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Brilliant,Quirky, and Uplifting Things That Could Only Happen Here PHOTOGRAPHS BY MILLER MOBLEY 2570 | 07•2014 | rd.com rd.com | 07•2014 | 71 ONLY IN AMERICA… 

she answered the phone at her house- cleaning service. The woman on the other end asked for a price. When Sardone gave her the quote, the … do tractors woman responded, 1 square-dance “I can’t afford that ROCHESTER, INDIANA now. I’m going through Swinging your partner round and chemotherapy and ra- round gets a tad unwieldy when diation,” and promptly you’re both on four big wheels, but hung up. Sardone, who trust us—it’s just as much fun. This didn’t have caller ID, Midwestern pastime dates back to chastised herself: Why the 1950s, when farm-equipment didn’t I offer to clean manufacturer International Harvester for free? Later that day, featured an ad with whirling tractors. she gathered her office Here’s what they do: Drivers maneuver staff and instructed tractors to execute precision prom- them to perform ser- enades, circles, and weaves, all set vices without charge to rollicking square dance music for women with cancer. and directed by a caller. Indiana’s Lily Three years later, Pearl tractor dancers, for instance, Sardone formed the perform as a team of eight, but in national nonprofit the true spirit of competition, they’re Cleaning for a Reason, which … is a scientist also an artist of the night sky aiming to leave that feat in the dust. now boasts 1,085 member 3 CLAREMONT, CALIFORNIA “We plan to dance with 16 tractors on businesses in all 50 states Professor Tyler Nordgren’s love affair with the evening sky began when the same field,” says farmer Skeeter (and Canada); together, he was a Boy Scout on camping trips in Oregon and Alaska. “Once we Daugherty, Lily Pearl’s leader. “It’s they’ve donated more than were on a lake at night, and I saw millions of stars above me. That has never been done before.” 15,000 house cleanings. stayed with me my whole life,” he says. Nordgren, 44, who teaches physics and astronomy at the University of Redlands in California, has gone to One partner describes 12 national parks to photograph the sky at twilight and after dark. His … can cancer the work as “vitamins mission is to raise awareness of the beauty of their night skies (many people 2 patients get help for the soul.” “I never visit only during the daytime) and the threat that light pollution poses. with housekeeping knew how good it California’s Lassen Volcanic Natural Park is shown above, and Maine’s DALLAS, TEXAS would feel to give Acadia National Park and Utah’s Bryce Canyon National Park are two other Debbie Sardone (pictured on previ- away for free what favorites of Nordgren’s. “When you look up and see a billion stars, you ous page), 55, remembers every I do for a living,” know that you’re part of a larger universe,” he says.

second of the call. Eleven years ago, says Sardone. TYLER NORDGREN COURTESY

72 | 07•2014 | rd.com ILLUSTRATIONS BY ZOE MORE O’FERRALL rd.com | 07•2014 | 73 ONLY IN AMERICA…   READER’S DIGEST

… do you its plucky sound instantly … does the to power in his invocations. On the 4 find trees dispels gloom. The craze 7 Senate chaplain shutdown’s third day, he prayed, older than has been stoked by a scold Congress “Save us from the madness … the pyramids new group of young WASHINGTON, DC Deliver us from the hypocrisy INYO COUNTY, Hawaiian virtuosos, like Jake Barry C. Black is privy to a of attempting to sound reason- CALIFORNIA Shimabukuro and Taimane rare sight: Democrats and able while being unreasonable.” If America’s longest-living Gardner, as well as amateurs Republicans holding hands. That’s On day 11, he asked God to “give residents could talk, on YouTube, like Nicole Tan what the senators do at the end our lawmakers the wisdom to dis- they’d probably just (pictured on page 70), 19, a of the weekly Prayer Breakfast he tinguish between truth and error.” grumble about the weather. In eastern Bowdoin College student who posts leads. Although Black has held his Black has called his role “descrip- California’s White Mountains, bristle- covers of hit songs like Nicki Minaj’s post of Senate chaplain for 11 years, tive rather than prescriptive,” but cone pine trees have survived for “Superbass.” “I went to the Internet, he drew national attention during he says that during the shutdown, millennia, despite the region’s scarce searched ‘how to play ukulele,’ and last fall’s government shutdown. The “I was making sure that my prayers rainfall, bruising winds, and frequent a video came up,” she says. “Five Washington Post dubbed him “a folk were not so otherworldly that they freezes. In 2012, scientists dated one minutes later, I could play it.” hero to many” after he spoke truth had no earthly good.” Amen to that. of the trees at 5,063 years old, making it the world’s longest-living organism. The pines’ wood hardens against the elements, guarding them from rot and … do survivors forming sculptural swirls. They grow 6 pay it forward as little as an inch in diameter every SANDY HOOK, CONNECTICUT 100 years, but fortunately, these pines Four months after the Sandy Hook have centuries to spare. Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, a tornado … are ukuleles tore through Oklahoma and caught 5 even hotter than the attention of four friends from the Newtown area. When John DiCostanzo, electric guitars 34 (in blue polo shirt), heard the news HONOLULU, HAWAII of the devastation, he and (from left) What’s one pound, around 130 years Peter Baressi, Bill Faucett, and Howard old, native to the United States, and Wood resolved to travel 1,500 miles so popular, it’s nearly doubled in sales to Moore with supplies. “We had an from 2010 to 2012? It’s the immense amount of love pour into ukulele, now enjoying its our town in December, and it contin- biggest comeback since ues to show up,” Baressi said to the Newtown Bee. “We needed to share Bali Hai. And why not? it.” On May 22, the men set off on their The Hawaiian-born drive with 13,000 pounds of goods. instrument is They weathered a tire blowout and cheap and easy broken brake line before reaching

to master, and Oklahoma 40 hours later. RYAN; KATE FOR FOLDENAUER SARA SPREAD: PROP STYLIST: FIRST BALK; HAIR: JONATHAN AUBRI FOR MARIE BLOMQUIST STYLIST: WARDROBE PRIANO; MAKEUP: ALLISON BROOKE. TIMOTHY BY ARTISTS FOR MASON BIDEAWEE.ORG COURTESY CATS

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… is a Bloody tackle the problem with 8 Mary a meal what he knew best: build- MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN ing with LEGOs. Shubham Nothing screams America worked with a LEGO Mind- more than excess. And noth- storms EV3, an advanced ing tastes more like brunch set that can be used to make than a Bloody Mary. Combine programmable toys like the two, and you get the coun- robots. After three weeks of try’s latest trend in libations. after-school tinkering, Shub- The Cove in Leland, Michigan, ham had developed Braigo, serves its concoction with a a printer that creates Braille regional delicacy, a smoked patterns by using a needle to chub. In Minneapolis, the Ice- punch small holes in paper. house’s Bloody Homer (as in Simp- The total cost of his machine: $350. son) features candied bacon and a Shubham put his plans online as bacon-bedecked donut. The version an open-source invention for other at Sobelman’s Pub & Grill in Milwau- innovators. Now he’s busy working kee is crowned with a Brussels sprout, on a top-secret project with LEGO. celery, onion, mushroom, cherry to- mato, lemon, pickle, shrimp, sausage, … do we leave cheese, olive, green onion, asparagus, 10 bananas at a grave and—the pièce de résistance—a bacon HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA cheeseburger slider. Next time you visit Huntsville, be sure to pack a bunch—of bananas, that is. … does a 12-year-old The city is home to the grave site of 9 build a Braille a special astronaut: squirrel monkey printer from LEGOs Miss Baker. In 1959, Miss Baker and SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA Able, a rhesus monkey, were the first … do bald eagles make public appearances 11 PASO ROBLES, CALIFORNIA After his parents received a flyer primates to safely return from space seeking donations for the visually (they experienced nine Unlike other diplomats, Thunder the bald eagle doesn’t rely on words to get impaired, preteen Shubham Baner- minutes of weightless- his point across—his glare is enough. The victim of an oil spill and electrocu- tion, the raptor makes more than 100 appearances a year across America as jee went online ness). Miss Baker lived at a representative of our national bird. Thunder’s injuries prevent his return to to research what Huntsville’s U.S. Space & the wild, so the 11-year-old lives at Conservation Ambassadors, a California it’s like to be Rocket Center until her nonprofit refuge that houses permanently impaired animals and advocates blind. He was death in 1984, and visi- for protecting their kind in the wild. “People care about animals, but it indignant to learn that Braille print- tors still leave hundreds can take a kick in the butt to get them to act,” says David Jackson (pictured ers cost at least $2,000. “Capitalizing of bananas annually on page 71), the organization’s CEO and one of the spokesbird’s favorite on disadvantaged people did not for this little handlers. “After meeting Thunder, everyone wants to help save them.” seem right,” he says. So he decided to space simian.

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… does a janitor School. His work ethic impressed as a third-grade teacher at Port Barre. are reintroduced into the bay. But 12 become principal the principal, who one day dropped And when the principal retired in No- gardeners find it’s hard to stop after PORT BARRE, LOUISIANA this shocker: “He said, ‘I’d rather see vember 2013, the one man who knew one harvest. “People get addicted to In 1979, Gabe Sonnier (pictured on you grading papers than picking them everything about the school—from seeing their oysters grow,” says page 71) graduated fifth in his high up,’” recalls Sonnier. But Sonnier, a fixing leaks to solving multiplication Don Webster of the University of school class and enrolled in college father of two, waited 19 years until his tables—landed the job. “Whatever Maryland Extension. to study engineering. But money was youngest had completed high school your circumstance, it doesn’t have to scarce in his family, so he dropped before returning to college in 2000. end there. You can finish strong,” says … do we respond out to help raise his After eight years of mopping Sonnier, now 53. But don’t be fooled 15 with such feeling siblings, taking a during the day and attend- by his talk about finishing—this prin- OMAHA, NEBRASKA custodial job in 1981 at ing classes at night, Sonnier cipal is just getting started. Police sergeant Brian Port Barre Elementary got a degree and a position Smith, 52, is … do oysters have known for 14 foster parents brightening CHESAPEAKE BAY, the station … is a Muslim teen MARYLAND & VIRGINIA house with 13 a superhero If you think “gardening” means only his smile. JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY roots, soil, and buds, you need to So when he In February, the Marvel comic book open your mind. Today, America’s made the offhand remark to universe—home to heavy hitters most unusual volunteer gardeners coworker Captain Shayna Ray that like Captain America, Spider-Man, are growing oysters underwater to he’d never received a Valentine’s Day Thor, the Hulk, and Iron Man— replenish our shellfish population card as a kid, she was determined to expanded to include a unique new after a dramatic drop in supply. make it up to him. While Smith was superhero: 16-year-old Kamala Oysters are aquatic all-stars: They out on vacation in early February, Khan, a Pakistani-American Muslim from Jersey City. Kamala possesses filter the water and form reefs to Ray posted a message on the depart- the power to shape-shift into any- create habitats for marine life. ment’s Facebook page telling people one she chooses. In Maryland and Virginia’s Chesa- about his 20-plus years of service Like other American teenagers, peake Bay, Alabama’s Mobile Bay, and encouraging them to send him she finds herself examining her and Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay, a card. Her post was widely shared relationship with her religion and nonprofits provide instruction across the United States, and the with her very traditional family. and a cage of itty-bitty baby station’s mailbox exploded with According to her cocreator, Seattle oysters—each smaller hundreds of pink and red envelopes. writer (and Muslim) G. Willow Wilson, Kamala is both extraordi- than a fingernail—to When February 14 arrived, officers nary and average—a girl struggling marine gardeners. The presented the sergeant with the to discover who she is and who she requirements: access haul, and he choked up. “What wants to be. In other words, she’s to a dock or a pier and touched me most was the perfect superhero for today’s the time and interest to receiving the handmade multicultural America. monitor their charges. After cards from school­

COURTESY MARVEL COURTESY one year, the mature shellfish children,” Smith says.

78 | 07•2014 | rd.com rd.com | 07•2014 | 79 ONLY IN AMERICA…  … does an icon roar … can one woman 16 back to life 17 save a city in crisis SPIRIT LAKE, IOWA MARIETTA, GEORGIA …do we get In 1901, the first mass-produced Last January’s snowstorm in Atlanta 18 everyone out American-made motorcycles were will go down in record books as the on the dance floor rolled out by Indian Motor­cycles. city’s most paralyzing weather in TAMPA, FLORIDA Merry Lynn Morris has They quickly became the nation’s ride: recent years—but also as one of the the simple goal to release The New York Police Department’s most ingenious uses of social media. everyone’s inner dancer. first motorcycle squad hopped on Tech consultant The Rolling Dance Chair, Indians to chase criminals, and our Michelle Sollicito which Morris, 38, has in- armed forces used them during both watched how a vented, allows people with World Wars. But by 1953, rival Harley- storm immobi- disabilities to move fluidly Davidson had captured the market, lized her city, and across the floor. Standard and Indian ceased production. she was moved to wheelchairs travel jerkily and in straight lines. This Numerous attempts to revive the immediately start chair reacts to the motion company were unsuccessful until a Facebook group to link of a smartphone that’s Polaris Industries acquired it in those marooned by the placed on the body, so that 2011, debuting three new Indian weather to shelter, fuel, food, when a person leans left, it models last year (see page 70). Like transportation, and other assistance rolls left—it can even spin. the original, the 21st-century Indians offered by Good Samaritans. Morris, a former profes- are made in the U.S.A. (engines are Called SnowedOutAtlanta, its sional ballet dancer who manufactured in Osceola, Wisconsin; membership swelled to more than teaches at the University of South Florida, was inspired the rest of the bike is assembled in 50,000 within 24 hours. Strangers in part by her father, who Spirit Lake, Iowa). The brand’s rise saved one another: A pregnant mom became disabled after a and fall is a clas­sic American story of and her child found a place to stay; car accident. She wanted a resilience and rebirth, explains Steve a man with a heart problem was way for wheelchair-bound Menneto, Polaris’s vice president taken to the hospital; and a stranded, people like him to enjoy of motorcycles. “Sometimes we scared 71-year-old woman received moving to music again. get knocked down, but we blankets and hot cocoa. “[Michelle Her father never tried the always get back Sollicito] has done more for our city chair—she completed a prototype in 2012, and he’d up,” he says. than any official,” one resident told passed away in 2008— the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. but she has used it with “The biggest thing I learned is that kids who have spina bifida everyone can do something to help and cerebral palsy. She has people in a crisis,” Sollicito, 46, says. been thrilled by their delight Grateful people offered her gifts— and reports, “One little girl a trip, a car, a Disney vacation, even said to me afterward, ‘This a house—but she asked them to makes me feel free!’” donate to the Red Cross instead.

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… will the first lady heard a familiar voice on the other … do we children read to a 19 actually answer the end. For the past four years while on 21 have the curious if twitchy and phone on vacation her family vacation in Hawaii, First best-read shelter somewhat distractible COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO Lady Michelle Obama has volun- cats around audience. It’s a win- In 1955, a typo in a Sears ad promis- teered for the NORAD Santa hotline. BIRDSBORO, win situation for the ing calls to Saint Nick directed chil- But it takes many elves: In 2013, PENNSYLVANIA kids and cats. “Com- dren to the Continental Air Defense more than 1,250 American and Cana- Kristy Rodriguez’s ten-year- ing into a shelter is a Command (CONAD). The Air Force dian military personnel and civilians old son, Sean, was having some stressful experience colonel who answered played along, at Peterson Air Force Base fielded difficulty reading. So last August, for any animal,” says and since then, CONAD and its succes- 117,000 calls and 11,000 e-mails. One after hearing about shelters where shelter spokeswoman sor, the North American Aerospace volunteer told the American Press kids read books to dogs, Rodriguez, Beth Ireland. “Book Buddies Defense Command (NORAD), have Service that his favorite call was from coordinator for the Animal Rescue gives them an opportunity to be taken Christmas Eve calls from a little boy calling from India: “He League of Berks County, brought loved.” Another young reader, Harlan, young ones worldwide who have asked where Santa was, and when Sean in to work to meet the group’s seven, says that when he enters the urgent queries like “Am I on I told him he’d passed through India cats. He read Goosebumps books cat room with book in hand, its feline the ‘nice’ list?” and “Will I once but was coming back, out loud to them, and his skills and residents “get excited and start to see Rudolph’s nose?” he screamed, ‘Oh no, confidence soared after just a few purr.” As a Book Buddy, Harlan says Last year, kids calling I better get to bed!’ and visits. Impressed, Rodriguez started with pride, “I can read all by myself on December 24 may have slammed the phone down.” Book Buddies, a program in which now, and I read to myself too.” FROM LEFT: ROBERT CORNELIUS/GETTY IMAGES. ANATOL JOSEPHO, JOSEPHO, ANATOL IMAGES. CORNELIUS/GETTY ROBERT FROM LEFT: GIFT OF THE CENTER OF PHOTOGRAPHY, INTERNATIONAL 1928-30, KENNEDY ARCHIVES JOHN F. AV 2008. COURTESY FAMILY, JOSEPHO WHOSAY ALDRIN/COURTESY AND MUSEUM. BUZZ PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY LEBRON JAMES. JENNIFER LEE. COURTESY COURTESY FROM LEFT: PHOTO ELLEN DEGENERES/AP

20 … did we pioneer the selfie

1839: Philadel- 1925: Anatol 1953: Jacqueline 1966: Astronaut 2011: San Fran- 2013: Selfies 2014: As Academy Awards host, phia photogra- Josepho (above) Kennedy and Buzz Aldrin snaps ciscan Jennifer snowball, and pet, Ellen DeGeneres arranges a seemingly pher Robert invents the then-Senator himself on a Lee posts the gym, and other spontaneous star-studded selfie, Cornelius takes photo booth, John F. Kennedy Gemini XII space- first self-portrait themed selfies only to have it unmasked a day later one of the first bringing the are only two of walk; he claims with the #selfie emerge (LeBron as part of a promotion for Samsung. photographic selfie into the the booth’s many it was the first hashtag on James, above). self-portraits. public sphere. famous boosters. space selfie. Instagram.

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… do we make streets since losing his 22 our missions job in 2011, went for the marketable instruction. McConlogue, SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA 23, provided Grand, 37, Chris Bley, 40, has fused his with a basic laptop and two passions, rock climbing and three coding books and environmental protection, into tutored him for an hour in one very savvy business. As the mornings. After three the owner of Rope Partner, a and a half months, Grand company he launched in Santa Cruz had learned enough to create Trees in 2001, he employs climbers and for Cars, a smartphone app released other outdoor enthusiasts to service in December that helps commuters wind turbines. Driving around organize carpools. “I dig the mental America, he says, “I noticed turbines challenges,” Grand told tech website were getting taller, so I knew that Mashable. Meanwhile, McConlogue they’d need people who are unafraid has launched a mentoring group to of heights to maintain them.” match experienced programmers Today, Bley has 50 workers, a with aspiring coders. number that grows as wind energy’s use expands. “I tell [people] my … do we hold the key office is 300 feet in the air,” said em- 24 to everything ployee Terrence Green in the Santa ESTES PARK, COLORADO Cruz Sentinel. Now try topping that. If you’re looking for a key to Buck- ingham Palace, you don’t have to … will a passerby cross the pond to find it. Simply 23 stop to teach a check in to the Baldpate Inn on Twin … does a doctor beautify buildings homeless man to code Sisters Mountain, owner of some 25 SHONTO, ARIZONA NEW YORK CITY, 30,000 keys, which hang in a room Drivers traveling through the Navajo reservation en route to the Grand NEW YORK where they’re organized by state and Canyon may be startled to see massive faces staring at them: a quizzical Handout or hand- country with a descriptive child, a wrinkled elder, a laughing woman. These portraits are the work of up? Last summer, tag on each. Among them Jetsonorama, or Dr. Chip Thomas as he’s known at his day job as an Indian Health Service physician. Since 2009, he has taken and enlarged photos of software engi- are signposts of history, tribal members, which he prints and mounts on buildings. His aim: to make neer Patrick such as keys to one onlookers pause and appreciate the Navajo. “People said they’d driven through McConlogue of Hitler’s desks, to the reservation but didn’t have a sense of the residents,” says Dr. Thomas, 57. gave home- Dr. Frankenstein’s “Since I started my art, I’ve heard about visitors stopping to look, meeting less Leo Grand a choice between castle in Roma- locals, and being invited home for a meal. It’s a bridge between cultures.” the two, offering him either $100 nia, and to For a video of Jetsonorama making art in the desert—plus other videos and or two months of coding lessons. the U.S. photos—download the Reader’s Digest app for your iPad or Kindle Fire. Grand, who’d been living on the Capitol. PHOTOGRAPH BY RAMONA ROSALES

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