Sandoz Conference this weekend at Chadron State

Kloefkorn will speak at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14 in the Chicoine Atrium of the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center on “The Poetry of People and Place.” The presentation will be open to the public without charge.

Now professor emeritus at Nebraska Wesleyan University, Kloefkorn’s recent works include “Sunrise, Dayglow, Sunset, Moon” and “Walking the Campus,” both published in 2004. He will be introduced by Dr. Michael Cartwright, professor of language and literature at CSC.

The conference will continue all day Friday. This year’s theme is “The Year of the Blizzard” which will be based on Sandoz’s 1954 novelette, “Winter Thunder.”

There will be a special session Friday at 11 a.m., when Dr. Ron Weedon, long-time biology professor at Chadron State, and one of his former students, Bellamy Parks Jansen of Longmont, Colo., team up for a presentation titled “Understanding High Plains Botany.” About 40 pieces of Jansen’s intricate botonical art work are on display in the Sandoz Center. She will be the guest of honor at a 3 to 8 p.m. Saturday in the Sandoz Center, where she will explain her works that are widely used in botanical publications.

Another conference highlight will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday, when Dr. Don Green, former dean of the School of Liberal Arts at CSC and now a resident of Florida, speaks on “Mari and Me” A Personal Odyssey of the Great Plains.”

An array of scholarly activities are planned for Friday. Topics will include “Reading Winter Thunder,” “The Historic Winter Thunder,” “Understanding High Plains Botony,” “Teaching in the Sandhills” and “Lakota Preparations for Winter Survival and Blizzards.”

Mari Sandoz’s niece, Celia Sandoz Ostrander Barth of Rushville, will be present for the “Reading Winter Thunder” session. It was Celia’s experience during the Blizzard of ’49 that inspired the author to write “Winter Thunder.” Also on the panel will be two members of the Department of Language, Literature and Communication Arts at CSC, Dr.Matt Evertson and Deb Carpenter.

Anyone with photos of the blizzard is invited to bring them to the conference or leave them at the Sandoz Center prior to the event.

Panel members at the “Teaching in the Sandhills” session early Friday afternoon will include CSC graduate Moni Hourt, a teacher at the Glen School west of Fort Robinson, and Dr. Clark Gardener, a CSC education professor. Both received special honors last fall at the National Rural Education Association’s annual meeting in Indianapolis.

Reservations are no longer available for the meals, but society members may attend the Friday sessions for $10 while non-members must pay $20. There is no charge for CSC students.

A tour of the Museum of the Fur Trade east of Chadron is planned for Saturday morning.