Courtesy of Beaverdale Books Review by Fay Jones Tin House Books Pub Date: 7/16/13 $14.95 288 pp. In this new collection of short stories by Jodi Angel, each is headed up by a rough-necked, hapless teenaged narrator, from harsh backgrounds of poor, underclass, dysfunctional families, compromised by drugs or drinking.
Read More →Years ago I rode on the bus with a loquacious blind man. One day he told us that he was going to buy a power saw and explained why it would be perfectly safe. We didn’t see him for a while, and the next time he got on the bus
Read More →Imminent swirling vortex of damnation Land developers for the iconic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colo., (famous as the inspiration for the hotel in Stephen King’s “The Shining”) announced recently that they need more space and thus will dig up and move the hotel’s 12-gravesite pet cemetery. Neighbors told the
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Posted October 30, 2013in Joe's Neighborhood
Going to the mountain top to seek wisdom isn’t exactly a new idea. Heck, Moses must have worn a path with his frequent up and down visits. I particularly like the notion that there is a wise man or wise woman ensconced in a cave at the top of a
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Posted October 30, 2013in Political Mercury
Kentucky’s Rand Paul based an extraordinarily effective Cedar Rapids speech on its contents. His colleague in the Senate who compiles it annually served as a key source in a “60 Minutes” segment on outrageous fraud in government disability programs. We are talking about U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn’s “Wastebook 2012,” the
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Posted October 30, 2013in Sound Stage
The biggest mistake four-piece Broncho made in its set this past weekend was performing it in Des Moines on a weeknight. The difficulty in getting people to turn out for shows in the capital city on non-traditional bar nights is a subject that’s been covered previously in these very pages.
Read More →Hello, my name is Patrick Boberg, and I suffer from a minor case of cyberphobia. I have developed websites from nothing, built databases and programmed applications. I enter every software beta test that piques my interest, and I relish the opportunity to get up close and personal with the latest
Read More →Play the “Name that Crime” Quiz! CITIZEN HERO Police met with the victim at the Veterans Affairs hospital emergency room on Oct. 22 after he was jumped at the Pappajohn Sculpture Park around 6:45 p.m. by three or four people while walking along the sidewalk. They had came up
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Posted October 30, 2013in Locker Room
Those unfamiliar with basic routines might find themselves pacing around a gym for hours only to have accomplished little more than walking around a gym for hours. It’s time to stop fanaticizing about the day you’ll take better care of your body and turn it into a reality, says CrossFit
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Posted October 30, 2013in Belly Up To...
You know it’s going to be a good time when you walk into a small-town bar just in time for happy hour and the Dropkick Murphy’s are electrifying your hair follicles from speakers somewhere above your head. Such was the case around 3 o’clock on a drizzly Wednesday afternoon last
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