Little Rock, Arkansas, was a town I heard country music songs about growing up, and that was the extent of my knowledge. The capital and most populated city of a southern state in the middle of America is where, on Friday at 5am, my Megabus pulled into, dropping me at a seedy petrol station.
"What made you come here?" I was repeatedly asked during my three-day adventure in a town with incredible food, a beautiful river, an abundance of creative businesses, but also with a reputation for poverty and crime. It's infamously racially divided; look up "Little Rock Nine" to learn more about that.
My answer was, a bit guiltily, "Well, the bus stopped here..."
After three nights in Arkansas, I have seen more angles of America than I ever did growing up in the South. Generosity is everywhere. Before I arrived a woman reached out to me named Stephanie Harris, a mover and shaker in Little Rock. We had a video chat in June discussing everything from post-Trump America to Johnny Cash. We talked for an hour and had a lot in common. Stephanie offered me a beautiful apartment in her historic Airbnb in South Main (SoMa) at no cost. I couldn't believe it.
My Uber dropped me off at 5:15am. I walked up the stairs and opened the door to the cutest apartment and fell into the softest bed on earth. I'd left Austin at 10am the day before, spent 10 hours in Dallas and caught an overnight bus to Little Rock. That bed gave me a moment of rest in a trip that's moving too fast.
I slept a few hours and then went out to explore. I strolled up and down the Main Street, chatting with shop owners. I had a grilled cheese sandwich at a funky earthy cafe called The Root, and then walked a few blocks up to the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, and strolled through the different galleries. I was looking for people to interview, as I'm trying to tell lots of stories on this trip. I found the perfect trio in the museum gift shop; three cheerful staff talked to me about what it was like living in Little Rock.
"We're not all hicks and rednecks. We're quite progressive. I love Arkansas; it's not that bad. I love that you can be in nature in under 30 minutes. I love the small community we do have here," Adrianna Kimble-Ray says.
"Give it a chance and at least come visit."
That evening I went to "SoMa After Dark" and chatted with more lovely business owners. I almost felt like I was strolling down Beaumont Street or the East End of Newcastle, especially when I helped myself to a glass of pinot grigio at a gallery launch I stumbled into at Boswell Mourot Fine Art.
The next morning I woke up, determined to test out Little Rock's public transportation system. I posted about my car-free journey in a Critical Mass Little Rock Facebook group, and within an hour I was meeting up with Chris Woodward, a restaurant worker and pedestrian activist who kindly agreed to show me around. Stephanie generously had a bike I could use and while the one time Chris and I tried to catch the bus it didn't stop for us, we still managed to have an epic day exploring the city on bikes and one silly and spectacular trolley ride. We rode bikes across the Clinton Bridge, and we ate epic vegan soul food at House of Mental. We received a blessing from a Christian couple named John and Sammi - they gave us little red books on Christ.
That evening I walked to Stephanie's place and had dinner with her husband Jason and her interesting friends. We discussed living in Arkansas in depth. Her friend Catherine Crisp, a social work professor at the University of Arkansas, gave me a new and important question to ask people when I interview them about the South: "why do you stay?"
Sunday I woke up to pouring rain. Perhaps inspired by my Saturday blessing, I took a short walk to New Life Church. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was a multi-racial church, and my jaw dropped when the guest pastor was announced - James Hensley of Jesus Unlimited in Brisbane.
"Jesus," I thought. "What a small world."
As the crowd clapped for the Aussie pastor, and he went on to offer a multitude of perspectives, some of which I agreed with more than others. Their reception to him was a reminder of how people sometimes like to celebrate other; that foreign is interesting. If I tell people here I'm from South Carolina, they are less interested than if I tell them I'm from Australia. The question "where are you from" holds such weight. I've been opting to ask people "where's home for you?" during this trip, to try to get to the heart of the matter.
Little Rock was such a joyful, memorable moment. Many kinds of people live here. The common thread: they're all so welcoming, so proud to show and share their home.
Famously Arkansas
The Arkansas Razorbacks are the University of Arkansas's football team, a source of pride for many Arkansans. People wear Razorback sweatshirts and hats while travelling, so they can identify other fans.
