Here’s a video of our last Office Lounge gathering - a zoom call for readers and Iowa Writers’ Collaborative members. To participate in the next one, to be held the last Friday of the month, all you need to do is become a paid subscriber of any of our members. The list, with links to their columns, is below. If you are not yet a paid subscriber to this Potluck column and would like to support the Okoboji Writers’ Retreat, click the Subscribe now button. Those funds go toward scholarships for emerging writers.
Here’s a link to the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative roundup of columns. This is published each Sunday. Sign up if you’d like to receive the listings:
Our Monday Zoom Lunch guest for January 30 is Admiral Michael Franken. We will primarily talk about international issues today and in the future. The Zoom link for this call is:
Invite Link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85994091271https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85994091271
Please do not post this link publicly. We had one trolling incident because the link ended up on the internet. I was able to it shut down fast, but if this happens again, I will go back to making the Zoom calls only available to paid subscribers. Thanks for understanding.
If you don’t already subscribe to Laura Belin and want to read her report on the Iowa Democratic Party chair election, here is her take:
GOSSIP?
Are you hearing interesting tidbits about what’s going on around the state? Do tell.
In the midst of all the drama, horror, and injustices of the day, I was surprised to read that the Wakonda Golf and Country Club is embroiled in a major controversy.
A story in Axios about the plan to remove hundreds (I hear) of established trees on the course is a must-read, not just for members of the private club, but for tree-huggers and city boosters everywhere.
The board might not have counted on the controversial issue being the cause of families with a generational history of Wakonda membership leaving in droves.
Can the club survive the exodus? Some folks are asking that question, which could have ramifications for property considered a jewel and beautiful part of the drive from the Des Moines International Airport to downtown. Gulp.
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative ColumnistsÂ
Laura Belin:Â Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights
Doug Burns:Â The Iowa Mercury, Carroll
Dave Busiek:Â Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines
Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake
Suzanna de Baca Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley
Debra Engle:Â A Whole New World, Madison County
Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji
Joe Geha:Â Fern and Joe, Ames
Jody Gifford:Â Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines
Nik Heftman, The Seven Times, Iowa and California
Beth Hoffman:Â In the Dirt, Lovilla
Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines
Pat Kinney:Â View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo
Fern Kupfer:Â Fern and Joe, Ames
Robert Leonard:Â Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey
Tar Macias:Â Hola Iowa, Iowa
Kurt Meyer, Showing Up, St. Ansgar
Kyle Munson, Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines
Jane Nguyen, The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines
John Naughton:Â My Life, in Color, Des Moines
Chuck Offenburger:Â Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines
Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains, Washington, D.C.
Macey Spensley, The Midwest Creative, Davenport/Des Moines
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona
Cheryl Tevis:Â Unfinished Business, Boone County
Ed Tibbetts:Â Along the Mississippi, Davenport
Teresa Zilk:Â Talking Good, Des Moines
To receive a weekly roundup of all Iowa Writers’ Collaborative columnists, sign up here (free): ROUNDUP COLUMN
We are proud to have an alliance with Iowa Capital Dispatch.
The Office Lounge subscriber gathering held Friday