Guests are invited to the Iowa City Public Library this Friday at 12 p.m. for a discussion and series of readings in remembrance of President John F. Kennedy.
Nearly 50 years have passed since the president’s assassination in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, and still the stories continue — a testament to both Kennedy’s lasting legacy and the trauma that followed in the wake of his death. That trauma is still palpable decades later, with discussions of “where were you when…” forming a sort of common touchstone in the years that followed.
Carrying on that tradition, Writer and Little Village contributor Larry Baker, who shook hands with the president on that very day in 1963, will start the event with a reading of his short story, “Happy Valley High.” Baker’s story is based on a high school pep rally that coincides with the president’s doomed visit to Dallas, and features a unique juxtaposition between the day’s looming events and the disparate thoughts of a teenage boy.
An abridged version of “Happy Valley High” will be available in issue 144 of Little Village magazine, due out Tuesday, November 19.
Jan Weissmiller of Prairie Lights and University of Iowa English Professor Ed Folsom will read from works by Robert Frost and Walt Whitman, respectively. Loren Glass, a UI associate professor of English, will then lead a talk about the cultural impact of the Kennedy years.
This series of readings is free and open to the public. The hour-long event starts at 12 p.m. in the ICPL’s Meeting Room A, with a discussion to follow the readings if time allows.
