This past Friday, I laughed hard and thought hard at Prairie Lights. I was part of an enthralled inter-generational crowd listening to Lyz Lenz discuss her debut book, God Land: A Story of Faith, Loss, and Renewal in Middle America. The book combines the personal and the political. Lenz analyzes the cultural work performed by … Read more
Good news, bad news. Both inspired my women’s basketball mystery, Murder by Mascot, when Alyson first published it in 2006. And both are on my mind as I publish a third edition of the novel and reflect what has changed since then. This post will focus on good news, on activism and progress, on the … Read more
An openly gay Midwestern millennial mayor who is also a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, an author of a memoir, and a newly declared US presidential candidate? Yes, please! Last night, I heard Mayor Pete Buttigieg (BOOT-edge-edge) inspire Iowa City. I went enticed by his identity, but I left impressed by his ideas. “Mayor … Read more