The Pageturner: Hearing Place
September 22, 2024 📍 Weston, Missouria free & intimate ideas conference, followed by an evening fundraiser, for Midwesterners to learn, connect over, and support new stories of place
The Pageturner is designed to fuel new stories about our region — together. In this full-day gathering, you will meet passionate readers. You will experience scholarship, writing, food, and music grown in the Great Plains and Ozarks. You will think differently about The Lower Midwest.
Essentials
The Day
Sunday, September 22, 2024
- 9:00: Check-in, silent auction, and magazine merchandise tables open at Eventful
- 9:30-10:45: Morning Session #1 (see tour & workshop options)
- 11:00-12:15: Morning Session #2 (see tour & workshop options)
- 12:15: Lunch on your own in Weston
- 2:00-3:30: Hearing Place Panel: short presentations and performances by panelists with interactive Q&A to follow
- 3:30-5:00: Social Hour (cash bar), Live Music from Rattlesnake Master, and More!
- 5:00-7:00: Ticketed Fundraiser Dinner
Dress code: Fall festive!
Location: Eventful at Locust Grove in Weston, MO
Come to the country, clear your heads, and get refocused at this beautiful rural location. Handicap accessible and ADA compliant.
Weston, MO 64098
Tickets
The morning and early afternoon events are free, but we still need folks to register!
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Fundraiser Dinner Benefits
Fundraiser Dinner Ticket and sponsorship funds go toward:
- paying writers, photographers and artists who are telling true stories of rural America, nature and culture in the region, and people who are opening possibilities for people of all backgrounds to thrive here
- developing programs for the training of young literary and journalistic folks here in the Lower Midwest
Pricing
- $80 – standard ticket for two drinks, food, an evening of learning and comraderie with fellow readers
- $110 – standard ticket PLUS a subscription to The New Territory magazine (for yourself or a friend!)
The People
Meet the Speakers & Workshop Leaders
- Ecomusicologist Megan Murph leads a listening activity that tunes mind and body into intentional listening.
- Geographer Mark Palmer animates the nonhuman soundscape through “Indigi-neered” recordings of wildlife.
- Historian Tim Langen shares the traditions of northern Missouri fiddle music.
- Donald Quist is author of two essay collections, Harbors, a Foreword INDIES Bronze Winner and International Book Awards Finalist, and TO THOSE BOUNDED. He has a linked story collection, For Other Ghosts.
- Janet Saidi and Tina Casagrand trade their favorite voices from River Town, a new podcast that takes listeners to the Missouri River.
- Soren Larsen narrates the transitions between the performances, providing additional context.
Soren Larsen
Placewriting
Soren Larsen is a professor of geography at the University of Missouri, where he teaches and researches in cultural geography with specific interests in the experiential, ethical, and political dimensions of place and place-based learning. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Fulbright Program, American Council of Learned Societies, and Royal Society of New Zealand, which has supported collaborations with the Cheslatta Carrier Nation in British Columbia (since 1998), rural communities in Colorado (since 2008), the Waitangi Trust in Aoteatoa/New Zealand (in 2015) and Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas (in 2015).
Sessions: Placewriting workshops, Hearing Place panel
Tim Langen
Northern Missouri Fiddle Music
Tim Langen has been playing the fiddle since he was five. He has played in Ireland, Boston, Chicago, and locally, with such musicians as Tim Britton, Dennis Cahill, Liz Carroll, Marty Fahey, Sean Gavin, Jimmy Keane, Larry Nugent, and John Williams. He teaches Russian language, literature, and cultural history at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Sessions: Northern Missouri fiddle music workshops, Hearing Place panel
Donald Quist
Placewriting
Donald Quist is author of two essay collections, Harbors, a Foreword INDIES Bronze Winner and International Book Awards Finalist, and To Those Bounded. He has a linked story collection, For Other Ghosts. His writing was Notable in Best American Essays. He is the creator of the online nonfiction series PAST TEN. Donald is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at University of Missouri.
Sessions: Placewriting workshops, Hearing Place panel
Mark Palmer
Indigi-neered Recordings
Mark Palmer is a professor of geography at the University of Missouri. He will be animating the nonhuman soundscape through “Indigi-neered” recordings of wildlife.
Session: Hearing Place panel
Tina Casagrand
The New Territory & River Town
Tina Casagrand Foss is the founder, publisher, and editor-in-chief of The New Territory and host and co-producer of the podcast River Town.
Session: Hearing Place panel
Megan Murph
Soundwalking and Listening to Place
Dr. Megan Murph is the Director of the Budds Center for American Music Studies and an Instructor of Musicology at Mizzou. Her course topics include Missouri Music, Ecomusicology, Music of the United States, Women in Music, Global Popular Music Traditions, African American Music, Western Music History, and Mindfulness for Musicians.
Sessions: Soundwalk and Listening to Place workshop, Hearing Place panel
Janet Saidi
River Town
Janet Saidi is KBIA’s long-form audio producer and serves on the Missouri School of Journalism’s faculty and graduate faculty. Janet’s many and varied media projects are about building community through audio.
Session: Hearing Place panel
Meet the Tour Guides
- Lifelong Weston resident and tobacco farmer Lennie Callaway will lead a tour of his farm, about 15 minutes away from the Pageturner main venue.
- Eco-artist and tour guide Alexis Webb Bechtold gives a fun and engaging tour of historic downtown Weston, 5-10 minutes away from the Eventful venue.
Lennie Callaway
Tobacco Farm Tour
Lennie is one of the last few tobacco farmers in the state of Missouri. His farm is featured in Issue 16 by Weston photographer Katie Currid.
Alexis Webb-Bechtold
Downtown Weston Walking Tour
Alexis lives at the intersection of Art and Adventure, where her heart yearns to blend community and curiosity. Her passion for these concepts is what drives her to the brink of wild enthusiasm in all of her work! Through unique experiences, she strives to inspire people to revive the wonder and curiosity that we naturally experience as kids. Hopefully, that curiosity will lead to connecting with the past, present and future of where we live.
Find out more at X37Adventures.com &
Meet the Organizers
The Pageturner is generously supported by:
SERIES SPONSOR
Missouri Humanities
SHORT STORY LEVEL
Anonymous Donor
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Thank you
Eventful at Locust Grove | Deep Roots KC | Modern Litho | Tony Crawford | Kim Lozano | Hoxie Collective | American Junk Collective
The New Territory Community
In time when our region could use a little more love and action, New Territory events gather people who care. Our readers believe The Lower Midwest is full of problems to solve, stories to tell, and possibilities for making our part of the world even better.