A L W A Y S
ISSUE 303 February 2022
pg. 50
The art of directing close encounters
pg. 32
Inside the University of Iowa’s lifesaving LGBTQ Clinic PLUS
LV Reviews Area Sex Shops
Schäffer the Darklord
Get in My Ramen Belly
F R E E
Photo: Robert Torres
MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP PEPPERLAND
$10 Friday, February 18, 7:30 pm Mark Morris meets The Beatles! Pepperland is replete with Mark Morris’s blend of wit, musicality, and ingenuity. The evening-length work features original music by Ethan Iverson (formerly of The Bad Plus) as well as arrangements of songs from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band performed by a live ensemble, with Ethan Iverson on keyboards and a live theramin. EVENT PARTNERS Robert and Karlen Fellows Kris Jones The Kerber Family in honor of Ruthie Kerber Phillip Lainson Nancy Lynch John R. Menninger Gregg Oden and Lola Lopes Suzanne Summerwill and James Flitz
STUDENT & YOUTH TICKETS
TICKETS Adults $35 / $45 / $55 College Students $10 / $10 / $49 Youth $10 / $10 / $27 Order online hancher.uiowa.edu Call (319) 335-1160 or 800-HANCHER Accessibility Services (319) 335-1158
Discover more at hancher.uiowa.edu Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Hancher in advance at (319) 335-1158.
CASTALIAN STRING QUARTET Sunday, February 20, 3:00 pm Here’s your chance to catch a rising star. In 2018, the Castalian String Quartet was the recipient of the inaugural Merito String Quartet Award & Valentin Erben Prize and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Award. The quartet followed that up by being named the 2019 Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist of the Year. PROGRAM (subject to change) Mozart: Quartet in D Minor, K. 421 Fanny Mendelssohn: String Quartet in E-flat Major Sibelius: Voces intimae, Op. 56
A collaboration with the University of Iowa String Quartet Residency Program
EVENT PARTNERS Gary and Cathy Cohn Margery Hoppin Karl Kundel and Allison Kundel John Raley / American Family Insurance
TICKETS
$10
STUDENT & YOUTH TICKETS
Adults $25 / $30 / $40 College Students $10 / $10 / $36 Youth $10 / $10 / $20
THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA
NATHALIE STUTZMANN, PRINCIPAL GUEST CONDUCTOR Wednesday, March 9, 7:30 pm The Philadelphia Orchestra is among the world’s preeminent ensembles—and a Hancher favorite as well. The orchestra returns to perform Max Bruch’s beloved Violin Concerto No. 1 as well as Franz Schubert’s final symphony, a masterwork that lives up to its moniker, The Great. PROGRAM (subject to change) Missy Mazzoli: Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 26 Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C Major TICKETS Adults $75 / $95 / $110 College Students $37 / $47 / $55 Youth $37 / $47 / $55
Discover more at hancher.uiowa.edu Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Hancher in advance at (319) 335-1158.
EVENT PARTNERS Bill and Fran Albrecht Mace and Kay Braverman Alicia Brown-Matthes Pat Gauron Daryl K. and Nancy J. Granner George A. and Barbara J. Grilley Leonard and Marlene Hadley Robert J. and Sue B. Latham Bryan and Jan Lawler Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects David and Noreen Revier Bill Rubright in loving memory of Karen G. Rubright Kristin E. Summerwill W. Richard and Joyce Summerwill Alan and Liz Swanson Stephen and Victoria West Candace Wiebener
$10
STUDENT & YOUTH TICKETS
A TRIBUTE TO ARETHA FRANKLIN: THE QUEEN OF SOUL
FEATURING DAMIEN SNEED AND SPECIAL GUEST KAREN CLARK SHEARD Thursday, March 10, 7:30 pm In 2004, Aretha Franklin brought the house down in the original Hancher Auditorium. Now, we invite her towering spirit into the new Hancher with a multi-media tribute performance by created by Damien Sneed—who toured with Franklin late in her career and developed a stronger mentor/mentee relationship with the soul legend—and an accomplished collection of jazz, gospel, and soul musicians. Gospel music legend and four-time Grammy Award-winner (not to mention her multiple Stellar and GMA Dove Awards) Karen Clark Sheard will bring her signature, one-of-a-kind multi-octave vocal range and musicality to the stage in honor of Aretha as well. EVENT PARTNERS Loretta Angerer Norma and David Carlson Charlie and Connie Funk Bruce and Melanie Haupert Kenneth K. Kinsey Family Foundation
Jean Koch Gary and Randi Levitz Donald and Rachel Levy Dorothy Paul Jeffrey R. and Tammy S. Tronvold
Discover more at hancher.uiowa.edu Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Hancher in advance at (319) 335-1158.
TICKETS Adults $30 / $40 / $50 College Students $10 / $10 / $45 Youth $10 / $10 / $25 Order online hancher.uiowa.edu Call (319) 335-1160 or 800-HANCHER Accessibility Services (319) 335-1158
We are doing our best – and also need your help. You depend on University of Iowa Health Care to be there when you need us in your most critical hour. That’s why it’s so difficult for our team to accept that we cannot help everyone who needs us right now. The omicron variant of COVID-19 is draining supplies and overwhelming our staff.
Please help us – so we can help you.
Wear a mask
Get vaccinated
Avoid gatherings
If vaccinated, get a booster
Stay home if you’re unwell
If we each do our part, we can get back to helping Iowans heal faster. Together, each action in support of ending this pandemic makes a difference. Learn more at uihc.org
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EDITORIAL
PRODUCTION
Publisher
Web Developer
Issue 303, Volume 31
Arts Editor
Adith Rai
February 2022
Genevieve Trainor
adith@littlevillagemag.com Cover by Bridget Pelfrey Wignall
genevieve@littlevillagemag.com Digital Director Managing Editor
Drew Bulman
The healthcare industry has a dark
Emma McClatchey
drewb@littlevillagemag.com
record when it comes to treating
emma@littlevillagemag.com
trans patients equitably. But 10 Videographer
years ago, a few focused doctors,
News Director
Jason Smith
therapists, pharmacists and patients
Paul Brennan
jason@littlevillagemag.com
at the University of Iowa created a
paul@littlevillagemag.com
lifesaving LGBTQ clinic. Also in this Marketing Analytics
issue: sex, ramen, rap and theater.
Art Director
Coordinator
Jordan Sellergren
Malcolm MacDougall
jordan@littlevillagemag.com
malcolm@littlevillagemag.com
Meet this month’s guest contributors:
Multimedia Journalist
SALES & ADMINISTRATION
Jav Ducker is a graphic designer
Avery Gregurich is a writer living
Adria Carpenter
President, Little Village, LLC
and photographer living Cedar
and writing at the edge of the
adria@littlevillagemag.com
Matthew Steele
Rapids. He is curious about all
Iowa River in Marengo.
matt@littlevillagemag.com
things visual. He’s also always
Events Editor, Design Assistant
Kembrew McLeod is a founding
hangry.
Sid Peterson
Advertising
sid@littlevillagemag.com
Nolan Petersen, Matthew Steele
Bryon Dudley is a writer, musician
chair of Communications Studies
ads@littlevillagemag.com
and recording engineer from
at the University of Iowa.
Calendar/Event Listings calendar@littlevillagemag.com
Little Village columnist and the
Ames who enjoys cats, dogs and Creative Services
Bridget Pelfrey Wignall is an
casual atheism.
Website design, Email marketing,
artist and beaver believer in
Corrections
E-commerce, Videography
Sarah Elgatian is a writer, activist
Cedar Rapids. You can find her
editor@littlevillagemag.com
creative@littlevillagemag.com
and educator living in Iowa. She
work at bridgetpw.com
likes dark coffee, bright colors February Contributors
CIRCULATION
and long sentences. She dislikes
Saunia Powell is a queer ex-
Audrey Brock, Lev Cantoral, W.
Distribution Manager
meanness.
theater maker and hospice
Alex Choquemamani, Jav Duck-
Joseph Servey
er, Bryon Dudley, Sarah Elgatian,
joseph@littlevillagemag.com
Tiffani Green is an Iowa Citybased writer and Little Village
Dana Telsrow is a musician-cum-
Sarah Hayes, John Martinek,
Distribution
columnist. Her food column, The
artist specializing in diet prog and
Kembrew McLeod, Bridget
Terrance Banks,
Takeaway, features reviews of
gently elongated portraiture in
Pelfrey Wignall, Saunia Powell,
Luke Brooks
local take-out restaurants.
Iowa City.
Dana Telsrow, Tom Tomorrow,
distro@littlevillagemag.com
Tiffani Green, Avery Gregurich,
chaplain.
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Top Stories Daily news updates, events, restaurant reviews and videos at LittleVillageMag.com.
‘A loaded gun in every aisle’: Hy-Vee is introducing a new retail security
COVID-19: Iowa surpasses 8,000 deaths; Gov. Reynolds says Iowa is
team By Adria Carpenter, Jan. 4
‘better off’ because of her policies By Paul Brennan, Jan. 6
The shoulder patches say, “A Helpful Smile in Every Aisle,” but the police-
Johnson County Public Health suspended its routine case investigation
style uniforms, complete with belts with holstered taser and possibly
and contact tracing for new COVID-19 cases because the Omicron surge
handguns, may send a very different message as Hy-Vee deploys a
has overwhelmed its ability to conduct the protocols in an effective
new retail security team in its stores. The West Des Moines-based
manner. “During the past week, there has been a 250% increase in cases
supermarket chain will roll out the officers throughout 2022.
from the previous week,” the department said in a statement.
Belle’s Basix, Cedar Rapids’ only LGBTQ bar, is closing — unless a new
VIDEO: Humans squirm among specimens in a new
owner steps up By Emma McClatchey, Jan. 10
short film set in the UI Museum of Natural History
After a quarter century, Belle’s Basix, one of only a handful of LGBTQ
By Adria Carpenter and Jason Smith, Jan. 12
night spots in eastern Iowa, may soon close for good. “Unless someone
When Stephanie Miracle moved to Iowa City in 2019, she
buys the business, the bar will be permanently closed on Feb. 1st,” owner
visited the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History
Andrew Harrison wrote in a Facebook post. [NOTE: Two weeks later,
in Macbride Hall with her 1-year-old son. “I totally fell in
Harrison announced that the Corridor Entertainment Group was buying
love with this museum space. I immediately started to
and revamping the business.]
dream up a project for this space.” That idea became the 16-minute short film Mammal Hall, premiering this month.
WATCH Mammal Hall Film Screening
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THANK YOU TO THIS ISSUE’S ADVERTISING PARTNERS This issue of Little Village is supported by: Adamantine Spine (53) Arnott & Kirk (75) Artifacts (12) Brides by Jessa (22) Cedar Rapids Czech Village/New Bohemia Co-op (64) - Goldfinch Cyclery - NewBoCo - The Daisy - Parlor City Pub & Eatery Chomp (74) City of Iowa City (53) The Club Car (55) Coralville Public Library (14) Corridor Entertainment Group (72) CSPS (51) Dodge St. Tire (39) DVIP (52) FilmScene (70) Firmstone Real Estate (45) Goodfellow Printing, Inc. (55) Grinnell College Musuem of Art (28)
Hancher Auditorium (2-4) The Highlander Hotel (66) Honeybee Hair Parlor (57) ImOn (49) Iowa City Downtown Co-op (27) - Yotopia - Beadology - Release Body Modification - Record Collector - Critical Hit - The Konnexion Iowa City Northside Marketplace (68) - Artifacts - George’s - John’s Grocery - R.S.V.P. - Hamburg Inn No. 2 - Pagliai’s Pizza - The Haunted Bookshop - Marco’s Grilled Cheese - High Ground Iowa City Public Library (63) The Iowa Children’s Museum (49)
Iowa Department of Public Health (65) Iowa Public Radio (69) Johnson County Public Health (6) KCCK Jazz 88.3 (31) Kim Schillig, Realtor (29) KRUI 89.7FM (31) Leash on Life (51) Linn County Conservation (53) Mailboxes of Iowa City (69) Martin Construction (8) Merge (35) Micky’s Irish Pub (57) Mission Creek Festival (17) Musician’s Pro Shop (55) MYEP (69) National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library (7) New Pioneer Food Co-op (10) Next Page Books Nodo (57) Oasis Falafel (57) Obermann Conversations (48)
Perez Family Tacos (59) Phoebe Martin, Realtor (9) Prairie Lights (59) Press Coffee (59) Public Space One (20) Randy’s Flooring (54) RAYGUN (36, 76) Revival (35) Ricardo Rangel, Jr., Realtor (35) Riverside Theatre (41) Russ’ Northside Service (39) Scratch Cupcakery (29) Shakespeare’s Pub & Grill (55) Shelter House (28) Think Iowa City (11) True/False (47) University of Iowa Healthcare (5) West Music (48) Whitedog (43) White Rabbit (59) Wig & Pen (61) Willow & Stock (61) World of Bikes (63)
Little Village magazine print readership 25,000—40,000 per issue LittleVillageMag.com readership 200,000 monthly article views 74,000 unique monthly visitors
RECENT READER SURVEY DATA MEDIAN AGE: 37 25—34: 26% 35—44: 22% 45—54: 17% 55—64: 14% 65+: 10% 18—24: 9%
AVERAGE NUMBER OF CHILDREN 1.85
MEDIAN PERSONAL INCOME: $55k 26%: $40k—60k 18%: $60k—80k 17%: $100k+ 17%: $20k—40k 12%: <$20k 11%: $80k—$100k
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Female: 63% Male: 34% Nonbinary/other: 3%
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Interactions LV encourages community members, including candidates for office, to submit letters to Editor@LittleVillageMag.com. To be considered for print publication, letters should be under 500 words. Preference is given to letters that have not been published elsewhere. ‘A loaded gun in every aisle’: Hy-Vee is introducing a new retail security team (Jan. 4)
exhibitions
Are they there to protect people, or products? —Brian J. I’ve been a customer at Hy Vee for 58 years. The moment I see this in the store that will come to an end. —William G.M.
performance projects
Give me a ……. break. HyVee forgot who they were years ago. They offer “suggestions” to employees on who to vote for these days. —Paula N.P. Good. Anyone who’s not stealing or otherwise breaking the law in the store
Center for Afrofuturist Studies Iowa City Press Co-op
Media Arts Co-op
iowaculture.gov/reimagine
20 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
shouldn’t have a problem with this. My store literally had a person shit in the liquor section and run. Great idea HyVee!! —Will H. I started boycotting Hy Vee back when they stopped being open 24 hours (and fired a bunch of long term overnight staff). I work 3rd shift so I used to go to Waterfront every night and I’d gotten to know the overnight people there pretty well. Their mask decisions during the pandemic, their president encouraging employees to vote for Trump, and now this nonsense all tell me that I won’t be shopping there for a long, long time. —Steven G.
F U T I L E W R A T H
S A M & O R S O N LO C K E WA R D
HAVE AN OPINION? Better write about it! Send letters to: Editor@LittleVillageMag.com
Maybe he could help you rotate your produce. —Ike G. Thanks HyVee for helping to ensure our safety. I absolutely will continue to shop here. —Mike B. Though it is within walking distance, I have avoided HyVee since they replaced check-out by people with check-out by machines. This latest news furthers my resolve to avoid Hy-Vee. I find their dehumanizing choices alienating, and that is putting it nicely. —Ginny P. I have one word to say about this. Fareway. —Sharon T. How long before you bootlickers start saying things like, “If they didn’t want to be shot to death, they shouldn’t have tried to steal formula.” What am I saying? You clowns already say that
NEWS: WHAT EVEN IS IT? Find out by subscribing to the Little Village Daily Digest LittleVillageMag.com/Subscribe LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303 February 2022 21
I N T E R A C T I O N S crap. Grocery theft doesn’t need protected with a private ARMED security force. Get a grip. Who are the real snowflakes? —Harrison M. In the corporate justice system, grocery store based offenders are considered especially heinous. In *midwest city* the guards responsible for defending these establishments are part of an elite squad know as Hy-Vee pd… these are their stories… —Matt S. ‘There are barriers that one campaign cannot overcome’: Ras Smith ends his run for governor (Jan. 5) I’m sad. I rarely make political donations (I think the money game is a terrible way to elect candidates), but I made an exception for Ras Smith. —Monica L. There is a sort of “displaced racism” at work when people assume because rural conservatives aren’t likely to vote for a black man then it’s pretty much a bust. And yet Iowa voted for Obama twice so maybe that’s something Iowa Democrats need to stop assuming. —@normalice0 on Twitter Tbh, all I know about this dude is that he helped get a police reform law through more or less unanimously in 2020 which in this political climate is an achievement that should have made him a viable, serious candidate for #Dems, the fact he wasn’t treated as such says a lot. —@litcityblues on Twitter It’s cause our donor class that we cater to is all white, even with Black Chair and 22 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
Black VC, and it’s why I don’t envy either of them. —@sharpcarnival1 on Twitter This fucking sucks. I guess I’m exercising the chaos option come caucus time this year. —@city_of_iowa on Twitter I’ve said it before & I’ll say it again, the IDP loves nothing more than to shoot itself in the foot whenever given a chance all in the name of “electability.” —@peach_ schnappsx on Twitter Iowa dems loveeee talking shit abt Kim but show no support for a great candidate to replace her fucking sad. —@leafyIeah on Twitter This is totally and absolutely unrelated to the pervasiveness of Iowa’s systemic racism, I am sure. Oh wait I am told Iowa is not systemically racist, by law no less! —@ProfSecchi on Twitter After more than a century serving Iowa City, Varsity Cleaners is closing (Jan. 7) Someone should buy this and turn into a bar/ laundromat. Used to live in Greensboro and they had a place where you did your laundry and had a beer all in the same place. Would be awesome for college students. —Jenay M. A ‘sinister agenda’ and tax cuts: Iowa Republican leaders announce their legislative priorities (Jan. 11) This is an egregious use of power. To waste time on ridiculous nonsense like this and then wonder why teachers are quitting,
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STRESS FRACTURES
I N T E R AC T I O N S
JOHN MARTINEK
striking and not considering IA a place to take a position … Sad times for the #iowasenate and sad times for Iowans. —Courtney S. Does he have the names of 43 known communists on a list in his pocket to shake for emphasis? —Randy P. Let’s talk about how scary it is that hospitals can’t find staff. That’s frightening. —Connie F. Good god, this is utterly authoritarian, deluded madness. I bet he ultimately wants some sort of variation on the absurd prohibition of “gay propaganda” like in Russia or Hungary, being as he seems to think “the gay agenda” is organizing an “assault on our children”. Not to mention, these guys bitch and moan constantly about “cancel culture”, but are now also openly calling for prosecuting (“canceling”, on steroids) librarians and teachers who are supposedly “indoctrinating” kids by acknowledging the existence of racism, LGBT people, and/or the fact that America has not always done the right thing, basically. —S.F.W. I’m shocked that I’m shocked. I thought they had hit bottom. To make these accusations should be illegal. —Ben S.
best and brightest and a state where books and teachers are the enemy is going to be a state where no one wants to live. Dissent is mandatory. —Jami M. Paul is bringing the SALT in this article and i love it. —Oogs M.
A B O U T
T O W N
This month I, along with millions of other directionless 20-somethings with liberal arts degrees our stepdads warned us against getting, am applying to grad schools. (Third degree’s a charm, Dad!) It’s a demoralizing process that makes you question everything you thought you knew about yourself. For example, I used to think I was an engaged, informed citizen of the world, but when faced with the question, “Where do you get most of your news?” the only answer I could come up with was “Um, my boyfriend’s Twitter account?” I used to think I was a straight shooter, the kind of person who tells it like it is and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks, but one glance at my admissions essays will tell you otherwise, because no, I am not passionately committed to maximizing revenue using the power of my first love, marketing. That is bullshit; my first love was Enrique Iglesias. I think I stand a reasonably good chance of getting into one of my safety schools (University of Guam, here I come! Go 24 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
Hey Iowa City! You done been MOENIZED. —Josh C. More and more apartments are being built downtown and I wish (hope need not apply) that a Fairway or Aldi is put in downtown so residents there can
This is wildly unacceptable. As a state we’re already struggling to maintain our
B R O C K
The Mill is gone, its building soon to be demolished. But plans to replace it are in the works. (Jan. 12)
AUDREY BROCK
Tritons!) but just in case, I think it’s wise to have a fallback plan. It needs to be wildly lucrative and low-effort, the kind of thing you can do a couple of hours a day. At first I thought of getting an OnlyFans, but now that they’ve gone SFW, I think the solution is clear: I’ll become a homemaker! How hard can it be? I’m up to my ears in domestic skills—I can use the washing machine, wipe out the microwave, even occasionally clean the toilet! I can’t cook, but it can’t be that hard to learn. After all, it only took me six months to master boxed macaroni and cheese. The only problem is finding a husband. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s not exactly raining Don Drapers out there these days. If you know one, let me know. I’m developing a pathological fear of Microsoft Word.
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“There are democracy. … people in The fact is, there government, has never been particularly in a single, solid, the executive determined branch of commitment on state and the part of the national vast majority government, of white who are Americans going to pay a to genuine price in terms of equality for Johnson County history for what they’ve Black people.” done during this pandemic —Nikole Hannah-Jones, to literally, vigorously, quoting Martin Luther King undermine public health.” Jr. during an MLK Day speech —Johnson County Recorder on the UW-Madison campus Kim Painter “I used to wonder like, ‘It’s “It has become increasingly gonna take someone to lose evident that we live in someone really close to them a world in which many, to change their behavior, or including our media, wish their view on COVID.’ And to confuse, misguide and I’ve actually experienced deceive us—calling good evil that—it doesn’t. And that and evil good. One doesn’t disturbs me to no end.” have to look far to see —Todd Rhoades, UI the sinister agenda grad student and occurring right TA who lost before our eyes.” his mother to —Iowa Sen. COVID-19 Jake Chapman, setting the “Do you tone for know how the 2022 bad you legislative gotta fuck session up to get Bill Adams Neil Young “Ever since the birth of to descend from his our nation, White America golden old age and yell at has had a Schizophrenic you?” —Brandon Taylor, personality on the question author and Iowa Writers’ of race, she has been torn Workshop grad, on Young between selves. ditching Spotify for A self in which platforming Joe she proudly Rogan professes the great “We have nothing principle of further to democracy add.” —Hy-Vee, and a self responding to in which Little Village’s she madly request for practices comment on the their new antithesis security of force Time, Bowen Yang and Nikole Hannah-Jones
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walk to an affordable grocery store and not have to drive to the edge of town. 50 years ago persons could live downtown and walk to any sort of store they needed, and that makes a livable city. —Danny V. Let me guess, retail on the first floor, apartments above. —Carol P. Thank you Marc...live music venues in iowa city is what we need. —Linda J.S.F.
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Change is the only constant. Longing for the past sucks. The only way out is through. Such a privilege to sit around and be sad. Be glad it happened, I guess. Is it Spring, yet? —Jason H. Condition of the State: COVID cases and hospitalizations near record levels; Gov. Reynolds avoids mentioning pandemic in speech to legislature (Jan. 13)
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Let’s whine about not having enough workers while 1) refusing to mandate public health measures that would result in fewer worker deaths and 2) making this an even less attractive state for workers. —Dorothy D. I’m concerned about Iowa’s doubling down on ethanol production. Iowa is supposed to have great soil. Yet why do we use 51% of Iowa’s corn for ethanol production? It’s a waste since ethanol requires more money, time, and energy to produce than the benefit derived from burning it as fuel. —Sharon D. UI’s 10-year facilities plan calls for historic buildings to be demolished, renovated, bought and sold (Jan. 17) Good. It’s about time they took down some of these old buildings and built something accessible. The reason I’ll never move back to Iowa is everyone has this mindset that
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I N T E R AC T I O N S if it’s 30 years old it’s “history” and we can’t touch it. Sometimes buildings are just old and bad. —Cody F. I’m surprised razing the Field House has not gotten more attention. Last time they talked about it, the alumni had a fit. —Amanda C. Burnout deepens for Iowa healthcare workers with latest COVID surge (Jan. 20) Self-care only goes so far, especially when the changes that need to be made are at the systemic level not at the individual level. Administrators—looking at you. —Sara L.
JANUARY 28 – APRIL 9, 2022
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Getting a day off is important. Institutions are running at maximum during this thing. Getting any personal time is not always going to be discretionary. —Bret S. What we want in healthcare is for people to respect us enough to do what it takes not to get sick with COVID... masks and vaccination. We have to tolerate ridiculousness of our state government and the politicization of this virus. We are humans too and everyone has a breaking point. —Nasreen S. As somebody who has just been diagnosed with covid, it’s so disheartening to hear some medical professionals talk about patients. I’ve worn my mask. We rarely go out. I see maybe 4 people other than my kids and parents. I’ve had both shots AND my booster. I almost cried in urgent
care yesterday because I felt so guilty for getting sick. The NP who took care of me was so sweet but I seriously feel judged by so many. Some of us are truly trying. —Hannah S. It’s not people like you that frustrate us. Unfortunately, there are far too many folks who aren’t taking precautions. Many of us in healthcare have gotten covid also which is taxing the system even more. Wish you a speedy and uneventful recovery. —Nasreen S. No one is judging you, including the healthcare workers. They aren’t talking about you. You are vaccinated and boosted. You did your part. You can let that go. —Tania D. As spring semester gets underway, the grad student union pushes UI to improve its ‘worst in the Big 10’ pandemic policies (Jan. 24)
LOVE WHERE YOU LIVE. I can help you find your way home.
As long as the IBOR is an appointed and not an elected position the only people who serve on it are lapdogs and loyalists to our Governor. They are against basic safety measures because Kim Reynolds is. —Dave D. The university doesn’t care about the community in which it resides. —Elisa W. The real story is this: Why are there nurses who run informed choice iowa and WHY do they go to the Capitol and protest mask mandates and vaccines? Its fu!@#$% embarrassing. How do we have “medical” professionals who don’t
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I N T E R A C T I O N S believe in science? And how are we ok with them actively trying to push the governor for laws to be passed supporting it? Why isn’t this a bigger news story? —Dawn F. Appeals court limits scope of preliminary injunction against Iowa’s school mask ban (Jan. 25) “’The state of Iowa is putting parents back in control of their child’s education and taking greater steps to protect the rights of all Iowans to make their own healthcare decisions,’ Reynolds said.” This is some next level bullshittery. —Ben S. Aren’t there disabled and clinically vulnerable children everywhere? Shouldn’t that mean that masks should be required everywhere? —Jamian W.
As COVID surges on, Iowa Republicans advance bills to make it easier to use ivermectin and harder to vaccinate kids (Jan. 26) This one is amazing. Remember how Republicans literally told people to NOT get the Covid-19 vaccine because it was not FDA approved? Well, those same people are now proposing a bill in the Iowa legislature to make it easier for doctors to use drugs like Ivermectin for purposes that are not FDA approved. You can’t make this up. I dare you to try. —Travis R. This legislature does not reflect the Iowa I know, where farmers use science, and parents vaccinate their kids for all sorts of diseases before sending them to the locally controlled public school. Who is
/LittleVillage READER POLL: What’s your favorite part of February?
Groundhog’s Day 10%
Groundhog’s Day 10% Groundhog’s Day 40%
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controlling these legislators? Not their constituents. —Sharon T.
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Cortado Waubeek: blues y poesía (Parte Dos) POR W. ALEX CHOQUEMAMANI
U
na tarde de otoño del 2018 fuí a FB&Co. La actividad está vez era más literaria que musical, aunque también hubo música. Allí se estaba presentando el libro: Road to Waubeek. Discovering Jay G. Sigmund (Ice Cube Press, 2018) de la escritora y educadora Barbara Feller. Al ingresar al recinto este se encontraba repleto de gente. Había música en vivo, una muy particular que me hizo sentir en otra época, como en los años ’20s ó ’30s. El grupo se llamaba Deep Dish Divas y estaba conformado por tres mujeres que tocaban swing, jazz standards y vintage novelty. Aquella tarde Waubeek era una fiesta. Había música, literatura, y un público diverso proveniente de diferentes partes del estado. Una vez más Iowa no dejaba de sorprenderme. •
•
•
Road To Waubeek nos habla sobre la vida de Jay. G. Sigmund, escritor y poeta, quien nació en Waubeek el año de 1885, y murió a los 51 años en una circunstancia bastante particular: un día salió a cazar y el arma que llevaba consigo, por accidente, lo hirió fatalmente. Esto ocurrió en Waubeek y hoy en ese mismo lugar hay un sitio de memoria en homenaje al poeta. El libro también nos habla de la amistad de Jay G. Sigmund con otros personajes que marcaron una época cultural y artística en Iowa. Entre otros: el pintor Grant Wood, conocido por su famoso cuadro American Gothic; y, el poeta Paul Engle, quien fuera director del Writer’s Workshop Program y fundador (junto a su esposa, Hauling) del conocido International Writing Program, ambos de la Universidad de Iowa. Según Barbara Feller, Jay G. Sigmund fue en cierto modo el mentor de Paul Engle. Alguien que siempre está ahí para hablar de poesía y literatura, o para prestar libros para satisfacer una inquietud o curiosidad literaria. Quizás por esa razón Paul Engle, a modo de gratitud y reconocimiento, dedicó su primer libro (American Song), a: “JGS”. •
•
•
Cada vez que tengo la oportunidad de visitar Waubeek, voy a FB&Co., y puedo saludar al viejo Jack, quien es cliente habitual del lugar. “Hey Alex, how’s it all going in Iowa City?” es una de sus preguntas favoritas de bienvenida. Y si es fin de semana puedo disfrutar de la música en vivo de blues y rock y, también, contagiarme de la alegría y las ganas de bailar del público asistente. Y si el día es soleado y agradable prefiero dar un paseo por las orillas del río Wapsipinicon para apreciar su belleza y su serenidad. Y experimentar eso que una vez Michel Carey describió tan bien sobre la vida rural de Iowa: “Sentirme como un punto en el horizonte. Verme a mí mismo como una pequeña parte de este paisaje, y saber que estoy al fin conectado. LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303 February 2022 31
Community
Changing Medicine Through specialized care, UI’s LGBTQ Clinic has saved countless lives in its first decade. BY ADRIA CARPENTER
W
hen Dr. Nicole Nisly met her first transgender patient, she didn’t know what to say. It’s common among healthcare providers. What name should I use? How should I refer to them? Should I ask? Her patient was a trans woman who had transitioned 10 years prior, and Nisly could feel the tension in the air. She was unprepared. For trans people, that unease is instantly recognizable, and it comes in different flavors, ranging from well-intentioned curiosity to outright disgust. Around a third of trans people reported having at least one negative encounter with a healthcare provider because they were trans, including verbal harassment, refusal of treatment or having to teach their provider about trans people to receive care. A fourth said they didn’t see a doctor when needed because of fear of mistreatment, a survey by the National Center for Trans Equality (NCTE) found. “We’ve had a few providers that just say, ‘We’re not going to take care of an LGBTQ patient,’” said Bridgette Hintermeister, a registered nurse at LGBTQ Clinic at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC). “That is one of the areas of discrimination that we see. They don’t feel comfortable, and they don’t want to learn.” But Nisly resolved that next time, she’d be prepared. In November 2011, she went to a seminar
led by a student group called TransCollaborations. The group, consisting of mostly gender nonconforming people, shared their stories about interacting with the healthcare community. The students said that hospitals were often inhospitable towards them. Between the lack of properly trained physicians to staff that didn’t
Timeline of Medicaid bans and lawsuits in Iowa
Mika Covington called it “an emotional day” when a judge ruled last year Iowa couldn’t prevent Medicaid from paying for the genderaffirming surgery she needed. The path to that legal victory for Covington and all transgender Iowans started 14 years earlier.
March 2007
Corrections employee,
regulation banning
The state legislature,
sues IDOC for refusing
the use of Medicaid
with both cham-
to make reasonable
funds for gender-af-
bers controlled by
accommodations for
firming procedures
Democrats, passes
him as he transitioned
prescribed by their
a bill amending the
genders. It’s the first
doctors. Vroegh, Beal
Iowa Civil Rights Act
lawsuit to rely on the
and Good all receive
(ICRA) to prohibit
ICRA’s gender identity
legal support from the
discrimination “based
protection.
ACLU of Iowa.
September 2017
June 2018
BY PAUL BRENNAN 32 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
upon a person’s
use the correct name or pronouns, to the general pricks and thorns of an unequipped healthcare system, they had to regularly out themselves just to find a clinic willing to help them. While listening to their stories, Nisly, then the chief diversity officer for the University of Iowa, thought about her own discomfort and lack of By Paul Brennan
ACLU of Iowa
sexual orientation or
August 2017
gender identity.” Gov.
Jesse Vroegh, a
Polk County District
Chet Culver signs it
transgender man
Carol Ann Beal and
Court Judge Arthur
into law.
and former Iowa
EerieAnna Good sue
Gamble rules in favor
Department of
to overturn the state
of Beal and Good,
LittleVillageMag.com
The Divine Non-Binary, 6’10” x 3’2” pastel, 2020; The DivineTransfeminine, 6’10” x 3’2” pastel, 2020; The Divine Transmasculine, 6’10” x 3’2” pastel, 2020, by Charlie Esker
training. “There was a great opportunity to kind of really transform the healthcare based on their feedback, and I felt like we needed to do something,” she said. At the seminar, she met Dr. Katie Imborek, who was finishing her residency at UI. Imborek
had founded a medical student LGBTQ group. Together they began work on what eventually became the LGBTQ Clinic. Beginning as a one-night-a-week service, the LGBTQ Clinic now serves between 13,000 and 15,000 people, around 70 percent of which are transgender or gender nonconforming patients, Nisly estimated. The clinic provides treatment for chronic diseases including depression and anxiety, contraceptives, HIV testing and prevention, immunizations, family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, urology, dermatology, urgent care and sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and treatment. For trans patients specifically, the clinic offers hormone replacement therapy (HRT), laser hair removal, physical therapy, social work, speech therapy and gender-affirming surgeries. Those include bottom surgeries like zero- or full-depth vaginoplasty (the construction or repair of a vagina), orchiectomy (removal of testicles), hysterectomy (removal of the uterus), oophorectomy (removal of ovaries); top surgeries, such as breast augmentation or masculine chest reconstruction; and other surgeries including facial feminization and tracheal shaves. The clinic also has pediatric endocrinologists and family medicine physicians who see transgender and gender nonconforming children and adolescents, and can provide puberty blockers. “We’re here to create a welcoming safe space, where people can thrive and get good healthcare,” Nisly said. Charlie Esker is one of Nisly’s patients. Originally from Cedar Rapids, Esker majored in integrated studio art and minored in psychology
40% 46% 9% 30% 77% 27% 47
of trans people have attempted suicide in their lifetime have been verbally harassed
have been physically attacked have experienced homelessness in their lifetime have faced discrimination in K-12 education were fired, denied a promotion or not hired because of their gender identity or expression trans and gender nonconforming people were killed in 2021
at Iowa State University. They want to pursue an art career, working mostly with acrylic paints and chalk pastels, but they could see a future in education. “I would consider myself an artist,” they said, “That’s my passion.” In junior year of college, Esker realized that they were nonbinary. “I identify as nonbinary, but definitely more on the femme side,” they said. “I definitely present feminine all the time. I mean, except maybe when
finding the state’s
illegal discrimination
reinstituting the
August 2020
ban on the use of
and awards him dam-
ban on the use of
The Iowa Court of
Medicaid funds vio-
ages and legal fees.
Medicaid funds. Gov.
Appeals dismisses
November 2021
Kim Reynolds signs it.
the case because the
Polk County District
The ACLU of Iowa
state hasn’t reject-
Court Judge William
lates the ICRA and
applications.
the Iowa Constitution
March 2019
guarantee of equal
The Iowa Supreme
files a lawsuit
ed Covington’s and
Kelly rules in favor of
protection. The
Court upholds the
on behalf of two
Vasquez’s Medicaid
Covington and Vasquez,
Reynolds adminis-
lower court decision
trangender Medicaid
applications yet.
and issues a preliminary
tration appeals the
in Beal’s and Good’s
patients,
decision.
case on grounds the
ACLU of Iowa
Mika
injunction against the
Covington and Aiden
April 2021
Vasquez, whose doc-
The ACLU of Iowa
the state presented “no
2019 law. Kelly finds
state regulation vio-
May 2019
lates the ICRA. The
Republicans in
tors have prescribed
files a new lawsuit on
facts” to justify its ban
Vroegh wins his
justices don’t address
the Iowa House
gender-affirming
behalf of Covington
on the use of Medicaid
case. The jury finds
the constitutional
and Senate push
procedures.
and Vasquez, after
funds for gender-af-
the state engaged in
issue.
through a new law
the state rejects their
firming procedures.
February 2019
LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303 February 2022 33
Community
I wake up right in the morning, or go to the gym, or throw on sweatpants when I’m really lazy.” Through their art, Esker is re-illustrating how we perceive trans people. In college, they created “larger than life” portraits of trans bodies using roofing paper and chalk pastels. They wanted to counter the stereotypical portrayal of trans bodies as inherently sexual, or conversely gross and disgusting. “It’s really just a celebration of trans bodies portrayed in a way that is divine,” they said. Esker wants to take their transition slow. They came out four years ago but didn’t consider medically transitioning until two years ago. They have their third appointment with Nisly this month. Originally, they visited a clinic in Ames in 2021 to start transitioning. But the process there was “rushed.” The provider didn’t ask about Esker’s transition goals and didn’t provide many options or information. After graduation, they moved back to Cedar Rapids to care for their grandmother, who has Alzheimer’s. Instead of continuing care at the Ames Clinic, they came to the LGBTQ Clinic. “I was given a lot more resources, like physical packets of information on how to legally change your name, how to change documents like driver’s license, how to advocate for yourself in the workplace,” they said. “A lot of those things come into holistic care for people, especially
for trans people. And so the difference from the Ames clinic to the Iowa City clinic was like night and day.” Simple courtesies, like asking for correct names and pronouns, came as a relief. Esker talked with Nisly about what feminizing effects they wanted from HRT, the timeline for physical changes and regular blood work. “My goal is to just be a little bit more happy in terms of my, like, physical outward appearance,” they said. “It’s the main reason I sought trans healthcare.” After their conversation, Nisly prescribed them estradiol patches. The Ames clinic never told Esker that patches, instead of oral medication, was even an option. In three months, Nisly will check their hormone levels, and Esker will decide to increase or decrease the dosage, or keep the levels constant. “She was amazing. Like the clinic itself there, sitting in the lobby, just the feeling was so much different than the Ames one,” they said. Building a new LGBTQ Clinic, the first of its kind in Iowa, took a year’s worth of planning. Nisly approached then-UI President Sally Mason with a plan and received her full support. She reached out to deans and department chairs, fellow colleagues and most importantly, to the LGBTQ community itself. “We realized very quickly that, you know,
Lucy Suarez
When Lucy Suarez decided to transition, the metalhead musician made the call to keep her voice as it was. “Obviously I still kept the low voice,” she said. “I can rock a baritone. … I know where [my voice] naturally resonates and I stick to it.” She studied composition at the University of Northern Iowa, and she can play guitar, courtesy of Lucy Suarez
bass, saxophone, trombone, a “little bit of percussion and a little bit of piano,” in addition to being a vocalist. She’s made her own music independently, played in a Christian band (“when I was still Catholic,” she says) and a
always been intrigued by, but never felt
bar band. But recently, she decided that what
confident enough to attempt.
she really wanted to pursue is video game design.
“I got paid $1,000 to write a piece for my high school concert band,” Suarez explained.
“I got fed up with settling for what was
“This happened about a year ago, because it
expected of me,” she said of the radical-
was supposed to be kind of a tribute to all those
seeming switch to a discipline that she has
who suffered during COVID, during quarantine.
LittleVillageMag.com
care, but we really needed structural change. And we also needed some help from other professions,” Nisly said. “We begin using our connections to kind of create basically a team, you know, a little village around our concept of trying to develop the LGBTQ Clinic.” The clinic looks at patients holistically, addressing their mental and social needs as well as their physical ones. While the clinic is open to everyone in the LGBTQ community, trans people face more barriers to healthcare, so they designed “THEY TOLD ME THAT, ‘I HAVE MY SUICIDE the clinic around those needs. For example, around 40 PLAN HERE, AND I’M RIPPING IT UP BECAUSE percent of trans people have I HAVE HOPE.’ SO THAT WAS AMAZING. THAT attempted suicide in their WAS SOMETHING THAT STAYED WITH ME lifetime—nearly nine times the national rate in the U.S. of ALL THOSE YEARS.” —DR. NICOLE NISLY 4.6 percent, the NCTE survey found. This may be because 40 percent had neutral or program where you would feel safe and comfortunsupportive families (which increases the likeable participating. What unique services and programs are lack- lihood of suicide); 47 percent had been sexually ing at ours and other typical medical institution? assaulted in their lifetime; 46 percent had been What do you need for your health care that we do verbally harassed; 9 percent had been physically attacked; 30 percent have experienced homelessnot currently offer? What are the barriers to your care at our insti- ness at some point in their lifetime; 77 percent tution? How would you change or remove them, have faced discrimination in K-12 education; 15 percent were unemployed (three times highif you had the power and resources? “It became clear that it was not just medical er than the national rate); 27 percent were fired, being a physician is not enough of a tool for you to create something like that,” Nisly said. “We need, really, the patients’ input and their lived experiences to help frame what a clinic should be like.” They created focus groups of LGBTQ pateints and reached out to national LGBTQ groups, asking questions like: What would your ideal clinic for LGBTQidentified people look like? Help us imagine a
denied a promotion or not hired because of the gender identity or expression; 58 percent who interacted with law enforcement experienced mistreatment; and so on. For BIPOC trans people and those with disabilities, these numbers increase. And Republican state lawmakers perpetually pursue anti-trans legislation. The Iowa Civil Rights Commission received 30 complaints relating to gender identity in FY 2020, according to their annual report. Nationwide, 227 people were victims of gender identity hate crimes in 2019, the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows. In 2021, at least 47 trans and gender nonconforming people were killed, the deadliest year so far according to the Human Rights Campaign. Early in the clinic’s history, Nisly had a patient who came to the appointment with a suicide plan in their purse. “The patient I remember was very nervous, and in the beginning I noticed that our patients often were. They looked scared, or they were crying, and they were very nervous,” she said. “I think their previous encounter with healthcare had been so negative that it informed how they came to clinics.” After the appointment, the patient told Nisly about what was in their purse. “They told me that, ‘I have my suicide plan here, and I’m ripping it up because I have hope.’ By Genevieve Trainor But there is a smart way (or a few).”
… I decided to use that money to purchase
in the ’80s and so he just has a thing against it;
computer parts to learn how to build my own
‘Why does everything have to be labeled?’). So
Now that she is out, she finds gender euphoria
computer, and then I downloaded everything I
I was like, ‘I know you’re not really a big fan of
simply in socializing as a woman: hanging out
could that would help me learn programming.”
labels, but labels help me talk about what I’m
with women, being treated “like one of the other
going through. So here’s what it is.’ I just kinda
women.” She never felt comfortable around
laid it out for him. And at the end of the entire
men, she said, but didn’t understand why until
about
thing, he just kinda paused for a moment, then
she transitioned. And she loves when she’s
redefining my authenticity, in so many more
he just took my hand, looked me in the eye and
correctly gendered in public without having to
ways than just, ‘Am I a woman?’ It has prompted
said, ‘I just want you to be happy.’”
“do anything”—“It’s kind of annoying being a
It’s all part of a drastic reinvention of self, spurred, she says, by her transition. “My
entire
transition
has
been
me to reexamine how I view relationships, how I view hobbies, how I view work, how I interact
Suarez acknowledges that she is “one of the lucky ones” in terms of her family’s reaction.
trans person who also believes that bras are lies and makeup is useless!,” she says with a laugh.
with the general public, how I interact with
“While it took a little bit of prompting,
Ultimately, she finds that satisfaction hinges
pets—everything. Because a lot of me pre-
and they still mess up pronouns and such,
on who you surround yourself with—the network
transition was what others expected, or what I
occasionally, my entire family has really taken to
of support you build around yourself.
believed others expected.”
it very well. I have one estranged aunt who has
“The
more
time,
compassion,
patience
She was particularly worried about the
decided that I made a mistake. I don’t talk to her
and effort you put into surrounding yourself
impact the knowledge would have on her father.
much, and I don’t honestly care that she exists.”
with highly qualified professionals and highly
Her only siblings are sisters, and she’d always
The final decision to pursue transition came
supportive, compassionate people, the better
after Suarez’s partner dressed her in drag one
off your transition will be in the long run,”
night. “I was crying,” she said, “because I felt like
Suarez said. “The more you learn to let go of
I was seeing the woman I knew on the inside.”
toxic preconceptions, such as (I hate to say this)
taken after her father growing up. “I wanted to make sure he understood that he wasn’t losing a son, but he also wasn’t quite
“I was in therapy for damn near half a year before
the idea that if someone is your family, it means
“We went out to Buffalo Wild Wings and had
[transitioning] was even considered. I wanted to
they’re always right … You have to let go of the
that conversation,” she recalls. “‘Hey dad. Um,
make sure that I did it as close to the smart way as
preconception that family is the strongest bond.
I know you don’t really like labels’ (he grew up
possible. Because there is no right way to transition.
Chosen family is the strongest bond.”
gaining a daughter, because it was still me.”
LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303 February 2022 35
Community
So that was amazing. That was something that stayed with me all those years,” she said. To treat patients holistically, Nisly and Imborek began building a network by contacting people from other medical departments or other professions. They talked with Professor Jacob Priest at the College of Education, and he created a clinic that provides free mental health support to LGBTQ patients at no cost. The clinic provides care including letters of support for HRT and gender affirming surgeries, and support for families. They contacted the Information Technology Services (ITS) department to change the online
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system to provide more genders beyond man and woman, to create an option for a preferred name, and so on. They met with general counsel for UIHC to create a policy that requires use of an individual’s preferred name. In cooperation with the President’s Office, they implemented a bathroom program, so that single bathrooms on campus became gender neutral. For trans patients, they created new normative data, which establishes a baseline distribution of results for a particular population. They changed UIHC policy so when trans patients had to share
a room with another patient, that room matched their gender identity instead of their legal gender. “Everybody really needs to create a welcoming space, and I think it has become a cultural change and shift that has many, many, many, many people that were part of that,” Nisly said. “It took an entire village.” The LGBTQ Clinic continued to expand, partnering with other departments at UIHC, like urology, to provide gender-affirming surgeries. Other clinics formed, like the HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis clinic and the anal dysplasia clinic. During these institutional changes, the team
Oliver Wenman
“I shaved last Monday, and look, I’ve got stubble already,”
By Genevieve Trainor
has a note in the addendum that all genders and
of characters, and that broadness is anchored in
pronouns are just as valid as any other pronouns
feeling confident in who he is day-to-day.
or genders that may not be listed. My mom knew
“Performing a gender that is outside of my gender is kind of the thing like, ‘Oooh, I’m a su-
back in 2010—holy crap!” His own path to understanding was less direct.
perspy; nobody will know, muahahahaha!’” he
“I could tell that something was off, but I
said, with a hint of glee.
couldn’t put my finger on it. And it wasn’t until I
Last fall, he performed the role of Frankenfurter
did drag for the first time that I saw my reflection
for the Rocky Horror Picture Show screening at
and went, ‘Oooohhhh, that’s what that is.’”
NewBo Market.
Oliver Wenman says, leaning into his laptop
Wenman remembers pushing himself toward
“Oh my god! It was so great to be a trans man
camera during our conversation over Google Meet.
hyper-femininity when he was younger, in an
costuming as a natal male that was in drag!” he
“Being able to hear my voice and not cringe at
attempt to make sense of the confusion that he
said. “It was great. … Some people were like, ‘I’m
didn’t yet know to name gender dysphoria.
jealous that your ass looks better in those Spanx
it. Being at a public pool just in swim trunks, and being able to just feel the sun on me.” He smiles
than mine does,’ and back in my brain, I’m like,
with satisfaction. “My gender euphoria comes
‘Because I have experience in heels.’” “Instead of feeling like I’m not being true to
from those aspects that allow me to be me.”
my gender,” he said, “it feels like I’m an excellent
Wenman has been on testosterone for three
showman.”
and a half years. When he looks back at the YouTube channel that he started at the beginning
“I do the brightly colored hair; I still like to wear
of his transition journey, he can barely recognize
makeup, because, well, I’m a performer! I like that
his voice. And he’s glad of that.
situating of oneself. But when I wake up in the morning, I can just say, ‘Yeah. Cool.’ I don’t need
“I really enjoy all of the effects that have been happening with testosterone,” he
to spend hours putting on makeup to look as
said. “I very much am happy, and really
feminine as possible, to be OK with it, because
grateful that I did decide to be more true
courtesy of Oliver Wenman
to myself.” Like many trans folk, Wenman notes that there
at that point, it was putting on a costume, and I didn’t realize that.” Wenman acknowledges that the path to self-integrity can be a tricky one to walk.
was “a lot of foreshadowing” when he looks back
“I just felt like the only way I could be accepted
at his life pre-transition. He notes, for example,
was if I looked hyperfeminine. It was me project-
“I was worried that I would not be man enough,”
that while his voice has deepened, his speech ca-
ing, that’s what it was—it was me projecting that
he remembers. “Especially because I’d devoted so
dences are the same—but that even in a higher
the only way that anybody would accept me was
much of my life to being feminine, I was like, ‘Do I
register, his pattern of speaking had always been
if I looked hyperfeminine.”
have to just learn a whole other thing?’ I realized
He “broke and cracked and constantly dis-
what it was: I didn’t feel comfortable being a toxic
And he remembers trying to come out some-
located ribs” trying to achieve hyperfemininity
man, I didn’t feel comfortable with toxic mascu-
what gently and subtly to his mother, only to be
through corseting, and that hourglass shape is
linity. So I was afraid I wouldn’t be man enough.”
met with not just acceptance, but familiarity.
now permanent, even as his body changes.
somewhat more masculine.
“‘I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been dressing more masculine lately,’” he recalls telling
“Weird silver lining is it makes me look more like an anime character,” he says with a rueful laugh.
But he knows now that isn’t the case. “Any man. Trans man, any man—you are man enough. If you identify as a man, you are man
Wenman, who is a performer in many capac-
enough. … No matter how you dress, no matter
Then one day, when looking for his passport in
ities, has done burlesque since before his tran-
how your hand gestures are … You are. I am. … I
the household safe, he happened on his mom’s
sition, now frequently with his group Knights of
may not have started transitioning without that
will. “She wrote it back in 2010, and she actually
the Round Pasties. He explores a wide variety
realization.”
her. “And she goes, ‘I have two sons; I know.’”
36 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
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Community
often had to justify the time and resources spent in service of a minority population. Since the United States Census Bureau does not ask about sexual orientation or gender identity, it’s difficult to know how many LGBTQ people live in the country. The Williams Institute estimated there are 1.3 million trans people in the U.S., with nearly 250,000 living in the Midwest and 7,400 in Iowa. They estimate there are 13 million LGBTQ people living in the U.S. with 106,000 in Iowa. Many patients drive hours, or come from adjacent states, to visit the LGBTQ Clinic, Nisly said. The team explained that both LGBTQ and cis, straight patients generally appreciated questions about sexual orientation, behavior, gender identity, and the option for preferred names. “In many occasions, we learned how universally diverse sexuality is, regardless of one’s identity as straight or LGB. If we had chosen to stereotype
AIDS. “I also grew up in a family that always cherished helping people. You do good. You do justice,” he said. “Our job was to put us out of business.” When Nisly calls, Sandler knows to ask what she wants, by when and in what form. “I ALSO GREW UP IN A FAMILY THAT ALWAYS “Nicole is somebody you CHERISHED HELPING PEOPLE. YOU DO don’t say no to,” he said. “She’s a ferocious advocate. GOOD. YOU DO JUSTICE. OUR JOB WAS TO She’s just a lightning rod for PUT US OUT OF BUSINESS.” —LEN SANDLER people.” She said that her trans paNisly also called Professor Len Sandler at the tients face complex, expensive and often unnecCollege of Law. He’d previously worked with her essary legal hurdles while changing their idention disability issues. Sandler has always represent- ty. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a law clinic ed marginalized people, from abused and neglect- that helped trans people change their legal name, ed adolescents to migrant workers. He came to change the gender on their driver’s license, birth Iowa to open a law clinic for people with HIV/ certificate and passport, and update their Social patients based on presumed identity and withheld the expanded questionnaires, many of this important health care information would have been missed,” the team wrote in an article published in the Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology journal in 2018.
Madeline Trainor moved to the Cedar Rapids area when she was
folks online helped her understand that she was
4. She wouldn’t really know she was a trans
trans, but she still worried about coming out so
woman until adulthood, but she’d felt it all her
late in life—how transitioning might affect her
life.
body, the healthcare costs and how it would
There
courtesy of Madeline Trainor
Before being approved to receive genderaffirming care
were
few,
if
any,
positive
trans
affect her family. But after nearly a year in
characters onscreen when she was coming up
lockdown due to COVID-19, she couldn’t imagine
in the ‘80s and ‘90s; you either got a homicidal
reentering the world the way she’d left it.
Angela Baker in Sleepaway Camp, the tragic
“Am I gonna buy boy clothes on Amazon? Am
femme fatale Dil in The Crying Game, or a big
I gonna put myself through that again? Or am I
joke, like Monty Python’s “The Lumberjack
just going to pull these skirts out that I already
Song.”
bought on the sly at Goodwill?” she wondered.
Adults seemed to know all these unspoken
“Why am I hiding? Like, it’s the end of the world.
rules about gender, and young Maddy would
Why am I going to spend the next half of my life
consistently find herself brushing up against
pretending?”
them. She’d earn odd looks for asking to start
“I was like, OK, alright, I guess I’m doing this. I
the board game Life with a pink peg in her car
guess I’m going to Trader Joe’s in a fucking skirt.
piece, or wondering why she couldn’t join the
And it was really kind of awkward and scary, and
Girl Scouts.
I felt exposed, but every week it became easier.”
A theater major and fan of rock bands, video
She made an appointment with a therapist,
games and comic books, Maddy found it easier
received her diagnosis of gender dysphoria,
to don graphic T-shirts—“When the Marvel
signed an informed consent form, met with
movies came out, I finally looked cool.”—than
an endocrinologist and other specialists, and
face the conundrum of shopping in either the
began her first year of hormone replacement
at the University of Iowa’s LGBTQ Clinic last
men’s or women’s section. Given the choice,
therapy (HRT).
year, Madeline Trainor was asked to write down
she’d always rather play as Princess Peach than
her thoughts on gender. So she did, coming to
Mario.
her next appointment with a 13-page personal essay.
“I was so dissociated from myself,” she said. “I would look in the mirror and not see anything.”
Maddy said with a chuckle. “She’s like, ‘OK, well,
(Little Village’s publisher), at a poetry slam
transphobes” and discuss healthcare, tech, sex,
when are you going to the clinic? This is gender
in Cedar Rapids in the early 2000s. They’ve
kink and other issues important to them.
dysphoria.’”
been together since 2007, raising Genevieve’s
“Just having trans women in the room, it’s a
two older children and welcoming their own
different feel, right? Because you can feel safe
daughter in 2017.
to share anything. … There are people who are
30, 40 years at that point.” Born on the East Coast, Maddy’s family 38 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
her
future
spouse,
She joined a transfemme voice-chat room on Twitter, where members can “kick out the
“I’d been thinking about this for a long time—
met
said. “My muscles are softer and sort of curvier.”
Genevieve
“My therapist cut me off at page seven,”
She
“Definitely the first thing I noticed is my thighs are kind of bigger and less dense,” she
Years of reflection and chatting with LGBTQ
homeless, there’s sex workers, there’s journalists,
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Security information? In 2013, Sandler created the Rainbow Health Clinic. UI law students, under his supervision, help patients at the LGBTQ Clinic traverse the legal landscape of healthcare, transportation, estate planning and so on. “We provide that service, and it’s no cost. We don’t charge our clients,” he said. “Basically, free lawyers.” The law clinic also helps fight discriminatory bills, laws or policies at the state level, assisting advocacy organizations and litigators like the American Civil Liberties Union in drafting proposed legislation and producing a self-help guide to changing legal identity documents. One roadblock they encountered was the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH), which required surgery as a precondition to changing an individual’s legal gender on birth certificates, driver’s licenses and other documents. By Emma McClatchey there’s autistic [folks], people from all walks of life and different realities who all happened to be trans.” “We
all
have
this
sort
of
bond
of
marginalization, as cliche and corny as that sounds.” “Everything has been a milestone” this first year: Her first Mother’s Day as “Maddy Momma.” Her first Halloween in a sexy costume (she and Genevieve dressed up as Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, respectively). Buying a house in Iowa City just in time to play host and matriarch at Thanksgiving, taking over the cooking reins from her mother for the first time. Finding a stocking with her deadname on it while putting up Christmas decorations, prompting her family to run to CVS and buy a new one, decorating it “Madeline.” Sure, it can be hard to find privacy so she can “learn to girl” when a 4-year-old is running around the house. But “my family has been 100 percent supportive and I know that I’m lucky there,” she said. “Not everybody has that.” She looks forward to bigger breasts, a rounder butt. Six months into hormone therapy, she decided for certain she wants a vaginoplasty, often referred to as bottom surgery. “Once the estrogen started changing my body it was like clear what I wanted my body to be,” Maddy said. “You have to do a lot of soul searching and be ready to make big decisions about what you want out of this. Don’t let other people pressure you into what they think is right, because there’s no right way to be trans.”
Community
Only a fourth of trans people have had a transition-related surgery, the NCTE reported. The majority of trans people want a surgical procedure, but barriers remain. Fifty-five percent were denied insurance coverage for surgery, 42 percent said their insurance only covered some procedures and 21 percent had coverage for surgery but no providers in their network. A fourth were even denied HRT. In practice, this policy meant that many trans Iowans couldn’t change their legal gender, despite medically and/or socially transitioning. But the law clinic found that IDPH were not following the letter of the law. To amend a birth certificate, Iowa Code requires a notarized affidavit from a doctor or surgeon stating that an individual’s sex designation has been changed by reason of surgery “or other treatment.” “After we found that out, then it was easier, and we persuaded the powers that be to make sure that people can get their gender changed on a birth certificate, and then on our passports, driver’s license, Social Security, as well,” Sandler said. The Iowa Civil Rights Act (ICRA) protects people against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. While the Republican-led legislature has repeatedly tried to undermine those protections, these attempts have failed, so far. “When I talk with people around the country, a lot of them are fighting to get laws that Iowa already has, protections that Iowa already has, state civil rights laws and local civil rights laws,” Sandler said. Iowa may not be a blue state, “but we are, I hate to say, progressive on this issue because we are not known as a progressive state any longer.” “With regard to coverage, Iowa is really lightyears ahead of many states, and in large part because of Nicole and the clinic, and the network they have created around the state,” he continued. “There are many people in the state who still do not accept the concept of gender identity. And we’ll keep fighting bills.” Sandler said the Rainbow Health Clinic will keep defending against anti-trans legislation in Iowa, including national organizations that create prepackaged bills to ensure state governments don’t support or protect people. “Unfortunately, because our client community faces different barriers, they need a solution. And if we can do it individually, we do it individually or represent them. If the law doesn’t help them, then we work to change the law and policy,” Sandler said. “But everything starts with Nicole saying, ‘Hello Len, can your students do this? How about this?’” 40 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
Iowa’s homegrown bigotry scares Esker, even though they’ve found a pocket of accepting queer friends in Ames. They aren’t perceived as a cisgender woman but also don’t present as a cis man, which makes for uncomfortable encounters in day-to-day life, including job interviews. “It’s weird to navigate those spaces, especially as somebody who doesn’t present fully femme,” they said. “The queer clinic in Iowa City feels like a haven. It seems like when I’m in there, none of those factors will affect me.” In a monumental victory for trans Iowans, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled against a state regulation prohibiting Medicaid from covering medically necessary gender-affirming procedures in November 2021, since the policy violated the ICRA. “We’re working really, really hard to provide access for our Medicaid patients to get their gender-affirming surgeries, but they had to wait years for that,” Nisly said. “To me, that’s a lot of suffering that is unnecessary. And for the legislators,
and laws understand how important those surgeries are to support people in their transition. And it causes suffering, and it is really painful for me to see,” Nisly said. Hintermeister, a nurse at the LGBTQ Clinic, said they’re currently working through a backlog of patients, getting them letters of support, scheduling surgeries, and so on. The clinic, she said, is helping give patients a voice, so they can advocate for themselves in all areas of their lives. Hintermeister previously worked in the emergency room for 10 years. Moving to the LGBTQ Clinic was a “learning curve,” but the essential elements of the job never changed. “Taking care of the actual patient is not any different than taking care of any other patient, you know. You want to respect them,” she said. The clinic also helps educate medical providers about treating LGBTQ people. For example, the team has presented on the current restrictions that prevent men who have sex with other men from donating blood. Along with other team members, Hintermeister helps educate nursing staff and students, so “TRANS PEOPLE JUST WANT TO BE HAPPY that everyone is equipped to treat an LGBTQ person. LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE. HAVING ACCESS TO “Our main goal is to not QUEER CLINICS, ESPECIALLY THE ONE IN have LGBTQ clinics. And IOWA CITY THAT IS MADE FOR US AND BY US, that all providers—nurses, physicians and surgeons— IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT.” —CHARLIE ESKER all feel comfortable and empowered to take care of the and those that are responsible for those decisions, population, just as they would for elderly and kids I don’t think they understand the human scope and whatnot,” she said. and the impact on people.” Hintermeister has worked at the clinic for alNisly worries about having access to immedi- most three years and has never looked back. ate care. At the moment, new patients may have “It’s one of my most favorite jobs that I’ve had to wait between one and three months for an ever, and the absolute most rewarding. Teaching appointment, but those in crisis can get appoint- a brand new patient how to do their own testosterments sooner. one injections, or how to apply estrogen patches, “I don’t like for my patients to wait three and they start to cry, and they’re so happy about months to be seen. I really don’t. In particular, it,” she said. “Like seriously, it’s the most reif you’re looking for a gender transition, I really warding thing I’ve ever done. It’s so awesome to would like for things to be more immediate,” she see that.” said. “There is a high suicide risk in the commuOn Tuesdays and Thursdays, the clinic is open nity. People are not supported or have access to until 9 p.m. to help manage the backlog and allow care. So that is my personal biggest worry.” newer patients to come at a time when there are Even with the advancements made in the state, fewer people. On those days, Nisly is physically barriers remain. Iowa does not have private health tired and exhausted, but the experiences with her insurance nondiscrimination laws or trans inclu- patients keep her energized. sive benefits for state employees. The state hasn’t “We have these amazing, lovely encounters. banned health insurance providers from exclud- They’re so meaningful, and so at the end of the ing trans-specific care or banned conversion day, instead of feeling exhausted, I feel like my therapy. Oftentimes, providers will deem transi- heart is full,” she said. tion-related surgeries like breast augmentation or Nisly remembers working with young adults facial feminization as not medically necessary. just starting their gender transition. The parents “I really hate that it’s limited in that way. I were concerned and scared. Years later, the same don’t think people that made those regulations parents would tell her how much happier their
LittleVillageMag.com
child is and that transitioning was the best thing to happen to them. She loves getting to know her patients over the course of their life. She’ll notice mood changes in her pre-transition trans patients as they develop over the years. “When they come back a couple years later, when you see sort of the transition fully realized, you know people are glowing, just happy,” she said. Many of her residents and students have decided to dedicate their professional lives to LGBTQ healthcare because they felt it was the most meaningful experience of their career. Sandler said his law students have often done the same. “My granddaughter is going, ‘What’s the big deal? Why are people worried about gender identity or sexual orientation or who people marry?’” he said. “I’ve seen in my students where they’re going, ‘Why is this an issue? Why has it happened?’ So that’s what I hope to do, pass it along, and each generation gets better.” Esker believes that the LGBTQ Clinic provides a vital service for the trans community throughout the region. Cis people routinely have access to gender-affirming healthcare, but without the structural barriers like psychological evaluations and insurance regulations, they said. “Trans people just want to be happy like everybody else, and I think that having access to places like queer clinics, especially the one in Iowa City that is made for us and by us, it’s really important for trans people to have. It’s lifesaving care for a lot of people,” they said. Nisly still treats her first trans patient, but now, her initial unease is gone. “It’s very difficult for me to even relate to how I felt back then,” she said. “The trans community is such an important community in my practice. And I’ve gotten to know them so well over so many years, and so I cannot see the patient in any way other than who they are.” Her current ease was a skill that she learned from her patients, she said. And through the LGBTQ Clinic, Nisly and Imborek use that experience to educate other healthcare providers. “So many people have been part of this making this possible and making this happen, including the trans community and the LGBTQ community,” Nisly said. “I think it really shows that people can get together, and radically change and transform healthcare into a much more human and welcome space.” Adria Carpenter is a multimedia journalist for Little Village. There’s so much more she wanted to write about, but she hopes this brief story will suffice.
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42 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
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Ramen Belly 1010 Martin St, Iowa City 319-569-1057, ramenbelly.co TIFFANI GREEN
P
rior to ordering from Ramen Belly this week, I had eaten restaurant-quality ramen exactly once— in 2018 while visiting my sister in Portland, Oregon. At the time, it was a novelty, and I didn’t really know what it was, my only previous ramen experience being with the kind that comes in a brick along with a sauce packet. I remember enjoying it, finding it a bit complicated to eat, and that was about it. Almost four years later, ramen is ubiquitous and available in seemingly endless variations— and given my vague memories of the dish I had in Portland, it felt like it was time to try it again. Based on a suggestion, my partner and I decided to try Ramen Belly, one of several Iowa City establishments that have opened during the pandemic and seem to be holding their own in exceptionally trying times for the industry. Ramen Belly, located in the Peninsula neighborhood off Dubuque Street, is the brainchild of Takanami founders Andy Diep and John Lieu. The business came to be largely in response to changes in the two men’s lives, including those wrought by the pandemic. With a young child at home, Diep wanted to do something on a smaller scale that might allow for more time with his family. Lieu, who had gone on to work for Marriott, found his hours reduced in response to the pandemic. The closure of Apres, the restaurant formerly located at 1010 Martin St, presented them with an opportunity to try something new. Ramen Belly opened in April of 2021 and boasts a menu with options ranging from sashimi to poke bowls to the titular ramen. And appropriately for two fathers, the menu also features a kid’s section that isn’t just chicken nuggets and hamburgers. We ordered short ribs, pot stickers, the ramen in a blanket—which featured ramen noodles nestled in between two tonkatsu filets—and the classic ramen, which came with six-minute eggs and a bunch of fresh veggies. I’ve eaten and enjoyed many different
44 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
The pork belly abura ramen and short ribs from Ramen Belly. Jordan Sellergren / Little Village
sweet sauce and sliced scallions. The difference came in both the texture of the pork—it had been braised and had a distinct shredded texture, where the fillings of many pot stickers are more akin to a paste—and the mushrooms, which constituted their own separate layer underneath the pork instead of being mixed in. This allowed us to really taste the flaTHE CLASSIC RAMEN WAS CHOCK FULL OF vor of each VEGETABLES—BAMBOO SHOOTS, BOK CHOY, ingredient BEAN SPROUTS AND CORN KERNELS—CUT as well as feel the texLARGE AND LEFT CRISP. THE YOLK OF THE ture. EGG WAS THE PERFECT TEXTURE. The two varieties of ramen were very different. The noodles in the (a show of skill considering the thin ramen in a blanket were slathered in a creamy cut) and graced with a touch of sauce, garlic sauce, and after my partner cut the tonkatenough to flavor but not so much that the dish su into pieces and distributed it throughout the took on the texture of a stew. They were served noodles, the dish ate almost like a casserole. The with spicy-sweet housemade pickles. classic ramen was chock full of vegetables— The pot stickers were filled with mushrooms bamboo shoots, bok choy, bean sprouts and corn and braised pork and dressed with a slightly permutations of both short ribs and pot stickers, and these versions had both familiar characteristics and things that made them a little different. One of the most common preparations of short ribs is to braise them until they fall apart and to then serve them poured over something. These short ribs were cut thin, grilled to medium
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kernels—cut large and left crisp. The yolk of the egg was the perfect texture, soft and silky but not runny. I ordered a side of chili oil and swirled some into the dish to give it just a bit of bite. The broth, which is cooked for 24 hours, comes packaged separately so you can add exactly as much you want. The thing that struck me, on eating ramen for the second time, is that it makes a hearty meal, though none of the components are heavy. The dish makes it easy to eat your vegetables without feeling like you’re eating your vegetables. Both the well-thought-out menu and the food itself bespeak the experience and talents of Ramen Belly’s owners. And its origin story— two restaurant veterans reinventing themselves and their work for the current phase of their lives—is a perfect metaphor for our times. Tiffani Green reviews local take-out/delivery restaurants for Little Village’s online series The Takeaway.
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Culture Prairie Pop
Sex Still Sells Mark Schaffer took his teen obsession with rap from crass and grotesque to introspective and elevating. BY KEMBREW MCLEOD
S
chäffer the Darklord, a.k.a. STD, is a 47-year-old rapper who’d probably have a few words to say to his 20-something self if he had access to a time machine. “I feel like I made an impulsive decision to adopt the stage name in 2003,” Mark Schaffer said, “and all these years later, I do have a bit of buyer’s remorse. But I’ve built too much of a catalog at this point to consider changing it.” Over the past two decades, the Iowa bornand-raised MC has released several albums, EPs, singles and collaborations, including several with fellow Iowa City expatriate Coolzey. His songs are filled with a mix of goofy juvenilia, absurd sexual content, nerdy grammatical breakdowns and introspective lyrical detours, such as a song about sexual consent titled “Yes” from his 2015 EP Sex Rhymes. “I don’t like telling people this,” the New Yorkbased artist said, “but I’m going to tell you because I feel like I gotta let this skeleton out of the closet and shine some light on it.” Back when he was a young man, STD created a series of recording projects with fake hip-hop groups that used different voices to represent a variety of fictional rappers, and “MC STD” was the default nom de plume Schaffer used to deliver his crassest material. All the names he employed were patently idiotic, but STD was his go-to because its rhyme scheme and number of syllables worked best for writing lyrics. “I was doing really grotesque sex material,” he explained. “I was just this dumb white kid trying to be shocking, so I chose STD to be my stage name and I wrote ‘Schäffer the Darklord’ around that to make it fit. But now that I’ve grown up, I’m utterly mortified at the thought of any of that original material making it to the ears of my audience.” Schaffer’s journey reflects the growth of other likeminded white guys who fell in love with hip hop when it bubbled up through mass media in the 1980s. He grew up in the small town of Corning in southwest Iowa, and by the time he graduated from high school, Schaffer couldn’t get out fast enough—first attending the University of Iowa and then moving to San Francisco with a group
46 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
Dana Telsrow / Little Village
of Iowa City art kids in the late 1990s before finally settling in New York City. “I think that like any Gen Xer who grew up in a culturally isolated part of the country,” Schaffer said, “hip hop was handed to me by Yo! MTV Raps.” He had grown up as a passionate fan of music, mainlining the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen
Schaffer The Darklord w/ LEX The Lexicon Artist Lefty’s Live Music, Des Moines, Wednesday, March 16 at 5 p.m., $15
and other things his family loved, but when Schaffer discovered hip hop, it struck a chord. “I felt like I had found it on my own, and there was something that was magical about that.” Hip hop appealed to Schaffer because artists like via LEX the Lexicon Artist
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the Fat Boys, the Beastie Boys and Slick Rick used language as an instrument by telling vivid, hilarious stories over beats while wearing cool, colorful clothes. “Everything about it was so new and exciting while growing up in a cornfield and surrounded by like a thousand white people,” he said. “And that absolutely did wonders for me. I had a couple of friends, but I was definitely kind of a freak. I think a lot of my classmates were happy to have their sort of Mayberry high school experience, but I always wanted something different—and I dreamed of moving away and living in a big city, like in the movies.” Schaffer recorded his own solo hip-hop projects on a four-track when he was playing drums in a few arty rock bands as an undergraduate, and he continued performing in bands while living in San Francisco. However, all that fell by the wayside
“ARTISTIC FOLKS HAVE WORRIED THAT SOMEHOW WE CAN’T DO SCARY, DARING AND UNCOMFORTABLE ART WITH BOUNDARIES. BUT THE EXACT OPPOSITE IS TRUE.” when he started focusing on his stand-up comedy act and rap persona that attempted to be edgy but was just cringey, in retrospect. “I thought I was doing something kind of unique,” Schaffer said, “but I was just this young art kid with a sheltered upbringing. I was a lifelong hip-hop fan and I was trying to take all of my favorite elements of hip hop and make this grotesque exaggeration, so my characters were really violent and very sexual in a grotesque way.” “I thought that I was being very funny,” he continued, “and didn’t realize that what I was doing was a pretty offensive impression of what I thought hip hop was. The big shift was when I realized that I wanted to tell jokes, and I wanted to make hip hop, but I didn’t want to make the joke at hip hop’s expense. I wanted to use hip hop as a medium to tell jokes and to tell stories without making the medium the butt of the joke.” “S to the T to the goddamn D” still uses outrageous imagery and punchlines to entertain audiences, but in a way that avoids being a novelty act by more candidly addressing his feelings about sex and drugs, though there is still room for ridiculousness. For instance, some of his songs have explicit content but no swear words, like “Do Sex,” from STD’s 2013 album Sick Passenger. In it, he brags about how he’s going to have sex with not
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Culture
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just one, or two, or three audience members, but everyone in the room—until the final twist at the end when he impulsively changes his mind and decides to go home alone. Ladies, let’s form a single file line Maybe undress first, to save a little time Oh and fellas! Oh yeah I’m talking to the dudes too Guess who else I’mma do sex to? Here’s a hint—YOU! Ooh regardless of your weight or race or gender I’mma do you! And that goes for you too, bartender! … Did I mention what you’ll get for free? Everybody at this party’s gonna get an STD! Schaffer said he’s a theater kid at heart, and when performing his songs onstage he makes exaggerated facial expressions and does over-the-top pantomimes of his lyrics. At some point, a burlesque producer in New York City saw his act and hired him to emcee a show, which snowballed into years of hosting “like a billion burlesque shows,” as he put it. “This led to getting into producing my own burlesque shows and ultimately getting to the point where I got super burned out and kind of walked away from doing that entirely because I felt like I was writing music more slowly.” Then, about four years ago, he and his partner Bunny Buxom—who is a burlesque performer and producer—became obsessed with professional wrestling, and they started to notice countless similarities between both forms of entertainment. “Everything is done in a physical way, telling stories with big costuming, big entrances, pomp and circumstance,” Schaffer said, “and so we put our heads together and figured out a way that we could create a show that combined those two things.” In Tassel Mania, burlesque performers play wrestling archetypes such as heels; there is a ring with announcers, referees and dramatic rivalries; and the audience members bring signs to cheer on their favorites. “Whoever gets the loudest pop,” said Schaffer, who plays the ring announcer, “is the winner of the match.” Tassel Mania began as a lark, but the two oversold the first show and realized that they had something bizarre and magical on their hands. It has been on ice since the start of the pandemic, but hasn’t yet been retired, so we can expect a few more twists and turns on the road traveled by this burlesque-comedian-rapper journeyman. Kembrew McLeod is a theater kid at heart, too.
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Culture A-List
They Kiss Intimacy Choreographer Carrie Pozdol helps theater companies choreograph their steamiest scenes. BY SAUNIA POWELL
W
hen Carrie Pozdol stands in front of the cast of Theatre Cedar Rapids’ winter musical, Kinky Boots, she wears a T-shirt that reads “make it less weird.” Because that is just what she is there to do. Though she is an accomplished actor and director in her own right, Pozdol is at this rehearsal in her capacity as the show’s intimacy choreographer. Her job here is manifold and important, but you won’t be faulted if you’ve never heard of it. The practice of having an intimacy choreographer for theatrical productions is only a few years old. In 1983, film director Peter Bogdanovich told Fresh Air host Terry Gross that “the main job of a director is to create an atmosphere in which the players feel comfortable and feel they can expose themselves without worrying about it because they trust me.” Many directors 39 years ago and today would agree that all you need for good direction is the requisite trust. I did, too, when I heard the January replay of his interview on IPR. But after my conversation with Carrie Pozdol and introduction to the intimacy choreography movement, I realized that nowhere in this assertion is an explanation of how Bogdanovich earned his actors’ trust. In the early 2000s, a number of innovative women began creating techniques for more intentional and boundary-led “choreography” for stage and film scenes depicting intimate encounters. But their work didn’t really catch on, as the structures in place simply demanded unfettered trust from actors, subject to the whims of their director. That is, it didn’t catch on until the groundswell of #MeToo and Hollywood’s Time’s Up movement turned the public eye on the long overlooked, predatory nature of show business power brokers like Harvey Weinstein. As we are finally growing aware, too many directors have misused and abused all of this personalized (and unearned) trust. The founders and practitioners of intimacy choreography also believe the main job of a director is to create an environment for actors to feel free to take artistic and emotional risks with their work. But instead of Bogdanovich’s 50 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
Jav Ducker / Little Village Kinky Boots, Theatre Cedar Rapids, opening Friday, Feb. 11, $27-57 See more of Carrie’s work! Mirrorbox Theatre Presents Cycle Play (dir. Carrie Pozdol), TCR Grandon Studio, Cedar Rapids, Opening Thursday, Feb. 17, $20
reliance on ex officio trust, the safe environment for actors to “expose themselves” is communally created using consent-based, boundary-led, concrete and learnable techniques whereby actors retain their physical and emotional autonomy.
Let’s look at three concrete takeaways from Pozdol’s work with the Kinky Boots cast: 1. Actors are led in exercises which establish and communicate their physical boundaries around touch from the outset. 2. Everyone is given and uses de-sexualized language for the actors’ movements. 3. Intimate moments between characters are choreographed and stay consistent, so everyone knows what to do and what to expect. That last one is so important, given the way these scenes have often been directed in the past. Pozdol characterizes the old, all-too-common technique as: “I don’t know, just make out and be really hot!” But doesn’t it make more practical sense to treat a passionate encounter as a
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choreographed partner dance? Why not approach the physical movements that portray characters’ lust or tenderness as we do staged combat (the physical movements that portray characters’ hate or anger)? No director would hand two actors swords and say, “I don’t know, just go at it and be really violent!” Intimacy choreographers offer a consent-based, desexualized blocking process whereby actors finally get some concrete direction and have the tools to separate the acted emotions from the real touch. Hearing Pozdol talk about the gifts of this work, it becomes clear that she truly believes that actors who feel safe and in control create better art. “Artistic folks have worried that allowing actors to have boundaries and then respecting those boundaries will somehow damage the work that is being done. That somehow we can’t do scary, daring and uncomfortable art with boundaries,”
“WHEN PEOPLE FEEL SAFE AND TRUST THE OTHER PEOPLE THEY ARE WORKING WITH, THEY FEEL FREE TO DO THINGS THEY MIGHT HAVE NEVER CONSIDERED BEFORE.”
Pozdol said. “But the exact opposite is true. When people feel safe and trust the other people they are working with, they feel free to do things they might have never considered before. Actors can actually let their guard down, which allows for some really honest and intense moments to shine through.” Born and raised in Dubuque, Pozdol remembers seeing her first staged production when she was 5 years old, and has been in love with theater magic-making ever since. She majored in theater at Simpson College in Indianola, then spent 10 years in Chicago, where she was involved in various storefront theaters, focusing on acting. She loves figuring out the puzzle of the character and what motivates them, and enjoys the immense satisfaction that comes from collaborating with other artists. In Chicago she met her husband, a fellow actor, and they moved back to Dubuque to start their family. In 2019, having just settled with her young family in Cedar Rapids, Pozdol was first introduced to theatrical intimacy choreography while LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303 February 2022 51
Culture
LittleVillageMag.com
reading an article about a Broadway show. She was immediately drawn in, but this was 2019, when trainings were in-person and required travel to LA or NYC—not easy for a mother of two with a full-time job. But when the pandemic hit and all those trainings shifted online, she jumped into the deep end. She’s primarily trained with Theatrical Intimacy Education, an organization founded by the women who literally wrote the book on this work (Staging Sex: Best Practices, Tools, and Techniques for Theatrical Intimacy). Beyond the base curriculum, she’s done focused work in trauma-informed practice; working with minors; foundations in race, intimacy and consent; bystander intervention; and mental health first aid. Even in the midst of COVID restrictions and so much uncertainty last year, area theaters and theater departments began to reach out, hungry for Pozdol’s new skill set, powerful message and transformative presence in rehearsals and classrooms alike. This included Angie Toomsen, artistic director of Theatre Cedar Rapids, who has committed to centering consent-based practices throughout the TCR community. Toomsen has had Pozdol work on every TCR production since last summer’s Bright Star at Brucemore. In a sweet moment of Kinky Boots’ sparkly exuberance, one character showers another’s face with kisses. As it happens amid dialogue, the kisses were choreographed by Pozdol in collaboration with the show’s director, Lisa Kelly. But during rehearsal runthroughs of the scene, the actors employ one of Pozdol’s techniques called a “placeholder.” The woman who will be doing the kissing in performance simply places her finger playfully on her fellow actor’s face, marking the spots they have chosen for eventual kisses with boops. Not only is it important for the actors to keep their faces apart and masked during this Omicron surge, the boops also serve the greater rehearsal process in keeping the sentiment while making the run-through and ongoing cast relationships much less, well, weird.
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Saunia Powell spent her youth studying theater in Iowa and theology in California. It’s been a rather queer ride from there, with consistent swerves back to eastern Iowa (her unexpectedly adopted home) and end-of-life/ grief work (her inconvenient vocational calling).
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LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303 February 2022 53
EDITORS’ PICKS: February 2022
EVENTS: February February 2022
Planning an event? Submit event info to calendar@littlevillagemag. com. Include event name, date, time, venue, street address, admission price and a brief description (no all-caps, exclamation points or advertising verbiage, please). To find more events, visit littlevillagemag.com/calendar. Please check venue listing in case details have changed.
Sunday, Feb. 6,
courtesy of Englert Theatre
Lan Samantha Chang: The Family Chao, Englert Theatre, Carpet | Tile | Hardwood | Window Treatments
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Iowa Writers Workshop director Lan Samantha Chang is celebrating the release of her third novel, The Family Chao, with a reading, signing and Q&A event at the Englert. Chang, the first Asian-American and the first woman to serve as director of the IWW, has held that position since 2006. Her short work has appeared in several volumes of the Best American Short Stories collections; her debut novel, Inheritance, was a winner of the 2005 PEN/Open Book (then known as Beyond Margins) Award. The Englert requires all patrons to be masked and to present either a 72-hour (or less) negative COVID-19 test or documentation of vaccination. Prairie Lights will be on hand with copies of The Family Chao for purchase. Literary Luxuries Friday, Feb. 4 at 12 p.m. Starting
Thursday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. Renée
& Sustaining a Writing Group—An
Branum w/ Jessie Gaynor, Prairie
Obermann Get It Done Workshop,
Lights, Online, Free
Online, Free (registration required) Friday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. Grace Sunday, Feb. 6 at 4 p.m.
Lavery w/ Melissa Febos, Prairie
Writers Open Mic, Iowa City
Lights, Online, Free
Poetry, Online, Free
Thursday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. A Reading and Conversation with Natashia
Monday, Feb. 7 at 1 p.m. Andrew
Deón, Prairie Lights, Online, Free
Steele w/ Michelle Buhman, Prairie Lights, Online, Free
Friday, Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. Erin Young w/ Ace Atkins, Prairie Lights, Online,
Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.
Free
EDUCATED: An Evening with Tara
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Westover and Natalie Portman,
Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m.
Prairie Lights, Online, $20.13-23.99
Reading and conversation with Bela Shayevich, Prairie Lights, Online, Free
54 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
BLACK HISTORY MONTH EVENTS
Monday, Feb. 21
Visiting Writer Danez Smith Mt. Mercy University, Cedar Rapids, Free
In celebration of Black History Month, Mt. Mercy welcomes St. Paul, Minnesota poet Danez Smith for a pair of events: a 2 p.m. poetry workshop, followed by a performance and Q&A at 7 p.m. They will be signing books at both events. Smith received the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry in 2015 for their debut book-length collection, [insert] boy, and they were a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award for Poetry for Don’t Call Us Dead. Their poetry is gaping and divine, a chasm of wisdom that binds the reader or listener in its specificity while opening infinities.
PRESENTED BY IOWA CITY DOWNTOWN DISTRICT
Tuesdays, Feb. 15 and 22,
Beethoven and Beer, Opus Concert
Elliott Billings
Hall, Cedar Rapids, at 5:30 p.m., Free$5 (reservation required) Orchestra Iowa and the
University of Iowa kicked off their Beethoven Sonatas series last September, and it’s still going strong. UI musicians will perform while Orchestra Iowa personnel serve highlights from local breweries at the bar. Stop into the intimate space at Opus Concert Cafe for #6 and #7 this month, featuring beers from Millstream Brewing Co. on the 15th and from Iowa Brewing Company on the 22nd. Masks are required when not actively eating or drinking.
Musical Marvels Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 8 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 17 at 8 p.m. Ward
Cursive w/ Nate Bergman, Gabe’s,
Davis, Wildwood Saloon, $15-40
Iowa City, $20 Thursday, Feb. 17 at 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 4 at 5 p.m. Blake
Armchair Boogie w/ Dodge Street
Shaw Quartet, Opus Concert Cafe,
Duo, Gabe’s, $10
Cedar Rapids, $12 Friday, Feb. 18 at 8 p.m. James Friday, Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. Anaïs
Armstrong, CSPS Hall, $25-30
Mitchell w/Bonny Light Horseman, Zak Neumann / Little Village
Englert Theatre, Iowa City, $20-45
Celebrate Black History
Sunday, Feb. 20 at 3 p.m. Castalian String Quartet, Hancher Audi-
Friday, Feb. 4 at 9 p.m. Femme-
torium, Iowa City, $10-40
Decks, Gabe’s, $10
Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 4:30
Wednesday, Feb. 9 at 6 p.m.
p.m. Afro-Cuban Dance Work-
Black History Month Trivia, Rob-
shop for Kids and Families With
ert A. Lee Community Recreation
Sunday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. Jake
Modei Akyea, Iowa City Public
Center, Iowa City, Free
Blount w/Laurel Premo, CSPS Hall,
Son Volt,
Thursday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. Ocea-
Cedar Rapids, $17-23
Library, Free
Englert Theatre, $20-35
Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 4 p.m.
na, Stillwater Coffee Company,
Thursday, Feb. 3 at 6:30 p.m.
The African American Museum
Monday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m.
On These Grounds, FilmScene—
of Iowa: Superheroes of Science
Harafica Cimbál Band, National
Chauncey, Iowa City, Free-$12
(Pre-K-2nd Grade), ICPL, Free
Czech and Slovak Museum and Li-
Friday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m.
brary, Cedar Rapids, $10 suggest-
Bettye LaVette, Englert Theatre, $20-35
Hiawatha, Free
Saturday, Feb. 5 and Thursday,
Thursday, Feb. 17 at 10:30 a.m.
ed donation
Feb. 17 at 10 a.m. Celebrating
Preschool Stories & More: Black
Friday, Feb. 11 at 9 p.m.
Black History Month at the
History Month Storytime and
Summer Camp On The Road Tour,
Saturday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. Le
Museum, African American
Short Film Fest, ICPL, Free
Gabe’s, $10
Grand Sellegrini, Sanctuary Pub,
Friday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. Sankofa,
Saturday, Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. The
FilmScene—Chauncey, Free
Beaker Brothers, Wildwood Sa-
Saturday, Feb. 26 at 8 p.m. Shawn
loon, Iowa City, $15-20
Holt & The Teardrops, CSPS Hall,
Iowa City, Free
Museum of Iowa, Cedar Rapids, Free Saturday, Feb. 5 at 2 p.m. Black History Calendar Creation Stu-
Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 6:30
dio, ICPL, Free
p.m. My Name Is Pauli Murray
Sunday, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. Lone
screening, ICPL, Free
Pinon, CSPS Hall, $23-28
$25-30 Monday, Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m. Jorma Kaukonen, Englert Theatre, $15-35 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303 February 2022 55
EDITORS’ PICKS: February 2022 PRESENTED BY IOWA CITY DOWNTOWN DISTRICT
AROUND THE CRANDIC
Community Collaborations, FilmScene—The Chauncey, Iowa City, Various
FilmScene is kicking off its Community Collaborations with two February offerings. On These Grounds is the inaugural event, Thursday, Feb. 3 at 6:30 p.m., $12 for the general public or free for K-12 students, teachers and parents/families. The 2021 Garrett Zeygetis documentary explores activist Vivian Anderson’s efforts to engage the situation and circumstances that led a white South Carolina police officer to throw a Black teenager from her school desk. The film is co-presented by Black Lives Matter at School—Iowa. The second screening in the series is Haile Gerima’s 1993 drama Sankofa, presented free on Friday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. in collaboration with Sankofa Outreach Connection and Beloved Community Initiative. Both films will be followed by discussion panels. The series, announced in January, offers community groups the chance to partner with FilmScene on topics or specific films they feel will resonate with viewers and generate positive action.
Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 10 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 10 p.m.
Late Shift at the Grindhouse:
Late Shift at the Grindhouse:
Crypt of the Living Dead, Film-
President’s Day, FilmScene—
Scene—Chauncey, Iowa City, $7
Chauncey, $7
Saturday, Feb. 5 at 4:30 p.m. The
Thursday, Feb. 17 at 3:30 p.m.
Boys Who Said No!,
The Picture Show: WALL-E,
FilmScene—Ped Mall, Iowa City,
FilmScene—Chauncey, Free-$5
courtesy of FilmScene
Films in Focus
$8.50-9.50 Thursday, Feb. 17 at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 9 at 10 p.m. Late
Pride at FilmScene: Shortbus,
Shift at the Grindhouse: Psychos in
FilmScene—Ped Mall, $8.50-11
Love, FilmScene—Chauncey, $7 Saturday, Feb. 19 at 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 10 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 10 at
CinéVino 2022, NewBo City
My Name Is Pauli Murray, Iowa City
Late Shift at the Grindhouse:
Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 12-13 at 11
Market, Cedar Rapids, $15
Public Library, Free
New York Ninja, FilmScene—
a.m. The Picture Show: WALL-E,
Chauncey, $7
FilmScene—Chauncey, Free-$5
THE WEEKENDER YOUR WEEKLY EDITOR-CURATED ARTS COMPENDIUM, A.K.A.
st uf f to do IN YOUR INBOX EVERY THURSDAY LittleVillageMag.com/Subscribe
56 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
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GIFT CARDS AVAILABLE IN-SHOP + OASISFALAFEL.COM
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EDITORS’ PICKS: February 2022 PRESENTED BY IOWA CITY DOWNTOWN DISTRICT
AROUND THE CRANDIC
Theatrical Thrills Thursday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m.
Friday and Saturday, Feb. 11 and
Improv First Thursdays, CSPS
12 at 7:30 p.m. The Second City
Hall, Cedar Rapids, Free-$5
Hits Home, The Englert Theatre, Iowa City, $30-44
Friday and Saturday, Feb. 4 and 5 at 8 p.m. Chicago Comedy
Saturday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Invasion: Jessica Misra, Joystick
The Doug T Hypno Show, Olympic
Comedy Arcade, $5-10
South Side Theatre, Cedar Rapids, $20
Opening Friday, Feb. 4. I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now
Saturday, Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. Bawdy
Change, Giving Tree Theater,
Bawdy Ha Ha Burlesque Presents:
Marion, $29
Somebawdy to Love, James Theater, Iowa City, $25-50
Friday, Feb. 4 at 9:30 p.m. Friday Forum: A Comedy
Opening Thursday, Feb. 17.
Showcase—ft. Joe Marino, Lib-
Mirrorbox Theatre Presents: Cycle
erty Belle and Kenyon Adamcik,
Play, TCR Grandon Studio, Cedar
Willow Creek Theatre Company,
Rapids, $20
Iowa City, $10 Friday, Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m. Mark Opening Friday, Feb. 11. Kinky
Morris Dance Group: Pepperland,
Boots, Theatre Cedar Rapids,
Hancher Auditorium, Iowa City,
$27-57
$10-55
Opening Friday, Feb. 11. The Tri-
Saturday, Feb. 19 at 8 p.m. The
angle Factory Fire Project, Iowa
Roast of Venus Flytrap, Joystick
City Community Theatre, $9-17
Comedy Arcade
Opening Friday, Feb. 11. City
Sunday, Feb. 20 at 1 p.m. National
Circle Theatre Company
Theatre Live: A View From the
Presents: Camelot in Concert,
Bridge, FilmScene—Chauncey,
Coralville Center for the Per-
Iowa City, $13.05-18
forming Arts, $14-29 Eden Prairie, 1971, Farrar Design Studios
Opens Friday, Feb. 4, Eden
Prairie, 1971, Riverside
Theatre, Iowa City, at 2 p.m., Free
Riverside Theatre is christening its brand-spankin’-new space just off the Ped Mall with Eden Prairie, 1971, a brand-spankin’-new play having its world premiere in Iowa City. Riverside Producing Artistic Director Adam Knight directs this piece by Mat Smart, whose show The Agitators kicked off the company’s 2020. It’s a beautiful nod to the cyclical flow that keeps hope alive for live theater, even as the pandemic continues to upend expectations. Eden Prairie, 1971 features Kyle Clark, Christina Sullivan and Kristy Hartsgrove Mooers. Masks and a 72-hour (or less) negative COVID-19 test are required for all audience members (proof of vaccination will be accepted in lieu of a test). In addition, Riverside is reducing all Thursday and Sunday performances to 50 percent audience capacity.
58 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
Eden Prairie, 1971, Stacia Rain Stonerook
LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303 February 2022 59
LEARN TO CURL, GURL
EDITORS’ PICKS: February 2022
AROUND THE CRANDIC
courtesy of Cedar Rapids Curling
Wednesday, Feb. 16,
Contemporary Issues Forum: Viet Thanh Nguyen, Coe
College, Cedar Rapids, at 7:30 p.m., Free-$10
C
urling is a Scottish sport that’s over 500 years old, but is still played today—and it’ll be featured in the Winter Olympics this year. It’s an ice-based sport, but the surface isn’t the glossy, smooth kind of ice you figure skate on. It’s a rough, pebbly texture that makes a perfect surface for players to send 44-pound granite stones down the field to a target called the “house.” After the stone has been thrown, two teammates swoop in with brooms and vigorously scrub the ice— this melts the ice, clears debris and makes the stone travel faster and more smoothly. Once both teams have thrown all eight of their stones, the team with the most stones in the center of the house wins!
The Coe 2022 K. Raymond Clark Contemporary Issues Forum welcomes Vietnamese-American author and educator Viet Thanh Nguyen to Sinclair Auditorium. The event is free to Coe students and staff, $10 for the general public and $5 for seniors and non-Coe students. His 2015 debut novel, The Sympathizer, which was released 40 years to the month after the fall of Saigon (the book’s opening scene) won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and several other honors. He has also written prize-winning short stories and nonfiction, as well as earned awards for research, mentoring and teaching at the University of Southern California.
Saturday, Feb. 5 at 10 a.m. Brandon P. Fleming: Tanager Place Speaker Series, Online, Free Sunday, Feb. 6 at 1 p.m. Freeze Fest, Terry Trueblood Recreation Area, Iowa City, Free Monday, Feb. 7 at 11 a.m. What Do We Mean by Research Now?—Collaborative Approaches to Understanding Memory and Minds, Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, Online, Free (registration required) Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 4:30 p.m. Breaking Barriers: Arts, Athletics, and Medicine (1898-1947), UI Center for Advancement, Online, Free (registration required)
Wednesday,
Saturday, Feb. 12 at 10:30 a.m. Head Over
Feb. 16, Olympic
Hook: Top Rope Climbing Competition, Campus Recreation & Wellness Center, Iowa City, $25
curling watch party, 7 pm,
Tuesday, Feb. 15 at 4:30 p.m. Endless Innovation: An R1 Research Institution (1948–1997), UI Center for Advancement, Online, Free (registration required)
Big Grove Brewery U.S. vs. Denmark
Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 4:30 p.m. The Next Chapter: Blazing New Trails (1998–2047), UI
Learn to Curl like an Olympian
Center for Advancement, Online, Free (registra-
at ImOn Ice in Cedar Rapids
tion required)
Tuesday, Feb. 15, 7-8:30 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 24 at 3 p.m. Domestic Violence
Tuesday, Feb. 22, 7-8:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
Intervention Program 25th Anniversary Souper
Community Connections
Tuesday, March 1, 7-8:30 p.m.
Bowl, Big Grove Brewery & Taproom, Iowa City, $30-100
Saturday, March 5, 7-8:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. Reproductive Jus-
Tuesday, March 8, 7-8:30 p.m.
tice: An Obermann Conversation, Online, Iowa
Monday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. Grant Wood Fellow
Tuesdays, March 15, 22, 29, 7-8:30 p.m.
City Public Library, Free
Talk: Elena Smyrniotis, Stanley Museum of Art, Online, Free
60 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303 February 2022 61
EDITORS’ PICKS: February 2022
PRESENTED BY IOWA CITY DOWNTOWN DISTRICT
DES MOINES
Saturday, Feb. 19,
LGBTQ Health and Wellness Conference 2022, Online, (oneiowa.org) at 9 a.m., Free-$75
One Iowa and Des Moines University present the 10th annual LGBTQ Health and Wellness Conference, an event that brings healthcare professionals together with community members to meet, learn and build mutual trust. Des Moines University students can register free; community member rate is paywhat-you-can up to $25; and the healthcare professional rate is $75. Community members have the opportunity to learn tips and tricks for navigating a challenging system, while professionals can expand their knowledge of best practices in serving LGBTQ Iowans. via One Iowa: The 2019 LGBTQ Health and Wellness Conference in DSM.
Dynamic DSM Thursday, Feb. 3 at 6 p.m. Bi-
Saturday, Feb. 12 at 10:30 a.m.
Sunday, Feb. 20 at 4:30 p.m. Re-
Sunday, Feb. 27 at 5:30 p.m. Mar-
bimbap it Up: Korean Cooking,
Learn to Skate Clinic, Brenton
framing Racial Justice in Creative
di Gras, Mask, Murder, Local Vine,
Culinary Loft, Des Moines, $55
Skating Plaza, Des Moines, Free
Communities: Abena S.
Indianola, $30
Imhotep, Mainframe Studios, Free Friday, Feb. 4 at 5 p.m. First
Saturday, Feb. 12 at 1 p.m. Local
Friday: Black Love, Mainframe
Author Fair, Beaverdale Books,
Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Studios, Des Moines, Free
Des Moines, Free
Beach House, Val Air Ballroom,
Friday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. Hailey
Saturday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. Naugh-
Whitters, Wooly’s, Des Moines,
ty Nerds
Friday and Saturday, Feb. 25-26.
$20
Cabaret Presents Naughtier &
I’ll Make Me a World in Iowa—Io-
Nerdier, xBk, $25-35
wa’s African American Festival,
West Des Moines, $30
Opening Friday, Feb. 4. Murder
online, worldiniowa.com
on the Orient Express, Des Moines
Sunday, Feb. 13 at 10 a.m. and 1
Playhouse, $29-47
p.m. Not Valentines Drag Brunch,
Saturday, Feb. 26 at 11 a.m. Bacon
Fresko, Des Moines, $60-360
Gras! A Ragin’ Cajun Bacon Cel-
Saturday, Feb. 5 at 6 p.m. Lil
ebration!, Horizon Events Center,
Durk, Horizon Events Center,
Thursday, Feb. 17 at 9 p.m. Meso
Clive, $100-250
w/ Xotix, Darkwood, Platform, Des Moines, $16-20
Opening Tuesday, Feb. 8. Tootsie, Des Moines Civic Center, $40-140
Clive, $50-70 Once Twice Melody Album, Beach House
Saturday, Feb. 26 at 11:30 a.m. Gateway Dance Theatre—Cel-
Monday, Feb. 28 at 5:30 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. Ward
ebrating 50 years—Presents
5th Annual Johnston Chopped!
Davis, Lefty’s Live Music, $20-60
SANAA YA SANAA: Celebrating
Culinary Gala 2022, Hyperion Field
Black History, Greater Des Moines
Club, Johnston, $100-900
Thursday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. Clem Snide w/ Lily DeTaeye, xBk, Des
Sunday, Feb. 20 at 1 p.m. GR!LIVE:
Botanical Garden, Dupont Room,
Moines, $12
Rock ‘N’ Roll: Sister Rosetta
Freewill Donation
Tharpe w/ Penny Peach, xBk, Friday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. Wolf King
Free-$13
w/ Frail Body, Knoll, Lefty’s Live Music, Des Moines, $12 62 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
Saturday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. Night Moves, xBk, $15
SATURDAY
FEBRUARY 5
2:00 - 4:00 PM STORYTIME ROOM
Tues, Feb. 15 7-8:30 pm | Zoom
(319)356-5200 icpl.org/calendar Masks are required in the Library building.
EDITORS’ PICKS: February 2022
CEDAR FALLS / WATERLOO
All February Birthday Party w/the Rumours, Illegal Smile, 404, 8Foundead, Saturday, Feb. 19,
Electric Park Ballroom, Waterloo, at 6 p.m., $20-25 Spicoli’s Reverb presents a wild lineup at the historic Electric Park Ballroom, headlined by Rockford, IL punks the Pimps. This “February birthday bash” boasts free admission at the door for anyone with a February birthday ID. A who’s who of NE Iowa grunge, garage and punk supports for this all-ages blowout. Seems a bit early for the party of the year, but it’s not worth the risk to miss it!
courtesy of the Pimps
Wildest W’loo + more! Friday, Feb. 4 at 9 p.m. Anthony Worden & The
Thursday, Feb. 17 at 4 p.m. Exhibit Open
Friday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. Voctave, Gallagher
Illiterati, Octopus College Hill, Cedar Falls, $5
House: “Fire and Ice: Cedar Falls Ice Houses,”
Bluedorn Performing Arts Center, Cedar Falls,
Victorian House Museum, Cedar Falls, Free
$18.55-41.75
Overnight (ages 6-12), Grout Museum, Water-
Opening Feb. 25. Waterloo Community
Sunday, Feb. 27 at 2 p.m. An Officer & A Gen-
loo, $24-40
Playhouse Presents: The Rocky Horror Show, Hope
tleman, Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts
Martin Theatre—Waterloo Center for the Arts, $25
Center, $33.75-96.75
Saturday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. Escape Room
CEDAR RAPIDS CZECH VILLAGE/ NEW BOHEMIA
Come work with us
JOHN@NEWBO.CO • (319) 382-5128
NEXT PAGE BOOKS 319.247.2665 | npb.newbo@gmail.com 1105 Third Street SE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
64 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
EDITORS’ PICKS: February 2022
PRESENTED BY IOWA CITY DOWNTOWN DISTRICT
Tuesday, Feb. 15, One
Person Can Make A Difference, Davenport Public
Library—Eastern Branch or Online at 6:30 p.m., Free Living Lands and Waters Vice President Dan
courtesy of Living Lands and Waters
Breidenstein will give a talk about the work he does with his organization, how Living Lands and Waters started and what innovations they’re making with their ongoing efforts to support the Mississippi River Valley. This will include clean up, education and conservation. In collaboration with Wild Ones, Quad Cities, this presentation seeks to help Quad Citians understand the work being done in conservation and biodiversity and how they can engage with the various habitats and initiatives happening in the region.
QUAD CITIES
Quintessential QC Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 1 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 12, throughout
Snowshoe Adventures, Wapsi River
the day. Love Is Blind Valentine
Center, Dixon, Free (RSVP required)
Haunted House, Factory of Fear, Moline, $25
Thursday, Feb. 3 at 6 p.m. History of the 108th Infantry, Lock and Dam
Thursday, Feb. 17 at 8 p.m. All
Lounge, Rock Island, Free
Sweat Original Series: Charlotte Blu, Alexa Mueller, J Wolfskill, River
Thursday, Feb. 3 at 8 p.m.
Music Experience, $10-50
Dancefestopia - Yellow Brick Road Tour, River Music Experience,
Tuesday, Feb. 22, 7p.m. River
Davenport, $15-50
Action Book Club: Pipe Dreams, River Action Davenport, Free
Saturday, Feb. 5 at 9 a.m. Nature
Thursday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. Joe
Hike in Nahant Marsh, Davenport,
Marcinek Band feat. Jason Hann of
Free
String Cheese Incident w/ Piso’s Cure, River Music Experience, $15-
Wednesday, Feb. 9 at 6:30 p.m.
50
The Artsy Stitchers Fiber Arts Group, Online, the Artsy Bookworm
Friday, Feb. 25 at 8 p.m. Ash
(theartsybookworm.com), Free
Lauryn All Night Live Music, Rozz Tox, Rock Island, Pay-what-you-can
Friday, Feb. 11 at 5 p.m. Valentine’s
(RSVP required)
Day Lantern Hike, Nahant Marsh, $15-20 per couple
—Sarah Elgatian
LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303 February 2022 65
A RETRO REVIVAL OF AN URBAN RESORT FOR THE INDEPENDENT SPIRIT.
Urban Hippie
Give the chain hotels the bird! Stay at an independently owned and locally grown craft hotel. Where five-star meets rock star. 66 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
2525 HIGHLANDER PLACE IOWA CITY, IA 52245 319-354-2000 // HIGHLANDERHOTEL.US
DEAR KIKI
D
ear Kiki, I consider myself a kinky person. I looove exploring all possibilities during sex, using whatever devices, ropes, tapes, paddles, what have you, to really go deep into what I’m into and what I’m not into. I had a sheltered past, so I feel like this is my time to really get past old shames and hangups. The issue? My husband isn’t the same way. He’s a more relaxed type, the type B to my type A, and
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accouterments that accompany each sexcapade that make it feel unbalanced. It’s where attention is paid. If he’s playing the role of not-so-enthusiastic dom, then you are the center of attention in each of those sessions. Give him equal attention, on separate occasions. Show him that you can fall asleep together satisfied after the most vanilla of sex—if not sexually satisfied, at least emotionally satisfied knowing that you’ve satisfied him. Really see him
HOW DO I GET OVER THE GUILTY FEELING THAT OUR RELATIONSHIP IS UNBALANCED BECAUSE MY HUSBAND JUST ISN’T A KINKSTER? he’s pretty vanilla. I love him a lot, and I love my relationship with him, but sometimes it feels unbalanced because I want all this special stuff and he’s just fine with the same every time. How do I get over the guilty feeling that our relationship is unbalanced because my husband just isn’t a kinkster? —Out of Whack Dear Out of Whack, As you’ve discovered, every individual has different sexual needs and desires. If your past was as sheltered as you imply, you may not have experience from a wide variety of different partners. But let me assure you: Not even all vanillas are cut from the same cloth. Kinks (or lack thereof), openness to exploration and even things as simple as appetite for frequency vary widely from person to person. And the fact is, as you’re also discovering, those things also change for each individual over time. Even if you luck into a relationship where you’re on the same page day one, you might grow in different directions. So is that a death knell for a satisfying sex life, or even for a marriage? Absolutely not! I don’t know your specific situation, but you say you love your husband. With that kind of love typically comes a desire to fulfill the other person in whatever ways are necessary. If you’re already feeling unbalanced, I’m guessing that he’s demonstrated a willingness to explore with you, even though it’s not what floats his boat. The solution: reciprocate! Remind yourself that you don’t have to get off every time. It can be tempting, when you’re trying out new-to-you kinks, toys and pleasures, to want to utilize them in every encounter. Fight that temptation. Take the time to serve his needs—because, however vanilla, if that’s what he prefers, he should have a chance to experience it as regularly as you experience your desires. It isn’t the amount of preparation or
in these moments: explore his pleasure as intimately as you explore your own. Now, if he is resistant to your experimentation, then you have a different situation. Not everyone is cut out for kink, and he may reach a point where he tells you honestly, “I am not OK with this.” Then you have a different series of choices to make. Couples therapy, and specifically sex therapy, can help you find ways to connect (so can just talking openly with each other, frankly, but that can be tricky with a sheltered past, because you may not even have the language to convey what you need). There is also the option of opening your marriage to other sexual partners or exploring your kinks in a professional setting. Only the two of you can decide which option you’re ready for. The important thing is to make these decisions together. For you, especially, as you dive deeper into your kink journey, you’ll learn that emotional and intellectual openness and honesty are the key factors to successful pleasure-seeking. Without trust, there can be no pleasure. Make establishing trust a fundamental part of your marriage, and there’s no limit to the ways that it can grow from there. xoxo, Kiki
KIKI WANTS QUESTIONS! Questions about love and sex in the Iowa City—Cedar Rapids area can be submitted to dearkiki@littlevillagemag.com, or anonymously at littlevillagemag.com/ dearkiki. Questions may be edited for clarity and length, and may appear either in print or online at littlevillagemag.com. LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303 February 2022 67
IOWA CITY NORTHSIDE MARKETPLACE
George’s
est. 1939
312 E Market St | 351-9614
IC’s original northside tap, serving up cold brews, lively conversation, & our award-winning burgers.
BEER GARDEN
Mon-Sat 11am-midnight Sunday noon-midnight
68 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
AST R O LO GY
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Since the iconoclastic planet Uranus is a chief symbol for the Aquarian tribe, you people are more likely to be dissenters and mavericks and questioners than all the other signs. That doesn’t mean your departures from orthodoxy are always successful or popular. Sometimes you meet resistance from the status quo. Having offered that caveat, I’m happy to announce that in the coming weeks, your unique offerings are more likely than usual to be effective. For inspiration, read these observations by author Kristine Kathryn Rusch: “Rebels learn the rules better than the rule-makers do. Rebels learn where the holes are, where the rules can best be breached. Become an expert at the rules. Then break them with creativity and style.” PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Piscean author Juansen Dizon tells us, “Don’t find yourself in places where people have it all figured out.” That’s always good advice, but it will be especially germane for you in the coming weeks and months. You need the catalytic stimulation that comes from associating with curious, open-minded folks who are committed to the high art of not being know-it-alls. The influences you surround yourself with will be key in your efforts to learn new information and master new skills. And that will be an essential assignment for you throughout 2022. ARIES (March 21-April 19): Author Helen Hunt Jackson said that one component of happiness is “a little less time than you want.” Why? Because you always “have so many things you want to see, to have, and to do” and “no day is quite long enough for all you would like to get done before you go to bed.” I propose you experiment with this definition in the coming weeks. According to my astrological analysis, you will have even more interesting assignments and challenges than usual—as well as a brimming vitality that will make it possible for you to accomplish many but not all of them. Your happiness should be abundant! TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Born under the sign of Taurus, Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) had considerable skills as a composer of music, an athlete, an author, a passionate lover, and an activist working for women’s rights. She was successful in all of them. I propose we make her one of your role models for the coming months. Why? First, because she did more than one thing really well, and you are now primed to enhance your versatility, flexibility, and adaptability. Second, because she described a formula for high achievement that would suit you well. She said, “Night after night I went to sleep murmuring, ‘Tomorrow I will be easy, strong, quick, supple, accurate, dashing and self-controlled all at once!’” (P.S.: I suggest you make “supple” your word of power in 2022.) GEMINI (May 21-June 20): According to author Olivia Dresher, “Feelings want to be free. Thoughts want to be right.” Well, then, what about intuitions? In a sense, they’re hybrids of feelings and thoughts. They’re a way of knowing that transcends both feelings and thoughts. When intuitions come from the clear-seeing part of your deep psyche rather than the fearprone part of your conditioning, they are sweet and fun and accurate and humble and brisk and pure. They don’t “want” to be anything. I’m pleased to inform you, Gemini, that in the coming weeks, your intuitions will be working at peak efficiency. It should be relatively easy for you to distinguish between the clear-seeing and fear-prone modes of intuition. CANCER (June 21-July 22): “If you are going to do something wrong, at least enjoy it,” wrote humorist Leo Rosten. I offer his counsel to you right now because I want you to have fun if you wander away from your usual upstanding behavior. But may I make a suggestion? As you depart from normal, boring niceness, please remain honorable and righteous. What I’m envisioning for you are experiments that are disruptive in
By Rob Brezsny
healthy ways, and dares that stir up interesting problems, and rebellious explorations that inspire beauty and truth. They’ll be “wrong” only in the sense of being mutinies against static, even stagnant, situations that should indeed be prodded and pricked. Remember Bob Dylan’s idea: “To live outside the law, you must be honest.” LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo actor Anna Kendrick bragged, “I’m so humble it’s crazy. I’m like the Kanye West of humility.” I’d like to see you adopt that extravagant approach to expressing your magnificence in the coming weeks. I hope you’ll add another perspective to your repertoire, too—this one from Leo actor Mae West. She exulted, “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful!” Here’s one further attitude I encourage you to incorporate, courtesy of Leo author Rachel Pollack: “To learn to play seriously is one of the great secrets of spiritual exploration.” VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Sammy Davis Jr. (1925-1990) was multi-talented: an actor, singer, comedian, and dancer. One critic described him as “the greatest entertainer ever to grace a stage.” He didn’t think highly of his own physical appearance, however. “I know I’m dreadfully ugly,” Davis said, “one of the ugliest men you could meet. But ugliness, like beauty, is something you must learn how to use.” That’s an interesting lesson to meditate on. I think it’s true that each of us has rough, awkward, irregular aspects—if not in our physical appearance, then in our psyches. And yet, as Davis suggested, we can learn to not just tolerate those qualities, but use them to our advantage. Now is a favorable time for you to do that. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “It is the nature of love to work in a thousand different ways,” wrote the mystic Saint Teresa of Avila. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you’re due to discover new and different ways to wield your love magic—in addition to the many you already know and use. For best results, you’ll have to be willing to depart from old reliable methods for expressing care and tenderness and nurturing. You must be willing to experiment with fresh approaches that may require you to stretch yourself. Sounds like fun to me! SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “If you are drilling for water, it’s better to drill one 60-foot well than 10 six-foot wells,” advised author and religious scholar Huston Smith. He was using well-drilling as a metaphor, of course—as a symbol for solving a problem, for example, or developing a spiritual practice, or formulating an approach to psychological healing. The metaphor might not be perfectly applicable for everyone in every situation. But I believe it is vividly apropos for you and your current situations. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): A well-worn proverb tells us, “All good things come to those who wait.” There’s a variation, whose author is unknown (although it’s often misattributed to Abraham Lincoln): “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left behind by those who hustle.” I think that’s far more useful advice for you in the coming weeks. I’d much rather see you hustle than wait. Here’s a third variant, which may be the best counsel of all. It’s by author Holly Woodward: “All good things come to those who bait.” CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Author Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote, “To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.” I agree, which is why I authorize you to add “Saint” to the front of your name in the coming weeks. There’s an excellent chance you will fit the description Stowe articulated. You’ll be at the peak of your power to elevate the daily rhythm into a stream of subtle marvels. You’ll be quietly heroic. If you’re not fond of the designation “Saint,” you could use the Muslim equivalent term, “Wali,” the Jewish “Tzadik,” Buddhist “Arhat,” or Hindu “Swami.” LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303 February 2022 69
COMMUNITY
COLLABORATIONS Presented by Community Collaborations is an ongoing series of engaging cinematic events in partnership with nonprofits, advocacy groups, passionate individuals, and community organizations to generate conversation and action inspired by film. ICFILMSCENE.ORG/COLLABORATE
ON THESE GROUNDS
THIS
MONTH
THU, FEB 3, 6:30pm
70 February 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV303
FREE for K-12 students and their families. Presented in partnership with Black Lives Matter at School - Iowa.
SANKOFA
FRI, FEB 18, 7pm
FREE. Presented in partnership with Sankofa Outreach Connection and Beloved Community Initiative.
LO C A L A L B U M S
Submit albums for review: Little Village, 623 S Dubuque St., IC, IA 52240
only way to get it. It’s an innovative release strategy that demonstrates how serious the man is about his music and connecting with his audience, and I don’t think I’ve seen a model quite like it. Opening track “Firecrackers at While certainly not a yawning Dawn” sets the tone with an eerie philosophical pit, it’s still heady vibe, drawing you in with Tedesco’s enough, saved perhaps by that rewarm, haunted, Paul Simon-esque curring and well-received invitation vocals. The warmth vanishes about to live, at least a little. There is a midway through the song, though, Dan Tedesco lot of that sentiment throughout as it bursts into a proggy guitar Morning Bells the whirl, both stated and implied riff and a jazzy saxophone workin countless synth layers. Guided DANTEDESCO.COM out from Boston musician Evan by a lost Local Natives guitar line, Laflamme. The hook of the song “Every Blessing” even comes t can be a dicey affair when an is a lyric drenched in reassurance with digital church bells ringing. artist who operates in traditional and doubt: “It’s OK for the things Combined with interpolations from songcraft decides to experiment. you love to let you down once in a some artificial music box, the whole They risk alienating some of their while—isn’t it?” thing could have easily become lost audience, while the new audience “VSFLS” (Violence, Sex, Fear, into its own expanse. But quiet, segment they attract may not apLanguage, Substances) is a moody somber notes on a well-tuned piano preciate the existing back catalog rant about the state of the world that refocus the tune, and the album for of their more “standard” fare. builds into the EP’s most driving that matter. Ambulance wails in the Dan Tedesco’s excellent new EP, moments, but still remains intimate. back/foreground bring the listener Morning Bells, manages to navigate You can hear the keys on the saxoeven closer to our shared current this territory and come out with phone clicking, as if it were right up and former moment: It cannot be all something rare: a three-song collecnext to your ear, telling you a secret, kaleidoscope daydreams anymore, tion of well-crafted (not to mention as the world is engulfed in flames even if we try really, really hard. pointed) songs that also explores around you. Fittingly, “Paradise Lost” marks some interesting sonic territory. It is The title track is the prettiest of the symphonic fall of the record, a ambitious, but doesn’t neglect what the bunch, but even it has a ghost, bookmark of chaos and distortion came before. in the form of amp buzz that keeps that isn’t resolved until the record’s There is no traditional percussion things from getting too pretty. The final track. “Endless” returns to in these songs, no drummer on a kit. tune is a showcase for Tedesco’s the former satellite pop which The rhythm section takes the form fingerpicking style on guitar, which THAT’S THE PLEASURE HERE: WANDERING ELECTRONIC anchors it and gives SOUNDSCAPES IN HEEDLESS PURSUIT OF STRAIGHT it motion. SEROTONIN FUEL, NEVER RELYING ON LYRICS OR VOCAL Lyrically and stylistically, Morning DELIVERANCE TO SPREAD ITS MESSAGE OF INNOCENT Bells is another EFFERVESCENCE. piece of pandemic music (Tedesco calls it out in the first song). There have found such joy in chasing meloof hand claps, shakers and general been a lot of those in Iowa music dies through hard drives. It could banging on things (but in ways that the last few years—artists haven’t be horns anchoring the melody make the songs more interesting). been given much of a choice—but on the track, but it turns out to be And the EP won’t be released in a Tedesco might have best captured yet another synth layer. That’s the traditional manner, either—Tedesco the overall flavor of our collective pleasure here: wandering electronic is dropping one song at a time dread. You can feel the frustrations soundscapes in heedless pursuit of from February through April on his and anxieties of a working musician straight serotonin fuel, never relyMusic Channel, a site that works struggling throughout this trio of ing on lyrics or vocal deliverance like a more interactive Patreon, songs. But, as the writer Malcolm to spread its message of innocent where he can supply unique conGladwell says, “A lot of what is effervescence. My advice? Get it tent to his fans and offer a way to most beautiful about the world ariswhile you can. Winter can’t last interact with him directly. This EP es from struggle.” forever, can it? won’t be released on any streaming —Avery Gregurich services; the Music Channel is the —Bryon Dudley We’re not soft, we look soft We just play piano and love hopscotch (Live a little)
Zap Tura Adaptasia WARMGOSPEL.BANDCAMP.COM
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ith every surge of the pandemic, a soundtrack emerges. Cyclical soundtracks, in fact. First, warm, optimistic fear foists celebrity covers of “Imagine” onto us all. Then, months of winter mark dour observations as people spend time with themselves looking at the brash remains that they all share. Rinse, repeat, release until it’s hard for anyone to feel that optimism is worth placing a bet on anymore. A question then: On the turning into winter of calendar year three, would there ever again be energetic daydream music, to mark the start of what seems now to be an endemic disease? Answer: Zap Tura’s Adaptasia. Meticulously produced by Phil Young and released by Des Moines’ Warm Gospel Tapes label, Zap Tura’s second full-length album Adaptasia is a feast of digital exuberance, something I didn’t know could be offered earnestly anymore. The first song, “River,” explodes from out of a sped-up sitcom theme that can still be found if you twist the rabbit ears just right into a truly joyous opening tune. Ritual melodic forays are introduced, most of which will appear throughout the album’s ensuing eight anodic tracks. For proof, credits on “Echospace” include “AM radio & cell phone oscillation,” further establishing Zap Tura’s insistence on including all imagined digital instruments into the mix. Bird song bridges the dead space between tracks, setting the green screen to allow the requisite synth-whirl to accompany this chorus on “Protector”:
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LO C A L B O O KS
Laura Johnson Memento Vivere CABIN BEAR BOOKS
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n Memento Vivere, a tiny volume of rebellion against death, Cedar Rapids poet Laura Johnson creates a still life of delights and damages reminding both herself and the reader: Remember you must live. (For those missing the reference, “memento mori” is a commonly used phrase meaning “remember you must die.”) In the introductory poem, Johnson introduces us to her dying father. “He is thinking of immigrating: a final, / permanent move, according to / Mother. But Dad and I know / his step over will be a first move / into a new kingdom.” She follows this poem—full of feathers, flight and ailing birds— with a short calendar of fragments, seeming to tell its readers that any moment can be a sign of life. While the repeated imagery of birds, feathers, eggs and flight often appear to be literal vignettes from real life, they also serve as anchoring metaphors between the difficulties of grief both personal and abstract. The book makes several references to 2020, COVID-19 and isolation, as in the poem “Two Thousand and Twenty, Anno Domini”: “These days offer little cosseting. / We search for health and hope– / a scavenger hunt we did not want. / Today, I startle, greeted by a fluttering of parental wings, / in the nest, a small clutch of eggs.” Journeying through Memento Vivere with 2020 in mind is a helpful compass. We can see the narrator slowing down (“no longer
Submit books for review: Little Village, 623 S Dubuque St., IC, IA 52240
a luxury but an imperative,” she writes in “Two Thousand and Twenty”), questioning priorities and observing the domestic anew. Some texts of reflection and documentation covering 2020 have been hard to read, leaving the reader feeling hopeless and reliving their own traumas. Memento Vivere is full of hope and awe, revolving around reflection, always erring on the side of stoic, as in “Tornado Warning”: “Rebuilding felt easier now / that trust had fled and left us, / leaving no reparations.”
I WANT TO PAIR THIS COLLECTION WITH A CHEAP WINE, SOMETHING THAT HURTS TO SWALLOW BUT LEAVES YOU WARM. I want to pair this collection with a cheap wine, something that hurts to swallow but leaves you warm. There’s a slow creep to the sadness weathered by the narrator. Everything comes out soft and hopeful, but we can see Johnson training to speak in silver linings. My favorite poem, “Half Life” (the last in the book), puts words to this in-between place with these phrases, “The house: half decorated,” “Poems shiver half-naked,” “I find myself half-orphaned,” “White mug: half-empty” as the author sits “half-hearted” to “try / to write warmth into being.” Memento Vivere is a eulogy for 2020. So much of its composition is built as epitaphs trying to notice how beautiful the scenery is. Johnson claims, in “Autumn’s Benediction”, “No secrets are revealed / this autumn morning and I am an / observer to these magic majesties / as countryside transforms.” If Johnson is bearing witness to this year, she is also our guide through making meaning of our shared hardship, reminding us to live. —Sarah Elgatian
Lan Samantha Chang The Family Chao W. W. NORTON & COMPANY
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amily can be a tricky balancing act. Lan Samantha Chang, in her newest novel, gives the central family the surname Chao, making them collectively, of course, the Chaos. There are a couple of sections early in the book where she really locks the reader into what seems like an obvious analogy: “‘We Chaos, who are full of passion and inner chaos!’” one character says on page 52. And then, in a description of a party on page 63, “... food, drink, loud talk, and laughter, children running, shrieking, breaking things, chaos, more chaos …” As an editor, I am still pondering whether I’d have advised Chang to keep those almost heavy-handed moments. But as the novel progresses, it becomes clear that Chang is not taking this choice of naming lightly. In physics and math, chaos is not used like the colloquial term meaning “complete disorder and confusion.” Instead, it is used to describe a state that balances precariously between order and randomness. It examines systems that may seem random or disordered, but are in fact deeply deterministic and respond with sensitivity to conditions set at their origin. Our universe, for example, is not random, or neatly ordered, but chaotic. Like family. There is chaos in the way family traits are passed down. When Chang describes the Chao brothers’ dismay over which of their father’s characteristics they each possess, she deftly conveys the inevitability
and predictability of that inheritance, yet also the way in which it is never clear at first glance, the way it tempts each recipient into denial. Chang expertly reveals the fractal chaos in the way families grow into communities, independent yet interconnected; in the way immigrants grow into Americans; in the spread of rumor; in the ebb and flow of faith. More than simply the subtle truth that all families are C/chaos, though, The Family Chao is about other feats of balance—is, itself, such a feat. As a story of first generation experience, it captures the precarious path that children of immigrants must navigate between fulfilling their parents’ dreams and crafting their own, between embracing the culture their parents gave everything for them to be part of and becoming too American for their parents to recognize. Chang describes how a spirit “wandered quietly between the living and the dead,” how a character “exists in a liminal space bridging his old self to a future self he can’t yet grasp.” The novel explores duality by examining that liminal space of neither and both, and it does so while existing in its own liminal space between weighty family drama and wild, unpredictable mystery. (And, without spoilers, I’ll say that the novel’s coda is exquisitely set in possibly the most truly liminal, and the most quintessentially American, place that exists: Las Vegas.) Did all paths lead inevitably and predictably to The Family Chao’s inciting event? Is the hope of self-determination that brings so many immigrants to the U.S., and which ultimately condemns these characters, merely a pervasive American myth? Are we all trapped in a deterministic chaos? Chang doesn’t, of course, offer answers. But as each possibility buds, then blooms into its own fractal path, Chang’s clear and driving prose makes the questions a delight to contemplate. —Genevieve Trainor
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ACROSS 1. Folks, for short 4. Rattle 8. Clogs, as the works 14. Obam___re 15. Pretty much any K-pop star, e.g. 16. WandaVision witch Harkness 17. Talk back to urban birds who are being total jerks? 20. Parasitic bug avoided by tucking pant legs into socks (though you look like a total nerd, so trade-offs)
21. Many a TikToker 22. Mark on a leopard fursuit 23. “Ode to Prince, Ending in a Jukebox on Fire in ___” (Hanif Abdurraqib poem) 26. Manage, as laundry 28. Part of the house that tends to make a humming sound? 34. Source of some vegan flour 35. Falco of Outside In 36. “___ telling me a chicken fried this rice?” 37. Biz bigwig
39. Gets thin on top 42. Curry recipe instruction 43. Take home the gold 45. Pressing need? 47. Rae the ___ (antlered Olive Rae Brinker character) 48. Pillow MRI result? 52. “What button is the ‘jump’ one?” asker, probably 53. Unwanted produce growth 54. ___ butter (part of some skincare routines) 57. The “R” in “RHONY” 59. Break the ice in Don’t Break the Ice, e.g.
63. Attract an audience ... or what 17-, 28-, and 48-Across all do? 67. Chant 68. Make like a yarn bomber 69. AOC, e.g. 70. Marvel character with an infamous snap judgment? 71. “She Thinks My Tractor’s ___” (Kenny Chesney song) 72. Operative word? DOWN 1. “Gotta go ___!” (Sonic the Hedgehog catchphrase)
rolls? 2. Berry in some face masks 40. Source of hits for a marching 3. ___-presenting (like some band? nonbinary people) 41. Eh 4. Getup, in slang 44. “Strawberry ice cream in 5. Big tamasha Malibu / Don’t act like we didn’t 6. Disney movie with a setting do that shit ___” (“deja vu” called Little Rodentia / Judy lyric) Hopps and Nick Wilde movie / 46. Org. that loves ice but hates Disney city with the businessicing es Hoof Locker and OfficeFox (I can write more clues) 49. Wheelhouses 7. R&B artist Varner with a 50. Distract a bank teller for, palindromic first name maybe 8. Start to catch up to 51. ___ animation (cycle when a character is standing still, in 9. Boot brand disliked by PETA gaming) 10. Musical figures facing 54. Meat spinner away from the audience, often 55. “?!??!?!?!” interjection, with 11. “That’s the end of this or without the third letter telegram sentence” 56. James in the Blues Hall of 12. “That’s ... very wrong” Fame and Rockabilly Hall of Fame 13. Was tense? 58. Promposes to, maybe 18. Heath bar competitor 60. Implements that fit in locks whose name means “shoes” for some reason 61. “Decide on a grid size,” e.g., in the wikiHow for “How to Make 19. Unit of Philippine money Crossword Puzzles” 24. Nail polish selection 62. The Jimmy V Award for 25. Site for pictures? Perseverance, e.g. 27. Character who calls the 64. Chicago-style pizza chain Millennium Falcon “garbage” headquartered in Boston 28. Britney Spears hit covered 65. Word for “cut” that sounds in the score to Promising like a synonym of “cuts” Young Woman 66. Place in desperate need of 29. Either of Harley Quinn’s the KonMari method pets, e.g. 30. VHS tape, nowadays LV302 ANSWERS 31. Solve a puzzle one second faster than, say 32. Stellar hunter? 33. Piddling 34. Does a Singer’s job 38. Where employees know their
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