$40.

Fayetteville

COMEDY

APRIL 12: Sinbad. Walton Arts Center, 8 p.m., $25-$55.

MUSIC, large venues

APRIL 3: Laura Aikin. Walton Arts Center, 8:15 p.m., $75.

APRIL 8: Joe Nichols, Backroad Anthem. Washington Regional Hospital Gala. Walton Arts Center, 7 p.m., $75 (main floor sold out).

APRIL 25: Ramsey Lewis and John Pizzarelli, "Straighten Up and Fly Right." A tribute to Nat King Cole. Walton Arts Center, 8 p.m., $36-$52.

MAY 3: Mariachi Los Camperos. Walton Arts Center, 8 p.m., $10-$25.

MAY 6: Lyle Lovett and His Acoustic Group. Walton Arts Center, 7 p.m., $49-$79.

MAY 20: Shannon Wurst. Walton Arts Center, 6:30 p.m., $10.

MAY 29: Chapel Series Concert: Cry You One. Walton Arts Center, 6:30 p.m., $10.

MAY 30: Chapel Series: The Dover Quartet. Walton Arts Center, 6:30 p.m., $10.

MUSIC, small venues

MARCH 20: Blackberry Smoke. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $17.50.

MARCH 21: Carolyn Wonderland. George's Majestic Lounge, 6 p.m., $5.

MARCH 22: Voltaire. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $15

MARCH 26: Icon For Hire. George's Majestic Lounge, 8:30 p.m., $12.

MARCH 29: Terrapin Flyer, Tom Constanten, Bob Bralove. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $18.

APRIL 1: Band of Heathens. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $10.

APRIL 3: Stoney LaRue. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $17.

APRIL 4: Royal Southern Brotherhood, Samantha Fish. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $20.

APRIL 5: Tab Benoit, The Cate Brothers. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $20.

APRIL 6: Elephant Revival. George's Majestic Lounge, 8:30 p.m., $15.

APRIL 9: The Lacs, Moonshine Bandits. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $20.

APRIL 10: Josh Abbott Band. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $20.

APRIL 11: The Paul Thorn Band. George's Majestic Lounge, 9:30 p.m., $20.

APRIL 13: Blue October. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $25.

APRIL 18: Catherine Russell Group. Walton Arts Center, 7 and 9 p.m.

APRIL 18: Split Lip Rayfield. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $12.

APRIL 19: Tragikly White, Ultra Suede. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $10.

APRIL 22: Trampled by Turtles. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $20.

APRIL 23: Randy Rogers Band. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $20.

APRIL 24: Whiskey Myers. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $10.

APRIL 26: Zoogma. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $12.

APRIL 27: Slightly Stoopid. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $27.50.

APRIL 29: GRIZ. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $18.

APRIL 30: St. Paul and The Broken Bones. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $10.

MAY 3: Leftover Salmon. George's Majestic Lounge, 9 p.m., $20.

THEATER

APRIL 1-6: Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Wizard of Oz." Walton Arts Center, 7:30 p.m. Tue., 7 p.m. Wed.-Thu., 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sat.-Sun. $26-$83.

APRIL 10-May 4: "Hamlet." Walton Arts Center, 7:30 Wed.-Sat., 7 p.m. Sun., 2 p.m. Sat.-Sun., 10 a.m. Wed. $10-$35.

APRIL 23: The Improvised Shakespeare Company. Walton Arts Center, 7:30 p.m., $10-$25.

JUNE 17: "SPANK! Harder." Sequel to "Fifty Shades of Grey" parody, Walton Arts Center, 7:30 p.m., $20-$45.

HOT SPRINGS

MUSIC

JUNE 1-14. Hot Springs Music Festival. Hot Springs National Park, $150.

OZARK

MUSIC

JUNE 5: Wakarusa 2014. Campout and music festival featuring The Flaming Lips, The String Cheese Incident, STS9, BASSNECTAR, Umphrey's McGee, Dr. Dog, and many others. Mulberry Mountain, $179.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Spring is nearly upon us, cinephiles, and while the jonquils' bloom signals the Big, Dumb Summer Blockbuster Extravaganza is not far away, it also serves as the unofficial kickoff to what has become a few very active months in the Arkansas film festival scene. There's plenty of excitement to be had around the state for lovers of film.

First out of the blocks this year is the third annual Little Rock Horror Picture Show, the horrid thing that festival parent Little Rock Film Festival keeps in its basement, where it survives solely on bitter tears and an occasional bucket of fish heads. The LRHPS kicks off on Thursday, March 20, and runs through March 23. Not only does the festival have a new day-pass system for 2014, the LRHPS will also be the first festival under the Little Rock Film Festival umbrella to take advantage of the Central Arkansas Library System's spanking-new 315-seat Ron Robinson Theater in the River Market District (don't get any gore on the upholstery, kids).

Justin Nickels with the LRHPS said the new digs give Horror Picture Show attendees an experience they won't get anywhere else. "It's exciting," he said. "The digital projection there, with the big films we're bringing in, it'll be the clearest projection of these films you'll see anywhere in the state of Arkansas."

Nickels said that this year the festival went a little broader with its choices, accepting not only submissions of horror, but also sci-fi, fantasy and animated flicks. The festival will include 40 films this year. The result is a more eclectic mix, with the goal of morphing the LRHPS into a festival that appeals to more people.

Nickels said that one of the coolest things this year is a Saturday night showing of director Fritz Lang's silent sci-fi masterpiece "Metropolis," to be accompanied by a live, original score performed by 2013 Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase winners Sound of the Mountain. There will also be actors, directors and crew from several of the films in attendance, including the lead actress from the opening night film, "All Cheerleaders Must Die," and the Arkansas-made film "Steal Kill Destroy," which was shot near Texarkana.

Day passes ($20) will allow horror fans with limited time or funds to pick their poison by the day. The full festival pass ($50) allows the holder access to every event at the festival and grants priority seating privileges. You can buy passes at eventbrite.com. Also new this year is a partnership with the Arkansas Food Bank: Attendees receive $5 off a full festival pass or $3 off a day pass if they bring three or more canned goods.

A little further into the calendar is the Ozark Foothills Filmfest, April 2-6 in Batesville. Many of the films will be shown at the historic and recently restored Landers Theater. OFF Director Bob Pest said the festival will feature several new things for its lucky 13th year, including a free day for all showings — April 5 — thanks to a grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council. Pest said another grant, for $3,300 from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which sponsors the Academy Awards, allowed the festival to bring in four films, along with some of the filmmakers who created them, that focus on foreign cultures in the U.S.

"On Saturday," Pest said, "we're going to have the filmmakers for the films from the AMPAS grant. They're going to be on a panel in the morning and then we're going to show all four films on Saturday and have a reception on Saturday night." The four films on the panel will be: "Sweet Dreams," by Lisa and Rob Fruchtman, a 2012 documentary about Rwanda's first ice cream shop; "I Learn America," a documentary about the immigrant students of Brooklyn's International High School at Lafayette; "Detroit Unleaded," a romantic comedy about Arab-Americans struggling for the American Dream in Michigan, and "Fambul Tok," a documentary about discussions between former enemies who fought in Sierra Leone's bloody civil war.

A Sunday program of international animated films is also new this year. For more information, visit ozarkfoothillsfilmfest.org.

"This year's festival has a wider range of things," Pest said. "The animation and the international films are a big part of that, but then there are a lot of the kind of usual narrative films and documentaries that you're used to. This year, I think we're going to open up some doors to people about what's really out there in the film world."

The big daddy of spring cinema is the Little Rock Film Festival, which will run May 13-18. Festival spokesperson Mallory Nickels said that plans for what will screen are still firming up.

The big news for the Little Rock Film Festival this year is the festival's new home at the Ron Robinson Theater. Nickels said that the theater — from sound, to seating, to projection, to ambiance — is "amazing," and should add to the experience of everyone in attendance. "Just having a central location from which everything will occur is pretty exciting as well," she said. "In the past few years, the festival has been growing, and [venues have] changed every few years ... . So to have something we know is going to be consistent for years to come is pretty exciting."

Speaking of the Ron Robinson Theater: While it's not quite a film festival, the programming there sure has felt like something close. Recent screenings have shown the promise of the place, with free or reduced-cost showings of great films, including a three-night tribute to the late Philip Seymour Hoffmann, a screening of "Stripes" in tribute to the late Harold Ramis (with cast member Judge Reinhold participating in a post-screening Q&A), this weekend's "Bolli Holi Day" screenings of Bollywood flicks, and more.

Upcoming films include "Fruitvale Station" on March 30, "Mandela" April 4-6, "Inside Llewyn Davis" April 18-20, and "In a World," April 11 and 13, a comedy about a woman who does voice-overs for film trailers. Tickets for all are $5. All concessions, including bratwurst, popcorn, soft drinks and fruit smoothies, go for $1. The screenings of "In a World" will be part of a contest in which CALS picks the "voice" of the Ron Robinson Theater. The contest will start on April 1 and end on April 11. Keep an eye on the Ron Robinson Theater Facebook page for more details coming soon.

Angela Stoffer, manager of the Ron Robinson Theater, said that a committee meets every other Friday to decide what should play during the next few weeks. "We sit and talk about what's coming up, what's coming out, what we currently have scheduled," she said. "As many things that we do that we charge for, because we're associated with the Central Arkansas Library System we have to do as many free [screenings as possible]. The committee tries to get together and find that balance."

While programming films in response to events in the news isn't what you'd expect from a regular movie theater, Stoffer said, "We don't want to be a regular theater. We just want to be: 'You never know what they're going to do.'"

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

One morning last summer, Dennis Horton, the longtime owner of Horton's Music in the town of Hardy, population 772, heard a strange noise coming from outside his shop. Like a "weed eater or something," he said. He put aside the guitar he was fixing to step outside, and was stunned by what he found: a helicopter drone affixed with a camera, hovering over the sidewalk. "Flying back and forth up and down Main Street," he said, "under the power lines. I thought, 'What in the heck is that?'"

A few doors down from Horton's, Ron and Susan Wolfe run a cluttered antique store called Memories on Main Street. Ron loves talking to customers, and keeps a guest book behind the counter for people to sign. "I talk to everybody who comes in here," he said. "So I find out where they're coming from." Around the time of Dennis Horton's run-in with the drone, Ron noticed an influx of customers from major cities. He was stumped. "One little lady was from New York and one was from California," he said. "I told 'em, 'Man, you all are lost.'"

They weren't. They had come to Hardy to film a television show, a six-episode series for Discovery Channel titled "Clash of the Ozarks," that began airing in late February and will continue throughout this month. The show follows a blood feud that it claims has ravaged two Hardy families, the Russells and the Evanses, since the mid-19th century, continuing into the present day with the bitter rivalry between Crowbar Russell, who, the show's press release notes, "seeks only to work his land and hunt for what he needs to survive," and his nemesis, Kerry Wayne Evans, who "has a fondness for money" and will "do just about anything to build up his empire." Hardy, a quiet tourist community at the northern edge of the state, is described as resembling "a town right out of the Wild West," in which "emotions and territory conflicts outweigh a law-abiding society." Other characters include "a mountain man who doesn't own a pair of shoes and hasn't lived in a house for years" and "a tough gun-toting elderly woman who is fiercely protective of her family and is rumored to be clairvoyant."

The promo clip that circulated before the show started airing set the tone by emulating the rough Southern grit of shows like "True Blood" and "Justified," a stylized, high-contrast collage of snakes and moonshine and river baptism. Men in straw hats wielded bowie knives and chased trains, and a country preacher in a dilapidated church made pronouncements like, "If we stop fighting the good fight, it will open the door to the devil."

Hardy residents didn't expect this slant. According to Al Corte, who runs a historic preservation society in town, "We thought it was going to be a hunting and fishing show."

***

In a 1969 New Yorker article, "A Stranger With a Camera," Calvin Trillin writes about a film crew that visits a small Appalachian community in Jeremiah, Ky., to document its lower class residents. "It was an extraordinary shot — so evocative of the despair of that region," one of the filmmakers told Trillin about a segment involving a coal miner. The owner of the land, however, turned up to interrupt the shoot and eventually shot and killed the leader of the crew, a crime for which he was later acquitted by a local jury, because what was a film crew doing in Jeremiah, Ky., anyway?

We have come a long way since "A Stranger With a Camera." From "Duck Dynasty" and "Swamp People" to "Moonshiners" and "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo," a disproportionate number of the most popular reality shows on television today are set in the rural South, a phenomenon that Brooks Blevins, a Missouri State University professor of Ozark Studies, calls the "redneck reality renaissance." The trend, of course, is only the most recent and profitable manifestation of a whole vibrant history of Southern caricature, something Blevins argues has particularly deep roots in Arkansas.

"There seems to be no scientific way to quantify the level of stereotyping to which Arkansas has been subjected in comparison with other states," he writes in his book, "Arkansas / Arkansaw: How Bear Hunters, Hillbillies and Good Ol' Boys Defined a State.""But the general consensus around the Natural State is that Arkansas was at some point in the murky past singled out and given a special place in the American consciousness. And it's a specialness that many in the state would just as soon do without."

Once a primarily science and education outlet, Discovery Channel has evolved its focus over the years, a philosophical awakening that can be tracked by the changes to the company's tagline: From "Explore Your World," the channel mellowed and rebranded with the more easy-going "Entertain Your Brain," before settling a few years ago on "The World Is Just Awesome." The show that airs after "Clash of the Ozarks" on Discovery, incidentally, is called "Amish Mafia."

David George, executive vice president of programming at Leftfield Pictures, the company that produced the series for Discovery, offered some insight into the making of the show. Having made his name at MTV, George has gone on to produce such programs as "Truck Stop Missouri,""Guntucky,""Hillbillies for Hire," and "Cajun Pawn Stars."

"It's kind of an interesting story," he said of the show's origins. "We were down in the area, in the Ozarks, casting for a completely different concept. We were looking for people who really lived off the land, and we came across Crowbar Russell."

Russell, the backwoods moral center of the show whose quest to save his own land from the bank and from Kerry Wayne Evans' plotting provides much of its conflict, is well known in the area for his TV work, particularly the local-access show, "Ozark Outdoors," which he produced with his cousin, Jason. Episodes usually consisted of handheld footage of the two of them noodling for catfish, bowhunting hogs or shooting crows.

"I'm sure that's how he popped up on our radar," George said of Russell's previous work. "But when he started talking about his own personal history and the issues that he was personally facing down there, we realized it was much bigger than just that one little nugget that we had gone for."

In conversation, George projects a sort of innocence about the criticisms someone like Blevins might have for the shows he produces, and his almost utopian enthusiasm for "Clash of the Ozarks" is contagious. Describing whether the series was a reality show or a drama, he said, "It doesn't really fall into any one particular category — I think that's what makes it unique. The show is about ideology, what people believe in and their way of life and how that impacts their surroundings." It's easy to forget, speaking with George, that this is one of the minds behind MTV's "Pranked."

"At first, there was definitely some confrontation," George said of the early days of the "Clash of the Ozarks" production. "I think anytime a production team from New York City waltzes into Hardy, Arkansas ... if there wasn't any hesitation, I'd be a little bit nervous." Having made it through this initial awkwardness, he said, "We really let [the locals] take the lead."

"Production companies make a big mistake when they try to stereotype the South," he said. "And we consciously made a decision that we were not going to go down that road."

***

"You'd rather try to pour hot butter up a wildcat's ass than mess with him when he's mad." That's what one character says about Crowbar Russell on the show, and it's hard to disagree, as most of his screen time is spent railing furiously against "poachers,""flatlanders" and "those bastards who busted up my moonshine." His dialogue is generally subtitled, presumably because his accent might be a challenge for some viewers.

Still, Crowbar is the show's hero, a bulwark of traditional values and domesticity, as opposed to his rival, Kerry Wayne Evans, described as "one of the Ozarks' most controversial businessmen." On "Clash," Russell says Evans is "money hungry" and "ain't worthy shit for nothing," and later compares him to a coyote. Evans embraces the role: "I can finally get the Russell clan out of the Ozarks for good," he says in episode one, "Blood Land," with evident villainous glee.

Like all great family feuds, the original impetus for their grudge is vague, but the show claims it started with a fight at a "family dance," and has persisted for over a century. The poet Justin Booth, who got to know both Crowbar and Kerry Wayne when he worked at a bar in Cherokee Village, a few miles from Hardy, in the late '80s, said there may be some truth there. He told a story about Crowbar's cousin, Brad — they looked similar enough that people were often mistaking them — being jumped once by "this other family," who "beat him nearly to death," thinking he was Crowbar. "As soon as he gets out of the hospital," Booth said, "he comes back to the club and he has a T-shirt on that says 'My name is not Crowbar.'"

Of Kerry Evans, Booth recalled, "He punched me in the mouth one time. He was not nice, is my opinion."

Most of the current Hardy residents, though, were less certain about its authenticity. "It's a fictional story," said Dale Maddox, who runs a local pottery shop. "It's television, entertainment." Ron Martin, owner of an antique store called Memory Lane Mall, said, "The plot's all hooey, but it's entertaining."

Ernie Rose, Hardy's police chief, laughs when I ask if Crowbar and Kerry Evans get along: "Yes, to my knowledge." Rose should know, as he went to high school with both of them and goes fishing with Crowbar from time to time. His own father, he said, worked closely alongside Crowbar's and Kerry Wayne's fathers in the early days of Cherokee Village. "Them three men were the three key people in the whole water system," he said, "installing it and making it operate." This shared history could explain why, as the local newspaper, The Villager Journal, has it, Crowbar and Kerry Wayne both recently served as pallbearers at each other's parent's funeral.

The more you talk to people in Hardy, for that matter, the less certain you become about which character would belong on which end of a hero-villain dynamic. "He's kind of a local legend, and not all in a good way," said Tammy Curtis, The Villager Journal's managing editor, about Crowbar. "He's a convicted felon. So if you see him with a gun [on the show], he's probably not even supposed to have it."

While Discovery's press release says that "Everyone in Hardy has their own story of how Crowbar got his name," Curtis said there's pretty much just one story. "His name came from some nasty fights," she said. "People call him that because he's more apt to pick up a crowbar and hit you in the back of the head than to fight you face to face."

Kerry Wayne, meanwhile, who on the show claims to "do business with rough folks, people with blood on their hands," actually owns and operates a fairly innocuous business in town called N-Sta-Smile. It manufactures disposable toothbrushes. When an interview was requested with the cast through Discovery (everyone who appears on the show is under a strict contract not to speak to the press, which led to a handful of awkward interactions while reporting this story), it was Kerry Wayne who was made available.

"At first I was reluctant to get involved," Evans said of his part in the show. "They had a preset notion of what we were going to be like, and I refused to be involved in that. I wanted people to see what we were really like, overall. And I'm pretty proud of what it turned out like, to tell you the truth."

About the feud, he said, "I'm not going to speak for my family, because I wasn't there. But I'm sure our families butted heads." And about the contrast between the show's Hardy and the real Hardy? "There's an element of truth in everything you seen on the show," he said. "Nothing in life is 100 percent accurate."

***

One weekend, once a couple of episodes had aired, I decided to drive up to Hardy to get a better sense of the city I'd been watching on television. The day before I visited, maybe fittingly, there was a bank robbery in town. According to The Village Journal's Tammy Curtis, "A lot of people here thought it was funny, they were saying, 'I think Crowbar did it.' And it got to where some people were even believing it." The real perpetrator turned herself in that same day. She'd hidden the money under a log.

Driving into Sharp County, you'll pass through Cave City, self-proclaimed home of the World's Sweetest Watermelons, and Evening Shade, population 432, the setting for an early '90s sitcom starring Burt Reynolds. Along the highway, confederate flags hang from dead trees and horses graze in patches of ice. "Welcome to Historic Hardy: Home of Lauren Gray," one sign for the city reads, referring to a onetime contestant on "American Idol."

Fans of "Clash of the Ozarks," can immediately begin recognizing landmarks within the city limits. There's the old church that reappears in the opening credits and throughout the series. In reality, it's an abandoned building in a cemetery, and the preacher is a local TV and radio personality named Tommy Garner, but there it is all the same, just as it looks in the show.

At any moment, one expects to see Jimmy Haney, the shoeless, shirtless, overall-wearing mountain man who lives in the woods hunting for mushrooms. For the record, almost everyone I met seemed confident that he actually does live in the woods. Dennis Horton said his son recently asked Haney's daughter about the show and his role in it, and she responded, "Well, best I can say is I'm glad he dressed up."

There's nothing revelatory in the notion that a reality show isn't entirely real, but there is something interesting about these real people's eagerness to package themselves for a worldwide audience in the way that they have. They've used their real names, after all, and have created, or at least acted out, narratives about their own real families. Most people in town, despite some initial hesitation or confusion, now embrace the show as well, and discuss it in proud and hopeful terms.

Horton, so confounded by the crew's first appearance outside of his store, now has a huge cardboard "Clash of the Ozarks" poster displayed in his window. He plans to get it autographed by all the cast members, and only has a few left to go. "I think anytime that you can shine a spotlight on your community, that's got to be a good thing for your town," he said. "One of the characters was in here earlier today, just before you came in as a matter of fact." And he said he took a count and the title of the city Hardy was displayed 14 times during one episode of that show. "So lots of people all over the world are at least seeing the name of our town."

"This is a tourist-oriented place, we're dependent on the tourist dollar," he said. "Whatever it takes to bring people here, we're for it." With a sly grin, he adds, "I just hope Kerry and Crowbar can work out their differences without somebody getting hurt."

Dale Maddox, who moved to Hardy in 1980, at a time when the city was "pretty much decimated" economically, agreed. "I understand over a million people watched the first episode [1.1 according to Nielsen ratings], and if 5 percent of those people seek Hardy out," he said, trailing off. "I think a lot of people are going to be looking for Hardy, Arkansas, that never had a clue it was here."

Tammy Curtis sees things differently. "I see it as being more negative than positive, personally," she said. "But then I think it's like any other show. In a few months, after it's over with and the episodes are gone, it's kind of like your moment of fame. And I think it'll die out. I don't think there's going to be people on the other side of the world saying, 'I watched this and I want to go to Hardy.'"

For his part, Chief Rose is mostly indifferent. "I don't watch much television," he said gruffly. "I live the life, I don't have to watch it on TV."

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

In the spring of 2009, Michelle Ward was finishing her last semester at UCA. She was on her own, supporting her 2-year-old daughter, Kayla. The economy was in recession, and the future looked uncertain, but she decided to take a leap: She secured a loan to build a home. By October, she had moved out of the Conway apartment she'd shared with her college roommate for the previous six years and into a brand new brick house in a subdivision, Northwoods, that is located in a sleepy town just off Interstate 40 heading south towards her hometown of North Little Rock.

"I knew nothing about Mayflower," said Ward, now 29. "I mean, it's like you blink and you miss it — I didn't even know it existed. But it was quiet and nice and I found a builder ... who was building homes already and could do it in my price range. I'd be an idiot to have turned it down. Some people said, 'Don't do it, you can't have a home, you need to just stay in an apartment.' You know, I don't make that much money, but it was an opportunity to better my life and better Kayla's life."

Four years later, in 2013, Ward was groping her way toward a solid foothold in the middle class. She was a supervisor in a three-person office for a firm that provided sales and accounting services to larger companies. She had a second daughter, an infant, and Kayla had made friends with the neighbor children living on North Starlite Road. Ward wasn't quite where she wanted to be just yet — her credit was not good, her bills caused concern some months — but she'd come a long way.

"The stability came with the home," she said. "It helped to ground things and make things seem somewhat OK even when everything else wasn't, because no one was going to take the house from me."

Then, on March 29, a pipeline burst open in the easement behind her house and spilled an estimated 210,000 gallons of crude oil into her street and beyond.

The spill and after

It's been one year since ExxonMobil's Pegasus pipeline ruptured in Mayflower. Although it's still not entirely clear why the disaster happened when and where it did, an investigation found the proximate cause to be a 60-year-old manufacturing defect in the pipe. Microscopic cracks in the steel slowly evolved into a total failure of the metal, and a 22-foot split ripped open along a welding seam that Good Friday afternoon. Technicians shut down the line soon after the spill was reported, and it has remained turned off since.

Oil soaked into yards and poured through drainage ditches as it ran beneath Interstate 40 and into an inlet of Lake Conway called Dawson Cove. Fumes hung heavy in the air throughout town, sparking headaches, nausea and respiratory problems. Local, state and federal authorities teamed with Exxon to manage the unfolding crisis under the banner of "Mayflower Unified Command," and residents and first responders sprang into action to plug the culverts that separate Dawson Cove from the rest of the lake. Residents of 22 homes in the Northwoods subdivision were evacuated immediately, including Michelle Ward and her daughters. Exxon provided speedy assistance to these families — free lodging, helpful claims personnel, and an offer to directly buy any of the 22 houses at their pre-spill appraised value. Along with the other 40 families in Northwoods, each was given a $10,000 check to compensate them for "nuisance." Meanwhile, although oil remained standing on the ground for days afterward, Mayflower residents living outside of the Northwoods subdivision received no evacuation notice and little or no compensation from Exxon in the following months. Some complained that the company was attempting to mask its larger negligence with its apparent generosity toward "the golden 22," as one aggrieved citizen put it last summer.

As public attention faded, the gilding wore away. By October — the four-year anniversary of her purchase of the house on Starlite Road — Ward and her kids had been living in a hotel room for seven months. She was now working at her parents' business, having lost her job in the chaos after the spill. Between attending town hall meetings, changing hotel rooms, and juggling her kids, she missed too much work at a peak time and her branch office was shut down.

"It just was all bad timing. It was right in the middle of our every-six-years new contracts. A corporate office in another state — they really don't care what's going on in your neighborhood with the oil spill when you're messing with their money. Of course, they were somewhat nice. They said, 'Go file your unemployment, you won't have any issues.'"

"But that's just a side note," she continued. "You know, crap happens. It was my fault. I should have been on top of my game, and I wasn't."

Ward did not take up Exxon's offer to buy her home because it made no financial sense for her. The terms of her loan stipulate penalties for an early sale, and she holds little equity in her home. Selling to Exxon, she said, would leave her without the cash (or credit) to easily start over. The company also offered a one-time settlement check as an alternative to selling, but Ward said it wouldn't be enough to put a down payment on a new home.

"They would have put us in a hole," she said. "A huge hole. It's crazy. It took everything for me to even be able to build that home. They didn't want to individualize and help people. I can't tell you how many times I've cried to them and asked them to help me find a different alternative than A, B or C, because A, B and C did not work for me. And I wasn't about to sell them my home and ... what? Then what? What do I do with my children? We wouldn't have a home; we wouldn't have shelter.

"I'm not ashamed to admit that I've had to struggle, or that things might have been difficult at times. The fact is that I wasn't planning on selling this home. And because of that, there's certain things that now they've messed up.

"I've worked really hard to move up the ladder in life, and they've taken me down the ladder so far in such a short time."

The litigation ahead

Records from the Faulkner County Assessor's office show that ExxonMobil has closed on 25 houses in the Northwoods subdivision. "For sale" signs speckle many of the other yards. Recently, on a wet, chilly March weekend similar to the one that saw the spill, the Times asked Northwoods residents to talk about their experiences over the past year. To a person, they were remarkably friendly to a reporter disturbing their weekend, but except for Ward, none would speak on the record.

"The problem is that Exxon's got most everyone around here to sign nondisclosure agreements," apologized a 30ish man, clad in Sunday afternoon pajama pants.

A slender woman in a sleep cap politely declined an interview as a small crowd of children watched from the dim safety of the living room. She'd like to talk, she said, but she said she was in the middle of a lawsuit. "You're going to have a hard time finding someone in the neighborhood who isn't."

One of the many parties suing ExxonMobil is Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel. The attorney general and the Department of Justice have jointly sued to collect penalties for violating environmental statutes, including the federal Clean Water Act and the Arkansas Hazardous Waste Management Act. Exxon has filed for a motion to dismiss the case, which McDaniel said isn't likely to be granted.

"Obviously, the federal government and the state of Arkansas are on pretty solid ground here," he said. "It was their pipe, it was their oil — they clearly violated the law in allowing the pollutants to be released. They are, as all major corporations who are in high-stakes litigation tend to do, doing all that they can to slow the flow of discovery. [They're] protesting what should be given and how quickly they can give it. They've told us they've just got too much litigation going to promptly respond to our requests. That's not atypical. That's par for the course." The lawsuit isn't scheduled to go to trial until February 2015, by which point McDaniel will be out of office.

The state will also file a Natural Resources Damages Claim against Exxon, to assess "damages as to the broader scope of what's the long-term impact to the environment — what are the financial costs to all of this. [It's] a much more comprehensive set of litigation that can and will be brought by ... the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission." McDaniel said he does not anticipate that lawsuit being filed until 2015.

Yet another lawsuit could come from Central Arkansas Water (CAW), the local utility that manages Lake Maumelle. If the Pegasus rupture had occurred just a few miles further south, the oil would have spilled into the reservoir that provides water to 400,000 residents of the Little Rock metropolitan area. Alarmed by that nightmare scenario, CAW has filed its intent to seek a federal injunction against Exxon should the company announce plans to turn on the Pegasus again without satisfying CAW's demands. The utility wants the pipe rerouted out of the watershed. CAW spokesman John Tynan said that the company still has not provided CAW with sufficient evidence that a breach like the one in Mayflower isn't likely to happen again.

"We had known the Exxon pipeline was a risk, but given the information we had prior to the Mayflower rupture, the assumption that we had was that there was a very low risk of a rupture occurring," said Tynan. "Obviously, that calculus has changed. ... The information we have to date still doesn't give us confidence that [Exxon] can reliably identify cracks. At this point, we want to keep all actions on the table."

Exxon is known for stretching lawsuits out for years. The major damages claim related to the 1989 tanker spill in Valdez, Alaska, for example, was not resolved until 2008 — almost 20 years after the spill. Considering Exxon's profits last year were $45 billion (nine times the budget of the state of Arkansas) such action may at first seem petty, if not malicious. But Exxon's size is also its vulnerability. When a company operates such a messy, dangerous trade on a global scale, the next accident is always around the corner. Exxon does not want to take actions that will establish legal precedent.

"They have been very explicit over time that they don't want to settle claims in Arkansas that in any way would set a bad precedent for them going forward," McDaniel said. "For instance, if they'd gone in and bought every home in that subdivision, they had indicated that that would set a bad precedent for the next time this happens. What if it'd been more homes? What if they'd been more expensive homes? What if they'd been businesses? What if it'd been beneath the Dillard's headquarters? What if it'd been in the Lake Maumelle watershed? ... They are not just looking at this from their current perspective, but also what could happen in two years or five years."

That also helps explain the company's refusal to negotiate terms with Michelle Ward, right down to the minutia. By late summer, most of her neighbors were in the process of selling their homes to the company. The friendly claims people she'd dealt with at first had left town, replaced by a hardball negotiator —"a killer," said Ward — who pressured the remaining families to accept the deals as offered.

"I had no problem with Exxon this entire time. Things got rough in about July, August, and that's when it all went downhill," Ward said. "It went from me really thinking they cared and were sorry and were going to make it right to they were going to screw us any way they could and they really didn't care. And I understand that. It's a job. It's their job."

When asked about compensation, Exxon spokesperson Aaron Stryk replied, "Property owners outside of Northwoods and along the Cove are able to address any harm they feel they have incurred due to the spill through the claims process.  We will continue to honor all valid claims, which will be handled on a case-by-case basis."

The money Exxon provided for Ward's hotel room ran out on Oct. 23, the date Exxon set for "forced re-entry" of homes that it had not yet bought. Ward stayed for a couple more weeks anyway, though she couldn't really afford it. She was still waiting for Exxon to replace ruined items that had sponged up the smell of the oil and had to be thrown out or cleaned.

"We had just been waiting for a phone call saying, 'Your home's finished, we've replaced all of the items that we've moved,' which was four beds, two couches, every item of clothing, toys ... we didn't have any pillows in the house, no towels. We didn't have anything. Exxon was nonstop emailing my lawyer wanting to know why we hadn't returned home. He said, 'Do you expect them to sleep on the floor?'"

"They turned around and said, 'Here's a $1,500 check to go get the mattresses.'" Her voice rose. "You know, why don't you just replace the stuff that you removed from the home and said you would replace and put it all back to normal?"

"They did not reimburse us for any of the items except for the four mattresses," she said. Workers cleaning her home had filled 15 contractor-sized garbage bags with various possessions, which were thrown out before she had a chance to make an inventory list.

Then there was the refrigerator, which had sat untouched for months. "We went there to check on the house after they cleaned it to do an inspection," Ward recalled. "I opened the fridge, and there was like a million gazillion maggots and I almost passed out. I started screaming." She insisted on a new fridge, given its condition; Exxon suggested it simply be cleaned instead. "They did replace the fridge but after, you know, a ruckus."

Well before the move-in deadline arrived, the company stopped reimbursing kennel fees for her dog; that cost her more than a thousand dollars. Because the homes adjacent to hers had been demolished (due to oil found under their foundations) she requested a follow-up soil test from Exxon; it was delayed for weeks. The claims negotiator, she said, continued to lean heavily on all the families remaining.

"There was no negotiating. We were told 'Take it or leave it, but this is the best you will ever get.' They will continue to file appeal after appeal and draw it out as long as they can, and you will end up with nothing in the end.  The scare tactics were not only to me. It caused most of the others to just settle and be done, because they were already moving on to their new homes.

"It was a tactic of bullying. Basically, we'll bully you until you break and you either sell to us or you settle with us, and I wouldn't do either." At the moment, Ward and her lawyer are still weighing her options. They have not ruled out a lawsuit.

Ecology

Robin Lang and her boyfriend, Marty Garrity, live in a house on the shore of Dawson Cove, the terminal point of the spilled oil. On the afternoon of the break, Lang recalled, they were hit by the stench before they saw it.

"The way we found out about it was the smell. At first we thought it was gasoline, because that's what it smelled like. It smelled like raw fuel. And then we were told it was a pipeline, and from there Marty and his brother and a couple other guys ran to the woods to where we were told it was at. ... They were trying to help them stop up that drainage ditch." But by the next day, oil was sloshing around the trunks of trees not far from their house.

The oil smelled of gas because it contained chemicals similar to those in gasoline. The oil carried by the Pegasus was diluted bitumen, a heavy crude extracted from Canadian tar sands and intended for a refinery on the Gulf Coast. Bitumen has the consistency of cold molasses on its own; to move it through a pipeline it must be diluted with volatile hydrocarbons (gasoline-like chemicals) to reduce its viscosity to that of conventional crude.

Some 1.2 million gallons of water and oil were recovered in the following months, according to ADEQ, not including what was soaked into debris and soil and cleaning materials. Exxon declared the initial "response" phase of the cleanup to be complete by late summer. A round of extensive soil and sediment testing followed, performed by a third-party contractor and paid for by Exxon. Water samples were taken on a daily basis until January 2014. The two state agencies charged with monitoring the cleanup, ADEQ and the Game and Fish Commission, approved the data contained in Exxon's environmental status report in March. 

"To date, ADEQ does not feel there is any risk to human health or undue risk to the environment," said Tammie Hynum, chief of the agency's Hazardous Waste Division. Most of the oil has been removed from the land, and tests indicate the oil's progress through the water was indeed halted at Dawson Cove. "We found nothing in the water [in the rest of the lake] that ever suggested there was any contamination of the water by the oil," agreed Ricky Chastain, deputy director of Game and Fish.

However, Chastain also said Exxon's report incorrectly downplays the environmental situation. "There are no unacceptable ecological risks in the drainage ways, Dawson Cove, and Lake Conway," the company report concludes, adding that no further action is necessary. ADEQ and Game and Fish disagree.

"We don't dispute any of the data," said Chastain, "but what we dispute is some of their conclusions to the data. ... The bottom line is we would not say definitively across the board that there is absolutely no risk, no contamination, that would cause problems environmentally down the road."

Oil sheen still regularly coats the waters of Dawson Cove, especially after a rain. The sorbent booms that are still installed in the cove keep trapping oil. ADEQ and Game and Fish want Exxon to implement further remediation steps, which might consist of removing additional soil, capping areas of sediment with a layer of clay, or injecting air into the sediment to force lingering petroleum to the surface.

"We want to make sure we evaluate several viable alternatives ... and select the most appropriate technology to restore Dawson Cove and the drainage areas back to pre-spill conditions," Hynum said.

For homeowners on the cove, things are definitely not back to pre-spill conditions. Cleaning up an oil spill necessitates a massive disruption to the environment. Between March 29 and Aug. 15 last year, crews of workers collected some 8,000 tons of fouled soil, sediment, vegetation, cleanup materials and other debris from Mayflower. To remove the contamination, much of the ecosystem itself had to be scraped away.

"It's nowhere near looking like it did," Lang said. "They took out the woods; there's no replacing that. And they took out the wildlife when they took out the woods; there's no replacing that either." She and other residents say they miss watching deer from their backyards, and they've stopped planting gardens out of fear of soil contamination. They've also stopped fishing in the cove. "We were avid fishermen," Lang continued. "Every day, if we had a chance. If work permitted, we were in the lake fishing or on the bank fishing. But we haven't eaten fish out of there since this all took place. There's no way." (Game and Fish and ADEQ say fish in Lake Conway are entirely safe to eat.)

What bothers her the most, Lang said, is the feeling that Exxon has played down the damage done to Dawson Cove by defining it as something apart from Lake Conway. "Exxon generally refers to this back here as the marsh like, 'It's just a marsh,'" Lang said. "Well, it wasn't just marsh to us — it's our property. Our deed says this is lakefront property on a cove of Lake Conway. Now we feel like when you look at that, it's just marsh. It wasn't that before, but that's what it was brought to."

Health

Despite the sampling data, it's going to take a long time to rebuild public confidence in the health of the environment near Mayflower. Likewise, fears persist about the effects of the spill on human health.

The principal public health concern among Mayflower residents is exposure to airborne toxins released in the spill's aftermath — including known carcinogens such as benzene. Since only the 22 families on Starlite Road were evacuated, others living nearby continued to breathe the fumes. One of those residents is Ann Jarrell, whose story appeared in the Times last fall. Jarrell's house lies on the other side of the pipeline from the Northwoods subdivision, only 300 yards from the rupture site, but because oil didn't touch her property, she was told by local police and Exxon employees that there was no need to evacuate. Jarrell said she's acquired a suite of alarming health issues since the spill, including sometimes debilitating lung problems.

Jarrell has lived with a friend in North Little Rock since her symptoms arose after the spill. Even visiting her house in Mayflower makes her sick today, she said, and she's fearful for her future.

"I still make my payments even though I can't live in it," she said. "I'm stuck."

The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) insists that there was no need for other homes to have been evacuated, based on the recommendation of experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A team of ADH epidemiologists coordinated air quality testing at multiple sites around Mayflower for weeks after the spill and concluded that concentrations of benzene and other chemicals were well within the threshold of hazardous exposure. A year after the spill, the agency says it made no mistakes.

"A good job, an outstanding job was done by the Mayflower community in getting residents evacuated," Dr. William Mason, the lead ADH official assigned to the disaster, said recently. "The community itself, other agencies and our agency really responded appropriately."

Attorney General McDaniel, who was also involved in the initial response, disagrees. "Local officials did a good job under the circumstances," he said. "I said then and still believe that the evacuation area should have been much larger." He also cuts ADH some slack for their lackluster response, noting that the agency wasn't designed to handle such a crisis. It was only after being pushed by Gov. Beebe that ADH began offering health screenings to Mayflower residents, five months after the spill.

ADH said it's unable to disclose any information about the results of the program due to health privacy laws, but the agency conducted 26 screenings, all in 2013. Some Mayflower residents have criticized it as too little, too late. Linda Lynch, a neighbor of Jarrell's who also was not evacuated, said her screening was "a joke and a waste of my time." Lynch's complaints of spill-related health problems were diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by Mason after a telemedicine session.

Though the PTSD diagnosis was ridiculed, the mental health effects of such a disruptive event are serious and real, according to Dr. Dale Sandler, a researcher at the National Institutes of Health. Sandler is leading a landmark study into the long-term health effects of BP's 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Sandler said there's not a clear line between the physical and psychological trauma associated with such a disaster.

"You'll also see increases in other symptoms that might be associated with neurological effects of the chemicals in high doses, like depression," she said. "You have people with unexplained pain, with depression, with fatigue. ... And it's hard to know whether this is all because of exposure to oil — which we know in high doses, exposure to benzene and those kinds of chemicals have been associated with diagnosed depression — or whether it's totally explained by the fact that you've got this mess in your backyard where you eat and where you fish and you can't go about your business."

Sandler also emphasized the slippery nature of identifying direct cause-and-effect relationships between exposure to hazardous materials like oil and serious health problems later on.

"We know from occupational studies of people who have had heavy exposures to things like benzene that over a lifetime they are at increased risk for developing certain cancers, notably the blood cancers like leukemia. But that's steady exposures over a long amount of time and at higher levels than what we believe people involved in an oil spill would be exposed to." And, she continued, oil is only one carcinogenic substance out of many. "One of the major contributors to benzene exposure is cigarette smoke."

The results of the study Sandler is leading won't be available for some time, she said, because there are so many variables at play. "We don't want to get it wrong. It's really important to make sure we don't alarm people unnecessarily and it's also important that we don't pretend there's no effect if there is one."

The future of the Pegasus

Not far from Mayflower, the path of the Pegasus intersects with that of another manmade conduit for fossil fuels that dwarfs the Exxon pipeline in terms of breadth and length. Its fuel payload is hidden away in the gas tanks of the 58,000 vehicles that pass by on that stretch of Interstate 40 on an average day.

The Union Pacific rail line also runs through Mayflower, more or less parallel to the interstate. Because rail carriers consider the information proprietary, it's hard to say how many barrels of oil travel through the town by freight train each month, but it's probably substantial. A single DOT-111 tank car carries about 30,000 gallons of crude; seven of them filled to capacity would equal the volume of oil estimated to have spilled from the Pegasus.

Mayflower has two gas stations. One is an Exxon. The other is a Valero, a company the Times recently reported is proposing to build its own crude oil pipeline across the state of Arkansas.

Disasters like the Pegasus rupture "mask a bigger issue of having a petroleum-dependent economy," said Matt Moran, a professor of biology at Hendrix College who has closely followed the Mayflower spill. "It's not that oil is an absolute necessity, but we've tied ourselves to it with the system we have in place. We are sort of at the moment stuck. It would take decades to wean ourselves off."

The biggest remaining question about the Pegasus is whether Exxon will attempt to restart the line. Thus far, it's only requested to restart a portion of the line in Texas, according to the federal regulator responsible for pipelines. Damon Hill, spokesperson for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), said the agency is reviewing the request. The company is taking an unusually long time to restart the remainder of the line, considering that every day the Pegasus is shuttered amounts to an estimated $450,000 in lost revenue, based on regulator records of shipping rates. That works out to as much as $160 million over the course of the past year. After a much larger spill of diluted bitumen from a ruptured Michigan pipe in 2010, its operator, Enbridge Inc., petitioned PHMSA to restart the line just two weeks later. (PHMSA gave its permission in another six weeks.) The delay could indicate that Exxon's post-spill inspections are finding serious problems along the length of the Pegasus, or it may be that the company is simply being cautious. Another spill on a reopened Pegasus line might cause regulators to shut it down permanently and jeopardize other pipeline projects.

Stryk, the Exxon spokesperson, offered this explanation: "We recognize this process is not as expedient as some would like but EMPCo [Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co.] believed it was prudent to take the additional time to better understand the root cause of the failure before submitting the work plan.  In the meantime, the Pegasus Pipeline remains shut down, and it will only be restarted when we are convinced it is safe to do so."

Before Exxon can restart the Pegasus, it must submit a work plan to PHMSA that explains how any lingering problems with the pipe will be addressed. It's asked for and received multiple extensions on its deadline for submitting the plan. The company's new deadline is April 7, but PHMSA said that Exxon could request additional extensions indefinitely. PHMSA has also announced that it will fine Exxon $2.66 million for pipeline safety violations that may have contributed to the Mayflower spill. True to form, the company is disputing the fine and has requested an administrative hearing, scheduled for June 11.

It's unclear what the future holds for the Northwoods subdivision. Landscaping and construction crews are busy sprucing up the long row of empty houses on Starlite, and the property management company hired by Exxon will soon open a model home to encourage sales. Four of the original 22 evacuated homes are still occupied. Two have accepted Exxon's settlement for potential loss of property value and are staying put for the time being. Michelle Ward and one other are still holding out. There has been one purchase of a Northwoods home other than the 25 bought by Exxon, though it's not on the street where the spill happened.

Bobby Hunter, the new owner, said that he bought the home for $158,000. He's not too concerned about the property value falling, or any lingering health worries. Hunter and his wife were eager to move back from Arkadelphia to Mayflower, which is where he's originally from. "We just fell in love with the house," he said, smiling.

Two streets away, Ward is not so sanguine. She remembers her block as it was before. "Our neighborhood used to be so vibrant, with children out playing nonstop," she said. She's angry about the disregard she feels Exxon has shown toward her situation after so many reassurances at first that everything would be taken care of. About a month ago, she received a letter in the mail letting her know that a pipeline was buried in the easement out back.

It's a routine notice, she's aware, but there's an undeniable symbolism to it that galls her — a form letter, written to a woman whose life for the past year has been upended by the Pegasus, blithely informing her of the pipeline's existence.

"I know, we get them every year," said Ward. "Something telling you about the pipeline — it tells you to call before you dig and has the number to the ExxonMobil pipeline company. Well this year, it was like a packet, addressed to 'The Homeowner.' You. Jerks. Like, of all the crap you've caused in our life on this one street, you couldn't just put our freakin' names? You own the whole damn street anyway! But it's the fact that they don't even know us, they don't even know our names. ... We're just something to clean up."

This story is part of a joint investigative project by Arkansas Times and InsideClimate News. Funding for the project comes from people like you who donated to an ioby.org crowdfunding campaign that raised nearly $27,000 and from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Maybe it's because his parents were sharecroppers. That he grew up Tyronza, one of 12 children. That he was one of the first in his family to go to college. That he knows what it was like to be different from the mainstream student at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, what it's like to be a minority on staff.

Dr. Billy Ray Thomas, neonatologist at UAMS and head of its Center for Diversity Affairs, knows that while access to medical care is increasing, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, and that Arkansas hopes to improve the quality of health care with its medical home initiative, there are other reasons that stand in the way of a healthy populace. Half of his job (the other half in the neonatal intensive care unit) is figuring out how to serve the demographic of the population "moving into the insured realm" whose fears of being discriminated against, or lack of familiarity with the system, mean that accessibility doesn't translate to actual care. And how can UAMS attract more to the profession of medicine who understand these fears, people who can communicate with minority populations — African American, Hispanic, gay, transgender, the disabled, people of minority faiths like Muslims, etc. — and can make them comfortable and open about their medical concerns.

UAMS open its Office of Minority Affairs in the 1970s, when the focus for equality was on race. Now, as the Center for Diversity Affairs, the office is concerned with all "marginalized populations," Thomas said. "At the heart of what we do is try to find, recruit and retain disadvantaged and minority students. ... Not just because we need to be diverse. The value is a diverse health care workforce does a better job of taking care of a diverse population."

In the 2013-14 class at UAMS, only 4.7 percent of students were African American, a percentage that has actually decreased in the past five years. The numbers of Hispanic or Latino students has ranged between 1.3 and 3 percent since the 2008-09 school year.

Training faculty and doctors in what Thomas calls cultural competency "is one of the hardest things of any institution," Thomas said. "There are institutions with bits and pieces of programs, and we have an early beginning of a program." Where do you start? With faculty? Students? Cultural competence can't be taught in a lecture hall, the doctor said; "it has to be experiential. ... I think what we're facing here is people don't have a real sense of the health disparities that exist."

For the LGBT population, that includes more depression, suicidal thoughts, drinking, smoking and drug abuse. It means reluctance to visit a doctor or share intimate information. As attendees heard at a conference on caring for LGBT patients at UAMS in January, the LGBT population has a higher risk of homelessness, especially among young transgender females. Lesbians have higher rates of obesity and breast cancer and a lower use of preventative health services. Gay and lesbian children are more likely to have been bullied or the victim of violence. Older transgender patients may suffer ill effects from using hormones long term. There is the issue of HIV/AIDs and stigmatization.

One of the Center for Diversity Affairs' top programs now is its summer mentored research programs. "I think that has made the biggest difference in us being able to attract and retain [minority medical] students," Thomas said. The Center also has science programs that target K-12 students.

"I do think we're making some headway; things will blossom in the next three to five years if we can get past [UAMS budget difficulties]."

Thomas' clinical focus targets another subpopulation: premature and sick full-term babies. During a visit to the neonatal intensive care unit at the UAMS Medical Center, Becky Sartini, head of the NICU, handed Thomas a tiny, beautiful baby born six weeks premature. As Thomas cradled the infant, Sartini made gentle fun of him. He can put a breathing tube in with no problem, she tells a reporter, but he looks a little tentative holding that tiny baby.

One of the reasons Thomas, who did his post-grad fellowship at Case Western Reserve, likes his job, he said, is the people in the nursery, "like-minded" people who care for their delicate charges and who, like him, want to get babies past the acute crisis and give them a chance at "another 80 years."

When Thomas, 61, was doing his fellowship, babies under 700 to 750 grams (about a pound and a half) did not survive, he said. Viability is now at 500 grams (a little over a pound). That's possible thanks to early and good prenatal care for the mother that makes the womb a healthy place for the at-risk fetus, as well as new meds that make up for the lack of secretions in little lungs that keep them from working properly.

Babies born prematurely have a high risk of neurological and developmental problems. Babies born at only 25 weeks gestation can develop normally, "but numbers are low," because of the likelihood of brain bleeds, risk of infection and oxygen deprivation.

Given that, how early is too early to save a baby? "I don't think we're close to answering that question," Thomas said. "I think it's a good thing that we save their lives. We know a large number will have productive, quality lives." The most important thing for a baby's development, he said, is getting a team in place — doctors, the family and social workers — to make a plan.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Dr. David Rutlen, 67, has been a cardiovascular researcher at Yale University, chief of cardiology at the Medical College of Georgia, and director of cardiovascular medicine at Froedtert and The Medical College of Wisconsin Cardiovascular Center in Milwaukee.

The director of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences for the past eight years and a clinician, Rutlen and "a cast of thousands" (as he likes to say) took on another challenge in 2012: revamping the way UAMS originates care for congestive heart failure patients as part of the state's Payment Improvement Initiative to control Medicaid spending.

For six months, attending physicians, fellows, residents, nursing students, pharmacists — the number was actually 40 — met to examine what UAMS was doing to treat its patients with chronic heart disease who come to UAMS for acute care. It looked at the heart failure order sheet of various procedures and asked, what should be here and what need not be here?

Who among us has not had a doctor ask us to get a test another doctor performed in recent months? Shouldn't that be determined before one is ordered? The medical center's order sheet — which drives doctors' decisions in testing — included cardiac ultrasounds, chest X-rays, full blood work. And Rutlen said the team said, "Let's just rethink this." What if the patient had had an ultrasound recently? Was the chest X-ray really needed? Why order full bloodwork when what you want to know is whether the patient's kidneys are functioning the way they ought or has their poor heart function loaded their lungs or legs with fluid? Isn't it critical to get a pharmacist and the nursing staff involved to see what medicines the patient has been taking (heart patients are sometimes on as many as 30 meds, Rutlen said)? Are we providing the best care? What if the patient was put on an intravenous diuretic instead of a bolus, and what if the patient was to be seen a week after his hospital visit to make any needed adjustments in medications? Should that be included in UAMS'protocol?

The approach was to see "what exactly do we need to know to take care of the patient?" Rutlen said. The result was a "sea change," impacting not just its Medicaid patients but all heart patients seen at the medical center.

UAMS expected that its average charge for 30-day episodes of congestive heart failure would be in the $4,700 to $6,500 range, Rutlen said. But the data came back better: UAMS' average charges to Medicaid for 20 episodes of congestive heart failure were $3,500. That's in the "commendable" range established by initiative, which means UAMS will get money back from the state Medicaid system.

Will the Payment Improvement Initiative make a real difference in containing Medicaid costs? Rutlen believes it will.

The Payment Improvement Initiative is only tangentially related to the Affordable Care Act, which expanded Medicaid eligibility and thus access to health care for hundreds of thousands of Arkansans. But the PII's creation of the medical home — the coordinated care of patients by cooperating providers — could help with outreach to persons who didn't have insurance or who simply didn't feel comfortable going to the doctor. Rutlen's wondering about his patient with congenital heart failure whom he's never been able to convince to have the surgery he needs. Maybe he will now.

"It's exciting," Rutlen said. "Medicine is moving so quickly. ... With the Affordable Care Act, you can look at it as a burden or as an opportunity."

Rutlen added, "My personal perspective would be for universal health care, but only Obama's plan would have passed" Congress.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Here was a question a team of public and private insurers and health care specialists put to doctors who perform tonsillectomies:

After surgery, do you send the tonsils to pathology for a full stain and thin-slice workup? Or just for a gross inspection? Or do you simply pitch the tonsils in the nearest biohazard bin?

Here's the best answer for slowing medical costs while providing quality care, the goal of the Payment Improvement Initiative's public and private partners: Pitch them. In virtually every case, doctors suspect before they operate whether the tonsils they are removing are malignant and need to go to pathology; otherwise, the pathology study is deemed unnecessary. That means savings at no cost to a patient's health.

The initiative of the state Department of Human Service's Medicaid division and private insurers Blue Cross Blue Shield and QualChoice, launched in 2011, given a trial run in 2012 and now in place, is showing that when doctors know the full costs of treatment of, for example, hip and knee surgery, they may change their practice behavior, creating savings in total health care dollars spent.

It was at Gov. Mike Beebe's urging, said Dr. William Golden, medical director for Arkansas Medicaid, that Arkansas launched the PII, a unique retrospective payment system. "The governor said, 'Let's do this. ... Let's be ambitious,'" Golden said.

For a year and a half, DHS and Medicaid staff, the private insurers and consultants McKinsey and Co. held dozens of meetings with doctors and other health care professionals all over Arkansas to create a system tailored to Arkansas's specific health care landscape, a decentralized system in which people look to many independent providers rather than large, multispecialty organizations along the lines of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The PII collaborators rejected managed care — a "fee for service" system that puts doctors "in a corner" when it comes to how they care for their patients. It rejected "bundling," in which a single payer divvies up a set dollar amount for a particular course of treatment (or episode of care) to members of the medical team, a system that would not work in the landscape of fragmented care. (Former Medicaid director Gene Gessow had been a proponent of bundling; he resigned in October 2011.)

Instead, the team came up this idea: a retrospective reimbursement system based on comparison of what Arkansas providers charge for a particular "episode" of care — say the treatment of a common cold. Using that continuum of charges, the PII team determines what the acceptable range is and rewards providers whose charges fall in the "commendable" range — below the baseline — and penalizes those whose charges are above the baseline.

The curve is based not only on cost, but on quality-of-care indicators that have been factored in. Acceptable levels vary depending on whether Medicaid or private insurance is the payer, since Medicaid reimbursement is lower.

The PII team chose five "episodes" to measure initially: upper respiratory tract infections, knee and hip replacement, congestive heart failure, attention deficit disorder and perinatal care (or pregnancy), first doing three-month trial runs with providers to let them see how they fell along the continuum of charges, and then initiating year-long pay analyses to determine reimbursement. Since the initial five, 10 more episodes were chosen: colonoscopy, cholecystectomy (gall bladder removal), tonsillectomy, oppositional defiance disorder, coronary artery bypass grafting, percutaneous coronary intervention, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coupled ADHD/ODD diagnoses and some neonatal conditions.

The private insurers started with three episodes: knee and hip replacement, congestive heart failure, and perinatal care. Those particular episodes were chosen because of wide variation in charges and quality and high numbers of procedures, Steve Spaulding, senior vice president at Blue Cross in charge of payment reform, said. Its next episodes will be tonsillectomy, colonoscopy and gall bladder surgery.

The private insurance system differs from Medicaid's in that the target cost per episode was pre-established by historical data and charges are compared against that.

What the Payment Improvement Initiative has done for doctors, Spaulding said, is make transparent the costs of various providers their patients will encounter during the course of an episode, thanks to an electronic data system. For example, surgeons who before might have sent all their hip replacement patients to in-patient rehabilitation post-op can now compare their outcomes with others who used less expensive outpatient alternatives and see if it makes sense for their patients. The electronic records allow doctors to "drill down," Spaulding said, to examine the average amount spent for their episodes, get details on quality indicators for the episode, compare patients and, if they have questions, call the service line for help with the data.

"The intended result," Spaulding said, is not to cut back on the cost of health care but "to reduce the rate of increase."

Tennessee, Ohio and Delaware are looking at Arkansas's payment improvement plan as a model they could use, and Spauding and Golden both said they hope Medicare will incorporate some of the retrospective approach to create a standard to which to hold providers accountable.

About that common cold: Anyone who has kept up with medical news — not just doctors — knows that antibiotics don't treat cold viruses. It's also common knowledge by now that the overuse of antibiotics has made the drugs less effective against fighting bacteria, as the bugs have learned to adapt to their enemies and mutated into resistant strains. That has left us with a smaller arsenal in the fight against infection.

So why are doctors still prescribing antibiotics for the sniffles? "It's easier," Golden said: They don't have to spend time explaining why the antibiotic would only be useful to treat a secondary bacterial infection that develops as a result of the virus, thus shortening the visit.

But since the PII began to provide doctors with information on their peers' costs and outcomes in the treatment of upper respiratory infection, the prescribing of antibiotics to treat a common cold has fallen more than 10 percent. The number of doctors that prescribed two courses of antibiotics has fallen by 40 to 50 percent, Golden said. The use of strep tests to diagnose sore throats (pharyngitis) has risen more than 5 percent.

Medicaid's URI data, reported in February, was the first to come in since the PII was launched. Medicaid tracked 654 providers who treated patients for non-specific infections, sore throats and sinusitis from October 2012 to September 2013, and here's what it found:

More than 78 percent of the URI episodes were in acceptable or commendable ranges. More than 40 percent fell in the commendable range and will receive "gain-sharing" incentive payments ranging from less than a dollar to more than $3,000. Only 22 percent charged above the baseline; their "risk-sharing" (or penalty) ranged from less than a dollar to $7,200. The dollars doctors gained: $69,000. Dollars doctors will pay back to the state: $92,000.

Then there are the practices in the middle, the 38 percent of episodes in the acceptable range: They too represent savings, when they have changed the ways they do things to reach that acceptable level.

Given what doctors know about the common cold, why would a clinic make an appointment for someone complaining of a cold? That also is a question the Payment Improvement Initiative will address as part of its Medical Home initiative for primary care, a team-based approach in which doctors, nurses and other care providers coordinate all care provided to their patients, with the primary care provider accountable for all costs.

That would result in better care, Golden said, and reduce trips to the hospital. It would reduce unnecessary trips to the doctor; that caller with a common cold could be directed to an advanced practice nurse to assess whether a visit is necessary.

It would also allow clinics to do what managed care was expected to do so many years ago: prevent acute problems as well as complications, with outreach and more coordinated clinical care.

There are financial benefits for primary care providers — who Blue Cross' Spaulding said take in only 10 percent of the medical dollar but influence care for nearly 100 percent of patients — under the medical home model. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is making grants available to clinics to transfer to the medical home model, helping pay for infrastructure and outreach costs, and savings for reimbursements that fall in the commendable level are significant. Say the PCP is showing savings of $10 per member patient per year, a savings that puts them in the commendable category: Medicaid will reimburse them 50 percent of that $10. If the medical home has 1,000 members, that's $5,000.

It would also provide financial support to primary care physicians, also with incentives that include reimbursements for charges falling under the baseline.

Golden said Arkansas was "launching the most ambitious medical home" program in the nation. Doctors learning about the system were "at first like deer in the headlights," Golden said, but now 600 doctors in 110 practices seeing more than 250,000 patients are participating.

Golden isn't exaggerating the importance of the medical home. Just a few weeks ago, an MSNBC program on the Payment Improvement Initiative as a whole — one it called one of the nation's "most creative, ambitious efforts to transform health care" in the nation — focused on SAMA Health Care in El Dorado, one of the state's first medical homes. Doctors at SAMA got a CMS grant for $400,000 and raised another $100,000 to transform their practice and in nearly two years have produced outcome rankings far higher than the national average and prevented 880 emergency room visits, which would have cost Medicaid $2.6 million.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

"I'm no expert," Chris Isbell said as he handed me a glass of sake, the signature alcoholic beverage of Japan, made from water and fermented rice. "I don't know good sake from bad sake. I just grow rice."

This is a favorite line of Isbell's —"I just grow rice"— but it's a bit of an understatement. The 58-year-old Lonoke County farmer put Arkansas on the map in the Japanese culinary world 25 years ago when he began growing and selling Koshihikari, a renowned varietal of premium-quality rice that many once believed could only be grown in Japan. Now he's growing Yamada Nishiki, the most prized varietal of sake rice in the world and one that no one else — at least publicly — is growing on any marketable scale in the United States.

My own previous experience with sake is probably typical for Americans, if they've tried it at all: I've ordered sake at a Japanese restaurant. That leads to a "terrible first impression" of sake for new drinkers, said Big Orange bar manager Ben Bell, who trained in Tokyo in 2013 to be a certified advanced sake professional; he's one of around 100 foreigners in the world who've earned that dictinction in Japan. Typically, Bell said, you'll get served bad sake made from low-quality rice.

The sake I tried from Isbell was a sample that a Japanese sake company made from Yamada Nishiki rice that Isbell grew on his farm in Humnoke. Here was an entirely different drink: crisp, complex and refreshing, with a powerful floral aroma and vibrant taste of tropical fruit.

"I don't particularly like it," Isbell said. "But they say it's right."

The sake is not yet on the retail market, but is being tested in elite restaurants in major markets, with good results so far.

If high-quality Yamada Nishiki and other elite sake rice varietals start being grown in the United States (it would be prohibitively expensive for sake brewers to ship the rice from Japan), it would be a game-changer for sake production in this country, Bell said. "I almost can't overstate what a big deal that would be in the sake community."

For Bell, who hopes to one day open a sake brewery in Central Arkansas, it is particularly happy news that one of the nation's biggest developments in sake rice farming is happening just down the road. Bell first heard rumors about what Isbell was up to at a sake conference in New York. It might sound weird — sake in Arkansas! — but Bell wasn't entirely surprised.

"It's not an exaggeration to say that Arkansas has some of the best rice land in the world," he said. "We can just grow things that are difficult to grow in other places, and we also have very considerable rice farming skill. ... Good on Chris for taking on the challenge. Somebody's got to be the first to do it."

Chris Isbell's grandfather grew cotton in Lonoke County, as did his great-grandfather before that. His father, Leroy Isbell, originally wanted to be a veterinarian. Then World War II came along: Leroy joined the Navy, and after he got home, the GI bill offered him $90 a month to go to agricultural school. He went to class and used that $90 a month to finance and grow his first crop of rice. And that's what the Isbells have been doing ever since.

By 1949, Leroy Isbell bought what is now Isbell Farms. If you're heading up Highway 13 in Humnoke — population 284, a little hamlet of farmland due east of England — just before Rowes Chapel Baptist Church, you'll see a sign: "First State Bank salutes Leroy Isbell. Rice grown 54 consecutive years in this field."

"It's going to be 55 this year," Chris Isbell said. "We don't ever change the sign 'til we've planted."

Chris, 58, runs the family farm these days, with help from his son, son-in-law and a cousin. Leroy, 89, who just this year stopped working the fields, was inducted into the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame last month for his role in helping to pioneer an innovative irrigation technique that has become common in rice fields throughout the world.

So a knack for rice is in the family, but when I asked Chris Isbell whether he always knew he wanted to be a rice farmer, he smiled and shook his head.

"No, I don't know," he said. "I suppose everybody's like this. I still don't know what I want to do."

He loves growing rice, he said, but he always has a hankering for something new. One of his favorite television shows is "Gold Rush," a reality program about men who go off to Alaska to mine for gold. Isbell watches on Friday nights and thinks, I could do that.

"I'm always trying to find something nobody else finds," Isbell said. "I like to have at least three things going at the same time. If it drops below that I'm kind of uncomfortable. Gotta have a bunch of things I'm playing with. Switching back and forth, working on some experiment."

This is the thing about Isbell: Though he has lived on the same farm his entire life, make no mistake, he is a seeker. He always has that itch, to tinker and learn and discover. Maybe he got it from his father, who back in the '70s looked at the inefficient irrigation system Arkansas rice farmers were using at the time and decided there had to be a better way. ("Just because your daddy did something a certain way, doesn't mean it's right!" Leroy told "Rice Farming" when the Isbells were named Farmers of the Year by the magazine in 1996. "Maybe you can do better.")

"I'm adventurous, I guess," Chris Isbell said. "You can tell me, this is the way something works. And I want to know why. Always been that way. I like looking just a little deeper into everything, for some reason."

So if Isbell was going to be a rice grower, he was going all in. He was going to experiment.

That meant hunting for more information at conferences across the country.

"Back then, nobody really went to these," Isbell said. "It was just the researchers and the Ph.D.'s, presenting their papers and talking about what was new in rice. I wanted to be there and find out what was going on and if there was something I could pick up. They'd give me a name tag that said, 'grower.' And I was the most popular person there. It was like these researchers had never seen a grower before."

In 1988, Isbell went to the Rice Technical Working Group conference at the University of California, Davis, and saw a Japanese man standing in the corner by himself. "I felt bad for him standing all alone, so I went over to give him a little Southern hospitality," Isbell said. "We got to talking about rice."

The man turned out to be Shoichi Ito, a rice economist from Japan. Ito started telling Isbell about the differences between rice grown in Japan and rice grown in the United States. The Japanese prefer short-grain rice, Ito explained, which has a different look, taste and feel than the Arkansas long-grain Isbell was used to. Isbell was particularly interested to hear about prized varietals in Japan, varietals that the Japanese took as seriously as French wine enthusiasts take grapes. As with wine, Ito told him, different regions in Japan produced different results, with varieties in texture and flavor.

The most famous rice in Japanese cuisine is Koshihikari (often called Koshi rice), the high-end choice for sushi, which some consider the best rice in the world. (As one food blogger has written, "Koshi rice is to sushi rice as single malt scotch is to the scotch world.")

The thing is, Ito said, Koshihikari could only be grown in Japan. As far as anyone knew, it couldn't be grown in the United States.

Telling Chris Isbell that something can't be done is a surefire way to get him to start experimenting.

"We grow so much rice here, I figured we'd try growing [Koshi]," Isbell said. "Even if it never made a dollar, I was going to try it, just to see if it was possible or not. That's what we did, just kind of eased into it. And it grew."

Not that it was easy. "It's wonderful to eat and not so fun to grow," Isbell said. "It's hard to harvest and it's hard to thresh. ... But it's a beautiful, beautiful grain once you get it milled."

Raised on Arkansas long-grain, the Isbells themselves became converts to Koshi. "That's all we eat when we have it," Isbell said. "We eat it with gravy. We'll eat it for breakfast with sugar and butter. Once you have it, it's the best." (Well, except for Leroy Isbell —"My dad is kind a of straight down-the-road guy," Chris said. "He's a long-grain rice guy. However many bushels you can make and sell it for the best price.")

Koshi rice is richly aromatic and has a natural sweetness. Like other Japanese short-grain varietals, it is very low in amylose, which makes it stickier, softer and chewier. Koshi is known for "fluffiness": it holds together well for sushi or chopsticks, but each individual grain is intended to be smooth to the tongue. The closest analogy is probably California medium-grain rice — in particular, the varietal Calrose — which is what American restaurants had been relying on for sushi. But for connoisseurs of Japanese cuisine, Koshi is the premium stuff. Twenty-five years ago, that was an untapped market in the United States.

What began as a fun little project for Isbell turned into a business plan, as Isbell Farms connected with Nishimoto, a California-based trading company specializing in Asian food products. The rice hit the market in 1992, marking the first time domestically grown Koshihikari was sold in the United States. Arkansas-grown Koshi rice became a big hit in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago and other major Japanese population centers.

Word spread to Japan that Koshi rice was being grown in Arkansas. Since legend had it that the famous varietal could only be grown in Japan, this was big news. Isbell did more than 50 interviews with Japanese television, newspapers and magazines.

"For a while, I was getting calls about every day," Isbell said. "They were just flabbergasted that it could be grown here."

The Japanese public television station NHK produced a 90-minute documentary about Isbell Farms. Buses full of Japanese tourists started showing up every month or two to get a peek at the farm (the Isbells would invite them in to their house and Chris's wife, Judy, would make rice for everybody). One Japanese television station arranged to bring some of Isbell's rice to one of the premier rice farmers in Japan and some of that farmer's rice to Isbell in Arkansas — the Isbells liked the Japanese farmer's rice better, but the Japanese farmer's daughter chose Isbell's in a blind taste test.

Isbell traveled to Japan for the first time in 1993 to see how his rice measured up (he eventually went back half a dozen times). The elaborate taste tests included a machine designed to analyze the gasses released from the cooked rice. The human testers, meanwhile, would first smell the rice, then scoop some rice into their mouths and roll the grains over the tongue to feel for a smooth pearl-like quality of each grain, then chew. They would bite a single grain of rice in half to see if it properly sprung apart.

"They were down that far into the details, I guarantee you, and even further," Isbell said. He took notes on what they were looking for to help him improve his Koshi in future years, but the news from that first trip was good: The Arkansas Koshi didn't take first place, but it held its own. "They were amazed," Isbell said.

In 1994, Japan began allowing rice to be imported in to the country for the first time. A Japanese trading company brokered a deal to sell Isbell's Koshi rice in FamilyMart, a Japanese chain with more than 3,000 convenience stores across the country.

Unlike other American-grown rice coming in at the time, which was comingled with Japanese rice and sold like that, the Isbell Koshi was specifically marketed as 100 percent from Arkansas, taking advantage of the publicity around Isbell Farms. Sold as "Chris's Rice" or "Rice Ambassador," the front of the bag featured a cartoon of the Isbell family, with a photograph of the Isbells on their farm on the back. A label said: "The State of Arkansas is located in southern America extending to the west of the Mississippi River. The family of Chris Isbell lives in this typical American rice granary where golden ears of rice stretch to the horizon." The first run sold out in two weeks. FamilyMart later sponsored a sweepstakes, with 25 Japanese customers winning a trip to visit Isbell Farms.

Meanwhile, once it became clear that Koshi could be grown outside of Japan and there was a market for it here in the U.S., others followed suit. Growers in California had better access to the smaller specialty mills needed for the Koshi rice, not to mention closer proximity both to Asia and to the big Asian communities on the west coast. Isbell's rice sold well for three years in Japan, but eventually the California growers came to dominate the market for American-grown Koshi, both in Japan and domestically.

By 2009, Isbell had stopped selling Koshi altogether (Isbell Farms has continued to sell Arkansas long-grain throughout these adventures). His experiments with Japanese rice had brought the Isbells around the world, exposed their kids to people and cultures that might as well have been a million miles from Lonoke County, and for a while it had turned a profit. But now, though they still had seed ready to plant if it became profitable again, it seemed like the Japanese varietals would be relegated to hobby status at Isbell Farms.

That's around when Isbell got a call from a Japanese sake company out of the blue, asking him about a rumor that Isbell had grown a rice varietal famous for its use in making top-shelf sake.

"The guy speaks English, but not very good," Isbell said. "He asks me if I have Yamada Nishiki. And I said I do. He asked me again, and I said I do. He said, you do?"

He did. The whole time that Isbell was growing Koshi, he kept experimenting.

"Once we started with Koshi, it was just natural to try something else," Isbell said. "So we tried a bunch of something elses."

Isbell has a five-acre plot of land devoted to his experiments. "We grow a little bit of this, a little bit of that, just to look at it," he said. He's grown multiple other Asian varietals, Italian Arborio, and has created more crossbreeds than you can count. Back when Isbell first heard about Koshi, he asked if that was the most expensive, most exalted rice out there. Nope, he was told. Koshi might be the Cadillac of table rice, but the real deal was rice for sake. So Isbell grew sake rice varietals, too. Dozens of bags, each full of a different rice varietal, are stacked up in his barn. Dozens more are crammed into freezers.

One of those bags, which had been sitting in the freezer for years, had around 30 pounds of Yamada Nishiki.

A representative from the company showed up two weeks after the phone call. They wanted to brew high-quality sake using Yamada Nishiki here in the U.S., but the rice wasn't available unless they shipped it from Japan (because the company is still testing the sake they're making with Isbell's rice and not yet selling it retail, they asked not to be named in this story). Now it turned out that it was available — in Humnoke, Arkansas. (Isbell doesn't know whether it can be grown in California, but it stands to reason that folks have tried.) Isbell offered to grow and sell the rice for half of the market price in Japan. They had a deal.

Isbell has been growing Yamada Nishiki for the past several years and shipping it to the sake company, which has been experimenting with different yeasts and enzymes and giving Isbell feedback on how to get the rice just so.

In the brewing process, before the sake rice is fermented and eventually made into alcohol, the rice is milled (or "polished") down to the pure starch at the core of each grain. Higher-quality sake demands the laborious process of polishing away 40 or even 50 percent of the outer layer, getting rid of the fats, proteins and amino acids, so that only pure starch remains (in Japan, small craft breweries sell the milled leftovers to bigger sake breweries to mass produce cheaper sake). Elite sake brewers hope to work with a small white ball of that pure starch known as shinpaku ("white heart"), visible in high-quality rice. Part of what makes Yamada Nishiki so famous is that it consistently produces a strong shinpaku, located in the center of the grain, where it won't get lost in the milling process. That little ball of starch produces powerful flavors.

"Right now, Yamada Nishiki is the king of sake rice," said Big Orange's Bell. "It's the Cabernet Sauvignon, but even more dominant than that. There's a national tasting competition every year in Japan and Yamada Nishiki has its own category just to give the other varietals of rice a chance. It can create a really big, fruitful, almost monster of a sake. There's big aromatics, big florals, big flavors."

Like wine, sake can be produced in a huge array of styles. Yamada Nishiki is at one end of the spectrum, but other rice varietals produce savory or herbal flavors. "You might go to a restaurant [in the U.S.] and see a list and it just says sake, hot or cold," Bell said. "There are more than 1,000 sake breweries in Japan, which is more than the number of wineries in California."

Bell hopes that one day Arkansas will become known for its own style (in addition to locally grown rice, he noted that Arkansas has large patches of "soft" water, which produces a particular style of sake). His dream, he said, would be to use a high-quality sake rice varietal grown by Isbell here in Arkansas "and make some beautiful sake from it, something we can be really proud of. I would love to make something that people would taste and say, 'Wow, I never would have expected this to come from anywhere outside of Japan, much less Arkansas.' My long-term goal is for Arkansas to be known for making quality sake and for growing quality rice, so no one would be any more surprised that Arkansas makes great sake than that Napa Valley makes great wine."

Bell is going to Japan this summer to work on his Japanese and hopes to do a second stint as an intern at a sake brewery. He is aiming to open his own brewery a few years from now, perhaps in Hot Springs, which happens to be the sister city of Hanamaki, home of the most famous sake brewing guild in Japan.

It might be a little hard to imagine a market for sake here in Arkansas, but of course that's what people once said about sushi. (In part due to Bell's influence, quality Japanese sake is now more widely available in Central Arkansas, including at Big Orange and Colonial Wines and Spirits; Sushi Cafe also has a strong selection.)

For now, Isbell is growing Yamada Nishiki exclusively for the Japanese sake company. After several years of work, they believe they've arrived at the quality they're looking for. If it keeps testing well, the company may bring it to market soon. Isbell hopes to eventually ship some of his sake rice to Japan to "see how it fares against the real McCoys."

Isbell and Bell have met at his farm, and are beginning to brainstorm about the future. Isbell is growing two other high-end sake varietals in small batches, in case the market is there. It could be that very soon the best sake made in the United States will be reliant on rice grown in Arkansas.

"I grew up Baptist, so it's a little outside of my comfort zone," Isbell said. "You know, my grandma wouldn't be too proud of me. But I'm just growing rice!"

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

As much as it might feel that we're drifting further and further apart these days, the truth is that we are all still tied to each other. You know people. You are related to them, or work with them, or go to school with them. Those connections lead to other connections, and thus we wind up all connected, whether we know it or not.

That said, for whatever reason, whether by design or accident, there are really two Little Rocks, and there have been for a while now. There is the city of people going about their business, fleeing to the suburbs or into alarm-protected houses after quitting time. And then there is another city, a place of hope shot through with despair, where a person can get killed over a cross word, a bag of weed, a prank gone wrong or a stolen CD player.

There have been 12 homicides in Little Rock so far this year. All but three of the victims were black men. According to the latest FBI Uniform Crime Report, Greater Little Rock has a higher per-capita murder rate than most other cities in America, including New York, St. Louis, Atlanta, Miami, Los Angeles or Chicago, and it's been that way for years. For most of the victims of homicide in Central Arkansas — many of them killed by handguns in the neighborhoods south of I-630 in Little Rock — the only time their names will ever appear in a newspaper will be the morning after their deaths, as cases wind their way through the courts, and in below-the-fold stories that appear the day after a perpetrator is sent to prison for the rest of his natural life.

This week and again in the future, Arkansas Times will publish The Homicide Diary, a series of stories in print and at our website, arktimes.com, featuring the voices of those affected by homicide in Central Arkansas — those who have lost someone to violence, those who deal with the aftermath, and those who try to keep young people alive by convincing them to talk it out or find another way. Every homicide — no matter who the person was, what he was doing when he was killed, or what he'd done before — is a stone dropped into still water. The ripples touch us all, whether we know it or not. It matters, and we should all care.

Lyndsei Forbes
Girlfriend of Shoncoven Smith, murdered Jan. 25 near 33rd and Elam streets

Lyndsei Forbes and Shoncoven Smith have a daughter together. The girl will be 2 years old on May 5, and will probably grow up with no memory of her father, even though she still points him out in photographs and says "Daddy." As Forbes watched from the porch of her mother's bungalow on Elam Street on Jan. 25, Smith, 22, and a 16-year-old boy were both shot multiple times by a man police say was Steven Roshawn Hayes, a friend of Smith's. Forbes said she heard the shooting was over a car CD player. The 16-year-old, shot seven times, survived. Smith, shot in the arm, chest and head, later died at Baptist Health Medical Center. Hayes turned himself in Jan. 30. He has denied involvement, and has since been charged with first-degree murder, among other charges. It was raining the day Lyndsei Forbes spoke to Arkansas Times. As she recounted the details of Smith's life and death, and considered the prospect of her daughter's life without him, she looked through the rain to the place he fell and ceaselessly slid her palms over one another, as if trying to worry the wrinkles out of a piece of paper only she could see.

We actually started talking when I was about 17. I wouldn't say we were in a relationship, but he was a best friend to me. I could talk to him about anything. He had my back no matter what. We had a little chemistry, and before you know it, we had a child together. He was 21, and I had just turned 19. 

He was a cool person. He was a person who people would come and talk to like a brother, like a father. He was somebody you could talk to about your problems. He took people in. He tried to show you the world. He was kind of crazy, but he always tried to put people on the right path. All of us got a little crazy, but shoot, he was crazy! It was a good crazy. Everybody has got their own type of crazy, and he had his. He wasn't the fighting type. He was just a loving person. He was a big ol' kid! He loved video games. I always told him, "You're too old to be doing that." But he was like, "Whatever."

I heard it was over an in-dash CD player. I don't think it was over an in-dash. I think there has to be more to it. I mean, why would you kill a person over a CD player when you can go get another one? That's just common sense. Somebody stole something? I'm not going to take nobody's life for it. This man had kids. He'll not get the chance to do nothing with them — birthdays, his little girl's first date, prom.

I have to take it day by day. I know I do. It's harder on me than it could be somebody else. When you see somebody get shot, you'll always see that image. That flashback. It was devastating. A part of me just left. Just vanished. Now that he's gone, me and all the rest of his baby mommas, we have a bond together. It took a tragedy to have that for us, for us to come together. It shouldn't have to happen like that, but it did. We have a bond like no other. I can call any of them, or they can call me. We're just a phone call away. We came together, and our kids are going to grow up and know each other. We're gonna make sure they remember their daddy. They'll never get the chance to see him, so we've got to keep telling them, "Your daddy was a good person. His life got taken, but we still have y'all. In y'all, he'll live on." 

I haven't been thinking about what I'll tell my daughter about her daddy, because it's kind of hurtful. Every time I see my child, I see him. My daughter is the split image of him. But when the time is right, I'll be able to tell her, "You know, you didn't get the chance to bond with your dad like you should, but he loved you. He played with you every day, and he loved you." She didn't get the chance to know him. But I can tell her. The good things. The things he would have done. That's all I can do. 

No little girl wants to grow up without her father. Every girl wants to have their father. Like me, for example. My dad, he got killed when I was young. I grew up without a dad and now my little girl is going to grow up without her father. I was real little when my father was killed. You always want to have that one little talk like, "Hey Dad, I've got a boyfriend!" But you can't do it if he's not there.

It's still hard. I picture it. I'm at peace with his death now, but if I look at pictures or my child, it's hard. Sometimes she'll see a picture of him and she'll say, "Daddy! Daddy!" That makes me want to break down, but I know I have to be strong for her. She'll feel what I feel. If she sees me cry, she'll think, "Well, Momma's crying, I need to cry too." So I have to be strong. Sometimes it gets hard, but I just keep going. I ask God to help me. Today is one of them days I feel like breaking down. But I have to be strong. 

Lot of folks want to ask why? But you'll never get an answer. I want to ask the person that killed him, "Why? Just, why? What was going through your mind? Why? Why? Why shoot? You could have been a grown person and just talked it out. You could have come to a conclusion." But to take somebody's life? He's got kids. He's got family out here that love him. Now he's gone, and it just seems like a dream that I can't wake up from.

Maida Harris
Grandmother of Jonathan Talley, killed on Feb. 10

Jonathan Talley, 21, was killed at the Quarter Note Club at 4726 Asher Ave. on Feb. 10. Police say that an argument inside the club escalated into gunfire, with four men, all in their 20s, shot. Talley, shot seven times, was transported to Arkansas Children's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Little Rock Police Department hasn't made any arrests in the homicide. Maida Harris had a picture of her grandson on her cell phone once, but soon after his death, she sent the phone through the washing machine. She got another phone and put a picture of him on it, and dropped that phone in a cup of coffee the same day. After that, she figured she wasn't meant to have a picture of him on her phone. She makes do with a laminated snapshot of her grandson that she wears on a lanyard around her neck. It's a VIP pass from a nightclub party held in Talley's honor that drew several hundred people the month after he died. In the plastic, with the pass, there's also a rumpled dollar bill. She found it in her backyard a few weeks after he died. "I said, 'Jonathan must have left this for me!'" Harris said. "If he'd catch me with my car window down just a little bit, John would always stick a $20 bill through the crack. He knew MeMe always had a hard time."

Jonathan was a wonderful person. He would help anybody and everybody that he could. He didn't have a person in the world that I could say he pushed away. He had friends of all genders — girls, guys, gay, girls that were gay, guys that were gay. It didn't matter. It didn't matter what you had to say about them. If they were John's friends, he would hug them in front of anybody. It didn't matter what your race was, if you knew Jonathan, you liked Jonathan. Everybody showed up for his funeral: black, white, Mexican. People loved him. There was over a thousand people that showed up at every event we gave for Jonathan, his funeral included.

Jonathan was a smart student, and he made good grades in school. He's been working ever since he was 5 years old. He would cut yards, he would rake yards. He worked at McDonald's. He worked at Family Dollar. He would help you. I'd be raking the yard, and John would come over to the house and he'd just grab a rake. He wouldn't say nothing. He'd just take my rake or he'd go in the garage and get another one. "Lemme have that," he'd say.

I told John before this happened: Stay prayed up. It was Jonathan who brought me back to God. I was raised in the church as a little girl, but after becoming an adult and not going near a church for several years, Jonathan was the one who introduced me to a show that comes on called Shepherd's Chapel that teaches the Bible. John told me, "MeMe, you can learn anything on this show."

I was asleep when we got the call. I heard my son's voice. He was saying, "Somebody just called me and said John had been shot." I had a full knee replacement in January, but when they said that, I climbed out of the bed and got ready to go, because I knew we were going to have to find Jonathan. When they said Jonathan was dead ... I didn't know what to do. I was devastated. I just wanted to put my arms around him.

I've never seen so many young men — grown men — cry as I did at his funeral. His big brother had went to jail right before John was killed, so he had to come from jail to John's funeral. When they had the service, he got up and he said, "I don't like to see all y'all crying, so I'll tell you what John would have said, he would have said, 'Turn it up.'" There was not a lot of music going on, so I guess he meant, "Turn up your spirit." People were standing all around the walls and everything. They started smiling and got happy, and then they opened that casket. And once they opened the casket, things changed all over again. People started dropping and everything.

We had an event for John at La Changes nightclub, and they were full to capacity. The owner of the club said that his club had never been that full. And there was no violence! No shouting! There was no arguing. Everybody got along. I stayed there until the lights came on. It was so much fun, and I haven't been in a nightclub in a lot of years. I said, "It's stupid love up in here!" That's the way the young people say it. We can't get people to quit coming to our house. They still come in with their arms stretched out, hugging us. They come in with plates of food, saying they come from their moms.

I don't know if I can forgive the people who killed him. I don't know. I think what's going on is I'm just stuck right now. I'm stuck and wondering. How could they want to hurt him? I don't know. All I know is that Jonathan was loved.

Jolaunte Hargro
Mother of Adrian Broadway, killed Feb. 15 in Southwest Little Rock

Of all the homicides so far this year, the most confounding — the most senseless and heartbreaking — has to be that of Adrian Broadway. Around midnight on Feb. 15, Broadway, 15, and several friends had scattered handfuls of leaves on a car sitting in the driveway of a house at 7211 Skylark Drive near Baseline Road, the home of a school friend who they had reportedly engaged in a back-and-forth series of pranks. Broadway and six other friends in a Hyundai Sonata came back to the house around 45 minutes later and threw eggs, mayonnaise and toilet paper on the car. As they went back to the Hyundai, police say, a man named Willie Noble allegedly emerged from the house and fired multiple rounds at the car with a handgun, riddling the driver's side of the Sonata with bullet holes. Adrian Broadway, who was sitting in the front passenger's seat, was shot in the head. She died at Arkansas Children's Hospital around two and a half hours later.

She walked at nine months. She talked at nine months. She was always a great character. She made you laugh. They used to put on little shows where they'd dress up in my dresses and my mom's wigs. When she was a baby, she used to pull up to a chair and climb out of her walker. We'd put her back in and she'd climb right back out. After that, she just decided she wanted to walk.

When she got older, it was cheerleading. In elementary school, she was a cheerleader for Booker T. Washington, the Wildcats. She did cheerleading and drill team in junior high. At Dunbar, she was co-captain of the drill team. In high school she was a cheerleader. She was a Praise Dancer at church. They dance to gospel music, and they do the words to the song. Always a straight-A student, an avid student. She was visiting colleges, but she wanted to go to Duke. She was going to be a surgeon. She just wanted to help people. She had big plans.

She was going to be on the Homecoming Court. We had already bought her dresses and everything. She had a long, red dress, and then she had a black almost like a tutu type dress. They were both pretty. She passed the week before Homecoming, but at McClellan High School, they put a seat there in memory of her with flowers.

It was a normal night. I had seen her earlier that evening. She was at a friend's house, and I'd called her. She said they were having a girls' night. They were going to go to the movies and out to eat. I gave her some money. She was walking away from the car, and she turned back and looked at me and smiled, and she told me she loved me. That was the last conversation we had. She told me she loved me.

It's a comfort to me, to know she was happy. When it happened, I believe she had no idea. She was having fun at the time, and that keeps me going.

A lady called me from Adrian's friend's phone and told me. It was after midnight when I got the call. I thought it was a joke. I didn't take it seriously at first, but she assured me that she was not joking, so I got up and made it to her. She was already on her way to Children's Hospital by then. But I was there when she took her last breath and had her last heartbeat.

I still can't believe it. I'm still in awe about it. I know she's gone, but I still can't believe it. She had so much going for her. It's all senseless. The guy's son had did their friend's house, and out of fun they did his car. Now this. When his son did their friend's house, they cleaned it up. They didn't go to his parents or complain. They cleaned it up themselves. That's common sense.

We see counseling. The Centers for Healing Hearts has helped us out a lot. God knows best. I believe that. Everyone says to us, "God had better things for her." That helps. I'd still prefer for her to be here with us, but if it's for the greater good, you know?

I don't know why he didn't think. Just think. He was in no danger. So just think. To take a life, that's major. To take a life means you don't value life. He was a kid once. We all were kids. He's a grown man. Think about things.

A week or two before, I was talking about how our young kids are just dying. And then for that to turn around and happen to me? It's unreal. It's unreal. I'm looking at the news, and all these young people are dying for no reason. She was happy. Everybody loved her. She was loved. But she had to go. Senseless.

I'm really not sure what his side of the story is. What I've heard is, they were leaving, and you came out of your house shooting? You weren't up in the air. You weren't down at the ground. You weren't afraid. You pointed your gun to hit what you were shooting at. I don't get it. I don't even understand why we have to have a trial. I don't understand any of that. He said he did it, and he waited on them to come back. So why have a trial?

I don't hate anybody. But he deserves to pay for what he did, and he will pay for what he did. The law, God, he has to pay. He shouldn't be out with us. He killed somebody. He's sleeping good, eating good. He's with his family. He can see them every day. We're in pain. We can't see her. Hopefully the justice system will prevail, and we can go ahead and mend our lives. But there's a piece missing — a big chunk missing — that we'll never get back.

Funeral director Charles Hardy Sr.
Hardy Funeral Home

Funeral Director Charles Hardy Sr. has owned Hardy Funeral Home on Dr. Martin Luther King Drive since 2003. He started his career in 1982, and he's buried a lot of young black men. Some days, he goes to thrift stores and buys shined shoes in bulk, handing them out to the guys he talks to at the car wash or the corner store. A lot of those young men, he said, have never owned anything but sneakers. The product of a single-parent household, raised by his mother and grandparents, Hardy said he never spent a single night under the same roof as his father. If a lack of a father in the house leads to a bad end, he said, he should be in prison or dead. So far this year, Hardy Funeral Home has handled the arrangements for one homicide victim: Jonathan Talley, who was killed at the Quarter Note Club at 4726 Asher Ave. on Feb. 10, during a shooting that wounded three others. Charles Hardy has known Talley's family since he was young.

I've been in it a long time. I bury from a newborn baby to 100 years old. Black, white, Hispanic. We bury probably 10 to 15 homicides a year. That's a lot, and we're just one funeral home. It's been a really bad year this year. It reminds you of 1992.

I've seen a lot of young men lost to violence, especially in our black community. Families have to come in here and they're all tore up because of a senseless crime. Useless. Worthless. It didn't have to happen. I lost a cousin in 1999, murdered in North Little Rock over some stereo equipment. He and his friend were lured to a house, and they were robbed, beaten and shot in the back of the head, then they set the car on fire over in Protho Junction. So I've experienced when it hits home.

When you bury a young man, you feel like he didn't get a chance to enjoy the fruitfulness of his life. I'm 56 years old, and I feel like I'm just beginning to live, so it hurts. I buried a young man two months ago who was killed down on Asher. I knew his grandfather. I knew his mother and his grandmother. It just hurts that his life was cut so short so soon. I'm in the funeral home business, but trust me, I have children, and it hits home when we go back there and there's a young man lying dead on the table. We want it to stop. We're in the funeral home business, but we prefer to bury the natural deaths. That could have easily been one of our kids. So we feel that pain.

I'm a lecturer out on the street to young men. You can't be an influence from your office. I think that's what's happening. We sit up in the offices and try to touch these young men through the telephone. You've got to go out there. You'll never know how deep or cold the water is if you don't get in it. So I try to go out. At the car wash up here, they respect me, "Mr. Hardy, how you doing?" I have them wash my car and give them $10 or $15 just to put some money in their pockets. I've worked with this place out on 12th Street that helps guys who come out of prison. I've given them jobs and let them work around here — cut grass, wash cars — to give them a second chance and let them earn some money. The young men will call me and say, "Is there anything I can do?" I work with them. They have to be given a second chance. But the system is not designed for second chances. It's designed to bring you back.

You have to reach out. A role model is more than just buying some shoes that say "Michael Jordan." It has to be people who go and talk to these guys, and that's not happening. We have to go to them. The Bible says, "If you see your brother needing help, go to him." So we have to come out and go in the communities.

I'm going to die thinking there's hope. The key to stopping all this is that we have to show young people a different life. We have to show them that, first of all, we care about them. I just think that sometimes you have to let them see a different life. I go to Goodwill and The Compassion Center, and I buy shoes. I try to pass shoes out to young men. I say, "Don't wear tennis shoes every day. Don't go on a job interview looking any kind of way." I have a ministry at the church I'm working with now where I'm going to buy 10 suits. I want 10 young men to dress up. I'm going to show them how to tie a tie. I'm going to show them how to keep their shoes shined. When you do things like that, you're heading them toward the right path. You're showing them: You can be a businessman. You can own your own funeral home. You can own a carpentry business. There's more than crime. There's more than dope. There's more than that, but if they're not around people who are trying to be successful, that's all they know.

It's a war. Somebody has to be out on the battlefield, and I think in the black community, you don't have many soldiers. We have commanders-in-chief who sit in their offices at these programs that are trying to help. But they don't go out there and see firsthand what's going on. They don't put their arm around these guys and tell them, "There's a better way. We want to create some jobs to help you find that better way."

There was a time when black men were the best bricklayers in town. We were the best concrete guys in town. I have uncles that made good livings as plumbers. What happened? We've been told those are dirty jobs, that you need to go get a college education. But everybody is not cut out to go to college. So it's gone. You take all that out of the black community and what's left?

If you're going to lock a man up in prison, why don't you teach him a trade so that when he comes out, he'll have something to do? Teach him how to cook. Give him something other than just going out there sweeping up or picking up paper. Give him a skill. You want to stop young men from selling drugs and killing one another? Offer them an alternative.

I love these young men. There's hope for them. I will never, ever give up on trying. And if I can just save one from the streets, I'll feel like it was worth it. If we all just reached out to get one, we could make a difference. If I could talk to one young man who is thinking about going out and shooting somebody tonight — if I could change his mind — it would be better than winning the lottery. If I could talk to him, I'd say, "We all get angry. But just take five minutes to think about the aftermath. Think about the hurt that you're going to create, not just in his family, but in your family." When you have a homicide, both families are hurt. Both sides. They lost a son, and you're locked up for the rest of your life. Over nothing.

I hope that I've buried the last homicide this year. I really do. I hope that every funeral home has buried their last homicide this year. Yes, we're in business to bury people, but we can wait on that. We can wait.

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Here are the students nominated to be academic all-stars. They are listed by their hometowns, as indicated by mailing addresses.

ARKADELPHIA

Madeline Cook

Arkadelphia High School

Seth Daniell

Arkadelphia High School

ATKINS

Courtney Dotson

Pottsville High School

BATESVILLE

Elijah Childress

Batesville High School

Emily Pham

Batesville High School

BEARDEN

Jessica Lester

Bearden High School

Mallory McWhorter

Bearden High School

BEEBE

Katie McGraw

Beebe High School

BENTON

Amy Bucks

Bryant High School

Natalie Hampel

Benton High School

T.J. Williams

Benton High School

BRADFORD

Marilyn Wilson

Southside High School

BRYANT

Christopher Baldwin

Bryant High School

CABOT

Zach Launius

Cabot High School

Jamie Middleton

Cabot High School

CAMDEN

Ben Worley

Harmony Grove High School

CENTER RIDGE

Morgan Price

Nemo Vista High School

CHIDESTER

Peyton Harris

Harmony Grove High School

CONWAY

William Bryden Jr.

Conway High School

Olivia Tzeng

Conway High School

DARDANELLE

Taylor Eubanks

Dardanelle High School

Austin Thaxton

Dardanelle High School

DE QUEEN

Jordan Bingham

De Queen High School

Bethany Tatum

De Queen High School

DONALDSON

Chase Ivhy

Ouachita High School

DRASCO

Andrea Pichzardo

Concord High School

DUMAS

Johnny Gibson Jr.

Dumas High School

EL DORADO

Crystal Meeks

El Dorado High School

Zachary Neal

El Dorado High School

John Tyson

Parkers Chapel High School

Caleh Wall

Parkers Chapel High School

ELKINS

Trevor Delony

Elkins High School

Megan Ketcher

Elkins High School

EMMET

Shelby Weatherly

Nevada High School

FAIRFIELD BAY

Nikki Owen

Shirley High School

FARMINGTON

John Larabee

Farmington High School

FAYETTEVILLE

Alex Allred

Huntsville High School

Jay Boushelle

Fayetteville High School

Lauren Cheevers

Greenland High School

Madeleine Corbell

Fayetteville High School

Ali Ezell

Har-Ber High School High

Tanner Wilson

Greenland High School

FOREMAN

Shae Rogers

Foreman High School

FORT SMITH

Arman Hemmati

Southside High School

Derek Paschal

Union Christian Academy

Chloe Williams

Southside High School

GREENBRIER

Eugene Pegues

Quitman High School

GREENWOOD

Kylie Cleavenger

Greenwood High School

Benjamen Keisling

Greenwood High School

Mary-Catherine Qualls

Union Christian Academy

HARRISBURG

Michael Andrew Hunter

Harrisburg High School

HOT SPRINGS

Bethany Butler

Hot Springs High School

Catherine Chandler

Fountain Lake High School

Shelby Hamilton

Cutter Morning Star High School

Tyren Tidwell

Hot Springs High School

Eli Westerman

Fountain Lake High School

HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE

Claire Turkal

Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts

HOUSTON

Bryce Johnson

Perryville High School

JACKSONVILLE

Erica Brewer

Lonoke High School

Robert Morris

Abundant Life School

JONESBORO

Hytham Al-Hindi

Jonesboro High School

Nanci Flores

Nettleton High School

Seth Gray

Valley View High School

Rebekah Harmon

Ridgefield Christian School

Lillian Jones

Jonesboro High School

Kathryn King

Valley View High School

Jake McMasters

Nettleton High School

Hannah Powell

Crowley's Ridge Academy

Yeongwoo Hwang

Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts

KENSETT

Thanaydi Sandoval

Riverview High School

LITTLE ROCK

Jamie Allen

Little Rock Christian Academy

Andrew Cash

Parkview Arts/Science Magnet

Alexandra Glenn

Mount St. Mary Academy

Christyal Holloway

Parkview Arts/Science Magnet

Rebecca Hughes

Arkansas Baptist High School

Laura Lanier

Episcopal Collegiate School

Zack McElrath

Arkansas Baptist High School

Dev Nair

Pulaski Academy

Esther Park

Central High School

Luke Snyder

Little Rock Christian Academy

Caroline Spainhour

Pulaski Academy

Andrew Willoughby

eStem High School

Benjamin Winter

Episcopal Collegiate School

Alexander Zhang

Central High School

LOCUST GROVE

Jacob Roark

Concord High School

LONOKE

Michael Shinn

Lonoke High School

LOWELL

Kayvan Afrasiabi

Benton County School of the Arts

MANILA

Ty Minton

Manila High School

MARIANNA

Garrett Moore

Providence Classical Christian Academy

MARION

Easton Davis

Marion High School

Hannah Phipps

Marion High School

MAUMELLE

Grace Thomasson

eStem High School

MAYFLOWER

Kaylee Wilcox

Mayflower High School

MCGEHEE

Olivia Leek

Dumas New Tech High School

MCRAE

Brandon Lercher

Beebe High School

NORTH LITTLE ROCK

McKenzi Baker

North Little Rock High School

Josh Moody

Catholic High School for Boys

John Via

North Little Rock High School

OSCEOLA

Cristin Adcock

Manila High School

PARAGOULD

Zachary Dicus

Crowley's Ridge Academy

PINE BLUFF

Andrew Fleming

Watson Chapel High School

Ashley Gragg

Pine Bluff

Zachary Fluker

Pine Bluff

PLAINVIEW

Morgan Webb

Perryville High School

QUITMAN

Roseanna Ezell

Quitman High School

RECTOR

Amy Dement

Rector High School

Alec Scott

Rector High School

ROGERS

Anne Crafton

Providence Classical Christian Academy

Ty Galyean

Rogers High School

Adam Herbert

Heritage High School

Tiffany Tang

Rogers High School

Christine Townsley

Heritage High School

ROLAND

Kara Quaid

Mills University Studies High School

RUSSELLVILLE

Emily Austin

Russellville High School

Jonathan Williams

Russellville High School

SEARCY

Trey Davis

Harding Academy

Garth Evans

Searcy High School

Kaleigh Ramey

Searcy High School

Carrie Stewart

Harding Academy

SHERIDAN

Lucas Bruner

Sheridan High School

Shelby Rhodes

Sheridan High School

SHERWOOD

Trung Dang

Mills High School

Reid Fawcett

Sylvan Hills High School

Abigail Persson

Sylvan Hills High School

SILOAM SPRINGS

Rachel Ford

Siloam Springs High School

Grayson Moore

Siloams Springs High School

Jetty Schroeder

Shiloh Christian School

SPRINGFIELD

David Wahrmund

Nemo Vista High School

SPRINGDALE

Maria Escobar

Springdale High School

Jesus Espinosa

Springdale High School

Abby Hutton

Shiloh Christian School

Benjamin O'Brien

Har-Ber High School

STEPHENS

Ryan Eppinette

Columbia Christian School

SUMMERS

Johnny Yang

Lincoln High School

WALDRON

Vanessa Ozuna

Waldron High School

Jason Phetrakoun

Waldron High School

WEINER

Kaci Mack

Harrisburg High School

WHITE HALL

Matthew Scoggins

White Hall High School

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

These 10 students made the final round of judging for the 2014 Arkansas Times Academic All-Star Team.

Emily Austin

Russellville High School

Christopher Baldwin

Bryant High Schoool

Andrew Brodsky

Hot Springs Lakeside High School

William Bryden Jr.

Conway High School

Rebecca Hughes

Arkansas Baptist High School

Lillian Jones

Jonesboro High School

Laura Lanier

Episcopal Collegiate School

Dev Nair

Pulaski Academy

Matthew Scoggins

White Hall High School

Claire Turkal

Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

To mark the 20th anniversary of our first Academic All-Star class, we put out a call for All-Star alumni to let us know what they were up to. Based at least on those who responded, being selected as an Academic All-Star appears to be a strong predictor for future success. Aside from who/what/when/where questions, we asked all those below to give advice to their high-school self (though not everyone played along); All-Stars of 2014, take heed.

A note to those All-Star alumni who missed our call for info (or their friends or parents): We still want to hear from you! Drop us a line at arktimes@arktimes.com.

1995

Rani Croager
Central High School
Social entrepreneur, Oakland

Say you are interested in social justice, thanks to a multicultural background that has made you sensitive to all manner of issues, and want to teach or maybe go to law school. But you've just graduated from Duke University and you've got a load of student loans to pay back. Do you take a satisfying but low-paying job and stretch those loans out forever or take on more debt to go to law school?

Rani Croager did neither. After she earned a degree in math and economics at Duke, Croager — one of the Arkansas Times' first All-Stars in 1995, Indian by birth and adopted by parents of English and Indian-Chinese ancestry — made a different plan: Work a couple of years at a higher-paying job, then pursue her dream. She got a job at Stephens Inc., where the two years stretched to a decade of learning the ins and outs of investment banking.

Croager, 36, now calls herself a "reformed investment banker turned social entrepreneur."

The experience she gained at Stephens and later at Credit Suisse, she said, "was a great platform to learn about business, capitalism, how deals get done."

But she shook off the "golden handcuffs," she said, in 2008 and started Oakland Cooperative Education Ventures, to help students get a business education with a lower burden of debt. The combined nonprofit/for-profit venture is, she believes, the first of its kind in the United States, one that uses a cooperative model of student and worker ownership — sort of like the employee-owned REI sports gear company for education.

As part of Oakland Cooperative, Croager and business partner Seyed Amiry have launched Uptima Business Bootcamp, where student members of the co-op will be buying into the school with their tuition fees. As investors, they'll eventually recoup their fees from profits earned by the cooperative and have a say in the running of Uptima. The nine-month program will offer training in business start-ups, including funding, scaling and marketing. "We are creating a real community, where business owners are investing in each other," Croager said.

Croager is also working on a cooperative technical institute that would provide cooperating employers with skilled workers they need; both workers and employers would be owners. The first institute will be located in Oakland and its first classes will start at the tech-support level, preparing students for a Microsoft certification. She likened the school to the Mondragon Corp. in Spain, a worker cooperative founded in the 1950s by graduates of a technical college that is now a global enterprise.

Croager said she'd love to "bring this model over to Arkansas. ... Our goal over time is to start setting up cooperatives in other parts of the U.S. and we specifically look at areas where there could be a high need."

Amy Drake Wilson
Rogers High School
Doctor, Zionsville, Ind.

Wilson is a pediatric nephrologist and teacher at Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health in Indianapolis. She got her medical degree at Johns Hopkins and a master's in science at the University of Cincinnati, where she also did her pediatric and pediatric nephrology fellowship training. She has two kids, ages 8 and 4. Advice she would give her 18-year-old self: "You're not going to get me to go there!" she told the Times.

Kiisha Morrow
Pine Bluff High School
Lawyer, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Morrow got a B.A. at Harvard and J.D. at Harvard Law, and was a corporate lawyer for in Manhattan two years before becoming a mentor for student interns of color at a nonprofit. She is now head of diversity and inclusion initiatives at Cravath, Swaine and Moore LLP, the firm where she began her legal career. Education is a passion, and she serves on the board of a Brooklyn charter school. She says she can often be found at Brooklyn Nets games ("I remember my days cheering for the Zebras!").

Crystal Morrison
Arkansas School for Mathematics and Science, Hot Springs
Scientist, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Morrison, who hailed from Bismarck, got her B.S. in chemistry at the University of Missouri-Rolla and her master's in science and Ph.D. in macromolecular science and engineering at the University of Michigan. She is now the principal investigator and senior materials scientist at R.J. Lee Group; her specialty is polymers, foams, elastomers, adhesives and composites. She is also an expert in "life extension programs" in nuclear weapons systems. She had advice for students at what is now the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Science and the Arts: "ASMS is an environment where you truly have the opportunity to learn from everything and everyone around you. Take advantage of that fully. ... You learn that no matter where you came from, you're all at the same starting line at ASMS. ... And best of all, you learn that you are at the footstep of a giant world full of wonder and opportunities."

Joseph Lease
Lake Hamilton High School, Hot Springs
College professor, Macon, Ga.

Lease got his bachelor's degree in English at Fayetteville and an MAT at Duke University in Durham, N.C., where he taught high school English for a couple of years. He completed his doctorate degree from the University of Georgia in 2012 and now is assistant professor of English at Wesleyan College. Lease said he "got a kick out of reading the profiles from the original [Arkansas Times] article," in which he was quoted as saying, "I love a good book" and that he enjoyed conversations with his friends. He made that love of literature and discussion a career.

Brent Ragar
Cabot High School
Doctor, Chelsea, Mass.

After graduating from the University of Arkansas and Washington University School of Medicine, Ragar completed his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. Today, he's unit chief of Mass General's largest community health center and serves on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. During an earlier two-year stint working on the Zuni Indian Reservation in New Mexico, he helped start the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project, a nonprofit aimed at improving child health on the reservation. "Be more appreciative of everyone along the way and recognize how much individuals and systems are responsible for success," Ragar said he'd tell his high school self. "Hard work is only part of the equation and would not have been enough without all of the wonderful mentors and teachers that I had."

1996

John Clay Kirtley
Camden Fairview High School
Pharmacist, Little Rock

After attending Ouachita Baptist, Kirtley received his doctor of pharmacy degree from UAMS. Since 2011, he's served as the executive director of the Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy.

Rashod Ollison
Sylvan Hills High School
Pop culture critic, Norfolk, Va.

Ollison, a University of Arkansas graduate, is entertainment writer and pop culture critic at The Virginian-Pilot, the state's largest daily metro paper. In the last three years, he's won five national writing awards from The Society for Features Journalism. He's working on a memoir, tentatively titled "Soul Serenade," about searching for his father and himself through the family record collection. Previously, he was pop music critic for The Baltimore Sun and music columnist for Jet.

Mikael Wood
North Little Rock High School
Pop music writer, Los Angeles

From 2000 until 2012, Mikael Wood wrote for the biggest music and entertainment magazines in the country — Rolling Stone, SPIN, Entertainment Weekly, Billboard. For the last year and a half, he's been a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times covering music.

"I've ended up working at the intersection of two collapsing industries," he said recently. "If you're wearing your journalism hat and not you're career-security hat, this is a tremendously exciting time. There are so many stories."

It helps that Wood is omnivorous when it comes to music. An L.A. Times staff memo announcing his hire praised him for being "as comfortable dissecting and assessing the world of hip-hop and R&B as he is country, gospel and bubblegum pop." His byline has appeared recently on stories about Lady Gaga, the "Frozen" soundtrack and the award-show showdown between the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association.

Wood partially credits the influence of his father, Tom Wood, a longtime DJ and radio programmer in Little Rock, who toted Mikael and his brother to the studio and to concerts. Also, where a lot of music-besotted teenagers grow up playing in garage rock bands, Wood spent his high school years playing in Soophie Nun Squad, perhaps the strangest band in recent memory to achieve wide popularity in Central Arkansas. They counted David Bowie, Salt N Peppa and Rites of Spring as influences; generally incorporated costumes and puppet shows into their performances, and once excited a house party in Little Rock so much that a floor caved in. The band got big enough to tour Europe.

Another band of Wood's, who was born Michael, led him to alter the spelling of his name. The band was called K, and Wood thought it would be cool to promote it by swapping the "ch" in his name for "k". Gradually, it stuck. Because it was a unique spelling and there are other Michael Wood freelance writers, it later became useful. "It started out as a dumb high school thing and ended up being a vaguely savvy professional thing," Wood said.

Wood worked on the daily paper at Northwestern University, where he attended college, and started freelancing for other papers and alt-weeklies while still in college to a level that, by the time he graduated, he had enough writing gigs to survive. "To the extent that I have any advice to anyone," Wood said, "I always say that you're going to have to work [for a time] for free or appalling low."

1997

Martha Brantley
Little Rock Central High School
Nonprofit business development director, New York

Brantley, the daughter of Times senior editor Max Brantley, is director of business development for the Clinton Foundation's agriculture work. She calls New York home, but spends 40 to 50 percent of her time overseeing projects in Malawi, Myanmar, Rwanda and Tanzania. She graduated Yale with honors and spent her early post-collegiate years working as a business consultant, an equity investor for a global bank and, later, at a large hedge fund. She said that a few years ago, she decided that she wasn't passionate about that work. She started at the Clinton Foundation as a volunteer.

Isaac Chung
Lincoln High School
Filmmaker, New York

Isaac Chung, from the tiny Northwest Arkansas town of Lincoln, is an award-winning filmmaker who has screened his films at festivals around the world, including Cannes.

"Munyurangabo," the debut film of the second-generation Korean American (the only minority in the class of 1997 at Lincoln High School), made on location in Rwanda with Rwandan actors, won grand prize at the American Film Institute Festival after its Cannes screening and has received wide critical acclaim. Roger Ebert said it was "in every frame a beautiful and powerful film — a masterpiece."

Chung wasn't supposed to be a filmmaker. As a high school senior — then going by his first name, Lee — he told the Times he wanted to be president, an aspiration he said recently he didn't remember. "Apparently, at age 18, I had the hubris of a 5-year-old," he said.

Once he got to Yale, he chose ecology as a major with an eye toward going to medical school. His senior year, to fulfill a graduation requirement he long put off, he took a film production course, where he was exposed to foreign and art house films for the first time. "I just really fell in love," he said. "I found that I was spending all my time working on films."

His parents weren't pleased. Chung told them he wanted to go to film school and be a filmmaker, not a doctor, just before a family trip to Disney World. "I remember standing in line waiting to get on a ride with my dad and mom just berating me on my decision. We'd go on this two-minute ride, and then it's back to them telling me I'm wasting my life."

They've simmered down today, Chung said, though they still worry about the stability of the film industry. So does Chung; he and his wife recently had a child. "I'm definitely starting to think I gotta make some money." He's also had a "personality change" and wants to make films that his parents can enjoy. "The films I've made so far can be a kind of opaque for a lot people," Chung said. "I'm ready to branch out."

His second feature, "Lucky Life," was inspired by the poetry of Gerald Stern. His latest, 2012's "Abigail Harm," reinterpreted the Korean folktale "The Woodcutter and the Nymph" and starred Amanda Plummer. All were made on micro-budgets.

"Munyurangabo" came about after Chung's wife, a longtime volunteer in Rwanda, asked him to travel to the country with her. There, he decided to teach locals filmmaking by drawing them into a real film project. He and frequent creative partner Samuel Anderson sketched out a story about two young men on a trip from the capital, Kigali, to the home of one the boys. The weight of the 1994 genocide — where at least 800,000 Tutsis and dissident Hutus were killed — is "underscored by the absence of graphic physical evidence," according a New York Times review of the film.

The experience sparked a film industry in Rwanda. Chung created a production company, Almond Tree Rwanda, in Kigali to channel equipment and money donated in the U.S. to Rwandan filmmakers. It's been a success. Rwandan filmmakers now run a self-sustaining business fueled by for-hire film work such as documentaries, commercials and wedding videos. "A lot of men and women have jobs," Chung said. "They're making their films. They're starting to get recognition for their work in international film festivals."

Chung, who lives in New York but will move soon to Los Angeles with his family, plans to return to Rwanda next year to finish a fiction-documentary on a Rwandan friend. Another future destination? Arkansas, to film a script set in his home state that he said he's "finally started working on."

Brian McDonald
Arkansas School for Mathematics and Science, Hot Springs
Librarian, Geneva, N.Y.

McDonald, the systems librarian at Hobart & William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y., graduated cum laude from Yale and received his masters in information science from the University of Michigan. But he wishes he would've been more adventurous as a student, though he left home in Leslie to attend ASMS. "I would tell my high school self to take more academic risks, the earlier the better. One of the most important skills you can pick up in life is how to go about learning something that is completely new and unfamiliar. And there's just something wonderful about being able to say, 'I don't know a single word of Chinese. It might turn out that I hate it or am terrible at it, or it could be my undiscovered passion, but I'm going to spend the next term finding out.' You don't get too many opportunities to do that in life."

1998

Richard Bruno
Parkview Magnet High School
Doctor, Baltimore

Bruno knew he was going to be a doctor at age 18 as he was headed off to Princeton University, his All-Star profile indicates. He got his medical degree at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Ore., and is now a family medicine resident. He also directed the VACUUM Project (Voices and Concerns of the Uninsured and Underinsure Millions), filming patient stories. His advice to his high-school self: "Keep it up! Your ideas and passions will inspire others and connect you with like-minded individuals who can work with you to build your shared visions of improving our planet."

Sara Manning Drew
North Little Rock High School
Nonprofit director, Little Rock

Drew is the development director of Literacy Action of Central Arkansas and is on the board of directors of KUAR, St. Joseph's Center, the Museum of Discovery and Children's House Montessori. She also volunteers with the Humane Society and historic preservation organizations (she expressed an interest in anthropology and archeology as a high school senior) and is interested in environmental issues. Her husband and son are her top priorities. Advice she would give her 18-year-old self: "You are fine the way you are. Stop trying to act different to please others and enjoy being yourself! You rock!"

Mariah Harder Reescano
Alread High School
Teacher, Little Rock

A theater arts major at Hendrix who earned a master's in education theory from Arkansas State University, Reescano was named Teacher of the Year this year at Booker Arts Magnet, where she has taught drama to K-5 pupils for 11 years. She works with the Arkansas A+ program of the THEA Foundation as a fellow, working with teachers on integrating the arts and creativity into academic subjects. Reescano said this was the advice she should have given herself: "Stop worrying about being from such a small town and wondering how you'll do in the bigger world. You'll adjust just fine."

1999

Ross Glotzbach
Little Rock Central High School
Investment banker, Memphis

Glotzbach, a Princeton graduate, is deputy director of research and a principal at Southeastern Asset Management in Memphis. In his spare time, he has taught financial seminars at the University of Memphis and served as treasurer for Ballet Memphis.

Kasey Miller Neal
Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School
School teacher, Little Rock

After teaching regular math classes at Horace Mann Middle School for nine years, Miller now works as math coach for Horace Mann. She was named the 2013 Little Rock School District Middle School Teacher of the Year in 2013. She received her bachelor's and master's in education from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Maribeth Mock
Little Rock Central High School
Biotechnologist, Sunnyvale, Calif.

A Presidential Scholar in high school, Mock graduated from Stanford with a degree in biology and a minor in Japanese and then spent a year teaching English at Ehime Medical School in Shikoku, Japan. She now works for biotechnology firm Labcyte Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif. She has a blue belt in Aikido.

2000

Andrew Brill
Fayetteville High School
Nonprofit staffer, Fayetteville

Brill, who received his undergraduate degree from Austin College and his master's in literature from Boston College, works as a staffer for Fayetteville's Lightbearers Ministries, a nonprofit that uses rental profits from residential ministry properties to fund mission projects overseas.

Toby Chu
Little Rock Central High School
Environmental analyst, Houston

After graduating from Duke with a major in biology, an internship with Audubon Arkansas inspired Chu to attend the University of California Santa Barbara to get a master's degree in environmental sciences and management. She now works near Houston for Entergy as an environmental analyst. "I get to protect birds from power lines, train linemen, and generally help keep the company stay in environmental compliance," she said.

Allen Frost
Conway High School
Ph.D. student, Stanford, Palo Alto, Calif.

After graduating from Swarthmore College with high honors, Frost taught high school English for four years — including, for three years, at an international school in Hong Kong. He's currently pursuing his Ph.D. in English at Stanford University. In 2011, he won the university's Centennial Teaching Assistant Award.

Joshua Hill
Brinkley High School
Network engineer, Little Rock

Hill works as a data network engineer for Verizon Wireless in Little Rock. He received his degree in electrical engineering from the University of Arkansas and his MBA from University of Arkansas at Little Rock. "If I had to tell my high-school self something today," he said, "I would tell him to embrace who he is and don't run from it, for one day those like him (nerds) will control the Internet, and with it, pretty much everything else."

2001

David Deitz
Wilbur D. Mills University Studies High School
Health care analyst, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Deitz graduated summa cum laude from the University of Arkansas, where he was student body president, with majors in biophysical chemistry, philosophy, political science and European Studies and a minor in mathematics. He then received a full ride to Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, where he received a master's degree in history, philosophy and sociology of science, technology and medicine. After graduation, he helped grow Richard Branson's health care start-up, Virgin Care, by 800 percent and was named employee of the year of the company in 2012. He now lives in Abu Dhabi and works on quality improvement and cost reduction for Abu Dhabi Health Services Co., the primary care provider in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Ann Glotzbach
Little Rock Central High School
Entrepreneur, Buenos Aires

Ann Glotzbach, a Princeton graduate like her brother and fellow All-Star Ross Glotzbach, is the CEO and founder of Puentes, a business focused on providing "customized and meaningful internships" in Buenos Aires. Previously, she worked for the Thomas J. Watson Foundation in New York and started the Buenos Aires office for TerraCycle, a U.S.-based recycling company.

2002

Colleen Barnhill
Little Rock Central High School
Lawyer, Little Rock

Barnhill is a lawyer in the Pulaski County Public Defender's Office. Before law school and after graduating from Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., she worked as an AmeriCorps VISTA member in Colorado Springs, Colo. where she helped implement service-learning programs and projects in low achieving public schools.

2003

Jamie Kern Giani
Fort Smith Southside High School
Lawyer, Fort Smith

Giani serves as career law clerk for federal district Judge P.K. Holmes III in Fort Smith. She came to the job with a sterling educational resume: She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Arkansas with majors in political science, Spanish, international relations and a co-major in Latin American Studies. At Vanderbilt University, which she attended on a Chancellor's Scholarship, she interned with the nonprofit team of prosecutors who represented the families of those killed allegedly on order from former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori. Later she interned for a semester at the United States Embassy in Buenos Aires, where she met her husband.

Heather Mahurin
El Dorado High School
Lawyer, Austin, Texas

Mahurin made the president's honor roll all eight semesters at University of Florida. She attended University of Texas law school and now serves as legal counsel for the Texas Municipal League. In her spare time, she works on Battleground Texas, the push to put Texas in play for Democrats; volunteers for the Wendy Davis campaign, and serves as a competitive gymnastics judge for USA Gymnastics.

Margaret Whipple Doose
Arkadelphia High School
Doctor, Minneapolis

Just as planned, Margaret Whipple went to Davidson College in North Carolina and later went to medical school, at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. (Her only deviation from the plan was to major in political science, not biology and pre-med, at Davidson.) Today, she is in her third year of residency in a combined internal medicine and pediatrics program at the University of Minnesota. When she completes her residency, she plans to become a hospitalist in her specialties.

2004

Vivek Buch
Wilbur D. Mills University Studies High School
Resident in neurosurgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Vivek Buch wants to know how the brain learns. "We don't know how the brain learns right now in normal people," he said, but "if we can figure out how that process works, my goal is to use that information to learn why kids with mental retardation can't learn." Buch, now in his first year of a seven-year residency at the University of Pennsylvania, earned his medical degree at Brown in the direct bachelor/MD program and was a Howard Hughes fellow at the National Institutes of Health for a year studying "connectomics," the study of how different parts of the brain work to, for example, make decisions. "I hope to pioneer the field of pediatric functional neurosurgery," he said, to treat childhood retardation, autism and neuropsychiatric diseases.

Clark Smith
Conway High School West
Doctor, St. Louis

Clark Smith played bass guitar and dreamed of being a doctor when he headed off to the University of Arkansas on a Sturgis Fellowship in 2004.  Today, he plays standard guitar and is in his second year of residency training in emergency medicine "with a scholarly focus on EMS/prehospital medicine" at Washington University's Barnes-Jewish Hospital. A decade ago, Smith told the Times that medicine "would be the field in which I could use my talents to help the most people"; today he is a member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve Medical Corps, and will train as a critical care air transport team member and tactical critical care evacuation technician when he completes his residency.

2005

Johann Komander
Arkansas School for Mathematics and Science, Hot Springs
Credit trader, New York

Komander's advice: Learn computer programming, start early in taking charge of your personal finances and learn basic finances, and "don't study academics in a vacuum. Be mindful of the real world applications of what you're learning." Komander, who has a B.Sc. in materials science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, got interested in finance as a junior and went to work at Morgan Stanley after graduation. He is now on the investment house's emerging markets credit trading team, working as a Latin American corporate bond trader. "I enjoy the fast-paced nature of trading," Komander says; he also enjoys playing in a soccer league and dining out in the East Village. 

2006

Emily Whipple
Arkadelphia High School
Lawyer, Nashville

Emily Whipple was the second in her family to become an All-Star, following her sister Margaret (2003). She did a double major in business and European history at Washington and Lee and got her law degree at Vanderbilt last year. She practices corporate law at Bass, Berry & Sims in Nashville, working primarily on mergers, acquisitions and governance for both privately held and publicly traded companies.

2007

Anselm Beach
Wilbur D. Mills University Studies High School
Campus ministry leader, Peabody, Mass.

What seemed like the wrong choice of college — Harvard — over Washington University turned out to be the right choice for Anselm Beach. "It took me two years of being at Harvard before I found out what I believe to be the reason God wanted me there: to truly find him. That was two years of really struggling to find my own, going from a setting where I stood out as one of the best to a setting where I was one among a sea of people who were all the best and even better than me." At Harvard, Beach sang with the Kuumba Singers, who "specialize in music that rises from the African diaspora," and worked with elementary and high school students in the Summer Urban Program —"some of the greatest experiences of my life." Beach is now campus ministry leader for the Northern Mission Center of the Boston Church of Christ, serving students from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, Salem State, Merrimack and other colleges north of Boston.

Sarah Coggins
Cabot High School
Medical student, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville

Coggins, who is in her third year of medical school at Vanderbilt, says that "hard work and dedication to one's chosen profession is crucial to success and rarely goes unnoticed." She was noticed:  She won full-tuition scholarships to attend both undergraduate and graduate school at Vanderbilt and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior. When she graduated summa cum laude in molecular and cellular biology, she won the Founder's Medal of the College of Arts and Sciences.  Her research is focused in the field of neonatology and she plans to be a pediatric intensive care doctor.

Alex Heald
Pulaski Academy
College administrator, Abu Dhabi

Heald serves as student life coordinator for New York University's Abu Dhabi branch. Working abroad for the last two and a half years, Heald said he's gotten to travel to more than 20 new countries and has "loved living as an expat." He graduated from NYU summa cum laude with majors in language and mind and minors in creative writing and media, communications and culture. During his senior year, he served as president of the school's Inter-Residential Council, overseeing a constituency of more than 11,000 students.

Nicole Topich
Pulaski Academy
Archivist, Boston

Topich, who earned a bachelor's degree in history at Swarthmore College and a master's in library and information science from the University of Pittsburgh, is now an archivist at Harvard University. There, she coordinates the digital archive of Massachusetts Anti-Slavery and Anti-Segregation Petitions. As a student, she worked at the Clinton Presidential Library, the Butler Institute for Arkansas Studies, the Library of Congress and other archives. Her most recent award: to present her paper "Black Historians and the Writing of History in the 19th and early 20th centuries: What Legacy?" last June at the University Paris Diderot.

Andrew Walchuk
Conway High School
Law school, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

Andrew Walchuk, who was a Bodenhamer Fellow at the University of Arkansas, where he majored in political science, international relations, European studies and Spanish ("AP credits and summer studies made for a lot of room in my schedule"), is in his first year of law school at Yale University. Between college and law school, Walchuk taught in Madrid for a year on a Fulbright Scholarship and worked for the state's Administrative Office of the Courts. He is interested in a career in international law and human rights; this summer he will study in Argentina and work in New York on LGBT rights at Lamda Legal. His advice to his high-school self and this year's class of All-Stars: "1. Success in school does not necessarily equal success in life. 2. Your plans are always going to change, so stop stressing out about them. 3. Arkansas has its problems, but there really is no place like home."

2008

Caress Reeves
Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School

The winner of the University of Southern California's Annenberg Fellowship for graduate students, Reeves is in the John C. Hench Division of Animation and Digital Arts program. An animator herself, she has studied black animators and black images in animation, and last summer gave a talk, "Animation as Political Radicalism: Black Animators in the Field," at the Society for Animation Studies Conference. Advice for her high-school self: Do not be fooled by the amount of free time you will have as an undergrad.

Jackson Spradley
Cabot High School
Doctoral student, Duke University, Durham, N.C.

Spradley, who holds a bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of Arkansas, is getting a Ph.D. in evolutionary anthropology, with a research focus on paleontology, at Duke. He's gone on fossil hunts in the Patagonia region of Argentina and the Big Bend region of West Texas. He teaches anatomy to Duke undergraduates and medical school students ("just announced to be in the top 5 percent of the best-rated classes at Duke!") He quotes Albert Einstein: "The only sure way to avoid making mistakes is to have no new ideas."

2009

John Lepine
Little Rock Christian Academy
English teacher, Tulsa, Okla.

John Lepine, who graduated from the University of Tulsa with a degree in economics, teaches 8th grade English through the Teach for American program at McLain Junior High School, where "I've learned a lot, and my kids tell me that they have, too, which I think is the idea." At TU, Lepine was involved in the Presbyterian Church's campus ministry, Reformed University Fellowship; covered football for the student paper; spearheaded a project to renovate the racquetball courts, and brought the rock band Imagine Dragons to campus. Lepine says he returns to Arkansas "whenever possible" to see family "and eat a good rack of ribs."

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]