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Growing up, the local public library was one of my favorite places to visit.
Florence Park Library was part of the Tulsa Public Library System and was about one-half mile from my boyhood home. I spent many summer days there exploring the world through books or attending a summer reading program. I never knew then that one day I would help write a book, or in Debbie and my’s case, publish two Iowa photography books. Our first Iowa photo book, “Iowa’s Tradition: An ABC Photo Album of the Iowa State Fair,” was published in July 2006. We met at the state fair and when we decided to do a book, the state fair was a natural fit. We learned a lot about the do’s and don’ts of the publishing world. We ended up printing more books than we needed and have since donated at least a thousand books to schools and children’s cancer hospitals in Iowa City and Des Moines. A few years ago, our state fair book was featured in a Des Moines Register article about international students who took part in a summer learning course about Iowa and the state fair. That first year, Iowa State Fair Butter Cow Sculptor, Sarah Pratt, came to the school and taught the students how to make a miniature butter cow using real butter. We ended reaching out to the coordinators of the program and the next year, we were able to sign and donate our books to the teachers and students. It was a lot of fun. In 2008, we published our second Iowa photography book, “Family Reunion: Midwest Old Threshers.” The book was a collaborative effort with the good folks at OTR in Mount Pleasant. That book has been well received and in recent times, has found a renewed interest among farmers and steam engine enthusiasts. Debbie has since published two romantic suspense novels, “The Auctioneer,” released in February 2018 and “Moving On,” a second book in the Hope Series, published in July 2020. The books center around the good folks in the fictional town of Hope, Iowa. Debbie’s has book three in the series at the editor and has written books four, five and six, which she just wrapped up last week. She’s already hit the ground running with book seven. The goal is publish three, four and five next year and if book seven is finished, we might get them all out to Debbie’s fans. She also has written a Christmas novella that she hopes to publish next year. It didn’t work out for this year. The key to having a good book is finding a good editor and proofreader(s). That second set of eyes is money well spent. Down the road, I hope to publish a photo book on the Mississippi River. I want to travel a portion of the river on a barge and take photos. I also would like to write a book on a family who used steam engines to farm. I’m not quite sure if it will be a fictional family with a historical narrative. In addition to our writing ventures, Debbie and I have been attending and selling our books and my photos at various craft shows around the state for more than a dozen years. We’ve had tables at everything from toy shows to larger venues such as the Varied Industry Building at the Iowa State Fair to Carver Hawkeye Arena, which was later moved to the Coralville Marriott Conference Center. This year, we attended a book fair at the Badger Public Library near Fort Dodge in September; the Clarinda Craft Carnival in the southwest corner of the state in October for a second year; the Pella High School Band Boosters Craft show on Nov. 12, and most recently on Nov. 19 at the Pleasantville High School Craft Show. We have one more show this year at the HLV Boosters Craft Show in Victor, the second weekend in December. Sometimes craft shows are a great place to sell books and other times, we can’t get a soul to stop at our table. One show we attended a few years back at a school in southeast Iowa featured their famous cinnamon rolls. People came, bought their cinnamon rolls and went home. On the flipside, at the Clarinda Craft Carnival this year, people where buying our books as we were packing up for the day. That is a great craft fair and worth the drive. Sometimes we sell a lot of books and other times, we don’t even get our table fee back. The greatest joy isn’t always selling a book, but in meeting people and being together doing something we love all while sharing our passion with others. And that sometimes is worth a lot more than what money can buy. I hope you follow your dreams. Today is your day to get started. I encourage you to take a step toward making your dreams a reality. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.
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A co-worker on my day job the other day called me an encourager. He said that was a gift that God gave me and that I used it to help him and others.
That was really nice that he said that and it made me feel good. A lot of thanks goes to my late parents, who not only believed in me, but taught me the Good Book and used the board on my backside when I was in error. If I got in trouble in school, when I stepped in the front door at home, my mom was there with belt in hand to make sure I understood the error of my way. My folks didn’t have a lot, but they used what they had to make life the best they could for my brother, Tom, and I. I will always appreciate that they took me to church, taught me right from wrong and taught me to do more for others than I would for myself. With that in mind, Thanksgiving is this week and I hope everyone will have a chance to take a break from work and life and enjoy some good food with family and friends. No matter whether you go Black Friday shopping, go hunting, take a trip, watch football and basketball games or clean the garage or work on a craft project, enjoy the holiday. I was around age 7 when I asked my mom if she’d cook a turkey for Thanksgiving. She not only cooked me a turkey, she made mashed potatoes and a pan of dressing. She put a heaping spoonful of dressing on my plate. I took a bite and didn’t like it. No matter, my mom fixed it and she made me sit in the kitchen for what was probably two hours and eat it all. I nibbled on it and finally finished off what seemed like a mountain of dressing. It probably wasn’t much more than a cup full. Many Thanksgivings we spent with family on my mom’s side. My grandmother could put together a Thanksgiving feast in half of the time it took most. She had plenty of experience as she and my grandfather spent several years working on the river barges traveling up and down the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee rivers where grandma worked in the kitchen. She also cooked in schools and nursing homes through the years. My grandparents raised a big garden, had a milk cow and a brood of chickens, which most likely ended up on the dinner table at some point. For a number of years in the 1970s, my grandparents lived in the country near Coweta, Okla., a small town about 30 miles southeast of Tulsa. Their small three-bedroom one-bath house was always full when the kids and grandkids came for the holiday. Grandma would be slaving away in the kitchen cooking a meal for 20 plus. Some helped in the kitchen while others sat around visiting. The old black and white television always had a game or some other show going while the volume was turned down. Some of us kids would run around outside for a time. When the meal was ready, everyone gathered around the table and took time to pray and give God thanks. We then dug in the dishes of food while my uncle or grandfather curved the turkey. I have lot of great memories of a blessed childhood. It is so easy in the world we live in to forget that holidays like Thanksgiving are not always about catching the best deal on Black Friday, but more importantly about taking time to spend with family and friends and taking a break from the businesses of life. I hope you enjoy a blessed Thanksgiving and holiday weekend. Take time to think of others and do something good for someone who maybe doesn’t have as much as you. Invite a neighbor or friend to dinner who doesn’t have family over to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal. When you do good unto others, you’ll never regret it. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. Sometime back, I was talking with Debbie when I mentioned the idea of teaching a creative writing class.
I don’t think the comment came as a surprise to Debbie. I’ve spent my whole life trying new things and overcoming obstacles, why not teach a writing course? It’s no secret that I went from barley passing English in high school to graduating from one of the top journalism schools in the world 19 years later at the age of 37. It took me three tries to pass the required 100-question grammar test to get into the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism. After hours and hours of tutoring and studying, I did it and I’m thankful for the experience. In my course, students would be given a subject or topic and would be asked to interview, research and write a story. I might even toss in writing a newspaper story. I think it would be fun! It reminds me of the news writing course I was required to take and pass to get into the MU School of Journalism. I took the course in the summer of 1995. The professor stepped into the small computer classroom on the second floor of Walter Williams Hall on the MU Campus. After handing out the course syllabus, the instructor told everyone that he gave up his fishing vacation to teach us how to write news stories. He went on to share tidbits of wisdom on the art of teaching journalism, then offered those of us in the class the option to give up. All we had to do was hand in our syllabus and leave. There could be no notes on our syllabus. I had already scribbled all over my syllabus, so the option of quitting was out. Plus, I was on the cusp of good things and my goal was to get into the journalism school and I was one course away. The news writing course that summer took us through life working at a newspaper. One moment we were writing a feature story when a call came in about a fire at the local school. We had to stop what we were doing and piece together a story about the fire from info given to us by the instructor. There was no real fire, just the idea that it happened, like it could at a newspaper. I think I got a B+ on that assignment and had the opportunity to share what I wrote with the class. During another assignment, we were handed an actual press release from the Indianapolis City Bus Service. The press release mentioned that a number of city bus drivers would receive safe driving honors and awards at the upcoming yearly banquet. It then listed the names of every driver. We were asked to read through the press release and see if we could find the “real” story. I didn’t find it, but a couple other students did. Two of the drivers had the same last name. After further digging, it was discovered that these two drivers met and married while working for the city bus company. And they were both receiving safe driving awards. That’s the story! For years, I’ve been digging through press releases, looking at bulletin boards in grocery stores, community centers, churches and elsewhere for story leads. Nowadays, I dig through Facebook and other social media outlets for news ideas and stories. I believe my years of experience qualify me to teach a creative writing course. Should I offer this course, which I would do through an adult learning option at the local community college, my students would write a half dozen stories or papers. Hopefully they would take something from the course to help them become better writers. Debbie’s first book was the result of entry she wrote some years earlier at a writer’s conference. I know that I would take something away from teaching the course. Mainly confidence and growth. I will let you know when I get all pulled together. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. I wrote my first newspaper column, which I titled “On the Road Again,” in July 1998 while working as editor of the North English Record. The title name was based on two over-the-road trips I took in a semitruck with my brother, Tom, in November and December 1997. He was driving for Mayflower Moving Van Lines and it was my job to help load and unload the truck.
I had just wrapped up my BS degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia and returned to the Tulsa suburb of Bixby, Okla., where I lived briefly with my parents, before hitting the road with Tom. The first trip we took was from Nov. 5 - 28. We covered 23 states and 8,000 plus miles on that trip, traveling from Oklahoma through Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and northeast to Maine. We even made a couple stops in New York City and moved a family from southern Minnesota to the panhandle of West Virginia before returning to Oklahoma. The second trip was in early December and took us from Tulsa to north of Detroit to pick up a load and move the family back to Tulsa. It was during that trip that I received a call from Alan Sieve at Marengo Publishing Corp (MPC) to interview for a job at the North English Record. We just happened to be in Princeton, Ill. staying with a friend I met in Tulsa. Ironically, while headed north on Interstate 44, I mentioned to Tom about returning to Tulsa via Iowa. I just happened to have my portfolio on the trip. When asked about an interview, I checked with my brother and then told Alan that I could be in Iowa in a couple hours. We stopped at the Landmark Restaurant in Williamsburg where I was picked up and interviewed in the back seat of a company car by Alan and then Williamsburg Journal-Tribune editor Dan Adix. Tom and I then drove all night to get back to Tulsa where we spent the next day unloading the moving van at a south Tulsa residence. Those were great trips filled with memories of showering and eating in greasy spoon truck stops and sleeping in a semi truck. I was hired as the Record editor one week later on Christmas Eve 1997. As editor of the Record, I started re-publishing columns written by former North English Record editor and long-time owner, Carl L. Hogendorn. I walked across the street to the North English Library where I descended into the basement to dig through Record archives looking for his columns. Carl had been gone nearly a dozen years when I arrived in North English in December 1997. I heard it said that Carl would send his crew of children around town once a week to gather what I called, chicken dinner (local happenings) news. It’s who eats what and where and all the other gossip fit to print Someone brought up the idea of me writing a column. I hadn’t done anything like that in college, but decided to give it a try. My first column was on Texas-style or smoked BBQ During the Fourth of July holiday in July 1998, I made the trek from North English to Van Buren, Mo., deep in the Missouri Ozarks near the Current River, to attend a Jackson family reunion on my mom’s side of the family. My mom graduated from Van Buren High School in 1955, before following an uncle and aunt to Tulsa where she met my dad, who was born and raised east of Tulsa. Out front of the Mom and Pop motel we stayed in at Van Buren for a few days was a Texas BBQ truck. I had to try a sandwich. I got to talking to the owner about Texas BBQ and what makes it different. He said the key was smoking the meat, not cooking it over a fire. The fire is a box on the side of the grill that pushes heat through the meat, he told me. Many of the pellet type grills use that concept these days where the heat is in a box and it moves into the cooking chamber. I’m not much of a meat smoker, but do enjoy grilling out on occasion. I also enjoy sharing many of my life’s travels and happenings in this column. I appreciate the many friends and supporters of my columns, news features and photos and the many kind notes I have received through the years. What makes it even more special is that I barely passed high school English but went on to attend and graduate from one of the top journalism schools in the world. Anything is possible, you know? As a journalist, my goal has been and always will be to share local positive news, stories and photos. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. After settling into our motel room in Shenadoah, home of the Everly Brothers in Southwest Iowa, we enjoyed a carryout pizza from the local Pizza Hut and cold glasses of ice tea.
After a couple slices of pizza, I soon found comfort in the motel room recliner for an early evening nap. I wasn’t asleep too long when I woke up with a desire for a bag of popcorn. With no microwave in the room, I figured I could get a bag out of the vending machine and cook it in the breakfast nook. The only problem was there was no popcorn in the vending machine. I asked the night clerk if there was any popcorn. She shuffled through several drawers behind the counter with no luck before apologizing to me. “I told the manager we should have popcorn,” she said. I was tempted to walk down the street to the local movie theater for a bucket of buttery popcorn before coming to my senses and realizing that would probably cost almost as much as a half of tank of gas. We were in Southwest Iowa to sell our books at the Clarinda Craft Carnival on Oct. 15. The motels there were all booked, so we made the 20 mile trek to Shenadoah for the evening. This was our second year to have a booth at the annual event, this being the 63rd year. We had good success last year and decided to return. The Clarinda Craft Carnival is one of best run events of its kind that we have had a booth and sold our books. Lots of people come from Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and even Kansas to attend as crafters are stationed in five different buildings across town. Craft show organizers bus folks from building to building. Our booth was in the Clarinda High School gym. We’ve been selling our books at craft fairs for at least a dozen years and have had varied success along the way. We have done well at some and not so well at others. The goal is to not only pick up a few extra dollars, but also get our books and my photography in front of others. We met a lot of nice people at this year’s Clarinda show, including a couple from Creston, who just happened to be neighbors with the parents of a roommate of Debbie’s at Central College a few years back. They bought Debbie’s novels and said they would share them with the neighbors. We even met the lady who founded the Clarinda Craft Carnival in 1959. “We started in one building in the Page County Fairgrounds,” she said. That is quite amazing when you think that the craft carnival started the year I was born and is still going strong. This year we opted to take the southwesterly route through New Sharon, Pella, Knoxville, Chariton, Osceola, Creston and then south on Highway 71 through Villisca, home of the famous 1912 Ax Murders, before arriving in Clarinda. I hope someday to tour the Ax Murder House. Being there when the house is open has not worked out, but I am sure it will next year. We’ve been all over Iowa this year from near Decorah in northeast Iowa to Mount Pleasant, Fort Dodge and even south through Bloomfield into the State of Missouri a few weeks ago on my birthday. Iowa is a beautiful state and the colors at this time of the year are gorgeous. Seeing all the combines rolling across the fields adds to the beauty. There are many famous people from that part of the state, including the Everly Brothers and James Blackwood, a founding member of the Southern gospel quartet, The Blackwood Brothers. One of the most famous who was born near Shenadoah was Celestai Josephine “Jessie” Field Shambaugh, an American educator and activist known as the “Mother of 4-H Clubs.” Shenadoah is also the home base of the Earl May Garden Centers, which was founded in 1919, and today has stores in Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. Clarinda is home to some famous people as well. Dick Carson, the younger brother of Johnny Carson, was born in Clarinda. He went on to become a television director of such shows as Wheel of Fortune (1983), The Merv Griffin Show (1962) and Get Smart (1965). Another famous Clarinda resident was Meredith Wilson, a composer who wrote the script, lyrics and music of the famous musical, “The Music Man.” I hope before the snow flies, you get a chance to see the beautiful fall colors and tour Iowa, the state we all call home. And while you are at it, dream and look for opportunities to share your God-given talents. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. |
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