A series of award-winning stories about our region's traditions, institutions, and people, past and present. Rock Island Lines is written and read by Roald Tweet, Professor Emeritus of English at Augustana College.
The stories in these three-minute modules are rooted in a specific place; a "kidney-shaped limestone island plunked down in the middle of the Mississippi River." It's the logical site for a storyteller. It is from the rich heritage of our region that Tweet spins his histories, biographies, and "stretchers."
Roald has spent much of his life travelling up and down the river, with forays overland, east and west, talking to the people, reading their journals, and enjoying the humor and history of America's heartland. His observations about life around Rock Island strike responsive chords across the region. It's a viewpoint that will enrich and enliven your day.
Listen below or subscribe on iTunes or RSS.
Sponsored by
Quad City Bank & Trust
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.A straight line may be the shortest distance between two points, but that does not automatically make it easy to draw,…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.When the Chicago White Sox walked out of an Iowa cornfield and thought they were in heaven in the movie Field of…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.When Stephanie Tashiro was a young girl growing up in Davenport, Iowa, she wondered why her paternal grandparents never…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.By the time Private Basil Messler left Camp McClellan in Davenport on March 23rd, 1864 and headed south for his stint…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.Whenever I watched the encampments of Civil War reenactors at McClellan park in the Village of East Davenport, it was…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.I don't recall that any state has had as hard a time choosing an official state song as Iowa. We're all familiar with…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.By the time Billy Sunday brought his crusade to Rock Island in 1919, to wage eight weeks of war against the liquor…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.For those of you who might be tempted to vacation in Minnesota one of these summers, may I direct you to Alfred…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.Try this out if you don't believe me: ask a group of Rock Island senior citizens whether they would have preferred…
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CommunityThis is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.Archeologists have shown us how often a prime piece of real estate is used over and over again by newer civilizations.…