Women and World War II

Ike 125 Series: "Women and World War II" 

to Be Presented by French Military Historian

Dominique François

The second program in the Ike 125 lecture series commemorating the 125th anniversary of the birth of Dwight David Eisenhower will be presented by Dominique François. The French military historian will speak about "Women During World War II: Substitutes, Soldiers, or Scapegoats?"

The role of women during World War II is little known, obscured by attention to the men who fought and led. But women were essential to the outcome. In the U.S. and Britain, they volunteered en masse, serving in non-combat roles. Soviet women joined front-line troops. French women helped replace men sent to Germany as forced laborers, joined the resistance, or became "horizontal collaborators" later subjected to punishment and humiliation after their country's liberation.

Women in the U.S. moved into the workforce, symbolized by Rosie the Riveter, the fictional factory laborer performing what was previously considered man's work. Thousands of women in America and other Allied countries enlisted as nurses and served on the front lines. 

François will present the program both in Kansas City and Abilene. The Kansas City event opens with a reception at 6 p.m. and the program at 6:30 on Tuesday, June 23 at the Plaza Branch - Kansas City Public Library. François will speak on Wednesday, June 24 at noon for the Brown Bag Lunch program, including light hors d'oeuvres, at the Eisenhower Presidential Library Visitors Center Auditorium.

François returns to the Eisenhower Presidential Library where many will remember his 2014 program, "Normandy: Before and After D-Day." In his Ike 125 lecture, he will examine the roles of women--the true unknown soldiers of World War II. He will also discuss how the Allied armies probably would not have won the war without women's participation and unconditional support.

François, a resident of Basse-Normandie, France, has concentrated his study of World War II on D-Day and the subsequent Normandy military campaign. He has written 16 books and served as a consultant for NBC, the History Channel and Inertia Films.

Ike 125 is made possible by the generous support of the W.T. Kemper Foundation - Commerce Bank, Trustee. From frontier to frontier, the Ike 125 series examines the legacy of the greatest soldier-statesman of the 20th century - from his unquestionably brilliant wartime command to two terms as U.S. President that are viewed with increasing favor by historians and political scientists. It was a time of momentous change, bringing historic civil rights legislation, the Interstate Highway System, space exploration, and a prudent foreign policy that gave the country eight years of peace and prosperity. The series lends fresh analysis and new views of the plain-spoken Kansan who became a model of leadership.

Future programs in the six-month series will be held Aug. 4-5, Sept. 17-18, and Oct. 13-14.
Additional details of the Ike 125 series may be found on www.eisenhower.archives.gov or www.kclibrary.org/events/eisenhower125.

The Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home, a nonpartisan federal institution, is part of the Presidential Libraries network operated by the National Archives and Records Administration. Presidential Libraries promote understanding of the presidency and the American experience. We preserve and provide access to historical materials, support research, and create interactive programs and exhibits that educate and inspire. 

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A Traditional Farm Life - Roasted Baked Potato Chuncks

A Traditional Farm Life

By Shasta Hamilton

Greetings from Enterprise, dear friends!  This may come as a shock to you, but it’s raining again this week as I write!  Fortunately, this time I can look out our window and see our garden is fully tilled.  After somewhat helplessly watching those weeds grow for what seemed like weeks on end, the feeling of satisfaction and relief of looking out on black earth is indescribable. Let is rain!

Weed control activities have not been limited to our garden here on the farm this week. The boys spent a morning this week helping their friend and business partner Dean Hansen hoe around their 183 tomato plants.  In my mind that feat is amazing in and of itself, but in the course of the same morning they also put cages around 120 of those same plants!  This turned out to be the most difficult job, as it took two men just to get each overgrown plant into each concrete reinforcement wire cage—one to gather up the plant and the other to carefully put the cage over the top.  Some labor was saved, however, by using the bucket of a Bobcat to insert the stabilizing posts in the ground.

While I was baking cinnamon rolls this week for the restaurant, Michael packed up a crew of five children and headed to Detroit to see if some friends who grow watermelons for local Farmer’s Markets needed any help with weed control. It turned out the melon patch was in pretty good shape, so the children grabbed hoes and helped in their vegetable garden.

The children also spent some time in a local cornfield one hot afternoon this week, gathering some of last fall’s field corn for this year’s squirrels.  They are harvesting from a corner of a field that was unable to be picked last fall, and the owners have generously given the children whatever they can glean from what’s left in the field.  This time they shucked it out in the field, and have bagged up the dry ears for sale as squirrel corn at the Farmer’s Market.

We have felt the Lord’s blessing upon our home this week as I have been able to shift from restaurant duties to domestic duties around the home.  The girls and I have been engaged in a massive decluttering effort as we seek to make up for lost time away from home.

I’m also trying to make up for lost time in the sewing room.  I guess it is no surprise that as the girls get taller their dresses get shorter.  My free time on Monday was spent drafting patterns as necessary and cutting out garments to be sewn in snatches of free moments throughout the week.  Yes, it takes time and effort to sew our girl’s dresses, aprons, and bloomers, etc, but we find great joy and blessing in doing so.

We recently stumbled upon a new way to use Friday night’s leftover baked potatoes from the restaurant for a weekend meal at home.  The back of the Lipton Onion Soup and Dip Mix box had a recipe for Onion Roasted Potatoes.  While it called for raw potatoes, we substituted our baked potatoes instead. 

I saved the empty box in the pantry for future reference, and today as I went to the pantry to find it for this week’s recipe I discovered it missing.  This, friends, is the one downside I have found to our recent cleaning spree.  Certainly the one straightening up the pantry saw no need to keep an empty Onion Soup and Dip Mix box!  

Thankfully, it’s a pretty simple recipe and easily doubled for a larger crew.  The recipe would, or course, be the same if you use raw potatoes, although the baking time may be longer.

Now, you might be wondering why folks who usually cook from scratch are using convenience food.  While it might be that using a purchased dip mix doesn’t quite qualify as “old-fashioned farm food,” being thrifty and using leftovers to make something new for the family is an age-old rural skill.  Waste not, want not!

  

Roasted Baked Potato Chunks

4 leftover baked potatoes

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 pkg. Onion Soup and Dip Mix

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2.  Cut potatoes into 1” chunks.

3.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the potato cubes, vegetable oil, and Onion Soup Mix; mix until evenly coated.

4.  Spread in a single layer on a greased baking pan.  Bake 30-35 minutes, until golden brown and crisp to your liking. Yield:  4 servings.

Copyright © 2015 by Shasta Hamilton

Shasta is a fifth generation rural Kansan now residing in Enterprise, Kansas.  She and her husband own and operate The Buggy Stop Home-Style Kitchen with their six home-schooled children.  You can reach The Buggy Stop by calling (785) 200-6385 or visit them on the web at www.thebuggystoprestaurant.com.

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Junction City New Teachers' Breakfast

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5 Star Arts Festival Call for Entries

5 Star Arts Festival Call for Entries

The Abilene Convention and Visitors Bureau requests artist entries for the 5 Star Arts Festival in historic downtown Abilene, Kansas. The festival includes the juried fine art and craft show, live entertainment, food vendors, and children's activities.  

The showcase dates of the festival are Saturday, Sept. 26 and Sunday, Sept. 27. Setup and optional events for the artists will begin Friday, Sept. 25. Salina-based artist Karla Prickett will be the juror selecting artists. Prickett, a visual arts consultant/mixed media artist, is the former director of the Smoky Hill River Festival Fine Art Show. Entry submissions are due by July 1.

The 5 Star Arts Festival is open to all artists. All artwork must be original in interpretation ad composition. Some amenities provided to artists will include a welcome reception, Sunday morning breakfast, free parking, 24-hour security, and volunteers to assist with load-in and load-out.

For more information and submission details, please e-mail 5StarArtsFest@gmail.com or visit @5StarArts on facebook, twitter, and instagram.

Special thanks to the Community Foundation of Dickinson County for their generous support. 

The CVB is the marketing arm of the City of Abilene promoting all Abilene has to offer and attracting visitors to this community. The CVB located at 201 NW 2nd Street, Abilene, is housed in the restored 1928 Union Pacific Depot along with the Abilene Visitor Information Center and 160-person meeting room.

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