Mark Lindner, RIP
I don’t think of my library school cohort as the people I went to library school with: I think of them as the people I met on the internet. Mark…
The Rev. Canon Thomas Hulme, RIP
For many years, from perhaps age eleven or so until I finished high school, I served as an acolyte at Trinity Episcopal Church in Iowa City. I was not a…
An Open Letter to Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds
Dear Governor Reynolds: It is my understanding that you have decided to discontinue additional federal unemployment payments to Iowans who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic because you…
Laura’s Top 50
It is one of the tenets of my life that anything someone else can do well, I can do poorly, so awhile back when Kembrew McLeod posted his list of…
Journal of the Plague No. 14: Black Lives Matter. Black lives matter, too.
My neighborhood is rife with Black Lives Matter signs–homemade ones, ones made by the local high school and various local churches, premade ones ordered by neighbors and friends–and has been…
Journal of the Plague 13: Weeping
[Image: “Harmony weeps for the present situation of American affairs†from 1775 via the Library of Congress], thus perhaps proving that nothing changes much. Last night before bed I read…
Journal of the Plague No. 12: The Shape of My Days
Since the 4th of July, Sophie the dog has woken me up most days at 4:30 am, as she’s become terrified of the night time and won’t usually go out…
Journal of the Plague No. 11: Layoffs
As many of you already know, I was laid off from my job of the past nine-and-a-half years yesterday. I’d planned, when I moved back to Iowa, not to stay…
Journal of the Plague No. 10: Commencement
Fifty years ago today, Grinnell College, like most colleges and universities across the United States, was closed in the aftermath of the shootings at Kent State and Jackson State. When…
Journal of the Plague No. 9: Poorly Sewn Masks
If you’d like to make a scientifically-researched, beautiful, super-hygienic mask, you can follow my friend Iris’s excellent mask-making instructions. But if, like me, you haven’t sewn anything in thirty years,…