Time for a bad idea to go up in smoke

February 12, 2017

Terril is a town of 364 residents and it seemed like most of them were looking on from across the street as four fire departments tried to get a blaze under control the night of Oct. 12, 2015. Tim and Michelle Roth spent 15 years at 306 State Street. They moved there when their oldest sons, Kolton and Reese were only 1 year old. Michelle still looked stunned when she talked about the improvements her family made to their multi-level house over the years. A lower level had been gutted as part of a renovation project. Work was under way upstairs, she told us as flames still flashed ...

I am Mary Richards

February 5, 2017

“How will you make it on your own?/This world is awfully big/Girl this time you’re all alone.” These were the opening lyrics of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” a series that debuted on Saturday, Sept. 19, 1970. The opening sequence introduced audiences to a wistful, attractive young woman — the former Laura Petrie from “The Dick Van Dyke Show” — driving her car, destination: Minneapolis/St. Paul. Its dream sequence showed scenes from her going away party. The final lyrics of the theme song ended on a less than hopeful note: “You might just make it after all.” That ...

Marshalltown community pride

January 14, 2017

One of our vision statements is to have and convey a culture of pride and respect, with a reputation as a great community in which to live, work and play. Community pride looks different to everyone. It can be involvement in planning a community-wide event, attending a school program, donating to a local charity or taking care of your lawn. Recently, I talked with the new City Administrator Jessica Kinser about her experiences in Marshalltown. As a new member of our community, she has the unique perspective of seeing everything with a fresh eye. One of her first impressions was that ...

Caught in the middle

January 8, 2017

You’re becoming too Americanized, Nickie Nguyen’s parents told her when she didn’t speak Vietnamese as well as the other Vietnamese children around her in Des Moines. You’re not Dominican enough, Geordano Liriano, of Harlem, N.Y., was told by older people when he couldn’t say a certain Spanish phrase correctly when visiting the Dominican Republic. Meanwhile, he said, his friends in the United States say he is too Dominican. The only time Isaac Medina, of Marshalltown, gets referred to as an American is when he visits Mexico. In Iowa and in the United States in general, he ...

Why I’m supporting Hillary Clinton

October 23, 2016

In the United States today, 46 million Americans call our rural communities home. In just a few short weeks, you will cast your ballots for President, choosing a candidate who will not only represent your interests, but understands the challenges you face. Throughout this long election, the candidate who has consistently shown herself best equipped to advocate for our rural communities is Hillary Clinton.Hillary has spent her career fighting for rural areas, dating back to her work in Arkansas over 30 years ago to improve public schools across the state. She fought hard to raise ...

Choosing optimism over cynicism

October 16, 2016

I've always considered myself a happy person-not the kind of woman who claps with giddy delight over her breakfast waffles, but the kind of woman who makes regular use of her grin.Sure, there have been hard seasons deaths of loved ones, illness, postpartum depression. But even when the glass looked half-empty, I was always thankful that I had a glass-and that there was something in it.Lately, though, it's been tempting to give up on optimism. It's felt easier to be pulled under a riptide of cynicism.There's good reason: terrorism, a refugee crisis, hurricanes, and a rancorous ...