Politics, but are we sick of it? Bring on the donuts instead.
...Jack Trice remembered, boxing, and Trump in Iowa
To our new subscribers: Welcome! You are receiving the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Sunday Roundup. The following text includes a hint about the topics our columnists have posted this week—the words in red link to the column published. Below is a complete list of the IWC members. Thanks for joining us, and please share this column with someone who will want to know about this service. It is free, but we hope you pick five of our members to join as paid subscribers.
As a thank-you to paid subscribers, you are invited to a party hosted by our columnists. Please put a circle around the date of Thursday, December. 7, for a holiday party to be held at the former governor’s mansion, 2900 Grand. Details to come (you may bring a guest for $20).
Food
Wini Moranville relishes telling food stories, and we eat it up (too cute?). Her story headline for this week: If Cha Cha's Hiland Bakery Doesn't Steal Your Heart, You Have No Heart to Steal. It’s sweet.
Remembering Jack Trice
Three of our members pause to remember the short, and impactful life of Jack Trice.
John Naughton asks, After 100 years, what is Jack Trice’s legacy?
Rob Gray’s column headling is: I WILL: Iowa State honors the legacy of Jack Trice 100 years after his death. If you do not know why Iowa State’s Stadium is named for Trice, or even if you do, could use a reminder of how slow the wheels of justice can turn, read these two stories.
Jeff Morrison’s take on the Trice story adds another dimension to this important story.
Politics
Dave Price asks, if the Democratic Party caucus in Iowa isn’t first, will it last? He has new information about the changes in the works for the party.
Former president Trump visited Ottumwa last week, and Robert Leonard was there. He puts on his anthropologist’s hat to describe what he witnessed. And Pat Kinney, our columnist in Waterloo, weighs in on Trump’s visit to the Waterloo Cattle Congress Fairgrounds—the scene of the detention center used after the historic raid to oust workers in Postville who were illegal immigrants.
Dave Busiek says ‘they want us to tune out’ following a head-spinning week of national political news. Are we simply disgusted? If you’re not too disgusted to care, read Laura Belin, who recaps the week in review. She also co-hosts a podcast political junkies crave about Iowa politics.
Laura also posted a column about an Iowa attorney honored for half-century of civil rights advocacy.
Douglas Burns noticed something about his hometown of Carroll. Listen closely to what you don’t hear in Carroll.
Sexism in football? The Taylor Swift effect. Read Steph Copley’s take.
Iowa’s U.S. House Republicans find their acorn, says our man in Washington. His take on the ousting of the House Speaker.
Road Trippin’
When Art Cullen hits the road, his observations are well worth your time. In Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, he succinctly concludes a piece of apple pie in the ‘city beautiful’ makes sense.
Alison McGaughey takes us on a different kind of road trip, yet still instructional—postcard from a (very) non-Midwestern farm.
On an island off an island off an Island, Mary Swander takes us on a journey to her beloved homeland of Ireland. Swander teaches readers much about lives we can’t fathom, and does so brilliantly.
Around Iowa
Macey Spensley and Junie B. Jones has a lot in common. For a fun read, check out A five-year-old’s journey to words.
Julie Gammack announced the news about the Okoboji Writers’ Retreat IV.
Learn about how Peña’s Boxing legacy lives on through the family in this feature piece from Hola, Iowa.
Kurt Meyer writes about the value of keeping in touch with old friends.
Through a series of surprising coincidences, Cheryl Tevis discovers we do live in a small world, after all.
Church
Chuck Offenburger has a column about a transgender pastor who will be at Plymouth Church this morning. Read his insightful column:
Poetry
Where does the sun go? Suzanna de Baca.
We are growing!
Tell us what you’d like to see more of in postings by Iowa writers:
Columnist recommendation survey
From today’s Capital Dispatch (our alliance partner):
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com (includes stories about Drake, the Farm Bill, Jobs report, Ocheyedan River, and more about Ag and the environment, health care, and election 2024. Please support this hard-hitting news organization and your local newspaper.
Our Roster
The roundup column features stories and commentary posted by our members from the previous week. Below is the complete list of our members.
Please pick five you’d like to support by becoming paid. It helps keep them going. Enjoy: