Little Village Central Iowa 008: Give Guide

ISSUE 8 November 2022

A L W A Y S

F R E E

ONE! E K A T

Local Nonprofit & Retail Spotlight 2022

Inside the Trans Housing Project P. 18

Bonobos of Des Moines P. 20

Why Iowa Still Loves Vinyl P. 24

Please Touch the Art P. 28

Beaufield Barry’s Buffalo Women, 2021-22 season

Pippi Longstocking The Musical, 2021-22 season

Harriet the Spy Now–Nov. 13, 2022 RODGERS + HAMMERSTEIN’S

Cinderella Dec. 2–18, 2022 Go, Dog. Go! Jan. 6–22, 2022

CLASSES

Winter, spring, and winter break classes

Registration now open!

AUDITIONS

Kinky Boots Nov. 14, 2022

HAPPENING NOW

SHOWS

Guys & Dolls, 2022-23 season

Scan for more info on what’s happening at The Playhouse!

dmplayhouse.com • 831 42nd St • Des Moines, IA

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6 Top Stories 7 Advertising Partners 8 Interactions 12 Contact Buzz 13 Fractured Iowa Nice 14 Give Guide 18 Trans Housing 20 Bonobos 22 Bread & Butter 24 Record Retail 28 A-List 30 Events Calendar 37 Dear Kiki 41 Astrology 43 Label Profiles 45 Press Profiles 46 Reader Survey

Courtesy of Ape Initiative

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18

20

24

For Zoie Taylor, sharing resources

Earth’s most sex-positive primate

Vinyl shops across Iowa serve as

Our House

Bon’ ami

SAVE, SHARE OR RECYCLE

Audiophiles

with trans neighbors in need is a

inspires researchers at Des Moines’

time capsules, cultural centers and

responsibilty.

Ape Initiative.

community hubs.

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2022-2023

AT THE CIVIC CENTER

3-SPEAKER SEASON TICKET PACKAGE STARTS AT $50 JANUARY 31, 2023 Rae Wynn-Grant is dedicated to wildlife ecology research, but it wasn’t until life brought her to Kenya at age 20 that she had ever taken a hike, pitched a tent to camp, or seen a wild animal. While there, she studied East African lions—top carnivores that live in close quarters with local communities—and observed that problematic interactions between the two groups threatened conservation efforts. Now, Dr. Wynn-Grant is finding similar patterns for North American black and grizzly bears.

MARCH 21, 2023 Maureen Beck loves to prove people wrong. Born with one hand, she tried rock climbing for the first time after a camp counselor told her she could skip it. Her love of the sport was instantaneous, but there was no guide for climbing with one hand. Unfazed, she decided to figure it out for herself through trial and error—one of her early adaptive climbing innovations even involved taping a metal ladle to her arm. Before long she was leading a crew of passionate adaptive climbers around the world, forging a path for a new generation.

APRIL 30, 2023 In photographer Anand Varma’s hands, a camera is not just a tool to capture what he sees—it’s a way to illuminate the layers of beauty and complexity that are otherwise hidden from our naked eye.

He has devoted years of his life to developing innovative techniques—even building some of his own equipment—to create intimate, dramatic, and surprising images of nature. His ultimate goal: to spark a sense of wonder about our world.

LEARN MORE AND GET YOUR SEASON TICKETS NOW AT DMPA.org

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EDITORIAL

SOCIAL MEDIA

Publisher

Facebook @LittleVillageMag

Issue 8, Volume 1

Arts Editor

Instagram @LittleVillageMag

November 2022

Genevieve Trainor

Twitter @LittleVillage Cover by Ramona Muse Lambert

genevieve@littlevillagemag.com PRODUCTION Managing Editor

Digital Director

Welcome to the inaugural Central

Emma McClatchey

Drew Bulman

Iowa Give Guide! LV has partnered

emma@littlevillagemag.com

drewb@littlevillagemag.com

with nonprofit orgs and retailers

News Director

Marketing Analytics

right. Plus: Iowa’s world-renowned

Paul Brennan

Coordinator

bonobo research center, food

paul@littlevillagemag.com

Malcolm MacDougall

rescue, trans housing, record

malcolm@littlevillagemag.com

stores and touchy-feely art.

to start the holiday season off

Art Director Jordan Sellergren

SALES & ADMINISTRATION

jordan@littlevillagemag.com

President, Little Village, LLC Matthew Steele

Multimedia Journalist

Britt Fowler is a Des Moines

Ramona Muse Lambert makes art

photographer specializing in

and music. Sometimes she’s in

Advertising

documentary style, landscape

charge of dinner too. Buy her art

Matthew Steele

and portraiture. Her active project

at Ramonamuselambert.com.

ads@littlevillagemag.com

Shoot Des Moines (Shoot DSM)

matt@littlevillagemag.com

Adria Carpenter adria@littlevillagemag.com Events Editor, Design Assistant Sid Peterson sid@littlevillagemag.com

Meet this month’s contributors:

Creative Services

catalogues sights and stories from

Sarah Elgatian is a writer, activist

the Mecca of the Midwest!

and educator living in Iowa. She likes dark coffee, bright colors

Website design, Email marketing, Staff Writers

E-commerce, Videography

Chris DeLine is a music writer

and long sentences. She dislikes

Courtney Guein

creative@littlevillagemag.com

living in Cedar Rapids. He also

meanness.

courtney@littlevillagemag.com

curates playlists at villin.net.

CIRCULATION

Tyler Erickson is a photographer

Lily DeTaeye

Distribution Manager

Elaine Irvine is a University of

based in Des Moines. He has

lily@littlevillagemag.com

Joseph Servey

Iowa grad who has landed in Des

a devout love for distance

joseph@littlevillagemag.com

Moines. Elaine is an avid reader,

running, bicycle touring, and

painter and journaler when she

photographing honest moments of the human experience.

Social Media Manager Kim Bates

Distribution

isn’t watching blissfully awful

kim@littlevillagemag.com

Bill Rogers, Ellen Keplinger, Emily

movies and TV shows.

Burress, Huxley Maxwell, Justin Spanish Language Editor

Comer, Sam Standish

Kent Williams lives, works, writes

Spenser Santos

distro@littlevillagemag.com

and complains in Iowa City.

Calendar/Event Listings

OFFICES

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Little Village 623 S Dubuque St

Corrections

Iowa City, IA 52240

editor@littlevillagemag.com Little Village Creative Services November Contributors

623 S Dubuque St

Britt Fowler, Chris DeLine, Colin

Iowa City, IA 52240

Boyd Shafer, Dana James, Elaine Irvine, John Busbee, John Martinek, John Lombardi, Kachna Baraniewicz, Kent Williams, Lauren Haldeman, Ramona Muse Lambert, Sam Locke Ward, Sarah Elgatian, Tom Tomorrow, Tyler Erickson

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Top Stories Catch up on Little Village’s most-viewed headlines from last month. Read more at LittleVillageMag.com.

Election 2022: Public Measure 1 would eliminate

Thriftmart, Joppa’s nonprofit thrift store,

‘current and future common-sense gun laws’

to open in Des Moines on Thursday

By Paul Brennan, Oct. 13

By Lily DeTaeye, Oct. 19

Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks was blunt in his

A new thrift store is opening on Euclid Avenue, operated

assessment of Public Measure 1, which would amend the

by Joppa, a Des Moines nonprofit fighting houselessness

Iowa Constitution in a way that would stop most attempts to regulate

in Des Moines by providing food, education and access to rent-controlled

guns in the state. “This amendment is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,”

housing. All proceeds from the thrift store go directly back to fund

Maybanks said at a news conference at the Cedar Rapids Public Library.

Joppa’s mission.

Iowa has ‘among the worst protections’ from abusive

Watch: Screenwriter and producer

towing in the nation. In Des Moines, criticism has

David Kajganich on adapting novels,

centered on one tow company (Oct. 20)

cannibalism and Iowa City’s new film festival

By Mike Kuhlenbeck, Oct. 20

Video by Jason Smith and Emma McClatchey, Oct. 5

One year after a Des Moines towing and impound

For the first time in four years, screenwriter and Iowa

company lost its contract with Polk County amid allegations of predatory

Writers’ Workshop alum David Kajganich is back in Iowa City for the

behavior, a wider discussion about towing laws is underway. Crow’s Auto

inaugural ReFocus Festival, screening his genre-bending, spine-tingling

Service, Inc. (better known as Crow Tow) has been in business for over

new work. Bones and All is the third adapted screenplay Kajganich has

20 years, and been accused of illegal and unethical towing practices.

crafted for director Luca Guadagnino.

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THANK YOU TO THIS ISSUE’S ADVERTISING PARTNERS This issue of Little Village is supported by:

JAZZ CABARET

Adamantine Spine Moving (37) Bravo! Greater Des Moines (29) Broadlawns (21) Campbells Nutrition (8) Catch Des Moines (23) Christopher’s Fine Jewelry (35) Collins Community Credit Union (40) Curate (34) Des Moines Art Center (10) Des Moines Metro Opera (23) Des Moines Performing Arts (4) Des Moines Playhouse (2) Des Moines Symphony (30) Full Court Press (33) GIVE GUIDE 2022 NONPROFIT - Des Moines Art Center - Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden - Des Moines Music Coalition - Iowa Abortion Access Fund - One Iowa - Varsity Cinema RETAIL - Raygun - Storyhouse BookPub - Fontanelle Supply Co. - Mainframe Studios Greubel Legal Services (25) Grinnell College Museum of Art (40)

Independent Highland Park/Oak Park Neighborhood (18-19) - The Slow Down - Ananda - Bill’s Window & Screen Repair - The Collective Independent Historic East Village (38-39) - Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden - The Breakfast Club - Wooly’s - Raygun Infinite Resources: Amplified (31) Iowa City Downtown District (42) Iowa Department of Public Health (27) Iowa Environmental Council (12) Iowa Public Radio (27) Kum & Go (40) Mainframe Studios (30) Nearwoods Winery (21) Noce (7) Oasis Street Food (29) Orchestrate Hospitality (44) Primary Health Care (13) Science Center of Iowa (29) Sierra Club (48) UI Stanley Museum of Art (35) Varsity Cinema (42) xBk (26)

Recent Eastern Iowa Reader Survey Data 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 18-24: 14% 25-34: 20% 35-44: 21% 45-54: 17% 55-64: 14% 65+: 10%

1326 WALNUT ST

AVERAGE NUMBER OF CHILDREN 1.85

MEDIAN PERSONAL INCOME: $50k $40k—60k: 23.4% $60k—80k: 20.9% $100k+: 15.8% $20k—40k: 12% <$20k: 15.8% $80k—$100k: 12%

GENDER Female: 49.25 Male: 47.25 Nonbinary/other: 2.5%

EDUCATION Masters: 35.8% Bachelors: 38.5% Ph.D: 12.3% Some college: 7.8% Associates: 4.5%

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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.

Letter to the editor: Single-issue politics are bad for Iowa (Oct. 5) Totally disagree. Until abortion is not used as a tool by the GOP to take away freedom here in Iowa and elsewhere, it’s my single issue. —Carol E.

FAMILY OWNED LOCALLY LOVED 4040 UNIVERSITY IN DSM

— and —

2749 100TH ST IN URBANDALE

campbellsnutrition.com

Pieper Lewis case reignites conversations about sex trafficking in Iowa: ‘I think things are going to change’ (Oct. 10) Me and Chains Interrupted are determined to make that the case. This was a horrific series of events that could have been prevented. —Ashley Vanorny, Cedar Rapids City Council member

Writing led Dessa to hip hop. Her music career brought her back again — and into the Iowa literary world (Oct. 10) Ah, man. A very sweet write-up about writing, rejection, music, and takeout.

Thanks, @LittleVillage. —Dessa Election 2022: Public Measure 1 would eliminate ‘current and future common-sense gun laws’ (Oct. 13) “But when a Democrat, Sen. Tony Bisignano of Des Moines, offered an amendment that would replace the language of the measure with the text of the Second Amendment, Republicans rejected it.” Because for them, the 2nd Amendment doesn’t go far enough to

F U T I L E W R A T H

S A M LO C K E WA R D

HAVE AN OPINION? Better write about it!

Send letters to: Editor@LittleVillageMag.com

“protect” guns. —Amanda C. Shall not be infringed. E x c e p t if you’re convicted of a crime. If there’s one exception (in the name of “public safety”, no less), then there can be others. But that’s just common sense logic.

—Brian “Any and all....shall be subject to strict scrutiny”....what does that even mean in a legal sense? Is “scrutiny” defined in our constitution? A strict interpretation of this could mean no restrictions permissible ever or anywhere, including the state capitol or courtrooms. Good for Maybanks! Vote no! —Craig A. ‘Healing is fundamentally a political act’: Future doctors grapple with the encroachment of anti-abortion laws on Iowa health care (Oct. 20) I was there, representing social workers!

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8 November 2022 9

WO RT H R E P E AT I N G

STRESS FRACTURES

JOHN MART I N E K

“We are the future of healthcare, and we have concerns about entering the practice of medicine in this changing environment, where physicians are being asked to carry out the acts of the legislators in a way that’s harmful to patients.” —Margaret Fuller, University of Iowa MD/Ph.D. candidate, at the Do No Harm Rally for Reproductive Justice in the State Capitol “It seems that the areas where this is the biggest problem are lower-income neighborhoods, apartment complexes, college campuses, senior citizen buildings and communities of color—a lot of times, where towing companies feel like they have a vulnerable population that may not have access to a lot of the resources you and I have.” —Teresa Murray, describing her research into predatory towing practices in Iowa and other states “As we think about the future of The Playhouse, this campaign is the last step in making sure we meet the needs of kids and audiences for years to come.” —Des Moines Playhouse director Ryan Crane on the org’s $3.5 million capital campaign to build a new theater

IOWA ARTISTS 2022: MIRIAM ALARCÓN AVILA

“It is the biggest adrenaline rush. I feel like I’m my truest self when I’m on stage. … Not being on stage is the hard part. When I’m up there I’m at peace.”

—Des Moines R&B artist Entre Luche

HAVE AN OPINION? Better write about it!

Send letters to: Editor@LittleVillageMag.com 10 November 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8

THRU JANUARY 15, 2023

ARTIST LECTURE + EXHIBITION RECEPTION SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13 | 1:30 PM | REGISTER AT desmoinesartcenter.org Using their own words to create luchador personas, Alarcón Avila tells the stories of the Latinx people in her community.

Miriam Alarcón Avila / Luchador Jaguar de Río, 2017 (detail) Color photograph / Work and images courtesy of the artist

This exhibition is supported by

|

|

I N T E R A C T I O N S So cool! —Christie L. Iowa has ‘among the worst protections’ from abusive towing in the nation. In Des Moines, criticism has centered on one tow company (Oct. 20) Yep this company is terrible. We got towed after parking next to a 2 door Mercedes and a full row of cars parked in a spot that wasn’t labeled as no parking. The guy driving the flatbed truck was driving in and out of parking lots at a high rate of speed. The one time I saw the guy, he was in and out of the parking lot, drove down the street and was gone again within 15 seconds, if that. Tried to get our car out and the secretary didn’t want to hear me on our experience. I snapped because she told me I had to do

/LittleVillage READER POLL: What’s the scariest thing you saw this Halloween?

‘Barbarian’ on HBO Max 5.6% A hotdog with ketchup 16.7% Tasteless Dahmer costume 22.2%

Ballot dropbox watchers 55.6%

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Contact Buzz

Force for Good This org gives immigrant and refugee kids the tools to make art and bridge cultural gaps.

BY JOHN BUSBEE

D

on’t let this organization’s generic mission statement—“Creating opportunities for youth to transform through art”— deceive you. Like paints and brushes, unless they’re in the hands of the right person, such a statement remains passive. ArtForce Iowa truly leverages its raison d’être to transform the lives of their young participants.

Launched in 2013 as Iowa Arts-in-Education, with John Mark Fielmeyer serving as its executive director, activities quickly took root in the lower level of the Park Fair Mall. Fielmeyer anchored his programming with visual arts, film and hip-hop music. It was an after-school safe place and creative incubator for the youth it served: at-risk, immigrant, refugee youth, needing guidance in an especially turbulent juncture in their lives.

In its first year, a signature early documentary film project was produced by a dozen immigrant and refugee children. They learned production and editing techniques, used the equipment and found the inspiration to capture their collective voices in their 2014 film.

In an Iowa Public Radio story by Amanda Horvath in 2014, Fielmeyer shared, “When immigrants and refugees come to America, come to Iowa, they are kind of confronted with this culture shock mixed with still having that access to their home culture. And I think projects like this can use the arts to bridge that gap.”

Later that year, Iowa Arts-in-Education adopted ArtForce Iowa as a more energetic descriptive for its identity. A solid strategy for

12 November 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8

successfully engaging and inspiring its young participants was set. A supportive arts program called “Creative Pathways” (now “Pathways”) was founded to serve court-involved children and youth ages 13-and-a-half to 19. Heroes is an expansion of Pathways for children and youth who are refugees, immigrants or first-generation U.S.-born Americans who are victims of crime.

ArtForce’s strategy is one of creative evolution to best serve the needs of those in their identified circles. The growth of their programming and success is precise—and very effective.

The engine driving this creative machine is Christine Her, who took the helm of ArtForce Iowa in 2017. Her passion is backed by experience and education. The daughter of Hmong refugees from Laos, Christine graduated from East High School in Des Moines and pursued her B.A. at Drake University, studying Creative Writing, Philosophy and Political Science. She was named one of the Des Moines Register’s 15 Iowan People to Watch in 2021.

Her HealthConnect Fellow project with the Mid-Iowa Health Foundation focused on developing diverse and healing-centered texts reflecting authentic stories of individuals who are marginalized. She is part of Capital Crossroads’ DSM USA 4 Equity Collective and the Des Moines Performing Arts (DMPA) Equity Diversity Inclusivity (EDI) Community Task Force. Christine was named an American for the Arts 2021 Honoree with an American Express Emerging Leader Award.

She channels her larger community connections and what she learns outside of the ArtForce space back into supporting its work, while also serving as an ambassador for the org.

“Our vision is to end all forms of discrimination and bias by cultivating psychological safety, embracing the intersection of art and justice and fostering a sense of belonging and acceptance, so

ArtForce Iowa created art with youth at East High School in Des Moines after a deadly shooting that took place on the school grounds. Courtesy ArtForce Iowa

young people can be creative and thrive,” Her said. “We value utilizing self-determination as a core tenet to create meaningful growth and authentic purpose through the practice of healing-centered engagement. We believe our purpose is to ensure all youth in Iowa have a safe place to express themselves creatively and have access to creative tools to design their own healing journey.”

ArtForce also holds monthly public Friday events at Mainframe Studios; launched the #KNOWJUSTICE Project, which is anchored by a May event elevating stories of strength and resilience from individuals whose stories are often not told; and fee-for-service projects that give youth a chance to become working artists and build community connections.

Wherever you find an open door to connect with ArtForce Iowa, walk through it. Yours will be an empathetic journey, and one that will reward you knowing that this team of dedicated professionals is building a next generation force of community contributors.

The Fractured State of Iowa Nice

Microbiz Boom From online stores to food trucks, businesses get by with a little help from Iowa SBA.

BY DANA JAMES

C

urtis Baugh champions small businesses.

He even has an award to prove it.

The senior business consultant at the Small Business Solutions Center at the Evelyn K. Davis Center for Working Families has helped thousands of people start and grow their businesses. The Iowa district office of the Small Business Administration (SBA) in May recognized Baugh’s work with a Minority Small Business Champion Award.

“The clients really make it worthwhile for me.

They’re amazing,” said Baugh, who has worked at the nonprofit center for four years. “I learn more from them than they learn from me.”

At the center, located north of downtown Des Moines, Baugh helps a diverse clientele launch their businesses. He conducts free one-on-one coaching sessions with clients who come to him with their ideas for a new business, and he assists established clients looking to scale their businesses. He also connects clients with business classes and other resources at the center and through the partnerships he has forged in the community.

Baugh said many of his clients are people of color. He has noticed an explosion of new businesses after the shaky economic times brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s a trend happening across the country.

According to the Brookings Institution, Americans formed 2.8 million more online microbusinesses in 2020 than in 2019. A microbusiness is defined as having 10 or fewer employees.

Before the pandemic struck, Blacks accounted for 15 percent of microbusiness owners nationally,

LittleVillageMag.com

but by July 2021, the share of Black microbusiness owners had grown to 26 percent, the Brookings’ analysis of business data found.

A record number of Iowans completed new business filings last year, according to the Iowa Secretary of State, which registered 33,331 new businesses in 2022, up 36 percent from 24,481 businesses in 2020.

“I saw well over 900 people last year either trying to start a new business, or they’ve been in business 20 years and they’re trying to find a solution,” Baugh said.

Baugh initiated partnerships with Iowa SBA Director Jayne Armstrong and Deputy District Director Dawnelle Conley, who regularly meet with clients at the center and counsel them on their businesses. He said the Iowa SBA has been “a huge supporter of what I’m trying to do.”

“This is the man,” Armstrong said, of Baugh.

“He opened the doors, and he inspires us every day.”

Armstrong and Conley recently met at the center and advised a small business owner about ways she could reach more customers by expanding her offerings to corporate clients. She said the partnership with the center has resulted in more “direct results” in the Iowa SBA’s interaction with businesses, especially in the “diversity, equity and inclusion area.”

“We’re building a different level of relationship that’s adding to referrals and building trust,” Armstrong said.

In May, Wells Fargo donated $1 million to the center and Drake University to help underserved communities launch new businesses. Ahmed Agyeman, the center’s director, said in a Des Moines Register story he hopes the donation will help his team more effectively work with entrepreneurs. The center plans to hire small business coaches and software, he said.

Baugh works with new businesses on the

Iowa SBA Deputy District Director Dawnelle Conley, Director Jayne Armstrong and Curtis Baugh. Black Iowa News

basics, including business plans, how to get a tax ID number and more; established businesses, he refers to Drake University’s Business Accelerator.

Courses at the center include a Masters Business Boot Camp, Non-Profit Boot Camp, Business Model Canvas and Food Truck Kickstart.

He said about 50 people flocked to the popular food truck course, which is slated to be held again in the spring.

“We brought in the city and state inspectors and the fire marshal to teach them to prepare for what they’re going to run into when they do purchase a food truck,” he said.

Baugh has operated several businesses himself over 25 years, including sports media marketing and web and graphic design. He said he is in awe of clients who use the center to hone their ideas and create thriving businesses, such as Joy Hankins, founder of the Joy of Curls, and clothing designer Jayna Lidan, of J.Lidan.

“We’ve had some that have had really big success,” he said. “They’re doing amazing things.”

So is Baugh.

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8 November 2022 13

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SUPPORTING COMMUNITY is a shared effort. Luckily, there are many different ways to plug in! You might volunteer your time: building homes, serving food, helping animals, cleaning public spaces. Maybe you’re able to commit to shopping locally and directly supporting your town’s economy. Or perhaps you choose to support causes you believe in with a monthly or yearly donation to a nonprofit that reinvests in your area.

In these pages, you’ll find a few of the hardworking nonprofits in Central Iowa that fight day in and day out to make this a more livable place.

These groups rely on donations and volunteer hours from community members like you who share that vision.

You’ll also learn about some independent retailers that bring a thoughtful and unique product mix to local shoppers. These businesses depend on shoppers’ dollars to continue to adapt, thrive and improve the community themselves.

It’s essential that these nonprofits and retailers receive year-round support. But end-of-year giving and holiday gift purchases can provide a much-needed boost into the new year. This winter, find a new favorite cause to support in our donation drive (www.littlevillagemag.com/give) or knock out some gift shopping at a small business you can be proud to live near.

Des Moines Art Center desmoinesartcenter.org

Founded in 1948 and serving 200,000 patrons annually, the Des Moines Art Center provides opportunities for transformational art experiences through its collections, exhibitions, and educational programming. Their staff of 45 facilitate community outreach programs that serve students of all ages. Education programs and interpretative materials include conversational tours, artist talks, school programs, gallery activities and audio content highlighting personal connections inspired by artworks.

14 November 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8

In 2023, the Des Moines Art Center will be celebrating its 75th anniversary. One of several special events planned is the “Art Center: 75 Years of Iowa Art” exhibition. Running Feb. 10 through May 7, 2023, this exhibition will reflect the work of artists who have lived and worked in Iowa and their connections to the Des Moines Art Center.

The Des Moines Art Center is a modern and contemporary art museum located in Des Moines, Iowa (4700 Grand Ave), engaging diverse audiences with art experiences. The Art Center offers changing gallery exhibits, studio classes, an onsite restaurant, rental facilities, a gift shop and the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park—a 4-acre park in the heart of Des Moines’ Western Gateway. People often assume that there is an admission fee to visit the Des Moines Art Center, however, admission to the museum and galleries is always free for all.

Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden dmbotanicalgarden.com

No matter your age or background, access to plants and beauty is essential to the mission of Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden. The

Botanical Garden’s conservatory, Gardeners Show House and 12 acres of outdoor gardens provide respite and engagement with the natural world.

Educational programs offer learning opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds, highlighting the importance of plants and native ecology. Throughout the year, 134,256 guests (FY22 total) experience botanically themed art and musical programming.

Founded in 1979, and located in Des Moines’ Historic East Village, the organization’s name changed in 2011 when the Botanical Garden assumed 501(c)(3) status. Many community members still refer to the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden as the Botanical Center.

That’s fair; it was the Botanical Center for a long time! But it’s important for the public

LITTLE VILLAGE GIVE GUIDE 2022

Ramona Muse Lambert / Little Village

to know that the Botanical Garden’s footprint has expanded far beyond that of the original Botanical Center and now incorporates 12 acres of beautifully developed outdoor gardens.

Welcome to your Garden!

Des Moines Music Coalition desmoinesmc.com

The DMMC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and collaborative movement committed to building a stronger and more diverse music community in greater Des Moines. Through its mission to support and cultivate Iowa’s music economy, DMMC’s vision is to establish and maintain Des Moines as a nationally recognized music city.

“We want to ensure our community knows that 80/35 is a unique festival—as a nonprofit, proceeds from the festival are reinvested back into the community. Most of the stages are free and we keep the ticket price at a level where our

community can afford to attend.”

Founded in 2005, the DMMC leverages its two staff and 500 volunteers to serve musicians, music industry members, youth participants and music audiences across central Iowa, reaching 25,000 people annually. In addition to its annual events (80/35 Festival, founded 2008; Gross Domestic Product (GDP) all-Iowa music festival; and industry education program Music University), DMMC’s next major project will be the unveiling of a large-scale study of the music ecosystem of Des Moines.

Iowa Abortion Access Fund (IAAF) iowaabortionaccessfund.org

Iowa Abortion Access Fund (IAAF) is dedicated to the belief that the freedom to choose legal abortion should be available to everyone.

Founded in 1978 in Cedar Rapids, IAAF is the second-oldest abortion fund in the U.S. Every year, IAAF helps hundreds of Iowa and Quad Cities residents who would otherwise not be able to afford an abortion. In the past three years, IAAF has provided over $300K in assistance to residents of Iowa and the Quad Cities region, serving an average of 479 callers per year (2019-2021).

The sole function of IAAF is to provide funds LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8 November 2022 15

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to callers who need support paying for a safe abortion. IAAF coordinates with clinic staff to confirm the appointment and sends payment directly to the clinic to be applied to the caller’s bill. Community support makes this work possible. Aside from one part-time staff member, IAAF is entirely volunteer-run. One-time gifts and sustaining monthly support are the best ways to support their mission to ensure reproductive freedom and access for all. Learn more or contribute today at their website.

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One Iowa

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One Iowa, a Des Moines-based nonprofit serving LGBTQ Iowans since 2005, seeks to improve the lives of LGBTQ Iowans by protecting and advancing equality and inclusiveness through education, improving workplace culture and increasing access to quality healthcare across the state.

One Iowa takes a comprehensive approach to ensure LGBTQ Iowans are respected in every facet and stage of their lives. The organization trains workplaces and healthcare facilities on LGBTQ best practices, provide inclusive resources to LGBTQ folks across the state, work with community partners to ensure the work it does is rooted in intersectionality and prioritize efforts to serve trans and nonbinary Iowans.

With five staff members, and serving 10-15,000 clients each year, One Iowa is in the beginning stages of planning a Midwest LGBTQ Health and Wellness Conference for Fall 2023 that will bring healthcare professionals from around the region together to learn how to best serve LGBTQ patients.

Get your own, then tell it what to do

Varsity Cinema/ Des Moines Film

($24) For over 10 years, this shirt has been raising money for Planned Parenthood North Central States as well as Access Funds in the Midwest. Unfortunately, we seem to be going in the wrong direction, in a lot of ways. Wear this shirt, or support reproductive health directly with your money or vote!

Storyhouse BookPub (founded 2020) 505 East Grand Ave. Suite 102, Des Moines, Iowa 50309 storyhousebookpub.com Do you ship? Yes Storyhouse Book B*tch Bundle (Price range: $45-70) Bundle three of our favorite Storyhouse reads that capture the wild freedom of becoming our truest selves and savoring only the coziest stories. Booksellers are here to recommend from a selection and bundle together for the perfect gift or self-care package.

Fontenelle Supply Co. (founded 2014)

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Des Moines Film is dedicated to growing the film culture in Des Moines, now through the operation of Varsity Cinema. Founded in 2015, the org serves 62,000 film lovers of all ages annually. Ten staff and 25 volunteers facilitate the upcoming full-time operations of Varsity Cinema, Des Moines’ community art house cinema, located in Drake Dogtown Neighborhood.

Originally built in 1917, the Varsity represents decades of cinema history in Des Moines. It’s one of the oldest art house theaters in the U.S.

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LITTLE VILLAGE GIVE GUIDE 2022

Mainframe Studios (founded 2012) mainframestudios.org, 900 Keosauqua Way, Des Moines, Iowa, 50309 Do you ship?

Contact artists for shipping information

STUDIOS Support local artists and shop the studios at Mainframe. Contact artists online for purchase, or attend holiday shopping events on Nov. 4, Nov. 26, Dec. 2 or Dec. 17. Find artist information at mainframestudios.org/artists.

Britt Fowler / Little Village

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LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8 November 2022 17

Community

My Sister’s Keeper One in five trans Americans have experienced houselessness, making Des Moines’ Trans Housing Project an essential—and revolutionary—resource.

Z

BY GENEVIEVE TRAINOR

oie Taylor has owned two houses, across the street from one another in her Des Moines neighborhood, for a while now. They’re hers outright, mortgages paid off. And for a while, she rented them out in the typical fashion. Until she met Em Cariglino.

When Cariglino moved into the three-bedroom house across the street from the rambling four-unit home that’s now the heart of their community, they started out holding down the fort during renovations. As time went on, they and Taylor began to rethink the arrangement, and decided to embark on an experiment of, Taylor said, “doing housing in the right way.”

Now, the spaces house several other trans femmes, as well as Cariglino, Taylor and Taylor’s children. Some of them work, some manage disabilities.

None of them pay rent. Each home has space reserved to help someone through a short-term crisis, if necessary. And the big house has a unit reserved as a communal space, where they can meet, work out issues and socialize. It boasts a large flag on the wall: a take-off on the flag of the German Democratic Republic (1959-1990), redone in the light blue, pink and white of the transgender pride flag.

They laugh about the tongue-in-cheek communism, but point out that the compass that East Germany included, as opposed to the sickle prevalent elsewhere, indicates a nod toward knowledge work as opposed to industrialization.

Although they “gesture toward the iconography” of socialist movements, Cariglino said, where they differ from some modern ideologies is that they acknowledge and embrace differences that set them apart, rather than a sort of one-size-fits-all approach to equality that results in significant gaps.

Social and “culture war” issues, identity issues, are truly important.

At the core of what Taylor and her “tenants” are trying to establish is a shared sense of community. They’ve created a living situation where housing can be a non-issue for trans people trying to find their footing in a precarious world. The long-term goal, she said, is helping people get stable so that they can then help others.

According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, at least one in five trans people in the U.S. has experienced houselessness at some point

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Britt Fowler / Little Village

in their lives. The National Alliance to End Homelessness notes that trans and gender-nonconforming houseless individuals live completely unsheltered at higher rates than their cisgendered peers. In some locations, the reluctance of women’s shelters to provide access to trans women can greatly exacerbate that issue. Organizations like House of Tulip in New Orleans, Louisiana and PDX Trans Housing Coalition in Portland, Oregon have set some examples in larger cities of how to build the kind of mutual aid safety net necessary for trans communities to thrive.

Mutual aid forms the core of this Des Moines effort as well. This past fall, Taylor launched a GoFundMe to help the group meet the hefty costs of property taxes and insurance as they continue to get things off the ground.

Donations continue to come in on a regular basis, from $5 solidarity bumps to larger offerings (the biggest so far has been $750). They met their goal for September property taxes and are now pushing to be able to cover March.

“I’m not going to put somebody out on the street who reasonably can’t survive without help and say it’s not my problem,” Taylor said of her commitment to the people living in the homes. It comes down to an ethical precept for her: “I am my sister’s keeper.”

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“If I have the resources, the privilege, the ability to keep people from suffering, and I choose not to do that, I’d argue that makes me culpable for the harm that happens to them, even if I didn’t directly do it,” Taylor said.

“That’s what sets us apart from the people who look at this in a more traditional way, like, ‘If I have a resource, I should get a fair market rate for it.’”

“We’ve gone out of our way to make sure that everybody around here is comfortable. … I went to the store today and got groceries for me and my roommates,” Cariglino said. “We sort of have this set up where my roommates just tell me what they need, and then I make sure we have it. I know I can afford it. Groceries are groceries—I can’t always afford everything … but this food is for all of us.”

Although this project is still in its early stages, the group is making itself known in the Des Moines area.

“You’re a known figure around town,” Cariglino teased Taylor. “You’re Zoie from online!”

One thing that’s important to Taylor is that people know they can get help accessing the sometimes prohibitively expensive transition medications through her and her network.

“We have the ability to say that no one has to go without hormones” in the trans femme community in Des Moines, Taylor said. “That one specific thing is something that I’ve been saying to people for a while … Someone will always be able to help you. People can reach out to me personally, and I can connect them with resources. That’s one thing that was always very important to me.”

They’re also looking toward becoming more engaged in local politics and broader community justice.

“We’re not just coming in here and putting in houses that people can’t afford; we’re not coming in here and driving up property values so that the people that historically have lived here can’t afford it,” Cariglino said, referencing some of the development initiatives currently pushing forward in Des Moines.

They worry that as homes nearby are demolished, the character of the neighborhood will change for the worse, with residents getting priced out by new construction, despite the city’s stated goals (see sidebar). The ethos that they operate under cherishes, rather than ignores, the differences they see reflected in the community around them.

“We’ve all just internalized that we all have to take care of each other,” Cariglino said. “Because it’s understood that without that, we’re all worse off.”

Blitz on Blight Funded by the Local Option Sales & Services Tax, Blitz on Blight is a program started in 2019 that focuses on demolishing vacant or dilapidated homes, buildings or structures, either residential, accessory or commercial, deemed unsafe or dangerous for occupancy at the expense of the owner, also referred to as nuisance properties.

Blitz on Blight is a redevelopment plan to create more affordable housing by eliminating depleted properties to preserve the neighborhoods and property values making areas more attractive to reside in.

Owners of blighted properties will be sent an official notice to take action on vacancies. Owners are given a choice to make repairs within a given time or to demolish the property.

In instances that the owner cannot be reached, or the property owner fails to comply by either repairing or taking down the property, the city then takes matters into their own hands and demolishes the structure.

For emergencies, properties can be inspected or abated without notice when appropriate. Owners who don’t agree with a notice can request a hearing to discuss the matter.

Tracking of such properties was made easy with a map created by the City’s Information Technology/GIS team. The map highlights unfavorable properties with about six different statuses of the public nuisance process: declared public nuisance, council approved legal action, court ordered action, rehab agreement, ready for demolition and demolition complete.

Since 2019, over 100 buildings have been torn down at the cost of about $2.5 million.

During the pandemic, the blitz came to a halt, creating a backlog of blighted properties.

In an attempt to tackle that backlog from the lack of maintenance and security to vacancies, a new proposed property ordinance, the City of Des Moines Vacant Property Registration Ordinance, is under consideration.

Some maintenance requirements include proper ventilation, doors, windows, handrails, the yard must stay mowed lawn and clear of weeds along with parking lots or sidewalks, and the property shall stay clear of garbage, junk, debris, inoperable vehicles and graffiti.

It requires property owners to register and properly maintain vacant properties, keep properties free of code violations prior to sale or occupation and establish a clear understanding of the guidelines of

Genevieve Trainor is imperfect, but believes deeply in mutual aid.

maintaining a vacant property to prevent and reduce blight.

—Courtney Guein

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8 November 2022 19

Community

Seven Bonobos Meet the clever, caring apes that call DSM home, led by matriach Elikya.

D

BY LILY DETAEYE

es Moines is known for a few things: the Traveler’s Insurance sign, Slipknot and, I suppose, the Iowa state government. But in zoologist circles globally, Des Moines is famously the home of the only facility dedicated to the research and conservation of bonobos.

Ape Initiative is an Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) accredited nonprofit organization located in southeast Des Moines that currently houses seven bonobos, cared for by a small but mighty staff of researchers. Amanda Epping is one of them.

“As research coordinator, I just kind of liaison between our collaborators, our director, our staff and all our partners,” Epping explained. “I’m the middle man. Or, woman, I guess.”

After getting her Masters in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Epping maintained an interest in primates, specifically because of the multi-female groups many species live in.

Bonobos are the closest living relatives to humans, alongside chimpanzees. There are quite a few similarities between chimps and bonobos, including their complex communicative abilities, Central African habitat, and preference for living in troops. But bonobos are smaller in stature, matriarchal, have a reputation for sexual promiscuity—even using sex to bond and solve conflicts—and endangered, with as few as 15,000 remaining in the wild.

Being able to work closely with bonobos while also studying them made sense for Epping, so she started working with Ape Initiative in 2017.

Before the facility was called the Ape Initiative, it operated under many names—most notably, the facility was Great Ape Trust (GAT), an organization founded by Des Moines businessman Ted Townsend and spearheaded by primatologist Sue Savage-Rumbaugh. While Townsend’s goal for the facility was to offer STEM opportunities to students living in rural Iowa communities, GAT was the focus of consistent media coverage for other reasons. Some of these reasons included mistreatment allegations, the death of a beloved and relatively young bonobo, and lack of funds. In 2013, 10 years after the building was constructed, the facility was in dire financial straits and Townsend removed himself from the operation.

20 November 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8

Breaking up bonobo family groups can be detrimental to their health, so to ensure the bonobos wouldn’t be separated during the financial hiccup, Dr. Jared Taglialatela and Dr. Bill Hopkins founded Ape Initiative. Through Ape Initiative, the bonobos remained in the same building, but were put under the care of a new team of researchers committed to resurrecting the research program and providing the apes with a long-term home.

“It was really important to our co-founders to keep the five bonobos together, to keep Kanzi

Clara and Kanzi, caught in a potentially lustful embrace. Courtesy of Ape Initiative

42-year-old lexigram master Kanzi, 12-year-old Clara, 15-year-old Mali, and 24-year-old matriarch Elikya. The majority of the group has lived together most of their lives and experienced the move from a facility in Georgia to Iowa together when Savage-Rumbaugh and Townsend initially started GAT. They are siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews to each other.

Because of this, and because of the strong family ties bonobos keep throughout their lives, Ape Initiative’s focus “THEY HAVE DIFFERENT TASTES, on keeping them together has proven to be beneficial for their DIFFERENT LIKES AND DISLIKES. TECO well-being, which in turn helps AND NYOTA LIKE TO WATCH MOVIES; with the facility’s research.

THE OTHERS DON’T REALLY CARE. MALI “If you’re gonna be housing animals, you should be doing the LOVES TO GROOM WITH THE OTHER best you can by them,” Epping BONOBOS.” —AMANDA EPPING said. “And I think there’s been a huge change in research to look and his family as one unit, and to keep a real- at that. What can we provide them with? How ly large focus on research and educational out- can we make their days as good as possible?”

At Ape Initiative, making a bonobo’s day as reach,” research associate Sara Skiba said. “And good as possible involves a lot of choice. Rather we’ve been quite successful in that. And so that’s than forcing a bonobo to participate in a study something we’re very proud of.” or training session, bonobos are given the opporToday, Ape Initiative is home to seven tunity to participate. They let researchers know bonobos: 22-year-old Maisha, 12-year-old and sole Iowa native Teco, 24-year-old Nyota, what they want either by using a lexigram, a

LittleVillageMag.com

symbol used for simple communication, or positively responding when a research activity is presented to them.

“People always say, ‘How do you know what they want if they don’t use the lexigrams?’ It’s so obvious. They point at doors, they look right at you and gesture, and it’s very obvious,” Epping said.

Ape Initiative does a range of different research exercises with the bonobos. Teaching lexigrams and other point-and-click games are only one part of it. Ape Initiative also conducts husbandry training, where bonobos show body parts, practice getting their blood pressure taken, and track their heart rate with EKG machines so they are comfortable when and if they ever need to receive medical attention. Since bonobos are predisposed to heart disease, husbandry training is important for both research and for the bonobos’ overall well-being.

After participating in research projects or husbandry training, bonobos are rewarded with a snack or an enrichment activity. Enrichment, according to Epping, is an activity researchers give bonobos to encourage natural behaviors.

Enrichment could look like making their food a little bit harder to eat or providing them with nesting materials.

“They have different tastes, different likes and dislikes,” Epping explained. “Teco and Nyota like to watch movies; the others don’t really care.

Mali loves to groom with the other bonobos. It just really depends. They definitely have their own unique personalities.”

But perhaps the most distinguished bonobo at Ape Initiative is Kanzi, the oldest bonobo in the group, who turned 42 in late October. Brother to the late Panbanisha, uncle to Nyota and Teco, and adopted brother to Elikya and Maisha, Kanzi is world-renowned for his proficient use of lexigrams and understanding of spoken English.

A study conducted in the mid-1990s showed that Kanzi was able to respond correctly 72 percent of the time to 660 novel English sentences he was exposed to, outcompeting a 2-and-a-halfyear-old human child, according to Smithsonian Magazine. Researchers believe Kanzi’s exceptional skills are likely a result of absorbing lessons in his youth.

“He was a year old with his mom, Matata, when researchers were trying to teach the symbols to Matata. And what the researchers quickly realized was that Matata was not very good at the lexigram symbols, but that one year-old Kanzi was starting to pick up the spoken English of the scientists as well as starting to use the symbols to

Cont. >> on p. 42

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Bread & Butter

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Waste Not An army of volunteers has agreed to help rescue food in Des Moines, aided by a new app.

22 November 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8

one-time or a recurring weekly basis. Volunteers receive pick-up and drop-off instructions, how many boxes/bags they’ll be collecting, who to contact, and where the delivery is going. An inapp GPS will guide them to the food donor and the rescue recipient.

Since launching the app in June, Alvarez said the organization has had over 600 people sign up to volunteer—more than enough to service their participating donors.

“I think our biggest challenge is we have all these people signed up who want to help, and we don’t have enough rescues happening to keep people engaged. That’s frustrating because the food is here. It’s just going in the garbage,” Alvarez said.

“We have more than enough food here to feed everybody. It’s just that it’s not being valued enough to make sure it gets somewhere when that business can’t sell it any longer.”

Part of this is due to the fact some businesses in the area have signed exclusivity agreements with food banks, Alvarez said, making them unable to donate additional items—even if they were destined for the trash.

Food rescues and food banks are different, Alvarez explained.

Food banks store packaged food products and distribute them to community pantries, where people in need can find them. Food rescues specifically collect items that the owner doesn’t want or need and works to get them on someone else’s plate before they go to waste.

“Food rescue is highly perishable and needs to move quickly,” she said.

Despite Alvarez’s frustration with getting people and businesses on board with food rescue, she shouted out companies like Trader Joe’s and the Iowa Events Center for donating food waste, and the many volunteers who are ready to act on a moment’s notice when donors sign up.

“We need people,” Alvarez said. “We need this app [so that] when all of these places that have the food say yes, we’re ready to make it easy for them to get someone there to pick it up and safely transport it to where it can be consumed.’

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In 2018, Eat Greater hired WesleyLife drivers to pick up food from restaurants, stores and other businesses that would otherwise be thrown away.

Eventually, that became too expensive, costing them about $1 per pound of food to pay the drivers.

Jo

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at Greater Des Moines partnered with grocery stores, gas stations and the community to make sure unwanted food in Central Iowa doesn’t have to go to waste. Their food rescue app launched back in June, and in its first four months, has successfully helped increase food assistance while decreasing local food waste, Eat Greater Des Moines told Little Village.

Eat Greater Des Moines is a team of two nonprofit organizations that work to make feeding people easier by giving the community a hassle-free way to donate extra food that would otherwise be wasted. Anyone can donate, including individuals, wholesale distributors, grocery stores, convenient stores, hotels, event centers, farmers and restaurants. A volunteer will pick it up and deliver it to either a food pantry, other nonprofits, daycares, schools, people, churches, libraries, community fridges— wherever people are.

Noticing there was a gap between technology and food rescue in the metro area, Eat Greater teamed up with students at Simpson College who already had experience developing a hunger-fighting app.

ChowBank, still in operation, was created to connect those in need of food with prospective donors.

“It’s actually really great because it allows donations to go [through the app]. The challenge, though, was the transportation,” Eat Greater Executive Director Aubrey Alvarez said of ChowBank. “Making it easy to donate is one thing but being able to move the product is another.”

After being selected for a food recovery accelerator program, Eat Greater decided to bring a version of the Pittsburgh-based Food Rescue Hero app to Des Moines.

“It made more sense to just purchase and use their technology that was working, than try to recreate something,” Alvarez said.

The app helped them work out a longtime kink in their food rescue process: transportation.

BY COURTNEY GUEIN

“My initial hope was that they [the businesses donating food] would see the value in it, and they would invest in keeping it going,” Alvarez said. “Well, after four years, that didn’t happen. So, we had to take another path. And so, that’s really where this technology and being able to really rely on volunteers, again, has been really successful.”

People who download the Food Rescue app can offer to donate food, transport it and request it. Donors can make food pick-up requests on a

It’s easy to plan your Des Moines adventure with The Catch List.

A list of all the things you can’t miss. All the thrills, chills, hops, and drops.

Family fun? Retail therapy?

Foodie feast? We’ve got an itinerary for that. Whether you’re a first-time visitor or longtime Des Moines-ian, our itineraries will introduce you to both the greatest hits and the hidden gems. There’s even downloadable on-the-go versions!

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Culture

Flip it & Reverse it Through industry variations, record stores and their fans have held true.

F

BY CHRIS DELINE

or the music industry, 2021 was definitely a memorable year. With concerts and live entertainment essentially on ice for much of the year, consumers pivoted, directing their expendable income to physical products instead, resulting in a landmark year for record stores. Variety reported in March that 2021 marked the first year since 1996 that both “CDs and vinyl records experienced revenue growth in the same year.” This boom saw vinyl records breaking through the $1 billion revenue threshold for the first time since 1986— an extension of the format’s resurgence, which has seen revenues grow for 15 consecutive years.

That trend has started to slow a bit in 2022, however.

“People aren’t hiding [from the pandemic] in their basement with their turntable anymore,” said Dennis Hite of NewBo Vinyl Emporium in Cedar Rapids.

Discretionary income is again being spread across other outlets as society regains its equilibrium, and wallets have become tighter due to broader economic trends. Various stores cited everything from rising inflation and gas prices to political uncertainty as reasons sales have slowed down.

“Now that people feel more comfortable going out and going to bars and restaurants and movie theaters again, some of that entertainment money is now going to other places,” said Nate Niceswanger of Zzz Records in Des Moines.

With the holiday season fast approaching, we spoke with a cross-section of those still waving the flag for independent record stores throughout the state to better understand what today’s record store ecosystem looks like across Iowa, and how record stores continue to serve local communities.

A quick head-count reveals no fewer than 30 stores around the state that sell new and used vinyl records. Yet while the format has largely returned to the zeitgeist, the evolution from vinyl to cassettes to CDs to digital took with it many retail casualties across the region. With the introduction of CDs 40 years ago, vinyl as a format was put on life support, and most albums lost the bulk of their value.

“Records were almost getting phased out when I was getting started,” said John Rohlf, who opened Metro Records in Cedar Falls 28

24 November 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8

years ago.

“This is not an industry that is easy to survive in,” said Niceswanger, who noted Zzz Records has largely hewn close to its market in music and selling ephemera since first opening in 2000.

Current store owners and employees across the region frequently reflected fondly on other shops that have gone under over the years, such as Relics Records in Cedar Rapids, Peeples Music in Des Moines and Antiquarium, just outside the reaches of the state line in Omaha. Survival has been possible, however, even amid the rise and fall of various physical music formats. Many we spoke with persevered through not only the ebbs and flows of market trends, but also the generally unexpected nature of life.

John Blabaum of Marshalltown’s Wax Xtatic Record Audio Stereo Shop might be the poster child for perseverance when it comes to record stores in Iowa. After shifting from the first iteration of his business into a new building, the shop was among the many damaged after a tornado struck in July of 2018. Unsuccessful in re-opening at that location, he purchased a building of his own only for his reopening to be derailed again by pandemic and derecho. Wax Xtatic finally reopened its doors to the public in April of 2021.

Blabaum has been in the used vinyl business for over two decades.

“We call them ‘pre-heard’ records here,” he said, with his trademark laugh. “Every one is cleaned and graded before it’s put in the rack.”

However, in the span of just a few years, Wax Xtatic has shifted from primarily selling a curated selection of used vinyl to mostly new records.

This is one of the most alluring aspects to looking at the state’s selection of stores on the whole: They’re all in the same business, but no two have the same footprint in terms of selection, specialties or character.

Hite’s Vinyl Emporium offers a classic

Zzz Records opened in Des Moines in 2000.

Pictured here on Record Store Day, April 2022.

Tyler Erickson / Little Village

Weird Harold’s in Burlington stocks over 50,000 records between its three floors.

The 50th anniversary celebration will be held in store Nov. 19. Jordan Selllergren

selection of some 7,000 records from the format’s heyday in the 1960s and ’70s, all hand cleaned and graded. But just a few hundred feet away in Cedar Rapids’ New Bohemia district is Analog Vault, which serves up a completely different selection and atmosphere.

Analog Vault owner Jeremy Vega explained that his approach is unintentionally different from Hite’s, to a point where they almost complement one another. For “a reissue from the ’90s or even something brand new,” Vega said, he would be the better option, while Hite might be better suited

LittleVillageMag.com

“We also do our own audio repair. So, we fix our turntables, receivers, amplifiers, guitar amplifiers—we can do all those repairs in-house.” This makes for what he calls a “listening experience.”

One thing that several store owners, including Pace, share is particularly fond memories for one other record store in particular: Record Collector in Iowa City.

The story of Record Collector, and the store’s founder Kirk Walther, has become nothing less than local lore, starting from the time Walther began selling used FIVE DECADES AGO, BESSINE DECIDED records out of the back of a comTO TAKE THE PLUNGE INTO OPENING ic book shop called Barfunkels in HIS SHOP AFTER A STINT IN LAS 1982.

“I’ve been going down there VEGAS, WHERE HE WAS INTRODUCED for years,” said Vega. Asked what TO 8-TRACK TAPES. HE RETURNED TO would happen if the store closed down for good, he quickly shot BURLINGTON, NOTICED THERE WAS back, “Do you know the hole that ONLY ONE OTHER STORE SELLING THEM, would leave?!”

AND RECOGNIZED AN OPPORTUNITY. “At the top of my list would be Record Collector,” said IT WASN’T LONG BEFORE HE ROUNDED Niceswanger when asked for his OUT HIS SELECTION BY STOCKING VINYL. favorite stores around the state.

“I would go in the Record quick. … My philosophy from the beginning has Collector there on Linn Street every other day,” been to sell most of our records for two to six said Pace, reflecting on a period when he lived in Iowa City. “[Walther] was always the overseer of dollars. I think that’s worked out well for us.”

The resurgence in popularity over the past the store. I’d like to think he tucked some things decade and a half has brought with it several away for me to find.”

In 2017, Walther died from cancer, working at new names to help carry the record store torch.

One of those is Rogue Planet Music in Des the store right up until he passed away. Since then, Moines. Despite both just having entered their Alissa Witzke and Bobby Larson have continued 30s, co-owners John Pope and Jesse Pace have to carry on his legacy as co-owners of the store.

“One of my favorite things that Kirk ever said geared their selection to that of an earlier vintage, whether it be records that date back a century or was that he collects collectors,” said Jo Adams, decades-old audio equipment that has stood the who has worked at Record Collector for eight years. Those collectors were Larson, Witzke and test of time.

“We try to have a good selection of high qual- the other staffers Walther invited aboard in creatity vintage audio equipment,” Pace said, adding, ing his wonderland of music. when it comes to his more period-specific selection and broad selection of audio equipment. Zzz Records, on the other hand, just filed its 350,000th piece of inventory (a CD from ’90s alt-rock staples the Lemonheads, for anyone curious), suggestive of a distinctly different business model.

“We do get some collector’s items, but I want to have a different store every time someone comes in,” said Niceswanger, “meaning that I want to buy a lot of stuff but I want to turn it over

Record Store Day Black Friday, Friday, Nov. 25

IOWA STORES LISTED ON THE RECORD STORE DAY WEBSITE: Vinyl Cup Records Des Moines The Dig Inn* Reinbeck Metro Records Cedar Falls The Underground Rock Shop Des Moines Moondog Music* Dubuque Vinyl Cafe Ames Odds N Ends Music Movies & Video Games Marshalltown Vinyl Cup Records Cedar Falls Ragged Records* Davenport Record Collector* Iowa City Marv’s Music* Des Moines Secondhand Story Algona Wax Xtatic Record Audio Stereo Shop* Marshalltown Rogue Planet Music Des Moines Zzz Records* Des Moines Jays Cd and Hobby* Des Moines Weird Harold’s Records* Burlington CDs-4-Change* Dubuque Unforgivable Records Dubuque *This store signed the Record Store Day pledge not to gouge customers or sell online L V

C O N T R I B U T O R

P L U G

Make sure to pick up LV contributor Sam Locke Ward’s artwork on the Dead Milkmen “RSD First” Metaphysical Graffiti 7-in. rerelease!

Be famous.

(Kinda.)

Little Village is looking for writers.

Contact: Editor@LittleVillageMag.com LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8 November 2022 25

Culture

LittleVillageMag.com

“The selection that he brought to the Record Collector—it was always eclectic and it was alive,” said Pace. “He brought in so many different artists that you just wouldn’t really see in the region.”

“He wasn’t always stocking best sellers,” added Adams, speaking to an ethos that continues on in Walther’s absence. “He was looking for new and exciting things.”

The store celebrated its 40th anniversary this past May and saw an outpouring of support in celebration of the milestone.

“Record Collector isn’t a place I am just nostalgic for,” read one Facebook comment, which summed up the thread’s overwhelming sentiment, “it’s a place that still fills my heart with joy every time I go there.”

About 80 miles southeast of Record Collector, another record store will be celebrating its own 2022 milestone. Weird Harold’s in Burlington marks its 50th year in business in November. The store was founded by Danny Bessine, who turned over the reins of the shop to its new owner Andrea Fritz about three years ago.

“She’s a perfect fit,” he said of Fritz, who had worked at the store since 1994.

Five decades ago, Bessine decided to take the plunge into opening his shop after a stint in Las Vegas, where he was introduced to 8-track tapes. He returned to Burlington, noticed there was only one other store selling them, and recognized an opportunity. It wasn’t long before he rounded out his selection by stocking vinyl.

In the following decades the store saw numerous trends come and go, but records have never left. Now over 50,000 of them are available to browse across the store’s two floors of retail space. Fritz and Bessine (who continues working at the store) estimate that vinyl makes up some 90 percent of their business. They have seen a shift in their customer base, however, as records returned to the mainstream.

“A new breed of people are coming into this era,” Fritz said.

“College-aged kids are really getting into it.”

When asked how it feels to reach this milestone, Bessine said, “It gives me a lot of, I don’t know what you would call it,” before trailing off and pausing. “I get emotional about it.” Weird Harold’s 50th anniversary celebration will take place Nov. 19.

It can feel cliche to praise the merits of buying local, but what record stores provide goes far beyond merchandise: They are a safe space that represents a generational tradition of sharing sounds and stories that inspire. Having the world’s library of music at our fingertips with an internet connection is a thing of magic, but record stores exist to change a listener’s relationship with that music, to take it out of the ethereal and make it something you can explore with all of your senses.

“We’re like the barber shop of old,” Blabaum said, “where you weren’t always getting a haircut but you could just go and hang out.”

“Where can you go, other than your immediate group of friends, in town, and find people that are into the exact same thing you are?” asked Vega. “At a record store.”

“I think there’s something just to coming through and flipping,” said Adams. “And even if you don’t buy it, taking a picture and going home and listening to it. There’s that act of discovery that I think is magical and we just kind of miss that when we’re online looking for a specific thing. … We’ve got everything that you could ever want and things you didn’t even know you needed.”

Chris DeLine is a writer living in Cedar Rapids. He also curates Iowacentric playlists at villin.net.

26 November 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8

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Culture

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Animated Objects Des Moines Art Center’s new exhibit explores tactile pieces and performances.

T

BY ELAINE IRVINE

via the artist

ouch is widely considered to be the most intimate of the five senses, one that has been highly politicized and rationed through the COVID-19 pandemic. For a long time, the general public wasn’t able to be physically caring with many of their loved ones, regardless of the need: a hug, a backrub, a kiss, sitting across the table and speaking over coffee.

Ange Altenhofen’s interactive exhibit Occupation: Coax, Coddle, and Caress, seeks to study this urge to touch the items and people we care about, even if we don’t have access to one another.

Though the context of Altenhofen’s exhibit was influenced by the absence of touch during the pandemic, she began working on the collection 20 years ago, as she exited her graduate studies at the Art Institute of Chicago. The summer after her graduation, Altenhofen was diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition which doctors had suspected might leave her blind.

Facing a new fear of losing the visual career she just began, Altenhofen began teaching herself Braille and turned it into a new medium.

“I was always sort of a process artist anyway,” Altenhofen said. “I was learning Braille and embroidering it, using beads to represent the dots, onto objects that I’d been making before anyway.

It became this really rich, tactile surface—and became more about touch and interaction.”

Altenhofen cites Fluxus artists (a group

via the artist

of experimental performance artists from around the globe, including Yoko Ono) and Ana Mendieta, a University of Iowa grad (BA, MA, MFA) and performance artist through the late 1970s and early ’80s, as direct inspirations.

Though Altenhofen works primarily with sculpture, a medium usually seen but never touched, the process of viewing her artwork is not over until it is experienced with the sense of touch and tactile interaction—a performance requiring audience participation.

“All of the objects that I’ve made using the Braille beadwork requires interaction, or invites it,” explains Altenhofen. “In terms of art theory, it kind of breaks free of the preciousness … the 28 November 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8

Ange Altenhofen’s Braille Series, Occupation: Coax, Coddle, and Caress, Des Moines Art Center, Friday, Nov. 18 at 5 p.m., Free

art object you aren’t supposed to touch because you might damage or mar it. All of that [interaction] is what gives the object life and history.”

Altenhofen’s work took a hiatus during the pandemic. Not only were most galleries and museums closed for viewing, but it was an

Cont. >> on p. 41

INVESTING IN THE ARTS, INVESTING IN YOUR COMMUNITY.

GREATER DES MOINES BR AVOGREATERDESMOINES.ORG

The World’s Largest Dinosaurs is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York (www.amnh.org), in collaboration with Coolture Marketing, Bogeta, Columbia.

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8 November 2022 29

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/CALENDAR

EVENTS: November November 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.

Various Venues, Perry, FridaySunday, Nov. 11Johnny Brian, originally published in the January 2022 Arts Issue

now accepting

READER PHOTO SUBMISSIONS

for our January Arts Issue* *2021 AAN Awards Finalist for Best Special Section

Submissions must include:

• Original, previously unpublished color or b/w photography • 300 dpi or higher .tif or .jpg files • Local relevance • Photographer’s full name and contact info • Up to 50-word description

Submit to: jordan@littlevillagemag.com or mail/deliver prints to: Little Village c/o Jordan Sellergren 623 S Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA 52240

13, Free

Take a mini road trip out to Perry for a full weekend of poetry events as part of the Art on the Prairie celebration. The Iowa Poetry Association (IPA) and Poetry & have teamed up and planned an impressive lineup of spoken word events around the small town. To kick off the weekend, there will be a poetry slam at Gamble Block Brewery with IPA Co-Chairs, Kelsey Bigelow and Laura Johnson. Then, on Saturday morning, you’ll want to head over to Studio on Second to hear readings from a diverse group of poets followed by an ekphrastic writing workshop.

The festivities continue on Sunday; you’ll want to make the readings with the Lyrical Iowa winning poets and cap off the day at the open mics. All events are free w/registration and open to the public.

Literary Luxuries Friday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. Meet the

Saturday, Nov. 12 at 2:30 p.m.

Author: Karen Ziebarth, Beaver-

Meet the Author: Daniel Hender-

dale Books, Des Moines, Free

son, Beaverdale Books, Free

Friday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. The

Monday, Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m. Meet

Author Afterparty: Kelly Barnhill

the Author: Rob Sand, Artisan Gal-

and Antonia Angress, Raygun, Des

lery 218, West Des Moines, Free

Moines, $6 Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 5 at 11 a.m. Sto-

Meet the Author: Mary Helen Ste-

rytime with Abena Imhotep and

faniak, Beaverdale Books, Free

Meanz Chan, Storyhouse Bookpub, Des Moines, Free

Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 6:30 p.m.

Meet the Author & Illustrator: Abe-

Mondays, Nov. 7, 14, 21 at 6:30

na Sankofa Imhotep and Meanz

p.m. Storytelling Mondays in No-

Chan, Franklin Junior High, Des

vember, Beaverdale Books, $5

Moines, Free

Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 6:30 p.m.

Meet the Author: Madison Traviss, Beaverdale Books, Free

via Iowa Poetry Association

Poetry on the Prairie,

EDITORS’ PICKS: November 2022

PRESENTED BY THINK IOWA CITY

AROUND THE CRANDIC

Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 6:30 p.m. Meet the Au-

Thursday, Nov. 17 at 5:30 p.m. Iowa Author

Friday, Nov. 18 at 6:30 p.m. Meet the Author:

thor: Don McLeese, Beaverdale Books, Free

Spotlight: Victor D.O Santos, Central Library,

Dr. Ken Duckworth, Beaverdale Books, Free

Des Moines, Free

via the Annual Toys for Tots Benefit Show

Annual Toys for Tots Benefit Show, The Garden, Des Moines, Friday, Nov. 18 at 8 p.m., donations encouraged

The spirit of giving abounds with this generous charity drag performance, co-hosted by Jean Marie Knight Michaels and Jade Michaels. Bring a new, unwrapped toy to donate, or simply tip generously and the proceeds will be passed along. Can’t make it to the show? Well, that’s your loss, but it doesn’t have to be the kids’! You can drop off toys or cash donations for the program at the Garden through Nov. 30.

Theatrical Thrills Opening Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. Harriet

Saturday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. Stand-

Monday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. Love,

Saturday, Nov. 26 at 7:30 p.m.

the Spy, Des Moines Community

Up Comedy: Robert Baril, Teehee’s

Antoinette Comedy Show & Going

Dog Boyz Sketch Comedy, Stoner

Playhouse, $14-19

Comedy Club, $15-20

Away Party, Teehee’s Comedy

Theater, $21.50

Club, Free Saturday, Nov. 26 at 9:30 p.m.

Opening Friday, Nov. 4 at 7:30

Friday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. Iliza

p.m. Miss Bennet: Christmas at

Shlesinger, Des Moines Civic Cen-

Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 8:30 p.m.

Comedy Kickback: Black Saturday

Pemberley, Tallgrass Theatre Com-

ter, $29.50-79.50

Alaska Thunderfuck, Wooly’s, Des

Laughs, Teehee’s Comedy Club,

Moines, $25

$15-20

pany, West Des Moines, $33-35 Friday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. Chicago Friday, Nov. 4 at 9:30 p.m. Stand-

Comedy Showcase, Teehee’s Com-

Friday, Nov. 18 at 8 p.m. Annual

Opening Friday, Dec. 2. Rodgers and

Up Comedy: Joe Eames & Evan

edy Club, $15-20

Toys for Tots Benefit Show, The

Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Des Moines

Garden, Des Moines, Donations

Community Playhouse, $29-53

Hull, Teehee’s Comedy Club, Des Moines, $15-20

Friday and Saturday, Nov. 11-12.

encouraged Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 3 and 4

Comedy XPeriment, Stoner TheSaturday, Nov. 5 at 11 a.m. and 2

ater, Des Moines, $15

p.m. Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical, Des Moines Civic Center,

Saturday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. Bert

$25-70

Kreischer, Des Moines Civic Center, $39.75-174.75

Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 19-20.

The Nutcracker, Des Moines Civic

Taylor Tomlinson, Hoyt Sherman

Center, $20-55

Place, $29.75-59.75 Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. Alton Opening Tuesday, Nov. 22. Come

Brown Live: Beyond the Eats -

From Away, Des Moines Civic

Holiday Variant, Des Moines Civic

Center, $40-130

Center, $35-145

Connectors | Mavens | Changemakers Des Moines’ Multi-Podcast Platform

amplifieddsm.com

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8 November 2022 31

EDITORS’ PICKS: November 2022

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/CALENDAR

Artist Lecture + Exhibition Reception: Miriam Alarcón Avila, Des Moines Art Center, Sunday, Nov. 13 at 1:30 p.m., Free Join Miriam Alarcón Avila, a pho-

Colin Boyd Shafer

tographer and multimedia artist and Laura Burkhalter of the Des Moines Art Center in a conversation about the artistic process, the importance of community making, and leading creative acts. They’ll also be discussing Alarcón Avila’s photo series “Luchadores Immigrants of Iowa” that will be on display at the Art Center until mid-January. Alarcón Avila’s images and masks, videos, and other objects will also be part of the new exhibition.

Community Connections

Tuesdays, Nov. 8 and 22 and Dec.

Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 4 p.m. Art in

Fridays, Nov. 18, 25 and Dec 2

Saturday, Nov. 26 at 11 a.m.

6 at 7 p.m. Bad B*tch Bingo, Tee-

the Library: Michaela Goade, Frank-

Holiday Promenade, Historic East

Entirely Kids Day: Families, Faces,

hee’s Comedy Club, Des Moines,

lin Avenue Library, Des Moines, Free

Village, Des Moines, Free

and Feelings, Des Moines Art

Free

(requires pre-registration)

Center, Free Saturday, Nov. 19 at 12 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. Musi-

Thursday, Nov. 17 at 5:30 p.m.

Whiskey Festival, The River Center,

Thursday-Sunday, Dec. 1-4.

cal Bingo, Big Grove Brewery, Des

Puzzlepalooza Jigsaw Puzzle Com-

Des Moines, $48-108

Christkindlmarket, Principal Park,

Moines, Free

petition, Twisted Vine Brewery, Des Moines, $40 per team

Thursday, Nov. 10 at 5:30 p.m.

Green Gala & Art Auction,

Friday, Nov. 18 at 5 p.m. Ange Al-

Mainframe Studios, Des Moines,

tenhofen’s Braille Series, Des Moines

$25-175

Art Center, Free

Des Moines, Free Sunday, Nov. 20 at 1 p.m. Makers Market & Bar Hop, Big Grove

Friday, Dec. 2 at 5 p.m. First Fri-

Brewery, Des Moines, Free

day: Annual Ceramics Invitational, Mainframe Studios, Des Moines,

Sunday, Nov. 20 at 1:30 p.m. Ali-

Free

son Elizabeth Taylor: Gallery Talk, Friday, Nov. 11 at 9 a.m. My City

Friday, Nov. 18 at 5 p.m. Opening

My Health Equity Summit, Main-

Night, Brenton Skating Plaza, Free-

frame Studios, $25-40

$9.50

Friday and Saturday, Dec. 2 and 3

Des Moines Art Center, Free

Holly & Ivy, Salisbury House and Thursday, Nov. 24 at 9 a.m. Turkey

Gardens, Des Moines, Free-$25

Trot, Downtown Des Moines, Saturday, Nov. 12 at 9 a.m. Winter

Friday-Sunday, Nov. 18-20. Holiday

Farmers Market, Historic Court

Arts & Crafts Show, Iowa State Fair-

District, Des Moines, Free

grounds, Des Moines, $8

Sunday, Dec. 4 at 12 p.m.

$12-40

3K Winter Beer Run, Confluence Fridays, Nov. 25 and Dec. 2 at 6

Brewing, Des Moines, $30-45

p.m. Dome After Dark, Des Moines Sunday, Nov. 13 at 10 a.m. DSM

Friday, Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. Cham-

Music Collectors Show, Forte Ban-

pagne & Chocolate, Des Moines

quet Center, Des Moines, $3

Botanical Garden, $75-200

Botanical Garden, Free-$10

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Cajun & Creole Favorites 615 3rd Street 515-244-2899

British Pub 210 4th Street 515-282-2012

Your Neighborhood Bar & Grill 3506 University Avenue 515-255-0433

German Bier Hall 101 4th Street 515-288-2520

60’s Corner Tavern All Iowa Beer, One Amazing Place! Asian Pizza & Cocktails 200 SW 2nd Street 223 4th Street 215 East 3rd Street 515-280-1965 515-323-3333 515-243-0827

Classic Roadhouse Joint Midwest Sports Headquarters 4221 SE Orilla Road, WDM 400 SE 6th Street 515-410-2520 515-214-2759

Belgian Beer Bar 210 4th Street 515-282-2012

a not so secret speakeasy Check out Ken’s rotating drink menu featuring barrel pick bourbons, housemade bitters, individually crafted syrups, and cocktail cherries made in-house.

Located under the Iowa Taproom.

Open at 4 pm Wednesday through Saturday.

Neighborhood Burgers & Beer 2331 University Avenue 515-344-4343

A Not So Secret Speakeasy 215 East 3rd Street 515-243-0827

Asian Pizza & Cocktails Margarita and Queso Flights 1450 SW Vintage Pkwy, Ankeny 401 SE 5th Street 51-777-1012 515-243-8888

EDITORS’ PICKS: November 2022

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/CALENDAR

Duma, ONO, Masma Dream World, Sarin, Gas Lamp, Des Moines, Friday, Nov. 11 at 9 p.m., $12-15 I hope you hate your face. Because the

Kachna Baraniewicz

fact is, it’s going to melt right off with this kickass lineup. Starting with the sludgy doom of Toronto’s Sarin, to the multidisciplinary magic of Masma Dream World (who holds sacred space through her performance art, incorporating reiki, butoh and theta frequency), to the experimental/ industrial/noise of Chicago’s ONO, there is much here to open your mind and prepare you for the unforgettable experience of Duma. The Kenyan grindcore duo, made up of vocalist Martin Khanja and guitarist-producer Sam Karugu, is the number one best reason to get out of bed in the morning. Once you’ve experienced this pair, you’ll never be the same.

Musical Marvels Friday, Nov. 4 at 8

Sunday, Nov. 6 at 7

Wednesday, Nov. 9

Friday, Nov. 11 at

Sunday, Nov. 13 at 7

Thursday, Nov. 17 at 7

p.m. Dickie w/James

p.m. David Huckfelt

at 7:30 p.m.

7:30 p.m. Moors &

p.m. Anna Tivel w/

p.m.

Biehn Band, xBk Live,

and Pieta Brown, xBk

Kathy Mattea, Temple

McCumber, Temple

Christopher Porter-

Granger Smith w/Earl

Des Moines, $10-15

Live, $25-32

Theater, Des Moines,

Theater, $30

field, xBk Live, $15-20

Dibbles Jr., Val Air

Friday, Nov. 11 at

Sunday, Nov. 13 at

$55

Ballroom, West Des

Saturday, Nov. 5

Saturday, Nov. 5 at 7

at 3:30 p.m. Iowa

p.m. Magdalena Bay,

Wednesday, Nov. 9 at

9:30 p.m. Gorgatron

7:30 p.m. Amy Helm,

Abortion Access

Wooly’s, Des Moines,

8 p.m.

w/The Rising Plague,

Temple Theater,

Thursday, Nov. 17 at

Fund Benefit Show,

$20

Mr. Softheart and

Lefty’s Live Music, $15

$20-45

8 p.m.

Modeling w/Gravity’s

xBk Live, Donations encouraged Sunday, Nov. 6 at 2

Moines, $30-35

James Tutson, xBk

Saturday, Nov. 5 at 9

Constant, xBk Live,

Saturday, Nov. 12 at

Sunday, Nov. 13 at 8

p.m. Vision Video, Art

$10-15

8 p.m. Display Case

p.m. Joe Bonamassa,

EP Release Show, xBk

Des Moines Civic

Thursday, Nov. 17 at

Live, $12-17

Center, $44-204

8 p.m.

Monk, Gas Lamp, $15 Friday, Nov. 11 at 7

p.m. Star Spangled

Live, $10-15

Salute to Veterans,

Sunday, Nov. 6 at 2

p.m. Charlie Burg w/

Des Moines Civic

p.m. Kirk Knuffke and

Genevieve Stokes,

Saturday, Nov. 12 at

Monday, Nov. 14 at

Casey, Platform, Des

Center, Free

Jesse Stacken, Caspe

xBk Live, $15

9 p.m. Elour, Ephraim

7:30 p.m. Indigo Girls

Moines, $17-20

Zenh, Honey Dick,

w/Mary Bragg, Hoyt

Gas Lamp, $10

Sherman Place, Des

Friday, Nov. 18 at 5

Moines, $45-75

p.m. Rehtek, Lefty’s

Terrace, Waukee, Sunday, Nov. 6 at

$30-35

Friday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. Rose Colella,

6 p.m. Autopilot, Lefty’s Live Music,

Monday, Nov. 7 at 7

Noce, Des Moines,

Des Moines, $10

p.m. Stand Atlantic,

$20-60

Wooly’s, $20-25

34 November 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8

Mr. Carmack w/Jon

Live Music, $10-15

Always free and open to all

DES MOINES Friday, Nov. 18 at

Saturday, Nov. 26 at

7 p.m. The Joyann

7 p.m. Dreamwell,

Parker Band, Noce,

xBk Live, $14-17

stanleymuseum.uiowa.edu

$15-50 Saturday, Nov. 26 Friday, Nov. 18 at 8

at 7:30 p.m.

p.m. Allegra Hernan-

The Other Brothers,

dez’s Album Release,

Dipsos, Heidi Hates It,

xBk $15

10 Watt Robot, Gas Lamp, $10

Saturday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. Daniel Nunnelee,

Wednesday, Nov. 30

xBk Live, $12-15

at 7 p.m. Kody West, Wooly’s, $15

Saturday, Nov. 19 at 8 p.m. Amanda Shires,

Friday, Dec. 2 at 7

Wooly’s, $20-25

p.m. Lady Revel w/

ON VIEW NOW

The Second Shift and Saturday and Sunday,

Betsy Hart, xBk Live,

Nov. 19-20. DM Sym-

$10-15

Des Moines Civic

Friday, Dec. 2 at

Center, $15-70

8 p.m. The Nadas: Silent Night 20 Year

Sunday, Nov. 20 at 7

Anniversary, Hoyt

p.m. Smallpools and

Sherman Place,

Dreamers, Wooly’s,

$23-53

$25 Saturday, Dec. 3 at 7 Tuesday, Nov. 22 at 8

p.m. The Blake Shaw

p.m. Steve Vai, Hoyt

Big(ish) Band, Noce,

Sherman Place, $40-

$15-45

59.50 Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 7 Friday and Saturday,

p.m. A Charlie Brown

Nov. 25-26 at 7 p.m.

Christmas w/The

Karrin Allyson, Noce,

Peter Roberts Band,

$20-60

Noce, $20-45

Friday, Nov. 25 at 8 p.m. Some Friends, Wooly’s, $12-20

Guardian, 2021. Museum purchase with support from Sharman Hunter, 2022.8. Donté K. Hayes

phony: The Planets,

EDITORS’ PICKS: November 2022

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/CALENDAR

CRANDIC/AMES

Truthsgiving, Englert Theatre, Iowa City, Friday, Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m., Free-$57.50

via the Great Plains Action Society

The Truth Will Not Be Whitewashed, co-presented by Great Plains Action Society, is a paywhat-you-can night of truthtelling, music and laughter. The goal of the event is not to simply rename Thanksgiving celebrations, but to challenge the mythology and whitewashing endemic to the holiday and offer a voice to those who continue to be oppressed by that rose-colored history.

Presenters/performers include AUDIOPHARMACY; Jessica Engelking, Anishinaabe, GPAS; Sikowis Nobiss, Plains Cree/Saulteaux, GPAS; Damita Brown, PhD; Alejandro Murguia-Ortiz, Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice; Dave Whiting; and Native Harmony Drum Group.

Eastward, ho!

Saturday, Nov. 5 at 7:30 p.m.

Friday-Saturday, Nov. 11-12. Dance

Sunday, Nov. 20 at 10 a.m. Artists

Saturday, Nov. 26 at 9 p.m. Eliza-

Godspeed You! Black Emperor w/

Gala, Hancher Auditorium, Iowa

Market, Cedar Rapids Museum of

beth Moen Album Release Show,

Marissa Anderson, Englert Theatre,

City, $5-20

Art, Free

Gabe’s, $20

Monday-Wednesday, Nov. 14-16.

Sunday, Nov. 20 at 1 p.m. National

Friday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. Lissie w/

Annie, Hancher Auditorium, $60-75

Theatre Live: Jack Absolute Flies

Cat Clyde, Wildwood Saloon,

Again, FilmScene–Chauncey, Iowa

$25-40

Iowa City, $20-37.50 Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m.

Clerks III: The Convenience Tour, Englert Theatre, $20-55

Thursday, Nov. 17 at 8 p.m. Slaugh-

City, $9.50-10.50 Opening Friday, Dec. 2. Miracle

ter Beach, Gabe’s, Iowa City, $20 Friday and Saturday, Nov. 11-12.

Opening Friday, Nov. 25. The

on 34th St, Giving Tree Theater, Marion, $23

Mic Check Poetry Fest, Various

Opening Friday, Nov. 18. Meet Me

Flick, Riverside Theatre, Iowa City,

Venues, Iowa City, $85

in St. Louis, Theatre Cedar Rapids,

$15-35

$18-48

Burlesque Workshop, Reliable Street, Ames, Sunday, Nov. Le Cirque Rouge / John Lombardi

13 at 4 p.m., $45

Reliable Street, Ames’s community arts nonprofit organization, is hosting a burlesque workshop for folks of all experience levels. Mama T and Gin Finnit will be hosting this three-hour event and participants will learn about burlesque and character development. Email lyndsay@reliablestreet.com to sign-up for the workshop and follow @reliablestreet on Instagram for the most up-to-date information regarding workshops and future events.

Explore Ames!

Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 6:30 p.m.

Thursday-Sunday, Nov. 10-13.

Wednesdays, Nov. 16 and 30 at

Thursday, Nov. 24 at 8 a.m.

DMMO Opera: Carmen Preview,

Night of the Living Dead: The

8 p.m. Grandma Mojo’s Improv

Skatesgiving 5K, ISU Ice Arena,

Northcrest Community, Ames,

Musical, Fisher Theater, Ames,

Comedy, The Maintenance Shop,

Ames, $30

Free

Free-$25

Ames, Free

Thursday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. Junk

Saturday, Nov. 12 at 10 a.m.

Thursday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. Kelly

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Mail Migration Artist Reception

StoryWalk Ribbon Cutting, Moore

Hunt w/Spencer Braly, Alluvial

Live, Stephens Auditorium,

and Talk, Ames Public Library, Free

Memorial Park, Ames, Free

Brewing, Ames, Free

Ames, $31-51

Opening Thursday, Nov. 10

Monday, Nov. 14 at 9 a.m. All

Sunday, Nov. 20 at 2 p.m. Cafe

First Date, Ames Community The-

Kinds of Art, Octagon Center for

Philosophy, Dog-Eared Books,

ater (ACTORS), $25

the Arts, Ames, $45

Ames, Free

Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 6:30 p.m.

36 November 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8

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DEAR KIKI

LittleVillageMag.com/DearKiki

D

ear Kiki, I have a client who is getting a little … too personal with her stories. She works in a location that I deliver to for my job, and I see her pretty often, almost every day. She’s very nice; problem is, for the past couple months she’s kept me up to date with her love life. She’s divorced and in the dating scene and keeps telling me about whatever person she’s met and gone on dates with, and how often they don’t work out. I didn’t really mind this at first, but she’s got a little more explicit with certain details as of late, and it’s making me a bit uncomfortable and taking up my time. I’m not

and are praised for it. That’s probably why you get the impression that your workplace chatterbox might get her feelings hurt if you call her out: She’ll read the interaction as though she broke the social contract and get embarrassed.

The thing is, Tired, that she did break the social contract. And this is where “nice” butts up against “kind.” By smiling and nodding, you’re leading her to believe that she has a closer relationship with you than she does, which also ironically prevents any actual friendship (which requires intimacy from both parties) to blossom. Essentially, you’re treating her like a TV program, and you’re annoyed because you can’t I DIDN’T AT FIRST, BUT SHE’S GOT A find the remote. The only action availLITTLE MORE EXPLICIT WITH CERTAIN able from a place of kindness is to engage with her as a person. Holding her at DETAILS AS OF LATE, AND IT’S a distance may be nice, but it’s unkind.

MAKING ME A BIT UNCOMFORTABLE. Step one: Be honest and specific. Tell her, “I enjoy chatting with you, but it really one to share a lot of details about my per- makes me uncomfortable when you share intimate sonal life, so it’s also very one-sided. My issue is, details of your life with me.” She might not believe she seems like someone who is very sensitive and the first part, and yes, she might feel hurt at first— gets her feelings hurt easily, which I’ve gathered but she’ll probably stop oversharing.

Step two: Keep talking. You’re the one who from her stories about her love life. I don’t think that’s a bad quality, but I’m nervous about poten- nixed this line of conversation, so you need to tially hurting her feelings and ruining our friendly come up with a new one. Future awkward silences work relationship. Should I just come right out are on you to fill, at least to start. Show her with and tell her she’s making me uncomfortable? your actions that you value your daily banter and Should I get my supervisor involved? Should I just that you want to remain friendly.

Be your best self, Tired. That’s the other glaring try to avoid interaction as much as possible? I’m difference between nice and kind: Nice is a way at a loss. we attempt to control the reactions of others; kind Sincerely, Tired of TMI is the acknowledgement that we can only exert authority over ourselves. Maybe she will freeze you out. Maybe she’ll retaliate in some way (in ear Tired, You’re very kind to be thinking about which case, do get your supervisor involved). But your acquaintance’s feelings. It’s likely however she responds, you’ll know you were rethat kindness is what makes her feel she can open spectful and kind—both to her, and (importantly) up to you. And while I’m never going to recom- to yourself. —xoxo, Kiki mend that someone be less kind, I will say that, for the sake of kindness, you should probably start being less nice.

A distinction without a difference, you say?

Ohhhh, buckle up, Tired, because this is one of Kiki’s favorite topics.

“Iowa nice” is more than just an ambiguous phrase deployed as praise and insult in roughly equal measure. It’s also the way that anyone who has spent any substantial amount of time in the Submit questions anonymously Midwest is conditioned to behave, on pain of soat littlevillagemag.com/dearkiki cial ostracization. It’s the impulse to equate politeor non-anonymously to ness with minimizing ourselves. dearkiki@littlevillagemag.com.

People living on the crowded coasts have Questions may be edited for clarity and learned to share physical space, but will fill emolength, and may appear either in print or tional space with abandon. Here, on the wide open online at littlevillagemag.com. prairie, we shrink and cower in our interactions

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THE PLANETS EXPERIENCE ONE OF THE GREATEST SYMPHONIC BLOCKBUSTERS EVER WRITTEN, ACCOMPANIED BY A STUNNING HIGH-DEFINITION FILM

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Joseph Giunta, conducting Women’s Chorus from Des Moines Vocal Arts Ensemble Timothy McMillin, Director Adolphus HAILSTORK Fanfare on Amazing Grace James MACMILLAN Larghetto ELGAR Cockaigne Overture (In London Town) HOLST The Planets

DMSY VISIT MPHO OR CA NY.ORG 515.24 LL F OR T 6. 2 3 0 0 ICK E T S!

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September 27–December 10, 2022 PAPER TRAILS: MODERN INDIAN WORKS ON PAPER FROM THE GAUR COLLECTION Above: Anupam Sud (Indian, b.1944), Your Huddled Masses, 1990. Multiple plate etching, 18 1/4 × 23 3/4 in. Courtesy the Gaur Collection.

REVERENT ORNAMENT: ART FROM THE ISLAMIC WORLD Visit GCMoA’s website for updated information about events, as well as the latest health guidelines before you visit. Grinnell.edu/museum

Community

LittleVillageMag.com

>> Cont. from p. 28 impossibility for so many different people to touch the same object.

The pieces in Occupation: Coax, Coddle, and Caress are wearable, but have almost always been displayed unworn. Only two— beaded gloves and a pair of gorilla suits embroidered with love poems translated into Braille—have been worn in an exhibition.

As Altenhofen says, “they haven’t been activated yet.”

“Metaphorical function” is a recurring term in Altenhofen’s artist statements and labels, which describes the importance of an object’s potential usefulness by merely existing.

“The inanimate object is sort of a way for two animated objects to come together and relate,” Altenhofen explains.

In one of these performances, a demonstration of A Conversation Between Two Poets, two of Altenhofen’s close friends—one male, one female—donned her poem-embroidered gorilla suits and, without speaking, read the beads in each other’s fur with their hands. Mimicking the action of apes cleansing each other free of insects, a primal act of care, the two gorillas read the love poems embroidered and embedded that exist only through a caring touch.

The interaction between two people through the catalyst of an object with “metaphorical function” demonstrates the intent of Altenhofen’s work perfectly.

“The beads nestled in the fur … you want to get in there and touch them,” Altenhofen describes. “There’s this caressing of a comfort object thing that’s happening.”

Altenhofen’s sculpted objects will be shown in a similar fashion at the Des Moines Art Center.

“Models will wear the objects while interacting with each other and with the public,” said Altenhofen. “The public can touch them and they can touch the public, whoever wants to be touched. A very festive and performative thing will be happening.”

As exhibition venues reopen, Altenhofen finds a great relief in the “cracking open” of possibility. “There’s all this other rich texture of the world,” she said.

Altenhofen will be displaying pieces from her Braille Series in a first-of-its kind interactive performance on Friday, Nov. 18 at the Des Moines Art Center. The sculptures will only be on display during the interactive performance, which is open for free to the public.

Elaine Irvine is a writer and artist based in Des Moines. She spends her spare time journaling, conversing with her cat, Juniper, and ruminating on the greater meaning of trash TV.

AST R O LO GY

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “Fear is the raw material from which courage is manufactured,” said author Martha Beck.

“Without it, we wouldn’t even know what it means to be brave.”

I love that quote—and I especially love it as a guiding meditation for you Scorpios right now. We usually think of fear as an unambiguously bad thing, a drain of our precious life force. But I suspect that for you, it will turn out to be useful in the coming days. You’re going to find a way to transmute fear into boldness, bravery and even badassery.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): For decades, the Canadian city of Sudbury hosted a robust mining industry. Deposits of nickel sulphide ore spawned a booming business. But these riches also brought terrible pollution. Sudbury’s native vegetation was devastated. The land was stained with foul air produced by the smelting process. An effort to re-green the area began in the 1970s. Today, the air is among the cleanest in the province of Ontario. In the spirit of this transformation, I invite you to embark on a personal reclamation project. Now is a favorable time to detoxify and purify any parts of your life that have been spoiled or sullied.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The literal meaning of the ancient Greek word aigílips is “devoid of goats.” It refers to a place on the earth that is so high and steep that not even sure-footed goats can climb it. There aren’t many of those places. Similarly, there are very few metaphorical peaks that a determined Capricorn can’t reach. One of your specialties is the power to master seemingly improbable and impassable heights. But here’s an unexpected twist in your destiny: In the coming months, your forte will be a talent for going very far down and in. Your agility at ascending, for a change, will be useful in descending—for exploring the depths. Now is a good time to get started!

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Evolved Aquarians are often blessed with unprecedented friendships and free-spirited intimacy and innovative alliances. People who align themselves with you may enjoy experimental collaborations they never imagined before engaging with you. They might be surprised at the creative potentials unleashed in them because of their synergy with you.

In the coming weeks and months, you will have even more power than usual to generate such liaisons and connections. You might want to make a copy of this horoscope and use it as your calling card or business card.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I surveyed the history of literature to identify authors I consider highly intuitive. Piscean-born Anais Nin was my top choice. She used language with fluidity and lyricism. She lived a colorful, unpredictable life. No one better deserves the title of Intuition Champion. And yet she also had a discerning view of this faculty. She wrote, “I began to understand that there were times when I must question my intuition and separate it from my anxieties or fears. I must think, observe, question, seek facts and not trust blindly to my intuition.” I admire her caution. And I suspect it was one reason her intuition was so potent. Your assignment, Pisces, is to apply her approach to your relationship with your intuition. The coming months will be a time when you can supercharge this key aspect of your intelligence and make it work for you better than it ever has before.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): In the coming weeks, I encourage you to work as hard as you have ever worked. Work smart, too.

Work with flair and aplomb and relish. You now have a surprisingly fertile opportunity to reinvent how you do your work and how you feel about your work. To take maximum advantage of this potential breakthrough, you should inspire yourself to give more of your heart and soul to your work than you have

By Rob Brezsny

previously imagined possible. (PS: By “work,” I mean your job and any crucial activity that is both challenging and rewarding.)

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Here’s my weird suggestion, Taurus.

Just for now, only for a week or two, experiment with dreaming about what you want but can’t have. And just for now, only for a week or two, go in pursuit of what you want but can’t have. I predict that these exercises in quixotic futility will generate an unexpected benefit. They will motivate you to dream true and strong and deep about what you do want and can have. They will intensify and focus you to pursue what you do want and can have.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Your most successful times in life usually come when all your various selves are involved. During these interludes, none of them is neglected or shunted to the outskirts. In my astrological opinion, you will be wise to ensure this scenario is in full play during the coming weeks. In fact, I recommend you throw a big Unity Party and invite all your various sub-personalities to come as they are. Have outrageous fun acting out the festivities. Set out a placemat and nametag on a table for each participant. Move around from seat to seat and speak from the heart on behalf of each one. Later, discuss a project you could all participate in creating.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): A Cancerian reader named Joost Joring explained to me how he cultivates the art of being the best Cancerian he can be. He said, “I shape my psyche into a fortress, and I make people feel privileged when they are allowed inside. If I must sometimes instruct my allies to stay outside for a while, to camp out by the drawbridge as I work out my problems, I make sure they know they can still love me— and that I still love them.” I appreciate Joost’s perspective. As a Cancerian myself, I can attest to its value. But I will also note that in the coming weeks, you will reap some nice benefits from having less of a fortress mentality. In my astrological opinion, it’s PARTY TIME! LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo poet Antonio Machado wrote, “I thought my fire was out, and I stirred the ashes. I burnt my fingers.” I’m telling you this so you won’t make the same mistake, Leo. Your energy may be a bit less radiant and fervent than usual right now, but that’s only because you’re in a recharging phase. Your deep reserves of fertility and power are regenerating. That’s a good thing! Don’t make the error of thinking it’s a sign of reduced vitality. Don’t overreact with a flurry of worry.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo author Siegfried Sassoon became renowned for the poetry he wrote about being a soldier in World War I. Having witnessed carnage firsthand, he became adept at focusing on what was truly important. “As long as I can go on living a rich inner life,” he wrote, “I have no cause for complaint, and I welcome anything which helps me to simplify my life, which seems to be more and more a process of eliminating inessentials!” I suggest we make Sassoon your inspirational role model for the next three weeks. What inessentials can you eliminate? What could you do to enhance your appreciation for all the everyday miracles that life offers you?

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): You Libras have a talent that I consider a superpower: You can remove yourself from the heart of the chaos and deliver astute insights about how to tame the chaos. I like that about you. I have personally benefited from it on numerous occasions. But for the next few weeks, I will ask you to try something different. I’ll encourage you to put an emphasis on practical action, however imperfect it might be, more than on in-depth analysis. This moment in the history of your universe requires a commitment to getting things done, even if they’re untidy and incomplete. Here’s your motto: “I improvise compromises in the midst of the interesting mess.”

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8 November 2022 41

Community

LittleVillageMag.com

>> Cont. from p. 21 communicate,” Skiba explained. “And so they switched gears very quickly and focused more of the studies on Kanzi.”

Kanzi’s nephews, Nyota and Teco, also use lexigram symbols to request snacks, enrichment, and sometimes actions, like “chase,” which is essentially a game of tag. But not all bonobos are able to use the lexigrams, and that doesn’t make their needs any less important. In fact, finding ways to communicate just as thoroughly with bonobos that don’t use these tools is an ongoing focus of researchers at Ape Initiative.

Epping said that for bonobos like Clara, who are less comfortable with lexigrams, the researchers at Ape Initiative have been working on developing clipboards with pictures of items that are easier to understand than the lexigram symbols.

“I think research in general is less about, what can we teach apes to do? and more about, what are they doing on their own?” Epping said.

“And how can we understand? What can we learn about ourselves and about them through that?”

The other cornerstone of Ape Initiative is sharing these lessons through educational outreach for K-12 students. Since Ape Initiative’s facilities are not open to the public, they get creative with how they work with schools. They offer a variety of courses about apes through their website as well as private tours for classes through the facilities.

The facility doesn’t open its doors to ape enthusiasts in the city, but public support is still an integral part of the Ape Initiative’s survival.

“I think in order for long-term success for the facility, the community has to get involved and see it as a resource,” Epping said. “Because a lot of zoos get funding from the city they’re in …

But we’re not a zoo. And just because [people] can’t come visit on a Sunday afternoon,” she added, they should still think of it “as an important resource that they should want to keep here in Des Moines.”

Reframing the idea of what is considered a resource could be a positive thing for Des Moines. Although the bonobos don’t exist here for the city’s viewing pleasure, they are the reason that researchers from all over the world travel to Des Moines. And the researchers at Ape Initiative are leading the way in bonobo research and care. Perhaps it’s enough to be a Des Moines resident and know that seven well-cared for, ultra-smart bonobos call the city home, too.

Lily DeTaeye is a Little Village Central Iowa reporter.

IOWA CITY

42 November 2022 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM

DISTRICT

DOWNTOWN

LABEL PROFILES

OX CART NEW MUSIC Gabi Vanek, founder OXCARTNEWMUSIC.BANDCAMP.COM

G

abi Vanek is the “label boss” of Oxcart New Music, but she isn’t precious about it. She didn’t use the word “curate” once in this interview.

“So I have wanted to use the name Oxcart New Music for quite some time, but I kind of made it a catch-all,” she told me. It’s almost as if the sound of the name informed its mission as much as the meaning. It sounds cool.

Is it cool? As I said in my review of Vanek’s collaboration with Chris Wiersema, Death Bag: If you hear “experimental live electronic music” and shout “where do I sign up?” this is a label for you. The two releases so far—Justin K Comer & the Unblessed Rest of Us and Ghost Actions (by Vanek and Will Yager) are resolutely experimental free improvisations. That kind of music is by definition new, insofar as no one hears it until the moment it’s performed, including the performers.

Both releases came out on cassette in addition to download, through the casual arrangements of musicians who don’t expect to make any money. Vanek said to Comer, “Hey, do you want to just put it on Oxcart so then it can live in two places: your bandcamp website and then Oxcart? I can just bring it with me when I’m playing gigs or post about it on social media.”

Improvisation, to Vanek, is not an arbitrary practice.

“Insofar as practicing and knowing your scales and music theory, it’s exceedingly helpful … because you develop a syntax. Kind of like

Submit albums for review: Little Village, 623 S Dubuque St., IC, IA 52240

languages, you know all these words and phrases and then how to put them together in an interesting way, whether that’s melodically or experimentally, if that makes sense.

Yeah, I’m a composer, but by accident.”

As for her own playing she says “I’m more interested in exploring the boundaries of the instrument, specifically the bassoon, because I’m a bassoonist,” The COVID-19 pandemic was difficult artistically.

“I started doing some of the daily Instagram video Bleep Bloops for a bit, and Ghost Actions came out during the pandemic. I had been testing vocals for my bassoon [i.e. singing while playing] but I wasn’t work on specific projects for myself.”

The freedom of Vanek’s free improvisation is not without structure or intent. “When I’m performing, I should not be practicing for you. I did stuff in my laboratory, which is my practice space, right? And figured out that X and Y go together to make this sound or weird thing Z. So I would never perform being, like, “Oh, can X divided by Z make Y? Because if I didn’t practice that I don’t know if it’s going to work.”

As for Ox Cart New Music, Vanek has no particular plans but said, “I would mostly like to be able to just release things for, you know, new music, experimental buddies in town or even just friends out of state who just need an opportunity to have something on a label and put it on their CVs.” Vanek stamps her personality on her label and her work as a performer: playful, but with serious intent.

“There’s a whole world of free and proposatory music out there,” she says, “and I think every player must come at it a little different.

You have some ideas, but you don’t know specifically what’s going to come out. You’re just not trying weird shit to try weird shit in front of people.”

—Kent Williams

5CM RECORDINGS Mathias Timmerman, founder 5CMRECORDINGS.BANDCAMP.COM

“I

n 2013, I played my first solo set (as Underwater Escape From the Black Hole) at one of the Zeitgeist fests that were held in Boone,” Mathias Timmerman, of Des Moines label 5CM Recordings, said in an email. “And I ended up meeting a lot of other folks who were running little DIY labels, putting out tapes and releases for the weird little experimental projects that they were currently in. I loved the culture I found at the fests, people swapping tapes with each other and enjoying some waay out there experimental music. Iowa labels such Personal Archives, Warm Gospel and Centipede Farm were big inspirations.”

Originally from the Dubuque area, Timmerman and his partner Kaylee moved to Des Moines in 2014, and he started 5CM shortly after. The label’s first release was a split between his Underwater Escape … and a musician from Scotland named Soma.

“My half was mainly ambient loops and swells, and his half was in the same vein,” Timmerman said. “I’m still super happy with that release, both with the music itself and how the tapes turned out.”

More recent releases, he said, cover a wider variety of styles, from “shreddy prog punk” to “harsh noise.” Among them are a split from Gravity’s Constant (one of Timmerman’s solo projects) and Heaven Drugs, a cassette from Haploid (which Timmerman

is also part of), and work from Moulttrigger, from Ames, and Excrete, based in Des Moines.

“I’m actually in waaay too many projects haha,” Timmerman said. “I play synths in Haploid, bass in Leonard, and I’m also in an improvised collective called Sarin and I do solo electronic music as Gravity’s Constant ... One of the reasons I started 5CM was to have an excuse to put out physicals for some of the releases I was working on at the time. It helps having a little merch to sell at shows, and cassettes were a more affordable way to do that.”

Although he’s experimented with other media, Timmerman—a 7-inch vinyl, a lathe 7-inch, occasional CDs—but he keeps returning to cassettes.

“Cassettes are fun because they’re super easy to do on your own. You can order shells in almost any color you can dream of, and dubbing cassettes is something you can do totally on your own, without having to outsource anything. CDs can get a little tricky to do on your own and still look professional, but with cassettes, once you put some stickers on the tape and get the j card folded up and in place, and voila you have a legitimate looking somewhat professional release. When I started out in music having an actual physical release meant a lot to me, so I try to help others have the same.”

Ultimately, Timmerman said, “I’d like 5CM to become a little hub for some of the music that’s off the beaten path in the state.

There’s some great little scenes that have been emerging across the state in the past few years, particularly in the metal and punk genres, but electronic music and experimental stuff is a little harder sell, so I think helping to promote some different genres will help diversify the music in the state a bit.”

—Genevieve Trainor

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8 November 2022 43

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PRESS PROFILES

MWC PRESS Ryan Collins, executive director MWCQC.ORG

F

Submit books for review: Little Village, 623 S Dubuque St., IC, IA 52240

MWC had settled into its home at the library, the center began slowly looking for opportunities to publish the work that was being produced.

“Once we got a physical location in 2003, we would do kind of sporadic publications, but there wasn’t necessarily an imprint,” Collins said. “Somebody would have an idea for a program and maybe there would be a publishing aspect to it. Eventually that coalesced into an actual press and trying to have some regular publications.”

MWC Press puts out three to five titles a year. One of these titles is an annual literary magazine, The Atlas, which is a part of the summer internship program MWC hosts for 15-17 year olds.

“For most of those kids, that’s their first publication,” Collins said.

“Whether or not they continue with writing [to be published], we hope they just continue to write.”

After all, encouraging people to write just for the sake of it is sort of what MWC does best—and it remains central to their mission.

“I think a lot of people are like, ‘I like to write but I’m not a writer,’

508 PRESS Mackie Garrett, founder INSTAGRAM.COM/508PRESS

M

ounded in 1979, the Midwest ackie Garrett, founder of Iowa Writing Center (MWC) was City’s 508 Press, started takcreated to provide a “permanent ing classes on the letterpress after home” for writers in the Quad receiving an invitation to an event Cities. MWC, the only literary arts at Public Space One by a colleague. nonprofit in the Quad Cities, boasts “I was at a point with professiona long tradition of uplifting local al changes where I felt a little adrift writers through resources, includin Iowa City and I started going to ing space for book signings, events poetry readings,” Garrett said. He and most recently, the addition of its had long been interested in the letvery own press. terpress and took his first class in “My uncle was one of the hopes of slowing down and getting co-founders of the writing center to know a new creative medium. “I way back when. There are a couple found it was an accessible art form of events that we still do that have as someone who isn’t trained as an been going on since [the beginartist.” ning],” MWC Executive Director Ryan Collins said. “Our annual Writers Conference, the original “I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE LIKE, ‘I LIKE TO version of it, started in the mid WRITE BUT I’M NOT A WRITER,’ BECAUSE WHAT 1970s. And then we do a thing THEY ACTUALLY MEAN IS, ‘I’M NOT AN AUTHOR. called the Children’s Literature Festival, but we’ve been doing IT’S JUST SOMETHING THAT I DO,’” COLLINS SAID. that since the late ’70s. They had a “AND THEY SORT OF TREAT IT DISMISSIVELY. BUT group of writers and they just sort of coalesced around this idea of cre- WE THINK EVERYBODY’S A WRITER. AND WE’RE ating a space to support local writ- JUST TRYING TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO MAKE ers, to encourage people to do more WRITING A PART OF THEIR LIFE. writing.”

Collins joined the board in 2001 when his uncle unexpectedly died. because what they actually mean is, The environment at Public Space After serving on the board for about ‘I’m not an author. It’s just some- One’s Iowa City Press Co-Op, 10 years, Collins decided to help thing that I do,’” Collins said. “And where he took his first three classes out in a part-time position. But he’s they sort of treat it dismissively. But in letterpress, led him to take more stayed on ever since and has only we think everybody’s a writer. And classes with the Paper and Book gained more responsibility as time we’re just trying to encourage peo- Intensive and, eventually, share his has gone on. ple to make writing a part of their new passion with others through Although the center has moved life. Because whether or not they’re 508 Press. around the Quad Cities throughout writing for publication, we believe 508 Press is an independent press its lifespan, it is currently located that there’s a lot to be gained from out of Iowa City that specializes in in the Rock Island Public Library, it—for mind, body, spirit.” small runs of often event-specific where it hosts consistent programpoetry. Garrett created a reading ming throughout the year. After —Lily DeTaeye series where he prints selections

of the poems and stories shared for the evening’s attendees. Every print is one-of-a-kind and functions as a souvenir.

“I want a little roughness to it. I like print work that looks handmade and might have imperfections,” Garrett said. He started his reading series with broadsides in mind, saying he felt lucky that other poets were also “willing to take these opportunities to take poetry out of its traditional spaces.” The reading series usually includes visual and musical art as well.

“The overall goal is to bring different—or thought of as different or separate—art forms together,” he said. The long-term goal is to return to the recording studio (the 508 Press house band, Antifahorn, has recorded with poets at Flat Black Studio) and pay artists for their contribution at the events.

Everything about Garrett’s work at 508 is personal and based on the community in which he lives. His press is named for his grandmother’s address, where, he said, “I daydreamed of one day putting books in the world.” While he sells 508 Press publications at book and art fairs and social media, what’s most important to him is that the work is in the hands of someone who appreciates it. At many events, the printings are free or available on a sliding scale, and he loves to send work through the mail.

“There’s something to doing a limited edition print of a single poem, something special to the archival quality,” Garrett said of preparing for a reading. “I write and I want to publish and print poetry that is accessible to people who might not be interested in it or have maybe had a bad experience with it in the past.”

Garrett said he had been taught that one must either self-publish or be published on a large scale. “I wanted to put that aside and subscribe to both camps,” he said,”and I hope that in some way 508 can bring those two together. Those two different camps influence each other. I think you can have both.”

—Sarah Elgatian

LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LVDSM8 November 2022 45

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ACROSS 1. Early personal computer used by a number of electronic musicians 6. Astound 9. Let in the door 14. Doctor in the trenches 15. SoCal transport hub featured in Speed, for short 16. One might be broken by a tenant 17. Corrupt politician’s offering 18. Wrath

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23. “Rumble in the Jungle,” e.g.

24. TV accessories easily misplaced on a couch 26. Sarah Cooper pieces 28. See 53-Down 29. Carly ___ Jepsen (artist with the 2022 album Western Wind)

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30. Shire surname 34. Not into spicy things 38. Outfielder Moises involved in the Bartman incident 39. “Really? That’s great!”

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flavored 57. Unsightly sight 59. It takes seconds at a race track or minutes on a road trip 60. Duck Hunt console, for short 61. Roadwork material 62. A Bug’s Life creature 63. Squeeze (out) 64. The “A” in”WAP” 65. Place to unwind in España?

66. “___ but a scratch ...”

67. Hibernation hideout

13. They may be conducted in batteries 21. Brand-name product for a barbecuer 22. Iconic escape artist born Erik Weisz 25. Brittany Murphy’s Clueless role 27. Greek letter shaped like a cross 30. Sites that store shuttlecrafts on Star Trek 31. Smart ___ 32. Get printed, as a newspaper issue 33. Financially shy 34. Routes through life 35. Got from a grandparent, say 36. “NOW!” 37. Have the ___ for 40. Veer, as a ship 49. Soccer cleats, in the U.K. 51. Stark’s Iron Man love 52. “99 Luftballons” singer 53. Winners over a lone 28-Across 55. Puff from a spliff 56. Unreserved 58. Unit in history class, perhaps 59. Gently touch

DOWN 1. Jurassic Park resin 2. Squeeze into traffic, say 3. “Il pleut des cordes,” e.g. (“it’s raining ropes,” in French) 4. Axes wielded by B.B. King, Slash and Rosetta Tharpe, among others 5. Quick end to a volleyball point 6. Billy the Kid, for Henry McCarty 7. Give a heads-up 8. Golden parachute recipients 9. Lead-in to mode or carte OCTOBER ANSWERS 10. Judgy way to CR A B B E RUMS A C T S refer to people who T E T R A D A S I A S HOE S R I L I NG GE N T P A DR E aren’t optimistic, T H E F UR I OU S F I V E or a description OP E NM I C B RR F E E D N I N E I NCHN A I L S F R Y of three entries in I ND Y OE R L AOS T E S C L I MB S T A RR this grid T H E F OUR T OP S OR EOS L I S T S RN A 11. “___ of Castro P I E S GA S Y E E T Street” (moniker for S A L T HR E E DOGN I GH T UR S A EON L E A N S I N Harvey Milk) MA T CH BOX TWE N T Y 4 SOME ME R E Z A A T A R 12. Magazine unit 1 OV E R B R E D E L N I NO L E S S

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