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Happy Anniversary

...and a new format for your Sunday Roundup of columns

Jul 9, 2023

One year ago this week, the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative was launched. The mission was to link readers and writers to commentary about Iowa from a spectrum of viewpoints. We have grown to offer 35 columns in total, and on Sunday mornings, we deliver this roundup from those writers who have posted the previous week.

To acknowledge this milestone, we will hold a real-time gathering for the paid subscribers who make this possible (including a private pre-gathering for Founding Members). Stay tuned for a save-the-date announcement coming soon.

If you would like to become a supporter or give a gift of a paid subscription to someone, click below:

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And please consider becoming a paid subscriber to your favorite columnists listed in the roster below.

This week's roundup will categorize our posts to assist readers in finding the content they want to read first.

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POLITICS

LAURA BELIN

Laura Belin reports a mailer sent to Iowa GOP voters claiming the former president favors gay and transgender rights.

Iowa politics with Laura Belin

Iowa mailer "thanks" Donald Trump for pro-LGBTQ stances

This exclusive reporting first appeared at Bleeding Heartland and is shared here as part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. For regular emails linking to all recent Bleeding Heartland articles and commentary, subscribe to the free Evening Heartland newsletter…

3 months ago · 4 likes · Laura Belin

BARRY PIATT

Barry Piatt on Politics: - Behind the Curtains

Trump's Massive Lies Grow Bigger on Iowa Campaign Trail

Those who have not fallen into the ever-swirling vortex of the MAGA cult, know Donald Trump is a prolific liar. He is the most active, and biggest, liar in American political history. When I say we know he’s a liar, I don’t mean he says things with which we disagree, and therefore he must be lying…

3 months ago · 1 like · Barry Piatt

ROBERT LEONARD

Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture

Schooling a Judge

I was walking out of the barbershop I go to in Knoxville a while back and saw a county judge heading toward me, and I held the door open for him. "Time for a haircut, eh," I said, smiling at the judge, who I respect. I'm the perfect customer for Paige, my barber. Not much hair to cut, I come every other week, and I tip well. It’s good karma…

3 months ago · 25 likes · 35 comments · Robert Leonard

DOUGLAS BURNS

The Iowa Mercury

‘Murderous lie’ that America is racist dividing nation, presidential candidate Elder says

STORM LAKE, Iowa NOTE: This story first appeared in The Storm Lake Times Pilot. Iowans should be outraged at calls for reparations for Blacks for slavery as the state had the…

3 months ago · Douglas Burns

ED TIBBETTS

Along the Mississippi

Is it time to impeach Supreme Court justices?

A disagreeable ruling, it has been said, is not a sufficient reason for removing a judge from office. Yet, in a 6-3 decision a week ago, the US Supreme Court overruled decades of precedent and ignored this country’s history — and its present — by rejecting the race-conscious admissions policies at Harvard and the Univer…

3 months ago · 1 like · 8 comments · Ed Tibbetts

JODY GIFFORD

Benign Inspiration

Independence Day?

It has been a banner year to be a woman or a minority in the United States, thanks, in part, to a conservative majority in the Supreme Court. Last June, SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade, ending 50 years of protections for abortion rights. Two weeks ago, the court eliminated affirmative action in higher education, voted in favor of a Christian web designer …

3 months ago · 2 likes · 1 comment · Jody Gifford

DANA JAMES

Normalizing 'extremist' Moms for Liberty in Iowa

The Southern Poverty Law Center considers Moms for Liberty a far-right “extremist group,” and that doesn’t jive with how some local television media portrayed them on July 6. The newscast I saw didn’t mention Moms for Liberty at all in its coverage of an event with Casey DeSantis and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds…

3 months ago · 1 like · New Black Iowa

IOWA MEDIA

DAVE BUSIEK

Dave Busiek on Media

A battle for your bucks

Another television station blackout battle is happening in Iowa, and across the country, and this is a big one. It involves stations owned by Nexstar, a Texas company that owns 159 TV stations – the most of any U.S. company. It includes WHO-TV, the NBC affiliate in Des Moines; KCAU, the ABC affiliate in Sioux City; and WHBF, t…

3 months ago · 8 likes · 1 comment · Dave Busiek

INTERNATIONAL POLICY

ART CULLEN

Art Cullen’s Notebook

Hey, China, let’s do lunch

It’s good that the United States and China are trying to patch things up before we blow things up. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s recent trip to Beijing is a welcome respite from tensions building between the intimate trade partners/superpowers. Blinken’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping sounded cordial enough and productive. Treasury Secret…

3 months ago · 14 likes · 2 comments · Art Cullen

MARY SWANDER’S EMERGING VOICES

Mary Swander's Emerging Voices

A Planted Tree: A Palestinian Act of Resistance

What would it be like to have to fight in court for over 30 years for the right to stay on your land which has been in your family since 1916? What if soldiers destroyed your farm, uprooted your trees, and restricted your movement? Would you have the courage to stay…

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

SPORTS

ROB GRAY

Rob Gray's Area

Thoughts on Tamin Lipsey and Tre King, two of Iowa State's most important players this season

ANKENY, Iowa — I promised analysis and commentary in this space on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and I don’t plan to disappoint. I aim to inform and entertain — whether writing about sports (as I am now) or my many other interests. To wit, after a fulfilling week-long vacation at our family cabin on Lower Cullen Lake in Nisswa, Minn., I’m back to turn that…

3 months ago · Rob Gray

FOOD AND ENTERTAINMENT

KYLE MUNSON

Kyle Munson's Main Street

We had a Grand time at 1501 while it lasted.

I’ve been dwelling on the outsized power of one scruffy venue to enhance the cultural life of a city. Consider the humble four-story brick building at 1501 Grand Avenue in downtown Des Moines. Its current occupant, live-music spot Gas Lamp, shuts down after a final blowout gig July 8. The bar commands prime real estate along a main traffic artery in a Wes…

3 months ago · 5 likes · 1 comment · Kyle Munson

WINI MORANVILLE

Wini’s Food Stories

Food-Forward Restaurants with Summer-Perfect Beers

As any beer aficionado will tell you, beer can be as seasonal as food. I recently went on the hunt for restaurants that offer the kinds of seasonally driven, thirst-slaking beer we crave right now. Here are three great finds. And I’d love to hear your favorites…

3 months ago · 9 likes · 4 comments · Wini Moranville

IOWA LIFE

BETH HOFFMAN

Farm Meditation #3: Don't Let Them Get Your Goat

Farm Meditations is a series based on events that happen on Whippoorwill Creek Farm in South Central Iowa. We raise grass fed and finished beef, goats, foraged mushrooms and some veggies. We will also soon have farm stays and space for small events…

3 months ago · 9 likes · 6 comments · Beth Hoffman

CHERYL TEVIS

Unfinished Business

Unfinished Business

Controversial Supreme Court rulings, a special session of the Iowa legislature to restrict abortion, and a deadly open season on Americans celebrating the 4th of July. Isn't it time to escape from the hateful rhetoric and violent mayhem? Perhaps a visit to a far-away place . . . 4,000 miles away…

3 months ago · 4 likes · 2 comments · Cheryl Tevis

CHUCK OFFENBURGER

Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger

Lawtons’ 46th corn crop is smiles-high!

COOPER, Iowa – Oh, it looks so good right now – at 9-feet high, maybe higher, lush, thick, so green. But as I often hear my No. 1 farm pal Doug Lawton say, “You never know.” Who would have predicted a “derecho” on Aug. 10, 2020, causing the Lawtons to plow under 75 percent of a corn crop that had looked great on that July 4th? And causing catastrophic d…

3 months ago · 4 likes · 5 comments · Chuck Offenburger

DAVE PRICE

Dave Price's Perspective

My first 104th birthday bash

I’ve had some unexpected memorable experiences: interviewing my first celebrity (LeAnn Rimes), talking childbirth with a future president (Barack Obama) and flying a plane despite not knowing how and also being scared of heights (the pilot was with me for this training exercise that was part of a Memorial Day air show preview story for TV). Those are se…

3 months ago · Dave Price

MACEY SPENSLEY

The Midwest Creative

Do All the Good You Can

The Midwest Creative is a passion project borne out of my love for my home and my sincere belief that the Midwest deserves our love, care, and investment. I will sing the praises of the creative community in this region until my last breath. But I need your help to reach as many people as I can…

3 months ago · 5 likes · 4 comments · Macey Spensley

KURT MEYER

Our Semiquincentennial

Society seems to have reached a season when everything is contentious. Admittedly, these flashpoints aren’t generally open warfare, like the battle taking place 160 years ago this last week in little Gettysburg, then only 2,400 residents. By studying history, specifically historic battles, we might conclude that society has ALWAYS engaged in what I’ll e…

3 months ago · 1 like · Kurtis Meyer

JULIE GAMMACK

Julie Gammack's Iowa Potluck

Updates and upcoming announcement...

On July 14, we will celebrate the first anniversary of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. If you are not receiving the weekly round-up of columns our members write, you may do so here (free). We currently have 35 columns, including one for readers to write essays called…

3 months ago · 9 likes · 6 comments · Julie Gammack

SUZANNA DE BACA

Dispatches from the Heartland

Poetry featured in Written Tales Magazine

Dear Dispatches from the Heartland Readers: Thank you again for your interest in and support of my work. As mentioned in a prior post, a number of my poems have been published recently in magazines and journals. This week, two poems —The Body is a Weapon…

3 months ago · 4 likes · 4 comments · Suzanna de Baca

Dispatches from the Heartland

Poetry featured in Etched Onyx Magazine

Dear Dispatches from the Heartland Readers: Thank you again for your interest in and support of my work. I’m pleased to share that four of my poems are included in the Spring 2023 edition of Etched Onyx Magazine. You can read them by clicking on this link…

3 months ago · 3 likes · 12 comments · Suzanna de Baca

PAT KINNEY

View from the Cedar Valley

Making a big splash in New Hartford

NEW HARTFORD -- This town is bouncing back one step at a time – or, perhaps more correctly, one scoop at a time. In multiple flavors -- including strawberry cheesecake, which is to die …

3 months ago · 2 likes · 2 comments · Pat Kinney

TERESA ZILK

Meet the Storyteller: Jill Wells

Creator of the renowned Black Thread exhibit and numerous socially conscious works, Jill Wells takes the stage on Sunday, July 23rd at the Viking Theater for Stories to Tell My Daughter from 4 to 6 pm. Through her art, Jill offers viewers new ways of seeing and experiencing art. But through her personal narrative, she’l…

3 months ago · 2 likes · 1 comment · Teresa Zilk

LAURA BELIN

Iowa politics with Laura Belin

A July 4 wildflower collection and the latest "Capitol Week"

If you mainly know my work through this Substack, you may not be aware I’ve been publishing a regular series on Iowa wildflowers in the spring, summer, and fall since 2012. Guest authors and I have profiled around 250 species so far; here’s the full archive …

3 months ago · 7 likes · Laura Belin

ON THE ROAD

JOHN NAUGHTON

My Life, in Color

Vacation spotlight: Busch Gardens, a zoo within an amusement park

The kids are clamoring for roller coasters and the parents are looking for a more relaxed vacation experience. So what’s the best solution for a family trip that can bring happiness for all? To me, it’s Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida. There are roller coasters and rides for kids of all ages, but this is something special. Animal exhibits are located throughout the park…

3 months ago · 1 like · John Naughton

How do you like this new format, organizing columns by category?

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The roster of columnists is below. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to those you wish to support. It is truly appreciated:

THE IOWA WRITERS’ COLLABORATIVE

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

Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar

Wini Moranville, Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines

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.

5 Comments

Jul 9Liked by Julie Gammack

I like the new format!

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Wini Moranville

Writes Wini’s Food Stories

Jul 9Liked by Julie Gammack

LOVE the categories!

Expand full comment

1 reply by Julie Gammack

3 more comments...

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