“I came to Iowa to visit my sister back in ’89, and I’ve been here ever since. I love being outdoors: hunting, fishing, just being in the beauty of nature.”
Courtney Ball
Mike Haverkamp
“I am firm believer in the balance of yin and yang in your life. I find great comfort in having a foot in both innovation and tradition.”
Melanie (Pete) Primasing Simply Divine Candy and Gift Shop
“When I was five years old, I wanted to do two things when she grew up: be a hairdresser and own a candy shop. It didn’t take long for me to get bored after I retired. I knew I wasn’t going to do hair, so I opened up a candy store. How many people get to say that do what they wanted to when they were five?”
Budo Heder Downtown Tailoring
“I went to school for mechanical engineering. When I got done, I worked for six months in a factory. Then a buddy and I decided to open up a discotheque, a coffee shop, and a restaurant.”
Cedar Rapids March for Our Lives Our youth show us how democracy is done.
“Change is coming, and we’re the generation who’s going to change it.” “I shouldn’t have to worry about an escape route from math class. I should be able to just focus on algebra.” -Lauren Ulveling and Cheyenne Mann
Hannah Kaiser
Hannah not only embraces the uniqueness of herself, but in others, too. She befriends others who are “different” and don’t have many friends. From her struggle with mental health, she relates to how they feel estranged from the world. She has a kind and sympathetic ear for everyone’s story.
Graeme Anderson You Have to Move
You can feel your heart pounding in your chest as you think about going inside. You have to go inside. You have to move. First, you have to look up, at this entirely new room, these entirely new people. This is karate. You are Graeme Anderson, 11 years old, and you have to move.
E is for Ellary The Klein Adoption Story
“Most children are born into a family, and then some are born for a family.” Nate & Jenny Klein have faced unbearable hardship and incredible joy on their journey to build a family. Watch their story of perseverance as they complete their second adoption — 3 years in the making.
DJ Freesmeier Perspective
“I love the relationships with photography. I love meeting people. I love when they look at the photo and see themselves as beautiful.”
Gregg Alliss Chasing the Storm
“I’ve heard it said that storm chasing is 99 percent boredom and 1 percent sheer terror.”
Betty Kiboko A love story
“I want people to love. Love, understanding is very important. I always think the troubles we have in life are because we don’t know each other. If you meet someone and have a good, friendly relationship with that person, it changes your life. Because you know them. You don’t just know about them. You know them.”
Andy Diercks Life and Love in the Bowling Alley
“We saw each other every Saturday morning,” Eventually, they were teammates; during their sophomore year of high school, they started dating. “And then we got married in that bowling center on lanes eight and nine,”
Jered and Shawn Camp Iowa Farm Sanctuary
“Saving five cows out of the cow industry of Iowa is nothing. It’s not even close to a drop in the bucket, but the impact that these five cows can make is huge. To have a place that people can come out and see the animals, and meet the animals, and pet them, and see how they interact, that’s how we plant the seeds of helping them get to where they can be more mindful of the choices they’re making.”
Zhen E Rammelsberg
“For the most part, my youth was wonderful and idyllic – until it wasn’t. I used to pray I wouldn’t look Asian. I didn’t want to be different. I didn’t want anything to do with Asian culture. I wanted to look American and I wanted all things American.”
PopUp Performance: Frances Luke Accord
Meet Nick and Brian from Frances Luke Accord. While visiting from Chicago, they captured our attention, and we thought we would share them with you.
Saddah Hadish Pop-up Performance
Every day we go to work at Vault Co-working Space, we are greeted by the friendly smile of Saddah Hadish. Only recently did we learn she had a lovely singing voice, so we convinced her to sing for us and share it with you. Enjoy, and happy holidays from all of us at Flow Media! Click “Read More” to watch the video.
Angela Kettle – Mindfulness
People won’t get a cancer screening because of how they think they’ll feel if they get a bad result. People act in corrupt ways to get a promotion because they think it will drastically improve their lives. But people are flawed in predicting what they want and need in their life because of the focalism effect.
So Long, Sultana! College begins, and our reporting ends.
Iowa friends say goodbye and best wishes to Sultana before she heads to Arizona for college. Sultana gives the peace sign from behind the table.…
Sultana’s Arrival A reprieve, but what's next?
Sultana arrived last Wednesday Early that morning, after waiting and carefully watching Door B of international arrivals for more than an hour, suddenly–during a moment…
Knee to Knee Reflections on a Community Conversation about Race
On Tuesday, July 19th, 2016, Flow Media hosted a “knee to knee” gathering of thirty-some community members from different backgrounds to hear personal stories and have a conversation about race. This is the first reflective piece produced from that gathering, written by our summer intern, Aren Buresh. The conversation was extraordinary, and full of love. We hope this is just the beginning.
Sultana Arrives Next Week Surprise!
We received this message from Emily Roberts last night and had to share with you. THE EMAIL WE’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! (Drum roll please…)…
Audrey Golden Law, Literature, and Neruda Enthusiast
“I think that fiction, especially novels, can help us to think about those issues of recovery and remedy in ways that perhaps the international court system cannot,”
Mario Affatigato Coe College Student Submission
“I know this sounds a little corny, but I’ve really liked Iowa; I’ve really liked Cedar Rapids in particular,” said Mario. “I think it’s a much better place to live. It’s a much better corner of the world than people who live here even imagine. I don’t think they can fathom how nice this place is when compared to the world at large.”
A Whirlwind of a Week Sultana's Story Goes Global
Dramatic Changes in the Last Few Days. Sultana’s friends in the U.S. have been busy trying to create conditions more favorable for her next student…
Susan Blad
We call her “Susan the Hatmaker” with all the affection the title can carry. This woman was willing to send her address to a stranger (who texts with improper grammar, no less), to make him a hat, to respond with an open heart. Who is she?
Tito Francisco
“From our country, the greeting is literally, ‘Have you eaten today?'”
LetSultanaLearn Campaign Called Off
We can help change Sultana’s Story, and we want you to be involved. On Tuesday, June 14th from 9:00am to noon, Central Standard Time, we’re asking hundreds of thousands of people to blitz Twitter and other social media with the hashtag #LetSultanaLearn.
Kitty Smith – “Salad Queen” Coe College Student Submission
She has been cooking for 40 years and still her eyes light up with passion when she talks about it. “I’ve got to go to work today and make the best salads I can for these kids,” she says. “Feeding people is important. People have to eat every single day, it keeps your brain and your body going.”
Frank Morosky
“I do great business during white elephant gift-giving season. A lot of people buy them as gag gifts, but many others have told me that I’ve saved their lives.”
What Does a Teenage Girl in Afghanistan Read? (Or watch?)
“I wake up early before anyone else in my family. For 30 minutes I bike and listen to music. And then I make tea for myself and drink it and read a book. Most of the time I read philosophy in the morning. And then I do some calculus problems.