June 2010
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Prairie Pop

Grrrls gone mild

by Kembrew McLeod

Paradigm shifts typically happen in the abstract–at the level of the Big Picture–not right in front of your eyes, real time. Nearly 20 years ago, I watched and heard the musical-cultural ground move under my feet in the dank basement of my next-door neighbor’s house (typically not the type of place where a shifting paradigm takes place).

“We want revolution, GIRL STYLE NOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW,” Bikini Kill frontwoman Kathleen Hanna howled during the kick-start of the band’s set. I was standing just four or five feet away, eyes bugged out with jaw on ground. At 21, I had seen a few memorable things in my brief semi-adult lifetime, but never anything like that.

Posted inCommunity/News

Summertime

by Yale Cohn

I first realized adults live lives quite different from children when I was 10 or so and asked one of my father’s employees what his plans were for the summer.

“Work,” he said, somewhat confused by my question.

“You don’t get the summer off?”

“No,” he said, “nobody does.”

Posted inCommunity/News, UR Here

UR Here: Challenging Change

by Thomas Dean

In the raging underage/binge drinking debate in Iowa City, a couple of familiar refrains keep singing: “You can’t change the drinking culture,” and “Downtown Iowa City’s economy will collapse,” the latter with various subpoints (the downtown economy is heavily bar-dependent, so there will be mass vacant storefronts, many jobs will be lost, tax revenue will plummet, etc., etc.). These talking points are repeated ad infinitum by many, but especially the student population. Underlying both of these arguments is a fundamental belief that things cannot change from their current state. The universe always tells us that nothing is further from the truth.

Posted inCommunity/News

Down the river

by Stephanie Catlett

Commentary: June/July 2010 ~ Two years ago in June, the water began creeping. The rain didn’t stop and the water creeped and creeped. Everyone we knew still went to work, shrugging beneath black umbrellas, minds and eyes on the sky. Kids went to school, dogs got walked, and the river slowly wrapped a watery arm […]

Posted inCommunity/News

Iowa to Me

by Bonkuya Jiles

“Stand up and introduce yourself,” said Mrs. B. “Umm…Hi, my name is Bonkuya. Nice to meet you all,” I said. These were the first words to have ever exited my mouth when I first got to City High. I was new to Iowa, and even though I had lived here for about a week before […]

Posted inCommunity/News

The N.E.W. Way

by Erin Tiesman

Features: June/July 2010~ It’s a seemingly simple solution. Need more women in leadership roles? Then hire more of them, right? Wrong. According to Kelly Thornburg, coordinator of Iowa N.E.W. Leadership, an intense six-day workshop for young women, much more diversity and many more women are needed to help find innovative solutions for modern problems. Thornburg […]

Posted inCommunity/News

Big Bonds

by Erin Tiesman

Features: June/July 2010~ On a chilly, rainy afternoon in May, two young Iowa City women searched downtown and the pedestrian mall for a place to get a cheap manicure. It’s a normal thing for two young women to do–especially in a college town–but for Kelsey Godwin, 22, and Wakemia,12, it’s a chance to get to […]

Posted inArts & Entertainment

Iowa City Weekender: June 3-6

by Weekender

THURSDAY “DreamHome” Dreamwell Theatre Fundraiser | North Ridge Pavilion in Coralville | 6:30 p.m. | $20 The nonprofit Dreamwell Theatre company in Iowa City has produced a multitude of artistic performances over its 13 year history, but what the company still lacks is a permanent space to operate. The “DreamHome” project intends to change this. […]

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