Category: Living in Society

Politics mostly social commentary.

Categories
Home Life

Sweet Corn in Big Grove

Putting up sweet corn.

My spouse and I processed local sweet corn for freezing last night. It is a relic from a past when food preservation played a bigger role in home life. We have stories about our lives with sweet corn to tell each other. A simple truth is we can buy big bags of frozen, organic cut corn from the wholesale club for less cost. If local corn is good, the taste of summer on a cob, it is worth the extra effort to buy local and put it up.

We have frozen corn leftover from last season, so our needs this year aren’t that much. Our main supplier went out of business and we’ve been hard-pressed to find a replacement. That is, we haven’t found outstanding sweet corn this year. Weather conditions have been a problem, according to our local ABC affiliate:

ELY, Iowa (KCRG) – Over thirty years as a farmer, Butch Wieneke knows what high quality sweet corn looks, and feels like. That’s why selling anything other than the best, is not an option for him and his family.

Last Thursday, they made the tough decision to stop selling.

“It just dried up. The ears weren’t filling out and I wasn’t going to sell sub-par corn. It’s just…I’m not going to do that. I don’t care what price it is,” said Wieneke.

The quality of sweet corn can change very quickly, and because of the lack of rain Eastern Iowa saw last week, the personal and public orders stopped.

Now, they’re waiting and watching to see how the crops develop.

Libbie Randall, KCRG-TV9, Aug. 2, 2022.

When we moved to Big Grove, I decided quickly to outsource sweet corn growing, in the mid-1990s. After a year or two, I found corn takes too much space and the results were not as good as what farmers produce. Because of today’s shortage, I’m considering a patch of sweet corn in next year’s garden. We’re not ready to give up on the annual family tradition and if I can produce a couple of bushels, that would best serve our culture.

While August grinds into its second week with hot, humid temperatures and plenty of rain, I’m ready to return to daily writing. I’m thankful for the break, yet there are important happenings not being covered by traditional media. When I write such stories, people find my posts and view them. I don’t have an editorial calendar yet, although as something new, I blocked out time today to write one.

The rest of the year is expected to be like drinking from a fire hose as far as news goes. I may as well dust off the keyboard and dig in now that sweet corn is put up.

Categories
Living in Society

Framing House District 91

Voting by mail.

On June 8, Cleo Krejci of the Iowa City Press Citizen wrote the following headline for an article about an election for state representative, “In Iowa’s new House District 91, voters to choose between conservative pastor and LGBTQ activist.”

While the headline may be true, to frame the race like this is awful and wrong. Krejci wrote:

Come Nov. 8, voters in Iowa’s new House District 91 will have the choice of two starkly opposing candidates: Republican Brad Sherman, a conservative Christian pastor who opposes same-sex marriage, and Democrat Elle Wyant, a transgender woman and LGBTQ activist.

Iowa City Press Citizen, June 8, 2022.

The contrast in this framing is easy for a journalist, misses a lot of what each candidate is about, and does a disservice to voters in the district.

The candidates are different. Sherman is from the party where controversial issues at the heart of his campaign are reduced to talking points, the meaning of which can be understood only if one knows how to interpret dog-whistle. According to a June 2 newspaper advertisement, Sherman stands for life, the second amendment, traditional family, state rights and energy independence, among others. Allow me to interpret: extremist anti-abortion, pro-gun ownership with minimal restrictions, anti LGBTQ+, especially anti-trans gender, don’t be making any federal laws with which he disagrees, and pro-fossil fuels extraction and exploitation over other forms of energy. Sherman is in the mainstream of the evangelical movement that brought us the 45th president. The best evidence of this is the endorsement he received from former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, a prominent Southern Baptist turned evangelical politician.

The mission of the church where Sherman is pastor “is to make preparations for the kingdom of God to come on earth as it is in heaven.” Sherman believes the purpose of government is to protect God-given rights. His non-denominational church is tucked away between a couple of Coralville restaurants. Being a pastor there is much different from being a pastor at a United Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian or other mainstream Protestant church, not to mention how different it is from Catholics, Jews and Muslims. From the git-go, Sherman is on the fringe.

Elle Wyant has a more specific agenda designed to serve the needs of everyone in the district. Wyant’s “Three Es” agenda doesn’t require any interpretation: education, economic development, and equity. These are topics the Iowa government addresses during each General Assembly and she’s ready to serve the needs of all constituents. In addition, Wyant has actually done things besides politics in broader society: 19 years working as a sales executive for a Fortune 50 company and five years as a row-crop farmer. Wyant seeks to fight for her community and be a voice for those left behind at the statehouse. As an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, she knows what that means.

By now, voters in House District 91 may have forgotten sensationalized framing of the contest by the Iowa City Press Citizen. According to Pew Research, the economy was the top issue for voters during the 2020 general election. Wyant is positioned to address economic development while avoiding the noise of culture wars propagated by her opponent. Framing isn’t everything. It is a construct lying outside a campaign.

When we contrast what the candidates stand for, Sherman stands for the worst aspects of Iowa Republican policies. Elle Wyant stands for all of us. The choice is clear.

Categories
Living in Society

Iowa’s 2022 Midterms

Big Grove Polling Place Nov. 6, 2018

As the last month of summer proceeds to Labor Day, the official kickoff for the fall election campaign, our county party is not that organized. Partly, that’s to be expected as voters and activists engage in elections later each successive cycle.

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Ross Wilburn continues to make the case to the Democratic National Committee that Iowa should be first in the nation during presidential election years. The party has much bigger problems to address going forward than presidential preference.

The big news is there does not appear to be a state party coordinated campaign that helps synchronize efforts. Lack of a coordinated campaign creates an environment where every activist is free to do what they want regarding support of candidates. The county party chair asserted this was a good thing, freeing the group to turnout Democratic votes to increase county margin. It takes more than Democratic votes to win elections and that has in part been the work of individual campaigns. We don’t need a coordinated campaign for the simple reason of having one. What we have without one is a recipe for chaos. A skosh of chaos is okay.

Our county believes the best way they can help Democratic causes is to turnout as many Democratic voters as possible to offset the rest of the Republican state in statewide races. I call this the margin argument, which is spurious at best. Remove the votes from our county from the tallies for federal races in recent cycles and the outcome would be no different. The problem with the margin argument is precincts like mine, which have voted Republican in recent cycles, get lost in the push to turn out Democratic votes in our more populous areas. We need Democrats to win down ticket races and the margin approach doesn’t effectively help.

My years of working at the orchard made weekend campaign work difficult because of my schedule. As a retired septuagenarian, I’m reluctant to make phones calls and door knock people I don’t know, as I did in the past. Making phone calls and door knocking appears to be the main organizing activity being used in the county. I need to find another way.

I would feel better if more central committee members attended last night’s Zoom central committee meeting. By Labor Day, I hope to have an approach for this cycle because this year, more than previous, Democrats will need the help.

Categories
Living in Society

New Legislative Districts, New People

Woman Writing Letter

We moved to the Solon area in 1993. After redistricting, the new Senate District 46 and House District 91 are my fourth legislative districts. Each time I’ve gotten to know new people and adjusted to changes. I like my prospects for the general election.

Kevin Kinney is the Democrat running for re-election to the Iowa Senate. He farms in Johnson and Iowa counties. With Iowa being an agricultural state, we could use a farmer with his kind of common sense in the legislature. Solon Mayor Steve Stange endorsed Kinney and so do I.

Elle Wyant is running for the open house seat. I met with her at the Solon Beef Days Parade where she drove a classic car she sometimes enters in car shows. She has worked in sales for UPS for almost 20 years and has a tight focus on what she would work on if elected:  education, economic development, and equity. Elle also worked as a row-crop farmer for five years so she knows agriculture. Like Kinney, she is possessed of common sense and would stay focused on her priorities.

The election is three months out. Meanwhile, I hope you will evaluate these candidates. I believe they are worth our votes.

~ Submitted as a letter to the editors of four local newspapers in the new legislative districts.

Categories
Living in Society

Postcard from Summer Holiday – #4

Summer dinner during sweet corn season.

Iowa is heading into a major heat wave with ambient temperatures forecast in the high nineties by midweek. It seems it has been hot already yet this will be a scorcher with high humidity. My reaction to high heat and humidity is to get outdoors work done early in the morning, then move indoors to work at my desk or in the kitchen. Coping with heat waves has become ingrained into daily life.

I harvested the first of four tubs of potatoes yesterday. I grated and had the nicked ones for breakfast this morning. Hash browns, scrambled eggs and cherry tomatoes is one of my favorite summer breakfasts. These days we have tomatoes with everything, including locally grown sweet corn and green beans from the garden. It is the best time of year for a kitchen garden.

The freezer is beginning to fill with ingredients for future meals. The next big projects are putting up sweet corn and canning tomatoes.

Not much else to report at this point in the holiday. I’ve been getting out with people more. I avoid densely populated areas like the county seat and areas around it. It seems my sleep patterns are permanently changing to stay up and sleep later. I’ve begun reconstructing my daily schedule. Once that process is done, I’ll be back to daily writing here.

Enjoy the rest of summer! Stay cool this week!

Categories
Living in Society

Postcard from Summer Holiday – #3

Wildflowers along the state park trail.

The Midwest is bracing for a heat wave next week when ambient temperatures are forecast in the 90s. On Wednesday it is expected to reach 103 degrees. The Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Service issued a reminder to farmers of what to do to protect their investment in livestock. It is going to be a scorcher in the corn belt from top to bottom.

I finished my month of posts at Blog for Iowa earlier in the week and am ready to turn my attention back to Journey Home. This blog has had four names since I created it to move from Blogspot to WordPress in 2008. If we ever get out of the coronavirus pandemic, I might give it a fifth. We are at a distance from the end of the pandemic.

The challenge in the garden is keeping the plants watered, yet not too much. They will survive the heat with adequate hydration. Early morning or late evening watering has been best.

Tomatoes are beginning to ripen and we had our first slicers for dinner last night. Yesterday I grated and froze zucchini for winter soup and tried a quick dill pickle recipe I saw on TikTok. From here until Labor Day, part of every day will be food preservation. I have a row of San Marzano tomatoes to convert to canned wholes for use throughout the year. I tasted the first ripe ones and they were deliciously different from other varieties I have grown.

My sleep patterns have changed while on holiday. I stay up until 9 p.m. and am sleeping through the night, getting six or seven straight hours of sleep. It has been a long time since I did that. I’m hoping the new patterns persist.

I keep plugging along with reading and have almost finished Loretta Lynn’s memoir Coal Miner’s Daughter. The book reminds me of the part of Appalachia where my father was born and how people there lived and still do. Lynn’s birthplace, Butcher Holler, Kentucky, is about 85 miles from Father’s birthplace. Of course, Lynn got to know June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash through her music. June Carter Cash is a shirttail relative of ours.

It is easy to see why people liked Loretta Lynn’s music back in the 1970s. She was part of a social revolution that changed how people lived. In part, it was based on Roe v. Wade and introduction of the birth control pill which Lynn wrote about. In her song, “The Pill,” she wrote, “I’m tearing down your brooder house ’cause now I’ve got the pill.” Husband Doolittle got a vasectomy after birth of their twins and Lynn wrote about that too.

Wildflowers bloom in July with an ever-changing array of color. Now that the garden switched from planting to harvesting, I walk along the state park trail almost daily to watch nature’s changes. Even though The International Union for the Conservation of Nature added the migrating monarch butterfly to its “red list” of threatened species in July and categorized it as “endangered,” I saw a few Monarchs on the trail yesterday.

The world we know may be dying due to the climate crisis yet there is evidence of our past in every walk along the trail. Stay cool next week!

Categories
Living in Society

Can Deidre DeJear Win? The Answer is Yes!

Deidre DeJear.

I attended enough events and got enough one-on-one time with Deidre DeJear – both during her current campaign and when she ran for Secretary of State – to know she would be a good governor. When I compare her to other Democratic gubernatorial candidates, she is hands down the most enthusiastic I’ve seen in recent years. We Democrats need some enthusiasm to defeat the Republican machine.

I like her and plan to vote for her yet this race is not about me.

The question I get asked repeatedly is “Can she win?”

At her June nominating convention, DeJear said, “My story being possible in Iowa, ensures that all our stories are possible.” It resonated with me when I heard it. Iowa writer Chuck Offenburger said it would resonate with Iowans if it were broadcast across the state.

Offenburger laid out a case for DeJear in a July 18 column.

He gave reasons why continuing a Reynolds administration would be a bad choice. His conclusion about Reynolds’ governance is “Doesn’t that sound like a whole lot of big-government overreach — which Republicans are normally the first to bitch about — by a governor who might be trying to stretch her shelf life too long?”

Offenburger also told DeJear’s story. He concluded with “It’s time for Barack & Michelle Obama to make another visit to Iowa.” It is polished writing of an experienced journalist which Democrats should read. I believe the column helped DeJear’s cause.

As counterpoint, Offenburger’s writing seems likely to be drowned out by the conservative noise machine with its ubiquitous right-wing radio, television and social media chatter. Not enough people have heard this case. More need to.

When people I don’t know ask me, “Can she win?” they are likely referring to one of the following things.

The governor is commanding the polls with a 17-point advantage in the latest Des Moines Register Iowa Poll. DeJear is behind in fundraising as well. With a bit more than three months until the Nov. 8 election, DeJear and Iowa Democrats could overcome these disadvantages with hard work and more voter engagement, especially as we get closer to the election. Can she win? Yes she can if you vote for her and convince your friends to do likewise.

Deidre DeJear is black. There is a racist strain running throughout Iowa with Iowans who won’t vote for a black governor regardless of their qualifications. Can she win? Yes she can if you vote for her and convince your friends to do likewise.

Is there a “Blue Wave” coming in November? Some express skepticism, including me. We are worn out from the elections beginning in 2010. When we drag out the old sawhorse about Obama’s 2008 and 2012 wins, or the true story of Tom Vilsack’s come from behind victory, we seem to be running out of Democratic anecdotes. We need new stories of a kind to which Iowans across the state can relate. Deidre DeJear is that story.

Can she win? Yes she can if you vote for her and convince your friends to do likewise.

She could use your financial donation as well. Click here to donate.

Click here to access Offenburger’s column and share it with a friend or family member.

~ First published on Blog for Iowa. A version of this post ran as a letter to the editor in the online Des Moines Register on Aug. 4, 2022.

Categories
Living in Society

Postcard from Summer Holiday – #2

Wildflowers on the state park trail.

Entering the last week of July, the garden is coming on strong. The refrigerator is full, the freezer is getting full. There is a lot to do in our kitchen garden every day.

Last night’s dinner was what I’d call garden soup. I harvested a bin of vegetables and as I cleaned them threw bits and pieces (cauliflower leaves, broccoli stems, peas and cabbage leaves) into a soup pan along with mirepoix, bay leaves and seasonings. It was occasion to use up veggies that had been in the refrigerator a while, like wilted lettuce, zucchini, kale, green beans, kohlrabi, and sweet corn. I added a couple of cans of prepared beans, a handful each of lentils and barley. Soup like this always comes out good. I froze enough for two future dinners.

I adjusted to being on holiday. That means I am getting more sleep, exercising daily, eating well, and spending my days as productively as possible. There are naps… in the middle of the day.

Reading consisted of two books this month, Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I didn’t care for the violence in either of them. I started Loretta Lynn’s memoir Coal Miner’s Daughter and set aside books that require deep engagement in social or historical facts. I’ve been doing “summer reading.”

My work at Blog for Iowa turned into covering for much of the month of July. I hope readers enjoy the writing I am cross-posting here. I’ve been posting at Blog for Iowa since February 2009 and as long as the publisher continues to have an interest, so will I.

This July has been exceedingly hot. There has been good rainfall but the heat makes going outside in the afternoon oppressive. I attended an evening potluck dinner at the nearby city’s park and the breeze took away the oppressiveness. For a while it felt like summer I remember from being a grader when our home did not have air conditioning. It was a positive feeling.

I’m not back from holiday and will continue at least until Labor Day. For the moment I’m enjoying what days I can and living a life. The direction I hoped to find has been elusive yet there is time. Sometimes we need to simply drift and get our bearings.

Enjoy the rest of the summer!

Categories
Living in Society

Last Walk in Solon

Solon Beef Days parade entry, July 16, 2022. Photo Credit – Johnson County Democrats

Most of my political friends no longer walk in the Solon Beef Days parade. This year may be my last, as well. If anything, participating in our politics is about nurturing long-term friendships. When old friends are absent, it’s time to make new ones or move on.

A positive thing about parades is the conversations with candidates and elected officials that are possible. The Johnson County Democrats entry included State Rep. Christina Bohannan who is running for the U.S. Congress, State Senator Kevin Kinney, County Auditor Travis Weipert, and County Supervisors Lisa Green-Douglass and Jon Green. House District 91 candidate Elle Wyant had her own entry further back in the lineup. Informal accessibility makes for good conversation and remains a positive aspect of participating in parades.

I wore a Mike Franken for U.S. Senate t-shirt with my old Solon Beef Days ball cap. Later that afternoon the Des Moines Register Iowa Poll reported Franken trails incumbent Chuck Grassley by eight points. There is a steep hill to climb for Franken to win. It’s not impossible, yet not easy either. Democrats are not afraid to do the work.

“It is his weakest showing since 1980,” pollster J. Ann Selzer said of Grassley’s results. It only takes 50 percent plus one vote to win, I retort.

Each cycle it becomes increasingly clear Iowa is returning to its conservative roots. As older folks step off the main political stage, younger people debut with different values, creating a new electorate which is taking a turn to the extreme right. Democrats have been relegated to minority party status for the time being. I plan to stay engaged in party politics in a county where Democrats hold a significant voter registration advantage. I’ll have less to say as I age.

Leaving the state is not a real option for us. Our living family was born here and starting over would take more energy than we have. Our finances are stable, we own our home, and our health is reasonably good. I don’t know to where we’d move that would offer better opportunities for septuagenarians. We are bound to the state where we were born.

The county party opened an office in nearby North Liberty on Friday. I gathered some 35 yard signs and delivered them there so they would be more available for voters. I’ll help distribute yard signs from our garage when the big push comes, yet for now, better the office has them to distribute. I didn’t stick around for the speeches from gubernatorial candidate Deidre DeJear, congressional candidate Christina Bohannan, and others. I heard everyone scheduled to be there speak multiple times. Before I left, I signed the volunteer sheet and will help out with the office if they need me.

Saturday was my last political walk through Solon in a parade. I’m thankful for all the experiences and have no regrets. I wish my successors well.

Categories
Living in Society

Don’t Let Social Media Discourage You – Vote

President Lyndon B. Johnson addressing crowd at rally on Sept. 28, 1964. Photo Credit – LBJ Presidential Library.

A lot changed in political campaigns since I worked my first for Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Democrats and Republicans are now at a place where established patterns repeat each cycle: marching in parades, having a booth at the county fair, putting up sign advertising, and canvassing voters. These may be comforting, yet campaign action has moved.

Both major parties use big data to inform their campaigns.

Perhaps the most dramatic change was the way Trump campaigns used Facebook and Cambridge Analytica to scrape personal data about tens of millions of voters from the internet, and then custom target voters with tens of thousands of distinct daily ads designed to either persuade people to vote for Trump or not vote at all.

Progressive radio host Thom Hartmann wrote that on the day of the third presidential debate in October 2020, team Trump ran 175,000 variations of ads micro-targeting voters. These ads were, for the most part, not publicly seen.

This is way beyond showing up to meet candidates at a county fair.

Despite this use of technology, elections reduce to staying engaged with candidates, and working to cast an informed vote. That pressure from social media to disengage from politics? Someone is working to make us feel that way. We must resist and vote for who best serves our interests.

I reviewed the candidates and for me, Democrats on the ballot deserve our votes. That’s for whom I will vote on Nov. 8.

~ First published as a letter to the editor of The Little Village on July 15, 2022