From: "Steve Semken" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2001
To: Ericka <[log in to unmask]>

Please include the following in a posting to the
group: Thanks, Steve Semken
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RELEASE RELEASE RELEASE RELEASE

Harvest Symposium and Prairie Roots Cultural Festival to Celebrate
Midwestern Regionalism October 18th and 20th at Old Brick!

On Thursday, October 18th and Saturday, October 20th, Iowans will gather at
Old Brick Church, 26 E. Market St., in Iowa City, Iowa to celebrate what is
special about Iowa and the Midwest at the Harvest Symposium and the Prairie
Roots Cultural Festival.  Organized by Steve Semken, author and publisher of
the Ice Cube Press, and Thomas Dean, director of the Iowa Place Education
Initiative, the events are geared toward developing an appreciation for the
unique qualities of our Midwestern home.

The festival starts off on Thursday, evening, October 18th, at 7:00 p.m.
with the Fourth Annual Harvest Symposium.  The featured speaker is Paul
Gruchow, noted Midwestern writer and author of Grass Roots: The Universe of
Home, Journal of a Prairie Year, The Necessity of Empty Places, and Boundary
Waters: The Grace of the Wild.  Mr. Gruchow has long been an advocate of
strong communities, a sense of place, and environmental stewardship.  Mr.
Gruchow has won numerous awards, including the Minnesota Book Award and
designation as a Minnesota Writer of Distinction.  His career has
encompassed stints as a farmer, newspaper editor, legislative aide, head of
the Minnesota Humanities Commission, and college teacher.

Thursday night will also feature an exhibition of the photography of Rev.
Howard Vrankin of West Branch, Iowa, who will also discuss his work.

On Saturday, October 20th, the Prairie Roots Cultural Festival kicks off at
1:00 p.m. with a reading by author Mary Swander.  Ms. Swander is a
well-known writer of fiction, poetry, drama, and non-fiction.  She has won
numerous awards, including the Carl Sandburg Literary Award from the Chicago
Public Library, an NEA grant for the Literary Arts, and two Ingram Merrill
Awards.  Her books include The Healing Circle, Out of this World: A Woman's
Life Among the Amish, Land of the Fragile Giants (with Cornelia Mutel),
Parsnips in the Snow (with Jane Staw), and Driving the Body Back.  Swander
is Professor of English at Iowa State University, and she lives in Ames and
Kalona, where she raises sheep, goats, and an organic vegetable garden.

At 2:00 p.m., Robert Sayre will make a presentation on our conceptions of
prairie and plains landscapes.  Dr. Sayre is Professor Emeritus of English
at the University of Iowa, a well-known author and editor, and a strong
advocate for prairie restoration.  His books include Take This Exit:
Rediscovering the Iowa Landscape, Take the Next Exit: New Views of the Iowa
Landscape, and Recovering the Prairie.  Dr. Sayre also edited the Library of
America edition of works by Thoreau, and is author of the critical study
Thoreau and the American Indians.

At 3:00 p.m., Joni Kinsey, Professor of Art and Art History at the
University of Iowa, will make a presentation on visual images of the
prairie.  Dr. Kinsey is the author of Plain Pictures: Images of the American
Prairie, and Thomas Moran and the Surveying of the American West.  She is
currently a Humanities Scholar with the "America's Lost Landscape:  The
Tallgrass Prairie" documentary film project.

The festival will wrap up at 4:00 p.m. with a storytelling performance by
Steve Thunder-McGuire, Professor of Curriculum and Instruction in art
education at the University of Iowa.  Dr. Thunder-McGuire is an accomplished
sculptor and popular storyteller.  He has won the Iowa Higher Education Art
Educator of the Year Award and the Iowa Arts Council Art Builds Community
Education Award.  An avid bicyclist, Dr. Thunder-McGuire will tell a story
that originates from his daily cycle commute from rural Kalona to Iowa City.
Currently, he is working on a DVD story project entitled "On the American
Discovery Trail:  Iowa Route."

All events are free and open to the public.  The Saturday schedule is
structured so that audience members may stay for an entire afternoon of
activities or come to selected events.  A book of writings by symposium and
festival participants will be available for purchase, as will other books by
the presenters.

The Harvest Symposium and Prairie Roots Cultural Festival are sponsored by
the Ice Cube Press, Iowa Place Education Initiative, Lutheran Campus
Ministry, Knutson Family Endowment, Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL),
University of Iowa Student Government, and Iowa Arts Council.

For further information, please contact the organizers:  Steve Semken, (319)
338-7868, [log in to unmask]; Thomas Dean, (319) 335-1995 (work),
(319) 688-9456 (home), [log in to unmask]
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October 18th & 20th
ICP is co-sponsoring the Harvest Symposium in Iowa City at Old Brick
Church featuring Paul Gruchow and Mary Swander Plus an original publication
with writing by each of them!!! E-mail for more information. The Tin Prayer:
Words of the Wolverine (a regionalist manifesto) Northern Spirits Distilled
by Jack Ozegovic Memories of Life in the Upper Midwest.

Order via e-mail, [log in to unmask] or visit our web site
http://soli.inav.net/~icecube
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