Not five minutes into The Niceties by Eleanor Burgess, running in the lush new home of Riverside Theatre, I laugh-snort at something Crystal Marie Stewart says — something I’ll continue to do all night. It is then that I write a note that I will circle several times throughout the rest of the evening when […]
Eastern Iowa
Posted inCommunity/News
State senator calls COVID-19 vaccines ineffective before committee approves bill to ban vaccine requirements in schools and daycares
A Republican state senator falsely claimed COVID-19 vaccines are ineffective and called the idea of requiring them the “political belief of authoritarians who want to force their belief in… the hive-mindset,” just before the Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that bans COVID-19 vaccine requirements at schools, universities and child care facilities. Sen. Jason […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Watch: Dan Padley, perhaps Iowa City’s most versatile guitarist, has a passion for improv (and cooking eggs)
If you’ve seen an Iowa City band perform in the past few years, odds are you’ve heard Dan Padley on guitar. Trained in jazz at the University of Iowa, Padley’s specialty is improvisation — creating “mini sonic universes” of sound, whether he’s soloing at a rock concert or twanging it up at a country show. […]
Posted inCommunity/News
For Sudanese immigrants in Iowa City, visiting home is a long, expensive and all too rare privilege
When Dalia Musa moved to the United States, her youngest child was in the second grade. Musa, a mother of three, emigrated from Sudan in 2013. By the time her family traveled back to Sudan, her children were high schoolers. “They didn’t see their family since the elementary, and when they come back, they are […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Deidre DeJear, the sole Democrat running for governor, discusses how to win in Iowa City
Speaking to a roomful of Democrats at The James Theater in Iowa City on Saturday night, Deidre DeJear said she knows every election year people say, “this is the most important election of our lives.” But she said this year, it’s true. “We’re in a position right now, where we have a governor who is […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Watch: Katie Roche catches up with William Elliott Whitmore backstage at the Englert
Ahead of his first show back at the Englert since pre-COVID (March 4, 2022), William Elliott Whitmore sat down with Englert Development Director and Awful Purdies accordionist Katie Roche for a wide-ranging conversation about kids, lyrics and Iowa roots. “I love coming [to the Englert],” Whitmore said. “It’s like family, it’s people that we know […]
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Iowa City students stage a walk out to protest Gov. Reynolds banning transgender girls from playing girls’ sports at school
More than 150 Iowa City Community School District students walked out of classes on Friday and marched to the Pentacrest to protest the newly enacted ban on transgender girls playing girls’ sports at all public and private schools, as well as at colleges and universities in Iowa. Planning for protest began among five friends at […]
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Run CRANDIC returns as an in-person event for the first time in two years
The courses for April’s Run CRANDIC marathon and half-marathon have been posted by Corridor Running, the nonprofit that organizes the races. “After two years of not being in person, it’s nice to be able to safely put a race on for the Corridor community,” Jim Dwyer, the co-president of Corridor Running, told Little Village. The […]
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Mirrorbox Theatre staging the story of Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis, beyond his infamous LSD no-hitter
Editor’s note: After the initial publication of this story, the premiere of ‘This is Not a Game of Baseball’ was postponed due to COVID-19. More details at the end of the article. I spoke with Cavan Hallman, Curtis Jackson and Caleb Rainey — the writer, director and lead performer of the forthcoming play This Is […]
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Bears bare all at this adult-only, LGBTQ-friendly campground in ‘middle of nowhere’ Iowa
Sloshed on Busch Light and a little sun-dazed after my first pool day in ages, it was 11 p.m. when I finally went to set up my tent at the L.V. Campground in Coggon, Iowa. My sister, two friends and I had rented a cabin ($135/night) — sturdy, spacious and best of all air-conditioned, with […]
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Remembering Varnum v. Brien, the case that brought marriage equality to Iowa
How a divorce helped kick-start marriage equality in Iowa By Paul Brennan The path to marriage equality in Iowa started with a divorce. Kimberly Brown and Jennifer Perez traveled from their home in western Iowa to Vermont in 2002 to be joined in a civil union, a substitute for traditional civic marriages Vermont created for […]
