Star Gazing with the Wapsipinicon Almanac

The latest annual installment of the eclectic Wapsipinicon Almanac is now available. Published and letterpress printed since 1988 by Timothy Fay of Route 3 Press, the present issue, as with previous numbers, features an engaging mix of essays, reviews, fiction, poetry, art, wit and wisdom.

Number 23 can be purchased at bookstores and other establishments or by writing the publisher directly at Wapsipinicon Almanac, 19948 Shooting Star Road, Anamosa, Iowa 52205. Single copies are $9, plus $2.70 for postage; Iowa residents should also include 63-cents for sales tax.

The front cover shown here was designed by Elizabeth Munger of Iowa City. A brief history of the publication can be viewed at the Almanac's website, and a video of "Linotype Operator Emeritus" Eldon Meeks in action can be viewed here.

Plant Ahead with the 2017 Catalog from Seed Savers Exchange

The always-amazing annual catalog from Seed Savers Exchange (SSE), featuring heirloom, untreated, non-hybrid, and non-GMO seeds, is now available in print; a copy can be requested free of charge here. 

Founded in 1975 by Diane Ott Whealy and Kent Whealy, Seed Savers Exchange is now the largest non-governmental seed bank of its kind in the United States. With over 13,000 members, SSE conserves and maintains heirloom seeds for thousands of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. Its mission is:

. . . to save North America's diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity.

Located on the 890-acre Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa, SSE is open to visitors from April to October, and sponsors special events such as seed starting, grafting, and gardening workshops. It also hosts an annual conference and campout. To learn more about Seed Savers Exchange and the benefits of membership, visit its website.

Congratulations, Robert Zimmerman!

Bob Dylan was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature today, his work being cited "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." The image above is a still taken from the film accompanying his 1965 song, Subterranean Homesick Blues.

The 2016 Iowa City Book Festival

Designated in 2008 as one of the first UNESCO Cities of Literature in the world and still the only one in the United States, Iowa City will be hosting the eighth annual Iowa City Book Festival, October 4-9, 2016. In conjunction with the University of Iowa, FilmScene, the Iowa City Public Library, and the Iowa Arts Council, as well as other organizations and individuals, the newly expanded six-day event will feature a Book Fair, readings by numerous authors, and non-stop programming at many venues in and around downtown Iowa City. The 2016 Program can be downloaded as a PDF, and full details can be found at the festival website.

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read

Sponsored by the American Library Association and allied organizations, Banned Books Week is an annual celebration of the freedom to read. It began in 1982 in response to widespread censorship of books, and since that time over 11,000 books have been challenged in communities throughout the United States.

The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom has been documenting cases of challenged and banned books since 1990, and the ALA's Library Bill of Rights strongly supports free and unfettered access to information and ideas. Internationally, the Index on Censorship is an organization that promotes and defends the right to freedom of expression. 

Campaign for New Seed Vault at Seed Savers Exchange

Seed Savers Exchange (SSE), one of world's leading organizations dedicated to the preservation of heirloom seeds, has launched a fundraising campaign through Indiegogo's Generosity platform to raise $80,000 for an upgraded and enlarged facility to house its growing collection of over 20,000 varieties of seeds. The current storage space has developed structural issues that could potentially compromise the integrity of the collection. To learn more about the project, or to make a contribution, please visit SSE's campaign webpage.

Dr. Carla Hayden Sworn in as Librarian of Congress

Dr. Carla Hayden was sworn in as the 14th Librarian of Congress by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. on September 14, 2016. Nominated by President Obama on February 24, 2016, Dr. Hayden was confirmed by the U.S. Senate after her confirmation hearing on April 20, 2016. She is both the first woman and first African American to serve as Librarian of Congress since the Library was established in 1800.

The National Book Festival: Journey to the Unknown

The 16th annual National Book Festival, organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress, will be held on Saturday, September 24, 2016, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The festival is free and open to the public.

More than 120 authors, poets, and illustrators will be making presentations throughout the day in the theme-based pavilions for Children, Teens, Books to Movies, Contemporary Life, Fiction, Food & Home, Graphic Novels, History & Biography, International, Poetry & Prose, and Science. Keynote speakers on the main stage include Stephen King, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shonda Rhimes, Bob Woodward, Raina Telgemeier, and Salman Rushdie. 

Further information, including a schedule of events and a map of the festival grounds, can be found at the festival website. Mobile apps are also available for the Festival. This year's poster was designed by Yuko Shimizu; a gallery of all Festival posters from 2001 to 2016 can be viewed here. 

National Park Service Centennial

One hundred years ago on August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation to create the National Park Service (NPS), with the mandate "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."

In 2015 alone, more than 300 million people visited the 412 different areas in the park system, which covers over 84 million acres in every state, as well as the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. To help plan future visits, the NPS website provides a Find a Park tool that offers information about the many sites of interest.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the NPS, the U.S. Postal Service issued a set of 16 stamps with images of various well-known parks. The oldest park in the system is Yellowstone National Park, which was created through a bill signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. The Yellowstone stamp features the silhouettes of two bison, which coincidentally became the national mammal when President Obama signed the National Bison Legacy Act into law on May 9, 2016.

Once numbering in the tens of millions in North America, bison were hunted to near extinction in the nineteenth century. In 1905, Theodore Roosevelt and William Hornaday formed the American Bison Society in an attempt to help save the species. Today, bison herds on public lands managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior support around 10,000 bison; Yellowstone has the largest of these herds, with a population estimated at 4,900 as of last summer.

Olympic Opening Ceremonies: London 1908 to Rio 2016

A medley of opening ceremonies for the Summer Olympics since 1908. The 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin were the first to be televised, although only to local Berlin audiences; the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, were the first to be televised internationally. The modern Olympic Games began in 1896 in Athens.

What Kind of Movies Are Your Children Seeing?

Today is the 50th anniversary of the horrific mass shooting that took place on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin on August 1, 1966. The perpetrator, Charles Whitman, killed 17 and wounded more than 30 others. Today is also the first day of the so-called Campus Carry law (S.B. 11) in the state of Texas, which will allow licensed holders to carry concealed handguns at public universities.

The issue of gun violence in the United States has long predated the tragedy at the University of Texas. The cartoon above, which expresses a concern over how weapons are depicted in the new art form of the cinema, was originally published in 1927. Its author, incidentally, was Norman Woodlieff, a musician and founding member of the North Carolina Ramblers.

Amber Waves of Rye

The Declaration of Independence

Currently on exhibit in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom at the National Archives Museum, the Declaration of Independence was drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776. A transcription of the complete text can be read online. The original document is badly faded today largely due to poor preservation techniques of the 19th century.

The Equal Rights Amendment: Yesterday and Today

There have been more than 11,000 attempts since 1787 to amend the U.S. Constitution, with only 27 successes. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was introduced into every session of Congress between 1923 and 1972, when it was finally passed by Congress. Ultimately, however, it failed to be ratified by the required three-fourths of the states to be become part of the Constitution. Written in 1921, the proposed text reads:

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

The video above features a panel discussion, The Equal Rights Amendment: Yesterday and Today [note that the speakers begin at 5:12], that was sponsored by the National Archives in partnership with the National Woman's Party. Held at the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument on June 16, 2016, the event was part of the programming that is accompanying the exhibition, Amending America, which runs through September 4, 2017 at the National Archives Museum.

For further historical information on the constitutional amendment process, see the dataset created by the National Archives: Amending America: Proposed Amendments to the United States Constitution, 1787 to 2014.

2016 Seed Savers Exchange Conference

Registration is now open for the 36th annual Seed Savers Exchange Conference & Campout to be held July 15-17, 2016. The event will feature numerous speakers, workshops, and other activities on the grounds of Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa. Dr. Carol Deppe of Fertile Valley Seeds will be the keynote speaker; other speakers include Southern heirloom experts Dr. David Shields and Glenn Roberts; The French Laundry garden chef, Aaron Keefer; and community seed activist Rowen White. A full schedule as well as registration details can be viewed on the conference website.