Posted March 06, 2019in Joe's Neighborhood
What is the difference between somebody we know for a long time and a person who is a new friend? They laugh. And not just with their mouths, like your teenage kids do when you tell a joke. Instead, their eyes sparkle, tear up, close tight and sparkle again. Even
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Posted February 06, 2019in Joe's Neighborhood
It is with some shame that I acknowledge that I’m a fan of Brené Brown, a shame researcher. I don’t want to be a fan. She is way too popular, way too smart, and way too much a cliché for the manly man I’ve always striven to be. “Jeremiah Johnson,” the
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Posted January 02, 2019in Joe's Neighborhood
Deep-fried delights of love for those with a soul Des Moines certainly offers guilty pleasures. You know, like drinking a craft beer at a movie theater at 10 a.m. on a work day — a direct ticket to hell for any hard-working, sober Iowan. Or going to the farmers market
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Posted December 05, 2018in Joe's Neighborhood
Pastry is the world’s language. “I try to show flaws because flaws are human.” Tom Sachs, press release 2008, concerning the Miffy Fountain. Henriette Priester is helping me learn Dutch during my stay in the Netherlands. Not such a big deal, one would think. I figured that with the right
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Posted October 31, 2018in Joe's Neighborhood
He’s not your traditional food critic. “The guys running this restaurant are from Hyderabad, India.” Now you just have to wait for it, folks. There’s always more. His mind is sparking and firing and making connections. Wait, wait, wait… “Hyderabad is to India, food-wise, what Parma is to Italy and
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Posted October 03, 2018in Joe's Neighborhood
There are more bikes than residents in the Netherlands. “Protected bike lanes are different from conventional bike lanes where the bike lanes are placed along the curb and protected from vehicle traffic. [East Grand] is the first of its kind in the City of Des Moines.” – City of Des
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Posted September 05, 2018in Joe's Neighborhood
“My motto is to buy from people you know and as close to home as you can get.” — Lisa Bean Nearly 45 years ago, the Iowa City Coop was on the second floor of an old building on Gilbert Street. A sanctuary of organic foods and small producers. Back
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Posted August 01, 2018in Joe's Neighborhood
We all need a reprieve. The summer evening is hot and close. Steam rises up from the damp grass. Only mosquitoes and myself are out. I suspect folks are a little tired after the flash floods turned backyards and basements into water parks. I know I am. Lord, there are
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Posted July 04, 2018in Joe's Neighborhood
FINA artistic swimming rules. A Ballet Leg is assumed. Maintaining this position, the body is rotated backwards around a lateral axis through the hips to assume a Fishtail Position. The horizontal leg is lifted to a Vertical Position. A Vertical Descent is executed. I don’t understand a word FINA is
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Posted June 06, 2018in Joe's Neighborhood
“I don’t do interviews,” he says without a smile. His eyes sweeping both sides of the bar while he pours the beer. Really? The timbre of his voice catches me by surprise as it rumbles softly across the room like the early hint of an Iowa thunderstorm, dry and gravelly and deep. “Let’s not
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