By Clay Wirestone | opinion editor
Good morning! I hope you’re all enjoying the holiday weekend. I’ll be in Lindsborg this afternoon at the Smoky Valley Arts & Folklife Center for a sneak peek book event. Stop by if you’d like to say “hi.” Otherwise, let’s savor the day’s newsletter.
Max McCoy / Kansas Reflector
OPINION
After 9/11, this Kansas town forged an unlikely bond with the FDNY. It is honored in tumbling steel.
By Max McCoy
ANTHONY — Why?
That’s the word that hovers over Memorial Park here, just before dusk on an evening in early September when the wind swells from the southwest and the swaying branches of the trees break the rays of the setting sun into dancing shafts of gold.
There is peace here, the kind of tranquility that settles over a small town at the drowsy end of the working day. This community of 2,108 in south central Kansas is like others across America, a one-stoplight town with a clock above the county courthouse that might as well have stopped decades ago.
But Anthony is different than other towns.
At Memorial Park, there are three chunks of twisted steel set above a brick and concrete base. The pieces are from the ruins of the World Trade Center and form a sculpture that seems to tumble from the blue prairie sky.
Anthony — founded in 1878 and named after the governor at the time — is the unlikely site of the state’s official 9/11 memorial. Another governor, Kathleen Sebelius, signed a bill in 2006 proclaiming the city as such, and not just because the city set a few pieces from a fallen tower of the World Trade Center on a pedestal.
Michigan Advance
A summer of recalls exposes holes in the nation’s food safety net
Jalapenos. Frozen berries. Beef. Alfalfa sprouts.
A summer of food recalls, including the record-shattering cyclosporiasis outbreak tied to iceberg lettuce that has sickened thousands, has raised many Americans’ fears of contracting a foodborne illness.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Kansas Reflector staff will participate in the following free public forums.
1-5 p.m. Sept. 6, Smoky Valley Arts & Folklife Center, Lindsborg. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone previews his new book at painter Mike Hartung’s latest exhibit.
3 p.m. Sept. 26, Washburn Library in Topeka. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone will participate in the panel “Why UPK: University Press of Kansas Celebrates 80 Years.” Host: Kansas Book Festival.
2 p.m. Sept. 27, Red Rocks Visitor Center in Emporia. Host: Red Rocks.
7 p.m. Sept. 29, Raven Book Store in Lawrence. Book release event for opinion editor Clay Wirestone’s “Opinionated.” Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith will moderate.
6 p.m. Oct. 12, Riverbank Brewing in Council Grove. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone talks about his book and the latest news. Host: Flint Hills Books.
5:30 p.m. Oct. 19, Frank Carlson Library in Concordia. Host: NCK Voters.
6 p.m. Dec. 3, Prairie Star Restaurant in Manhattan. Host: League of Women Voters of Manhattan and Riley County.
If you're interested in having us talk in your town, email Sherman Smith at [email protected].
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