Posted September 03, 2025in Feature 1
The leaves are changing, the days are getting shorter, and the weather is cooling off. What does not change is the array of things to do around central Iowa. From September to December, the metro area has countless activities for those of all ages. Art galleries continue to display the
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Posted September 03, 2025in Feature 2
I pull off Highway 44 on a chance, turn off the car on a whim, step into a farmyard of swarming chickens with trepidation, and listen to an old man weave his stories. “Meryl Streep rode that bicycle right there.” The weathered, sober-looking man, straight out of a Grant Wood
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Posted September 03, 2025in Business Feature
Making a good first impression is undoubtedly vital in job interviews, dinner with potential in-laws, and applying for a loan. However, when it comes to making a business a success, it is often the lasting impression that matters most. And that lasting impression is created through a company’s brand. “A
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Posted September 03, 2025in Civic Skinny
The theme at the Iowa State Fair this year was Fair Sweet Fair, and the grandstand concert attendance was sweet, indeed. The 131,616 attendees for 2025 broke the previous record of 128,504 set in 2019. Megan Moroney’s performance on Saturday, Aug. 16, drew the largest crowd at 16,371. T-Pain was
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Posted September 03, 2025in Political Mercury
Pie is a stand-in for Iowa itself in many ways in a feature-length documentary from director Beth M. Howard, an Iowa filmmaker who is now on a national tour with “Pieowa: A Piece Of America” The film shows one of the iconic Iowa restaurants that serves pie — The Canteen
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Posted September 03, 2025in Film Review
In the sun-bleached, conservative community of Bakersfield, California, a Pontiac Firebird cuts through the dust and heat. Behind the wheel is Honey O’Donahue (Margaret Qualley), a private investigator with a husky voice, a quick wit and a low tolerance for nonsense. Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s “Honey Don’t!” is a
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Posted September 03, 2025in Food Dude
Masao is Des Moines’ greatest application yet of the miracle of overnight air freight. It is also dramatic evidence that technology shrunk the world more than anything else did. When I graduated from high school here in 1965, I had never seen an avocado, a mango nor cilantro. The only
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Posted September 03, 2025in Des Moines Forgotten
One of the bills that passed in this year’s legislative session was Iowa Bill SF657, the Economic Development Bill that includes tax credits and incentives. One of the programs that finally made it through during the DOGE era was a new Iowa Film Tax Incentive program. I never thought I
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Posted September 03, 2025in Joe's Neighborhood
The Irish lilt is a thing of beauty. It moves up and down the vocal scale like a soaring and diving bird rather than the flat and plodding groundhog of American English. It wouldn’t surprise me if Irish was the dialect spoken in the Garden of Eden. Angelic and holy.
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Posted September 03, 2025in Center Stage
As summer slips into fall, central Iowa will be offering two distinctly different, yet delightfully appealing, shows set back in time. The 1920s and the 1940s America are the settings for “Bright Star” while the late 1930s provides the historic backdrop for “Blithe Spirit.” This one-two theatrical punch of a
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