Protests, Banned Book Storytime, St. Patrick’s Day, billiards in Fairfield, plus Pride in Iowa City, Ottumwa, Fort Madison
Starting with rallies today in Davenport and Cedar Rapids, eastern Iowa is bustling with LGBTQ affirming and intersectional events coming up.
Read about Pride happenings in Iowa City, Fort Madison, Ottumwa, and more.
Find out about some fun sports opportunities soon: a huge women’s professional billiard tournament and related events in Fairfield, biking and disc golf in Iowa City, and roller derby in Eldridge near the Quad Cities, and Iowa City.
Plus, it’s a great time to make your own earrings at Beadology Iowa in Iowa City. And if you’re looking for a few recommendations for corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day, we have two starting suggestions.
It’s all in the latest TRM Eastern Iowa Weekly Update.
One Iowa Action posts tracking page for Republicans’ anti-LGBTQ+ proposals
One Iowa Action has a page tracking 29 bills that include measures considered anti-LGBTQ+ .
The page, an annual service by the lobbying arm of One Iowa, is gaining even more focus this year. Iowa is among 14 states noted by the ACLU as having a record number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills proposed among state legislators.
Here’s a look at the One Iowa Action tracking page, some of the bills it’s tracking, and Iowa’s overall legislative process, including its “funnel weeks” — one of which ends this Friday.
New Bolingbrook youth program helps fill growing mental health support needs of LGBTQ youth
The new Bolingbrook Pride LGBTQ youth program provides a monthly drop-in “safe space” for youth in Bolingbrook and Romeoville.
Allies and partners in the project include the Valley View School District, a University of Chicago professor, a suburban Chicago all-LGBTQ+ counseling service, and PFLAG Bolingbrook. Read about how this new drop-in program helps build on existing efforts in public schools and by other groups to help LGBTQ+ youth feel safe and accepted.
Learn about pronouns, gender and more with The Village Project
Viminda Shafer leads The Village Project, a chance to learn about gender, pronouns and other things LGBTQ+.
How a teacher feels about censorship in public schools
What would Mr. Smith think of the censorship happening in public schools today? Grinnell High School history teacher Kent Mick asks.
Students Say censorship promotes “narrow-mindedness,” prevents “full research”
In the new Students Say in The Real Mainstream, Grinnell High School students share how they feel about censorship in public schools.
Are teachers architects, or mail carriers?
Iowa is caught in the middle: middle America, middle-class, middle income, right in the middle of the country. The town where I teach, Grinnell, is in the middle of Iowa. And now, teachers like me are in the middle of a cultural divide. We’re all especially divided...
With courage and care: history and Eisenhower tell us how to handle January 6
For a cue on how to handle January 6 in classrooms and beyond, history teacher Kent Mick recalls Eisenhower’s stance to support desegregation in 1957.
Defensiveness: give yourself a break and apologize for real
Even good people need to work on healthy apologies and overcoming defensiveness. Alex Kestrel offers some tips In his new “Starting With You” column on self-investment.
Race, gender and religion? Or ego, pride and control? Real-life intersectionality in Grinnell
GRINNELL, IA -- The straight white male history teacher could not have been more repentant. “I drew incorrect conclusions …. I misinterpreted … I did not paint an accurate picture,” he said of an attack letter he wrote about efforts to make Grinnell-Newburg’s public...
Front-lines teacher raised in Iowa remembers few childhood chances to meet, know People of Color
At a time when straight white men are leading so many fights against diversity, some straight white men are fighting the good fight. They include Kent Mick, a Grinnell High School history teacher who grew up in Humboldt, Ia., and has taught public schools in Iowa for...
Burst of events provides intersectional end to Black History Month
St. Louis is filled with nationally significant Black History: it's where Dred Scott and his wife Harriet began their fight against slavery in 1847, where Josephine Baker kicked off her amazing blues career, and where tennis great Arthur Ashe grew up. It's also within...
New Bolingbrook youth program helps fill growing mental health support needs of LGBTQ youth
The new Bolingbrook Pride LGBTQ youth program provides a monthly drop-in “safe space” for youth in Bolingbrook and Romeoville.
Allies and partners in the project include the Valley View School District, a University of Chicago professor, a suburban Chicago all-LGBTQ+ counseling service, and PFLAG Bolingbrook. Read about how this new drop-in program helps build on existing efforts in public schools and by other groups to help LGBTQ+ youth feel safe and accepted.
Learn about pronouns, gender and more with The Village Project
Viminda Shafer leads The Village Project, a chance to learn about gender, pronouns and other things LGBTQ+.
How a teacher feels about censorship in public schools
What would Mr. Smith think of the censorship happening in public schools today? Grinnell High School history teacher Kent Mick asks.
Students Say censorship promotes “narrow-mindedness,” prevents “full research”
In the new Students Say in The Real Mainstream, Grinnell High School students share how they feel about censorship in public schools.
Are teachers architects, or mail carriers?
Iowa is caught in the middle: middle America, middle-class, middle income, right in the middle of the country. The town where I teach, Grinnell, is in the middle of Iowa. And now, teachers like me are in the middle of a cultural divide. We’re all especially divided...