The Kansas Poems of William Stafford
At the end of their ragged field
a new field began:
miles told the sunset that Kansas
would hardly ever end,
and that beyond the Cimarron crossing
and after the row-crop land
a lake would surprise the country
and sag with a million birds.
-William Stafford, "The Peters Family"
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William Stafford. Photo by Kit Stafford.
Courtesy of William Stafford Archives,
Lewis & Clark College, Oregon.
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Native Kansan William Stafford is the subject of two public discussions entitled William Stafford's Words: The Heritage of a Simple Genius. Although he is best known as the poet laureate for Oregon, many of Stafford's poems recall images and themes from his home state. The discussions, led by Denise Low and Fred Whitehead, will take place on March 18 at 7:00 p.m. at the Downs Depot in Downs and on March 19 at 2:00 p.m. at the Graham County Public Library in Hill City. The events commemorate the 150th anniversary of Kansas Statehood and are supported by a KHC grant.
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Kansas Women in the Civil War
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Diane Eickhoff
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The role of women in the Civil War has often been overlooked, but Kansas women served as nurses, cooks, and factory workers, while others were even soldiers and spies. Women's work on the home front also played an important role. As writers, some raised support for support for the Union, while others championed the Republican Party; and most hoped women's suffrage would be addressed at the war's end. Join Diane Eickhoff on March 17 in Colby as she challenges the stereotypical idea of women's roles in the war popularized by books such as Gone With the Wind.
Kansas Women in the Civil War is one of over 70 Kansas-themed presentations available in KHC's Statehood Speakers Bureau catalog.
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