YOU are the Potluck featured guest today
....our Monday Zoom call is wide open. What's on your mind?
Today, let’s devote our Monday Lunch podcast hour to what’s on YOUR mind.
We start at noon. Here’s the link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85352186426
Thought starters?
What is going on in your community?
What is it like to be you these days?
If you could change one thing about Iowa, what would it be?
Have you checked your voter registration? What’s your plan to vote?
How could these podcasts be better?
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
I am thrilled to be the founder of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Readers learn so much about our state from perspectives we would not otherwise be exposed to. Three writers report from the Quad Cities: one in Sioux City and another in Sioux Center, along with many from central Iowa. Through stories and commentary written by professional journalists and authors, there is much to discover about our state and renewing a sense of connection.
offers a thoughtful column today about the importance of silence and listening. Show her some love:
Now that the Okoboji and Songwriters’ Retreat IV is behind us, I’ll focus on building this offering. You’re going to love our new writers.
Attention paid subscribers to any team member: A committee is planning a holiday party to thank you for your support. We held the first one last year, and we all had a good time. It’s fun to meet up in real-time.
Here we are,in the middle of an election year, and politicians find it difficult to show up in their districts in our area. We have one of the worst "Red" districts here in Jones County, and our incombents avoid us like the plague! Even prior to the election, Republicans would only show their faces in places that financially supported them and they supported those folks agendas, in many cases. When controversy rose its ugly head over the school vouchers, suddenly there were scarcely a Republican attending public forums to answer for why they supported things that the voters clearly did not want! Even challengers at the federal level can't bring themselves to the county, even in tight elections for so much as a fund raiser! The assumption is you stay in the most populated areas where support is strongest and simply avoid those who have to few votes to make a difference. Well, in the last election the now head of the Democratic Party in Iowa lost an election by 6 votes, Rita Hart. One would think spending a little more time in those small voter turn out places may have been all it took to reverse that election! What these sorts of tactics are doing in very rural areas is abandoning a weak base and making it even weaker. Locally in the county here the Democratic party is desperately trying to get those Democrats who didn't vote in the last election to get registered and vote in this election. That is on us to try and turn out voters sympathetic to changing things to a more progressive agenda! Quite obvious is the lack of support from the federal candidates to simply show up and energize those working to do what needs to be done! A Purple Iowa is far better than a Red Iowa, by far! So, get with the program Iowa Deomocratric Party! Off your asses and on your feet! Stop playing with republican rules and get back to shoe leather and door knocking! Put a face to that ballot! Be the candidate that took the heat in the doorway of someone's house, you will be remembered and if your actions in that doorway accomplished anything, you will have a vote that took a bit of time, but you didn't have to waste your time sucking up to people you'd rather vote against than vote for!