Category: Opinion

~a column by Colleen O’Brien The GOP’s anti-healthcare bill has been dropped for lack of votes. It was the Democrat’s fault according to the leader of the pack. It really wasn’t. It was outright rebellion from within; but let’s hear it for the Democrats anyway, for none of them were interested in voting for it.

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~a column by Colleen O’Brien I have been investigating uplifting news, trying to find it, in fact, as if it were a crime being sought out by a Woodward and Bernstein team of investigative journalists. There is some uplifting news; in fact, there’s enough actually to uplift us in a time of low-grade fever that awakes us in the AM…

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~a column by Colleen O’Brien Some serious folks think that reading fiction is beneath them, non-fiction being the stuff of the truly brainy. But recent studies from a fellow at the University of Toronto reveal that reading fiction “influences” one’s “empathetic response in the real world.” So says researcher Keith Oatley of the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development…

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~a column by Colleen O’Brien In planning for a luncheon, one of my friends asked, “What should I bring?” The hostess said, “Let’s take our chances and make it a true potluck. Bring whatever you want.”

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~a column by Colleen O’Brien I’ve been dreaming for three months about my trip to Havana in September. Now I am thinking it was a good idea I’m going to miss out on it through no fault of my own. It seems I may not get there because of a new decision from the current administration.

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~a column by Colleen O’Brien The word “dexterous” if applied to you would be a compliment, no matter what the reference – sports, writing, driving, climbing trees, organizing children: “She is dexterous with the tennis racket…the pen… the preschoolers….” Dexterous means that you are adroit, skillful, clever, artful, deft, that you have mental skill and quickness, that you work with…

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~a column by Colleen O’Brien Cemeteries in the U.S. have a familiar look to them – grassy gravel roads winding casually or plotted in neat grids, rows of rectangular gravestones with the occasional marble angel and limestone tree with a squirrel in it. There are usually two or three house-like mausoleums for the wealthy of old. The lovely fir trees,…

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Trip marks the first time all of Iowa’s farm groups have come together for a trade mission DES MOINES – Gov. Kim Reynolds on May 30 announced that she will lead an all Iowa agriculture trade mission to China July 19-28. Traveling with her will be representatives from commodity groups and the Farm Bureau, emphasizing Iowa’s corn, pork, soy, beef,…

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~a column by Colleen O’Brien I had lunch last week with about 30 women – half of them were Muslims from a nearby mosque and half were members of a nearby Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. The Unitarians were serving the food – chili and stew, green salad and pasta salad, brownies and velvet cake—in the dining room of their fellowship hall.…

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About Robert’s tale of the Edmund Fitzgerald as told by Colleen O’Brien Just read this, and was swept up not just by the story itself, but by Colleen’s play-by-play description of Robert’s telling of it. Her short sentences were full of impact; the emotion felt by Robert and conveyed to the listeners at the party carried through to the readers…

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DES MOINES – Gov. Terry Branstad will resign as governor of Iowa on Wednesday, May 24, and immediately be sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China. The U.S. Senate confirmed Branstad late Monday afternoon by a vote of 82-13.

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~a column by Colleen O’Brien Do you name things in your lives? I mean, besides your children and pets? Things like cars and houses, rocks and birds, flowers and so forth? I started doing this when I moved half a continent away from everyone and all that I knew except the man I married, so I figured it had something…

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