I like March for at least two reasons: It’s not February, and it’s Iowa History Month.
To celebrate, grab yourself a scotcheroo and read Anthony Taylor’s thoughtful profile of State Curator Hanna Howard, the first woman to serve in the role since the State Historical Society of Iowa was founded in 1857. She approaches her work as a team project, guided by the idea that our collective story benefits from many voices and perspectives.
When I was in grad school, an empty passageway connected the journalism school, where we chased the latest news, and the geology department, where glass cases displayed fossils and rocks — the older the better. Few students ever used the hallway. We didn’t need to; we lived in different worlds.
But here in this magazine, the past and present are inseparable. Every story in this issue builds on a layer of Iowa history, even if it’s relatively recent. There’s a preview of the musical “Suffs,” which features a juicy role for Carrie Chapman Catt from Charles City. There’s a profile of Cortney Kintzer, whose half-century career in TV news included the pope’s visit in 1979, the floods of ’93 and several trips to the White House.
You’ll also read about longtime Iowa Cubs leader Sam Bernabe and bocce, a sport with deep Italian roots on the city’s south side. Even our Home section opens with a little house on the prairie.
And, of course, our cover story features the Roosevelt Sharks, who present their 100th annual synchronized swimming pageant later this spring.
At the State Historical Museum, where Howard works, a pre-statehood exhibit called “You Gotta Know the Territory” borrows its title from “The Music Man” by Mason City native Meredith Willson. (His musical returns to the Des Moines Civic Center on March 20, a few weeks before “Suffs.”) The lyric suggests that if you really want to understand a place, you have to dig beneath the surface — just ask the salesmen on the Rock Island train to River City.
Or ask Mark Green, who offers some wine tips in our Dish section. He encourages people to pay attention to climate, soil, elevation and other grape-growing factors that influence how a wine tastes. In other words, you gotta know the terroir.
I’m not sure which wines pair well with a scotcheroo, but I do know this place matters. And I hope the stories in the following pages help you taste a little more of Iowa. Cheers
