The opinion piece by Stephen Bloom, a professor at the University of Iowa, has generated considerable statewide and national reactions about Iowa. I disagree strongly with and was offended by Professor Bloom’s portrayal of Iowa and Iowans. Please know that he does not speak for the University of Iowa. As President of the University, I have the opportunity to travel far and wide across this great state frequently, and the Iowa I see is one of strong, hard-working and creative people. In this cynical world that can harden even the greatest optimist, the citizens of Iowa continue to believe.

Shortly after I came to this wonderful state, we were faced with a historic flood that devastated communities up and down the eastern corridor of Iowa. What I saw, though, in some of our darkest hours was the best that Iowa has to offer — our people. I saw sandbags being filled. I saw communities rallying together to help their neighbors protect what they treasured. I didn’t see woeful distress or abandonment.

What defines Iowans are their deeds and actions and not some caricature. When I travel the state, what I see is a land that is rich not only because of its soil but because of how its people are grounded. Iowans are pragmatic and balanced, and they live within their means. This lifestyle, while not glitzy, is humble and true and can weather the most difficult of times. One’s reputation and word are understood to be his or her most valued attributes. As a result, people cultivate a sense of fairness, cooperation, and humility.

These values are exactly what you find in the hundreds of small towns in Iowa, which are the moral fabric of our state. When you look deeper within these communities, you will find independent farmers who are savvy business people on par with any corporate executive. As every Iowan knows, farming is a multi-million dollar business for them, demanding a close grasp of markets, finance, technology, and more. I have also seen Iowa towns large and small grasping with the challenges of the economic downturn. We are not immune to such troubles that have gripped every corner of the nation. But in these towns from river to river are entrepreneurs who are making businesses work. There’s no shortage of dedicated, creative, and daring Iowans who are finding what works.

Dubuque is a perfect example of a river town that struggled but has reinvented itself by tearing down industrial plants to reclaim a stunning waterfront and build a convention center and world-class museum. Cedar Rapids, likewise, claims Rockwell Collins as a thriving centerpiece of economic development. Across the state in Council Bluffs, you will find Google – the company that has come to define the new age economy.

You also don’t have to look far to immerse yourself in the fine arts. No fewer than seven Iowa communities claim symphony orchestras, and it goes without saying that no other state comes close to comparing with Iowa’s tradition of literary excellence and creativity. When you can boast one of five Cities of Literature worldwide — and the only one in the United States — you’re in a class all alone.

As the country knows, we start the nominating process for the president. There is not a day that goes by when some pundit doesn’t ask, “Why Iowa?” My husband and I are transplanted Iowans, having been born and raised on opposite coasts. We are both proud to call Iowa home, and we are fascinated by the Iowa caucuses and how thoroughly Iowans become involved in the selection process of a president.

My sincere hope is that those who visit our beautiful state take at least a small piece of our character with them as it might make their own neighborhood even better.

In a piece published online in the Atlantic this month, Bloom refers to rural Iowans as “lacking in educated,” among other things. When walking his dog near his Iowa City home, Bloom writes, he’s frequently stopped and asked about the pet’s hunting prowess:

And here’s the point: I can’t tell you how often over the years I’d be walking Hannah in our neighborhood and someone in a pickup would pull over and shout some variation of the following:

“Bet she hunts well.”

“Do much hunting with the bitch?”

“Where you hunt her?”

To me, it summed up Iowa. You’d never get a dog because you might just want to walk with the dog or to throw a ball for her to fetch. No, that’s not a reason to own a dog in Iowa. You get a dog to track and bag animals that you want to stuff, mount, or eat.

Bloom’s Iowa City home is in the Longfellow Elementary neighborhood. Barack Obama won almost 80 percent of the votes in that precinct in 2008, more than any other precinct in the state’s bluest county. And in 2010, then-Gov. Chet Culver also won about 80 percent of the vote in Bloom’s precinct, well above the percentage Culver earned anywhere else in the county.

Bloom continues to refer to controversial pieces of his column as “uncomfortable truths,” despite numerous commentators pointing out factual errors in the piece:

• UPDATE: Bloom story corrections
• Real observations from 20 years of Iowa life
• Here’s The Gazette’s Easter Sunday front page in 1994

“The thing that angers me is the characterization that I don’t know what I’m talking about, that I’m an elitist,” Bloom reported told media blogger Jim Romenesko. “This is what I think good journalists ought to do. You start talking about uncomfortable truths and oftentimes people reject those.”

Bloom goes on to say the piece “never would have appeared in an Iowa publication because no Iowa publications would have the guts to have run it.”

The Daily Iowan was never contacted about running the piece.

Bloom also tells Romenesko that he plans to return to Iowa after his guest teaching stint this year at University of Michigan.

But the Iowa I know couldn’t me more different than the Iowa Bloom, a University of Iowa journalism professor, describes in an article recently published in the *Atlantic* describing Iowans as “those clinging to guns and religion.”

A born-and-bred Iowan who plans to someday raise kids here, I can tell you the following excerpts from Blooms column (which represent a small sample of the ridiculous claims Bloom makes) are outright false.

“Men over 50 don’t leave home without a penknife in their pocket.”

Neither of my grandpas — both life-long rural Iowans — carried a penknife.

“Meatloaf and pork chops are king.”

I’m a vegetarian and I’m not starving.

“Jell-O molds (cottage cheese with canned pears or pineapple) are what to bring to wedding receptions and funerals.”

I’ve never been to an Iowa wedding reception that wasn’t professionally catered.

“You can’t drive too far without seeing a sign for JESUS or ABORTION IS LEGALIZED MURDER.”

I’ve probably rode a million miles on Iowa highways and have only seen a handful of signs like those.

To be clear, it’s not as though I’m a Johnson County city slicker, out of touch with rural Iowans. My parents graduated with a class of 53 — still the biggest ever class to leave Preston High School, I’m told — and I’ve spent at least a dozen weekends each year on the Jackson County farm that Sullivan’s have owned and operated for more than 100 years.

So Bloom takes a few creative liberties to paint a picture. That’s his right as an author, I suppose. What’s more troubling for someone who’s paid by the state to teach journalism is that Bloom messes up the facts in order to make his point.

“Not much travels along the muddy and polluted Mississippi these days except rusty-bucket barges of grain and an occasional kayaker circumnavigating garbage, beer cans, and assorted debris,” he writes.

But, as my friend and progressive blogger Paul Deaton points out, much more actually travels down the state’s Easterly water border. Coal, oil distillates, coiled steel, other metals, fertilizer and a slew of other goods travel by barge down the Mississippi.

After laying out what’s otherwise an accurate account of Iowa’s geography, Bloom moves to politics. Of course, no discussion of Iowa’s politics can even start without mention of gay marriage, a heated issue which has grabbed newspaper headlines here consistently for three years now.

“Marriage between two same-sex people is legal in Iowa for now, but may not be for long. So far, Democrats have blocked a statewide referendum on the issue (Dems hold sway in the Iowa Senate 26-24), but if Republicans take control of the Senate, gay marriage could — and likely would — be repealed,” Bloom writes.

The author oversimplifies the issue, likely to the point of inaccuracy. In fact, Iowans are warming quite nicely to the idea of same-sex marriage. Even if Republicans somehow do get a referendum to ban gay marriage on a state-wide ballot — a tall order on its own — it’s not clear Iowans would squelch marriage equality. My friend and D.C.-area journalist Jim Malewitz points to polling data which shows Iowans are basically split evenly on whether gay marriage ought to be legal.

A long-time journalism professor, Bloom must at least have some apt criticism of the state’s newspapers, though, right? Not quite.

“When my family and I first moved to Iowa, our first Easter morning I read the second-largest newspaper in the state (the Cedar Rapids Gazette) with this headline splashed across Page One: HE HAS RISEN. … The editors obviously thought that everyone knew who He was, and cared,” Bloom writes.

But my friend and *Gazette* staffer Patrick Hogan dug through the paper’s archives from around the time Bloom moved to the state and didn’t find such a headline. And Hogan correctly goes on to ask whether, even if the headline is real, a newspaper package from the year today’s college juniors were born have much meaningful reflection on today’s Iowa? I don’t think so.

To his credit, Bloom wrote a compelling story about a quaint rural place. Unfortunately, that place doesn’t exist in the real world. And if it does, it certainly isn’t Iowa.

Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson speaks to a crowd at a Strong America Now event in Des Moines this past Saturday. (Rachel Jessen/The Daily Iowan)

And then a mainstream media reporter — from The Newspaper Iowa Depends Upon, in fact — lobbed up a softball, as though she wanted to give the nice Minnesota man a break from talking about issues. She said he’d taken some criticism on his last debate performance and she was wondering how he planned to recover therefrom.

Is that a question Iowa depends upon?

Inquiries like that are the norm now, not the exception. Mainstream news reporters take the term “political arena” too literally. They actually turn elections into sport, asking about campaign strategy, image-sculpting, and audience reception. Those things are interesting and there’s a place for them. However, the place for them is not instead of reporting about issues, as is the case at most publications today.

After any event that hosts a crowd of reporters, I like to check on what the other reporters came up with to make sure my relatively immature news judgement didn’t miss something important.

First I went to that dependable newspaper, the Des Moines Register. Political columnist Kathie Obradovich had written a post titled, “Gary Johnson at Strong America: Slash defense.” All right; some real, solid issues-based reporting about the military budget.

Nope. Instead, Obradovich writes about how former New Mexico Gov. Johnson is unpalatable to Iowa caucus-goers because wants to legalize pot and bring down the behemoth defense budget. However, she doesn’t cite any polling data to prove that’s the case, instead relying on her trusty conventional wisdom — the same conventional wisdom that would have told you we’d never have a black president, a gay GOP candidate, or demands for another Bush. A chorus of readers have commented on the story, calling the author out for the unfair assumption. Obradovich has not yet responded.

Other mainstream media accounts were better, but not Pulitzer-winners.

O. Kay Henderson at Radio Iowa focused on the deficit issue, but spent too much time quoting talking points and too little time critically evaluating what they had to say.

The Register’s Jason Clayworth jumped into the debate over whether Pawlenty left Minnesota with a deficit. That’s a solid issue to report on, but the reporter cites Pawlenty saying he didn’t leave a deficit instead of crunching the numbers to find the truth. A headline reading “Pawlenty didn’t leave state with $6.2 billion deficit” would have been much stronger than the headline used: “Pawlenty: I didn’t leave my state in a $6.2 billion deficit.”

That danger of non-substantive campaign reporting is that it encourages non-substantive voting. We have a terrible epidemic in the U.S. of voters casting ballots based on candidates’ style and tone. The best example of that is Barack Obama in 2008 — there was evidence before the election that the Illinois Democrat was a pro-war corporatist, but the news media did a poor job of reporting that. So voters got excited about Obama’s message and neglected the issues.

The same happens on the Republican side, of course. You’ll hear caucus-goers talking about how they care mostly about values and convictions, rather than about positions and experience. That happens because punditry about the candidates’ image is widely available, but reliable information about what the candidates proposals are likely to do are hard to come by.

But it’s the effect on independents that is possibly the most unfortunate. Shallow political coverage and the portrayal of politics as a game encourages non-partisans to stay on the bench.

The tone Herman Cain took in his speech in the IMU second floor ballroom on Monday was troublingly adversarial.

Cain’s continued efforts to make his points by playing off of subconscious us v. them relationships resonated with an unsettlingly receptive crowd. His question and answer session and his speech were underscored by the theme of an America beset on all sides and from within by enemies of freedom. Cain’s favorite target for riling up the crowd: Muslims. While talking to reporters, Cain commended the actions  of the voters in Oklahoma who passed a referendum banning Sharia law in Oklahoma courts.

OPEC members (in Cain’s parlance, “King Abdullah and the boys”) were “playing us like a fiddle,” he said. He outlined his policy with China by listing facts about how soon the median income for Chinese families will match the median income for American families, saying “what are they going to do with that extra money? They’re going to put it into their military and make it as good as ours!” America’s gay population was also threatening the rest of society, according to Cain. He made it very clear that he doesn’t want gays forcing their preferences on the rest of “us.” In other words, stalwart American defenders of freedom must confront an existential threat.

This confrontation has necessary casualties. One of Cain’s mantras is that you “only save the saveable.” It was clear who he thinks is “saveable,” and it’s the same people included in the group he considers to be “us.”

Cain’s elect doesn’t mean all Americans, or all Iowans, or even every person in the 2nd floor ballroom who came to listen to Cain speak. It doesn’t include gays, liberals, Muslims, or anyone else who doesn’t agree with Cain and Vander Plaats’s brand of reactionary social conservatism. If Cain attains the presidency, the country he represents will necessarily include more than just the people he thinks are “true Americans.”

Divisive demagogues have no place in the White House.

Countries are divided along fairly typical lines — global north vs. global south, rich vs. poor. The more than 100 countries in the developing world want advanced developed nations to commit to deeper emissions reductions and more money to finance adaptation and mitigation — essentially a continuation of the Kyoto Protocol. So far, the only country to commit to emission cuts along the lines of United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommendations is Norway . Developed countries have committed to a numerical amount for “fast track” (10 billion U.S. dollars for three years) climate funding, but so far have been silent on long-term figures.

The U.S. has shied away from a more ambitious commitment because of domestic political constraints. The EU is willing to commit to a 30 percent cut from 1990 levels, but only if other developed nations commit to that number as well. On the financing front, the US has balked at the notion that it’ll finance China to adapt to climate change.

This may seem like a redux of disagreements from three weeks ago — even three months ago — but they have still not been resolved in Copenhagen. Most heads of states have arrived by now, with anticipation growing for President Obama’s arrival on Friday. Because so much disagreement still remains, the final deal will probably reflect the commitments each country put on the table prior to the conference. And it’s likely the entire conference process will continue along a two-track pathway.

Whatever the final shape the Copenhagen agreement takes, it is absolutely necessary that it include a time line and a deadline for when a legally binding agreement will be signed. There are many outstanding issues that need to be resolved, climate finance being only one of them. But to leave Copenhagen without a deadline for a legally binding agreement would essentially be a failure.

Outside of the conference, many NGOs who are not allowed inside have been protesting, leading to many arrests. The UN has severely cut the number of civil society participants that can enter the Bella Center, where the conference is taking place. While 45,000 people were accredited to attend the conference, the conference center can only accommodate 15,000 people. The first week and on Monday of this week, no restrictions were placed on attendance. As heads of states arrive, the security has tightened.

—by Simeon Talley

That was the reply from the owners of the Pentacrest Garden apartment complex concerning whether they wanted to sell their property to the UI for the new Hancher/Voxman/Clapp complex.

It was a blunt and stinging rebuke to the UI community — a community hopeful that the downtown location could be a possible spot for the School of Music.

This newfound obstacle places at the forefront an option that will further split the opposing parties: eminent domain.

The owners of the apartment complex have every legal right not to sell to this university. It is their property and theirs to do with as they choose. However, the UI has the right to use eminent domain to secure the property for their disposal. The only requirement is that the university pay fair market price for the land.

In the past, the Editorial Board has been unsupportive of the university’s possible use of eminent domain. It would be a public relations nightmare for the university to try to justify their actions to a community that desperately needs the property taxes this land provides the city.

The owners of the property have left the UI in one of its toughest positions in recent history. The UI has never used eminent domain to overtake a residential or commercial property in Iowa City. And some hope that trend continues.

Unfortunately for those who back the use of eminent domain, the city and many UI officials seem to be growing ever closer in putting their full support behind this option.

Mayor Regina Bailey told the DI that the benefits of the site outweigh the loss of $110,000 in property taxes.

Mayor Bailey is correct in assuming that position. The amount of money that will be funneled into the local economy from having such a large facility downtown will be a windfall for Iowa City.

Nonetheless, we should hope that the decision to use eminent domain is a last resort for the university. Personally, I think the downtown site is the more attractive option. But if we continue to bicker and fight over the future location of Hancher, then this issue becomes more troublesome than is necessary.

—by Michael Davis

The Church passed a resolution supporting legislation that will block bias against homosexuals in regards to obtaining jobs and purchasing residential property. Gay rights advocates have commended the church’s ability to cross the picket lines and strive for mutual respect and compassion. I, on the other hand, am less impressed and more astonished by their hypocrisy.

The only reason that this Utah legislation will pass is due to the rights it will protect for the Mormon church. They will still be allowed to block entry into their church from any gay group looking to express their policies and social freedom.

The church seems content with satisfying their own ideologies at a time when they benefit the most. During the Proposition 8 campaign, the Mormon Church spewed their single-minded hatred towards another group of Americans.

It’s sickening how the Mormon Church seems so dead set on creating a schism between those who want equality and those that fight for it.  In my ideal world, those that create a world where bigotry and hatred are as common as the rain should be locked in a closet until they become a happier bunch of Americans.

Yes, I understand that their scripture and teachings are against this so-called “destruction of marriage.” It’s just so odd that a group who wants to represent peace and prosperity in the world would go so far — and to such lengths — to tarnish any hope for the general happiness of other well-intentioned citizens.

I have respect for all religions. This might be tough to understand given my intense hatred for the Mormon Church and what they represent. We live in a free country where each person or group is free to express their own beliefs in whatever legal manner available to them.

I just don’t have to like it — and nor should you if you believe in freedom and equality.

—by Michael Davis

It’s almost mid-way through the hairiest month of the year. All around the country — and all around the UI campus — men are feeling more like men.

“No-Shave November” has grown into a nation-wide celebration of facial hair faster than it would have taken Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead to grow a new mustache. This week is the first major test of endurance for my fellow participants.

It’s the time when neck stubble turns into full-length whiskers. It’s the time when the uncomfortable mustache hairs start curling over your lips and into your mouth. It’s the time when moisturizing lotion and conditioner no longer relieve your neck of the seemingly unbearable itch.

Instead of giving up and letting yourself take that razor to your face, use the discomfort and dissenting view of your girlfriend as motivation. Even if you have a beard like Michael Jackson did when he was on trial, keep it going.

Every day it seems more and more no-shavers give in, making excuses of why they “have” to shave their beards: You have an office job, you’re going on a date, you can’t bear the itch, you’re grandparents will get mad if you rock that scraggily beard to Thanksgiving dinner.

My response? Deal with it.

Need motivation?

As college students, this could be the last time in years you’re able to see what you’re working with. Sure, there are always times to grow out another beard — your favorite sports team makes the playoffs, you go on vacation, or you just don’t bother shaving for a few days.

But, my friends, November provides us with a unique to become part of a community. Besides just the people you see on your way to class whose faces are just as fuzzy as yours, think about some of the names you can associate yourself with when you finally have a fully.

Chuck Norris: A martial arts master, and a man whose beard doesn’t hide a chin, but another fist.

Zeus: The ruler of the gods. With the power to toss lighting bolts, this guy meant business.

Sean Connery: The original James Bond — one of the manliest of men — has a beard that could steal any woman’s heart.

And Ben Roethlisberger: The man won the Super Bowl earlier this year. Enough said.

So, whatever your excuse may be, forget it. No Shave November is not for quitters.

It’s not for trimmers. It may not even be for swimmers.

No Shave November is for manly men, and manly men we will be.

—by Chris Clark