It’s not as bad as it sometimes seems
It’s not as bad as it sometimes seems
The Storm Lake Times Pilot staff. Back row starting from the left: Chris Reed, Tim Marlow, John Cullen, Art Cullen, Tom Cullen, Bruce Kurtz, Jon Robinson and Jamie Knapp. Front row starting from the left: Rhonda Fassler, Amber Mohmand, Lily Gust, Megan Molseed, Jen Olson, Jenna Bernhoft and Kate Kealey. Center: Dolores Cullen with Peach the newshound.
It’s necessary to force a break from panic semi-annually and take stock in good fortune. The harvest was amazingly abundant. Storm Lake is chugging along. We will spend Thanksgiving with Dolores’s family along the Des Moines River at St. Joe with the Detroit Lions providing background visuals. We will overdose on tryptophan and bore each other to sleep. It’s a respite from the terror of the Middle East or Ukraine, or the rot bedeviling democracy. When you wake up from your nap it might be better from what isn’t that bad in near proximity.
I have reliable transportation, a roof over my head, Medicare and top of Iowa sirloin on the grill. I have awards bragging from the wall. I am not the loser I see in the mirror. Dolores says she loves me, and she does not lie often. The kids are okay — I am grateful beyond words that Tom works with us. The Cobblestone is reopening. My moral character was informed by the Rolling Stones and they just released a new album. If they can keep up depravity at their age, then so can I.
The Storm Lake Times Pilot is thriving for the moment. It was not always so. We nearly folded during the pandemic. Thanks to the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation, which kept us going through the toughest of times. Thanks to the 11th Hour Project for funding the foundation’s operations. Thanks to all the donors who support community journalism. We appreciate your help. Although the pay doesn’t reflect it, we are deeply grateful for the reporters, editors and salespeople who dedicate themselves to getting the news to you. Paid readership is growing at the Times Pilot and its sister publication, the Cherokee Chronicle Times, thanks to you. We are on the right track. It’s better than working in politics, religion or financial arbitrage.
We sometimes have to remind ourselves that we have friends when you think everything and everyone is working against you, paranoia aside. When none of them answer the phone, there’s always Peach the Newshound to talk at. She never poops in the house or barks.
I don’t work very hard. Not knocking myself out. I like that. Social isolation has plenty of upside. I write a column that I pretend is work. I do worry full-time. When I am not worrying Brother John is always there to worry for me. I am fortunate to work with John. As long as he is around things tend to work out. We’re breaking even. It could be worse. It has been. Just sayin’ … John dies and I’m outta here. I don’t do payroll, which is a charmed life. I’m living the dream of sitting in a chair watching the world go by, at the brink, wondering when the Armageddon begins — if the Hawkeyes score 25 points against Nebraska?
I have an excellent vantage point. Storm Lake is interesting and full of vitality. It is the melting pot, the most diverse place in the Midwest. It is easy. You can roll downhill to the lake. You can get anyplace you need to be in about seven minutes. February doesn’t last that long. The county supervisors mean well. Food? We got food. Stupidity? In spades, to keep us all in awe. Neighborly still, and that counts for a lot.
We have clean and fair elections. Our institutions, especially the courts, stood up for the rule of law under unprecedented assault. The system is astonishingly resilient because of the people. The county auditor is impeccably honest. Voters across Iowa just told the Moms for Liberty to take their book banning and queer bashing to another venue. It restores state pride: Our liberties we will maintain. Iowa appears to be coming back to its senses following a legislative right-wing orgy that looks like a mess the morning after.
President Biden made nice with China. They struck a deal on tempering climate change. Just talk, but that’s better than a swift kick in the rear. We are less likely to blow up the world this Thanksgiving Week. Unemployment and inflation are under control. Wages are up. At least the Supreme Court is talking about ethics. The House found George Santos to be a lying lout. The system is working. Iowa’s offense scored a touchdown late in the season. It could all fall apart by Christmas — the great Abrahamic religions are working with devilish fervor at defying God’s will. But, for today in the here, we got mashed potatoes and gravy to go with our tryptophan in the turkey, and we got the Lions on TV, and we live in the sweet spot of the world by dumb luck. We are grateful.
Art Cullen is the editor of the Storm Lake Times Pilot in Northwest Iowa, where this column appeared. For more columns and editorials, please consider a subscription to the Times Pilot. Or, if you wish, you can make a tax-deductible gift to the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation to support independent community journalism in rural Iowa. Thanks.
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Normally, I am not an optimistic person, and there's no way you could worry more than I do, but I loved this piece today. Small wins are important, too, in the big picture. I just hope Biden resigns soon and opens up the race to Kamala and others. Not sure it's Pete Buttigieg's (sp?) time, but it's got to be some other Democrat's time.