The Pitt: Superheroes of the ER| www.iowasource.com
The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art has mounted two exciting new exhibitions for the summer. And what’s more perfect on a hot summer day than an air-conditioned art museum? All that Jazz: Photographs by Carl Van Vechten and George T. Henry provides a visual feast for music and photography lovers, while Strokes of Genius: American| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Robert Hoerlein’s “Works on Paper” Opens August 1 at ICON Gallery| www.iowasource.com
The Iowa City Songwriters Festival (ICSF), an intimate three-day music festival centered around the craft of songwriting, premieres September 4–6 at the Englert Theatre and other small venues in downtown Iowa City. Showcasing world-class songwriters through cozy performances, the festival has a stellar lineup that includes Jeff Tweedy, Courtney Marie Andrews, Loudon Wainwright III, and… The post Iowa City Songwriters Festival: A Closeup Look at the Craft first appeared on Iowa Source.| Iowa Source
Community choirs are one of the simplest, most joyful means available to turn strangers into neighbors. These choirs lift moods, tune bodies into a shared rhythm, and give every participant a front-row seat to the miracle of harmony. As composer John Rutter says, “Choral singing is not a frill—it’s the heart of our humanity.” Walk into a… The post Singing Together Is Good For You: Join the Southeast Iowa Chamber Singers first appeared on Iowa Source.| Iowa Source
A vibrant celebration of creativity is coming to Fairfield this month. The first annual Southeast Iowa Art and Book Fair will be held on Saturday, August 16, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center. Admission is free and open to the public. This inaugural event brings together over two… The post Southeast Iowa Art & Book Fair Celebrates Regional Talent first appeared on Iowa Source.| Iowa Source
Lilly Hiatt wrote her first song when she was just nine years old. It was about a weeping willow tree. She still remembers the words and melody. “I’ve always loved the way the willow trees looked and found comfort being around them,” she said over the telephone from her Tennessee home. “They grow near water,… The post Lilly Hiatt: Music That Looks Back While Forging Ahead first appeared on Iowa Source.| Iowa Source
In late June, a few hours ahead of his reading at Prairie Lights Books, I met Lee Cole over coffee in Iowa City. He was in town—back in town, really—to promote his new novel, Fulfillment, which tells the story of a dysfunctional family in which each member desperately wants something they can’t quite have. It’s… The post Lee Cole: What Happens When You Get What You Want? first appeared on Iowa Source.| Iowa Source
Overlooking the Mississippi River in downtown Davenport, the Figge Art Museum is dedicated to bringing art and people together. The building itself is a wonder of architectural design—its sleek lines, lustrous green glass façade, and arresting interior spaces create an artistic haven along the riverfront. With 17 to 23 rotating exhibitions on view every year,| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Mary Helen's essay accompanies her exhibit of "Bathrobes I Have Sewn" in the Po/Art/Ry show at Artifactory, 120 N. Dubuque, Iowa City. She and the other exhibiting artists will read from poems accompanying their artwork during the no-cost opening reception this Friday, April 4, 6:00-8:00 PM. The show will be open on Saturdays, 1:00-3:00, and| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Economic Roadblocks: No One Likes a Traffic Jam| www.iowasource.com
Please join the Southeast Iowa Sierra Club, TerraCycle, and the Sustainable Living Coalition—along with an estimated 100 million participants in 190 countries—in reducing our reliance on single-use plastics during Plastic Free July, and beyond. So, what’s the problem? Plastic has many valuable uses in our daily lives. In fact, I would wager to say that| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Hinterland 2025: Artists Groove on Audience’s “Iowa Nice” Vibe| www.iowasource.com
Hinterland did not just grow this year—it exploded. The festival grounds in St. Charles, Iowa, tripled in size, stretching over 1 million square feet and 250 acres, with more of everything: water stations, shade, camping, parking, and creature comforts. But the real headline at the August 1–3 event was . . . well, the headliners.… The post Hinterland 2025: Artists Groove on Audience’s “Iowa Nice” Vibe first appeared on Iowa Source.| Iowa Source
Like many Americans, I grew up reading Mark Twain’s stories about Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. The Mississippi River figures prominently in these novels, and it has always been a comforting presence in my life. To me, the river embodies infinite strength and calm, the backbone of a nation that, in the words of Winston… The post Mississippi River Towns: Musings Along the Big Muddy first appeared on Iowa Source.| Iowa Source
President Trump has promoted a bill that would disallow states from regulating artificial intelligence for the next 10 years. Pope Leo, on the other hand, views today’s AI wave as a new and disruptive industrial revolution that requires regulation in order to defend dignity, justice, and labor rights. In other words, their views represent an… The post Two Views of AI: Trump Versus the Pope first appeared on Iowa Source.| Iowa Source
These three documentaries—The Quilters, My Heroes Were Cowboys, and My Mom Jayne—promise to entertain and make you feel good about humanity. The Quilters These days, prisons offer imaginative programs that make use of the inmates’ time while developing their skills, which sometimes offers unexpected benefits. A Sing Sing prison program teaches acting classes with opportunities… The post Soul-Soothing Documentaries to Screen first appeared on Iowa Source.| Iowa Source
On day two of distributing bundles of The Iowa Source a few months ago, I decided to take “the scenic route” from Ottumwa down to Van Buren County, cutting in toward the Des Moines River on Route 16. The two-lane highway shoots down a tree-lined hill and swoops east right into the heart of Eldon,… The post Necessities Mercantile: Brewing Up a Place to Gather first appeared on Iowa Source.| Iowa Source
After the inauguration, Donald Trump said we would be entering a new golden age. He didn’t explain why he thought that. So it left us to wonder what would cause it to be a golden age. My mind immediately went to the Gilded Age, a time in American history when fortunes were made and conspicuous| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
A new exhibition, Robert Hoerlein: Works on Paper 2019–2025 opens at ICON Gallery on Fairfield First Fridays night, August 1, 6:30 to 10:00 p.m. It’s the first showing of new work by Robert Hoerlein in Fairfield in over a decade. Hoerlein was a resident of Fairfield for 25 years, and now resides in Santa Fe,… The post Robert Hoerlein’s “Works on Paper” Opens August 1 at ICON Gallery first appeared on Iowa Source.| Iowa Source
The Trump administration is prematurely halting important tax incentives for clean energy purchases. If you were thinking about reducing your fossil fuel impact and taking advantage of the tax savings, it’s time to move right now. New electric vehicles (EVs) can generate a $7,500 tax credit. Used EVs and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) can qualify for… The post EV Tax Credits Are Ending: Act Now Before They Disappear first appeared on Iowa Source.| Iowa Source
If you’ve noticed more twinkling lights in Iowa over the summer, you’re not alone! Many Iowans have reported an increase in firefly sightings this year compared to the past few. This local surge is a welcome sight, especially given the global decline in firefly populations. The recent increase in precipitation over the last year or| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Spring is on the way. Songs of cardinals and chickadees fill the morning air. Soon songbirds will be migrating through Iowa. And many will be nesting here. Bluebirds, our cultural symbol of happiness, are among the first to start. Already, bluebirds perch near my bluebird house, declaring to any potential rivals that this place is| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
First question: Do you use inexpensive LED bulbs in the lights you turn on in the evening and at night? Next question: How is your sleep going? Deep and refreshing? If so, that’s terrific—you can stop reading now. If you do have sleep issues, your LED bulbs are likely contributing to them big time. The| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
A Simple Twist of Fate: The Night Bob Dylan Ended Up in My Lap| www.iowasource.com
We live in a world where agricultural needs, environmental health, and economic interests often appear to be incompatible. But sometimes it just takes a guy like Ron Blair, driving along a country road and contemplating a string of “what-ifs,” to make a difference. This is a story about how farmers, community members, and environmentalists found| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Lizzie No is both a musician and a political activist, and she doesn’t see a difference be-tween these roles. The job of the artist is to help people see their place in the world more clearly. As a queer Black woman and a self-described communist working in the larger white folk-country-Americana field, Lizzie No understands| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Corruption and politics often go hand in hand around the world and throughout history. So it’s not exactly news that a politician might be corrupt. That said, despite some extreme corruption in very high office in the United States over the years, we have enjoyed a reputation as one of the less corrupt nations. As| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Applications are open for the second year of the Big Field Fund (BFF), a regional grant program for artists, supplied by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and administered by Public Space One in Iowa City. BFF offers financial support to artist-led projects that manifest new, inventive models, support under-resourced creative communities, engage| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Fairfield Area Community Theatre (F.A.C.T.) is excited to present Freaky Friday: A New Musical the weekend of June 12–15 at the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center. A family-friendly production based on the 1972 Mary Rodgers novel and the hit Disney films, Freaky Friday is the comedic and heartrending tale of a mother and daughter at| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Superman Summer: Vintage Books for Fans—and a New Movie| www.iowasource.com
Dept. Q (Netflix) takes us to Edinburgh, Scotland, where law enforcement is about to launch a new cold case unit that will soon be assigned to the top-notch detective that’s least likely to choose it. Enter DCI Carl Morck, played by the superb, British-born Matthew Goode. In this series, Goode is not the scrubbed, boyish| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
A new Superman movie, directed by James Gunn, hits the big screen this month, and I am cautiously optimistic about it. That said, each time a new film featuring Superman comes out, it is inevitably compared to 1978’s classic Superman: The Movie, starring Christopher Reeve. I think most folks would tell you that no film| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
A beloved figure in the gaming world, Walter Day of Fairfield is the subject of a new movie, Arcades & Love Songs: The Ballad of Walter Day, now streaming worldwide. The founder of Twin Galaxies, an organization that tracks world records for video games and conducts electronic-gaming promotions, Day was dubbed the “Father of eSports”| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
At six in the morning, thunderstorms rumble through Fairfield. Isabel and I sit at our computers as rain slashes against the windows. It’s our daily ritual—checking overnight WhatsApp messages from Tanzania. We’ve helped coordinate TM projects in Tanzania for many years, but messages from Penina always bring a fresh sense of urgency and hope. Penina,| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
It's a hot June afternoon and you’re in a grocery store browsing the refrigerated aisle. Rows of colorful drinks pass through your eyes. Suddenly you find it—coconut water, at last! Just as you pick up the plastic bottle, you notice your favorite brand now comes in cartons, aluminum cans, and glass. You tout yourself as| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Sometimes it feels great to get outta Dodge, even if it’s just for a day. My headquarters are in Southeast Iowa, and I’ve got a good friend over in Springfield, Illinois, so about once a year he and I find a spot in between to rendezvous. It’s not like that. We’re just really good friends.| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
The summers of my childhood were built upon expressions of wonder that rolled over fields and skittered across ponds, where “the future” didn’t exist because the present was so absorbing and delicious and deserving of one’s deepest attention. What followed it was a mystery—one to be quickly dismissed. There was grass, sky, bicycles, baseballs, TV| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Lately, I’ve been working my way through the complete works of science writer Sam Kean. I first became aware of Kean while I was programming Out Loud!, an author series produced by Metro Library Network in Cedar Rapids. We presented Kean in Cedar Rapids and—in collaboration with the Iowa City Book Festival—in Iowa City in| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Mid-America Emmy Award-winning Fair Field Productions, whose series of historical films about Fairfield have garnered both popular and critical acclaim, is premiering its latest documentary in June. The last film focused on Parsons College and won five awards at the Iowa Motion Picture Association Awards Gala. Fair Field Productions’ latest film, When Maharishi Came to| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
There’s a common misconception that nature does best when left alone. It’s an appealing idea—to step back, let things grow wild, and allow nature to run its course. And once, long ago, that was largely true. Before European contact, the landscape that we now call Iowa was shaped slowly by time, weather, wildlife, and the| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
A new exhibition at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art uses artworks from the CRMA's extensive collection to shine a spotlight on clothing—what it says about the artist who highlighted it, the person who wears it, and the culture it comes from. The images in Dressed Up (And Down): Depictions of Clothing in the Collection| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Landman: An Intense, Character-Driven Saga in the Oil World| www.iowasource.com
Imagine the U.S. economy as a massive highway system with businesses, investors, and consumers all driving toward their desired financial destinations. For decades, traffic has flowed rather smoothly. The system has had its fair share of accidents over the years, as would be expected with a massive highway system. A fender-bender here and there, and| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Apologies to people who are fans of medical dramas of all kinds—I’m new to the genre and won’t be able to compare The Pitt (on HBO Max) to ER, New Amsterdam, The Resident, Chicago Med, Code Black, or even (if you are really old) Dr. Kildare. Even so, the fresh impact of The Pitt on| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
"So, a lot of this book, you know, is engaging with some of the racist, dehumanizing attitudes that in my mind have a role to play in the environmental disaster we call the Dust Bowl,” said Karen Russell, who is passionate about the themes of her new novel, The Antidote. I talked with her via| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Combining a gallery exhibit with four live events, Sliding Parameters: Fiber Art and Fashion by Judy Bales features fashion creations and sculptural works by the Fairfield artist, through July 12 at ICON Gallery at 58 N. Main St. in Fairfield. Judy Bales is one of the most uniquely creative artists living in Fairfield. Having established| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
The Chamber Singers of Southeast Iowa will present “Songs for a Better World” at their annual spring concert on Saturday and Sunday, May 24 and 25, 7:30 p.m. at the Golden Magnolia Sanctuary, 200 South Main Street in Fairfield. This year’s program explores the universal themes of love, kindness, and praise that nourish our lives,| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Emmy-nominated filmmaker Ian Cheney’s newest film, Observer, is an invitation to find beauty and meaning in the most unassuming places. The 94-minute documentary premieres in Fairfield on Sunday, June 1, 3 p.m. at Cinema Fairfield, in the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center. Observer follows an experiment in careful seeing. Cheney asked a dozen people who| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
The general consensus on trees is that they inspire great fondness, respect, and gratitude. I share those sentiments so much that I decided to pursue forestry as my career path, aspiring to conserve and protect the forests that I love. To my surprise, I quickly learned that being a forester often means wielding a chainsaw| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
We are currently living in overly interesting times, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the upheaval going on in the world. Here are ten ways to boost your spirits and lift your mood in this era of uncertainty. Get Outside Spending time in nature has been scientifically shown to benefit our physical and| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
On November 27, 1964, Bob Dylan gave a performance at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco. My parents dropped me off at the concert with cab fare, the address of a party they were attending in “the City,” and careful instructions about calling a taxi after the show. I was 13 years old. Cultural Icons| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
The Trump administration is prematurely halting important tax incentives for clean energy purchases. If you…| www.iowasource.com
If you live in America, you are more likely to get back pain than a divorce (although in some cases, the two may be related). Our chances of getting low back pain are between 60 and 90 percent, depending on variables in lifestyle. Approximately 619 million people worldwide suffer from back pain, and that number| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Jackie Venson was born and raised in Austin, Texas, and still lives there. Her music incorporates many of the diverse genres (blues, soul, rock, hip-hop, electronica) that have found a home in the “Live Music Capital of the World,” as the town’s official slogan proclaims. She said the Midwest is more responsible for the growth| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
It would be interesting to pick John Deere’s mind today to see if he ever imagined that his invention would change the Iowa landscape so dramatically. Deere invented the plow in the early 1820s, and in 75 years, it altered the Iowa landscape forever. Back then, Iowa had roughly 30 million acres of prairie comprising| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
To grow up in Iowa is to be intertwined with nature. We are raised in tune with the seasons—hyper aware of when the leaves change, corn grows, and our parents demand we shovel the driveway for the umpteenth time. Despite having among the fewest acres of publicly available parks, Iowans recreate outdoors at a higher| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
The Southeast Iowa Sierra Club and Lonnie Gamble invite you to A Walk Through Earth's 4.6 Billion Year History on Sunday, April 27, 1-4 p.m. at Jefferson County Park. Meet at the main parking lot. Experience the wonder of all of life's interconnection, with each step representing 500,000 years of earth's history. Led by Lonnie| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
A runway show featuring one-of-a-kind wearable art by Judy Bales, Kathleen Shrosbree, and Gyan Shrosbree will be held Friday, April 25, at 7 p.m., at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, in conjunction with the current exhibition All Dressed Up (and Down). Limited tickets for the Art in Motion benefit are still available but should| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
My dad was raised Catholic, but by the time he hit college had given up church for Monty Python. Mom was brought up Presbyterian, but the moment she’d been told that children who hadn’t been converted to Christ were going to hell, she knew something was deeply wrong about that whole situation. Because what about| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
In 2024, Fairfield Cares surveyed Jefferson County residents who have either received or assisted in home healthcare in the last five years. The response was over 300 surveys, which revealed the increasing need for a more robust solution that connects those who need help with those who wish to help. Town Hall Meeting on April| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Iowa’s Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) is celebrating its milestone 50th anniversary this year. A community-based nonprofit famous for its huge collection of garden and food-crop heirloom seeds, SSE not only safeguards heirloom seeds for future generations, it also encourages gardeners and farmers across the world to grow and share heirloom seeds. Founded in 1975 by| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
“They’re an act of war, to some degree.” —Warren Buffett interviewed about tariffs on CNN “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” —Winston Churchill “I never make the same mistake twice. Instead, I make it five or six times just to be sure.” —Anonymous Big increases in tariffs have been| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Okay, let’s get this out of the way: this is not another column about using artificial intelligence for shopping. But it just happened that my friend Bill emailed me a shopping-related tech question on the very day that I had planned to investigate a new “deep research” feature. (People email me tech questions thinking I’m| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Blending the classic Western with a thriller/crime genre staged on the Navajo reservation, Dark Winds was inspired by the crime series by Tony Hillerman, a journalist whose 35-year career produced 18 novels, starting in 1970 with The Blessing Way. While the TV series takes its own imaginative directions, it features Hillerman’s leading characters as it| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
When Bryan, our oldest child, who turns 28 this month, was in kindergarten, he came home one day with a flyer in his backpack. The flyer invited kids to try bowling at one of the local alleys. The fee was $4 a week and there was no upfront cost. We decided to give it a| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
I didn’t know I cared about jazz. Sure, I’d gotten caught in a “Heavenly” Harry Connick Jr. wave in the early ’90s—my teenage self swooned over his velvety voice and big-band sound—but it wasn’t until 1996, when a crew of chain-smoking college-age hipsters invited me to their poker game that jazz began to rewire my| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
This list of 12 tracks represents some of the best new releases over the past year, as well as a couple from 2022. Genres include Americana, singer-songwriter, alternative, reggae, and electronic. Special merit goes to three singer-songwriter artists—Duo Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Peter Bradley Adams, and Sarah Jarosz—who each have two tracks chosen from| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Drew and Ellie Holcomb have been married for almost 20 years and, for the most part, they have kept their musical identities separate. While Ellie began as a backup singer with Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors in 2008, she launched her own successful career as a Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) performer. She has won several| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
“Secure the lease, then manage the people. The first task is easy. . . . It’s the second that can get you killed.” —Billy Bob Thornton as Tommy Norris, describing his job as landman Welcome to the Permian Basin, a 75,000-square-mile “patch” through West Texas and Southeast New Mexico that has long served as| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
O ne hundred years ago, Calvin Coolidge said that “the chief business of the American people is business,” and it’s still true today. By the time you read this, the Super Bowl will have been played and Major League Baseball teams will be in spring training. The Super Bowl has been played every year since| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
What’s my idea of heaven? That would be the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas each January. A whole week of state-of-the-art gadgets. Can you imagine? And, no surprise, one of the highlights this year was artificial intelligence. One of these years I’ll attend, but for now I’ve asked my favorite chatbots for some| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Discovery Channel’s Alaska: The Last Frontier, the 11-season reality show that ended in 2022, garnered quite a fanbase, with millions all over the world following the exploits of the Kilcher family, homesteaders living off the land near Homer, Alaska. But what many people don’t know is that the Kilcher family has been attracting attention for| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
It's been four years since Fairfield was dubbed the world’s first “TerraCycle Town” for its progress towards zero waste. In addition to taking part in conventional recycling, local residents (and many of you readers) have diverted 89,000 plastic products from landfills, enough to fill 10 bathtubs with solid plastic. These are thousands of everyday products| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Founded in 2002, Iowa City’s Public Space One (PS1) has become a thriving, artist-led, community-oriented art center, maintaining multidisciplinary, experimental spaces for Iowa City and Southeast Iowa. Not only does PS1 advocate for art in everyday life, it also supports artists with welcoming spaces for making art, innovative programs that stretch boundaries, and cultural resources| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Fairly often, I am tempted to reread a book. Most of the time, I resist the urge. There are some notable exceptions. I have, for example, returned to Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series—a trilogy in five parts, as the marketing sometimes reads—any number of times. As regular readers of this column know,| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Every day is a holiday. Don’t believe me (or Katy Perry’s 2015 hit)—you can check for yourself. Just log on to your computer and ask what we commemorate today (or whenever). There’s always something being celebrated by someone somewhere. Most people know that February is the month of Valentine’s Day, Presidents’ Day, and even Groundhog| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
The worst speakers in our homes these days are the ones in our TVs. There, I said it. But why is this always true? The obvious problem is that today’s TVs are so skinny, it’s impossible to build a speaker cabinet that’s big enough to allow the speaker to hit any low notes. Speakers that| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
A show of new paintings by Fairfield artist Joanie McGinnis opens at ICON Gallery this Friday during on Fairfield First Fridays, 6:30 to 10 p.m. McGinnis’s upbeat abstract paintings appeal to a wide range of viewers. ICON Gallery Director Bill Teeple explains, “People often remark, ‘I don’t normally like abstract art, but I love Joanie’s| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
February. That month when two people are better than one under the covers. When the dinner hour is still dark enough to eat your favorite dish by candlelight. When the piece of chocolate cake you order before the show is just the right size to share. You find your cozy seats. Your fingers accidentally touch| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
I am fortunate to have a stately white oak on my property that is probably about 170 years old. It was a sapling when my grandmother’s grandmother Lucinda was a child in Keokuk, Iowa, in the 1850s. My grandmother told me that her grandmother had fond memories of growing up in Southeast Iowa, and talked| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
“Our intention is not to explain Dylan. If anything, it’s to create even more questions.” —Steven Jenkins, director of the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma A memorable lyric from his 1965 recording “Like a Rolling Stone” anoints this Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown. Compliments of cowriter and director extraordinaire James Mangold, the guided| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Cinema Fairfield has packed the next week with exciting new movie releases, all shown at the Sondheim Theater in Fairfield. Tickets are just $7, with popcorn and snacks available before each show. Tonight, see the road-trip dramedy A Real Pain about two mismatched cousins (played by Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin) finding their Jewish roots| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Since 2015, Maharishi School students have been hosting the Empty Bowls event, a global initiative to raise awareness and funds to combat hunger and food insecurity. Currently in Iowa, 344,550 people are facing hunger—and 110,500 of those are children. In the United States, hunger has been on the rise for the second year in a| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Back in August, I walked into Daydreams Comics in Iowa City on a Wednesday morning (any regular patron of comic shops will tell you that Wednesday is new comic book day) to pick up my weekly stash of super heroics and the like. In short order, it became apparent that this was a special day| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
“I believe that this process, as flawed as it is, is still our best chance at finding justice.” —The judge addressing the jury in Juror #2 Directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Jonathan Abrams, Juror #2 walks us through a murder trial in Savannah, Georgia, where a hot-tempered young man named James Sythe (Gabriel| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
It seems that I am never able to stray far from this statement commonly attributed to Niels Bohr: “Prediction is very difficult, especially when it pertains to the future.” But even by those standards, at this moment in time we are faced with big changes in so many variables that it’s all but impossible to| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
When my friend David invites me to join him on a 174-mile pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago trail from Portugal to Spain, every ounce of my body, mind, and spirit says, I’m going no matter what! Perhaps the urge grips me because my 97-year-old mother is in hospice. After her death, I want to| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
The holidays are here. For some, this means perfectly executed family dinners and Instagram-worthy decorations. For the rest of us, it’s just a mad scramble to cram everything into a few weeks, hoping the house doesn’t burn down and everyone’s sanity holds on by at least one thread. But here’s the deal: the holidays aren’t| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Not for the first time, a coyote decided to attack one of my trail cameras. He succeeded in knocking it down and tearing the mounting strap into six pieces. So yes, these straps do sometimes need to be replaced. I decided to order some, and wondered if ChatGPT could help me shop. So I gave| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
As winter storm season hits, it pays to know how to prepare for the weather. Sure, snow and ice are picturesque, but they can be treacherous to drive in. Any kind of storm makes traveling difficult—and sometimes downright dangerous. A serious storm might even shut things down, and while a snow day can be fun,| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
Meredith, an Iowa native, was baffled when she earned her high school's writing award in 1993. It wasn't until twenty years later that she discovered she actually enjoyed wordcraft. (Too bad she's still a two-fingered typist.) Thanks for reading, friends!| www.iowasource.com
“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.” —Nikola Tesla I was having a particularly rotten week. Anger was near the surface. And grief was bone deep. I was tempted to book a session at the local Smash Room when I remembered a new business| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
I was having lunch with a friend, talking about professional tennis, when we wondered about the relative heights of tennis legends Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic. I reflexively picked up my phone and spoke the question to ChatGPT. In seconds we had the answer. When my trail cameras recently captured images of birds that I didn’t| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
“Ilsa, I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that.” —Humphrey Bogart as Rick in Casablanca Not long ago, I overheard someone in a crowd say, “Politics is| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
As part of a special baseball-themed Labor Day weekend, Cinema Fairfield and the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center will be screening a new independent movie called Rally Caps on Friday, August 30, at 7 p.m., and Saturday, August 31, at 2 p.m. A family film set at a youth baseball camp, Rally Caps stars Oscar-nominated| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
On my way back home from a wedding in northern Iowa last month, the ideal timing for a sandwich stop put me right about at my hometown of Ames. I thought to pop in on my Uncle Sam, who still lives there with his wife, but fresh colds put the kibosh on that plan—they’d caught| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
As faithful readers know, I am currently engaged in a project to reread the complete 87th Precinct series by Ed McBain. The series numbers over 50 books, and in August 2022 I shared my thoughts on the first three. The books came fast and furious starting in 1956. For this column, I’m picking up the| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
A New Season Announced! The FACC is thrilled to unveil its spectacular 2024-2025 performing arts season, featuring a diverse lineup of shows that promises to captivate audiences of all ages. With performances ranging from iconic rock tributes and beloved holiday classics to dynamic cultural showcases and inspiring musical acts, this season is set to be| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
This inaugural Land Stewardship column by Clay Steele, Lee County Environmentalist and Outdoor Education Specialist, addresses the thorny issue of how things should look according to human aesthetics versus the reality of the restoration process. Each month, this column will feature area projects that have restoried and rejuvenated publicly owned land. If you’re a regular| Iowa Source - Iowa's Enlightening Magazine
