Category Archives: Government

“The Golden Hour: Africa’s Rise and the Challenge for American Diplomacy” is topic of Todd Moss talk at Clinton School today at noon

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As Africa’s prominence on the global stage increases, it offers challenges and opportunities for the US.  Todd Moss will examine this today at noon in a Clinton School address.

Todd Moss is chief operating officer and senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. Moss also serves as vice president for programs and secretary of the board. In addition to his institutional and fundraising responsibilities, his work focuses on U.S.-Africa relations and financial issues facing sub-Saharan Africa, including policies that affect private investment, debt, and aid. Moss directs the Emerging Africa Project and is currently working on energy in Africa, cash transfers in new oil economies, and new ideas for upgrading US development policy. In the past he led the Center’s work on Nigerian debt, Zimbabwe, the future of the World Bank’s IDA, and the African Development Bank.

Moss served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of African Affairs at the U.S. Department of State from May 2007 to October 2008 while on leave from CGD. He originally joined the Center in July 2003 from the World Bank where he served as a consultant and advisor to the Chief Economist in the Africa Region. Prior to joining the Bank, he was a Lecturer at the London School of Economics (LSE) in the postgraduate Development Studies Institute. Previously, Moss has worked as an Analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and was Assistant Director of U.S. Policy Programs at the Overseas Development Council (ODC). Moss is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University and the author of numerous articles and books, including Adventure Capitalism: Globalization and the Political Economy of Stock Markets in Africa (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) and African Development: Making Sense of the Issues and Actors (Lynne Rienner, 2nd ed., 2011).

Moss is also the author of The Golden Hour  (Penguin/Putnam, 2014), a thriller about American diplomacy and infighting after a coup in West Africa. The novel’s sequel Minute Zero will be released in 2015.

Little Rock Look Back: First proposal for a municipal auditorium

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On April 12, 1904, Mayor W. E. Lenon made what was the first official proposal for a municipal auditorium in Little Rock.  Little did he know at the time that it would take from April 1904 until February 1940 to make this dream a reality.

Elected as a progressive, Lenon was focused on not just providing city services, but also had an interest in initiatives which would move the city forward.  With that background it is not surprising that Mayor Lenon would be a champion for the construction of both a new city hall as well as a municipal auditorium building.  During his first annual address to the City Council in April 1904 he noted:

Recently a number of our citizens have taken an active interest in building an auditorium in our city.  This being a project of such worthy consideration should not go unnoticed by us.  Apparently this is one of the greatest needs.  Our business, social, commercial and financial interests, in fact, our entire city, would be benefitted by the building of same.  It has therefore occurred to me that an auditorium might be built in conjunction with a new city hall.

The mayor further discussed that these new structures could either be built on the site of the current City Hall or at a new location.  He also touched on possible financing options including the collection of a one percent assessment.

The mayor would bring this up again in his 1905 annual address.  It would not be until December 1905 that the City Council would officially take any action on the plan.

 

Poetry Month: Peggy Vining and “Arkansas, The Natural State”

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pviningPeggy Vining is Arkansas’s Poet Laureate.  She was appointed to this position in 2003 by Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Since 1963, Vining has been a member of Poet’s Roundtable of Arkansas (PRA) which is associated with the National Federation of State Poetry Societies.  She attributes her writing success to the “wonderful poets of PRA that mentored, encouraged and inspired me to keep writing”.  Vining has served as state PRA President for three separate terms.  She has been director of the Ozark Creative Writers Conference, the Arkansas Writers Conference and still serves on the official Board of each.  She has also served as state President of Arkansas Penwomen and Arkansas Songwriters Association and is a member of Fiction Writers of Central Arkansas.  Her bio is listed in Who’s Who of Editors, Writers and Poets and several other such books and anthologies.  She is presently compiling a collection of her published works entitled “Tethered to the Moment”.

Loved and appreciated for her artistic abilities and her work with children, Vining has nurtured over 6000 pre-schoolers during her teaching career.  For twenty one years, she was Instructor and Director of the UALR Children’s Center having earned a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education.  She has also worked with children’s groups at her church for many years.

Married for over 60 years, Vining cherishes her family; She is a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. other of five (four daughters and one son)and grandmother of eleven and Greatgrandmother of eight. Vining is also active in many other community organizations.  A twenty-seven year cancer survivor, she was honored with a “Point of Light Award” from President Bush for her volunteer work with CARTI.

Arkansas, The Natural State

I stood today on top of Petit Jean
And felt a kindredship to all I found,
And I, intrigued by such a lovely scene,
Was grateful for the beauties that abound.
The spirit of a mountain miss was host,
Her phantom figure hovered, light as wind,
And I became enchanted by her ghost,
As we stood on the ledge at river’s bend.
I asked her of her legend and its truth;
Of how she stowed away to sail from France,
Of how she cropped her hair; became uncouth,
To give her love and lover one more chance.
            “It is all truth; the future will proclaim
            My spirit guards this mount which bears my name.”
 
Then, as we talked, my personage subdued,
And I became, as Petit Jean, a ghost,
And with uncanny knowledge I reviewed
Historic deeds of others who could boast,
Of coming to this great green state to live;
To homestead and to plow their plots of land;
To mine the hills; to hunt the woods and give
Their very lives to make it far more grand.
I spoke to men who also came to look
For ways of life upon the river’s road;
They pushed their crafts to every shallow nook
And rounded bends of hardship with each load.
            The Indians told me their tales of woe,
            Of how they battled as both friend and foe.
 
They told me how De Soto searched for gold
And, trudging through the swamps to look for it,
As upward, through the mountains and the cold,
He traded with the natives, matching wit.
La Salle then came to claim the Arkansas
But left to join another group of men,
De Tonty came to start, as did John Law,
A river post where trading could begin.
These men with whom I talked could really boast
Of being first to settle on this land,
Of fighting long and hard to save the Post
Where then was housed the laws and all command.
            My spirit saw the past and lived it through,
            A vision of the old when it was new.
 
As history passes, the seasons came in view,
And time and space and beauty knew no date.
I saw each month in its most brilliant hue
And gazed at it as if I tempted fate.
 I looked at Spring and thought it surely best,
For everywhere the land was newly green,
The pristine white of dogwood seemed to test
The worthiness and beauty of each scene.
Then summer came with nesting meadowlarks,
And I beheld the golden days of fun,
As tourists came with camping gear to parks,
And found their pleasures under shade and sun.
            I watched the summer visitors with awe,
            They loved this state of mine . . .this Arkansas.
 
Perhaps they liked spelunking in a cave,
Or digging for a diamond at the mine,
Or floating trips that made of them a slave
To mountain streams, to setting out trotline.
Perhaps they liked the baths at old Hot Springs,
Or climbing under rushing waterfalls,
Or smelling the sweet air that summer brings,
Or listening to whippoorwills’ faint calls.
I think they surely liked the little creeks,
That tumble down deep-set against tall bluffs.
I think they liked the deer and quail that seeks
New hideouts when invaders find their roughs.
            The eager tourists came to see our state
            Because the opportunities are great.
 
Then suddenly, as Autumn took her turn,
The Ozark Hills became a brilliant hue.
In blazing reds the forest seemed to burn
Across the valleys, up the mountains too.
In delta lands I saw vast cotton crops,
And harvest fields of rice, bowed down with grain.
The short-leaf pines were green with heavy tops,
And muscadines hung heavy down the lane.
Then winter came attired in snowfall white,
And lovely landscapes suddenly seemed bare.
The prairie sky was filled with ducks in flight,
And sounds of happy hunters filled the air.
            O Arkansas, which season is your best?
            Each one seems far more lovely than the rest.
 
What makes you great?  I wondered as I looked.
Is it your timber, standing straight and tall?
Is it your rivers wide and roughly crooked?
Is it your lovely Ozarks in the fall?
Is it your heritage that makes you grand,
Your opportunities . . . yet still unknown?
Is it your rich oil fields, or delta land
That makes men proud to choose you for their own?
O Arkansas, I see your very breath,
In hazy clouds that skim your vast terrain.
I know about your struggling with death
And I have felt your birth with labored pain.
            O land of mine, I find you truly great,
No wonder you are called “The Natural State”.

Baseball season is here – so is THE SANDLOT at CALS Ron Robinson Theatre today at 2

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calsrr sandlotThe Boys of Summer have returned as Major League Baseball is back.  On a smaller scale, sandlot ball is also back.  To celebrate this, the CALS Ron Robinson Theater is showing the 1993 film THE SANDLOT this afternoon at 2pm.

The film is told through the perspective of Scotty Smalls, who is reminiscing on his first summer in Los Angeles. In 1962, Smalls moves with his mother and stepfather, Bill, to a new neighborhood, and struggles to make new friends. One afternoon, he decides to follow a group of neighborhood boys, and watches them play an improvised game of baseball at a small field, which they call the sandlot. Smalls is reluctant to join their game, as he fears he will be ridiculed on account of his inexperience. Nevertheless, he chooses to play with them.  After a rough start, in time, Smalls is accepted and becomes an integral part of the team.  The team has adventures and misadventures on and off the titular sandlot.

The film stars Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Patrick Renna, Chauncey Leopardi, Marty York, Brandon Quinton Adams, Grant Gelt, Shane Obedzinski and Victor DiMattia.  Adult roles are played by Denis Leary, Karen Allen and James Earl Jones.

The film costs $5 to see on the big screen at the Ron Robinson Theater.  Concessions will be available for purchase.

 

The 2nd decade of 2nd Friday Art Night begins tonight!

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2nd Friday Art Night2nd Friday Art Night starts its 2nd decade tonight.

Among the highlights are:

Historic Arkansas Museum (5-8 pm)

Two Exhibit Openings:

  • Suggin Territory:  The Marvelous World of Folklorist Josephine Graham opens in the Arkansas Made Gallery.
  • Suyao Tian: Entangled Beauty opens in the 2nd Floor Gallery

The Year of Arkansas Beer, sponsored by Historic Arkansas Museum Foundation and presented by Arkansas Brewers Guild, continues in April with Lost Forty Brewing’s Belgian Blonde.

 

Old State House Museum (5 – 8pm)

Join violinists Geoff Robson and Ryan Mooney and cellist Felice Farrell for a performance of works for string trios by Boccherini, Schubert, Mozart, Dohnanyi, and Beethoven. The event is free and music will be performed on an informal schedule starting at 5 p.m. The museum will remain open until 8:00. This is a casual event and guests are welcome to drop in and seat themselves after the music has started.

 

Butler Center Galleries  (5 – 8pm)

Opening exhibition – White River Memoirs: An Exhibition by Chris Engholm

The White River and its tributaries represent the most ecologically intact watershed in the continental United States. Over a million people inhabit it, living in 234 communities in 60 counties. For the past two years, Chris Engholm has traveled the White River in a cedar strip canoe, listening to people connected to it and collecting the artwork of 25 fine artists who maintain a special relationship with it. This artwork, photographs, and information about the river are presented in White River Memoirs. 

Featured artist: Sheliah Halderman 

Sheliah Halderman is a retired teacher who now paints pastels full time. Her paintings have won local and national awards, and she is very active in the Arkansas Pastel Society.

Featured musician: The Arkansas Weather

This band comprises graduates of the UALR music program who play an unpredictable combination of jazz, soul, R&B, funk, and pop.

Tonight at Ron Robinson Theater: FIGHT CLUB

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fight clubThe first rule about watching Fight Club is that you DO talk about going to see the movie.  Tonight, the CALS Ron Robinson Theater will be screening this modern iconic film starring Oscar winner Brad Pitt and Oscar nominee Edward Norton.  (Hard to believe the film is 16  years old in 2015.)

Directed by David Fincher, it also starred Meat Loaf and Helena Bonham Carter.  Fight Club concerns an insomniac office worker looking for a way to change his life.  He crosses paths with a devil-may-care soap maker and they form an underground fight club that evolves into something much, much more…

The movie starts at 7pm tonight. Admission is $5. Concessions are available for purchase, as well.

Tonight at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, a FREE film: LAST DAYS IN VIETNAM

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In partnership with AETN, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History will host a preview screening of the “American Experience: Last Days in Vietnam.”  The screening starts at 6:30pm tonight at the museum in MacArthur Park.

Free admission. Free popcorn and beverages provided.

During the chaotic final days of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as South Vietnamese resistance crumbles. The United States has only a skeleton crew of diplomats and military operatives still in the country. As Communist victory becomes inevitable and the U.S. readies to withdraw, some Americans begin to consider the certain imprisonment and possible death of their South Vietnamese allies, co-workers, and friends.

Meanwhile, the prospect of an official evacuation of South Vietnamese becomes terminally delayed by Congressional gridlock and the inexplicably optimistic U.S. Ambassador. With the clock ticking and the city under fire, a number of heroic Americans take matters into their own hands, engaging in unsanctioned and often makeshift operations in a desperate effort to save as many South Vietnamese lives as possible.

Last Days in Vietnam was produced and directed by Rory Kennedy, an Emmy Award-winning independent documentary filmmaker and co-founder and president of Moxie Firecracker Films. Her work has been shown on PBS, HBO, A&E, MTV, and Lifetime.

The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History is a program of the City of Little Rock’s Parks and Recreation Department.