IDEAS IN PROGRESS RAPPORT ISSUE 21 | WINTER 2019 WARRIOR WRITERS PROGRAM RECEIVES GESKE AWARD VETERANS WRITING WORKSHOP RECOGNIZED FOR CONTRIBUTION TO LITERACY PGS 2-3 The Healing Wall (excerpt) by Andy Gueck The family who searches the Wall to find a name, to put closure to the hole torn within their hearts every parent hopes that the telegram was wrong, That the name they seek is not there. As they reach the year, the day, the line, they find the name they so hoped was not there. Tears stream down her cheeks, weathered with age and sorrow, his eyes lose some of their luster in knowing the truth. The child seeking someone who was never there, touches a name, takes a shading, but receives no answers. Visitors to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. search for the names of loved ones and frequently copy the inscription as a memento. Photo by Chris Sommerich 1950s CHAUTAUQUA: PG 3 • GOVERNOR’S LECTURE RECAP: PG 4 • MEETING DWIGHT DAVID EISENHOWER II: PG 5 RECENT GRANTS: PG 8 • WELCOME NEW INTERNS: PG 9 • GRANT SPOTLIGHT: FORGIVENESS LINCOLN: PG 9 ONE BOOK ONE NEBRASKA: PAGE 9 • JACK CAMPBELL: PAGE 10 • NEW SPEAKERS BUREAU TOPICS NOW AVAILABLE: PG 12 ON WRITING by Sara Hollcroft NEBRASKA VETS FIND SUPPORT IN WRITING WORKSHOPS N NOVEMBER 9, NEBRASKA WARRIOR WRITERS RECEIVED THE 2019 JANE GESKE AWARD FROM THE NEBRASKA OCENTER FOR THE BOOK. THIS PROGRAM, A COOPERATIVE EFFORT BY HUMANITIES NEBRASKA WITH THE NEBRASKA WRITING PROJECT AND THE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION, GIVES MILITARY VETERANS AND ACTIVE DUTY PERSONNEL RAPPORT ACCESS TO FREE COACHING FROM PROFESSIONAL WRITING INSTRUCTORS. SHARING HER THOUGHTS ON THIS ISSUE 21 | WINTER 2019 IMPORTANT PROGRAM IS SARA HOLLCROFT, AN ENGLISH TEACHER AND FACILITATOR FOR THE LINCOLN PROGRAM. On a crisp Saturday autumn Gueck, one of the original UPCOMING EVENTS morning, several men and members of the Warrior MINI GRANT DEADLINES women entered the Veterans Writers, states he was not a January 2, March 2, May 1 Administration office in Lincoln, writer before attending the (details on our website) Nebraska. Their counterparts in writing group, but now he is. Omaha were also gathering at Mary Baker, one of the MEDIA GRANT DEADLINE their meeting place. Since 2014, female vets present, likes the January 15 (details on our website) they have met six weeks in the safe place to share her writing fall and again in the spring. They and her heart with veterans who HN BOARD MEETING are vets or family members of understand what she has been January 1 8, Lincoln vets, and they are called the through in her career. They have MAJOR GRANT DEADLINE Warrior Writers because that is become her friends who push March 2 (details on our website) what they do. her to be a better person. Several are Vietnam vets Another female writer writes HUMANITIES ON THE HILL who find a safe harbor for about her sexual assault while in March 3-5, Washington D.C. writing with other vets. Or as the military. Another is outlining another veteran from a different a book on her own assault, CAPITOL FORUM DAY deployment, John Petelle, ready to name names. Writing March 30, Lincoln states, “A knowledge that we helps liberate them from their are not alone.” past shadows. Perhaps then, PATRON’S CIRCLE EVENT They want to write. they can retake control. Perhaps April 17, Omaha Andy Gueck says of the then, sleep comes easier. group, “We all wore the uniform Perhaps then, the powers-to-be of our country, and we accept will listen. IN THIS ISSUE each other unconditionally.” Nebraska Warrior Writers Nebraska Warrior Writers ......2 1950s Chautauqua.............3 Governor’s Lecture Recap ......4 Meeting David Eisenhower .....5 Governor’s Lecture Donors .....5 Thank You, Donors!............6 Patron’s Circle ................7 Recent Grants.................8 Meet the New Interns..........8 Grant Spotlight ...............9 One Book One Nebraska .......9 In Memory................... 9 Honoring Jack Campbell ......10 Legacy Donors................10 New Speakers, Topics.........12 TO UPDATE ADDRESS OR CANCEL SUBSCRIPTION, CALL 402.474.2131 or Several participating veterans and facilitators from the Lincoln and Omaha Nebraska Warrior Writers groups joined program director E-MAIL [email protected] Dr. Erika Hamilton. center, in accepting the Jane Geske Award from Nebraska Center for the Book on November 9. 2 is a partnership between the and trust their growth as Nebraska Writing Project and writers. It often tells them ON WRITING Humanities Nebraska that gives something they didn’t know these vets support and hope. about themselves—that they NEBRASKA VETS FIND SUPPORT IN WRITING WORKSHOPS Warrior Writers do not are stronger than they thought. usually write about their Writing empowers them. experiences of combat, but Writing is a way to shine a some write about their attempt beacon of light for others. It to heal afterwards. The poem can be an act of defiance, but “The Healing Wall” by Gueck for most of the vets, it is a speaks of family and friends labor of love, faith, and hope. who visit the wall for hope As to the name of the writing when the name they seek is not group, in the words of Elwell there or for closure when it is. and Gueck, “The title, ‘Warrior ABOVE: Vets develop skills with the help of professional However, it might be said Writers,’ describes who we instructors, books, guest that the wall is not for the were, not who we are.” speakers, and reviewing soldier, but for the person And so, the warriors write on. each other’s work. RIGHT: who spit on the soldiers, who Lincoln facilitator Tom Seib called them “worthless” and Humanities Nebraska thanks the Cooper Foundation reads Andy Gueck’s moving “baby killers.” It is those people and other donors who have made Nebraska Warrior poem, “The Healing Wall,” who need to heal, to learn to Writers possible. If you’d like to help fund this program, as part of the award forgive themselves. please call Heather Thomas at 402.474.2131. acceptance speech. The Warrior Writers program helps vets heal through the sharing and acceptance of ASHLAND TO HOST “THE FIFTIES IN FOCUS” their writing with others. They laugh together hearing a story Nebraska Chautauqua will return about grilling meat on a car’s next summer. Ashland will host “The engine as a fellow vet’s family Fifties in Focus,” a comprehensive drives the long miles to their and objective look at a decade destination. Laughter heals. that is often viewed with a sense of And they understand the nostalgia and romanticism - hot rods, sorrow of death of another rock-and-roll, fashion, and the like. vet’s family member. There is But the ’50s were marked by sweeping a sense of knowing without change as Americans dealt with Cold War actually knowing when a fellow tensions related to the Korean War, and vet needs comforting, who is watched the U.S. and Russia compete for struggling with life itself. They dominance in space. Domestic resources were strained have been there themselves. by the baby boom, while women and minorities sought to Warrior Writers helps vets be succeed in the labor market. The Civil Rights movement began heard, accepted, appreciated, to solidify, and McCarthyism compromised families, friendships and valued. and working relationships. Veteran Joel Elwell, a novelist Mark your calendar for July 31-August 1, and plan to join your in the making, shared that the family and friends in exploring the social, economic, political, Saturday sessions help him and international changes of the 1950s. There will be a variety to hone in on his writing skills of activities and events for Nebraskans of all without outside pressure. The ages to enjoy, led by experts and scholars. Warrior Writers guest speakers “The Fifties in Focus” just might change and the books covering topics the way you look at America’s most iconic such as revising, publishing, and decade, forever. More details will be shared on the overall craft of writing (paid the HN website soon and in the spring edition for by HN), all help Elwell and of this newsletter. For information, contact the other participants improve Kristi Hayek Carley, program manager, at and expand their writing. [email protected] or 402-474-2131. Writers learn to recognize 3 Photos by GOVERNOR’S LECTURE RAISES MORE THAN $200,000 Sara Rogers RIGHT: Event co-chairs, More than 1,200 humanities Pete Zandbergen and donors, friends, students and Brenda Christensen. community members attended BELOW RIGHT: Governor the 24th annual Governor’s Pete Ricketts and Dwight Lecture in the Humanities on David Eisenhower II. ABOVE: Standing: Kyle Cartwright, Paul Ternes, Julia Gale. Seated: October 24 at the Holland Rich Vierk, Sally and Jack Campbell, June Performing Arts Center in Pederson, Marilyn and Galen Hadley. Omaha. David Eisenhower’s speech was titled, “D-Day + 75; In the Eyes of America’s Postwar Generations.” Preceding the lecture, more ABOVE: Chuck Shoemaker, Jalaene and than 550 humanities donors Tom Choquette, and Lynne Friedewald and friends gathered for a RIGHT: Joe Starita accepted the 2019 Sower Award in the Humanities from Nebraska benefit dinner which raised Humanities Council Chair Amy Sandeen. BELOW: Omaha Central History teacher more than $200,000 for HN’s Scott Wilson, Foundation President Cynthia Milligan, Governor Pete Ricketts, David statewide programs. Co- Eisenhower, Amy Sandeen, HN Executive Director Chris Sommerich and Joe Starita. chaired by HN board members Brenda Christensen and Pete Zandbergen, the dinner set a new record for attendance and funds raised. In the moments before the lecture, Joe Starita received the 2019 Sower Award in the Humanities. He was recognized for his “significant contribution to the public understanding of the humanities in Nebraska” via his work as an author, teacher, journalist, and speaker who RIGHT: David Eisenhower BELOW: Several people who attended the lecture gathered focuses on Native American in the Holland Center’s Skyview Terrace for Humanities After Hours, an informal civil rights and history.