By Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: ‘SHADOW ON THE HILL’ On a sunny Saturday in May, 1925, Decoration Day, Florence Knoblock was found brutally murdered on the kitchen floor of her farmhouse near Burlington. Florence was married to John Knoblock and was the mother of a 4 year-old boy named Roger. …
Tiger Hunting
Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: TIGER HUNTING It’s not often that one reads about tiger hunting in Kansas, but there’s a new book out on the subject. The book is fiction, of course; tigers don’t roam the creek beds and pastures of Kansas – as far as we …
Taking a break
Hey, Peeps – No column today. Or for the next several weeks. After 9 3/4 years of putting out a column every week, I decided it was time for a self-imposed break. We all just need a vacation once in awhile.
The Afterlives of Trees
Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: THE AFTERLIVES OF TREES On a wooden porch deck at Lake Wabaunsee, I sat in the shade of burr oaks and locusts, redbuds and hackberry trees. The canopy of leaves, a lake breeze, and a lack of concrete made this place feel about 20 degrees …
The Divorce Girl – a Review
Coming July 7 to a bookstore near you: The Divorce Girl by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg. The ‘70s was a decade of station wagons, “All in the Family,” and polyester. And while some of us are glad that leisure suits have disappeared from the scene, readers of a certain age might get a bit nostalgic when returning …
We Wait
WE WAIT A “particularly dangerous situation” Is the atmosphere we’re wearing today, Or so says the Storm Prediction Center In Oklahoma. And they know about these things in Norman. We’ve heard this threat for days now. Every weatherman has spoken the word. It’s the conversation in every huddle in every town. “Life-threatening storms” is scrawled …
Poet Hadara Bar-Nadav
Poetry reading tonight at ESU. Kevin Rabas, co-director of ESU’s Creative Writing Program, introduces Hadara Bar-Nadav who directs the Creative Writing Program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She uses incredible images in her writing. I was wowed by some of those lines. And there’s nothing like listening to a writer read her own work. …
Laura McClenny
On Saturday I dropped in at the Java Cat and discovered a book-signing right there. Laura McClenny (center of photo) grew up in Emporia, has lived in Colorado for many years and is back in Emporia again. From The Emporia Gazette: McClenny book signing Local author Laura McClenny will be signing her newly released …
At Pages on Sunday
Sunday, Dec. 11 2 -4 p.m. Pages Books & Coffee 605 Main, Newton Book Event: a book reading & signing Three 2011 Kansas Notable Book Award authors Beverley Buller – “A Prairie Peter Pan” and “From Emporia: The Story of William Allen White” Lana Myers – Prairie Rhythms: “The Life and Poetry of May …
Visiting Poets
The sky had been saving up rain for a long time – and tonight it dumped a month’s worth of moisture on us. Dave and I went out into the rain tonight and it was definitely worth the trip – to see and hear two excellent poets who did a reading at ESU. Dr. Kevin …
Strawberry scones
Friday afternoon inspiration: chai, strawberry scones, writer friends, talk of poetry, short stories, novels, famous writers, talk of usurping the warmth of cat bodies in the winter, of walking and running and swimming, of putting pen to paper, hands to keyboard, parents to nursing homes, cats to the pound.