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Author: Patrick Dobson

Dr. Patrick Dobson is a work in progress until his termination. In the meantime, He is a writer, scholar, postman, and college professor living in Kansas City, MO.

The University of Nebraska Press published his travel memoirs, Canoeing the Great Plains: A Missouri River Summer in 2015 and Seldom Seen: A Journey into the Great Plains in 2009. Canoeing the Great Plains won the 2016 High Plains Book Award in Creative Nonfiction and the Thorpe Menn Literary Excellence Award. His essays and poems have been published in New Letters, daCunha, Kansas City Star, Garo, Wood Coin, and JONAHmagazine, and others.

Dobson earned a doctorate in American History and Literature at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2013. He has edited books, taught journalism, and been a union ironworker. He now teaches American History, Modern Latin American History, and Western Civilization at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, KS.

He looks forward to hearing from you soon.

American flag as protest

Patrick, I fly the Ami flag because it taps a deeply held belief that I can be a socialist, agitator, and a good citizen at the same time. It’s my right. When public mass-worship of the flag hides the motivations and methods of moneied elites, power, and capital, my little…

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Joachim Frick, Aug. 13, 1962-Dec. 16, 2011

Dear Auggie, I have never felt such loss, such grief. My friend and my brother Joachim Frick died on Friday. I cannot express how deeply this has affected me. The day has a little less light. The wind has a sharper sting. Joachim was one of my closest friends, if…

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When South Dakota and the beginning of a new era flow together

Zack, It’s been a good many years since you and I have spoken. I hope you are well. Through the miracle of the Internet, I’ve looked in on your career from time to time. From this side of the computer, it seems you have done well. My wish is that…

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Ten books by the age of seventy, if I don’t die first

Ally, I thought I’d send a little note. I’ve been sending all kinds of notes this weekend. I turned my second book over to my editor at the University of Nebraska Press on Thursday evening. That out of my hands for a while, I will get back deep into dissertation,…

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