Courtesy of Beaverdale Books “Wish You Happy Forever” By Jenny Bowen Harper One March 11, 2014 $25.99 320 pp. Hollywood screenwriter, Jenny Bowen, read a 1996 newspaper article about orphaned girls in China. She and her husband immediately began adoption proceedings to save at least one of these neglected baby
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Posted May 21, 2014in Belly Up To...
The view of the Des Moines River may be gorgeous, but that’s not the only thing drawing customers to The Riverwalk Hub downtown. Its selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and locally made food — including artisan meats from La Quercia, ice cream from Indianola’s Outside Scoop, and Maytag’s finest
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Posted May 16, 2014in Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa taxpayers just spent $29,000 to send state tourism officials on a nine-day bus tour of the state, all in the name of promoting tourism. The Epic Iowa Road Trip, which concluded on Saturday, was a collaboration between Travel Iowa, the state’s tourism office, and the
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Posted May 14, 2014in Food Dude
I spent a year in India during the 1960s. That was a popular thing to do then. The Beatles, Jackie Kennedy and a few thousand hippies seeking enlightenment also tried it. Most went to the north of the subcontinent, to holy Benares and beautiful Kashmir. I went to Hyderabad, mainly
Read More →Duffy’sView (May 8) provides a vivid snapshot of the Bible-toting religious right-wing of the Iowa GOP about to be dropped overboard. It refers to the First District Republicans’ recent decision to dump their platform commitment to traditional marriage, which is an acknowledgment that they have accepted defeat in the debate
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Posted May 14, 2014in Joe's Neighborhood
Wading into the dark waters of women’s issues is not a good idea, especially for a male. I know this. Why not just stay up on the bank where there are no snakes, no quicksand, no danger? This seems a no-brainer. But, unfortunately, I also believe in the magic of
Read More →There must be something in the water over at the Sires farm. First, Waterloo-born Dylan Sires and his act, Dylan Sires & Neighbors, won last year’s 80/35 play-in and kicked off the Saturday main-stage festivities. Meanwhile, cousins Luke, Harper and Joel Sires were diligently working on their second full-length release,
Read More →The John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park received an early present as its fifth birthday approaches this September. Olafur Eliasson joined a list of 21 other celebrated artists in Western Gateway Park with a ceremony commemorating the installation of his “Panoramic Awareness Pavilion.” Olafur is a very big deal. The
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Posted May 14, 2014in Duffy
Ernst steals Judge’s schtick
Patty Judge was offensive then, and Joni Ernst is offensive now. Ernst, a U.S. Senate candidate, is making a lot of hay with her “let’s make ’em squeal” in Washington schtick, recalling her days of castrating hogs. Republicans are eating it up. It must drive Texas oilman Mark Jacobs, her
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