In “The Devil Wears Prada,” the icy magazine editor played by Meryl Streep barely raises her voice to shoot down a pitch at a staff meeting. “Florals? For spring? … Groundbreaking.”
That same voice popped into my head after we chose this issue’s cover photo — a leaf for fall — but I’ll stand by our decision. The cover is really two artworks in one: Juanjo Novella’s monumental steel leaf at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden and our photographer Duane Tinkey’s precisely composed shot of it. He took care to get the lighting just so, with the garden’s glass dome glowing in the background. It’s a striking image. I like it more every time I see it.
Besides, sometimes it makes sense to lean into the season. This time of year, I find myself lingering in the school-supplies aisle at Hy-Vee even though I haven’t gone back to school in years and don’t shop for any students. I still buy new pens at the end of August, even though grocery lists are about the only thing I write by hand.
Fall still feels like a fresh start and a chance to learn something new. In this issue, you’ll learn all kinds of interesting stuff without facing a single pop quiz. You’ll read about medieval-style fighters who suit up in armor and wail on each other with axes and NEW LEAF swords. You’ll meet local LGBTQ leaders, two artists who sculpt with felt and an immigrant restaurateur who’s built a growing sushi empire. You might even drool over our photos of extravagant cakes and pick up some recipes people loved so much they carved them onto gravestones.
After I saw Duane’s cover shot, I learned the Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation commissioned the leaf sculpture to honor Tom Urban (1934- 2020), a lifelong learner who was just 33 when he became Des Moines’ mayor in 1968. He also led Pioneer Hi-Bred and championed several major civic initiatives, including the botanical garden’s evolution. His obituary noted that he “always believed Des Moines could set the standard for progress and be a city of continual renewal and rejuvenation.”
It seems fitting that the sculpture is called “Threshold” and forms a 16-foot-tall arch that visitors can walk through. When it was installed in 2021, the artist said “there is something barely perceptible but magical in the fact of crossing a door, of passing a threshold.”
Not every season asks us to invent something new. Sometimes it asks us to notice what’s been there all along. Sometimes, in a quiet way, a leaf can be groundbreaking.
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