DeWitt High School Student Voice

This year, I’ve had the best schedule ever. I’m not swamped like I was last year. My classes are always enjoyable. Oh, and did I mention I have no math class? That’s definitely the highlight.

And while I love all my classes, there has definitely been a breakout favorite: art. Whether it’s Ms. Jackson’s kooky antics, my entertaining class or the fun projects, I’m not quite sure. Every day is fun, though. Well, every day until our latest project!

You see, we’ve been practicing our skills with sketches a lot this year. Gradually, we have progressed from still life to animals like birds and crabs to people. And drawing people has always been a challenge for me!

When I was little, I had problems remembering to put things like necks and noses on my stick people. As I got older, all my drawings of humans looked the same �” same eyes, same nose, same monstrous lips, same tiny ears. I finally gave up on any ideas of being a portrait artist, to the immense delight of those whom I made sit for portraits.

In art, however, Ms. Jackson is a firm believer in facing your fears, so no matter how much I protested my inability, I was still stuck with doing my first self portrait. Needless to say, it didn’t go well!

No matter how much determination I had, things seemed set to go against me. To start off, I measured wrong, and my face was about two inches too long. This would have been fine if I had noticed when I was through drawing. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice till I was done shading, and people kept commenting that my face looked like “an ironing board.” So I was forced to go back and resketch the entire thing, shading and all.

The rest of the project went relatively smoothly �” unless you count the buck teeth I drew myself. After a few minor edits, though, I felt rather proud of it. The hair seemed to be perfect and the nose was something truly amazing, if I do say so myself. I finally felt confident enough in my artwork that I was ready for the final step: showing it to Ms. Jackson. What I got, alas, was a less-than-glowing review.

“Well, it looks like a person,” she commented.

I couldn’t help but question her on what exactly a loaded statement like that meant.

“It doesn’t look like you,” she finally said. “There is something, I don’t know, just not quite right.”

So literally and figuratively (you know I can’t resist a bad pun), it was back to the drawing board for me. Ms. Jackson and I debated, pondered, questioned, and measured. Everything mathematically made sense. It all started and stopped where it was supposed to. Yet something left it looking much more like a cartoon than a real person.

I redid the eyes �” twice. I made the lips fuller. I dramatically shaved down the teeth. I even resketched the nose I was so terribly proud of! Nothing seemed to help. I think you better just give it up,” Ms. Jackson said, “It’s not going to look anymore like you than this.”

And just as I was ready to let out a despondent cry, my wonderful art teacher did give me a bright note. “Look at it this way,” she said, “whoever it is, she isn’t that bad looking!”

Floods likely minor here, judge says

The flooding that has devastated counties upstream on the Arkansas and White rivers is not likely to be nearly as severe in Arkansas County, officials say.

Landfill’s closing crimps city budget

The closing of the Delta Environmental landfill off Possum Waller Road northeast of DeWitt has put another crimp into the City of DeWitt’s already tight budget.

ABCD Fish Fry set Friday in Stuttgart

Since its inception, the ABCD scholarship program has raised about $40,000 for scholarships, first for Humphrey High School students, and for the last two years DeWitt and Stuttgart High Schools students. The ABCD committee will be looking to add to that total March 28 when the group holds its annual fish fry and auction at Park Avenue Baptist Church in Stuttgart.

Volunteer program starts here

There are plenty of organizations in South Arkansas County that are looking for volunteers to help with all kinds of projects big and small. There are plenty of people of all ages, but especially “baby boomers” who are about to retire and who are willing to volunteer. For a long time, Arkansas County Extension Service staff chair Donna Hoskyns has wanted to do something to bring these two groups together. Enter the RSVP Program.

DeWitt High School Student Voice

This year, I’ve had the best schedule ever. I’m not swamped like I was last year. My classes are always enjoyable. Oh, and did I mention I have no math class? That’s definitely the highlight.

Obituaries

Dorothy Faye Hill

Pilgrim Reflections

On blinded eyes and burning hearts

DeWitt Police Report

DeWitt Police reported answering the following calls March 18-22: