Ozarks At Large
Tonya Lewis Lee helped bring Christopher Paul Curtis' novel The Watsons Go to Birmingham to Tv this month. Tonight the film is being shown, for free, at Bentonville High School and today we talked with Ms. lee about the project that premiered earlier this month on the Hallmark Channel.
Late last week, the federal Department of Health and Human Services accepted Arkansas's plan for Medicaid expansion. The city of Bentonville will give away compost and wood mulch this week. A couple of roads close or otherwise reroute in the River Valley starting today. And gas prices dropped slightly in Arkansas over the past week.
With this morning's montage, we say several goodbyes; to Summer, to a famed Yankees pitcher, and to one of our longest-tenured colleagues at KUAF. Here are our 10 pop culture references we used to say goodbye.
- "So Long, Farewell" from the Sound of Music
- Lou Gehrig's farewell speech
- "Goodbye my Lover" by James Blunt
- ET says his goodbye
- The famous words from Gone With The Wind
- "Hello, Goodbye" by The Beatles
- The Friends leave the apartment for the final time
- "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" by Elton John
- Jim Carey tells his fare goodbye at the beginning of Dumb and Dumber
- Leaving Casablanca for the final time
- Johnny Carson bids his final farewell to the audience during his final time hosting The Tonight Show
The Arkansas Center For The Book this week made its selection for the 2013 If All Arkansas Read The Same Book Program. Kyle Kellams spoke with Vivienne Schiffer, the author of the novel Camp Nine, this year's selection.
State officials continue to seek a solution to the teacher insurance crisis in Arkansas. New numbers are out regarding Arkansas students' achievements on Advanced Placement tests. And, the Connecting Arkansas Internet Conference is being held in Little Rock this week.
You can go to a workshop at NWACC to learn about the state's Freedom of Information Act, or you can participate in one of many lake and other outdoor cleanups in the next few days.



Latest Edition of Ozarks at Large
Friday, May 9, 2014
Ahead on this edition of Ozarks, Michael Tilley talks about a new owner for some long-abandoned real estate in Fort Smith, and the official announcement of a Whole Foods in Fayetteville. Plus, Cletus Got Shot gets ready to perform at a few festivals in the next month.
Apple Seeds Inc. is calling for community support to launch an educational farm on two and half acres of of College Avenue in Fayetteville to teach teachers how to start school gardens.
What happens when we hear that song again . . . and again . . . and again . . .
Here are the ten clips we used to celebrate repetition. Here are the ten clips we used to celebrate repetition:
1. Philip Glass explores repetition in Metamorphosis.
2. Bill Murray begins to realize something is up in Groundhog Day.
3. The repeated brilliance of the beginning of The Rolling Stones' Satisfaction.
4.Stewie seeks attention on Family Guy.
5. Bill Withers makes a single exclamation over and over in Ain't No Sunshine.
6. Abbott and Costello work out the details in their Who's on First routine.
7. The repeated lyrics in Mr. Ed's theme.
8. Rowan and Martin with their familiar goodnight.
9. The repeating bass line of Queen's Another One Bites the Dust. (deduct ten points if you guessed Vanilla Ice)
10. Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison prove practice makes perfect in My Fair Lady.
Apologies to nobody this week...we'd just do it the same way next time.
Christian Howes has gained national recognition, including from the Downbeat Critics Poll, and will play two shows Friday night at Walton Arts Center.
"Left Hand Corner" by Mark Elf
The Arkansas Supreme Court is hearing a case regarding a man whose gay partner is prohibited from staying overnight when his 12 year old son is present, while Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel approves a potential ballot measure that would eliminate the amendment to the state constitution that bars same-sex marriage in the state. And a Mulberry elementary school is one of nine schools classified by the Arkansas Department of Education as "exemplary" in the department's annual school accountability report.
"Mugshot" by Russell Malone