Meet: Miss Iowa
“There was an old lady who swallowed a fly….” How did Emily Tinsman get to be singing these lyrics while kicking off a summer reading series for kids? The same [...]
Read More →
Posted February 03, 2021in Your Neighbors
Posted January 06, 2021in Your Neighbors
All hands on deck!
Brett Hopper joined the Navy for two simple reasons: “to serve his country and see the world.” Originally from Altoona, the 2016 graduate of Southeast Polk High School went on [...]
Read More →
Posted December 02, 2020in Your Neighbors
The Duncan house
No one named Duncan has lived there in nearly three decades, but neighbors still refer to Jenifer Owenson’s 83-year-old Waterbury abode as “The Duncan House.” The home was built by [...]
Read More →
Posted November 04, 2020in Your Neighbors
2 poems by 2 local poets win 2 awards
Shelly Reed Thieman penned her first poetry verses for a fifth-grade Haiku contest. She won. The self-described “young and snappy grandmother of three girls” recently won another poetry competition. This [...]
Read More →
Posted September 02, 2020in Your Neighbors
That girl is on fire!
If you’re in northwest Des Moines and somewhere near Beaverdale or Drake University, and if you happen to see a flaming hula hoop spinning around a performer who is being [...]
Read More →
Posted August 05, 2020in Your Neighbors
SCAD sisters
As she pulled and pushed and worked the lawnmower through the rougher-than-usual grass, Johanna Hayes felt her chest tighten and her heart race. She should have been hot, but instead [...]
Read More →
Posted July 01, 2020in Your Neighbors
Random acts of bagpipes
“Someone on our street…has been playing the bagpipes lately, and I love it!” writes one northwest Des Moines neighbor on an online community forum. “…I heard her practicing, (too)…” types [...]
Read More →
Posted April 01, 2020in Your Neighbors
Burrito slingers
“So there was one cold rainy night about five years ago, and I found myself with a crazy man with a backpack full of burritos and some fruit and some [...]
Read More →
Posted March 04, 2020in Your Neighbors
Beekeeping 101 with Julia McGuire
“Jill of Many Skills” teaches local beekeepers to be honey-production maximizers. A 5,500-year-old jar of honey — the oldest known honey in existence — was found within a noblewoman’s tomb [...]
Read More →
Posted February 05, 2020in Your Neighbors
37 mismatched napkin rings
And other Terrace Hill treasures “I taught for 45 years,” says Patrick Phillips-Schrock. As his official retirement date zoomed ever closer, he remembers wondering what was next. “This was my [...]
Read More →
