**nightly entries written by a coming-of-age girl who became a woman from Washington County Iowa**
About the diary writer
- Barbara McDowell Whitt
- 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.
Notebooks Have a Total of 806 Worksheets - Monday, November 9, 1964
I gave my "weekly" contribution to Park College in the form of student council meeting attendance. Then Evelyn and I went out to her house so I could return the book Mrs. Gatton had brought me from the North Kansas City Library. The class made their "Indians of the Plains" notebook covers today and did quite well with them. It's nice to have all 806 worksheets graded and "out of the way." For mid-term grades I had S's in my education courses and an A in philosophy.
Three of Us Went to Meet Mom Reister's Flight - Sunday, November 8, 1964
Roger and Mom Hawkins needed a way in to the airport tonight at 9:30 to meet Mom Reister's flight, so I drove in. I guess it's about time I got to the Kansas City airport. Mom Reister has been in Baltimore. She left Park three years ago. I was stapling Indian unit notebooks this evening and in closing the stapler after refilling it, put the edge of a staple clear into my thumb. Nancy, Tommy, and I very calmly performed the necessary first aid (ehh!). We had a guest speaker, Rev. Kelmer, for chapel.
Heard the Philharmonic and Louis Armstrong - Saturday, November 7, 1964
Some of the LLCs went to the free Katz-sponsored Kansas City Philharmonic and Louis Armstrong jazz concert at the auditorium tonight. Flo and I had practically "front row" seats. It was really neat. Afterwards we went with Margaret, Bonnie, Becky, and Jayne to the Italian Gardens. I had pepperoni and sausage pizza (with Jayne) and red wine. This afternoon I graded Indian unit worksheets. I did a stupid thing (I had a feeling I was forgetting something today) - Nancy Ayres was going to be here this morning and I missed seeing her.
The Narva is Finally Here and is Quite Nice - Friday, November 6, 1964
The Narva Karen and I edited is finally here! It's quite nice, but there are a few things I don't like. Karen made some spelling errors and changed some of my pages "without my permission." DeClouds finished taking the student photos for it exactly a year ago (November 3-6). I bought Mom a copy of The Prophet for her birthday and mailed it this afternoon. I didn't get much done on a free Friday afternoon. I hardly knew what to do with myself. I had Holly for tutoring as usual. The Cardinal is a very good movie. I saw it with Winnie and Margie.
Went in to the Teachers Convention This Morning - Thursday, November 5, 1964
My 22nd birthday was nice. The package from home arrived - lots of food, the crepe blouse I wanted to go with the blue jumper I made, Avon soap, stationery, and a cute children's book about cut-outs. Judy gave her Stephens birthday party for me tonight. We had doughnuts in the lounge. Evelyn and I went in to the teachers convention this morning. There were so many preliminaries that we had to leave before the speech to get back for class. On the way back I missed getting a nickel into the automatic change box on the Broadway Bridge and had to get out of the car to pick it up.
Am a Woman and Must Admit It - Wednesday, November 4, 1964
Our Stephens proofs came today. I'm about "sold" on a straight profile - if I don't "chicken out" since mine will be the center one in the front row of photos since I'm president. I practiced my rote song, wrote home, and read art in Alumni tonight. I felt as if I didn't have much to do since we don' student teach tomorrow because of the teachers convention. These days just keep going, going, going and here I am going to be 22. In other words, I'm a woman and I must bring myself to admit it.
Johnson is Winning by Quite a Large Majority - Tuesday, November 3, 1964
I'm glad to report that Johnson is winning the election by quite a large majority. I guess Hughes won in Iowa - poor Hultman. I spent some time in the education library tonight. Mary Sue and Gary came down. Everyone who sees our department is very impressed. I finished typing a 29 - stencil paper for Dr. Pai and am now adding a few more pages to it. I went over to Dearing for a few minutes this evening, but not much was going on so I came back to watch the election returns here and work on a word chart.
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