honestly Slipknot is Peak Iowa. ur not gonna get that deranged w that kind of music wo being dead center of a cornfield day in and day out

FOREST CITY, IOWA — 07/21/18

Stopped by this restored gas station in small town Iowa. Met the owner Dave and learned some local and Texaco history.

abandoned church in iowa

Lansing, Iowa (1974)

iowa wildflowers - holga 135 & 400 speed color film - developed at bergen photo & scanned with minolta dimage dual iii

morning on the highway somewhere near the missouri/iowa/nebraska border

Hospital shuts down labor and delivery department

6/21/14

Had a pretty good birthday, for the first time in... a while? I don’t mean for that to sound sad, but it’s what ya do when you’re depressed and aging. (IYKYK)

An old friend from high school days came up from Iowa to celebrate with me, which was very welcome! We had plant themed fun together, and rants, and wrestled traffic together, and had tacos and margaritas. We were therapists for each other. We laughed about dumb shit most of the time and reveled in our shared weirdness. In many ways, it was as if no time had gone by. We were definitely both overdue for this, which is usually the case when you’re in your 30s and living in different states.

The unexpected side effect is realization on my end of how much I’d benefitted from leaving things behind: I’d always known that leaving more or less saved my life, but reminders from my friend who is so much like myself of how things still are there kind of shattered my comparatively pleasant little urban bubble I’d made for myself. And so I began my exercise in gratitude, that, regardless of how flawed this city and state may be, it’s been so good for me to be here, to learn, change, and grow.

And so, I say: I love you, Minnesota. Even if you are that Midwest flavor of banality (so what?) and you reek of that infamous passive aggression, you could be doing a lot worse. After all, progress, not perfection!*

I dunno. I just felt maybe I need to be more deliberate about noticing things I am/should be grateful for. Especially since I’ve spent my entire life focusing on everything that is wrong.

*Plenty of things NEED improvement/change, but considering the neighboring states and the country as a whole... yeaaaaah...

I really, really love this queer minister from appalachia who is a leftist and talks a lot about the nuance of intersectionality of rural red areas, conservatism, elitism and leftism

Early summer/late spring midwest humidity & skyline my beloved.. 🧅🔅🪲🐡🐿️🚃🫚🥘🦠📺

The day before Christmas Eve, with the help of many, I met a new lesbian friend off of TikTok. She needed a new car battery and I know how to change a battery and found out she was only an hour away! Got to meet an elder and break out my tools and get her some much needed supplies! My community, on and off line, is nothing short of incredible. New battery installation complete!!

What do you think would happen if a Yeerk tried to infest someone who was already infested? Would they not fit, or would they end up being three braincells fighting for dominance?

My inner Midwesterner immediately got the mental image of two yeerks encountering each other mid-brain because they accidentally entered the same host at opposite ears. Followed by both yeerks going "Ope, sorry!" "Ope, didn't see ya there..." "Ope, just gonna squeeze past ya!" "Ope, no, let me just get out of your way..." While both trying to back out of the person's ears at the same time.

And then host's brain tears in half. Which neither yeerk notices, because they're too busy going "No, no, you were here first" and "Don't you worry about a thing" back and forth forever.

Made a new musician friend last weekend. We haven’t met yet but he’s cool as fuck and we’re guna make some music this weekend and I’m beyond excited. I’ve always had trouble finding musicians in my area who, like, make music, rather than just play covers or whatever. But this guys the real deal like he’s made a few albums with a handful of bands and he’s toured with multiple bands and he knows how to CREATE a song with someone. I already sent him a couple little riffs I’ve made and he was like “oh yeah I could totally write around that”. I’m really excited. Not to be the “I’m so good at guitar” guy, but everyone I’ve ever played with has said the same thing when i show them some music I’ve made and ask if they’d like to write a song around it. They’re always like “yeah no to hard” like immediately. these mfs don’t even try. Not this guy, not THIS GUY! We’re guna do BIG THINGS. YOU MARK MY WORDS.