SUBSCRIPTIONS NOTE: Paid Subscribers Get Awesome Perks

Upgrading or Become a Paid Subscriber Today

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Here’s an awesome opportunity! And a fun story, too.

If you are thinking of becoming a paid subscriber to my weekly column, NOW would be a perfect time to do so and get a couple of terrific subscriber perks at the same time, at no additional cost.

PERK #1; Attend a monthly Zoom meeting with Iowa Writers Collaborative (IWC) authors where you can visit, ask questions, start a discussion about something you read that they wrote about, suggest topics IWC writers might want to take on, or just simply sit back and enjoy observing the conversation.

It’s a fantastic way to spend a lunch hour!

The IWC brings together some of Iowa’s best writers and thinkers and some of the most thoughtful readers from across the state and beyond. Our monthly sessions are always super interesting and fun!

Our next monthly session is TOMORROW - Thursday, October 5, at 12:00 Noon CT / 1:00 pm ET. Sign up for a paid sbscription, at any level, and I’ll send you the information you need to join us tomorrow, in time to join us tomorrow.

PERK #2: Hold onto your hats for this one, folks! It’s a big!

Become a paid subscriber at any level and you and a guest are “in” - on the guest list - for a December IWC writers and subscribers holiday party in Des Moines - at the mansion at 2900 Grand Avenue that was once home to Iowa’s Governors.

Yes! The very building Governors Leo Hoegh, Herschel Loveless, Norman Erbe, Harold Hughes, and Robert Ray all called home, where they lived with and raised their families during their gubernatorial terms.

You might recall that this was the home Governor Harold Hughes famously bolted from early one morning in bathrobe and slippers to chase and retrieve his dog which had decided to go for any early morning run w/o the Governor.

It’s where the Governors hosted and socialized with national dignitaries who visited the state, and met with legislators over dinner as they worked to round up votes for major legislative priorities that changed the face of Iowa over the years and are now part of Iowa’s history.

Of course, I have a special reason for being fond of the old mansion. I like to think of the old Governors mansion on Grand as one of my own personal historic spots: it’s the classiest front porch I’ve ever been ushered onto from inside a home, with an urgent invitation to leave. Now.

The back story to that?

On November 13, 1969, Richard Nixon’s Vice President Spiro Agnew visited Des Moines to address a Midwest Republican leadership conference. That turned out to be the nationally televised speech where Agnew now infamously attacked the national news media.

I covered that speech as a cub political reporter, still in high school, for the Dallas County News in Adel.

After the event, Iowa’s Governor Robert D. Ray, still in his first yesr as Governor, hosted a reception at his home - the very mansion where we will gather in December.

Turns out reporters were not included in the invitation to rub elbows with Agnew at the mansion on that cold November night. But I didn’t know that.

I showed up, walked in the door, and got in the receiving line to shake hands with Agnew and Ray, and to ask a few questions about the speech Agnew had just delivered downtown.

I was pretty thrilled as I stood there in line waiting my turn to greet the Veep and Governor - especially when I looked around and realized there weren’t any other reporters from the other event around

OMG! I was about to score an exclusive!

It never occurred to me that there were no other reporters around because we reporters had not been invited, specifically and deliberately.

Not long after, as I stood there mentally rehearsing my questions, a couple of men approached me, and asked me who I was.

When I told them my name , that I was a political reporter for the Dallas County News, and showed them my credentials from the earlier event, they briskly told me I needed to leave. The event was closed to press coverage.

They quickly escorted me out of the line, out the door, and into the chillly November night air a with hasty, and nearly just as cold, “good night.”

Everyone was nice about it, but I still felt bad - having gotten literally 3-4 yards in the receiving line away from the Vice President and what I thought would be my exclusive interview with him on a huge national story. Followed by another exclusive interview with Governor Ray to get his reaction to the speech!

There had to be a Pulitzer Prize somewhere in all that!

But it was not to be.

No Pulitzer. No Agnew interview exclusive. No Ray reaction interview. Just an urgent assist out the door and a long walk off a short porch.

Agnew’s November 13 speech story was not only huge at the time, it remains a big part of the nation’s - and Iowa’s political history, as well.

You and a guest will be able to walk across that same porch in December, to go inside - and spend an enjoyable holiday evening. And there will be no one to turn you around and ask you to leave!

How cool is that!

For those of you who are already “free” subscribers, I thank you for that and invite you to consider upgrading to a paid subscription. Any level.

If you’ve been putting off subscribing at all, now is a terrific time to start a paid subscription . Again, any level.

You’ll not only score two terrific perks for doing so - awesome perks actually - but you will, as always, get every new column delivered straight to your email in box each week. Never worry about missing one!

I hope to see you soon - on Zoom Thursday, October 5. and at least once a month, thereafter, with the other IWC suthors; and at the Mansion in December, site of tons of Iowa history AND the home of the classiest porch onto which I’ve ever been escorted and asked to leave!

Please consider becoming a paid subscriber today.