January 2015 » Lynda Waddington

26Jan 2015 by Lynda Waddington

What might be lost in Iowa City cottage dispute

Gazette Column

This past week has been filled with listening and searching, both producing little satisfaction. On Tuesday night about 80 people gathered at the Iowa City City Hall to discuss the future of two small buildings on South Dubuque Street. The buildings, known locally as the worker cottages, have sparked disagreement. The property owner, Ted Pacha, wants to demolish the structures, literally paving the way for new development in the railroad district. Preservationists hope to save them, saying they represent a segment of the population and a moment in time unique to Eastern Iowa and of which too little already remains. While much discussion at the public hearing centered on whether or not the structures were of historical significance — perhaps due to the narrow question before council members — the…

25Jan 2015 by Lynda Waddington

Let’s drop the SOTU responses

Gazette Column

Let’s be honest: the state of the union response is not strong, nor is it necessary. This is not a slam against newly minted U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst. In fact, I’m just following her lead. “It wasn’t about responding to the State of the Union or President [Barack] Obama as it was responding to the concerns of Iowans and other Americans,” Ernst told reporters on a conference call the morning after she delivered the official 2015 Republican speech. I say “official” response because Ernst was chosen by Republican Congressional leadership. But there were at least four additional GOP responses to President Barack Obama’s address. Carlos Cubelo, a newly elected Republican congressman from Miami, Fla., was supposed to offer Ernst’s speech in Spanish, inserting his personal details in place of hers.…

19Jan 2015 by Lynda Waddington

Let Mason departure herald new age of messy

Gazette Column

The People’s Republic of Johnson County is a messy place, often overrun with public meetings and task force investigations. Everyone, it seems, wants a voice. Because of this, Johnson County and many of its subdivisions — the Iowa City Community School District, city governments and subcommittees — receive a lot of public and media attention, not all of it positive. There is no shortage of people, including me, who are willing to dig through the messy remnants and eek out an opinion on what should have been — the vast majority of such wisdom resting on the perch of hindsight. And while there is and should be a place for those who look behind, hopefully wrapping and presenting past experiences for the benefit of others, we should always be grateful…

18Jan 2015 by Lynda Waddington

Confessions of an Iowa gun snob

Gazette Column

Have you ever written or said something from a centrist position only to have those on either side of the issue overreact, confirming your centrist stance? Well, I have. This week, in fact. Last Saturday this column detailed my reaction to seeing a man in a local store with a not-so-concealed gun. The narrative, in which I detailed my own shortcomings, was written for two reasons. First, it was the first thing I thought about after reading a guest column we’d published the week before. I simply had to write it; had to get it out of my system before I moved on to other things. (If you aren’t a writer, that may not make much sense. I apologize if that is the case.) Second and more important, for some time now I…

11Jan 2015 by Lynda Waddington

Why your gun makes me nervous

Gazette Column

There’s a mantra quickly repeating in my head: “Please have a badge. Please have a badge. Please have a badge.” It’s a steady heartbeat as I begin a conversation with a shop clerk and reposition myself so I can peer over her shoulder. I’ve already seen the bulge in his jacket, and it’s clear from the size and shape that he has a holstered gun. Now my eyes are quickly scanning, hoping to find a law enforcement badge clipped to his belt. I’m in a local bookstore and there’s a sticker near the door asking patrons not to carry weapons on the premises. My two children scurried off the moment we entered, each in search of their own treasures. The man with the weapon is as interested with the bookstore…

04Jan 2015 by Lynda Waddington

May 2015 be a very gray year

Gazette Column

There may be only one thing, packaged in a million variations, that can get our society back on track. We’ve got to forcibly remove ourselves from the echo chamber in 2015 and once again embrace the art of nuance. Have you ever opened a black and white photo in an editing program and zoomed in on the image? If you have then you already know that what can be perceived as only black and white is actually a spectrum of light to dark. It contains black and white, of course, but also every variation in between. All of the shades are necessary if the viewer is expected to have a full, detailed picture. The same can be said of our lives and how we interact with one another. [caption id="attachment_1529"…