Tinfoil + Raccoon

Historic Steamboat Photos

Anita Doering, Manager of Archives at La Crosse Public, just sent a link to the now-live collection of steamboat pictures that marks the launch of the UW La Crosse Historic Steamboat Photographs collection. It's part of the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center. Anita says that the project was launched with about 500 photos, but that there are a few more to go. Pretty nifty. More about the project.

The UW-La Crosse Historic Steamboat Photograph collection consists of over 40,000 black and white photographic images of steamboats on the inland waterways of the United States, primarily the Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri rivers and their tributaries. The photos depict steamboats in every phase of their life span — from construction to destruction — and every aspect of their daily operations from the 1850s to the present.

Women with Sharp Sticks Take Over Library

(La Crosse, WI) The first day of spring saw the La Crosse Public Library taken over by 200 women and children wielding sharp sticks.  Staff, overwhelmed with the influx, gave up and not only picked up their own sticks, but offered refreshments and prizes to the spirited crowd.

If you missed out on Knitting for Peace Day, mark your calendars for next March 21 and start preparing your own knitting program.  La Crosse is the home to Betty Christiansen, author of the wildly adored book, Knitting for Peace: Make the World a Better Place, One Stitch at a Time.  For the book, Christiansen interviewed people all over the world about how knitting improved the quality of their life. I haven't yet read the book, but had the pleasure of knitting across from Betty yesterday, and heard her talk about how knitting has even been employed successfully in prisons and serves to calm inmate behavior.

There was a huge amount of enthusiasm about the program, and no one was disappointed. From 12-8 pm, the library welcomed knitters of all ages and experience levels to come to the library and knit.  There were people on hand to teach knitting, and there was lots of sharing of stories, needles and projects among the more experienced knitters.  Some folks brought their own projects, and there were opportunities to knit a basic square to contribute toward afghans that will be pieced together and donated to community organizations.  Here's an article with background on the program.  My friend Skully, a primo Florida knitting maven, who was so excited to hear that I lived in the same town as Betty Christiansen, blogged about the event on her Florida Knitters blog. And here are photos from the day.

Al Knorr and Returning Solider Both Say "NO" to Surge

I posted a picture of La Crosse resident Al Knorr protesting the war outside of Juniorette's high school a few months ago.  Here's more about Mr. Knorr, a former Navy vet and retired pyschiatric social worker, from the La Crosse Tribune (Saturday, January 27, 2007).  I learned that he protests five times a week and I was pleased to read that he hears more support than heckling.  His family still worries about his safety. In response to his wife's question about whether or not he's worried about his safety, Awesome Al says, "No, I'm not. I believe people are essentially good. We can have differences of opinion. That’s what makes us a democracy.” 

The last time Knorr was in the library, I told him that I was the woman who took a picture of him and who waves whenever he's at Central High.  He laughed and said, "It's always a lot warmer when people wave."  It's the least I can do.

A very related aside:  On my flight back to La Crosse, I overheard a discussion in the seat behind me.  It was a 22 year-old man talking to his seatmate about his upcoming spinal surgery.  Apparently, he was a soldier coming back from Falujah.  His back had been really messed up from something that happened to him during his tour.   At one point, his seatmate asked him if  "it would work."  The young man thought he was being asked about the surgery and said, "Oh, yeah," and explained that his cousin had had similar surgery and got a lot of relief from it.  The man clarified and said, "The SURGE...I was asking about the troop surge."  The solider replied, "Hell no!  It won't work."  He indicated that he had no faith in the decisions coming from the Bush administration, and that a bunch more  "kids" like him, could not make a difference. 

Right before I left for conference I read an article in Esquire magazine about  25 year-old triple amuputee Bryan Anderson (amputations courtesy of the Iraq war). In fact, it was the cover story. It was fairly neutral, but an amazing story, sort of along the lines of the teen surfer girl who got her arm bit off by a shark.  Click on the link and read through to the end of the story.