Tag Archives: Kansas

Really?

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I got my driver’s license in the mail today. And frankly, I have a bone to pick with the entire government of the Motor Vehicle Division of the state of Kansas.

I can forgive them for the 2 1/2 hour wait in the renewal queue; I can overlook the institutional  carpet and the yellowed-beige walls in the concrete waiting pen; I can rationalize their lack of clear signage and, since it’s not their fault – the obnoxious nerd of a guy sitting in front of me whose loud conversation consists mostly of f-ing this and f-ing that.

But, it is Absolutely Inexcusable that the picture on my driver’s license, a document that I will have to safeguard and display repeatedly for the next 5 years, looks like I volunteered for a police line up in a serial burglary spree.

Never mind that the today’s simplest technology enables a third grader to take a National Geographic grade photo, never mind that automatic photo booths are a new art form, never mind that even a dimwit with an iPhone can win a photo contest.

Oh, hi – Clerk-person. I’m afraid I lost my license. Where is the line for duplicates? 

Brownbackistan

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Brownbackistan logoI am not in the great-state-of-Kansas anymore, I’m in the not-so-great-a-state-of-Brownbackistan.

Sam Brownback was elected governor in 2010 and it’s been a downhill ride ever since. Before he even unpacked his desk accessories, he started slashing government spending with a huge machete.

The Kansas Arts Commission (KAC) was a target. He dissolved the commission and left the staff seeking greener pastures.

The Kansas Senate said, “Just a minute, buster.” And they appropriated money for KAC to continue. But before the budget was approved, Brownback used his line-item veto to erase the $689,000 designated for KAC, effectively making Kansas ineligible for matching federal dollars and giving Kansas the distinction of being the only state without an arts commission.

Personally, I find it very interesting that Sam Brownback was the only governor to attend Governor Rick Perry’s prayer event this past August. I really doubt that all of the other invitations got lost in the mail.

(Buy a  t-shirt from Welcome to Brownbackistan on facebook; the artist, Emily Eakes, is donating $2.00 from each sale to the arts.)

No Place Like Home

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I tried to explain to a friend of mine who was born and bred in Oregon that the Kansas Flint Hills had a lot in common with the Pacific Ocean. Her eyes would invariably start to glaze over when ever I started in on the subject. 

Finally, I simply told her, “You’ll just have to see for yourself.” But, she never got the chance to make the trip.

So every time I get the chance to travel through the amazing grassland sea that is the Flint Hills, I always think I hear the sounds of the waves breaking on the shore.

The Flint Hills were part of a great shallow sea some 250 million years ago and as a result developed a wide swath of underground limestone. The prairie had too much rock to be fertile farm land and so was left for grazing. It was never really developed and now stands as the largest remaining tract of tallgrass prairie in the nation. I’m telling you, it’s worth a slot on your bucket list.

(I found this photo on a web site promoting a bill on recycling in Kansas; unfortunately there was no photo credit.)