Posted June 30, 2021in Feature 1
What pushes marathon runners and other endurance athletes past the finish line? The first “marathon,’’ according to ancient Greek legend, was run circa 490 BC. A Greek courier named Pheidippides ran 25 miles from a battlefield in Marathon all the way to Athens. Upon arriving, the exhausted runner delivered his
Read More →
Posted June 30, 2021in Feature 2
This year’s class reinvigorates venerability. All these people and institutions are long overdue for honoring. The idea for the CHOICE awards originated seven years ago and was inspired by Japan’s Living National Treasures. That program honors “preservers of important intangible cultural properties.” In the years after World War II, anxiety
Read More →
Posted June 30, 2021in Business Feature
Pension plans are almost a thing of the past as employers shift to defined-contribution plans such as the 401(k). Today, it may be hard to believe that, at one time, families made ends meet on one income. Usually, it was Dad who supported the family, and, back then, he
Read More →
Posted June 30, 2021in Civic Skinny
No state high school baseball tournament this year at Principal Park? You read that correctly. But will the Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) bring the tournament back to the Iowa Cubs home stadium in 2022? The answer is a definite… maybe. According to the IHSAA, conflicting dates with new
Read More →
Posted June 30, 2021in Political Mercury
An obsession with balance can obscure the truth. In his brilliantly performed new audio book “The Bomber Mafia,” Malcolm Gladwell, using expert reporting, inviting prose and riveting sound effects, including actual audio recordings of the sources quoted, raises a historical question that indeed does enter the “both sides” structure. Should the United
Read More →
Posted June 30, 2021in Film Review
Feel like a kid again. Remember that time you went on summer vacation when you were a kid? Maybe it was with your family. Maybe it was at a stay-away camp. Either way, you found another kid your age who was not only fun but helped to shape the person
Read More →
Posted June 30, 2021in Food Dude
A Brazilian place becoming Thai makes sense to travelers. Ingersoll Avenue reflects the collective conscience of Des Moines’ westside. In the late 1950s, traditional restaurants like Sherry’s, Noah’s and the Imperial House entertained adults while their disgruntled teenagers turned to the sanctuary of fast food. Henry’s, the precursor to McDonald’s
Read More →
Posted June 30, 2021in Des Moines Forgotten
One of the world’s largest swimming pools operated from 1922 through 2001. My summers as a kid in the Quad Cities were not that much different than most other kids’ during the early 1990s. There was a dirt park a half-mile away from my home where I would ride my
Read More →
Posted June 30, 2021in Joe's Neighborhood
Taking a whiz? Really? Everyone has to start somewhere. Perhaps it’s your first car, or it’s your first day after graduation, or it’s your first baby, or it’s your first love, or it’s your first Monday back in the office after a year and a half appearing for work in your
Read More →
Posted June 30, 2021in Center Stage
Broadway shows back to Des Moines. With the exuberance of an oxygen-starved swimmer gulping in a huge breath of air, many of the region’s best musical theatre performers are expanding their lungs to sing to the rafters. Musical theatre takes center stage in July. Musicals have proven to be the
Read More →
