My Blog

We’ve been feeling a little anxious about facing fall without the usual stellar season of events from Hancher Auditorium. So we’re thrilled to report that, yes, there will be a 2008-09 season—although not exactly at Hancher. Venues all around Iowa City will host events while ongoing renovations continue inside the flood-damaged building on the river. (Below: West side of Hancher on June 17,

Speaking of Spam (see Tony Ellis's blog on the other kind of spam below), my dad wrangled a summer job in a Spam factory when he was a college student in the late 1940s. His dad, my grandpa, worked for Lester Armour in the Harris Bank in downtown Chicago. Armour Meats was one of his companies. Meat packing and banking and I don't know what else.

Anyway, my dad loved to tell us about that job, how

In an unpredented collaboration, six Cedar Rapids arts organizations are putting together an outdoor benefit production at Brucemore that will feature music and stories inspired by the city's recent floods. This event will replace the previously scheduled "Classics at Brucemore" production of Lysistrata. The new production, titled Moving Home, represents the largest joint production the area

Take a look at these extraordinary photos of the flooding June 11-16—they capture the fury and devastation of the rising waters—at this Boston Globe site. To give you an idea of their impact, here's one of flood waters from the Iowa River deluging Oakville, Iowa, on  June 15.  (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

We all need to pitch in to help those who have lost everything. Here are some ways

Here's the latest news from Mel Andringa and John Herbert, of CSPS, the innovative community arts organzation in Cedar Rapids, just 3 blocks from the Cedar River and smack dab in the heart of the worst flooding:

 "The good news is that today we gained access to CSPS. We can now tell you that the upper floors, where Legion Arts is located, suffered very little damage from the flood. The building as