Wow, welcome to our new subscribers

...we have fun around here

Jan 01, 2023

Thanks to O. Kay Henderson and the crew of Iowa Press for having us on the show that aired on IPTV Friday. As a result, we have many newcomers in our ranks.

Here’s how we do things around here:

Each Sunday, you will receive a roundup of our columnists’ posts from the previous week. Read them all here. Then, pick the ones you would like to subscribe to, so you’ll receive them via email when it is first published. Your subscription can be free. However, if you want to support the writers for their work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. There is a small perk for doing so - beyond knowing you are bringing a smile to our columnist’s face - all of our paid subscribers are invited to a monthly Zoom meeting where you can ‘meet’ our columnists and interact for an hour. These are becoming fun gatherings and give us ideas for new stories. It’s called our Office Lounge.

We now have 25 columnists. You’ll recognize many of their names. And we’ll introduce you to others who might not be as well known yet, but they are some of the best writers in the state.

This week, Doug Burns introduces us to a family who is turning the loss of their small child into creating a grief center for others. Barry Piatt, our man in Washington, D.C., describes what it’s like to close down a congressional office:

Have you ever watched the air slowly leak out of a car tire while the car still operates until the tire goes completely flat? It’s more like that… Barry Piatt, on closing a congressional office

BARRY PIATT

Barry Piatt on Politics: - Behind the Curtains

How It All Ends

Most Iowans are familiar with the balloons, buttons, and hoopla parts of political campaigns. Some wonder, however, what happens when a campaign ends in defeat - especially when the defeated candidate is an incumbent, with offices and staff - and with legislative and other work that still needs to be done…

3 years ago · 2 likes · 1 comment

Laura Belin is an indefatigable reporter and analyst who covers Iowa politics. Check out her year-end summary of what she covered in 2022, and you’ll understand what a rare talent she is.

LAURA BELIN

Iowa politics with Laura Belin

Best of Bleeding Heartland's original reporting in 2022

As the new year begins, I want to highlight some of the investigative reporting, in-depth analysis, and accountability journalism published first or exclusively at Bleeding Heartland. Some newspapers and websites put their best original reporting behind a paywall for subscribers, or limit access to a few free articles a month. I'm committed to keeping al…

3 years ago · 1 like · Laura Belin

Iowa politics with Laura Belin

A "Capitol Week" milestone, and monthly Zoom this Friday

Dennis Hart and I did our 100th show together on Monday night! It’s hard to believe we’ve been at this for nearly two years. I’m grateful to Dennis for being such a pro and to KHOI Radio for giving us this platform. Before I get to tonight’s recap, I want to mention that the…

3 years ago · 1 comment · Laura Belin

As for exquisite writing, see how Debra Engle tells the tale of her cat whose tail became entangled by a Whole Foods bag and a story of love:

DEB ENGLE

A Whole New World

Of Naps and Netflix

It’s New Year’s Eve, and Bob I have just witnessed the biggest excitement of the evening. In the middle of a documentary about Garth Brooks, our long-haired black cat, cleverly named Mama Cat, came streaking through the family room with a green Whole Foods bag caught on her tail…

3 years ago · 1 like · Debra Engle

Veteran Register sports reporter turned Iowa Writers’ Collaborative columnist John Naughton, is a colorful character. Please take a look at his story today about Caitlin Clark:

JOHN NAUGHTON

My Life, in Color

Caitlin Clark: Is she the best Hawkeye ever?

It was a typical Sunday afternoon at the downtown offices of the Des Moines Register in late February about eight years ago when a young woman with a big basketball future stepped out of the elevator. Caitlin Clark was a middle school student who came along with an older cousin, Dowling Catholic’s Audrey Faber, for Faber’s photo shoot and an interview session with me for the Register’s All-CIML Elite girls’ basketball team…

3 years ago · 1 like · John Naughton

DOUG BURNS: A FAMILY’S GRIEF

The Iowa Mercury

They lost a 4-year-old son. Now this Iowa farm family is building a regional grief-therapy center

MANNING, Iowa A wooden cross in a lovingly landscaped garden near the horse barn on this Manning farm marks the final resting place of Jed Riesselman, a little boy who carried an Avengers backpack on the school bus he couldn’t wait to board, smiled at the mention of M&Ms and bonded with a horse named Toby…

3 years ago · 8 likes · 4 comments · Douglas Burns

Central Iowans will recognize the name Dave Busiek, a veteran broadcast journalist now retired from KCCI-TV. His column on media is insightful and thoughtful and addresses contemporary issues.

DAVE BUSIEK

Dave Busiek on Media

Journalists Dropped the Ball on George Santos

As I write this, New York Republican Congressman-elect George Santos is still scheduled to be sworn into the U.S. House next Tuesday. By the time you read this, perhaps Santos will have stepped down or Republican leaders in the House will have told him to stay home. But that would require somebody to grow a spine and the chances of THAT happening, I r…

3 years ago · 2 likes · 3 comments · Dave Busiek

Not only is Art Cullen a founding member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, but he also happens to have won a Pulitzer Prize. See why the judges plucked this small-town news guy out of the crowd and bestowed journalism's highest honor. Oh, and if you become a paid subscriber, he’ll throw in a subscription to the Storm Lake Times:

ART CULLEN

Art Cullen’s Notebook

Families in transit

Just when I am supposed to write the annual holiday letter, this Venezuelan family comes on CNN after traversing the Rio Grande for El Paso. A man and a pregnant woman, a child in tow, crossed the cobblestone walkway through the shallows in search of some sort of peace. She gave birth to a girl shortly after crossing…

3 years ago · 8 likes · 4 comments · Art Cullen

Art Cullen’s Notebook

Attracting young people to rural Iowa

All our friends say they’re having a hard time finding people to fill good jobs. Mike Franken said it was one of the first things he heard while campaigning for the Senate last fall. It is a common lament in Iowa community newspaper circles — small towns have an increasingly difficult time recruiting young people…

3 years ago · 6 likes · 3 comments · Art Cullen

Here’s a surprise for you. Suzanna de Baca is an accomplished woman and CEO of Business Publications. We thought she’d cover economic development news when she began writing for the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Instead, she surprises us each week with thoughtful, beautiful prose and poetry, written from her home town of Huxley.

SUZANNA de BACA

Dispatches from the Heartland

Everyday gifts

Today I went to see you in the memory care unit Was that a small flicker of recognition Or did you respond to the touch of my hand? Where are you, I wonder, What are you thinking? You are there but silent Trapped in the space of a locked wing Called Julia’s place. Your humble house now gone Your home now half a room. Where am I you ask me over and ov…

3 years ago · 1 like · 12 comments · Suzanna de Baca

Dispatches from the Heartland

Am canning pickles as I write

Dear Dispatches from the Heartland Readers: This poem was inspired by my beloved late grandmother, who I think about almost every day. Over this holiday season, perhaps you have also been thinking of people who have meant a great deal to you. As you look to the new year, I hope you find comfort in their memories and are inspired by their love. I thank …

3 years ago · 1 like · 2 comments · Suzanna de Baca

Julie Gammack founded the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. In her column this week, she offers an overview of how and why it came together

JULIE GAMMACK

Julie Gammack's Iowa Potluck

Thank you, 2022

Welcome to our new subscribers! Please join the conversation in the comment section below and share this with friends. This column began in January 2021 to occupy time during the pandemic quarantine. Friends shared it with friends, and by April of that year, I started to get subscribers I did not know…

3 years ago · 3 likes · 1 comment · Julie Gammack

Happy New Year from our funny friends, Fern and Joe. Take a couple of retired ISU writing professors and turn them loose; what do you get?

FERN AND JOE

Fern and Joe

Fern and Joe: New Years Past

FERN AND JOE: New Years Past Fern: Happy New Year, my love. Though not my favorite time of year. Joe: What? You like a party. Too much forced gaiety? Fern: Yes, that. And people who are alone feel alone more. Everyone wishing for peace in the new year and there’s never been. Can be depressing, don’t you think…

3 years ago · Fern Kupfer and Joe Geha

DANA JAMES

Gun violence in the Des Moines Black community has a ripple effect throughout the lives it touches. Read Dana James, and subscribe to her column for her unique perspective on Black Iowa News.

New Black Iowa

Black men: Gun violence dooms us all

Gun violence is rising in Black communities — along with conversations about how to end it. Before you come for me, we could talk all day about other people committing gun violence — you know — the lone white shooters and their ilk. Or debate the right to bear arms…

3 years ago · 2 likes · 1 comment · New Black Iowa

ROBERT LEONARD

This extraordinary writer gives us a glimpse into the complex culture of rural Iowa. In today’s story, he’ll show you the underbelly of the so-called Christian churches in Iowa. It’ a must read:

Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture

Burying Uncle Jerry

We buried my uncle Jerry Wednesday. He’s in the center in the photo above, holding my cousin Debbie. Jerry was a kind and gentle man. He was a helicopter mechanic in the Army in the Korean War and retired after working for John Deere in Ankeny in 1987. He would get off work at 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon and then come to the construction site and work…

3 years ago · 13 likes · 14 comments · Robert Leonard

CHUCK OFFENBURGER

So, our ‘Boy,’ had his first pedicure this past week. Settle in for a laugh:

Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger

Happy New Year and happy feet!

DES MOINES, Iowa — In a two-hour time period Friday afternoon, I picked up a tuxedo to wear to the New Year’s Eve wedding of a couple of cool young guys I’ve met, and then I collected on a great Christmas gift from my wife Mary Riche — my first-ever pedicure…

3 years ago · 11 likes · 3 comments · Chuck Offenburger

Veteran columnist Kyle Munson reflects on what social media has wrought. He’s downloading his Twitter account:

KYLE MUNSON

Kyle Munson's Main Street

From my first tweet to today: Have we reached a social media reset?

So I downloaded my entire batch of Twitter data just in case social media’s nexus for breaking news implodes under Elon Musk’s ownership. I felt compelled to preserve this keepsake for future generations. It would be tragic for my family—if not the general public—to lose the last 14 years of my brilliant, pithy observations…

3 years ago · 2 likes · 1 comment · Kyle Munson

Author, playwright, and former Poet Laurette Mary Swander introduce us to her Amish neighbors through her delightful column she calls Mary Swanders’ Buggyland. Enjoy!

MARY SWANDER

Mary Swander’s Buggy Land

Christmas Card from Buggy Land

No Santa Claus. No lights, no tinsel, no trees. Just a ring of buggies surrounding their Amish one-room schoolhouse, blankets thrown over the horses’ backs. I pulled into the yard in my car and parked. The animals waited patiently, taking a snort of the cold air, breath hanging in the mist, their hooves pawing the hard ground. A hor…

3 years ago · 4 likes · 12 comments · Mary Swander

CHERYL TEVIS

Wonder what it’s like to live through the ‘Blizzard of the Century’ on a farm in Iowa? Cheryl Tevis relives some of the more difficult storms they’ve endured and shows us a slice of life urban dwellers do not see - unless they find themselves stuck in a snowbank.

Unfinished Business

Now we are survivors of a "Once in a Generation" storm! According to the National Weather Service, 90 to 100 million Americans in 37 states, as far south as the Texas/Mexico border, were in the bull's-eye of this blizzard and its brutal wind chills. It grounded flights, barricaded Interstates, cancelled Christmas Eve services, c…

3 years ago · 5 likes · 7 comments · Cheryl Tevis

ED TIBBETTS

In his year-end review, look at this extraordinary writer, reporter, and newsman who shares his view of life on the Mississippi. Subscribe!

Along the Mississippi

A thank you and an invitation

With 2022 drawing to a close, I want to thank all of you who have chosen to be subscribers to Along the Mississippi. Four months ago, when I began this newsletter, I didn’t know what to expect. It’s still a work in progress, but I’m happy with the number of people who have subscribed – and I am especially grateful to you who have chosen to support this pu…

3 years ago · 1 like · 4 comments · Ed Tibbetts

TERESA ZILK

Zilk courageously shares with her readers a nightmare beyond fathom.

Talking Good

Reflections on Grief and Loss

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) WISQARS Leading Causes of Death Reports, in 2020: Suicide was the twelfth leading cause of death overall in the United States, claiming the lives of over 45,900 people. It was also the third leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 15-24…

3 years ago · 18 likes · 14 comments · Teresa Zilk

Also, check out Beth Hoffman, Jody Gifford, Tar Marcias, Kurt Meyer, Pat Kinney, and Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices. They’ll be filing new posts soon.

Swander showcases up-and-coming writers through her Emerging Voices. Proceeds from those paid subscriptions are used to pay the authors.