July 2014 » Lynda Waddington

28Jul 2014 by Lynda Waddington

Cracking the unblessed pasta code

Gazette Column

Several years ago, a dinner mishap altered my perspective. While visiting with my abundant Southern relatives — gatherings always noisy, crowded and overflowing with food — I helped my two daughters with their plates, and sent them off to find a seat while I navigated the options with their younger brother. As always, he was picky and we were soon strolling toward his sisters, plate populated with cheese cubes and crackers. My middle daughter, three or four at the time, was angling a scoop of mac and cheese mouthward when my sister struck. One swift smack across the back of my daughter’s hand. The silverware thudded onto the plate, a few pieces of sticky mac took flight. “Don’t eat that,” the sister warned. “It’s not been blessed yet.” My girls…

27Jul 2014 by Lynda Waddington

Time for ICCSD to get to work

Gazette Column

The Iowa City Community School District should be feeling revitalized this week and, I hope, ready to tackle some persistent challenges. A former board member, Orville Townsend Sr., was selected from a field of nine highly interested and qualified candidates to serve a 15-month appointment to the school board. For the record, President Herbert Hoover, who supposedly applied but is not included among the nine finalists, would have received my nod except for his lack of residency in the district. Also, I doubt he’d be available for meetings. Townsend’s appointment was unanimous, a well-deserved vote of confidence for the Iowa City resident with a unique life experience that can and should serve the board well. For instance, Townsend served on the ICCSD Equity Committee and will hold firsthand insights from a…

21Jul 2014 by Lynda Waddington

Not your momma’s media

Gazette Column

The media we know today is quite different from what my parents relied on or, for that matter, what my older brothers and sisters knew. The shift forces a nation of media consumers to rethink and readjust how they approach and absorb the information presented. That was the message I shared with a group of young political activists in Des Moines recently and, given recent happenings surrounding the 2014 campaign, one I’m now beholden to share with readers. Looking Back Not too many years ago, media offerings were much more robust and straightforward. Each of the television networks had their nightly news broadcasts, which often recounted the same news stories. There was no 24-hour news cycle, since CNN had yet to be launched. Print publications flourished, with nearly every small…

20Jul 2014 by Lynda Waddington

Helping kids is an obligation

Gazette Column

I am not sure how people of faith, especially those who say their faith guides them in matters of public policy, are able to reconcile not first reacting with compassion to the plight of Central American children. While we may not like or appreciate how the children arrived on our doorstep, and even while we may debate federal immigration law and procedures, spiritual teachings are clear. We should care for and protect children. Pope Francis recently noted the mandate. “This humanitarian emergency requires, as a first urgent measure, these children be welcomed and protected,” he said as part of a message sent to a global conference in Mexico on July 15. Closer to home, U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin voiced similar concerns during a Congressional hearing this week. “I have a…

14Jul 2014 by Lynda Waddington

If you live downtown …

Gazette Column

There were several reasons, when we decided to buy, we chose the house we have now. Price, of course, is always a big consideration. Perhaps a larger bonus at that time for me — owner of an ancient, rear-wheel drive Monte Carlo and unaccustomed to Iowa winters — was that the place was walking distance to the downtown office where I worked. Obviously the prospect of slipping on the ice and breaking a hip was much less a concern two decades ago. What we didn’t fully realize, but probably should have, is that our walking-distance-to-downtown locale is a prime traffic area. Foot traffic, skateboard traffic, bicycle traffic and, of course, automobile traffic. For years we’ve dealt with a lack of parking when activities are happening in downtown. Streets have been…

13Jul 2014 by Lynda Waddington

Bring back ‘Iowa nice’

Gazette Column

Davenport Mayor Bill Gluba has drawn scrutiny and (to be blunt) nastiness for announcing organizations in the Quad Cities will help care for a few hundred of the roughly 52,000 Central American immigrant children currently detained in U.S. border states. The children — predominantly from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala — have arrived without adults and, due to law changes signed by President George W. Bush as part the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization of 2008, cannot be immediately deported. “You can’t turn your back on kids, little children and tell them they must go back to Honduras and in many cases be killed. That’s wrong,” said Gluba, who is hoping the community will help care for some of the children while their cases work their way through an overburdened…

07Jul 2014 by Lynda Waddington

Measuring patriotism where it counts

Gazette Column

I was fascinated this week by a new patriotism survey of the states by a blog generally devoted to ranking U.S. cities and developing novel ways of looking at the real estate market. Then I read the criteria for the rankings. Patriotism was measured, said the MOVOTO bloggers, on the following criteria: • National Historic Landmarks per Capita • Veterans per Capita • Money Spent to Fund Veterans • Percent of Residents That Voted in the Last Presidential Election • People Who Google for American Flags to Buy • People Who List America as an Interest on Facebook [caption id="attachment_1762" align="alignright" width="500"] This infographic shows patriotism levels in the states based on information gathered from social media networks, historic landmark locations, number of veterans per capita and active voters in the…

06Jul 2014 by Lynda Waddington

Sullivan, Botchway got it right

Gazette Column

While there was plenty to be learned at a Hunger Forum this week hosted by the Crisis Center of Johnson County, two of the most important thoughts elevated within the discussion were not limited to food security. Johnson County Supervisor Rod Sullivan noted that if communities want more people to come forward and access available services, there needs to be a widespread effort not to bruise the dignity and pride of those in need. “There is a stigma associated,” he explained, and immediately received mild pushback from another panelist. While I may receive some similar pushback, let me say that I agree with Sullivan. Society cannot on one hand decry the people receiving state food assistance as incapable of making healthy food choices and, on the other hand, berate parents…

01Jul 2014 by Lynda Waddington

Johnson County diversion program a good first step

Gazette Column

When a young person commits any level of crime, interventions should result in altering the youth’s behavior in a way that reduces delinquency and improves the youth’s chances of prosperity in adulthood. These twin goals serve society’s broad interests and, when they intersect with reduced taxpayer expense, provide a solid foundation for the reduction of racial disparities within our juvenile and adult justice systems. After all, the ways in which we interact with youth today set a framework for the future relationship between that individual and the larger community. There are many reasons to applaud the first-in-the-state diversion program in Johnson Countythat seeks to protect young first offenders from entering a juvenile justice system that too often introduces them to and keeps them in contact with higher-risk youth. Researchers have sounded…