Category: Iowa

Flight of Ideas on Junior Bald Eagles

A couple of days ago the temperature was in the mid-seventies, which is pretty balmy for February. We took the opportunity to get out for a walk on the Terry Trueblood Trail. It’s coincidental, but we did the same thing on the exact same date last February. It’s under the same condition for the most part—escaping from the bad news on the web. The difference was the temperature; it was only in the fifties last year.

The remarkable thing last February was that another trail walker claimed to have seen 16 bald eagles. I’ll have to say that we doubted it, at first. But shortly after that, we caught sight of half a dozen. There were also the quilted hearts we saw, connected to the “I Found a Quilted Heart” project, the goal of which is to make you happy.

This time, although we didn’t find any quilted hearts, we saw a young bald eagle in flight. It was a little hard to tell what it was at first. Bald eagles don’t look bald when they’re in the juvenile stage. I had to look it up. Juveniles look pretty mottled. I wondered if its parents were the bald eagle pair, which we saw at Trueblood in December of 2023. Probably not, given that nesting begins in January, incubation lasts over a month and the eaglets take their first flight over two months later, according to the Iowa Dept of Natural Resources. But it’s fun to think about.

This junior bald eagle looked a little clumsy, both in the air and near the water’s edge. It looked like it might have caught a little fish. It seemed like it was trying to learn how things work in the world and how it’s supposed to fit in.

Instinct takes care of most of that for a bald eagle. Humans have a lot of figuring out to do. We ran into somebody on the trail who told us a great deal about local history. Over time, a lot of things have changed in Iowa City. That goes for the world, too. Much of the time, the changes don’t always seem to make life better, at least according to older people who talk about them.

But the seasons come and go. Bald eagles lay eggs. Eaglets fledge. They don’t gaze up at the moon. Humans do look up at the moon, and occasionally fly there. It’s hard to know why.

There are plenty of earthly mysteries. We saw small black handprints on the Trueblood sidewalk, not far from the shelter. I can’t figure out why they would be there, and what’s more, I can’t find out anything on the internet that explains it. So much for the internet. I supposed I could take a chance and ask Artificial Intelligence (AI) about it, but I’m not confident it wouldn’t just make something up.

We also found a little badge on the ground. It was labeled National Museum USAF Junior Flight Crew. This time, when I checked the internet, I found out there is a lot of information about it on the internet—but none of it helped me understand why it would be on the ground along the Terry Trueblood Trail. You can find a very long article on the internet about how items from the National Museum USAF might not have been handled the way they should have been. You can buy one for about $20 or so on eBay, if you’re interested.

I think it’s more interesting to see how the junior bald eagles learn their way around the world. They earn their wings the old-fashioned way.

Hot Mic in the NASA Control Room

By now, everybody probably knows about the Intuitive Machine lunar landing of the Odysseus space craft recently, broadcast from NASA. I happened to have a direct audio hookup to the control room during the hot mic episode which somehow didn’t get broadcast last week.

Sam: OK, how’s Odysseus doing?

Doug: Uh, we slightly overshot the planned landing.

Sam: What? How did that happen?

Doug: Not sure, but I heard a crunching noise.

Sam: Crunching? There’s no crunching allowed on this mission!

Doug: It’s OK, we can hit the gas and put it down in a different spot a little further away.

Sam: How far?

Doug: Not much, about 1,000 miles give or take. Almost there; applying disc brakes—now.

Sam: What is Odysseus’ position now?

Doug: Well, it looks like it sort of fell over on its side. But it’s transmitting images.

Sam: Great! What’s coming across?

Doug: Kind of fuzzy. Wait a sec, just need to adjust the rabbit ears here. What’s that?

Sam: Hard to make it out.

Doug: OK, there. It’s yellow, whatever it is. Stand by. Wait, are those wheels?

Sam: Adjust the focus.

Doug: Whatever this yellow thing or vehicle whatever on wheels is—it’s coming closer. Hey, there’s somebody inside!

Sam: Oh my god; a life form! On the moon! Quick, what’s it doing?

Doug: Wow. It just gave me the finger. Since when are taxicabs on the moon?

Sam: Dammit! Are you telling me that Odysseus didn’t even leave Earth?

Doug: No sir! But that moon rock sort of looks like a manhole cover.

Sam: You’re fired, Doug.

Doug: Does that mean the Odysseus Landing Gala and Orgy is off? I don’t think I can return the Counting Kites THC Magnum Cocktails.

Sam: I guess now we’ll have to refund the 118 million dollars from NASA—minus the cocktail charge.

High as a Kite!

We heard about the marketing of a new cannabis product in Iowa. A company called Climbing Kites makes a beverage that contains low concentration THC and it’s legal to buy it as long as the percentage of Delta 9 THC is not above 0.3%. Their website says funny things like “Fly High:  All Buzz, No Booze.” However, it’s not legal to make it in Iowa. So, you just have to make believe you’re drinking it. Just kidding, sort of.

No, seriously, while it’s true it has to be made in Minnesota and shipped back to Iowa, you can buy it in Iowa legally as long as you’re over 21 years old and don’t mind going to prison for 20 years if you’re caught with an open container of the beverage while driving. Relax, that’s a joke. Have another drink! There’s a FAQ web page on the Climbing Kites web site. It’s Iowa’s first THC drink.

That doesn’t mean recreational marijuana is legal in Iowa, at least not yet. Several surrounding states are, though, including Missouri, Illinois, and Minnesota. There’s an interesting article on the future for marijuana legalization in Iowa.

Marijuana is still not legal at the federal level, though. It’s still classified as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act. While there is some conflict between the states that legalize recreational marijuana and the federal government, the federal government is not hustling to prosecute in those states.

It’s been a while since I tried marijuana, which really only caused me to think I could feel every blade of grass (the kind you mow) under my feet. It was before the evolution of the paramecium and, as luck would have it, before the invention of matches. This meant I had to chew the marijuana, leading to a gas attack which attracted a pack of dinosaurs. Of course, my gas attack is what led to the first mass extinction of the large reptiles resulting in the formation of the first mammals, who traded the marijuana for cell phones with the Extraterrestrials. It’s hard to know who got over on that deal because mammals came down with the zombie scrolling fixation while the ETs got a case of the stucks, suddenly becoming unable to remember how to drive their spaceships or make basic decisions about abducting cattle or mutilating soybeans. As you know, that led to all the UFO crashes on the planet, eventually making it necessary to hire the Bigfoot clan to re-educate them about how to traverse multiple dimensions in space-time enabling the collection of massive amounts of beef jerky supplies. History tells us this didn’t work out well for the ETs because their mouths are way too small to eat beef jerky.

There are many ways to get high as a kite; the substance high, the runner’s high, the writer’s high, and more. Weighing the good and the bad about them is a difficult task.

Update on the Mason City, Iowa YWCA Renovation and How That Connects to Pizza

This is an update on a couple of Mason City, Iowa YWCA and YMCA renovation posts I wrote in May of 2022 (May 12 and May 25). I’m also going to compare the information about those with recent news about the building which is home to Pagliai’s Pizza.

Recall that the YMCA in Mason City was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. It was built in 1926. It was also converted into an affordable apartment housing resource. When I was a young man, I used to live in the dormitory. And if you must know, that was in the days of the Pony Express.

And the YWCA in Mason City was built in 1918, well before the YMCA. Yet it is still not on the historic register, which is puzzling. It sat empty for many years before a couple of artists (2 Artists) bought it in 2021. They are trying to renovate the building with some assistance from the city, and their own fund-raising campaign which includes a GoFundMe and other efforts. They plan to use it as a resource for artists, eventually to include studios, apartments, and art shows. The city has received a grant to convert part of the building into apartments.

The State Historical Society of Iowa told me that the YWCA has been deemed eligible twice for nomination (in 1991 and in 2003, which was a year after the YMCA was added to the list). Yet the YWCA has never been nominated. I ended up calling this a mystery in history. It’s true it was neglected for years and renovation is expensive. The nomination process is long and very involved.

A recent, brief local newspaper article indicates that the renovations are still underway, but there is still no mention of trying to get it added to the historic register.

How does that connect to the current news about the building that houses Pagliai’s Pizza? The owner wants to sell the building. However, the building has been there since the 1870s and the Iowa City Historic Preservation Commission has decided along with many others that it belongs on the city’s list of historic landmarks.

The building used to house a dance hall, a grocery store, and a bohemian restaurant. It has been home for Pagliai’s Pizza since 1957. It’s a local favorite; Sena and I have enjoyed pizza there on several occasions.

The owner has misgivings about designating the building a historic landmark as it might hurt its marketability. Nevertheless, the Iowa City Historic Preservation Commission legally decided to recommend it for landmarking. It will be voted on by the Iowa City Planning and Zoning Commission, although it’s not clear exactly when. The owner of the building is not the same person who runs the pizza place—he signed a lease through 2030 and beyond if possible.

My question is if Iowa City can insist on adding a building to the historic register (in a way overriding the owner), why has it never been done for the Mason City YWCA? There is at least as much culturally significant history linked to it as there is with the Iowa City property.

I’m not savvy enough about the intricacies of city planning to figure this one out. So, it remains a mystery in history to me.

Thoughts on the Mason City 1884 Civil War Statue

Sena and I got to talking about Central Park in Mason City, Iowa. I remember my brother, mother and I taking a walk there occasionally. One time we saw a man who lost his legs and who got around using a small platform on wheels. Later in life, I wondered if he was a disabled war veteran.

That reminded us of the 1884 Memorial Civil War Statue in the center of the park. We looked it up and found it has a complicated history. In the late 1990s it was under repair for about 3 years in Cincinnati, Ohio. When it was finally returned, it was noticed that it had not been repaired correctly. The city decided to keep it anyway, partly because some people, including a Civil War re-enactment supporter, thought the flaws were relatively minor.

Anyway, there are relief busts of famous persons on the statue. We could identify Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and a Civil War soldier. After a brief web search, we confirmed that the 4th relief bust was that of George Washington.

There are a couple of topics of interest here. One of them is the George Washington relief bust and the other is Civil War re-enactments.

The connection of the Civil War to George Washington is a little puzzling because he owned slaves. We’re aware he freed them upon his death. On the other hand, when we visited Washington D.C. in 2015, we took a tour of Mt. Vernon. It was a scenic boat trip out there. We took a picture at the dock with the dog of the guy who helped people on and off the boat. We also took pictures of the slave quarters. There were no re-enactment persons and we were told we were on our own when viewing those exhibits.

This also reminds me of the news item about a bill recently (on February 9, 2024)) introduced in the West Virginia legislature to remove the statue of former Senator Robert C. Byrd from the West Virginia State Capitol and replace it with 4 other statues: Abraham Lincoln, James Madison, Arthur I. Boreman, and George Washington. Nothing is mentioned in that news story about Senator Robert C. Byrd having been a leader in the Ku Klux Klan in the past, and filibustered against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This is from a news story posted on the web in 2020 under a link titled “time to remove monuments to senator byrd.”

Again, I struggle a bit with suggesting that a statue of George Washington, a former slave owner, would be an appropriate substitute for that of Senator Byrd. And James Madison, despite saying that slavery was incompatible with Revolutionary principle, owned slaves and made profits on their sale. Arthur I. Boreman is described as not being an abolitionist but a unionist. However, in 1865 he signed a legislative act banning slavery in the state of West Virginia.

Maybe a nice set of abstract sculptures for the corners of the rotunda of the West Virginia State Capitol?

Turning to Civil War re-enactments, I’m ambivalent about them. I remember reading a couple of anecdotes about re-enactments in the book “Our Hidden Conversations” by Michele Norris.

One of them was about black woman re-enactor who played the role of a house slave. This was in Chapter 4, “Coins in the Couch.” The six-word Race Card (p.160) said “Why Do You “Play” A Slave?”  Nicole is a slave interpreter. She makes sure that visitors to former plantation sites portray slavery accurately to tourists. She’s a public historian by training who works at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta. She teaches tourists about the reality of chattel slavery, including the sale of relatives to other plantations and the ingenuity of enslaved men in improving farm implements.

The next anecdote about re-enactment in the book is in Chapter 10, “So, You Want to Talk About Lynching?” The six-word Race Card (p. 386) said “Confederate re-enactor chose intimidation as spoils.” A black man and his biracial but white looking friend were at a barbecue in Texas. Two big white guys dressed in Confederate-era uniforms were passing by and one of them placed his rifle on his knee and tried to stare down the black man. The black man stared back and this went on long enough for his friend to get nervous enough to suggest they just leave. Finally, the other re-enactor pulled the sleeve of the intimidator and they were the ones who finally left. Despite this episode, the black guy “…made a choice to accept people as I receive them.”

Apparently, there are regular Civil War re-enactments in Mason City. It looks like the most recent was from Sept 8, 2023-Sept 10, 2023. It was The Battle of Chickamauga, TN. It was held in East Park, where I used to play as a kid. Iowa soldiers in the Civil War fought on the Union side. However, I found out the battle of Chickamauga was won by the Confederates, and it had the second highest number of casualties after the Battle of Gettysburg. There was a battle demonstration and the camps were open all weekend to talk to the re-enactors. And there were food vendors.

There is a newer Mason City Veterans Monument in Central Park. It was built in 2004. It has 12 handsome black granite stones with room for the names of 4,600 veterans. We have seen pictures of it on the web. There are no relief busts.

Black History Month: In Honor of James Alan McPherson

I thought it would be nice to mention James Alan McPherson, Pulitzer Prize winning author and longtime Iowa Writers’ Workshop faculty member, in keeping with the theme of this month’s Black History Month: African Americans and the Arts. A neighborhood park was named in his honor (James Alan McPherson Park) in 2021. There has been a plan to erect a memorial plaque in his honor, which I believe is still in process.

There is a very nice summary of his accomplishments as a writer on the Black Past website.

“Our Hidden Conversations” is a Very Tough Book to Read

As I approach the end of the book “Our Hidden Conversations” by Michele Norris, I find myself doing what I often do when I feel uncomfortable emotionally. I start to deploy my sense of humor.

As a psychiatrist (now retired since 2020), I learned early in my residency training that humor can be thought of as a “mature” psychological defense.

Given the painful memories that the book evokes, I find that I self-edit my usual habit of turning pain into comedy. Maybe it’s not always mature.

On the other hand, there are times when facing what is nowadays called my “lived experience” about racism and identity in the era my wife and I grew up in, while not funny, can be peeked at most safely from the funny edge.

So, with that in mind I took a look at the web page of the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) which summarizes the organization’s position on white adoption of black children. I first read about it in Ms. Norris’s book, in the chapter “Black babies cost less to adopt.”

I was surprised to see the actual document, which has been posted since 2013. Sections of the position paper titled “Transracial Adoption Statement (c) 1972” are underlined. It expresses clearly an opposition to placing black and transracial adoptees with white parents. I might have missed it, but I don’t see another position statement that modifies it.

There are 30 state chapters of the NABSW. Iowa is not listed.

There is no National Association for White Social Workers. There is a website for the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). When I typed in “National Association of Black Social Workers” in the search field on the NASW website, almost 800 results were returned. When I applied the filter for ethnicity and race, there were 5 results attesting to the NASW efforts in countering racism. I didn’t see any mention of the NABSW. Maybe I just missed it.

I lived for a brief time in an African American foster home eons ago. I can’t think of anything funny to write about it. Has there ever been an opportunity for cross talk between the NASW and the NABSW? I’m not judging anyone here. I’m just asking.

Moving right along, I have again searched the web using the term “African American psychiatrists in Iowa.” I’ve posted about this before, looking at it from the funny edge (this allows me to take a deep breath). I still find my former colleague, Dr. Donald Black, MD listed. The only thing black about him is his name. And my 2019 blog post is the 3rd link down from the top, preceded by two from Psychology Today.

Most of the mental health care providers from the Psychology Today lists are Nurse Practitioners who are black. One of them does not look black. She looks white. She’s a psychiatrist. I’ve worked with her in the past and don’t recall her ever identifying as black. But because I’m reading the race card stories in “Our Hidden Conversations,” and because I’ve been around a little while, I’ve learned that some black people can look white. You can’t always judge a book by its cover.

A good black psychiatrist is hard to find. In fact, a black psychiatrist of any quality is hard to find. However, in general, there are notable black psychiatrists in our history. One of them was Chester Middlebrook Pierce, MD. Among his many accomplishments, he was the founding president of the Black Psychiatrists of America in 1969, which was one year after the NABSW was established. Dr. Pierce was also the president of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in 1978. I didn’t learn about him until today. How is that possible?

There is a website for the Black Psychiatrists of America and you can try the search field to look for a black psychiatrist there. I couldn’t find any listed in Iowa. Most of them seem to be in Texas. I had a little trouble applying the search filters.

Those are my thoughts for now about “Our Hidden Conversations” by Michele Norris. This is not a funny book.

More Thoughts On “Our Hidden Conversations” Book by Michele Norris

I need to correct something I got wrong in my first post about Michele Norris’s Distinguished Lecture on January 23rd. While reading her book, “Our Hidden Conversations” I ran across this race card in the chapter “Black Babies Cost Less to Adopt:”

“Vote (for) Obama! He looks like me!”

That was the 8-year-old daughter said that. The person who sent in the card was her father, Dr. Val Sheffield and he was a medical student in Iowa at the time. Once you know that, you realize why he wondered whether he should have been “…happy or dismayed by this comment.”

Anyway, I’m a little over halfway through the book, “Our Hidden Conversations.”

The title of the chapter above, “Black Babies Cost Less to Adopt” is troubling and it has a lot to say about how it was common in the past to discount the cost of adopting black babies. Foster care of non-white kids was also a subject in the chapter. Identity conflicts are common and can lead to reminiscing about things like:

“I was not Black enough.”

“I was not Asian enough.”

“I was not Hispanic enough.”

What matters is being kind enough.

Preliminary Thoughts on “Our Hidden Conversations” Book

This is a short post about my initial impressions about the book, “Our Hidden Conversation” by Michele Norris.

I’m not finished with the book yet, but I thought I would let you know that the first chapter, “Bread Crumbs” was tough to read. I had to put it down and come back to it a few times because it brought back memories.

The chapter title “Bread Crumbs” means the clues that parents, grandparents, etc. might leave for subsequent generations to find which might shed light on one’s background, explain troubling circumstances, and so on.

I have some bread crumbs left to me by my family. Some are in the form of photos, although there is no family photo of all of us together.

I remember the hair combing routine my mom had with me and my brother every Sunday morning before church when we were kids. Our father was black and my mother was white. Dad was out of the home and we lived with mom. We were the only black kids in the church. In fact, all the members were white.

Mom used a prodigious amount of hair oil while vigorously combing our curly hair back. It took many strokes and the pulling pinched a bit. The ritual took a little while. When I look back on it, I guess the goal was to straighten our hair as much as possible.

Everyone in the church always treated us kindly and I was baptized there.

If you decide to read “Our Hidden Conversations,” give yourself a break whenever you feel like you need it.

Sweethearts on a February Stroll

Yesterday, we went out for a walk because it was a pretty nice day for February. All the snow was pretty much gone. We saw a hawk who also saw us. We approached the tree it was perched in very slowly. It tolerated our attention until we got too close for comfort—and flapped off in a huff.

It was a nice enough day to walk all the way out to the Sitting Man and beyond. Others were out taking in the sun as well. It’s good to do simple things; things like walking in the sun, drinking iced coffee, eating zucchini bread, waving at UFOs.

You know how it is.