tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-193009922012-02-19T11:25:13.397-06:00Dispatches From KansasEssays taken from a weekly newspaper column published in the Washington County News, Washington, Kansas. Look for my book, "Dispatches From Kansas," available from Amazon.com, from the author or Town Crier Bookstore, 716 Commercial, Emporia.Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.comBlogger1021125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-71823828500469744302012-02-19T09:25:00.003-06:002012-02-19T11:25:13.411-06:00Marysville version of Mardi Gras--good friends, better music and damn fine food  Dressed for the occasion and ready to dance, the one and only Natalie Rae Cook.  Rocking the house was Betsy Blaser in her subdued, Wall Street duds.  Jazzman John Banister belting out the tunes. My good friend Peter Muraski wordlessly expressing that I'm number one in his book. Or something... Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-32877498585666028742012-02-19T09:19:00.002-06:002012-02-19T09:19:46.367-06:00Way We Worked Project: Hometown Foods edition  Karen Wachsnicht arrives early each morning to bake cookies and prepare the lunch menu.  Subway manager Megan Metcalf preparing loaves of bread. Doug Springer, Hometown Foods' in-house meat cutter, sawing soup bones. Manager Steve Gaydusek, aka "Gator," at the helm.Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-4746714757026451702012-02-18T08:29:00.002-06:002012-02-18T08:29:14.541-06:00Washington junior varsity basketball Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-25683006807654211592012-02-16T13:28:00.000-06:002012-02-17T11:49:33.364-06:00The Way We Worked Project: Blue Rapids Free Press, et al edition  Paige Miller helps her mother, Liz Miller (R) and Blue Rapids Greenhouse and Florist owner Jan Bergkamp stock the display case at Hometown Foods.  Deb Barrington pens in story ideas for the Blue Rapids Free Press.  Blue Rapids Free Press owner and editor Jon Brake.   Blue Rapids Free Press owner and editor Jon Brake drumming up news.  Chris Taylor delivers a fresh batch Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-30469609364482671882012-02-12T22:04:00.000-06:002012-02-12T22:04:51.456-06:00One afternoon, two stunning events: The Topeka Symphony Orchestra and Unmasking Mental Illness, both sponsored by the Marshall County Arts Cooperative  Conductor John Strickler  Don't ask  Nicholas Ciraldo, guitar extraordinaire Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-14011359841174814862012-02-10T11:55:00.000-06:002012-02-11T21:58:54.094-06:00A time, a place, a people Restless, uneasy, wanting more than a caged interior existence, I went out as the sun westered. Shadows spread like spilled ink and the light warming to a golden luminance gilded the whitewashed monolith of the grain elevator with its sprightly sprig of wheat. Without thought or plan I drove the streets desirous of something concrete and real, something definitive, something that would speak Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-34328606382636700992012-02-10T09:54:00.000-06:002012-02-10T09:56:11.952-06:00The Way We Worked project: City crew build new manhole covers  City superintendent Dave Sanner makes cement for new manhole covers  Jim Flower works on cement risers Steve Carlson preparing manhole cover forms.Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-77423976569558753882012-02-09T20:11:00.000-06:002012-02-10T10:07:21.611-06:00First day: The Way We Worked, a project funded by the Kansas Humanities Council and the Blue Rapids Historical Society City superintendent Dave Sanner clears drainage channels at the sewage ponds. Perennials being planted at the Blue Rapids Greenhouse. Blue Rapids Green house owner Jan Bergkamp multitasking as the planting season kicks into high gear. Seeds. Lots of seeds.  Beverly Huff planting geraniums.  City crew workers reconstructing splash guards on outlet channels atTom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-8514735511444838012012-02-02T11:10:00.004-06:002012-02-02T11:10:45.258-06:00Technical difficultiesBetween planning and preparing for a major photographic project that will take about a year to complete, learning artificial lighting, radio triggers, manual modes and a host of other esoteric knowledges that my brain is ill adapted for, writing has taken something of a backseat. Believe me, it's not for a lack of trying. So please bear with me as I work my way through this tangled mess...Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-29312399575992824212012-01-17T06:59:00.001-06:002012-01-17T06:59:57.335-06:00Hanover vs. Linn--I think I'm getting the hang of this Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-2593272220037489972012-01-15T13:58:00.002-06:002012-01-15T13:58:56.005-06:00A few more basketball shots Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-91472274774551256392012-01-15T10:15:00.002-06:002012-01-15T10:15:36.159-06:00First shot at basketball--not great, not too bad Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-28316717155705842632012-01-12T14:08:00.002-06:002012-01-12T14:09:40.054-06:00House of unwritten stories Later I thought of that unnamed canyon south of Albuquerque whose dark basaltic stones cresting the highest ridges were etched with signs and patterns, with weird faces and feathered serpents and, along the tallest promontory, dozens of finely-boned feet, their toes and soles a deep burnished umber contrasting starkly against the black volcanic outcrops. All that remained of their creators wereTom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-87058003923813784202012-01-08T12:29:00.001-06:002012-01-08T12:29:53.258-06:00Sleepy Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-49088825287743051142012-01-08T10:50:00.002-06:002012-01-08T10:50:57.643-06:00Roc Day II: a fiber celebration Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-90245804224711480372012-01-05T09:12:00.001-06:002012-01-05T09:12:37.407-06:00Winter ghost The big pale bird flew low to the stubbled field, its powerful wingbeats propelling it toward a sharp rise where the land fell away toward the distant Little Blue River. Something about its flight pattern seemed odd, simultaneously more buoyant and erratic, its color the epitome of a gray wintry dawn.  The light was bad, my speed excessive, a curve approaching—not the most ideal Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-83489280975880934092011-12-22T09:37:00.003-06:002011-12-22T09:37:49.177-06:00An imaginary war It wasn’t just cold on the main street of Barnes, it was antarctic in the old-fashioned sense of the word. An icy wind sluiced up from the south unopposed by structure or hill or tree, kicking up clouds of dust, whipping flags to froth and jackknifing down collars, turning skin to stone and eyes to icicles, and in every which way making life miserable for the hundreds of people lining the Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-91039074585238378472011-12-15T07:43:00.000-06:002011-12-15T07:43:21.470-06:00Occupy Blue Rapids        Much has been written about the Occupy Wall Street movement—oceans of ink, in fact, though it’s questionable how many people actually read those millions of words to their bitter end, much less grasped the meanings behind it. My own experience was surprisingly detached. On the one hand I applaud any grassroots attempt to highlight corporate greed and malfeasance; on the other hand, I Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-80360841234829254352011-12-13T04:38:00.001-06:002011-12-13T04:38:54.215-06:00Backroads commute: Morrowville quadrant Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-617794004157995962011-12-10T19:22:00.001-06:002011-12-10T19:22:50.910-06:00Blue Rapids lighted tractor parade Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-76777764386018670782011-12-08T10:26:00.001-06:002011-12-08T10:27:44.113-06:00The endless road         One frosty morning, without planning aforethought or consultation of a map, I turned off Highway 9 onto County Line Road and headed north.  Not that it was much of a road. For the first mile or so it was wide enough for one-and-a-quarter mid-sized cars to pass without too much maneuvering. The surface was fairly smooth though pitted with tire tracks that meandered, skittered, Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-82257486097466834082011-12-02T10:09:00.001-06:002011-12-02T10:09:54.013-06:00 Sue and Keith Jones, with my wife, LoriTom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-20140009704381266812011-12-02T09:53:00.001-06:002011-12-02T09:54:52.899-06:00View from the edge of now The last thing I expected to see was a horned toad but then I’ve come to accept these gifts without fanfare or overblown rumination on the mysteries of life. The temperature was in the low thirties and a cold breeze slicing from the north but the bluff faced the south and the low sun warmed the deep grasses along the hillside. I’d spooked the little reptile on my way back up the slope from a Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-41061888439614695152011-11-23T14:38:00.001-06:002011-11-23T14:40:09.935-06:00Thanks be When I left work Monday afternoon light was fading into a gray featureless murk that might indicate freezing drizzle, an early dusk or both. The thermometer on the bank read 28 degrees which didn’t take into account the breeze, but then I heard a few weeks ago that the whole concept of wind-chill factoring might be tossed as hopelessly outdated or nonessential. Another instance of criminal Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19300992.post-12797457099570840112011-11-22T07:43:00.001-06:002011-11-22T07:43:32.269-06:00Long road home Tom Parkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13351116214626024883noreply@blogger.com1