Posted March 02, 2022in Feature 2
A close friend of mine lived directly behind his elementary school. On St. Patrick’s Day in his fifth-grade year, he went to school without wearing any green. Shamed by classmates and his teacher, he walked home at lunch time, entered his family garage, foraged a partially used can of green
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Posted February 02, 2022in Feature 2
A relative recently told me that her daughter returned home from college for Christmas break and announced she was a vegan. She demanded to take meals by herself because she could no longer eat around meats, fish, cheese or the people who ate them, especially her brother. A good friend
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Posted January 05, 2022in Feature 2
Goddess Keyes, aka Yvette Keyes, pauses, looking hard at the cards. I feel a tingly whisper of warning on the back of my neck. Will she see that my wife is cheating with my father’s estranged brother who is in prison for stealing the pig my uncle won in a
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Posted December 01, 2021in Feature 2
Join us in giving two dozen thumbs ups for two dozen likeable people. More than a half-million people call central Iowa home, and since our state is known for being “Iowa Nice,” it should come as no surprise that when we asked readers to determine the area’s most likeable man
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Posted November 03, 2021in Feature 2
With Iowa no longer the beef capital, what are our state’s special foods? My aunt and her family visited Iowa from Oregon in the late 1950s. They wanted to eat Iowa beef at every meal. Iowa beef had such a national reputation then that it was revered from New York
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Posted October 06, 2021in Feature 2
A nearly obsessive interest in the intermingled legacies of Marshalltown native Cap Anson and Ohio native Fleetwood Walker. The 19th century realized the highwater mark for the grand theory of “intermingled destinies.” The Civil War inspired the idea. Abraham Lincoln spoke about it often. From the trenches of Shiloh and
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Posted September 01, 2021in Feature 2
Unique finds — and stories — abound. From pristine to cobweb-laden, from tidy to cluttered, from showroom to workshop, area garages run the gamut. But one thing they often have in common is that, somewhere inside — besides a family vehicle — one can find a personal treasure with a
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Posted August 04, 2021in Feature 2
Lineup is loaded with world-class live music The Iowa State Fair offers funnel cakes, butter cows, real cows, carnies, and 1-million-plus people who are watching people who are watching animals who are watching people. But the best place to put your eyeballs this August, and your ears, too, is squarely
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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
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Posted March 31, 2021in Feature 2
A map of Des Moines outlines the 52 official neighborhood associations chartered by the city. These groups of hard-working volunteers aim at bettering the spaces surrounding their family, friends and anyone who lives nearby. Too often, local headlines are dominated by negativity, but these salt-of-the-earth laborers deserve recognition. We hope
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