From the category archives:

Sour Grapes

Sour Grapes, Feb. 15, 2012

by jmagdefrau on February 15, 2012

It was time traveling for me a few weeks ago, as I traveled to Des Moines for the Iowa Newspaper Association’s annual convention. I was walking from the trade show at the Marriott to my makeshift office by the elevators, when a young person approached me and asked me where to register. It was one [...]

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Sour Grapes, Feb. 8, 2012

by jmagdefrau on February 8, 2012

It was a great getaway a few weeks ago as my college buddies, or middle-age support group, gathered in Ames to watch Iowa State host Kansas. Things have not changed that much since the days we sat around the den in Livingston House discussing the affairs of the day, except we’re all a bit more [...]

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Sour Grapes, Feb. 1, 2012

February 1, 2012 Journal Tribune

In the job that I have, I see obituaries come across my desk, and every once in a while, a light will turn on, bringing back a memory. Lights, bells and whistles went off a few weeks ago when an obituary for a friend came across, reminding me of the days years ago that we [...]

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Sour Grapes, Jan. 25, 2012

January 24, 2012 Journal Tribune

Driving to work last Thursday morning, I looked at the outside temperature. It was 1 degree. When I arrived in Belle Plaine, it was 2 degrees. Hey! It doubled in three minutes. Spring is coming! *    *    * Last week I was lucky enough to see up close the work that’s done for [...]

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Sour Grapes, Jan. 18, 2012

January 17, 2012 Journal Tribune

Best advice I’ve heard … Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes. *    *    * I think this is my second column written at the foot of a hospital bed, [...]

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Sour Grapes, Jan. 11, 2012

January 10, 2012 Journal Tribune

When I walked up the steps at the Hotel Fort Des Moines, there to meet me halfway up the stairs, working his cane, was Grinnell’s Al Pinder. The next 20 minutes were spent hearing his list of new jokes he had added to his arsenal of ice-breakers. Just the punch lines were printed on the [...]

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Sour Grapes, Jan. 4, 2012

January 3, 2012 Journal Tribune

Each August, Dad and I would take a road trip to the Des Moines area to meet up with fellow newspaper folks. It meant an early morning ride to get there, early enough to chat with other newspaper friends and get the best rolls and donuts before the meeting. I drove, to give Dad the [...]

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Sour Grapes, Dec. 21, 2011

December 20, 2011 Sour Grapes

It’s difficult for me to give a critique of Prof. Stephen Bloom’s essay in “The Atlantic Monthly” on his observations of two decades of life in Iowa. First off, it’s a long story, and it would take too much space to give a point-by-point rebuttal. Plus, he’s a professor. Him write more pretty than me [...]

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Sour Grapes, Dec. 14, 2011 (WILCO)

December 14, 2011 Journal Tribune

I knew it was going to be a good Sunday for music. A college friend and I visited Des Moines a few weeks ago for the Wilco concert at the Val Air Ballroom. This marked the second time I’d seen Wilco, and the fourth time I’d seen their leader, Jeff Tweedy. My college friend from [...]

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Sour Grapes, Dec. 7, 2011

December 8, 2011 Journal Tribune

Caucuses Soon it will be Christmas. Then New Year’s. Then the caucuses. Ho ho ho! My first year here was my first in-person experience with covering the presidential campaigns. I’d heard about them in college, but was too focused at the time on the ominous, steady pounding of the beat in this new style of [...]

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