Lee Habeeb is a busy man, so I almost didn’t ask him if he’d write a Foreword for the book. But so many of these already-published stories ended up produced for Our American Stories, so I mentioned that in my request. His answer? “I would be happy to write something! Send the book and I’ll get it done!”
And, bless him, he took the time to write quite a bit. Here’s how it begins:
Foreword
President Ronald Reagan, in his farewell speech from the Oval Office in 1989, talked a lot about historical memory, and why it was so important. “If we forget what we did,” he warned, “we’ll forget who we are.”
Memory, it turns out, does matter. It matters in the health and preservation of a nation. Of a state. Of a town. And of a family and the individuals that comprise that family.
It has also been said that one can’t love something they don’t know. Which is why I have spent a good deal of my life telling the story of America to Americans with the show I founded and host, “Our American Stories.” We have been blessed to feature some of the most prominent storytellers in the country. Great writers of history, great storytellers about sports and the arts. Pulitzer-Prize winning authors of all kinds. We even regularly feature a great storyteller from the grave – the late, great Stephen Ambrose, thanks to the kindness and generosity of his estate. Few have written better stories than Ambrose in their lifetimes about this great country.
But storytelling isn’t just for historians with advanced degrees or professional writers under contract. Storytelling is urgent work for all Americans. Because we all have a story to tell. About our hometown, about our families and our neighbors. We have not just an obligation to tell them, but a duty: because if we forget what the people who came before us did, we will most certainly forget who we are.
On the show I host fine nights a week, I routinely ask audience members to share their stories – and many do. No single person has contributed more to the show than a superb writer from Des Moines, Iowa, Joy Neal Kidney, who listens to us regularly on the legendary iHeart station, WHO in Des Moines. A station that was not just one of the first to carry our show back in 2016, but a station that put our show on the map. Literally.
Joy’s writing and performances have become more than a fixture on the show: she’s the very heart of the show. The reason the show exists, which is to connect the listener to the show – and the show to the listener. Until the two become one.
Joy’s storytelling is as straight as an arrow and a shot from the heart, reflecting her midwestern values. Neither boastful nor cynical, her stories feel like they really happened – and happened yesterday, so packed are they with details and life.
Her latest writing effort is a collection of well-crafted essays entitled The Immigrant and the Outlaw: A Collection of Stories from America’s Heartland. ” . . .
There’s even more!
The Immigrant and the Outlaw: A Collection of Stories from America’s Heartland will be released on Amazon.com May 13. The ebook is available for preorder now.
Autographed copies will be available at the Urbandale Machine Shed Restaurant in another week or so, and in person or by mail through Beaverdale Books in Des Moines (515-279-5400).
You couldn’t have had a better foreword writer than Habeeb, and he did a bang-up job on it for you! I look forward to getting and reading the book when it comes out later this week. Praying you have great success with it and all your other books.
Bless you, Dennis. It was so encouraging that he readily agreed and seemed to have fun with it. He said his favorite is a cemetery story, which will post tomorrow!
Congratulations – so much, Joy! What a fabulous foreword from Lee Habeeb! I think he captured your motivation here – and summarized so perfectly how you inspired others:
“Storytelling is urgent work for all Americans. Because we all have a story to tell. About our hometown, about our families and our neighbors. We have not just an obligation to tell them, but a duty: because if we forget what the people who came before us did, we will most certainly forget who we are.”
Thank you, dear Joy, for being a source of encouragement for so many and for sharing your precious family with us. 💝💝💝
Thank you, dear Vicki. Just wait until you read the rest of his foreword, and to think he had fun writing it!
So good…I love this Monday morning goodness, Joy!
xo! 😊❤️😊
This is a fabulous book endorsement from Habeeb. He must have a great deal of respect for you as a historian/author, Joy. Good luck to you! 🙂
Thank you, Nancy. They even gave me a Great American Storyteller Award in 2021. I couldn’t figure out why the fuss then, but there’s something to telling my own stories that gives others permission to tell their own, or maybe even the idea to get started! What an amazing time of feeling so crummy and having so much fun with this! God’s blessing, huh!
I really like how Habeeb’s foreword makes book’s the connection to the current state of the country clear (in a subtle and nonpolitical way). I’m waiting for the paperback to come out to get my copy.
Bless you, Liz. In the rest of it he talks about some of my stories, and names his favorite–the cemetery one! A little back story about it is scheduled for tomorrow.
I look forward to it!
My granddaughter just returned to me my copy of “Meadowlark Songs” after reading it. She said she loved it. Both her parents have family roots in Iowa, so your stories have a special meaning for her. Thanks for memorializing this important slice of American life.
Bless you for your note, Bob. Did it spart any interest in learning more about her grandparents and great grandparents?
My grandson has shown an interest in family history. I have updated our tree on Ancestry and saved a file for him. I can’t go as far back as you have, but there’s enough to trace our origins to Europe.
Immigration stories are so fascinating. I was surprised not to run into one in “Meadowlark.” I hadn’t planned to add the first one, since she never made it to Iowa, but that’s where the faith legacy began, and there were just enough details to make it interesting. The cover story in the next one, “The Immigrant and the Outlaw,” is on Dad’s side. Dethlef Ohrt came from Pellworm Island, off Germany, in the 1870s.
Cannot wait to read your latest book!
Oh thanks, Kelly. I’m having fun with this one!
Keep up the good work, Joy. I have never mentioned it before, but I have noticed many on my family tree also from Pellworm Island. Scar?, Schafer?, Clausen?, Jobst?, and etc. Question marks, since I haven’t reviewed the tree lately. No doubt, families there that knew of others in Dexter (west-central Iowa) and were enticed to join them. By our generation those families, we all knew, had no idea of the geographical connections. Missing stories!
It’d be the Clausens and this Blohm/Ohrt line also includes Clausen and Jensen. Mary Wells Jobst has been back to Pellworm, and Ken Shepherd’s son Jason plans to go. (Ken’s mom was a sister of Dad’s.) Did you get my email about the women’s archive at the U of Iowa’s interest in Leora’s letters, photos, etc. (They collected my newspaper articles back in the 1990s and are interested in the books as well.)
I got the email. Busy, but no excuse for not replying. Bob
There’s still time, I’m thinking. . .
Correction, “excuse”! I used to visit Nadine and your other aunts, Betty and Helen, every time I was in Stuart. Also, Miriam, once or twice. I feel many Dexter families had ties to Pellworm. Next time I am home visiting the farm, I’ll call and go a mile south to visit with Mary J. By the way, I am funding Charly to restore the “Scar Pond”! That project will probably start after planting season.
Terrific news. One of the old letters told about ice skating on that pond!
That is a fantastic forward, Joy! I’m looking very much forward to reading the book. 💞📚💞
Lori, thanks! That’s only about half of it. I think he enjoyed writing it!
I think it’s real nice that you got the great foreword from Lee Habeeb, Joy. I wish the best for your book launch.
Thank you, Tim. I think he actually had fun writing it. This is only about half of it!
😍