Posted July 05, 2017in Joe's Neighborhood
Spandex shorts, wicking shirt, sport socks. Check, check, check. Weight-lifting gloves, yoga mat, roller tube. Got ’em. High-performance shoes carried in my high-performance bag. Yup. And don’t forget the protein drink and proper hydration bottles. At last, I zip up my breathable, rain-resistant jacket, and I’m ready to go. It’s
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Posted May 31, 2017in Joe's Neighborhood
“I remember…” began the old man. The streetcar sits high in the air, click-clacking across the tracks. A long bridge with eight buttresses, wood and steel framing, and exposed sides stretches out in front. There is no idle creek running below, instead, Merle Hay Road heading north to Camp Dodge.
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Posted May 03, 2017in Joe's Neighborhood
My wife is stuck. Having climbed up into the top bunk of the sleeper car, legs forward, head tucked, she can’t unfold. The ceiling is just a bit too close for her 6-foot frame to unbend. And now here she is. A human sandwich traveling to Denver on Amtrak. How
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Posted April 05, 2017in Joe's Neighborhood
“Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.” — William Makepeace Thackeray. Mother’s Day cards in the card aisle at the grocery store are something to behold. Funny. Sincere. Loving. You can choose any flavor. You just sign your name at the bottom and
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Posted March 01, 2017in Joe's Neighborhood
Bundled against the cold, with a pink pussy hat, pink gloves and pink scarf, the woman looks over the crowd of 26,000 gathered at the foot of the Iowa State Capitol. She raises the bullhorn to her mouth and calls out: “WHAT DOES DEMOCRACY LOOK LIKE?” Wow. Not really a
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Posted February 01, 2017in Joe's Neighborhood
Winter sits heavy in Des Moines, Iowa. Grey skies, bare trees, and a cold wind blowing across the Urbandale Hy-Vee parking lot and down my sweater, turning those last few steps into a run to the finish line. I make it through the front doors just as the sun sets
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Posted January 04, 2017in Joe's Neighborhood
The loud and angry Italian couple leaned into each other as they faced off like professional wrestlers getting ready for the big, slingshot-catapult, missile-dropkick finale to their match. Waving their arms and posturing on the narrow, crowded street, they left little room for us to politely walk around the drama.
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Posted November 30, 2016in Joe's Neighborhood
“Keep pumping your arms, Joe. Legs up and squeezed together. Shoulder blades on your back. Keep that pelvis on the mat. Belly button in and up. That’s it.” The hard-bodied, diminutive instructor, Monique Weevers, rattles off the technique for a Joseph Pilates sit-up called the “hundred.” We all gamely follow.
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Posted November 02, 2016in Joe's Neighborhood
Knocking on the door of No. 9 Beschuitsteeg in Leiden is unsettling. Don’t get me wrong, not the unsettling of eating slimy raw herring by the tail, a Dutch delicacy that is plenty unsettling, but more like “my wife is going to wonder one more time why she’s married to
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Posted October 05, 2016in Joe's Neighborhood
“ ‘Gov. Robert Ray was a phenomenal governor and a true statesman,’ said [Gov. Terry] Branstad.” – Office of the Governor of Iowa, Terry Branstad, Sept. 26, 2012. “In his speech, [Gov. Terry] Branstad said, ‘Throughout his career, Ambassador Quinn has displayed leadership in protecting the world’s most vulnerable, working
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