Iowa’s Past, a Guide to Our Future
8/15/2025
I recently stopped by to visit with my neighbor, Donna Oltman, who is a former elementary teacher and a long-time friend of my family. She was friends and classmates with my grandfather, and taught many members of my family. In her retirement, she stays busy, dancing, volunteering with her church, and sorting through what seems to be an endless reserve of school supplies and activities that she graciously passes on to me from time to time. In this most recent meeting, my former second-grade teacher shared a poem she wrote in 1996 to help teach students about the great state of Iowa. With her permission, I am going to share it here:
Iowa You’re My State
Donna Oltmann, 1996 (Unpublished)
Iowa, Iowa, you’re my state,
What you stand for makes you great.
The special motto we proudly proclaim,
“Our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain.”
Iowa’s great seal, a symbol for all to see,
As in the wild rose. Goldfinch, geode, and mighty oak tree.
The banner of blue, white, and red we fly,
Symbolized things Iowans rate high.
Iowa's the place you can live, love, and grow,
Work, play, and learn things we don’t know.
Winter, spring, summer, and fall,
Beautiful Iowa has them all.
We can take pride in our heritage, you see,
Iowa is the place for you and me.
As Iowans, we have so much to take pride in, from our progressive history leading the nation in desegregation and marriage equality to our continued dominance in agriculture. We are, however, losing sight of what made us great; we have become a state where our citizens’ ability to “live, love, and grow” is under attack, as is their ability to learn.
Iowa needs to change course and use the Iowa that Donna immortalizes as its guide to rebuild as a state with citizens who prize their liberties and maintain their rights, and the rights of all Iowans.
Iowa’s Lost Opportunities
7/24/2025
Iowa has, unfortunately, established itself as a state hostile to growth and development and marginalized groups over the last few decades. For many years now, Iowa’s excellent colleges and universities have drawn in amazing and diverse students and prepared them for careers in new and profitable industries while staying committed to the Iowan ideals of hard work, and honesty; in that same time, however, our state has failed to draw in new and profitable industries that would keep brilliant young Iowans here contributing to our great state. As a result, over 1/3 of Iowa’s college graduates look for opportunities outside of the state. This brain drain is contributing to Iowa’s shrinking economy and its overreliance on a single industry.
Along with our brain drain issue, our current administration has created an atmosphere of hostility toward marginalized groups, leading to extreme disparities between different demographics, with some groups finding the conditions so unbearable that they are leaving the state as well. One such group, LGBTQ Iowans, has been vilified by Republicans nationwide, receiving baseless accusations of grooming and other perversions.
I still believe in the values of hard work and honesty, but I desperately want to see a return of the Iowa nice spirit. The nice that made us civil rights leaders in the past and allowed politicians to reach across the aisle and open up the state to international groups in need of safety and stability. While Iowans clearly hold on to the value of hard work and many, the current administration excluded, still value honesty, I am afraid many Iowans have lost sight of Iowa nice.
By losing sight of Iowa nice, we are missing out on the opportunities created by diversity of culture and perspective: by not perpetually reinvesting in Iowa’s wealth in the general welfare of Iowans and emerging industries, we are missing out on the opportunities created by a diverse market of ideas, manufacturing, and outside investment in the state. Iowa cannot afford to continue to miss out on these opportunities for growth.