Coming up on Kentucky Life...

Check out amazing and temporary works of art when Eastern Kentucky man creates in creek beds using nothing but rocks and gravity.

Pikeville celebrates its 200th birthday this year.

We'll take you to a stage play that introduces notable people from the area and the differences they've made.

We'll learn about our location for this week's show, Lake Barkley.

And Lexington has created a new ad campaign encouraging tourism from a very interesting group, space aliens from a planet nearly 40 light years away.

All that's next on Kentucky Life.

[theme music playing] Hey, everybody, and welcome to Kentucky Life.

I'm your host, Chip Polston.

Welcome to Lake Barkley State Resort Park.

As we continue to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the state park system in the Commonwealth, our travels today bring us here to this gym in Cadiz, Kentucky, located near the land between the lakes.

Clearly, the water is the main attraction here.

The lodge sits in a bend of Lake Barkley that really is stunning.

But beyond this, there's a golf course, six miles of hiking trails, and more than 200 bird species you can observe.

We'll learn more about the park here in just a little bit.

But first, when you hear of rock stacking, you probably think of rocks simply put on top of one another, like something you see in different areas of the desert.

But an Eastern Kentucky chiropractor named Adam Fields is taking this art form to a whole different level.

His creations seem to defy the laws of physics.

So, that's why we traveled to a creek bed in Viper, Kentucky, to watch him work.

And when you ask him how he does it, his answer is simple, "It's gravity, man."

When Adam Fields heads to a creek bed, his tools are simple.

All he takes is a milk crate.

He uses that to hold the rocks he picks up and he can then sit on it while in the creek so the water can pass through.

So without the use of tools or wires or adhesive, Adam creates spectacular yet temporary works of art.

They appear to defy the laws of gravity.

Rocks hang on the edges and seem suspended in air.

Impossible angles come together to allow these structures to stand, in most cases, for just a few minutes.

Adam stumbled upon the art form by watching YouTube videos late one night and felt immediately drawn to the activity.

And so the first time you came out to some place like this to give it a shot, how did it go for you?

I got one rock to balance and I was on top of the world, man.

[laughs] That made your day.

It made my day.

Something that small.

From that humble beginning, Adam started stacking more and more rocks into structures that look unreal.

One of the things about this form of art is that it really can't be monetized.

You can't take something like this to a gallery and sell it.

Photos are all Adam can capture, and that becomes key to him when selecting a location to stack.

When I pick a location, I think about photos, since photos are the takeaway from rock balancing, you know?

Other art form mediums, you have it on paper, you have prints of it.

With rock balance, you have a photo, if you're lucky.

These balances will last a couple minutes, sometimes tops.

It may take three hours to build one and you're looking at a five-minute window to get photos.

Yeah, I usually start out by looking for a topper stone that's gonna be the keystone on top of the balance.

Okay.

I look for something unique, pointy, maybe shaped l.. bird.

Just something that stands out to me and then I kind of find other rocks that would showcase that one.

In layman's terms - and you may not even have an answer for this, how does this work?

How are you able to actually do this?

It's gravity, man.

You know?

It's just gravity.

I wish I had a good answer for it, but it just comes down to friction with the rocks.

In more precise terms, it's called the principle of equilibrium.

This is Dr. Timothy Dowling with the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Louisville.

He says one of the best ways to understand how all this can work is to look at a construction crane.

Cranes are extremely flimsy-looking, right?

They rarely, if ever, will collapse, and they're very useful.

They carry very heavy objects, they're very flexible, but they don't look strong enough.

They're very skinny, very tall.

The joint where they pivot is nowhere near the center.

And so when you look at them, your brain says, there's something elegant and magical about anything who's way off-center like that.

But you can see the trick is the blue counterweights that are at the end.

In addition to that balance, Adam also uses the surface of the rocks to help make everything hold.

A balance, on the other hand, you're looking at the aspects of the rock, divots in the rock, spaces between the rocks, and then you're trying to basically make 'em line up in a way that doesn't look humanly possible.

Adam's work is not without controversy.

Some are opposed to this type of activity, feeling that it disturbs the natural flow and life in the creek.

What you affect when you rock balance is micro ecosystems.

That's something you affect when you cut your grass at home, when you drive your car down the highway.

It's not something that enough people do to really amount to anything.

Now, if there were a hundred people rock balancing in a small creek, yeah, you might disturb more animals than you should.

But I try to be as careful as I can.

Most of the rocks I take, as you can see from this bed of rocks behind us, aren't even in the creek.

So I don't really disturb the fish or the crawdads or other creatures that live there.

It's an art form of patience is what it comes down to.

Anybody can do this, it just takes a lot of patience.

Now, even though I'm not known for my patience, Adam felt certain he could teach me how to do this.

I did not share his level of optimism.

Well, Adam, thanks for letting me come to your office here, man.

Of course, man, anytime.

So show me what we're doing.

How do you start with this and what do I need to be on the lookout for here?

All right, well, when you first start, obviously you got to find a rock that you want to balance, and I've picked us out a big one here.

Okay.

As you can see, this rock's got a unique shape to it.

Right.

It's a little eccentric looking.

Okay.

I normally look for the pointier end of the stone, which on this one would be this part of the rock.

Okay.

And this rock's not going to - obviously, it's not just going to sit on its own.

It's going to fall.

Right.

Just the shape and the weight and it's heavier on top it is on the bottom.

Right.

We then had to find the rock to balance this on.

Adam looks for those dimples where another rock may be able to grab hold or catch, as he says.

If the rock is leaning this way, you want to go the opposite with small turns.

So I'm kind of letting it go when I see where it's wanting to go and try to move the rock in the other direction.

Counter it.

You counter it, yes.

Okay.

But you want to make tiny turns.

Tiny.

And try to keep the rock upright as you do it.

Right.

You'll feel it catch.

And after what felt like 10 of the longest minutes of my life, this happened.

Okay, so just - I mean, tiny turn.

Tiny.

[laughs] [clapping] Good job.

Good job, man.

That may be one of the coolest things I've ever done.

It's a kind feeling.

It's an amazing feeling.

That is amazing.

Wow.

Yeah, it never gets old.

No.

My heart is like pounding right now.

Yeah, it will.

It will.

I can feel it.

You get a rush from it.

That rush, and it is a rush, is what keeps Adam coming back.

For him, it's more than a way to express himself artistically.

Rock stacking got Adam through a dark period in his life.

At the time that I started balancing, I was going through a mental health crisis.

I was having a severe bout with anxiety at that time.

So this art form - it's gonna sound a little hokey, I know, but it kind of teaches you to let go.

So if you feel a little off, you can just come out here and it kind of helps you get refocused.

It takes so much mental focus to do it that you can't worry.

Right.

Does that make sense?

It does.

There's only so much room in your brain, and this has taken all of it up.

You're training yourself to let go of troubles.

And it's through these amazing feats of balance that Adam finds balance in his own life as well.

█ █ █ █ The year 2024 marks 200 years since the Town of Pikeville was founded in Eastern Kentucky.

In celebration of the bicentennial, a theatrical production called Spirits of Pikeville Past is taking eight notable Pikevillians out of the history books and onto the stage.

Featuring everyone from politicians to poets, Spirits of Pikeville Past aims to prove that while Pikeville may be small, its people have a history of making a big impact in the world.

Pikeville has a very rich, deep, colorful, exciting past.

There's just so many stories that are so interesting.

I really hope people get excited about learning about their history and some really cool pieces of art can come from it.

█ █ █ █ Spirits of Pikeville Past is a collection of six one-act plays that depict eight people from Pikeville's past, going back 200 years almost.

In celebration of Pikeville's Bicentennial 2024, we are bringing back to life our most influential people from the past.

We don't want to forget them.

We don't want to forget the contributions they've made to our community, really to our country and in some cases, to the world.

WC Hambley was Mayor of Pikeville for a good many years, and he's responsible for cutting the cut-through between the mountains so that the city is no longer surrounded by water.

And his vision was that if we cut through the mountain, filled in the riverbed and rerouted the river, that life would be better for everybody.

I came back in 1953 with an eye for changing things.

The first thing I wanted to do, I wanted to move the railroad out of town.

The next thing I wanted to do was stop the floods.

Now, anytime I came across some problem or something or another, I'd just muddle fiddlesticks and go about, and most of the time, I'd find a solution.

Who'd have guessed that that solution would be dynamite?

It's a marvelous story, and he's an unusual politician in that he didn't want to move up.

He had a goal in mind to move the mountain, and he spent his entire life doing that.

There are very few people who really have impact that last.

Hambley Boulevard is going to be there for a very long time.

His statue will be there for a very long time.

And the fact that he cut through the mountain to really change the landscape is going to be there for centuries.

Katherine Langley, she was born February 14th, 1888.

She stood for women's rights.

She stood for people who weren't raised in education or with affluence.

Katherine moved to Washington, D.C. in 1903 to be a secretary for her father, who was a congressman.

She met John Wesley Langley while she was a secretary for her father.

They met, fell in love, got married.

She moved to Pikeville in 1905.

In 1911, she had used her political contacts to help him get elected so he was now the Republican Representative of the 60th District of the Great State of Kentucky.

He was also very interesting and got caught bootlegging.

He was punished to the fullest extent of the law.

1926, Katherine ran for his seat in the House, and there we have it.

She became the first congresswoman from Kentucky.

Katherine was famous around town for this large black hat.

It was that hat that inspired the playwright to write about this wonderful woman from this really different perspective.

The idea is that Katherine's hat is on display and someone's walking by it, so I arrest their attention and talk to them.

Hey!

Hey you!

Hey you!

Now, I know there are lots of interesting things to.. here at the Kentucky Museum, but if you pass by me with only a cursory glance in my direction, you'll be missing out on one of the most fascinating women these parts have ever seen.

Where to start with John Dils?

He's a transplant to Eastern Kentucky.

He started and ran a school, started businesses, and really contributed to the town as far as financial nourishment.

He became a really important person to how the town was founded.

Now, his personal life was very complicated.

He was a staunch opponent of the Confederacy.

He recruited an entire volunteer company during the Civil War for the Union.

Halfway through the war, he gets dismissed from the military, mainly because he was keeping a mistress in camp.

There's a lot written about Dils historically that makes it complicated.

I'm a husband.

I'm a brother.

I am a father.

I'm a veteran.

I'm everything I set my mind on.

I may have participated in the practice of slavery, but I was also against its horrors.

I owned men and women, bought and sold like horses or cattle.

But I also allowed slaves to travel to freedom hidden on my river barges.

This is America.

We often like to have it both ways.

I think we live in a time that anytime an artist or a public figure does something or has an opinion we don't really agree with, then it's like, “All right.

I'm writing you off, I'm done with you.” And with historical figures, they're always there.

And the things they did happened.

There's no way to get away from that.

I think it's important to learn about the generations before us, whether we like them or not, because all of that led to where we are now.

There's still a lot of stereotypes about Eastern Kentucky that we're sort of backwoods.

These performances prove that we haven't been backwoods for 200 years.

We've been changing the world for a long time.

I hope people are inspired and encouraged to look into the past and see how much intellect, how much creativity, in that they'll find their roots.

By looking at Spirits of Pikeville Past and seeing a little bit about where they come from, maybe they can appreciate who they are.

█ █ █ █ In 1924, the General Assembly passed a bill to establish a temporary state park commission.

And by the early 1960s, the responsibilities of the park system had grown so much that the new Department of Parks was created.

In 1964, the new department founded Lake Barkley State Resort Park.

And by 1966, groundbreaking started on the new lodge, which opened its doors in 1970.

I had a chance to talk with Ashley Joiner, the current park manager, about the park and what it means to the surrounding community.

3,600 acres of playground here.

So everything from an airport and to our 18-hole golf course, to our campground, to our public beach, then easing up to our lodge rooms, and then we have cabins and cottages.

And we have the only fitness center within our state park system, and then we have a full-service marina.

So, a huge development of this property and huge to this area and this community for the economic driver and tourism aspect.

Sure.

Speaking of the development of the property, I read a fascinating article about the amount of glass.

Right.

How much glass is in this place?

Well, it depends on if you're looking through it or you're cleaning it.

Okay.

So three and a half acres, if you're looking through it.

Acres.

Acres.

Wow.

If you're cleaning it, that's over seven acres of glass That's amazing.

that we have to clean here.

And it's a spectacular view that you've got here.

Absolutely.

Water sports have got to be a big part of what goes on here.

What do folks like to do out there?

Absolutely.

So there's anything from jet skiing.

We've got kayaking and paddle boarding.

We actually own what we call Goat Island.

So it's an island out by itself.

So folks like to paddle boat over there or canoe over there and take a picnic with them.

And then, definitely just enjoying our beach and having the family time.

Now, you mentioned Goat Island.

Please tell me there's goats.

There were goats.

There were goats, okay.

Okay.

But that would be fascinating to get out and check things out too.

Yeah.

So there's deer and they swim across, back and forth.

No way.

You can catch them.

So it's pretty neat.

You mentioned a little bit earlier, Ashley, about what this means to the area and the community.

What does all this mean to folks who call this place home?

Yeah.

Well, ultimately parks are put in areas for the economic driver and to provide tourism.

For here, as a resident here of this community, it's such an impactful - not only providing tourism for our local community and that driving force, but providing jobs for our local folks.

Most all of my folks that work here, live here.

We eat, live and breathe here.

That is a great aspect.

I've got some folks that are family members that work here.

So it's providing that income and that way for us to see guests.

And if somebody was going to come here and they'd never been here before and you had a chance to show them one thing, what would you show them?

Right where we're standing.

This view right here, huh?

This view right here.

This is the moneymaker for me.

I love to come out here in the mornings and drink a cup of coffee and see the sunrise, but the sunsets are breathtaking at this very view.

Well, not a bad back porch you've got here.

Absolutely.

Beautiful water, either the swimming pool or the lake itself.

So, yes, this is my ideal spot.

This is awesome.

So, Ashley, thank you so much for hosting us today.

We've had a great time.

We look forward to exploring more.

Absolutely.

Look forward to having you out again.

Thanks.

█ █ █ █ The City of Lexington has created a tourism campaign that is literally out of this world.

It's a laser-beamed message to a planetary system called TRAPPIST-1 that's nearly 40 light years away from earth.

The message to any aliens who might get it is simple, "Come on down and visit the Bluegrass."

Now, this wasn't some half-baked PR stunt.

The city connected with a team of scholars to brainstorm on what life could be like on a distant planet and how we could communicate with them.

There's no answer yet, but they're still waiting.

█ █ █ █ I hope that they see this message and they go, “Oh, wow, cool.

Horses, bourbon," sounds great, right?

█ █ █ █ We just want to make contact.

We would love to know what you know and we would love you to know what we know.

I am a huge sci-fi nerd and I've always been interested in communication with aliens.

And so when Robert Lodder reached out to us, I was very excited.

All of the scholars got together to have a two-, three-hour long discussion about what would this message look like and how should we frame it if we were communicating with another system.

I think what we had at that meeting was a bunch of academics and creative people responding in a very human way to what we might do as people from Lexington.

So it was really like this good space of where we could just nerd out in that little niche field, that little thing that we're an expert in and it mattered.

I think a lot of people don't think about language as a scientific endeavor.

It's so interesting and dynamic and fascinating and you can study it from so many different angles and think about how to talk to aliens.

The structure of the universe that we have found, the molecular structure, the microstructure of the world that we have found, we hope that some intelligent life has also found that same microstructure.

So instead of, for example, just a message that says in English, "Hey, what's up?"

You can say, "Here's the molecular structure of reality," and you don't say that in English, you give it in sort of a geometric or mathematical formulation and you think that's gonna be a more universalized way of communicating to another civilization, if it exists.

It was really interesting for me to think about, all right, we're sending this message through space.

It's going to get there in 40 years.

How do they communicate with each other?

Would they look at our message and would they be able to decode it?

The first thing we sent was five prime numbers.

And that is because any data that is sufficiently compressed begins to look like random noise.

So we put in the prime numbers to say, "Hey, stop.

Look at this for a minute," right?

And then, what follows is pictures of life on Earth.

A lot of these things were already in the Arecibo message from 1974, I think, that Carl Sagan worked on.

And that was, if you look at the image that we sent out, it looks a lot like the Arecibo message, which is nice.

They would know that this was the same group, the same species.

Let's have some visual.

Let's have some textual, cultural.

Let's tap into all those senses so that maybe they can latch on to something that might be really interesting.

So dopamine appears to be something that is fun, even for microorganisms.

Brenna wanted to put in dopamine because it's a molecule that makes people happy, and why not be happy?

Bourbon makes people happy, that's why we put the ethanol on there.

And so we put the chemical components for dopamine on our message, like, "Look, Lexington is fun."

The telescope can collimate the beam a little bit better, so it's narrower going through the sky.

But the most important reason to have it is to track the star, because if you're gonna send a message that's only one-second long, it's no big deal.

But our message is five or six minutes long, right?

And in that time, the rotation of the Earth will move the laser off of the star.

And then I had the messages in the computer, just hit the right buttons to have the program execute and send the message to the modulator board, which then talk to the laser and then talk to the telescope that was tracking TRAPPIST-1.

When you start looking at science fiction, you can really just open those floodgates wide open.

And so maybe there are creatures who only think in mathematical terms.

Maybe what they have is this odd sense of proprioception, which isn't quite sight and isn't quite feeling, but they just kind of can sense their body, whatever it is in space, and then mathematical equations.

Maybe that's how they see the universe.

What I really ask people to think about is whether there'd even be biology on the other end at all.

That's probably one of the more important things.

Our solar system is about a billion years younger than the average one in the Milky Way Galaxy.

So the average civilization in the Milky Way Galaxy is probably a billion years ahead of us.

And if we're just now figuring out that machines last longer, they probably figured it out a long time ago, and they are machines.

If we hit intelligent life, that may very well be the kind of thing we're looking at on TRAPPIST-1.

[spaceship flying buzz] Being able to communicate with a creature that is very different from us would make us a better society.

It would make us better human beings, and would frankly get us to understand the universe better.

I hope that they don't continue to dismiss us, right?

But I also hope that they stay in that curious space of like, "Oh, look at how cute those humans are, still trying to get our attention.

Maybe we should look at this.

What are they doing here?

What do they have going on?"

I think the key thing is to demonstrate that they understood the message, right?

Perhaps we have bourbon, perhaps they have another type of alcohol that they're famous for, right?

And then they would send that through space.

It says a lot about Lexington and the human beings here and the creative people here and how they take an idea and just roll with it.

We've had a great time here today at Lake Barkley State Resort Park.

And now, I don't know about you, but this is a view I could never get tired of.

If you haven't been here before, be sure you check it out.

If you enjoyed our show, be sure and like the Kentucky Life Facebook page or subscribe to the KET YouTube channel for more of what we call Kentucky Life Extras, where you'll have access to lots of other great videos.

Until next time, I'll leave you with this moment.

I'm Chip Polston, cherishing this Kentucky life.

█ █ █ █