Historical Facts
Ego by Denise Duhamel
With Lincoln’s second-hottest November on record and only 11.9 inches of snow (the fifth-smallest total snowfall Lincoln has received since 1899), the winter of 1999 ended up as Lincoln’s fifth-warmest winter, with an average temperature of 31.9°F. During this winter, Denise Duhamel’s piece “Ego” was published in the Prairie Schooner; Duhamel has since contributed many …
Metro North at Spuyten Duyvil, 7: 30 a.m. 9/11/01 by Bill Sweeney
Back to School by Rachel Hadas
August 26th is the first day of school at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln this year. Campus is gradually filling up with professors returning to their classrooms and students returning to their studies: some probably happier about this than others. Rachel Hadas’ “Back to School” epitomizes the combined feelings of dread and rebirth that accompany …
Howard Nemerov “The Revised Version”
Howard Nemerov served as the US Poet Laureate twice: from 1963 to 1964 and from 1988 to 1990. Just one year prior to his second term, the fall 1987 issue of the Prairie Schooner featured his poem “The Revised Version.” During that autumn, Lincoln experienced its 6th-coldest October, but in keeping with the fiery …
Books by Rasma Haidri
The “paperback revolution” in the English-speaking world began on July 30th, 1935, with the publication of the first Penguin book. Inexpensive books with large print runs, “Penguins” sold in unconventional locations such as department stores, railroad stations, and drugstores. Rasma Haidri’s ode to the printed word, “Books,” was published in the spring 1998 issue …
Ode to Wallace Stevens by Marcia Southwick
On June 24th, 1993, Dr. David Gelernter became the twelfth victim of the Unabomber. A professor at Yale, Gelernter was critically injured after received a mailbomb sent by Ted Kaczynski. Kaczynski, whose bombs killed three and injured twenty-three, was arrested three years later and is currently serving life in prison without possibility of parole. …
In Italian They Call the Bird Civetta by Robert Penn Warren
Robert Penn Warren is the only person to have won Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction and poetry; he also served as the US Poet Laureate from 1986-87. His first Pulitzer in poetry was awarded in 1958, just one year before the Prairie Schooner published his poem “In Italian They Call the Bird Civetta” during …
Symposium by Maxine Kumin
June of 2008 netted 8.59 inches of precipitation, garnering it the title of Lincoln’s ninth-wettest June; October of that year also held sway in the top 10 of Nebraska’s wettest Octobers. The summer between saw 266,644 people visiting Lincoln’s 10 public pools; a rose garden renovation in Antelope Park; and the CDC declaring Lincoln …
Words for Dr. Williams by Daniel Hoffman
Between the years of 1887 and 2009, the autumn of 1963 was Lincoln’s hottest with an average seasonal temperature of 60°F. October of that year also ranked #1 for Lincoln’s hottest, with an average temperature of 65.5°F for the month; denizens of Lincoln were able to enjoy the warm weather at the newly opened …