More travels in Kansas and Missouri

I've been happily busy this past month, traveling around Kansas and Missouri. I've been to Columbia, Stockton and El Dorado Springs, MO, as well as Topeka, Scott City, Burlingame, Altoona, Fredonia and Overland Park, KS. This has been an eclectic month. Since Oct. 1, I have

• told stories for the public, including a large group from a Montessori school, at a community center, 
• guest taught a community college class in public speaking for my friend Kareen King,
• visited a high school art class for a performance/workshop designed to get the kids to think about how to translate storytelling into visual images,
• worked with four groups of 8th graders for two days on storytelling, oral communications and writing,
• performed for elementary school assemblies,
• joined the Fine Arts Chorale of KC for another fun Halloween concert at the library (program: music, story, music, story, music, story, music, milk and cookies),
• told stories at public libraries for kids and a large group from a nursing home,
• told funny-scary stories at a Halloween celebration for families at a large corporation.

It has been a blast, as always, and has involved a lot of driving. Here is some of what I've seen:

Old School, literally.

I drove past Claflin on my way to Scott City (that's about a 7 hour drive from my house). I always think of storyteller Willy Claflin when I see this sign.

This is in Scott City, KS. I ate at the adjoining Mexican restaurant, where they had a lovely chile relleno. Not roadkill.

This abandoned limestone house is a typical sight on the plains of Kansas. The early settlers built these houses to last! 

I love the colors of Kansas in the fall. The red is a field of milo (sorghum). 

Here's milo close up.

Classic advertising on the walls in Fredonia, KS.

Last month I wrote about Gas, KS and said I regretted not getting a picture of the Bank of Gas. I passed Gas (pardon me)on my way to Altoona and Fredonia for this photo.

Next I'll write about the residency in Scott City with 8th graders.

Images of Allen County

I thought I'd add a few images from my residency in Allen County, Kansas last month. This first one is of the steps up to what was once the old bank (for rent, if you're interested): 

Many small towns in Kansas have ornate storefronts, at least on the upper storeys. These days, you'll often find flea markets and antique stores in rural towns. Here are a couple of views of downtown Iola:

Between Iola and Moran is the town of Gas. Yup, that's it's name, after the natural gas found in the area. I didn't get a picture of the Bank of Gas, but I did stop at Bonnie's Corner Cafe. Alas, this venerable establishment is closing. I had a good burger there and listened to the local news broadcast by the waitress, Bonnie's daughter. If you can't see the words on this sign, read the caption.

Bonnie's Corner Cafe--Don't just pass Gas, stop and enjoy it!--Golden Dipt Chicken

Humboldt is one of those towns with a big water tower downtown. Sometimes these structures are on the outskirts. When I'm driving to a small community in Kansas, I keep my eye out for the next water tower, because I know there will be a town there, maybe even my destination.

I'm happy to see beautiful buildings like this one in Humboldt getting smartened up. Check out the brickwork! There were some amazing masons in Kansas in the past.

Where I've been

Blog? What blog? Oh, right, I have one, don't I?

I've been busy. Since I last wrote, I've been to Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island visiting family, then to libraries and camps in Arkansas City, Wichita (twice), Valley Center, Oskaloosa, Lawrence, Overland Park and Leavenworth, Kansas, as well as Ponca City, Oklahoma and Jefferson City, Missouri. Mostly I've been doing summer reading programs, which have gone over well. The baby puppet has been singing "Throw, throw, throw the goat in the lima bean, Slippily, loppily, lippily, loppily, on the trampoline." Just as we do with the Itsy Bitsy Tiger, we sing it the proper way for her. Will she ever learn?

This was a performance in my backyard last week.

In Valley Center, they decorate the library up to the rafters. That whale must have been a tough one to net.
Also in Valley Center, the library lends out fishing poles, courtesy of Kansas Wildlife and Parks. In the past I've mentioned libraries lending cake pans, but I'd never seen this. First-time fishing pole borrowers get a little tackle box to keep.
This kind of busy-ness is typical of summer. July is quieter than June by far. Maybe I should go fishing?

Back from New Jersey

Last week I was fortunate to have work in Cliffwood and Rumson, NJ, telling stories to preschoolers through fifth graders. I stayed with my friends Susie and Dagmar and also spent a good chunk of time with Carol Grosman. More on Carol in another post.

Sometimes when I'm on the road, I notice interesting differences. Here's a sign from the school in Cliffwood. I've never seen this wording in Kansas:

"Egress" always makes me think of PT Barnum, who put up a sign that said, "This way to the egress." People expected to see an exotic animal, but what they found was the exit.

Here's another sign, this one in Rumson:

I've played bocce in Kansas, but at a friend's house. I've never seen a bocce court in a public park in Kansas. New Jersey, yes, Connecticut, yes, Kansas, no.

Though the punctuation on this sign is puzzling, the sentiment is not:

No signs here. Just beach and jetty, water and sky. No salt water in Kansas. Hmm, my Rhode Island roots are showing!

On the road again

I'm so glad my summer storytelling season has begun! It's nice to be back in the libraries, even with all the driving required. Yesterday I drove to Ponca City, OK for a library show, then drove home, after a nice lunch with the librarian and her daughter (thanks, Janel!). That was about 8 hours in the car. On the way back, going through the Flint Hills, I took a few pictures out the window.  

The Flint Hills cover the central part of Kansas. I know, these pictures don't show them as hills, but they are. Really. Not like the hills of Vermont, where I grew up, but long and rolling landforms, often with cattle grazing on them in the spring. Ask the Buddha.

Snow day!

I'm out here in Salina, KS for two days. The plan was that I'd do a day of writing workshops with fifth graders today and then have performances at other schools tomorrow. It wasn't until I'd arrived last night that I learned that school would be cancelled today.

There was a massive ice storm here. Lots of houses (and the middle school) are still without electricity. Limbs are down all over town. I went out for a walk this morning and took some pictures. It was brilliantly sunny and the trees sparkled. I used my old-fashioned camera (remember, the kind that uses something called "film"?) so I won't have the pics for a while. I dug around on youtube and found some footage, not of the sunny scenes but of earlier devastation. I'm not sure if this is Salina, but it might be:



So today was a day off. I've been getting over a cold and didn't mind having more time to feel better. I had full confidence that I'd be in the schools tomorrow.

It was a pleasant day, a motel-based solitary retreat, with a short meeting in the afternoon. I stopped at Big Lots on the way back to the motel and was surprised to hear the cashier say that school was cancelled tomorrow as well. I thought about going home, but by chance I'm in a room with a jacuzzi. I'll hang out here and make my way home tomorrow before the next snowstorm blows in.

Time to fill the tub.

Residency fun

This last week I began my four-week residency in Allen County, KS. I spent Monday and Tuesday in Humboldt, Wednesday and Thursday in Moran. Every kid in kindergarten through fifth grade in Humboldt and kindergarten through sixth grade in Moran has heard me tell stories. I'm famous in those schools.

What's a residency? Essentially, it means that I'm "in residence" in a town or a school for an extended time. Some storytellers use the term to mean teaching instead of performance, but I find myself doing performance residencies more often than teaching kids about storytelling.

This four-week set is a performance residency. I'm with small groups of kids, one or two classes at a time. This is a real treat--instead of performing for 250 kids in a gym, I'm in the classroom or in the library, a more intimate setting. I do have stories that catch the interest of wide ranges of kids, but doing it this way allows me to react differently to the listeners. I can give the sixth graders more sophisticated (and sometimes scary) stories than I tell to the first graders.

One of the other treats of a residency is that I often eat with the kids. In Humboldt I brought my own lunch, while in Moran I had the salad bar for the teachers. Occasionally I'll eat school lunch, but it's not my favorite (gluey pizza, gack!). I love table hopping, sitting with kids who have already heard me tell stories. They tell me which stories they liked. I ask what they like best for school lunch (gluey pizza!), if they have pets, if they know any jokes.

I've got something new for this residency: a study guide. I've known for years that I needed to create one (or more), but it wasn't until this summer that I finally applied myself. The teachers last week were universally pleased to hear that the study guide was available.

I'd better go pack. All this week I'll be at one school in Iola, the hub of this residency and where I'm staying. More later, especially starting on Thursday, the beginning of NaBloPoMo.