“I will Venmo you to keep my kids an hour longer.” “I became the only socialization. You can only play Candy Land so many times.” Speaking with local parents about their experiences over the last year, a few themes resonated: resilience, struggle, anxiety and an intense desire for some kind of return to normalcy. Also […]
Sharon Falduto
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Book Review: ‘Nest’ by Lynne Nugent
As the world shuts down and ultimately starts to reopen, Iowa City circles its figurative wagons, our institutions working to keep local artists and retailers engaged. Little Village reaches out for book reviews. Prairie Lights delivers books for reviewers right to their doors. I have the privilege of reading Nest, a series of heartfelt essays […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: Kiley Reid — ‘Such a Fun Age’
Reading: Kiley Reid Prairie Lights — Friday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. Such a Fun Age By Kiley Reid — G.P. Putnam’s Sons Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate Kiley Reid has written a timely and compelling debut novel. The action begins when Emira Tucker, a part-time babysitter, who is black, is called in for emergency sitting […]
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Many Hands Make Light Work’ by Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy
Many Hands Make Light Work is a primary-colored memoir of the recent past. It depicts growing up in a large family in Ames, Iowa, in the 1960s and ’70s, the tones of the story vivid and bright against a backdrop of an increasingly volatile world.
Posted inBook Reviews
Book Review: ‘Gangster in our Midst’ by Betty Brandt Passick
Gangster in our Midst is a multiple-perspective historical fiction by Betty Brandt Passick, about Louie Da Cava, a man with alleged ties to Al Capone, who married a woman from Oxbow, Iowa. The first chapter introduces us to Louie in his brother-in-law’s home in Oxbow as he hesitantly welcomes the paperboy
Posted inOpinion
Opinion: Expanding legal gun use for minors isn’t Iowa Nice, it’s Iowa Insanity
I try to see things from the other perspective. Even though I don’t agree with — nor do statistics bear out — the need for handguns in homes, I believe I have some understanding of what motivates gun owners. They want protection. They want to feel power in a world that sometimes makes us feel […]
Posted inOpinion
Opinion: ICCSD schedule changes will require adjustments
On Tuesday night, the Iowa City School Board made a final decision about the new bell schedule for the next school year. Elementary schools will now run from 7:55 a.m.-2:55 p.m., and the junior high and high schools will run from 8:50 a.m.-4 p.m. From what I’ve read on social media, pretty much no one […]
