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Still Reading Dr. MLK Jr Biographies
I’m just checking in to let you know I’m still reading Jonathan Eig’s biography of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I’m in the last section. I plan to read The Autobiography of MLK Jr., edited by Clayborne Carson next. I’m not ready to share much right now in the way of my impressions other than…
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Observations on Jonathan Eig’s Martin Luther King Distinguished Lecture
I discovered that the University of Iowa made a video presentation of Jonathan Eig’s speech for the Martin Luther King Distinguished Lecture on January 21, 2026. Mr. Eig wrote the MLK biography, “King: A Life” which was published in 2023. We just got a copy of it along with “The Autobiography Of MLK. We’re reading…
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Saw a Banded Red-tailed Hawk in Our Back Yard!
I got a picture of a banded Red-tailed Hawk today in our back yard. It was pretty exciting. I can’t remember ever seeing one banded. I’ve gotten pictures of them occasionally, most recently before this in July, 2025. That one wasn’t banded. I checked on the web for any reports of who might be tagging…
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Dr. Susan Shen University of Iowa Psychiatrist Wins Prestigious Avenir Award for Research!
This just in! University of Iowa Psychiatrist Dr. Susan Shen, MD, PhD, is an assistant professor of psychiatry at The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and, hold on to your hat, she’s the first female psychiatrist, the first from Iowa, and only the third psychiatrist overall to receive to win the Avenir Award…
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Snowstorm Barreling Toward Iowa!
We’re going to get about a foot of snow starting tonight according to the weather report. There are webcams about Iowa that will document the storm, which will occur across most of the state. We’ve charged up the batteries in the Voltask electric snow shovel, which got quite a workout last winter. We took videos…
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The Magic of the Wave
Over three years ago, I posted about a waving man we used to see a lot of on a busy street in Iowa City (yes, we have them). He worked at the grocery store and waved at traffic whether he was walking to work or leaving. He still works there but we don’t drive that…
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Rounding@Iowa Podcast: “When to Suspect Atypical Recreational Substances”
There’s a new podcast in town from The University of Iowa Health Care and the title is “When to Suspect Atypical Recreational Substances.” This is a fascinating topic and the discussion ran for close to an hour, which is longer than usual because there’s a lot to say about it. The substances include a lot…
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Patio Tomatoes Did Not Turn Red!
OK, so Sena picked all the patio tomatoes and most of them didn’t turn red, especially the slicers. She’s done with growing vegetables. I saw an article about why tomatoes don’t turn red and it makes sense. The featured image shows the patio tomatoes in the plastic bucket for comparison with the red store-bought tomatoes.…
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Pride or Rhetoric? What Would Dr. Melvin P. Sikes Say?
I noticed the headlines about the DEI flap at The University of Iowa, the one with the official apparently spilling the beans about University of Iowa’s DEI program not going away despite being illegal while maybe being unaware of being filmed. I’m not going to retell the story. However, it does remind me of a…
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Have You Heard about the Iowa City Brain Rock?
We’ve lived in the Iowa City area for over 37 years and never heard of the Brain Rock until today. I don’t know how we ever missed it. It’s a work of art called Ridge and Furrow created by artist Peter Randall-Page, a world-famous artist from the United Kingdom. It’s been called the Brain Rock…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 