10 minute read
Brock about Town
Didn’t a bunch of local people go on a social media tirade about this owner & place a few months back? Way to go, you cancelled her. —Sarah C.D.
Frankly, I don’t care and I’d do it again. Maybe people shouldn’t gaslight women of color about an issue that directly affects their community and not expect pushback. Lmao also, their closure had literally nothing to do with what was said on social media according to their post about closing so... Trust me, no white liberals in Iowa City will ever get cancelled, that’s not how this city works. —Erin N.B.
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Dr. Caitlin Pedati, who oversaw Iowa’s COVID-19 response, gets a new job (Dec. 14)
45% pay raise to $265,000 and gave out false data. Soooo bad. —Terry K.P.
BROCK ABOUT TOWN
I’ve mentioned before that I simply don’t approve of the whole “New Year’s resolution” concept. In my opinion, it’s unnecessarily cruel. It’s freezing cold; we get, like, 45 minutes of sun exposure per day; I just blew all my money on the month-long bacchanalia American culture tries to pass off as a religious holiday, and now you want me to give up drinking for a month? The effrontery.
Besides, it doesn’t even work. Only 8 percent of Americans report being successful in their New Year’s resolutions. The pull-out method works better than that (and trust me, it doesn’t work very well). Chances are, when 2022 ends, you’ll be making exactly as much money as you are now, and you won’t be any thinner, happier or more likely to find a record label willing to produce your shoegaze album. (Sorry, Ricky. I didn’t know how else to tell you. It’s just not good.)
That said, I know some of you are going to go ahead and try it anyway, because your heart isn’t a shriveled-up piece of coal and you can still experience the sensation of hope. How adorable. And since I love you guys, and I don’t want to see you get hurt, might I suggest a few … more achievable ideas?
• Get rid of your gym membership. Seriously, when was the last time you took your fat ass to Planet Fitness on any day that they were not serving pizza? Just get rid of it and find something else to spend your 10 bucks a month on. Remember to set aside at least a month for this task, because they make you perform the 12 trials of
Hercules before they let you out of your contract. Then, after you’ve safely delivered them the head of Medusa, find a less soul-sucking way of getting exercise. I just bought myself a pair of roller skates. • Lower your literary standards. You haven’t finished a book since your sophomore year of college. What makes you think you’re going to read *Anna Karenina* by next month’s book club meeting? Take a baby step and read a trashy romance novel instead; something really, really filthy, with a picture of
Fabio dressed as a pirate on the cover. If you’re honest with yourself, the only reason you wanted to read great literature in the first place was to get laid. • Start showing up to work on time. Forget about your master plan to impress your boss with the best damn quarterly presentation he’s ever seen. That’s way above your pay grade.
Punctuality will go farther than anything else to show your dedication to—
AUDREY BROCK
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“We’re a very simple organization with a very simple mission: We serve people lunch, and it’s important, and it’s not super complicated.” —Kai Kiser, director of the Iowa City Free Lunch Program, est. 1983
“I’ve had multiple abortions. I’ve had three, actually. And I’m proud to say that I have had the right to choose them. The last one was pretty scary. We didn’t know if we could find funding for the abortion, but my partner and I also knew that we couldn’t afford a child. And that is a terrifying thing to have to go through … No one should have to be in a situation where they’re scouring the internet to find pills. We need to keep abortion safe, affordable and legal.” — Mica Doolan, speaking on the UI Pentacrest during a Dec. 4 abortion rights rally
“This has been one of the most consequential time periods of Iowa history, but the governor and her staff have deprived the citizens of Iowa of documents and information they are entitled to receive to evaluate her work as the state’s chief executive and for citizens to better understand the challenges our state faces.” —ACLU of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis Austen, announcing a lawsuit against the Reynolds administration for alleged violations of Iowa’s Open Record Act “In my opinion the inductive loop that the theater just installed [is] state of the art in terms Adria Carpenter / Little Village of listening assistance.” —Catherine Johnson of Disability Rights Iowa, praising Theatre Cedar Rapids’ new T-coil hearing loop system, designed to enhance the soundscape for patrons with hearing aids “Fear is what tries to erase our LGBTQ students by banning books. Via Lori Lovstad Fear tries to erase the experience of our students of color by banning divisive concepts. Fear screams and threatens public officials to try and stop them from what they know is right. Fear tries to recreate the past, but true freedom is being unafraid of the future.” —Lori Lovstad, Ankeny school board member, addressing efforts to ban books from school libraries conservative parents deem “pornographic” or “woke”
Pedati was an embarrassment. I would say the state hasn’t had anybody legitimately in that role since whoever preceded her with that title or similar. Reynolds remains truly awful. —Kirsty C.
Letter from Joe Bolkcom: are rural Iowa communities better off today than they were five years ago? (Dec. 17)
Republicans get elected by manipulating people’s pain and anxiety from problems they seem to make worse on purpose. It’s a grim cycle. —Randy K.
Op-ed: Why the Lord of the rings movies matter 20 years later (Dec. 17)
Absolutely loved that film! It sucked you right in...even though it was three hours long, I didn’t want it to end. —Ariane P.
Omicron detected in more Iowa counties, indicating community spread of the COVID variant (Dec. 21)
Get your booster shot, the OG vaccine shots are not that good at preventing Omicron at this point since immunity wanes over time. —Audrey K.
Iowa City high school students rally to support abortion rights as the u.S. Supreme Court considers overturning roe (Dec. 21)
Actually, I heard from high school students and junior high students, that junior high students outnumbered high school students! —Katie R.
The beginning of the end for the building that was The Mill started on Tuesday, as the city received an application for a demolition permit. A placard announcing a permit for “complete building demolition” has been requested was posted on the building, which is described in the application as a “non-historic property.” The Mill, an Iowa City institution for almost 60 years, had
millions of live & active cultures
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been at its 120 E Burlington St location for 48 years, before closing down in June 2020. (Dec. 22)
The ghost of Keith Dempster will always haunt that ground, decibel meter clutched in his hand, muttering something about not drawing flies. —Dan B.
Yeah, it’s very shameful that IC so willingly erases itself. Sad to say, it will never be economically viable to have a privately held establishment serve ALL of Iowa City’s many and varied communities the way The Mill had. It was one of those uncopyable phenomenons. Thank you Keith Dempster and Marty Christensen for carving out that piece of history. It was never easy for them. In my book, this is the new “most disappointing” thing to see happen to IC. Should have been an opportunity for IC to actually SAVE something great. But I guess the newcomers will never know what they’ve missed and at least one person will make bank by ripping that old shit down and probably somehow get some of my property tax money to do it with as I understand those deals to work. I don’t consider that “vision.” IC is still a great place for sure. But too bad for the newcomers. —John S. Thank you to everyone associated with the Mill for all those decades. Our band HomeBrewed played many a fun benefit concert there with their community support! —Peter D.
Any idea what they are going to do with the bricks? Maybe auction to support the arts? My wife and I would love to have one to commemorate a favorite spot of ours. —Max F.
It’s hard to describe what Iowa City was like when I lived there, but “accessible“ is a word that comes to mind. For example, it was possible to find a great variety of businesses downtown. As a kid, I could go anywhere, and I spent time in the Chemistry Building investigating what grad students were doing, as well as visiting the natural history museum in Macbride Hall. Although Iowa City was a relatively small city, the presence of the university provided many opportunities found only in bigger places. My biggest beef with what has transpired is the building of high rises with no thought about how they affect the character of the city. When I
/LittleVillage READER POLL:
How do you use/ understand the phrase “morning constitutional”?
Taking a walk 42.6% Taking a shit 51.1%
Drinking a beer 6.4% Sex 0%
lived there, I thought the zoning board was too eager to grant variances. —David N.C. I officially CURSE whatever they build there. —Mickey C.
It was Bell & Shore’s home gig for years. This saddens me—and this is happening everywhere, unfortunately. Fayetteville, Arkansas is going through the same kind of corporate destruction of historic buildings and green space. A tragedy. —Susan S.
Ah, the music we heard there. The friends with whom we gathered. The pizzas and all-you-can-eat spaghetti and egg special sandwiches we snarfed. —Winston B.
Sadness. My Dad loved The Mill and when he and Mom first started dating (1966 or ’67 maybe) he took me down to the original Mill. Mom was at work that night. We went in past the pool tables and sat in a booth with the wall jukeboxes, the
/LittleVillage READER POLL:
How often do you shovel during a snowfall?
When the snow stops 48%
A few times throughout 30.4% Leave it to the landlord 21.7%
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