Perry tragedy, and GOP presidential candidate endorsement by one of our members
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We want to thank the family of Betty Grandquist for designating the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative as a recipient of memorial gifts in her name. To learn more about this extraordinary woman, here is her obituary: Betty Grandquist.
Tragedy in Perry
Douglas Burns was on the scene for the first press conference after a school shooting in Perry. His reporting about what happened sets the scene for other collaborative members weighing in on commentary.
Ahmir Jolliff, age 11, was killed. More from KCCI News.
Dave Busiek wrote two pieces about how local media handles a crisis with a significant story unfolding.
Barry Piatt, a Dallas County native, writes about the school shooting in Perry and says that the horrific tragedy there deserves more than the usual responses. it requires action and change.
Dave Price says we must do more.
Steph Copley Steph turned to words to help her process Thursday's tragic school shooting in Perry, but it came down to anger, sadness, and numbness.
Jane Nguyen Jane Nguyen shares an inside look at teachers' internal struggle when faced with the possibility of school violence.
Kali White Vanbaale: Mental Healthcare in Iowa 2024: Where We're At and Where We Need To Go"—An overview of Iowa's current mental healthcare stats and our top legislative priorities for the upcoming session identified by NAMI Iowa. Over the next four weeks, I'll dive more deeply into each legislative priority.
Politics
Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger’s column is his endorsement of Nikki Haley for president. He begins by saying that it’s high time that we elected a woman president of the U.S., and says Haley –- the former South Carolina governor and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations – is the right woman at the right time. One caveat from Offenburger: He’ll stick with Haley as long as President Joe Biden is the Democrat’s nominee.
Laura Belin surveyed the best of Bleeding Heartland's original reporting in 2023—many articles did not appear on her Substack. Earlier in the week, she shared her top ten Substack posts from last year, along with the audio and recap of "Capitol Week," which she co-hosts with Dennis Hart:
Ed Tibbetts writes at Along the Mississippi that a federal judge has exposed how Kim Reynolds isn't telling the truth about her book ban. The judge even points out that the governor and Republican lawmakers could have taken an alternate route -- but rejected it. As a result, hundreds of books have been banned at school libraries across the state. And Ed was featured on Quad-Cities television last week as he continues to raise questions about Davenport City Hall's controversial $1.6 million payment to a former administrator. Take a look.
Our resident anthropologist, Bob Leonard, responds to a respected critic who didn't like his writing about the Satanic Temple of Iowa.
Arnold Garson examines Iowa's half-century run as the nation's first presidential testing ground. A deep dive into how it happened, beginning in 1968, and what might happen in the future. Also, remnants of an unreported conversation with the 1972 Democratic candidate, George McGovern.
Our Newest Member
Please welcome Dartanyan Brown, who has already filed multiple stories and podcast interviews in his column launched this new year. He promises to offer stories and sounds from a life in jazz and journalism. He is a teaching artist with much to share, and from a perspective rarely reported. Did you ever dream of ‘making it big’ as a musician?
From the Archives: Blues and local roots music historians will appreciate the release of Dartanyan's first substack podcast, a 1970s interview with the late Blues guitar legend Luther Allison.
Dartanyan will be Julie Gammack’s guest on her Monday Zoom podcast.
Dartanyan says after his first week of "going live" with this Substack platform, he concludes: I've not had a better "social media" experience in the digital era.
Sports
Iowa’s defense ‘stinks like Limburger in Cheese-It, says Tory Brecht. Do tell.
Covid Lands
Art Cullen came down with Covid and still managed to eke out a column. Julie Gammack did, too, and lamented it caused her to miss a New Year’s Eve dance party.
More Humor
Vicki Minor has been eavesdropping again, and this one from the dental chair is a hoot.
The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Alison McGaughey, has lofty wishes for the new year. One of them is about the self-checkout at ALDI.
Food, Glorious Food
Wini Moranville interviewed Cajun Belle chef-owner Zack Hollier to find out why his gumbo tastes like no gumbo she'd ever had before. "My story is the reason my food tastes so good," said Hollier, who grew up on the Texas bayou. Wini got the story.
Forks ready? asks John Naughton. From ice cream in Mason City to birria ramen in Fort Dodge, I traveled the state in 2023 and ate various foods. Here's a look at cheap eats at the farmers market and the Iowa State Fair, plus splurge meals at Ruth's Chris on Substack. A free read!
Who knew?
Cheryl Tevis connects the dots between the iconic 1989 movie Field of Dreams and the disingenuous efforts of Iowa’s current legislators to ‘protect’ kids by banning books.
Around Iowa
In This Stays Here, Nicole Baart rings in the New Year by sharing her word for 2024 and inviting her readers to do the same.
A perspective on Iowa history by Macey Shofroth.
This week, when our schools faced tragedy, Ardyth Harris Gillespie takes us back to an earlier time, giving us a fascinating glimpse into the old one-room country school of her childhood. Her column appears in Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices.
Pat Kinney writes: Tom Brickman gathered photos of all Iowans killed in Vietnam, sent them to Washington and Waterloo museums.
Kurt Meyer mourns the loss of three extraordinary friends.
Douglas Burns read Michelle Cowan’s book Better, Not Bitter and wrote a compelling review and shout-out to the first-time author.
Julie Gammack announces new Monday Zoom guests for January, including an upcoming discussion with Democratic party officials about the ‘other’ caucus being held on January 15.
Traveling
Hawaii…through the eye of a mainlander, by our naturalist, Larry Stone
Poetry
Our resident poet, Suzanna de Baca, responds to this week's unimaginable news: a tragic school shooting in Perry, Iowa.
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
Below is a list of the members of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please support their work by sharing and subscribing. Paid subscribers are invited to attend real-time events and occasional Zoom calls among our writers. Your support keeps this reader-only supported service going.
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Read this! This is about doing what is right & good for Iowans! Wisdom from a trusted & well-respected Iowa educator who gets it.
An Open Letter to Governor Kim Reynolds
Dear Governor Reynolds,
The picture of you and your grief-stricken face at the press conference in Perry on Thursday reflects the pain and shock all Iowans feel at the horror of the school shooting there. You graciously pledged at that press conference to provide the “full resources of the state government to provide support” to the Perry community for its healing.
Did you mean it? Are you sincere? If so, prove it. Prove it to the young people who all of a sudden have been forced to grow up too soon to what hatred can do. Prove it to the hurting families in Perry. Prove it to the educators there who work so hard every day to help EVERY student achieve in a safe and caring environment. Prove it to all Iowans who mourn for Perry while fearing that the same thing will happen in their communities.
You could start here:
Stop marginalizing LGBTQ students and creating a culture of “the other.” All kids get hurt when some kids are viewed as outcasts.
Reverse your decision to refuse EBT funds for summer programs for hungry kids. There are plenty of kids in Perry who don’t need to go hungry on top of everything else they’re being asked to process.
Stop the attacks on funding AEAs and the work they do to help special education students, provide crisis team supports, and help educators meet the demands of 21st century learning.
Provide educators with the resources for professional development they need to deal with bullying and students with mental health issues.
Quit your association with Moms for Liberty and its venomous and outrageous positions.
Fund a truly robust mental health system that provides quality, timely, affordable, and easily accessible help to children who need it.
Honor the federal judge’s ruling blocking “wildly overbroad” Senate File 496 (book banning and curriculum decisions) that marginalizes certain students and undermines educators’ authority and local control.
Increase state aid to public schools to support the hard work that educators do every day to educate and protect ALL kids.
Back sensible gun laws in Iowa.
Stop bleeding public schools by siphoning off their public dollars to private schools (ESA)
Thoughts and prayers are easily offered. The flags you ordered be at half staff will be raised on Sunday. Politicians wearing “Perry Strong” hoodies will soon go back to their offices, Then what?
What happens at the state level will either help or harm Perry’s healing. You have promoted a system that increasingly puts poor children, hungry children, hurting children, and “different” children on the sidelines to promote your political agenda. Now all children in Perry suffer from those actions. Stop the madness.
Troyce Fisher, Ed. D.
Clear Lake, IA
(Fisher is a retired educator who spent most of her 43-year career in administration).