An Icy Iowa Welcome

One way to wake up after spending time in a stuffy airplane cabin is to step out into a chilly Iowa night with icy pellets hitting exposed skin. Such was my experience late yesterday. Then this morning I woke up to snow on the ground in Des Moines!

When I left New York in early afternoon there were a few sprinkles of rain and a nippy breeze. But there were also magnolias blooming along with daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths. When I went outside in Des Moines this morning I noticed a few more inches of growth on plants, some new shoots above ground, and still only a few buds on trees. Some people may choose the size of Des Moines over that of New York, but for me there are many other factors to consider, such as when flowers bloom.

It was for a new but traditional revenue-generating endeavor that I was in New York for the past several days. With daytime hours unavailable for sightseeing, I found I was unable to visit most museums and was too tired to attend literary readings in the evenings.

I was able to step into the George Gustave Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian. This is in the old Customs Building near the southern tip of Manhattan. The current installations are James Luna’s “Emendatio” and a group show, “Listening to Our Ancestors: The Art of Native Life Along the North Pacific Coast.” Perhaps because I had been expecting more historical education and not modern artistic interpretation, I was disappointed in the exhibitions. One of my new colleagues said he thinks the New York portion of the NMAI is geared more towards school children than adults.

The taste of water is a delight in New York and I enjoyed every sip. There was no musty taste of decayed leaves nor was there need to filter out excess ntirogen and other farm runoffs.

The number of people gathered on the train from the airport and at Penn Station was a shock at first. It took me only a couple days to forget about the crowds, though. They do not exist everywhere in the city nor at all times. Even the lack of large trees alongside most streets was not missed as I became reacquainted with the numerous parks and other places to enjoy nature. There’s not really any place in Iowa to use as a comparison for the New York crowds. The Iowa state fair may have sufficient people in one space at one time, but I don’t recall the moments of privacy that can be found in a city park nor the congestion of bodies at subway stops.

The flight attendant on the trip back to Des Moines had a two-day layover here. This is her first visit to the city and she was looking forward to doing some shopping. I wish her a fun stay in Iowa.

M.R. Field writes for AroundDesMoines.com.