Dan Clark calls this show "What else can we learn about the Underground Railroad around Muscatine?" His guest is Doug Jones, staff archaeologist for the State Historical Society of Iowa whose job includes Underground Railroad research. Doug is visiting the Muscatine area to learn about Alexander G. Clark and other black residents and also their white neighbors who opposed slavery. He gives an update on the project marking the route of John Brown's last trip across Iowa in 1859. Hear Doug's previous show (March 2009) at http://muscatinetours.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=439389. Learn about Alexander G. Clark at http://alexanderclark.org. Photo: November 20, the day Kent Sissel (left) and I (right) helped erect the John Brown Freedom Trail marker at the Springdale Friends Cemetery. Also shown are Doug Jones and Lowell Soike, the main staff on the SHSI project. Photo by Mike Boyle. NOTE: For some reason, only the last five minutes of the show was recorded.

Dan Clark calls this show "Mark Twain Dissenting AND the Diogenes of Diamond Towns." Muscatine brags about the months Mark Twain lived here in 1854. We love his praise of our sunsets, but most don't know his anti-war writings. Dan reads from Twain's "The War-Prayer" in belated recognition of Veterans Day. "When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory—must follow it, cannot help but follow it." Read the full text and view a beautifully done video at http://www.thewarprayer.com/. Dan's guest in the second half is Tom Huber, director of Muscatine-based Diamond Towns of America. He explains the DTA community-building model and invites participation. The newspaper called DTA founder Dick Maeglin a philanthropist, but Dan calls him Diogenes. http://www.muscatinejournal.com/articles/2009/11/14/news/doc4afe4bf154dbd953140766.txt and http://www.facebook.com/pages/Muscatine-IA/Diamond-Towns-of-America/97774599536

Dan Clark calls this show "Muscatine Memories of the Berlin Wall and Its Fall." His guests are Kristine Conlon and Ingrid Rowe of Muscatine Sister Cities Association. Kristine is a Muscatine native and German-language teacher who led several school trips to Germany. Ingrid is an East German native who fled to the West with her parents when she was 12, shortly before the border closed. She is now a Muscatine resident and US citizen. Fifteen years after the fall of the wall, on December 2, 2004, Muscatine gained a sister city in the former (East) German Democratic Republic. Ludwigslust is the capital of a district between Berlin and Hamburg. Ingrid and Kristine share memories of Germany and tell about plans for a Sister Cities trip there scheduled for May 2010. NOTE: For some reason, only the last five minutes of the show was recorded.

Dan Clark calls this show "Our Very Own Lincoln-Assassination Story." After killing President Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth eluded federal pursuers and changed his name and lived out more adventures. He ended up in Oklahoma or maybe South America or India. Booth's accomplice Michael O'Laughlen didn't die in prison in 1867 after all, but rather in Muscatine County in 1890, after living where Wild Cat Den State Park is today. Dan says these yarns are part of our local lore, so you'll want to learn about them—and you don't have to believe to enjoy. He reads from the "O'Laughlen" manuscript http://odin.indstate.edu/about/units/rbsc/neff/PDFs/stevenson_olaughlin.pdf and urges listeners to attend a talk by Gladys Mittman who grew up with the story and has been learning more lately. Details at http://muscatinejournal.com/articles/2009/10/31/news/doc4aebcbd126576354383074.txt. More background at http://www.muscatinejournal.com/articles/2007/04/13/news/doc46204bd5585b2975671645.txt.