by David Borzo

It was an exceptional start to the 2012 SmartTalk Connected Conversations here in Des Moines. World renowned primatologist and icon Dr. Jane Goodall provided it all Thursday night at the Civic Center of Des Moines; insight, fortitude, humor and, ultimately, hope for humanity – all wrapped up with a charming deportment of elegance and quiet resolve. Through her gentle and authoritative personality, she shared her touching story of growing up in WWII England, knowing at an early age that she wanted to be a naturalist.  She was determined to discover and learn everything that interested her, often on her own. Her resolve was only strengthened when she was told she can’t do something. As a child she learned empathy for nature though her mother’s guidance, and became determined to travel to Africa and study animals. She fell in love with Dr. Doolittle and Tarzan books – mimicking Dr. Doolittle’s talents to communicate with animals, and lamenting that Tarzan took “…that stupid wimpy Jane” for his mate. 

Dr. Goodall epitomizes all that the SmartTalk series promises. A charmer throughout her well prepared talk, her accomplishments and story are truly captivating. She credits her success to the many people in her life that lifted her up on their wings, starting with her mother who never squelched her dreams of going to Africa. And of course there was the celebrated archaeologist and anthropologist, Dr. Louis Leakey who started Jane Goodall on her anthropological journey, by securing the funding to send her into the world of the Gombe chimpanzees. Her work at the time was not considered “serious” by many scientists and academics, but she soon fascinated the world with her discoveries. She turned the scientific world upside down with her observations of chimps altering sticks and reeds in order to use them as tools to “fish for termites for a snack.” This was nothing short of a revolution in the thinking about primates at the time; throughout recorded history man was believed to be separate from the animal kingdom in part because of his ability to create and use tools.

Her legendary work for nearly 50 years has been an inspiration to millions, and she continues her work today with projects and supportive organizations under the collective umbrella of the Jane Goodall Institute. She spoke most fondly of working with young people in her Roots & Shoots organization. Roots & Shoots is all about promoting and making positive changes happen in our world—for people, for animals and for the environment. There are tens of thousands of young people that participate in Roots and Shoots, in over 16,000 groups, spread across 130 countries. She told the SmartTalk audience that she looks to young people as her “greatest reason for hope” when she considers the human condition, and its future. Dr. Goodall also spoke of the resilience and indomitable spirit of the human race– even if we have been lead astray of nature with destructive and unsustainable practices of pollution from pesticides, phosphates and carbon Emissions. 

“It is easy to be overwhelmed by feelings of hopelessness as we look around the world. We are losing species at a terrible rate, the balance of nature is disturbed, and we are destroying our beautiful planet. We have fear about water supplies, where future energy will come from – and most recently the developed world has been mired in an economic crisis. But in spite of all this I do have hope.”

Dr. Goodall promotes her urgent but positive message by speaking to audiences all over the world – for an amazing 300 days a year. Her stamina at 76 years old is a force –including recent forays on 60 minutes and on NPR’s wait wait…don’t tell me!  And Thursday, even after several interviews and receptions complete with photos and fans, plus her hour and half presentation, Dr. Goodall still stayed on at the Civic Center late, signing autographs and talking to enthusiasts. Her generous nature and delicate sensibilities brought new distinction to the SmartTalk family of Connected Conversations.

Next up for SmartTalk:  Arianna Huffington and her message of “Becoming Fearless in Love, Work and Life,” on Feb. 21^st. SmartTalk, take me away!

Here is your chance to see Garrison Keillor in Des Moines this week, all because of the generosity of Martin and Melva Bucksbaum.

• 7 pm on Tuesday, October 25, 2011
• open to the public without charge
• Knapp Center (42 on the campus map) at Drake University

Thanks to the Bucksbaum family Drake University has been able to offer 26 varied and significant Bucksbaum Lectures since 1997 with such notables as local hero Bill Bryson, the late Tim Russert, Ken Burns, Maya Angelou, Salmon Rushdie, and Thomas Friedman.

Tuesday we will be treated to Garrison Keillor who has been known to spin a yarn and maybe more than one, and sing, and sing, and sing some more, with occasional political commentary. Although he will continue to write, Keillor will be retiring from performance on A Prairie Home Companion in 2013.

Get there early. You don’t want to miss this one.

photo courtesy of jeff at picasa.

Told ya! I was one of thousands of car buffs in Ankeny on Saturday for The Albaugh Classic supported by hundreds of volunteers and sponsored by Karl Chevrolet. Besides the Albaugh Collection there were about 500 owners from the Midwest displaying their vehicles: classics; street rods; cars and trucks. Included were quite a few orphan cars – some with names that old-timers know like Nash, Hudson, Willys, and Packard, and some orphan brands that younger folks know too like Oldsmobile and Plymouth. There were more Corvettes than I had ever seen in one place. Below are a few of my favorites.

For the first time I saw Dennis Albaugh’s collection of 130 Chevrolets. What a collection! My favorite was the one-of-a-kind 1928 Chevrolet Camp Car owned by John and Dora McMullen and shown below. It came complete with a non-anchored wicker chair driver’s seat with a second for the front seat passenger. Imagine what a State Trooper would say about that! It also had a quilt rack to the left of the driver’s seat, drop leaf dining room table just behind the front seats, and roll down window shades. Move over Winnebago!

The Albaugh’s Collection represents a Chevrolet and a Corvette from every year, and some years with two. It’s a privilege to walk through. Watch for Dennis to open his garage again. You’ll get your chance and you don’t want to miss it.

Speaking of you don’t want to miss it, watch for the 2009 Salisbury Automobile Classic on September 13.

photos by James G. Lindberg

If you are a car buff, you’ll want to be in Ankeny on Saturday for The Albaugh Classic sponsored by Karl Chevrolet.

It’s your chance to see Dennis Albaugh’s collection of 130 Chevrolets; some say it is the best Chevy collection anywhere!

At the same event you will see the cars that hundreds of other folks are bringing

• classics (pre-War and post-War)
• street rods and modified
• Corvettes
• cars and trucks

You will be able to vote for your favorite 12 classics and see what the judges think of cars and trucks in 20 other categories.

Where? Albaugh, Inc. at 1525 NE 36th Street in Ankeny. (Do not believe the maps you get from either Google or Mapquest!) Instead take I-35 to exit 92, turn west on E. 1st Street (0.2 mi) then north on NE Delaware (2 mi), turn east on NE 36th (0.4 mi) and you will see it on the right as you approach the underpass at I-35.

When? Saturday, August 8th from 6:30 am until 4:00 pm. Get there early. It’s going to be hot!

How much? $10 or free to those 12 and under.  Thanks to Karl Chevrolet all the proceeds go to Ankeny High School.

photos by James G. Lindberg and dok1

Good message!

Become the generation that will be called the Re-Generation.

Thomas Friedman, New York Times world affairs columnist and prolific author, gave the commencement address at Grinnell College on Monday May 19, 2009. You can hear the entire address (in 3 installments totaling just under 25 minutes) courtesy of YouTube.

In his initial remarks Friedman related several issues cited by fellow journalist Kurt Andersen in his recent Time magazine article, The End of Excess.

Continuing, Friedman then focused on a generational theme, first on the The Greatest Generation (that of his parents and grandparents – the generation that survived The Great Depression then fought in World War II). He cited the qualities that characterized the greatest generation:

• hard work
• delayed gratification
• achievement oriented
• focused attention

Those were my parents too and I would add to that list

• frugal
• humble
• accountable

Friedman contrasted the Greatest Generation with his own generation, the baby boomers (post-WWII babies) and named that generation the Grasshopper Generation – eating through the fabric of the nation like hungry locusts. He credited the grasshopper generation with such dubious qualities as

• excess (over-consuming, over-building, over-borrowing, over-lending, over-eating) and
• dumb as we wanna be (delaying the solutions to Social Security, health care, energy, environment, and immigration).

He cited the subprime meltdown in particular as illuminating a decline in basic values, risk management, accountability, and ethics.

Friedman then challenged the Grinnell graduates to become the Re-Generation

that could restore the basic values of

• hard work
• accountability

and added that the graduates should carry with them

• ethics
• uncompromising idealism
• unbending convictions
• principled behaviors

and that they should create value through

• invention
• innovation
• imagination

all in order to do real engineering of materials, of services, of societal movement that fulfill needs, both seen and unseen.

It was great advice to the Grinnell College Class of 2009.

Friedman also told an interesting story with several Iowa connections. While studying in London in 1975 and dating wife-to-be Ann Bucksbaum, daughter of Carolyn “Kay” (a Grinnell alum) and Matthew Bucksbaum (an Iowa alum), Friedman (not a journalist at the time) was so stirred by the politics of the day that he wrote an op-ed piece. Ann carried it back to Des Moines. The piece made its way to The Des Moines Register editorial page editor who published it. Friedman received $50, and he was hooked as a journalist. Thus, Friedman’s exceptional career has a strong Des Moines connection.

If you’d like to read two recent Friedman books try

• The World Is Flat
• Hot, Flat and Crowded.

photos by James G. Lindberg

Tuesday night’s Smart Talk appearance by Victoria Rowell impressed the Des Moines Civic Center crowd with an inspirational personal story, a stirring journey complete with a ‘call to arms’ for all. Want to make a difference in other people’s lives, or in your own life? Victoria Rowell, movie and TV star, dancer, writer and philanthropist, had some Smart Talk for you. Raised in foster care through her childhood, by her description she still is in the foster care program, playing forward the nurturing she received. She started the non-profit Rowell Foster Children’s Positive Plan in 1990, fighting for foster children all over the world – “a world without borders”- as she described it. She talked of a “pandemic in the foster care system”, encouraging that we all can do something and make a difference, no matter how small.

Victoria Rowell carries more that a “celebrity endorsement” for her charities. She has lived the life, and today her organization supports the gamut of direct services for foster children – in fine arts, higher education, healthcare, financial literacy, reunification programs, cultural enrichment, and resources family support. It’s no wonder Ms. Rowell has received the United Nations Association Award for her work in human rights and world peace. She’s what you call a player.

This last year Rowell she shared her story with the world with her award winning book, The Women Who Raised Me, [4] a journal dedicated to the many role models in her foster care. “Growing up in foster care, I was never meant to be raised by one mother, but by many,” Rowell has said. Rowell received an NAACP Image Award in 2008 for Outstanding Literary Work by a Debut Author, for The Women Who Raised Me, and has been honored with multiple NAACP Image Awards in her career.

But it wasn’t all serious talk Tuesday night, and there were and plenty of questions about her role as Drucilla Winters on The Young and the Restless, [6] and whether she would be returning to that role soon. The Daytime Drama Diva was also a Prime-time star on Diagnosis Murder [7] with Dick Van Dyke for 7 years, and has guest-starred on The Cosby Show, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and has a recurring role in the series Noah’s Arc. And Ms. Rowell is currently co-producing an HBO movie based on that award winning homage to The Women Who Raised Me. And Ms. Rowell also has an impressive list of film credits, [8] including Eve’s Bayou, Leonard Part VI, The Distinguished Gentleman, and Dumb and Dumber.

But what impressed Tuesday most was the personal message to the audience about not selling yourself short. “Don’t self-edit” as she put it – we all have something to offer to people in need, be it assisting someone for “a day or a week, or with a couple of bags of groceries”. She charged the audience to chase personal passions and dreams – do not hold them in – manifest them. Great encouragement from an award winning dancer who received a prestigious dance scholarship at age 8 – by learning dance from a book, one of many her foster mother showed her and by watching the June Taylor Dancers [9] and the Ted Mack Amateur Hour [10] shows on TV!

Photo by flickr by Dasruets

Article written by David Borzo

And a good time was had by all.

The State Historical Museum of Iowa is a wonderful place. Visit frequently

• by yourself
• with your children
• with your grandchildren

Use any excuse.

They are quite pleased to tell you that they are open every day of the year except for Thanksgiving and Christmas. That’s a credit to them; they serve the public first.

The museum has permanent exhibits and changing exhibits, and they are all very well done. One exhibit that seems to be a sure hit traces the history of people in Iowa and their connections to our natural resources. That’s where the buffalo above is found, along with loons, foxes, raptors, and other Iowa creatures.

When you first enter the museum, you are greeted by a mammoth skeleton. When I was there Tuesday that prompted the question, “Was it really that big?” Mammoths ranged from 9′ to 15′ tall and roamed the Midwest during the Ice Age. Read up at the museum’s site or go see for yourself.

There are also artifacts and modern representations of Native American cultures including a walk through bark shelter. While I went through it four times in both directions, my unofficial 7 year old guide was leading a fast-paced tour, and some of the details have escaped me – a decent docent nonetheless.

If you like local history Patten’s Neighborhood is terrific.

And you can visit a few exhibits on-line.

I went to the museum on Tuesday for the Irish Fest and did something for the first time: I got a green stegosaurus spray painted on my face. I thought it matched my personality.

Keep posted about the goings-on at the State Historical Museum. Until you get there, you won’t know how good it is – so go.

• visit the museum
• visit the gift shop
• use their archives
• use their libraries and special collections
• check out the education resources
• visit their remote historic sites away from Des Moines
• check out their historic preservation program
• read their publications
• volunteer and get involved

You can even rent space!

Or you can read what I said last year.

photos by James Lindberg and the Purple Wren

Climb Iowa at 801 Grand is coming up! Good choice of words, eh? It’s also called 801 Grand Power Climb if you are a little more macho. In either case it is your big chance to

• climb the 41 floors/85 flights/nearly 1000 steps of Des Moines’ tallest building – 801 Grand
• Sunday, February 22, 2009 but you must
• register by Monday February 16, 2009.

It’s a fundraiser for the American Lung Association. You can be part of one of many teams or participate as an individual. There are other ways to take part than climbing the stairs. Check the links.

photo by flickr by mdrewe

Lately, we’re seeing a lot about Hoops 4 Hope, a loose consortium of activities raising money for cancer prevention, detection, and cure. Depending on who’s sponsoring it, each Hoops for Hope activity has a slightly different spin. The original Hoops 4 Hope game was in 2006 at North Carolina State University as a tribute to legendary women’s basketball coach Kay Yow while she was still alive. Kay Yow died on January 24, 2009 after a 21 year fight with breast cancer.

And here is the Des Moines connection:

Kay’s sister is Susan Yow, Drake women’s basketball coach from 1986-90. Susan Yow was NC State’s first All-American while playing for her older sister. Susan Yow is currently head coach at Belmont Abbey College in NC and coached her team on the day of her big sister’s death. The coach of her opponent that day was a Kay Yow protégé. If you knew Susan at Drake, you will recognize her in the photo at Kay’s funeral in Cary, NC.

One of Susan Yow’s players at Drake was All-American Jan Jensen, now associate head coach at the University of Iowa.

Beneficiaries of Hoops for Hope games have been:

• The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
• Kay Yow/WBCA with lots of names you will recognize
• American Cancer Society
• and many other organizations

Speaking of cancer prevention, I read an interesting print article on cancer in Wired last week. You can read it too. It’s available on-line – seven, informative pages. Their primary point is that as a society we should focus on early detection. Cure rates of cancers are high when they are detected early (They say 90%); in contrast, cure rates are abyssmal when they are detected late (They say 10%.). The Drake women’s Hoops 4 Hope game on 2/14/2009 included a half-time speaker (a physician) who echoed the need for regular testing for early detection, especially prostate tests for men and breast exams for women. Whatever reason you might have for not following up, your reason is not good enough. Do it. I’m up-to-date. Why am I up-to-date, you ask? The Purple Wren harasses me when I’m not.

photo by flickr by ncsunewsdept

If you love basketball like I do, your day is coming.

• Saturday
• November 22, 2008
• 8:20 am until 9:20 pm (yes, 13 hours)
• $5 – that’s a bargain!

It’s the 61st Annual Kiwanis CIML Basketball Jamboree

• 18 teams, 18 games (9 each for the boys and the girls)
• Ames, Ankeny, Dowling Catholic, East, Fort Dodge, Hoover, Indianola, Johnston, Lincoln, Marshalltown, Mason City, North, Ottumwa, Roosevelt, Southeast Polk, Urbandale, Valley, and Waukee
• check the schedule for your teams and times

It’s at the Knapp Center (38 on the interactive map) at Drake University. The Kiwanis CIML Jamboree is the big fundraiser for our local Kiwanis Club. The Des Moines Register and the Central Iowa MacDonald’s are cosponsors.

photo by flickr by JaimieL.WilliamsPhotography