Iowa Writers Collaborative "Office Lounge" coming up this Friday

A perk for paying subscribers

Iowa Writers’ Collaborative members Douglas Burns, Robert Leonard, Rachelle Chase, and John Naughton at Whiterock Conservancy on May 10

The past week has been a bit of a blur, as I had family in town for my son’s high school graduation and a rare week off from “KHOI’s Capitol Week” on Memorial Day. I’ve been busy at Bleeding Heartland, though, writing about Iowa’s wartime military deaths, a fascinating GOP primary race for state Senate, and wildflowers (this week’s featured plant is black raspberry).

I’m writing you now because May 31 is the last Friday of the month, which means the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative is holding its monthly lunchtime Zoom meeting for paying subscribers. We call this the “Office Lounge,” named after a downtown bar that was a popular hangout for Des Moines Register staff back in the day.

If you pay to subscribe to any of our columnists—we have more than 50 now!—you are invited to join this virtual meeting. It’s a chance to interact with writers and readers who are part of our community. The meeting runs from noon until 1:00 pm, and we always leave plenty of time for questions or suggestions.

If you are a paying subscriber to this newsletter, you’ll find the Zoom link at the bottom of this message, after the full list of columnists. If you have donated to support Bleeding Heartland’s work in a different way—using a credit card, PayPal, Patreon, Venmo, or a personal check—email me for the Zoom link, and I will send it to you.

If you’re a free subscriber to this newsletter but pay to read a different columnist, you should receive the link from that writer.

Hope to see you Friday at noon! Later on May 31, I’ll be in Iowa City for a Bleeding Heartland fundraiser from 5:00 to 7:00 pm at the Get Fresh Cafe, 109 Iowa Avenue.

I have more previews of Iowa primary elections in the works and plan to share some of that material with you later this week.

Whether or not you plan to join the call, comments or suggestions are always welcome.

---

Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Roster

Nicole Baart: This Stays Here, Sioux Center

Ray Young Bear: From Red Earth Drive, Meskwaki Settlement

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Tory Brecht: Brecht’s Beat, Quad Cities

Dartanyan Brown, My Integrated Life, Des Moines

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Jane Burns: The Crossover, Des Moines

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, Roundup

Rachelle Chase: Reading with Rachelle, Ottumwa

Steph Copley: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley

Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

Randy Evans: Stray Thoughts, Des Moines via Bloomfield

Daniel Finney, Paragraph Stacker, Des Moines

Marianne Fons, Reporting from Quiltropolis, Winterset

Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts, Okoboji and Sioux Falls

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji

Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

Rob Gray: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny

Avery Gregurich: The Five and Dime, Marengo

Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilia

Iowa Capital Dispatch, an alliance with IWC

Dana James: Black Iowa News, Iowa

Chris Jones, Chris’s Substack, Iowa City

Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo

Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Letters from Iowans, Iowa

Darcy Maulsby: Keepin’ It Rural, Calhoun County

Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa

Alison McGaughey, The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities

Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar

Vicki Minor, Relatively Minor, Winterset

Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines

Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids

Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines

Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines

John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines

Steve Semken, The Pulse of a Heartland Publisher, North Liberty

Macey Shofroth: The Midwest Creative, Norwalk

Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona

Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport

Jason Walsmith, The Racontourist, Earlham

Kali White VanBaale, 988: Mental Healthcare in Iowa, Bondurant

Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines