Wish I'd met this man

This seems to be the day for my favorite journalists to write about my favorite subjects. John Pulliam of the Galesburg Register-Mail penned a tribute today to Cyrus Highlander, a Galesburg (Ill.) High School graduate who spent the later part of his life in the same part of North Carolina where Carl Sandburg settled - the area where he completed his six-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln.

Highlander, who suggested Flat Rock, N.C. and Galesburg be sister cities, died April 4, 2009 in North Carolina at 82.

Pulliam has written a beautiful piece about Highlander, so I won't spoil it by writing about the same things he's shared. You'll want to read it youself.

I will tell you, though, that if you're a Lincoln buff, you need to step into Sandburg's world, too. Only after you've heard the rhythms of the trains behind his Galesburg birthplace and experienced the tranquility at his later home, Connemara, in the mountains of North Carolina, can you understand the forces which created the rhythm and the lyrical quality in his work.

As you traverse the tree-lined streets he walked and pass the same plaque he passed, the one at Knox College's Old Main commemorating the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debate, you'll begin to feel Sandburg's sense of place.

As you stand in the book-filled rooms at Connemara, see Sandburg's green visor and old manual typewriter, and stand on the rocky ledge with its breathtaking view where he went to be alone and write, you'll begin to feel what it must have been like to weave those thousands of words together in tribute to the railsplitter president.

It seems Highlander felt these things, also, and believed these two Sandburg communities needed to build upon that connection. I encourage you to visit both, too. You'll know what I mean.

Here in Illinois, we're optimistic our redeemer governor, Pat Quinn, will save the historic sites from the fate - closure - which our previous chief executive bestowed upon them. Maybe before long, you can once again visit the Carl Sandburg Historic Site.

In North Carolina, plan to spend several hours at Connemara. Go through the home, which is still much as the Sandburgs left it, and be sure to wear comfortable shoes so you can hike the same trails Sandburg hiked.

Unfortunately, Pulliam's tribute was the first time I remember hearing of Highlander. I'm sorry about that. I think we would have had a lot to talk about.

Who knows? Maybe he and Sandburg are already sharing stories about their old Illinois and North Carolina stomping grounds - or better yet, maybe they're listening to Lincoln spin yet another of his yarns.

© Copyright 2009 Ann Tracy Mueller. All rights reserved.

Film plans to capture why Sandburg still matters

As I began my studies this morning, I intended to blog on Penelope (Penny) Niven’s Carl Sandburg: A Biography. You’ll hear the reason I was heading down that path another day. You will also have to wait to hear about Penny’s Carl and why the book is of value in the study of Lincoln.

You see, as I was surfing the Internet searching for a particularly moving quote Penny had once shared, I tripped over the most amazing blog. I just have to share it with you.

I learned today that an Asheville, North Carolina filmmaker, Paul Bonesteel, who as a child took a poety class on the lawn at Sandburg’s home, Connemara, is committed to doing a documentary about Sandburg. He talks about this painfully long, yet extremely rewarding project in his blog, The Day Carl Sandburg Died.

Sandburg matters – does his Lincoln?
Bonesteel has been at work on this project for a number of years, doing interviews, gathering funding, pulling things together in a meaningful way. As his project moved forward, his focus changed somewhat and his current working title was born. It became alarming to him as he began digging into the Sandburg legacy to learn that Sandburg’s voice in American culture seemed to be dying off. Some of Sandburg’s poems are even losing their places in our schools and in the anthologies our students use.

The mission then became more to delve into why Sandburg does matter. And the time was right when Bonesteel began his project. He captured visits with some pretty impressive people – Studs Terkel, Norman Corwin, Pete Seeger – which makes this even more significant. Timing was crucial. A few years later and he couldn’t have done this project with the breadth and depth with which he could now. Terkel died last month at age 96, Corwin is 98 and Seeger is 89. Two of Sandburg’s three daughters are no longer living. The people who can really tell us about Sandburg are slowly leaving to join him in that place where creative types go to continue the work they started here.

I understand many Lincoln scholars have problems with Sandburg and his work. Today’s post isn’t a place to debate that. Some other time we’ll talk about whether Sandburg’s Lincoln still matters. I think there are reasons it does, and I’ll show you my perspective on that in a future blog post.

For now, if you’re interested in Bonesteel’s work, please visit his blog. Ill try to follow up on its release and let you know when it’s released on TV.

I’m sure glad I stubbed my toe on Bonesteel today, I can’t wait to see his film and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Watch for more on Penny, Helga and Carl in future blogs.