Toward a Wiser Iowa*
With Spring there is Renewal
I came home one day last June to find a long cardboard shipping box leaning against my back door. After reading the invoice I opened the box and discovered an apple tree inside the box from where else….? (Fastgrowingtrees.com)
It was a Malus five-variety hybrid, a thank-you gift from Michael Boddicker an old friend who I invited to join me as a guest lecturer at Drake University in the last term. In the early 1970’s, Michael left Marion, Iowa and his father’s music store, moved to Los Angeles and in short order became one of the world’s most sought after sound designers, composers and studio musicians.
His 3-day residency at Drake was fun and on his return to Los Angeles, he sent me this young apple tree as a thank you. While I hadn’t been planning to plant any trees, the prospect of apple cobbler in the fall caused a change of attitude. The next thing I did was call up my friend Tom Rendon to see if he could help me welcome our new tree to the yard.
Now, just in time for Easter, I have little buds and shoots telling me that we survived the Winter. If I just stay with it, we might have apple something-or-other in the months ahead.
I have sometimes felt ‘transplanted’ back to an Iowa barely recognizable as the home where I learned so much about creativity and humanity in decades past.
Thoughts like this were heavy on my mind as I entered a Zoom video call last week with members from the Iowa Writers Collaborative. I guess the stars must’ve been in the right position because listening to folks from around the state, let me know that I wasn’t alone in my feelings and perceptions.
After the call, I realized that others shared my concern about Iowa’s environmental and education policies (or lack thereof). As a member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, I have heard rural and urban voices alike speak up with passion and truth only to find themselves ignored as the tilt toward corporate, privatized governance has taken hold in the cities, towns and rural hamlets of this once-responsible State.
It’s clear that regular Iowans are witnessing the results of long-unsustainable policy decisions now collapsing in on themselves. They manifest as environmental, agricultural and social degradation that can no longer be ignored or waved away. Folks are honestly assessing the problems and taking an unflinching look at what must be done to arrest this insanity.
Heartfelt thanks to Julie and IWC for encouraging to leave my own silo to read and hear from others around the State. This Easter I resolve to tend to my own budding green shoots of positive consciousness and do what I can to bring about a wiser Iowa. I’m glad to be in your company.
Upcoming: April is Jazz Appreciation Month….stay tuned.
*A Wiser Iowa - a phrase from my friend Nan Stillians, former Dir. Iowa Arts Council
Great story Dartanyan ~ let's hope that our fellow Iowans that are hypnotized by delusion return to harmony with nature and with one another, and the wisdom of kindness!
A gift of hope! Thank you!