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KU News: Best-selling author, poet Ross Gay to give 2023 Kenneth Spencer Lecture

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From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

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Contact: Emily Ryan, The Commons, 785-864-6293, [email protected], @TheCommonsKU
Best-selling author, poet Ross Gay to give 2023 Kenneth Spencer Lecture

LAWRENCE – After two years of virtual events, the 2023 Kenneth Spencer Lecture returns to downtown Lawrence this February. The Commons, which hosts the event annually, will welcome poet, essayist, professor and New York Times best-selling author Ross Gay as the 2023 speaker. The event will take place at 7 p.m. Feb. 16 at Liberty Hall.

Gay is the author of four books of poetry: “Against Which”; “Bringing the Shovel Down”; “Be Holding,” winner of the PEN America Literary Jean Stein Award; and “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude,” winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Award. His first collection of essays, “The Book of Delights,” was released in 2019 and was a New York Times bestseller. His latest collection of essays, “Inciting Joy” (Algonquin), was released in October 2022. Gay is the co-author, with Aimee Nezhukumatathil, of the chapbook “Lace and Pyrite: Letters from Two Gardens” (2014), and with Richard Wehrenberg Jr. for “River” (2014). His honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Cave Canem and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.

Gay was born in Youngstown, Ohio. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Lafayette College, an MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College and a doctorate in English from Temple University. He teaches at Indiana University and in Drew University’s low-residency MFA program.

He is an editor with the chapbook presses Q Avenue and Ledge Mule Press and is a founding editor, with Karissa Chen and Patrick Rosal, of the online sports magazine Some Call it Ballin’.

The Kenneth A. Spencer Lecture is an endowed lecture, dedicated to bringing leading thinkers whose work applies across disciplines to address the University of Kansas and regional communities. In recent years, the lecture series has featured writer/historian Rebecca Solnit, poet/scholar/artist Eve Ewing, activist/writer Jose Antonio Vargas, author/illustrator/screenwriter Jonny Sun, writer/scientist/enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Robin Wall Kimmerer and climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe.

To obtain free tickets for the event, please visit https://www.universe.com/rossgay. Books will be available for sale by the Raven Book Store.

Anyone needing special accommodations may contact The Commons staff for assistance at [email protected].

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KU News Service
1450 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence KS 66045
Phone: 785-864-3256
Fax: 785-864-3339
[email protected]
http://www.news.ku.edu

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

KU News: Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center graduates 303rd Basic Training Class

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Guest Columnist
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From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

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Editors: Includes officers from Allen, Dickinson, Douglas, Ellis, Finney, Jackson, Johnson, Labette, Ness, Pratt, Reno, Riley and Shawnee counties.

Contact: Barbara Harrison, Kansas Law Enforcement Center, [email protected]
Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center graduates 303rd Basic Training Class
YODER — Twenty-two new law enforcement officers graduated from the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center (KLETC) on Jan. 13 in a ceremony held in KLETC’s Integrity Auditorium.
U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, the commencement speaker for the ceremony, congratulated the graduates and expressed his deep appreciation for their sacrifice and the sacrifice of their families. “Every day, brave law enforcement officers, like the ones on stage and in the audience today, make many sacrifices to keep our communities across Kansas safe.”
The son of a law enforcement officer, Marshall shared memories of growing up with a father in law enforcement and how his father taught him to respect and appreciate law and order, and those who uphold the laws of the land. “Without these laws and the officers who enforce these laws, it would never be safe to drive on our roads or leave our homes.”
Under the authority of Executive Director Darin Beck, graduates received certificates attesting to the satisfactory completion of a full-time basic course of instruction and certification as Kansas law enforcement officers from the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training, the state’s law enforcement licensing authority.
The following are the graduates of the 303rd basic training class:
*Award recipient
1. Ethan Ashley, Prairie Band Potawatomi Tribal Police
2. Joe Barrientos, Finney County Sheriff’s Office
3. Tyler Burgen, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office
4. Jesse Caraveo Lara, Leawood Police Department
5. Adam Comer, Hutchinson Police Department
6. Julie Conklin, Ness County Sheriff’s Office
7. Nicolas Dugan, Riley County Police Department
8. Connor Eichinger, Parsons Police Department
9. *Connor Hasenbank, Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office
Director’s award for academic excellence
10. *Robert Hunter, Lawrence Police Department
Class President
11. John Hurr, MTAA Police & Fire Department
12. Joshua Nelson, Pratt County Sheriff’s Office
13. Noah Pena, Lawrence Police Department
14. Gregory Peterson, Ellis Police Department
15. Tyler Powelson, Allen County Sheriff’s Office
16. Tyler Pradin, Johnson County Sheriff’s Office
17. *Janson Robeson, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks
Fitness
18. Caleb Roth, Leawood Police Department
19. Isaac Sell, Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office
20. Natalie Soukup, Riley County Police Department
21. Brandon Stogsdill, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office
22. Cody Tousey, Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.
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KU News Service
1450 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence KS 66045
Phone: 785-864-3256
Fax: 785-864-3339
[email protected]
http://www.news.ku.edu

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

Balance of purpose

By
John Marshall
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john marshal

Of the 125-members in the Kansas House of Representatives, 76 were elected in five metropolitan counties. The count:
Johnson County ‒ 27 members: 11 Republicans, 16 Democrats;
Shawnee ‒ Eight members: three Republicans, five Democrats;
Douglas ‒ Nine members: five Republicans, four Democrats;
Wyandotte ‒ Eight members: two Republicans, six Democrats;
Sedgwick ‒ 24 members: 17 Republicans, seven Democrats.
The metro numbers by political party: 38 Republicans, 38 Democrats.
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The other 100 counties elect 49 House members: 47 Republicans and two Democrats. With the urban counties split evenly Democrat and Republican, rural Kansas and the farm cities turn a large House majority to Republicans, 85-40.
House members are elected every two years. The 40 Senators hold four-year terms; their next election is in 2024.
The pattern holds for the senate. Democrats are elected in the metropolitan counties. Republicans hold a large majority 29-11 with ten rural Republicans tilting the senate’s power balance.
The legislative bosses are from the cities. House Speaker Dan Hawkins is from Wichita; Senate President Ty Masterson is from Andover in Butler County and, shoulder-to-shoulder, a Wichita suburb. In the leadership elections last month, the runners-up were from Johnson or Sedgwick Counties.
The House majority leader, Chris Croft, is from Johnson County (Overland Park). The minority leader is Vic Miller, a veteran Topeka Democrat.
The Senate majority leader, Larry Alley, is from Winfield, rural enough but a southern step sister to Wichita. Senate minority leader Dina Sykes is from Lenexa in Johnson County.
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The allocation of seats and power in the legislature may be seen as an odd mingling of rural votes and urban power. Republicans prevail in Topeka only because Kansans elect so many of them in farm country. In the cities and suburbs, Democrats have drawn even and are preparing to move ahead.
This is not a surge of persuasion left or right, but an urge to be practical, especially among Democrats.
“We’re mostly calm, middle-of-the-road, pro-education people who just want to make sure women have a right to choose and that our kids don’t get shot at school,” said Rep. Stephanie Clayton of Overland Park. Ten years ago she was elected to the Kansas House as a Republican. She changed parties in 2018 and has been reelected three times as a Democrat.
Others, like Clayton, have switched parties. Many have stayed put and were whip-sawed. “I’ve always believed in practical, inclusive and somewhat conservative politics,” the late Sen. Bud Burke once said. “I look around on the stage and the party scenery behind me has shifted.” That was 25 years ago.
Burke was a Republican from Olathe, a former Naval aviator (rank: Captain) and, at the time, majority leader and then president of the Senate. Politics had begun to change, but Burke never changed parties.
Nor did Steve Morris, a Senate president later. Morris was a wheat farmer from Hugoton, a pragmatic Republican, a budget expert. Ten years ago he was among six incumbents purged from the Senate because they were deemed “disloyal” to the party’s vitriolic governor, Sam Brownback.
*
Rural and urban Kansans, unlike their legislators, are moved by local concerns and common hopes. They aren’t really consumed with a desire to sue Joe Biden or search for dirty books in the library or jail immigrants, or make voting even more difficult.
The people worry about interest rates and inflation, about health care, about their schools ‒ and the weather, what it means for the crop fields, or for the freeway commute to work.
They want a bright future for their children, for their communities. They want vigorous employment, friendly streets, good schools, a healthy economy, clean air and safe water. They lead separate lives, hold common dreams.
Our rural and urban cultures and landscapes are distinct and separate. So what? Real legislating is not about balance of power, but balance of purpose.
“We’re one state,” Burke said long ago. “We must remember that they (Democrats) represent the same kind of people out there that we Republicans do…every inch of Kansas soil is important and the people who walk on any part of it are equally important.”

Lettuce Eat Local: Caring with Caramel

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Guest Columnist
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The Rural Messenger is happy to welcome local columnist Amanda Miller from Hutchinson, Kansas.

Amanda Miller
Lettuce Eat Local

“Hey, what about some pudding! Or maybe ice cream? A popsicle?” The list goes on: frozen bananas, smoothies, chocolate milk, yogurt. What child wouldn’t jump at choices like these?
Mine, apparently.
Now, many of you are new to my column, so you might not be as familiar with my love of vegetables. I have a high regard for nutrition and well-rounded pursuits of health, and there is so little not to love about fruits and veg. In fact, my passion for growing, eating, making puns about, and researching fresh produce is what got me writing a local foods column in the first place. I’ve been very mild in my recent columns, trying not to scare away new readers, but be forewarned, the veggies are coming.
So it’s a bit out-of-the-ordinary for me to be offering, yea even encouraging and almost begging, my child to eat from a smorgasbord of sweets. The cognitive dissonance is real.
I should clarify some of the situation. My almost-two-year-old, Benson, is more than happy to comply with these dietary allowances. Every time I repeat the options within earshot, I have to be prepared to deal with the consequences of him hearing about some of his favorite foods; in typical toddler fashion, his life suddenly depends on eating them immediately.
But the kid these treats are actually for is almost entirely disinterested. A couple weeks ago we welcomed in two foster kids needing a short-term home, and the eight-year-old just had his tonsils removed. If you check back over that list, it might start to make more sense: all the options are cold, creamy, and soothing. Brother, however, thinks they’re all stupid, even though he enjoyed them last week when he could also eat normal food.
As can happen with any of us, sometimes when placed within restrictions we want most whatever we can’t have. The grass is always greener on the other side, or in this case, the carrots, apples, chips, and all manner of crunchy, chewy foods are tastier.
Fortunately, even a sore-throated, frustrated kid can’t turn down ice cream forever. Between it being on the roster here and getting it unbeknownst to me at the grandparents’ house, Brother has essentially been subsisting on ice cream alone for a couple days. Honestly, I’m fine with it, as long as he’s actually eating something. Plus, I looked in his throat, and a tonsillectomy is no joke. Eat the ice cream, kid, you earned it.
So when he needed caramel sauce for his ice cream, how could I turn him down. I was afraid it would go the way of many other options this week and lose its appeal as soon as it was available, but I figured that if so, at this point the rest of us deserved a bit of a pick-me-up anyway. Making homemade caramel sauce is almost as easy as opening a jar, and approximately one and a half thousand times better. It takes some attention, but then everything smells like rich, buttery goodness, so it’s still worth it. A good pinch of salt takes it to the next level — good enough that Brother has come back to it multiple times when nothing else was acceptable.

 

Salty Caramel Sauce

2/3 cup white sugar
¾ cup heavy cream
¼ teaspoon fine salt

Add the sugar evenly to a light-colored, sturdy saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring and smushing with a heatproof spatula as the sugar melts. Once all the sugar is evenly melted, continue to cook and stir until it’s a nice amber color. Remove from the heat, and slowly and carefully pour in the cream while stirring. It will bubble and look weird, but keeping stirring; return to low heat to remelt the sugar if you get clumps. Stir in the salt. Serve hot or cold.
Salted caramel was a fad flavor a few years ago, and while I’m typically not a fan of food trends, it’s impossible not to jump on this bandwagon. The salt brings such clarity and depth to the burnt sugar sweetness, and the sauce has just the right thickness for drizzling, pouring, drinking, whatever you gotta do. Literally as I’m typing this I had to stop and get out frozen banana-sicles for the kids to drizzle salted caramel on.
Prep tips: It is very important to use a light-colored pan so that you can see when the sugar is caramelizing. Pull the pan off the heat a couple seconds before you think you should so that the sugar doesn’t burn.

Farming Everglades Style

By
Steve Gilliland
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One of the many fond memories I have growing up as an Ohio farm kid was of something called John Deere Days. Back in my generation, local farm equipment dealerships were small and as numerous as ice cream flavors. John Deere Days was an annual winter event, about this time each year, where all John Deere dealerships in Ohio (and maybe nationwide) circulated a film (now do you realize how long ago that was) that depicted unusual and often unheard-of farming operations around the country and around the world. These were interspersed with clips that high-lighted all the new John Deere farm machinery for the year, like combines with cabs and massive twelve-foot headers…YIKES! Of course, the evening began with ham sandwiches and potato chips before the film.

The odd and extraordinary farming operations included stork farming in Europe (without storks, where would babies come from), mouse farming in Minnesota (yes, there are people who actually raise mice on purpose), worm farming in Canada, and my all-time favorite, alligator farming in Florida. The farmer harvested eggs from nesting alligators, hatched them in an incubator then moved the growing reptiles into concrete pens. Eventually they were harvested for their meat and hide a few years later; akin to how ranchers in the Midwest run cow-calf operations, only with beasts that could take-off your hand or foot, leaving it impossible for you to ever get back on a horse. The interesting part was how the farmer interacted with his “breeding herd.”

So, picture this; the segment began with the farmer bouncing along in an old 1950 something pickup and ended up parked on the bank overlooking a big swamp/pond. He got out and climbed into the bed of the pickup (amazingly he still had all four limbs) and began rattling around metal containers. By now we were all wondering what in tarnation he was doing, when out-of-nowhere the swamp water began boiling with six- and eight-foot-long alligators as they crawled out of the water and swarmed around the truck like a bunch of herd cows. He tossed them fish like a rancher tossing range cubes of hay slices to a bunch of heifers, then they each filled their mouth and slipped back into the water. He climbed back into the cab and drove off.

Here are the problems my twisted and pessimistic mind sees with this. Harvesting alligator eggs means “robbing” gator nests, plain and simple, and knowing my luck, I’d find the one momma alligator that was a “prepper” and living unseen underground with her eggs; you see the problem there? I’d dig into the nest and become lunch.

Next problem would involve the feeding process. As my luck goes, my “herd” would have that one momma that could eat fish faster than I could chuck them at her and she’d never have to get back into the pond, leaving me stuck in the back of the pickup. By then the others would be coming back for seconds and I’d be out of fish. Remember these were pre-cell phone days, so my only hope would be that my family actually missed me when I didn’t show up for dinner (which would be debatable) and they’d eventually find me curled up on the roof of the pickup, ghost-white and hypothermic.

Anyway, I guess that farmer had all those issues figured out, as do the alligator ranchers of today. But call me old fashioned, it’s just that I’d rather raise something that I could reach through the fence and scratch now and then without fear of having my arm removed in return…continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors.

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