Charles Pearl

Sigga Jagne was the 24th child born to a well-respected educator in The Gambia in West Africa. Her father, Alhaji Mamour Jagne, who died at age 84 in 1993, had five wives during his lifetime including three at the same time. Sigga’s mother, his last wife, is younger than some of Sigga’s siblings. “Dad was a gentle soul,” Sigga said. “He was one of the first black principals of a recognized high school. He had a huge orchard with all kinds of fruit trees in a forest and would spend much time there in solitude, prayer, reading and writing....

On Labor Day evening, when the legendary Notre Dame Fighting Irish played their first football game ever in Kentucky, Frankfort Independent Schools Superintendent Houston Barber was at University of Louisville’s Cardinal Stadium with 10 tickets. A valedictorian of Frankfort High School’s Class of 1994 and a state champion track and cross-country runner and now Hall of Fame recipient, Barber had the opportunity to go to Notre Dame on scholarship. Instead, he chose another Catholic college, Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where his sister, Carrie, was enrolled. Notre Dame and Marquette are huge rivals in basketball and other sports. But...

Frankfort’s “Trace of Kentucky Bourbon Boat” has been catching plenty of national and international tourists in its first full year of operation. A Kentucky River Tours advertising card says it’s the nation’s “only boat-based bourbon tour.” But the strongest refreshments available on the 50-minute “Kentucky River Bourbon History Tour” are a Rebecca Ruth bourbon ball and an Ale 8. A sip of bourbon isn’t offered on the Bourbon Boat because in Kentucky it’s illegal to drink in a public place, outside of a licensed business, and Kentucky’s waterways are deemed public places. “Buffalo Trace Distillery is a great partner...

Impermanence is always one of the teachings when the Tibetan Buddhist monks from Tashi Kyil Monastery in India come to Frankfort. They visited Kentucky’s capital around Memorial Day in 2013, during Christmas Candlelight Tour in 2015 and Valentine’s week in 2019. Each time, they’ve taken four days to create a beautiful, intricate World Peace mandala (sand painting), and then they destroy it and pour the sand into the Kentucky River to show us that everything is impermanent. Enjoy the moment. On all three visits here, the Tibetan monks will tell you they’ve witnessed teachings of loving kindness, compassion, generosity,...

Angela Mitchell and I love silent places and being outdoors in all seasons. That’s why in 2008, with help from friends and family, we built a yurt — a one-room circular structure that serves as a meditation and retreat center — on Angela’s parents’ 30-acre farm in Bridgeport. I also have a small house in Arlington Heights — a 10-minute walk to the Kentucky River, downtown Frankfort or Kentucky State University. I have great neighbors, some with wonderful views of the Kentucky River, South Frankfort and the Capitol in their back yards. In 2017, I had the good fortune...