All that is majestic about music and the Midwest is manifested in an unassuming barn in Maquoketa. You’ll find it off 288th Avenue, along Codfish Hollow Road. A wooden sign will guide the way. Watch where you step in the cow pasture parking lot. Choose whether to walk the gravel path or ride on a tractor-drawn hayrack driven by a man named Marvin. Arrive early and secure a coveted hay-bale spot along the wall and near the stage (like my girlfriend and I always do). Then spend the next few hours getting lost in music.
Opinion
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: Iowa City’s new buildings leave something to be desired
I invite you to peruse the photo of a high-rise with large, arched windows and the use of colorful script to enhance the facade of the building. Perhaps not the most exciting modernist style, but to my eye it far exceeds the bland concrete and brick boxes that seem to be de rigueur for new construction in the downtown Iowa City area.
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: Vote Anne Freerks for Iowa City Council
In my 20-plus years working in local government, I learned that there are certain attributes you want in a city councilor. Someone on the council needs to have a vision for the future of the city. A councilor should be someone who is always prepared to address an issue by studying the material they are given and listening to information and opinions that are presented to them. Someone who will ask questions and ensure there is an answer. Someone who has an open mind. Someone who is thoughtful. Someone who will make a decision based on their sense of what is in the best interest of the larger community.
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: I support Jodi Clemens for Iowa House
I’ve seen many changes in Iowa, recent years. I’m sorry to say they’re not all good. Education funding, for example, hasn’t come close to keeping up with the cost of living. We can’t expect our schools to maintain the same quality we had when I was growing up and Iowa led the nation.
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: Don’t forget the disabled on Oct. 2
On Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018, vote Bruce Teague for Iowa City Council. With Bruce, you get the first member of Iowa City Council devoted to helping the disabled. We are all disabled visibly or invisibly, or will become so eventually in our lifetime due to aging. And we all need/want affordable and accessible housing.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘Sorry to Bother You’ is weird, cool, but not quite wonderful
There’s something extraordinary about Sorry to Bother You. Maybe it’s rookie writer-director Boots Riley’s unique take on science fiction. Maybe it’s the timely discussion of the evils of capitalism and importance of labor unions. Maybe it’s the practical special effects, hearkening back to early sci-fi with a contemporary, satirical sheen. Maybe it’s Lakeith Stanfield’s stellar performance, or Tessa Thompson’s badass hair, make-up and wardrobe.
Posted inLetters
Op-ed: Mollie Tibbetts and ‘American Gothic’
I drove by that cornfield past Guernsey the last week of July, along with thousands of others. It was during RAGBRAI, the annual bicycle ride across the state of Iowa that has become as much a part of the identity of the state as “American Gothic.”
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: No excuses, Iowa City. Show up to vote.
Apparently 90 percent of the eligible voters in Iowa City forgot that yesterday was the day to vote for the vacant city council seat. Or maybe the five minutes it took to vote early for weeks now at the Johnson County Administration building was just to long of a wait. Really? For a county that holds itself out as an example to all other counties in Iowa, this is embarrassing to say the least. Iowa City, a city that prides itself on its social activism and political involvement. A city whose citizens constantly pontificate that they want to be leaders in legislation and want a transparent government and active participation.
Posted inCommunity/News
Eight minutes to live
On Nov. 26, 2017, the Hawai’ian government reinstated the “attack warning” siren amidst growing fears of a possible missile attack from North Korea. My wife, Julia, and I were living in Wailuku, a town on the island of Maui. Along with the rest of the citizens of Hawai’i, we had watched with growing apprehension as Trump and Kim Jong Un began their volley of insults and threats with our islands stuck in between.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Love Letters: Three women describe what it was like to lose a parent
These essays won first, second and third place in the Love Letters: What Matters Most contest, hosted by Honoring Your Wishes, a division of Iowa City Hospice. The contest asked writers to reflect on themes of love, forgiveness and gratitude.
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: Finally a city council candidate that represents the disabled
By Mary Gravitt, Iowa City Bruce Teague, if selected on Sept. 4 and elected on Oct. 2, 2018, will be the first member of the Iowa City City Council to represent the disabled. He will provide additional balance on the council. For years, problems facing the physically disabled have been disregarded in Iowa City. This […]
Posted inLetters
Letters to the editor: Community members sound off on candidates for Iowa City Council
Little Village has covered the candidates in the special election to fill the vacant at-large seat on the Iowa City Council as they’ve discussed important issues in two public forums. LV has also received many letter about the candidate, and for the convenience of voters still making up their minds about whom to vote for in the Sept. 4 primary, we’ve compiled those letter below.
