Flow state with Dan Hunter

…plus links to debates, an announcement from Ed Tibbetts and more

Welcome to our new subscribers. Most Mondays, Julie Gammack’s Potluck holds a Zoom conversation over the noon hour with a notable person. This week, former Iowan Dan Hunter was the guest. He is a musician, playwright, comedian, and academic who believes creativity and imagination are vital to nurturing our youth and beyond. Iowa Starting Line founder Pat Rynard joins us this coming Monday to discuss social media trends in Iowa politics. The Monday Zoom Lunch calls are open to paid subscribers to this column. Proceeds benefit the Okoboji Writers’ Retreat.

I continue to marvel at our Monday Zoom lunch discussions. This week, Dan Hunter led a meeting with about 25 Potluckers on the topic of ‘Flow State.’

As usual, I did not know who, if anyone, would show up, but it’s one of a gazillion topics, and it is a pure delight not to worry about Arbitron ratings or clicks on stories for advertisers when booking a guest, as I did in my talk-radio host days.

Of course, Bostonian folksinger, playwright, and comedian Dan Hunter still has a following around his home state of Iowa, so I figured a few old friends would show up, even if the topic ‘flow state’ didn’t draw anyone to the call. And they did. And it turned into quite a participatory conversation.

Dan Hunter, photo from Boston University

The term ‘flow state’ is also known as ‘being in the zone.’ And it’s a topic Hunter has explored in some depth as he is on a mission to ensure creativity is honored and nurtured in schools. He’s come up with a measurement tool that can provide educators with a mechanism that provides a way for them to quantify a heretofore fairly unquantifiable thing: creativity. Otherwise, he fears, metrics-driven education will mean the loss of the kind of learning where imagination is required to solve the problems of the future.

Who better to have on a call about creativity than artists Amy Worthen and Paul Micich?

Amy splits her time between Iowa and Italy. She dialed in from Venice. Paul, who is both a musician and visual artist, Zoomed in from his Iowa home. They know a thing or two about this flow-state thing.

“I’m always late for dinner,” admitted Paul. When he’s working on a project, he can become so focused he loses track of time.

Amy was in Italy when the Covid lockdown took over, and she found those months of isolation produced a flow state leading to one of the most productive times of her career. I can’t wait until the drawings and prints she created of her beloved Italian wisteria become available through the Olson-Larson Gallery in downtown Valley Junction.

This flow state - the euphoric joy of concentrated and uninterrupted creativity - can happen, but it usually requires the removal of the mundane distractions of life. Apple finally created a feature called ‘Focus’ so users can silence those damnable notification interruptions.

In a follow-up exchange with Robert G. Riley, Jr. from the call, he said:

“From my own experience with ADD – flow comes at times. The polarity that happens with Attention Deficit Disorder - hyper-distraction AND hyper-focus - both provide opportunities for flow…

“My book club (Men Who Read) has been assigned, by me, “How to Change Your Mind” by Michael Pollan. Revealing the clinical brainwork that has gone on and exhibits some of the “flow” characteristics Dan talked about.”

During the Zoom conversation, we questioned whether drugs could induce an artificial enhancement of the flow state. This is not something Dan advocates, however. And not the topic he was there to discuss. Still, someone on our call suggested places around the country exist where this kind of experience is legal and led by guides.

See? Miss a Monday; you miss a lot.

Learn more about Dan Hunter’s current work on measuring imagination: https://h-iq.com/history-hunter-higgs/

So, that’s an all-too-brief synopsis of the flow-state phenomenon conversation with Dan Hunter. Have you experienced it? I’d love to have you tell me about it in the comments. It might spark others to share their stories.

Our potluck topics move from right-brain to left-brain subjects. On Monday, October 10, we’ll discuss social media trends in Iowa politics with Pat Rynard, founder-owner of the indispensable digital political news source, Iowa Starting Line, launched in 2015.

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Franken/Grassley Debate

Did you miss the debate between Michael Franken and Chuck Grassley? Here you go:https://www.pbs.org/video/iowa-press-debates-us-senate-s2awym/

Who won?

Axne/Nunn Debate

Here is the debate hosted by KCCI-TV between Cindy Axne and Zach Nunn: https://www.kcci.com/article/cindy-axne-zach-nunn-iowa-debate/41545586#

Who won?

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Ed Tibbetts, Along the Mississippi, member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative

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Along the Mississippi

Below is a column written by Ed Tibbetts, former Quad City Times political reporter and editorial page editor. He summarized what many of us in the Iowa Writers Collaborative feel about this new initiative and announced a new Zoom call I hope some of you will enjoy. Any paid subscribers to this column will be invited to join our Office Lounge discussions.

Here’s what Ed Tibbetts wrote in his column this week:

Nearly six months after I left daily newspapering, I’m back in a newsroom.

It feels good.

OK, it’s not like the newsroom of old. It’s not a place with a roof overhead, where I could look across a big room and watch my colleagues pounding out stories on deadline; where there was nearly always a writer complaining an editor had screwed up a lede; where, at the end of each day, folks were plotting a quick dash out the door to Mac’s Tavern before that editor could ask them to make just one more call to fill a hole in a story.

I sure miss that. I have for a long time.

These days, my newsroom is a bit different. It’s a once-per-month Zoom call where my colleagues are all on a computer screen.

OK, it won’t evoke any of the gritty newsrooms that were in movies like “Deadline — USA”, “The Paper” or “All the President’s Men.”

But as far as newsrooms go, it’s a pretty good one.

I’ve mentioned before that Along the Mississippi is part of The Iowa Writers Collaborative. We’re a collection of old and new writers from across the state; some of us come from the toils of daily newspapering while others arrived by a different path. No matter how we got here, though, we’re all dedicated to offering our readers news, analysis, commentary and ideas they’re not getting anywhere else.

I hope you’ll take a look at the work of the collaborative – and subscribe – because it’s worth it.

Just look at some of our recent stories:

Laura Belin started a conversation about Gov. Kim Reynolds’ new race-baiting TV ad; Pulitzer winner Art Cullen wrote about how legalized marijuana is beginning to surround Iowa, whether we like it or not; Dana James tells the trolls “The word Black is not racist” and Doug Burns in Carroll, offers the view that advocacy on local issues (in this case, train noise) could chart a path away from the poison infecting our state and national politics.

As for myself, I recently pointed out how U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst is attacking IRS workers even as she and others in Congress are letting tax cheats get away with costing taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. Each year.

Practically every day there’s something worth checking out, which is what I want to talk about now.

Once a month, the collaborative gets together in our virtual newsroom, or what we call the “Office Lounge,” to talk about how our newsletters are faring, offer tips and exchange ideas; it’s where we plot to grow the collaborative and its readership – and, at our last meeting, we shared had a laugh or two between Cullen swatting flies (It’s Iowa, you know.)

Well, beginning later this month, the collaborative is offering a special feature for those of you who are paid subscribers. You’ll be invited to participate in our monthly meetings.

This month, the Office Lounge will be on Oct. 28, from noon to 1 p.m.

A Zoom link will be sent to paid subscribers the week before, which will let you in the room.

I hope paid subscribers to Along the Mississippi will join us. People who do will have the opportunity to ask questions, offer ideas – or just listen if you choose.

None of us knows what this will be like but join us and we’ll all find out together.

If not, that’s OK. Maybe another time.

Still, check out my colleagues, who are listed below. I hope you’ll subscribe and support their work, too.

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook

Suzanna de Baca Dispatches from the Heartland

Debra Engle: A Whole New World

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt

Dana James: New Black Iowa 

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi

Iowa Writers Collaborative: Iowa Writers Collaborative

Coming soon: Barry Piatt, our first Washington, D.C. correspondent

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Thanks for being a part of this movement to bring local news and information to your inbox.

I hope to see you in the Office Lounge,

Julie

Photo by Michał Mancewicz on Unsplash

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One more thing: I’ll be in Burlington on Sunday. Susan and David Beckman are gathering about 12 people in the community for an informal discussion about what’s going on in their town. Let’s see if any stories hop into my pocket as a result. I’m counting on it.

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