Anniversaries in Iowa City

This morning I’m touching up my PowerPoint for a presentation I’m doing on XML this week. Seems like the spring semester disappeared in a flash. We went to El Ranchero last night around 7pm and were seated immediately. It’s amazing how different this town is when the students are gone. Everything kind of empties out for a few months during the summer.

The main thing I note with Memorial Day Weekend is the passage of time. This weekend marks my anniversary of having come to Iowa City. As of this weekend, I’ve been here seven years. Friends wonder from afar how I could move to Iowa and worse yet STAY there. But I must say I’ve enjoyed my time here. I’ve picked up a master’s degree, worked as an adjunct professor, and enjoyed the people I’ve met here. Many people you find here in Iowa City have come here from someplace else.

That said, I’ll say that I think Iowa City and Johnson County by extension is somewhat different from the rest of Iowa. In terms of politics, it’s the only county that votes Democratic in a Republican state. In other parts of Iowa, Iowa City is known as “Sin City.” Of course, being midwestern it’s actually pretty mellow as far as that goes. Iowa City isn’t really big enough or seedy enough to have a red-light district. It is often listed towards the top of American cities friendly to gays and lesbians.

Iowa City is a town of two identities, and sometimes it struggles with that. On one hand is the literary nature of the city. Iowa City is known for the Writer’s Workshop, which was the first of its kind in the nation. Over the years it has churned out a whole host of well-known writers. At one time, receiving a master’s degree for creative work was unheard — but is quite commonplace. I think the Writer’s Workshop students receive an MFA. The Workshop focuses on fiction and poetry, but there’s also a nonfiction writing program here and also an International Writer’s Workshop program.

The other identity for Iowa City is that of a research town. To the chagrin of the literary folk, the University of Iowa administration tend to claim the UI as a research university and somewhat recently that has become their primary focus. We are home to a large teaching hospital, which ranks highly on many national scales, and have centers for research on numerous fronts.

So the two sides peacefully coexist for the most part. That is to say, that no matter if you’re into literature and writing or science and medicine, there is a lot going on in this town.