Alex Donovan and the Misty Blues

Alex is a member of the College 101 class and the Misty Blues Show Choir

Video for Papers, Discussion Threads, and Quiz.

Watch the following video for a discussion of the essay due on 31 October and on the Discussion Thread requirements due by midnight Thursday, October 25.

You will also find video for Quiz Two after the one for the paper and the threads.  You will complete this quiz by midnight Sunday, October 28.

Do not wait until the last minute to get this work done.

Review Video for Quiz TWO:

College 101 Field Trip to Elmwood and to Lincoln

 College 101 Classes with Joe Starita

On Friday, October 5, the Language Arts/Social Sciences College 101 joined with Ken Meints' Art and History College 101 class for a field trip.

On the way up to our first stop, Ken Meints talked with the students about Ponca Indian music.  Afterwards, we listened to come recordings before putting on a video about Chief Standing Bear, Standing Bear's Footsteps,  a famous Nebraska Ponca Indian and the focus of one of the books--I Am A Man--my section of College 101 reads.

We started out our day at the Beth Streeter Aldrich House and Museum.   Dan Holtz visited my class a couple weeks ago to talk about this still popular  Nebraska author. 

 

Beth Streeter Aldrich was a best-selling author from the 20s into the 40s, publishing numerous novels and over a hundred shorter works.  Most of her books remain in print.

After touring the house and the museum in Elmwood for an an hour a half, we hopped on the bus to Lincoln, to the Nebraska Historical Society Museum of Nebraska History.

The museum features on the third floor a collection of Nebraska Indian artifacts.   The slideshow from the trip includes some photographs from this selection on the museum's third floor.

After lunch and a tour of the museum, we all gathered in the museum's auditorium to listen to and interact with Joe Starita, who is a professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at UNL and whose book, I Am A Man, students in my class read.

For over an hour, Joe Starita talked with enthusiasm about the significance of Chief Standing Bear and discussed a variety of issues with the students before signing books.  

I hope that Joe Starita can visit Peru State in the near future, for he has never seen the college and looks forward to making his first trip to the Campus of a Thousand Oaks.

I recorded a few minutes of Starita's talk and apologize for not turning on more lights in the facility.   But you can hear with clarity Starita's enthusiasm for and love of his topic.

The Friday previous to our field trip, author Andy Duncan visited my section of College 101; check out the blog page devoted to Andy's time on campus and listen to a couple videos from his readings on both Thursday and Friday. 

Fun at Homecoming 2012

Andy Duncan Visits Peru State and College 101

Author Andy Duncan Visits Peru State College

On September 27 and 28, World Fantasy and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award winning author Andy Duncan visited Peru State College.  The Creative Writers Series and College 101 sponsored Andy's visit.

Andy Duncan is the author of the hilarious Alabama Curiosities, Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities; Other Offbeat Stuff, Crossroads: Tales of the Southern Literary Fantastic, an anthology co-edited with F. Brett Cox, and two collections of short stories:  Beluthahatchie and Other Stories and the recently published collection The Pottawatomie Giant, short stories students in my section of College 101 presently enjoy.

After I picked Andy up at the airport in Omaha, we visited a fun restaurant, Peru Mucho Gusto; the chef has visited Peru, NE, a couple times when television crews came to our town from Lima, Peru.  

He supplied the "Sheriff" of Peru with Picarones Peruanos.  Oh, and the restaurant offers excellent food.  We shared Palata Rellena (avacado and chicken), Ceviche, and Arroza Con Mariscos, a delicious  rice and fish dish from Peru.

Andy began his Thursday in the College Library, where near the fireplace he read from a story from The Pottawatomie Giant, "Close Encounters," part of which you can watch in the short video--to enjoy the entire story, get the book in the College Book Store.

 Andy Duncan with Students in the PSC Library

After lunch, Andy, who teaches Journalism at Frostburg State University in the Maryland mountains, visited Kristi Nies' Journalism Class.  Andy talked about the profession and read from his collection of non fiction essays collected in Alabama Curiosities.  

 Andy Duncan and Kristi Nies' Journalism Class

Thursday afternoon, to Andy's delight, we drove to Kansas City and visited the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, a fabulous place.  There, in addition to the spectacular and informative exhibits, we also talked a while with Raymond Doswell, Vice-President of Curatiorial Services for the museum.  I hope to arrange for Raymond to visit Peru State College.

And after we closed the museum at after 6:00 pm, we drove down the street and delighted in Arthur Bryant's BBQ, a place Andy had wanted to visit since his undergraduate years at the University of South Carolina.  

Early Friday morning, I picked up Andy at the Best Western in Nebraska City, and we joined John Hnida's Field Ornithology Class for a field trip on the Trace Trail not far from where I live out here in the countryside.

Andy Duncan with John Hnida Field Ornithology Group

 After a couple hours in the field, Andy offered his final reading of his visit, talking with my College 101 students, who experience his latest publication, The Pottawatomie Giant.

Andy read a selection from a story in the collection, "The Big Rock Candy Mountain."

The second video from Andy's visit features selections from his reading to the Journalism Class and my College 101 group:

My College 101 Class

To learn more about Andy, read this most flattering story in the University of Alabama Alumni Magazine and check out Andy's Blog, Beluthahatchie.

I hope that we can host Andy Duncan again.  

Enjoy a slide show from Andy's activities on his visit, and especially his interactions with our students, in the class and on the trail.