Inspiration doesn’t just hit you. You have to go looking for it. I often find it with other people, in cafés or at public parks or in friends’ homes. There’s always an external source that inspires the idea that motivates the action. In this case, the action is gluing things on top of other things….
Tag: culture
HortiCulture: 10 Uses for an Abundance of Tomatoes
Culture, according to the Oxford English Dictionary – that is, the highest authority – directly translates to “way of life.” Any group’s way of life is dictated not only by their fellow humans, but by the nature and environment in which they live. The natural world’s influence is more powerful than any cultural apparatus humans…
Deporting the Working Man
No one has ever accused the Midwest of being colorful. At the moment, we are a gloomy people. We celebrate our heritage of boiled potatoes and ice hockey, which is comforting for about ten seconds. Then you start to notice the dimensions where our community is a cultural desert. As much as I love the…
Witness the Club Artist Revolution
This month sees a radical experiment among our local champions. It’s the logical next step in a community that has been quietly on the move for years. We forgot about them for a while. I blame the advent of the mp3 player and its shuffle mode – the very same invention that’s led us to…
You Had Us At Free Stuff
It would be killer if this event turned out to be huge. Iowa’s Latino population gets overlooked a lot. This month, the Figge is bringing back its Día de Muertos or Day of the Dead celebration. Unlike most things posted here, this one is totally family-friendly and a great alternative to some of the scarier…
Kitchi-manitou and Finding the Future in the Past
When I was a kid at summer camp, the counselors told us the story of Kitchi-manitou. It was an old Indian story, they said, about the creation of the world. I hated it because it made no sense. The beginning, for instance, saw Kitchi-manitou floating in an ocean talking to a turtle. “Wait,” I thought,…
Squatters and Supplementary Farming
People generally think of squatters as those who live in the basements of dilapidated urban buildings. Detroit and parts of Chicago come to mind. But Iowa has its share of squatters, and my guess is that number is about to rise drastically. After all, real estate is expensive, and the state’s economy is about to…
Awful or Awesome?: Quad City-style Pizza
Update, Mar. 13, 16:22. I just realized this can go in the Awful-Awesome series, which I wanted to be a thing for a while but then fizzled out. Thus, I have retitled this post and added an additional closing paragraph. Enjoy! I was in my twenties before I stumbled upon this term on Wikipedia. That…
The Island Lives
I did not get a picture of a teary-eyed Nathan Lane on the evening of August 1, and now I kinda wish I had. He got a little verklempt when over 50 of his friends and neighbors descended on Moline, Illinois’ modest city hall to support him and The Island, a DIY venue just up…
On the Artscience of Sound
A man wearing a gorilla mask manipulates a theremin as though he’s attempting to summon the demon that dwells within. His fellow performers are a guitarist and keyboardist, both in balaclavas (totally appropriate, given the season). Interestingly, their instruments aren’t the main focus: it’s the manipulation of console and pedal sets that feature. The result…
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