Paper Trails

PBS series stars UCA bone guru

DIGGING UP THE PAST: Duncan McKinnon, an anthropological archaeologist and visiting professor at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, will appear on the PBS series Time Team America airing on AETN. The show features several scientific specialists and others conducting archaeological research across the country.

On the series, McKinnon is one of three researchers who uses geophysical methods at each of the sites that the show investigated. The team explored and filmed at four locations. They include the remains of a plantation in Bethesda, Md., where Josiah Henson, thought to have been the inspiration for Uncle Tom's Cabin, lived while enslaved (airing at 7 p.m. Aug. 19); a 10,000-year-old bison kill site on the plains in the Oklahoma panhandle (also Aug. 19, at 8 p.m.); a large Confederate prison camp in Jenkins County, Ga., where hundreds of Union prisoners of war died (airing at 7 p.m. Aug. 26); and a 1,500-year-old village in Cortez, Colo., (also Aug. 26, at 8 p.m.). Check out aetn.org/broadcast/schedule for more information.

At UCA, McKinnon teaches several courses in anthropology, archaeology and Native American studies.

KUDOS TO ARKIES: Budget Travel recently featured Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs on its "12 Most Beautiful Churches in America" list. Meanwhile, a list of the "10 Best Southern Distillery Tours" in USA Today is replete with locales in Tennessee and Kentucky but also includes one from Arkansas -- Rock Town Distillery in Little Rock.

SEE YOU IN THE FUNNY PAPERS: Next Sunday, July 20, the comic strip characters of Lum and Abner will make a cameo appearance in the Dick Tracy comic strip. The Lum and Abner characters were originated by the late Chester Lauck and Norris "Tuffy" Goff, both of Mena. Their local radio show evolved into a national one, remaining on air until the mid-1950s and leading to seven movies.

The cameo is part of a story line by the award-winning team of Dick Tracy artists Mike Curtis, who lives in Greenbrier, and Joe Staton of New York. The Lum and Abner and the Dick Tracy strips don't appear in this paper but can be viewed at gocomics.com/dicktracy and gocomics.com/lum-and-abner.

SECOND HELPING: This paper's former "Sweet Tea" columnist Jay Grelen has published some of his previous columns, along with some newer material. The 137-page paperback, Jay Grelen's Sweet Tea Times, is available online at jaygrelensweettea.com for $20.

ROLL 'EM! The $5 classic movie series presented by radio personality Dave Elswick of KHTE-FM, 96.5, The Voice, continues at Market Street Cinema's new location in the Riverdale area on Cantrell Road. The showing is at 7 p.m. the second Tuesday of the month.

MAKING MUSIC: Former American Idol winner Kris Allen of Conway releases a new album, Horizon, on Aug. 12.

Contact Linda S. Haymes at (501) 399-3636 or lhaymes@arkansasonline.com

SundayMonday on 07/13/2014

Upcoming Events