This is Jim Hicks. He teaches physics at a high school in Illinois. His students call him “Uncle Jim.”

Jim Hicks, physics teacher, Laurafan, entertainer

Besides being a physics teacher, Jim is a literary traveler. He has written for the Laura Ingalls Wilder Lore, the newsletter of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society in De Smet, South Dakota. He has written for the Homesteader, the newsletter about Laura’s homesites across the country. He writes about moving through Laura’s world, measuring it, recording it, recreating it. History + literature + science = Jim Hicks.

Two years ago, Jim addressed a ballroom audience in Mankato, Minnesota. For this audience of Little House fans, he reconstructed, in great detail, the trip that Almanzo Wilder and Cap Garland (allegedly) took during the hard winter of 1880-1881, the trip that (allegedly) kept the town from starving when blizzards prevented the trains from coming, as described by Laura Ingalls Wilder in The Long Winter. He talked about sled speed. He talked about wheat-sack weight. He talked about friction. He talked about the phases of the moon. And he had that audience absolutely enthralled for a full thirty minutes.

That’s why he’s an award-winning high school teacher.

He’s an award-winning high-school teacher who also happens to be a huge fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House books.

The audience he spoke to was at LauraPalooza 2010, and in July of this year, he’s coming back for an encore.

Less than 10 days left to register for this year’s event. If you don’t want to miss it, don’t.

And this one tells us that the Little House on the Prairie musical is coming back–in Nashville, for now–starting in late September! Hooray!

To underscore a few of the most important points:

1. The $275 bundle with everything is only the top level. Usually there are several versions of the bundle at different price ranges, and we don’t know what those are yet.
2. Money given to PBS is a tax-deductible donation.
3. This is just the first way the things in the bundle are being offered.

It’s true; $275 is indeed a heck of a lot of money. But we might want to look at the big picture . This pledge drive special is a good thing for the Laura Ingalls Wilder community. There is no way it will do anything but generate interest for her. This interest will, in turn, trickle down to the homesites and to groups like the Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association — the only group that promotes Laura-related research and hosts events like LauraPalooza to showcase it, and also hosts this blog. (LIWLRA was actually created because even 75 years after her books began to be published avenues for Laura-related research simply did not exist. Isn’t that crazy?)

Yes, Dean’s DVD is a wonderful production, and we all want to own it. But it’s worth considering that his projects have taken a lot of his personal capital. One can’t expect him not to recoup that if he can. Moreover, we would not have his quality Little House work if he did not care about the product. Registrants of the last LauraPalooza were lucky enough to see the documentary, and to his credit, he edited it afterwards to address the audience’s concerns. He didn’t have to invest that time, or that money.

The fact is, after investigating different methods of getting this documentary out there for three years, this was the best avenue he could find. Heck, if it wasn’t for this PBS-related release, it might have been a lot longer before it was released in any form at all. Or, worst of all, it might never have been released for sale to the public; many documentaries aren’t.

If you can’t or won’t be pledging to get it, don’t despair! As time goes on, it’s highly likely you will be able to obtain it another way. The biggest implication of the pledge drive is that the people who are willing to pledge will be the pioneers and will get it first.

The best thing we can do, as ambassadors of Laura, is to spread the word about the pledge drive. Contact our local stations to make sure they run it, whether we plan on pledging or not. Pledge if we can. And if we can’t, we can wait patiently until the DVD is ready for individual sale. I haven’t been told that will happen, but I’m comfortable in saying that it seems like something that would logically follow.

I know this is disappointing to some, especially in these economic times. Perhaps Laura herself said it best. Remember the sage/onion fight in the beginning of The Long Winter? Laura first retold that story in The Missouri Ruralist. After relating how in the end how Pa didn’t even get the goose, she said:

“This little happening has helped me to be properly thankful even tho at times the seasoning of my blessings has not been just such as I would have chosen.”

Watch Johnson talk about the lapdesk in Sarah’s video.

Incidentally, a replica just like this one was offered for sale at LauraPalooza 2010. It sold immediately.

To add one to your LIW collection, a price of $6 includes postage.

Click on the image below for a PDF preview of the first two pages of the program, or go directly to to the Merchandise Page to buy.

It’s a small write-up and runs across the very bottom of two facing pages, so you need to scroll from one page to the next to see the whole thing. We’ve got the PDF right here.

Since I first heard about a possible conference with only one subject – Laura Ingalls Wilder – I was in. There was no question. I’d get there one way or the other, no matter where it was. I planned for it (we rarely take trips longer than long weekends), I talked about it (a lot), I worried (I always do), but most of all…I was excited!

However, in the last couple of months before LauraPalooza, my mom, who had been in poor health for several years, began to have more health problems and was in and out of the hospital. I wavered back and forth about going. I was afraid to be away if something happened, but I knew that my mom, who had always supported my love for Laura Ingalls Wilder since I first started reading her books, would want me to go. I talked to family and they all encouraged me to go. I believe I even posed the question on facebook. I wrestled with myself.  In quiet moments in those last days leading up to leaving, I even talked to my mom about it. At this point, Alzheimer’s and illness made conversation, which my mom so loved, next to impossible. She was stable though and her condition seemed to be improving, so I decided that we would head to Mankato, Minnesota State University and LauraPalooza. That was the day before we were set to leave. I had yet to pack, gather up paperwork, books and make sure that I was leaving my business work all caught up. Earlier in the year I had made tentative plans to stop in Burr Oak, Iowa (the homesite that Laura doesn’t mention in the books) and Spring Valley, Minnesota (where Almanzo, Laura and Rose lived with Almanzo’s parents for a year). I was hoping that we could still squeeze them in. They were “on the way” after all.

And on to LauraPalooza 2010 we headed! Looking back, especially going through the videos that Sarah Uthoff has posted for the past week, I realize that much of my time was clouded with worry about my mother. I was determined to have the wonderful time that she would have wanted for me though. My first best memory? Seeing my Laura friends for the first time “in real life”. Through the past several years, I’ve made a handful of Laura friends…all through the computer. I have to say that I would consider these friends some of my closest and those who know the real me. It was really special for me to actually be able to see (and hug) so many of them. Since I already felt such a bond with them, being able to sit down and share together meant the world to me. I would see a familiar face and…it was just so wonderful to finally be able to be there with them spending this time together. And the new friends? I love every little conversation that I had with everyone who shared my enthusiasm. And after that, I am far from a Laura expert, just a fan who always wants to learn more, and it was so great to listen to the presenters, learn tons of new stuff that I didn’t know (some things that I didn’t even know I could know!) and be with other people who love Laura in the same way that I do.
And one more thing…I was never a “Little House” tv show watcher, but I gained a whole new admiration and respect for Dean Butler. I really love the work that he’s been doing to preserve Laura and Almanzo’s legacy.

We did get to visit Burr Oak and Spring Valley on the way to LauraPalooza. And, since my husband very patiently accompanied me on the trip, the stops on the way home were all about him. Antique stores, an old iron mine, the largest pump engine in the world, a couple of “junk” stores…you get the picture.
Sadly, my mom passed away just days after our return and I was never able to tell her all about my adventure. I know she would have been so very happy and excited for me.

So LauraPalooza 2010 alumni – share, spill, let us in on it! What are some of your favorite moments? What are some of your best memories?

Last Day Part 1

Still in Walnut Grove before heading home. We look around Walnut Grove. Walnut Grove Museum, Dugout Site Memorial and Dugout Site.

Last Day Part 2

The drive home. Thanks for watching!

Drive home, includes a couple of things from And One More on the Way List.

Thank you for joining us on this review/preview of Laurapalooza. We still have a few more special posts to go and we hope that we’ll all see you in Mankato July 2012.

Sarah S. Uthoff blogs at TrundleBed Tales; look for her on Twitter and YouTube and Blog Talk Radio
Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association, Vice-President and Membership Chair

Laurapalooza Day 5 Part 1

Laura Ingalls Wilder Documentary, Wendy Corsi Staub, Barbara Mays Boustead, John Fry, Ann Dahl, Gayle Keresey, and Loving Laura panel.

Laurapalooza Day 5 Part 2

Judy Green, Tin Pail Luncheon/Spelling Bee, and Farewell Mankato.

Laurapalooza Trip – Sleepy Eye, Minnesota

Well known to TV fans. Sleepy Eye is right on Highway 14 – The Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Highway between Mankato and Walnut Grove. The video should also prove of interest to people who collect Sleepy Eye pottery and Peanuts fans. I took a quick look around Sleepy Eye on my way to Walnut Grove.

Laurapalooza Trip – Walnut Grove, Minnesota Part 1

Laurapalooza Trip – Walnut Grove, Minnesota Part 2

What was going on in Walnut Grove after we got their complete with guided tour.

Sarah S. Uthoff blogs at TrundleBed Tales; look for her on Twitter and YouTube and Blog Talk Radio
Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association, Vice-President and Membership Chair