Tears came as I drove my four-year-old son home from preschool yesterday. I had been doing a good deal of processing since the heinous attack on an Orlando nightclub early Sunday morning. Many voices have risen, and mine is perhaps the least important among the crowd. After hearing commentary from the Justin Torres of the Washington Post yesterday on All Things Considered as we drove home, the dam broke.
Mr. Torres uses the word "sacredness" to describe the club in his Post essay (In Praise of Latin Night at the Queer Club). On NPR he says "people talk about the gay bar like it is church."
Look, I'm a white, middle-aged straight man from Kansas. On the surface, I'm as far from Latin Night at Pulse as anyone in this country. But I've been there--different city, different club--and I've seen that sacredness first-hand on the face of some of my closest friends.
No, not friends. Family.
When you realize this attack was on us, our family, it changes everything. Those weren't "just" gays, or Latinos, or whatever-box-you-might-try-to-put-them-in-to-make-you-feel-safe. They were us. Our brothers and sisters and family.
My heart breaks when I hear of this tragic event bastardized into Islamophobia or a rallying cry for the gun-crazed Right and their "out of my cold, dead hands" mentality. Our Muslim brothers and sisters are family, too, and they've suffered at the hands of men who look a lot like me. I grew up in a small town in which everyone owned guns, hunting was a way of life, and shooting cans of Barbasol to watch them explode in a cloud of foam was just "something to do" on lazy Saturday afternoons. The sacredness of church, mosque, synagogue, or gay club does not stop at the second amendment.
I shed tears on the drive home yesterday for all of us--gay, straight, Muslim, Christian, Latino, black, white, whatever-you-are. I shed tears for the sanctity of life and how awfully easy it is to have that life stolen. I shed tears for all of us, our American family, and how God-awfully dysfunctional we can be.
I'll pick up my son again this afternoon. There will be more NPR coverage of Orlando. He will one day grow old enough to talk about such tragedies. I hope and pray I can help him understand what the word sacred means in exactly the context Mr. Torres used it. I hope and pray he will know the meaning of family, too.
***
Listen to "'These Are My People': Writer Reflects on Orlando Attack in 'Washington Post'"Read "In Praise of Latin Night at the Queer Club
Thanks to superstar voice actress Tavia Gilbert, every month is Audiobook Appreciation Month here in Grain Valley, Kansas! To honor Tavia and all the awesome voice actors and actresses out there, we’ve been giving away Downpour.com downloads of Tavia’s performance … Continue reading →
WICHITA, Kan. — Bookstores from coast-to-coast will mark “Independent Bookstore Day” on Saturday, May 2. More than 400 retailers from Alaska to Maine will celebrate their value to their communities with author readings, special sales, and other activities. While a … Continue reading →
[This is a re-posting from Maggie’s blog archives] GRAIN VALLEY, Kan. – There was a big commotion on Main Street this afternoon as word spread like a prairie fire that Maggie Steele had been invited to appear on a national TV … Continue reading →
Wave the Wheat, Jayhawkers! Today is Kansas Day, marking the admission of Kansas as the 34th state in the Union, on January 29, 1861. We’re also celebrating the fact that Maggie Vaults Over the Moon has found its place on … Continue reading →
Anna was HereJane Kutz
middle grade
I'm stretching ye olde reviewing skills again with my first review after the summer siesta of the Book Review Club. Fortunately, Jane Kurtz makes my work so much easier.
Anna was Here was a fun, entertaining, timeless story. Dare I say, it's a meat and potatoes book cloaked in chocolate pudding. They don't get any better than that!
Plot synopsis: Anna, daughter of a minister and university professor, must move to Kansas when her father accepts a temporary post as pastor to an ailing church in a small town. Catch: the small town is filled with relatives and uneasy family history.
This story is as much about mending broken ties in a community and family as it is about the change and discomfort that comes from a big move and new start. What struck me is how evenly balanced this story is. All of the parts - character, plot, setting - work in harmony. None is louder than the others. They each take center stage for appropriate but not prolonged solos.
While there is a religious element to this story, Kurtz does an excellent job of, again, balancing. Religion doesn't take over. The story doesn't become about religion, or faith, or belief, or what one person believes in lieu of another. Rather, it remains another story element, nicely blended, fulfilling the role Kurtz sets out for it, which is, interestingly, both dividing and unifying.
All of that got me to thinking about voice. I've heard the term described as so many different things, not the least of which is the tone of a piece, or an author's style.
Anna was Here made me rethink those. After all, they already have their own iconic terminology. But voice is still missing its fundamental definition (at least for me, it was). So I came up with my own: voice is the result of a writer's blend of style, tone, character, setting, plot, and the various other parts of story. In other words, voice isn't any one thing. It's what is created when all of the parts are blended and create something greater than the sum of those parts = voice.
I'm pretty sure I haven't reinvented the definitional wheel on voice, but it finally makes sense to me. Thanks Jane Kurtz!
Other fall delights, are a finger's stretch away at
Barrie Summy's blog. Happy reading!
Here come the Wizard of Oz jokes...
And that's the first thing you need to know about being a Kansan. You and your home state are often the butt of jokes--stale, tired jokes which are told with impunity.
"Where's Toto?"
"Where's Auntie Em?"
"Where's [insert any Oz character name here]?
When I worked at a grocery store in high school, one "import" family would shop wearing matching "We're not in Kansas anymore" t-shirts. True story. They'd come in on a weeknight around 9 PM, an hour before close, and wander the aisles in those shirts.
(sic 'em, Toto)
It goes beyond
Oz. I've known folks from more populous states/the coasts who really, truly seem to believe we still use Conestoga wagons for transport. Ha ha. Our state is flat as a pancake... a few years ago, one mathematician "proved" Kansas, relatively, was
flatter than a pancake. And it's not as if our state government helps us much. We've suffered embarrassing State Board of Education fights over evolution and passed legislation requiring voter ID, because, as you know, massive amounts of illegal immigrants flock to Kansas so they can vote illegally. I hear they're bused in, in fact. "It's all those damn Democrats' doin'!" wails the old man with belly-length beard next to the spittoon.
I say "we," but I never voted for such a thing. Maybe our collective unconscious remembers a time when "illegal" voters did arrive in our fair state (before it was a state). But that, dear friends, was before the American Civil War... back when Kansas meant something progressive and on the edge.
Bleeding Kansas. In the years leading to the most deadly conflict in United States history, the first shots were fired here. Legendary terrorists like John Brown murdered in the name of abolition and William Quantrill burned my adopted city, Lawrence, to the ground.
(A Painting Depicting Quantrill's raid from the
LJ World)
Our state motto,
Ad Astra Per Aspera, reflects on the struggle to join the Union.
To the Stars Through Difficulty.
That's good stuff. That's why I'm proud to be a Kansan despite the jokes and hayseed assumptions. I'm proud to be a Kansan despite our own failings and weaknesses. This is a place where people understand suffering and sacrifice. This is a place of good, hearty people who tell the truth. Honesty is valued here and hard work, too.
Maybe it's because of our position as butt of so many national jokes that Kansans have become so patient. There's intolerance here--unfortunately more than I want to believe at times--but when you meet a Kansan one-on-one, the facades of bigotry often melt away. Not always, but often enough to know something good lies within. We know we have warts. We know we have scars. But, from my experience, we own them. Maybe not every individual... but a collective "we." One cannot have suffered repeated offenses without developing a degree of humility.
A Kansan knows it isn't very humble to speak of one's humility. We know we are broken as much as anyone else, but we are also aware of our humanity. We want good, honest stories more than we need grand lectures from any pulpit--even a secular one.
I work as a guidance counselor in a small, Northeast Kansas high school. Every year, we receive at least one new student from some other portion of the country--California, Florida, Michigan in the last few years--and are charged with the care of this adolescent. We joke that we're supposed to "save" them because we are used to being the brunt of jokes."Send the boy to Kansas. They'll learn him right. And if not... there's nothing to do out there, anyway."
We take this "orphan" in an make him our own. We care for her and teach her how to be good to other people and that she matters. We build relationships. We listen. We try again when we fail because we know--thanks to lessons from our rough climate won by generations of farmers and ranchers--failure is coming.
But so is triumph, little victories of the most mundane, everyday variety.
Go on. Make fun of us. Ask about Toto (the dog not the band). Try and win us with golden tongues and well-formed words. Just be honest. Genuine. Flawed and human. If you are, you just might belong here:
The Flint Hills of Kansas seen from the air (Jim Richardson, National Geographic)
(Flat as a what?)
At this very moment, thousands athletes in the Sunflower State are on a quest to compete in the 2014 Kansas State Track and Field Championships, to be held May 30-31 at Wichita’s Cessna Stadium. Cheering them on is storybook track star … Continue reading →
YOU DID IT! THANK YOU! Maggie’s 31-Day Audiobook Crowdfunding Campaign has ended and we’re Over the Moon! You soared over the $3,000 goal and so the story will be narrated and produced by the great Tavia Gilbert. We can’t wait … Continue reading →
Young vaulters are rising to new heights every day at Saddleback Pole Vaulting Club in Mission Viejo, California. They’ll get an added boost with a Mean Green Skypole like Maggie used to vault over the moon! Saddleback Coach Dan Cassidy … Continue reading →
POLE-VAULTERS AND COACHES! GILL ATHLETICS is the Grand Prize Sponsor for the ongoing Maggie Vaults Over the Moon Audiobook Crowdfunding Campaign. The Grand Prize includes a Mean Green Skypole, a 15-foot Skypole Pole Bag, and a roll of the new … Continue reading →
Just as sure as temperatures will skyrocket on the Kansas prairie this summer, vaulters will leap to new heights at Tailwind Pole Vault Club Summer Camps. In fact, tiny Jamestown, Kansas should change its name to PR City, because more … Continue reading →
JAMESTOWN, Kansas – Tailwind Pole Vault Club has pledged a 2-Day Summer Camp, valued at $250, for a vault fan who contributes $225 to Maggie’s Audiobook Campaign! Tailwind Camps (with meals and snacks) will be held on multiple dates from … Continue reading →
A former rural newspaper editor has created a teen novel that’s harvesting praise from readers of all ages for its realistic view of life on a family farm. The novel, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon is a perfect gift idea … Continue reading →
Looking for a motivational gift this holiday season? Inspire them with a Maggie Christmas! Maggie Vaults Over the Moon is the story of a courageous teen, Maggie Steele, who finds the strength to overcome a tragedy and rise to new … Continue reading →
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (Oct. 25) – Storybook heroine Maggie Steele received a huge honor at the World Masters Track and Field Championships, when two gold medal winning pole-vaulters — Allan Williams and Sue Yeomans of Great Britain — paid a special … Continue reading →
Storybook heroine Maggie Steele is winging her way West for the fourth annual Valley Vaulters Halloween Vault this weekend in beautiful Murrieta, California. The event, sponsored by the Valley Vaulters pole-vault club will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 … Continue reading →
WICHITA, Kan. – Storybook heroine Maggie Steele celebrated her publishing birthday by vaulting back onto the best-seller list Watermark Books & Cafe, the region’s No. 1 bookstore. The young adult novel, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon features a gutsy Kansas … Continue reading →
JAMESTOWN, Kan. – Storybook pole-vaulter Maggie Steele celebrated her first anniversary in the company of a former world-record holder, Olympians, and Olympic hopefuls at Doctoberfest 2013 on Saturday, Oct. 5th. The eighth annual event at the Tailwind Pole Vault Club … Continue reading →
Longtime television producer John Rinkenbaugh has spent his entire adult life looking for and producing great stories all over the nation. He finally found a story that transported him back to his childhood — Maggie Vaults Over the Moon. “This … Continue reading →
One of America’s most inspirational writers has discovered a satisfying new source of inspirational reading: “I spent two evenings reading Maggie Vaults Over the Moon and this long-time adult enjoyed the story immensely,” writes Nancy Julien Kopp. “Maggie is a … Continue reading →
Maggie Steele is headed to the Statehouse! Author Grant Overstake will introduce his young adult novel, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon, to the book-loving people of Kansas at the Kansas Book Festival, to be held Saturday, Sept. 7th, on the … Continue reading →
Coach Marcus Summers arranged for a special visitor to make a surprise appearance at the Western Express Track Club’s farewell practice of the summer on Monday, July 29th, in Garden City, Kan. The special guest was none other than the … Continue reading →
GRAIN VALLEY, Kan. — Grandma just knew that the 10,000th visitor to Maggie’s blog would appear sometime Sunday evening, so she baked one of her blue-ribbon rhubarb pies, and shoo-shooed Maggie and Troy away from the dinner table without dessert, … Continue reading →
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A couple more excellent endorsements, Grant. Nice going! BTW, I think “Maggie” is also now available in Mexico.