How many times have we heard someone advocate for something under the guise of “doing it for the children”? more

In 2009, my parents bought the Massachusetts dairy farm where I grew up. Leased it, really, for 30 years, and bought the five acres which held a farmhouse, barn, and field where they planted an orchard. more

When I was growing up, my family ate dinner together near every night. My parents had left their first careers to restart a defunct dairy farm. Now we had our own meat, milk, eggs and vegetables, and we were going to eat them as a family. Those dinners ensured that I saw both of my parents every day; that our family was not an arbitrary or accidental group; that it was a living, working thing no less full of love for the demands of life. more

In the age of on-demand streaming, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought to myself “man, I really miss renting movies at a store.” more

Earlier this month, I had a couple of readers reach out to me regarding our editorial page. The main point these readers made was that they wished to see more people featured in the page, and I think that’s a fair comment to make. more

Like many students at our local high school, I had one specific dream job growing up. more

Take exit 292 off I-80 westbound and you will find the cheapest gas around. That’s the sort of thing you learn when you drive an old pick-up truck that jolts along at 15 miles to the gallon. A few weeks after a visit to New York this fall, I sent a picture of the price of gasoline to a friend who commutes to Connecticut. I was paying $2.24 a gallon. more

I feel like a lot of people can relate to being both incredibly attached to internet and technology while also being pretty resentful of it, especially in the last few years. It’s become something you practically can’t live without… but there are definitely days when I wish I could. If I’m being honest, the most frustrating part is that there are plenty of good things – plus good feelings and memories – tied to technology and the Internet. more

Travel has its dignities and indignities. I spent the night of Dec. 29 on the Lake Shore Limited passing through Rochester, Buffalo, Erie, and Cleveland, on the way back to Iowa from Burlington, Vermont. From my railcar window I watched the swirls and eddies of lake-effect snow lit orange by streetlamps. Around me everyone had done what they could to get comfortable: reclined their chairs or lain across tray tables, twisted their legs and opened their mouths. We rattled without privacy towards the new year. more

I’ve gotta say, for as awful as this year has been at times given… everything that’s been going on in the country and in the rest of the world, working with the team at the Advocate News and the North Scott Press has never been part of that awfulness. more

I shot a gun for the first time last week. A .22 pistol, 25 rounds. more

This past week, I had the honor of participating in Iowa City’s Latino Cultural Week, a vibrant celebration of art and heritage. When Miriam Alarcón Ávila- a photographer, multimedia artist, and visual storyteller, invited me to host a workshop, I was both humbled and excited. We’d first crossed paths years ago at the Iowa Writers’ House, while I was working on my piece for We the Interwoven, a literary series highlighting first- and second-generation immigrant voices. Though we connected on social media, life, as it often does, pulled us in different directions, until now. more