The spring semester at Trinity Christian College wrapped up at the beginning of May. My summer involves work for my role as Dean of Faculty at Trinity and preparations for the 2024-2025 academic year. This fall, I am returning to teaching half-time and will be teaching first-year students for the first time since spring 2021. I have been talking with colleagues and making plans.
In addition, last week I was able to travel to Michigan for several speaking opportunities:
On Wednesday, May 29, I drove to Ann Arbor and spoke that afternoon at the Malletts Creek branch of the Ann Arbor District Library. There were seven in the audience in person and six on the livestream of the event. Many thanks to Sam Root for organizing things, to Lucy for hosting, and to James for taking care of all of the technology. (After the event, I was able to see my beloved Pittsburgh Pirates play the second game of a doubleheader with the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.)
On Thursday and Friday, May 30 and 31, I attended the Midwestern History Conference (MHC) in the Eberhard Center at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids. It was the first time that I had been to the MHC since 2019. That was the year that Bill Anderson, John Miller, and I did a session on writing about Laura Ingalls Wilder. I also presented some of my early research on Wilder there in 2017. It was great to be back and to see some old friends. I chaired a session on Friday morning, and Friday afternoon I presented a paper about Wilder’s faith on a panel about Religion in the Midwest. Thanks to Patrick Allen Pospisek for organizing the conference and accepting my paper, to David Mislin for chairing my session, and to David Zwart for putting me up Thursday night and for being a good friend and colleague for so many years. It was also great to see Bill Anderson and Cindy Wilson.
Picture of me and Bill and Cindy
Me, Cindy Wilson, and Bill Anderson Photo by Bill Anderson
Finally, on Thursday night I was able to give a book talk at Schuler Books in Grand Rapids. Schuler books is an enormous independent bookstore that also has locations in three other Michigan cities. About forty people came, including some former colleagues from Trinity who now live in western Michigan. The question and answer period was especially lively, and I also had a great time talking to people after signing books. Many thanks to Elizabeth Bosscher for taking care of arrangements, to Indigo for hosting and keeping things moving, and to Yudha Thianto for making me Indonesian food for dinner.
Schuler Books in Grand Rapids
I believe that the rest of the summer will be pretty quiet. I will be doing a zoom for the Conference on Faith and History in early July, which will become a podcast that I can post afterwards. I also have some hopes of speaking at some public libraries or bookstores in Chicago. Then in September I’ll be heading to Missouri for Wilder Days in Mansfield and Lord-willing several other events. If you are interested in having me speak at your local bookstore, church, public library, or other community group, please contact me at john.fry@trnty.edu.
You can also keep checking my page dedicated to Book Talks, both upcoming ones and previous ones. Thanks again for your support and encouragement!
Links:
Midwestern History Conference – Includes a program you can download
Conference on Faith and History Podcast Series
Wilder Days at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum in Mansfield
The Faith of Laura Ingalls Wilder 