ISSUE 324 December 2023
A L W A Y S
F R E E
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PEAK IOWA Ham balls, haunted buildings, bison, fake discoveries, real inventions, a portal to the underworld—explore 33 things that help make Iowa, Iowa. P. 23
MIDAMERICAN IS ON THE
NAUGHTY LIST MidAmerican Energy claims to be “100% Renewable,” yet continues to operate five toxic coal plants in Iowa. There are better ways to stay warm in the winter!
MidAmerican can get off the naughty list by closing its coal fleet by 2030.
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Otherworldly encounters are part of daily life
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From the Newsletter Four of the top stories featured last month in the LV Daily, Little Village’s weekday afternoon email written by Paul Brennan. Subscribe at littlevillagemag.com/subscribe
Bankruptcy judge approves University of Iowa’s purchase of Mercy Iowa City (Nov. 6) The deal is finally done. On Monday, the judge overseeing the bankruptcy of Mercy Iowa City approved its sale to the University of Iowa, making UIHC the only hospital system in town. Many details have yet to be resolved, but the plan is for the hospitals to "join as one" in early 2024. All Mercy employees in good standing will be offered employment with UIHC.
Election roundup: History is made in DSM and CR, an incumbent defeats an incumbent in IC, school board voters send a message, bond votes go both ways (Nov. 8) There were some history-making victories in the city and school board elections on Tuesday, as voters in Des Moines elected the city’s first woman mayor and, in Cedar Rapids, a member of the LGBTQ community won a seat on the city council for the first time. Incumbents reigned supreme, with a notable exception in Iowa City.
Iowa City Starbucks Workers United, who find themselves at the center of a corporate lawsuit, protest unfair labor practices on ‘Red Cup Day’ (Nov. 17) Promotional days like Red Cup Day can be hell on Starbucks staff—one reason employees at Iowa's only unionized store decided to protest on Nov. 16. Meanwhile, Starbucks corporate is trying to claim in court that Starbucks Workers United shouldn't be able to use their name and green circle motif, citing a retweet from the Iowa City chapter.
‘I am not shameful’: Iowa Safe Schools, seven students sue the state over anti-LGBTQ law SF 496 (Nov. 29) On Tuesday, the ACLU of Iowa and Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund filed a lawsuit in federal court in Des Moines challenging SF 496, signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds in May. Attorneys with the group argue provisions of the law violate Iowa students’ rights under the First Amendment, the 14th Amendment and the Equal Access Act.
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THANK YOU TO THIS ISSUE’S ADVERTISING PARTNERS This issue of Little Village is supported by: Adamantine Spine Moving (51) Arnott & Kirk (79) Baker Paper Company (25) Bartertown Toys and Collectibles (27) Broadlawns Medical Center (74) Bur Oak Land Trust (9) Catch Des Moines (54) Coralville Center for the Performing Arts (74) Crooked Path Theatre (27) Des Moines Center for the Performing Arts (76) Des Moines Metro Opera (76) Des Moines Playhouse (33) Des Moines Symphony (27) Des Moines Wedding Show (37) FilmScene (63) Full Court Press (45, 62) Goodfellow Printing, Inc. (74) Greater Des Moines Botanical Gardens (7) Grinnell College Museum of Art (31) Hancher Auditorium (67, 69, 71, 73) Historic Valley Junction (80) Historic Valley Junction (9) Honeybee Hair Parlor and Hive Collective (14)
House of Glass (9) Illuminate Healing Studio (76) Independent Cedar Rapids (4849) - NewBoCo - Goldfinch Cyclery - Next Page Books - Cobble HIll - The Daisy Independent Downtown Iowa City (10-11) - The Green House - Release Body Modifications - Critical Hit - Merge - Harry's Bar & Grill - Fix! - Mailboxes - Beadology - Record Collector - Yotopia - Revival - Prairie Lights Bookstore & Cafe - Hot Spot Tattoo and Piercing Independent Highland Park / Oak Park Neighborhood (28-29) - Des Moines Mercantile - Bill's Window and Screen Repair - The Collective - The Slow Down
Independent Northside Marketplace (18-19) - John's - Oasis Falafel - Marco's Grilled Cheese - Russ' Northside Service - Pagliai's Pizza - R.S.V.P. - George's - Artifacts - Press Coffee - Dodge Street Tire Indian Creek Nature Center (31) Iowa City Communications (53) Iowa City Public Library (41) Iowa Department of Public Health (63) Jethro's BBQ (43) KRUI 89.7 FM (25) Kim Schillig, REALTOR (39) Mailboxes of Iowa City (76) Martin Construction (45) Mikey's Irish Pub (27) Mission Creek Festival (4) Musician's Pro Shop (43) New Pioneer Food Co-op (56) Nodo (21) Optimae Behavioral Health Systems (60)
Optimae Home Health Services (54) Orchestra Iowa (55) Orchestrate Hospitality (61) Phoebe Martin, REALTOR (47) Polk County Conservation (7) Primary Health Care (42) Public Space One (75) Raygun (33) Resilient Sustainable Future for Iowa City (61) Science Center of Iowa (7) Shakespeare's Pub & Grill (76) Sierra Club (2) Splash Seafood Bar & Grill (74) Table to Table (43) Ten Thousand Villages (53) The Club Car (76) The Iowa Children's Museum (21) The James Theatre (51) The Wedge (76) University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art (7) Varsity Cinema (63) West Music (41) Wig and Pen (51) Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon (37) Willow & Stock (25) xBk (21)
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LV encourages community members, including candidates for office, to submit letters to Editor@LittleVillageMag.com. To be considered for print publication, letters should be under 500 words. Preference is given to letters that have not been published elsewhere. THIS IS THE FIRST YEAR where my first-grad-
er and kindergartener are simultaneously attending school. Every morning I make it a point to tell them that I love them, because I do, but also because I know I may never see their bright eyes and smiling faces again. Today [Nov. 29] we received an email detailing how a parent brought a gun into an Iowa City elementary school and began threatening staff at the main office. Thankfully he is currently in custody and no one was hurt, this time. I don’t see it as a game of odds, but rather an inevitability that my family will experience gun violence in a public school. It isn’t news that gun violence is ubiquitous, and importantly, correlates directly with gun access. I am writing to keep this topic in the public eye, and to raise
and maintain awareness, as a step towards safer communities. I dream of a world where children and teachers work and play without the threat of firearms. —Becky Flugrad, Iowa City Iowa Board of Medicine will consider rules for six-week abortion ban, even as injunction remains in effect (Nov. 15) Prior to 24 weeks gestation, the brain of a fetus is so primitive it has not even achieved the first glimmer of consciousness because the nerve fibers connecting the thalamus to the cerebral cortex required for consciousness have not even started to be created. It thinks nothing, thinks no thoughts, feels nothing, feels
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no pain, knows nothing, is nothing, hasn’t become anything. It doesn’t even know it exists. It truly is just a mindless clump of primitive cells slowly taking human form. And 24 weeks is the earliest the first glimmer of consciousness *might* occur with most neural pathways for consciousness not created until well into the third trimester. It is far more cruel to force a young woman to stay pregnant against her will at the barrel of a government gun than it is to abort something that is so primitive that it doesn’t even know it exists. They are destroying an actual conscious, sentient human life economically, mentally/ emotionally, and/or physically for an unconscious, non-sentient clump of cells that prior to 24 weeks gestation does not even know it exists. There is nothing noble about their cause. It’s cruel, sick and twisted. Here's something else to think about. All of the animals humans eat have more
LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324 December 2023 13
I N T E R AC T I O N S
highly developed nervous systems, brains, and consciousness than any 2nd trimester fetus. and yet.... The “right to life” doesn’t include using someone else’s body to sustain that life. If it did, I could demand you give me your kidney if I would otherwise die of kidney disease. Nobody has the right to use your body against your will. Embryos and fetuses are not special exceptions. —Carol G. Quad Cities Prayer Breakfast organizer David Pautsch announces run against MillerMeeks (Nov. 16) Good. Choose someone so far to the right that moderates will vote for the D candidate. Miller-Meeks barely won on her first try. Let's turn this district blue again. —C.L. Not 6%. Not 6,000. 6. Yes, six votes. Consider that, those of you who believe “my vote doesn’t count…” Six. —S.C. To be clear, that was 2020 with a different district map. She won by a higher percentage in 2022 (53/46%). If it’s Christina vs MMM again, I’m not crazy hopeful… but if Republicans want to make it easier by electing this guy, Christina might have a chance! —Charles V.
14 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
headspace. What does this person’s concept of reality even look like? —C.F. The only people who would criticize someone for "often being too out of touch with Biblical morality" are likely the least Christian people among the population and probably haven't read the Bible. —M.K. Iowa City Starbucks Workers United, who find themselves at the center of a corporate lawsuit, protest unfair labor practices on ‘Red Cup Day’ (Nov. 17) This is so true. I worked at a Starbucks in SC and they made me quit because I wasn’t able to work the minimum 12 hours they wanted each week. They should allow people to cover all the full time employees. Their priorities are all wrong. —Morganne M. Solidarity. —Rad. E. When the Starbucks CEO was brought in to the Senate for union busting, I was genuinely shocked to see Senators defending him like he was a war veteran. More power to these people. They deserve what they are asking for. Also, advocating against genocide shows that their character is worthy. —Fragmentia
The My Pillow guy and Kari Lake at his "prayer" breakfast? What a joke! —Meg C.B.
How dare those workers want to collectively bargain AND not exterminate Palestinians. —T.T.W.
I hope he beats MMM. The more unelectable Republican candidates, the better. —John F.M.
‘I am not shameful’: Iowa Safe Schools, seven students sue the state over anti-LGBTQ law SF 496 (Nov. 29)
Imagine thinking the cancerous red M&M was too liberal? Try to even put yourself in that
The whole notion that this isn't an anti-LGBT law is ridiculous. The law bans mention of sexual orientation
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Books to help you win at winter
I
t might be in the mid-60s and sunny as I write this in late November, but winter is surely on its way. For us hardy Iowans, that typically means cold weather, less sunlight and a spate of holidays to get through without losing your mind. Here, then, are some books that might help you to make the most of what the season affords.
Uncomfortably full bellies aside, cooking and eating are some of the best parts the holiday season. Treat you and your guests right with any of these new books: Company: The Radically Casual Art of Cooking for Others by Amy Thielen; That Cheese Plate Wants to Party: Festive Boards, Spreads, and Recipes With the Cheese by Numbers Method by Marissa Mullen; Everyday Grand: Soulful Recipes for Celebrating Life’s Big and Small Moments by Jocelyn Adams; Totally Kosher: Tradition With a Twist by Chanie Apfelbaum; and Gatherings: Casual-Fancy Meals to Share by America’s Test Kitchen.
Don’t forget the sweets! I recommend Sweet Enough by Alison Roman; More Than Cake: 100 Baking Recipes Built for Pleasure and Community by Natasha Pickowicz; Voilà Vegan: 85 Decadent Secretly Plant-Based Recipes from an American patisserie in Paris by Amanda Bankert; and Fabulous Modern Cookies by Christopher Taylor.
It shouldn’t stop with cooking, though—this is the perfect time of year to get crafty! Pass the dark, chilly hours making something cozy for yourself or your loved ones. Check out titles like: Homemade Holiday: Craft Your Way Through More Than 40 Festive Projects by Sophie Pester; Festive as F*ck: Hilariously Irreverent Cross-Stitch for the Holidays; Winter Knits From Scandinavia: 24 Patterns for Hats, Mittens, and Socks by Jenny Alderbrant; and The Big Book of Holiday Paper Crafts: Easy Keepsake Designs for Handmade Projects That Show How Much You Care.
Finally, if the beauty of snow and solitude speak to you, look for titles like Yule: a Celebration of Light and Warmth by Dorothy Morrison; Winterlust: Finding Beauty in the Fiercest Season by Bernd Brunner; Making Winter: A Hygge-Inspired Guide for Surviving the Winter Months by Emma Mitchell; and Winterland: Create a Beautiful Garden for Every Season by Cathy Rees—all available at the Iowa City Public Library. —Candice Smith LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324 December 2023 17
I N T E R A C T I O N S
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READER POLL On Nov. 30, Sen. Rand Paul performed the Heimlich maneuver to save Iowa's own Joni Ernst from choking. What visions of the afterlife did she glimpse before being saved?
or gender expression but it's only lgbt books being banned. If the law did what Republicans are claiming and love/romance stories would be banned. How do you talk about romance without sexual orientation? —Cat M. Right? My school pulled a graphic novel because two teen boys were kissing on one page (Disney princess style kiss, very G rated) but left another graphic novel by the same author where a teen girl and boy are kissing in the exact same fashion. —C.L.
Shane McGowan saying "Feck off!" 6% Sandra Day O'Connor counting hanging chads 4% Henry Kissinger choking on napalm 32%
Not shameful but abnormal. The very definition. I wonder if the parents, rather than radical acceptance might have tried guidance. The child might still transition. But maybe not. —Mash
Vengeful squealing pigs 57% Percentage of 77 total votes
S T R E S S F R A C T U R E S
18 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
"Uncommon" is not the same as abnormal.Twins are uncommon. Shall we
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I N T E R AC T I O N S sacrifice one to the gods because it is an abnormal event? Being left-handed is uncommon. In past centuries, it was a sign of the devil working in you. It was abnormal, and you must be burned. Birth defects like birthmarks, moles, and even freckles are uncommon...but, by your definition, (and a Middle Ages mentality) also abnormal. More burning for God's sake! —C.M. How did you approach the First Amendment when conservatives were being banned from social media due to spreading misinformation/hateful views or whatever? Because there were a whole lot of First Amendment absolutists attacking private companies for removing people like Alex Jones but they seem to bend over backwards to justify vague state laws to remove books in schools. —Stone F.
MOMBOY
Odd that several school districts are also included in the lawsuit; they're just being forced to follow the law (with little-to-no guidance). I suspect they'd much prefer to not have to deal with this, either, and would probably love it if the state would leave them alone and get off their backs. —Oneota I hope they win and waste hundreds of thousands of Iowa taxpayer's dollars in the process. It's what Kim Reynolds deserves. —C.C. It's not what the taxpayers deserve. I hope for a rapid victory, both for the taxpayers and the kids these vile laws hurt. —Aram M.
and until it hurts them, they’re not gonna vote differently. It’s a huge task, but if we, the people who didn’t vote these monstrosities into power don’t try to change peoples minds and help them make better decisions, it will never get any better except by miracle. —H.S. It’s exactly what the taxpayers deserve. People that don’t care about state and local politics because they don’t think it affects them need to learn. This is why you vote in every election. —Paul C.
Nah, the taxpayers do deserve it because the taxpayers are the ones who’ve elected these people
LAUREN HALDEMAN
P E R S O N A L S Having a cold, lonely December? Consider Cuba for your holiday plans! Left without a human after hers passed away, Cuba is a positive magnet in search of her negative (metaphorically speaking)—she can't wait to zone in on her other half, run right over and smush all 45 pounds of pittie into your arms. This 1-year-old has enough energy to fill a home herself, and is probably best as a solo dog. And with the right amount of love and activity, Iowa City Animal Center staff are confident she'll be light up your living room. Inquire at 319-356-5295.
Send your personals for consideration to editor@littlevillagemag.com with subject line “Personals.” 20 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
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Peak Iowa: Essay
Constellation Winds A song from the Red Earth, sung at the entrance to the underworld.
T
BY RED DANIELSON
his all ends with myself, hallowedly stoned and hearing an endless note in the wind, and Ray Young Bear, one of our greatest poets, singing bird songs on the bank of the Iowa River. We’re at the spot where, in 1980, a UFO attempted to abduct Ray and his wife, Stella Lasley-Young Bear. Ray had emptied his rifle into the UFO, hovering only 60 feet above their heads in the dark sky. Let me get you there. •
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So, I woke up some morning with my youngest son whispering in my ear, “Daddy, wake up. Daddy, wake up. Daddy, wake up.” A fragment of a dream still played in my mind as he pulled me from bed to look out the back door with him, so he could show me what had happened while we all slept. Farm hands had worked through the night, clearing the corn and soy from the fields with combine harvesters. I looked out the back door to where the eightfoot stalks had been when I’d gone to sleep. “All gone,” my son said. “All gone,” I agreed. We live at the very edge of a very small town called Lone Tree. When the crops are high, the world is a bit smaller. When the crops are taken, it’s as though you can see to the other end of the state. It was foggy that morning—everything gray and wet. I could hardly see the highway just a hundred yards from my deck. I picked my son up, our faces reflecting in the windowpane separating us from the world. All gone. I’d packed my car by midmorning with all of my painting equipment. It was the day I would finally meet Ray Young Bear and paint his portrait. I started reading Ray’s poetry 10 years back, when I was 23, two years before his collected book of poems, MANIFESTATION WOLVERINE was published. I stood beneath the open back hatch of my car, running my finger along the blank canvas and staring into the gray mist where I figured the horizon must be. Hundreds of grackles called from the fields where they searched for bits of corn dropped by the combines. A group of grackles is known as a plague. It’s the only time I’ve known a plague to be pleasant, and though grackles are not considered Portrait by Red Danielson
songbirds, I love their song more than any other. •
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When Ray and I connected over the phone back in September, he asked if I would be OK with him holding the rifle from the night with the UFO in 1980 when I painted his portrait. “I would be cosmically depressed,” I told Ray, “if it wasn’t in the portrait.” “What would you think about painting me where the UFO tried to take Stella and I, all those years ago?” he asked. Christ… I hadn’t even laid eyes on Ray, but it was just one of those things—I knew I would be telling this story again and again and again when it was all said and done. You get a sense for this sort of thing when you task yourself with the obsessive need to understand story. You know from the very beginning the ones you’ll hold most dearly.
Ray was silent for some time after this. He’d gathered inside himself. I figured he was praying just then. For the trees, for the cryptic manifestations, showing themselves in the night to the Meskwaki poet, the poet of the Red Earth, who knows of the essential life in all of this. We talked for 47 minutes, mostly about UFOs—a little about poetry. At the end of the call, we said our goodbyes. Ray stopped me short of ending the call. The register of his voice had become more serious than he’d allowed throughout the entirety of our conversation. “You should know,” he said, “some Meskwaki believe the location where you’ll paint my portrait is the entrance to the underworld.” •
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The fog hadn’t broken when I arrived. I parked on the road outside Ray’s house and walked up the drive. I wanted to feel the entirety of the place. Ray’s drive curves like a crow wing as you leave the highway. You can’t see the house from the road. You see shining sumac, in their red dregs of fall. It sutures the gravel drive around a bend to the house. The maple, red oak and hackberry had all but
dropped their leaves, so it was just the dangling red sumac leaves, like a low forest of bloodied knives. I heard my name called from the trees. There was Ray, walking around the curve in the drive, rifle in hand. He wore a red bandana, cyan shirt, camouflage coat. We had a nice little chitchat and decided the painting should be done in front of all those shining sumac. We stared into the red leaves the way the first men must have stared into the first flame. “Here,” we agreed, “would be best.” We’d get to the underworld in time. •
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The foggy noon hour muted dramatic shadows and light from the world. It made it so that everything wore a similar light source, which can confuse the eyes when they are looking particularly for light and shadow. I scraped globs of paint all over the canvas, long violent pulls, recreating the thin timber curving behind Ray, where he’d set up in front of the shining sumac. I started painting 11 months ago, after eating four grams of psilocybin mushrooms and hearing an ethereal voice tell me I was to start painting. It has not even been a year since I painted my first painting. I paced the gravel drive, side-to-side, trying to find the angle to best portray Ray. The conversation had drifted to a shared belief between the two of us: there are more ancient, more sacred things than us inhabiting these places we know, some of which have revealed themselves to the two of us, though we still, years after having experienced some of these things, do not understand them. Ray held his rifle across his lap. His right arm had drifted into the air, making a fist. He’d closed his eyes and begun to ripple his fingers as he tried to find the right words in his mind. This was it; this was the Ray I would paint. “Animism is something I have over other poets,” Ray said, “Only because other poets don’t know what it really is. White America has been taught to discount anything that moves in the night. For us it’s the opposite; if it moves in the night, you’ve got to be careful. That’s what they teach you here.” Ray had found his words, but his eyes remained shut. “These trees around us,” Ray continued, “I pray for these trees.” Ray was silent for some time after this. He’d gathered inside himself. I figured he was praying just then. For the trees, for the cryptic manifestations, showing themselves in the night to the Meskwaki poet, the poet of the Red Earth, who knows of the essential life in all of this. •
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It was when I’d lit the last cigarette of the pack and LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324 December 2023 23
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dipped an angled brush into the spread of cadmium red to paint the hanging leaves just around Ray’s aura when he asked, “Meskwaki, do you know what it means?” I admitted I did not. Ray said the words slowly, “MESKWAKI—people of the red earth.” •
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Ray and I stood across from each other, saying farewell. The rifle leaned against my easel. Ray pulled a knife from his belt. He leaned down to the gravel and cut a map into the earth. He tapped a place in the rock saying, “This is where we had the encounter. It’s about a mile into the floodplains. That UFO followed us for a mile. We stopped at what we call the stonehouse and turned onto the highway. That UFO went over us and aligned with the old railroad tracks. We were driving 80 miles per hour. It was traveling with us until we got to the bridge. At the bridge, Stella found one last bullet for the rifle. I got out at the end of the bridge. The UFO was above some cottonwoods here.” Ray tapped the gravel again with his knife. “That’s when I spoke to it. I said, ‘This is the last one we have. I want you to go away.’ When I fired the last bullet into it, the UFO shot up into the sky and became like a star, instantly.” •
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Eighteen days later, on Ray Young Bear’s 73rd birthday, we cross the road in full sun toward our otherworldly destination on the Iowa River. The entrance to the underworld. A 10-point buck, deep in the testosteroned fevers of the rut, runs out of the tree line in front of us, its tongue hanging out of its mouth as it smells its way on the trail of a doe. “That’s right,” Ray says as the winds carry through the golden reed grasses gathering closely over the river bottoms. “It’s hunting season. We must be careful.” Ray carries his body close to itself, a gesture filled with the serenity of 73 years. We stare then into the still river, low from two seasons of little rain, reflecting the world back into our eyes. I pull a cigarette I’d packed with Durban Poison, an astute sativa that pulls the mind to wanderings, and shielded my lighter from the wind. So much leaves me as the smoke carries away quickly from the two of us. “It’s right there.” Ray points his earth-toned finger to a spot on the bank. “It’s right there.” Two-hundred yards down river, in the shallows near a bed of gravel, a group of young men, oriented in a line, pull at something I can’t see. The sun dances silver and pink over the river where they struggle. “What are they doing over there?” I ask. “Who knows,” Ray says. “Just being men.” Then Ray begins to sing. His song is in Meskwaki, Ray’s first language. We stand there like that, the strands of grass bending to the river while ribbons of words unknown to me unfurl from Ray’s throat. The notes tumble from Ray like gentle feathers falling to the earth. Not every doorway is framed in timber; some doors are bound by fluctuating tissues, all squeezing and letting go as they see fit, the way the iris holds the emptiness we call pupil. I look at the place in the river he’d pointed to. It was right there. The trees are still. In the steel blue sky, a few dozen geese fly in their V formation, hoping to escape the dead winter before all this is gone. Ray sings his song, which is, as he tells me, the song of the grackle. The black bird of the fields, covered in chatoyant rainbow spills, who gather in singing plagues. I turn from Ray Young Bear, so that he does not see the tears gathering in my eyes. My god, I wish I could tell you how golden this world is. 24 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
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Leaders lie, families struggle, rights erode and rivers run sludgy. But you don't have to scratch far below the surface of our corn-laden state to find something worth preserving— resurrected prairies, cool record shops, priceless art, sandwich innovations, scientific scandals, morbid and mouthwatering roadside attractions, and radical people. For our second-annual Peak Iowa issue, Little Village staff and contributors explored a new set of Hawkeye State oddities. From Sioux City to Muscatine, Ottumwa to Okoboji, a drudge boat on the Mississippi to a certain murder house in Villisca, not all these strolls through space and time will stoke state pride, but they are fascinating—and distinctly Iowa.
Eerie Acoustics in the Anechoic Chamber
Deep within (OK, down a flight of stairs beneath) the University of Iowa’s Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center is an anechoic chamber. The antithesis of an echoey cave, the ultra-soundproofed space prevents sound waves from bouncing off the wall or floor, creating a useful environment for audio research. The chamber, built during construction of the Johnson building in 1967, is about the size of a double garage, but with four-foot fiberglass wedges jutting out on every surface. You enter through a large, walk-in freezer-type door (also covered with fiberglass wedges and honestly a bit intimidating) and proceed onto a grated catwalk that suspends you above the soundproofed floor. This is where experiments can be conducted. It’s visually surreal, but things really get even weirder when the big door closes, revealing an almost complete absence of acoustic reflection. Kirkwood Community College jazz director and musician Blake Shaw, who recorded the double bass inside the chamber in around 2016, described his experience: “When I was inside, even before I started playing, I noticed a 26 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
Research equipment sits on the catwalk, suspended above the fiberglass wedges in the UI's anechoic chamber. Jordan Sellergren / Little Village
creepy difference in atmosphere. When I would speak, it sounded more one-dimensional. When I started playing, it was super surprising at first. Usually when I play I can hear the resonance of my bass bouncing off all the surfaces around me. Instead, I'd make a sound and it seemed to just stay right in front of me. There's an episode of Spongebob Squarepants where Spongebob is teaching Patrick Star to blow bubbles. On one failed attempt, he blows into the bubble wand to create a bubble that comes out all wrinkly and falls straight to the sea floor with a plop. That's how my sound felt!” For those lucky few who have ventured within, Iowa City’s anechoic chamber is an eerie and memorable experience. Unfortunately, in
2025 this room and the current Wendell-Johnson building enclosing it will be demolished. Maybe you’ll be able to find the musty old panels at University Surplus and build your own anechoic chamber someday. If not, you can always reserve an hour in a sensory deprivation float tank. ––Jordan Sellergren
A Humble Home (Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright)
Fans of 20th century American architecture and, in particular, the Prairie Style of Frank Lloyd Wright will be charmed by Cedar Rock State Park, the site of one of his architectural gems. Built on a limestone bluff overlooking the Wapsipinicon River in Buchanan County, near
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Sunday. You can park your car at the visitor center and then be shuttled the last quarter-mile to the house. Free tours are available by reservation. —David Duer
Iowa City’s Guitar Heroes
The Walter House was completed in 1950 and donated to the state in 1981. Phil Roeder / Flickr Creative Commons
the town of Quasqueton, the house is one of only 47 that bears the bright red tile with Wright’s signature imprinted on it. He designed the house at the request of Lowell and Agnes Walter, even fashioning the unusually short upholstered chairs and sofas to fit the Walters’ small stature. Wright also selected the carpets, draperies and even accessories. The Walter house—finished in 1950 and donated to the State of Iowa in 1981—is considered one of Wright’s most complete Usonian homes. Wright applied the term Usonian to homes he designed to meet the needs of middle-income families and provide space for living simply and in harmony with nature. Everything about
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this house is compact and efficient—no attic, basement, garage or frills. If you’re a fan of tiny houses, you’ll be fascinated by such touches as a bathroom sink countertop that folds over to provide access to the bathtub. In truth, the hallway between the living room and the bedrooms is a bit claustrophobic. But that living room is a wonder. Sure, it’s cozy, but the three exterior glass walls offer spectacular views of nearby gardens and the river valley to the south. Natural light from skylights fills the room, allowing houseplants to flourish. Broad overhangs with upturned edges soften the sunlight and shade the glass walls. Wright’s ingenious clerestories—a row of horizontal windows well above eye level—both brighten the interior space and release hot air trapped near the ceiling. The visitor center and residence are open from late May to mid-October, Wednesday through
For a brief time in the ’00s, Guitar Hero was the king of party games. And for an even briefer time, some entries in the bestselling series were developed in an office on South Linn Street in Iowa City. Budcat Creations, a high-budget game development studio owned by Iowa natives Jason and Jeremy Andersen, relocated from Las Vegas to Iowa City in 2005. Though only a handful of their employees were willing to follow, the Andersens told gaming writer Nicholas Yanes that Iowa’s great schools and low cost of living made the move worth it. They wound up having no trouble hiring new talent, either. “I’ve worked all over for a lot of companies, and it was easier to recruit for Budcat in Iowa City than anywhere I had ever worked,” Jeremy Andersen told Yanes. The Andersens sold Budcat to Activision in 2008, hoping the company could provide some financial stability for the studio. Activision tasked the Budcat team with creating new entries for their hit Guitar Hero franchise, including Guitar Hero: Legends of Rock, Guitar Hero: World Tour and Guitar Hero 5. They also developed the band-specific spinoffs Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Guitar Hero: Metallica and Guitar Hero: Van Halen. Despite being one of many studios in the mix, Budcat Creations’ games stuck out. THEGAMER placed Guitar Hero 5 as the third-best entry in the entire series. Entertainment Weekly ranked
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Legends of Rock as the second-best; that game included “Through the Fire and Flames,” an iconic Guitar Hero level. But a combination of too many Guitar Heroes in a small guitar town and effects of the 2008 financial crisis led to Activision reporting losses, and the franchise fizzling out. On Nov. 16, 2010, Activision closed Budcat with no warning. “I never thought our studio would get shut down,” said Jason Andersen. “Who would shut down a studio that always delivered on schedule and on budget?” Many of the creators moved to tech hubs across the country. Today, there aren’t a lot of blockbuster game titles coming out of Iowa, but you can find heroic development studios, including Gold Creek Games in Des Moines and EPX Studio in Iowa City. The next generation of scrappy, never-miss-a-deadline game developers are also taking advantage of increased opportunities to learn the craft at the state’s colleges and universities. —Lily Wasserman
The Davenport Conspiracy
On Jan. 10, 1877, Reverend Jacob Gass, who was known for his amateur archeological finds and as a part-time charlatan, excavated a mound in a field near Davenport, Iowa. The burial mounds along the Mississippi were of great interest to archeologists at the time, as there was a widespread (and racist) theory that they were built by a civilization which predated the Native American tribes who had inhabited the area when settlers arrived, because they wouldn’t be capable of it. There was a push to discover artifacts which could prove this theory; such finds would not only be monumental, but make the
The fraudulent Cremation Scene tablet. Putnam Museum
finder famous. The then-recently formed Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences, now known as the Putnam Museum, had a collection of artifacts which rivaled the Smithsonian. Even still, the old codgers who ran the place were jealous of Gass, who had a string of luck finding valuable artifacts in various mounds, while the majority of their attempts were fruitless. And so they hatched a plan…allegedly. Inside the mound Gass excavated in January 1877, and which already showed signs it had been disturbed, he found two graves. In one of them, Gass found two tablets. These tablets had strange markings and what appeared to be
writing in an ancient script. A third tablet was found a few days later by the farmer who owned the land while plowing. Gass believed he had hit the jackpot. He donated the tablets to the Academy and when the description of Gass’ discovery was published, there was an uproar in the archeology world. Scholars the world over attempted to translate the tablets, but no one succeeded. For 10 years, the tablets fascinated the public, but after a decade of study, expert opinion shifted and the tablets (among other dubious items found in the mound) were dismissed as a fraud, although they were cited as “proof” in a few academic papers up until 1978.
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University of Iowa Professor Marshall McKusick, author of The Davenport Conspiracy (1970, revisited in 1991), claimed he met one of the people involved, who admitted that the Academy fabricated the tablets to discredit Gass, but kept up with the charade when the discovery received global attention. McKusick concluded the tablets originated not with an ancient civilization, but were modified roof tiles from a nearby brothel. —Shane O’Shaughnessy
Bluffs of Yellow
Tucked along a panoramic stretch of the Des Moines River in southeast Polk County is a park that feels many miles away from the state’s largest metro area. Buffered from the usual traffic sounds by dense woods and isolated stretches of natural landscape, Yellow Banks Park exudes an almost zen-like allure, with 150-foot high yellow-colored banks overlooking a laconic, winding bend in the river that reaches from the Minnesota border to the southeast edge of the state. The yellow loess soil deposited by the Des Moines River along its banks gives this 576acre park its name. From the entrance, you descend—literally, as the winding road takes almost a 300-foot drop in elevation—into a world that retains much of its ancient aura. Home to various peoples over the millennia, the earliest residents arrived in the Paleoindian period about 13,500 years ago. They hunted now-extinct bison, mammoths and mastodons. Hunting, fishing and growing crops, coupled with foraging for wild plants, provided sustenance for locals from the archaic period through the early 1840s, when settlers and the U.S. Army drove the indigenous peoples out of central Iowa. Polk County Conservation acquired the park in 1980. Since then, hundreds of artifacts have been discovered and preserved. The park also offers fascinating glimpses into natural history, where a glacial end point and a geological drift plain converged, leaving behind a productive bluffland with a range of natural resources, including a deep-wood river and a prairie savanna. This park in a quiet corner of the state’s most populous county takes visitors to the intersection of nature and history. —John Busbee
The Best Invention Since—Ever?
In 1928, an Iowa-born jeweler unveiled a revolutionary invention. The machine Otto Frederick 30 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
Rohwedder had created was the best thing since… well, that cliche wasn’t available yet. Because what Rohwedder invented was the automatic bread slicer. Born in 1880, Rohwedder grew up in Davenport, where he attended school and apprenticed as a jeweler. After high school, he moved to Chicago to study at the Northern Illinois College of Ophthalmology and Otology, where he earned a degree in optics. Rohwedder then pursued a career as a jeweler, eventually owning three jewelry stores in St. Joseph, Missouri. As his jewelry business grew, Rohwedder tinkered with inventions on the side. Around 1912, he started thinking about an automatic bread-slicing machine that could be used in commercial bakeries. Risking everything, Rohwedder sold his three stores in 1916, and moved his family back to Davenport to work on the bread slicer. But disaster struck. In 1917, a fire in the factory Rohwedder was working in destroyed his prototype machines and all his blueprints. Rohwedder lost everything. It would take a decade for Rohwedder to recreate everything he’d lost, and during that time he had to take a job as an investment agent to support his family. But he never lost faith in his idea, and in 1928, the finished machine earned him his place in history. He convinced his friend and investor Frank Bench to install the first machine in his bakery in Chillicothe, Missouri. It quickly increased bread sales by 2,000 percent, breaking down after six months of heavy use. The second machine, residing today in the Smithsonian Institution, was used at Korn’s
Rohwedder's bread slicing and wrapping device was officially patented on July 12, 1932. National Museum of American History
Bakery in Davenport. Rohwedder patented his design and produced the bread slicer through his Davenport company Mac-Roh Sales and Manufacturing. In 1932, he sold the patent to Micro-Westco Co. in Bettendorf, where Rohwedder served as vice president and sales manager until he retired at the age of 71. At first, bread consumers worried that presliced bread would go stale faster, so Rohwedder invented a U-shaped clip for bread bags. Over time, as popular brands like Wonder Bread began using pre-sliced bread, it became the new standard. Newspaper articles parodied the mania around bread slicers when WWII rationing prevented their widespread use. After retiring, Rohwedder would move to Michigan with his wife, Carrie . The two are buried at Riverside Cemetery in Albion, Michigan. —Lily Wasserman
Where the Bison Wallow
Iowa’s landscape, utterly transformed by hunting and agriculture over the centuries, was once teeming with more than 40 million bison. By the time European and American settlers reached the territory en masse in the early 1800s, bison were
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functionally extinct east of the Mississippi River. Though Iowa retains just 0.1 percent of its original prairie, nature reserves like the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge near Prairie City and Broken Kettle Grasslands Preserve north of Sioux City are fostering a growing population of plains bison. According to Scott Gilje, refuge manager of the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge, prairie doesn’t just serve as bison habitat—the animals, which weigh up to a ton, help the prairie thrive. After the introduction of bison to the park in 1996,
It would take a decade for Rohwedder to recreate everything he’d lost, and during that time he had to take a job as an investment agent to support his family. But he never lost faith in his idea, and in 1928, the finished machine earned him his place in history.
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plants that evolved specifically to grow in wallows—the bowl-like impressions bison leave in the ground, which catch rain and create a water network—began to flourish. With help from the resident elk, who eat the woody vegetation that might otherwise overtake the grassland, the prairie is really coming back. Now, Gilje is submitting proposals to expand the herd’s conservation land from the current 800 acres to 1,600. He hopes this will allow the refuge to double their bison population, from 60 to 120. —Achilles Seastrom
The Ultimate Dive
Every year, I make a pilgrimage to a bar in Cedar Falls. This bar is tucked away at the end of a long walkway with steel walls, making for a cold walk during winter. Climbing the steep stairs, past spilt beer and bras hanging from the ceiling, one enters the dive of all dive bars, Suds Upstairs. Like any good Iowa dive, Suds is home to cheap light beer. An ice-cold Miller High Life costs $1.75; since my time roaming College Hill as a Panther, it has gone up by a quarter. Warmer months make the patio the place to be,
WILLIAM VILLALONGO MYTHS AND MIGRATIONS Image: William Villalongo, Specimen, 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
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overlooking the Hill. This is the epitome of a Hill bar—gone is Beck’s, Ginger’s burned down, Fire and Ice is long gone, but Suds Upstairs still holds onto all its glory. If Suds Upstairs ever closes—which is hard to imagine, since it appears to be as inflation-proof as a Costco hotdog—it will be missed most of all. Until then, Suds remains a must-visit bar. Except the bathrooms. Avoid those at all costs. —Sean Dengler
The Courageous Clarks of Muscatine
There’s fascinating history to be found in Muscatine. Before adopting the name Mark Twain, Samuel Clemens briefly wrote for the Muscatine Journal while his brother was the paper’s editor. Long before Field of Dreams, it saw some of America’s earliest minor-league baseball teams take the field. Neither Twain nor those teams left much of a mark on Iowa, but Alexander Clark did. Born in Pennsylvania in 1826 to parents who had formerly been enslaved, Clark arrived in Muscatine in 1842, four years before Iowa became a state. Muscatine was a bustling river city and had more Black residents than any other city in Iowa at the time. Clark worked numerous jobs, including running his own barbershop, and grew into a community leader. In 1848, he married Catherine Griffin. The couple had five children. Two died as infants, but Rebecca, Susan and Alexander Jr. lived long lives. After just a decade in Muscatine, Clark was leading efforts to remove legal barriers imposed on Black Iowans. Following the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Clark offered to help recruit Black Iowans to fight in the U.S. Army, but his offer was rejected. He continued to lobby for the inclusion of Black men in the fight against the Confederacy, and in 1863, after the Lincoln administration decided to create “colored regiments,” Clark took the lead in raising the six companies of men who became the First Iowa Volunteers (African Descent). Clark himself enlisted, and served as a sergeant major. After the war, Clark led his fellow Black veterans in a campaign to secure their right to vote.. The Iowa Constitution specified that only white men, 21 and older, were eligible to vote. But In 1868, Iowa voters approved an amendment removing the word “white” from voter eligibility requirements. It wasn’t until 1870 that the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, intended to remove racial barriers to voting, was ratified. 32 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
The Alexander Clark House in Muscatine ©2023 Google Opposite: Alexander Clark in 1887. Public domain
(These changes only applied to men. It wasn't until 1920 that women’s right to vote was added to the Constitution.) Securing the right to vote wasn’t the battle for equality Clark was fighting in 1868. Susan, the Clarks’ younger daughters, enrolled Public School No. 2, located just a couple of blocks form the family home in 1865, She was one of two Black students to start school that year. Two days into the school year, Muscatine’s school board declared “no negroes should attend the public schools.” Susan and her classmate were barred from the school. After Susan attended the “African School” at a local church for two years, Clark unsuccessfully attempted to re-enroll her at Public School No. 2 . Following that rejection he sued, and in June 1868 the Iowa Supreme Court ruled racial segregation violated both Iowa law and the state constitution. It was the first such legal victory in the United States, and 86 years later when the U.S. Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education, it cited the Clark case as a precedent. In 2019, the Muscatine Community School District changed the name of West Middle School to Susan Clark Junior High School to honor her memory. Alexander Clark Jr. also made history. In 1879, he became the first Black Iowan to graduate from law school. He also inspired his father, and five years later Alexander Clark became the second Black Iowan to earn a law degree. In the years after the Civil War, Clark's reputation as a leader gained him national attention and in 1890, President Benjamin Harrison appointed him as U.S. Minister to Liberia. (At that time, a minister functioned as an ambassador.) Clark
represented the United States in that West African country until his death from a fever the following year. His body was returned to the United States, and buried with honors in Greenwood Cemetery in Muscatine. The home Clark had built for his family in 1879, after a fire destroyed their previous home, still stands in Muscatine. In 1975, the Italianatestyle brick house was moved 200 feet to make way for a new apartment building. The house has since been added to the National Register of Historic Places. The house on 3rd Street in the West Hills Historic District isn’t open to the public, but the history-minded still pass by to pay homage to a man so integral to Iowa’s civil rights history. —Erin Schroeder
Ecstatic About Vinyl
Wax Xtatic Record Audio Stereo Shop in Marshalltown holds easily one of the largest inventories of new vinyl in Central Iowa, as well as the cleanest used vinyl section I’ve ever seen. Owned, organized and operated by John Blaubaum, the Marshalltown staple survived a mid-pandemic move in 2021 to its new space on Main Street. This is the record store of your dreams—specifically, that dream in which you’re an audiophile magician with a sprawling vinyl palace in a Midwestern town. There's a poster of a Bonnie and Clyde-era Warren Beatty on the wall and a mini-fridge full of free cans of PBR in the corner. Pop art portraits of Bowie, Jager—and Sammy Hagar, for some reason—are on the walls, along with photographs of Allen Ginsberg and the Grand Funk
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Railroad. And they’ve got a grim reaper incense holder by the cash register where the haze comes up and out from beneath the hood. The House of Wax, a performance space directly behind Wax Xtatic, hosts regular live shows featuring local and touring acts. Blaubaum is also working on converting the basement of the building into a recording studio. Last time that I was there, John and I discussed a Record Store Day release from last year, Harry Chapin’s Story of a Life—The Complete Hit Singles. Chapin has been criminally forgotten, John said, and I learned the yellow vinyl he had spinning on the table was one of only 2,000 copies in existence anywhere. As for John Blaubaum, there’s only one, and we’re pretty goddamn lucky to have him here. Just tell him what you like and watch him work. If he doesn’t have it, he’ll get it to you. There’s no way John’s letting you leave without something to feed the speakers. —Avery Gregurich
Sac City’s Popcorn Ball
Have you seen a popcorn ball? Have you seen a large popcorn ball? What about the world’s largest popcorn ball? If not, head to Sac City, in the heart of Iowa’s popcorn producing region. The popcorn ball in question is 12 feet in diameter and weighs 9,370 pounds. This nearly five tons of popcorn was popped and glopped together in 2016. Touching is not allowed, but you can view it from all sides. The ball sits in a climate-controlled enclosure in the middle of the
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town, waiting for anyone looking for a photo op. The current behemoth is Sac City’s fourth giant popcorn ball. The first, a mere 2,225 pounder, was created in 1995. It traveled around Iowa, appearing in parades and at local fairs, and between outings it was kept in a warehouse at the Noble Popcorn Company in Sac City. Unsurprisingly, the giant sticky globe soon developed a mold problem. In 1996, Sac City decided to dispose of the expired icon in a spectacular way. In an event at the county fairgrounds, with stands full of spectators and TV cameras rolling, they stuffed dynamite into it and blew it up. Or at least, tried to blow it up. According to the Des Moines Register, “the ball merely jumped several feet in the air and cracked into a dozen pieces.” In 2004, civic-spirited volunteers worked for seven hours to create a new giant popcorn ball for Sac City. The new ball weighed 3,100 pounds. Two years later, a bigger popcorn ball was unveiled in Illinois, so in 2009 Sac City responded by creating a 5,000 pounder. But the competition wasn’t over. In 2013, the Indiana State Fair featured a 6,510-pound popcorn ball. Three years later, Sac City recaptured the title, with its current record-holder. (Storing it in a climate-controlled enclosure has so far prevented it from the moldy fate of the first giant.) The popcorn ball isn’t just a tribute to the popcorn producing heritage of northwestern Iowa, it’s also a testament to the determination of the citizens of Sac City. If they want to be the home 34 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
of the world’s largest popcorn ball, they are willing to put in the work to make it happen. —Sean Dengler
Little Village is not sure which is more absurd,
Warm Up to Death with the Doulas
free-flowing enough to allow attendees to talk about what’s on their minds. Death Cafes take place online, allowing people from all over the state and country to join in. Iowa Death Collective is seeing an increase in participation as word gets out, but its efforts are just getting started. Nassif said they’re ready to grow through local collaborations. “Reach out to us,” she said, citing their Instagram, @iowadeathcollective. and email, iowadeathcollective@gmail.com. “We’re friendly people and this is a community that’s willing to help.” —Jaclyn Duden
This spooky season, a cemetery scavenger hunt was hosted at Highland Memorial Gardens in Des Moines by two death doulas, Elliott Nassif and Jennifer Leatherby. The pair are founders of the Iowa Death Collective, and the event, like everything from the new, “death positive” organization, was an effort to “get people feeling comfortable in death spaces,” Nassif said. While doulas are best known for counseling and assisting new or expecting parents, death doulas focus on offering guidance and support for folks who are funeral planning, anticipating the experience of death or making logistical decisions such as whether to pass at home, a hospice or elsewhere. The doulas of the Iowa Death Collective want to foster the kinds of conversations and educational opportunities that can make the realities of death more bearable, and perhaps even empowering. “Our training helps us sit down and listen and help [people] figure out what’s most important to them,” Nassif said. The group periodically holds a Death Cafe, a gathering guided by starter questions but
the popcorn ball itself, or the enclosure that surrounds it. ©2023 Google
Brucemore is a Leo
Long before Elijah Wood became a hobbit, Cedar Rapids had a connection to Hollywood thanks to two Leos, only of whom was actually named Leo. The Leo named Leo was a lion who lived on the grounds of Brucemore briefly in the 1930s. Contrary to local rumors, this Leo was never one of the MGM lions called Leo who roars at the beginning of the studio’s movies. But according to the Hollywood lion ranch where Leo was born, he was related to Jackie, who did appear as Leo the lion in the MGM logo for three years. Before 2007 there was no state law in Iowa against keeping dangerous animals in your home,
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and Brucemore owners Howard and Margaret Hall were rich and liked having a lion around the house. Margaret inherited Brucemore from her parents in 1937, and left it to the National Trust for Historic Preservation when she died in 1981. One of the things that sets the Halls apart from other owners of Cedar Rapids’ most famous estate was the volume and variety of their pets. Over the years, they had more than 20 dogs, a monkey and three lions. They only kept one lion at a time. All three were named Leo. The first Leo came to Brucemore in the mid1930s. According to Brucemore’s site, Howard became friends with Billy Richards during business trips to California. Richards was the vice
Before 2007 there was no state law in Iowa against keeping dangerous animals in your home, and Brucemore owners Howard and Margaret Hall were rich and liked having a lion around the house. president of World Jungle Compound in Los Angeles County (originally Goebel’s Lion Ranch and later Jungleland), a top tourist attraction and the main supplier of exotic animals to Hollywood studios. All the Hall's lions were born there. MGM’s Jackie was also born at the compound, and Richards apparently told the Halls that Jackie and their cub were related. Jackie was MGM’s second Leo the lion. In 1928, he replaced Slats, an Irish-born lion who represented the studio during the silent-film era and who had gotten too old for the job. Jackie started at the beginning of talkies, and was the first MGM lion whose roar was heard in theaters. In addition to being the logo lion, Jackie racked up appearances in more than 100 movies over the course of his career. Before retiring to the Philadelphia Zoo in 1931, he became known as “Lucky Leo,” because he survived several brushes with death. A ship sank while Jackie was aboard. He also survived a plane crash, an explosion at the studio and two trainwrecks. Leo the Cedar Rapids lion wasn’t as lucky. He arrived as a cub at Brucemore before the Halls took possession of the mansion in 1937. They were living in the Garden House on the estate,
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and in a 1936 letter Howard describes the cub as living in the house, along with the Halls’ dog and Pepper the monkey. Reportedly, Leo was kept in the basement. “The first Leo did not live long, although the reason for his death has not been determined,” Brucemore’s site explains. It’s just a thought, but maybe an Iowa basement isn’t the best environment for a jungle cat cub. The Hall’s second Leo arrived in 1937. He was kept in an outdoor run, and lived to be 13. “He may have spent the winters in the Carriage House basement,” the Brucemore’s site notes. Leo II died in 1950, and the following year Harold wrote to Billy Richards for another lion cub. A seven-week old Leo III arrived in May 1951, but died within three months. He was the final Brucemore lion. Leo II is buried in Brucemore’s pet cemetery, alongside the Hall’s many dogs. What happened to the bodies of the first and third Leos is unknown. —Paul Brennan
Striking Sculptures Made of Matches
If you’re visiting Gladbrook in Tama County, it’s probably for Matchstick Marvels. And the nice people of Gladbrook know it—they’ve put “Home of Matchstick Marvels” on both of the city’s welcome signs. Matchstick Marvels is the hometown museum of one of Iowa’s most prominent folk artists, Pat Acton, who works primarily with wooden matchsticks and glue. The original Actons on display include scale models of the battleship USS Iowa, the United States Capitol, the Notre Dame cathedral and the Apollo 11 moon landing. You can also find some of Acton’s earliest works, including one of the only sculptures he’s ever painted. Acton is still working just up the street, gluing away in his basement, or “sticking”, as he calls it. Every match is stuck by hand. Many of Acton’s most impressive works are owned by Ripley’s Believe it or Not and displayed around the world, including “Plane Loco,” a 22-foot long train made of over a million matchsticks that holds the record for the largest matchstick model. Over the next few months, he’ll be finishing his lastest sculpture for Ripley’s: the town square from the Back to the Future film franchise, including a functioning lightning strike and moving DeLorean. Get there before that sculpture hits the road, and learn why Acton is the pride of Gladbrook. —Avery Gregurich 36 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
Writer Kristen Holder poses in front of Brandon's claim to fame. Courtesy of Kristen Holder
The Biggest Breakfast Around
Along I-380 between Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, a sign beckons drivers to a town boasting the largest frying pan in the state. Anyone willing to spend a few minutes on a detour will not be disappointed. Heading into Brandon, Iowa, the promised frying pan cannot be missed. According to a sign explaining its existence, the sculpture weighs 1,020 pounds and is a bit over 14 feet from the end of the handle to the opposite rim. It could hold 528 eggs or 352 half-pound pork chops or 88 pounds of bacon, the sign claims. Not unlike Strawberry’s Point’s giant strawberry, Iowa’s Largest Frying Pan is a marketing
ploy. This one advertises an annual Brandon tradition: the Cowboy Breakfast, held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the third Sunday of September every year. Since the year 2000, around 1,000 people have gathered to enjoy a variety of breakfast favorites cooked over open fires in— you guessed it—cast iron frying pans. This is an impressive headcount since the town itself has less than 400 residents. All proceeds from the event are used to maintain the Brandon Area Community Center, and while it’s advertised that souvenirs are sold at a little country store in town, the place with the goods is shuttered. However, the kitschy monument is worth a stop for the photo opp alone. —Kristen Holder
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20 Years on the Mississippi
The National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium is a one-of-a-kind Iowa institution founded in 2003 on the site of the former Dubuque Boat and Boiler Works, which built boats from 1870 to 1972. The roughly 26,000 objects in the museum’s collection tell a wide-ranging history of the region—from prehistoric geology to the First Peoples to fur-trappers and showboat performers. Its campus features two floors of indoor exhibits; a National River Hall of Fame highlighting Mississippi conservationists and cultural figures like Mark Twain and Louis Armstrong; an aquarium; a walkway along the historic Ice Harbor where, in good weather, you can find red-tailed hawks, a bald eagle, otters, alligators, ducks, turtles and paddlefish in outdoor displays, among other exhibits; a freight house; two gift shops; a cafe; and tourable sites like the Arriandeaux Cabin, considered the oldest building west of the Mississippi, and a 1934 former Army Corps of Engineers dredge boat floating in Ice Harbor. “We’ll see about 200,000 visitors this year,” said Wendy Scardino, vice president of development and marketing for the Dubuque County Historical Society, which operates the museum. “That does not include those we interact with through outreach programs or banquets at our facility. We've had visitors from all 50 states and 70 countries.” “It is a joy to get to learn something new nearly every day from my colleagues who are subject matter experts, or from our interpreters on the floor.” —Steven A. Arts
Nurturing Writers in Nature
There was a rare sense of community and common purpose at the 2023 Okoboji Writers’ Retreat, hosted Sept. 17-20 in West Lake Okoboji by founder Julie Gammick. Part of that purpose was to use writing to help protect Iowa’s threatened ecosystem. The Lakeside Laboratory where the third-annual retreat was held was founded by University of Iowa Professor Thomas Macbride in 1909 for the “study of nature in nature,” to quote the pamphlet I received in my binder of materials. Under the directorship of Mary Skopec, today it focuses on Water Quality Monitoring Research. During his panel “Even If You Win a Pulitzer You Still Have to Put Out a Paper,” Art Cullen
Sunday, January 7
S COTTI S H RI TE CONS I STORY, D OW NTOW N DS M IA
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The 2023 Okoboji Writers' Retreat focused Iowa's threatened ecosystem. Loren Glass
reminded us that, in the end, nothing was done about the nitrate pollution that had been the subject of his prize-winning journalism. Former UI Research Engineer Chris Jones in “Write Like It Might Get You Fired!” told the story of how he was forced to resign by Republican members of the Iowa Legislature for using his UI-hosted blog to share the facts about the quality of the water downstream from the corporate agricultural facilities that dominate rural Iowa. And Skopec, along with Jones, outdoor writer/photographer Larry Stone, and intrepid world explorer David Thoresen, hosted an experiential learning panel on kayaks and canoes entitled “Listen to the Lake,” providing us with a history of Dickinson County’s efforts to manage and protect the complex ecosystem of these glacially formed and spiritually significant lakes in northwest Iowa. A revelatory panel chaired by legendary (and recently retired) Register columnist Rekha Basu on “Respecting Cultural Differences and Why It Matters” included Ty Rushing (senior editor of the Iowa Starting Line and President of the Iowa Association of Black Journalists), Rachel Jones (Director of Journalism Initiatives for the National Press Foundation), Rachelle Chase (romance writer, Register columnist and author of Creating the Black Utopia of Buxton, Iowa) and Claudia Schabel (a Latinx Diversity and Inclusion consultant based in Des Moines). Young writers of color were vocal and visible, and the entire event was both opened and closed with spoken word performances by Iowa City poet Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey. —Loren Glass
The BarrierBreaking Officers of Fort Des Moines
Iowa has had three army posts called Fort Des Moines. The first, a ramshackle outpost along the Des Moines River in what’s now Lee County, existed from 1834 to 1837. The second was built at the confluence of the Racoon and Des Moines rivers in 1843 to stop the Sauk and Meskwaki peoples from returning to eastern Iowa after they were driven out. When the army left in 1846, settlers moved in and used it as the center of a new community. In 1851, the city of Fort Des Moines was incorporated, and six years later the name was 38 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
shortened to Des Moines. (It could have been different. The officer in charge of constructing the fort wanted to call it Fort Racoon, but he was overruled.) The third Fort Des Moines stands out from the other two as a place where Black Americans and women looking to serve their country during wartime found opportunities for the first time.
was a key site for training Black officers. After the war, many of the men trained at Fort Des Moines would make significant contributions to their communities and the nation. Although President Woodrow Wilson’s administration tried to limit the enlistment of Black Americans during the war, pushback from the NAACP and other Black leaders prevailed.
Although Black soldiers had continually served their country since the Civil War, the segregated units in which they served were always commanded by white officers. That changed in World War I, and Fort Des Moines was a key site for training Black officers. After the war, many of the men trained at Fort Des Moines would make significant contributions to their communities and the nation. The Fort Des Moines Provisional Army Officer Training School was opened in south Des Moines in 1901. Although Black soldiers had continually served their country since the Civil War, the segregated units in which they served were always commanded by white officers. That changed in World War I, and Fort Des Moines
Officers at Fort Des Moines would not only serve bravely in the war, but afterwards would go on to make significant contributions to their communities and the nation. World War II brought another milestone moment to Fort Des Moines. During the first year of the war, Congress created the Women’s
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Auxiliary Army Corps (WAACs, later renamed the Women’s Army Corps or WACs) to allow women to serve in noncombat roles. Fort Des Moines was a major training site for the new volunteers, and although most of the women accepted for training were white, it was open to women of all races. More than 65,000 women would be trained there before the end of the war. The first class of WAACs at Fort Des Moines in 1942 consisted of 440 women chosen from a pool of 35,000 applicants. That class included 40 Black women. Historian Rachele Chase, author of Creating the Black Utopia of Buxton, Iowa, has researched the only battalion led by Black women officers to serve overseas during World War II: the 6888th Central Postal Director Battalion. Their motto was “No Mail, Low Morale.” Several officers trained at Fort Des Moines led the “six-triple-eight,” including Charity Adams, who reached the rank of lieutenant colonel before the war’s end, making her the highest-ranking Black woman officer to serve in the conflict. Tyler Perry and Blair Underwood are reportedly exploring the possibility of adapting the story of the 6888th into a movie or musical. The end of the war brought major changes to Fort Des Moines. At first it was used for veteran’s housing, and in 1949, a section of the post was reassigned to serve as an Army Reserve training center, a function it still performs today. In the 1950s, much of the property was sold off, with part of it becoming Blank Park Zoo. In 1974, the now smaller Fort Des Moines was designated a National Historic Landmark, in recognition of the important role it played in opening doors for Black soldiers and women who served the auxiliaries. That history is preserved in the Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center, 6455 Chaffee Rd. —John Busbee
Iowa Horror Story: Murder House
On the morning of June 10, 1912, the Villisca, Iowa home of prominent business owner Josiah B. Moore and his family was eerily still. That stillness gave way to a terrible discovery that would shake the small rural community in southwestern Iowa to its roots and live on as one of the most mysterious crimes in the state’s history. The brutal murder of eight people, six of them children aged 12 and under, occurred sometime between the late night hours of June 9 and the morning of June 10. Josiah Moore, his wife Sarah, their children Herman, Mary, Arthur and Paul, and family friends Lena and Ina Stillinger
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The Villisca Axe Murder House is among Iowa's most disturbing landmarks. Dawn Frary
were bludgeoned in their beds with the blunt end of an ax. In the years that followed, a few suspects were tried but no one was ever convicted. More than 100 years later, the grisly murders remain unsolved.
experienced it in 1912. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the home serves as a living museum and has gained national notoriety as an allegedly haunted hotspot now known as the Villisca Axe Murder House (VAMH). Visitors have reported paranormal phenomena such as phantom footsteps, disembodied voices, shadow figures, light anomalies and EVPs. This, paired with a compelling true crime story, led to
In 1994, the J. B. Moore home was purchased by Darwin and Martha Linn and restored to emulate life as the Moore family might have experienced it in 1912. Visitors have reported paranormal phenomena such as phantom footsteps, disembodied voices, shadow figures, light anomalies and EVPs. In 1994, the J. B. Moore home was purchased by Darwin and Martha Linn and restored to emulate life as the Moore family might have 40 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
the VAMH appearing in popular media like the TV series The Scariest Places on Earth and Most Terrifying Places in America, on podcasts like
Lore and My Favorite Murder, and as the subject of both feature and documentary films. Day tours of the VAMH are available by reservation spring through autumn. Overnight tours, which include a visit to the town museum and Moore family gravesite (this author recommends!), run year round. Once called “the most intense case of good versus evil I have ever come across” by Ghost Adventures host Zak Bagans, a visit to the Villisca Axe Murder House is a macabre but fascinating trip back in time. —Dawn Frary
Sweet and Salty Ham Balls
It’s impossible to say when the first ham ball was formed in Iowa or who formed it. Some link ham balls to their Swedish heritage, others to their Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors, but everyone who loves this undeniably Iowa dish would agree it's reliably present on the buffet table at most every church potluck, funeral luncheon, family reunion or anywhere a community of people gather to eat and interact.
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A copy of the book Twentieth Century Cookbook and Practical Housekeeping published in 1900 offers the most basic version of the meat balls, calling for finely chopped ham, breadcrumbs, eggs, and a bit of salt and pepper “fried in smoking hot fat.” Since then, two basic recipes seem to have diverged. One calls for one part ground ham to one part ground beef, while the other calls for one part ground ham to one part ground pork. Whichever recipe you choose, the one non-negotiable ingredient in order to preserve the taste is the ground ham. The flavor combination on which all ham ball lovers agree is the blend of salty and sweet, and choices of other ingredients can tilt the flavor more toward one than the other. For example, in place of breadcrumbs, some cooks use crushed graham crackers for sweetness while others prefer saltines for a saltier note. The other recipe component is a glaze or a sauce in which the ham balls are baked. The glaze is composed of brown sugar, water or milk, apple cider vinegar and ground mustard. It is this sticky, sometimes gooey mixture that seals it for those who love the perfect harmony of salty and sweet. The other option, leaning more toward a sauce, calls for tomato soup, brown sugar and dry mustard. Ketchup can be used in place of the soup. So many comfort foods and favorite recipes began as ways to repurpose leftovers. Finding creative uses for perfectly good bits of food was a basic value of our thrifty forebears. We have them to thank for staples like ham balls. —Diane DeBok
Escarp-ing Brush Creek Canyon
Brush Creek Canyon is one of 95 preserves that protect natural, geological, archeological or historical sites in Iowa. They are often minimally maintained, which only adds to their charm. A 217-acre preserve located in Fayette County, near the town of Arlington, Brush Creek Canyon is announced by a modest sign on a telephone pole beside the blacktop. My friend and I could’ve easily missed it. We turned onto a gravel road and followed it for a mile to the preserve’s entrance, and then drove another 200 feet on a rutted, washed-out road that ended at the bottom of a gully near Brush Creek. There were no signs to guide us, but we found a trail that led up out of the gully and onto a small stretch of prairie in the center of the preserve. On the other side of that prairie, we came upon a spectacular forest gorge presided over
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by 150-foot-tall dolomite limestone bluffs, all sculpted over generations of natural stream erosion. It felt like another world. In many places, large blocks of dolomite had separated from the cliffs and slumped onto the soft shale underneath, often rotating and leaning as they shifted position. This rugged topography provides a variety of habitats, ranging from shaded, humid, cool slopes to sunny, warm, dry ones. Red and white oak, sugar maple, basswood, blue beech and ironwood are dominant tree species on the slopes. Bird life is abundant. Numerous plant species, including at least seven ferns, thrive in the preserve. When we visited on a sunny mid-November day, mats of moss covering the boulders sparkled like jewels. Brush Creek Canyon is located along the Silurian Escarpment, the western edge of the Paleozoic Plateau—also known as the Driftless Region—of northeastern Iowa, southwestern Wisconsin, and southeastern Minnesota. As we left this magical place and continued south, we were greeted by familiar Iowa farmland. —David Duer
The People's RAGBRAI
RAGBRAI has a reputation for being a party, but it doesn’t have to be, and depending on your approach, you might find it to be impossible (or at least undesirable) to drink much at all. As a first time rider in 2023, I can only speak to what I know: the no-party boot camp method, which I lovingly refer to as the People’s RAGBRAI. During registration, choose “luggage service,” which in addition to main campground access is included in the base registration fee (for the people). In your packet you’ll receive three numbered bands, one for your wrist, one for your bike and one for your sub-50-pound duffle. Each morning, likely before sunrise and definitely before 8 a.m., you’ll pack up camp, get in line and
haul your bag to the semi, which will be waiting when you arrive in the next overnight town, and where you’ll do it all over again. It’s a grueling but efficient system that solves most logistical transport concerns you might have (apart from getting to and from RAGBRAI’s start and finish line––that’s on you). There’s understandable appeal to riding “with support”––this could be a private RV driver or a large charter of converted school buses transporting hundreds of riders––and cycling into a relatively cushy private destination to find your tent set up with a cooler full of beer and dinner waiting. Sure, there’s appeal. But where is the glory, comrades? Where, indeed.
RAGBRAI's main campground experience is not for the dainty-hearted. Jordan Sellergren
This rider found it in the main campground where no drinks wait and no burgers are flipped in your honor. Here, you do what you must to survive: find your bag, pitch your tent, embark out into the overnight town to hunt for food. Like me, you may find particular pleasure in the masochistic agony of getting back on your bike (especially after a shower in the adjacent public school locker room or outdoor water filling station) to find a restaurant that most closely responds to your cravings (Szechuan green beans
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from Le's Restaurant in Ames? Burrata and a salad of microgreens from Mulberry Street Tavern in Des Moines? Asada tacos from Taqueria la Terraza in Tama?). There’s also something really good about savoring a single beer with dinner, knowing your sleeping pad awaits––however many miles away from where you’ve ventured–– where the alarm is set for 4 a.m. Yeah, you read that right. On the People’s RAGBRAI, camp is quiet by 9 p.m. (bring earplugs anyway). You may never encounter a beer, and it’s all good because you’ll begin to hear tents unzipping by 4 a.m. As a first-time rider who didn’t have one hangover all week, finished every mile, savored each moment, tells anyone who inquires that it was the best seven days of my life, and still suffered profoundly, I recommend, at least for the novice, ditching the cumbersome private support and going the way of the people: the luggage truck and main campground, where our collective commiseration bonds us together. ––Jordan Sellergren
Unmarked Graves in Independence
Like many mental health facilities founded as asylums in the 19th century, the Independence Mental Health Institute —which opened in 1873 as the Iowa Hospital for the Insane in Independence, the second asylum established in the state —has a dark history behind its granite walls. Patients, often confined for decades, often faced poor living conditions, agonizing “hydrotherapy” and lobotomies. The facility reached its peak capacity in the 1930s and 40s with nearly 2,000 patients, before new approaches to state policy and mental health care decreased the need to institutionalize patients. The site remains in operation today as the Mental Health Institute, with an active inpatient psych ward. Visitors can book a tour of the building, including a small museum of old hospital artifacts. Wandering the grounds provides another peek into the past. Landscape artist J.J. Weidenmann, responsible for the State Capitol grounds in Des Moines and parts of New York’s Central Park, is credited with the design. But it was likely the patients who executed it, planting trees and digging drainage. While the State Hospital Cemetery associated with the facility has some marked graves, the most interesting part of this cemetery is the unmarked graves visible behind a locked fence off of a dirt road outside of town. These graves weren’t always unmarked, but the stones were
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cleared decades ago. The rumor is that this was done so the land could be farmed, though whether it was farmed by patients or rented to others isn’t clear. Standing close to the No Trespassing sign on the fence blocking access to the property from the dirt road, it’s easy to make out where gravestones used to stand. There are records of 143 people buried here accessible online, though the unmarked graves make it obvious the remains of many more are interred on the land, even though their names have been lost to time. —Kristen Holder
The Land of Aldo Leopold
Atop a Mississippi River bluff in Burlington sit the childhood homes of Aldo Leopold, arguably the most significant conservationist of the 20th century and perhaps even to this day. Author of the seminal A Sand County Almanac (1949), Leopold changed mainstream thinking about human relationships with the natural world through his idea of “the land ethic.” In that titular essay, Leopold asserts, “All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise; that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land. . . . A thing is right when it tends
attended Yale’s forestry school, then worked for the U.S. Forest Service in the Southwest, proposing the first national wilderness area, now Gila National Forest. In 1924, he became associate director of the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory in Madison,
“All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise; that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land. . . . A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” ––Aldo Leopold to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” Born in 1887, Aldo developed his sensitivity to the beauty and interrelationships of nature in the southeastern Iowa landscape, as well as his talent for observation by cataloging birds on his home ground. After growing up in Iowa, Leopold 44 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
Wisconsin, and in 1933 was appointed professor of game management at the University of Wisconsin, virtually inventing the field of wildlife management. As research director of the UW-Madison Arboretum, he helped establish the first ecological restoration in the world. In 1935, Leopold purchased a worn-out farm along the Wisconsin River, and he and his family—wife
Aldo Leopold in northern Mexico, 1938. Public Domain
Estella and their five children—refurbished the chicken coop into a small family cabin (called “the Shack”) and set about restoring the native forest and prairie there. Now owned by the Aldo Leopold Foundation, the land and Shack are preserved for anyone to visit and learn about the Leopold legacy. Today, the Leopold Landscape Alliance owns the two homes that comprise the Leopold homestead on Clay Street in Burlington. In addition to tours, the LLA organizes programs and events that promote conservation and the Leopold legacy, especially the Burlington influence on the young Aldo as he developed his philosophy and land ethic. Iowans can also visit Leopold’s grave in Burlington’s Aspen Grove Cemetery. —Thomas Dean
Grand Tours of Small Spaces
If you live in Iowa City long enough, you’re bound to discover the work of local historian and preservationist Marybeth Slonneger. A native of Chicago who came to the University of Iowa to study art in the 1980s, she has made a career of
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researching and publishing her writing on the history of Iowa City for over 25 years. Small But Ours (By Hand Press, 1999) is her first publication. It’s a written and photographic history of Bohemian Czech immigrant families, their semi-agrarian community and the small cottages they inhabited in the Goosetown neighborhood. Many of the last names of early Goosetown residents are recognized today in the area business and leadership community—Alberhasky, Rummelhart, and Hayek to name a few. This fall, Slonneger is getting ready to publish her sixth title on local history and architecture, What Was, What Remains: A Celebration of Iowa City's Domestic Architecture. The manuscript features side-by side-comparison images of old and present-day Iowa City architecture. She anticipates it will be available in 2024. “I have been as interested in the less grand buildings as the grand ones,” said Slonneger, who began surveying Iowa City homes five years ago. “And what will be heartbreaking for the reader will be to see the homes that have been demolished.” In addition to writing and publishing books, Slonneger has been a champion for the preservation of Goosetown historic structures and neighborhood integrity. She has rehabilitated five cottages in the neighborhood, including the Isaac A. Wetherby house, which had to be relocated to the 600 block of North Governor Street, and securing the local landmark designation of a Prybil family cottage at 937 Davenport St, built in 1874. The recent changes to Iowa City’s residential zoning codes may leave Goosetown’s distinctive open yards, historic buildings and longtime residences more vulnerable than ever. Slonneger says that she and others in the neighborhood are happy to discuss the future of preserving the Goosetown neighborhood with anyone interested in the same. —Sharon DeGraw
Keith Haring’s Friends
From kindergarten through sixth grade, I spent countless hours staring at a wall in the Horn Elementary School library, daydreaming while an adult read a book to the class. Far more compelling than a fire alarm or a poster of LeVar Burton, I would fixate on a massive mural mounted on the wall of the library’s story well, painted just a decade earlier by one of the quintessential American pop artists. In the ‘80s, Horn art teacher Colleen Ernst 46 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
and her students struck up a pen pal relationship with Keith Haring, who always addressed his letters “To my friends at Horn.” In March 1984, the University of Iowa Museum of Art brought Haring to Iowa City for a brief residency that included workshops, classroom visits and a public lecture. The artist kept up his correspondence with Ernst’s students, even as his celebrity grew. In May 1989, he returned to paint a mural in, and for,
Keith Haring posing with his mural at Horn Elementary School, 1989. Photo by Rodney White © Keith Haring Foundation
the University Heights school—one of around 50 murals he gifted to schools, hospitals, daycares and charity organizations in the 1980s. Students could stop by the story well and watch as the 30-year-old New Yorker, clad in paint-splattered jeans and Nike Air Force sneakers, first painted
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Conical mounds at Effigy Mounds National Monument. Loren Thatcher
a book, then an enormous speech bubble above it, then a series of blue, yellow, orange, green and red splotches of color. The splotches were incorporated into doodle-like cartoons of clowns, fish, old ladies, kangaroos, an elephant in a pool floaty, a tired piece of toast and other whimsical characters—all inspired by the stories in the library, according to Haring. In the bottom right corner, he signed, dated and dedicated the mural: “A book full of fun for my friends at [Horn] school!!" it reads, with a proto-emoji of a trumpet replacing the school’s name. While it wasn't public knowledge yet, Haring had recently learned he was HIV positive. He died of AIDS-related complications in February 1990 at the age of 31. But several months earlier, he wrote a letter to his Horn friends. “It’s really incredible to me that the school took the initiative to institute a discussion about AIDS—mostly because of the students’ contact with (and caring for) me,” he said. “It makes me proud I had the courage to talk about it in the first place. Education is the key to stopping this thing!” Horn has grown considerably since I last attended in 2005, and a new round of renovations began this year. In an effort to protect the Haring mural until construction wraps up in 2025, experts with the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art, as it's been known since 2018, stepped in to pack up and remove it. But it won’t be hidden for long. Starting May 4, the mural and other memorabilia from Haring’s Iowa City visits will be on display for the first time at the Stanley. After that, it’ll return to Horn’s library, where future generations of students can space off at a piece of art history. —Emma McClatchey
Where Ancient Mounds Abound
In the northeast corner of Iowa, near the confluence of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, lies a collection of more than 200 earthworks, built between 650 and 1200 AD or so by ancestors of Indigenous peoples still living in the state. Effigy Mounds National Monument in Allamakee and Clayton counties is unique among Midwestern mound sites: 31 of its mounds are built in the shape of birds and bears, the largest surviving collection of such mounds in the United States, according to the National Park Service. These sacred animal representations were built as burial mounds; others were constructed for more obscure purposes, purported to hold ceremonial significance as well as potential markers of astronomical events or territorial boundaries. Most effigy mounds in America are concentrated in the lower Driftless region, mainly found
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along the Mississippi River from Wisconsin and southern Minnesota on down to Dubuque and far northwest Illinois. Twenty Indigenous nations claim an ancestral connection to the mysterious builders of the Effigy Mounds, generally acknowledged by the NPS to be ancestors of the Ho-Chunk, among others. The site has certainly faced threats—a past superintendent was prosecuted for illegal removal of human bones and other artifacts, and construction of trails, observation platforms and other structures were done without consulting local tribes or following government guidelines. Efforts to exploit or alter the area over the decades have rightly been decried as desecration. Current management seems to be diligent in its stewardship of the mounds and the righting of these wrongs, leading investigations into bone theft, vowing to remediate site damage and ensuring Indigenous members are included in its archaeological team. With luck, commitment
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These sacred animal representations were built as burial mounds; others were constructed for more obscure purposes, purported to hold ceremonial significance as well as potential markers of astronomical events or territorial boundaries. and effort, the cultural treasure that is the Effigy Mounds will hopefully continue to inspire awe and reverence for its builders for years to come. —Loren Thatcher
The Place the Music Died
In Clear Lake, on a half-mile trek from Gull Avenue and into the roadside cornfield, you’ll find a small shrine built around a wooden sculpture of black-framed Wayfarer glasses and a metal memorial to fallen rock stars. Thousands have made pilgrimages to this inauspicious site over the past six decades, some leaving behind sunglasses, flowers, cards, half-drunk bottles of whiskey or unsmoked cigarettes. These tokens, and the memorial, pay homage to four young men killed nearby in a plane crash: rock n’ roll legend Buddy Holly, up-and-comer Richie Valens, chart-topper The Big Bopper (Jiles “J.P.” Richardson) and their pilot, Roger Peterson. On Feb. 3, 1959, the men boarded a plane destined for Fargo, North Dakota to continue their Winter Dance Party tour. The bus they
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Loose-Meat Madness
There’s no question that Iowa is the birthplace of the loose-meat sandwich, that beefy, slowcooked and wonderfully messy American comfort food served on a hamburger bun. But which version of this sandwich is the definitive Iowa loose-meat sandwich is a debate that’s raged from river to river for nearly 100 years. Most Iowans call them Maid-Rites. Another faction refers to them as Taverns. A contingent craves Canteens. And when the meat’s cooked in a tomato sauce base, only then can you get away with dubbing it a Sloppy Joe. MAID-RITE
International visitors leave tributes to Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper at the crash site outside Clear Lake. Erin Schroeder
were using was cold and uncomfortable, so Holly rented a small, single-engine plane from local pilot Peterson.
it. The Surf is one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s designated landmarks, with artifacts from the fallen artists, and a plethora of photos, signatures and other mementos from visiting musicians over the years. Since 1979, the Surf has hosted an annual Winter Dance Party concert to honor the lives lost, attracting rock n’ roll pilgrims from around
The plane departed around 1 a.m. on the morning of Feb. 3 after a raucous show at The Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake. But the plane never made it. Instead, it struggled through treacherous winter conditions and crashed six miles north of the airport. By morning, the wreckage was found and the news hit the papers and radio. Valens, who was ill with the flu, flipped a coin with another to win a seat. Richardson joined, too. The plane departed around 1 a.m. on the morning of Feb. 3 after a raucous show at The Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake. But the plane never made it. Instead, it struggled through treacherous winter conditions and crashed six miles north of the airport. By morning, the wreckage was found and the news hit the papers and radio. Today, corn continues to grow and be harvested around 50 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
the world. The 2024 edition is a three-day festival taking place Feb. 1-3, and will feature Grammy-winning English guitarist Albert Lee, who will celebrate his 80th birthday at the event; The Chiffons; La La Brooks, lead singer of The Crystals; Glen Matlock, the Sex Pistols' founding bass guitarist; Vito Picone and The Elegants, who toured with Buddy Holly as teenagers; and Chris Montez, whose Latin-influenced pop was heavily influenced by Richie Valens. —Erin Schroeder
Maid-Rite might be a popular colloquial name for a finely-ground loose-meat sandwich, but the only official Maid-Rites are sold at one of around 30 eateries—17 of which are in Iowa, along with corporate headquarters. Muscatine butcher Fred Angell is credited with inventing the spiced-ground-beef-sandwich concept in 1926 before quickly franchising. I personally recommend the original Muscatine, Newton and Marshalltown Maid-Rite locations for a tantalizing bite of Iowa history, but you can also find official Maid-Rites in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls, Waterloo, the Quad Cities, Durant, Ankeny, Oskaloosa and Lamoni. A cautionary tale: In the early days of owning Hilltop Tavern in Iowa City, Linda Kuncl received a cease-and-desist letter after MaidRite corporate caught wind of a “Maid-Rite” on her menu. A quick renaming solved the issue, and Hilltop’s Buckshot Burger was born. TAVERN
One of America’s most historic cowtowns, and Iowa's most "Old West" burg, is Sioux City, Iowa. This community calls its loose meat sandwich a Tavern, as do other northwest Iowa restaurants, concession stands and Crockpot cooks (including my grandmother in Sac County). The best Tavern sandwich I’ve ever consumed was accompanied by the coldest beer I’ve bottomed-up'ed in the state of Iowa, both from Sioux City’s historic Miles Inn. This classic neighborhood bar literally sells their Tavern meat by the sack full: peppery, juicy and without a doubt different from Maid-Rites, it’s a must-try for carnivores visiting Siouxland. (Bonus tip for Iowa City locals: Shakespeare’s serves a Tavern sandwich every Thursday!)
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Canteen Lunch is tucked in an alley beneath a parking garage in Ottumwa. Jordan Sellergren / Little Village
CANTEEN
Canteen Lunch in the Alley is one of those been-around-since-the-dawn-of-time establishments—97 years, to be exact. Aptly located in an Ottumwa alley, their sandwiches are known as Canteens, served up in wax paper. Whatever you do, don’t order a “Maid-Rite” in those walls. The Canteen apparently inspired the hit 1990s TV show Roseanne, as the fictional Conners open their own loose-meat sandwich operation called The Lunch Box. (In 1993, Roseanne Barr and husband Tom Arnold, an Ottumwa native, started to build a dream mansion in Eldon, Iowa. The project was abandoned halfway through when the pair broke up, its bones still standing 30 years later.)
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Some culinary historians say the formula for Sloppy Joes—ground beef cooked with tomato sauce, onions, Worcestershire sauce and spices—spun off from one of Iowa’s historic loosemeat sandwiches, while others trace it to Cuba. Café Dodici, on the beautiful town square in Washington, is known as one of the premier fine dining restaurants in Eastern Iowa, and knows a thing or two when it comes to stick-toyour-ribs delights. They may not always have their gourmet Sloppy Joe on the special menu, but when they do, make a reservation! Order some perfect pasta, unforgettable seafood and a Sloppy Joe for good measure. Where the hell else can you do that? —Jay Goodvin
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A rendition of the moment of Emir Abd elKader's surrender Photo of image by Thomas Bresson Opposite: Emir Abd el-Kader Étienne Carjat
Brilliant Bohemian Garnets
Besides being the birthstone for the Januaryborn, the garnet is one of the oldest gemstones collected by humans—dating back more than 5,000 years to the Bronze Age—and comes in a spectrum of colors, including red, purple, orange and green. Perhaps the most iconic garnet is the deep red Bohemian garnet. A brooch stuffed with rose-cut blood-red garnets was a staple of Victorian fashion, and garnets remain a staple of Czech and Slovak jewelry. A wealth of garnet treasures have been on display at the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library (NCSML) in Cedar Rapids since June, representing the past and present of garnet engineering. “Brilliant Bohemian Garnets,” found in the Petrik Gallery, contains nearly 200 objects, from an abundance of jewelry to household items like encrusted picture frames and mirrors, even eyeglasses. NCSML also has garnet mining and cutting tools on display. After the special exhibit is over, the garnets return to the Czech National Museum in Prague, never to leave the Czech Republic again, according to NCSML curator Stefanie Kohn. Head to NCSML this winter to ogle the priceless rocks, but stay for the new and permanent exhibits highlighting Czech and Slovak fashion, puppets and immigrant experiences (“Faces of Freedom”); textiles (“Noah Breuer—Reclamation,” through Feb. 25); contributions to Art Nouveau (including a 75-piece exhibit of Alphonse Mucha works, open May 4-Sept. 1), and other Bohemian artifacts unique to this side of the Atlantic. —Steven A. Arts
Elkader, Mascara and the Emir
By all accounts, it’s the only U.S. city named after a Muslim. And it’s right here in Iowa. More than 100 years before the Geneva Convention codified in international law the rights of prisoners of war and civilians to humane treatment, 19th century Algerian freedom fighter Abd al-Qadir ibn Muhyi al-Din, the leader of a revolt against French imperial rule in North Africa, observed those rights more thoroughly than some modern combatants do. A devout practitioner of Sufism, a mystical tradition within Islam, the man better known as Emir Abd el-Kader was so mindful of the safety of French soldiers and settlers captured by the army of Arabs and Berbers united under his command that colonial officials tried to suppress news of their enemy’s high moral standards. But the scholarly rebel leader quickly earned admirers around the world, even in some
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devotedly imperialist nations. A British diplomat praised “the generous concern, the tender sympathy” with which el-Kader treated POWs. El-Kader’s heroic rescue of Christians during an 1860 anti-Christian riot in Damascus brought commendations from Queen Victoria, the pope and Abraham Lincoln, who sent el-Kader a pair of Colt revolvers as an expression of America’s gratitude. In 1846, while his star was still rising, “the George Washington of Algeria” inspired three founders of a settlement near the Turkey River in the Iowa territory. They chose an anglicized version of Emir Abd el-Kader for their new home, Elkader. “Such is the history of the man for whom our town is named… scholar, philosopher, lover of liberty; champion of his religion, born leader of men, great soldier; capable administrator, persuasive orator; chivalrous opponent,” reads a plaque in Elkader High School, mounted by the class of 1915. “[T]he selection was well made, and with those pioneers of 70 years ago, we do
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In 1846, while his star was still rising, “the George Washington of Algeria” inspired three founders of a settlement near the Turkey River in the Iowa territory. They chose an anglicized version of Emir Abd el-Kader for their new home, Elkader. honor The Sheik." The city of Elkader has roughly 1,200 residents. Very few, if any, identify as Muslim, and while Cedar Rapids is home to the Mother Mosque of America, the oldest surviving mosque in the U.S., Elkader has no mosque. But there have always been locals eager to explain how the town got its name. In 2007, Elkader Education Project founder Kathy Garms revived a sister city program with Mascara, el-Kader’s birthplace. The Algerian government quickly honored this friendship during the flood of 2008, sending $150,000 in aid to Elkader, which faced $8 million in damages. Representatives from one city regularly welcome the other for visits, and Elkader has hosted an annual international forum of the Abdelkader Education Project—an international network of organizations focused on cultural literacy and promoting respect between the U.S. and the Islamic world—since 2009. Abd el-Kader didn’t live to see Algeria free from French rule. That didn’t happen until 1962, following seven-and-a-half years
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of brutal fighting during the Algerian War of Independence. On July 8, 2008, Elkader and Mascara celebrated their nations’ respective independence days—July 4 and July 5—together. In 2021, Elkader celebrated its 175th birthday. —Emma McClatchey
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Lara Parker’s Long Shadow
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Gene Wilder and Ashton Kutcher’s University of Iowa roots are well known, but they’re certainly not the only Hawkeyes to hit the big screen. Another UI-educated thespian passed away in October at age 84: Lara Parker, who played the witch Angelique on the 1966-to-’71 gothic horror soap opera Dark Shadows. Parker was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, as Mary Lamar Rickey. In the 1960s, she completed coursework for a master’s degree in speech and theater at the UI and was writing her thesis while also performing on-stage in Pennsylvania. (It’s unclear if she completed her degree.) In 1967,
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she was cast in her first and most enduring professional role in Dark Shadows as a jealous witch who places a vampire curse on Barnabas Collins. After Dark Shadows, Parker mostly gueststarred on numerous TV shows, performed on Broadway and off-Broadway and appeared in a
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In the 1960s, Lara Parker completed coursework for a master’s degree in speech and theater at the UI. In 1967, she was cast in her first and most enduring professional role in Dark Shadows as a jealous witch who places a vampire curse on Barnabas Collins. few films. She reprised her role as Angelique in 1971’s Night of Dark Shadows, performed opposite Robert De Niro in Hi, Mom! (a 1970 Brian De Palma film), played a prostitute whose client suffers a near-fatal heart attack in the Oscarwinning Save the Tiger (starring Jack Lemmon), and was Peter Fonda’s character’s wife in 1975’s Race with the Devil. The greatest number of people likely saw Parker in an uncredited brief appearance as Laura Banner, David Banner’s wife in the opening sequence of the pilot for 1977’s The Incredible Hulk TV show. Angelique, however, remained Parker’s most enduring role, and she maintained her connections with Dark Shadows fans until her death, including writing four novels based on the show. —Thomas Dean
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EDITORS’ PICKS: December 2023 Planning an event? Add it to littlevillagemag.com/calendar! Please include event name, date, time, venue name/address, admission price (or range) and a brief description (no all-caps, exclamation points or advertising verbiage, please). Contact calendar@littlevillagemag.com with any questions.
MUSIC CRANDIC Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. JACK Quartet Plays John Zorn, Old Capitol Museum, Iowa City, $10-25 Thursday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. Cole Barnhill w/Shea Abs, Gabe’s, Iowa City, $15-20 Thursday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. Jazz at the Wood w/UI Jazz Ensembles, Wildwood Saloon, Courtesy of Frontal Assault
Iowa City, $5 Thursday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. A Carol Christmas, CSPS Hall, Cedar Rapids, $30-34 Thursday-Saturday, Dec. 7-9 at 7:30 p.m. Cool Yule w/Lynne Rothrock and Her Quartet, Opus Concert Cafe, Cedar Rapids, $32 Friday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. Flash in a Pan, La Wine Bar, Iowa City, Free Friday, Dec. 8 at 8 p.m. Halfloves, Jim Swim & Lou Sherry, Gabe’s, $10
Iowa Metal Underground, Black Box Theater of CSPS Hall, Cedar Rapids, Friday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m., $12-14 Spewing, Toxic Ruin, Ill Omen, Gaunt, and Frontal Assault are the five brutal bands
taking the stage downstairs at CSPS’s Black Box Theater a.k.a the Black Hole, as organizers refer to the space. This will be Spewing’s debut show. They’re a new Cedar Rapids metal band made up of members of Front Assault. The show is presented by Iowa Metal Underground and sponsored by local Cedar Rapids businesses Obscured Boutique, The Jean Junkie, and Eduskate Board Shop. This show welcomes all ages.
Friday, Dec. 8 at 8 p.m. 10 Of Saturday, Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 10 at 8 p.m.
Intimate at the Englert: Kuldeep
The King’s Singers, Hancher
Ashbringer w/Moon Summoner
Friday, Dec. 8 at 8 p.m. Big
Singh, Englert Theatre, Iowa
Auditorium, Iowa City, $10-60
& Everlasting Light, Gabe’s, $12
Queer Come Out, Public Space
City, $20-28
Soul, Wildwood Saloon, $10
Sunday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. JD
Saturday, Dec. 9 at 7:30
Maddie Poppe, Paramount
McPherson, Wildwood Saloon,
Saturday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m.
p.m. Alisabeth Von Presley,
Theatre, $32.50
$25
Trophy Dads w/Mill Creek
Paramount Theatre, Cedar
Bands, Wildwood Saloon, $10
Rapids, $25-30
Sunday, Dec. 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Sara Evans, Englert Theatre,
Preservation Hall Jazz Band,
$39-239
Englert Theatre, $25-74
One Close, $10-50
LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324 December 2023 57
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PRESENTED BY THINK IOWA CITY
Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 7:30 p.m. Celtic Angels Christmas, Paramount Theatre, $25 Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. Robert OneMan Johnson w/Paul Cunliffe, Wildwood Saloon, $5 Thursday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. The Barefoot Movement, CSPS Hall, $25-30 Friday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. Way Down Wanderers w/Flash In A Pan, Gabe’s, $12 Friday-Sunday, Dec. 15-17. Orchestra Iowa Pops II: Holiday Spectacular, Paramount Theatre, $20-64 Friday, Dec. 15 at 8 p.m. The Claudettes, Other Brothers by Mark Lage
CSPS Hall, $20-25 Friday, Dec. 15 at 8 p.m. Whitey Morgan & The 78s, Wildwood Saloon, $25 Saturday, Dec. 16 at 4:30 p.m. Irish Christmas Ceili, CSPS Hall, $15-20 Saturday, Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. MAUL, Pitlord, Worst Behavior, BBP, Gabe’s, $15 Saturday, Dec. 16 at 7:30 p.m. Winterland, Englert Theatre, $10-20 Saturday, Dec. 16 at 8 p.m. The Beaker Brothers Band, Wildwood Saloon, $15 Sunday, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. (hed) p.e. w/Night Bees, Wildwood Saloon, $20
Blues & Brews NYE Party, xBk Live, Des Moines, Sunday, Dec. 31 at 8 p.m., $35-45 If
you find yourself out in the Des Moines area, one NYE celebration worth going out for is certainly Blues & Brews. Hosted by xBk, the event will feature live performances by musicians Stutterin’ Jimmy & The Goosebumps and The Other Brothers. In addition to music, attendees will have the opportunity to dive into charitable casino games benefiting the Des Moines Music Coalition. Bid farewell to 2023 and a final hoorah at xBk as you directly help support DSM's music scene.
Thursday, Dec. 21 at 7 p.m. Songwriters Showcase, CSPS Hall, $12-15
Sunday, Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. Diplomats of Solid Sound w/James Tutson and the Rollback,
Thursday, Dec. 21 at 8 p.m. Home Free: For the Holidays Tour, Paramount Theatre, $37.50-125
Wildwood Saloon, $20
DSM Thursday, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. Barrett Martin,
Friday, Dec. 22 at 6 p.m. Heavy Xmas,
xBk Live, Des Moines, $20-55
Wildwood Saloon, $10 Thursday and Friday, Dec. 7 and 8 at 7:30 Friday, Dec. 22 at 8 p.m. Country Christmas
p.m. Irish Christmas in America, Temple
w/Katie and the Honky Tonks, Ideal Theater
Theater, Des Moines, $20-58
& Bar, Cedar Rapids, $10 Friday, Dec. 8 at 8 p.m. Adeem the Artist, Sunday, Dec. 31 at 7 p.m. The Great Gatsby
Vinyl Cup Records, Des Moines, $20-25
NYE Ball, Ideal Theater & Bar, $75-100 Friday, Dec. 8 at 8 p.m. MoonShroom w/ Sunday, Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. Amy Friedl Stoner, Theatre Cedar Rapids, $35-90 58 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
Stringfield, xBk Live, $12-15
FIND MORE EVENTS!
EDITORS’ PICKS: December 2023
Ten Songs in 2023 that Changed My Mind About Iowa Music By Chris DeLine
Saturday, Dec. 9 at 8 p.m. Haploid Record Release Show, xBk Live, $12-15 Saturday, Dec. 9 at 9 p.m. Metal Meltdown, Boggs’ Hull Avenue Tavern, Des Moines, Free Sunday, Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. Ken Peplowski & Glenn Zaleski, Caspe Terrace, Waukee, $30 Sunday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. Dickie, Jordan Messerole, Joel Sires, xBk Live, $13-15 Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 8 p.m. Neva Dinova w/Doom Flower and BELLYARD, xBk Live, $15-20 Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 8 p.m. Latrice Royale, Wooly’s, Des Moines, $30-75 Thursday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. Christmas
LISTEN
A
s an outsider looking in, Iowa might be mistaken for a cultural desert. As someone who’s lived most of their life outside of the state, that’s largely how I viewed it. My mother was born in Elk Horn, but I began my time on Earth some 1,400 miles northwest of Shelby County. And it’s been almost 20 years since I graduated from Buena Vista University in Storm Lake. But last year, I moved to Cedar Rapids, venturing north from Nashville to settle in among family and friends in a post-pandemic pivot. It wasn’t until this year that I felt any sort of connection to this state. The feeling has, in large part, come as a direct result of immersing myself in Iowa’s music, illuminating a side of Iowa for me that I wouldn’t have otherwise imagined. These 10 songs, all released this year by Iowan musicians, have helped (re)shape my view. Subatlantic, “Ava” Say It Again (July 2023) could be represented on this list by any number of songs. But “Ava” reveals itself as a careful and stylish standout, provoking a sense of '90s nostalgia while sounding utterly modern at the same time.
screamo pioneers in over two decades. Not having lived through the music the first time around, I felt out of place in the spiritual retreat of their reunion shows. (That didn’t stop me from buying my ticket to see them at Gabe’s in February, though.)
Husoul, “Hopeless romantic” This single “Hopeless romantic” (July 2023) represents Des Moines-based producer Husoul (pronounced: Hustle) at his finest, blending highly calculated percussion with delicate vocal samples, cast in a shadow of cyberpunk.
Closet Witch feat. Dylan Walker “My Words Are Sacred” There might not be a more fitting soundtrack for the times than Chiaroscuro (November 2023), communicating a blend of rage and fear that continues to exist at every turn on a global stage.
Xavy Rusan & FVNTVNV, “UV Rays” On “UV Rays "(January 2023), Xavy Rusan’s collaborative release with producer FVNTVNV, the Davenport native’s westcoast aesthetic caters to a bi-coastal mentality, balancing his lyrical abilities with dynamic, world-class production.
LOVESBLIND, “all i need” Fusing influences in a way that absolutely won’t work for genre purists, the single “all i need” (August 2023) captures a very specific vibe: something of a middle finger to all the people who insisted on today’s music sounding no different than yesterday’s.
SLW cc Watt, “Lost to Time” Purple Pie Plow (July 2023) sees Iowa City’s Samuel Locke Ward and Mike Watt reviving their SLW cc Watt alias. “Lost to Time” lands at an exciting intersection, balancing bouncing bass and Sam’s howling vocals with an avant spoken word sax-jam.
Jarrett Purdy and Lex Leto, “WHATEVER I WANT” Lex Leto, whose own brilliant Right Here EP was released just a month and a half after Have You Been the Night? (June 2023), presents here as something of a demanding lyrical foil to the playful musical backdrop.
Greg Wheeler and the Poly Mall Cops, “Nothing” Sonic siblings to Jay Reatard, the Poly Mall Cops continue to establish themselves as a staple of Iowa’s live music scene, spreading the gospel of fuzzpunk with them every step of the way. “Nothing,” from the band’s MANIC FEVER album (March 2023), is an unrelenting shredder.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs feat. Perfume Genius, “Spitting Off the Edge of the World” Upon realizing something long evident to many, at one point this year I thought about just how long I’d listened to Perfume Genius before learning that the music is the product of an Iowa native. How many similar stories are there, waiting to be explored?
In Loving Memory, “A Gentler Sun” The EP A Gentler Sun (July 2023) marked the first new music from the Des Moines
Chris DeLine is a writer living in Cedar Rapids. He also curates Iowa music playlists at villin.net.
w/Lorie Line, Hoyt Sherman Place, Des Moines, $65 Thursday, Dec. 14 at 8 p.m. The Way Down Wanderers, xBk Live, $12-15 Saturday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. Mötley Kissmas Show, Wooly’s, $15 Saturday, Dec. 16 at 7:30 p.m. Shaun Johnson Big Band Experience, Hoyt Sherman Place, $30-43 Saturday, Dec. 16 at 8 p.m. Merry Axemas, xBk Live, $12-15 Sunday, Dec. 17 at 3 p.m. Michael W. Smith Christmas, Hoyt Sherman Place, $56-66 Sunday, Dec. 17 at 5 p.m. The Holiday Special, xBk Live, $20-40 Thursday, Dec. 21 at 8 p.m. Glitter Density with The Book of Bugs, xBk Live, $10-15 Friday, Dec. 22 at 7 p.m. A Nella Thomas Christmas VII, xBk Live, $15-20 Saturday, Dec. 23 at 8 p.m. Us Vs. Them Christmas Concert, Teehee’s Comedy Club, Des Moines, $10-15 Thursday, Dec. 28 at 8 p.m. Kathryn Severing Fox: Debut Album Release Show, xBk Live, $10-15
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Claudia McGehee’s Iowa River Frost Fair, Prairie Lights, Iowa City, Saturday, Dec. 9 at 11 a.m., Free Claudia McGehee, an Iowa
City based illustrator, author, and local artist will be set up at Prairie Lights signing new 2024 Engagement Calendars and selling copies of illustrated books, holiday cards, and prints. Some of McGehee’s titles include My Wilderness: An Alaskan Adventure, a historical fiction picture book based on American painter Rockwell Kent and his son Rocky’s adventure on Alaska’s Fox Island, A Tallgrass Prairie Alphabet, North Wood Girls, and Begin with a Bee. The event’s name, Iowa River Frost Fair, is inspired by medieval artisan fairs held on the frozen river Thames in London, which is home to McGehee’s ancestors.
LITERATURE CRANDIC
Thursday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. Mary Pipher w/Patricia Foster, Online, Prairie Lights, Free
Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m.
Kate Christensen, Prairie Lights,
Conversation w/Denise Williams
Iowa City, Free
and Katie Runde, Sidekick Coffee and Books, Free
Thursday, Dec. 7 at 10:30 a.m. Hanukkah Storytime w/Rabbi
Saturday, Dec. 16 at 10:30
Friday, Dec. 29 at 9 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 31 at 9 p.m. NYE
Esther, Iowa City Public Library,
a.m. Dance Me a Story: The
Marmot, Dire Wake, Blocko,
Party w/Pianopalooza, Wooly’s,
Free
Nutcracker w/Ballet Quad
Lefty’s Live Music, Des Moines,
$20-25
Cities, Iowa City Public Library, Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. Let’s
$10-15 Saturday, Dec. 30 at 8 p.m. Not
Free
Thursday, Jan. 4 at 7 p.m. 28
Talk Books: The Most Wonderful
Days Later, xBk Live, $10-15
Time of the Year, Online, Iowa
Sunday, Dec. 17 at 1 p.m.
City Public Library, Free
What’cha Reading Book Club:
Quite Brothers, Wooly’s, $20 Saturday, Jan. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Holiday Party, Craft’d, Cedar
Saturday, Dec. 30 at 8 p.m. Lily
Ruben & Clay, Hoyt Sherman
Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m.
DeTaeye w/The Host Country,
Place, $36.50-96
Andy Douglas, Prairie Lights, Free
xBk Live, $15-20
Rapids, Free Thursday, Dec. 21 at 4 p.m. Art Lovers Book Club, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Free
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global flavors. local values. u n r i v a l e d h o s p i ta l i t y .
Centro 1003 Locust St. 515.248.1780 centrodesmoines.com
Django 1420 Locust St. 515.288.0268 djangodesmoines.com
Malo 900 Mulberry St. 515.244.5000 malodesmoines.com
Gateway Market 2002 Woodland 515.243.1754 gatewaymarket.com
Bubba 200 10th St. 515.257.4744 bubbadsm.com
Zombie Burger 300 E. Grand, DSM Jordan Creek, WDM zombieburgerdm.com
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DSM Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 5 p.m. Meet the Author: Ree Drummond, Franklin Event Center, Des Moines, Free Friday, Dec. 8 at 5 p.m. Holiday Promenade: Grinch Storytime, Storyhouse Bookpub, Des Moines, Free Saturdays, Dec. 9, 16, 30 at 11 a.m. December Storytimes, Storyhouse Bookpub, Des Moines, Free Thursday, Dec. 14 at 6:30 p.m. Reading on the Margins: Book Discussion, Franklin Avenue Library, Free Thursday, Dec. 21 at 2 p.m. South Side Book Discussion: The Bandit Queens, South Side Library, Des Moines, Free
via Storyhouse Bookpub
PERFORMANCE CRANDIC Opening Thursday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. DIE HARD…is a Christmas Movie, Mirrorbox Theatre, Cedar Rapids, $20-25 Thursday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. Aparna Nancherla and Atsuko Okatsuka, Hancher Auditorium, Iowa City, $10-60 Opening Friday, Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m. Frankenstein’s Christmas Carol, Willow Creek Theatre Company, Iowa City, $20 Opening Friday, Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m. Mary Poppins, Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, $16-30
62 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
ROMANCE-A-PALOOZA w/ Denise Williams and Danielle Jackson, Storyhouse Bookpub, Des Moines, Saturday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m., $8
Storyhouse Bookpub’s upcoming ROMANCE-A-PALOOZA is for the rom-com lover, and perhaps the perfect event to bring your best friend to. Two romance authors, Denise Williams and Danielle Jackson will be celebrating the releases of their latest novels Technically Yours and Accidentally In Love. The night will include trivia next door at Raygun, drinks, dessert by Rosechu, and a lively discussion with Williams and Jackson, moderated by local Des Moines author Maggie Ann Martin. Tickets for the evening are $8.
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Friday and Saturday, Dec. 8 and 9 at 8 p.m. Comedy: Tyler Walsh, Lucky Cat Comedy & Events, Cedar Rapids, $5 Closing Sunday, Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. A Christmas Story, Iowa City Community Theatre, Johnson County Fairgrounds, $11-19 Closing Sunday, Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. Brontë, Riverside Theatre, Iowa City, $15-39 Thursday-Saturday, Dec. 14-16 at 7:30 p.m. Sleighing It! Holiday Cabaret, James Theater, Iowa City, $15-20 Sundays, Dec. 10 and 17 at 9:30 p.m. Sunday Funnies Open Mic, Joystick Comedy Arcade, Iowa City, Free Friday, Dec. 15 at 8 p.m. Comedy: Zach Vaughan, Lucky Cat Comedy & Events, $5 Sunday, Dec 17 at 2 p.m. Sleighing It! Holiday Cabaret, James Theater, Iowa City, $15-20 Closing Sunday, Dec. 17 at 2:30 p.m. The Courtesy of Spooky Santos
Wizard of Oz, Theatre Cedar Rapids, $18-68 Thursday, Dec. 21 at 7 p.m. Winter Solstice Live Storytelling, Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, Free Saturday, Dec. 23 at 8 p.m. Comedy: Ethan Everhart, Lucky Cat Comedy & Events, $5
DSM Thursday-Sunday, Dec. 7-10. The Nutcracker, Ballet Des Moines, Hoyt Sherman Place, Des Moines, $34-84 Opening Friday, Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m. Iowa Stage Theatre Company: A Christmas Carol, Stoner Theater, Des Moines, $40 Saturday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. Jenny Zigrino:
Crafty Cowgirl Disco & Drag Brunch, Wildwood Saloon, Iowa City, Sunday, Dec. 10 at 11 a.m., $20
We’re not sure if there’s a better way to spend a Sunday morning than attending a drag brunch that’s also a craft fair and cowgirl disco themed. Head to Wildwood Saloon for performances curated by Studio 13. Performers at the brunch include Spooky Santos, Beep Beep, Myling Belle, Dior Stratton Valentino, and Roxie Mess. Local artists and clothing vendors will be selling upstairs at the event’s craft fair. Grab a last-minute special holiday gift at the rodeo!
Stand-Up Comedy, Teehee’s Comedy Club, Des Moines, $15-20 Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 6:30 p.m. DSM Opera: Ames Guild Salome Preview, Northcrest Community, Ames Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. Final Act Ensemble’s Madcap Mix-Ups for the Holidays, Des Moines Community Playhouse, $10
64 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
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EDITORS’ PICKS: December 2023 Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 7:30 p.m. The Wiz, Des Moines Civic Center, $40-150 Friday, Dec. 15 at 10 a.m. Friday Funday: The Gingerbread Child, Des Moines Community Playhouse, $6 Friday-Sunday, Dec. 15-17. Home for the Holidays: A Christmas Cabaret, Tallgrass Theatre Company, West Des Moines, $25 Friday, Dec. 15 at 8 p.m. Santa’s Naughty
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Nerds List, xBk Live, Des Moines, $30-40 Saturday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. Mike Recine: Stand-Up Comedy, Teehee’s Comedy Club, $15-20 Closing Sunday, Dec. 17 at 2 p.m. All is Calm, Des Moines Community Playhouse, $29-53 Closing Sunday, Dec. 17 at 5 p.m. A Charlie Brown Christmas, Des Moines Community Playhouse, $14-19 Wednesday, Dec. 20 at 6:30 p.m. All Ages Variety Show, xBk Live, $10-15 Thursday, Dec. 21 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical, Des Moines Civic Center, $29-65 Friday, Dec. 22 at 7 p.m. Ugly Sweater Comedy Jamboree, Teehee’s Comedy Club, $10-15 Saturday, Dec. 23 at 8 p.m. Queercore Drag Show, xBk Live, $10-15 Friday, Dec. 29 at 7 p.m. Jailbreak NYE: Stand-Up Comedy, Teehee’s Comedy Club, $10-15 Friday, Dec. 29 at 8 p.m. Comedy Hypnotist: Gary Conrad, xBk Live, $12-15 Saturday, Dec. 30 at 9:30 p.m. Darius Daye: Stand-Up Comedy, Teehee’s Comedy Club, $10-15 Sunday, Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. DM Symphony: New Year’s Eve Pops: Cirque De La Symphonie, Des Moines Civic Center, $45-90 Sunday, Dec. 31 at 10 p.m. Comedy XPeriment, Stoner Theater, $25
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Cirque Dreams Holidaze, Des Moines Civic Center, Friday and Saturday, Dec. 22 and 23, Various Times, $29-99
A Broadway-style production infused with contemporary circus arts, Cirque Dreams Holidaze is a not-to-miss show this December that will entertain and impress all ages. This family-friendly show features an original music score that includes new twists on “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “Carol of the Bells,” and many characters in the production that'll include singers, dancers, toy soldiers, reindeer, and more. Be sure to reserve tickets soon as there’s only four performances of Cirque Dreams Holidaze at the Civic Center. Tickets are $29-99.
Lost in Translation, FilmScene—Ped Mall, Iowa City, Tuesday, Saturday, and Monday, Dec. 12, 16, and 18 at 7 p.m., $5.757.52
While there’s many classic holiday films showing at FilmScene throughout the month of December, don’t skip over some of their other special offerings, including Sofia Coppola’s beloved film Lost in Translation. The 2003 film features Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson and is an ode to the loneliness and disaffection that colored a post 9/11 landscape. These two main characters meet in Tokyo and form a special bond that is as unlikely as it is heartfelt and meaningful. FilmScene describes the film as a “visually stunning capsule of its time and the independent cinema that emerged at this cusp of massive cultural change."
Friday, Jan 5 at 7 p.m. Jamie Wolf: Stand-Up Comedy, Teehee’s Comedy Club, $15-20
FILM
CRANDIC
'Lost in Translation' still
Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 10 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 6 at 8 p.m.
Late Shift at the Grindhouse:
Rhythm & Pep Presents:
Joysticks, FilmScene—The
Chowdown Improv Comedy,
Chauncey, $8
xBk Live, $15-20 Thursday, Dec. 7 at 6:30 p.m. Farewell My Concubine, FilmScene—The Ped Mall, $5.7566 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
7.52
“THIS IS A PHENOMENON.” SARA HOLDREN
RICHARD THOMAS ATTICUS FINCH HARPER LEE’S TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD AARON SORKIN BARTLETT SHER
is
in
A new play by
Directed by
JANUARY 19–21 HANCHER AUDITORIUM (319) 335-1160 or 800-HANCHER • hancher.uiowa.edu Shows, dates, times, and artists subject to change.
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Immediate Family, Varsity Cinema, Des Moines, Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m., $9-12 The
'Immediate Family' still
Varsity is hosting a special showing of Immediate Family, a music documentary released in 2022 that highlights five legendary musicians involved in the 1970s pop music scene. While these musicians avoided the spotlight, they were featured on some of the most iconic recordings and tracks of the era. Interviewees include their collaborators James Taylor, Lyle Lovett, Phil Collins, Carole King, Stevie Nicks, Keith Richards and many more who speak in-depth about the classic songs that shaped the 70s. After the showing, movie-goers will have the opportunity to stick around for an exclusive recorded Zoom Q&A with Immediate Family’s director, Denny Tedesco, and DM Film and Varsity Director Ben Godar.
Saturday, Dec. 9 at 4 p.m.
Friday-Sunday, Dec. 15-17.
Wednesday, Dec. 20 at 10 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 7 at 10 p.m.
Movies at the Market: Elf,
Home Alone 2: Lost in New
Late Shift at the Grindhouse:
Black Christmas, Varsity
NewBo City Market, Cedar
York, FilmScene—The Chauncey,
Silent Night, Deadly Night Part
Cinema, Des Moines, $9-12
Rapids, Free
$10-13
2, FilmScene—The Chauncey, $8
Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 9
Friday-Saturday, Dec. 15-16.
Thursday, Dec. 21 at 12:45 p.m.
The Boy and the Heron, Varsity
and 10. The Picture Show: One
Die Hard, FilmScene—The
Home Alone 2: Lost in New
Cinema, $9-12
Hundred and One Dalmatians,
Chauncey, $10-13
York, FilmScene—The Chauncey,
Thursday-Sunday, Dec. 7-10.
$10-13
FilmScene—The Chauncey, Free-$5 Sunday, Dec 10 at 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 16 at 6:30 p.m.
and 10 at 1:30 p.m. Elf, Varsity
You’ve Got Mail, FilmScene—The
Thursday, Dec. 21 at 3:45 p.m.
Chauncey, $10-13
You’ve Got Mail, FilmScene—The Chauncey, $10-13
Farewell My Concubine,
Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 9 Cinema, $9-12 Sunday, Dec. 10 at 7:30 p.m.
FilmScene—The Ped Mall, $5.75-
Sunday and Monday, Dec.
7.52
17 and 18. The Thin Man,
Thursday, Dec. 21 at 6:30
FilmScene—The Chauncey,
p.m. It’s a Wonderful Life,
$10-13
FilmScene—The Chauncey,
Thursday, Dec. 14 at 10 p.m.
$10-11
Dial Code Santa Claus, Varsity
Thursday, Dec. 14 at 3:30 p.m. The Picture Show: One
Knee High, Varsity Cinema, Des Moines, $9-12
Hundred and One Dalmatians,
Monday, Dec. 18 at 3:30 p.m.
FilmScene—The Chauncey,
You’ve Got Mail, FilmScene—The
Saturday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Free-$5
Chauncey, $10-13
Dec 23, 26, 27 at 7 p.m.
Friday and Sunday, Dec. 15 and
Nebraska, FilmScene—The Ped
16 at 7 p.m. Maestro, Varsity
Mall, $5.75-7.52
Cinema, $9-12
Cinema, $9-12
Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 10 p.m.
Tuesday and Wednesday,
Krampus, FilmScene—The
Dec. 19 and 20. Die Hard,
Chauncey, $8
FilmScene—The Chauncey,
Wednesday, Dec. 27 at 10 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 16
$10-13
Late Shift at the Grindhouse:
and 17 at 1 p.m. Home Alone,
Phobe: The Xenophobic
Varsity Cinema, $9-12
Thursday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. Pride at FilmScene: Cruising,
Wednesday, Dec. 20 at 3:30
Experiments, FilmScene—The
FilmScene—The Ped Mall, $10
p.m. The Thin Man, FilmScene—
Chauncey, $8
The Chauncey, $10-13
Violent Night, Varsity Cinema, Sunday, Dec. 31 at 5 p.m. Funny
Friday and Saturday, Dec. 15 and 16. White Christmas,
Wednesday, Dec. 20 at
Face, FilmScene—The Chauncey,
FilmScene—The Chauncey,
6:30 p.m. White Christmas,
$22.12
$10-11
FilmScene—The Chauncey, $10-11
DSM
Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, Dec
Thursday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m.
15, 17, 19 at 3:30 p.m. It’s a
The Room, 20th Anniversary
Wonderful Life, FilmScene—The
Screening w/Greg Sestero, Fleur
Chauncey, $10-11
Cinema & Cafe, Des Moines, $16
68 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
Thursday, Dec. 21 at 10 p.m. $9-12 Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 23 and 24 at 1 p.m. The Muppet Christmas Carol, Varsity Cinema, $9-12
BROADWAY’S TONY AWARD®-WINNING BEST MUSICAL IS BACK
“IRRESISTIBLE!” -The New York Times
FEBRUARY 23–25
HANCHER AUDITORIUM hancher.uiowa.edu
(319) 335-1160 or 800-HANCHER Photo: Norma Jean Roy
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Winter Night Sky Explorations, Indian Creek Nature Center, Cedar Rapids, Courtesy of Indian Creek Nature Center
Thursday, Dec. 21 at 6:30 p.m., $10 Celebrate this
year’s winter solstice at Indian Creek Nature Creek at their Winter Night Sky Explorations event. Embrace the shortest day of the year, the darkness, and likely frigid weather, and get outside to explore some of the features of the winter night sky. Be sure to search for constellations and take advantage of the center’s binoculars and telescopes.
COMMUNITY
Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 9-10 at
Saturday, Dec. 16 at 8 a.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 5
10 a.m. Holiday Thieves Market,
Holiday Market, Robert A. Lee
p.m. Ornament Craft Night,
CRANDIC
Hyatt Regency Expo Hall,
Recreation Center, Iowa City,
Confluence Brewing Co., Des
Coralville, Free
Free
Moines, Free
Art Bites: Power and Impact
Saturday, Dec. 9 at 11 a.m.
Saturday, Dec. 16 at 12 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 5 p.m.
w/Felicite Wolf, Cedar Rapids
Surreal House Family Day,
Holiday Family Portrait Day,
Holiday Open House, Hoyt
Museum of Art, Free
Public Space One Close House,
Cedar Rapids Public Library,
Sherman Place, Des Moines,
Iowa City, Donations encour-
Free
Free
Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 12:15 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 7 at 8 a.m.
aged Sunday, Dec. 31 at 1 p.m. New
Thursday, Dec. 14 at 2:30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 9 at 12 p.m.
Year’s Eve Hike, Indian Creek
Iowa Legal Aid, Central Library,
IC Press Co-Op Open Studio,
Nature Center, $8-12
Des Moines, Free w/registration
DSM
Saturday, Dec. 16 at 10 a.m.
Thursday, Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. Art
Board Game Cafe, South Side
Saturday, Dec. 9 at 4 p.m. PS1
Noir Holiday Studio, Des Moines
Library, Des Moines, Free
Holiday Art Market, Big Grove
Art Center, $25
Graduate Panel, NewBo City Market, Cedar Rapids, Free Thursday, Dec. 7 at 3:30 p.m.
Public Space One, Iowa City,
Artist Reception: Astrid Hilger
$10-20
Bennett, Iowa Hall Art Gallery, Cedar Rapids, Free Thursday, Dec. 7 at 6 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 17 at 11 a.m. Drag
Brewery, Iowa City, Free
Creative Class: Intro to Book
Fridays, Dec. 8, 15, 22, 29 at 6
Brunch, Big Grove Brewery, $40-80
Design, NewBo City Market,
Sunday, Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. Prints
p.m. Dome After Dark, Greater
Free
& Cocoa at the IC Press Co-Op,
Des Moines Botanical Garden,
Public Space One, Iowa City,
$9-12
Fridays, Dec. 8 and 15 at 6 p.m. Winter Wreath Workshop,
Sunday, Dec. 17 at 5 p.m. Prism Tabletop Club LGBTQ+ Game
Sliding Scale Donation Saturday, Dec. 9 at 10 a.m.
Night, Slow Down Coffee Co.,
Sundays, Dec. 10 and 17 at
Peppermint Trail, The Avenues
Des Moines, Free
11 a.m. Santa at the Market,
of Ingersoll & Grand, Des
NewBo City Market, Free
Moines, Free
Education Center, Iowa City,
Friday, Dec. 15 at 6 p.m. Polar
Sunday, Dec. 10 at 10 a.m. DSM
Free
Express PJ Party & Santa Letter
Music Collector Show, Stoney
Writing, Sidekick Coffee &
Creek Hotel, Johnston, Free-$3
Willow & Stock, Iowa City, $85 Saturday, Dec. 9 at 9 a.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 19 at 7 p.m. Paint & Pints, Confluence Brewing,
Artists at SUI, Environmental
Books, Iowa City, Free
$37 Thursday, Jan. 4 at 6 p.m. Martian Throwdown, Mars Coffee, Des Moines, $10
70 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
PHOTO: JEREMY DANIEL
MAY 3–5 • HANCHER AUDITORIUM (319) 335-1160 or 800-HANCHER • hancher.uiowa.edu
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Second Saturday at the ARTery, Rock Island, Saturday, Dec. 9 at 11 a.m., Free
Courtesy of ARTery
The ARTery is a pottery studio and gallery space that will host a Second Saturday event in December. There will be live music, snacks and drinks, and activities. The studio space will not be open to the public to make pottery during the event but instructors will be on hand to provide support and schedule. Homemade and artisan crafts of all manner will be on display and available for purchase.
QUAD CITIES
Saturday, Dec. 9 at 10 a.m.
Thursday, Dec. 14 at 5 p.m. It’s
Wednesday, Dec. 20 at 7 p.m.
Women’s Healing Workshop,
A Radicle Xmas Art Fair, Radicle
Time Traveler Cinema: Bell,
The Village Theater, Davenport,
Effects Brewery, Rock Island,
Book And Candle, Rozz-Tox,
Friday, Dec. 8 at 12:30 p.m.
$40
Free
Rock Island, Free
Escape Room, LeClaire Public
Saturday, Dec. 9 at 10 a.m.
Friday, Dec. 15, 2 p.m. Rock
Friday, Dec. 22 at 7 p.m. Missy’s
Library, LeClaire, Free
Christkindlmarkt, German
Island Public Library 120th
Holiday Movie Night: Shop
American Heritage Center,
Anniversary Party, Rock Island,
Around The Corner, Rozz-Tox,
Davenport, Free
Free
Rock Island, Free
Everlasting Light, Raccoon
Saturday, Dec. 9 at 9 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 19 at 7 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 29 at 3 p.m. Adult
Motel, Davenport, $13
MWM Presents: Masquerade,
National Emo Day Bingo,
Arts & Crafts: True Crime Mug,
The Village Theater, Davenport,
Crawford Brew Works,
Silvis Public Library, Free
$15-40
Bettendorf, Free
Nightmare Before Christmas
Friday, Dec. 8, 7 p.m. Ragged Records: Body Voice, SERAC,
Octopus’s New Year’s Eve w/Salt Fox, Jim Swim & Everyday Astronaut, Octopus, Cedar Falls, Sunday, Dec. 31 at 8 p.m., $15-20
Salt Fox, Good Era
The Octopus is excited to offer “one Hell of a New Year’s Eve” celebration with several favorite local Iowa musicians, the indie pop group Salt Fox from Cedar Falls, Jim Swim, an artist and producer based in Iowa City, and Everyday Astronaut. Advance tickets are $15.
WATERLOO/CF
Closing Sunday, Dec. 10 at
Saturday, Dec. 16 at 10 a.m.
Saturday, Dec. 16 at 8 p.m. Run
Thursday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. Live
2 p.m. Harry Connick Jr.’s
Holiday Craft & Vendor Fair,
Dog and Ty Toomsen and the
Music Series: Jackson Schou,
The Happy Elf, Cedar Falls
Waterloo Convention Center, $1
Twang City Smokers, Octopus,
SingleSpeed Brewing Co., Cedar
Community Theatre, $12-27
$10 Saturday, Dec. 16 at 4:30 p.m.
Falls, Free Tuesdays, Dec. 12 and 26 at 7
Krampus Fest, Waterloo Center
Wednesday, Dec. 27 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 9 at 8 p.m. Back
p.m. Bingo Club, SingleSpeed
of the Arts, $15-20
Emerging Artist Night w/Joel
Pocket, Octopus, Cedar Falls, $10
Brewing Co., Free
72 December 2023 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324
Sires, Octopus, Free
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DEAR KIKI
hi from Public Space One!
we just released some new workshops for winter and spring
you can buy local art at Big Grove on Dec. 9
make DIY gift wrap at our print studio Dec. 10
see Allison Rowe’s Observed Changes and their Causes through Dec. 16
check out the immersive Surreal House installation through Jan. 15, and more... publicspaceone.com
D
ear Kiki, I have a money habit I consider bad. Every time my paycheck lands, I’m quick to spend it. What’s a good way to break this habit? Or do you have any money saving tips in general? —Financial Fumbles
D
ear FF, Well. If THAT isn’t the eternal question, I don’t know what is. If I had a real answer, I’d … well, I’d probably still be writing this column. But I’d be doing so with a martini in my hand on a laptop not adorned with functionally necessary duct tape. I’m going to throw some best practices at you, FF. But the truth is that (a) saving money is a luxury of those who are firmly middle class and above, and (b) saving money requires self-discipline that I can gesture towards, but by no means weave for you from air and wishes.
LittleVillageMag.com/DearKiki
deepest motivations. One common example is that people who experience food insecurity in their youth frequently hoard or splurge as adults. It can take a lot of hard work to convince the child within you that you’re safe and that you really can buy that expensive steak next pay period; that you don’t need your cupboards to overflow “just in case.” Another frequent undercurrent is when you have a range of income levels within your friend group. If people you care about are living paycheck to paycheck, the idea of building a savings can trigger feelings of guilt or embarrassment. Maybe to compensate, you’re always the one treating the crew to dinner or you simply feel like you need to be able to commiserate with their lack by getting rid of your “excess.” Whatever the cause, you’ll need to confront it before you go any further. There’s always the
THE TRUTH IS THAT (A) SAVING MONEY IS A LUXURY OF THOSE WHO ARE FIRMLY MIDDLE CLASS AND ABOVE, AND (B) SAVING MONEY REQUIRES SELF-DISCIPLINE THAT I CAN GESTURE TOWARDS, BUT BY NO MEANS WEAVE FOR YOU FROM AIR AND WISHES. That first assertion is going to ruffle some feathers, I’m sure. Lots of folks in this world make an awful lot of their own money off of telling people the opposite: “Anyone can save money if you’ll just invest $X in my proven system!” They likely could also get you great deals on the Brooklyn Bridge and the finest artisanal snake oil. But by now I’m sure that even non-nerds know of the “boots theory” as explained by Sir Terry Pratchett, through his character Sam Vimes. The gist of it is this. If you can afford expensive boots, they might last you 10 years. If you can only afford cheap boots, you’ll spend double the money over the course of that same decade, “and would still have wet feet.” Being poor is expensive, full stop. Now, onto the question of point (b). Selfdiscipline is an unambiguous term. You have to do it. Yourself. No external trickery is going to make it easy for you. If you’ve got plenty of money coming in and it’s just slipping through your fingers, then your first course of action has got to be to drill down into why. I don’t mean “why” as in, “because that purse is cute” or “because I want that new TV!” I mean a real, true self-analysis. Don’t shrink back from this. Like any other act of change in your life, you need to know your
chance that you can muster the discipline to force yourself to save without doing that, but you’ll be miserable. Confront yourself first, and then you can look into the easy solutions, like asking your payroll manager to split your paycheck between two different deposit accounts, or wrapping a picture of your dream vacation spot around your debit card, where you’ll be forced to look at it each time you choose to spend. Doing those things without digging deeper first will just lead to disappointment and self-loathing if you fail. You deserve better than that, FF. You deserve a savings account and a healthy self image. ––xoxo, Kiki
KIKI WANTS QUESTIONS! Submit questions anonymously at littlevillagemag.com/dearkiki or non-anonymously to dearkiki@littlevillagemag.com. Questions may be edited for clarity and length, and may appear either in print or online at littlevillagemag.com. LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324 December 2023 75
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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian poet Nina Cassian said, “I promise to make you so alive that the fall of dust on furniture will deafen you.” I think she meant she would fully awaken the senses of her readers. She would boost our capacity for enchantment and entice us to feel interesting emotions we had never experienced. As we communed with her beautiful self-expression, we might even reconfigure our understanding of who we are and what life is about. I am pleased to tell you, Sagittarius, that even if you’re not a writer, you now have an enhanced ability to perform these same services—both for yourself and for others. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “Sometimes I get lonesome for a storm,” says Capricorn singer-songwriter Joan Baez. “A fullblown storm where everything changes.” That approach has worked well for her. At age 82, she has released 30 albums and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She has recorded songs in eight languages and has been honored by Amnesty International for her work on behalf of human rights. If you're feeling resilient—which I think you are—I recommend that you, too, get lonesome for a storm. Your life could use some rearrangement. If you're not feeling wildly bold and strong, maybe ask the gods for a mild squall. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Science educator Neil deGrasse Tyson tells us that water molecules we drink have “passed through the kidneys of Socrates, Genghis Khan and Joan of Arc.” The same prodigious truth applies to the air we breathe: It has “passed through the lungs of Napoleon, Beethoven and Abraham Lincoln.” Tyson would have also been accurate if he said we have shared water and air that has been inside the bodies of virtually every creature who has ever lived. I bring these facts to your attention, Aquarius, in the hope of inspiring you to deepen your sense of connectedness to other beings. Now is an excellent time to intensify your feelings of kinship with the web of life. Here's the practical value of doing that: You will attract more help and support into your life.
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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I am saying a prayer for you. I pray to the Fates that you will not accept lazy or careless efforts from others. You won’t allow their politeness to be a cover-up for manipulativeness. I also pray that you will cultivate high expectations for yourself. You won’t be an obsessive perfectionist, but will be devoted to excellence. All your actions will be infused with high integrity. You will conscientiously attend to every detail with the faith that you are planting seeds that will bloom beautifully in the future. ARIES (March 21-April 19): As a child, I loved to go to a meadow and whirl around in spirals until I got so dizzy, I fell. As I lay on the ground, the earth, sky and sun reeled madly, and I was no longer just a pinpoint of awareness lodged inside my body, but was an ecstatically undulating swirl in the kaleidoscopic web of life. Now, years later, I’ve discovered many of us love spinning. Scientists postulate humans have a desire for the intoxicating vertigo it brings. I would never recommend you do what I did as a kid; it could be dangerous for some of you. But if it’s safe and the spirit moves you, do it! Or at least imagine yourself doing it. Do you know about the Sufi Whirling Dervishes who use spinning as a meditation? Read here: tinyurl.com/JoyOfWhirling and tinyurl. com/SufiSpinning TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Your power creature in the coming weeks will not be an eagle, wolf, bear or salmon. I don’t advise you to dream of being a wild horse, tiger or crocodile. Instead, I invite you to cultivate a deep bond with the mushroom family. Why? Now is a favorable time to be like the mushrooms that keep the earth fresh. In wooded areas, they eat away dead trees and leaves, preventing larger and larger heaps of compost from piling up. They keep the soil healthy and make nutrients available
By Rob Brezsny
for growing things. Be like those mushrooms, Taurus. Steadily and relentlessly rid your world of the defunct and decaying parts—thereby stimulating fertility. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini novelist Geraldine McCaughrean wrote, “Maybe courage is like memory—a muscle that needs exercise to get strong. So I decided that maybe if I started in a small way, I could gradually work my way up to being brave.” That is an excellent prescription for you: the slow, incremental approach to becoming bolder and pluckier. For best results, begin practicing on mild risks and mellow adventures. Week by week, month by month, increase the audacious beauty of your schemes and the intensity of your spunk and fortitude. By mid-2024, you will be ready to launch a daring project. CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian neurologist and author Oliver Sacks worked with people who had unusual neurological issues. His surprising conclusion: “Defects, disorders and diseases can play a paradoxical role, by bringing out latent powers, developments and evolutions that might never be seen in their absence.” In not all cases, but more often than seemed reasonable, he found that disorders could be regarded as creative—”for if they destroy particular paths, particular ways of doing things, they may force unexpected growth.” Your assignment is to meditate on how the events of your life might exemplify the principle Sacks marvels at: apparent limitations leading to breakthroughs and bonanzas. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): I am falling in love with how deeply you are falling in love with new ways of seeing and understanding yourself. My heart sings as I listen to your heart singing in response to new attractions. Keep it up, Leo! You are having an excellent influence on me. My dormant potentials and drowsy passions are stirring as I behold you waking up and coaxing out your dormant potentials and drowsy passions. Thank you, dear! VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo journalist Sydney J. Harris offered advice I suggest you meditate on. He wrote, “Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.” I bring this to your attention because now is a favorable time to take action on things you have not yet done—and should do. If you put definitive plans in motion soon, you will ensure that regret won't come calling in five years. (P.S.: Amazingly, it’s also an excellent time to dissolve regret you feel for an iffy move you made in the past.) LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In contrast to false stereotypes, Medieval Europeans were not dirty and unhygienic. They made soap and loved to bathe. Another bogus myth says the people of the Middle Ages believed the Earth was flat. But the truth was that most educated folks knew it was round. And it’s questionable to refer to this historical period as backward, since it brought innovations like mechanical timekeepers, moveable type, accurate maps, the heavy plow and illuminated manuscripts. In this spirit, and in accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to strip away misconceptions and celebrate actual facts in your own sphere. Be a scrupulous revealer, a conscientious and meticulous truth-teller. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio poet John Berryman said, “To grow, we must travel in the direction of our fears.” Yikes! I personally wouldn’t want to do that kind of growth all the time. I prefer traveling cheerfully in the direction of my hopes and dreams. But then I’m not a Scorpio. Maybe Berryman’s strategy for fulfilling one’s best destiny is a Scorpio superpower. What do you think? One thing I know for sure is that the coming weeks will be an excellent time to re-evaluate and reinvent your relationship with your fears. I suggest you approach the subject with a beginner’s mind. Empty yourself of all your previous ideas and be open to healing new revelations. LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV324 December 2023 77
LittleVillageMag.com/Survey
Reader Survey Thank you for reading Little Village! Our goal is to provide you with relevant and meaningful stories and to make every issue of Little Village a great one. We value your feedback, and we appreciate you taking the time to complete this two-minute survey to help us plan for 2024. *NOTE: All sections optional; all answers confidential. Fill out your survey today, then cut it out and mail it in (or drop it off): LV HQ, 623 S Dubuque St, Iowa City, IA 52240. Rather take it online? Visit LittleVillageMag.com/survey (before Dec. 20, please!) Where do you pick up the print edition of Little Village? Any specific distro spot you frequent? Eastern Iowa Central Iowa
How often do you read the print edition of Little Village? Never miss an issue Occasionally This is my first time When I can find it When covers catch my eye What other magazines do you read regularly?
What are your two primary news sources?
Did you vote in these elections? 2022 2020 How often do you vote in local (city, county, school board) elections? Regularly Occasionally Never How often do you participate in primary elections? Regularly Occasionally Never Which of LV's editorial values are you most passionate about? Affordability and access Economic and labor justice Environmental sustainability
Racial justice Gender equity Quality health care Quality education Multiculturalism Critical Culture Which LV print content do you read? Arts Features Astrology Columns (Prairie Pop, Fully Booked, Contact Buzz) Comics Community News Crossword Puzzle Dear Kiki En Español Events Calendar Food & Drink Interactions Letters to the Editor Local Album Reviews Local Book Reviews Advertisements Which LV specialty publications do you read? Bread & Butter Dining Guide Rec'd Recreation Guide How often do you check the events calendar on LittleVillageMag.com? Regularly Occasionally Never Which types of events do you regularly attend? Art/exhibition Cinema Community/political Educational/lecture Family Fashion Food & drink Live music Literature Sports & recreation Theater/performance
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In 2023 so far, how many times a month on average did you ... __Eat at a full-service restaurant? __Order take-out or delivery? __Visit a bar or nightclub? __Drink locally made alcohol? __Attend a live arts event? __Attend a live sporting event? __Go to the movies? __Visit a fitness establishment (gym, yoga, etc.)? How often do you visit your nearest metro downtown district (other than for work)? Less than once/week 1-3x/week 3-5x/week 5+ x/week How often do you volunteer your time in your community? Rarely/never Sporadically Monthly Weekly or more How do you access LV online? Directly (LittleVillageMag.com) Via Facebook Via Instagram Via Twitter Via LV’s Daily newsletters I only read the print mag What is your highest level of education? Some high school High school diploma Some college Associate’s degree Bachelor’s degree Master’s degree Doctoral degree What is your personal annual income? Less than $20,000 $20,000-$39,999 $40,000-$59,999
$60,000-$79,999 $80,000-$99,999 $100,000+ Has a Little Village advertisement influenced your purchasing decisions in the last six months? Yes / No Given the choice, would you prefer to do business with a Little Village advertiser? Yes / No What is your zip code?
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ACROSS 1. Game also known as “knucklebones” 6. A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child, chronologically 11. Fur baby 14. Count the days until 15. Japanese for “hit” or “success” 16. Miner matter 17. Granny loved disruption 19. Become (poetic)
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20. Took in 21. Amorphous obstacle in Dungeons & Dragons 22. Zeta, eta, ___ 24. Nickname alternative to “Will” 26. Final notes? 27. Cancel that bet, silly 32. Grand opening? 33. “Eh, somewhat ...” 34. See 3-Down 37. Certain X or O 38. “Prove it!” person
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42. It may be provoked by injustice 43. Letters on a cognac bottle 45. Savings option: Abbr. 46. “Quaking” state tree of Utah 48. Randomly pans to hot mess 52. Shape-shifts 54. British Knights rival 55. Divert 56. Blue Devils’ school
58. Mortgage adjustment, briefly 62. Favorable mention, for short 63. Eureka! Seven bananas 66. It comes in cyan 67. Resembling Galadriel 68. Detect trouble, in a sense 69. What a competent person knows from her elbow
70. Led Zeppelin’s “Whole ___ Love” 71. Mattress maker
39. [Mwah] 40. “I’m entering my chaotic ___”: Mistress Isabelle Brooks 41. Light sleeveless top 44. Cheers (up) 47. “Don’t even start ...” 49. Capital of Israel? 50. “___ matata” (“No trouble,” in Swahili) 51. Word after “fork” or “bowl” 52. Bamford who said, “I feel bad about that, that I worship celebrities ... but their moods create weather.” 53. Eclipses, in many ancient cultures 56. Asinine 57. Joule, for one 59. Even once 60. Experienced firsthand 61. Mallorca o Menorca 64. @___crossword (Twitter account that asks, “Does today’s NYT crossword include the band ___?”) 65. Business end?
DOWN 1. Make weary 2. Like half of the games in a season 3. 34-Across for Charlie Chaplin 4. E-readers that had the code name “Fiona” 5. Sloppy shelter 6. Tequila and grapefruit soda cocktail 7. Exhaustive 8. Party with pacifiers, perhaps 9. Uno, due, ___ 10. Faith, but not “Father Figure” 11. Despotic delights 12. Poetic muse 13. South by Southwest setting 18. Soccer score 23. URL starter 25. Many 1980s PCs 26. “I didn’t see you there!” 27. Surveillance network, briefly NOVEMBER ANSWERS 28. Sounds of COD E C A L F S SW I G discovery A R E A OR EOS H A R E S I N S A NG L E E V I L 29. Sidewalk sope BOA T C L OA K A B Y S S sources A L L E Y S T A E BO H E I R S PORCU P I N E 30. Bite lightly T WO T OE POX 31. Winter hrs. in L I R A A N Y L E A S E A L E X A N D E R C A L D E R Wichita P A C E D T UG P S S T 35. Cookie with a UN A D I P S I S P A P R I K A S H OCC AM tiramisu variety I N E R T OPOR T O sold in Korea A L ONG T O U C HWO O D S I P S BOO T H A NN E 36. Big NYC station K N E E A NGE R R E A L S E ND
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