Record floods, record political shenanigans, and the IWC hits a new record
..and two new writers...
Introducing Sections: Click on the links below to go directly to topics:
Politics / Agriculture / Around Iowa / Sports / Food, Travel / It’s Personal / Humor / Letters from Iowans / Poetry / New Members
Happy Anniversary to Us
Thanks to you, our readers, The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative is now three years old as of this month. Our roster below lists 57 columns. Not everyone in our group produces content each week, but many do, which means we bring you a ton of content each week.
As the one compiling the roundup, I am continually astounded by the compelling columns published weekly. My ongoing challenge is how to showcase each member in a way that draws you into their work.
Our beloved Art Cullen is a community news guy who won a Pulitzer Prize and had a documentary film produced about his family-owned newspaper in Storm Lake because they exemplify the dire need local newspapers face as market forces have changed. His column carried here has provided much-needed income and grown his audience exponentially from his perch in Storm Lake, adding to his national and international audience. Thank you for making this happen. Keep those paid subscriptions coming, please!
I usually lead with ‘Politics’ because of the timeliness and news aspect to the columns. That, however, does not mean it is better than the exemplary writing found in other sections, from ‘Around Iowa’ to ‘Poetry,’ anchored at the end.
I hope you enjoy the Section links tool above and that it makes it easier to find the topics that interest you most.
As always, this endeavor is experimental.
We are creating a new path based on an old truism: local, independent commentary and information are vital to a democracy and a community.
Yes
Yes, we have a growing roster. Yes, we know you don’t have time to read everyone. And yes, we understand very few can become paid subscribers to more than a few members. Some of you cannot afford to subscribe, so you do not have to become a paid subscriber to access this work.
A New Business Model - Will It Work?
We believe we offer an outstanding collection of professional Iowa journalists and authors who are working hard, with very little remuneration, to bring you points of view that might enrage, delight, inform, and transform you.
If those who have the ability to pay do, this can work.
Suggestions?
As a reader, if you have suggestions as to how to make it easier for you to read and bring others in as subscribers, please let me know. Topics? Sections? We really are in this together. Julie Gammack
New Members
Central Iowa KCCI-TV viewers and Iowa Public Radio listeners who follow politics will know of , who retired this month as a professor of political science at Drake University. It didn’t take long for him to experiment with retirement - let’s say a few hours - before he launched Let’s Talk Politics and joined the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative group.
, who lives on the eastern side of the state in the Scott County town of Eldridge, is a longtime newspaperman and former owner of the North Scott Press. Bill is an Iowa Master-Editor, recipient of Iowa State’s Greenlee School of Journalism and Mass Communication’s James W. Schwartz Award, and the National Newspaper Association’s James O. Amos Award for “Outstanding Leadership and Service to His Community and the Profession of Journalism.” As of this week, Bill Tubbs, Impressions will be available through his Substack column as part of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. This week, he said Donald Trump would have benefited from being in 4-H.
Please read and welcome them!
Politics
They sure sounded like they cared. Seven years ago, Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst indicated they wanted to do something about the deadliest mass shooting in US history. at Along the Mississippi tells us exactly what they did--seven years ago and this week.
writes from Washington, DC, that even a quick glance in the rearview mirror reveals the corruption of Trump’s “slow walking” judges.
Two leading researchers contradict the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and say the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is shrinking because of warming water and not because of less nitrate flowing in from the Mississippi River complex. reports that this will cause the agrochemical complex to declare victory over surface water pollution as Iowa chokes itself with poison.
and Spencer Dirks covered a federal court ruling, new Iowa poll findings, new Congressional candidates, and some of Laura's exclusive reporting in the latest edition of "KHOI's Capitol Week."
went to the Iowa Democratic Convention last weekend and saw the sausage being made. He shared his thoughts in "We Shouldn't be Chasing Votes; We Should be Chasing the Truth: Ryan Melton, Democratic Candidate for Iowa's Fourth District," at Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture.
assembled a panel of political analysts who are members of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative to discuss the results of the first Iowa Poll, published in The Des Moines Register. J. Ann Selzer, the pollster, was a featured guest. This coming Monday, Julie’s featured guest will be Elizabeth Garst, whose family hosted Nikita Krusdchev on his historic Iowa visit and whose family's farming practice has resulted in far healthier Iowa topsoil than standard practices today. Gammack’s subscribers are invited to join the discussion.
Sometimes, things pile up so that simply ignoring such matters is unsustainable. According to , that’s where we are now regarding Justice Clarence Thomas and his ethical lapses. Kurt says time for action, time for change.
Around Iowa
has a status report on the flooding at Okoboji, comparing it to 1993.
celebrates the wildlife and waters of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, which turned 100 this month.
is passionate about Iowa wildflowers but hasn't shared that part of her work in this space until this week. In "Learn how to spot (and avoid) poison hemlock," she warned readers about a toxic invasive that has become widespread across Iowa.
Practically no one in Iowa (and only a few in Winterset) know that Quiltfolk, an Oregon-based company, maintains a studio on the second floor of the Iowa Quilt Museum's historic building. In ' next Report from Quiltropolis, you'll learn how an entrepreneur visited Madison County and was so enthralled by all the quilty things going on there he became the museum's upstairs tenant.
The school in Goldfield is about to be demolished. toured it with one of Goldfield High's graduates — his mother — and looked back at the school’s history.
In honor of Pride month and in continuation of her series on interesting Iowans, Alison McGaughey shines the spotlight on Rich Hendricks, pastor of an inclusive church in Davenport and leader of anti-hate initiatives. She reveals his answers to the Official Quad Citizen Quiz. She encourages readers to join her conversation thread about the Brat Pack and weigh in.
Agriculture
In her column, Fighting a Losing Proposition, asks why successive generations constantly forget to apply the age-old lessons of the soil.
What's it like on a farm in Iowa in June? John Hogeland, IWC columnist. ’s husband explains how Iowa's "new normal" weather is throwing some curve balls.
writes about agriculture being white by design.
Sports
The U.S. Olympic swimming, gymnastics, and track and field trials are ending this month. For , they blend athletic skill, patriotism, and fun, memory-stirring events.
Recently deceased baseball great Willie Mays was befriended by a Waterloo advertising executive and his son, who designed and dedicated a youth baseball park to Mays at his home in California. Read it in ’s new “View from the Cedar Valley” column.
looks for the creative spirit in all corners of the Midwest. Last week, she found it in an unlikely place: the inaugural NASCAR Cup Race at the Iowa Speedway in Newton.
It’s Personal
writes what it’s like to be the fat guy at the pool.
considers the surgeon general's proposal to add warning labels to social media platforms to help protect our kids.
"Go with the flow" is not just an empty phrase. In her "A Whole New World" column, explains why following the energy works in writing—and in life.
Food, Travel, Entertainment
salutes this week’s opening of the Des Moines Metro Opera season with some fun stories from the event’s history and a review of its recent “Opera Gala.”
In her roundup of Des Moines dining news, Wini Moranville invites readers to the public launch of her new book. She'll be appearing at the Johnston Public Library on July 20th.
Sioux City is a happening town, and through her Millennial Mindset column has the deets. This post was a report on what was going to happen yesterday in Siouxland, but if you have an interest in this northwest part of the state, and or the views of a woman with a Millennial Mindset, check her out.
has a report on a Juneteenth celebration held in Ottumwa. He met a few Iowa Writers’ Collaborative colleagues along the way.
In search of her family roots, meets a cousin In a Pub in Clifden, Ireland, and finds out what it meant to be poor in the old country in the old days.
Letters From Iowans
In Letters from Iowans, John Kirsch writes about the importance of limits in the presidency: "Today’s ruling faction clearly believes that extremism in defense of their power is no vice."
Humor
A witch at half price. What is Vicki Minor,
, thinking?
Poetry
shares a news response poem “Self Portrait as a Dust Storm.”
On Friday, June 21st had the honor of sharing her poetry and having it included in the gallery book for the record-breaking opening exhibition of b. Robert Moore’s In Loving Memory: Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep at the Des Moines Art Center.
Hey! It’s almost the end of June, so it’s time for the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Zoom call with our paid subscribers. will host the discussion, and he’ll be joined by about a dozen members of this group. We do this as a thank you to those who support our work financially, and we all benefit from hearing what’s on your minds.
The link is for paid subscribers to this column or any of the other Iowa Writers’ Collaborative members. Join the fun!