When I was in junior high and high school in the ‘70s (ulp!), there was kind of a dippy prose poem from the 1920s by Max Ehrmann called “Desiderata” making the rounds. It became somewhat popular after Leonard Nimoy made a spoken recording of it in 1967 (on the album Mr. Spock’s Music from Outer […]
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Lost in Transition
When you read this, presumably sometime in May, who knows what the weather will be like? You might be covering your plants for tonight’s frost, or you might be heading out for ice cream because you’re sweltering in 100-degree heat. That’s the kind of spring it’s been. Granted, spring in Iowa is often full of […]
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Spelling T-R-A-D-I-T-I-O-N
This spring marks the end of an era in Iowa City. Iowa City Spells, the annual adult spelling bee sponsored by the Iowa City Public Library Friends Foundation as a benefit for the library, held its fifteenth and final competition. Over the years, the spelling bee became much more than a fundraiser. Over its decade […]
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UR Here: Death by 1,000 Razings
For the last month or so, the talk of the town has moved on from Stephen Bloom to Washington Street. By the time you read this, the houses in the 500 block of Washington Street that housed The Red Avocado restaurant, Defunct Books, and the Golden Haug Bed and Breakfast may very well be dust. Yet another multi-story apartment building with ground-floor retail space will soon arise. At deadline, Defunct Books announced they were moving to Sycamore Mall. The fate of the Red Avocado is still highly questionable.
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UR Here: Aunt Millie Knows
Last month’s Stephen Bloom Atlantic essay about Iowa set off a firestorm, to say the least. This is not a column about Stephen Bloom’s essay. But it bounces off of it. A common reaction to the essay was speculation that Professor Bloom must be miserable living in Iowa and puzzlement over why he doesn’t leave […]
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UR Here: What’s a Three-Legged Dog Got to Do With It?
Last month’s visit to Iowa City by Jay Walljasper, author of All That We Share: A Field Guide to the Commons, was by all accounts–including, admittedly, my own–a great success. I once again thank Little Village for helping spread the word so effectively and I thank all who came to discuss the commons with us […]
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UR Here: The Community, the Crises and the Commons
A lot of people think something is really wrong with our country–indeed our whole world. Last winter and spring, mass protests throughout the Middle East swept long-standing regimes out of power. This past summer, European cities experienced mass protests about the state of economies and jobs. This fall, the Occupy movement has swept from Wall […]
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UR Here: The Cat & The Commons
One of the best things to happen to Iowa City this fall has been the mountain lion. I know, I know. There may not even be a mountain lion. Maybe people saw a big kitty, or a deer, or, heck, even a dog. It doesn’t matter. Whether ol’ Snagglepuss is as real as a downtown parking ticket or as imaginary as the white-cuffed-and-collared, pink-hued cartoon cat who just wants to exit stage left, it doesn’t matter. He (or she) has contributed much to the sense of the commons in Iowa City.
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UR Here: And So, Summer Ends…When, Exactly?
The end of summer is a peculiar time. For no other season are we so compelled to define “the end.” For the last month or so I have found myself and others repeating, “Well, I guess summer’s over because…” And there are a lot of “becauses.” Because the near-downtown neighborhood street curbs are full of […]
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UR Here: Blowing the Place Down
The spring and summer of 2011 have been historically devastating. An earthquake and tsunami in Japan rival Hiroshima and Nagasaki. EF5 tornadoes in Joplin, Missouri, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and throughout much of the South have killed more people than any outbreak in six decades. Wildfires have burned more of Arizona to the ground than ever before. […]
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UR Here: Soaps on the Ropes
To be honest, I never imagined I would ever write about this subject, but this month I want to explore. . .here goes. . .the fate of soap operas! Sudser fans (and some media mavens) shuddered this spring when ABC announced it was canceling One Life to Live and All My Children. This leaves General […]
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UR Here: The Ceremonies of Spring
Spring is renewal time. We reconnect with so much that has left us over the winter months: our gardens, the leaves on the trees lining our street, the open waters that we canoe or kayak, warm breezes, robins and cardinals singing in the morning, the first chirps of crickets in the gray dusk
