No’Ala Huntsville, March/April 2015

march/april | noalastudios.com |

JOYFUL NOISE | GLOBE-TROTTING AND ROCK CLIMBING | PLANT LIKE A NATIVE

THE NEWHORIZONNORTH ALABAMA’S FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT

noalastudios.com

MARCH/APRIL $4.95

| noalastudios.com | march/april


4 » March/April

48

features

© Patrick Hood

Th e New Horizon

North Alabama’s future looks bright, and growth might come from some unexpected places.

by allen tomlinson andsara wright covingtonphotos by patrick hood

38Joyful Noise

Cochlear implants open a new world for a Shoals family.

by sara wrightcovingtonphotos by danny mitchell

28Plant Like a Native

It’s warming up outside—so now what do we do? A conversation with Harry and Linda Wallace

by allen tomlinson

20Rolling Stones

Ain’t no mountain high enough (or remote enough) for this pair of buddies to explore.

by sara wright covington

Jim Hudson, co-founder of HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology

Cover photo by Cliff Billingsley

5 » editor’s letter « Allen Tomlinson

no’ala huntsvilleadvisory board

Osie Adelfang

ARC Design-Build, Inc.

Sarah Brewer

Click Photo Designs by Sarah Brewer

Madeline Boswell

Finery Bridal Boutique

Macy Chapman

Downtown Huntsville, Inc.

Jennifer Doss

Huntsville Hospital

Leslie Ecklund

Burritt on the Mountain

Marcia Freeland

Lowe Mill Arts & Entertainment

Dan Halcomb

Huntsville Symphony Orchestra

Elizabeth Jones

Burritt on the Mountain

Ginger Penney Liles

Guy McClure, Jr.

Athens State University

Patrick Robbins

Alabama Pain Center

Ashley Vaughn

White Rabbit Studios/Vertical Records

Charles Vaughn

Vaughn Lumber Company

Anna Baker Warren

Anna Baker Warren Interiors

Andrew Wilmon

Broadway Theatre League

What will the future hold?

Don’t we wish we could answer that question? We’re pretty

certain that things in this part of the world are on a tra-

jectory toward growth and all sorts of good things, so for

this issue we decided to dream a little. We happen to think

there are three exciting entities driving our future here in

North Alabama, and we delve into our history, discuss how

we got here, and talk about where we think we’re going.

See something here that excites you? Roll up your sleeves

and help make it happen! Th e future is truly in our hands.

You’ll also meet some special people in this issue who have fascinating stories.

Harry Wallace is the undisputed expert on native Alabama plants. You’ll meet a

special family with adorable children who have had cochlear implants; you’ll learn

about some daring rock climbers that will either thrill you or scare you. After our

last issue, which featured area weddings and engagements and was photo-heavy,

we traditionally present an issue geared more toward the reader. We hope you

enjoy it!

One of the reasons we’re so optimistic about our future is because of the people

here. We’re looking for Valley heroes—people who have made a positive impact

on your life or the lives of those you know. Do you know someone who has made

a positive contribution to life here who deserves recognition? Please let us know

who they are. Email your suggestions and your reasons to [email protected].

You have a couple of months to get these ideas to us—so please don’t put it off !

Another reason for optimism about this area? We support our local businesses.

Keep shopping the Valley, and thanks for your support and kind words about

No’Ala Huntsville. Enjoy the spring—this is the best season of the year in Alabama!

6 » contents

MARCH/APRIL 2015

Volume 4: Issue 2

• • •

Editor-in-Chief C. Allen Tomlinson

Chief Operating Offi cer Matthew Liles

Creative Director David Sims

Advertising Director Heidi King

Advertising Sales Roseanna Cox, Heidi King

Features Manager Roy Hall

Graphic Designer Rowan Finnegan

Web Designer Justin Hall

Editorial Assistant LuEllen Redding

Videographer Justin Argo

Retail Product Manager Sara Wright Covington

Proofreader Carole Maynard

Intern Isaac Ray Norris

• • •

Contributing Writers

Amy C. Collins, Sara Wright Covington,

Sarah Gaede, Roy Hall, Guy McClure, Jr.,

Allen Tomlinson

• • •

Contributing Photographers

Cliff Billingsley, Patrick Hood, Danny Mitchell

• • •

No’Ala Huntsville is published six times annuallyby No’Ala Studios

PO Box 2530, Florence, AL 35630 Phone: (800) 779-4222 | Fax: (256) 766-4106

Web: noalastudios.com

Standard postage paid at Huntsville, AL.A one-year subscription is $19.95for delivery in the United States.

Signed articles refl ect only the views of the authors and do not necessarily refl ect the views of the editors.

Advertisers are solely responsible forthe content of their advertisements.

© 2008-2015 No’Ala Studios, All rights reserved.

Send all correspondence toAllen Tomlinson, Editor, at the postal address above,

or by e-mail to [email protected] may be edited for space and style.

To advertise, contact us at(256) 766-4222, or [email protected].

The editor will provide writer’s guidelines upon request.Prospective authors should not submit unsolicited

manuscripts; please query the editor fi rst.

No’Ala Huntsville is printed with vegetable-based inks.Please recycle.

Connect with us on Facebook: No’Ala HuntsvilleTwitter: @NoAla_Magazine and Pinterest: NoAlaStudios

everything else

8 Calendar Selected Events for March/April 2015

10 Cryin’ Out Loud “Disorderly Conduct”

by sara wright covington

12 Market “Fresh Finds for Spring”

by sara wright convington

photos by patrick hood

82 Th e Vine “Th e Gamut of Grenache” by amy collins

28THE PLANT WHISPERERA conversation with Harry Wallace

84 Hear Tell “Th e Death of Aunt Cora”

by guy mcclure, jr.

88 Food for Th ought “Waste Not, Want Not” by sarah gaede

90 Parting Shot by patrick hood


8 » calendar

Saturday, February 28 – Sunday, June 14Encounters: Dori DeCamillis

Birmingham painter Dori DeCamillis uses animals to symbolize various aspects of her personality, taking her cue from the many cultures and religions around the world in which animals represent ideas, deities and demons, and human traits. Tues-Sat 11:00am-5:00pm, Th urs 11:00am-8:00pm, and Sun Noon-5:00pm; Admission charged; Huntsville Museum of Art, 300 Church St; (256) 535-4350; hsvmuseum.org

Friday, March 6 – Saturday, March 712th Annual Trinity Market Place

Over 50 vendors featuring arts, fashion, food, crafts, gifts, and much more, as well as a bake sale and a soup lunch. Trinity Methodist’s annual Market Place has raised over $120K for local missions and ministries. Fri and Sat 9:00am-4:00pm; Free; Trinity United Methodist Church, Airport Rd; facebook.com/TrinityMarketPlace

Friday, March 6 – Sunday, March 8Peter and the Starcatcher

A musical adventure taking audiences on a behind-the-scenes journey to Neverland to fi nd out how Peter Pan became Th e Boy Who Never Grew Up. Suitable for ages 10 and up. Fri 8:00pm, Sat 2:00pm and 8:00pm, Sun 2:00pm and 7:30pm; Admission charged; Von Braun Civic Center, 700 Monroe St; (256) 518-6155; broadwaytheatreleague.org

Saturday, March 14Strauss Connection

2015 is the 150th anniversary of Strauss’s birth, and Strauss was tremendously infl uenced by Mozart. In turn, contemporary composer John Williams was tremendously infl uenced by Strauss. Th e evening’s program showcases work from all three musical masters. 7:30pm; Admission charged; Mark C Smith Concert Hall, Von Braun Civic Center, 700 Monroe St; (256) 533-1953; hsvmuseum.org

Sunday, March 15 – Th ursday, April 30Huntsville Blooms

Th e Botanical Garden’s beautiful outdoor spaces take center stage during March and April. Spring-blooming trees, shrubs and perennials are highlighted by colorful bulbs and special fl owering displays. Mon-Sat 9:00am-6:00pm, Th urs 9:00am-Dusk, Sun Noon-6:00pm; Admission charged; Huntsville Botanical Gardens, 4747 Bob Wallace Ave; (256) 830-4447; hsvbg.org

Saturday, March 28 – Sunday, September 13Th e Robot Zoo

Visitors explore the biomechanics of complex animal robots to discover how real animals work in a 5,000-square-foot exhibit. Eight robot animals and more than a dozen hands-on activities illustrate fascinating real-life characteristics, such as how a chameleon changes colors, a giant squid propels itself, and a fl y walks on the ceiling. Sun-Sat 9:00am-5:00pm; Admis-sion charged; U.S. Space & Rocket Center, One Tranquility Base; (256) 837-3400; rocketcenter.com

Sunday, April 19Th e Science of Music

Experience the fun relationships between music and science! Featuring musical selections from Johann Pachelbel, Henry Purcell, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Joseph Haydn. 3:30pm; Admission charged; Roberts Hall, UAH; (256) 533-1953; hsvmuseum.org

Friday, April 24 – Sunday, April 26Panoply

Multiple stages feature regional and national dance, music, and theatrical performances, as well as make-and-take activities for children, an art marketplace, artist demonstrations, and more . Fri 5:00pm-9:00pm, Sat 10:00am-9:00pm, Sun Noon-7:00pm; Admission charged; Big Spring Park; (256) 519-2787; artshuntsville.org


Fewer tasks seem more daunting to me than the prospect of organization. I spend a good

half of my days searching for something, be it keys, sippy cups, scraps of paper, Xanax, hand grenades,

etc. I’m fascinated by people who shop at places like Th e Container Store because they enjoy organizing

their things. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the need and benefi t of the organizational concept of

“everything needs to have a home,” but my brain is unable to categorize which items should go where,

and most of them inevitably end up in one of my many “junk” drawers, where I fi le away most things I

mentally label as miscellaneous. My house is for the most part clean—or as clean as my small children

will allow—but it’s reminiscent of the Belk returns counter the day after Christmas. It’s a bit of a zoo,

and searching for a particular item can be like looking for Barbie’s lost shoe in a bucket of Legos.

Now it could be argued that anyone who has small children struggles to keep a tidy car/house/laundry

room. Th is is certainly true, but I will not cop out on this one and blame my kids. Instead, like any ma-

ture adult with inherent fl aws, I blame my parents. My disorganization was part of my DNA long before

I procreated. My dad has been known to hoard

everything from books to bullet casings, and

my mother has no less than 53 boxes of statio-

nery and 5,000 wine corks, which would be

fi ne if these random collections actually had a

space of their own. But for the most part, they

don’t. Th ey are all just vagrants lost in the

many drawers, cabinets, closets, and shelves

in the home where I grew up. I once actually

witnessed my dad pull out a box of dog bis-

cuits from the kitchen pantry and munch on

at least two of them before declaring “these

crackers are terrible” and putting them right

back in the cabinet where he found them.

Because dog biscuits and animal crackers

belong in the same place, naturally.

Having multiple “junk” drawers in a home

never struck me as odd until my husband

recently pointed it out to me when we were

visiting my parents. He stood peering over

my mother’s shoulder watching in fascina-

tion as she pillaged through a drawer looking,

to no avail, for a cork screw, and coming up

with everything from snapshots from 1983 to

a dog collar for a dog that died 20 years ago.

“Th is explains a lot,” he smirked, as if he had

fi nally cracked the code to my dysfunction af-

10 » cryin’ out loud » Sara Wright Covington

DISORDERLY CONDUCT

I once looked for my spare set of keys for three days, before discovering them on the key hook in the kitchen, which would seem to be the most logical spot.


ter six years of marriage. “THIS drawer is the reason that

I fi nd shoe polish in our silverware drawer and maternity

clothes in the hall coat closet.”

Believe me, I don’t enjoy being this way. It’s maddening at

times. Th rough the years I have attempted to turn over a new

leaf, often seeking out the help of orderly family and friends.

One of my college roommates, who has an MBA and a self-

proclaimed obsessive compulsive disorder, threw her hands

up in frustration after spending 10 minutes in my closet de-

claring, “I’m sorry. I can’t help you.” Another friend surveyed

the contents of my pantry and said, “I’m glad we never lived

together, because I’m not sure that we would still be friends.”

Th is generational disorganization is truly unfortunate, as I

can already see it bleeding over into my children. “Mama,

I bet the Pop-Tarts are in the car,” said my three-year-old

daughter the other day as I rummaged through our pantry

looking for diabetes-laden pastries. Th is, unfortunately, is a

direct refl ection of my fl awed, organizationally challenged

parenting, as it clearly already makes sense in her little mind

that the car is where Pop-Tarts live. I gave up the search,

defeated, and huff ed as I pulled out the makings for cinna-

mon toast. Children are like little mirrors into the soul. And

it has been a real awakening to me realizing that my every

expression, word, action, and re-action are all molding these

otherwise perfect little people into something else—into me.

I’m often reminded of that expression “a cluttered desk

equals a cluttered mind.” So does a closet in shambles equal

cause for shame? I think not. I may not know where any-

thing is most of the time, but I can take some comfort in

knowing that it is likely somewhere in my house. And the

more random the spot, the more likely I am to fi nd it. I once

looked for my spare set of keys for three days, before dis-

covering them on the key hook in the kitchen, which would

seem to be the most logical spot. But I do admit that there

are the other things I have lost through the years here and

there. A watch, a bracelet, a pair of glasses—the list goes on.

And I fi nd that even though they are likely forever lost into

oblivion, I still fi nd myself looking for them, even if it is on

some unconscious level.

Google has given me the diagnosis of “chronically disorga-

nized,” which means that I am highly creative, innovative,

and super fun to be around. I may have invented that last

part, but I choose to believe that if you are going to spend

time with dysfunctional people, at least the disorganized

ones are always good for a fun surprise. After all, you never

know what I might pull out of my purse.


12 » market » Sara Wright Covington » Photos by Patrick Hood

Assorted Aveda Eye ShadowTrios, Blushes, and Foundation

($24-$27 ea)Salon Ka-Terra(256) 539-2916

Professional Compact ($28)Salon Ka-Terra(256) 539-2916

Aveda Botanical Kinetics Eye Cream ($35)

Salon Ka-Terra(256) 539-2916

Makeup Brush Set ($65)Salon Ka-Terra(256) 539-2916

Scarf ($24)Little Green Store

(256) 539-9699

Aveda ShampureComposition ($30)

Salon Ka-Terra(256) 539-2916

Stephanie Wolf Glass Bead Necklace ($120)

Little Green Store(256) 539-9699

Aveda Lipstick ($16)Salon Ka-Terra(256) 539-2916

Aveda Hydrating Crème ($40)Salon Ka-Terra(256) 539-2916

freshfi nds forspring

Vintage by Lorelai Natural Stone Necklace ($28)

Leaf in Creek(256) 886-4362


Emily Taylor5510 Promenade Point Pkwy, Suite 160Madison, AL 35757256-430-2781

I can help you

your own way.GROW

1114-519HO

Opens March 28, 2015Programmable robots mimic how animals

function in their environment. Enjoy engaging, hands-on activities and explore scientific principles in ecology, biology, physics and

engineering. Experience imagination in motion in “The Robot Zoo!”

rocketcenter.com1 Tranquility Base • Huntsville, AL 35805

(256) 837-3400 • (800) 637-7223


Slightly AlabamaLeather Bag ($925)Little Green Store

(256) 539-9699

Maxi Dress ($95)202 Couture

(256) 715-8650

Belt ($88)202 Couture

(256) 715-8650

Denim Jacket ($46)202 Couture

(256) 715-8650



Woodthumb Beer Caddy ($46) Little Green Store

(256) 539-9699

Frogg ToggsChilly Pad ($14.99)

Leaf in Creek(256) 886-4362

Travel Boom Box ($35.99)Alabama Outdoors

(256) 885-3561

Water bottle ($13)Alabama Outdoors

(256) 885-3561

Patagonia Windbreaker ($269) Alabama Outdoors

(256) 885-3561

Shorts ($54.99)Alabama Outdoors

(256) 885-3561

Auto Emergency Tool ($14.99)Alabama Outdoors

(256) 885-3561

Live Simply T-shirt ($35)Alabama Outdoors

(256) 885-3561

Meal Kit ($27.99)Alabama Outdoors

(256) 885-3561Bluetooth Speaker ($69.99)

Alabama Outdoors(256) 885-3561



Spalted Elm andTurquoise Bowl ($315)

Huntsville Museum of Art(256) 535-4350

Mixed Media Paintingon Canvas by

Willoughby Hastings ($180)Little Green Store

(256) 539-9699

Tres Taylor TarBaby Wall Hanging ($150)

Little Green Store(256) 539-9699

Felted Wool Animal by Laurie Popp ($30)

Huntsville Museum of Art(256) 535-4350

Wasp Trap ($39)Th e Greenery

(256) 518-9836

Veranda Book ($60)Th e Greenery

(256) 518-9836

Sun Face Haitian Art ($198)Th e Greenery

(256) 518-9836

Wooden Sign ($44)Th e Greenery

(256) 518-9836

Tuscan Fig Candle ($17)Huntsville Museum of Art

(256) 535-4350

Owl Pillow ($56)Huntsville Museum of Art

(256) 535-4350



| noalastudios.com | march/april * Names for photos are provided by the organization or business featured.

18 » scene

A Century of Fashions and Wedding Gownsfebruary , · weeden home, huntsville

Jo Ann and Bob Moorman

Julia Wynn King, Mary Drakey, and Sally Spencer Robert and Emily Rodgers

Emily and Jack Burwell

Judy Ryals, Katie Shaver, Van Brown, and Jennifer Moore

Becky Quinn and Gay Money

Bev and Henry Chase

Pamela and Taze Shepard

Mark Singer and Don Wheeler

Teresa Doughtery and Paige Bietel

Randy Roper and Ken Rivenbark

Stanley Rodgers, Charles Money, and Wynn Rodgers

Kate Nobel and Mark Purvis

Gay Money and Lynne Williams

Photos by Guy McClure

Kimberly Rodgers, Ann Connor, and Minnie Lois Neal

Kay Wheeler, Alan Spearman, and Evie Spearman



text by sara wright covington » photos courtesy of seth bentley & robert atnip


A well-known rock climber by the name of Eric Beck once

said “on either end of the social spectrum, there is a leisure class,” and Huntsville

natives Seth Bentley and Robert Atnip are living this philosophy to the fullest in

travels that take them all over the world. Armed with only backpacks and one-

way tickets, these two friends follow their love of rock climbing from country to

country, often letting the actual journey guide their destination. Sans hotel stays,

rental cars, or tour guides, these friends live off the land, camping and hitchhiking

from place to place, in a no-frills approach to travel that allows them to experience

incredible adventures both on and off the beaten path.

To say that Seth Bentley is a bit of rolling stone would be an extreme understate-

ment. Born and raised in Hazel Green, Seth discovered rock climbing while living

in Nashville and attending Lipscomb University, and he really hasn’t stayed in the

same location for very long since. While in Nashville, Seth was part of a church

group that took weekly climbing expeditions, and after just a couple of trips, he

found himself hooked. “It fi t me and my personality,” says Seth. “It has a weird way

of being very addictive. I think you will hear a lot of climbers say ‘I didn’t really

fi t in. I was too little, and then too gangly and awkward for other sports.’ When I

started climbing, I thought ‘this feels right.’”

After his graduation, and over the next few years, Seth followed his love of rock

climbing to California’s Yosemite Park, and cliff s in Kentucky, Th ailand, New

Guinea, New Zealand, France, and Utah, living and working for brief periods of

time in certain spots. Seth is disciplined and frugal with his travel, and plans ahead

months and years in advance. “I usually just fi nd a job wherever I go,” he says. “I

was fortunate enough to have my parents pay for my college, and I never buy any-

thing that will tie me down. I basically just keep the bills low. When you have these

Preceding page: Seth Bentley climbing near Lu-cerne, SwitzerlandFacing page: Seth’s fellow climber tackles El Delfi n(the dolphin) in Rodellar, Spain.



misconception that you’re rich,” says Robert.

“I’m defi nitely not rich. You just live on a re-

ally extreme budget.” On their travels they opt

for camping in lieu of hotels, share rides along

the way with fellow travelers, and make friends

with locals who can tell them about the best,

off -the-beaten path spots to climb and, if they

are lucky, actually take them there. “It’s not a

typical approach, living in squalor,” says Seth,

“but I don’t mind it. I’ve had plenty of nights

of cold feet. But I do try and avoid that.” Th eir

trips abroad are defi nitely not the stereotypi-

cal post-college backpacking jaunt, as they

make it a point to keep their itinerary loose

and their loads light. “I will be out somewhere

and I see someone who is going on a typical

party backpacking trip and I’m like ‘what do

they have? What is all that stuff ?’” says Seth.

“Everything I have is all climbing gear. I carry

two pairs of pants and maybe fi ve shirts. You

have to keep it pretty minimal. You aren’t re-

ally going anywhere classy.”

On their 2012 trip to Spain, their arrival just

happened to coincide with Spain’s famed run-

ning of the bulls. And even though it wasn’t

in their initial plan, they both decided to run

along with them. “I remember this complete

resolution running with the bulls,” says Seth.

“I had been afraid before, but now I felt com-

pletely resolved to what I was doing even

though I knew it could end very badly. Was

it completely frivolous and needless to be in such as risky

position? Yes, of course, but people who go through life

without going all in every now and again never really experi-

ence much.” Robert agrees that their decision to run with

the bulls was a once in a lifetime adventure, likely never to

be repeated. “If you don’t get hurt doing it, you don’t want to

tempt your luck doing it a second time,” he says. Robert and

Seth spent the rest of this trip climbing, eventually working

their way through Spain, France, Germany, Greece, and Tur-

key, even though some of these spots weren’t on their initial

agenda. “In France, we camped out for a month and then we

ended up in Germany,” says Robert. “We never planned on

going to Germany. But some guys we met off ered to let us go

there and stay with them for free. We rode there with a girl

we met in Sweden along the way.” Once in Frankfort, Germa-

ny, they used a European service called Bla Bla Car, which is

trips in mind, you stray away from anything that is going to

tie you down too much.” Seth has worked in coff ee shops and

outdoor stores, and even spent time working with troubled

teens taking them camping in the Utah wilderness. “After

that job, I knew anything would be easier than that,” he says.

In the fall of 2011, Seth met fellow rock climber Robert Atnip

and soon the two were making plans for an extended trip to

Spain. “Seth had bought a ticket to Spain in 2012 to go in the

summer,” says Robert. “He asked me in passing if I wanted to

go and I said ‘sure.’ We went out there for a month. When we

travel, we try not to make anything too set in stone and take

it as it comes.” Seth and Robert’s living-on-the-edge lifestyle

defi nitely isn’t for the faint of heart, but they insist that really

anyone of any means can share in these types of adventures.

“When you are taking more extended trips, people have the

Above: Robert Atnip climbing Aegealis in Kalymnos, GreeceFacing page: Seth Bentley climbing in Céüse, France.


“I LOVE THE NEW HORIZON. IT SOUNDS WEIRD TO A LOT OF PEOPLE, BUT I LOVE SHOWING UP TO AN AIRPORT I’VE NEVER BEEN TO BEFORE WITH NO IDEA HOW TO GET ANYWHERE.

IT’S ALL TOTALLY NEW. YOU REALLY GET TO LIVE IN THE MOMENT AT THESE TIMES.”

SETH BENTLEY


a ride share system that connects travelers with drivers who

have empty passenger seats. Once again, Robert and Seth

put themselves in a less than comfortable spot, as ride shares

with complete strangers can be risky. But Robert insists he

actually feels safer in Europe than in the U.S. “I’ve told people

I would rather hitchhike in the UK before I would hitchhike

in the States.”

Seth most recently followed his hobby to China, where he

got a job teaching English that allowed him to stay for an

extended period and explore the country. “I went to this area

to climb in southern China, and it was a really remote re-

gion,” remembers Seth. “Th ere is a farmers market there that

happens twice a month. People come out of the backwoods

with weird pheasants, turtles, and Chinese medicines. Th ese

people are living off the land and they don’t even actually

“YOU HEAR ALL THE TIME FROM OLDER PEOPLE, ‘TRAVEL WHILE YOU’RE YOUNG,’BUT THEN YOU ALSO HEAR, ‘MAYBE YOU SHOULD GROW UP.’”

ROBERT ATNIP

Above: Seth Bentley climbing in Frankenjura, GermanyFacing page: Telendos Island, Greece


speak traditional Chinese. I hiked up into the mountains,

and it was so cool to see a really primitive part of the world.”

Although rock climbing is always fi rst on their agenda, it is

serving as an awesome excuse for Seth and Robert to see

the world. “If I really want to go to a certain country, I will

look to see if there is a climbing spot,” says Seth. “In Europe,

climbing is world class, better than anything we have in the

States.” Currently stateside, Seth is working on a two-year

plan to prepare for an extended stay in South America.

He is saving money, working on his Spanish, and planning

to buy a good four-wheel drive vehicle for making his trip

south. He hopes he will make it to the cliff s in Patagonia in

southern Chile and Argentina. Robert is planning to make

a trip to South Africa this coming August with friends he

met while in France. Both men agree that they want to settle

down eventually, but not likely anytime soon. “You hear all

the time from older people, ‘travel while you’re young,’” says

Robert. “But then you also hear, ‘maybe you should grow up.’”

Seth admits that his short-term residency in any one place

can make it diffi cult to commit to anything, from a car to a

canine, but the way he sees it, a settled lifestyle can wait. “I

love the new horizon,” says Seth. “It sounds weird to a lot of

people, but I love showing up to an airport I’ve never been to

before with no idea how to get anywhere. It’s all totally new.

You really get to live in the moment at these times.”

| noalastudios.com | march/april | noalastudios.com | march/april [ Acer Palmatum or Japanese Maple ]


plant like a nativetext by allen tomlinson


“March and April are the times to trim and get the dead out of the plants.

You can trim just about everything except the azaleas, which get trimmed after they

bloom. Shape crepe myrtles now, and mulch; add compost to your beds, especially your

annual beds or your vegetable garden spots.”

[ Camellia ]


Springtime in Alabama is cruel. Not because it’s so beautiful outside—although if you work inside

and have to look at it through a window without being able to get outside and play, that’s cruel; not be-

cause the days are getting longer and the sun is getting warmer and buds are starting to appear, because

that’s the most wonderful thing about March and April in Alabama. No, springtime in Alabama is cruel

because it plays with you. More than anything in the world, you want to get out in the yard or the garden

and plant things, and as soon as you do, we get a killing frost or a dusting of snow, and everything you’ve

planted dies. Springtime in Alabama is cruel because it teases you.

Th e Alabama weather in general can be cruel. Travel to other parts of the country and fall in love with

a particular fl ower or tree; bring it back to Alabama and watch it wither and die. Our soil, our weather,

and our rainfall patterns can produce some of the most beautiful and lush vegetation in the world, but

some plants love that and some do not.

Ask anyone in North Alabama about native plants, or imported plants that do well in our region, and

Harry Wallace’s name is going to come up. Th e things Harry knows about plants—just knows—would

take volumes of books to contain, and the people he has taught, guided, and designed for would take

volumes more. If you want to know about what to plant and where, Harry is the man to ask.

[ Cercis Canadensis or Eastern Redbud]


“I was raised on a farm, and my mother was a big plant person,” said Harry. “I loved to help her, and I was

the only one in the family who enjoyed it. After college, my wife, Linda, and I read an article in Southern

Living and decided to landscape our home. It was a disaster. We connected with Pete McNeese, from

Tuscumbia, who was a good plants man; he took us under his wing and introduced us to native plants.

We started looking around to see what we could get that would thrive here, and traveled the southeast

looking for plants for our garden. After a trip to Virginia and West Virginia in 1995, we decided to open

a nursery that specialized in native plants, called Little Cypress Natives—and we’ve been doing it ever

since.”

One of the biggest problems amateur gardeners face is the infl uence of the big box stores. “When we

go to the big stores and see all of the plants blooming in their greenhouses, we get excited, but we don’t

necessarily know anything about where those plants will grow, or if they will do well here at all,” he said.

“Just because a plant looks good at the store and does really well in Florida, doesn’t mean it’s going to

do well here.”

In fact, one of the fi rst considerations when landscaping is drainage. “You want to get water away from

foundations,” said Harry, “and you need to know whether a plant wants to have its feet wet or whether

you need to drain water away from it.” Alabama is well-known for hot and sometimes dry summers, and

[ Azalea]


[ Cornus Florida or Flowering Dogwood ]


“a native plant will basically go to sleep during a drought. Native hydrangea (Oakleaf and Arborescens)

and native azaleas are an example; a drought won’t typically kill them.”

Th e second consideration is what the plant will look like in fi ve or ten years. Take the crepe myrtle. “Th is

is a tree, not a shrub,” said Harry. “People plant them up against the house, and in fi ve or six years they

are chopping off the tops because they have grown so large.” Severe cutting back, called “crepe-murder”

by some, creates weak spots in the tree and can lead to long-term problems. On the other hand, what is

more beautiful than a mature crepe myrtle, trunks trimmed to show off their sculptural shape, a beauti-

ful and blooming shade tree?

Many times, contractors will build houses and put plants in to help the house sell—but they use plants

that grow to be too large in fi ve or six years, and end up being removed and replaced.

Knowing that spring is teasing us, are there things we should be doing in March and April in our yards

and gardens? Of course. “March and April are the times to trim and get the dead out of the plants. You

can trim just about everything except the azaleas, which get trimmed after they bloom. Shape crepe

myrtles now, and mulch; add compost to your beds, especially your annual beds or your vegetable gar-

den spots. Fertilize in March, especially your shrubs, and add pre-emergence at the end of March or

[ Trillium]


[ Mertensia Virginica or Virginia Bluebell ]


the fi rst of April.” Th is is not the time to plant trees or shrubs,

although annuals and perennials can be planted the end

of April. “We plant trees and shrubs from winter through

spring,” Harry said. Summer planting without irrigation is

stressful to plants.

Which leads us to the biggest question of all: what plants do

well here? Th ere is no easy answer, but it’s fun to listen to the

excitement in Harry’s voice as he talks about the work being

done to produce disease-resistant varieties of plants that do

well in our region. Universities, nurseries, and even Southern

Living are grafting, cutting, and reproducing variations of fa-

vorite plants to create long-lasting versions that do well for

us. Here are some of Harry’s and Linda’s notes:

People love lilacs, but they are susceptible to powdery

mildew in the South. It’s a plant that does better north

of Nashville, especially in Kentucky. The National Arbo-

retum is developing some lilacs that are disease-resis-

tant, called Betsy Ross, Declaration, and Independence.

Lilacs tend to be larger than people think, but some of

the new varieties are smaller.

One trend these days is toward smaller houses—patio

homes, condos, and homes with smaller yards. That

means more people are planting in containers and

small spaces, and the market is responding by creat-

ing smaller plants. There are some native Oak Leaf Hy-

drangeas, Munchkin and Ruby Slippers, and the Kalei-

doscope abelia, from China, that are typically gigantic

plants but are now being bred in smaller versions.

Boxwoods are a traditional plant, used a lot here—and

even though they are slow-growing, over time some

are going to be huge. The Wallaces are testing some

“Unraveled” boxwoods (small and weeping) and a ver-

tical growth boxwood called Fastigata that won’t be on

the market for another year or two, but which show in-

credible promise.

“I love purple conefl ower,” said Harry, “because they are

nice and willowy. We found one in our garden with 30

blooms in one mound, and it never grew above two feet

tall.” Because of advances in reproduction, the Wallaces

are watching this plant to see if it can be replicated.

Temperatures are increasing, and we are seeing some

of the eff ects of that—“but we live in a temperate zone

and are blessed with a certain amount of dependable

rainfall,” said Harry. People are trying to plant more

drought-resistant plants, but if you live along our

creeks or rivers, it’s easy to irrigate. “If you live in the

city and use city water, we would suggest plants that

don’t need as much, or use a drip irrigation system be-

cause of the expense of irrigation. Everything, though,

depends on the site, the shade and sunlight, and the

water source.”

Some plants should absolutely be avoided. Think “kud-

zu,” a plant introduced to the South to help with ero-

sion, but which quickly overtook everything it touched.

Privet is a shrub that originally came from China, but

it’s invasive—as are some forms of bamboo, nandina,

and Chinese wisteria. “There is a new version of Privet

called Sunshine that is chartreuse in color, and it pro-

duces no seeds, so it’s sterile. I would never recommend

Privet before, but this is one that’s fi ne.”

No discussion of Southern plants is complete without

the dogwood—but dogwoods are susceptible to dis-

ease and blight. “The University of Tennessee and the

National Arboretum are working on a breed of Ameri-

can dogwoods that are combined with Chinese cornus

kousa, with good results. Cloud Nine is an American

do gwood, found in the wild, that has survived disease

and blight, is considered “resistant,” and can be used

when people want traditional American dogwoods.

There’s also an American Heritage redbud that is pretty

bulletproof, for color in the yard.”

What is Harry’s favorite plant? “The one that’s blooming

right now,” he said with a laugh. “I’m a little traditional,

actually—I like boxwood and mountain laurel, and I

love azaleas, especially the varieties that have been en-

gineered to re-bloom, like Encore. I’m just crazy about

native azaleas and can’t stop tinkering with them; I’ve

even found a wild/natural cross right now that’s named

for my wife. It may never become marketable, but it’s

beautiful.”

Harry and Linda’s knowledge is too large to be contained in

the pages of a magazine, but their nursery, which is open on

Saturdays, is a great place to go see plants in their garden—

and ask questions. Th ey are located at 4970 County Road 41,

by the old Forks of Cypress. For directions, visit www.littlecy-

pressnatives.net.

march/april | noalastudios.com | [ Sanguinaria Canadensis or Bloodroot ]


Three little girls, all with honey-blond

ringlets, have taken over the home of Ryan

and Lisa Clayton. When I arrive for a visit on a

Th ursday evening in January, I scarcely make it

past the door step before these sweet, giggling

girls gather around me to whisk me off like a little army of

pink ants carrying away a crumb. Ella Marie, age fi ve and the

eldest, pulls me into her brightly colored bedroom with her

identical twin sisters, Sophia and Isabella, age three, trail-

ing closely behind. Th ey all chatter excitedly, moving from

one object to the next. “Look at my trophies!” exclaims Ella

Marie, pointing proudly to soccer and dance awards. “And

I painted these pictures!” she says proudly, showing me the

many masterpieces lining the walls. “Do you want to see my

closet?!” she asks. Um, are you kidding? Of course I do. I am,

text by sara wright covington

photos by danny mitchell

after all, just a girl—who happens to love wall-to-wall shoes,

princess dresses, and sparkly tiaras. As we leave the closet,

I notice that in equal proportion to all the dolls and other

toys are the books, which line the bookshelves from ceiling

to fl oor. Th ere are hundreds, and I’m willing to bet many of

them, especially the ones on the lowest shelves within a tiny

person’s reach, have the sticky, well-worn pages of any be-

loved book. Th eir little laughter is truly infectious, and my

face already aches from smiling as Lisa and Ryan wrangle

their living baby dolls into the family room where we can all

sit and chat. As we sit down, the girls set about playing in the

fl oor, shrieking with excitement as Ella Marie demonstrates

a fl awless cartwheel to her younger sisters. “Use your inside

From left to right: Isabella, Ella Marie, and Sophia Clayton



This implant is what makes the diff erence between hearing and not hearing for these three girls.


voices,” says Ryan. I have to admit, as

the mother of two small girls myself,

none of this seems at all unusual to me.

Th is pink pandemonium of laughter

and squealing is my everyday normal.

But this everyday normal is not some-

thing the Claytons take for granted. As

Ella Marie leaps up from her cartwheel,

a small device pops off her ear, and I

am reminded for the fi rst time since my

arrival that Ella Marie and both of her

sisters were born completely deaf. She

bounds over to her mom and says, “Fix

my ear please, Mama.” Seconds later,

device back in place, she has joined her

sisters again and the three of them are

singing “Old McDonald” in perfect, ti-

ny-person pitch. Th is journey to hear-

ing has been long, and the Claytons

still work daily to help their daughters

hear and speak, but for now, they are

grateful just to sit back and listen to the

sweet noise of their miracle children,

who have come a very long way.

Like all couples, when Ryan and Lisa

met nearly 14 years ago, they had no

idea what was in store for them. After

they married, they had always planned

on having children and, as all new

parents, were overcome with the im-

mediate, overwhelming love they felt

when their fi rst daughter, Ella Marie,

was born. “Ryan was holding her in

the hospital and he looked at her and

said, ‘Th is is a special girl who is going

to accomplish special things,’” says Lisa.

“And it’s weird. I just knew something

was wrong.” When Ella Marie failed

the newborn hearing screen just a day

before they were to leave the hospi-

tal, Ryan and Lisa were reassured that

it was likely just fl uid, and that they

should just have her pediatrician re-

screen her in two weeks. Even through

the reassurances that everything was

probably fi ne, Ryan remembers how

overwhelming this news was, especially

for Lisa, who was a teacher and is now

an associate professor at the University

of North Alabama’s Department of El-

ementary Education. “I told them, ‘My

wife has never failed a test in her life

and you are telling her that her child

is a day old and has failed a test,’” says

Ryan. Th e Claytons were worried, but

mostly puzzled at fi rst. “Deafness was

never thought about,” says Lisa, “it was

more like ‘why is she not passing this

test?’ She had ear infections at birth,

but that was coincidental. We went to

see an ENT here in Florence and she

failed there also.” As the next step, the

ENT sent the Claytons to the Easter

Seals of the Shoals who then referred

them to the world-renowned Shea

Clinic in Memphis for further testing.

It was here where they would fi nally

get some answers. “Th e doctor came in

and said ‘We got nothing,’” remembers

Lisa. “For a split second I thought he

meant that they couldn’t fi nd anything.

And then we realized ‘we got nothing’

meant she had no hearing.”

At three months old, Ella Marie was

diagnosed with profound hearing loss,

meaning she was legally deaf. Ryan and

Lisa were told almost immediately that

their daughter would be a candidate for

cochlear implants, which are tiny elec-

tronic devices that are surgically in-

“You teach a child who hears normally how to speak. But we had to teach them how to listen.”

—Ryan Clayton

serted to help provide sound for those

who are deaf or hard of hearing. With

the aid of a small earpiece that serves as

a sound processor, the device is turned

on and sends electrical signals directly

to the auditory nerve, bypassing the

damaged cochlea. But the process isn’t

as simple as just a surgery and then ac-

tivating the device. Ella Marie would

actually have to be taught how to hear.

She would need to learn to recognize

and respond to sound, a process that

hearing babies pick up quickly and

easily. Th e Claytons also faced many

months of testing, counseling, paper-

work, and prayers before Ella Marie

would actually receive her fi rst implant.

She was immediately fi tted for hearing

aids, and then began auditory-verbal

therapy, which is designed to help

hearing-impaired children learn to

listen actively and understand speech.

Wendy Piazza, who is an auditory-

verbal therapist and also the Director

of the Hear Center at Children’s of

Alabama, has worked closely with Ella

Marie and explains part of the process.

“When the implant gets turned on,

the fi rst thing we have to teach them

is presence or absence of sound,” says

Wendy. “Ella Marie had heard a little

with her hearing aids, but the implant

was like starting over, because it was a

new way of hearing.”

Although they now had some answers

and a plan, Ryan and Lisa were still

reeling from the news and would need

to go through their own process of ac-

cepting Ella Marie’s diagnosis. “My

worry was she was never going to hear


me say ‘I love you,’” says Lisa. “I won-

dered if it was something that was my

fault. I thought ‘what did I do wrong?

What did I not know?’” Ryan and Lisa

had a genetic study done at UAB to

see if they could determine a cause for

Ella Marie’s deafness and learned that

she had a complex genetic disorder,

where a protein known as Connexin

26 causes mutations of certain cellu-

lar formations in the inner ear needed

for hearing, resulting in deafness. “Th e

only way you can have the Connexin

26 gene is if both of your parents are

carriers, so Ryan and I knew we were

carriers,” says Lisa. “One in 31 people

has this.” When Ella Marie was 17

months old, she got her fi rst implant

in her right ear. Dr. Audie Woolley, an

ear, nose, and throat doctor who spe-

cializes in pediatric otolaryngology,

performed the surgery at Children’s of

Alabama in Birmingham. She would

receive the implant for her left ear just

after her second birthday.

It would now be up to Ryan and Lisa

and their team of specialists to teach

their daughter literally everything

about sound. “We see the parents as

the primary therapists,” says Wendy Pi-

azza. “A big part of my job is to teach

the parents what therapy to do when

they are not in the clinic.” Working

with the auditory-verbal therapists

at Children’s, Lisa and Ryan learned

how to train their daughter to do what

hearing babies do naturally. “We had

to teach presence of sound,” says Lisa.

“So I would bang pots and pans. When

they get implanted, you have to teach

them what a sound is. Th en you are just

looking for them to have the reaction

of wide eyes. You literally have to teach

them how to react to sound.”

Soon after Ella Marie’s surgery, Ryan

and Lisa found out they were expect-

ing again, and this time, they received

the overwhelming news they were

having twins. Because of the genetic

testing they had done with Ella Ma-

rie, the Claytons knew that there was

a 25 percent chance of deafness in

any future children they had, so when

both girls failed the hospital newborn

hearing screen, Lisa and Ryan were

more prepared to accept the news.

“I had one day that I was really upset

and overwhelmed,” says Lisa. “But I

had already been talking with the sur-

geon. Th ey were fi tted for hearing aids

at two weeks old.” Knowing almost

immediately that the twins would be

candidates for cochlear implants like

their older sister, they turned again to

Dr. Woolley at Children’s of Alabama

to perform the surgery. When Sophia

and Isabella were just eight months

old, they both received implants for

their right ears on the same day. Th ey

would receive implants for their left

ears two months later. Th ey were Dr.

Woolley’s fi rst and only set of twins to

receive cochlear implants thus far. “We

are just getting younger and younger

each time,” says Woolley. “Th ey were

one of our youngest sets. We know

that spoken language is so important

to babies.” Dr. Woolley advocates that

“My worry was she is never going to hear me say ‘I love you.’”

—Lisa Clayton

performing cochlear implant surgery at

a younger age is key in giving deaf chil-

dren a leg up with their development.

“Even the baby talk that you do with

babies really makes a diff erence,” says

Woolley. “It stimulates the pathways

to understanding speech. We used to

wait until age two, so we missed two

years of their brains developing. So

the sooner we can do it, the better.” Dr.

Woolley agrees that the parents are the

most important part of this learning

equation. Speech and language devel-

opment begins before a baby can even

talk, and just spending time talking to

them as babies can make a profound

impact. “Babies who receive at least a

million words spoken to them by the

age of two seem to jump-start their ac-

ademic success,” says Woolley. “Th ere

is a study that shows that if parents

just speak to their babies, their speech

develops sooner. Th at means our deaf

babies need to be hearing as quickly as

possible. Lisa is the perfect example;

she is an education professor. She has

been talking to them since they were

born, and it shows.”

Although they knew what to expect

the second time around, Ryan and

Lisa knew having three young daugh-

ters would mean triple the hard work

and dedication to make sure their

girls received the care it would take

to help them learn to hear and speak.

“You teach a child who hears normally

how to speak,” says Ryan. “But we had

to teach them how to listen.” With all

three of their girls, this would mean


Lisa and Ryan Clayton with their daughters: twins Sophia and Isabella, and Ella Marie.


beginning with the most basic facets of

hearing and speech that a hearing per-

son takes for granted. “Even when all

they could do was coo, that was a skill,”

says Lisa. “We had to work on pitch

with their cooing so they wouldn’t

speak in a monotone voice. Skills are

more explicitly taught to them. We go

to Children’s every Friday where there

are people who work with cochlear im-

plant kids.” Each week the girls work

on using their implants for speech, lan-

guage, listening, and auditory memory.

“Th ere are things we take for granted,

like prepositional phrases, for ex-

ample,” says Lisa. “Th ey have to hear

things so many more times before they

catch on to it. When they were learn-

ing the word ‘up,’ we had to repeat the

word ‘up, up, up,’ because they needed

to hear it over and over. We listen for

every little bit of a word they are say-

ing. You are blessed for every little new

word that they learn.”

Over the next two years, the Claytons’

three girls would have a total of eight

surgeries between them. Ryan and Lisa

work daily with their girls to enhance

their speech and listening skills. Th ey

read 10 books each night before bed,

and Lisa admits that even when they

play, she is always looking for a lesson

that can be taught from it. “When they

play, we just have to pull so many skills

out of it,” says Lisa. “Even when we buy

toys, I will look at a toy and think ‘I can

teach this concept here.’” Ella Marie is

now in kindergarten, where Lisa and

Ryan make sure she stays ahead of the

game. “I’m always thinking ahead of

what she needs to learn,” says Lisa. “I

want her treated the same as any other

child in class. If she were to misbehave

in class, it’s not because she’s deaf.” Lisa

asks to be sent vocabulary lessons for

Ella Marie so she can pre-teach them

and all three girls have weekly appoint-

ments at Children’s for their auditory-

verbal therapy, where they focus on

using their hearing to listen and com-

municate versus relying on lipreading

or sign language. “Some of the research

shows that sign language can become

a crutch if the child is doing an audi-

tory-verbal approach,” says Lisa. “Th ey

don’t do any lip reading, and in ther-

apy their therapist actually covers her

mouth.” Th e Claytons also go against

their natural inclination to safeguard

their daughters from everyday life, as

all parents do. “You just want to shelter

them,” says Lisa. “But you need to put

them into everything so that they are in

every type of situation that every other

child is. So they play soccer and T-ball

and also take dance and gymnastics.”

Eventually when the girls are older,

they will make safety accommodations

throughout their home in the way of

fi re and smoke alarms, as the girls do

not sleep with their earpieces on. “We

try to explain to people, it’s not that

they’re not deaf,” says Lisa. “Th ey are

still deaf. Th ey just have some technol-

ogy. It’s not natural hearing.”

As we neared the end of our visit and

in between my closing questions, Lisa

quietly called out ballet positions to

Ella Marie, who complied nimbly, her

blond curls bobbing as she dipped and

swayed in the center of the room.

“Babies who receive at least a million words spoken to them by the age of two seem to

jumpstart their academic success. There is a study that shows that if parents just speak to their babies,

their speech develops sooner. That means our deaf babies need to be hearing as quickly as possible.”

—Dr. Audie Woolley, Children’s of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama

Sophia was curled up in Ryan’s lap,

and Isabella lay on the fl oor playing a

game and singing softly. I asked them

what the hardest part of their journey

has been so far. “It’s probably worry,”

says Lisa. “You are always worried

about what you will come up against

next. Another big worry is that since

all three of them have hearing loss,

we wonder ‘how do we give every

child what they need? Am I still do-

ing enough to make sure Ella Marie is

doing enough for school?’ It’s just that

constant worry about what’s to come

next.” Lisa and Ryan also worry about

the girls’ internal devices going out and

possibly having to go through the en-

tire process again. But no matter what,

they take comfort in knowing that their

girls are getting the absolute best care

possible. “I told Dr. Woolley, ‘We will

put our trust in you that everything

will be OK,’” says Ryan. “I want our

children to be the poster children for

hearing loss,” says Ryan. Th e girls have

done videos for the hospital and when

I met with them, Lisa was preparing to

present at a cochlear implant confer-

ence with Dr. Woolley, who has been

such an integral part of helping these

three profoundly deaf little girls. “One

of the twins came to see me recently

and she recited a bible verse and sang

a song,” says Woolley. “Everyone at the

clinic was just amazed.” Amazing girls

they are, who will no doubt go on to do

very special things, just as their father

predicted when they were born. Th ese

sweet voices—which have already de-

veloped a Southern accent—are truly

music to their parents’ ears. “I always

say, ‘We are deaf-initely blessed,’” says

Lisa. “Th ey are our little miracle chil-

dren. We’ve had a diff erent type of

journey and it doesn’t mean we won’t

have hard days. But we have a lot of

great days and love getting to watch

them learn and grow.”

DEAFNESS IS THE MOST COMMON BIRTH DEFECT in the United States,

with 1 in 1,000 children born deaf each year, and the Clayton family is not

the only Alabama family who has been able to experience the extreme ben-

efi ts of cochlear implants. When Molly and Frankie Tubbs’s son Trace was

born in October of 2011 at Helen Keller Hospital, they faced the same sce-

nario of a failed newborn hearing screen and reassurance that it was likely

just fl uid causing the failed test. But after seeing several specialists, the

Tubbs learned that their son was profoundly deaf. “You know that deaf-

ness is NOT terminal,” says Molly. “And you are telling yourself as a parent

that this is going to be okay, but you are dying inside thinking that he may

never hear you say ‘I love you’ or listen to his favorite song or communicate

in the only way that we know how to.” The Tubbs now faced the battle of

choosing a next step, and Molly was told by friends to reach out to the

Clayton family for guidance. “On our fi rst phone conversation, Lisa told me

the story of her girls and the remarkable miracle of cochlear implants that

her oldest daughter was experiencing,” says Molly. “So I made an appoint-

ment at Children›s in Birmingham and the process began.” Genetic testing

proved that Trace’s deafness was also caused by Connexin 26, and he wore

hearing aids for a year until he received the implant on November 5, 2011.

Trace is now three and thriving. “He knows his ABCs, counts to 20, says the

Pledge of Allegiance, sings Kenny Chesney’s latest hits, and communicates

just as the average three year-old does,” says Molly. “We work at it but are

so grateful that we get to. The Hear Center in Birmingham is such a bless-

ing to us and cochlear implants are a miracle that we praise God for daily.”

Katy and Luke Smith of Jasper have also seen the benefi ts of cochlear im-

plants, although their journey has been a bit diff erent. Their daughter

Harper, now six, was born in 2008 and actually passed her hospital hearing

screen. It wasn’t until she was nine months old when they took her to the

ENT for an ear infection that they discovered she had moderate hearing loss

in both ears. Harper’s hearing loss was not severe enough to be considered

for cochlear implants at that time, so she was fi tted for hearing aids and be-

gan auditory-verbal therapy at Children’s of Alabama. She did well with the

implants until she was retested before she entered kindergarten last year

and her hearing had worsened, now qualifying her for the implant. “She

has what is called a fl uctuating progressive hearing loss, meaning it gets

worse over time and it can go up and down,” says Katy. “The implant by-

passes all that.” Because Harper was already a patient of Children’s and had

been in auditory-verbal therapy for years, she would be able to receive the

implant almost immediately. “A fi ve-year old having surgery is a big deal,”

remembers Katy, “just getting them to the hospital is a hurdle. You have

to mentally prepare and tell them, ‘We think this is what is best for you’ is

diffi cult. She wanted her hearing aids. So we said, ‘We’ll take you to Dis-

ney World.’ She shed not one tear the entire time!” One year later, Harper is

in the fi rst grade and hearing much better, thanks to her fi rst cochlear im-

plants. “She hears so much better,” says Katy. “She just started basketball

again. Last year was hard because she couldn’t hear the ref, but this year

has been like night and day. It’s been huge.”


| noalastudios.com | march/april | noalastudios.com | march/april

march/april | noalastudios.com | march/april | noalastudios.com |



This is an article about the future. It doesn’t involve crystal balls or time

machines, but it does speculate about what this place will look like in the years to

come. North Alabama, especially the part of North Alabama around Huntsville, is

an unusual place, seemingly immune to the worst of recessions and some of the

problems of the rest of the state; in some ways, this isn’t North Alabama at all. And

yet, in many other ways, it couldn’t be more representative. What will happen here

in the future will be interesting, and this much is certain: change is coming. Fast.

To speculate about the future of this interesting place, we have to start with a look

at our past. So, let’s get started. What happened in our history that provided the

building blocks that will propel us into a bright future?



Poverty and Progress

One hundred fi fty years ago, at the end of the Civil War, North Alabama was a

poverty-stricken place. Th e War wreaked havoc on the economy, and although

there was wealth here, the majority of residents were farmers or laborers, barely

growing or earning enough to feed their families. Th ankfully, our state’s natural re-

sources were substantial—imagine if we did not have good soil and adequate rain-

fall—but according to the 1880 census, only slightly more than half of the farmers

in the state owned their own land. Th e rest were tenants, and they were poor.

A post-war social structure that included a 1901 state constitution that favored

landowners and disenfranchised blacks, women, and white men who did not own

land, meant there was not much opportunity for upward social mobility. Th e con-

stitution also kept property taxes low to favor large landowners, which meant that

education and social programs were underfunded or nonexistent.

Alabama was a poor state, and it remained poor for a long time. In 1940, a state-

wide survey showed that only 1.4 percent of rural houses had running water, less

than 1 percent had a fl ush toilet, and less than 12 percent had a refrigerator. And

North Alabama was not immune to any of this; in the Tennessee Valley, we were

about as poor as it gets.

After the Civil War, however, there was one thing we could still do: grow cotton.

And because our climate and soil is ideal for the growth of cotton, we attracted

the attention of northern industrialists who decided to locate mills here. With

economic incentives from our area, the fi rst group, Dallas Manufacturing, opened

Dallas Mill in 1891, followed quickly by Merrimack Manufacturing, Lowe Mill,

Lincoln Mill, and a few other smaller textile businesses. Th e mills provided em-

ployment, housing, stores, churches, and entertainment for the laborers and their

families, and Huntsville was able to enjoy a measure of prosperity that much of

Alabama wouldn’t see for many generations.

text by allen tomlinson and sara wright covington

photos by cliff billingsley and patrick hood

additional photography from everett historical


On May 18, 1933, Congress passed the TVA Act and created

“a corporation clothed with the power of government but

possessed of the fl exibility and initiative of a private enter-

prise,” according to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Th rough

a series of power-producing dams along the Tennessee River,

the TVA accomplished three major feats: they made the riv-

er navigable for commerce and reduced fl ooding and erosion

problems; they provided electricity to this rural area of the

country; and by doing those two things, they had a positive

economic impact in the region and helped attract additional

industry. Once again, the Huntsville area defi ed the rest of

the state and enjoyed a measure of success.

Life was not without its challenges. Th ere were no child labor

laws, and children as young as 12 years old could be found

working in the mills. “Company stores” deducted purchases

from wages, which meant workers might not bring home

any money (although they also didn’t have any bills). Work

in the mills was hard, and the days were long. And then came

the Great Depression, which devastated an industry that was

already beginning its decline.

THE NEW HORIZON

Above, left: A workman with the Tennessee Valley Authority public works projects opens a pipeline valve at a dam. Right: An underage girl tends a cotton spinner.

© E

ve

rett H

istorica

l

© E

ve

rett H

istorica

l



THE NEW HORIZON

Suddenly, the best and brightest from all over the world were coming to Huntsvilleand North Alabama to be a part of the mission to put man on the moon.


In 1934, because of federal legislation allowing workers to

unionize, Huntsville mill workers organized and made four

demands. First, they asked for the elimination of the “stretch-

out” policy of requiring workers to do more work without an

increase in pay; asked for a minimum wage of $12 a week;

asked for a 30-hour work week; and asked for reinstatement

for any workers fi red because of union organization.

Th at didn’t work. On July 16, 1934, more than 4,000 mill

workers in Huntsville walked off their jobs. Two days later,

more than 20,000 textile workers in Alabama, about half the

textile workforce, had joined the strike. As word spread, tex-

tile workers up the Eastern Seaboard also walked off the job,

and the strike became huge. Th en it got nasty; there were

kidnappings, beatings, and confrontations, the worst of

which centered around a mill in Decatur. Th e strike ended in

September, and workers returned to their jobs, but in many

ways this was a deathblow for mills in the Tennessee Valley,

and their economic prominence began to subside. Th e irony

was that Madison County continued to be the top cotton-

producing county in the state.

From Mills to Munitions

In 1941, the U.S. Army selected a parcel of land on the south-

west side of downtown Huntsville, 35,000 acres in size, to

build three chemical munitions facilities for World War II.

Th e three facilities were the Huntsville Arsenal, the Red-

stone Ordnance Plant (later renamed Redstone Arsenal),

and the Gulf Chemical Warfare Depot. Th ese entities oper-

ated through the War, employing as many as 20,000 people

and providing opportunities for some of those who no lon-

ger had mill work. On the heels of the Great Recession, the

work at the Arsenal helped sustain solid growth, even in

time of war.

Th ankfully, the War ended. Unfortunately, so did the need

for munitions. Th e three entities, now called Redstone Ar-

senal, were facing extinction, but a powerful political and

business push began to attract new tenants. One, the Keller

Automobile factory (profi led in the May/June 2014 issue of

this magazine), produced only 18 cars before the untimely

death of George Keller. Senator John Sparkman attracted

some interest from the U.S. Air Force, who was looking for a

The Apollo 11 Lunar Module ascending from the moon’s surface.

© Everett Historical


testing facility, but that fell through. Redstone Arsenal pre-

pared itself for disposal.

Enter Operation Paperclip

For anyone younger than 50, it’s hard to imagine or remem-

ber the Cold War. World War II had ended, and the economy

in the U.S. was booming. Returning soldiers were educat-

ing themselves, thanks to the G.I. Bill, marrying and start-

ing families, and moving to the suburbs in droves. Gas was

cheap and cars were huge; poodle skirts, radio shows, rock

and roll, and a baby boom were underway. Life was good.

Except for those damned Communists. Our society had a

tremendous suspicion of the Russians and other post-war

powerful countries, convinced (rightly so, perhaps) that they

were spying on us and actively working to overthrow us for

world dominance. Th e race for technical supremacy was on,

and we were determined to win.

At the end of World War II, there were over 1,500 scientists,

technicians, engineers, and professionals from Nazi Germa-

ny that were brought to the United States for employment.

Th e reason was twofold: these intelligent people were knowl-

edgeable and had scientifi c expertise that could be used on

our side, and, maybe just as importantly, we wanted to pre-

vent these brilliant minds from going to the Soviet Union or

remaining in post-war Germany to help our enemies. Presi-

dent Harry Truman’s orders expressly excluded anyone who

had been a member of the Nazi Party or an active supporter

of Nazi militarism, and that presented a problem: most of

the leading scientists involved would have been rendered in-

eligible for recruitment under these rules. Th e solution came

from the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency: they carefully

scrubbed the identities of these scientists and created new

backgrounds for them. Th e initiative was named “Operation

Paperclip” because of the paperclips used to attach their new

profi les to their U.S. personnel fi les.

Th ese rocket scientists began settling in the U.S. Wernher von

Braun arrived at Fort Strong, in Boston Harbor; others were

located at Fort Bliss, Texas, and White Sand Proving Grounds,

New Mexico, all as “War Department Special Employees.”

Th ank goodness for Senator John Sparkman and other area

business leaders who were relentless in their search for a pur-

pose for Redstone Arsenal. In 1950, the Arsenal was selected

for the Army’s rocket and missile development program, and

about 1,000 people were transferred from Fort Bliss to create

the Ordnance Guided Missile Program. Joined by a group of

scientists led by Wernher von Braun, just as the Korean War

began, the OGMC was charged with the mission of develop-

ing what eventually became known as the Redstone Rocket, a

rocket central to Army missile programs and the technology

that eventually led to America’s space program.

Huntsville was no longer a mill town; Huntsville was going

to play a major role in putting man on the moon.

From Missles to the Moon

It makes sense to take a minute and contrast what was hap-

pening in Huntsville with what was happening in the rest of

the state of Alabama.

In 1960, more than 41 percent of Alabama’s counties had

poverty rates of more than 20 percent. Even as recently as

2000, Alabama’s per capita income was 20 percent below the

national average, and almost one in three African Ameri-

cans in the state was living below the poverty level. (Eleven

percent of white Alabamians were, too.) According to the

2000 census, Alabama was the seventh-poorest state in the

THE NEW HORIZON

At the end of World War II, there were over 1,500 scientists, technicians, engineers, and professionals from Nazi Germany that were brought to the United States for employment.


Dr. Wernher von Braun in his offi ce at the Marshall Space Flight Center. Photo courtesy of NASA

© NASA


THE NEW HORIZON

country and contained eight of the 100 poorest counties in

the nation.

But once again, North Alabama was the exception. Th e 2010

census lists Shelby County and Madison County as the two

Alabama counties with the highest per capita income, both

higher than the national average. (Every other county in the

state ranked below the 2010 national average of $27,334.)

Mooresville, Alabama, is ranked as the second-wealthiest

community in the state, with a per-capita income of $51,694,

and the city of Madison is number 18, at $27,821. (Most of

the other communities in the top twenty are around Moun-

tain Brook in Birmingham.)

Education is responsible for some of this. Th e State Depart-

ment of Education reported a statewide graduation rate of

80 percent in 2013, and Madison County’s rate was 86 per-

cent. Th e city of Madison, the fastest growing city in Ala-

bama, can claim that 57 percent of its residents age 25 and

older have bachelor’s degrees or greater; that’s compared to

the entire state of Alabama, which can claim only 22 percent.

Th e national average is 28 percent.

Back to the story. On February 1, 1956, the Army Ballistic

Missile Agency (ABMA) was formed on Redstone Arsenal

to develop the U.S. Army’s fi rst large ballistic missile. Major

John B. Medaris was in command, and Wernher von Braun

was the technical director. Using technology from the Ger-

man V-2 missile, the Redstone Rocket led to the design for

a three-stage rocket, called the Jupiter, that could be used

to launch satellites. America’s fi rst satellite, Explorer 1, was

launched in 1958; the Redstone was also used as a launch

vehicle for Project Mercury, which put the fi rst man into

orbit around the earth. In 1960, ABMA, the new Army

Ordnance Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, the Jet

Propulsion Laboratory in California, White Sands Proving

Ground in New Mexico, and the Army Rocket and Guided

Missile Agency were transferred to NASA, and the George

C. Marshall Space Flight Center was formed. Wernher von

Braun became its leader. Th e largest of the NASA Centers,

Marshall Space Flight Center was located—where else?—on

Redstone Arsenal.

Cue the engineers. Suddenly, the best and brightest from all

over the world were coming to Huntsville and North Ala-



bama to be a part of the mission to put

man on the moon.

“Th e growth of Huntsville is

diff erent from other towns,”

said Mayor Tommy Battle,

“because the growth here

in the 1960s was explosive.

We had a downtown area,

but we outgrew it too fast.

Th ings were happening so

quickly, we expanded out-

ward, and our downtown

was left behind.” Th at is not

a bad thing, as we will discuss later,

but it meant that the area scrambled

for a while to make sure infrastructure

kept up with the growth. It also meant

that Huntsville became an interna-

tional town, unlike any other place in

Alabama; engineers and scientists from

everywhere were descending on this

place and shaping its growth. Because

they were educated, they demanded

good education; because they were

traveled, they demanded culture, such

as a symphony, art museum, and other

venues. As work continued to put man

on the moon, attention was focused on

this region, and it was all, mostly, good.

Huntsville was the Rocket City, and we

were being propelled upward and on-

ward by the outstanding work being

done here.

For a long time, it got better and bet-

ter. Th e major mission for Marshall

Space Flight Center was to develop the Saturn boosters used

in the Apollo Lunar Landing Program. Another facility, the

Huntsville Operations Support Center, was created to moni-

tor rocket launches from Cape Canaveral and to support

ISS launch, payload, and experimental activities at Kennedy

Space Flight Center. Project Apollo put 12 human beings on

the moon between July 20, 1969, and December of 1972.

Transitions

Huntsville faced a crossroads—and some tough economic

times—when the Apollo program ended in the early 1970s.

Th ere was fear that the Arsenal would once again have to

look for a purpose. But things were diff erent, this time. Th e

space program had spun off a variety of companies, many

THE NEW HORIZON

Tommy Battle

Co

urte

sy p

ho

to


Above: The Security Assistance Command headquarters on Redstone Arsenal. Below, left: Testing of the James Webb Telescope mirrors which took place at Marshall Space Flight Center. Photos courtesy of Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County


THE NEW HORIZON

© C

liff Billin

gsle

y


housed in Cummings Research Park; Milton Cummings,

the president of Brown Engineering Company, and Joseph

Moquin, his successor, had successfully proposed that the

city of Huntsville develop 3,000 acres of land as a high-tech

research park, and it was opened in 1962 with Brown Engi-

neering (now Teledyne Brown Engineering) as its fi rst tenant.

Th at company was joined by a variety of other organizations,

including Lockheed, IBM, Northrop, and the University of

Alabama in Huntsville. Today, the park is approaching 4,000

acres in size and is the second largest research park in the

United States, second in size only to Research Triangle Park

in North Carolina. About 25,000 employees work in the Park

in one of the more than 280 companies there, compared with

about 37,000 or so who work on the Arsenal. Industries in

the Park are varied, too, and that diversity has proven to be

valuable; in addition to aerospace and defense companies,

there are engineering, manufacturing, software, information

technology, and biotech companies. ADTRAN, a telecom-

munications and internetworking products provider, is lo-

cated there; Intergraph, one of the hundred largest software

companies in the world, is nearby.

And the space program is far from over. NASA programs,

including the International Space Station, mean the Arsenal

continues to be relevant, and the Army’s work in missile de-

fense also takes place there.

In 2005, Congress initiated a BRAC—Base Realignment and

Closure. It was bad news for many communities who housed

military installations, but it was good news for Huntsville.

Army Materiel Command, in essence the purchasing depart-

ment for the Army, was relocated to Redstone Arsenal, along

with the Space and Missile Defense Command headquarters.

It meant about 5,000 new jobs, with another 5,000 support

jobs, and it was a win for North Alabama.

Three Areas to Watch

As we go back to our crystal ball and contemplate the future

for North Alabama, there are three areas to watch. Th e fi rst

is the Arsenal, with the Army and NASA; the second is an

organization called HudsonAlpha; and the third is a unique

place called Lowe Mill.

“Th ere is no doubt that the Arsenal will continue to play a

major role in our future,” said Huntsville Mayor Tommy Bat-

tle. “As the city, we are working on infrastructure to continue

to make it easier for the almost-40,000 people who work

there every day to get on and off the Arsenal.” Th at includes

$7 million spent on Martin Road, the western entrance to the

property, so that there will be four easy ways in and out. “A

lot of other bases in the country are gridlocked and are over

capacity,” he said, “but we still have room for development.

By investing in that development, we support the work that’s

being done there, and we can hopefully protect ourselves

from future BRAC programs and sequestration that might

negatively aff ect us.”

But it goes deeper than that. Huntsville has a plan that in-

cludes investing $25 million a year in roads so that the city

does not outgrow its infrastructure. “We’re working hard to

manage our growth wisely, so that quality of life doesn’t suf-

fer,” Battle said.

Th at also means working to redevelop downtown. (See the

sidebar about downtown Huntsville and development in

Madison.) “Even after a decade of growth, we think that this

will continue to be a big small town,” said Battle. “It’s nice to

go places and see someone you know, but it’s also nice to see

someone new. Th at’s a quality we don’t want to lose.”

“There is no doubt that the Arsenal will continue to play a major role in our future.As the city, we are working on infrastructure to continue to make it easier

for the almost-40,000 people who work there every day to get on and off the Arsenal.”Tommy Battle


THE NEW HORIZON

Jim Hudson, co-founder of Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology

Th e space program is still

important, according to

Madison Mayor Troy Tru-

lock, but one area of growth

in the future will be cy-

ber security—and we are

perfectly positioned to be

leaders in that fi eld. “We

have expertise in technol-

ogy here, and cyber is going

to become more and more

important moving into the

future. As the world becomes more sophisticated, there will

be more opportunities to help protect and manage security,

and I think our area will be a leader.” Madison is also invest-

ing in infrastructure to make it easier for residents to move

to and from major employment centers like the Arsenal and

Research Park. (See sidebar, page 78.)

Recent announcements about two major employers, Rem-

ington and Polaris, might lead one to think that we are diver-

sifying by moving back into basic manufacturing, but both

mayors are quick to point out that manufacturing these days

is more high-tech than not. “Advanced manufacturing is

high-tech,” said Battle, “and our challenge will be to continue

to educate a workforce that is ready.”

Biotechnology as the Next Wave

Meet Jim Hudson. He’s an engaging, fascinating man, full of

energy, quick to smile. He’s an entrepreneur, and civic mind-

ed; some of us are convinced he and a group of his friends

may have started something that could be the next big thing.

Jim is a Huntsville native (rarer and rarer these days), and as

a child he was fascinated by the chemistry set he got when

he was nine years old. He enrolled as a chemistry major at

the University of Alabama and studied chemistry and phys-

ics “partly because it only required one year of English and

humanities,” he said with a smile. He participated in ROTC

in college, graduated and went to fl ight school, served tours

in Vietnam, and then came home to Huntsville to join his

father, also an entrepreneur, in Hudson Metals, an aluminum

and grey iron foundry. Th eir company made parts for elec-

trical motors and gear for boats, and things were going well,

even though it was clear that more and more foundry prod-


Troy Trulock

Co

urte

sy p

ho

to

ucts were being sourced from overseas. “And then one day,

we got an off er on the foundry, so we sold it,” Jim said. With

time on his hands and some money in the bank, he returned

to school at UAH to earn his masters degree in biology.

While he was there, he began a side business isolating genes

for muscle development in cattle. It required a starter sam-

ple, which could be made synthetically, but the starter took

four weeks to get. Not because it took four weeks to make,

but because the company in California that provided the

starters was so backed up with orders. “I learned that a syn-

thesizer cost $25,000, so I invested in one and began creating

my own starter,” he said. “And then I started advertising in

science magazines and promised delivery of the starters to

others within 48 hours,” thanks to a newly opened shipping

company called FedEx. At the end of six months, he had six

machines and employed 15 people. Th at company grew into

Research Genetics, a world leader in genetic linkage prod-

ucts and an important partner in the Human Genome Proj-

ect, a project to sequence the DNA found in human cells.

In 1999, Research Genetics merged with Invitrogen Corpo-

THE NEW HORIZON


Above: The park outside HudsonAlpha headquarters is shaped like a DNA double helix. Below and facing page: The corporate headquarters of HudsonAlpha on the edge of Research Park.

“I imagine the day, soon, when your DNA can be sequenced and converted to informationcontained on a thumb drive that you take with you to a pharmacy, so that medicine

can be tailored to your specifi c DNA.”Jim Hudson

ration (now Life Technologies, Inc.), and Jim found himself

with “more money than I thought there was in the world.”

Enter Lonnie McMillian. An engineer by training, McMillian

is also an entrepreneur who cofounded a company that built

mini computers; after that company sold in the early 1980s,

Lonnie joined the team that founded ADTRAN, a global

provider of networking and communications equipment.

Fascinated by biotechnology, he retired from ADTRAN in

2001, sought out Jim Hudson, and the two laid out a plan for

a non-profi t research organization for biotechnology. Th e

two contributed seed money, and with help from Alabama’s

then-governor Bob Riley, who invested economic develop-

ment dollars in the venture, created HudsonAlpha Institute

for Biotechnology.

Explaining HudsonAlpha, biotechnology, and DNA can be

complicated, and for a more complete overview the Hudson-

Alpha Institute conducts regular educational sessions called

“Biotech 101” and “Biotech 201,” taught by Dr. Neil Lamb

and aimed at the non-scientist who wants to understand

more. But here are some highlights: HudsonAlpha is a non-

profi t organization focused on research.

Th e fascinating part, though, is what that research can do.

“Th ere are a lot of medical applications,” said Jim. “I imagine

the day, soon, when your DNA can be sequenced and con-

verted to information contained on a thumb drive that you

take with you to a pharmacy, so that medicine can be tailored

to your specifi c DNA.” One research project at HudsonAl-

pha involves pediatric genetics and undiagnosed diseases

in children; today, children in this study and their parents

are having their DNA sequenced to arrive at the root cause

of their disease. Another research project in agriculture in-

volves sequencing the DNA of poplar trees from the West

Coast, to determine why some trees contain a certain type

of cellulose and others do not. Th at will lead to the ability to

select poplar trees that are more suited for producing energy.

Discoveries in the laboratories have resulted in businesses

that are working to develop these discoveries into market-

able products or treatments. Some may, in fact, lead to cures.

HudsonAlpha’s president, Dr. Rick Myers, has an impres-

sive resume. In 1986, Myers developed a technique for de-

tecting genetic mutations that earned him an invitation to

THE NEW HORIZON


A DNA sequence



participate in a scientifi c meeting, called by the Department

of Defense, to see if new methods for determining genetic

mutations could detect an increase in mutations among the

survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. Th e

answer—“not without an enormous eff ort to map the entire

human genome was undertaken”—led to the creation of the

Human Genome Project. In 1990, when the Human Ge-

nome Project began in earnest, Myers’ lab was one of only

four centers to receive funding to map and sequence the

chromosomes that make up human DNA.

Jim Hudson is passionate about the three driving forces

behind the Institute. Th e fi rst is research; the second is en-

terprise, the creation of businesses that take that research

into the world and generate employment and economic de-

velopment, and give back to contribute to more research.

But the third is education; it is very important to Jim that

future biotech leaders are educated, and the Institute’s out-

reach teams work through hands-on classroom programs,

in-depth school and summer camp experiences for teachers

and students, digital learning programs, and free seminars

for the public, such as the Biotech 101 and 201 programs.

What does this mean for the future? It’s quite possible that

Huntsville and North Alabama will lead the way in biotech

research and technology, which will change the face of medi-

cine. “A child born today could possibly expect to live to 125

years old or more,” said Jim Hudson. “We already know that

our bodies can last that long, and as medicine gets better,

our lifespans will continue to rise.” Barring accidents and bad

decisions, of course, it might be conceivable to imagine a day

when diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis,

and other medical problems can be eliminated or controlled.

And as a high-tech center here in North Alabama, who bet-

ter to lead the way? We’ve already put 12 men on the moon;

who could have imagined that, a hundred years ago?

An Artist Uprising: Lowe Mill Arts and Entertainment

Jim Hudson and his late wife Susie are unique not just be-

cause of Jim’s fascination with all things biotech and, during

her life, Susie’s love for the City of Huntsville (Susie worked

in the mayor’s offi ce before her death, fi ve years ago); they

THE NEW HORIZON



THE NEW HORIZON

The new expansion at Lowe Mill Arts & Entertainment


both were willing to invest in the things they were passionate

about. For Susie, that meant leading a downtown revitaliza-

tion (see sidebar); for Jim, it means an investment in the arts.

“In 1979, I traveled to Arlington, Virginia, on business and

got to tour a place called the Torpedo Factory,” said Jim. “It

was a crude place, an old abandoned torpedo factory the city

owned, which they rented to a community of artists for a

dollar a year. It was fascinating.” It gave him an idea, too, for

an artist’s complex in Huntsville. After all, all work and no

creative play makes North Alabama a dull place, from a cul-

tural standpoint.

Not that Huntsville has ever been a creative wasteland. Th is

place is home to the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, the

longest continuously operating professional orchestra in the

state (and maybe the southeast); it also boasts world-class

museums and tourist attractions, the beautiful Botanical

Gardens, and a community of artists, musicians, dancers,

88.7 FM Muscle Shoals • 100.7 FM Huntsvillewww.apr.org

News, classicalmusic and more


performers, and creative folk. It’s just that the tech side tends

to dominate, since that’s what drives so much of the business

in this area.

“After Research Genetics merged, I was approached by a

commercial realtor who asked me to look at the old Lowe

Mill building,” said Jim. It was empty, but had been used fi rst

as a mill, then as the General Shoe Plant, and then as a stor-

age facility for Martin Industries, who made wood burning

stoves and heating appliances. Th e cost was $900,000, and

Jim bought it. Th is would be Huntsville’s Torpedo Factory.

Artists communities can’t happen with-

out an angel, and Jim has been that;

his investment in Lowe Mill to date is

around $7 million, but his vision has

become a reality. Lowe Mill is a creative

beehive.

“In my mind, engineering, math, and sci-

ences are already a part of the creative

process,” said Marcia Freeland, executive

director of Lowe Mill Arts and Entertain-

ment. “It’s just a natural combination.”

Today, Lowe Mill is the largest indepen-

dently owned facility of its kind, housing

over 120 artists’ studios as well as res-

taurants, performance venues, and other

small businesses. Since Lowe Mill fi rst

opened in 1901 as a cotton mill, it has

been a part of Huntsville’s heritage, employing the forefathers

whose descendants have become the engineers and scientists

who made the Rocket City what it is today. As Huntsville

moves into the future, Lowe Mill will continue to play a piv-

otal role as the center where education, creation, and a sense

of community can all exist together.

“Entry into this community is juried,” said Jim, “and that

maintains a high standard for the quality of art represented

there. Another important component is the requirement

that every artist be in the studio at least 50 percent of the

time during public hours. We did not want this to be a place

where artists go to hide and create; we want the public to

have access to this as an educational center, where they can

come and learn from the artists and watch them work.” Once

again, Jim’s commitment to education shines through in this

endeavor, just as it is a central part of HudsonAlpha.

Dustin Timbrook, media director for Lowe Mill, has a de-

gree in art and initially came to Huntsville specifi cally for

Lowe Mill. “Th e thing about an art degree is that you don’t

go to art school just to learn how to paint and draw,” he said.

“Art schools give you way more abstract things to think

about.” Timbrook believes that Lowe Mill is already part of

what is called the maker movement, an idea created at MIT,

where artists, engineers, and entrepreneurs can co-exist in

informal, industrial-type spaces such as Lowe Mill to solve

problems and create things together.

“Creativity is the ability to identify

problems that aren’t obvious,” said Tim-

brook. And Mayor Battle agrees about

the synergy that engineers and artists

can create, pointing out that both need

the other. “We need creative people to

think up the projects, engineers to make

them into products, and both to pur-

chase them to make the economy work,”

Battle said.

Th is process of creation and the meeting

of minds is increasingly made possible

through facilities called fab labs, small

scale workshops where ideas and pro-

totypes can come to life through fl exible

manufacturing equipment like laser cut-

ters, 3-D printers, and digital technology. (Th e maker move-

ment suggests that in the future, people will increasingly

learn to make and fi x things on their own, without a depen-

dency on mass manufacturers.) Fab labs are popping up all

over the country to provide access to technology for anyone

who wants to create or invent, but who cannot aff ord the ex-

pensive equipment. Mind Gear Labs is one such spot—and

is now housed in Lowe Mill. “Th ese guys are here now, and

a lot of our artists are starting to use their services and take

classes,” said Timbrook. “People from the community are also

starting to use it and send their kids to take classes as well.”

One of the classes off ered for kids is for Lego-robotics,

which is exactly what it sounds like—kids building struc-

THE NEW HORIZON



tures with Legos and then bringing them to life through fab

lab technology.

“Without creativity, all technology would be pointless,” said

Anne Condid, a senior lab technician at Mind Gear. “Th e in-

ternet is all the result of creativity. We just provide the tools

for people to use their creativity and make their visions a

reality. We have memberships, because most people can’t

purchase that equipment itself. Th e laser printer costs more

than my fi rst car! So for the ability to use that and the other

tools, it’s a pretty good deal for a $60 membership.”

Timbrook believes that as fab labs continue to grow, 3-D

printers will be the wave of the future. Centers like Lowe

Mill will be essential in helping to create prototypes and

make it possible to make items that have formerly been

mass produced. “A 3-D printer is a printer that can print

out physical objects,” said Timbrook. “It has a little nozzle

that gets hot and there is a fi lling that goes into it that’s like

a harder kind of plastic. When it comes out, it cools down

and hardens. Th e way it prints out these objects, is that it

prints out a layer at a time and then stacks up the layers. Th e

signifi cance of that is that in the future, a lot of the things

we would have to go to a store to get, we will be able to

print at home on a printer.” Again, this will likely mean that

engineers and artists will be coming together to create and

implement designs, paving the way to eventually make it

easy for the people to essentially print anything they want

from a 3-D printer, including everything from sprockets to

sculptures. “Th ere are lots of other prototyping tools, like

laser cutters, that artists are really excited about as well,”

said Timbrook. “Th at kind of tool really lends itself to any

kind of creation, whether it’s a mechanical engineer design-

ing sophisticated sprockets, or a visual artist who wants to

make some type of interactive sculpture.”

As Lowe Mill moves into the future, one thing is certain:

education will continue to be a huge part of its foundation.

Marcia Freeland sees the property continuing to expand,

with even more opportunities for creative artists and entre-

preneurs to share space and take classes. Timbrook believes

that we are quickly moving toward a society where creativ-

ity will be a vital skill, as certain mass production industries

become obsolete. “We are setting the bar for what other

communities need to be doing,” said Timbrook. “I think for

a long time the arts in Huntsville were overshadowed by the

technology culture of the city,” he added. “I think that’s start-

ing to pass. I think what we will discover in coming years

is that with art and technology and engineering, there is a

huge gray area. I don’t think they are all that diff erent. I think

they all overlap and intersect, and I think that is happening at

Lowe Mill specifi cally. In the future we’ll be a popular busi-

ness that’s profi table, and what will follow is that other Lowe

Mill-like entities will be popping up all over the world.”

The Arsenal, HudsonAlpha, and the Arts

Huntsville and the surrounding areas of North Alabama

are very representative of the state of Alabama in a num-

ber of ways. We’re polite, generous, self-suffi cient people, all

Southern traits, and when newcomers move here, it doesn’t

take them long to adopt those mannerisms. People let others

merge in traffi c; we smile and wave; as the Mayor points out,

we speak to people we know and enjoy meeting people we

don’t. Th is is a Southern town—a Southern city, actually—

and that charm is likely to remain with us for the future.

But in other ways, Huntsville is not an Alabama city at all.

Th is is a place that helped man touch outer space, and we

know that there are unlimited possibilities. With a mixture

of thoughtful and planned growth, a focus on education in

every aspect of our lives, and a combination of creative, en-

gineering, and business expertise, we’ll continue to lead Ala-

bama forward—and not just the state of Alabama, but the

entire world. We see Huntsville’s horizon, and it looks pretty

bright. Get ready for an interesting ride!

THE NEW HORIZON

Today, Lowe Mill is the largest independently owned facility of its kind, housing over 120artists’ studios as well as restaurants, performance venues, and other small businesses.


GIZEHMAYARI

THE NEW HORIZON



Huntsville’s Downtown Development

“When Huntsville grew so quickly, in the 1960’s, it outgrew

our downtown,” said Mayor Tommy Battle. For years, down-

town was the place to go only when you had to do city

business, because of the courthouse and other city build-

ings there. Otherwise, storefronts and businesses along

University Drive and Memorial Parkway provided just about

everything you needed, and downtown fell into the same

shape as many other downtowns in America: not desolate,

but somewhat forgotten.

Not anymore. Have you been downtown lately? Developers

have taken older buildings and remodeled them to bring

residents downtown, and where there are residents, retail

follows. “By 2018, we will have more than 800 apartments

downtown and between 1,200 and 1,600 people living

there,” said the mayor. Several fi ne dining restaurants and re-

tail stores are located on the square and right beyond, with

more coming, and the new headquarters for al.com and

the Huntsville Times and the continuing interest in Harrison

Brothers mean there are more and more reasons to not only

come downtown, but to stay.

The historic homes near the square have always been desir-

able addresses, but it took investment from visionaries to

make the rest happen. Cityscapes, a real estate company

created by Jim and Susie Hudson, began buying buildings

downtown and turning the upstairs into high-end condos

(at the Terry Hutchens Building) and restaurants (including

the current locations of The Bottle and Humphreys). Susie,

who passed away in 2009, believed that if young people

had things to do downtown, they wouldn’t leave—and her

theory is proving to be true. Other far-sighted developers

are also creating living space downtown, including Bristol

Development’s Twickenham Square project, site of a new

Publix grocery store, restaurants, and shops, and Artisan

Lofts, 246 upper-end living spaces convenient to every-

thing. Charlie and Sasha Sealy’s Belk Hudson Lofts took a

former department store and created 75 living spaces, re-

taining the look and feel of the original building but giving

residents the best of everything—including walking access

to great restaurants and shopping.

Today, there’s even a non-profi t organization whose mis-

sion is to bring attention downtown. Chad Emerson, CEO of

Downtown Huntsville, Inc. has brought attention to down-

town by encouraging food trucks, art installations, and even

miniature golf on the sidewalks. Green Street Market, an ini-

tiative of Church of the Nativity, brings huge crowds down-

town on Thursday afternoons during the warmer months.

“This is an exciting time to be in downtown Huntsville,” said

Mayor Battle. “Downtown is becoming a gathering place,

once again, and a place that represents our identity as a city.

We may be a small big city, but we have a wonderful quality

of life.”

Town Madison

Madison, Alabama, is the fastest growing city in the state

of Alabama. Madison started as a small rural community

near the railroad tracks in 1869, in what is now called his-

toric downtown Madison, and is continuing its explosive

growth with the development of two new large expansion

corridors: the County Line Road corridor and Town Madison.

“When I fi rst came to offi ce, the city was fi nishing the Shops

of Madison, a 30-acre development on Highway 72 an-

chored by a new Target store,” said Madison Mayor Troy Tru-

lock. “For the long-term growth and prosperity of Madison, I

knew we needed to open up two new large expansion cor-

ridors to support the city for the next 20 years. The fi rst cor-

ridor is the County Line Road corridor, which encompasses

about 800 acres of development; and the second corridor

is Town Madison, which encompasses about 700 acres of

development. The development of these two corridors will

create about 1,500 acres of growth and thousands of jobs

for the city and citizens of Madison.”

The County Line Road corridor consists of a new inter-

change at I-565, as well as widening County Line Road to

fi ve lanes to support increased business and traffi c growth.

The new interchange is on track to open this summer and

will provide a second interchange access point onto I-565

for Madison residents. Construction to widen County Line

Road to fi ve lanes will start in the spring of 2015 and fi nish

in winter of 2016. This new County Line Road corridor will


provide Madison residents faster

access to I-565, Redstone Arsenal,

and Research Park as well as al-

low for 800 acres of new growth

along County Line Road.

The second expansion corridor, called Town

Madison, is a 700-acre project along I-565

from Wall Triana to Zeirdt Road and will incor-

porate land currently owned by fi ve diff erent

organizations. Town Madison will include new

retail, offi ce buildings, shops, and restaurants,

walking trails, and green space, providing

thousands of new jobs and a great new development for

many years for Madison residents.

Housing in Madison continues to boom, as well; there

are currently over 1,000 lots for new residential develop-

ment under construction in the city limits west of County

Line Road. In 2015, a new development, called The Village

THE NEW HORIZON

at Oakland Springs, will also start con-

struction west of County Line Road and

will be similar to Huntsville’s Village

of Providence, with a mixture of retail

and commercial businesses along with

a variety of housing options, including

apartments, condos, townhomes, and

single-family dwellings.

“Through tremendous teamwork with

our city, county, state, and federal lead-

ers, we are planning and growing for

the next 20 years in Madison, and I am

honored to be a part of that team”, said

Madison Mayor Troy Trulock.

Madison continues to boom, in ways

similar to Huntsville, but unlike Hunts-

ville, it is more of a residential communi-

ty than a manufacturing center. The de-

velopment of infrastructure that makes

it easier for a resident to commute to Polaris, Remington,

the Arsenal, Research Park, or even to the excellent schools

in the community, contribute to a quality of life Madison

residents are proud of. Madison’s boom continues.

Conceptual renderings for the Town Madison project show the area around Intergraph (above) and a concept of what the retail areas might look like (below).

© C

ou

rtesy

City

of M

ad

ison

© C

ou

rtesy

City

of M

ad

ison



82 » the vine » Amy C. Collins

THE GAMUT OF GRENACHE

Grenache is one of the few grapes that comes in every color: grenache noir, grenache blanc, and grenache gris. Ampelographers—historians of the vine and its various species—have recorded that the grenache (noir) or garnacha was planted by the Spanish kingdom of Aragón across Northern Spain, which ruled the now French region of Languedoc-Roussillon, in the early 1600s and the four centuries previous. Th e grape is also grown in the Southern Rhône, France; the Italian island of Sardinia, where it’s named cannonau; South Africa; North Africa, in Morocco and Algeria; Australia, and California. Until the late 20th century, grenache was the world’s second most widely planted red variety, yet rarely do we see a single variety grenache wine today. It usually plays second fi ddle to grapes with more backbone and color, like syrah, carignan, and cinsault.

In the 1980s a group of self-described Rhône Rangers hailing from California fell in love with the rich, earthy reds of syrah and grenache from the hillsides that fl anked the Rhône River in France, and discovered the vines did very well in the Golden State. Grenache in particular acclimates well to the hot, dry climates of Central California where dedicated supporters most often make the wines in a rich, voluptuous style. What does all this mean for us drinkers? Well, it means there are many, many gems on the shelves where the grenaches are integral

players and a handful more of pleasures made from grenache alone in every hue. Here are some of my current favorites.

From the small appellation Côte du Roussillon in Southern France, just inland from the Mediterranean and a few kilometers north

of the sticky wine appellation of Banyuls, there’s a newcomer to the Alabama market from Huntsville-based importer

Bjoern Lanwer called Leap of Faith. It’s a classic blend of 57 percent grenache, 27 percent syrah and 16 percent carignan. Opaque in color with a purple tinge, it’s rich and plummy on the nose with a dry fi nish and fl avor profi le that blends earth and young tannin with the subtle hint of new French oak, landing it in the middle of the Old World–New World spectrum. It’s a versatile sipper that might be a tad chewy for a party wine but pairs well with a variety of foods.

From the high altitude vineyards of Terra Alta, Spain, the Las Colinas Rhône style blends in

Spain, where garnacha plays a leading role, are hand harvested and fermented separately before

syrah is blended in for the fi nal cuvée. Cherry and raspberry fl avors mingle with plum and a hint of pepper

followed by a dry, satisfying fi nish. Th e winery also makes a Garnacha Blanca from garnacha’s green-skinned cousin.

Stone fruit aromas follow on the palate with a chewiness that

There are many, many gems on the shelves where the grenaches are integral players and a handful more of plea-sures made from grenache alone in every hue.


The Run Down

Leap of Faith, Côtes du Roussillon,France 2013–$20

Las Colinas, Terra Alta, Spain 2012–$14

Las Colinas, Garnacha Blanca, Terra Alta, Spain 2013–$15

Melée Grenache, California 2011–$32

Hog Wash Grenache Rosé, California 2013–$18

Broc Cellars Cassia Grenache(s) Rosé, Mendocino, California 2013–$28

Follow Amy at pigandvine.com for morestories and wine suggestions.

lends body and bite with some herbal notes and a dry fi nish. Th is one is a treat outside the ordinary.

California winemaker Tuck Beckstoff er makes several labels from both family owned vineyards, which have been in the Beckstoff er family since the 1970s, and others, where he contracts the best quality fruit for his wines. Th ough he makes cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, and chardonnay, it might be the grenache project under the Melée label that’s the most intriguing in his portfolio. A relatively small production of only 1,500 cases, this elegant representation of Central Cali grenache grown on steep, rocky slopes is an homage to the wines of the Southern Rhône Tuck fell in love with many years ago. In a recent telephone conversation, he mentioned the uniqueness of this particular wine in a sea of typically high-alcohol, high-extraction grenache wines made from American soil. He also described his 100 percent grenache rosé wine, Hog Wash, as the quintessential BBQ wine, made, in fact, to accompany a whole hog event for some Southern chefs a few years ago. Fortunately you don’t have to wait until August to appreciate the party friendly juice in this bottle; it’s year-round yummy.

Also from California, and a wine I continue to salivate for, is the Broc Cellars Cassia Grenache(s) Rosé. It’s higher on the price ladder and made more in the vin gris style than saignée—the fi rst being a pale color from light pressing, the second a full-bleed off pressed red grapes, and is in fact a blend of grenache and grenache gris. Th e diff erence is the vin gris makes a delicate, elegant wine to be sipped slowly with cheese and charcuterie while daydreaming about your future prince or princess charming (or a better behaved present royal partner). Th e second, like the aforementioned Hog Wash, has the backbone to knock out unwanted suitors sniffi ng around spoken-for territory, if necessary. I’ve loved everything I’ve tasted from the Broc crew. An urban winery in Berkley, California, they make site-specifi c wines that lean toward organic and biodynamic production with natural fermentations and low sulphur addition in the

winery. Triple win.

84 » hear tell » Guy McClure, Jr.

THE DEATH OF AUNT CORA

I stood on the sidewalk looking down the straight path

to Aunt Cora McKenzie’s house. My Sunday shoes slid on

the mossy bricks as I walked toward the screened front

porch with my parents, grandparents, and sister. Th e women

were holding Corningware and I was holding my breath. I

knew what to expect the second that door with the black

wreath on it swung open—the very personal yet familiar

smell of an old lady’s house—a smell of wool, overly sweet

perfume, and undertones of Absorbine Junior. My father

opened the screen door and the thin black spring yawned

with that noise that they all make—a noise that could mean

happiness, sadness, or fear, depending on who was holding

the handle. We walked onto the screened porch that was

furnished with metal patio furniture, moldy cushions, and

stacks of old newspapers and magazines. A familiar feeling

of dread enveloped me and, looking back, probably everyone

else, as no one would take the initiative to ring the bell.

Th e telephone call had come two days earlier that Aunt Cora

had died—a dramatic call from Jerry even though both she

and Tim had been rehearsing that call for years.

Aunt Cora was not really my aunt, but an extremely old

woman who was my grandmother’s aunt who had lived next

door to her as a child in Sulligent, Alabama—the smallest

town I knew. My few memories of her were of seeing her in

bed, propped up wearing a lace bed jacket with a big satin

bow and having the longest earlobes I had ever seen—the

result of wearing heavy costume jewelry, my grandmother

explained. Aunt Cora had two daughters, Th elma and

Geraldine, whom she never allowed to marry and who

grew up to become old maids who were assigned to run the

family drug store. I never really heard anything of an uncle,

but I know there must’ve been such a character, and it is my

thought that he must’ve faked his own death simply to get

out of that hen house and that dusty little town. Without

husbands or a father, Th elma and Geraldine became more

and more masculine every day—to the point where they

took on the male names of Tim and Jerry.

Th e McKenzie women ran the local drug store. To my

recollection, it was a sad storefront on a dirt road in

downtown Sulligent within walking distance of the house. I

do remember a rusty sign out front that said “curb service,”

which I am sure was false advertising. Even as a small child

I knew they more than likely would have more customers

by foot traffi c than by cars. Th e inside of the store was dark

Aunt Cora was not really my aunt, but an extremely old woman who was my grandmother’s aunt who had lived next door to her as a child in Sulligent, Alabama—the smallest town I knew.



and silent, and I can barely remember anything other than a

defunct soda fountain and a picture on the wall of Aunt Cora

standing next to George Wallace.

It was a neighbor who opened the front door and ushered

us in from the porch. Jerry and Tim were in the living

room wearing dresses, which was somewhat of a shock,

not only because they never wore dresses, but because the

dresses looked like they had come off the set of Th e Th ree

Stooges. Th ey were probably from the contents of their hope

chests before Aunt Cora had dashed those hopes, and their

trousseaus had eventually lost all resemblance of fashion.

In their dresses they stood at attention, emitting the exact

amount of grief that clearly sets apart the Methodists from

the Catholics. Th ere were hugs all around, and comforting

words, and demure smiles. Ironed linen handkerchiefs

dotted at eye sockets, catching the alligator tears, and then

repeated for those who were looking around the room and

didn’t see the gesture. Th ere was a steady ebb and fl ow of

visitors, and I couldn’t make out the diff erence between the

relatives and the townspeople. Mostly they were people who

were labeled as cousins I was supposed to know, but really

only pretended to.

Th ere were a lot of other kids in attendance—some rough-

and-tumble boys whom I wanted no part of, some older

girls who wanted no part of me—so I just kind of explored

the house, yard, and the faces, wishing myself invisible.

Apparently Aunt Cora had died in the house, in her bed,

with her girls on either side each holding a hand, and both

Tim and Jerry made her passing sound as if it happened on a

Hollywood sound stage. But it was apparently now a closed

set as the girls had locked the door of the room where she

died and had no intention of opening it anytime soon. It was

now a shrine and they couldn’t bear to change a thing or

remove any of Aunt Cora’s mementos.

I believe it was Tim’s idea to gather the children and have

them pick one fl ower each from the garden just before we left

for the church. What I picked I found out later was a weed.

Little did we know what she had in mind. Th e mourners in

the house emptied out onto the slimy sidewalk and boarded

our cars for the short ride to the church funeral. As the

family gathered on the steps of Th e Sulligent First (and only)

Methodist Church to make our grand entrance, Tim brought

together the children, asking us to go fi rst, leading the way,

each carrying our fl ower, and to place said fl ower on the

casket at the front of the altar. Now fi rst of all, I wasn’t happy

about being in a room with a corpse, much less getting within

smelling distance of it—so this whole funeral thing had gone

from the sublime to the ridiculous and was certainly not

what I had signed on for. I was hoping to sing a few hymns,

eat some random casserole, and be in an air-conditioned car

heading back to Huntsville before the midday sun had totally

scorched us.

Th is creative fl oral addition—“creative” by our family’s

standard of tradition—could have so many bad outcomes.

I could vomit on the way to the casket, I could inexplicably

begin to bawl, or I could faint dead away. I looked at my

father who looked down at me with a mixture of compassion

and humor, knowing, too, the three possible outcomes and

hoping for a smooth, seamless parade to the casket, which

is exactly what occurred. I did just fi ne, only catching a

glimpse of her dead nose sticking up out of the casket and

having complete control of my composure. Th e rest of the

service I sat quietly in my pew almost giddy with pride of my

accomplishment.

After the service, and the solemn parade of cars to the

cemetery, came the graveside portion of the production. Th e

unfamiliar terrain of a more-southern county interested me.

In the cemetery, the grass was crunchy and bare in spots, and

her grave was on a hill that overlooked the Sulligent High

School football fi eld. Th ere were other McKenzie names on

simple headstones around her open grave. It was shocking

to me how well my grandmother knew the place—this was,

after all, her hometown and this crunchy grass must’ve felt

very familiar under her feet. Th e service was a normal 15

minute kind, and I did not pay a bit of attention and let

my mind wander around unsupervised—watching a bee

buzz around a dry fl ower, watching the workmen smoking

cigarettes as they were waiting to replace the dirt onto the

grave, and watching the clouds going by. I was hoping no one

would ask questions about the service as even 10 minutes

after it was over I would not be able to recall a word.

We returned to the house for lunch before heading back to

Huntsville. Th ere was a smorgasbord of every imaginable

recipe to ever grace the pages of Southern Living. I am sure

the contents of the casseroles alone created a Campbell’s

Cream of Mushroom Soup shortage from which western

Alabama still has not recovered. Th e congealed salads

stood tall and proud—displaying their contents of banana

slices, olives, pecans, et al, as monuments to gravity defying

ingredients. Every native fruit had been cobbled—peach and

blackberry given special places of distinction. We dined on

paper plates on our laps in the shady backyard and the mood

was much lighter now that food was involved.

With the women busy with kitchen chores, and the men and

kids in the backyard, this was the perfect time to explore.

Th e house was decorated with a Depression Era taste. I

distinctly remember a large, upright piano in the front room

and a large naive painting of a brook in the fall over the sofa.

Th ere were lots of awards and pictures and books and special

things that were displayed with pride. Everything seemed

as if it had a story—and the reason for that was that it did.

Th ese were the trophies of a lifetime of three women who,

despite the odds of their small town existence, had done

some remarkable things.

Aunt Cora had, as a single widowed woman, fulfi lled the

pharmaceutical and general retail needs for that small town.

Tim had at one point spent time in India with the Peace

Corps, and I even seem to remember hearing that she had

received her pilot’s license. Jerry had studied art and was

the one responsible for the paintings that dot the walls of

McKenzie homes from Alabama to California.

As the time neared for us to take our leave, the feeling of

dread was gone. My fi rst funeral was over, and it wasn’t half

as traumatic as I had expected. Actually, I was expecting to

hate the day, but it turned out nice—and it even got much,

much better.

My Uncle Frank and Aunt Joyce had attended the funeral

from Huntsville and asked me to ride back with them—

not just ride back with them, but ride back in his new blue

Corvette! Had I had known this was an option, I not only

would have attended the funeral just to place a fl ower on Aunt

Cora’s casket, but I would have jumped on top of it singing

“Onward, Christian Soldiers” a capella in my underwear!

Th e ride back was sheer bliss. I was crammed into the cubbyhole

as the third person in a two-seater car with something sharp

sticking in my leg and somehow getting grease on my clothes,

but I didn’t care—I was in a Corvette, listening to rock music,

and heading northward away from my fi rst funeral. Life didn’t

get much sweeter than that in 1972.

There were a lot of other kids in attendance—some rough-and-tumble boyswhom I wanted no part of, some older girls who wanted no part of me—so I just kind of explored

the house, yard, and the faces, wishing myself invisible.



3101 Burritt DriveHuntsville, Alabama 35801

www.burrittonthemountain.com

where PARTY ANIMALS come to raise hay!A fundraiser for the Burritt Barnyard.

The Burritt

Barnyard BashTime Travel

Come meet our Adventurers Josie and Sam and join them for a fun filled, hands on, unique scavenger hunt through time as you journey to the 1800s. Successfully complete the hunt to become an official time traveler who has visited each decade of the century! On your journey play with toys and games of the time, find your way through the Underground Railroad maze, race miniature boats and rafts down the stream representing the Alabama River, build miniature cabins and villages, explore the steam engine playground, and much, much more. Learn facts about the United States, Alabama, Huntsville and Monte Sano, along the way. An adventure for the whole family!

OPENSMarch21st!

1800

184018301820

18101900

1890

1880

1870

1860 1850

88 » food for thought » Sarah Gaede

Rather than channeling my inner French woman and shopping every day for supper that night, I am challenging myself, at least twice a week, to come up with well-balanced meals using what I already have.

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT

In , the most recent year estimates were available, Americans, indi-vidually and corporately, threw out 35 million tons of food. As much as 40 percent of the food produced in the U.S. goes uneaten. While we are throwing out food in this country, an estimated one in nine people in the world suff ers from chronic hunger due to insuffi cient food. Even in the United States, some 13 percent of households struggle to put enough food on the table, to say nothing of nutritious food. Right here in Florence, Sidney’s Safe Foundation “Pack Th em with Love” program sends 400 at-risk children home each Friday with enough food to help them through the weekend.

I recently set the intention to address this problem of waste in my own small way. Rather than channeling my inner French woman and shopping every day for sup-per that night, I am challenging myself, at least twice a week, to come up with well-balanced meals using what I already have in the refrigerator, freezer, and pan-try—without eating pasta four nights in a row, not that my husband would object. Th is leads to interesting experiments such as putting leftover canned pumpkin in my spaghetti sauce (it was fi ne), soup made with duck stock, or pasta with whatever is lying around, like cherry tomatoes, olives, capers, a couple handfuls of spinach, some frozen shrimp, and the end of a bottle of wine. It helps that I keep onions, garlic, canned tomatoes, and a full range of herbs and spices on hand. And a large variety of pasta shapes (I have a tiny bit of a pasta hoarding problem), rice, couscous, polenta (a fancy name for yellow grits), and other grains.

One of the best ways to use up random leftovers is the frittata, which is essentially a baked omelet. Not only are frittatas ridiculously simple to make, but they are also the perfect vehicle for leftovers. Unlike quiche, which they resemble, frittatas do not have a crust, nor do they contain milk or cream. And they can be meatless, which fi ts with my resolution to eat meatless suppers, or suppers with meat as fl avoring rather than the main event, at least twice a week. Bacon grease doesn’t count. You can put pretty much anything in a frittata: left-over roasted vegetables;

blanched, chopped spinach, and ricotta; blanched asparagus, goat cheese, and basil; kalamata olives, cherry tomatoes, sliced and sauteed yellow

squash, and Parmesan, etc. It’s a great way to get rid of mysterious nubs of cheese, or those last two slices of bacon that are beginning to molder.

A dozen free-range eggs, which I recommend using, costs $3.50 at Jack-O-Lantern Farms. Th at’s an in-

credible value for something that is just about the perfect food. Eggs are a great source of protein, and they contain almost every essential vitamin and mineral our bodies need. Contrary to popular belief, egg yolks are not bad for you—in fact, most

of an egg’s nutritional value is found in the yolk.


Potato Frittata

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil• 1 medium onion, chopped• 12-ish ounces small red or yellow potatoes, sliced thin• 6-8 large eggs• 4 ounces (1 cup) grated sharp cheddar cheese• Salt and pepper to taste• 3 or 4 baby bell peppers, seeded and sliced thin (or a cup or so of grape tomatoes sliced in half)

Preheat oven to 400° F. Heat oil in a 9- or 10-inch nonstick ovenproof skillet. Saute onions and potatoes until potatoes are soft and beginning to brown. Beat eggs in a medium bowl or a quart measuring cup. Add grated cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Spread potatoes and onions evenly on bottom of pan, and pour egg mixture on top. Use a spoon to even out the fi lling. Arrange sliced peppers or tomatoes decoratively over the top. Turn heat to medium-low and cook, undisturbed, until just fi rming on the edges, around 10 minutes. Transfer to the oven and bake until the top is just cooked, around 10 minutes more. Remove, turn out on a serving plate, and serve warm or at room temperature.

Serves 3 to 4

Ham, Zucchini, and Gruyère Frittata

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil• 1 cup coarsely chopped deli ham (5 ounces)• 2 small zucchini, sliced in 1/4-inch half-moons• 6-8 large eggs• 2 ounces (1/2 cup) grated Gruyère cheese• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400° F. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high. Add ham and zucchini, season with salt and pepper, and cook about 5 minutes. Beat eggs. Add cheese, salt, and pepper, and pour over ham and zucchini. Stir to combine. Proceed with cooking directions for potato frittata.

Th e fat in yolks can actually reduce LDL—the bad choles-terol. When you eat only the egg whites, you are missing out on most of an egg’s nutritional benefi ts, and are getting only half of the protein. In keeping with my theme, it is wasteful to throw away such a valuable source of nutrition based on false information. I think egg whites are boring unless they are enhanced in meringues, mousse, or angel food cake.

Th ere are various techniques for making frittatas, some of which involve broiling. Broiling is not my gift, so I use Mark Bittman’s method of starting on the stove and ending in the oven. My preferred pan is my 9 1/2-inch All-Clad nonstick skillet, but a well-seasoned cast iron skillet of similar size would work too. Just be sure whatever skillet you use is oven-proof. Most important, do not forget, when you go to turn the frittata out, that the handle is HOT! If this should hap-pen, the best thing to do is fi ll a mixing bowl with lukewarm water and soak your scorched hand for at least 20 minutes. Aloe helps too. I now leave an oven mitt on the handle after

I remove the pan from the oven.

90 » parting shot » Patrick Hood

NOSE OUT OF JOINT

For tickets or information:

256-539-4818hso.org

Strauss Connection

Join the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra for the two remaining Classical Series off erings. On March 14, enjoy Mozart,

Strauss, and the John Williams Tuba Concerto, featuring Alan Baer,

Principal tuba for the New York Philharmonic. On May 2, hear Liszt,

Bartók, and Brahms, with Elina Vähälä on the violin. For more information, visit

the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra website at www.hso.org.

Saturday, March 14, 7:30 p.m. • Mark C. Smith Concert Hall, VBC

On A High NoteSaturday, May 2, 7:30 p.m.

Mark C. Smith Concert Hall, VBC


M O R E T H A N 7 0 S H O P S A N D R E S TA U R A N T S , I N C L U D I N G : B E L K | D S W S H O E S | U LTA B E A U T YM I C H A E L K O R S | A P P L E | J . C R E W | PA N D O R A | B A N A N A R E P U B L I C | S E P H O R AL O F T | O R V I S | R E E D S J E W E L E R S | A N T H R O P O L O G I E | H & M | K AT E S PA D E N E W Y O R KM O U N TA I N H I G H O U T F I T T E R S | F R A N C E S C A’ S | B A R N E S & N O B L E | S O M A I N T I M AT E SB U C K L E | C O N N O R S S T E A K & S E A F O O D | T H E W E S T I N H U N T S V I L L E | M O N A C O P I C T U R E S

NOW OPEN: TEXAS DE BRAZI L | BRAVO! CUCINA ITAL IANA

COMING SOON: D ICK’S SPORT ING GOODS | B J ’S RESTAURANT & BREWHOUSE | STEEL C ITY POPS

BR IDGESTREETHUNTSVI L LE .COM |

BRIDGE STREET TOWN CENTRE IS LOCATED AT EXIT 14 OFF I - 565 AT OLD MADISON PIKE

Documents

No’Ala Huntsville, March/April 2015