Iowa Boy

Photo of front cover. 2/8/25 dwm

 My sister sent me a book she thought I might enjoy, Iowa Boy, by Chuck Offenburger, who was a columnist with the Des Moines Register and still writes regularly on his blog, offenburger.com.

 I enjoyed his writing while a student at Drake (1981-1984) and while working at KJJC radio (1985- 86) after graduation. The book uses highlights from his first ten years, 1977 - 87, when he wrote columns four days a week.

 He wrote what he saw, and his goal was to write about Iowa and its people, seeking to define what meant to be an Iowan.

 A column from October 1981 caught my eye. Offenburger brought together tree African-American college students with three white Americans in a barber shop in Audubon to discuss race relations. 

 I knew two of three students mentioned, I was a freshman at Drake then, one was the resident assistant on the floor I lived on, and the other became a neighbor in a different residence hall sophomore year.

There's a lighter article about the time he brought Iowa's long-serving Governor, Bob Ray, to a small community as a photographer while Offenburger interviewed citizens in the community. Ray wasn't wearing the customary gubernatorial outfit of suit and tie, and most people had no idea who he was. The kicker on this story, for me, is that the experiment played out in Center Point, the town where my wife grew up. (I had her read the story, and she knew a number of the people mentioned in the article.)

Autographed copy. dwm

It was a right time, right place situation for Chuck in the story that starts the book, which shares his connection to Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Junior. His brother worked with King. The day in 1968 when King was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee; Offenburger made his way to Memphis where he ended up in the King's hotel room with his associates on that heart-breaking and historic night.

Offenburger and a colleague are credited with starting RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa), which takes thousands of bicyclists across the state over seven days. The ride continues, decades later. 

Newspapers columns are frozen snapshots in time and so are these. A few of the columns from that 10-year span feel out-of-touch in 2025, but they ring true on what the atmosphere and environment was like more than 40 years ago.

If you lived in Iowa during that time; grew up there; or know someone in that class, you should get this book. It appears to be readily available online. It's a quick read and is a perfect book to read periodically since each column is its own story.

I enjoyed the trip down memory lane, you, or someone you know, will too.