A road trip allows time to ponder

...and connecting dots along the way

Dudley in his car seat bed on a road trip

Dudley and I left sunny Florida on Monday morning, with 80-degree temperatures and blue skies. We headed home to Des Moines, mostly by the Interstate system, making an exception to take the Great River Road from Keokuk to Burlington.

The actual time at the wheel was about 22 hours, compared to six hours traveling via airline (not including three overnight stays and other stops to charge the electric vehicle). That’s a lot of uninterrupted time for this Type A personality style.

The palm trees disappeared in the rearview mirror, replaced by redbud trees in full bloom, followed by forsythia bushes, robins, and rolling hills. Feeling the change in latitude one mile at a time involves the senses.

On day two, I replaced the open-toed sandals I wore on day one with the warmth of an old pair of UGGs. Ahhhhh…much better.

My packing for this trip wasn’t well organized. I threw a few things in a canvas tote, electronics in a backpack, and half the car loaded with stuff for Dudley. Standing in the closet, I wondered if I’d need a jacket, so I brought one along, just in case.

Thankfully.

The difference between an abstract idea and reality is an interesting phenomenon. One is a thought; the other involves the senses—touch, sight, sound, taste, and smell. Spring smells different than winter. We don’t usually think about being cold when we are not cold. When we are not hungry, we don’t think about hunger other than as a concept. We don't think about the consequences of not seeing rivers and streams being polluted.

Until we do.

Dot One

I was on the road in Georgia during the scheduled time of our Monday Zoom chat with author Austin Frerick. A desk clerk at a Days Inn along the route let me use the Wi-Fi in the lobby to set up the call. I apologize if you hear the chatter of the staff shift change or the bell ringing whenever someone enters the motel's outer lobby. Regardless, the podcast conversation is worth a listen. The author has produced a ground-breaking book, Barons, about the cost of consolidating the agricultural industry.

Dot Two

Two New York Times podcasts on The Daily caught my attention.

The first was about a bombshell case that will radically impact the business of buying or selling a home through a real estate agent. NYTimes reporter Debra Kamin, who covers the real estate industry, explains how and why the National Association of Realtors is imploding over a lawsuit a few homeowners filed over the cost of commissions charged on a real estate transaction. The result of this lawsuit could save buyers and sellers thousands in lower commission costs.

Dot Three

The next Daily episode I listened to was titled, It Sucks to be 33, and featured NYTimes reporter Jeanna Smialek, who is part of a ‘cohort’ born in 1990 and 1991 that is a peak demographic at every stage of their lives—getting into college, trying to find a job or a house in a market where so many in their blip are in the same situation. A so-called starter home hits the market and, within 24 hours, has multiple offers over the asking price.

It must suck to be 33.

As a baby boomer, I can relate to being a part of a monster demo blip overshadowing consumer spending and cultural norms.

My generation was so large that we forced public schools to add mobile classrooms until new buildings came online to handle the overflow. Born in 1950, on the cusp of this boom, I understood that if I were interested in a product, service, or song, it wouldn’t be long before whatever I liked rose in popularity. The Beatles are a case in point. That carried over into politics as draft-age young men, our friends, and family members caused many of us to examine the war they were being conscripted to fight.

The 30-somethings are stepping into leadership. They’ve been dealt a tough hand. What will they do with power when their very lives are at stake?

Dot Four

We are our radio presets.

I have the 70s music channel, The Beatles channel, CNN, MSNBC, Bloomberg, NPR, and Willie’s Roadhouse, on my saved satellite radio. News about the former president has become incessant, so I only briefly dip into CNN or MSNBC.

However, I was glued to Bloomberg Radio when the Fed Chair announced this week that although key indicators like unemployment and wages are doing great, inflation is still a concern, so they won’t be lowering interest rates yet. I listened to the press conference, and no reporter asked about the problem with monopolies taking over market segments and raising prices, causing inflation. This was fresh on my mind because of our call with Austin Frerick and thinking about the monopolization of the food industry, specifically.

Isn’t this THE question of our time?

Don’t we need to name the problem to solve the problem?

Who remembers playing Monopoly? The game could go on for hours or days, depending on the largesse of the one who gobbled up properties the fastest through no real skill, just a dice roll. The first player to land on properties, buy them, and build houses and hotels meant they could be wiped out when opponents landed on them. You win. They lose. Cheating could be involved. And, if the winner wanted to play longer, their opponents could be given just enough crumbs to keep the game going, only to be crushed when the victor was ready to quit.

Have you seen the spike in rental prices these days?

Maybe it’s time to revise the timeless game of Monopoly and add another ring around the board. A new dimension could be political officeholders. Owning a U.S. Senator could resemble Park Place and a legislator, Baltic Avenue.

The U.S. Senate, Congress, Governors, Legislatures, etc., and the U.S. Supreme Court—all could be for sale or rent on an updated version of Monopoly. And, when landing on Community Chest, here’s a sample card one could draw:

Mr. GotRocks takes a member of the Supreme Court on lavish vacations. The case he has before the court is dismissed. Pass GO and collect $10mm.

People living on a salary, with a higher mortgage and higher food costs, can’t write a $300,000 check to a gubernatorial campaign like an agribusiness owner can. So, whose bidding will the officeholder represent?

Dot Five

Happy National Women’s History Month. Ah, music from the 1960s and 1970s brings back memories. I hope this will tie everything together. Songs from that era remind me of why there was such a thing as a women’s movement in the first place.

Here’s a sample of the culture of the time found in the Tom Jones song, She’s a Lady.

Well, she's all you'd ever want
She's the kind I like to flaunt and take to dinner
But she always knows her place
She's got style, she's got grace, she's a winner
She's a lady
Oh, whoa, whoa, she's a lady
Talkin' about that little lady
And the lady is mine…

…Well, she's never in the way
Always something nice to say, and what a blessin'
I can leave her on her own
Knowin' she's okay alone and there's no messin'…

…Well, she knows what I'm about
She can take what I dish out, and that's not easy
But she knows me through and through
And she knows just what to do and how to please me
She's a lady…

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa…

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Women’s Hours

I was a freshman member of the student senate in college, with just a few meetings under my belt, around the time that song was released.

I raised my hand to introduce a resolution at a council meeting without fanfare. It didn’t make sense that I had to be in a locked dorm by 10:00 p.m., but the guys didn’t have a curfew.

Be it resolved: ‘Women’s hours’ for campus housing are abolished, and men and women are treated equally.

The dean of academic affairs was there as an observer and became quite flustered. The resolution passed handily. He said a major policy change like that would have to go before the board of trustees, and it was referred to a committee made up of faculty, students, and trustees.

The dean of admissions found me outside the school cafeteria the next day, waving his finger in my face. He said I would ruin the college because no parent would want to send a daughter to the school if she could roam around all night. He was serious and scary.

Eventually, my resolution passed, but not easily. Oh, and the college still exists.

What was deemed a radical idea in 1969 is now the norm. Younger women I talk to today are incredulous that there were ‘women’s hours,’ where dorm rooms were locked at 10:00 p.m., but male students had no restrictions.

One person can make a difference, even when facing resistance to change by powerful forces. Just ask the National Association of Realtors.

The political power of the food industry has impacted our drinking water. When a polluter is fined $6,000 for dumping toxic junk in a stream, it’s simply a rounding error for the business. Chris Jones, a colleague within the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, is a water quality expert who left his job over political pressure to shut up. Well, he’s not shutting up. His commentary lives on, and if you don’t already, read a column he wrote this week and subscribe (pay for the privilege if you can):

I don’t make this statement lightly and I mean every word of it: these Ag Retailers that sell the seed, fertilizer, chemicals and god only knows what other poisons, are a menace to Iowa and Iowans.

Connecting the Dots

We don’t usually think about being cold when we are hot or hungry when we are full—until we are. We don’t think about many issues until the impact is felt and the diagnosis hits home.

Hopefully, we’ll look back in amazement at the fact that government officials not only did nothing when faced with life-and-death policies but also placated the interests that caused the mess in the first place.

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The image of the elephant in the room and this essay might be coming together. If so, will a paradigm shift occur? The unintended consequences of where we are today are a reality we cannot ignore.

Cancer is nonpartisan.

A fishkill is nonpartisan.

Water deemed unfit to swim or drink is nonpartisan.

Will this be THE issue that finally brings us together?

If not, there will be no passing G0 and collecting $200. The game will be over, and we will have lost.

As I drove down the road, the dots seemed to connect. What do you think?

Traveling along the Mississippi River from Keokuk to Burlington.

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Okoboji

Proceeds from paid subscriptions to this column help fund the Okoboji Writers’ and Songwriters’ Retreat, which will take place September 22-25.

There’s a story in everyone. Let us help you tell yours.

Learn more:

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The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative

When a group of us founded the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, we did so in response to commentary dwindling as legacy media cut staff and newsholes. Many newspapers have closed due to market forces and highly leveraged media companies squeezing monies out of newsrooms to pay down debt and satisfy stockholders.

Over the past two years, we’ve added voices of professional writers from around the state, covering city council meetings in Davenport, sports stories often untold, dining reviews, the arts, and fun features.

None of us accept advertising. We are all independent. The only compensation we receive for this work is paid subscriptions; about 10% of our readers do so, and that’s okay.

Someone needs to do what we are doing. The Washington Post’s premise that democracy dies in darkness is true.

If you can, pick a few on this roster you’d like to support. Please become a paid subscriber and tell a friend about this group.

Also, speak up. Do you have an informed opinion you’d like to add? Contribute your essay in this form: Letters From Iowans.

Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Roster

Nicole Baart: This Stays Here, Sioux Center

Ray Young Bear: From Red Earth Drive, Meskwaki Settlement

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Tory Brecht: Brecht’s Beat, Quad Cities

Dartanyan Brown, My Integrated Life, Des Moines

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Jane Burns: The Crossover, Des Moines

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, Roundup

Steph Copley: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley

Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

Daniel Finney, Paragraph Stacker, Des Moines

Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts, Okoboji and Sioux Falls

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji

Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

Rob Gray: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny

Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilia

Iowa Capital Dispatch, an alliance with IWC

Dana James: Black Iowa News, Iowa

Chris Jones, Chris’s Substack, Iowa City

Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo

Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Letters from Iowans, Iowa

Darcy Maulsby: Keepin’ It Rural, Calhoun County

Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa

Alison McGaughey, The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities

Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar

Vicki Minor, Relatively Minor, Winterset

Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines

Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids

Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines

Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines

John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines

Steve Semken, The Pulse of a Heartland Publisher, North Liberty

Macey Shofroth: The Midwest Creative, Norwalk

Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona

Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport

Jason Walsmith, The Racontourist, Earlham

Kali White VanBaale, 988: Mental Healthcare in Iowa, Bondurant

Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines