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...your weekly Iowa Writers' Collaborative Roundup

Dec 4, 2022

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JULIE GAMMACK

Julie Gammack's Iowa Potluck

Celebrating Rekha Basu's career

Watch now (9 min) | The video above shows Rekha’s son, Romen Borsellino, closing the speaking part of a party attended by about 125 community leaders, former bosses, and a columnist colleague. Thanks to Mary Riche, Chuck Offenburger, Thomas Tormey, Dennis Ryerson, and Mary Helen Grace for shooting the video and providing photos…

6 months ago · Julie Gammack

ED TIBBETTS

Along the Mississippi

Biden's move to replace Iowa

Barring a miracle, Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status is over. President Biden is asking the Democratic National Committee to put South Carolina first on the 2024 presidential nominating calendar, followed by Nevada and New Hampshire a week later; after that would be Georgia, then Michigan…

6 months ago · 1 like · 4 comments · Ed Tibbetts

Along the Mississippi

The lead-poison threat

A year ago, the journal JAMA Pediatrics published an article with a startling statistic: 76% of Iowa kids under the age of 6 had detectable levels of lead in their blood. The study said the state of Iowa ranked fourth highest in the nation. Iowa has long …

6 months ago · 2 likes · 2 comments · Ed Tibbetts

CHERYL TEVIS

Unfinished Business

Unfinished Business

I still can hear the phone ringing. It was a continuous shrill ring, clearly distinct from an ordinary call. No matter the time of day, my heart would begin to race. When I picked up the receiver, I'd hear worried-- and sometimes frantic-- voices asking for help…

6 months ago · 3 likes · Cheryl Tevis

MARY SWANDER

Mary Swander's Emerging Voices

Who’s Going to Get to Farm?

I started my own farm business, Humble Hands Harvest, on rented land when I was 25 years old, after several years of work on other vegetable farms. I was a queer, first generation farmer in Winneshiek County, Iowa. My goal was to grow good food for my community as my primary source of income, and ultimately to be farming alongside others…

6 months ago · 3 likes · 2 comments · Mary Swander

BARRY PIATT

Barry Piatt on Politics: - Behind the Curtains

First in the Nation Iowa Caucuses Face Threat

Word comes Thursday that President Biden is trying to take Iowa out of its first in the nation starting position for the presidential nominating process for Democrats. Turns out he’s not a big fan of caucuses in general either.Thanks for reading Barry Piatt on Politics: - Behind the Curtains! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work…

6 months ago · 4 likes · 2 comments · Barry Piatt

ROBERT LEONARD

Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture

The Fiercest Creature in the Forest

Moonrise, Cedar Bluffs Natural Area, Mahaska County, Iowa. This past summer, when I had trouble sleeping for a month or so, I went for my daily morning walk at Cedar Bluffs Natural Area in Mahaska County at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. One evening Annie and Johanna asked me if I was scared to be walking in the forest in the middle of the night…

6 months ago · Robert Leonard

DANA JAMES

Christmas Joy, Christmas Grief

By now, I’m usually humming along every time I hear “Carol of the Bells” and looking forward to watching my favorite Christmas movie. No, it’s not “A Christmas Carol” or “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It’s Ice Cube’s “Friday After Next.” Yes, “Friday After Next…

6 months ago · 1 like · 1 comment · New Black Iowa

BETH HOFFMAN

Ah, the time has finally arrived—shopping hell. Starting today, you will be encouraged to buy all sorts of things you and your loved ones do not need (nor often want), all in the name of caring for them. But what about the planet? What about all the packaging, the plastics, and the fact that so many of us already have too much STUFF…

6 months ago · 2 likes · 6 comments · Beth Hoffman

SUZANNA DEBACA

Dispatches from the Heartland

There goes another perfectly good cornfield

Like many small communities in Iowa, my hometown of Huxley is surrounded on all four sides by farmland. Recently, as I was heading out on Highway 69 to go to work in Des Moines, something caught my eye in the middle of a field on the south edge of town: a convoy of pickups and heavy equipment. I could see that large amounts of jet black soil had already…

6 months ago · 1 comment · Suzanna de Baca

ART CULLEN

Art Cullen’s Notebook

Singing a different tune on ag conservation

Cutting in corporate America on climate policy appears to be clearing a path for a rational farm bill discussion as the new Congress organizes. House Republican leaders are making sympathetic comments about a strong conservation title in the five-year farm bill that is supposed to be written next year…

6 months ago · 2 likes · Art Cullen

DAVE BUSIEK

Dave Busiek on Media

Blowing Up the TV News Format

I have long believed that any TV station that played around with the typical newscast format is doomed to fail. Since the dawn of television, viewers have gotten used to the basic format of two segments of news, the weather and then sports. End with a kicker (a lighthearted story), smiles all around and close on a wide shot showing the anchors chatting…

6 months ago · 4 likes · 13 comments · Dave Busiek

Dave Busiek on Media

Darts and Laurels

With a nod to the Columbia Journalism Review, which used to do a Darts and Laurels column, here’s an occasional column on the good and not-so-good work by journalists I’ve observed this past week. First, the Darts. Darts The 12th most important story of the day…

6 months ago · 3 likes · 19 comments · Dave Busiek

DOUG BURNS

The Iowa Mercury

How Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds could become president

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds insists a life in Washington is not for her. I believed her when she told me this near the shores of Black Hawk Lake in Lake View last year before the governor announced what became a successful re-election bid for Terrace Hill…

6 months ago · 4 likes · 4 comments · Douglas Burns

LAURA BELIN

Iowa politics with Laura Belin

How Iowa Democrats could have saved the caucuses

This analysis first appeared at Bleeding Heartland and is shared here as part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. For regular emails linking to other Bleeding Heartland coverage, subscribe to the free Evening Heartland newsletter. Anyone who was paying attention has seen this day coming for yea…

6 months ago · 10 comments · Laura Belin

Iowa politics with Laura Belin

DNC to decide, Iowa House recounts, 2022 election turnout, and more

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! I’m grateful for readers who help me preserve my editorial independence, and made a Thanksgiving Day resolution not to let my ongoing ankle problems keep me from spending more time outdoors next year. This “Capitol Week” recap is going out a little later than usual, because as I was sitting down to write on …

6 months ago · 1 comment · Laura Belin

Iowa politics with Laura Belin

Did low turnout sink Iowa Democratic candidates?

This analysis first appeared at Bleeding Heartland, as the fourth installment in a series interpreting the results of Iowa’s 2022 state and federal elections. It is shared here as part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. For regular emails linking to other Bleeding Heartland coverage, subscribe to…

6 months ago · Laura Belin

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