Second “Proud to Be” Celebrated at Two Events

MISSOURI PASSAGES
In This Issue
Second “Proud to Be”
Celebrated at Two
Events
Kara Jacquin
Page 1
Many Languages — One
Understanding
Geoff Giglierano
Page 2
Six New Members
Added to MHC Board of
Directors
Page 2
Speakers Bureau Offers
New Topics from
Warfare to Fashion
Page 3
Volume 12, Number 1. January, 2014
Second “Proud to Be” Celebrated at Two Events
Contributed by Kara Jacquin, MHC Communication Coordinator
“
impact,” “One Thousand Cuts of Healing,”
“Highway of Death.” For some, these works
trigger harsh memories, for others, they
evoke sympathy. For all, they summon pain,
fear — understanding.
These were just a handful of titles read at the
“Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors,
Volume Two” launch November 15. Authors
and all interested in preserving the military
experience gathered at the Mercantile
Library on the campus of the University of
Missouri–St. Louis and at the Central St.
Louis Public Library to celebrate the release
of the second anthology.
Both events were introduced by special
emcees. Colin Halloran moderated the
presentation at the Mercantile Library and
Dr. John McManus spoke at the Central
Library. Halloran is an Afghanistan combat
veteran, English teacher and poet who leads
workshops on understanding war through
poetry. McManus is a professor of U.S.
military history at Missouri University of
Science and Technology and serves as the
official historian for the U.S. Army’s Seventh
Infantry Regiment.
“Proud to Be” is a creative writing anthology
of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, interviews
and photography submissions by and
about veterans from across the nation and
spanning generations. It is an annual series
first released in November 2012 and is a joint
project between the Missouri Humanities
Council, Warriors Arts Alliance and
Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO)
Press.
Copies of both volumes may be purchased
on SEMO Press’s website.
Children’s Play About
Cultural Diversity
Traveled Across Missouri
Joan Suarez
Page 4
Meeting New Words and
Worlds in Children’s
Books
Julie Douglas
Page 5
PBS Stars Chillicothe for
Historic Feat
Amy Supple
Page 6
Recent Grants Awarded
Page 6
The reading event allowed
discussion about the anthology
(lower left). Chris Wubbena
(middle left) read his poem
about his father’s time in
Vietnam. Colin Halloran (upper
left) lead discussion about
the importance of writing in
wartime. Copies of Volume Two
were available for purchase
at both venues (upper center).
John Mort (upper right) shared
his fiction category-winning
submission. Pamela Foster
(middle right) read about her
husband’s PTSD and bond with
his service dog. UMSL also
hosted an exhibit by the Combat
Paper Project (lower right).
PAGE 2
MISSOURI PASSAGES
Six New Members Added to
MHC Board of Directors
T
he Missouri Humanities Council received
six new members to the Board of Directors
as of Nov. 1. We welcome:
Tom Hershewe
Kansas City
Tom Hershewe is an attorney at a Kansas City
firm and a member of the Missouri and Kansas
Bars.
Gerald W. Jones
Jackson
Gerald Jones served as the Presiding
Commissioner of Cape Girardeau County for
15 years and owns two area businesses. He
has served on the boards of the Missouri Small
Business Development Council, Southeast
Missouri State University Foundation and U.S.
Bank.
Carolyn F. Loraine
Lake Ozark
Carolyn Loraine was the first woman elected
to the School of the Osage Board of Education
and the first woman elected Presiding
Commissioner of Camden County in 2002.
Matthew R. Pitzer
Columbia
Matthew Pitzer is a portfolio manager at Shelter
Insurance and is active in the humanities
community in Columbia.
Nora Windmeyer
Grand Pass
Nora Windmeyer has an extensive history
working in early childhood and family reading
programs, serving on award and reading
program committees.
Wayne Zade
Fulton
Wayne Zade is a professor of English at
Westminster College. He has been published
numerous times and has been recognized
with the Governor’s Award for Excellence in
Teaching and the Patricia Leibling Parents’
Award for Excellence in Teaching from
Westminster College in 2009.
Thank you for your pledged support.
Many Languages — One Understanding
Contributed by Geoff Giglierano, MHC Executive Director
“
Language
is the
blood of
the soul
into which
thoughts
run and out
of which
they grow.”
- Oliver
Wendell
Geoff Giglierano
MHC Executive Director Holmes
been working on expanding and
updating our Speakers’ Bureau with
new voices and perspectives and
as we have been making grants to a
variety of organizations in different
communities around the state in
order to help support their efforts to
tell their unique stories in their own
unique ways.
Human beings utilize an
astounding variety of languages in
communicating with each other. We
have diverse ways of expressing
thoughts, sharing ideas and
facilitating cooperative action that
are unique not just to a particular
national, regional or ethnic group,
but also to members of a certain
culture, subculture or occupation.
Members of each group have their
own vocabulary, speech patterns
and syntax, and when we make
the effort to understand someone
else’s language, we can gain some
essential understanding of who they
are, what is important to them and
how they interact with each other
and the world.
Lately, I have been working my
way through a facsimile of a book
published in 1701 entitled “An
Account of Divers Choice Remarks,
as Well as Geographical, Historical,
Political, Mathematical, Physical,
and Moral; Taken in a Journey
Through the Low-Countries, France,
Italy, and Part of Spain; with the
Isles of Sicily and Malta,” written
by an English doctor, Ellis Veryard.
Dr. Veryard’s book — though it is
in English — was written in a very
different language from the English
with which we are familiar. Yet at a
certain point, as if the proverbial light
bulb suddenly went off in my head,
I started to more easily understand
and follow the language without
quite as much of a struggle. And
in that moment, I began to feel a
certain connection to this English
gentleman who was writing to me
across more than three centuries. I
had a sense of what was important
to him, what interested him and how
he was trying to understand people
and places that were very different
from with what he was familiar.
This issue of “Missouri Passages” is
about the multiplicity of languages
that exist in the world and the
importance of listening to the voices
that speak those different languages.
Hopefully, it is a reminder that it is
important for us to express ourselves
as well — to give voice to what is
inside of each of us, to share what
we have seen and felt. I have been
thinking about this a great deal
lately, as we have had readings from
some of the veterans creative writing
authors who have contributed to
our second anthology, as we have
Trying to understand someone else’s
language is not always easy.
No, understanding the languages of
others is not always easy. But the
rewards that can be gained from
trying to do so certainly make it
worth the effort.
“The Civil War in Missouri” Exhibit Schedule
Kingston
Jan. 11 - March 9
Caldwell County Area
Business Association
Marshall
March 29 - May 26
Missouri Valley College
PAGE 3
MISSOURI PASSAGES
Speakers Bureau Offers New Topics from Warfare to Fashion
T
he first successful parachute jump from a moving airplane
was made by Captain Berry at Jefferson Barracks in
1912. Kansas City has more miles of boulevards than any city
except Paris and more fountains than any city except Rome.
In 1889, Aunt Jemima pancake flour, invented in St. Joseph,
Mo., was the first ready-mix food ever to be introduced commercially.
Missouri has been the home to tons of oddities, firsts and
famous events. The aim of the “Show Me Missouri” Speakers
Bureau is to bring these fun facts and fascinating stories to
communities across the state via humanities experts. 2014
will be an exciting year for the Bureau, with the addition of 21
new speakers and 33 new “Show Me State” topics. In addition
to the new selection of speakers, libraries can continue to
enjoy the $25 deal throughout 2014, a $50 saving on the
program fee.
The new “Show Me Missouri” catalog includes:
• Mary Barile: “The Haunting of Missouri”
• Aaron Barnhart: “What Happened? History Travel, Public
Memory, and Missouri’s Civil War”
• William Berry: “Everyday Life in Civil War Missouri”
• Gladys Caines-Coggswell: “Adeline” and “Marsha Jane
Chisley and Her Son, Father Augustine Tolton”
• Lawrence Christensen: “African American Civil Rights in
Post-Civil War Missouri” and “Carr Pritchett and Civil War Era
in Howard County”
• Thomas Curran: “Confederate Women and the Civil War
Military Justice System in the St. Louis Area”
• Carol Diaz-Granados: “Missouri’s Ancient Rock Art” and
“Remembering the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair”
• James Duncan: “The Majesty of the Osage” and “The
Indians and Archaeology of Missouri”
• Diane Eickhoff: “If It Looks Like a Man: Gender Identity,
Female Soldiers, and Lady Bushwhackers in the Civil War”
• Delia Gillis: “Elijah Washington’s Kansas City: Photographs
of the Civil Right Era” and “’Keeping Myself Riding on This
Train:’ Ollie Ollison, George Mayfield, and the Significance of
the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters”
• Connie Grisier: “Dawn to Dusk Fashion Show, Historical
Interpretation of 1860s Victorian Clothing” and “The Changing
Role of Women During the Civil War”
• Thomas Gubbels: “Lifting Missouri Out of the Mud: The
History of Missouri’s Highway System”
• Sharon Hanson: “The Life of an Olympic Champion”
• Gary Kremer: “George Washington Carver: Scientist and
Symbol” and “Strangers to Domestic Virtue: Women and
Crime in Missouri History”
• Virginia Laas: “Women and Guerrilla Warfare in Civil War
Missouri”
• Lisa Marks: “The Life and Times of Molly Brown”
• Joe Louis Mattox: “Blacks in Blue in the Civil War from
Kansas and Missouri”
• Diane Moran: “Jessie Tarbox Beals and the Louisiana
Purchase Exposition of 1904” and “Zerelda James Samuel”
• Frank Nickell: “It Is Very Plain: Missourians are Funny
People”
• Steve Otto: “The Day the River Ran Backward” and “Tales of
the Ozarks”
• Alan Perry: “Little in Common and Lots in Common: Two
Missourians in China”
• Michael Polley: “Americans at War: World War II Letters”
and “A Tale of Two Biographies: Satchel Paige Speaks Out”
• Kenneth Porter: “An Ozark Herbology”
• John Schmalzbauer: “Exploring the Ozarks Religious
Landscape” and “Entertaining the Faithful: Food, Music, and
Tourism in the Ozarks Religious Imagination”
• Robert Schulz: “Sterling Price and the Confederacy” and
“Bushwhacking in Northeast Missouri”
• Alicia Scott: “Remember the Sultana”
• Jeffery Smith: “The Temples of Democracy: Carnegie
Libraries in Missouri” and “Remember Me, And Here’s Why:
Cemetery Memorials and Community Memory”
• Joan Stack: “Witness to War: George Caleb Bingham’s
Civil War Painting, ‘General Order No. 11’” and “Thomas
Hart Benton Speaks: Revelations from a Rediscovered 1962
Interview”
• Henry Sweets: “Mark Twain’s Origins” and “Mark Twain’s
Relevance Today”
• Jon Taylor: “Harry Truman and Civil Rights”
• Dan Viets: “Walt Disney of Missouri”
• Timothy Westcott: “Voices of Patriotism: Missouri’s FourMinute Men”
• Steve Wiegenstein: “Missouri’s Utopian Communities”
• Kenneth Winn: “Cultural Appetites: Fads and Fashions of
Victorian Missouri” and “Resurrection Men: Body-Snatching,
Medicine, and Riot in 19th Century Missouri”
• Gregory Wolk: “Fremont’s Reign in Missouri: 100 Days that
Changed the War” and “Doubling Like a Fox: Colonel Joseph
Porter’s 1862 North Missouri Campaign”
These exciting new presentations are now available
for reservation. To apply for a Speakers Bureau, visit
mohumanities.org.
“Show Me Missouri” Speakers’ Bureau Schedule
March 7
The Majesty of the Osage
11 a.m.
Missouri Botanical Garden
St. Louis
May 3
Tales of the Ozarks
10 a.m.
Bates County Museum
Butler
July 20
Tales of the Ozarks
2 p.m.
Lawrence County Historical Society
Mt. Vernon
PAGE 4
MISSOURI PASSAGES
Children’s Play About Cultural Diversity Traveled Across Missouri
Contributed by Joan Suarez, Missouri Immigrant & Refugee Advocates Board Chair
A
grant from the Missouri Humanities
Council made it possible for
the Missouri Immigrant & Refugee
Advocates (MIRA) to host a three-city
Missouri tour of the 2013 Metro Theater
Company’s production of Dennis
Foon’s “New Kid” during the month
of November. The play addresses
the complex issues associated with
welcoming the rich diversity of immigrant
and refugee population throughout the
state of Missouri.
Room. Last year, Welcoming Missouri
presented a photo exhibit, “The Missouri
Immigrant Experience: Faces & Places,”
in St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo.,
with future showings scheduled for
Springfield and Columbia, Mo., and the
Missouri History Museum in 2014. So,
when one of MIRA’s board members,
Juan Montana, suggested we partner
with the Metro Theater Company for the
2013 cultural event, the collaboration
seemed to be natural.
MIRA is a statewide coalition of 40
organizations including labor, business,
community, faith and direct service
organizations who work to create a
welcoming climate for immigrants and
refugees in the state of Missouri.
“New Kid” tells the story of Nick and his
family, immigrants to the U.S. When he
arrives at school the first day, his hopes
of making new friends are dashed. The
kids in his school make fun of Nick’s
clothes, his lunch and his confusion
about almost everything. One boy
bullies him relentlessly. Worst of all,
Nick doesn’t speak the language. Nick’s
mother urges him to keep at it, but she,
too, is struggling with assimilation in this
place that feels so far from home.
Dennis Foon’s script provides a clever
twist that gets the audience on Nick’s
side right off the bat: Nick and his family
speak English, while the “American”
kids speak an invented language. As
Nick gradually learns the language, the
audience does, too. More importantly,
he earns the respect and friendship
of someone who values his cultural
differences.
The goal of the project, MIRA’s
Welcoming Missouri Initiative, is to
promote community engagement and
relationship building between immigrant
and nonimmigrant communities
with the aim of mutual respect and
understanding. Each year for the past
three years, MIRA has hosted a cultural
event to bring the two communities
together. The first event was an art
exhibit mounted at the Old North St.
Louis Restoration Group Community
As part of MIRA’s 2013 Welcoming Missouri
Initiative, they presented the Metro Theater
Company’s play, “New Kid” (top), funded
through a $9,900 grant from the Missouri
Humanities
Council.
Performances
took place in St. Louis, Kansas City and
Columbia, Mo. Columbia audience members
included City of Refuge and Columbia
Boys and Girls Town children, who were
treated to snacks with the cast (bottom).
The Metro Theater Company of St.
Louis, a children’s theater company
with a long and successful history of
productions primarily in public schools in
the metro area, was eager to establish
new relationships in St. Louis and
statewide.
MIRA and the Metro Theater Company
came to an agreement that MIRA would
host eight performances of “New Kid,”
with five to six performances in Kansas
City and Springfield, Mo., and two to
three performances in St. Louis in
nontraditional settings. Columbia, Mo.,
was designated as another desirable
destination for the play — it would all
depend on MIRA finding appropriate
venues.
A call to the Office of Hispanic Ministry
at the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis
immediately produced an invitation to
bring “New Kid” to the Cardinal Rigali
Center auditorium. Board members
in Kansas City quickly secured the
Revolution United Methodist Church as
a venue there, where we were actually
allowed to stage the production in
their sanctuary. But finding a venue
in Springfield proved to be difficult,
so when the Columbia Human Rights
Council volunteered to provide a small
supplemental grant the University of
Missouri offered a playhouse venue,
“New Kid” went to Columbia!
The play was received with enthusiasm
at every performance, but none
more satisfying than the Saturday
performance in Columbia. Two local
organizations, the City of Refuge
and the Columbia Boys and Girls
Town, each brought a busload of
refugee children and foster kids to the
performance. They laughed and giggled
in all the right places. When the play
ended and the discussion began, every
single child raised their hand when they
were asked if they had ever felt like a
“newcomer.” Afterwards, cookies and
soda provided an opportunity for the
cast and host committee to get to know
the children in a deeper way.
The topic of immigration continues in
2013 as a major area of discussion,
debate and dialogue at all levels of our
society. Recent studies on the economic
impact of immigrants in Missouri
identified some 100 ethnic groups
across the state. Recent immigrants
come primarily from southeastern
Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America
and are, by and large, people of color.
MIRA’s hope to foster a broader
dialogue and self-reflection during the
performance of “New Kid” and beyond
certainly made a large step forward in
November.
PAGE 5
MISSOURI PASSAGES
Meeting New Words and Worlds in Children’s Books
READ from the
START Schedule
Contributed by Julie Douglas, MHC Family Programs Director
C
ricket. Porridge. Samovar. Woodstove.
Button-up boots. Sometimes English can
seem like a foreign language even to those who
speak it as a first language.
When we learned that one of the READ
from the START (RFTS) favorites, “The
Hello, Goodbye Window,” was not going to
be available to purchase any
longer, we were heartbroken, but
quickly set out to find a suitable
replacement. Like “The Hello,
Goodbye Window,” we wanted
a story that depicted a caring
relationship between an older
person and a child. We needed
a well-told story with beautiful
illustrations that would appeal
both to children and to the
adults who would be reading it.
Eventually, two books rose to the
top of our list: “Thunder Cake,”
by Patricia Polacco, and “Wilfrid
Gordon McDonald Partridge,” by
Mem Fox.
Besides exploring a child’s
relationship with an older adult,
the books have something else
in common. Taking place among
different cultures, they both
contain challenging vocabulary!
We wondered if the families
in our RFTS programs would
enjoy Fox’s book that mentioned
cricket (the game, not the bug)
or if it would be too British (or
more correctly, too Australian).
When the grandmother in
“Thunder Cake” poured tea from
the samovar, would children
understand what a samovar is
(it’s an ornate Russian tea urn,
and yes, I had to look it up)?
part of the story. Exposure to rich vocabulary
prepares a future reader by introducing words
and language patterns that are not met in
everyday conversation. This is important
considering that research points to the size of a
child’s vocabulary as one of the main predictors
of reading proficiency. And when parents and
children talk about what is being read, as RFTS
participants are encouraged to
do, the child’s vocabulary and
comprehension grow even more.
Parents can keep a few simple
rules in mind when encountering
unfamiliar words in a story:
1. Stop and talk. As you read
a story to your child, take time
to pause and ask a question or
prompt your child to talk about
what is going on in the story
and illustrations. “What do you
think is going to happen next?,”
“Let’s look at the picture. What is
happening?”
The
children’s
book
“Thundercake” (top) follows a
Russian family. “Wilfrid Gordon
McDonald Partridge” (bottom)
takes place in Australia. Both
explore the relationship with
older adults and contain new
words for American readers.
But, you see, that is the beauty of children’s
books! In the hands of a skilled author, so
called “rare words” are introduced naturally as
2. Notice new words. If you read
a word that is unfamiliar to your
child, stop and talk about it.
“‘Samovar?’ That’s a funny word.
What do you think it might be?
It says grandmother poured tea
from the samovar. Can you find
something in the picture that
might hold tea?”
3. Encourage your child to think
of other words that might mean
the same thing. “Porridge is like
oatmeal, or Cream of Wheat or
mush (for kids who have grown
up with “Goodnight Moon!”).”
4. Have fun with new words! Use them in your
conversations. Your child will enjoy being part
of the inside joke. “It sure is faster to heat up
your dinner in the microwave instead of using
the woodstove!”
Jan 16
Poplar Bluff
MMP Teen Parent
Program (Session 1)
Jan 16
Webb City
YMCA Heritage Youth
(Session 1)
Jan 18
Blue Springs
Noma’s Day Care
(Session 1)
Jan 21
Odessa
Odessa Community Day
Care (Session 1)
Jan 21
Webb City
Webb City Head Start
(Session 1)
Jan 22
Jefferson City
Jefferson City
Academic Center
(Session 1)
Jan 23
Webb City
YMCA Heritage Youth
(Session 2)
Jan 25
Blue Springs
Noma’s Day Care
(Session 2)
Jan 27
Hannibal
Hannibal Free Public
Library (Session 1)
Jan 28
Palmyra
Palmyra PAT & DCS
Head Start
(Session 1)
Stay Connected to the Missouri Humanities Council
facebook.com/mohumanities
@MoHumanities
[email protected]
314.781.9660
1.800.357.0909
543 Hanley Industrial Court Suite 201
St. Louis, MO 63144
PAGE 6
MISSOURI PASSAGES
Recent Grants Awarded
Convergence: Jazz, Films and the Visual
Arts
American Jazz Museum
$5,000
Washington University Pow Wow
Kathryn M. Buder Center at Washington
University
$3,000
“Crossroads” A China-Missouri
Encounter
Curators of the University of Missouri–
Columbia
$2,500
Old North Equality Project
Old North St. Louis Restoration Group
$2,500
Rediscovering the Black Arts Movement
Yeyo Arts Collective
$2,500
Star Enterprises, Inc.
Star Enterprise, Inc.
$2,500
The Civil War in Missouri and the Battle
of Westport
Monnett Battle of Westport, Inc.
$2,500
Collaboration Between House
Museums: Developing a Sustainable
Framework
Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion Foundation
$2,456
Osage Traveling Trunk
Missouri State University
$2,450.88
Urban Museum Collaborative – Moving
Forward
Campbell House Museum
$2,330
Nutcracker Ballet Educational Outreach
Project
Eminence Area Arts Council
$1,937
Human Ties: Rights and Revolution in a
Changing World
Drury University Humanities and Ethics Center
$1,660
PBS Stars Chillicothe for Historic Feat
Contributed by Amy Supple, Greater Chillicothe Visitors Region Director
C
hillicothe, Mo., takes the saying
“the greatest thing since sliced
bread” very personally. Sliced
bread, that standard by which all
innovation has been measured,
originated in Chillicothe in 1928.
Inventor Otto Rohwedder and baker
Frank Bench worked together at
the Chillicothe Baking Company to
perfect the machine and the process
to commercially slice, package and
sell the first loaves of sliced bread.
These loaves were made available
on grocery store shelves July 7, 1928
and would make an indelible impact.
In recent years, the town has
rediscovered this invention and
taken action to acknowledge and
celebrate this fact. Recently, the
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
collaborated with the town on a
30-minute documentary that will air in
early 2014. Over 150 invited guests
attended a special premier screening
and a 1920s-themed after-party Nov.
21.
This formal event started at the B&B
Theatres Grand Six, where Local
Project Coordinator Ed Douglas
and PBS Producer Randy Mason
introduced the documentary. After
the showing, guests made their way
to the Chillicothe Country Club for a
1920s-style celebration. Highlights
of the evening included a sampling
of Missouri wines and a champagne
toast to the sponsors who made the
documentary possible.
Festival, which was held in June and
featured live bluegrass music, vendors
and a bread-baking contest in historic
downtown Chillicothe.
In addition to the documentary and
the Sliced Bread Jam, the town also
has a sliced bread mural, several
historical markers and an exhibit at
the Grand River Historical Society
Museum. The exhibit features one of
the original bread slicers on loan from
the Smithsonian Institute.
The Chillicothe Country Club went 1920s
(above) to celebrate the screening of
PBS’s documentary featuring Chillicothe,
Mo., as the birthplace of sliced bread.
Earlier in the summer, a Chillicothe man
stood looking at the world’s second breadslicing machine (below) at the Grand
River Historical Society Museum, on loan
from the Smithsonian’s National Museum
of American History. This machine was
used a year after Frank Bench’s Chillicothe
Baking Company became the first
bakery in the world to sell commercially
sliced bread to the public in 1928.
Missouri Humanities Council
representatives were in attendance
for the festivities. This year, MHC
awarded a grant to help with the
town’s first annual Sliced Bread Jam
Civil War Stories Schedule
Exploration of Aesop’s Fables
Ready Readers
$1,250
Jan. 14
Caldwell County Library
Kingston
Experiencing Culture Through Theater
Our Lady of Guadalupe School
$1,000
All kindergarten through eighth-grade students at Kingston Elementary
School will attend “Civil War Stories,” experiencing the Civil War in Missouri
through books and storytelling, getting their own books to keep.