April 2011

Join other Iowans and support Humanities Iowa!1

voices from the

A publication of Humanities Iowa • Spring/Summer 2011


HI Board of Directors President Fiona Valentine, Sioux CityVice-President Tim Johnson, WashingtonSecretary Barb O’Hea, PeostaTreasurer Jeff Heland, BurlingtonPast President Neil Nakadate, Ames

Directors George Barlow, GrinnellGraciela Caneiro-Livingston, DubuqueSue Cosner, West Des MoinesTom Dean, Iowa CityKate Gronstal, Council BluffsKen Lyftogt, Cedar FallsSam Mulgrew, PeostaMoudy Nabulsi, Fort MadisonSally Phelps, SpencerDick Ramsay, Spirit LakeSteve Siegel, OttumwaDorothy Simpson-Taylor, WaterlooRalph Swain, Sioux City

HI Staff Christopher Rossi, Executive Director

[email protected] Plucar, Administrative/ Development Officer [email protected] Cheryl Walsh, Grants Director [email protected] Mimick, Program Officer/Media Specialist [email protected] Semken, Voices from the Prairie, editor [email protected]

vol. xiii no. 2voices from the Prairie is published three times a year and distributed to the friends of Humanities Iowa and interested Iowans. To subscribe please contact us:

neW aDDress!humanities ioWa 100 LIB Rm 4039Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1420 phone: (319) 335-4153 fax: (319) 335-4154 [email protected] www.humanitiesiowa.org

MissionStatementThe mission of Humani-ties Iowa is to promote understanding and ap-preciation of the people, communities, cultures and stories of importance to Iowa and the nation.

Humanities Iowa is a non-profit organization funded by the National Endow-ment for the Humanities.

Join other Iowans and support Humanities Iowa. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Humanities Iowa also accepts gifts of stock or securities. To make a donation or receive more information please contact our office at 319-335-4153, at [email protected], or through our website at www.humanitiesiowa.org.

Humanities Iowa is having an open call for new board nominations. We welcome nominations for board members at any time. Please call or email with nominations.

Contents— 3 Archives of Iowa Broadcasting

5 Emir Abd el-Kader

6 Adb el-Kader Project

7 HI 2010 Donors

8 Annual Report

9 HI Events

10 Zakery s̀ Bridge

12 Grants

About the Cover: WHO Farm Director Herb Plambeck (1908-2001) is seen interviewing a member of the U.S. military during a live remote broadcast on the Des Moines-based station which reached listeners nationwide. Photo courtesy of the Archives of Iowa Broadcasting/WHO Radio Collection.

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Dr. Jeff Stein, JD, is administrator of the Archives of Iowa Broadcasting, and holds the title of R.J. McElroy Chair & Executive-in-Residence in Communication Arts at Wartburg College in Waverly. He is a member of the Humanities Iowa Speakers Bureau, currently giving presentations tied to his book Making Waves: The People & Places of Iowa Broadcasting, the definitive history of Iowa radio and television. He serves on the State Historical Society of Iowa board of trustees, and has more than 30 years of experience in radio and television. His current project is producing a documentary on the role of Iowa broadcasters during wartime, supported by Humanities Iowa. The video will premiere as part of Veterans Day commemorations in Marshalltown on November 11, 2011.

HI: What inspired you to start the Archives of Iowa Broadcasting?Jeff: My colleague and mentor in the project, legendary broadcaster and professor Grant Price (1922-2008), realized that one of the best sources of information about history was to personally interview those who worked in the field. That led to the Iowa Broadcasting Oral History Project, which he started in 1994. I joined him on the Wartburg College faculty in 1998 and I created the first display in what became the Archives of Iowa Broadcasting in 2000.

The Archives has been housed at Wartburg College since its inception 15 years ago. Now, as the project has grown and matured, the Archives advisory board has approved es-tablishing the Archives as a stand-alone entity, which is an exciting development.

As administrator of the Archives collection it is my re-sponsibility to gather material related to the Iowa broad-casting experience: whether it is a large collection, like the audio materials from WHO-AM dating back to the 1930s, or a small box of items collected by a listener. The real grati-fication comes from making these older broadcasts available through new media forms, like CD/DVDs or the internet, and discovering how much people appreciate hearing or seeing these broadcasts again.

HI: How have you been involved in broadcasting?J: I grew up in Toledo in central Iowa and was always fascinated by radio and television as a boy. When I became a teenager, while others were getting part-time jobs at the grocery store, I applied to be an announcer at KFJB radio in Marshalltown. The station manager, Al Schrock, needed someone to fill in while the news director was on maternity leave. That was the sum-mer of 1980, and I’ve been involved with radio or television ever since. I earned my BA and law degrees from the University of Iowa, and worked at WSUI (now Iowa Public Radio) while

going to school. I now serve as the on-air political analyst for KWWL-TV–Waterloo/Cedar Rapids, and appear weekly to discuss politics and media on WMT-AM–Cedar Rapids and KASI-AM–Ames. For nearly 15 years, I have been executive director of the Iowa Broadcast News Association.

HI: What are some of the notable moments in Iowa broadcasting you remember, or consider important?J: The commitment made by WHO radio in the 1930s to offer a broad-based service—news, farm reports, and entertainment—helped fill a void in the lives of Iowans, defining public service as the prime motivator for broad-casting. That vision, carried out by station manager J.O. Maland with approval from owner B.J. Palmer, was the model which other stations wound up following. The ability to have multiple journalists from the station cover World War II at a time when that sort of thing was simply not done by local stations was also terribly important, not only for audiences in Iowa but, thanks to WHO’s huge sig-nal, audiences throughout America as well.

Viewing the video of the time in April, 1967, when WMT (now KGAN) in Cedar Rapids switched to local broadcasting in color reminds me of parallels with today’s new technology. The newscast started in black and white, and midway through, while the station manager described the forthcoming change, news anchor Bob Bruner literally walked across the studio to a new set and engineers flipped the switch to “full spectrum color.” This was reminiscent of more recent times, when stations converted from ana-log to digital broadcasting and counted down on the air to when the switch literally was flipped to this new mode of broadcasting. (People can view that “switch to color” on our website: www.IowaBroadcasting.com.)

I also believe Iowans enjoyed more locally-produced children’s programming than folks in other states. Every station had a “kids show” on the air, featuring a friendly adult role model—whether a cowboy, a showboat captain, or a woman who controlled a “Magic Window.” From “Dr. Max” in eastern Iowa, to “Duane & Floppy” in central Iowa, and versions of “Romper Room” all across the state. Iowa’s young people learned a lot from their video friends long before anyone ever traveled down “Sesame Street.”

Archives of Iowa Broadcastinginterview with Dr. Jeff Stein

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Along these same lines, the “homemaker” programs, of-ten called “women’s shows” in the past, have had a distinctly Iowa feel and flavor. The Shenandoah radio homemakers tra-dition dates back to the mid-1920s, and generations watched programs like “Home Fare” on WMT-TV–Cedar Rapids, or the shows hosted by Mary Brubaker and Mary Jane Chinn on KRNT/KCCI-TV–Des Moines. These shows evolved as the role of women in contemporary society evolved, and played an important role in the lives of Iowans.HI: What are some Iowa influences in broadcasting?J: One of the most influential figures in Iowa broadcasting has to be Jack Shelley, who was at WHO radio and televi-sion for 30 years, and then in 1965 left daily broadcasting to teach the next generation of journalists at Iowa State University. He spent 17 years at ISU before retiring. But for the next 28 years after that, until his death last fall at age 98, he was still regularly offering guidance and mentor-ing journalists. Radio journalists would listen to Shelley’s midday broadcasts to see what they missed, a sure sign of respect. Dave Nixon Sr., who was well-known for his tele-vision work in Sioux City and Des Moines, later went on to start a broadcasting program at Iowa Lakes Community College: he publicly credited Shelley’s example of being a working-journalist-turned-educator as his inspiration.

Another broadcaster who had tremendous impact was legendary KIOA disc jockey Dic Youngs, who was a fixture on Des Moines radio for more than 40 years. The dedica-tion of the audience, not only when jamming the phone lines to call in to “Youngsy’s” shows, but also in supporting efforts he sponsored such as the Variety Club and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Reunion at the Iowa State Fair, shows the love they had for his unique style. He often credited the audience’s support with sustaining him at more difficult times such as when he was hospitalized or when he was forced to retire.

And I think we need to note contemporary influences, such as Van Harden, who has been a constant presence in the morning on WHO for a quarter century, Kevin Cooney of KCCI-TV–Des Moines, and Ron Steele of KWWL-TV–Waterloo. Each have been at their respective stations for more than 30 years. Audiences like familiar faces and voices, and countless numbers of people in broadcasting today have been influenced by men such as these.HI: What do you believe people learn from the archives?J: Our slogan is that the Archives of Iowa Broadcasting is “the story of an industry, the story of Iowans,” because we really serve two important purposes. Obviously, we are charged with telling the story of the radio and television experience in Iowa, including preserving photographs, promotional materials, and equipment, as well as broad-casts from the time. But broadcasters tell the story of the people they serve, too. So while the historic broadcasts from World War II tell the story of what was happening at the time, those broadcasts also include the voices and

experiences of regular Iowans. The impact that broadcasts have had on people never ceases to amaze me. Whether it’s the World War II vet who was interviewed on Mothers Day 1945 just after the German surrender, now hearing his voice on the air for the first time some 60 years later, or the look on the faces of baby boomers who see the puppet who was their childhood idol, “Floppy,” on display at the State Historical Museum in Des Moines, this communication form has clearly shaped who we are as a people. The mate-rial in the Archives is a way for us all to learn more about ourselves and how we lived at various points in time.

HI: What’s the future of Iowa broadcasting? J: The future of electronic communication has never been brighter, but not necessarily in the forms we have grown up knowing. Each new technological form was supposed to eliminate its predecessor; radio was going to mean the death of newspapers, then television was going to mean the death of radio, etc. Yet in each case, the “old” media form adapted to fit the changing communication landscape. The Internet poses the biggest challenge yet, since it includes the best of all previous forms—print, audio, and video. However, don’t count out “legacy media” just yet. Last year saw more people watching regular old television than in the previous year, re-versing a recent trend. And those websites people frequent? A huge majority are websites tied to traditional media sourc-es, which wouldn’t exist without the “legacy media” outlet.

Technology allows us to do much more than ever; but that’s a double-edged sword, since the public now expects us to do even more, across multiple dissemination platforms. I fear that this “rush to be first” will lead to too many errors in coverage, and a complete loss of context for the information. I also worry that with anyone being able to tweet a message to thousands instantly, the distinction between trained me-dia professionals and those who simply have many on-line followers will be blurred, and audiences will not be able to distinguish quality information from that which is simply sent into the atmosphere without much thought.

HI: If you could invite three Iowa broadcasters to dinner who would they be? J: A few years ago, I was at lunch in Waverly with three of the giants—Jack Shelley from WHO, Grant Price from WMT and KWWL, and Dick Petrik from KOEL. Each of them had careers lasting more than 50 years, but each had a unique perspective based on their individual experiences. As I sat and listened to them share stories about their careers, I had a real sense for how fortunate I was to be the “fly on the wall” that noon. Invariably, the conversation turned—as it always seems to when a group of long-time journalists are involved—to the new technology being used, and how they fear that dedication to profits will overshadow dedication to journalism and serving the public. I’m not sure anything could top that experience.h


HI: How did you learn about Emir Adb el-Kader?John: I learned about Emir Abd el-Kader from writing about the Monks of Tibhirine. Their monastery was on the side of a mountain whose cliff face was called Abdelkader Rock—from which Abd el-Kader directed a battle against the French. I was inspired by his spirit of inquiry and in-tellect which resembled that of Christian de Cherge, the superior of the monks who was seeking to make a place for Islam in his Christianity (see www.themonksoftibhirine.net). The Emir was effectively a Vatican II Muslim one hundred years prior to Vatican II.HI: Why so much misunderstanding about Islam today? J: There are many misunderstandings. Some stem from simple ignorance and the diversity of the Muslim world; some are malevolent, motivated by ill will and politics. The two biggest elements are:

1: The Koran itself can be very terrifying without the guidance of a real Islamic scholar—not a self-taught engi-neer like Osama, or a Pamela Geller who believes Islam is evil. Both are fanning Islamophobia by selective readings of the text, as well as ignorance of the context. There are also many different translations of the Koran, and some are not very good. But there are two words that are widely misunderstood.

INFIDEL—infidel is a European term and applied to fighting the Mohammedans (today’s Muslims). There is no Arabic word that means infidel. The Arabic word is Kufr, which means “one who covers up the truth.” That is, the truth of the revelations made to Mohammed by the Angel Gabrial over a 22-year period. When the term infidel is used in the Koran, it refers to non-believers: i.e. pagan Arab tribes. Christians, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zoroastrains, etc. are all believers. Nevertheless, there are Muslims who believe that if one doesn’t accept the truth of the Koran as revealed through the Prophet, you will go to Hell. Similar to Born Agains and other species of Christians.

ISLAM—Islam is not a religion, but a way of life char-acterized by an individual act of voluntary submission to

God. Islam is a verbal noun (a gerund—eating, sleeping, praying) which means “the act of submitting.” This is why one American Muslim I saw on TV explained to Christians that the best way to understand Islam is to recite the Lord’s Prayer…the operative phrase is “Thy will be done, on earth as in Heaven….” All Christians, Jews, and all sincere believ-ers who attempt to live according to God’s will, as revealed through the 124,000 prophets, are practicing Islam.

The term “Islam” is a product of 19th century secular academics who studied Muslims and other faith commu-nities and “thing-a-fied” their faith into a compartment of life, called “religion.” In a sense, they tamed it and domesti-cated it. This is explained very well in Prof. Bob Shedinger’s (Luther College) excellent book, Was Jesus a Muslim? The Amish, Trappist monks, Hutterites, Orthodox Jews are ex-amples of people who are trying to live their lives in strict accordance with their divine constitution. Prior to the French revolution, “religion” per se, as a thing apart, was an alien concept. For Christians, Jews, and Muslims faith was woof and warp of their culture. Today’s “Muslims” were called Mohammedans, Saracens, Moors, or Sons of Ishmael. Their very diverse belief system has been turned into an ideology—a Thing called Islam. Islam is an abstrac-tion. Like mathematics, or technology.

2: The media is obsessed by violence in all its forms, since it appeals to the perverse side of human nature, and it sells. The drip drip of violent acts done in the name of Islam takes its toll. Rumi, the Persian poet wrote, “If you dip a cup into the ocean, what you have in it is ocean, but it is not the ocean.” Most Americans have never known a Muslim, and only know them through the media.HI: What does "true jihad" mean?J: Jihad = the struggle to live righteously, in war or peace; to be in control of one’s passions; to strive in the way of God; to strive for knowledge, speak truth to power, and to struggle for a just society; to defend the faith. A just society must be a godly society. For many it also means obedience to constituted authority, even when unjust, because the

Emir Abd el-Kader and IowaMany Iowans are surprised to learn that the town of Elkader, Iowa, is named after

Emir Abd el-Kader. The emir’s fame was such that in 1846 a country lawyer in Dubuque named the settlement after the “valiant Arab chieftain.” World renowned scholar, author,

and Adb el-Kader expert John Kiser took a moment to share thoughts with us.

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More on the Abd el-Kader Education Project with project director Kathy Garms of Elkader, Iowa.

HI: How did you learn about Abd el-Kader?Kathy: Being raised in Elkader, I grew up hearing the name Emir Abd el-Kader and that our community was named after him in 1846, but it wasn’t until my adult years that I realized the significance and honor that were bestowed on us. In fact, I’m sure the founders of Elkader would be amazed and extremely proud to know that what began with their unique naming has created an international dimension for a very small town.

As for actually learning about Abd el-Kader, that came with John Kiser’s biography Commander of the Faithful: The Life and Times of Emir Abd el-Kader, A Story of True Jihad. This book was my first true connection to learning about Abd el-Kader’s life story in detail.

HI: When did the essay contest begin and what is it? K: In early 2009, the Abd el-Kader Essay Contest was introduced at Elkader’s Central High School. This year the contest was open to all Iowa high school juniors and seniors. Students with the best essays receive scholar-ship awards. Principal Financial Group is a supporting financial sponsor.

Based on the inspiring life of Emir Abd el-Kader, the es-say contest encourages learning about civility, tolerance, and understanding of other cultures. Students are asked to evaluate the significance of Abd el-Kader’s courageous life of struggle during peace, war, imprisonment, and ex-ile as applied to current events in America and the world. The core resource for contest participants is Commander of the Faithful, the biography of Abd el-Kader, written by John Kiser, which is presented in an accessible and dra-matic manner, engaging the reader on many levels: his-torical, cultural, ethical, and philosophical.

HI: What is your role?K: My role is to coordinate project activities in Iowa, which include the annual Abd el-Kader Essay Contest, free 2-day Middle East Policy Council professional de-velopment workshops, speaker opportunities and the Abd el-Kader Education Project Forum each May in Elkader, and to facilitate news bulletins to inform and create awareness of the project through outreach to businesses, civic organizations, educational institutions and other contacts. Through our newly created website, www.abdelkaderproject.org, it will be possible to reach an even wider audience. h

To read the full interview with Kathy Garms go to: www.humanitiesiowa.org/garms

alternative may be worse—chaos. The word “jihad” has been hijacked by some Muslims in the same way that the word “marriage” has been hijacked by some Americans. War traditionally has always required the consensus of the ulema, or scholars (think Supreme Court). It is a col-lective decision. What Said Qtub and others have done is to personalize the decision to war against non-Muslims who threaten the faith. HI: What can people look for when judging a “religious” view? J: You judge them by their fruit. A good tree bears good fruit, a bad tree bad fruit. Fundamentalism has many meanings today. Religious fundamentalists are people who take their sacred scripture as the word of God and seek to live by it. They can differ in how they interpret the word of God. In Christianity some take “Thou shalt not kill” to mean one should be a pacifist, or a vegetar-ian; others believe women should not wear pants, and that the woman should obey the husband. Some focus on forgiveness, others on modesty and so forth…. Secular constitutionalists do the same thing with their bible—the US Constitution. But there is always, ultimately, an issue of interpretation which also goes back to the context of the words and their meaning. (The right to bear arms—is that an individual or collective right?) The Tea Party conceives of itself as “fundamentalist” on the US Consti-tution. Does this mean we should now count the black man as 3/5 human?HI: How does the Emir Adb el-Kader ambassadors program work? J: The Abd el-Kader Ambassador program is being de-veloped. Its most basic sense is to help spread the word about the man’s life as a morally courageous leader and open intellect, and who was also a “fundamentalist.” h

John W. Kiser is the author of four books including The Monks of Tibhirine: Faith, Love, and Terror in Algeria and Commander of the Faithful. The Monks of Tibhirine: Faith, Love and Terror in Algeria inspired the critically acclaimed film Of Gods and Men. He is a former international technology broker with

a BA in European history from Columbia and an MBA from the University of Chicago. On his last three books he says, “Reflecting back, I have come to realize these books have a common thread. Indirectly, they are about the role of faith, or its absence, in guiding and sustaining people in desperate times.”

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$1,000 and above Roswell and Elizabeth Garst Foundation

$250-$500Ed and Ethel BarkerWillard (Sandy) and Susan BoydJean BrownTom LynnerEsther MackintoshSam MulgrewRichard RamsayRobert and Hutha SayreFiona Valentine

$100-$249 African American Museum of IowaJane BellThomas and Elizabeth BoydWillard (Bill) Boyd IIIMargaret BrennanSue CosnerKathryne CutlerDNE Caplan Family FoundationRonald and Barbara EckhoffGlenn EhrstineGeorge and Lois EichackerSusan EnzleBrian FoeckeWilliam Friedricks and Jacqueline CrawfordJanell and Wayne Hansen

John MenningerTom MilliganHelen and Henry MoyerArmond and Polly PagliaiLoree RackstrawMark and Janet Rosenbury Chris RossiGerard and Carolyn RushtonRobert and Anna Mae SchnuckerSteve SiegelD.C. SpriestersbachRhoda VernonRosemarie WardDon and Bernadette WootenDonald Young

$1-$99 LaVonne AndrewWilliam BlackburnBob and Mary Pat BreitfelderHarry and Jeannette CarterSue Ellen CrossleaTiffany DavidElizabeth DebrowerJudy DietrichJudith DoorenbosM. Burton DrexlerGary FrostHelen GoldsteinGretchen GraffKate GronstalTed and Diane Haas

hankYou

Humanities Iowa 2010 DonorsVoanne HansenJeff and Cindy HelandDr. Richard and Helen HerrnstadtJohn and Jan HessBeverly HindsMarsha HuckeSidney and Elizabeth HuttnerLee and Nancy JarvisDouglas JohnsonMartin and Maryann KellyLyle and Barbara KeslRandall LengelingSherry and Henry LippertMarci and Cedric LofdahlAlma LongJanet D. MarkhamJane R. MorrisonKatherine and John MoyersNeil NakadateHarland NelsonDorothy M. PaulWalter PyperGretchen SchafferJeff SteinLarry StoneRichard ThomasDr. John Van NessJanet WinslowLayton Zbornik


Statement of Activityfor the year ended October 31, 2010

Revenues General Fund Trust Fund Total

NEH & private grants 666,215 0 666,215Program income 108,335 0 108,335Gifts & membership 20,628 0 20,628Dividends & interest 46 7,414 7,460Realized & unrealized gain on investments 0 41,101 41,101Miscellaneous income 50 50

Total Revenues 795,273 48,515 843,788

Functional Expenses

Grants 330,960 0 330,960Council conducted projects 81,333 0 81,333Program services 191,757 0 191,757Management & general 153,252 0 153,252Fundraising, newsletter 25,256 0 25,256

Total Functional Expenses 782,558 0 782,558

Increase in Net Assets for the Year 12,715 48,515 61,230

Fund Balances

Net Assets - Beginning of Year 49,494 332,094 381,588Net Assets - End of Year 62,209 380,609 442,818

*The figures have not been audited

Humanities Iowa Annual Report


For up-to-date event information check the calendar on our website.

AprilThursday, April 21, 1:30 PMRich Tyler: Your Grampa and Gramma’s Farm Carl & Mary Kochler History Center, 615 1st Ave SE, Cedar Rapids, IA

MAYSunday, May 1, 1 PMMartin Kelly: Hollywood Cowboys Springdale United Methodist Church, 554 290th St, West Branch, IA

Friday, May 6, 10 AMDarrel Draper: George Drouillard: Hunter, Interpreter, and Sign Talker for Lewis and ClarkBurlington Public Library, 210 Court St, Burlington, IAThursday, May 12, 7 PMBarbara Lounsberry: Yup...Nope...and Why Midwesterners Don’t Say Much Eldon Public Library Hall, 608 W Elm St, Eldon, IA

Sunday, May 15, 1:30 PMBarbara Lounsberry: Yup...Nope...and Why Midwesterners Don’t Say Much American Legion Hall, 121 W. Bryant St, Walcott, IA

Sunday, May 15, 2 PMMichael Vogt: Camp Dodge: Home Away From Home, 1917-1918 Madison County Historical Society, 815 S 2nd Ave, Winterset, IA

Monday, May 16, 10 AMBill Sherman: Iowa’s Amazing Public Exposition Palaces Drake Community Library, 930 Park St, Grinnell, IA

Thursday, May 19, 7 PMSarah Uthoff: Packing UpHistorical Society of Marshall County, 202 E Church St, Marshalltown, IA

JUNEThursday, June 9, 2 PMDenny Rehder: Grass Between the Rails Elgin Museum, 231 Center St, Elgin, IA

Monday, June 20, 7 PMGalin Berrier: The Underground Railroad in Iowa Carnegie-Stout Public Library, 360 W 11th St, Dubuque, IASunday, June 26, 2 PMO J Fargo: Just Before the Battle Mother—A Visit from a Civil War Soldier Hitchcock House, 63788 567th Ln, Lewis, IAJulyFriday, July 8, 5:30 PM O J Fargo: Greyhounds and Hawkeyes—Iowa in the Civil War Carnegie Library Lawn, 30 E. Nebraska St, Algona, IAAugustWednesday, August 3, 1:30 PM and 3:30 PMDarrel Draper: George Drouillard: Hunter, Interpreter, and Sign Talker for Lewis and Clark Western Historic Trails Center Museum, 3434 Richard Downing Ave, Council Bluffs, IA

Friday, August 19, 7:30 PMTom Milligan: Grant Wood: Prairie RebelScottish Rite Park, 2909 Wood-land Ave, Des Moines, IA

Sunday, August 21, 2 PMO J Fargo: Greyhounds and Hawkeyes—Iowa in the Civil War Hitchcock House, 63788 567th Ln, Lewis, IA

Library Reading & Discussion Series“Wild Weather”

April 6, 7 PMThe Johnstown Flood by David McCollough April 20, 7PMIsaac’s Storm by Erik Larson May 4, 7 PMRising Tide: The Great Missis-sippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America by John Barry May 18, 7 PMThe Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger

James Kennedy Public Library 320 1st Ave E, Dyersville, IA Call 563.875.8912

“Teddy Roosevelt” April 2, 10 AMMornings on Horseback by David McCullough

April 16, 10 AMThe Boys of 9̀8 by James Otis

April 30, 10 AMThe Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt by Lewis L. Gould

May 14, 10 AMThe River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard

Burlington Public Library, 210 Court St, Burlington, IA 52601 Call 319.753.1647

Humanities Iowa Events


A colorful, informative new book on Iowa and the world ... ZAKERY’S BRIDGE: CHILDREN’S JOURNEYS FROM AROUND THE WORLD TO IOWA by Kay Fenton Smith & Carol Roh Spaulding

HI: First off, what is Zakery’s Bridge about?Kay: In Zakery's Bridge, nine Iowa kids tell their stories of immigrating to Iowa from around the globe.

Carol: The children talk about what it was like to leave their home countries and resettle in our state.

Q: What inspired you to put the book together? How did your lives lead to this collection? How did you two meet? C: Kay and I have always been interested in immigrant American stories. I am the granddaughter of Korean im-migrants, and I have long been inspired by the idea that my grandmother got on a boat in 1923 in the harbor of Pusan, Korea, and left the only home she had ever known—forev-er. She knew she would never see her country or her family again. What was that like for her? How did she muster the courage? These questions have long inspired my own fic-tion, so when Kay shared this idea she was batting around about collecting the immigrant stories of children, I told her I wanted to help write a book like that. Also, through-out my childhood, we served as a host family for several international students (from Indonesia, Korea, Japan, and China) who stayed with us for many months at a time. Kay and I didn’t start out as writing friends. Our kids were in swimming lessons together at the YMCA, and the more we talked the more we realized we shared this interest in the stories of immigrant’s.

HI: What makes the children’s moving to Iowa remarkable?K: Each one of these stories is uniquely remarkable. Most of the children had to leave everything they knew and start over in America. One thing that makes their jour-neys to Iowa remarkable is that they are unexpected. We

have had several readers say, “Wow, these stories are all about Iowa.” The surprise that these stories are about for-eign lands but also about our state has left an impression on many readers.

C: Iowa has a unique history with immigration. While many states in our nation have a history of trying to close their borders to immigrants, Iowa actually welcomed them. In the 1970s, then Governor Robert D. Ray invited the displaced Tai Dam people to make Iowa their home-land after the Vietnam War. They had no place else to go, and even though Governor Ray’s decision wasn’t popular with everyone, he had the foresight to recognize that Iowa’s future would depend on immigration, and that it could be a good thing for our state. One of the chapters in the book features the story of a Tai Dam refugee. Another chapter links the past and the present through the story of a Dutch dairy farming family that resettled in the very Iowa county where one hundred years earlier Dutch families originally settled. As my attorney friend, Ann Naffier of the Immi-grant Rights Network put it; “Iowa is unique because we have the chance to do it right.” I think what she meant by this statement is that our state has a tradition of welcome, not exclusion, and that is a tradition we can build on.

HI: I suspect that Iowans can learn as much from these stories as the children do about moving here? What has stood out to each of you? K: It is interesting to me that immigrants today are coming to America for the same reasons they did centuries ago: for religious freedom, to escape war, to find a better life, education, job opportunities, and to be with family who are already here, to name a few. Personally, I learned a lot about resilience from these children and their families who left their loved ones (and in some cases lost loved ones) a world away. Now they are in Iowa where they have learned a new language, and started their lives over with new friendships and ways of doing things. I especially admire how these kids have embraced America while continuing to celebrate their native cultures. I have learned that there are so many rich cultural traditions right here in Iowa that I had not experienced before. Carol and I didn’t just listen to their stories; we were invited to live them.

C: You’re so right about that! Kay and I learned so much about the cultures and traditions of these children, and about what it is like to resettle in a new place. Most strik-ing to me is the desire these children and their families have to share their stories and get to know Iowans, to make their home here as full participants in the culture while at the same time retain a connection to where they are from. Many people might think that immigrants aren’t interested in either acculturating or in “native” Iowans. On the con-trary, Kay and I found that each family was eager to share their backgrounds because they knew it would contribute


to intercultural understanding. To value the history and traditions of those from other cultures is, I think, one of the most patriotic acts you can take as an American—not only because we are a “nation of immigrants” but also be-cause immigrants who are valued for their contributions are bound to be more successful than those we believe we have nothing to learn from.

HI: People often say that technology is making the world smaller. Do you agree? How might these stories have been more or less possible 50 years ago? 50 years from now?K: In many ways technology is making the world smaller, but getting to know these families first-hand reminds me that nothing can replace a personal connection. For ex-ample, I had read newspaper articles about the Bosnian War (which Zakery’s family fled) but that never made the impact on me that meeting Zakery and his family and hearing their story did. The same can be said of all of these families and their journeys. For me, this need for personal connection and reaching out to other cultures is timeless. The frequency of global opportunities is only increasing, from 50 years ago to 50 years in the future. This makes journeys like these more likely, and important to share and understand.

HI: What are hurdles to immigrants in Iowa? K: One of the main hurdles is the language barrier and finding educators at all levels, in both urban and rural areas, to teach immigrant kids and make them feel a part of the communities. To take this a step further, inviting immigrant kids to share their cultural expertise can en-courage their peers to be more open to other cultures.

HI: How did former Iowa Governor Robert Ray feel about your book? I noticed he provided a foreword?C: We can’t say enough about Governor Ray’s support of our project. His willingness to write the introduction made the book viable when it might not otherwise have been. And his contribution of photographs in the “Leav-ing Laos” chapter was invaluable to the project. He allowed us to use photographs from his visit to Southeast Asia in 1979 that the public had never seen. And he gave remarks at the book’s launch on January 30th at the State Histori-cal Museum. In fact, he thanked Kay and me for taking on this project and for the beautiful result. But it was his inspiration and support that helped make it possible.

HI: How has Zakery's Bridge changed your lives? C: A sustained and deeply involved service project like this one, four years in the making, requires an equally deep commitment to the cause you support. Kay and I felt that passion, and we’re very grateful to have made these new friends. We didn’t know any of the children prior to the interviews and to have introduced them to one another, in some case just through the stories, but in other cases in real

life, has been rewarding. True intercultural understanding will only happen when people from the Latino community are interested in finding out about the Hindu temple rising out of the cornfields of Madrid, Iowa. And when Chinese Americans participate in the Las Posadas traditional Mexi-can Christmas celebration as well as their own Asian New Year celebrations. For Kay and me, our lives are changed because we made something that will teach children and their parents. It’s okay to smile at the new kid in class who clearly isn’t from “around here,” and say “hi,” to ask her where she’s from. That simple greeting could be the start to a lifetime of language learning, travel, advocacy, or cultural discovery that might otherwise never happen.

HI: What is CultureAll? How does it relate to the book? C: Zakery’s Bridge is a service project. All proceeds from our book sales go to support the work of two non-profit multi-cultural organizations: CultureAll (www.cultureall.org) and the Iowa Council for International Understanding.

CultureAll’s mission is to nurture youth to develop skill, readiness, and grace in intercultural relations. It is an educational non-profit that delivers high-quality, hands-on cultural experiences to schools and businesses in a fun and interactive workshop setting. Workshops are taught by those with some experience in that culture. Many workshop leaders are professionals in the community who enjoy sharing aspects of their cultural background with others. Just like our book, CultureAll makes it possible for immigrants to learn about one another’s backgrounds. h

To read the full interview with both Kay and Carol go to www.humanitiesiowa.org/zakerysbridge

Former Iowa Governor Robert D. Ray on Zakery’s Bridge: “I am pleased to be associated with these two outstanding authors. Kay (left) and Carol (right) have captured the significance of moving from one part of the world to another. It is hard to imagine what it would be like (moving from one country to another) but these stories bring the experience to life.”

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On the Fly is a series of video interviews with nationally known authors who travel to Iowa City. It is a joint project of Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature and Humanities Iowa. Upcoming authors include: Mary Swander, Stuart Dybeck, Rick Bass, Chang Rae Lee, Paul Harding, and Robert Pinsky. Watch at www.youtube.com/humanitiesiowa

April 2011

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