Bless His Blooming Heart

Why Iowa? In this season of debates, caucuses, and primaries,it is a valid question to ask. Stephen Bloom's 'observations' in The Atlantic do not even start that conversation. Worse still, it panders to those who already deride the state with broad sweeping generalities that belie my personal experiences in rural Iowa, and are certainly not applicable to where Professor Bloom and I live, which is a city with the largest per capita population of PhD's and MD's in the country. No, we did not check our educations at the state line. There are good reasons why we were awarded the UNESCO 'City of Literature' moniker (the only city in the United States to be so designated, and one of the few cities in the world to be so recognized). We are not afraid to leave our community, and we are not backward, drug addled illiterates. Which gets to my major beef. There are out and out lies in the article. For one, it is inconceivable that he has been asked on more than one occasion, much less every time, if his Labrador retriever is a hunting dog in the upper middle class neighborhood in which he resides. Professor Bloom in no way resembles a hunter and I suspect his dog isn't looking ready to track down hapless birds shot out of the air. Iowans know their hunting dogs as well as their hunters, and he smacks of city boy, top to bottom. In addition, while there are more hunting dogs per Iowan than in other places, the vast majority of dogs in Iowa City are pets, pure and simple. The list of inaccuracies goes on. There are so many in the article that the very valid points he makes are drowned in the river of exaggeration. The man may not know where his elbow is but he is clearly in touch with his ass. So why make these wild allegations?

Hard to say. Here is Raygun's response. It is up to their usual brilliance. Take the patently ridiculous things that Professor Bloom alleges in his article and poke major fun at it--and by reflection, him. I immediately bought four of them and was lucky to get them. They are selling rapidly, and for good reason. It is a way to trumpet our indignation without seeming churlish. To laugh at the charges leveled at us. And to make the man who leveled them look patently ridiculous, using his own words to do so. Many of us in Iowa City are transplanted Iowans, but we have come to love the state, despite it's foibles--which are not those that Professor Bloom illustrates, sadly. Hard to believe he has a journalism career. Those who can't, teach it appears. As a teacher, I have shied away from that characterization, but when it fits, it fits. So what about western Iowa, one might ask? Is that where he got his material? Not if he spent any time there. I agree with Kurt Friese's response to Professor Bloom, published on The Atlantic web site--including his recommendation that anyone who wants to experience small town Iowa take a week and join RAGBRAI (The Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa). Small towns generously open their communities to 10,000+ strangers each summer (which is often a number that is larger than the town itself). Churches open their doors and you can attend a church supper every night of the ride--what you will experience is tremendous hospitality, food that would be recognizable anywhere in the country, and the famously wonderful pies that Iowa is renowned for. Finally, why has Professor Bloom lived in Iowa for 20 years. Why would anyone who has such scathing derision for his home state remain there? Why not leave for a place he respects? Is he cursed with bad judgment, poor perceptual abilities, poor choices, all three? Perhaps Professor Bloom has a balanced personality--a chip on both shoulders--and the weight is holding him hostage. Perhaps it is simply that he can't find such a place.