2020 was a big ask and it’s far from over
I say this based on evidence, personal experiences, and what I’ve witnessed as a news reporter during the chaotic state of affairs this past year.
Taking on a pandemic was a big ask. No one wanted to do it. It’s an unprecedented, historical nightmare, but here we are, a year later, still doing it. Today may very well be the eve of the United States racking up half a million deaths. The New York Times is prepared for this milestone. Yet, we still have people claiming it’s “no worse” than the seasonal flu.
There was an esitmated 61,000 deaths during…
And how I react to conflict in my relationships
I grew up in a household where anger loomed over my siblings and I as if it were an evil spirit and not an emotion. My father was abusive and my mother was an opioid addict. I have few memories of my childhood. Anger is one of them.
When I crossed the threshold into adulthood, I had it all figured out. I vowed I’d never be like my parents. I spent my childhood watching them spew hate and rage at every human being they came into contact with.
My game plan was a piece of cake — train myself not…
Headlines of humanity will fade if we let them
When international travel came to a halt in early 2020 hoping to slow the spread of the Novel Coronavirus, Juan Manuel Bellestero found himself stranded on the Portuguese island of Porto Santo, a sealed off sanctuary untouched by the virus.
Concerned for his 90- year-old father back home in Argentina, and desiring to be with his family when the world ended, he set course toward his home country using the only form of transportation accessible to him, his tiny 29 foot sail boat.
After 85 days at sea, he reunited with his father.
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Welcome to Totally Pandemic: Chronicles from 2021, year two of the COVID-19 global pandemic. We cover a wide range of topics that…
Party before country does not equal patriotism. In fact, it’s the opposite.
I’m not sure how I ended up on the list of who Governor Reynolds’ fundraising team bombards with emails, phone calls and text messages, but I know that her 2022 reelection campaign pitch is gross.
How does the divisive rhetoric in the above text message benefit Iowans? I don’t have an answer because when I replied to the message asking just that, a bot immediately shot back with, “Unable to understand input,” like any true Trump worshiper would.
“Radical left” is a trigger phrase used intending to keep Trump supporters awake and ready for when they’re called upon again. …
Unless ‘We The People’ unify in acknowledging this difference, our political crisis will never change
“He strangled his wife,” the director of the domestic violence program said to me as soon as I closed her office door for privacy. She sat behind her desk wearing a pantsuit with heels while I wore street clothes and stayed up on my feet.
She gave an overview before handing me his case file. He stopped eating eight days prior. Pending transfer to Florence, Arizona State Prison from the county jail, corrections couldn’t move him because he wouldn’t eat.
His sentence was 17 years.
I didn’t work DV cases. Although I protected the 200+ DV families who lived in…
This Valentine’s Day, we grieve the loss of one while rejoicing in the recovery of another
It knocked the wind out of me when I heard those words. “He died in his sleep.”
Struggling to stay clean, he drank too much Methadone and overdosed. He died. He’s gone, and I couldn’t breathe. I lay hunched over the bathroom floor, wailing in pain into a mountain of towels so no one would hear me.
Once the flood of tears ceased, I felt calm and empty, but that only lasted long enough to fake strength as I told the others. It was Mother’s Day, 2019. I held them as they cried.
Today is Dylan’s 29th birthday. He’s the…
Regardless of impeachment conviction or acquittal, the dangerous ideology will continue to live among us
COVID-19 and the Midwest Snowpocalyse 2021 has reduced my connection with the outside world to a corner of my hundred-year-old farmhouse.
The view from where the desk sits looks over the pond and across Iowa’s winter back drop. A false sense of security, it feels serene, calm and intimate.
On day two of ex-president Trump’s impeachment trial, the temperature dips to -18 degrees and over four feet of snow covers the ground. I’d just returned indoors from feeding the wildlife when my husband asked, “How does Trump have so much power over so many Republican senators?”
How author Claire Stapley connects us with ourselves and each other in her piece, ‘Our Identities Are Fragmented Because Of The Pandemic.’
Claire offers the reader a glimpse into her personal experience of surviving in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike America, where we run into the fire for the sake of the economy while destroying our country, Claire’s perspective from the inside of a third national lockdown poses the question, is there any way to thwart a pandemic and/or its effects?
“This lockdown, however, feels different,” she writes, adding, “We are all incredibly tired, our metaphorical shoes scuffed…
Sleepless. I didn’t sleep well last night after Governor Reynolds’ abrupt and unwarranted decision to revolt against Biden.
My heart hurts for Iowa.
She just buckled our healthcare system for planting season, put the last nail in the coffin of small businesses, robbed small towns of their economy by stripping all mitigation measures a week before schools open up to 100% in person (per her psychotic order), caused countless Iowans to die who don’t even know it yet, isolated us from the rest of the country and cut ties with the federal government right before flood season because she’s “our…
Erika Anne Sauter
Newspaper reporter in Eastern Iowa. The views expressed are mine alone.
