Since the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar (Burma) had its most recent military coup d’etat on February 1, 2021, preventing the leaders elected last November from being sworn in, over 700 citizens have been killed, nearly one-third of its schoolteachers have been suspended for their opposition to the coup, and thousands have been detained, many […]
Genevieve Trainor
Genevieve Trainor lives in Iowa City, Iowa. Passions include heavy music, hoppy beer, and hidden rooms.
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Filthy Animals’ by Brandon Taylor
When Brandon Taylor read an excerpt from Filthy Animals (Riverhead Books; out June 22) as part of the Mission Creek Festival Duos programming at the end of April, I was riveted. His language is made to live like that, off of the page, as much poetry as prose. But it is just as compelling in […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Book Review: ‘We Are 100’ by Nathan Timmel
At the center of an otherwise tightly drawn plot, We Are 100 (Red Oak Press), the March 2021 debut novel from Iowa City comedian Nathan Timmel, there is a hole big enough to drive a truck through. A key element of the story hinges on the Big Bad’s ability to monitor the FBI as they […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: Shining Realm — ‘Enter the Shining Realm’
Enter the Shining Realm by The Shining Realm “Ascension,” the opening track on Shining Realm’s new release, starts with a long, low, layered drone that hits like a cicada symphony warming up on a hot summer night. When you close your eyes, you can see the exact angle of the beam of light that you’re […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Hip-hop fans and talent abound in Cedar Rapids. So why hasn’t the scene exploded?
If you start asking around about the hip-hop scene in Cedar Rapids, you’ll hear the same answer repeatedly: “What scene?” Of course, there hasn’t been much of anything happening the past year-plus, due to the pandemic. But although most can manage to drop a name or two, the general consensus seems to be that whatever […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
We Are Here online concert addresses the state of the arts in Iowa
“As difficult as it feels to acknowledge it, I have not fared well through the pandemic,” Iowa musician River Glen Breitbach said in an email. “I have been a hard working musician for over 25 years and in that time I have established annual routes that have me touring throughout Iowa and the neighboring states, […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Begin with a Bee’ by Liza Ketchum, Jacqueline Briggs Martin and Phyllis Root; illustrations by Claudia McGehee
When I received the email that there was a new book forthcoming that featured the talents of Iowans Jacqueline Briggs Martin of Mount Vernon and Iowa City’s Claudia McGehee, I honestly got so excited. Their previous collaboration, Creekfinding, is a favorite of mine, and I leap at the chance to explore their work. Whenever I […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Coralville Community Food Pantry offers music, poetry and dance in exchange for support fighting food insecurity
Over the last several years, the food insecurity rate in Johnson County was dropping. According to interactive maps from the organization Feeding America, it went from 13.9 percent in 2016 down to 8.2 percent in 2018 and maintained that in 2019. But a projection the site ran for the impacts of COVID-19 predicted a rise […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Riverside dives deep and resurfaces with ‘Sonnets for an Old Century’
The last time we spoke, Riverside Theatre producing artistic director Adam Knight impressed upon me his desire to re-imagine the face of professional theater in Iowa. For years, Riverside has been producing intimate, small cast shows with many of the same heavy-hitters: stellar productions, to be sure, but familiar. It would be easy to doubt […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Trouble in the Stars’ by Sarah Prineas
How do we teach empathy? Numerous studies have been done that attribute increases in empathy to reading fiction — any fiction. But (and this may just be my own personal biases speaking here) I’d argue that science fiction has the edge. In it, we’re faced with characters that are so, well, alien from ourselves that […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Riverside Theatre dives into Shakespeare’s sonnets (all 154 of them) for National Poetry Month
In April, in the month of poetry A theater raises praises to a bard The offering a simple symmetry Disarming to the ardent avant-garde Since 1996, the U.S. has recognized April as National Poetry Month, a celebration organized by the Academy of American Poets. Here in the first U.S. UNESCO City of Literature, that certainly […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
FilmScene kicks off new outdoor movie series on April 24 with ‘Minari’
A new free outdoor movie series will add another opportunity for people to gather for a safer, arts-filled summer this year. FilmScene, in partnership with the Iowa City Parks and Recreation Department, will present FilmScene in the Park, screening in Chauncey Swan Park. The park, located at Washington and Gilbert streets, has recently undergone a […]
