Where else?

Where do you go if you want to find essays about Zerelda Cole James Samuel, the mother of Jesse James, once declared the meanest woman in Missouri; Omaha's Indie rocker Conor Oberst; the monster catfish that lives beneath the bridge near Burlington, Iowa; the Nauvoo, Illinois, home-life of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith; the good work of Deb Echo-Hawk of the Pawnee Seeds Preservation Project; dancing sandhill cranes; young Charlie Parker playing a pawnshop saxophone in Kansas City; plenty of Lewis & Clark; the courageous work of whistle-blower Dr. Fardin Oliaei, the Rachel Carson of the Upper Mississippi; the winner of the 1946 Button Queen contest in Muscatine, Iowa (Ronald Reagen was the contest judge!); and a road trip with my feisty mother, all within the covers of a single book? You go to Lisa Knopp's What the River Carries: Encounters with the Mississippi, Missouri, and Platte.

A Giveaway

Want a free, autographed copy of my new book? Please tell me in a sentence or two why I should choose to give the copy to you. I'll announce the winner on June 15th.

Summer reading

I just got back from the library. Here's what I'm reading during the early weeks of my summer break: Joan Didion's Blue Nights and Janisse Ray's Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, two memoirs that have long been on my must-read list; Eric Klinenberg's Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone and Robert D. Putnam's Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, two books of general nonfiction that are already arguing with each other.

The next book -- your feedback is welcome

The early, early stage of a new book is a wonderful and frustrating time. Everything is possible; yet, I don't have enough written to know if the project will fly. My particular challenge this summer break is that I have two book projects in mind. One is a collection of spiritual-autobiographical essays. Last Wednesday, one of these essays was accepted by a good quarterly (oh, yes! I'm on the right track) and one was rejected by another good quarterly (maybe I'm not). The other project I have in mind requires courage and a lot of gas money, since I want to travel to "intentional communities"* and see how they work. This will involve interviewing, hanging out, and taking lots of notes as I attend potlucks, financial meetings, and pull weeds in communal gardens. I welcome your thoughts on either of these projects.

*the dictionary defines an intentional community as "a community designed and planned around a social ideal or collective values and interests, often involving shared resources and responsibilities." 

Update on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 1:34PM by webmaster

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Reading at the Bookworm in Omaha

At 1:00 on Saturday, June 2, I will be reading from What the River Carries: Encounters with the Mississippi, Missouri, and Platte at the Bookworm, 8702 Pacific Avenue in Omaha. Joining me is Twyla Hansen, who will be reading from Dirt Songs: A Plains Duet, her new collection of poems.

The Countryside Village Art Fair will also be held that day, so please arrive early enough to find a parking space and to browse the exhibits. 

See you there!