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Meet our newest columnist

...Teresa Zilk

Dec 11, 2022
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Meet our newest columnist

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Teresa Zilk

Teresa Zilk is a storyteller. And she believes everyone has one to tell. Teresa made a mission of this belief and created ‘Stories to Tell My Daughter, held on the campus of Grand View University in 2019. She plans to revive the series, which features women of color, that had been interrupted by Covid quarantine. The idea for the program came to her in a dream, and she wouldn’t let go until she took the action steps to make it a reality. Listen to an interview with her on the podcast Amplified with Abena and Jay.

Zilk was a news assistant for The Des Moines Register and is now in a graduate program at Drake University to become a therapist. She majored in Mass Communication/Media Studies at Grandview College, graduating in 2002.

Here is her first column as an Iowa Writers’ Collaborative member: Talking Good.


This Week…

  1. The Democratic National Committee’s decision to kill the Iowa Caucus tradition was a big topic for our columnists. For various viewpoints, read Barry Piatt, Art Cullen, Laura Belin, and Ed Tibbetts.

  2. The holiday season is touched on by four of our columnists this week. From grief accentuated by those missing during the holidays to Love Actually, and Wassail bowling in Shenandoah, capped off by a piece sure to make you think about heading to Oskaloosa for the ‘painting with lights’ display. Check them out below.

  3. The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative met in Jefferson last week. Read about it and the back story behind this column in Julie Gammack’s Potluck.

  4. Other gems this week come to us via Mary Swander, Suzanna de Baca, Dave Busiek, and the hilarious Fern and Joe.

    Photos from columns published this week.

ART CULLEN

Art Cullen’s Notebook
Democrats to Iowa: Drop dead
President Joe Biden’s orders to put South Carolina first on the presidential nominating calendar, and to displace Iowa, are perfectly understandable. Biden owed Rep. Jamie Clyburn, dean of South Carolina Democrats, for his seminal endorsement in 2020. Biden owes Iowa nothing, having placed fourth in the caucuses with a feeble effort. Iowa does not refle…
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4 months ago · 3 likes · 1 comment · Art Cullen

ED TIBBETTS


Along the Mississippi
Fight the right foe
President Biden and the Democratic National Committee have made it clear that change is coming. Iowa's presidential caucuses will no longer be first-in-the-nation. Still, some Democrats here continue to wring their hands and vow, along with New Hampshire, to fight …
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4 months ago · 6 likes · 7 comments · Ed Tibbetts

LAURA BELIN

Iowa politics with Laura Belin
Iowa caucus fallout, news from Congress, election updates, and more
Everyone wants to talk about the Democratic National Committee’s new proposed calendar, which knocks Iowa out of the early group. Over the weekend, I wrote for Bleeding Heartland about the missed opportunities to reform the caucuses, and I wrote for CNN Opinion…
Read more
4 months ago · 1 like · 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…
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4 months ago · 13 comments · Laura Belin

ROBERT LEONARD

Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture
When the Tones Go Off
I heard the tones go off on the scanner about dinner time last Sunday night. I sighed and listened, trying to decide if I needed to go cover it for a news story. The page was for a fire in Melcher-Dallas, about a 25-minute drive away. I had settled in for the evening and was writing at the kitchen table. I have an office, but I like to sit at the kitche…
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3 months ago · Robert Leonard

FERN AND JOE

Fern and Joe
Fern and Joe: On the Road
Fern: When did we go on that Iowa road trip with our friends? I don’t remember the month, but I know it was during the Before Times. Joe: The before times? Fern: You know. Before Trump was president. Before Covid. Before the Supreme Court took women back half a century…
Read more
4 months ago · 4 likes · 3 comments · Fern Kupfer and Joe Geha

DAVE BUSIEK

Dave Busiek on Media
Newsrooms Must Go Digital First
Most newsrooms are structured around their traditional means of delivery to consumers. Newspapers focus on the print edition. Television and radio newsrooms focus on the next newscast. Even all-digital news operations tend to still produce content much like a newspaper website does…
Read more
3 months ago · Dave Busiek

SUZANNA DE BACA

Dispatches from the Heartland
We need to move
She is forgetting Says the neighbor At first gently And then using stronger language Of love Of concern. Bills are unopened. She is confused. She should not drive. She is not safe Says the neighbor At first gently and then with panic. She left the burner on. She will trip and fall. She cannot tell time. She cannot remember. I am fine She says. This…
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4 months ago · 3 likes · 8 comments · Suzanna de Baca
Dispatches from the Heartland
A Petition for Forward Motion
One step forward Is all I ask. Sometimes it feels As if I am standing still Surrounded by fog Or moving backwards Or sideways Or downwards Or in no direction at all Plummeting headlong Careening and crashing Awash in confusion and fear. When all I ask Is to inch ahead Even the slightest bit. One step forward Is all I ask. I ask for help to clear th…
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4 months ago · 3 likes · 17 comments · Suzanna de Baca

JULIE GAMMACK

Julie Gammack's Iowa Potluck
Wild Rose Casino in Jefferson
Julie Gammack's Iowa Potluck is a reader-supported publication. Consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Jefferson, IA: A man came into the private room where the Iowa Writers' Collaborative group was starting to gather, wearing a blingy gold jacket, hat, and pink tennis shoes. I did not recognize him and wondered if a patron from the casino was los…
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4 months ago · 7 likes · 9 comments · Julie Gammack

JODY GIFFORD

Benign Inspiration
Love, Actually
Everyone has their Christmas traditions. Mine includes watching/rewatching the movie “Love Actually.” I’d like to say I reserve this tradition just for Christmas, but I don’t. It’s in my top five favorite movies, so not only do I own it on DVD, but I see it in th…
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4 months ago · Jody Gifford

CHERYL TEVIS

Unfinished Business
Unfinished Business
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4 months ago · 1 like · 3 comments · Cheryl Tevis

BETH HOFFMAN

In the Dirt
It Takes a Village (and a Crane)
We recently bought an old barn from a site in Onslow, Iowa, had it dismantled and moved, and are resurrecting it on our farm, an idea that sounded somehow simple and quaint when we looked into it some months back. Reusing the wood would be ecologically sound, we reasoned, and since the posts and braces already existed, well, we would likely save some mo…
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3 months ago · 5 likes · 5 comments · Beth Hoffman

DANA JAMES

New Black Iowa
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…
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4 months ago · 4 likes · 1 comment · New Black Iowa

MARY SWANDER

Mary Swander’s Buggy Land
Watershed
Ranae Lenor Hanson told her students at Minneapolis College to go outside and sit under a tree. Her students rolled their eyes and thought this a strange assignment for a bunch of working class and immigrant folks. What were they going to get out of it? Certainly not a job. But gradually, the students did take on the jo…
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4 months ago · 1 like · 2 comments · Mary Swander

LAURA BELIN

Iowa politics with Laura Belin
Iowa House race exposes problems with Scott County's ballot count
This reporting 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 t…
Read more
3 months ago · 1 like · Laura Belin

CHUCK OFFENBURGER

Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger
Here we come a-wassailing
SHENANDOAH, Iowa — While driving Saturday morning to my hometown in southwest Iowa, it occurred to me that 2022 marks 50 years since I’ve actually lived here. (Another thing that occurred to me: On the route I took between Des Moines and Shenandoah, you cross the East Nishnabotna River six times, so 12 for the day…
Read more
3 months ago · Chuck Offenburger

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Coming soon, John Naughton, Tar Macias, and Nik Heftman


The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative quick links

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
Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla
Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines
Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa
Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames
Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey
John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines
Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines
Barry Piatt: Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona
Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County
Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport
Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines

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