There was a time, around 2006, when EVERYONE was on MySpace. The social media platform was ubiquitous, especially if you were under 30. Everyone you knew was on it, everyone was having fun on it. And to be honest, it was a really fun time in society and online life and MySpace was the pinnacle of that. MySpace wasn’t political, it wasn’t full of conspiracy theories and hate speech and ridiculous falsehoods, and vicious arguments and people being blocked. It was largely about people posting fun pictures of themselves and sharing music that they enjoyed, and then people generally commenting... Read More

It was late 1984, and Boomtown Rats front man Bob Geldof was sitting down to watch a bit of telly as the calendar began to turn towards the holidays. However, what he saw that evening was anything but festive. Geldof watched as a documentary news program detailed the horrible starving and suffering going on in Africa due to incredible droughts and oppression. And as he watched, he was moved to tears, sorrow, and finally, action. He knew he had to do something to help, but just donating money himself seemed so small, so insignificant. How could he do something larger? Finally, he had the idea, and... Read More

I was scrolling through my news feed on Facebook today, as I am wont to do when I want to incrementally lose faith in humanity, and I stopped briefly on a posting by someone trying to make themselves look far more hip and cool than they actually are. I know, I know, hard to pin that one down when it comes to social media! You’ll never guess who I’m talking about when you’ve got 80 million people to choose from there… Anyway, the person was making a comment about a certain fast food item that some people (not myself, but some people), profoundly enjoy. They post about... Read More

Some call me a pessimist. Some call me a cynic. Some call me the space cowboy, some call me the gangster of love. I prefer to think of myself as, no, not Maurice, but, rather, a pragmatist. A realist. And realistically, I don’t see the next few months going well in terms of covid-19. Today, Kim Reynolds is going to talk about potentially pulling back restrictions she put in place a month ago in regard to the pandemic ripping its way through the Midwest, and especially Iowa. Many think she’s going to pull back the restrictions. I don’t think she should. I know everyone wants to get back to... Read More

This week, the “Juno” and “Umbrella Academy” star formerly known as Ellen Page made an announcement that they are transgender, want to heretofore be known as Elliot Page, and that their pronouns now are he/they. I remember exactly where I was when I first read this. Because it was only a couple days ago. Upon reading this, I took a deep breath, had a drink of my iced coffee, flipped back over to my other window on my computer, and went back to work because I had things to do. It never really struck me beyond that. Sure, I really liked “Juno,” and I really like “Umbrella Academy.”... Read More

To say it’s been a difficult year for creators in the local, and national, arts scene is a massive understatement. All of us have lost money, jobs, our careers and found our artistic outlets severely curtailed. Any of us within the live performance and audience interaction area — from live music to theater to book signings — have had our livelihoods completely decimated. One local creator, however, Kristin Bruchmann, is looking to help out. She told me recently, “I’ve been quite concerned about the number of folks in the Q-C arts scene who have lost their livelihoods... Read More

It was a surreal Thanksgiving. My ex-wife and I alternate years on holidays, and it’s always strange and depressing for me when I don’t get to see my son on those days, especially when I’m reminded of the fun times we had the year before in the memories section of social media. This year was even more downcast, given the dark cloud of covid. Whereas in previous years when I was without my son, I would go to visit family or friends, or have people over to my house, this year there was none of that. I wasn’t going to be visiting my family, nor would there be my usual open door to people to... Read More

We all want things to get back to normal as quickly as possible. We look at other countries like Australia and New Zealand and they’re already having big sporting events and concerts and leading normal lives again. I want the same. I want to have my jobs and income fully back, I want to be able to go out and see friends, I want my son and his friends to be able to play soccer games again, I want my friends who own businesses to be able to open them up and keep them open. And that can happen here, but it’s going to take some sacrifice and some work. And now’s the time to... Read More

We’re all maps of our experiences, our lives a tapestry of our time spent. Every second, every moment of them. Those reflections of paths taken and choices made, big and small, lead to who we are, in ways big and small. Those decisions can be huge – who we decide to love, to marry, to live with. Or they can be small – the places we frequent, the habits we hold, the culture we imbibe. For more than a decade, Caribou Coffee was a huge part of the mural of my life, and my son’s. And while the closing of a coffee shop may seem small in the larger picture of things, it’s still something. Something... Read More

One person is a man in his seventies, a true entrepreneur who took a massive risk and put in over four decades of long hours to build a business that became a hub of a local downtown. Another person is a middle-aged woman who has been working since she was 16, and, over three decades, has put in countless hours working to build up her own business. And still another person is a younger man, who has also been an entrepreneur, starting up various businesses, who is one of the hardest working people I know. All of these people exemplify what we like to call the American dream. They’re... Read More