The French call this time of year “la rentrée.” It’s a handy catch-all phrase that means “the return” — back from vacation, back to school, back to work and the routine. It’s all about going back but moving forward.
I hope you had a chance to get out of town this summer. It’s good for you. It’s good for the community, too.
This issue of dsm is full of stories about locals who brought home ideas from other places. Whether they left for a few days or a few years, their experiences out in the big wide world challenged or inspired them to make some changes here in Central Iowa.
George Formaro conducted pizza “research” in southern Italy to help his team make even better pizzas back here at Centro (read here), and Carlos Sims Jr. regularly treks to Honduras to meet the farmers who grow the beans for Happy Home Coffee (read here). Monica Goodlett’s stint in Appalachia prompted her to start a hiking group called Black Iowa Outdoors (read here).
And several of this year’s LGBTQ Legacy Leaders, notably Dan Jansen and Erin Sheriff, were motivated to live more openly and work harder for full equality after spending time out of state (read here).
It makes me wonder: Should the Legislature actually require native Iowans to live out of state for a year or two? I did, and I came to appreciate this place in a new way.
Of course, along with the boomerang Iowans, we also benefit from true newcomers. I can’t wait for you to meet the art enthusiast Agnieszka Pieta, whose path to Ankeny started in Poland (read here). And on the cover? That’s Gunilla Zachariasen, the Swedish-born model who married a French photographer and now plays Rummikub with her new friends in West Des Moines (read here).
So get outta here already. Go play outside. And tell us all about it when you come home.
