The date was March 30, 1981, and I was a seventh-grade student at O.B. Laing Middle School in my hometown of Algona. I was a student in Mr. Zear’s science class, probably making batteries or miniature rockets or participating in some of the other hands-on science-based projects we worked on in his class. Mr. Zear made us think, but on that Monday afternoon, I learned an even greater life lesson from him.
Over the intercom system, sometime around 2 p.m. central time, we heard that President Ronald Reagan had been shot. This was the first any of us knew of the attempted assassination, as we didn’t have cell phones chirping messages at us every 10 seconds back then. Some students appropriately gasped. Others inappropriately cheered. I didn’t know what to think, but I could not understand why anyone would be happy about another person being shot, especially the president of our country.
I was not raised in a political family. Mom didn’t vote very often, but when she did, she cast ballots for Democrats. Dad did vote frequently and almost always for Republicans. Maybe not surprisingly, they divorced.
Our school teachers were likely not big fans of President Ronald Reagan. My seventh grade math teacher, Mrs. Boekelman, wore black the Wednesday after Election Day in November of 1980 and told us how the world was going to end with Ronald Reagan as president. As I recall, though, the teachers, overall, treated the attempted assassination situation with the respect it deserved.
Mr. Zear took the remainder of his class time to talk with us about the seriousness of the situation, expressing his disappointment in those who cheered after the announcement and conveying the graveness of the matter. He shared with us his memories of the sentiment of the nation during the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the aftermath that the nation dealt with and how it all affected him personally. He shed tears. No student cheered then. We were typical teenagers and did not fully understand the depth of this attempted assassination of our president and how it would impact our nation forever. Mr. Zear, in his own way, helped us realize that.
As we sort through the whirlwind of news surrounding the attempted assassination of Donald Trump — and let us not forget the killing of a supporter and the seriously injuring of two other rally attendees — we should follow Mr. Zear’s level-headed advice, keeping our emotions, the rhetoric and our opinions intact while seeking peace, forgiveness and understanding.
Have a thoughtful Tuesday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305
www.thedailyumbrella.com
See Shane Goodman's previous columns here. |
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Clear Mortgage meteorology
Cooler air moves in today, and we’ve got a dry stretch through the weekend!
For help with pre-approvals or refinancing, get in touch with Originating Branch Manager Carrie Hansen at carrie.mortgage. |
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| From the July issue of CITYVIEW | | | JOE'S NEIGHBORHOOD
Why a religion major?
By Joe Weeg
I sat in the back of Macbride Hall for a reason. I wanted to be invisible. I wanted to slink in early unseen and slink out in the crowd unnoticed. As a result, even the last row of this large auditorium was too close to the stage for me. So, I sat in the back of the balcony located at the back of the auditorium. Hundreds of students were a buffer between me and the teacher. Just as I liked. One anonymous face lost in the haystack of 18- and 19-year-old students.
[...] | | | READ MORE |
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| CITYVIEW's Best Of Des Moines® | | | The results have been tallied and published in the February issue of CITYVIEW and online!
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| Explore Des Moines | | | CITYVIEW's seasonal guide for activities and things to do in Central Iowa
EXPLORE: Local Events
By Cyote Williams
The best of the rest. Festivals, farmers markets, parades, you name it, central Iowa’s got it. | | | READ MORE |
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Tomato deconstructed. Washington Post's Kristen Hartke researched tomatoes and came out in support of eating the entire fruit — even the skin because of its antioxidants. Hartke also found that: tomato’s considerable unami comes from its gel, the seeds are nutritious even if bitter, and the taste and flavor are most reliably detected, as with strawberries, by smelling tomatoes. If they don’t smell delicious, they won’t taste delicious.
Tuesday touts. The July-August issue of Smithsonian has a story about the wild blueberry fields of Maine, endangered by modern times. It also has a story about Pablo Escobar's hippopotamuses and their self-generated new lives and another about how a trade partnership between American Quakers and the nation of Liberia made coffee cheap and plentiful for the Union when it was expensive and scarce for the Confederacy. It lays out a case that coffee equated to morale and helped win the Civil War... Olympic Flame (514 E. Grand Ave., Des Moines) is hosting Mirage Middle Eastern Dance Troupe on Friday nights... National Fried Chicken Festival (FCF) returns to the New Orleans Lakefront Oct. 5-6. This is my favorite food festival. This year, they begin a $39 upgraded (from $5) ticket that includes unlimited beer, because, New Orleans. USA Today put it in their Ten Best Food Festivals. https://friedchickenfestival.com/
Deals today. Beaver Tap has $7 burgers including a side on Tuesdays... Pelican Post (265 50th St., West Des Moines) has a special today of a burger with fries and a beer for $10 until 4 p.m... Hy-Vee stores are promoting $6 Tenderloin Tuesdays with a BPT and tots bargain priced... Kelly’s Little Nipper (1701 E. Grand Ave., Des Moines) offers really good tenderloins with a side and drink for $11.50 on Tuesdays... KFC has a Tuesday special of eight pieces of bone-in chicken for $10. They also have a new two-piece dinner with mashed potatoes, gravy and a biscuit for $4.99... Mickey's in Yale (217 Main St., Yale) offers breaded pork chop specials on Tuesdays... Abelardo's stores offer five tacos (hard, soft or fried) for $5.99 on Tuesdays... Bianca’s Grill & Vineyard (410 S. Ankeny Blvd., Ankeny) has "family specials" on Tuesday with spaghetti, chicken Alfredo and Cajun Alfredo meals for $25, meatballs extra... Angry Goldfish (2301 S.W. Ninth St., Des Moines) has a Tuesday burger and a pint deal for $10... Seattle-based chain Teriyaki Madness' first metro restaurant opens today at 160 Jordan Creek Parkway, No. 160, West Des Moines.
— Jim Duncan, jd91446@aol.com
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| Featured home for sale | | |
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See the listing here.
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| SOLD: Featured commercial real estate transaction | | | 532 31ST ST., DES MOINES
SALE DATE: 2024-05-01
SALE PRICE: $500,000
SELLER: KVH INVESTMENTS LLC
BUYER: GIROD LLC
ACRES: 0.651
SQUARE FEET: 0 |
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| From the July issue of Clive Living magazine | | | 2024 Clive Festival
Join the celebration July 19-20 at the Greenbelt Landing
By Chantel Boyd
The 2024 Clive Festival is sure to be the best to date, and the returning title sponsor from 2023, Lincoln Savings Bank, is again supporting the celebration. The year’s event will take place July 19-20 at the Greenbelt Landing, with activities centered at the parking lot of the Clive Aquatics Center. Clive Parks and Recreation Department, which maintains 15 parks, the Greenbelt Park and Trail and the Clive Aquatic Center, organizes the Clive Festival.
Soon, the Greenbelt Landing will be transformed for Clive Festival with tents, booths, picnic tables and lots of fun for families to enjoy.
Activities will include the annual Thunder Over Clive Fireworks both evenings at 9:30 p.m., live music, the popular Clive Fire Department Slip-N-Slide, Clive Running Festival, and much more. To be more family friendly, organizers moved the nightly fireworks displays 30 minutes earlier.
[...] | | | READ MORE |
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FROM KCCI: Iowa weather: Recapping severe weather that brought tornado, large hail. DES MOINES, Iowa — The heat isn't the only weather-related concern in central Iowa to start this week. Strong storms fired up late Monday afternoon and it was an active early evening, with the National Weather Service confirming at least one tornado in central Iowa. ...READ MORE
FROM WHO-TV: 2 police officers injured during foot chase in Pleasant Hill. PLEASANT HILL, Iowa — Two Pleasant Hill police officers were injured while trying to catch a suspect who led them on a chase Monday morning. ... READ MORE
FROM WOI-DT Local 5: Lawsuit: Heart monitor data from another patient led to 'unnecessary surgery.' DES MOINES, Iowa — An Ankeny woman is suing a medical device manufacturer, claiming faulty data from a heart monitor device led her to receive unnecessary surgery. Andrea Irwin, a 33-year-old mother of two, claims in her lawsuit against ZOLL Medical Corp. and ZOLL Laboratory Services that her heart rate monitor device was receiving data from another patient. ...READ MORE |
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ESPN: Euro 2024: Despite exhibition win over Aussies, flaws remain for Team USA. ...READ MORE
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: Colombia Soccer Federation Head Arrested in Copa America Final Chaos. ... READ MORE
CBS Sports: Who is Ingrid Andress? Home Run Derby national anthem singer draws harsh criticism after performance. ...READ MORE |
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1945: The first atomic bomb test is successfully exploded. On July 16, 1945, at 5:29:45 a.m., the Manhattan Project yields explosive results as the first atom bomb is successfully tested in Alamogordo, New Mexico. ... READ MORE
1999: JFK Jr. killed in plane crash. On July 16, 1999, John F. Kennedy, Jr.; his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy; and her sister, Lauren Bessette, die when the single-engine plane that Kennedy was piloting crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. ... READ MORE
1935: World’s first parking meter installed. The world’s first parking meter, known as Park-O-Meter No. 1, is installed on the southeast corner of what was then First Street and Robinson Avenue in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on July 16, 1935. ... READ MORE
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| Birthdays and notables | | | These celebrities were born on this date: Will Ferrell, AnnaLynne McCord, Jayma Mays, Corey Feldman, Phoebe Cates, Barry Sanders, Carli Lloyd, Mark Indelicato, Stewart Copeland, James David Maslow, Rosa Salazar, Sydney Smiles, Luke Hemmings, Alexandra Shipp
SUBMIT: Send your birthday greetings and congratulatory notes to: tammy@iowalivingmagazines.com |
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The answer to yesterday's riddle:
Why do doctors use those little hammers to tap patients’ knees? THEY GET A KICK OUT OF IT! - Dewayne Johnson. Or, A sledge hammer would require knee replacement! - Rex Post. Or, Because he is a knee jerk! Gail Tomlinson. They’re trying to elicit a “knee-jerk” reaction! Carolyn Rogers.
Today's riddle
What did burglars steal from the music store?
Have a guess? Email tammy@iowalivingmagazines.com |
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To advertise in the Daily Umbrella or the Iowa Living magazines, contact:
Jolene Goodman
Vice President
Office: 515-953-4822 ext. 319
Mobile: 515-326-0082
jolene@iowalivingmagazines.com
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