Historic Red Cloud

The Cather Foundation in Red Cloud, Nebraska, received an important boost to its plans for the creation a Willa Cather archives. The Senate recently passed an appropriations bill that includes $1,000,000 for the foundation to restore historic buildings to their former 1800s condition and to assemble an archives devoted to to the author. Willa Cather, who won the Pulitzer for her book 1 of Ours and also wrote classics like O Pioneers!, moved to Red Cloud Nebraska in 1883 and later graduated from the University of Nebraska. Many of the people she met while growing up on the prairie served as inspiration for her novels. The Cather Foundation was established in 1955 through the efforts of a small, dedicated group of volunteers. If you are interested in the news story about the funding bill go to the Omaha Action 3 News site.

Walt Whitman in Pictures

The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery has a beautiful online exhibit on Walt Whitman. The timeline of his life is told in portraits of himself and of his contemporaries. The exhibit is titled One Life: Walt Whitman, a kosmos and offers a real sense of his contributions to poetry over time as well as how he was viewed by fellow artists and intellectuals. His tendency to aggressively self promote annoyed and even angered some of his early supporters, most notably Ralph Waldo Emerson. His innovative, free verse style is widely respected and influenced many later movements in art and poetry, especially the beat poets. Please take a look at this exhibit. It is well worth a few minutes of your time.

A Fond Farewell

I think most people over the age of 10 have read a book by Madeline L’Engle. I was forced, kicking and screaming, to read A Wrinkle In Time for a book report when I was in the fourth grade. Science Fiction was not for me, and I wasn’t going to like this book anymore than I liked peas and lima beans. I still won’t touch peas, but I learned to love Madeline L’Engle. On Saturday she passed away at the age of 88. Slate included a nice remembrance of her.

Although L’Engle worked at various times as a stage actress, playwright, and librarian, she was best known for her dark and beautiful children’s novels, which were predicated on the author’s “faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically.” Her books matter cosmically to most everybody who is lucky enough to have read them.

The New York Times published a longer piece that shares more of her life story.

Appreciating Books Through Music

As part of our We The People grant the Oro Valley Public Library received a copy of the CD Happy Land: Musical Tributes to Laura Ingalls Wilder. In an interview recorded more than two years ago Dale Cockrell discussed the inspiration for the music compilation with VUCAST, Vanderbilt University’s News Network. This CD compiles music from the Little House books with a little updating. Cockrell notes that the old time music Pa played would sound a little thin to our modern ears. The music recorded on the disc is a blend of old time and bluegrass and is not “kidded down” so that adults and children can enjoy the music together. As a fan of bluegrass music I can certainly vouch for the beauty of this recording, and it easily deserves equal footing with recent compilations like the soundtracks for O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Cold Mountain. Since music plays such an integral role in Wilder’s stories, being able to hear some of the songs that were important to the Ingalls family and to American pioneers adds a new dimension to our enjoyment and understanding of the books. Please reserve a copy of this CD and enjoy Laura Ingalls Wilder’s stories in a new light.