Yesterday we took some time to visit downtown Iowa City just for fun. We had to stop by a spot near the intersection of West Benton and South Capital Streets because Sena spied a bald eagle high atop a tree on the east bank of the Iowa River.
The eagle wasn’t hidden behind a lot of tree foliage. It was roosting high atop a dead tree. It was either in a horaltic or heraldic pose, which I’ve written about before. It was sitting in the tree and spread its wings out and in front of it. Experts say this is to dry itself after a rain, or get rid of parasites, or warm up.
Others say there’s no such word as horaltic. Whatever.
We drove on and then parked the car in the lot at Riverfront Crossings Park and walked downtown to finally see the statue of legendary Iowa City historian Irving Weber, who died in 1997. His statue was erected on Iowa Avenue just in front of Van Allen Hall at the intersection of Linn Street and Iowa Avenue. and was dedicated in 2003.
Local sponsor, including Steve Maxon and Doris Park donated the statue in 2003 as testament to Weber’s contributions to Iowa City. According to the Iowa City Public Library,
Irving B. Weber was instrumental in helping Iowa City preserve its history. Weber wrote more than 800 articles for the Iowa City Press-Citizen detailing what it was like to grow up in Iowa City, details like the best places to buy penny candy, the joys of cooling off in Melrose Lake in the summer, and of sledding parties on closed-off streets. In recognition for his work in recording local history, Weber was named Iowa City’s Official Historian in 1989.”
The statue is able to answer questions about Iowa City history. You scan a QR code and click on various topics and get information about Iowa City’s past. This works through the Hello Lamp Post’s digital engagement chat function. It doesn’t save the information to your phone (no chat clutter!), and it’s really interesting.
It has been years since we visited downtown Iowa City. It’s really crowded, especially with college students. We found an announcement at Prairie Lights Book Store of an upcoming book reading on October 8, 2026 by author Meghan O’Gieblyn in conversation with University of Iowa Dr. Alison Lynch, who was a former colleague and at one time, a combined Family Medicine-Psychiatry resident when I was on faculty. The book is a memoir entitled “Will and Attention.” It’s described as a “luminous memoir of secret drinking, fragile recovery, and the deep pull of religion.” Alison Lynch, MD, MS, is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Iowa. She is also:
- Clinical Professor of Family and Community Medicine
- Founder, Opioid Addiction Clinic (also known as the medication for addiction or “MAT” Clinic), Department of Psychiatry
- Director, Addiction Medicine
- Program Director, Addiction Medicine Fellowship
We then walked over to the Stanley Museum of Art. It was Monday, so it was closed but there were interesting new sculptures as well as those we’ve seen before that are outside the museum.
We took pictures of us next to the sculptures “No Pain” and “A Head with Little Pain” by Robert Carston Arneson. There were a couple of other new ones, one of which looked a little like Bigfoot and another very tall abstract. We walked a lot and got hungry, so we went home.
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