Keeping an eye on the legislature, congress, Vilsack, television, sports, and food keep our gang busy
Keeping an eye on the legislature, congress, Vilsack, television, sports, and food keep our gang busy
...your Sunday Roundup!
Art Cullen takes the Ag Secretary to task. The Farm Bill is stalled, with an uncertain future. Trying to appease corporate agriculture and buy its complicity on a “climate-smart” farm bill hasn’t worked for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack or Iowa, Cullen writes.
The Iowa Legislature
Laura Belin recounted how Iowa Senate Republicans found a way to make blood donations a partisan issue.
Earlier in the week, Laura Belin and Dennis Hart covered many bills that made it past a key Iowa legislative deadline and some bills going nowhere this year.
Cheryl Tevis: Lessons in History for Legislators: Pass or Fail?
Ripples of Hope is the headline on Kali White VanBaale’s column 988: Mental Health Care in Iowa. She spent the day on Iowa’s Capital Hill lobbying for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)/
Bob Leonard casts shade on Republicans who pretend they are interested in civics and history in Iowa Republicans Introduce a History and Civics Curriculum "Long Con, and a brave history professor resists..." and joins members of the Iowa Farmers Union lobbying at the Capitol sharing with us with Iowa Farmers Union Lobbying Day: and an encounter with a Family Leader lobbyist...
Doug Burns has a Q & A with a rising star in the Iowa Democratic Party: Josh Turek, of Council Bluffs.
Julie Gammack’s Potluck column features a podcast discussion with Sam Helmick, a representative of the public library system in Iowa and an emerging leader. This state is ranked near the bottom of the heap in the country regarding proposed laws targeting the existence and principles of public libraries.
Murky Shenanigans Along the Mississippi
The legal maneuvers are flying left and right in the secret settlements controversy in Davenport. Still, Ed Tibbetts at Along the Mississippi is tracking all of it and reminding readers to stay focused on the questions that matter most.
National Politics and Iowa
Senator Chuck Grassley is in the middle of a growing scandal regarding misinformation he pushed that was developed by Russian intelligence and is at the core of Republican efforts to impeach President Biden. Barry Piatt covers the Iowa Congressional Delegation from Washington, D.C.
Dave Price asks what the impact will be on the Iowa GOP if Trump is elected.
Sports
Steph Copley is a lawyer, a Cyclone fan, a mom, and a Swiftie with many other notable interests. In her column, she raises important issues not covered elsewhere. Read this one, about a long-awaited video game missing an obvious opportunity: representing half the population.
Dike-New Hartford is a small high school that has had huge success in girls' sports. After putting together one of the most dominating volleyball seasons in state history, the Wolverines now go for their fourth straight basketball title this coming week. For The Crossover this week, Jane Burns discovers why the teams are so good.
Rob Gray: Riffing on the state wrestling spectacle, ISU’s title hopes, and more.
Johnny Bright’s life was more than a notorious racist incident targeting him in 1951. The real tragedy would have been had he not been able to become a teacher. Our teacher and columnist, Daniel Finney ‘stacks paragraphs’ beautifully to tell this story.
Around Iowa
Meet the cat that changed the lives of the Arnold Garson family: Francois.
Pat Kinney pays tribute to long-time Des Moines Register newsman Jack Hovelson, the man from Waterloo.
Darcy Maulsby has a thoughtful piece about soil, keepin’ it rural and fertile. How did Iowa get such rich soil,? she asks (and answers).
Ray Young Bear offers a slice of life from living on Meskwaki Tribal Land near Tama. He is a treasure. English is his second language, the primary one being Meskwaki. As all of us do, his views of life and his surroundings are shaped by life experience. His writing will take you to unusual places, including the sighting of UFOs.
This winter has been unseasonably mild; the winter of ’56-’57 was at the other extreme… (that’s eighteen '56-’57). Kurt Meyer retells a story about an old-fashioned Iowa snowstorm!
Between Two Rivers, Jeff Morrison continues the recap of his 2015 trip around Iowa in the northwest corner of the state. Read it to find out how the highest point in Iowa changed!
Nicole Baart is embarking on a new feature with her column, This Stays Here: a live Zoom conversation with the respected author. The first event will be on February 29th at 7 p.m.
Ambassador Andrew Young will be at Drake University for programs Monday night and Tuesday morning. Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger uses his column to celebrate “more than a half-century of kindness and inspiration” that Young has given the extended Offenburger family.
From Loss to Light is the name of a podcast by Iowa Author Michelle Cowan and Angie Hanson of Omaha. Doug Burns is a guest and opens up about his own experiences of losing the family-owned newspaper he ran in Carroll.
In Ames, Fern and Joe subscribed to a print newspaper after a long absence, and lament the loss of local news.
When he's not traveling or working at state wrestling and basketball tournaments, John Naughton is finding birthday freebies, those sweet deals that restaurants offer to try to get you to visit them.
What’s good for the meadowlark is good for farm and ranch land. Find out how in this week's edition of Mary Swander's Emerging Voices in Joshua T. Anderson’s column called Dirt Poor to Common Ground.
Beth Hoffman writes about the foibles of AI. We posted a blurb last week but the link was omitted. Here it is! How to (Not) Write a Midwestern Psalm.
Jane Nguyen shares about the importance of the Vietnamese New Year to her and her family.
Black Iowa News
Dana James highlights an upcoming story by Rachelle Chase about a woman who is the reason and Iowa County was named ‘Johnson.’
Media
Veteran broadcast journalist Dave Busiek schools readers on how it is different writing for print versus radio or television. You’ll learn something in his column this week.
The Arts
Macey Shofroth is a delightful writer working with a nonprofit designed to elevate the arts in the Midwest. Her column introduces readers to fascinating contributors to the greater aesthetic good. Macey spoke with Arts Midwest, a nonprofit United States Regional Arts Organization, about their new efforts to elevate Midwest storytelling with their Creative Midwest Media Cohort initiative.
Humor
A holiday gift got the better of Vicki Minor…so far.
We’re tucking Alison McGaughy’s column into the ‘Humor’ subhead because it’s funny. It’s also packed with good TV-watching fodder, and a nod to an ex, the rat bastard.
Food
Wini Moranville introduces a new contributor to Wini’s Food Stories: Jeanne Ambrose, who has worked for both Better Homes and Gardens and Taste of Home in her long career as a food editor. She writes about Pie Mates Australian Bakehouse.
Letters From Iowans
Today’s letter is from Iowan Ralph Rosenberg, a former legislator who remains active in various issues.
The Letters From Iowans column is now handled by Jeff Morrison, who once edited letters submitted to The Des Moines Register editorial pages. Jeff is taking on this assignment in addition to his writing the column Between Two Rivers and holding a full-time job. Please support this effort in any way you can. We believe the Letters From Iowans column serves both readers and writers who may have an occasional opinion piece to share.
We welcome your submissions if you want to share something and have a fresh point of view.
Use this form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd_uL6kP6A00CaorEzZYs7T68uLUEDZaDIUAs9IVzVWtyCpNQ/viewform
Poetry
Suzanna de Baca responds to breaking scientific news with this week’s poem: “What Has Your Radiance Done For You?”
The dead children are worthy of our prayers. Teresa Zilk.
Thanks!
As a thank you to paid subscribers of any of our columns, we hold the Office Lounge Zoom call on the last Friday of the month. The next one will be held on March 29, noon central time. The conversations are fascinating. First, our columnists talk about their work, and then we ask readers for feedback and ideas. These discussions have generated topics that are subsequently covered.
This is a community. Our readers are engaged, and many are influencers in business, politics, religion, and education. We do NOT compete with legacy news institutions. We hope to enhance and supplement the changing media landscape through this platform that allows writers to remain independent.
We do not accept advertising, so if writers are to be compensated for their work, it comes from paid subscriptions. We want these stories to be read; most content is available without a paywall. Some offer premium content or perks for paid members, including an annual holiday party.
Finally, we are proud to be affiliated with Iowa Capital Dispatch, an INA award-winning and hard-hitting local news organization. Editor Kathie Obradovich picks up many of our columns, and they, in turn, are available to Iowa newspapers at no charge.
Together, we hope to bring information and insight to our readers.
Your support makes this possible.
It Takes Two to Tango, the saying goes…
How about sharing this with two people you believe would like to know about the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative?
Just two.
If you do this, it will help.
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Roster
Nicole Baart: This Stays Here, Sioux Center
Ray Young Bear: From Red Earth Drive, Meskwaki Settlement
Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights
Tory Brecht: Brecht’s Beat, Quad Cities
Dartanyan Brown, My Integrated Life, Des Moines
Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll
Jane Burns: The Crossover, Des Moines
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
Daniel Finney, Paragraph Stacker, Des Moines
Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts, Okoboji and Sioux Falls
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, Lovilia
Dana James: Black Iowa News, Iowa
Chris Jones, Chris’s Substack, Iowa City
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
Darcy Maulsby: Keepin’ It Rural, Calhoun County
Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa
Alison McGaughey, The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities
Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar
Vicki Minor, Relatively Minor, Winterset
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
Steve Semken, The Pulse of a Heartland Publisher, North Liberty
Macey Shofroth: The Midwest Creative, Norwalk
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
Jason Walsmith, The Racontourist, Earlham
Kali White VanBaale, 988: Mental Healthcare in Iowa, Bondurant
Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines
We want to hear from YOU! Please consider submitting a Letter by using this form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd_uL6kP6A00CaorEzZYs7T68uLUEDZaDIUAs9IVzVWtyCpNQ/viewform