The Latehomecomer by Kao Kalia Yang

Kao Kalia Yang was in Iowa City for a reading at Prairie Lights Bookstore. She sat down for an interview and talked about the inspiration for her book, Hmong language and culture, writing, and history.

Great interview, many thanks to her and much praise for her first book, The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir.

Please check it out.

Think-Tank!

Last week, I talked with Dr. Michael R. Kraig of the Stanley Foundation. He does policy analysis and is the director of programming and dialog there. He was kind enough to sit down for a video interview and answer some questions on terrorism:

the foreign policy gap between the U.S. Congress and the American public:

and a bit about the Stanley Foundation itself:

I also interviewed Keith Porter, who is an executive radio producer at the Stanley Foundation and the director of communication and outreach. Here’s what he said about the gap between policymakers, the media and the U.S. public:

“People who work on foreign policy issues all the time can look at Main Street in Anytown, U.S.A. and find a dozen connections between that and the rest of the world …  that doesn’t get reflected very often in what our political leaders tell us. It doesn’t get reflected very often in what we see in the media and I think, regardless of that, it’s starting to make an impression on average Americans.

People are beginning to see how their fates are connected to the rest of the world … there is a direct one-to-one connection between U.S. national security and global security … we ought to be doing everything we can around the world to promote security, stability, better lives for people and, beyond being just the right thing to do, it will have good, positive influence and effects on us.

I do see recognition of that among people. I don’t see it necessarily among political leaders. I don’t necessarily see it among the media but it’s an idea that the public just grasps immediately. I find that encouraging.“

The Stanley Foundation has a monthly email newsletter “think.” and a quarterly publication, “Courier.” Both are available from their website which has a trove of information and analysis on foreign policy.

You can read more about the Stanley Foundation at the Iowa Independent.

Gear up for Bikes at Iowa City Bike Library

Bike library Jen Bedet talks about the Iowa City Bike Library inthis video. She has been working with the ICBL for several years.

The ICBL checked out a new ride to Eugene. He talked with the Iowa Independent about his bike and plans to ride some trails.

Bioeconomy 101: Cultivating Photosynthetic Space

Lou Licht didn’t say he was a tree-hugger, but he has patented a process of planting trees to clean up polluted land through a process called phytoremediation.

He spoke at a conference on Bioeconomy sponsored by UIowa’s CHEEC (Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination)

Licht is the founder and president of a North Liberty company called Ecolotree.