I step out into the parking lot as dusk begins to fall. There is a stillness to the air that you only feel on bitterly cold and empty nights. The silence of winter. The crisp, cold quiet that has a presence and, at the same time, doesn't.
The parking lot is half empty but the snow has continued to fall covering up the tracks of anyone who's been before. I feel like I'm the last person who exists in the world as I walk over to my car hearing only the crunch my footsteps make in the snow.
The wind picks up and I quicken my pace. Stars begin to pierce the clear sky and I know that without a cloud cover it's going to be a cold night. I reach my car and start the engine to let it warm up as I grab the snow brush and clean off the windshield.
I dread getting back into the car and having to grab the steering wheel so cold it can still be felt through gloves. I take a moment and glance up.
The sky is now dark and the snowflakes have gotten even larger. I watch the fluffy flakes swirling around under the streetlight. Still alone I feel as if I am trapped inside one of those souvenir snow globes.
I finally get back inside the car and sit and watch the flakes fall back on the windshield while bracing myself for the concentration my drive home will take. I can see the snowflakes in delicate detail - just like the ones we used to draw in elementary school - and for a moment, I'm grateful for the beauty of winter.
Showing posts with label Iowa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iowa. Show all posts
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
There's a Reason Why People Suffer through Iowa Winters
Each year, as summer approaches I get more and more nostalgic about Iowa summers. There is something so spectacularly wonderful about an Iowa summer that I’m struggling to find the words to completely capture the essence of what I love about it. This is my third attempt at writing this entry, and I think only those of you who have also experienced an Iowa summer will truly appreciate this post.
****************************************************************************
The heat begins to roll in around mid-June, but the stifling humidity usually doesn’t set in until July if you are lucky. Once it does, you know it will be sticking around until at least September, so you really appreciate the brief period of beautiful warm weather and the cool nights where you can leave the windows open and fall asleep listening to the sounds of leaves rustling outside or a gentle rain falling.
These early summer evenings are made for grilling. You sit on the patio with friends eating, drinking and talking as the sun sets. Burgers, sweet corn bought from a roadside stand, and fresh fruit afterwards. A cool breeze carries with it the scent of freshly cut grass as twilight falls and fireflies begin to appear. Soon twilight gives way to a deep blue sky pierced with millions of stars. Off in the distance the cicadas’ song mixes in with the deep croaking of frogs.
The air begins to cloud with haze and as you walk in flip flops through the grass back to your car at the end of the night, your feet become wet with dew. A slight breeze blows through and you shiver, but it’s that weird feeling of being cold and yet hot at the same time, similar to the way you feel after an intense workout in the winter.
*********************************************************************
On the days that come later in the season it’s sometimes so hot by the time you wake up that you know taking a shower is essentially pointless. You watch the morning sun come up and gradually burn off the haze of humidity that has fallen overnight.
Everything is so green and lush as you drive to work. Wild roses and tall prairie grasses line the ditches of the highway.
You spend the day working in an extremely air conditioned office and, for a few minutes, the blast of heat that hits you as you walk out of the building to the parking lot at the end of the day feels good. You can hardly breathe in the thick air and you can feel the heat radiating up off the pavement in waves. You get into your overheated car and immediately crank on the AC and roll down the windows.
You know a day like this is going to bring in violent weather and you watch the sky change as you pull out of the parking lot and onto the highway. Gray clouds swirl about as the sun begins to disappear. By the time you get home, the sunshine is a distant memory. It’s now as black as midnight and you hear the faint rumble of thunder in the distance. The sky lights up as bright as day when a bolt of lighting streaks across the sky. A few sprinkles fall on your windshield. You briefly consider rushing into the house before the sky opens up completely, but you wait, because you know that getting wet on the walk from the car into the house will feel refreshing.
***********************************************************************
And, in these moments, you are once again reminded of why people put up with Iowa winters.
****************************************************************************
The heat begins to roll in around mid-June, but the stifling humidity usually doesn’t set in until July if you are lucky. Once it does, you know it will be sticking around until at least September, so you really appreciate the brief period of beautiful warm weather and the cool nights where you can leave the windows open and fall asleep listening to the sounds of leaves rustling outside or a gentle rain falling.
These early summer evenings are made for grilling. You sit on the patio with friends eating, drinking and talking as the sun sets. Burgers, sweet corn bought from a roadside stand, and fresh fruit afterwards. A cool breeze carries with it the scent of freshly cut grass as twilight falls and fireflies begin to appear. Soon twilight gives way to a deep blue sky pierced with millions of stars. Off in the distance the cicadas’ song mixes in with the deep croaking of frogs.
The air begins to cloud with haze and as you walk in flip flops through the grass back to your car at the end of the night, your feet become wet with dew. A slight breeze blows through and you shiver, but it’s that weird feeling of being cold and yet hot at the same time, similar to the way you feel after an intense workout in the winter.
*********************************************************************
On the days that come later in the season it’s sometimes so hot by the time you wake up that you know taking a shower is essentially pointless. You watch the morning sun come up and gradually burn off the haze of humidity that has fallen overnight.
Everything is so green and lush as you drive to work. Wild roses and tall prairie grasses line the ditches of the highway.
You spend the day working in an extremely air conditioned office and, for a few minutes, the blast of heat that hits you as you walk out of the building to the parking lot at the end of the day feels good. You can hardly breathe in the thick air and you can feel the heat radiating up off the pavement in waves. You get into your overheated car and immediately crank on the AC and roll down the windows.
You know a day like this is going to bring in violent weather and you watch the sky change as you pull out of the parking lot and onto the highway. Gray clouds swirl about as the sun begins to disappear. By the time you get home, the sunshine is a distant memory. It’s now as black as midnight and you hear the faint rumble of thunder in the distance. The sky lights up as bright as day when a bolt of lighting streaks across the sky. A few sprinkles fall on your windshield. You briefly consider rushing into the house before the sky opens up completely, but you wait, because you know that getting wet on the walk from the car into the house will feel refreshing.
***********************************************************************
And, in these moments, you are once again reminded of why people put up with Iowa winters.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Attempting to Make the Midwest a Little Less Terrifying
As I've mentioned in this blog before, I get all kinds of responses when I tell people where I'm from. They range from off the wall to incredibly ignorant. I would then get upset and spend too much time and energy trying to correct their misconceptions. Eventually I grew tired of this and stopped. It turns out someone was listening...and that someone was someone I would have never expected.
One of my roommates is a native New Yorker. From the day we met, he declared the midwest to be "terrifying" and just "fly-over country". I continually tried to educate him on the midwest in general and Iowa in particular, but three years later it still hadn't seemed to matter. I assumed it was going in one ear and out the other.
But I was wrong. He came home from work the other day and proudly told me he had spent the afternoon telling his boss all about Iowa. What?!
Yes, it was true. They had just signed a new licensee from the Southeast corner of my state. His boss had the same typical reaction everyone does when they hear the word Iowa and, to my surprise, my roommate said he started telling him all I had shared with him in the past.
I guess someone was listening while I felt I was just talking to hear myself talk.
For anyone else who cares to listen:
Iowa is not flat:
"Despite popular perception, Iowa is generally not flat; most of the state consists of rolling hills. Prior[13] divides Iowa into eight landforms based on glaciation, soils, topography, and river drainage. Loess hills lie along the western border of the state, some of which are several hundred feet thick.[14] In the northeast, along the Mississippi River, is a section of the Driftless Zone, which in Iowa consists of steep hills and valleys which appear almost mountainous."
We do not all live on farms...and no one lives in a teepee:
"Iowa's population is more urban than rural, with 61 percent living in urban areas in 2000, a trend that began in the early 20th century.[45]"
"While Iowa is often viewed as a farming state, in reality agriculture is a small portion of a diversified economy, with manufacturing, biotechnology, finance and insurance services, and government services contributing substantially to Iowa's economy."
We do set some trends...the important ones:
"In the 19th century Iowa was among the earliest states to enact prohibitions against race discrimination, especially in education."
"As with racial equality, Iowa was a vanguard in women's rights in the mid 19th century.." "In 1847, the University of Iowa became the first public university in the U.S. to admit men and women on an equal basis.[92] In 1869, Iowa became the first state in the union to admit women to the practice of law, with the Court ruling that women may not be denied the right to practice law in Iowa and admitting Arabella A. Mansfield to the practice of law."
(all facts came from the great Wikipedia..my roommates' most trusted source of knowledge.)
There's much more, but I'll stop now just in case no one is listening.
One of my roommates is a native New Yorker. From the day we met, he declared the midwest to be "terrifying" and just "fly-over country". I continually tried to educate him on the midwest in general and Iowa in particular, but three years later it still hadn't seemed to matter. I assumed it was going in one ear and out the other.
But I was wrong. He came home from work the other day and proudly told me he had spent the afternoon telling his boss all about Iowa. What?!
Yes, it was true. They had just signed a new licensee from the Southeast corner of my state. His boss had the same typical reaction everyone does when they hear the word Iowa and, to my surprise, my roommate said he started telling him all I had shared with him in the past.
I guess someone was listening while I felt I was just talking to hear myself talk.
For anyone else who cares to listen:
Iowa is not flat:
"Despite popular perception, Iowa is generally not flat; most of the state consists of rolling hills. Prior[13] divides Iowa into eight landforms based on glaciation, soils, topography, and river drainage. Loess hills lie along the western border of the state, some of which are several hundred feet thick.[14] In the northeast, along the Mississippi River, is a section of the Driftless Zone, which in Iowa consists of steep hills and valleys which appear almost mountainous."
We do not all live on farms...and no one lives in a teepee:
"Iowa's population is more urban than rural, with 61 percent living in urban areas in 2000, a trend that began in the early 20th century.[45]"
"While Iowa is often viewed as a farming state, in reality agriculture is a small portion of a diversified economy, with manufacturing, biotechnology, finance and insurance services, and government services contributing substantially to Iowa's economy."
We do set some trends...the important ones:
"In the 19th century Iowa was among the earliest states to enact prohibitions against race discrimination, especially in education."
"As with racial equality, Iowa was a vanguard in women's rights in the mid 19th century.." "In 1847, the University of Iowa became the first public university in the U.S. to admit men and women on an equal basis.[92] In 1869, Iowa became the first state in the union to admit women to the practice of law, with the Court ruling that women may not be denied the right to practice law in Iowa and admitting Arabella A. Mansfield to the practice of law."
(all facts came from the great Wikipedia..my roommates' most trusted source of knowledge.)
There's much more, but I'll stop now just in case no one is listening.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Snow days and grateful to be a true Midwesterner
I woke up this morning to the most snow I've ever seen in NYC...and by that I mean maybe 8 inches. Which, granted, is a good amount, but given the fact that there has been no significant snowfall to date that this piled on top of, it really doesn't seem like the end of the world.....I guess unless you haven't been raised in the Midwest.
Schools in the city were canceled today. People were calling into work...even though they ride the Subway and take city buses. I took a call or two today asking if Cornell was closed.
I can recall only one day in my entire undergrad career where classes were canceled and that was only after making us all suffer through morning classes. And I can assure you, those 10 inches that fell that afternoon were magnified by the 20 inches or so that had accumulated by mid-March.
In the Midwest people will get up and drive 25 mph through white out conditions to make it to work.
To be fair, we get more crappy weather - which we all like to complain about. But you know what, today I was grateful for all those experiences. I was probably one of the only people in the city smiling on my way to work today. Smiling because I was reminded of home...and to me this really didn't feel that bad.
Schools in the city were canceled today. People were calling into work...even though they ride the Subway and take city buses. I took a call or two today asking if Cornell was closed.
I can recall only one day in my entire undergrad career where classes were canceled and that was only after making us all suffer through morning classes. And I can assure you, those 10 inches that fell that afternoon were magnified by the 20 inches or so that had accumulated by mid-March.
In the Midwest people will get up and drive 25 mph through white out conditions to make it to work.
To be fair, we get more crappy weather - which we all like to complain about. But you know what, today I was grateful for all those experiences. I was probably one of the only people in the city smiling on my way to work today. Smiling because I was reminded of home...and to me this really didn't feel that bad.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Airline aggravation, round 2
My frustration with air travel from my Christmas visit home has barely subsided and I once again find myself frustrated by the airline industry. This morning I started searching for tickets home for my youngest sister's high school graduation. Tickets into Moline are about $185 compared to $389 to fly into Waterloo.
Why is it so freaking expensive to fly into Iowa?! No wonder I never get to go home.
I could fly to a foreign country for less than it costs me to fly within my own country.
There are limited national carriers that fly into Iowa and none of them offer anything direct. This is where I lose time, money, and most often, my patience. All of my horrible airline stories involve a connection issue of some sort and most often O'Hare. So you can see why I don't love that place.
It literally costs me more to fly the 45 minutes from Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Louis, where ever, to Des Moines than it costs me to fly a leg from Boston or NYC to one of those hubs.
Can someone please get Jet Blue or Southwest to fly into Des Moines? I would be eternally grateful.
Why is it so freaking expensive to fly into Iowa?! No wonder I never get to go home.
I could fly to a foreign country for less than it costs me to fly within my own country.
There are limited national carriers that fly into Iowa and none of them offer anything direct. This is where I lose time, money, and most often, my patience. All of my horrible airline stories involve a connection issue of some sort and most often O'Hare. So you can see why I don't love that place.
It literally costs me more to fly the 45 minutes from Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Louis, where ever, to Des Moines than it costs me to fly a leg from Boston or NYC to one of those hubs.
Can someone please get Jet Blue or Southwest to fly into Des Moines? I would be eternally grateful.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Home for the Holidays
Living far away from home brings an added dimension to the holidays. Christmas and the time off around it turn into a stressful, sleepless, carefully orchestrated event.
I always try my best to plan my schedule in a way that maximizes my time at home. It's tough though when your friends live all over the state, you have family events and, if you live in a place like Iowa, have to deal with whatever may be thrown at you weather wise in any given winter day.
From the moment I left my apartment for the airport on Sunday morning I tried to mentally prepare myself, but this visit has been particularly trying this year.
In summary:
*United Airlines sucks, my friends and family rock
*Getting wisdom teeth pulled is not on my list of things to ever have to do again
*Having to drive 15 mph home through a snowstorm after having driven through an ice storm earlier in the day really sucks
*Despite my good intentions, I still haven't seen half the people I wanted to while here
*I forgot how FREAKING COLD negative four feels!!
I never thought I would say this, but this year I think I'm ready to go back...and next time, I will only visit for two or three days at Christmas and save my visiting for the summertime.
I always try my best to plan my schedule in a way that maximizes my time at home. It's tough though when your friends live all over the state, you have family events and, if you live in a place like Iowa, have to deal with whatever may be thrown at you weather wise in any given winter day.
From the moment I left my apartment for the airport on Sunday morning I tried to mentally prepare myself, but this visit has been particularly trying this year.
In summary:
*United Airlines sucks, my friends and family rock
*Getting wisdom teeth pulled is not on my list of things to ever have to do again
*Having to drive 15 mph home through a snowstorm after having driven through an ice storm earlier in the day really sucks
*Despite my good intentions, I still haven't seen half the people I wanted to while here
*I forgot how FREAKING COLD negative four feels!!
I never thought I would say this, but this year I think I'm ready to go back...and next time, I will only visit for two or three days at Christmas and save my visiting for the summertime.
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