Iowa

Iowa City's Teach Truth Day of Action 2024

Published

11 months ago

June 14, 2024

Iowa City's Teach Truth Day of Action 2024

greg wickencamp is a lifelong Iowan.

Community members from across the state took part in the national Teach Truth Day of Action on Saturday, June 8. The gathering responded to a national call from the Zinn Education Project and other nonprofit organizations, with more than 160 cities across the United States participating. Educators and social workers organized the event, with help from local nonprofits like the Antelope Lending Library, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Corridor Community Action Network, Great Plains Action Society, and the Human Restoration Project. Organizers and attendees advocated for public access to a robust and critical education—something conservative lawmakers have recently sought to ban in Iowa and across the country.

Once a leader in education, Iowa now faces teacher shortages, shuttering of districts and gutted libraries, and reduced access to crucial support services for children in poverty or with disabilities. Iowa’s GOP has been a nationwide leader in effectively banning books and critical histories, criminalizing LGBTQ+ youth, and funneling public money to private, unaccountable religious schools. This has earned the Reynolds’ administration kudos from anti-democratic moneyed networks and anti-student extremist groups.

The June 8 event took place at the historic College Green Park, blocks away from where John Brown and his band were once chased out of town by those advocating law and order. Brown and his raid on Harper’s Ferry would be a major catalyst for the Civil War and the end of slavery. In addition to training for the raid in West Branch, Iowa, he returned to Iowa many times, carefully navigating the divided political landscape.

In Iowa today, teaching about Brown is illegal if it touches on systemic racism or makes students feel any discomfort attached to their race. These histories are also powerful—they help us see past the law and order of our day to a future of new possibilities. They reveal that it is only through action that better possibilities can be realized. For those who wish to maintain firm social hierarchies, it follows that powerful histories be banned.

In contrast to Iowa’s recent political landscape, Saturday’s gathering offered a vision of public support for young people and Iowa’s collective future. According to national organizers, the “right has declared war on teaching the truth about structural racism and sexism and on LGBTQ+ youth.” While Iowa’s politicians continue to target teachers and students, Iowans at the Teach Truth Day of Action stood in support of educators and students.

(photo by greg wickenkamp)

Speakers and performers shared personal stories on the importance of an inclusive and critical education, and how public support for public education might be reimagined and reinvigorated. Many touched on the importance of democracy, community, justice, and care. Attendees were encouraged to register to vote, write postcards to teachers and policymakers, exchange and read banned books, and learn more about nonprofit initiatives around the state.

(photo by greg wickenkamp)

The first musicians to take the stage were Adrian Gronseth, graduate history student and award-winning songwriter, and Juli Smith, local social worker. Gronseth said they were glad to attend the event and to “stand up for teachers and students, and their right to teach truth. It shouldn’t be a radical idea,” Gronseth continued, “but unfortunately, in this context it can seem radical.”

Smith followed, sharing how important Black Studies was to her own growth and development, and accompanied Gronseth as they sang historically-informed original songs.

Following their performance, an undergraduate who works in Multicultural and International Student Support and Engagement for the University of Iowa spoke about the importance of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The student said she’s seeing professionals at the university who feel pushed to leave the state on account of the GOP’s policies. Despite the detrimental priorities of the state, the student encouraged perseverance and mutual aid.

Continuing on this theme, University of Iowa Archivist Emeritus David McCartney recounted a job interview from years ago which he chose to walk out of rather than be complicit in anti-gay bigotry. He too encouraged Iowans to be more vocal, “While it’s easier said than done, speak up when you can, even if your voice falters. Perhaps especially if your voice falters.” Despite policymakers’ tearing down the voices of marginalized youth and authors, McCartney urged attendees to “create circles of friends that will lift you up,” and to, “Create a life for yourself in which you can be fully human.” McCartney was of many Iowans featured in a book available at the event, From Here to Queer: A Love Letter to LGBTQIA+ Youth.

greg wickenkamp (left) with David McCartney (photo by Tim Glaza)

A rousing performance from longtime local musician Nikki Lunden Trotter kept the energy high and set the stage for more young Iowans. The first was Dani Misyuk, a Jewish Ukrainian American who is active with Jewish Voice for Peace. Misyuk, the descendant of Holocaust survivors, connected the book burning of Nazis during WWII with Israel’s current violence against Palestinians. Misyuk described the destruction of books, people, and culture, in both cases, as “culturcide.”

In Iowa, Maus, the award-winning graphic novel by Art Spiegelman, himself a descendant of Holocaust survivors, was one of more than 3,000 books pulled from school bookshelves in Iowa. Misyuk offered that “Education can be a powerful tool of resistance and liberation,” but only “if we fight for it.”

Another undergraduate studying to become a teacher spoke on the tension between doing what is best for students, and complying with the laws in Iowa. “Children grow up by learning about the importance of identity. How can we convey the power of identities when those conversations are banned from the classroom? How can we teach them to respect their peers’ identities, when those identities are tied to histories that are forbidden from being taught?”

Addressing laws like Iowa’s version of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay,” the pre-service teacher said these types of laws, “do not protect students, they victimize them.” Iowa has faced a teacher shortage since the pandemic, with educators leaving the classroom because of anti-teacher attacks by conservative politicians, lack of funding and support, anti-union legislation, and prohibiting best teaching practices.

Commenting on the brain drain for which Iowa is sadly known, recent high school graduate Eloisa Roach spoke about her peers who are leaving the state because of concerns over safety, the low minimum wage, the cost of healthcare, and the dismantling of public education. Roach, a member of the Shawnee tribe who actively works with the Great Plains Action Society, laid bare the foundations of the state and its interest in censoring history. “The way we teach history in this state, but also in this country, is that it’s inevitable – that the way the world is now is how it had to happen. That’s completely false and very harmful.”

Rather, Roach noted in a stirring speech (one that might be illegal in a public school), “Every single state in this country was formed only through the systemic slaughter and genocide of Indigenous people through military and legal battles that cheated and scammed their way to the United States as we know it now. If we erase that history, if you don’t let us learn from it, we think that our conditions are inevitable. The reality is the world is changing and the world has always changed, and it was changed by people.” Scholars echo Roach’s remarks even as Iowa teachers are driven out of the classroom for respecting insights like hers.

Roach offered a clear understanding of history’s importance, “We can’t wait for time to change things for the better, we have to work for it to happen. That has always been how history is made.” Roach listed historical actors who rarely get mentioned in classrooms, Nat Turner, Toussaint Louverture, Audre Lorde, W. E. B. Du Bois, and the poet and scholar Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, before continuing.

“You need to know the names of people who shaped the world that we live in now because then you can add yourself to that list. There are models and practitioners of new ways of existing, of new worlds to live in, all around us. There are ways to act out, to rehearse that practice of bringing in a new world.” Quoting Robyn Maynard, Roach encouraged attendees that “All world endings are not tragic. A new world, a better world, can replace it.”

Because particular histories offer potential bridges to new worlds, they are dangerous to those who are privileged by today’s society. This does not mean that histories of resistance, activism, and struggles for justice only fuel guilt or anger. The event at College Green Park, while clear about the challenges facing Iowans, was full of joy. Madeline Abu-Nameh offered that care for one another can itself be an act of resistance. Abu-Nameh, a Palestinian-Irish American-born Iowan who oversees community connections for Joy the Zine, said that in a state like Iowa, joy too is an act of resistance.

(photo by Madeline Abu-Nameh)

There was joy in abundance at Iowa City’s Teach Truth Day of Action, with giant bubbles, arts, crafts, and community. One musician rewrote lyrics to John Prine’s satirical song “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore,” singing, “I went down to the capital / Kim Reynolds said to me / if you join our book burning club, we’ll give you ten flags for free. / I didn’t mess around one bit, I took her up on what she said. I slapped those stickers all over my car, and one on my wife’s forehead.”

Another, Dave Whiting, sang a chorus, “Don’t give your money to the man.” Continuing on the importance of joy and community, Mandi Remington shared that while “Advocacy is part of the work, and policy is part of the work, community building is also part of the work.” Remington is executive director of Corridor Community Action Network, one of many nonprofits that offer opportunities for those wanting to work in community toward a better world. She also was recently among the three successful candidates in the Democratic primary for Johnson County supervisor.

Other organizations represented at the event have a more specific focus, like the graduate worker union, COGS—UE Local 896. Nicole Yeager, the chapter’s current political action chair, outlined the partisan nature of Iowa’s Board of Regents, the governing body for the three state universities.

Although the Board of Regents is legally required to be nonpartisan, it nevertheless often embraces GOP policies by banning DEI initiatives or allocating less per-pupil spending than most states. Yeager, a rural psychology fellow and Ph.D. student, cited the gutting of public services like mental and rural healthcare access as a reason she is pursuing her doctorate and working with COGS.

Nick Covington, the Creative Director for the Human Restoration Project, represented another statewide education organization. Despite being beloved by students, he was driven out of the classroom two years ago by conservative politicians and administrators unwilling to stand up to their scapegoating. An administrator told Covington that “current events do not belong in a history classroom”—even though he had been making history relevant for high school students for years by connecting it to current events.

Covington was clear-eyed in his analysis, quoting cultural critic and scholar Henry Giroux, who could be describing Iowa when he wrote, “Critical thought and the imaginings of a better world present a direct threat not only to white supremacists but also to ideologues who embrace a narrow, corporate vision of the world in which the future must always replicate the present in an endless circle, in which capital and the identities that it legitimates merge into what might be called a dead zone of the imagination and pedagogies of repression.”

That context, like the ruthlessness of driving a teacher from their classroom, is not cause for total despair. Instead, Covington asked, “What kind of future do we want to build for our children?” Offering a solution based on history, Covington argued, “Solidarity and collective action are the only ways to make sustainable democratic change in the face of anti-democratic institutions and galloping authoritarianism by our political leaders.”

(photo by greg wickenkamp)

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Related Topics:Activism Commentary diversity education Featured Iowa City Iowa GOP labor LGBTQ race university of iowa

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Iowa

Iowa baseball ends Game 3 vs. No. 11-ranked Oregon State with rare tie

Published

11 hours ago

May 12, 2025

Press Room

Iowa baseball ends Game 3 vs. No. 11-ranked Oregon State with rare tie

As Iowa baseball (32-17-1, 21-6 Big Ten) wrapped up its three-game non-conference series vs. No. 11 Oregon State (37-12-1) from Principal Park in Des Moines, Iowa, the Hawkeyes and Beavers settled the final game with a 6-6 tie following the conclusion of the 10th inning.

Due to the sudden injury scratch of redshirt senior righty Reece Beuter, the Hawkeyes deployed fifth-year senior left-hander Benjamin DeTaeye as the Game 3 starter. While DeTaeye has been used as a starter during midweek games, Sunday’s game was his first career start during a weekend series.

DeTaeye had a tremendous performance for the Hawkeyes, striking out a career-high seven batters while allowing two runs (one unearned) on zero hits and issuing four walks in a career-high five innings of work.

“Ben DeTaeye was fantastic today,” said head coach Rick Heller. “Optimistically, I was hoping to get three [innings]. He just pitched great, and we scored some runs early to give him a lead to work with.”

Three other pitchers saw the mound for Iowa, including righty Brant Hogue, who struck out five. While the pitching staff combined for 12 punchouts, the 13 free bases allowed were a concern, as it was in the first two games of the series.

“It was a weird weekend,” said Heller. “We hadn’t been that team where we were walking guys and giving up free bases like that. It’s just uncharacteristic, and it cost us three ballgames, and it cost us the chance to win this one today, as well.”

Regarding the offense, the Hawkeyes took their first lead of the series by scoring two runs in the first inning off a Gable Mitchell RBI single and a Caleb Wulf RBI groundout. Iowa extended its lead to 3-0 in the second as Wilmes lined an RBI single into left.

Oregon State scored five runs in the sixth frame via a bases-loaded walk and a grand slam high over the right center-field wall to give the Beavers a 5-3 advantage.

Iowa would immediately respond with a run to cut the lead to 5-4 in the bottom of the sixth when Mitchell picked up his second RBI of the evening on a groundout that scored Kellen Strohmeyer from third.

The Hawkeyes knotted the game at five in the eighth when Ben Wilmes poked a sacrifice bunt down the first base line to score Strohmeyer from third.

Following two scoreless innings, Oregon State took a 6-5 lead in the 10th on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch with two outs. Fortunately, Jaixen Frost was able to tie the game back up with a solo shot to left field in the bottom of the frame. While Strohmeyer followed up with a single, the Iowa offense couldn’t bring him around to score the winning run.

After the 10th concluded, both teams agreed to call the game a tie due to Oregon State’s necessary travel curfew, as the Beavers flew out of Des Moines on a commercial flight later in the evening.

Iowa outhit Oregon State by a 9-4 margin, with both squads stranding 10 runners on base and striking out 12 times.

“We swung the bat better today than we did yesterday. We still outhit them again today,” said Heller.

While both programs moved Sunday’s game earlier in the day with the Beavers’ travel situation in mind, an extended extra innings affair would have created a problematic time crunch for Oregon State.

“We ran out of time. I haven’t been in one of those in a long, long time,” said Heller. “Frustrating that we didn’t get a chance to play it out. In baseball, there shouldn’t be a tie, but with travel, sometimes it happens.”

The tie is Iowa’s first since May 1, 2002, when the Hawkeyes ended in a 1-1 stalemate against Northern Iowa. Ironically, current Iowa head coach Rick Heller was involved in that contest as he led the Panthers program at the time.

With over 15,000 fans in attendance across the three games at Principal Park this weekend, the Hawkeyes were thankful for the turnout and support throughout the series.

“We appreciate the fans and appreciate all the people that came out and supported us,” said Heller. “It was pretty good baseball most of the time for them to watch. We all really appreciate how many Hawk fans came out and watched us in Des Moines.”

Regarding what the Big Ten standings look like following Sunday’s action, Iowa leads UCLA (37-14, 20-7) atop the conference by just one game following the Bruins’ three-game sweep of Illinois. Not too far behind the Bruins is Oregon (38-13, 19-8), which trails by only two games.

Given the razor-thin margin for error, Iowa’s three-game series against No. 7 Oregon to close the Big Ten regular season from May 15-17 will be the program’s most impactful series at Duane Banks Field in the past 35 years.

Thursday’s series opener will be televised on FS1, while the final two games will be on the Big Ten Network. As always, all three games will be broadcast on the Hawkeyes Radio Network alongside play-by-play voice John Leo and color analyst John Evans.

Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions. Follow Scout on X: @SpringgateNews.

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Iowa

USDA plans to send out $21B in disaster aid. When can Iowa farmers expect to see it?

Published

1 day ago

May 11, 2025

Press Room

USDA plans to send out B in disaster aid. When can Iowa farmers expect to see it?

Iowa farmers whose livestock and crops were hit by drought, devastating tornadoes and flooding over the past two years may be in line for help from Congress’s nearly $21 billion in disaster assistance.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the first disaster assistance payments are expected to roll out by the end of May to livestock producers who experienced losses from drought and wildfires. USDA will disperse other disaster payments throughout the summer, based on a timeline released May 7.

The disaster assistance is part of a nearly $31 billion package that Congress approved in December that provided $10 billion in financial assistance to growers, who are facing a third year of losses with falling crop and livestock prices and stubbornly high expenses.

USDA has rolled out $7.3 billion of the financial aid to farmers so far, the agency’s data shows.

Iowa farmers have snagged the largest share of money at $688 million, followed by Illinois at $630 million and Texas at $603 million. The largest payments so far have gone to corn and soybean growers, the data shows.

Iowa is the nation’s top corn grower and second-largest soybean producer.

USDA’s timeline on the release of disaster aid came as President Donald Trump said May 8 he had crafted a preliminary trade deal with the United Kingdom, a move the president said would increase market access for U.S. farmers, especially beef and ethanol. That’s good news for Iowa, the largest ethanol producer in the nation.

Experts have said that the $31 billion in financial and disaster assistance provides farmers with revenue at a time of uncertainty, with the U.S. hitting agriculture’s largest trade partners with tariffs and cutting exports.

Here’s what to know about the impact of the disaster assistance rollout:

Why are farmers getting disaster payments?

The U.S. was hammered by hurricanes, drought, wildfires and other extreme weather events in 2023 and 2024, the years covered by disaster assistance. The congressionally approved supplemental disaster assistance helps cover losses not paid for through traditional crop and livestock insurance, experts say.

Storms that hit the nation last year, including devastating tornadoes and flooding in Iowa, caused nearly $183 billion in damages and killed 568 people, according to NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

And damages from 2023 U.S. disasters totaled $92.9 billion, including a drought that hit Iowa and other Midwestern and Southern states. The drought cost an estimated $14.5 billion, according to NOAA, which is no longer tracking the cost of severe weather events due to the Trump administration’s budget cuts.

2023 was the second straight year that portions of the Mississippi River experienced record-low water levels that impacted farmers’ ability to move corn, soybeans and other goods to export markets.

What’s USDA’s plan?

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said May 7 the federal agency is developing the rules to expedite disaster assistance payments for farmers experiencing livestock losses due to wildfires, drought and flooding; crop losses from weather events; and two block grant programs for several states, neither of which includes Iowa.

Starting with payments to livestock producers experiencing losses due to drought or wildfires in late May, assistance for livestock and crop losses are expected to roll out through September.

What does it mean for Iowa farmers?

USDA didn’t immediately respond to a request seeking information May 8 about how Iowa farmers might be helped through the disaster assistance. Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig’s office also said he’s awaiting guidance.

Iowa has struggled with extreme weather. Last year was a record year for tornadoes, with a total of 125 touching down, including deadly twisters that hit the towns of Minden and Greenfield. Iowa also experienced record levels of flooding in northwest Iowa, hitting Rock Valley, Spencer and other communities.

Aaron Lehman, the Iowa Farmers Union board president, said he’s concerned that USDA employee cuts will leave farmers struggling to get information about the disaster assistance. Already, Iowa farmers already are being notified that Farm Service Agency offices are reducing hours, he said.

Local Farm Service Agency offices are “instrumental in making sure … money gets into farmers’ hands,” Lehman said.

Rollins said at a Senate hearing May 6 that USDA is looking to fill critical positions after agreeing to pay more than 15,000 employees’ salaries and benefits through September in exchange for their resignations, Reuters reported.

Rollins, however, said it’s not the agency’s plan to close Farm Service Agencies that provide on-the-ground assistance to farmers.

Donnelle Eller covers agriculture, the environment and energy for the Register. Reach her at deller@registermedia.com.

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Iowa

No. 10 Oregon State baseball vs. Iowa Hawkeyes: Preview, starting lineup, how to watch Game 2 of series

Published

2 days ago

May 10, 2025

Press Room

No. 10 Oregon State baseball vs. Iowa Hawkeyes: Preview, starting lineup, how to watch Game 2 of series

The No. 10 Oregon State Beavers visit the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday in a college baseball game at Principal Park in Des Moines, Iowa.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

It’s the encore in a three-game series that opened Friday night at the home of the Triple-A Iowa Cubs. The Beavers outlasted a Hawkeyes comeback in the opener, using another prodigious performance by Wilson Weber and solid late-inning pitching from Kellan Oakes to win 9-6.

Wilson went 4 for 5 with a home run and four RBIs, and he delivered the go-ahead hit in the eighth inning on a wild sequence that sealed the win for the Beavers.

With two outs and the bases loaded in a tie game, Weber smacked a chopper to the left side of the pitcher’s mound. Iowa right-hander Anthony Watts fielded the ball, looked toward third base, then twisted around and fired to first base.

Weber not only beat the throw — sending Talt home with the go-ahead run — but the ball also eluded Hawkeyes first baseman Caleb Wulf and rolled into right field, allowing Tyce Peterson and Gavin Turley to score, too.

And just like that, OSU led 9-6.

Oakes (2-0) followed with a 1-2-3 ninth to polish off the win. The junior right-hander, who entered the game with one out and a runner on first base in the sixth inning, had a rough start, coughing up a game-tying two-run homer on his fifth pitch and giving up up a two-out double later in the inning.

But he retired the final seven batters he faced in order, tossing the final 2 2/3 innings to earn the win.

Will Game 2 feature similar late-game drama?

Here are details about Saturday’s matchup:

No. 10 Oregon State Beavers (36-12) vs. Iowa Hawkeyes (32-16)

When: 1:30 p.m. PT, Saturday, May 10

Where: Principal Park in Des Moines, Iowa.

TV channel: The game is not televised, but will be streaming live on Big Ten Plus.

How to watch live stream online: The series will be streamed live on Big Ten Plus, which is available via a subscription. Visit osubeavers.com and click on the baseball schedule for a direct link to the game or visit bigtenlplus.com for subscription information.

Radio: All games air on the Beaver Sports Network. Pregame starts 30 minutes before the first pitch and you can listen live anywhere via the Varsity Radio Network. Local affiliates include KEJO 93.7-FM & 1240-AM (Corvallis), KKNX 105.1-FM & 840-AM (Eugene), KCFM 104.1-FM & 1250-AM & 104.1-FM (Florence), KLAD 104.3-FM & 960-AM (Klamath Falls), KCFM 103.1-FM (Mapleton), KTMT 96.1-FM & 580-AM (Medford), KCMX 880-AM (Medford), KCMX 99.5-FM (Phoenix), KEX 1190-AM (Portland), KSKR 1490-AM (Roseburg) and KBZY 1490-AM (Salem).

Probable starters: OSU RHP Dax Whitney (3-3, 4.56) vs. RHP Aaron Savary (7-0, 3.36)

This and that: Whitney is making his 13th start of the season, including the 10th away from Goss Stadium. The 6-foot-5 freshman, who has not earned a win since March 29 at Nebraska, has struggled in recent weeks, going 0-1 over his last five starts. The previous three, during which Whitney surrendered 12 runs in 8 2/3 innings, have been especially rough, sending his ERA soaring from 2.88 to 4.56. But the talented freshman, who has produced 72 strikeouts in 49 1/3 innings this season, is capable of dominance and seems due for a difference-making performance. … Weber is 9 for 20 with four homers, three doubles and 14 RBIs over his last five games, during which he’s produced a pair of crucial go-ahead late-game hits. The hot streak has sent Weber’s batting average (.333) and RBI total (41) surging to third-highest and second-highest on the team, respectively. … Junior outfielder Gavin Turley doubled home a run in the fourth inning of Friday’s win. The RBI was the 175th of his career, moving him past Adley Rutschman (174) into sole possession of second place on Oregon State’s all-time list. He needs five more to pass Michael Conforto (179) and become the Beavers’ all-time RBI leader. … Junior outfielder Easton Talt entered Friday night’s game as a pinch-hitter in the fifth inning and finished 0-1 with two walks. He now has 58 walks this season and sits one shy of tying Travis Bazzana and Garret Forrester (2023) for fourth-most in a season at OSU. … Savary has surrendered more than two runs just three times in 12 starts this season. The 6-3 junior has won three of his last five starts and is coming off a hard-luck no-decision against the Washington Huskies, against whom he allowed three hits, one run and recorded 10 strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.

OSU’s starting lineup

1. Aiva Arquette, SS

2. Gavin Turley, DH

3. Wilson Weber, C

4. AJ Singer, 2B

5. Canon Reeder, CF

6. Easton Talt, RF

7. Jacob Krieg, 1B

8. Dallas Macias, RF

9. Trent Caraway, 3B

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