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Kansas City, Missouri, Alexandria, Virginia, United States
~ About: A 1961-65 Park College Diary ~ As a high school girl and then a college coed in the first half of the 1960s, I wrote nightly entries on the pages of one-year diaries. In January 2010 I began transcribing the entries into a blog and gave each one a title. I grew up on three farms within 30 miles of Iowa City and the University of Iowa with its Iowa Writers' Workshop. As the oldest of four daughters, in my diaries I sometimes referred to my sisters as "the kids" or "the girls." We helped our parents, but we also had good, wholesome fun - a characteristic I took with me to Park. Park is 300 miles southwest of West Chester, Iowa, in Parkville, Missouri, on the Missouri River 10 miles northwest of Kansas City, Missouri, and across the river from Kansas City, Kansas. In 2000 Park College became Park University. Today Park's flagship campus is in Parkville and there are an additional 41 campus centers across the nation. Park was one of the first educational institutions in the United States to offer online learning. My last post was on May 22, 2018. I may be followed on Twitter @BarbaraMcDWhitt.

Senior Play is Cancelled - Tuesday, April 25, 1961

Whew! We don't have to have the class play! Mr. Evans seemed very sympathetic when we "presented our case" during sociology class. He said we should write a news story explaining why we aren't having it, since there was one saying we were, but I argue that no one will ever think about it if we never say a word. Time will tell. I worked on school paper layout all night. Phyllis went with Timmons to the spring choral concert, and Abbie stayed here.

Senior Class Play Conversation - Monday, April 24, 1961

Tonight we talked about not having our class play after all. It just seems to be too much on top of everything else and we're not learning our lines. Everyone is in favor of it, so we're going to speak to Mr. Evans about it tomorrow. I hope we weren't too tired to think straight tonight and get scared out tomorrow. We didn't practice tonight. Mrs. Fordyce gave me a balling out last period. (Wow!) I figured it would be coming, but my grades come before the school paper. I goofed up on chemistry--missed 7 out of 21. I'm spoiling myself. 

A Tale of Two Cities - Sunday, April 23, 1961

Boy, am I ever tired. I wish I could have slept yesterday morning, but for some reason I couldn't. Grandma and Grandpa were here for supper. Phyllis had a stomach ache and didn't feel like going to church. I spent most of the afternoon reading A Tale of Two Cities. I was about ten chapters behind. On Friday we had to discuss certain parts. Luckily, I waved my hand wildly enough for Arthur, Ross and me to get a part we'd already read as we weren't any too far along.

Art Exhibits at Library - Saturday, April 22, 1961

I've spent so much time on my research paper the last few days that I didn't do a thing in the way of school work. I'll have to "cram" tomorrow. We went to town this afternoon. I went up to see the art exhibits while I was at the library, then went back with Mom and Virginia and Ann and looked at them again. Phyllis was at the music contest at Sigourney. Both the mixed chorus and girls' chorus got II's. Mr. Eddy wouldn't let the band enter. What's a contest for? 

Supper at the Captain's Table - Friday, April 21, 1961

A wonderful supper at the Captain's Table was a perfect finish to an otherwise starving day, food-wise. In the first place I didn't eat enough breakfast. Nine kids from the Honor Society and Mr. Brown were there. I had fried chicken. New Honor Society members are seniors: Bob Parcell, Judy Johnson, Fred Miller, Shirley Slaubaugh; juniors: Bob Swartzendruber and Connie Brown. We made final plans for the initiation tonight. Well, I got my research paper finished. It is such a relief to have it over. I was ready to drop all day because of tiredness. By the way, I'll get $100.00 per semester aid at Park since Mom's a teacher. 

Neck and Neck - Thursday, April 20, 1961

Boy, the research paper deadline and I ran neck and neck today. I wondered for a while there if it was going to win, but now I believe maybe I finally am. I had play practice on top of it all. Gersh, I backed into the post on my way out of the driveway tonight! Guess everything's still intact. Virginia had a junior high band concert at Chester tonight. An a capella choir from Sioux Falls sang at school this afternoon. They were good. 

Homework Challenges - Wednesday, April 19, 1961

Here I am in one of those big jams again. On my research paper I have three parts to finish yet. Space filling isn't so easy, but so far I've managed to end each filler on the right line. Footnotes, outline, bibliography and page numbers to do then. Plus ten chapters of A Tale of Two Cities to read by Friday. I wanted to get straight A's for this nine weeks - ha! We had a class meeting today.