Search Results for: Hawes

Home-schooling: tips from a parent who started a year ago

Abby Schwartz

Interest in home-schooling has blown up during the coronavirus crisis, as an increasing number of families take their children’s education into their own hands instead of waiting for districts to decide whether or not to reopen, and how. Doing so can cost up to $1,800 annually per child, reports Time4learning.com in Kiplinger’s. Nevertheless, a new study shows that home-schooling is at least on the minds of 80 percent of parents out there. Abby Schwartz, who has been home-schooling three of her four children for more than a year, thought she…

‘Coming out’ again: The Real MainStream brighter, better, and reinvented

Christine Hawes

Read about how The Real MainStream is reworking itself to better serve Iowa and Illinois. Whenever I run across one of my keepsake copies of the first 13 editions of The Real MainStream, published before the current worldwide pandemic, I feel awash in memories and sensations. “We’ll never give up the handshake!” joked a customer and I in early March. Mere days later, he and dozens of others in our circulation area announced they were saying “no” to not only handshakes, but all in-store traffic for a few months.  Back…

Proteus provides face masks, COVID-19 support to farmworkers in three states

Cheryl Weatherford

Proteus, Inc. is collecting face masks, providing free testing, educating workers on prevention, and helping coronavirus survivors with follow-up services, through a new initiative it began in March. The Des Moines-based nonprofit has already provided masks for 2,000 of the estimated 7,500 migrant farmworkers throughout Nebraska, Indiana and Iowa. Their top goal is to receive enough donated masks to provide at least two to every farmworker in the three-state area. “Farmworkers are essential workers. They contribute to supporting the food supply chain, agricultural economy, and help put food on our…

Beadology “beadazzles” with masks, fun craft stations, no-touch sanitizer station, more

Becca Hathaway

“Beadology”-themed face masks that help support women’s and LGBTQ health, crafting stations with fun names, and a no-contact hand sanitizer station are among the new features at Beadology iowa, one of the state’s last remaining bead shops. As part of its ongoing effort to adjust to the coronavirus crisis, Beadology is also ensuring all of its arts, crafts, jewelry-making and beading classes are socially-distanced with work stations six feet or more apart, says co-owner Karen Kubby. Many classes limited to four or six slots. Masks are required of all staff…

Cedar Rapids models success of the ‘peaceful protest’

Staff

The protests in 1,700-plus American communities since George Floyd’s May 25 murder have ranged from violent, to peaceful, to showy, to subdued. That includes the protests in Iowa. In Des Moines, clashes between police and demonstrators have been tense. In Iowa City, a mostly youthful protest group opted for more “in your face” tactics like shutting down interstates and marching to council members’ homes. The Quad Cities is dealing with deaths related to random violence that occurred after and near peaceful protest sites. Tiny towns like Fairfield, Washington, and West…

Old Capitol Screen Printers stands up for face masks, nonprofits

Cheryl Weatherford

IOWA CITY — Old Capitol Screen Printers, known for supporting nonprofit groups with free or discounted T-shirt printing, is helping to raise money for the Coralville Community Food Pantry with a themed tote bag. It also created and printed themed T-shirts for Johnson County Ambulance workers to wear during protests through the streets of Iowa City Thursday night. Old Capitol is also helping to raise money for Summer of the Arts, which is cancelled this year, by selling a specially-themed T-shirt (Keep the Arts Alive) From June 7 to 17. The…

The pagan holiday of Beltane holds meaning for everyone

Cheryl Weatherford

In this time of coronavirus, money can be tight. More than ever, as a modern world, we are focusing on the things we purchase, collect and forage (can you say toilet paper) to fulfill our own personal needs and desires. But amid this frenzy, we can still find rituals that help us recognize things like the hope in the busy work of the bees, the budding trees, and the songs of the birds.  Paganism and wicca are filled with these kinds of rituals, that guide us to honor the Earth…

Why newspapers matter

Christine Hawes

The suspicion of media among LGBTQ people and people of color runs deep. So deep, that even a lesbian reporter writing a supportive piece about the LGBTQ community, for an LGBTQ-identified paper or column, can find herself getting verbally slapped in the face. When you’re trying to write regularly about both LGBTQ issues and those relevant to people of color, it can feel like a minefield. Case in point: I once wrote about an endeavor to bring a transgender health conference to Iowa City. With the death toll against transgender…

Time again to gut-check your unacknowledged Trumpism

Christine Hawes

With the Democratic presidential contest heating up, along with Donald Trump’s rhetoric, now is an important time to revisit a difficult truth: we all need to continuously purge ourselves of unacknowledged Trumpism. Trumpism is built around a few key hurtful tenets: • that it’s OK to present information out of context if it gets you what you need or want • that self-glorification, self-protection and self-interest are more important than self-dignity, self-examination and self-reflection • that all of life must be seen through a lens of constant victimization, always counter-punching,…

Black History Month events in Iowa, Illinois, top TRM’s Best Bets

Staff

Looking for ways to honor Black History Month? Here’s a rundown of events throughout Iowa and Illinois. You can also find our monthly Best Bets for progressive events in the areas of spirituality, spoken word, personal development, LGBTQ-oriented events, and women-focused events throughout February. This list is compiled by Cheryl Weatherford and Christine Hawes. Sat.– Sun. Feb. 8-9, Black Arts & Music Festival,  Artistic and cultural contributions of African and African American visual/performing artists. 10am-4:30pm, Ames Public Library, 515 Douglas Ave, Ames IA Sat., Feb. 8 and every Saturday through…