8 minute read
Brock About Town
theories), research the possible long-term effects of experiencing a COVID-19 infection, and determine which is the right option for you and your family. But please do read, and make an educated decision when the time is right and the vaccine is made available to you, and if you choose to receive the vaccine, make sure to get your second dose 21 days after your first.
I anticipate I will feel more effects after the second dose, and I will follow the asked protocol to report them online. For me, choosing the vaccine felt like the first step back to the life we used to know. I cannot say if there will come a time in the future that we will not need to wear masks and eye protection with each patient encounter we have, but maybe we will see fewer critically ill COVID-19 patients, or even just fewer hospitalized COVID patients overall if the vaccine becomes the popular choice. All I am offering is that this holiday season has a touch more hope and sense of renewal this year than I’ve noticed before, but it is a fragile hope, much like a small flame from kindling. It will need to be fanned and protected carefully so that it can be shared by everyone, not just healthcare workers. —Katelyn Meyer
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Submitted Dec. 18
MY MOTHER LIVES AT ONE of Iowa’s 430 nursing facilities. While some people choose to gloat about supposed American ingenuity and prosperity, I continue to worry about nearly a third of Iowa’s long-term care facilities having outbreaks of COVID-19. A number healthcare workers have tested
BROCK ABOUT TOWN
AUDREY BROCK
I’ve never understood why people make such a big deal out of the new year. Jan. 1 is a featureless, arbitrary day like any other that exists in the yawning chasm between Christmas and the first day it’s safe to go outside without your parka, and it’s always struck me as a bit naïve to think that the calendar rolling over is going to change anything about your life. However, this year, I completely understand, because this is the year we leave the pungent Dumpster fire that was 2020 behind.
Yes, the date is still arbitrary and we’re still in as deep a pile of crap as we were last week, and I’m an irritating millennial who complains about how terrible every year is with no attempt to improve my life whatsoever—all that is true. However, I don’t think the optimism a lot of people are feeling is misplaced. Millions of Americans have received the new coronavirus vaccine, freeing them up to return to making out with strangers in the frozen foods aisle at Target. (Thank God, right?) In less than three weeks, this country will no longer be led by a man who has committed countless offenses against the American people, his reprehensible spray tan displayed on every single news channel for the last five years. Plus, we haven’t heard anything about those murder hornets in a while, so that whole situation must be fine, right? Yeah.
That said, some people are getting a little bit ahead of themselves. The other day, I overheard someone talking about the pandemic in the past tense, as in, “Gee, remember that toilet paper shortage during the pandemic? That sure was crazy.” (I backed up an extra six feet, just in case.) It makes me wonder how long it’ll be before the sort of people who write Medium articles about the ethics of making your own sourdough will start releasing pandemic memoirs. I bet you my last box of emergency fallout spaghetti that in two years, we’ll be able to go into any bookstore and find books with titles like Tie-Dye Dreams: How TikTok Trends Saved My Marriage or Mommy Doesn’t Understand Algebra: How to Incorporate Your Day-Drinking into Your Parenting Strategy. The mind practically boggles. 2021 is nigh. I wish you all an overabundance of happiness, to compensate for last year, and good luck in fighting off those gangs of radioactive cannibals. /LittleVillage
READER POLL: Will Trump attend the inauguration?
3.9% Yes
96.1% No
positive at my mom’s nursing home. I am not pleased that our governor relaxed COVID-19 restrictions while the Trump administration cut Iowa’s allotment of vaccine by 30 percent. Why do some Americans fixate on a governor’s not overstepping her authority or infringing on personal rights? People are dying in record numbers, a 9/11 every day! The fact that some place personal ideology over human life saddens me. Succumbing to the deceit and flattery of demagogue permits pride and ideology to trump cold hard reality. I suggest anyone overly concerned with power-drunk leaders volunteer at a nursing home. Maybe then the shade of narcissism and selfishness might lift from your eyes. —Mike Fallon
Letter to the editor: It’s time to retire Native mascots in Iowa and beyond (Dec. 9)
I agree that we should retire Native tribal mascots. Just the idea of being a mascot is diminishing and using such names and mascots is a reminder to Native Tribes people that they were subjugated by the dominant culture. Imagine, if you will, the outrage that would/should ensue if Afro-American stereotypes were displayed at football games. —Barry B.
POR W. aLEX CHOQUEMaManI
La pandemia del Covid-19 está afectando de manera diferente a las familias y personas de bajos recursos económicos. Ocurre también lo mismo con la población inmigrante que vive en los Estados Unidos, especialmente con los inmigrantes indocumentados.
Los inmigrantes indocumentados contribuyen a la riqueza de los Estados Unidos y, al estado de Iowa en particular. Y en estos tiempos difíciles la gran mayoría está realizando trabajos esenciales (muchos son agricultores, otros cocineros, algunos encargados de limpieza, etc.), al igual que muchas otras personas, pero con la única diferencia de que no cuentan con documentación migratoria.
Sin embargo, los inmigrantes indocumentados están excluidos de la entrega de estímulos económicos federales. ¿Se puede dejar morir o empobrecer (una forma lenta también de morir) a un grupo de personas en razón de su estatus migratorio?
California dispuso en el mes de abril de este año un fondo de ayuda económica para la población inmigrante (independiente de su estatus migratorio) que haya sido excluida del seguro de desempleo y de la entrega de cheques de estímulo económico. La entrega de dicha ayuda fue a través de organizaciones sin fines de lucro y de caridad ubicadas en diferentes partes de California. Una medida similar no ha ocurrido en Iowa.
Sin embargo, muchas organizaciones sin fines de lucro y personas individuales expresaron su solidaridad hacia la comunidad inmigrante de Iowa. Por ejemplo, una de esas organizaciones que ayudó a los inmigrantes (independiente de su estatus migratorio) fue el Centro de Justicia Laboral de Eastern Iowa de Iowa City (Center for Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa). Ellos hicieron una campaña denominada “De mi casa a tu casa” (From My Home to Yours). Esta campaña consistió en motivar a aquellas personas que recibieron el cheque de estímulo económico, y que no lo necesitaban, a donarlo a las familias inmigrantes que sí lo necesitaran. Así muchas personas se sumaron a esta campaña y donaron el total o una parte de su cheque. También aportaron económicamente para esta campaña otras organizaciones e instituciones, tales como la Red Nacional de Jornaleros y la Ciudad de Iowa City. Según Mayra Hernández, organizadora comunitaria del Centro de Justicia Laboral de Eastern Iowa, lograron distribuir alrededor de $270,000 a más de 600 familias inmigrantes de Iowa―especialmente del condado de Johnson.
IF YOU DON’T NEED THE NEW $600 STIMULUS, CONSIDER DONATING TO THE UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY.
Si no necesita el nuevo estímulo de $600, considere donar a la comunidad de inmigrantes indocumentados. Así también podremos decir que aquí, en Iowa, “el pueblo ayuda al pueblo.”
454 FIRST AVENUE, CORALVILLE, IA 52241
319-338-1815 hello@arnottkirklaw.com
The Takeaway: IC newbie Bollywood Grill earns its place in the local scene (Dec. 14)
Bollywood Grill is incredible. We’ve ordered take out about once a week for several months. I can’t get enough! —Noel V.
They are sooooo yummy! —Eileen L.
Gov. Reynolds returns $21 million in misspent federal aid to state’s Coronavirus Relief Fund (Dec. 14)
Face, meet palm. —Emma N.
Remember this, and all her other failed leadership, in ‘22 when she’s up for re-election. Don’t let her slide by to another win. She needs to be fired. —Erin S.
Get this money to the facilities that need to be reimbursed for millions to hire extra traveling nurses, pay outrageous upcharges for PPE. Establish a support program for the frontline staff who have had to hold the hands of our people who have had to suffer in the hospital alone. No excuses to not get this done THIS WEEK! —Stephanie S.
When the governance succumbs to corruption, no amount of money gets completely to the intended. —Dave M.
Marvin Bell, UI professor and first Iowa Poet Laureate, has died (Dec. 15)
He was an amazing professor and masterful poet. —Mark A.
OUR SERVICES, WITH DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE FOR STUDENTS AND UI EMPLOYEES:
• Immigration • Family and Juvenile Law • Business Law and Litigation • Business Formation - LLCs and Corporations • Uniform Commercial Code • Estate Planning and Probate • Real Estate • Criminal Defense • Insurance • Expungement • Drivers License Reinstatement
I had the privilege of engaging in a few lively debates with this man. —William G.M.
Iowa is spending $10m in federal pandemic aid on state police salaries (Dec. 15)
Gee, why not help out some small businesses? Or helping stock food pantries? Or provide rental relief? —Jeff K.
Defund the police, fund an investigation into Kim Reynolds for the negligent homicide of 3,340 Iowans. —@t_virus96
Letter: City Manager Fruin’s plan gives police more power, rebuffs Iowa Freedom Riders (Dec. 28)
Less. Police. Influence. Not more. —Michelle A.
It would seem that Mr. Fruin needs to either comply with the direction the IC City Council wishes to go or be replaced with someone who will. —Ron P.
The Cedar Rapids City Council will vote on a citizen review board for CRPD in early 2021 (Dec. 30)
The proposed CR review board suffers from the same basic problems as the IC one, in particular, the inability to conduct independent investigations or to meaningfully discipline individual officers. I’d rather not be so cynically about these things, but I see no reason not to. —@city_of_iowa
