September 04, 2024 by Brent Antisdel
in Business Feature
Ashley Laudick spent the beginning of her career working for the same employer day in and day out. As a full-time speech and language pathologist, she got bored. She did not like being in the same place all the time. So, Laudick made a much-needed change and started working for
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September 04, 2024 by Brent Antisdel
in Civic Skinny
The Des Moines City Council’s proposed ban on camping within city limits, which criminalizes encampments of the city’s homeless, has raised the ire of some citizens and has been delayed and amended several times. To recap, in June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that cities could ban people from sleeping
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September 04, 2024 by Brent Antisdel
in Political Mercury
A modern political Mason-Dixon line appears to be taking form north of Mason City and south of Albert Lea — somewhere around the Minnesota-Iowa border. The crash of cultures is no accident. And now, the increasing divide will be exposed (and expanded, most likely) under a national spotlight in which
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September 04, 2024 by Brent Antisdel
in Film Review
“Jackpot!” is an American action-comedy directed by Paul Feig and written by Rob Yescombe. With an intriguing premise set in a not-so-distant dystopian future, the movie had the potential to be both a thrilling and hilarious ride — like a hybrid take of “The Running Man” and “The Purge.” However,
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September 04, 2024 by Brent Antisdel
in Food Dude
When the millennium was new, Tony Lemmo opened his first café in the Metro Market. That brilliant incubator of food businesses was doomed by its limitations — mainly that it could only be open on weekends. Lemmo saw the writing on the wall and started looking for a more permanent
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September 04, 2024 by Brent Antisdel
in Des Moines Forgotten
In my July column, I mentioned that I went on the walking architecture tour downtown. I wrote about the first and only “death by elevator” event in Iowa history, which I learned about while on the tour when it was by Fourth Street and Court Avenue. About 45 minutes earlier,
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September 04, 2024 by Brent Antisdel
in Joe's Neighborhood
Well, here I am in a big box store, and it’s happened again. The start is simple enough. My wife goes one direction to get granddaughter clothes, and I go to the men’s department to buy my own clothes. And, yes, this is a relatively new experience for me —
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September 04, 2024 by Brent Antisdel
in Center Stage
As the month begins, the final Broadway chords of the North American Tour of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” continue to reverberate from its signature two-week run at Des Moines Performing Arts (DMPA). This heralds a most appealing 2024-2025 Willis Broadway Series that includes such gems as “Back to the Future:
Read More →‘A Haunted Girl’ Over the last decade or so, mental health and its importance has been a balm for anyone with a chemical imbalance. Understanding and empathy have vastly improved in many spheres, but, for children and teens, the complications of mental illness are especially harrowing. In this beautifully sad
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September 04, 2024 by Brent Antisdel
in Collections & Hobbies
Even though the Titanic sank more than a century ago, it still has fans who ride its waves with adoration. Conventions and fan clubs are aplenty across the globe and keep its memory alive through memorabilia. Few have collected more items related to the Titanic than Lexie Faust. Faust’s fascination
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