~a column by Colleen O’Brien Speaking of loudmouths, bullies and whiners – I’m not at this moment connected to the media – radio, Facebook, TV – but I figure someone is either speaking about them or being loudmouth, whining bullies themselves. The country hears a lot of loudmouth, bullying whining going on a lot of the time these days –…
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Letter to the editor – Jamie Daubendiek
Dear editor, We would just like to say a big thank you to all the volunteers who were involved in helping Jefferson Matters: Main Street put on Main Street Iowa’s annual Fall Workshop last week. This is an annual event where 94 attendees from more than 50 different Main Street Iowa communities come to learn and network with each other…
Read MorePick a dream or take your chances
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Daydreaming is part of our lives. Thank goodness. A daydream often kicks in when you’re bored. Think of: TV, teacher, talkative person, dull person, politician, your boss, parent, sibling…. You get the idea. You needn’t feel guilty about the subject of the daydream or the act of daydreaming itself. It is one of the brain’s…
Read MoreA movie I never intended to see
~a column by Colleen O’Brien A discussion of the movie “Joker” came along at my dinner table the other night, and up to that point, I had to intention of seeing it. “Downton Abbey” is more up my alley. But the cogent argument of a political friend altered my viewpoint. “It is the movie of our time,” J said. I…
Read MoreTrade dispute has done ‘irreparable harm” to farmers
The U.S. and China are scheduled to resume trade talks later this week in Washington, DC, but according to Iowa soybean producers, regardless of the eventual outcome of the trade dispute with China, the damage done since the trade dispute began 16 months ago will take decades to repair. That’s the message Aaron Putze, director of communications and external relations…
Read MoreSpied upon
~a column by Colleen O’Brien The prescience of George Orwell in his novel 1984 is eerie in 2019. Seventy years after its 1949 publication in England, we live with cameras that watch us at stoplights and in stores; cyberspace technology that checks our emails; phones that track our whereabouts from within our houses and autos into the world of roads…
Read More“You gotta give the world credit for beauty.”
Quote from Thomas McNulty, narrator in Sebastian Barry’s novel Days Without End ~a column by Colleen O’Brien That is a truth: the world is beautiful. Sometimes the very beauty before me, alongside me, across the street – it makes my heart burst, brings tears to my eyes even as it lightens whatever my burden of the day is. And sometimes…
Read MoreLooking for a one-night stand?
~a column by Colleen O’Brien I’m always on the lookout for a compelling book that I can devour in one night. It hardly ever happens anymore. I used to be able to pick up a murder mystery and toss it off before 4 am. Then I became tired of murders, what with cats solving them and A to Z series,…
Read MoreIdle moments
~a column by Colleen O’Brien In a moment of boredom, I decided to find something interesting to read on the internet. My advice to you is: Don’t go there. A few examples: “Stunning photos reveal what life was like 50 years ago.” This must be for those who weren’t alive then. We who were would not find the pictures “stunning”…
Read MorePTSD
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Last week as Hurricane Dorian crept west from the mid-Atlantic toward the U.S. southeast coast, gaining power by the mile to menace whatever would be in its path, my friend JD took to her bed.
Read MoreHave a newspaper day
~a column by Colleen O’Brien This column is going to start off sounding political but read on. It will swerve to something more palatable: breakfast. To know what‘s really going on, I listen to or read online all the news sources – MSNBC and FOX, The Beast and The Guardian, Epoch News and the NYTimes, National Review and The New…
Read MoreLetter to the editor – Barb Brooker
Iowa – Number 1 in stink To the editor, The paragraph below is from the latest issue of RV Daily Tips newsletter (https://www.rvtravel.com/rvdt1159/), a very popular publication among RVers. “I am totally disgusted with the powers that be who have let this happen to an otherwise beautiful state. Last night my husband and I stopped at a rural home of…
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