Julie Gammack's Iowa Potluck

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We can almost always find the ‘Iowa angle’ to international stories—and this one hits close to home. Within minutes of announcing that Teresa Dunbar , a Des Moines-area resident with over 15 years of experience in food security, would join our Monday call, Potluck readers were eager to hear her insights on the global impact of USAID . In this conversation, Dunbar shares her experiences working wit...

On Monday’s call with author John Dinges, we had readers from Algona, Burlington, Bussey, Clear Lake, Spirit Lake, Davenport, Jefferson, Sioux Center, Waterloo, Washington, D.C., the Des Moines metro area, southwest Iowa, Decorah, and others from unidentified parts of the state. I was surprised to discover that over 60 participants joined the call during the noon hour Monday. Why? Democracy is in...

Is the U.S. headed toward a dictatorship? Our Monday Zoom lunch guest has experience to share about this concern. See below for details and a link to the Zoom call. David Thoreson , an Iowa native who grew up far from any ocean, set his sights on something more extreme—the Arctic’s fabled Northwest Passage. From his childhood on the banks of the Des Moines River and Lake Okoboji to sailing 40,000...

In this conversation with Rita Hart , Chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, we dive deep into Rita's journey from growing up in a bipartisan household to becoming a key political leader in Iowa. The call itself mirrored some of the conflicts within the party. On one side was Jerry Crawford, a major donor and long-time Democratic operative with clients like Monsanto, alongside members of the Iowa Wri...

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Heads up: Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to change your life. Whether you're excited about its possibilities or wary of its implications, one thing is certain—AI is the biggest wave of change we’ve seen in decades. Over the coming months, this podcast will bring you conversations with experts to help demystify the extraordinary transformation happening right before our eyes. Today, we’re k...

I wish you a Merry Christmas today and hope you are safe, warm, well fed, and feeling loved. Not everyone is, and today’s podcast offers a sobering yet hopeful conversation about homelessness, sharing shocking stories, news, and ways we can help. At Christmas time, volunteers from Joppa gather on the steps of the Iowa State Capitol to read the names of the homeless here who died the previous year....

Sometimes, he screams into his pillow. That’s my lead to this column, and I’m sticking to it because I want to draw you into this podcast, even though it’s about a topic many of us seem reluctant to confront: climate change. Oh, those two words can be so politically charged that they’ve led to death threats against our Monday Potluck guest. In fact, Chris left KCCI-TV in Des Moines after being tol...

Note to new subscribers: I hold weekly Zoom calls with newsmakers and influencers for one hour so subscribers can join and ask questions. Please share this with anyone you think might be interested in Volkswagen's latest creation, the ID, which is getting a lot of attention. Buzz. Today’s guest is the former editor of Car and Driver magazine and the head of Public Relations for VW North America. W...

There is still time to grab tickets for the play, which will open tonight and run through December 21. This production is a part of the Temple Theater’s Comedy Series. Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End. Erma Bombeck never won a Pulitzer Prize, though many—including today’s guest, Peggy Engel—believe she deserved one. Her columns, often clipped and pinned to refrigerators across America, earned a place of...

This Thursday is Thanksgiving when many families come together from far and wide. Not just physically but also, politically and culturally. Half the country voted one way in the presidential election, and the other half voted for the other party’s candidate — or didn’t vote (gasp). These family events can have multiple generations seated at a table, so just incase you’d like to ward off any rancor...

We had an open show Monday, and to my surprise, over 50 showed up for the Zoom call. I had no agenda or idea of how the conversation would unfold. Still, when I spotted Bill Sniffin, a former Iowan, who used to run newspapers in Wyoming, I called on him to start the conversation because he voted for Donald Trump. He’s the guy, Richard, my husband, apologized to Liz Cheney about when she appeared a...

No one in the political pundit class thought the Iowa presidential race could be in play. And now it is. Today, our Potluck Podcast guest is J. Ann Selzer, who revealed that Iowa still has a purple and blue streak. Harris surpasses Trump in this sliver of time. Check it out at The Iowa Poll . I was delighted Ann was willing to join our call today, as we were sandwiched between media requests from...

Admiral Michael Franken believes we are dangerously close to becoming a fascist country under Donald Trump. The warning signs are all around us. So, what is fascism? The key elements include authoritarianism, or concentrated power in a single leader; suppression of opposition through censorship, propaganda, and violence; and control of society through manipulation of media, education, and culture....

In her decades of practice in the field of obstetrics, Dr. Rebecca Shaw would care for women who believed they would never consider having an abortion. Occasionally, the patient’s circumstances changed, and they would face the choice on a different level. “Now I understand why it’s important to have a choice,” was the common response, said Shaw. She continued: “My views on abortion have been shape...

Save the date! As a thank-you to our paid subscribers and donors, The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative and Iowa Capital Dispatch team will host a holiday party from 5-8 p.m. in the spacious lobby of the Tom and Ruth Harkin Institute, 2800 University Avenue, Des Moines—appetizers by the Drake Catering department. The date is December 13. It’s a state-of-the-art facility, and on December 13th, it will be...

Maxwell Schaeffer is a well-known radio and local theater personality in central Iowa with a career that spans several decades. His longest-running gig was spinning Oldies on Des Moines' KIOA radio station, where he co-hosted the morning show for over 20 years. He later joined WHO Radio, taking over the morning show in 2021 with co-host Amy Sweet after the retirement of long-time hosts Van Harden...

Rob Sand is often considered a top 2026 Iowa gubernatorial race contender. Wait, you say? We are in the final stage of the 2024 election, and I’m already talking about 2026?! Yeah, Rob Sand had a bit of the same reaction when I coaxed him to talk about his future ambitions. Sand is currently the only Democratic officeholder in state government. He was our guest on Potluck’s Monday Zoom call podcas...

There’s a saying that’s gained popularity in recent years: Dance like nobody’s watching Of course, we all watch and judge people dancing and certainly feel that judgment ourselves without the benefit of copious amounts of alcohol. So I thought about that saying after spending an hour with candidate Sarah Corkery, who is running to unseat Ashley Hinson in Iowa’s 2nd district in Congress. Sarah Cork...

Ryan Melton is challenging incumbent Congressman Randy Feenstra for the second time. The voter registration margin for Democrats in the Fourth District is about as bleak historically as it is for any race in the country. And yet… Read on. Listen to the call, and decide for yourself. * Landowners in northwest Iowa are furious over the proposed pipeline that would take over their land, THEIR LAND, f...

Please enjoy this podcast that includes candid conversations about the origin of some of the essays in Ruth Harkin’s first book, When My Husband Ran for President and Other Short Stories. Yes, Tom Harkin did run for president during the 1992 cycle (Bill Clinton was the eventual nominee). Readers of Ruth’s book will be taken behind the scenes of the decision to end the campaign. The story of how Ru...

So many of us have experienced being bullied as a child and even as adults. It is one thing about 71% of us have in common, according to therapist Meredith Stahl, our guest last Monday. She is a licensed mental health therapist, working predominately with individuals aged 13-30. Early in our call, I shared an incident endured in grade school, and I can pinpoint the event as pivotal in my withdrawa...

Justin Roberts is beloved by children and their families, and is serious about reaching them through his trademark, whimsical musical style. This is a hometown-kid-made-good story. “He has a remarkable ability to see through a child’s eyes… the Judy Blume of kiddie rock.” The New York Times Readers of this column were able to spend an hour with Justin on Monday, to learn how he evolved from a teen...