By Damita Brown Between the mindsets of “we must,” “we should” and “we can’t” is the reality that we are. We find ourselves in 2017 with intensifying political polarization, violence and mean-spirited policy agendas that threaten to blaze a path of destruction across the globe. As I see it, this is our situation. We have […]
Letters
Posted inCommunity/News
Letter to the Editor: Hiring an Outsider-in-Chief
By Robert Davis We knew better than to vote for a president that is a celebrity “outsider” with no public service experience. I know we did. Do we ask a hair stylist to wire our garage because electricity is boring and needs a fresh new look? No. Do we ask a concrete guy to design […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Letter to the Editor: Trump’s distrustful reign
By Robert David The president-elect has trust issues. Big ones. (It is important to disclose I have trust issues too. I am convinced I know best. And it takes hard work to loosen those reins. That, or swallow a little prescription pill that fuzzes things up.) In our country, trust in institutions and in others […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Letter to the Editor: Wage increases lead to vibrant communities
by J. E. Ironside I have been an employee advocate for 20 plus years of my life — the first half as a manager of a drugstore, the latter half as a union organizer. I have seen many sides of how wages affect the working man and woman and their families. I’ve known folks who […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Letter to the Editor: The curious case of Hancher, the cashless auditorium
[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]I am writing for an explanation as to why the new Hancher Auditorium does not accept cash. Unfortunately, I no longer own a credit card, so the inconvenience of this situation practically ruined my enjoyment of the concerts I have attended there thus far. I went so far as to complain to the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Letter to the editor: Crisis Center director says upcoming state, federal legislative decisions will impact Center clients
By Becci Reedus Our politicians and policymakers will face many important decisions in the coming months. Now more than ever, those leaders need to hear from all of us about the issues impacting our community. As executive director of The Crisis Center of Johnson County, one of my jobs is to educate our policymakers and […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Letter to the Future: Paris Agreement hangs in the balance
By Alastair Bland Scientists have warned for decades that greenhouse gas emissions have put the earth on track for calamitous storms, floods, droughts and rising oceans. Last year, before the Paris climate summit, writers, scientists and artists were invited to write “Letters to the Future” predicting what success or failure in combating climate change might […]
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Op-ed: If we will not be given space, we will carve it out of yours
By Rose Fiala Everyone I know is Scared. Capital S. A kind of collective, shared fear that I hadn’t known until Election Night, the fear of an entire generation of queer, undocumented, Muslim, trans, disabled, poor and people of color (PoC) staring out at the next four to eight years. The fear of knowing that […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Op-ed: Building local progressive networks in the wake of Election Day 2016
By Damita Brown Some of us would like to pretend that business as usual will suffice — that the unfortunate outcomes of Tuesday’s election have no bearing on how we go about the unending progressive movement for inclusion, equity, peace and justice in this county. Others are quite clear that it is more important than […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Letter to the Editor: Processing Election Day 2016
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] By Karen Nichols As I sit here, a few days into our electoral apocalypse, I am struggling with what to say. I, like many of you, am awash in worry, anger, fear and an almost overwhelming sadness. I wish I had a set of ready-made answers for how to counter the coming onslaught of […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Letter to the Editor: Measure C hopes to change the game of Codes & Charters
By Aleksey Gurtovoy What if it was much easier for us to change the Constitution than to change the laws that have to follow it? A lot of people consider this to be a silly question: It’s pretty obvious that such a hypothetical arrangement would put things awfully out of balance. Yet that’s precisely the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Letter to the Editor: Treating addiction as a healthcare issue, not a crime
By Cameron Foreman, Petra Hahn & Sarah Ziegenhorn Our state, like many others, is suffering an opioid epidemic. Too many Iowans, of all walks of life, start with an injury, proceed with a visit to the doctor and end with an opioid addiction. In fact, one in five people is at risk for developing an […]
