Base and Superstructure

Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology

Category: Iowa (Page 5 of 13)

The Return of Halloween?

October 31, 2022 /

halloween

Today I have a very brief Halloween post before we head into November with more discussion of elections.

Anyway, I don’t know about the rest of you, but my house was pretty busy on Halloween before the pandemic. We never saw hundreds of kids visiting. But usually at least 50 or 60 stopped by for candy.

All that changed in 2020, when no one stopped by. Even last year, no more than 4 or 5 kids in total came around the neighborhood knocking on doors. We live in Iowa City, where people took the pandemic very seriously. In previous posts, I’ve described Iowa City as a liberal bubble and elaborated on some of the details of its activist scene.

To be clear, I’m not complaining about any of that in this post. It’s good we took the pandemic seriously. But all that had the unfortunate side effect of taking away the kids and their costumes on Halloween.

I have to admit – I’m hoping to see the return of the kids and their costumes this year. It’d be nice to get back to handing out candy to 50 or 60 kids each year. Here’s hoping!

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Can Democrats Win Iowa in 2022?

August 1, 2022 /

iowa democrats win 2020

Here’s the short answer to the title of this post: No.

But for a slightly longer answer, I’ll point out that many things could happen. Kim Reynolds could get caught driving drunk while cheating on her husband. Chuck Grassley could die from old age. And so on. But assuming nothing outrageous happens, Democrats won’t win the major federal or statewide races this fall. They will lose Iowa in 2022. Normal campaigning and GOTV efforts won’t be enough to win.

Incidentally, wealthier Democratic donors and party officials already know this. It’s a big part of why donors haven’t given as much money as usual by this point. A few progressives in the state have even criticized Democrats for ‘throwing in the towel.’

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co-crafting the just city

Co-Crafting the Just City

July 11, 2022 /

Recent Iowa City mayor Jim Throgmorton wrote a book about his time on the city council in Iowa City. He calls it Co-Crafting the Just City. I’ll get to why he called it that in just a bit. But for now, I’ll say it’s a rare kind of book. People don’t often write about the politics of a small U.S. city. And certainly not in the kind of detail one finds here.

As some readers know, I moved to Iowa City in 2007. And I served on the city’s Housing and Community Development Commission from 2019 to 2022 (the final year as chair). So, I know about many of the political debates Thorgmorton mentions. I followed most of them closely – some very closely.

Overall, Throgmorton does a fine job listing the basic issues at play. He does so, of course, from his own (in some ways limited) perspective. That’s to be expected. I’ll sketch out some of the book’s goals and insights into Iowa City politics.

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4 Lessons From Local Activism

June 27, 2022 /

So, I’ve taken part in a ton of activist groups in Iowa City over the last 15 years. A couple of months ago, I wrote some reflections on the good and bad of Iowa City activism. I kept most of that rather local to Iowa City. In this post, I’d like to extend this to broader lessons.

With that in mind, here are 4 lessons from local activism!

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housing commission

Housing Commission and Housing Ideas

June 24, 2022 /

Some of you who know me might know I spent the last three years serving on the Iowa City Housing and Community Development Commission (HCDC). And I’ve been the chair of HCDC since July 2021. As I finish up my 3-year term, I wanted to write a bit about all that and about housing in Iowa City (and elsewhere!).

The short version: HCDC does great work on community problems, but it’s not built for solutions to deep or structural problems.

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