I’m 
David Offutt, a student and teacher of American history and western civilization. I live in El Dorado, Arkansas, with my six cats.
I was recently interviewed again for a Sunday newspaper column called Neighbors in the South Arkansas Sunday News. What follows is an updated, slightly revised version of the original interview ten years ago in November 2001:
Birthdate: In the tradition of Jack Benny, I celebrate my annual 39th birthday every December 29.
The one thing I’ve learned in life is AND my trademark cliché or expression is: “Offutt’s Law”: The more important it is for you to know something, the less likely it will be volunteered to you.
Occupation: Teacher at the Adult Education Center of SAU Tech in Camden, AR - Previously, I taught U.S. history and western civilization in various public school systems and in private college prep schools; I taught for nearly ten years in New Orleans at the Xavier University Preparatory High School, and I taught two years each at the American School of Quito and the American School of Guayaquil in Ecuador.
Family: Six cats - Cody, Mr. Hobbes, Gato, Tonka, Scout, and Benny
Though I was proved wrong, I once said I’d never: Move back to El Dorado, AR. I returned in 1994 to keep an idea on my elderly father, who passed away in early 2001.
What kind of car do you drive? 1994 Nissan pickup; 1986 Pontiac Grand Prix (In 2011 it will become an antique; and, for the umpteenth time, no, I do not want to sell it).
My favorite presidents are/were: The Great American Triumvirate – George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt
My favorite kind of music is: New Age, folk, some classical, and some movie themes and soundtracks
If I could, I would write a book about: My four years living and teaching in Ecuador
My favorite author is: John Steinbeck
The last book I read was: True Compass by Edward M. Kennedy
You will never catch me wearing: a necktie if there is any way to avoid it.
My teenage idol was: actress Hayley Mills of Pollyanna, The Parent Trap, The Chalk Garden, and The Family Way
My all-time favorite television show is: Route 66 with George Maharis and Martin Milner
My favorite comedian is: Jon Stewart on The Daily Show
My hobbies are: canoeing, camping, traveling, photography, and watching/collecting movies
My favorite performer is: the late Gregory Peck; he portrayed wonderful characters in such films as The Purple Plain, Twelve O’Clock High, On the Beach, The Big Country, and To Kill a Mockingbird .
My all-time favorite movies are: To Kill a Mockingbird and Judgment at Nuremburg
My heroes are: All gone now. As Angela Lansbury said in Something for Everyone, all that are left are mere facsimiles, if even that. I do concur with the American Film Institute’s choice of the number one screen hero of all time: Atticus Finch as played by Gregory Peck. Peck was a strong proponent of liberal causes and was listed among Nixon’s “Enemies List.”
The four guests at my fantasy dinner party would be: producer/director Stanley Kramer, journalist Bill Moyers, singer Pete Seeger, and historian Howard Zinn [my real fantasy dinner would includeTarzan, Peter Pan, Bugs Bunny, and Huckleberry Finn] (my original answer was Steve Allen, philosopher Mortimer Adler, filmmaker Stanley Kramer, and Thomas Jefferson)
My favorite restaurants are: Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits twice a week and The House of Wylie’s and Fayray’s whenever I can
My favorite junk food is: mixed nuts without peanuts
If there’s one thing I won’t do, it’s: Go bungee jumping or jumping out of a perfectly good airplane
My pet peeve is: Litter bugs and slow drivers
My best asset is: I work hard and do the best that I can
I absolutely will not eat: Pickled pigs feet ( My dad used to stink up the house cooking them)
A movie I walked out of was: I Know What You Did Last Summer ( I wanted to walk out on G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, but I was stuck with a friend who thought it was a great movie!
My mother/father would say I’m: Spoiled (Original answer: Very efficient—that was one of the last things my father said to me)
Well, were kind of neighbors! Missouri is just a kick away! Sorry to hear about the loss of your dad! Holidays can be tough when we think of the loved ones we’ve lost!
I do hope you have a Merry Christmas…try and spoil those nine cats!
Mona
By: tulip1810 on December 11, 2009
at 12:04 am
Hi David,
I hope the above e-mail address is the correct way to reach you.
Thank you very much for you nice note! Really appreciate it!
I went to your web-site and read the first article, “The Have-not’s and Have-mores” or –was it “Haves and Have-mores–something close to that. Great stuff. You write so well and you think so clearly. I will read more later, one article at a time. (Reading for me has been the struggle of a lifetime–not complaining, just commenting.
One sentence struck me: You were upset to find that many think Fox News the most reliable–me too. How painful was the SECOND election of George W–How could so many not have gotten it.
By way of introduction, I am a retired professor of speech and theatre from the City Colleges of Chicago–37 great years.
My wife Linda and I have been living just outside of Smackover for the last four years–to be near Linda’s father, Arthur Goodson of Standard Unpsted (also just outside of Smackover). Some culture shock for me after 72 years in and around Chicago.
I’ve discovered “The Texas Shakespeare Festival” in Kilgore–went last year and thought they were wonderful. I now have a “season ticket” to see all four of their shows this season. So all is not lost living in Smackover.
Thank you again for knowing so much and sharing it so eloquently.
Laury Hamburg, Smackover
e-mail: Lauryham@aol.com
By: Laury Hamburg of Smackover on June 27, 2010
at 12:53 am
Are you by any chance the David Offutt who taught me American history at Central High School in West Helena, AR? If so, thank you. Your class was great (esp. the films you assigned to us and the music to which you introduced us) and was an essential part of my political awakening. You sure look like him!
Hayes Biggs
By: Hayes Biggs on December 4, 2010
at 11:26 am
Hayes, I am he. I remember you well. You admired the music of Charles Ives, whose compositions I never played in class, and I suspect he is still a major influence in your own compositions. Great to hear from you.
By: David Offutt on December 4, 2010
at 12:42 pm
Happy to hear back from you as well, especially on such a sad day in the history of the U. S. Senate. Why can’t the Democrats grow a pair?
I’m still a great admirer of Ives, one of our greatest artists in my view.
I wish I had been as good a student in your American history class as I had the potential to be, but remain grateful to you.
By: Hayes Biggs on December 4, 2010
at 1:15 pm
Hi David, Hayes alerted me to your blog. I’d heard you were back in El Dorado, glad to see you haven’t changed much. :) I was in your Am. Hist. class in Helena, 1973 – 74, and loved it, even though I was a mediocre student. I think I still have the class notes stashed away somewhere, and recently Hayes and I compared notes on what you said about the founding father’s religious beliefs (Deism). Anyway, glad you are still alive, hope you like El Dorado. :( Dan Lynch
By: Dan Lynch on December 4, 2010
at 6:27 pm
Dan, so good to hear from you. I never considered you to be a mediocre student – just one who didn’t make A’s all the time – that was Jane Woods.
As for my not changing very much, if you are referring to the photo on this page, that shot was taken five or more years ago and needs updating. Besides that, I have a picture of myself that I keep hidden in the attic and covered with a shroud.
I have mixed feelings about living in El Dorado. Arkansas turned hard right when a black man got elected president and may turn totally Republican in future elections. El Dorado recently elected a Rush Limbaugh devotee to be mayor. Nuff said about that.
By: David Offutt on December 5, 2010
at 9:12 am
I haven’t heard anything from/about Jane Woods. Was it Jane, or her bestie Pam Gist who did the excellent report on the Elaine Genocide as her class project ? (Pam is a corporate lawyer in the DC area, last I heard) At the time, I didn’t pay much attention to that report, but my respect for the subject, and for her open minded approach, has grown over the years.
My Helena landlord and neighbor, Jordan Lambert, Sr. (Blanche’s grandpa) participated in the massacre — which he described as firing as fast as he could pull the trigger and reload. I wish I’d recorded his stories, darn it. BTW, he was a banker, and that’s where the family got their money. During the depression, banks foreclosed on lots of property, which led to the Lamberts owning a farm, managed by Blanche’s dad, but they never lived on a farm or got their hands dirty. I always thought it was a bit hypocritical that she claimed to be a farmer’s daughter. You probably taught her big sis, Mary, who was the family rebel.
BTW, rumor has it there was a similar massacre in the N. Louisiana town of Mer Rouge, not far from El Dorado. I’ve never seen anything written up about it, just heard the story second hand from someone who was living there at the time. I don’t the date, but I’m thinking 30′s, based on the man’s age
I figured your photo was dated, but I was too polite to bring up that subject, lol. I meant that your political perspective and general taste and style has not changed much.
My current state, Idaho, is in the same boat as Arkansas. When I moved here, there was a moderate, environmentalist Dem governor (Cec Andrus, Carter’s Interior Sec) and a Dem legislature. Their base was labor unions and environmentalists (which was not a 4 letter word at the time). Now Idaho is a right-to-work state, that union base is gone, and Rethugs are in total control. The worst kind of Rethugs, too. I stay in Idaho for the geography, but the politics and the culture are repulsive.
It’s basically class warfare. Rethugs cleverly con poor people into turning out to vote for the rich by stirring up emotional social issues like gay marriage, Sharia law, prayer in schools, wolves, etc.. Young liberal and moderate voters don’t turn out because they don’t see a huge difference between the corporate Dims and the Rethugs. I could go on and on, but wouldn’t be telling you anything you didn’t already know.
OK, I’ll try to read your post on the Rise of the Nixonians this evening. Sorry for the rambling post, lots to catch up on.
By: Dan Lynch on December 5, 2010
at 12:04 pm
The photo may be a few years old, but my memories date back to the early 1970′s. Just looking into your eyes, and remembering the slight 5 degree tilt to one side confirms you as one of my favorite teachers. I guess I carried a love of military battle maps into my first career.
Now I am preparing for a second career–teaching. History and mathematics are the two fields I plan to get certified in to improve my probability of landing a job. Additional subject would be Mandarin Chinese.
El Dorado is too south for me. We live in Fayetteville, but can’t see anything but hills and woods. Being in town but in the country at the same time.
By: Tom Conner on December 18, 2010
at 5:34 pm
Hi David
I live in the UK and have been trying to find a copy of The Rocking Horse Winner for years – I haven’t seen it since I was a child some 50 odd years ago. I remember that the film left a lasting impression on me and I would dearly like to see it again after all these years.
Regards, Colin Jones
By: Colin Jones on March 3, 2011
at 9:35 am
Man, I am glad I found High Noon. You are right on about Norquist being the DeFacto president, and as smart as Obama is, he could not see early enough in his presidency who really runs things. I have no doubt that blue dog democrats and whatever democrats are in the senate that vote against the jobs bill today (10/11/2011) are either directly or indirectly in Norquist’s and the Koch Brother’s deep deep pockets. I am a public sector employee in Wisconsin, and I had to find out the hard way.
By: Jim J OBrien on October 11, 2011
at 11:23 am