Sour and sweet, fury and 'aw'
Sour and sweet, fury and 'aw'
...a feast for readers
Sigh. The legislature is in session.
If you aren’t furious, then you haven’t been paying attention. The members of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative are paying attention.
This week’s columns are sweet and sour, yin and yang, up and down, hard-hitting and poetic - pick your verbiage for a delectable assortment of tastes.
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We think this assortment of professional essays gives you a sense of the potential and challenges we face in Iowa. It’s important.
We can’t fix problems if we don’t know they exist, and we can’t appreciate much of this state if we don’t know about those striving to make it better. Our writers are from around Iowa. Some live in metro areas, others on farms or small towns.
Iowa is the sum of its varied demographics, and we can’t know it if we don’t understand our connectedness.
This is our mission. As individuals and as a group. And that includes you, we hope.
FERN KUPFER
We’ll start with Fern this week. Ordinarily, she and her husband, Joe Geha, make us laugh. Not this week. She takes over the column-writing task, turning her writing prowess into a powerful essay springing from a personal experience no parent wants to endure.
ART CULLEN
Art Cullen wakes up pissed, he says. And this week’s column is a doozy:
DAVE BUSIEK
Dave Busiek on Media reports about the Fox News revelations this week:
Members of the Iowa Legislature are churning out so many lightning-rod, controversial bills it’s hard to keep up. Cheryl Tevis turns her attention to one that would legalize child labor. She addresses the issue from her long experience writing about and studying the issue.
CHERYL TEVIS
MARY SWANDER
Mary Swander uses her sense of humor to reframe the radical legislature in her column, Down in the Mines…from KLUU (Get a clue.) Radio.
LAURA BELIN
Our legislative watchdog, Laura Belin has tremendous reporting on a variety of issues being raised:
DOUGLAS BURNS
Douglas Burns attends an event for Kari Lake at a rally in Ankeny. The caucuses are happening on one side of the political aisle.
ED TIBBETTS
Our man in Davenport has a take on another presidential hopeful.
ROBERT LEONARD
Robert Leonard cross-posted a new podcast venture by Iowa Writers’ Collaborative member, Julie Gammack and her co-host, Rekha Basu: What the hell happened to Iowa:
Leonard has a way of taking us behind the scenes where every-day heroes work among us, often unsung:
KURT MEYER
Kurt Meyer shows up in a variety of delightful essays. This week he introduces us to an unusual gathering of geese. It’s a fun read.
SUZANNA DE BACA
Suzanna de Baca has an uncanny way of providing deep insights through poetry. Snow Ocean is a special example of her talent:
BETH HOFFMAN
We apparently have another poet in our midst. Beth Hoffman’s husband, John Hogeland, takes over her In the Dirt column this week:
PAT KINNEY
We get to read about Waterloo’s long-serving Mayor Quentin Hart, whose goal has been to turn the city from Why Waterloo? to Why not Waterloo?
JULIE GAMMACK
DEBRA ENGLE
Yin and yang and co-existing. Deb is a master of this and much more.
JOHN NAUGHTON
BARRY PIATT
TERESA ZILK
Here’s our illustrious group in alphabetical order:
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Columnists
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
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
Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa
Kurt Meyer, Showing Up, St. Ansgar
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 Curtains, Washington, D.C.
Macey Spensley, The Midwest Creative, Davenport and Des Moines
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
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