Last month I visited family in the Bay Area of California – plenty of time to see some differences between Polk County in Central Iowa and San Mateo County just south of San Francisco. In the earlier post, more objective, quantifiable data were compared.

While some of the differences can be easily compared, it is harder to quantify other differences, such as

• food, gardening
• travel, commuting
• baseball, activities
• stress

Grocery shopping? California may have a big edge here.

• CA has New Leaf, Whole Foods, and Andronico’s, natural food stores where you can get everything you need; while the prices are a little higher on some items (especially the meat), the produce is ripe and fresh – likely because it doesn’t travel far.
• The only places like that in IA are the farmers’ markets: Des Moines Farmer’s Market, and other local markets; Iowa City’s New Pioneer Food Coop; Ames’ Wheatsfield Grocery. In contrast to CA, Des Moines-based New City Market and Campbell’s Nutrition are quite small by comparison.
• When it comes to the commercial chains (except for the produce) IA’s Hy-Vee and Dahl’s compare favorably with Safeway in CA.

Home gardening? This will get your attention! There is a wait of 4 to 7 years to get a 100 sq ft garden plot in the Fort Mason Community Garden. That is a plot about the size of a very small bedroom. We’ve had picnics at Fort Mason more than once, and it is a beautiful spot as you can see on the right; but it’s easier to find a spot to garden in Iowa.

Food, in general? My impression is that

• Iowa wins on beef and pork
• California wins on fruits and vegetables

Driving? I find it easier to drive in the Bay Area, but enough said about that.

Cars? This is a strange experience. I drove my sister’s hot rod Lincoln for 4 weeks, and you wouldn’t believe what I have seen and have not seen.

• I saw only ten 2009 Chevrolet Impalas in 20 days
• instead? Toyota, Mercedes, Lexus, Hyundai, BMW, Acura, Honda, Volvo and a few Ford cars and Chevy trucks

Public Transit? The Purple Wren and I stayed in a coastal California community about the size of Grinnell, Iowa and took lots of public transit too.

• twice to San Francisco and back (SamTrans bus and CalTrain)
• once to Oakland and part way back (walked a block to SamTrans buses then BART right to the Coliseum)
• around San Francisco (Muni)

Baseball? Definitely a lot of winners here! Whether you live in the Bay Area or Des Moines, you can see good professional baseball: San Francisco Giants; Oakland A’s; Iowa Cubs. I saw the A’s and the Tigers and my favorite Tiger Curtis Granderson (shown left), but the best part was spending the afternoon with my nephew John who rode BART from Berkeley. We had great seats, but you know, it’s hard to beat an afternoon in Principal Park right here in Des Moines!

Activities? There is more to do in both places than I can ever get to.

Stress? I am not sure that stress is the right word – intensity might be better. The pace is faster, and the crowd is larger in CA. It is a line-up kind of place, and longer lines – at the movies, banks, grocery stores, restaurants, traffic, bus/CalTrain/BART stops. It’s all exciting and intense, but it creates a little more stress. When the Purple Wren and I moved back after a year in CA 10 years ago, I said, “I could live in CA, but I wouldn’t live as long.” I’ll stand by that.

Well, you win some, you lose some, and sometimes you tie. I’m happy to be here; I was happy to be there.

The wheels have come off at GM, but it could be worse.

After all, you will wake up on Tuesday June 2, 2009, and there will still be a General Motors. (That’s good.) You will own the lion’s share of GM until (and if) it starts to make money, and then someone else will get to buy it back. (That’s mixed.) I would probably favor the idea that we (aka, the federal government/U. S. Treasury) would make some big bucks before we sell. Some question whether making money anytime soon is going to happen.

If you read 2008 Salisbury Automobile Classic on AroundDesMoines.com last September -especially the links to Billy Durant – you know that GM has had its share of trouble.

Billy Durant created GM in 1908 for a small sum of money, raised a large sum of money by selling stock, bought Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Oakland (Pontiac), was pushed out in 1910, quickly joined forces with a race driver named Chevrolet and founded Chevrolet Motors, regained GM in 1916, was forced out again in 1920, and before he could rebuild his fortune, was ruined in the stock market crash of 1929. Durant was a dandy entrepreneur who lived too close to the edge once too often.

You can examine the way GM views its history. While the Web site has a corporate spin, the photos make it great fun for a car buff.

CNBC.com has a timeline history that was posted on May 27 2009. While it wanders a bit, it has a lot of facts.

The foreign press is sometimes a nice read since they mince fewer words. Try the Telegraph.co.uk from England.

So while the trouble at GM is not the first trouble, it is the biggest bankruptcy in U. S. history, and it does have our attention.

I sure hope we like the changes in GM ‘cuz looking for a Chevy is never going to be the same.

photos by flickr by bobster885 and James G. Lindberg

President Obama asked all Americans recently to make an extra effort to honor our veterans this Memorial Day. While I have many reasons and many relatives that always make me think about veterans and service on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, Obama’s invitation prompted me to go to the Memorial Day Program at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. It was a good decision.

There were veterans, young and old, many decorated (including the 8% who are women). They came from every branch of the military and stood in turn while a band played the song of each branch

In the photo above you can see Representative and Vietnam veteran Leonard Boswell; keynote speaker, Iowan, Vietnam veteran and ex-POW, now retired Lt. Cmdr. Larry Spencer, and Vietnam Veteran Marty Cardines of Des Moines, all standing in front of Patrick J. Palmersheim, Executive Director of the Iowa Department of Veteran Affairs. and 1st Lt. Martha Kester, a Chaplain in the Iowa Army National Guard (seated). Cardines (shown below and left) received medals for service and exceptional courage in Vietnam. His actions in Vietnam were exemplary, but his records were not carefully kept. It has taken decades for the bureaucracy to catch up, but catch up it did, and everyone present was honored to be part of the recognition ceremony.

Near the end of the ceremony National Guard member, Edwin Gonzalez (whose photo is shown below), a native of Honduras, was sworn in as a U. S. citizen. He is scheduled to be deployed overseas within two months. He was happy and proud.

Me too.

Retired Lt. Cmdr. Spencer, a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War and ex-POW offered comments with grace and humor, understating the difficulties he experienced as a prisoner of war. He emphasized the importance of communication, of community in the home and in the service, and of the joy of being part of Iowa and the Midwest. He closed by saying that any day that you wake up, look at the door to your bedroom, and find a knob on the inside, you know it is going to be a good day.

photos by James G. Lindberg

Not all families were so fortunate to have their loved ones return from war safely. Every family has its own stories. Every combat veteran’s story is difficult. Every veteran is affected and every family is affected. The veterans themselves are least likely to use the term hero. In one sense the following is one family’s story, in another every family’s.

The Purple Wren’s family is just one example.

• her Uncle Kay Anderson, a science teacher turned navigator in the Army Air Corps in WW2, was killed on take-off when his bomb-laden B-17 clipped the tree tops; he is buried in England
• her father Bob Renshaw as an infantryman in the South Pacific fought in some of the toughest battles of WW2 including beach landings; he returned safely and deeply affected
• her Uncle Stan Swanson served in the Army in WW2; near 90 he lives in Arizona
• her only other uncle, Minnesota native, Medal of Honor winner, Lt. Colonel Leo Thorsness was an F-105 pilot flying Wild Weasel missions over Vietnam when he was shot down, captured, and held in Hanoi for six years. His backseater was Iowan Harold E. “Harry” Johnson. His story is powerful, and he is a frequent speaker in the Midwest. You can hear his story in a 90 minute video at Pritzker Military Library. You may also want to read Leo Thorsness’s book Surviving Hell: A POW’s Journey.

Every family has its own stories.

photo by flickr by OZinOH

Good message!

Become the generation that will be called the Re-Generation.

Thomas Friedman, New York Times world affairs columnist and prolific author, gave the commencement address at Grinnell College on Monday May 19, 2009. You can hear the entire address (in 3 installments totaling just under 25 minutes) courtesy of YouTube.

In his initial remarks Friedman related several issues cited by fellow journalist Kurt Andersen in his recent Time magazine article, The End of Excess.

Continuing, Friedman then focused on a generational theme, first on the The Greatest Generation (that of his parents and grandparents – the generation that survived The Great Depression then fought in World War II). He cited the qualities that characterized the greatest generation:

• hard work
• delayed gratification
• achievement oriented
• focused attention

Those were my parents too and I would add to that list

• frugal
• humble
• accountable

Friedman contrasted the Greatest Generation with his own generation, the baby boomers (post-WWII babies) and named that generation the Grasshopper Generation – eating through the fabric of the nation like hungry locusts. He credited the grasshopper generation with such dubious qualities as

• excess (over-consuming, over-building, over-borrowing, over-lending, over-eating) and
• dumb as we wanna be (delaying the solutions to Social Security, health care, energy, environment, and immigration).

He cited the subprime meltdown in particular as illuminating a decline in basic values, risk management, accountability, and ethics.

Friedman then challenged the Grinnell graduates to become the Re-Generation

that could restore the basic values of

• hard work
• accountability

and added that the graduates should carry with them

• ethics
• uncompromising idealism
• unbending convictions
• principled behaviors

and that they should create value through

• invention
• innovation
• imagination

all in order to do real engineering of materials, of services, of societal movement that fulfill needs, both seen and unseen.

It was great advice to the Grinnell College Class of 2009.

Friedman also told an interesting story with several Iowa connections. While studying in London in 1975 and dating wife-to-be Ann Bucksbaum, daughter of Carolyn “Kay” (a Grinnell alum) and Matthew Bucksbaum (an Iowa alum), Friedman (not a journalist at the time) was so stirred by the politics of the day that he wrote an op-ed piece. Ann carried it back to Des Moines. The piece made its way to The Des Moines Register editorial page editor who published it. Friedman received $50, and he was hooked as a journalist. Thus, Friedman’s exceptional career has a strong Des Moines connection.

If you’d like to read two recent Friedman books try

• The World Is Flat
• Hot, Flat and Crowded.

photos by James G. Lindberg

And a good time was had by all.

The State Historical Museum of Iowa is a wonderful place. Visit frequently

• by yourself
• with your children
• with your grandchildren

Use any excuse.

They are quite pleased to tell you that they are open every day of the year except for Thanksgiving and Christmas. That’s a credit to them; they serve the public first.

The museum has permanent exhibits and changing exhibits, and they are all very well done. One exhibit that seems to be a sure hit traces the history of people in Iowa and their connections to our natural resources. That’s where the buffalo above is found, along with loons, foxes, raptors, and other Iowa creatures.

When you first enter the museum, you are greeted by a mammoth skeleton. When I was there Tuesday that prompted the question, “Was it really that big?” Mammoths ranged from 9′ to 15′ tall and roamed the Midwest during the Ice Age. Read up at the museum’s site or go see for yourself.

There are also artifacts and modern representations of Native American cultures including a walk through bark shelter. While I went through it four times in both directions, my unofficial 7 year old guide was leading a fast-paced tour, and some of the details have escaped me – a decent docent nonetheless.

If you like local history Patten’s Neighborhood is terrific.

And you can visit a few exhibits on-line.

I went to the museum on Tuesday for the Irish Fest and did something for the first time: I got a green stegosaurus spray painted on my face. I thought it matched my personality.

Keep posted about the goings-on at the State Historical Museum. Until you get there, you won’t know how good it is – so go.

• visit the museum
• visit the gift shop
• use their archives
• use their libraries and special collections
• check out the education resources
• visit their remote historic sites away from Des Moines
• check out their historic preservation program
• read their publications
• volunteer and get involved

You can even rent space!

Or you can read what I said last year.

photos by James Lindberg and the Purple Wren

In the State of Iowa the Department of Elder Affairs is changing its name to Department on Aging. Local politicos think that the acronym DOA is too much of an in-your-face reminder. They are falling all over themselves trying not to use it.

The change from elder affairs to aging was made in order to conform with the names of federal agencies dealing with the elderly. Reuters reports that Iowa’s elder affairs chief John McCalley will not use the DOA acronym; he favors DA. That’s very sensitive of him. It’s bad enough to be feeling a little arthritic. We surely don’t want to be heading through a door that says DOA !

On the other hand DOA has a nice ring to it.

• It is a medical term, dead on arrival, meaning that a person was already dead upon the arrival of medical personnel. Oops. Sorry. That’s the reminder we’re trying to avoid here, isn’t it?
• D.O.A. was a 1950 movie, and if you remember it, you have business with the Department of Elder Affairs.
• It was also a 1988 movie and If you only saw the D.O.A. remake with Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid, try the DONQOTH BC, Department of Not Quite Over the Hill, But Close.
• If you think DOA stands for Dogbert Outplacement Agency (Dilbert), you probably have a sense of humor that allows you to think Iowa’s DOA flap is funny.
• If you think that DOA stands for the band Disciples of Annihilation with hits like Ya Mutha and Pound Down on Your Brain, I’m sure you’re not reading this blog.

In the meantime, don’t take yourself too seriously.

photo by flickr by Mike Licht

Will it melt in your mouth or stick to the roof of your mouth?

Maybe they hoped you wouldn’t notice, but The Hershey’s Company changed the formulation for some but not all of their candy. The news broke in September, 2008. Now Hershey’s has changed the names of some of their products because they can’t call them milk chocolate. What’s that slogan again? Is it, “If it’s Hershey’s, you’d better read the label?” I am not sure I have it quite right, but it’s something like that. I’m afraid, we’ll just have to read the label carefully. With an American icon like Hershey’s, I shouldn’t have to do that. Some of it’s milk chocolate; some of it ain’t.

Chemists use the term formula to describe the mixture of particular materials (ingredients) and amounts that go into various products, especially those that are sold to the public. It might be food, paint, steel, medicine, paper, ink, glue, or plastic. The term formulation describes the process of putting it together. Every commercial product has its own formula.

By law you can’t call a product milk chocolate unless it contains cocoa butter. In 2007, according to the New York Times (and elsewhere) in spite of lobbying by U. S. manufacturers to cheapen the ingredients, the FDA held their ground on chocolate.

On Friday when I told a friend of mine about the recent changes in some chocolate-like candy, she talked about her perception of the difference between real chocolate and the chocolate-like candy that looks like chocolate but now lacks the name. She talked about the oily film that formed on the roof of her mouth with some products. We talked about some of the better chocolates including European chocolate. She asked me what brands. When I suggested Lindt’s as one, she happily showed me the Lindt chocolate her husband had given her for Valentine’s Day. Lately I have found European chocolates Lindt, Toblerone, and Ritter Sport and American chocolate Ghirardelli in a lot of local grocery stores.

Of course you can always find great chocolates at Chocolaterie Stam right here in Des Moines too.

If you see a little chocolate on the Purple Wren‘s beak this week, it came from Chocolaterie Stam on Ingersoll.

Real chocolate costs a little more, but after all it’s not my lunch, it’s dessert!

photo by flickr by fensterbme and eszter