MetaFilter posts tagged with Kansas

In Slightly Warmer Blood.

grapefruitmoon — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:04:12 -0800

In Cold Blood, 50 Years On : The Guardian takes a look at Holcomb, Kansas 50 years (to the day) after the crimes depicted in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.

"Pro Life" does not mean what you think it does

mkultra — Sun, 31 May 2009 10:40:45 -0800

George Tiller, whose Wichita, KS clinic specializes in late-term abortions, was shot to death this morning on his way to church. Tiller was previously shot and wounded in 1995. (previously on MeFi)

Commence Option 4

jlowen — Wed, 06 May 2009 08:24:52 -0800

Metafilter's own Sean Tevis made history with his run for Kansas House of Representatives in 2008. Read more here, here, and here. Sean is back and ready to commence 'Option 4', once again changing the way politics is done in Kansas. From his website "Sean Tevis is visiting more than 50 politicians who can make open government a reality. He wears a different shirt with each politician. Eash shirt is unique and displays the names of 100 people like you. These shirts also have messages on them, which are Twitter-sized: 140 characters or less. The politician receives a copy of this shirt, too, for meeting with Sean. You get an account of this visit."

Very minimal wage

jlowen — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 22:26:06 -0800

Today Kansas became one step closer to raising its state minimum wage and shedding its embarrassing position as lowest set state minimum wage in the nation at $2.65 per hour. (Kansas minimum wage is lower than Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands, though 5 states currently have no minimum wage whatsoever.) The Kansas Department of Labor estimates that over 20,000 Kansans earn less than the federal minimum wage. After passing the Kansas Senate by a vote of 33-7, will the Speaker of the House allow a vote on Senate Bill 160?

AN ACT concerning campaign finance; pertaining to unitemized contributions.

anastasiav — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 05:40:25 -0800

Metafilter's Own Sean Tevis ran for the Kansas State Legislature using the web as his main fund raising tool. His fund raising was spectacularly successful, raising in excess of $100,000 -- over 70% of which was in amounts lower than $50.00. The Republicans criticized this tactics, and he lost. Although he took no PAC or Lobbyist contributions, some in Kansas politics feel that he's not been transparent enough about who gave to him, so Republican Scott Schwab has introduced LD 2244 (.pdf) - informally known as the Sean Tevis Bill. Currently, the law says that candidates are not required to report any personal information on donors who gave under $50.00. The proposed law would require candidates to report personal information on donors who gave any amount (including one cent) but only if that candidate raised over $1000 in small contributions.

"Those who desire to peruse works that tell about Heaven only, are urged to drop this book and run."

amyms — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 00:56:04 -0800

GUILTY! This word, so replete with sadness and sorrow, fell on my ear on that blackest of all black Fridays, October 14, 1887. And so begins John N. Reynolds' The Twin Hells: A Thrilling Narrative of Life in the Kansas and Missouri Penitentiaries, a very detailed and eventful memoir originally published in 1890, archived online in its entirety (including illustrations). A few excerpts... From Chapter 11, Candidate for the State Senate (Reynolds ran for office while incarcerated): As I sat there in my solitude the question came to my mind as to what part of the great political play I would be engaged in were I a free man. Some months prior to this a petition signed by 5,000 people had been forwarded to President Cleveland for my pardon. Had I secured my liberty it was my intention to make the race for State senator in my district for vindication. Mr. Cleveland interfered with my plan by refusing my pardon. Thinking over the matter in my cell that Sunday afternoon, I determined that while the President had the power of keeping me in prison he should not keep me from making the race for the position I coveted. From Chapter 14, The Convict's Home: The prison is supplied with a large library of choice books to which the inmates have access. They also are allowed to read daily newspapers, if they have money with which to purchase them. The managing officials of the Kansas pententiary are possessed of a very foolish notion in regard to the reading of daily newspapers. They will not under any circumstances allow a prisoner to take his home paper, or have access to any political daily. They claim that it excites the prisoner and makes his imprisonment more difficult to bear when he knows what is going on in the outside world. From Chapter 19, Noted Convicts : The female prison is kept scrupulously clean, which reflects great credit upon those having the management of this department. In company with Doctor Lewellyn, the prison physician, I passed through the dormitory. Here I found a great curiosity. It was a baby prisoner, six months old. The little convict was born in the penitentiary. It is a colored child --- its mother being a mulatto, who was sent to prison for fifteen years for murdering two of her children. When on the outside, she lived with her paramour, a white man, and, as fast as children were born to them, she would murder them in cold blood.

One that should have won, but didn't.

scblackman — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:20:04 -0800

Perhaps lost in the well-deserved joy of Barack Obama's victory is the race for the Kansas House of Representatives, district 15. (Previously). Sadly, Sean Tevis lost to Arlen H. Siegfreid by 4 points (a little over 400 votes). Despite an XKCD-inspired and interweb-fueled campaign, change didn't make it to that particular part of Kansas. Sean, I hope that you're not completely put off politics and are willing to try again. I found your effort to be refreshing and inspiring. Congratulations on what you've accomplished.

The Henry Ford of Literature

amyms — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:00:02 -0800

How One Nearly Forgotten 1920s Publisher's “Little Blue Books” Created An Inexpensive Mail-Order Information Superhighway That Paved The Way For The Sexual Revolution, Influenced The Feminist And Civil Rights Movements, And Foreshadowed The Age Of Information. When Emanuel Haldeman-Julius drowned in his backyard swimming pool, on July 31, 1951, he was popularly regarded as a has-been... Denounced as a communist in national newspapers and investigated by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, he had recently lost a federal tax evasion lawsuit and was facing time in jail. Amid the cold war atmosphere of the time, schoolchildren whispered that Haldeman-Julius had actually been assassinated for being a Soviet spy; adults speculated that his death was a suicide... It was an odd ending for a man who, in just over thirty years, had become one of the most prolific publishers in U.S. history, putting an estimated 300 million copies of inexpensive “Little Blue Books” into the hands of working-class and middle-class Americans. Selling for as little as five cents and small enough to fit in a trouser pocket, these books were meant to bring culture and self-education to working people, and covered topics ranging from classic literature to home-finance to sexually pleasuring one’s spouse.

Information Design + Politics = WIN! (Hopefully)

piedrasyluz — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:31:12 -0800

Sean Tevis Takes On Intelligent Designer with Some Intelligent Design of His Own... Sean Tevis is running for State Representative in Kansas, against an opponent he describes as a proponent of intelligent design. Short on name recognition (and campaign funds) he took it upon himself to use his skills as an information designer to connect to his "constituents" - could he be the first true candidate for a generation that grew up on the Internet? Very clever xkcd-style infographic deployed against the agents of doom... (I donated, couldn't help myself) via BoingBoing

Coming Soon: A pink hotel, a boutique and a swinging hot spot

Miko — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:28:48 -0800

The [US] National Trust for Historic Preservation has released its 21st annual list of the nation's Most Endangered Historic Places. Among them: Sumner Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas, (where Linda Brown tried to register for school, resulting in Brown vs. Board of Education); New York City's Lower East Side; California's State Parks; Philadelphia's Boyd Theatre, and several others. The previous 20 years of Most Endangered Historic Places can be found in the Archive. The Trib weighs in on the inclusion of Chicago's Michigan Avenue Streetwall The Inky on Boyd Theater Topeka Capitol-Journal (CapJo?) on Sumner Elementary Times-Picayune on Charity Hospital SF Chronicle on the state's parks Lower East Side Endangered? So what else is new?asks the New York Times

Greensburg GreenTown

sleepy pete — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:03:10 -0800

Greensburg, Kansas was destroyed by an F5 tornado in May, 2007. The city council and Governor Sebelius decided to rebuild as a "green" town while Leonardo DiCaprio produces a 13-part series for Discovery channel affiliated (this flier is showing up around Greensburg now) Planet Green in June. I just ran across this today and thought it was an interesting follow up to questions in the thread I posted about Larry Schwarm's pictures of the aftermath of the tornado a few months back.

Prairie photos by Larry Schwarm

sleepy pete — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:05:50 -0800

Larry Schwarm is best known for his photographs of prairie fires and landscapes in the Flint Hills of Kansas. On May 5, 2007, he visited his hometown of Greensburg, Kansas to take photos of what was left after an F-5 tornado leveled the town the day before. There's some browser resizing, just so you know... or at least there is for me.

There's No Place Like MetaFilter...

The Ultimate Olympian — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 03:39:34 -0800

The W i z a r d o f O z Check out atarumyth's playlist on YouTube. She appears to have uploaded some cracking movies in their entirety.

The 2007 Japan Series

gen — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 22:23:24 -0800

Now that the "World Series" is over, you can enjoy Joe Posnanski's coverage of the Japan Series in the Kansas City Star (on account of Nippon Ham Fighters coach Trey Hillman going to coach the KC Royals in 2008.) It's great to see Posnanski's perspective of Japanese baseball as he compares and contrasts American and Japanese baseball. It's also interesting to see American mass media cover Japanese sports when the Japanese mass media is going ga-ga over the US World Series (due to 3 Japanese players, Matsuzaka, Matsui and Okajima being in the finals.)

Elizabeth "Grandma" Layton

sleepy pete — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:00:05 -0800

Elizabeth "Grandma" Layton was coaxed by her sister at the age of 68 to take a blind contour drawing class in Ottawa, Kansas, in order to possibly help alleviate her 35-year bout with clinical depression. By the time of her death in 1993, her work (article includes quicktime link of Elizabeth discussing her work and photo gallery) had been shown in several museums, including the Smithsonian's National Museum of American Art, and celebrated as an honest depiction of aging, mental health, and feminist issues (google book link) in the US. Her grandaughters/great-grandaughters put together a website recently, including several of her pieces. I also highly recommend this book, but you might want to pick it up at the library.

Mass murdering restauranteurs, the Benders

sleepy pete — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:43:42 -0800

The Benders were a family of German immigrants who opened a store and restaurant in the newly formed state of Kansas in the late 19th century. Led by the spiritualist Kate, they also were some of the United States first serial killers. Here's another site on the Benders, from the hotel that houses what's left of the Bender museum in Cherryvale, just watch out for the red background. As an added bonus, you can use this very cool historic newspaper search from the Library of Congress (as posted by cog_nate) to read news stories about what happened to the Benders. Here's a hint: several people were wrongfully arrested, but the Benders were never captured. Also, most believe they weren't even a family. They were liars and murderers!

Go West, Young Orphans

amyms — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 22:00:25 -0800

Orphan Trains of Kansas. A collection of histories, personal stories, newspaper accounts, pictures and other references. Beginning in 1854, charitable institutions in New York City began sending orphans on trains to the west to find new families, feeling that the children would fare better out west than on the streets of New York. Orphan trains arrived in Kansas between 1867 and 1930, and some 5000-6000 children were placed in Kansas homes.

Creativity grows in rural Kansas

Hugh2d2 — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 06:18:18 -0800

The Harveyville Project, located in Harveyville, Kansas, is a small town and getting smaller: There are only about 250 residents, and most are elderly. But after an artist bought an abandoned school to live in two years ago, there are some colorful new faces in town.

Conveniently located at the corner of No and Where. Nary a McDonalds nor Starbucks as far as the eye can see, but still a comfy drive from civilization. Housed in two mid-century school buildings on nine acres on the edge of a tiny rural town, the Harveyville Project offers a quiet, secluded, distraction-free environment to jumpstart your creative work.

Such a cool idea. If I was still single I'd move there in a second to soak up the creative vibe.

Irena Sendler, humble hero(ine)

cerebus19 — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:51:38 -0800

You've heard of Oskar Schindler. You've heard of Raoul Wallenberg. But you've probably never heard of Irena Sendler (or Sendlerowa). Sendler, who turned 97 in February, saved 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto during the Holocaust. She doesn't think she's a hero, but she's been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, largely due to the attention brought to her story by four girls from rural Kansas.

"It is with extreme modesty that I present the following pages to be read by other eyes than mine..."

amyms — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 21:37:49 -0800

Went To Kansas: Being A Thrilling Account Of An Ill-Fated Expedition To That Fairy Land, And Its Sad Results. A personal account by Mrs. Miriam Davis Colt (based on her daily diaries) about her family's move from New York to Kansas in the 1850s, and the tragic story of the Vegetarian Settlement Company, which sold cheap land to settlers (if they signed an oath swearing they would never consume alcohol, tobacco or animal flesh) along with the promise of a prairie utopia.

Big Brutus' Glory days

sleepy pete — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 21:36:31 -0800

"A bad way to make a living." A series on the history and ecological impact of strip mining in southeast Kansas during the early 20th century that includes articles, photo galleries with sound files, and video slideshows about the region. The area, known as the "Little Balkans," because of the large Eastern European population that worked the mines, was a large mining community that has given the US the second largest electric shovel in the country, a home to one of the largest socialist newspapers in the country (called Appeal to Reason and founded by Julius Wayland) as well as the Little Blue Books series started by Emanuel Haldeman-Julius in 1919. Oh yeah, it was also --second paragraph-- the place that most of the bootleg alcohol that fueled the Ka ns as City Jazz Scene of that time was from as well. Of course, if you should ever find yourself in SEKS, and you eat meat, go to either Chicken Annie's or Chicken Mary's [transcript] since they're only a few miles apart in their modern incarnation. The legends you hear growing up there aren't always true, but it doesn't matter because the onion rings are fantastic. And yes, in some ways all Kansas has left is history.

Judge blocks articles, bloggers republish

nospecialfx — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 10:58:29 -0800

Judge blocks damaging articles, bloggers republish them in defiance here and here. Will the Kansas City utility board sue them, too?

It's not just Democrats and Republicans, you know.

deusdiabolus — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 15:08:24 -0800

Haters! The Libertarian candidate for the 24th District of the Kansas House was canvassing the local Mission, KS Arts and Eats festival, speaking with attendees and distributing campaign literature. Suddenly, a councilwoman approached him with a police officer and informed him he had to leave and would be charged with trespassing if he returned, an action which the Mayor has publicly denounced and has launched an investigation into.

Metafilter: zimzim urallala zimzim urallala zimzim zanzibar zimzalla zam

billysumday — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 12:12:05 -0800

Whereas: Dada is a virgin microbe which penetrates with the insistence of air into all those spaces that reason has failed to fill with words and conventions. .

The mayor of Lawrence, Kansas proclaims February 4, April 1, March 28, July 15, August 2, August 7, August 16, August 26, September 18, September 22, October 1, October 17, and October 26, 2006 as International Dadaism Month.

The one room school house project

Wolfdog — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 05:43:58 -0800

The one room school house project - stories, photos, and documents.