Little Village March 2002
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.. '";;;-;:<�- .'.' . • • - - • , • • • • Leiters 3 • You Are Here 4 --'�--�� --- '--'-'- • Inler-media 10 Arl 11 CD Reviews 14 Prairie Pop 15 Calendar 16 Aslrology 22 N ewsquirks 23 ........... ..... ........ .......... .... - ...--�- . A Breeze Through Drapes on Central, Thea Dickman • • ......................................... • e P.O. Box 736 • Iowa City, IA 52244 . \:::v ;;;,�_:_ wifE LEFi /t1E', M'< K\US WEVER visiT. .sOME. GuYS �AV£ ",NO�'( ?.AR£N-rS ALL -r�E LucK ... juST 1J\E0 .... • • '--. • 2 * Little Village • • • Vote Hamburg more than I already did. Congratulations to all concerned. (You may " Giant Sloth TAGE·� be happy to know that the whole town was arch 4 and 5, students at the buzzing about this article.) University of Iowa will be given a Brian Flanagan choice of who they wish to represent them Iowa City as leaders of student government To many, to simply look at the platforms of the two student government elections are a joke; tickets and compare them. You can find they view student government as a useless them at www.giantsloth.org and www.park Epitaph student group without the will or the power er-trotzig.com. to make change in the community. This sad Long live the sloth. observation is not unfounded, as past UISG Matt Blizek administrations have taken little interest in Iowa City Peggy Lee progressive politics or social change. • 1920 - 2002 Last year, however, that all changed. Nick Love that R I.P. Klenske, Dan Rossi and a handful of other . progressive-minded students formed the Hamburg Inn "Is That All There Was." Giant Sloth Party and went on to redefine oved Laurel Snyder's piece on the what student government at the U of I Hamburg Inn. I've been going there for stands for. They have initiated a campus John Schreiber 30 years, but many of the anecdotes relat wide recycling program, fought for greater Coralville ed by the author were news to me. As I said student control over student fees, and raised to them, I didn't know I could love the questions about the rising amount of corpo rate influence at the U of 1. This year the Herbold-Blizek ticket hopes Little Village welcomes your signed letters. Letters should not be longer than 400 to continue the refonns of the Klenske-Rossi words and may be edited for length, libelous content and darity. Letters may be e Administration and expand the power of mailed to [email protected] or mailed to PO Box 736, Iowa City, IA 52244. the student body in the university and local Please include a daytime phone number and city of residence. Letters and other community, while the Parker-Trotzig ticket submissions become the property of Little Village and will not be returned without signals a step back to an apathetic, power an SASE. We look forward to hearing from you. less student body. I encourage all students ___", _3____ 1_ _ ___ by TOM TOMORROW AMERICANS • B1••• 01'HER WE NEED TO PEOP\.E LIKE JO�N WALKER IN ORDER TO INTlIIIIDATE LIBERALS, 81 VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 12 • MARCH 2002 MAKING THEIII REALIZE TIIAT fllEY CAN BE KILLED fOO! Editor: Todd Kirnm Sales Memager: Laurel Snyder Production M",.ager: Beth Oxler Billing/Office Administration: Diane Wass Contributing Editor: Steve Horowitz Distribution Manager: Ben Ramsey �J IT Director: Phil Maul '. Handy Mem: Joel Cochran Contributors: Thomas Dean, Kembrew McLeod, Dr. Star, Dan Perkins, Eva Romero, ANtI GI�N Rob Oine, Margaret Schwartz, Joe Derderian, volERS WERE so AS Brendan Wolfe CAST TllEIR TIlE LAST ELECTlON OUR COUNmlRNf STILL WELL, IT EXIST 10U DON'T COULTER M1 GOD--1OU :t 01'lL1 MOPE THE AS TO DOtIT PO Box 736 WOULD BE So FooLIS� SUPpOSE TMEIR EVIL T�REAT of EXEcvnON DRAW SUC� A BROAD AND SWEEP SCHEMES INCLUDE A IS ENoUGH TO KEEP Iowa City, IA ING CONCLUSION fROM 52244 ONE RUN fOR TIlE PRES- THOSE CRAZED fANATICS ISoLAfED 1oo? DO 1DENCY IN 20D'I, IN LINE! ADVERTISING DO 1OU? (ph) 319.248.0871 (be) 319.339.1224 [email protected] • • • • • • - - - • • , Little Village" 3 • Opinionnr---------------------------------------------------� Thomas Dean • hat's most important in life? In meaning of the word 'home' is all these cir American life, to what do we cles. I stand at one point in space which is inside all these circles." None of these circles make our primary commitments? can be neglected, and all are dependent on • A typical list would include family, friends, each other. It is vitally important that we begin our profession and religion. At v g times in work in the world from the inner circle of history, country may be on that list. responsibility, our local place. The calamities What about our local communities? Our natural world? that may befall us, and that are befalling us Many of us perfonn generous public service and consider environmental destruction, economic col ourselves good stewards of the environment, but does a lapse and human disconnection-originate in commitment to place make it to the top of the list of the our neglect of place. As that great modern most fundamental commitments for sage Wendell Berry has a majority of Americans? I really said, ''A human communi don't think so. And I think it should. ty, then, ifit is to last long, Americans are ambitious. They It is vitally must exert a sort of cen reach out, grasping for achievement important that we tripetal force, holding local and greatness beyond the ordinary. soil and local memory in That's a wonderful trait. But in doing begin our work in place. Practically speaking, so, we often reach past the local the world from the human society has no work places in which we dwell. At worst, inner circle of more important than this." we begin to think of our local places That's what this monthly as constricting and provincial, pre responsibility, our column is all about: know venting us from living the lives of local place. The ing and nurturing our ambition and achievement for which places. "You are here," as we strive. c ties t we are saying, and it is I think that's sad, and I think that's may befall us, and from "here" that we do wrong. Our places-the local webs of good in the world. We'll natural, built, social and cultural that are look at how to be good environments in which we dwell us, originate in our stewards of place in a vari are really wonderful, if we only let ety of ways. Sometimes them be so, and if we help them be neglect of place. we'll talk in more general so. They are also our grounding, our or philosophical terIllS foundations in the world, and if we about living in place, as in are to grow and prosper-as individ- this introductory column. uals, as a society and as a culture-and if we hope to live in Sometimes we'll visit interesting people in the a world that is sustainable, we must come to know, love community and region who are doing good and nurture our local communities and regions. To do so is things for our place, helping to keep that local not to be provincial or limited. The local is not yokel. On soil and local memory in place. Sometimes the contrary, being grounded in place is the best position we'll talk in more "how to" tenns-what can from which to know the world. We become much more we do to keep our place strong? What we do sensitive to the interconnections between our natural with our free time, where we shop, what we ecosystems and our world societies through intimacy with purchase and consume, how we do our work, the immediate, the local. how we interact (or don't interact) with our Think of it in the way that bioregionalist Gary Marshall fellow citizens-all of these things have an does: He asks us to jump in the air, and as we land on the impact on the physical, cultural and social ground, to imagine concentric circles emanating from the health of our town, our region, our country, spot on which we stand, as they might had we jumped in a our world neighbors, our planet. I'll work to pond. These are what Marshall calls our circles of keep things interesting, and personal, too. I responsibility. think the best way to share these ideas with Marshall explains, "Immediately around me is my own you is to ground them in my own experience domestic home, the next larger circle is my neighborhood, of place. and so on, out to the largest circle, my planet. The full We are very fortunate. Iowa City is a 4 * Little Village • • • -aVe I We. t S., vibrant community with a strong sense of -t;a 0 place. The Ped Mall, a super public 0 0 library, the Pentacrest, public arts pro " grams, the Englert Theatre, strong local • 0 d activism, fanner's markets, imaginative 0 local businesses, and some of the most interesting, creative and intellectual minds o in the country-all of these things make Iowa City a unique, grounded and excit ing community. Unfortunately, in many , ways, that "placefulness" in our communi - , is threatened. Urban sprawl does - •• • • ty • 1 �-:.--':': .. - .. � -. .. .... .. .. - .. • ... ..- - ' . plague us, drawing lifeblood from our • community core and cohesion. We are $'+- losing locally owned, homegrown busi nesses faster than we are gaining them. A beloved local park, the wilderness within our community, is being chipped away at by encroaching development. Our remaining architectural heritage is on pre carious ground. But this column will not so much fret about how the sky is falling.