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Your weekly Iowa Writers' Collaborative roundup

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Your weekly Iowa Writers' Collaborative roundup

....did you catch the Washington Correspondents' Dinner?

Apr 30, 2023
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Local news was celebrated at the Washington Correspondents’ Dinner last night, along with roasts of President Biden and members of the national press. As you read the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative commentary, please think about what comedian Roy Wood, Jr. had to say about the importance of local news.

Then, read Robert Leonard’s blockbuster column and hear his interview with Dr. Chris Jones, whose departure from the University of Iowa, where he was involved in testing the water quality in the state, is tied to pressure from those who did not like the data being gathered. And if you aren’t already, become a paid subscriber to Leonard’s column. Leonard and members of this collaborative provide stories you do not see elsewhere, along with commentary that has been systematically eliminated from traditional legacy media outlets.

Iowa was recently reported as the number 2 state in the nation for the highest cancer cases. There has been no official call to study this life-and-death issue. The response by the governor and legislature is not to hold press conferences, not comply with open records requests, obfuscate data, and, as you will read in Leonard’s column, actually block funding to pay for the sensors that tell us if our water is safe.

Read our columnists today with the understanding that what they are doing matters. Your support matters.

We are the whack-a-mole gang. If we spot a story worth reporting, someone is on it. Is it enough? Hell no. Subscribe to your local newspaper, the Iowa Capital Dispatch, the Business Record, and as many local news sources as possible. Use it or lose it, folks.

Circumstances have conspired to silence local reporting on the scale we once had, where dozens of journalists monitored state and local government. But folks like Bob Leonard, Laura Belin, Art Cullen, Ed Tibbets, Cheryl Tevis, Mary Swander, and Doug Burns, often break the news in their columns. Or take a different tack (Burns on political betting is of note).

Our other columnists write more feature pieces and commentary. Debra Engle has a lovely story today and leaves the reader hopeful. Be sure to read Beth Hoffman’s tribute to Spring on the farm. And Kurt Meyer defines the word deltiologist and works in Osage, Iowa, in this week’s column. There’s a story in every young athlete competing in the Drake Relays, and our own John Naughton tells a poignant story about a young man from Norwalk.

Suzanna de Baca surprises and delights us regularly with her poems.

Pat Kinney has a fascinating story from the Field of Dreams.

Macey Spensley is marrying a guy she met at a special summer camp. Through their love story, you’ll learn much about an issue impacting hundreds of Iowans.

Mary Swander introduces us to emerging writer Francois Gourronc, whose encounter in an ice cream shop tells a tale that is unnecessarily prevalent today.

And Julie Gammack interviews Caleb Rainey, ‘The Negro Artist’ whose spoken word performances are gaining rave reviews. On Monday, she’ll interview Iowa Writers’ Collaborative columnist, Dana James, in a live Potluck Zoom session, about the launching of her new publication, Black Iowa News.

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ROBERT L. LEONARD

Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture
Iowa Water Quality Monitoring in Peril
Dr. Chris Jones retires this May from the University of Iowa. Trained in chemistry, among other subjects, he served as a research engineer with the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research in the College of Engineering. His work, in part, was to be in charge of the 70 sensors on rivers and streams across the state that posted real-time data on water quality…
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a month ago · 13 likes · 24 comments · Robert Leonard

MARY SWANDER’S EMERGING VOICES

Mary Swander's Emerging Voices
Life-Saving Science in an Ice Cream Shop
On a sunny Sunday, I was on my way back from a conference. I decided to take the slow way home, through picturesque, lonely, sometimes deserted small towns across Iowa. After the intense schedule of a five-day “DNA tumor viruses” meeting, juggling seminars, poster sessions and networking with fellow scientists, it was good to l…
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a month ago · 2 likes · 1 comment · Mary Swander

LAURA BELIN

Iowa politics with Laura Belin
First GOP caucus "cattle call" and lots of Iowa legislative news
Dennis Hart and I were on the air for longer than usual again Monday night, with a few cutaways to promote KHOI Radio’s spring fundraising drive. If you appreciate community radio that’s commercial-free and offers diverse talk and music programming, please consider…
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a month ago · 2 likes · 2 comments · Laura Belin

DOUGLAS BURNS

The Iowa Mercury
Biden, Trump runs open intriguing wagering opportunities on political markets
Yes, the stakes are high in a presidential election — freedom and war and peace and the economy — the mortal coil — and, as Frank Sinatra would have said, all that other mother jazz. But there are just plain stakes, table stakes if you will — gambling — and with an 80-year-old seeking re-election, the odds for the Democrat…
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a month ago · 2 likes · Douglas Burns

ART CULLEN

Art Cullen’s Notebook
What’s that smell in the spring air?
You could fertilize a fine field of corn with the analysis spread around on what animates rural White voters. Why did Iowa flip from Obama to Trump? Is Ohio indelibly red? Why does Joe Six Pack of Busch Light feel threatened by a trans “social influencer”? Does he really think anyone is being influenced down at Mo’s Tap…
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a month ago · 22 likes · 1 comment · Art Cullen

BARRY PIATT

Barry Piatt on Politics: - Behind the Curtains
"Iowa Precedent" Exposes Hypocrisy of Republican Attack on Biden's Age
President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he will seek a second term as President. It will be a hard fought campaign, regardless of who Republicans nominate to run against him, but one of the attacks Republicans are already making against Biden is likely to fall flat because of what I call the “Iowa Precedent” and the Republican hypocrisy it exposes fo…
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a month ago · 1 like · Barry Piatt

DEBRA ENGLE

A Whole New World
Revolution, Evolution
My nephew and his wife have an eleven-month-old, and they named him after my father, Burton, who passed away in 1989. If my dad were still alive, he’d be 119 years old. He was born when airplane flight was brand new, before the first World War, when the U.S. had only 45 states…
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a month ago · 2 likes · 1 comment · Debra Engle

BETH HOFFMAN

In the Dirt
The Blinding Excitement of Spring
I woke this morning to the sound of Mourning Doves chanting their calming mantra outside our cracked window. It was still, yet loud, the cacophony of country living. It is spring, and almost overnight every tree is budding, tiny leaves popping out of seemingly nowhere. The grass is a mat of vibrant green, and the birds and squirrels are suddenly moving h…
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a month ago · 5 likes · 2 comments · Beth Hoffman

PAT KINNEY

View from the Cedar Valley
Building baseball dreams in Dyersville museum
DYERSVILLE-- Dwier Brown's back in Dyersville. He made one visit here that millions of people have seen over and over for …
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a month ago · 2 likes · Pat Kinney

JULIE GAMMACK

Julie Gammack's Iowa Potluck
The Negro Artist...
Listen now (60 min) | My how time flies! Tomorrow is the last Friday of the month, and that means our Iowa Writers’ Collaborative team gathers via Zoom for our Office Lounge chat. This is a gift for those who are paid subscribers to any of our columns. If you are a paid subscriber, join us…
Listen now
a month ago · 1 like · 3 comments · Julie Gammack

HOLA IOWA

Hola Iowa
High School Students Plan Careers With Help From Avenue Scholars Program
Before Avenue Scholars, Kayla Cruz, 17, a junior at Roosevelt High School hadn’t considered attending Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) after graduation, but becoming an Avenue Scholar, has made her think it might be a good idea to start there. “I had always thought about getting the university experience. I want to leave Iowa for college but no…
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a month ago · 1 comment · Hola Iowa

KURT MEYER

Showing Up
"Evolution in It All”
“Having a great time. Wish you were here.” …The primary message of many a treasured postcard. I’m NOT a deltiologist. I was unfamiliar with the word until gathering information for this ramble. If you collect postcards, you’re a deltiologist. My interest in postcards is largely historic. Methinks that postcards -- the kind you send to dear ones while t…
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a month ago · 1 like · 1 comment · Kurtis Meyer

JOHN NAUGHTON

My Life, in Color
A runner's pain and promise at the Drake Relays
Drake Relays athletes usually make their interviews efficient and brief after races. But Norwalk’s Jacey Hutson let the words flow Friday. Hutson, a senior, opened up about his promise to his grandmother to become one of Iowa’s best runners and to go to on compete in college. She died April 1…
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a month ago · 1 like · 1 comment · John Naughton

MACEY SPENSELY

The Midwest Creative
Welcome to the Family
Anytime someone asks my fiancé and me how we met, we always pause for a second before deciding the best way to proceed, giving the inquisitor a moment to brace themselves. No, we didn’t meet on a dating app, or by a series of embarrassingly unfortunate or uncomfortable events…
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a month ago · 5 likes · 3 comments · Macey Spensley

SUZANNA DE BACA

Dispatches from the Heartland
Wind Chimes in Spring
As the wind wakes / the sound yawns and stretches / starting slowly / A perfect C / announcing an unhurried morning melody / dulcet and deep / At first leisurely / low tones / Then at once / a crescendo / a cacophony of pipes and strings / The breeze builds / and catches the current / The clamor quickens / like wildfire / immediate and hot / accelerati…
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a month ago · 3 likes · 2 comments · Suzanna de Baca

CHERYL TEVIS

Unfinished Business
Unfinished Business
There's gold in them thar hills! Today's influx of gold seekers isn't creating a Gold Rush 2.0, but it's panning out for a few! California's incredibly stormy winter unleashed torrents of melting snow that's coursing through rock crevices, streams, and rivers. The erosion has yielded surprising pockets of gold deposits, …
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a month ago · 2 likes · 4 comments · Cheryl Tevis

ED TIBBETTS

Along the Mississippi
Slow down
The lessons of a good teacher last a lifetime. Case in point: I remember my driving teacher in high school preached “defensive driving” like it was the Gospel. You can’t predict what another driver will do, Mr. Yockey would say, but what you can do is be prepared for the worst…
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a month ago · 2 likes · 3 comments · Ed Tibbetts

Also, Robert Leonard has launched a companion service, the Iowa Podcasters’ Collaborative:

Iowa Podcasters' Collaborative

The Iowa Podcasters' Collaborative is a group of podcasters in Iowa creating content related to news, culture, and more. It's a product of the success of the Iowa Writers' Collaborative.
By Robert Leonard


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