Posted April 01, 2020in Your Neighbors
“So there was one cold rainy night about five years ago, and I found myself with a crazy man with a backpack full of burritos and some fruit and some water and we were looking for homeless people…” How did this happen to Curt Carlson? Several years prior, Joe Laslo
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Posted March 04, 2020in Your Neighbors
“Jill of Many Skills” teaches local beekeepers to be honey-production maximizers. A 5,500-year-old jar of honey — the oldest known honey in existence — was found within a noblewoman’s tomb in Eastern Europe in 2012. The purpose of the honey’s placement at the VIP’s final resting place isn’t known, but
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Posted February 05, 2020in Your Neighbors
And other Terrace Hill treasures “I taught for 45 years,” says Patrick Phillips-Schrock. As his official retirement date zoomed ever closer, he remembers wondering what was next. “This was my last year, and I thought, ‘Oh, what am I going to do now?’ ” Des Moines’ first millionaire is thought
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Posted January 01, 2020in Your Neighbors
Local Dungeon Master Paul Privitera works to build the popularity of polyhedral dice in central Iowa. Maybe you pretend that Earth’s oceans have flooded, the ice caps have melted, the skies have emptied and dry land no longer exists…. Or that WWIII brought about nuclear Armageddon, and you’ve tunneled underground
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Posted December 04, 2019in Your Neighbors
From biscuit feet to bananas, ballet offers high-energy action. In the beginning of Eleanor Danaan’s ballet life, the young dancer’s feet were shaped like biscuits. “They were… we call them biscuits,” she remembers. “That is when they are just like a claw. I had biscuit feet. But then you stretch
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Posted November 06, 2019in Your Neighbors
Local pro wrestling referee offers insight from inside the ring. “What’s it like being a referee in a sport with absolutely no rules?” Comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s question seems like a fair one. Before most pro wrestling matches, the participants gather beforehand to pre-determine who will win, with which finishing move
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Posted October 02, 2019in Your Neighbors
Ex-convict serves heaping plates of home cooking to the hungry. It’s an indisputable fact: Bykrmark Carver (formerly known as Mark Carver) used to be a bad man. Indeed, this truth was confirmed by a jury, adjudicated in a court of law, and if you ever meet him, be ready, because
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Posted September 04, 2019in Your Neighbors
Joyce O’Brien’s fiber art has been displayed in the offices of Gov. Terry Branstad, U.S. Congressman David Young and State Senator Jack Whitver. “I made it up,” says Joyce O’Brien. The 95-year-old is referring to her unique brand of “paintings” that don’t require paint. “I call this fiber art. It
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Posted July 31, 2019in Your Neighbors
A childhood dream comes true. “I’m a military wife,” explains Meghan Drane. “I’m a mom of four. I’m from Iowa. We’ve lived on the East Coast, West Coast and Europe.” That is her story, but it is not her whole story. “That is who I’m married to,” she continues. “That
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Posted July 03, 2019in Your Neighbors
Safety comes first for Pleasant Hill’s first full-time female fire chief. Of the 30,000 fire departments in the United States, about 150 of them have a female fire chief — according to womeninfire.org. Less than 5 percent of firefighters are female. On June 11, Pleasant Hill’s City Council voted unanimously
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