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Eminent domain, Iowa State, presidential candidates, Barbie...

...and a new category: WHO KNEW?

Aug 13, 2023
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Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy drew heavy interest in Vail with a plan for tying the dollar's stability to corn and beans — as well as gold and silver. Photo By Douglas Burns

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This week’s roundup includes well-reported columns about presidential candidates storming the state, a lovely essay by a granddaughter, lots of takes on the Iowa State Fair, an Iowa angle to the apocalyptic wildfires that devasted Hawaii, a sports column about news from Iowa State, and our Washington, D.C. columnist caused the editor to create a new category: WHO KNEW? (coin collectors will love it). Another columnist made it in the WHO KNEW? category. Mary Swander has a piece about stolen skulls, a story told as only Mary can.

  • Bob Leonard offers a twist on the ‘Barbie’ movie you won’t see coming.

  • An Iowa Vietnam veteran didn’t want to discuss the war but decided to write about it. Pat Kinney has the story.

  • Last, but only because Suzanna de Baca has a way of wrapping things up beautifully, is a “I Pray You Leave us Gently.”

We begin the roundup this morning with another new category: Eminent Domain. Here is an up-close look at the threat of eminent domain being used to take land in the area of St. Ansgar. Columnist Kurt Meyer, who lives there, reports:

EMINENT DOMAIN

KURT MEYER

Showing Up
"Dear Landowner"
Recently, I received two interesting letters in the mail. I’ll share excerpts from both, the first sent by registered mail, the salutation “Dear Landowner”. Opening sentence: “Summit Carbon Solutions, LLC (“Summit Carbon Solutions”) is developing a carbon capture, storage, and sequestration project, the Midwest Carbon Express (“MCE”), that will enable e…
Read more
2 months ago · 3 comments · Kurtis Meyer

IOWA LIFE

Macy Spensley says goodbye to ‘one of the good ones,’ her grandfather.

The Midwest Creative
To My Grandpa
My grandpa got a job at The Monticello Express when he was a junior in high school. Around 1954, Johnny Jones was looking for someone to sweep floors, wash the windows, and learn the basics of being a printer. At the time, my grandpa, Bob Goodyear, was on the basketball team. He wasn’t getting much playing time, and after talking with his coach, he deci…
Read more
2 months ago · 7 likes · 4 comments · Macey Spensley

Now, Let’s hear from our Fair-goers

CHUCK OFFENBURGER

Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger
My own ‘Fair-Side Chat’ with you readers
DES MOINES, Iowa – On Saturday, I got both the 2023 Iowa State Fair and the 2024 U.S. presidential election started up – or at least my own participation in both. And as I did so, it occurred to me this is my 50th state fair, or close to that, and my 15…
Read more
a month ago · 1 like · Chuck Offenburger

BETH HOFFMAN

In the Dirt
How the Sausage is Made, Fair Style
It was the saddest of sad moments finding the Ye Old Mill ride closed when we attended the Iowa State Fair in 2021. John stood there in disbelief, hands in the air, as if someone had just told him summer in Iowa would not be green this year. A tried and true Hogeland family tradition, we had floated the (excruciatingly slow) tunnels of the “mill” togeth…
Read more
2 months ago · 10 likes · 3 comments · Beth Hoffman

DEB ENGLE

A Whole New World
All's Fair
Every August, Bob and I head to the Iowa State Fair, and every year, I’m grateful that we still feel like making the trek. This year we had a special reason to go: We were celebrating the one-year anniversary of our friends Gaylyn and John moving to 70 acres in southern Iowa from Boulder, Colorado…
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a month ago · 3 likes · 1 comment · Debra Engle

JOHN NAUGHTON

My Life, in Color
The tacky and talented: Iowa's State Fair
I love the Iowa State Fair. The delicious food, the people watching and the talent on display (both free stages and Grandstand shows). Since I was a kid and my grandfather would ride the bus to the east side, I’ve enjoyed the Fair. There are drawbacks: Hot weather, bad or expensive parking, huge beer-swilling crowds… But it’s always a fun experience…
Read more
2 months ago · 2 likes · John Naughton

JOHN NAUGHTON

My Life, in Color
The tacky and talented: Iowa's State Fair
I love the Iowa State Fair. The delicious food, the people watching and the talent on display (both free stages and Grandstand shows). Since I was a kid and my grandfather would ride the bus to the east side, I’ve enjoyed the Fair. There are drawbacks: Hot weather, bad or expensive parking, huge beer-swilling crowds… But it’s always a fun experience…
Read more
2 months ago · 2 likes · John Naughton

DAVE PRICE

Dave Price's Perspective
Iowa's governor, the talk show host
YOU get a car! YOU get a car! YOU get a car! Remember the famous (not sure if the word, “famous,” is strong enough to describe her) television talk show host who delighted her audience with those words? It was 20 years ago and it was one of Oprah Winfrey’s legendary moments. Many in her audience were in tears with amazement after the dramatic announceme…
Read more
2 months ago · 2 likes · 2 comments · Dave Price

JEFF MORRISON

Between Two Rivers
The great, glorious, genuine Iowa State Fair
It was the longest 731 days of my life. (At least, so far.) From August 16, 2019, to August 16, 2021, I did not set foot on the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Never before, and God willing never again until …
Read more
2 months ago · 4 likes · 1 comment · Jeff Morrison

IOWA LIFE GOES ON

….what follows the Fair? Back to school stories. Jody Gifford puts state-mandated policies in the perspective of an Iowa family.

Benign Inspiration
It's Back to School Time!
With just 11 days until the start of the new school year, I’m beginning to panic. There’s still so much to do before the kids head back to class — school supplies need to be purchased, physicals need to be done, eye appointments scheduled, transportation secured, etc…
Read more
2 months ago · 1 like · 1 comment · Jody Gifford

THE IOWA ANGLE TO WILDFIRES RAGING IN HAWAII

Julie Gammack's Iowa Potluck
An Iowa angle to the wild fires in Hawaii
Editors note: Potluck subscribers Larry and Kathi Zimpleman of Cumming, are in Kona, Hawaii. I asked Kathi to write something about what is happening in their beloved adopted home away from home. Here is her take: WILDFIRES AND THE ALOHA SPIRIT…
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2 months ago · 17 likes · 14 comments

PAT KINNEY

View from the Cedar Valley
'Thank your for your service' a long time coming for Greene Vietnam vet
GREENE - Tom Johnson left a widowed mother to serve in Vietnam in 19…
Read more
2 months ago · 1 like · 3 comments · Pat Kinney

DINING IN CLEAR LAKE

Wini’s Food Stories
Good Eats + Great Fun up in Clear Lake, Iowa: A Highly Curated List
Wini’s note: For years, I’ve been enjoying Jane Austin Miller’s Facebook posts of her travels far and wide. Her posts on Clear Lake, however, really hit home: I’ve visited Clear Lake for a quick getaway, but I’ve often wondered if I was taking full advantage of everything this cute lakeside community has to offer. I asked Jane, a former longtime BH&G ed…
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2 months ago · 8 likes · Jane Austin Miller

ROBERT LEONARD

Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture
Little Girls Review the Barbie Movie
I walked out of the Knoxville Public Library Wednesday afternoon at about 2:00 p.m. to catch the 2:15 p.m. Barbie movie matinee at the Grand Theater in Knoxville. It would be the second time that I would see it, but I was thinking about writing about it and needed to see it at least one more time…
Read more
a month ago · Robert Leonard

AGRICULTURE

Unfinished Business
Unfinished Business
Some agronomists don't have much to say about elephants. But Ruth McCabe isn't one to hold back. "There are big elephants in the room," she often says. "Let's bring them all out." But McCabe didn't take a conventional route into agronomy, and her position today as conservation agronomist for an ag co-op also is uncommon…
Read more
2 months ago · 6 likes · 5 comments · Cheryl Tevis

POLITICS

DOUG BURNS

The Iowa Mercury
Tie value of dollar to corn, beans, ag commodities, presidential candidate Ramaswamy says
VAIL, Iowa Among a buffet of provocative ideas and policies in businessman Vivek Ramaswamy’s hard-charging upstart presidential campaign one stood out in the …
Read more
a month ago · Douglas Burns

DAVE PRICE

Dave Price's Perspective
Iowa's governor, the talk show host
YOU get a car! YOU get a car! YOU get a car! Remember the famous (not sure if the word, “famous,” is strong enough to describe her) television talk show host who delighted her audience with those words? It was 20 years ago and it was one of Oprah Winfrey’s legendary moments. Many in her audience were in tears with amazement after the dramatic announceme…
Read more
2 months ago · 2 likes · 2 comments · Dave Price
Dave Busiek on Media
Who would want to work for someone who “never backs down”?
The CEO of a big Iowa company taught me a valuable lesson, one I’ve been thinking about as one of the presidential candidates campaigns across Iowa vowing to “never back down.” It happened a few years ago. While I was running the station’s TV newsroom, a new part-time reporter ran a story on our six o’clock newscast that never should have r…
Read more
2 months ago · 22 likes · 20 comments · Dave Busiek
Iowa politics with Laura Belin
Another Trump indictment, a Texas deployment, ethanol lawsuit, and more
Yet again, criminal charges against former President Donald Trump dominated last week’s political news. But Dennis Hart and I found time for more Iowa-specific topics as well. One thing Dennis and I didn’t discuss may interest some of you: supporters of Jesse Jackson’s 1988 presidential campaign gathered in Chicago this summer for a reunion to mark 35 ye…
Read more
2 months ago · 4 likes · 1 comment · Laura Belin

ART CULLEN

Art Cullen’s Notebook
The message from our governor: We are Iowa Nasty
Iowa used to be fetching for its wholesome charms. How do you do, neighbor? The index finger wave from the steering wheel. You could put up with the boredom for the honesty and trust. Bob Ray was an ambassador for ice cream, and it went down smoothly enough…
Read more
2 months ago · 49 likes · 2 comments · Art Cullen

CHUCK OFFENBURGER

Repeating O’burger under this category, too.

Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger
My own ‘Fair-Side Chat’ with you readers
DES MOINES, Iowa – On Saturday, I got both the 2023 Iowa State Fair and the 2024 U.S. presidential election started up – or at least my own participation in both. And as I did so, it occurred to me this is my 50th state fair, or close to that, and my 15…
Read more
a month ago · 1 like · Chuck Offenburger

SPORTS (and gardening?)

ROB GRAY

Rob Gray's Area
Contemplating “Controlled Chaos” — in football and in life
AMES and ANKENY, Iowa — He spoke of freedom and of peril. Of free-wheeling, frantic forays down the football field and rollicking celebrations in the locker room. Former Iowa State walk-on Ben Nikkel was having his day — and watching him smile as he described playing on special teams and being surprised with a scholarship prompted me to draw up the ter…
Read more
2 months ago · 3 likes · Rob Gray

WHO KNEW?

BARRY PIATT

Barry Piatt on Politics: - Behind the Curtains
Check That Jingle-Jangle in Your Pocket
You may be, at this very moment, carrying some history in the making in your pocket and not even know it. An image of Former First Lady, and US delegate to the United Nations Eleanor Roosevelt, is now featured on US quarters that have been showing up in change since June…
Read more
a month ago · Barry Piatt

MARY SWANDER

Mary Swander’s Buggy Land
The Call of the Corncrake
The Amish have continued gathering around Bertha’s deathbed, each neighboring household rotating throughout the week to the Yutzy’s farm to open their hymnals, sing in harmony, and create an atmosphere of deep connection to the Divine. The families have arrived in identical buggies, the men dressed in dark pants and sus…
Read more
2 months ago · 4 likes · 2 comments · Mary Swander

POETRY

Suzanna de Baca

Dispatches from the Heartland
I Pray You Leave Us Gently
A gentle death. Taken in the night, in a deep sleep, slipping away in a warm haze, song of crickets and bullfrogs vibrating in your ears as you drift off. This is what I wish for you, a painless crossing. Not to feel the heat of wildfires, the panic of flood waters, the sharp shock of a drone attack. Not to be blindsided by an accident, feel the de…
Read more
2 months ago · 10 likes · 20 comments · Suzanna de Baca

We, the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative members, are grateful for your support of our work. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to our individual columnists. They put great effort into providing content you won’t find elsewhere. If it is not possible, consider sharing this roundup with those you think might be interested in joining our subscriber base.

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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
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, Roundup
Steph Copley: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston
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
Rob Gray: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny
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
Letters from Iowans, Iowa
Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa
Alison McGaughey, The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities
Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar
Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines
Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids
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 Curtain, Washington, D.C.
Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines
Macey Spensley: The Midwest Creative, Iowa
Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader
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
The Iowa Writers Collaborative is also proud to ally with Iowa Capital Dispatch.
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