Posted March 02, 2022in Your Neighbors
“I’ve always liked reading,” says Hunter Gillum, which is an obvious understatement. Almost every room in his house has books in it. Some of those rooms have multiple shelves of books. How many books has Gillum read? “Thousands?” he shakes his head, making it clear it’s too many to count.
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Posted February 02, 2022in Your Neighbors
Once upon a time, toward the beginning of Des Moines’ timeline and very near what is now the city’s heart, a cluster of churches once stood around the space still occupied by St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral at 815 High St. The 45-story skyscraper known as 801 Grand and the Principal
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Posted January 05, 2022in Your Neighbors
From a rural village to Kabul to Johnston Once upon a time and a half a world away, there was a little boy in rural Afghanistan named Nabi Mohammadi. It was the early 1990s, and Taliban forces were gaining momentum. But that didn’t yet matter to the youngster. Each day,
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Posted December 01, 2021in Your Neighbors
Mary Jo Ragaller, 85, sifts through the seasonal donations at St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store. Deep within a forest of fake Douglas fir Christmas trees, and somewhere within the massive mounds of decorative ornaments that are piled high around heaps of wreaths surrounding boxes upon boxes of holiday mugs
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Posted November 03, 2021in Your Neighbors
Mondays the women take the ice at Urbandale’s Metro Ice Sports Facility. Des Moines Women’s Novice Hockey Club is a group of “amazing women” who want to learn more about hockey. But they aren’t interested in only accruing knowledge by being hockey moms or hockey wives or by simply watching
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Posted October 06, 2021in Your Neighbors
“Warning! Zombie parking only. Violators will be eaten.” Some kind of crazy crime scene grabs the attention of the October passersby in front of the brick home in Beaverdale. Hacked-off body parts are strewn alongside many other signs of spookiness. A casket is situated near a coffin, and both are
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Posted September 01, 2021in Your Neighbors
What goes up must come… to Iowa? Big mountain adventures while helicopter skiing Alaska? If you find yourself asking what that is, just keep reading. Mike Thompson knows a thing or two about the aforementioned mouthful. He helped pioneer the sport. Born in Minnesota, Thompson moved to Colorado as
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Posted August 04, 2021in Your Neighbors
Jon Greising is a volunteer fencing instructor. In most athletic endeavors, the bigger and stronger competitor possesses an advantage, but that’s not so in fencing, according to Jon Greising, one of four volunteer coaches for the Des Moines Fencing Club (DMFC). “You can’t bully your way,” he explains. “It’s all
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Posted June 30, 2021in Your Neighbors
4 educational walking tours of downtown “I’m an architect, but I don’t usually spend my day talking about architecture,” explains Ryan Ellsworth. Creatively designing spaces to efficiently utilize resources… That’s his preference, and it’s usually on his agenda somewhere. But like everyone else, a lot of his job is sitting
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Posted June 02, 2021in Your Neighbors
Lack of oxygen impels Ankeny man into the CCU for 40 days and sparks several brushes with death. Mark it down. It’s official. Paul Carpenter, 51, is a “post-COVID” patient. But earning this outcome was NOT easy. Not for him, not for his family and not for the team of
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