Staircases can be wonders, both in our material lives and in our imaginative expressions. One of the central attractions of our own Old Capitol is the gorgeous, unique reverse-spiral staircase, its elegant swirl providing a journey into Iowa’s past. If you have any notion of the interior of the RMS Titanic, it is most likely […]
Thomas Dean
Posted inCommunity/News
UR Here: Community and all that Jazz
Recently, I wrote about how organizing and attending our local festivals builds social capital. But another dimension of community is the personal bond we form with our place. The stronger our emotional connections, the more we live well in a place. Deep community is affective as much as it’s social, a relationship on par with […]
Posted inCommunity/News, UR Here
UR Here: Regarding the wolf
The wolves have returned to Iowa. Or at least a wolf. In February, a man hunting coyotes shot a gray wolf in northeast Iowa’s Buchanan County. This is the first documented wolf in Iowa since 1925, which reportedly could have been an escaped captive animal. Before that, according to the 2012 Iowa DNR wolf status […]
Posted inCommunity/News, UR Here
UR Here: Spring commencement and life’s new turns
My daughter Sylvia’s red polyester gown and graduation announcements lay on a table at home, ready for City High’s commencement later this month. We’ve been commencement-heavy in recent years, first with our son Nathaniel’s high school graduation in 2011, then the commencement ceremony for his instrument repair program in Minnesota last year and now Sylvia’s high school…
Posted inCommunity/News
Mission: Community
April ushers in the vibrant colors of springtime (finally!), but it also sounds the first notes of our community’s festival season. The Mission Creek Festival is here! Highly anticipated for its stellar lineup of musicians and other artists, Mission Creek is always an enjoyable showcase of the cultural vibrancy of our home. Iowa City’s festivals […]
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UR Here: Helping out
One of the good things (yes, I said good things) about the dramatic winter we’ve lived through is a strengthened sense of community that has arisen from this polar vortex. When adversity strikes, people help each other. If there’s overnight snowfall, our next-door neighbor, Steve Spangler, who has the only snow-blower in the proximity of […]
Posted inCommunity/News, UR Here
UR Here: Baby, it’s cold outside
Images of a baby wearing a sash emblazoned with “2014” may have helped you ring in the new year last month. Infant symbolism for the birth of a new year is pretty obvious. And even though starting the calendar on January 1 is rather arbitrary (in fact, England returned to the January 1 new year […]
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UR here: A traditional spice takes center stage
As autumn segues to winter, my seasonal spice shifts, too. Since September, it’s been all about nutmeg for me, the one essential ingredient to my apple crisp (aside from Wilson’s Orchard apples, of course). But as Thanksgiving passes to Yuletide, nutmeg yields to cardamon. Oh sure, I’ll still sprinkle a little nutmeg on the old […]
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UR Here: Embracing autumn’s long, smoldering twilights
I welcome the rhythm of the day’s turn toward night. The sun lowers, oranges and purples intensify, time and breath stretch. Rest seeps in, and darkness caresses us to sleep. The year has a similar rhythm, writ large. Autumn dissolves to winter. Samhain turns toward Yule. The dark descends, earlier and earlier. The sun makes […]
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Iowa City standoff: Nitpicking numbers
Recently, an online conversation I participated in turned to differences between City High and West High. The discussion reflected assumptions about the two schools that are ingrained in many locals’ minds: City is preferable because it has greater diversity, and West is a more homogeneous school largely due to alleged “white flight” from the east to the west side of Iowa City.
Posted inCommunity/News, UR Here
Mapping the middle: What delineates the heartland
I’m a lifelong Midwesterner and a devotee to and student of the region. But I’m usually left stammering when it comes to defining the human culture of these middle lands. The U.S. Census Bureau’s definition of the Midwest includes over 65 million people. Can there really be a set of common characteristics among such a […]
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UR Here: David Byrne loves Iowa, but are his sentiments a bit delusional?
David Byrne seems to like Iowa. And I’m glad of that. I’m also glad that he had a chance to bike around and experience a Des Moines Fourth of July while he was…
