I’ve been on the road for a few days. A work assignment.

The project found me headed to DeSoto, Missouri. If you’ve never heard of it, and kind of like Fontanelle, Iowa, you probably haven’t, it’s about an hour southwest of St. Louis.

With an eight-hour drive each way, I took the liberty of making it a three-day affair, something I rarely do. I can usually drive to my destination, conduct my interviews, and get back home in two. But coming on the end of a long, hectic summer – it made for a nice break, a chance to catch my breath.

I’m usually good for a road trip. I get my cooler, music, and maps in tow, then just hit the road. What I don’t have planned I make up as I go. That’s the fun of it.

I pulled into my motel in Festus, about half an hour from story territory, mid-afternoon Friday, in time to settle in before heading out to the farm. Continue reading →

I live in Iowa – the land of the perpetual campaign season. That means political issues are always hot topics.

I’ve had many conversations in the past few weeks with folks of varying political and ideological persuasions. Those conversations are always insightful, often spirited, and sometimes contentious.

But they always end with the same note – We live in an amazing country where people are not only allowed, but encouraged, to express their thoughts and opinions.

At the end of the day, friends are still friends, family is still family, and it is abundantly clear everyone involved deeply cares for our country and its future.

Patriotism doesn’t belong to the right or to the left, conservatives or liberals. It is neither the domain of the Republicans, nor the Democrats, nor the Independents. Continue reading →

I like summer. Who doesn’t?

Those lazy, hazy, crazy days.

I’m not one who usually wants to see summer come to an end, but this year it feels good to rediscover my normal routine. It was an exceptionally busy season – filled with cousins, community, and more than a little chaos.

Crazy? Yes. Hazy? Well, in a whirlwind-induced fog sort of way, yes. Lazy? Uh, not so much.

Oh, it’s been a good season. I have enjoyed it. And I will carry a new bevy of memories into the winter to offset the chill.

But it’s time to move on to calmer waters.

The family gathering leftovers have been consumed, the last of the containers washed and back on the shelf. The tractor ride and alumni banquet paraphernalia are boxed and stored for next year. The final 4^th of July grant report is in the mail.

Now it’s back to work; back to taking daily walks; back to eating a semi-healthy diet; back to running the dishwasher every couple of days. Continue reading →

The tractors will roll this weekend. It’s the Sixth Annual Adair County Historical Society Heritage Tractor Ride. In just a few short days the colors will stretch through the countryside.

Tractor rides are a farm-life phenomenon. And they’re not just for old men. Men and women of all ages join in the fun, on every kind of tractor imaginable. They gather and socialize. They enjoy the Iowa landscape at 10 mph.

They compare machines. Tractors are our classic cars. They are beautiful apparatuses. Some will come in their raw form; some painstakingly restored and decked out to the nines.

Some rides are small, simple. Some attract large crowds. When I worked at KSIB, I helped start their annual ride – that now attracts around 200 tractors the first Saturday of each June.

But for all the variants, one thing holds true – allegiance to tractor brand and color is as ingrained in a soul as religion, political persuasion, and being true to your school. Continue reading →

The shooting of nine Black leaders in a historic church in Charleston, South Carolina, this week was simultaneously shocking and unremarkable.

It’s a scene that has become all too familiar, as have the ensuing conversations.

John Stewart on The Daily Show proclaimed it an act of racism, pure and simple. It was most definitely an act of racism. But it’s not simple. Continue reading →