Cheryl Unruh’s column has appeared in The Emporia Gazette every Tuesday for more than seven years. Now, she has taken her favorite 80 columns and assembled them into a book, “Flyover People” — the same title as her column and website.
The book was released last week and can be purchased locally at Town Crier, 716 Commercial St. Unruh held a book launch party there on Wednesday night to sign copies for people who purchased the book.
The columns in the book are about Unruh’s childhood, growing up in Pawnee Rock in western Kansas, traveling through Kansas with her husband, Dave Leiker, and also about their life in Emporia, the seasons and the weather.
Unruh started assembling the columns and working on her book in March. Her brother, Leon Unruh, who lives in Alaska, served as the editor of her book. They corresponded by e-mail over the next several months, until “Flyover People” was printed by Mennonite Press in Newton.
Unruh, a lifelong Kansan, said she enjoys living in Emporia.
“There are a lot of good people here and we’re next to the Flint Hills, which is probably the best place on earth,” she said.
By publishing her book, Unruh said she hopes to inspire others to take journeys through Kansas to explore history and geography.
“I want to encourage people to take in all that Kansas has to offer, the things that people take for granted,” Unruh said.
Wendy Devilbiss, who attended the book launch party at Town Crier, said she moved to Kansas from Pennsylvania about a year ago. She said Unruh’s columns helped acclimate her to a new climate, a new landscape and a new life.
“She has a way with words,” Devilbiss said.
She said she looks forward to Unruh’s columns every week.
“We need books like this,” Devilbiss said.
Before the book launch, Unruh said it was difficult to pick out which columns to include in the book. She had about 390 columns to choose from.
Her two favorite columns that are included in the book are “On Being a Kansan,” published Jan. 3, 2003, and “What Kansas Knows,” published February 2005.
Unruh said her favorite thing about living in Kansas is the sky, which is often a source of inspiration for her.
“The sky has to be one of my favorite things. It’s always changing,” Unruh said.
She describes it in the beginning pages of her book: “Sometimes we wouldn’t have clouds if not for the jet trails that mark the sky. Our eyes travel miles ahead in western Kansas, catching sight of the grain elevator in the next town, the only vertical distraction. In the Flint Hills, the grass and the sky may look plain and simple, but once you step onto the land and take a deep breath, it can change you forever.”
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“Flyover People” is available at Town Crier bookstore, as well as other bookstores in Kansas. It is also available at www.quincypress.com.