A short, stocky man of about 40 wearing a Hawaiian shirt was speaking English loudly to the hotel concierge. Another ugly American, I grumbled as I waited behind him and his companions — a young woman and girl.
Read MoreHarold Bradley Jr. led a renaissance life: 1950 University of Iowa football MVP, two-time NFL champion with the Cleveland Browns, a promising painter who began winning art prizes in grade school, an actor who appeared in two dozen movies, numerous television shows and plays.
Read MoreEvery one of us has things we’ve desperately missed during the pandemic. Very high on my list is experiencing live music. As my excitement builds to see live shows again soon, it also reinforces how much I took live music and its benefits for granted.
Read MoreOne brisk autumn morning, my daughter and I happened upon a rundown apothecary-looking bookshop in Dublin, Ireland. Slipping through weathered French doors, I was met by a woman smiling at me over readers as she thrust an opened copy of James Joyce’s "Ulysses" into my hands. The tiny shop was crammed with people each holding a book and following along as a gentleman read aloud.
Read MoreWhen my mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, I spent a lot of time at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC). There was chemo to shrink her tumors, surgery, an unexpected visit to the intensive care unit, stints in a rehab facility, then a month to heal before more rounds of chemo. One of the bright spots — besides the nursing staff and oncology surgeon Dr. David Bender — was the hospital art collection.
Read MoreAs a fourth-grader, I remember visiting the Dubuque post office with my mother and being captivated by two towering murals bookending the entranceway. These vibrant snapshots of early life on the Mississippi River fascinated me. They still do.
Read MoreGrant Wood’s painting "American Gothic" has filled me with both pride and unease since I was a kid. I want to be a fan of Wood because he is Iowa’s most famous painter, because his family and mine share a Jones County heritage, and because Wood holds the distinction of creating arguably the most recognizable painting in the world besides Leonardo da Vinci’s "Mona Lisa."
Read MoreStudies have demonstrated that visiting museums reduce stress and improves one’s mood. MRI studies of people’s brains while looking at paintings also show stimulation in areas of creativity and empathy.
Read MoreThe first thing I do when I come home to Des Moines is drive downtown and circle the Pappajohn Sculpture Park. It has become my ritual.
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