January 20 is approaching. The “hope-mongers,” as Barack Obama jokingly called himself at a Northwest Junior High campaign rally in December 2007, cling to visions of revolutionary social transformation. The hardcore liberals are shaking their heads at the President-Elect’s centrist and hawkish Cabinet appointments. To tell you the truth, I’m a little bit of both: […]
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Posted inFood & Drink
Spoils from the Soil
Now I am terrified at the Earth, it is that calm and patient, It grows such sweet things out of such corruptions, It turns harmless and stainless on its axis, with such endless successions of diseas’d corpses, It distills such exquisite winds out of such infused fetor, It renews with such unwitting looks its prodigal, […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Health: Get Moving
Little Village is making a New Year’s Resolution to get fit. You can too. A lot of New Year’s resolutions start out as good intensions, but by the time February rolls around they are forgotten and the “I’m going to lose weight this year” turns into a “I need to start working out,” which always […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: (self-titled) The Sullivan Gang
The Sullivan Gang Self-titled www.thesullivangang.com I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a CD in recent years that more overtly identifies itself as roots music. From Michelle Wiegand’s acoustic cover of country music classic “Abilene,” to the ass-kicking stomp of “The Colorado Mines Song,” there’s nothing on this CD that couldn’t have been recorded 40 years […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Laughing Matters
A barstool and microphone left on a small stage isn’t just a scene from New York City, Los Angeles or Chicago. Iowa has it’s comedy clubs too. Though few in number, a visit to any of these comedy havens rewards the audience with just as much laughter and talent as you’d find in the entertainment […]
Posted inCommunity/News
The Eagles of Iowa City
When I relocated to Iowa City, one of my major fears was missing out on the outdoors activities that make the winters bearable (and the make the spring, summer falls even more enjoyable). There’s no downhill skiing, not much ice skating, and the snowcover is usually in a perpetual cycle of melting and freezing, not […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Movie Review: Australia
Australia Directed by Baz Luhrman Drama, 165 Minutes One of the great pleasures of the movies is seeing what a purposeful filmmaker can do with an old genre or story by attempting to remake it in her or his own image. Such was the case with Baz Luhrman’s last film, 2001’s Moulin Rouge, his hyperkinetic […]
Posted inAlbum Reviews
Album Review: The Vinyl Countdown
Scenester Credentials Vinyl Shores of the Tundra Heart of the Beckoning 12-inch Shores of the Tundra’s 12-inch is an impressive artifact before you even drop the needle. It’s a single-sided release, with the epic “Heart of the Reckoning” cut so that it plays from the label to the edge, with a stylized daisy pattern silk-screened […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Book Smart
In this world of excess where all of us end up spending money on things we don’t need, and racking up credit card debt to do it, why not think twice about your luxury purchases? I know when I go on a shopping spree, I always feel better about myself if I come to my […]
Posted inCommunity/News
God Bless This Porch
On October 14, 2008, seven men slept on a porch huddled under blankets in Iowa City in the cold and rain. Father Ken has lived in the parish house for 12 years, and the porch had doubled as a shelter for the homeless even before he started at the parish. The porch, located between St. […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Tofu: The Other Holiday Meat
While traveling West on my way to can salmon in Alaska, I stopped in Tacoma, Washington, to stay the night with my aunt and uncle. My cousin had just graduated high school and the graduation party spread was available for post-driving snacks. I excitedly munched the baby carrots and dipped the cut cauliflower and broccoli […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Health: The Home Stretch
Amidst the family, friends and festivities that the holidays bring, an unwelcome aspect of the season always seems to creep up. In a season that is supposed to bring good tidings to you and your kin, why does it also bring stress? You need to relax. You can choose from countless methods of relaxation out […]
