I met Gennie in 2019 when John Whiteside, commander-in-chief of my ill-fated but pulchritudinous campaign, introduced me to her at his office. There was a little gathering of people a lot cooler than me Rep. Nicole Clowney, Rep. LeAnne Burch, Gerard the video genius, and Gennie.
There is a thing happening that may be one of the best things to happen to Arkansas politics for a long time. And as an independent-minded person who sometimes admires Gov. Asa Hutchinson and sometimes feels very disappointed by him, I m thinking right now this may be my favorite thing he has ever done as governor. It is a little bit of a Jedi move. But lost on me it is not.
I had the privilege of being invited to speak at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Hot Springs Village on a recent Sunday morning. The audience was kind and went out of their way to make me feel welcome. I told them they looked a lot less scary than I once had been told by a Bible study leader. She claimed they were part of a New Age plot to bring about a one-world order over which the Antichrist would preside, so I should steer clear of them.
It is one year since I started working with Arkansas Strong and six months of writing this column. Both are things of beauty that rose from the ashes of political defeat to be joys forever in my heart, however long such privileges may last in practice, which I hope will be also forever.