Last Wednesday, Iowa’s U.S. Sen.Chuck Grassley, U.S. Agriculture Secretary and former Iowa governor TomVilsack, and the president of the National Pork Producers Council, Jen Sorenson from West Des Moines, called for Congress to overhaul the U.S. immigration system to ease a farm-worker shortage, stating that farm worker shortage is year-round in Iowa. According to Mary Swander, Artistic Director of SwanderWoman Productions, a theatre troupe that performs dramas about food, farming, and the wider rural environment, at least 50 % of farm labor in Iowa is done by immigrants. Swander, who is a playwright, Executive Director of AgArts, a nonprofit designed to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts, former Poet Laureate of Iowa and an award-winning author, describes how she created her play Vang, about immigrant farmers in Iowa. The play follows farm families who came from Mexico, Laos, Sudan, and Holland. We also hear a brief excerpt from one of their stories. Mary discusses what she learned from interviewing these farmers, their issues of land access, cultural barriers, and overcoming hardship to reinvent the American dream. A performance of Vang can be seen online here.
Ames resident Swati Lodha, shares her discovery of the art of mandala, a meditative tool that can be picked up for stress relief, peace, and even possibly better sleep. Lodha makes mandalas with pen and paper but also references the famous mandala made from sand by Buddhist monks, that take weeks to make and then are instantly destroyed. She points out that not all mandalas are round; they can come in any shape but must use repetitive designs.Swati has collaborated with Nadav Mir at Morning Bell in Ames, where her mandalas can now be found as stickers. They can also be seen here on Instagram.
