From kindergarten through sixth grade, I spent countless hours staring at a wall in the Horn Elementary School library, daydreaming while an adult read a book to the class. Far more compelling than a fire alarm or a poster of LeVar Burton, I would fixate on a massive mural mounted on the wall of the […]
Peak Iowa
Posted inCommunity/News
How the Clark family of Muscatine helped desegregate schools in Iowa — and nationwide
There’s fascinating history to be found in Muscatine. Before adopting the name Mark Twain, Samuel Clemens briefly wrote for the Muscatine Journal while his brother was the paper’s editor. Long before Field of Dreams, it saw some of America’s earliest minor-league baseball teams take the field. Neither Twain nor those teams left much of a […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Brandon’s thousand-pound pan (and thousand-person breakfasts)
Along I-380 between Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, a sign beckons drivers to a town boasting the largest frying pan in the state. Anyone willing to spend a few minutes on a detour will not be disappointed. Heading into Brandon, Iowa, the promised frying pan cannot be missed. According to a sign explaining its existence, the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Authors and journalists at the Okoboji Writers’ Retreat discuss the art of speaking truth to power
It’s a long drive from Iowa City to Lake Okoboji. Like most of my colleagues, I’ve never been to Northwest Iowa, and I was curious to visit this red and rural section of our former swing state. The scenery was serenely flat in all directions, punctuated by silos, windmills, telegraph poles, fenceposts, Trump signs and […]
Posted inEastern Iowa, Recreation
Light and nature abound in this Frank Lloyd Wright house, nestled in Cedar Rock State Park
Fans of 20th century American architecture and, in particular, the Prairie Style of Frank Lloyd Wright will be charmed by Cedar Rock State Park, the site of one of his architectural gems. Built on a limestone bluff overlooking the Wapsipinicon River in Buchanan County, near the town of Quasqueton, the house is one of only […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Red earth, Ray Young Bear and the UFO
This all ends with myself, hallowedly stoned and hearing an endless note in the wind, and Ray Young Bear, one of our greatest poets, singing bird songs on the bank of the Iowa River. We’re at the spot where, in 1980, a UFO attempted to abduct Ray and his wife, Stella Lasley-Young Bear. Ray had […]
Posted inCommunity/News
The best invention, sliced bread, is owed to an Iowan
In 1928, an Iowa-born jeweler unveiled a revolutionary invention. The machine Otto Frederick Rohwedder had created was the best thing since… well, that cliche wasn’t available yet. Because what Rohwedder invented was the automatic bread slicer. Born in 1880, Rohwedder grew up in Davenport, where he attended school and apprenticed as a jeweler. After high […]
Posted inPrint Edition
Little Village December 2023: Peak Iowa
Leaders lie, families struggle, rights erode and rivers run sludgy. But you don’t have to scratch far below the surface of our corn-laden state to find something worth preserving—resurrected prairies, cool record shops, priceless art, sandwich innovations, scientific scandals, morbid and mouthwatering roadside attractions, and radical people. For our second-annual Peak Iowa issue, Little Village […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Don your garnets and ogle rare jewelry at the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library
Besides being the birthstone for the January-born, the garnet is one of the oldest gemstones collected by humans — dating back more than 5,000 years to the Bronze Age — and comes in a spectrum of colors, including red, purple, orange and green. Perhaps the most iconic garnet is the deep red Bohemian garnet. A […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
50 ways to explore the state, from Council Bluffs to Lansing
Best town? Boring. Best restaurant? Hackneyed. Best tourist attraction? Nah. Little Village staff and contributors would like to draw your attention to these truly Iowa-y sites, stories and experiences. Some are recommendations, others cautionary tales, but all make our godforsaken state just a little more amazing. Introducing, the Independent Iowa Awards. MONUMENTAL SITES A […]
