Community Reading Program

Wednesday evening’s event was “An Old-Fashioned Music Program” with musicologist, Alan Nellis. Alan played several different types of music from the 1909-1910 time period and even had with him a hundred year old Victrola and trumpet. He played a recording of Enrico Caruso on a 78rpm record on the Victrola and played the trumpet himself.  Susan Grover played  “Follow the Drinking Gourd” on the harmonica which was performed by one of the students at Marias Coulee School.

He mentioned that the harmonica wasn’t really popular until the 1920’s and it was then that the Boy Scouts formed harmonica bands.

Susan played the guitar and we all sang along to “Home on the Range” which Alan said would definitely have been a favorite on the prairie at that time even though it was written by a Kansan!

Last night the author of “Three Cups of Tea”, Greg Mortenson spoke at Jesse Auditorium on the University of Missouri Campus.  He received much applause from the large crowd throughout his talk. One of the interesting things he mentioned that you might not know from reading the book is that the original subtitle was “one man’s mission to fight terrorism…”. Greg did not like this but the publishers decided this is what it was going to be. He made a deal with the publisher that if the hardback did not sell well they would change the subtitle for the paperback and they did. So, the subtitle for the paperback is “one man’s mission to promote peace…”. Take a look at your copy.  If you went to hear Greg Mortenson let us know your thoughts.

Ashland’s senior center was crowded Monday night for a presentation of photos and history on the one-room schoolhouses of Boone County. Presenter Dianne Hart Miller brought along lots of photographs to share as she discussed the life and times of her great aunt, the first woman superintendent of Boone County schools. Many in the audience had attended one-room schools and some were even in the photos. They had a great time remembering their childhoods and filling in forgotten names of the children pictured.
Read More →

Greg Mortenson is the author of this year’s runner-up title. Read about his visit to Columbia.