Ryan Melton, candidate for congress, joins our call today
....he faces tough odds, so what fuels this man
Today’s Monday Zoom guest is Ryan Melton, a candidate for Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District, now held by Randy Feenstra:
Zoom conversation with Ryan Melton
Join us starting at noon central time.
This is Melton's second run at the seat, and his odds of winning are not what motivated him to put his name on the ballot.
Let’s get to know him together today.
A point of pride, if I may
For some reason, not all of you subscribe to the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Roundup. Does the name ‘roundup’ evoke images of herding animals?
The process is like herding cats, butterflies, puppies, or rabbits, but the result is a compilation delivered to your inbox early Sunday morning— a reminder of when the newspaper on our front doorstep was two inches thick and full of news and commentary.
Our gang of 60 Iowa writers—professionals—bring an incomparable glimpse of Iowa life from sports, features, and opinion.
, for example, has an extraordinary poem about a childhood friend who became pregnant at a young age. The sensitivity shown through her words and the sum of life in stanzas has a magical and evocative draw.
is a talented leader who has run significant businesses and served on corporate boards. She surprised me when she used her platform on Substack to unleash her inner poet. Her readers are the better for this metamorphosis.
I compile the roundup of columns much of Saturday and into the wee hours of Sunday morning. It’s a lot of cut-and-pasting, linking, and inserting images, and no matter how often I read and re-read the text, I count on my early-rising colleagues to look at the draft and offer edits. takes this request seriously and points out a minimum of ten ‘nits.’ Missing spaces, extra spaces, misspelled words. Even though I use Grammarly software to catch stuff, it is not infallible.
is our youngest writer. She is talented and brings us stories about creative people in the Midwest who we might not otherwise know about.
has a unique eye for many stories and tells them beautifully and with extraordinary detail.
I highlight these five of our 60 columnists because they are examples of powerful storytellers who have a platform now, thanks to the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, and I commend them to you.
Here is a link to yesterday’s Roundup. There are more than a dozen stories you won’t see anywhere else - , for example, has one about a $100,000 settlement from the City of Des Moines to a photojournalist who was arrested by police while covering the George Floyd protests.
If you want to be in the know about Iowa politics and the people who live here, check out the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Roundup from yesterday:
Okoboji -
Hey, is there a memoir in you? How about a poem? A novel? A song?
We are still taking enrollments for the September 22-25 Okoboji Writers’ and Songwriters’ Retreat, and very few spots remain.
Do yourself a favor and enroll today. It’s the first step of your journey!