Kansas: Not Just Another Grassy State

More Assumptions Turned On Their Heads

Manhattan, Kansas- November 2 - 4

Such an array of colors I traveled
through on my way to Kansas.

Okay, who have I been listening to that makes me think I know anything about places I haven't been yet? Really! My assumptions about Kansas are a lifetime's worth of input that it's white, flat, monochromatic, neutral. Investigating Lawrence and then Manhattan proved me delightfully wrong.

Kansas has nothing to do with Oz. As I learned from my travels in Lawrence and Manhattan, Kansas couldn't have been more at the crux of things. Before the Civil War, it became the proving ground for FreeState vs Slavery. Abolitionists flocked there to try to claim it as a Free State, Missourians crossed the state line to try to keep slavery legal there. The Underground Railroad set up shop to move slaves north.

Kansas and Osage Native Americans were pushed west as settlers moved into the state. After the Civil War, Native Americans were 'rehabilitated' at the Haskell School in Lawrence to force them to give up their families, language and culture. Today it is Haskell Indian Nations University, run by and for Native Americans from all over the country.

The Konza Prairie Preserve next door to Martha and Dick's land.

And then there are the Flint Hills Tall Prairie Land and Konza Prairie Preserve. I was lucky enough to stay with some wonderful new friends, Martha and Dick, on the edge of the Preserve, with vast hillsides of varying buff-colored prairie grasses. Martha and Dick grew up in Manhattan and are ambassadors for the wonders of the prairies. The Flint Hills stretch from northern Kansas into Oklahoma and have maintained their original tall grass prairie state since they're so rocky. It's a new vista for me and one I could have easily written off as 'all the same'.

My new friends, Dick and Martha Seaton, longtime
residents and lovers of the Kansas prairie.

So... lots of history. What's the point? My 'aha' is the realization that taking the time to learn about a place gives that place deep meaning and beauty. Having now stayed with multiple families that are committed to their place on earth, I realize how important their perspective is for me as an outsider to gain. If I were to travel again like I am, I would try to find friends of friends of friends to stay with who are in love with their towns and states. Having had my eyes pried open in Idaho, Montana, Chicago, Ann Arbor, Cleveland, Virginia, and now Kansas, I 'get' how terribly blithe we can be when we don't scratch the surface.

From Colorado:

Today is Election Day. What I've learned about places can be applied to people. I DO NOT KNOW my fellow Americans. I don't know them past their skin color, political leanings, religion (or lack thereof), and place they reside. I am ignorant. I must stop believing that I know ANYTHING about what makes them tick, what propels them in their particular direction. My views are scant and slanted.

I have arrived at the uncomfortable but realistic place my mediation trainers always called the place of optimal learning: conscious incompetence- I am aware of the vastness of what I do not know. I want to hold onto this place of curiosity as our country moves past today and into the future. There are millions of beautiful stories out there to hear.