Come To the 23rd Annual Southern Plains Conference!!!
On February 8 & 9, the general public can increase their knowledge of the natural world at the 23rd Annual Southern Plains Conference, with its theme, “Beyond the Windshield: Dwelling in the Natural World “. The conference, presented by Ogallala Commons, will be held at the Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge and Bailey County Coliseum in Muleshoe, Texas.
The Feb. 8th Field Day begins at 11:30am with a lunch in the Bailey County Coliseum, before moving out to Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge for afternoon workshops on springs, prairie chickens, playas, amphibians, birds, controlled burning, and prairie restoration. An Evening Soiree’ will be held at St. Philip Neri Church Hall in Pep, TX, from 6:00-8:45pm featuring food, music, and a performance art piece.
The Feb. 9th conference begins in the Bailey County Coliseum at 8:15am. Speakers include Dr. Kevin Mulligan, Dr. David Haukos, Tish McDaniel, Nita Pahdopony of the Comanche University, and stockman-grass farmer Kim Barker of Waynoka, OK.
Those who wish to attend the Field Day, Evening Soiree or Conference can register online or by mail. For more information, contact Darryl Birkenfeld at 806-945-2255, or to see a complete brochure and register online, visit: http://www.ogallalacommons.org
The Feb. 8th Field Day begins at 11:30am with a lunch in the Bailey County Coliseum, before moving out to Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge for afternoon workshops on springs, prairie chickens, playas, amphibians, birds, controlled burning, and prairie restoration. An Evening Soiree’ will be held at St. Philip Neri Church Hall in Pep, TX, from 6:00-8:45pm featuring food, music, and a performance art piece.
The Feb. 9th conference begins in the Bailey County Coliseum at 8:15am. Speakers include Dr. Kevin Mulligan, Dr. David Haukos, Tish McDaniel, Nita Pahdopony of the Comanche University, and stockman-grass farmer Kim Barker of Waynoka, OK.
Those who wish to attend the Field Day, Evening Soiree or Conference can register online or by mail. For more information, contact Darryl Birkenfeld at 806-945-2255, or to see a complete brochure and register online, visit: http://www.ogallalacommons.org
Turbines + Transmission: a performance art show is a work of creative
writing, visual art, and music by Laura Zak
 |
| OC Intern Laura Zak |
The stories told are pulled from work I’ve done
with the wind energy oral history
collection housed at Texas Tech University’s Southwest/Special Collection
Library. My boss at the time, Andy Wilkinson, started the project to capture
the changing landscape of wind industry through the voices of those involved
and impacted by areas of development. We have interviewed farmers, landowners,
wind developers, municipal leaders, and environmentalists.
Right now, the transcriptions are on digital files in the Southwest/Special Collection Library. Outside of those involved, the stories of turbines, transmission line, and the farmers and ranchers with towers on their land are often untold. Visual artist Kim Cypret and I want to stir these stories and shed light on the changing landscape of Texas because the rural space, the cotton fields, yellow grasses, and mesas are being strung with lattice, metal, and wire. Landscapes turn industrial as cities reach toward towns and the rural areas are left on the edge, waiting for the touch. The performance art show documents this moment of brief suspension.
Right now, the transcriptions are on digital files in the Southwest/Special Collection Library. Outside of those involved, the stories of turbines, transmission line, and the farmers and ranchers with towers on their land are often untold. Visual artist Kim Cypret and I want to stir these stories and shed light on the changing landscape of Texas because the rural space, the cotton fields, yellow grasses, and mesas are being strung with lattice, metal, and wire. Landscapes turn industrial as cities reach toward towns and the rural areas are left on the edge, waiting for the touch. The performance art show documents this moment of brief suspension.
We don’t want to change minds, force
an agenda, call one side bad while the other is good. Rather, the show asks
questions. Each piece was made so that the audience could ask for themselves
what is beautiful, what is industrial, what we can get used to and what we
can’t.
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| Click here to visit Laura's Blog at http://turbinesandtransmission.tumblr.com/ |
Upcoming performances:
Junction—January 26th—Dining
Hall at the TTU Junction Campus. 6:30pm reception, show starts at 7:00.
Pep—February 9th—St.
Philip Neri Church Hall. 6:00 pm show as part of the Southern Plains
Conference: Beyond The Windshield: Dwelling in the Natural World Southern
Plains Conference.
TBA shows in Nazareth and Lubbock
OC Social Media
To date Ogallala Commons operates and maintains a total of
10 blogs! Each discusses various activities that OC is involved with. The blogs are:
1. Ogallala Community
Intern Blogs: In the spring of 2009, we began the Community Intern blogs as
a way to keep up with the community interns. (There are 7 total blogs in order
to accommodate many interns at once.)
All interns blog regularly, posting photos and documenting their journal
through their internships. The
blog really gets hopping during the summer months, when as many as 30 interns
are posting weekly! Use these links to learn about their experiences and leave
words of encouragement for our interns!
2. You are currently reading The Place, which is Ogallala Commons Newsletter Blog. This blog is where we update friends of
OC once a month about what we have been up to and share information about
upcoming events. Thanks for
visiting!
3. Playa Festival
Blog: This blog chronicles Playa Festivals, an outdoor education program
conducted by Ogallala Commons in the Fall and occasionally in the spring. Playa Festivals are one-day events
where students, their teachers and communities learn about regional water
issues, the Ogallala Aquifer, local flora and fauna, soils, playa wetlands and
more! We take the kids outside and have a lot of fun learning about our amazing
ecosystem!
4. Local Llano: This blog was begun in
October of last year and explores all things related to local foods. It has seen a lot of traffic in less
than four months. Each week, Local Llano offers information about
eating, purchasing, preparing, and celebrating local foods. We hope you will take a moment to have
a look.
Ogallala Commons and Local Llano also have facebook pages! So go on and "like" us.
