Last fall, early in the semester, I fell woefully behind with this blog though I did keep up on You Tube and on Facebook with all the events I usually highlight here. I will now begin the process of catching up, so you see a mixture of dates and events for the next few months.
For the past two springs, I have gone to Calvert Elementary School in Auburn, NE, where one of Gina Bitner's classes visits throughout the term with a class of elementary-school students.
Our students help the youngsters write and illustrate a children's picture book that Gina has printed for the class.
And what an excellent collaboration between the college and young students our own graduates will eventually find themselves teaching.
A couple weeks prior to this annual event, I visit Gina's class to talk about various kinds of instructional picture books--and pretty much whatever aspect of pictures books that interest me.
Then I return when Gina Bitner's friend and author Julia Cook visits the class to talk about her many publications. In addition to making an awesome presentation, she brings along her tiny dogs, the cuteness of which the photographs make evident.
After an absence of many years (owing to a wonderfully altered campus environment and Dr. Mike Barger's gentle prodding), bird feeders once again adorn the oak tree outside Fine Arts.
Thank you for your help, Roxanne Shires, Kateri Mittan, David Norris, and Zayra Flores--and for your support, Elaine Hanson.
And special thanks go to Gus, our helpful custodian, who found our ladder. Soon, the birds will return to entertain us all.
For many years, these feeders attracted people and birds, especially during the late-autumn to early-spring period when a wide variety of feathers adorn the trees. I look forward to seeing 100 Gold Finch flit about the feeders like so many falling leaves.
Friday evening, I attended and took photographs at the banquet held in to honor members of the 1990 PSC football team that won the NAIA championship; the 1991 group made the final four.
What a pleasure to meet these fellows and to hear their stories about those special years. Fewer than a dozen players could attend the dinner--many of the team members now coach football--but as the photograph at the top of this page indicate, many, many more came to the game and enjoy their half-time recognition. I made a brief video of some of the remarks, including those by Bill Snyder, Jerry Joy, and a few players whose names I will add later..
And how cool to see PSC on ESPN3--I watched a few replays on the monitors in the booth in the press box next two where I helped with game statistics.
Fun to see "grown up" cameras at the stadium! The game began at 11:00 in the morning instead of the usual start, owing to ESPN requirements. The weather cooperated fully,
and everyone enjoyed a beautiful day in the Oak Bowl. While William Penn eventually won, 34-31, the young Bobcat team showed more than a little gumption. And that tenacity bodes well for the future. I posted quite a few pictures of the game and of the half-time acknowledgments of the 1990 Bobcat football champions.
Over the past year--November 2014 and October 2015--year, Karen Shoemaker has visited Peru State College twice to read from and discuss her moving and invigorating novel, The Meaning of Names, a book that has garnered considerable attention inside Nebraska and beyond. As a critique that appeared in World Literature Today notes, "With her timely first novel, The Meaning of Names, Karen Gettert Shoemaker presents us with two unique main conflicts: the great flu epidemic and the racism encountered by German Americans living in Nebraska during World War I, a rarely seen perspective."
The novel is also a finalist for One Book Nebraska, 2016: "Launched each January, this dynamic program cultivates a culture of reading and discussion in our state by bringing our diverse state together around one great book by a Nebraska author." I wish Karen, a friend for over twenty years, good fortune and hope that she receives this wonderful honor.
Yesterday, October 15, Karen read from The Meaning of Names, a novel Dan Holtz's students read in his College 100 class. Many attended the reading and asked excellent questions. I uploaded some photographs from the event.
Unfortunately, my handy camera work failed to record Karen's reading from her novel; however, the following video shares some of the excellent discussion that followed her sharing an important chapter from the book:
And last November, Karen visited Sara Crook's College 100 class, and as the photographs from this reading and the other visit indicate, both attracted an enthusiastic groups of people. Fortunately, when Karen read from the novel last year, from a different chapter, the video captured the moments you can enjoy again or for the first time.
I posted photographs from this important community event, Kids Against Hunger, that took place in the Al Wheeler Center, a wonderfully organized gathering of a non-athletic team to perform worthy tasks.
Gina Bitner, with whom I enjoy working, asked me if on Monday, October 5, to take some photographs of this all-day event.
What I saw at the Wheeler Center impressed me: groups of students, over three-hundred of them, representing various organizations from across campus helping in assembly-line organization to create over 44,000 meals for youngsters.
Many familiar faces greeted me on my two visits that afternoon, and I am proud of all of them.
Thanks also go to the Nemaha County Ministerial Association.
For the past two springs, I have gone to Calvert Elementary School in Auburn, NE, where one of Gina Bitner's classes visits throughout the term with a class of elementary-school students.
Our students help the youngsters write and illustrate a children's picture book that Gina has printed for the class. 
You should see the faces on the youngsters!
Then I return when Gina Bitner's friend and author Julia Cook visits the class to talk about her many publications. In addition to making an awesome presentation, she brings along her tiny dogs, the cuteness of which the photographs make evident.
