Hello from yet another coffee shop, now in Marathon WI, I was back in Iowa for the Thanksgiving holiday, though at the other side of our state. While it is a growing metropolis of sorts (pushing 400,000), it is still Iowa. Between there and Iowa City, the home of the University of Iowa, there areContinue reading “The Consequence of Location”
Tag Archives: #parents
Life in Every Breath
Hello at the end of the week, It is difficult to believe we are almost into the year holiday season. This coming week I will fly back to Iowa to spend Thanksgiving with family. Certainly, holidays are a different time for each of us; they bring back memories, which for some are blessed and bringContinue reading “Life in Every Breath”
And So It Goes
Hello from another day of grading and coffee shops (not completely, but I will explain), It is another weekend, and for the moment it seems more like a September afternoon (though now overcast) than almost Halloween. I looked at my hometown in Iowa, and I spoke to Max up in Houghton, and both places wereContinue reading “And So It Goes”
Seasons and Siblings
Hello from a low-key Friday afternoon The metaphor of seasons is well-known, and its use across the genres of art is extensive. Immediately, Vivaldi’s classic Four Seasons, comes to mind, or another Italian, artist, Giuseppe Arcimbold painted four paintings on the seasons given to HRE Maximillian II. Scottish poet, James Thomson composed poems on tueContinue reading “Seasons and Siblings”
Struggling with my Scars
Hello from the hotel, I am continually amazed by the way our lives seem to be in an ending tension of sorts, the sort of push and pull between things that seem diametrically opposed. We are, on occasion, profoundly short-sighted while simultaneously planning things long-term. We are ostensibly pleased with our daily existence while worryingContinue reading “Struggling with my Scars”
ABD and Buslife
Hello from the soggy Cumberland Plateau, The last 36 hours or so have been a struggle to get anything done as it has rained off and on since Sunday and now pretty much non-stop for the last day and a half. I had hoped to be on my way back north by yesterday. Now IContinue reading “ABD and Buslife”
Lonely Wind
Hello from a Starbucks on Clinton Street, It is in downtown Iowa City, where I once wandered as a student in 1982. Hard to believe it was that long ago, but it is the beginning of another academic year and there are students everywhere. I have been managing things as I work toward getting seriousContinue reading “Lonely Wind”
American Gothic and My Iowa Roots
Hello from rural Mallard, It’s about the end of the day, the sun is setting, I can smell livestock from the hog containment facility down the road, and yes, there are flies (scads of them). It was a productive day as I got the weather stripping for the main bus door ordered, and the majorityContinue reading “American Gothic and My Iowa Roots”
The Price of Uncivil Division
Hello on Sunday morning, As I read the coverage like millions of others around the world, the reality that we came millimeters from the killing of a former President and as well as the current likely nominee for their party’s current election, should be both frightening and seen for the outrageous truth it displays. Certainly,Continue reading “The Price of Uncivil Division”
Imagining Possibilities
Hello from Iowa and a family ceremony, Family is such an incredible reality and yet simultaneously a concept. Family has always been something I have pondered because my family, and my relationship with those individuals has never been what is considered typical. The reasons for that are varied and complex, but trying to understand whereContinue reading “Imagining Possibilities”
