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edited by: Art Smith,
Iowa Editor
Illustration: Sean Delonas/New York Post
In today’s New York Post, a tabloid rag owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, the above-pictured cartoon ran. Naturally, this sparked allegations of racist intent (Obama as the chimp) and condemnation by Al Sharpton, who told the AP the image is “troubling at [...]
Okay, so it will never happen. But now that the economic crisis has left California on the brink of bankruptcy, the arguments in this new diary by Daily Kossack Setrak really ought to be taken seriously.
In short, Setrak argues that legalizing cannabis — the biggest cash crop in California [...]
Photo: Gavin Aronsen
“I think we need a new New Deal in Iowa, and in America”: Chet Culver speaks to guests before giving his keynote address at the annual Story County Democrats Soup Supper Saturday evening in Ames.
Invoking the economic programs of FDR in Ames last Saturday, Iowa Governor [...]
For the massive television audience on January 20th, 2009, Inauguration Day was a parade of odd and stirring images: from the quivering mass of a million and a half people packed into the mall, to Dick Cheney’s menacing emergence in a wheelchair, to the far-away look in Barack Obama’s eyes [...]
“Do we participate in a politics of cynicism, or do we participate in a politics of hope? … Hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty, the audacity of hope: in the end, that is God’s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation, a [...]
Now that the Bush administration is no longer in power, it’s possible that some of its senior members may face prosecution for their involvement in U.S. torture programs. Despite lobbying efforts by members of the CIA, President Bush left office without issuing a “preemptive pardon” to protect officials who have [...]
Frederick Kirschenmann is a distinguished fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University. He is listed as one of the “Sustainable Dozen” by Food Democracy Now, an online petition to bring leaders in the sustainable agriculture movement into the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Given the smooth [...]
The auction for 22-year-old Natalie Dylan’s virginity has been open for almost five months now.
Dylan (not her real name) hails from San Diego. She already holds a bachelor’s degree in women’s studies from Sacramento State but doesn’t have the money for grad school, so she has decided to prostitute herself [...]
The second Sunday of January marked the first meeting of the Central Iowa Sewing Rebellion, a free monthly sewing workshop. The day was cold and the air was crisp, but it was warmer than the days before the Rebellion and, comparatively, was a great improvement. We began the meeting with [...]
so there’s this guy with two shopping bags. and he walks in front of this tank.
as if the great big eye of god or history were an engine of simple destruction.
of social change roaring for war. and this armored goliath shifts gears
from crowding peasants to eating students. [...]
Do I take my pale pill today?
In the side pocket of my backpack
It peers through the mesh
I have no food
No drink to assuage its chemical dispersal
Do I take only half and taper down the dosage
Until just these two eyes confront the day?
A little [...]
In retrospective narratives about Barack Obama’s path to the White House, the Iowa caucus is universally acknowledged as a pivotal moment for the success of his campaign. His win in Iowa is considered to have made a psychological impact on voters around the country and to have created a sense [...]
Like suede, the grass combed over the Irish hills of the Flinn Family Farm in a natural way, which looked inviting and warm. It was late in the day, which was one that had been drizzled upon four five hours prior to the boy’s chores. Both of the Flinn boys [...]
Her words just hang there, festering in the room. The air…sticky with anticipation of the next note to fall. As he lies in the corner languidly dreaming of pumpkin pie and tornadoes a whisper sets in his brain.
“Don’t sit like that. They’re watching you.”
“Who is?”
“They are.”
“There are only four of [...]
Reformers and concerned citizens periodically draw attention to the miserable state of K-12 education. The numbers continue to be dismal: in most of the 50 largest school districts, dropout rates exceed 40 percent. There are many who refuse to give up on schools, citing studies that consistently show that the [...]
In the summer you place tea bags in a glass jar with water and bring it to the back porch. You hardly come out here any more even though it gets the best sun. You don’t wipe away the dust as you set the jar on an end table next [...]
Old Tetrahedron Jim, straight out of the Eastern Bloc with a box for a head and a bag for a heart. A swaggering Bogart with egg cartons ‘neath his cassock like a tumored ninja turtle. Cassock being a gentle way to say muumuu, or tarp. The good tarp with the [...]
god is not imaginary, you are not a child.
and television is tiring.
it is a weekday evening, probably you are
watching the christian network. there
are hands reaching to cross the cosmos, but
it feels like a sunday, sorry we’re busy they say,
someone went to war they say, surprise they say,
we’re an [...]
The document catches fire first and is thrust into a pool of shattered leaves undressing mannequins painted orange by an angry God. Sat detected, the little boy detective notices a bleu crumble of rye; wanting bread he observes a little boy hand, with little boy fingers, collide with dust, which [...]
Know you the pleasure of work and wishing
Until a thing is done?
Of discovering hope when what was hoped becomes?
My friend of years, become my lover.
We should continue this painless birthing
Flower of our labors
And still we should build but mostly to uncover.
Forgive that most continual of [...]
I want to play in your hair
like the ocean loud
and lovely.
Join the undercurrent,
swoon over the strings
in your voice.
Your lips are John
Wayne. Come to think of it,
so are your fingers–
full of truth.
I find myself nightly atop a handsome
bay mare. Her lines are intimate
and I can’t help but care,
though we disagree. I loved
you more, Jesse,
before we really got to know each other.
Let’s just run away
into the morning fog and stop
talking. I’ll bandage your bullet
[...]
When Barack Obama first announced his candidacy for president in February 2007, his potential for superstardom – evidenced by his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and subsequent election to the United States Senate – may have been swiftly realized, but he still faced an uphill primary battle [...]
In his youth, Hubler said he turned down what might have been an opportunity to become a rock star. When he moved to California with his parents in 1961, he met the Love brothers of Beach Boys fame at a Los Angeles church where his father was a minister. When [...]
Part I of “Midway” was published in last month’s issue of the Ames Progressive. Read it online at www.amesprogressive.org/issues.
II.
Kate came home at five. I was dozing at the table, torn between passing out or nursing my anger and what was left of the bourbon a little while longer. I [...]
Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate and political activist, is running for president as an independent with running mate Matt Gonzalez. He has secured a place on the November ballot in Iowa with the Peace and Freedom Party. Nader delivered a campaign speech at Iowa State University on October 10, 2008. [...]
My friends, the American people have spoken and I concede that Barack Obama is the next president of the United States.
I’ve been looking forward to this: now that the race is finally over, I would like to take a moment for some straight talk.
My friends, in the 2000 presidential campaign [...]
The George W. Bush that we know today is an irrelevant figurehead, a leader leading no one, a placeholder with a highly anticipated expiration date. He has less-than-zero influence in the international community, he is thoroughly disapproved of in his own country, and his own political party pays little attention [...]
On October 29, 2002, President Bush signed into law the Help America Vote Act, a large legislative response to the pandemonium that led to his narrow victory of the White House. The act was authored by Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut with information from a congressional report co-chaired by former [...]
What if I had died last Thursday before reading Catcher in the Rye? I’d have never been introduced to Salinger. Never known that there is a God and he is made flesh and Salinger is Him. Would I have gone to Heaven anyway?
Good question. I have no idea. What were [...]
Modern industry thrives on the perception that consumers have a wide variety of choices. As we walk down the aisles of large grocery stores, we experience an apparently unending variety of products to choose from. Yet, as any customer who wants organic and local food will tell you, the supermarket [...]
The storylines stream across the NBA world as a busier-than-expected off-season assures another unpredictable year on the hardwood. For those pundits devoted to trends, it may be easy to pick TD and the Spurs to win their fourth-straight title in an odd-numbered year. Or for those keen on blossoming dynasties, [...]
Gavin: 8:00 — The pre-debate media narrative: John McCain needs a game changer, and this could be his last chance. Lucky for him, it’s a town hall, the format he is said to excel in. There’s also a lot of discussion about McCain’s and Palin’s attacks on Obama — linking [...]
Ask an average group of twenty-somethings about the Ames music scene, and you’ll get a profusion of blank stares, followed by a long silence. Given a little more prompting, they might talk about our dearth of musical venues, the scarcity of all-ages shows, or the well-documented reluctance of promoters to [...]
In the final week of August 2004 in New York City, thousands gathered in Union Square to protest the Republican National Convention – the site of George W. Bush’s re-nomination – and their discontent over the president’s war in Iraq. The decidedly less-than-warm welcome resulted in the arrests of 1,806 [...]
The House of Freaks was quite a letdown, let me tell you. The exterior was a big mural featuring all sorts of fantastical freaks, like a bearded lady who looked to weigh about 400 pounds and a lizard-headed man lifting a giant barbell with his forked tongue. The other three [...]
The terms for the 2008 presidential election have been set: Barack Obama sets the agenda, determines the themes and introduces the vocabulary and John McCain responds by awkwardly and disingenuously parroting Obama’s agenda, themes and vocabulary. The most obvious and desperate example of this is the McCain campaign’s adoption of [...]
Ryan Gerdes’ essay was originally published in issue 2.6. Read it here.
The Israeli-Palestinian war is a strange conflict: it inspires people to assume positions of impassioned and often radical advocacy, to make strident accusations and judgments, in spite of colossal ignorance. While defying most of the familiar paradigms of [...]
They always told me that some day I would understand. That seemed to be the only response to any religious inquiry my young mouth could ask, as though that was the only answer my young mind could comprehend. That someday the sun would shine down upon my shadowy doubt and [...]
“a short play”
There is a man and a woman sitting in a living room. The man is on one couch and the woman is on a separate couch.
The man: (repeatedly pointing and clicking the remote) Fuck—why won’t this thing work?
The woman: (painting her toenails) What won’t work?
The man: (tapping the [...]
I chose to leave the inner, sappy ramblings concerning my recent life transition to Brazil for personal documents stashed on my portable laptop as no one should experience the darkness that lurks in the depths of my soul.
Ok, I cannot help but turn Poe when reflecting on my journey but [...]
bee
love is a honeybee
passing and becoming
all things between us
After Los Angeles (April 10, 1964 — for Glenn Gould’s piano)
Under absent hands, keys grow cold and the world’s softest hammers cease inside of a black, wooden coffin as the strings turn pale with dust and silently lose their tune.
[...]I measured his toes
against the segments
of my fingers
in those first few days
just brushing the bottoms
of his feet made him jerk
away, ticklish
now those toes are open
and wounded
I’ve carried him home
cleaned and calmed
my gut tells me to tear
out every brick in the [...]
We were
halfway between Des Moines and St Louis,
low on gas,
out of smokes,
far into the pangs of delirium tremens,
hopped up on powders that give nose bleeds,
cringing at every ray of sunlight and birdsong,
sucking down carbonated, caffeinated beverages
in order to prop open those heavy eyelids
when I noticed that
the FASTER I drove
the [...]
Midwest Dilemma is an Omaha band ranging from one to twenty-two people. In the past year, since I met Justin Lamoureux - the central figure and songwriter for Midwest Dilemma - on a blizzardy night in Des Moines that kept everyone from our show except the musicians, I have been [...]
Cris: 8:00-8:15 — The debate is supposed to begin at 8:00, but it’s not yet underway. In the interim, MSNBC pundits continue to lower expectations. The two talking heads onscreen repeat the conventional wisdom that Palin will win if she was able to repeat her talking points coherently and keep [...]
During the initial stages of my journey though the New York public school system I pined over the misappropriation of funds. Without a formal training in the understanding of professional athletics, most of my peers failed to take notice of the pleasure derived from following your local sports team on [...]
Update (8/13): Then again, maybe my skills at prediction aren’t as good as I’d like to believe. This time in 2004, Kerry had a solid and pretty stable lead over Bush in the electoral college polls that became increasingly erratic as November closed in.
Much has been said about national [...]
“This song has actually been known to make it rain,” Michael Martin said from the stage at Papa’s Corner a few weeks ago, introducing his song “Thunderstorm Waltz.” He was not joking. I first saw Michael play at an open mic at the Roosevelt Summer Music series in 2007. [...]
I entered college with hormones flaring and studious ambitions numbed by an intoxicating sense of freedom. My reluctance to shed a shy persona around the female persuasion in high school upped my own generated pressure to feast on swerves and innuendoes in my first months away from dear ole ma.Caught [...]
From Wes Anderson’s Bottle Rocket:
Anthony: You told, you told your friend Bernice I’m some kind of jet pilot?
Grace: What was I supposed to say, they stuck you in an insane asylum?
Anthony: It wasn’t an insane asylum, Grace. I explained to you back then that it was for exhaustion.
[...]
For eager fans hoping for an immediate gem on any given night, the suspense of watching their team possibly lose during the waning moments can provide enough torment to replace the childhood wounds suffered during elementary school. Therefore, the true rabid fans hold no mercy in rooting for their beloved [...]
With the Bush II Era entering the Nolan Ryan Texas Ranger stage it remains difficult to comprehend that such a twisted simpleton with disclaimed ties to a higher, omnipotent and benevolent force can still sway the lack of progress for an entire race. But in the last months of his [...]
Paredolia is the clinical term for the detection of patterned images in random visual stimuli. Most humans demonstrate this tendency to some degree. It’s the perceptual phenomenon that transforms topographic contours into the so-called “face on mars,” turns the sear marks on a tortilla into a likeness of the Virgin [...]
The following essay is an expanded version of a guest commentary that appeared in the Iowa State Daily.
To many of us, it seems that, while there may be no conscious effort on the part of the media to minimise the injustice suffered by the Palestinians, there is nonetheless a tendency [...]
George W. Bush’s ability to create chaos and violence has consistently trumped his capacity for diplomacy. Bush’s unique cocktail of petulance, arrogance and incompetence have produced a foreign policy characterized by the use blunt force (and borrowed money) on the one hand and a dismissive attitude toward diplomatic relations on [...]
The Supreme Court issued an order on May 12 stating that it would not be able to hear a case involving black South Africans suing 50 of some of the worlds largest corporations because the court lacked a quorum. The suit is being brought against such corporations as British Petroleum, [...]
As a woman, I have created two selves. Complex individuals that twist and grow together like ivy vines or like the tendons deep beneath my skin. One self that is the truest and most loving self, the other, a self that feels it must be beautiful. Beautiful as defined by [...]
You are
the place of desire
the quiet
surrounding my poem
the meaning
in solitary hums
and rhythm
You are the place
of desire
the taste
on my tongue
planting small purple flowers
on plateaus
of white space
You are the place of desire
scattered leaves
on my grave
whispering me to [...]
This often enigmatic and polarized athletic linguist needs to recapture quite possibly the most sensational and gripping heavyweight battle of my lifetime for those out feasting on processed meats over the holiday weekend. A well-decorated champion used ferocious slams and immeasurable grit to push his burgeoning rival to the limit [...]
The benefits and downfalls of living in New York stump me in friendly conversation as I can never quickly and eloquently place my Gotham residence in perspective. Despite holding on proudly to that indestructible and self-boosting title as everyday observer/writer/commentator/future author of several award-winning masterpieces, I don’t log my everyday [...]
Before I officially sever my New York sports affiliation and lionize a team playing for a city in the midst of a Roman Empire type run of merciless rule, I pose a sociological situation to you my loyal and graceful readership.
Prior to Game Four of the NBA Finals, I trekked [...]
It’s Beantown vs. Tinseltown. Havlicek vs. West. Russell vs. Chamberlain. Magic vs. Bird. And now, the Big Three vs. Kobe. Pump that hype machine with vintage clips from the ‘80s. Rev the engines with commentary from the greats. Keep it coming at a heart-attack pace before that first surreal tip-off [...]
In the 4th Congressional District, The Des Moines Register chose to endorse Becky Greenwald, for what it’s worth.
I have no idea how this one’s going to turn out, but I suspect that Greenwald, with her Iowa Democratic Party connections, and Kevin Miskell, with strong connections of his own through [...]
Interestingly, The Des Moines Register endorsed Ed Fallon over incumbent Dem Leonard Boswell, writing that “Boswell’s own record of accomplishment in a dozen years in Congress is relatively light, and, in a recent meeting with the editorial board, he seemed out of touch about some serious issues facing the [...]
Beat L.A.! Beat L.A! From the replies people have sent me concerning my never-ending blogs, I presume a vast majority of you were born after the Magic-Bird showdowns petered out. I for one began my sports journey with the Bad Boys of Motown replacing the Celts and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar participating [...]
Before we anoint Kobe as the next supreme-being, allow me to chomp on my tongue. As despite ripping on the Spurs with patented New York bitterness and predicting them to lose to a quicker Suns team in the first round and then a younger Hornets team in the second, I [...]
The following is the full text of Nick Lindsley’s three-part interview with Bill Ayers. Ayers is a former member of the Weather Underground, a radical leftist organization active in the ’60s. Today, Ayers is a Professor at the University of Illinois. The interviews originally appeared in Volume 1, Issues 2, [...]
It is Monday. Nurses clinic today. Even without a physician, it is busy. Many people come by wanting prescription refills for their bottles that have been empty for days, maybe months. We have to turn them away. Come back tomorrow, the doctor will be here tomorrow. Some people check in [...]
when space eats the sun,
we will try to make sense of our hero: ourselves.
i am going to clone myself and then kill and eat the clone.
i will kill my hero with my eyes open the whole time.
and i know
that where there are holes in the ground,
water will fill when it [...]
I once read a quote that said if you wanted to avoid a nuclear catastrophe during the Cold War, then you should move to Bolivia. Indeed, this quiet Andean nation has been historically associated with little excitement beyond its coca production, its concentration of indigenous peoples, and its unpredictable politics. [...]
He mentioned it in passing. As though the idea served as anecdotal fodder to fill a halfhearted conversation. “I had an opportunity to buy tickets for the Wizards’ playoff game,” my uncle Marvin said.
Without pondering the ins and outs of the trip I stoned my uncle by imploring him to [...]
“Liberation, Liberation, Liberation!” shouted the audience and welcoming speaker. More than a thousand people from across the United States came together for the 9th annual White Privilege Conference in Springfield, Massachusetts from April 2 – 5. It was a four-day conference filled with workshops dedicated to understanding white privilege.
“More and [...]
In a sea of polo-clad Midwestern boys and carefully made-up sorority girls, Troy Cairo isn?t hard to miss. A brooding artist attached to his iPod by day and a pink sunglasses and white suit clad DJ by night, Cairo, better known as DJ Kinky Kyro, is a regular fixture at [...]
After buying some overpriced, imported soap on the ped mall and joining an anti-war march I’d happened across, I sit in a coffee shop, read Colson Whitehead’s The Intuitionist (an old recommendation from JC), satisfy my ever-growing need for caffeine and await E’s arrival.
I call B, my last Iowa City [...]
I read with great interest a Tribune article about the effort to add needed
programs at our state prisons, which would help rehabilitate citizens: jail
diversion, drug courts, mental health programs. California has an alternative
system in place which has saved the state billions of dollars, as well as saved
[...]
In a sea of polo-clad Midwestern boys and carefully made-up sorority girls, Troy Cairo isn?t hard to miss. A brooding artist attached to his iPod by day and a pink sunglasses and white suit clad DJ by night, Cairo, better known as DJ Kinky Kyro, is a regular fixture at [...]
Ames Progressive
contact: Kate Kennedy
e-mail: contact@amesprogressive.org
phone: 515.231.2603
Bali Satay
Cafe Diem
contact: Jamie
phone: 515.956.3556
practice space
dg’s taphouse
m-shop
zeke’s
stomping grounds
london underground
city auditorium
ames public library
lost and found
cy’s roost
thumbs
ocatgon
wheatsfield
papa’s corner
Cafe Milo
[...]After casting my 3rd district absentee ballot last week at the Polk County election office (don’t forget to vote progressive June 3 if you’re still stateside), I caught a flight to Poland for a month-long study in photojournalism. Nine students and our professor are in Sopot now, at a small [...]
Selden Spencer is a Democrat and neurologist from Huxley who practices at Ames’ McFarland Clinic. In 2006, he challenged 4th district Republican Representative Tom Latham, receiving 43 percent of the vote. He decided not to run again this year over concerns that he would be unable to run a competitive [...]
Sitting in my boy J-Ro?s basement the other night following San Antonio?s Game Seven win in New Orleans, I lost that heated passion from rooting for the Hornets in the waning moments of the series? finale. J-Ro spoke of his disappointment concerning an upstart New Orleans team that many favored [...]
Fourth district congressional candidate Becky Greenwald speaks to voters at a house party in Ames on April 30. (photo: Gavin Aronsen/The Progressive)
Becky Greenwald is a farmer and Democratic Party activist. For the past 22 years, she has been involved in Iowa agriculture, first with the Garst [...]
Fourth district congressional candidate Kurt Meyer sits down for an interview at the Ames Progressive Office on March 25. (photo: Gavin Aronsen/The Progressive)
Kurt Meyer has made a career working for nonprofit organizations ranging from nursing homes and hospitals to museums and libraries. In 1988 he started [...]
Fourth district congressional candidate William J. Meyers with his wife Raphaela Boehm at Old Chicago on February 9, when the two first met with the Progressive. (photo: Gavin Aronsen/The Progressive)
William J. Meyers is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps, a job that took him [...]
Fourth district congressional candidate Kevin Miskell speaks with the Progressive at his campaign headquarters on March 28. (photo: Gavin Aronsen/The Progressive)
Kevin Miskell is a fifth-generation Iowa farmer and the former vice president of the Iowa Farmers Union, where he worked on a wide range of agricultural [...]
So Paul Pierce broke out of his series long mire and poured in 41 points in another Celtics? Game Seven win despite the King?s do-it-all 47-point performance. A raucous crowd that wailed ceaselessly, the aforementioned duel, a nip-and-tuck, do-or-die, win-or-go-home contest and a resurrected P.J. Brown combined to generate a [...]
In the midst of a second round with three series very much in doubt, the idea of branding a team a certifiable success or disappointment might appear dated in a week. But every writer confident of his or her observations must avoid conventionality and embrace a daring demeanor. Well…almost.
The Celtics [...]
Looks like all you dirty smokers will get a break after all with the take-no-prisoners Iowa smoking ban. From last Thursday’s Iowa Independent:
As the state works out final details on how Iowa’s sweeping statewide smoking ban will be implemented on July 1, one official tells Iowa Independent that bars [...]
Update (5/12): Previously, I wrote that I’M for Iowa was “arguably in violation of campaign law” for promoting Fallon’s congressional campaign through e-mails. In actuality, this does not appear to violate any law, and the controversy concerns questions of ethics, not legality, from Boswell’s camp.
Update #2 (5/12): Fallon paid himself [...]
Ok, so Im a tad late with my second round predictions but I will redeem my tardiness with pinpoint predictions as well as scintillating writing and oops-I-crapped-my-pants worthy humor. Which has me thinking, I have not watched SNL since Will Ferrell departed to star in such classics as Elf and [...]
