Hosted by River Action and themed “Our Watershed: Working Together for Healthy Waters and Flood-Resilient Communities,” the 11th-annual Upper Mississippi River Conference will be held at Moline's Stoney Creek Inn Convention Center on October 24 and 25, an event focusing on floodplain issues facing the Mississippi River watershed that covers all or part of 31 states in the nation.

Presenting an address on the importance of “Making Words Count,” Iowa Poet Laureate Mary Swander serves as the keynoate speaker for the Midwest Writing Center's fall fundraiser Celebration of the Literary Arts 2018, an October 25 even held at Moline's CityView Celebrations that will also boast a buffet dinner, cashg bar, 50/50 raffle, and the presentation of the annual David R. Collins Literary Achievement Award.

Heroic women, both fictional and real, will be celebrated in the Putnam Museum & Science Center's avidly anticipated Literary Heroines: Their Times, Their Fashions – an October 13 through January 4 exhibition notable not only for its breadth of clothing and period items from the museum's permanent collection, but for being the rare area exhibit that isn't making a local appearance as part of a larger national or international tour. As Putnam President and CEO Kim Findlay says, “We didn't find it – we created it.”

Yesterday, I had the great pleasure of hearing my colleague at St. Ambrose University, Marian Lee and her musical cohort pound out some fantastic French music – sophisticated, complex and still relevant. Interpreting that music, your dancers were absolutely impressive – detailed, crisp, upbeat, easily avoiding any camp in the rompier moments and conveying some profoundly human material with their silent bodies. I’m in love with them!