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Our tribute to game shows continues with Library Jeopardy and Wheel of Fiction! Whad'ya know about the Library? Join former Jeopardy auditionee, Austin, as he does such a great job hosting that even Alex Trebek would be proud. Charles and Dave battle in a head-to-head Library trivia tournament of titans! Then, we bring in in Collection Development Librarian Beth and Reader's Advisory Librarians Gregg and Helen. They spin the wheel, but will it be fortune or failure as they are given book descriptions from our catalog and they're asked to identify titles? Spoiler alert, we chose really hard ones! 

It's the Library Lowdown Quiz Showdown Part II! 

BTW, if you missed Part I where we play Bluff the Librarian and Library Password, whad'ya waiting for?!

Mary Silwance is a poet, a former English teacher, and editorial team member for Kansas City Voices. She’s passionate about the natural world and uses her voice to educate people on climate change. Her environmental activism sometimes finds its way into her work; but so does womanhood, diversity (or the lack thereof), joy, pleasure and beauty. She explores ecology from an intersection of justice and spirituality in workshops and was a recent attendee of the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers Conference.

Mary’s poem, The Mystery, won our 2018 Women’s Voices writing contest and her poems and essays have been published widely, both in print and online. You can also listen to Mary on several segments on the local radio station KKFI.

Mary is a returning faculty member, and we’re so excited for her to join our conference again this year! This year, she will be teaching a session titled “Point of View.” You can learn more about her and read past work at her website.

—written by Lisa Allen, adult services specialist

Sarah Stein Greenberg is the executive director of the Stanford d.school and editor of our all-conference book, “Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways”. She leads a community of designers, faculty, and other innovative thinkers who help people unlock their creative abilities and apply them to the world.

Why would our conference planners choose a design book as an all-conference read? Mostly because it’s a cool book! We also wanted something every attendee, in addition to being writers, would have in common. “Creative Acts” offers something for everyone and can be used long after the conference is over. Greenberg says, “The experience of doing these assignments is the value you will take away. The emphasis is not on mastering tools or technique. . . and you’re in charge of how you do that: none of the assignments have to be used exactly as written.”

Unconventional choice for writers? Maybe. We’re hoping you use the assignments to challenge your processes, spark creativity, and unblock when you’re stuck.

Sarah speaks regularly at universities and global conferences on design, business, and education.  Our conference is no exception. Greenberg will close our Friday sessions at 4 pm. She’ll be back for open office hours with Justin Nogy on Saturday at 2:45 pm.

She holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA in history from Oberlin College. Sarah also serves as a trustee for Rare, a global conservation organization. Among other creative pursuits, she spends her free time as an underwater and wildlife photographer. She lives in San Francisco.

We hope you’ll pick up a free copy of “Creative Acts for Curious People” from the Central Resource Library and join us in sharing your response to an assignment on our blog. Read the responses other attendees and presenters have shared here.

—written by Helen Hokanson, local writers librarian

In a recent special edition of the Did You Hear? Podcast, librarian Helen Hokanson made a confession: our Writers Conference started with a planning committee of non-writers, and while our process since then has evolved, we are always looking for ways to improve.

One of the things we are certain of is that in order to create the best programming and conference possible, we need to hear from our patrons, especially those who have been coming to our writing programs and the Writers Conference. Did you know that all our adult writing programs were started in response to requests from people just like you? You wanted a writing group, and despite not knowing anything about writers or writing, we started one! We learned so much from you all and grew our programs (sometimes successfully, other times not so). One thing for sure . . . we’ve had a lot of fun along the way.

Now that we’re seven years into the Writers Conference, we really want to hear what’s been working, what can be improved, and most importantly what we need to keep doing. We want to hear what you’ve enjoyed attending and/or participating in, and what could have been better. We want to know which authors and presenters you want us to bring to the library. We want to know what your best-conference-ever looks like.

The more we know from you, the better we can plan programming and a conference that meets your expectations and helps you realize your goals.

Please take a few minutes to complete the survey. And when you’re at an event, feel free to talk to us about your thoughts. We’re always eager to connect and to hear what you have to say.

Access the Local Writers Programming survey.

—written by Lisa Allen, adult services specialist, and Helen Hokanson, local writers librarian

OVER the hill to the poor-house I’m trudgin’ my weary way—,  
I, a woman of seventy, and only a trifle gray—,  
I, who am smart an’ chipper, for all the years I’ve told,  
As many another woman that’s only half as old.  
Over the hill to the poor-house—I can’t quite make it clear!          
Over the hill to the poor-house—it seems so horrid queer!  
Many a step I've taken a-toilin’ to and fro,  
But this is a sort of journey I never thought to go. 

The story from the above 1872 Will Carleton poem “Adversity” was once a common tale for those living with poverty or disability in America. Anyone who could not find self-supporting work – due to age, physical or mental disability, dependent children, or other factors – and who had no family to care for them would find themselves facing the prospect of the poorhouse. Originating in the United Kingdom, poorhouses were institutions designed to employ the poor and disabled in exchange for food, housing and healthcare. As the British Empire spread, so did its ideologies; Colonial America’s larger cities featured poorhouses and, as the Union formed and expanded, so followed poorhouses or – as was more common in the U.S. – poor farms. County governments in each state oversaw poor farms where residents, then referred to as “inmates”, were expected to complete farm labor and housework for room and board. 

By the early 20th century, most Kansas counties had a poor farm. Johnson County’s poor farm was built on a 160-acre plot at the corner of what is now 119th Street and Ridgeview Road in Olathe. While its specific origin date is unclear, it opened in the mid-1860s with 8 residents working the farm. With the assistance of a small staff, they grew corn, oats, black sorghum, hay potatoes, cow peas and apples. They raised hogs, cows and chickens. During its tenure, the farm housed an average of 15-40 residents, though times of widespread hardship saw higher numbers.  

In 1909, a visiting representative from the Olathe Mirror newspaper described the farm as clean, well-furnished and comfortable. Of its then twelve residents, it was said: “Some of these are too aged to be of any assistance and three of them are blind, so that as a whole, the inmates instead of being a help either on the farm or in the infirmary, must be helped.” This was true for many farms across the country. The circumstances leading people to poor farms often made them unsuitable for the hard labor of farm work. Over time, many county-appointed superintendents found it more financially viable to rent their farmland out, using the proceeds to provide for their residents, rather than rely on them for farm output.  

As management for poor farms was largely unregulated, quality of life varied greatly among different counties and states. Some superintendents received salaries while others made only what the farm earnings would allow. Ideologies differed too, on what poor farms were designed for, with some treating them as purely charitable ventures while others sought high profits – leading many residents to experience mental and physical abuse, overwork and unclean and inadequate surroundings. Residents of poor farms sometimes shared one razor, toothbrush and wash basin among themselves. Unsurprisingly, disease spread quickly in these places. To justify such conditions, superintendents would claim they did not want to provide what they saw as luxury items, believing that providing comforts would prevent residents from wanting to leave poor farms – but most never had the ability to leave, regardless of want. 

Poor farms were ubiquitous for over a century in the United States, but population and economic changes made the already shaky system untenable in the first half of the 20th century. The 1929 economic crisis that ushered in the Great Depression led to overwhelming need for poor relief. Poor farms lacked funding to care for their already existing residents and were unable to take on further economic burdens. By 1933 almost one-third of all Kansas farmland was tax delinquent, and the country was in crisis. In 1935 Congress created the Social Security Act and, with it, federal financial support for the elderly, disabled, dependent mothers and children, and unemployed. These changes, along with a series of housing reforms, allowed many who would have faced poor farms to live independently. Three years later, nearly a third of all Kansas poor farms had been repurposed or closed entirely. 

As methods of social relief changed, so did public opinion. Poor farms were increasingly viewed as inhumane and outdated, and public thought turned toward newer institutions designed to provide for people on an individual level – nursing homes, mental health facilities and schools for deaf and blind students. Many former Kansas poor farms were converted to nursing homes, community centers and hospitals. Operating through the end of World War II, the Johnson County Poor Farm became a senior care facility before the land was repurposed for government use. Gone but not entirely forgotten, the plot where the farm once stood still provides services to the county’s many residents; it now houses the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment, MED-ACT and the K-State Research and Extension Office.  

-Sam S., Johnson County Library