The death of a farmer
Dave Parker died this past winter. You probably didn’t know him. He farmed with his uncle out near Mingo and lived alone in the old family farmhouse up on a [...]
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Posted June 03, 2015in Joe's Neighborhood
Posted May 27, 2015in Joe's Neighborhood
Grace and the tollbooth
Tollbooths are a rare bird in Iowa. We don’t pay a toll to travel down Grand Avenue to East Village, for example. We don’t toss money into metal baskets and wait for the [...]
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Posted May 20, 2015in Joe's Neighborhood
Chasing Route 6 to Cleveland — a graduation gift
Graduation time is always complicated when it comes to picking out gifts for the graduating seniors. For many reasons. But not the least of which is a harsh reminder that you [...]
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Posted May 13, 2015in Joe's Neighborhood
Serious business at the fun table
Three women sit at the corner table in Star Bar on Ingersoll. All blonde. All laughing. All comfortable in their skin. Periodically, they lean in to each other conspiratorially, then rock [...]
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Posted May 06, 2015in Joe's Neighborhood
Searching for morel mushrooms
“When the lilacs bloom, it’s time to start. Although some people do wait for the dandelions.” That’s good advice for almost any endeavor, don’t you think? And so the lilacs [...]
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Posted April 29, 2015in Joe's Neighborhood
Elvin’s Voice
The dapper white-haired man sits elegantly entwined upon himself — leg over leg, arms crossed lightly, waist turned gracefully inward. A flower waiting to open. “I started what is now [...]
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Posted April 22, 2015in Joe's Neighborhood
‘I’m not a vegan, I’m a meatatarian.’
The clean water appears below us, deep down the shaft at Des Moines Water Works. A submarine view. The man and I gaze reverently down the tube. Neither of us [...]
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Posted April 15, 2015in Joe's Neighborhood
You have to get in line
The line has only one other couple. Young and bright-faced. The docent takes them under her wing and gently guides them through the exhibit. We follow after. The birth, life [...]
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Posted April 08, 2015in Joe's Neighborhood
‘Yes, Ms. Griffin’
The school door swings open. A room. Just like any other schoolroom. That is, if your schoolroom was in Silicon Valley and was called Apple, or Google or Facebook. “If [...]
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Posted April 01, 2015in Joe's Neighborhood
A good man in desperate times
The grizzled man climbs up out of the litter-strewn riverbank at dusk. He hesitates. Flannel shirt wrongly buttoned over multiple undershirts, pants bunched on top of long underwear, a tight [...]
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