The region west of the Mississippi continued in the popular mind to be a strange land for which the reports of explorers and travellers did the work of fiction, and Cooper's Prairie had few followers.
quote by Carl Clinton Van Doren

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In fiction, too, after the death of Cooper the main tendency for nearly a generation was away from the conquest of new borders to the closer cultivation, east of the Mississippi, of ground already marked.
quote by Carl Clinton Van Doren

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Biography is a very definite region bounded on the north by history, on the south by fiction, on the east by obituary, and on the west by tedium.
quote by Philip Guedalla

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The Kansas Emigrants
THE KANSAS EMIGRANTS.
WE cross the prairie as of old
The pilgrims crossed the sea,
To make the West, as they the East,
The homestead of the free!
We go to rear a wall of men
On Freedom's southern line,
And plant beside the cotton-tree
The rugged Northern pine!
We're flowing from our native hills
As our free rivers flow;
The blessing of our Mother-land
Is on us as we go.
We go to plant her common schools,
On distant prairie swells,
And give the Sabbaths of the wild
The music of her bells.
Upbearing, like the Ark of old,
The Bible in our van,
We go to test the truth of God
Against the fraud of man.
No pause, nor rest, save where the streams
That feed the Kansas run,
Save where our Pilgrim gonfalon
Shall flout the setting sun!
We'll tread the prairie as of old
Our fathers sailed the sea,
And make the West, as they the East,
The homestead of the free!
poem by John Greenleaf Whittier

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A non-fiction writer pretty much has the shape of the figure in front of him or her and goes about refining it. A work of non-fiction is not as difficult to write as a work of fiction, but it's not as satisfying in the end.
quote by Chaim Potok

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Musings on the North West
Domestic cattle quiet will graze where now the Buffalos roam,
and in spots now covered o'er with Indian Wigwams,
where white men never trod, cities will occupy their
sites with busy trade, and millions throng from Eastern
lands to take possession of the great North-West; then
Winnipeg, perchance, may be the capital of the Domin-
ion. In the days fortold, when this indeed shall be the
'Greater Britain,' with Ontario's towns for work shops
for this vast Prairie land.
' And poets will arise and high their lays will soar,
Worthy of the muse of a Burns or a Moore,'
A Shakespeare and a Milton, the great and the wise
Will sing of the glories of our Northern skies ;
Of its lakes and rivers, and its mountains grand,
Of its fertile plains and great prairie land.
A fit theme for song this empire gigantic
Whose arms stretch from Pacific to Atlantic.
poem by James McIntyre

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Prairie Rose
(ferry/manzanera)
Texas thats where i
Belong
It seems to me
Texas lonesome star
Shine on
The big country
Texas with open skies
And you
For company
Texas oh prairie rose
How happy
I should be
Hey hey you can take it from me
Hey hey ill be coming, youll see
Hey hey oh what a state to be in
Hey hey youre tantalising me
Texas I will compose
In fancy rhyme
Or just plain prose
Texas a song of praise
To you
Prairie rose
Texas though im not sure
I can explain
Your strange allure
Texas prairie rose -
A crown of thorns
A scented flower
Hey hey id better leave right away
Hey hey I can hear you calling me
Prairie rose
song performed by by Roxy Music

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Beautiful Rose
Off on the prairie, where the balmy air
Kisses the waving corn,
There lives a farmer, with a daughter fair--
Fair as a summer's morn!
She has a nature gentle as a dove,
Pure as the mountain snows;
Say! is it strange that everyone should love--
Love such a girl as Rose?
Beautiful Rose! lovely Rose!
Pride of the prairie bower!
Everybody loves her--everybody knows
She is the fairest flower.
Rose is a lady yet from early dawn,
Labors her skillful hand;
She is the housewife, now her mother's gone--
Gone to the better land.
Rose has the beauty--father has the gold--
Both will be hers one day;
For she is young, while he is growing old--
Old people pass away.
Clerks from the city, plowmen from the field,
Lords from a foreign land;
Each in their turn have very humbly kneeled--
Kneeled for her heart and hand.
But to them all she made the same reply--
Kindly but firmly, "No!"
And none but I can tell the reason why--
Why she should treat them so.
poem by Henry Clay Work

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Sitting at work
sitting at work..so much on my mind
so much to do..so little time
Lots of filing..and reports to write
doe'snt feel lik progress in sight
Thinking of that..thinking of this
what I complete and what I will miss
As my mind wanders..work falls behind
I need to get busy..and steady my mind
My heart tells me to call to call my boss
but my words seem at a loss
I need to pull myself together
and do my job and best work ever.
poem by Rhonda Hiler

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Journalism is popular, but it is popular mainly as fiction. Life is one world, and life seen in the newspapers is another.
quote by G.K. Chesterton

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Our staff not only received the reports from these agencies, they examined them. They questioned them.
quote by John Sherman Cooper

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Old Cemeteries
I love to go to old cemeteries
I’ve seen them all ‘cross country
Some are deep in the forest
They are so beautiful to me
Others are in vast prairie land
Small stones where children lay
I could almost hear voices
While they ran around in play
I’ve seen them in New Orleans
Folks are buried above the ground
It’s like a flash of history
With old cemeteries I have found
Of course there are the military
Like Vicksburg in Mississippi
Oh yes, I find cemeteries truly are
Part of American history!
poem by Marilyn Lott

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Up In Mississippi Tonight
Sallys up in mississippi tonight
With a man she hardly knows
Sallys wearin brand new clothes
Opportunity dont knock twice
So sally said, bye, bye
I hope she is alright
Up in mississippi tonight
Sally left before the sun could rise
When the city man came to town
She turned his head around
It was love with just one look
When she saw the size of his pocketbook
Oh sallys doin fine
Shes up in mississippi tonight
But theres a mountain boy whos gonna remember you
And sally youre one old girl he hates to lose
But you did what you had to do
You know Im happy for you
But sometimes please think of me up there in biloxi
Sallys up in mississippi tonight
Stayin in a big hotel
Rich man payin the bill
Drivin a brand new car
Drinkin in fancy bars
Oh sallys havin a time
Shes up in mississippi tonight
Sallys up in mississippi tonight
Sallys up in mississippi tonight
Sallys up in mississippi tonight
song performed by by Tom Petty

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Stranger Than Fiction
Please mister cant you help me try to find my babys house
Its three in the morning in the pouring rain
I cant find the house and I forgot the number
But I gotta give her these roses to relieve her pain
Dont laugh . . . just tell me youve been there before
So we fight but we fight every evening
And I tell you every morning I just love her more
And life goes on . . . filled with disasters and friction
And life can be strange
But love can be stranger than fiction
Only love can be stranger than fiction
Excuse me operator . . . tell me what time it is
Me and my lover been in bed all day
I think I strained a muscle
I didnt know I had
And tell me what day it is anyway
Dont laugh . . . just tell me you hear what I say
I love her so much I dont even know what planet Im on
Love her so much I wish shed just go away
And life goes on . . . filled with bizarre contradictions
And life can be strange
But love can be stranger than fiction
Only love can be stranger than fiction
I know that sometimes love goes
But sometimes it comes back to getcha
And when love grows
It grows like a flower or grows like a tumor
Love shows that God has a sense of humor
Life goes on . . . ever immune to prediction
And life can be strange
But love can be stranger than fiction
Only love can be stranger than fiction
song performed by by Joe Jackson

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Dream Of The West
Sit down beside me and ponder a while,
dream of the west and what do you see,
cowboys and Indians, ranches and reservations,
horses and buffalo all running free.
Dream of the west as it used to be
with stagecoaches and buck-wagons
racing across the lonesome prairie
chased by Indians or outlaws.
A chuck wagon on a big cattle drive,
with a campfire at the end of the day,
and a cowboy with a guitar
strumming a lonesome tune well into the night.
Just some of the images in our mind's eye
as we rock on an old rocking chair
with a jug of moonshine fresh from the still,
a dream of the west the way we want it to be.
3 November 2012
poem by David Harris

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One of the first things I did as a new Member of Congress was help form a bipartisan Mississippi River Caucus so we could work together from both the North and the South in order to draw attention to the resources that are needed along the Mississippi River.
I'm writing another novel and I know what I'm going to do after, which may be something more like this again, maybe some strange mixture of fiction and non-fiction.
quote by Penelope Lively

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For my part, I make this pledge to all of you: The politics of division, of pitting east against west, urban versus rural, region against region, and people against people will have no place in my Administration.
quote by Edward G. Rendell

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Science Fiction Woman
She was my science fiction woman,
I was her science fiction man,
Yet our love was no fiction
In our science fiction land.
I wore my science fiction spacesuit,
She wore a spacesuit just like mine,
While we were floating together
In our science fiction minds.
She said her name was Taylor Trippy-
A flower child light years beyond-
She was a science fiction hippy-
A spacey and vivacious blonde.
She told me of our global warming,
Greenhouse gases, acid rain,
She told me everything I know
About the structure of the brain.
So we cruised through constellations
In our science fiction ship,
Transcending time and generations-
Forever free, forever hip.
She came from some unknown planet
In some uncharted galaxy,
And we were both kindred souls
In our cosmic fantasy.
And I don't know how I knew her
Or how we came to meet that night-
She was my science fiction woman,
Who traveled at the speed of light.
At night I look upon the ocean,
The distant stars where she might be-
She was my science fiction woman,
Who set my heart forever free.
June 17,2008
poem by Alexander Shaumyan

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Some major writers have a huge impact, like Ayn Rand, who to my mind is a lousy fiction writer because her writing has no compassion and virtually no humor. She has a philosophical and economical message that she is passing off as fiction, but it really isn't fiction at all.
quote by Theodore Sturgeon

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Strange Magic
Youre sailing softly through the sun
In a broken stone age dawn.
You fly so high.
I get a strange magic,
Oh, what a strange magic,
Oh, its a strange magic.
Got a strange magic,
Got a strange magic.
Youre walking meadows in my mind,
Making waves across my time,
Oh no, oh no.
I get a strange magic,
Oh, what a strange magic,
Oh, its a strange magic.
Got a strange magic,
Got a strange magic.
Oh, Im never gonna be the same again,
Now Ive seen the way its got to end,
Sweet dream, sweet dream.
Strange magic,
Oh, what a strange magic,
Oh, its a strange magic.
Got a strange magic,
Got a strange magic.
Its magic, its magic, its magic.
Strange magic,
Oh, what a strange magic,
Oh, its a strange magic.
Got a strange magic.
Strange magic strange magic
Oh, what a strange magic strange magic
Oh, its a strange magic.
Got a strange magic.
Strange magic strange magic
Oh, what a strange magic strange magic
Oh, its a strange magic.
Got a strange magic,
Got a strange magic,
You know I got a strange magic,
Yeah, I got a strange magic,
Oo-o-o-oo, strange magic. (fade)
song performed by by Electric Light Orchestra

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