State park trail entry point.

Journey Home

Tales from the pilgrimage.

Paul Deaton

  • Late Fall Near the Lake

    The good news about finishing three full weeks at the home, farm and auto supply store is the company offers health insurance that meets the Internal Revenue Service “minimum value standard” for less money than coverage available through the government’s health insurance marketplace or elsewhere. The bad news is all of the pay from this… Read more

  • Shootings Are Personal

    Any useful discussion of guns in society is personal. Frequent shootings have been reported in nearby Cedar Rapids, often in the neighborhood where we lived when our daughter was born. We heard gunshots while we were there. Most times a weapon was discharged with no one injured and no subsequent news story. The main reason… Read more

  • Nuclear Weapons at the Grassroots

    Full of exuberance after the election of Barack Obama, author of the April 5, 2009 speech on nuclear abolition in Prague, Czech Republic, we believed U.S. Senate ratification of the New START Treaty with Russia would proceed easily. Our attention could then be focused on ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty signed by… Read more

  • Eve of Paris 2015

    President Obama is scheduled to depart Washington for Paris later today to attend the 21st Convention of the Parties (COP21 or Paris 2015). Paris 2015 offers our best hope to curb greenhouse gas emissions through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. As of yesterday 150 heads of state had accepted the invitation to… Read more

  • In Between

    The break between fall and winter cut sharply. On Thursday I made the last garden harvest and brought the water hose inside the garage. Snow began to fall yesterday around 5:30 p.m. I am writing and waiting for daylight to shovel the driveway. More is changing than the weather. I started a new, full-time job… Read more

  • Drake University Democratic Debate

    The winner in last night’s debate at Drake University’s Sheslow Auditorium was the American people as Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders discussed, and actually debated issues that matter. This is in sharp contrast with the multi-level Republican debates. Only 700 people had tickets to attend, so I closed the door of my study,… Read more

  • Dark And Stormy Night

    I reached into the rusted storage cabinet to find the silicone spray. The padlock needed lubricant before securing the employee locker at my newest job. It’s not like I’ll keep valuables inside. My lunch and mobile device when I’m working, my box cutter, tape measure, name tag, note pad, ink pen and radio earpiece when… Read more

  • On Being a Veteran

    My 1975 enlistment in the U.S. Army had everything to do with how screwed up the military was coming out of Vietnam. I asked myself, if regular people didn’t step up and fix the mess, who will? I almost didn’t get in. Enlisting for OCS (Officer Candidate School), the people who interviewed me before signing… Read more

  • Oscar Mayer’s Long Road

    DAVENPORT — The Kraft Foods Oscar Mayer plant on Second Street will be razed as its new owner, Kraft Heinz, plans to move operations and layoff much of the workforce at the long-time meat packing plant. Wednesday’s announcement, that Kraft Heinz will close seven plants in the U.S. and Canada over the next two years… Read more

  • Hillary and the Narrative

    CORALVILLE — Hillary Clinton held a town hall meeting in S.T. Morrison Park on Tuesday with more than 500 people in attendance, according to event organizers. After a brief speech, she called on audience members, taking 13 questions covering a wide range of international and domestic issues. Her command of the current political scene and… Read more