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Cartoonist, author Stephan Pastis speaks in Little Rock

by | Jul 1, 2022 | Arts

Stephan Pastis speaks at the Ron Robinson Theater in Little Rock on March 16, 2022. Photos: Michael Hibblen

Stephan Pastis, the cartoonist behind “Pearls Before Swine,” recently came through Arkansas, speaking to a packed theater with hundreds of fans in Little Rock. This has been my favorite newspaper strip for years and it was great not only being part of the event, but also interviewing Pastis for a story on KUAR and showing him some landmarks in the city. 

The appearance was part of his “I just gotta get out of the house” mini-book tour, which included his first public events since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic two years earlier. In March, Pastis spoke in Tulsa, Fort Worth, then Little Rock, driving to the appearances. He allowed several days between each event so that he could take time to see things that interested him along the way. He had researched historic and noteworthy places, planning what seemed like an enviable sightseeing trip.

In advance of the event here, I interviewed Pastis via Zoom. It was fascinating being able to ask him about the inspirations for the strip, how the characters represent different aspects of his personality, and how he met his hero, “Peanuts” cartoonist Charles Schulz. Pastis got advice and encouragement at a time when he was hoping to give up being an attorney to launch the syndicated strip. 

“Pearls Before Swine” debuted on Dec. 31, 2001 and, I’d say, has held up better than most other strips over the years. Through characters Rat, Pig and Goat, it very effectively addresses a wide range of topics and emotions while mixing in social commentary and being incredibly funny. He sometimes writes more simple strips that extol the joy of drinking beer or feature long winded puns, sometimes ending with self-deprecating animated cameos by the cartoonist. 

In the interview, which aired on KUAR during All Things Considered a few days before the event, we discussed how he addresses current issues in the strip, especially the COVID-19 pandemic. The uncertainty and isolation presented a situation like nothing in our lifetimes. Pastis masterfully conveyed the anxiety and loneliness, as well as the uncertainty of whether society would ever be able to return to doing things as basic as going to bars and enjoying drinks with friends. 

“This is the only time in my career where I knew the whole world was talking about one thing,” Pastis said. “If you don’t address that one thing, you’re not going to be very relevant.”

Before we started recording the interview, Pastis quizzed me for maybe a half hour about Arkansas and places he had heard about and was considering visiting. His curiosity was amazing. The only time Pastis had been in the state before, he said, was years earlier when he made a quick drive across the Mississippi River from Memphis just to buy beer at a liquor store in West Memphis so that he could say he had set foot in Arkansas.

Newspaper comic sections have always held a special place in my heart. As a kid, it was the first reason I started looking at newspapers. As an adult, the few strips I still make a point to read each day provide some respite after going through the serious news of the day. I also learned more about the intense loyalty of comic strip readers during my years working at the Miami Herald.

My introduction to comic strips came at an extremely young age after first seeing Charlie Brown and Snoopy on TV holiday specials. While learning to read, I started looking at the “Peanuts” comics by Schulz in the Arkansas Gazette, would check out large hardbound collections from my church library, and bought the many small inexpensive paperback books of his comics, learning the deep intricacies of the characters. 

I’ve never grown out of “Peanuts” even though Schulz died decades ago. I still enjoy reading classic “Peanuts” strips that are posted to Twitter each day. In 1995, I got a tattoo of Snoopy riding a skateboard on my right arm during a visit to Richmond, Virginia. I’ve also read biographies about Schulz, watched documentaries, and even brought my daughter to see her first film in a theater when she was 3 to watch The Peanuts Movie in 2015. 

Having the opportunity to talk with another cartoonist who was not only inspired by Schulz, but had also became close with Schulz and his family while being an incredible artist himself was fascinating. 

On Twitter, I often like or retweet “Pearls Before Swine” strips that connect with me. One time last year I received a direct message from Pastis thanking me for one comment. Then I was surprised to get a message in February telling me he was planning a book tour that would possibly bring him to Little Rock and asking if I would like to be involved. Of course, I said sure.

He eventually lined up an appearance at the great independent bookstore Wordsworth and asked if I would interview him during the event. Within a matter of days it became apparent that this would draw a much larger crowd than Wordsworth could host, so it was wisely moved to the Central Arkansas Library System’s Ron Robinson Theater, which can seat hundreds of people. My role then shifted to introducing Pastis at the start of the event, who gave a multimedia presentation followed by audience questions, with me moving around the theater with a wireless microphone to facilitate questions.

In the days before arriving in Little Rock, Pastis wrote on Twitter that he was “meandering through Arkansas,” with visits to Texarkana, Hope, the Crater of Diamonds State Park and Hot Springs.

When he arrived in Little Rock for the event on Wednesday, March 16, we met at the Ron Robinson Theater for a check of the equipment, then went across the street for a quick dinner. When we came back an hour later, the place was packed! I was told it was the largest audience the theater had seen for an event since before the pandemic with more than 300 people. Extra folding chairs were added in the back and the balcony was also full. 

Stephan Pastis gives a multimedia presentation at the Ron Robinson Theater in Little Rock on March 16, 2022.

Pastis held the audience’s rapt attention while giving a presentation about his background and how he creates the daily strip. He then began taking questions, with no shortage of people standing up, eager to ask about many aspects of the strip or his series of Timmy Failure children’s books. I worked my way around the theater, trying to get to a diverse mix of people, including many kids who reminded me of myself as a young comic strip fan.

Pastis then spent more than an hour signing books and talking with fans. He wasn’t rushed with anyone, eagerly listening as people shared their own experiences of why the strip or books connected with them.

Afterward, in the mood for a few beers, I took him to my favorite bar, the White Water Tavern. The Little Rock landmark had nearly shut down for good during the pandemic with the family that owned the property considering tearing it down for houses to be built. But thankfully the two story bar and music venue, which has hosted performances by legendary performers, was bought by Travis Hill, who I had worked with in the 1990s at KUAR. He kept the same staff in place to continue running it.

At one point in the night, realizing what a jewel the White Water is, Pastis – noting sanctioned graffiti all over the place – asked for a Sharpie. He then went into the men’s restroom and wrote, “To the White Water Tavern… best bar in Arkansas,” and included an image of Rat with a frosty mug of beer in front of him. I had to get a photo of him putting that on the wall! Within two days Hill, who is also a fan of the strip, had clear plastic placed over the graffiti to protect it. 

Stephan Pastis writes graffiti in the men’s restroom of the White Water Tavern in Little Rock, celebrating it as the “best bar in Arkansas.”

Pastis stayed in Little Rock a couple more days, so I joined him after work the following day to visit historic Central High School, which was desegregated by nine Black students in 1957. We also saw the nearby house where Daisy Bates, mentor of the Little Rock Nine, lived with her husband L.C. Bates. The house was where the students would gather before going over to Central High with a U.S. Army escort. We then went to the Arkansas State Capitol, roaming its empty halls before capping his visit to Little Rock with a dinner at Does Eat Place, one of the best known gathering spots for Arkansas politicians. 

Pastis left Little Rock the next day for Eureka Springs and additional speaking appearances elsewhere in the country, including Pittsburgh and Buffalo, New York. It was great meeting him, showing him around town, and getting to know more about the person behind the strip.

Next steps in restoration of the Rock Island Depot at Perry, Arkansas

by | Jan 15, 2022 | Rock Island Railroad

A roofing crew puts new shingles on the Perry Depot on Aug. 3, 2020. All photos by Michael HIbblen unless otherwise noted.

(Jan. 15, 2022) – Plans are being considered to begin making additional repairs to the Rock Island Depot in Perry, Arkansas. As we enter the fifth year of the project, which initially was an effort to keep the historic structure from being torn down, difficult choices are being made about the best ways to move forward.

One year ago, on Jan. 15, 2021, we celebrated news from the National Park Service that an effort with the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program (AHPP) to get the depot listed on the National Register of Historic Places was successful. That gave the project a new level of credibility and should be especially beneficial when applying for grants to help cover the cost of the restoration. 

But matching donations are typically required for grants, and an issue has been raised that would need to be resolved to apply for what seems like a logical grant from the AHPP. I’ll explain more about that further down. Those matters, along with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, have led to the project becoming somewhat stagnant. 

Since it has been more than a year since I last wrote a detailed update, I wanted to explain where things are at this point. The good news is that work done over the last few years seems to be effectively protecting the wooden building from any further deterioration. 

Since being moved to an adjacent city-owned lot along the rails, the ground and depot have been treated for termites. A new cinder block foundation was built at a height based on how high flood water from the Arkansas River rose in May 2019. Most importantly, the roof was replaced in August 2020, which included restoring the overhang on one side that had been cut off when the Little Rock & Western Railway built a locomotive servicing shop directly behind the building in 1984.

“It’s dry inside the depot,” said Buford Suffridge, president of the Perry County Historical & Genealogical Society, who has been overseeing the project. “It doesn’t seem like water is getting inside. The overhang protects it real well.”

The projecting telegrapher’s booth on Aug. 10, 2020.

We were hoping to host a fundraising event last year outside the depot or at the nearby former high school gymnasium, which was restored by one of the people involved in this project. The ongoing pandemic, with the delta variant causing a surge last summer and the omicron variant now setting new records for cases in the state, is keeping us from holding any in-person events.

“Every time we get to the point where I think we can hold a fundraiser, COVID rears its ugly head again,” Suffridge said. 

We know there are many people who would like to be able to look around inside the historic structure. The floors will need some work before it would be safe to hold an open house, but if we held a luncheon outside or nearby we could let a few people in at a time. 

The building is empty, but fascinating with the two waiting rooms on each side of the office and the freight room, which is covered with graffiti from former Rock Island employees who wrote their names and dates on the walls and ceiling. The office still has the Western Union circuit boxes and the controls for the semaphore signal that is in storage and will one day again stand outside the projecting telegrapher’s booth.

Walking through, people would be able to envision the plan to turn the depot into a community meeting space and museum to tell the history of the community and the Rock Island Railroad.

The larger of the two waiting rooms, each with a ticket window still in place. The entire depot was painted blue and white in the 1970s after the Rock Island changed its logo.

For now, Suffridge is looking at what immediate repairs could be made to the outside of the depot using funds available in an account dedicated to the project. 

FUNDRAISING 

We’re extremely grateful to the many people who have made donations to help us get to this point. 113 donations have been received through an online Go Fund Me campaign started in May 2018, recently surpassing our original goal of $9,000. The nonprofit has also received checks, while in-kind donations have been made for labor and supplies.

Much of that money was spent hiring a house moving company and paying the thousands of dollars in insurance coverage that was required by the Little Rock & Western’s parent company for movers to access the property.

Rachel Patton with Preserve Arkansas, a group that advocates for saving historic structures, has been guiding us since the start of the project. She connected me with Suffridge in 2017 after learning that the Little Rock & Western planned to demolish the depot to expand its locomotive servicing shop which was directly behind the depot. 

In April 2019, she helped us get a nearly $10,000 grant from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s Division of Rural Services with the goal of helping to create a community meeting space inside the depot.

A westbound freight blows up a cloud of dust as it passes the Perry Depot on March 25, 1976. Photo: Bill Bailey.

Now that it has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, she has suggested applying for a grant from the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. It would require us to raise an additional $10,000 to, if approved, receive $20,000 in grant funding. That would go a long way toward covering the cost of repairs recommended by architect Gary Clements who went through the depot with Suffridge and Patton in October 2020. 

One issue that would complicate applying for that grant is that we’ve learned the town of Perry holds a quitclaim deed to the property the depot is now on. The AHPP requires a warranty deed in order to donate an easement with grants of more than $10,000. I understand that could be resolved but would require hiring an attorney and conducting a property survey. That could easily cost about $5,000.

Suffridge is frustrated because, like the insurance coverage required by the railroad to move the building, it would be a large sum of money not going into actual work for the depot. The expense would be eligible grant expenses, Patton said, but with no guarantee we would get the grant, Suffridge is apprehensive.

At this point, he says the nonprofit has about $4,900 available for the depot project and is considering using that to make some immediate repairs. He has asked for a cost estimate of restoring the appearance of the outside of the building. This we hope would include sealing the doors and windows.

A year ago the estimate for this work was at about $10,000 but supply chain problems worldwide have pushed up the cost of materials. Suffridge is checking now to see what can be done with the current funds available.

Plastic covers a window that was starting to fall in on Aug. 10, 2020. Repairs to the roof can also be seen.

Part of the goal is to maintain public confidence in the project. For more than a year the depot has sat largely untouched. Though the foundation and new roof look great, the rest of the siding on the building, especially toward the bottom, is quite ragged. 

“I wish we could make it look good and encourage people to donate,” Suffridge said.

While no work has been done over the last year, he and others in town are keeping a close eye on the depot. When it was noticed recently that a window was falling in, Jimmy Middleton, another key leader in this effort, made sure to seal the opening.

Once the exterior is fixed, repairs would likely focus on the floor, which is soft in spots. If no large grant happens, Suffridge is looking at restoration work then being done inside the depot in phases to different areas, likely starting with the office. 

Regardless of whether we get additional grant funding, continued donations will be key in helping this project continue. They are tax deductible and can be made online through the Go Fund Me box below.

While in the depot nearly a year ago on Jan. 29, 2021, I heard the sound of an approaching Little Rock & Western locomotive blasting its horn at the crossings in Perry. I looked out the door in time to see the lone locomotive pass in front of the depot, then stop at the railroad’s headquarters on the next block. 

Having active service on the line, typically with one train departing, then returning on weekdays, will be great when the depot finally opens with the sound of passing trains harkening to the days when this was a busy part of the Rock Island’s line running between Memphis, Tennessee and Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

FORMER EMPLOYEE REUNIONS AND INTERVIEWS

More than 40 years after the bankrupt Rock Island was shut down in 1980, an ever-shrinking group of former Arkansas employees of the Rock Island continue to meet regularly. I was at the most recent annual reunion on Oct. 4, 2021 to visit with them and to share the latest on the effort to preserve the Perry depot.

Jerry Oates, president of the Arkansas Rock Island Club, speaks at the annual reunion of former employees on Oct. 4, 2021..

The brakeman’s passenger uniform from Bill Anderson which will be donated to the Perry Depot once it opens.

After I spoke briefly to the group, Jerry Oates, president of the Rock Island Club, told me they will donate the brakeman’s passenger uniform of the late Bill Anderson to be displayed in the depot once we get to that point. I recorded an interview with Anderson at the 2017 reunion, including his recollections of Perry. His uniform would be a cherished part of the collection we hope to build.

I have been recording interviews with employees for decades and am now working to get the full interviews online. Just over a year ago I also started a project to digitize cassette tapes of interviews recorded by Tom Sandlin and share those on my website. He spoke with hundreds of employees over the span of a decade beginning in 2001. 

The oral histories are priceless in sharing the experiences of what it was like working for the railroad. I’ve been slowly producing a podcast series on the railroad, with the most recent episode focused on the experiences of engineers Harold Rhoads, Buddy Bryant and Howard Smith. All three have died since talking with Sandlin nearly two decades ago. Several times they mention Perry, which was a significant as a midway point for the Rock Island between Little Rock and Booneville.

We believe the depot was built 1918, replacing a smaller structure that was placed there when the tracks were first laid between Little Rock and Oklahoma by the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad between 1898 and 1899.  

You can help by making a donation, which is tax deductible, to either our Go Fund Me campaign or by sending a check to:

Perry County Historical Museum
P.O. Box 1128
Perryville, AR 72126

Please make out checks payable to Perry County Historical Museum. 

I welcome any additional information, photos, stories, comments or corrections. Write to: michael@hibblenradio.com.

To read previous updates on the depot, click on the link below.

Preserving the former Rock Island Depot at Perry, Arkansas

Discussing 19th century murders with the authors of two recent books during literary festival

by | Oct 29, 2021 | Arts

It was great fun to again take part in the annual Six Bridges Book Festival presented over the last two weeks by the Central Arkansas Library System. During a live online session, I talked with the authors of two nonfiction works about crime in the 1800s.

Dean Jobb wrote The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream: The Hunt for a Victorian Era Serial Killer, which is a disturbing, but fascinating look at a physician who mostly targeted sex workers for poisoning. Also joining me was Dr. Courtney E. Thompson, author of An Organ of Murder: Crime, Violence, and Phrenology in 19th Century America. It delves into what for a few decades was considered a way to determine various things about people, including criminal intent, based on the shape of their heads.

Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, for the second year in a row the festival was held virtually via Zoom. I was in my office at KUAR, while the authors joined me from their homes. While I miss meeting authors face-to-face and moderating sessions in-person, the online format has allowed the festival to be expanded from four to 11 days, and there are fewer concurrent events.

Festival Coordinator Brad Mooy discussed the trade offs during an interview with me on KUAR before the start of the festival.

“Of course I enjoy having authors come to Little Rock who have never been here or to the south before, but there is some convenience to the virtual aspects. The virtual festival allows us to get a few authors who might not have been available to us if it were fully in person,” Mooy said.

Filling in Hosting Arkansas PBS Program as COVID Cases Surge

by | Jul 17, 2021 | Arkansas Week

With Arkansas leading the nation per capita in new coronavirus cases, blamed on the spread of the especially vicious delta variant and the state’s low vaccination rate, I spoke with state Epidemiologist Dr. Jennifer Dillaha on Arkansas PBS about the situation.

“This variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 is highly infectious. It causes more severe disease, it’s more quick to put people in the hospital and at younger ages,” Dillaha said. “For these reasons, we are experiencing a large number of new cases because the younger people are not the ones who’ve been getting the vaccine. It’s been the older adults who are now protected.”

She said health officials are “trying to communicate the urgency of the situation” and that people who are not vaccinated need to do it as quickly as possible since it takes five or six weeks to develop full immunity.

Over the last week, Gov. Asa Hutchinson held a series of town hall meetings around the state in Cabot, Batesville, Blytheville and Texarkana. These are smaller towns and cities where people are less likely to be vaccinated. Participating in these meetings have been community leaders, including church pastors, with the governor specifically calling on them to encourage their congregations to get vaccinated.

Dr. Dillaha praised Hutchinson for going into areas where people are less likely to be vaccinated. She said for many people, the decision on whether to get a vaccine largely depends on their social network.

“If there are a lot of people in a rural area that are not vaccinated, it’s harder for individuals to go against what their community is doing. It takes a lot of courage for people to do that. And so, by addressing this at a community level in the smaller rural areas, that enables the community to get vaccinated together,” Dillaha said.

“I think that’s an important strategy because we are influenced by who we associate with and those are the people we trust. So, if we can get good information into those communities so that they can make informed decisions, I think more people will get vaccinated.”

BBC Features my 1996 Interviews with Executed Buddhist Inmate Si-Fu Frankie Parker and Gov. Mike Huckabee

by | Feb 23, 2021 | About Me, Arkansas History

A mug shot of Si-Fu Frankie Parker on May 22, 1996.

The BBC World Service podcast Witness History recently looked back at the 1996 Arkansas execution of Si-Fu Frankie Parker. I was surprised to learn about his case getting renewed attention when I received a request to use audio from an interview I had recorded with Parker two weeks before his execution. I had also spoken exclusively with then-Gov. Mike Huckabee, whose first official act as governor was scheduling Parker’s execution date. The interviews were used in a half-hour program I produced for KUAR which aired August 8, 1996 in the hours before his execution.

The BBC program, which you can find on this link or listen to below, also features a recent interview with Anna Cox, a Buddhist leader who had gotten to know Parker when he expressed interest in Buddhism after 30 days in solitary confinement on death row. She acknowledged that Parker had been a mean person who did horrible things.

In 1984, Parker kidnapped his estranged wife, killed her parents, and shot and wounded a Rogers, Ark. police officer. He was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. While in solitary confinement, or what was known as “the hole” for committing infractions, the only reading material inmates were allowed was a Bible. Parker said after becoming restless and requesting a Bible, a guard instead threw a copy of the Dhammapada into the cell, which is a book of Buddhist teachings. After initially being even angrier, Cox said Parker eventually read the book and by the time he emerged from isolation had memorized the verses and was a changed man.

Cox would eventually meet Parker, and they became close friends. It also led to her becoming a spiritual advisor, not just for Parker, but also other inmates. On the day of his execution, Cox and other Buddhists set up a tent outside the gates of Cummins Prison. She described the scene for reporter Ibby Caputo 25 years later, which was eloquently told for the BBC feature.

AUDIO: My original half-hour program for KUAR that aired on August 8, 1996 in the hours before Si-Fu Frankie Parker’s execution. It includes parts of my interviews with Parker and then-Gov. Mike Huckabee. The program would win a first place award from the Arkansas Associated Press for Best Enterprise/ Investigative Reporting.

The experience of interviewing Parker in the weeks before his death and meeting many of his friends had a big impact on me. I had covered many executions by that point, but never had any contact with the inmates or served as a media witness. This was also the only time I had spoken with a governor about an execution. Most governors would sign the orders without comment to the press.