Your weekly Iowa Writers' Collaborative roundup
....did you catch the Washington Correspondents' Dinner?
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.
ROBERT L. LEONARD
MARY SWANDER’S EMERGING VOICES
LAURA BELIN
DOUGLAS BURNS
ART CULLEN
BARRY PIATT
DEBRA ENGLE
BETH HOFFMAN
PAT KINNEY
JULIE GAMMACK
HOLA IOWA
KURT MEYER
JOHN NAUGHTON
MACEY SPENSELY
SUZANNA DE BACA
CHERYL TEVIS
ED TIBBETTS
Also, Robert Leonard has launched a companion service, the Iowa Podcasters’ Collaborative:
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