A wide range of emotion by our columnists this week
...politics, polls, people, and news you can use
This week’s roundup includes outrage served with a dose of fury. And that’s not half of what our columnists weighed in on this week. The Iowa legislature is in session. Ron De Santis visited the state.
What does the parent of a lesbian high schooler feel about her daughter’s future in this state? Read Jody Gifford’s column. And Chuck Offenburger writes about the challenges his community is facing in attracting and keeping immigrant families to move to Greene County,
There are also lovely features that will make you smile. Bob Leonard gave us an antidote to the gloom and doom by sharing his experience on the Central College Campus with Spoken Word artist Caleb Rainey.
Debra Engle’s column gives us a deep breath from the world-weariness surrounding us, and Suzanna de Baca has a delightful piece about the role of a ‘mortuary bee’ in the hive.
Julie Gammack’s Monday Zoom Lunch featured a futurist who gave the participants on the call a few paradigm shifts when thinking about what is to come.
And our delightful humorists, Fern and Joe, have cause to celebrate. Joe Geha unboxed the first copies of his new book, Kitchen Arabic. It is both a cookbook and a memoir, as this week’s column explains.
Macey Spensley writes about chaos, creativity, and the Iowa Arts community, while Ed Tibbetts filed a column early this morning about how elections in Davenport would change.
The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative includes stories found in Hola Iowa. This week’s column by Christina Fernández-Morrow is a report about a mortgage loan officer who helps Latinos in Iowa buy a home. Some of her clients are ‘unbanked,’ so she meets them personally to walk through the steps to buying a home. It’s a noteworthy story.
And Kurt Meyer offers commentary on what is holding back efforts to raise the minimum wage.
And, under the heading ‘news you can use,’ our flamboyant sports reporter has figured out how to eat for free during his birthday month. With what you save during that month, you could become a paid subscriber to his column. Just sayin’.
LAURA BELIN
CHERYL TEVIS
CHUCK OFFENBURGER
DAVE BUSIEK
ART CULLEN
JODY GIFFORD
MARY SWANDER
ROBERT LEONARD
FERN AND JOE
SUZANNA DE BACA
JULIE GAMMACK
PAT KINNEY
HOLA IOWA
KURTIS MEYER
JOHN NAUGHTON
BARRY PIATT
MACEY SPENSLEY
ED TIBBETTS
Do you appreciate the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative? Tell a friend.
Here’s our illustrious group of Iowa Writers’ Collaborative members in alphabetical order:
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Columnists
Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights
Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll
Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines
Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake
Suzanna de Baca Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley
Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County
Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji
Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames
Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines
Nik Heftman, The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa
Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla
Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines
Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo
Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames
Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey
Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa
Kurt Meyer, Showing Up, St. Ansgar
Kyle Munson, Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines
Jane Nguyen, The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines
John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines
Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines
Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains, Washington, D.C.
Macey Spensley, The Midwest Creative, Davenport and Des Moines
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona
Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County
Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport
Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines
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