“How come you’re making a big deal out of this?” is a bonkers statement from a mayor to a trans constituent about the rigmarole she put us all through just to convince her to do a mediocre TDOV proclamation. One would think she was being terrible to our first trans elected councilor on purpose.

“For me, I think gravitating to physical media was partially a way of finding my own identity," said Isaac Smith, a recent UI grad and owner of Zig Zog’s. “The emotional process of holding an object that is connected to the music that you’re hearing really makes that connection stronger."

Iowa is not a hellscape populated by monsters… …Hold fast and speak up. taramcgovern.com/2026/03/14/h...

We were reprimanded by Mayor Goodrich for laughing when Councilor Vogelzang said if you’re not doing anything wrong, you shouldn’t worry about being surveilled. Laughing at bigotry clothed in ignorance is the correct response. How about a reprimand for signing this contract in the first place?

weird night to skip work

Coralville City Council just voted 3-1 (one guy didn't show up to the meeting) to cancel our contract with Flock.

We appreciate Coralville (Iowa) Councilor Huynh for all her dedicated work and especially for calling upon her own lived experience in her beautifully stated opinion piece. Link to the entire piece: littlevillagemag.com/letter-to-th...

COMMUNITY ASK: pack the room on Tuesday, February 24 at 6:30 pm in Coralville City Hall council chambers for council’s vote on whether or not to cancel the city’s contract with Flock. This agenda item including the council vote is close to the beginning of the meeting, just after community comment.

Please let us know that you would like to add your name in support of ending mass AI surveillance in Coralville (information on how at the end of the article). Also, if you have the means, please consider subscribing to Little Village, unequivocally our best source of news.

if you are local (or even if you're not, really) I would very much appreciate your attention to this matter

The public library is an essential component of a 21st-century left political project as an example of both what is already available to us and what can be improved upon in the future. The library is a public good, and it is free as a public service. I want more people to make the connections.

The next chat episode of The Don Podley Padcast featuring Dan Padley will feature guitarist/composer Carlos Cotallo Solares. Stay tuned! www.patreon.com/DanPadley?ut...

"get rid of these baby-snatchimg freaks" is so simple and so universally appealing, and our ossified so-called representatives can't even bring themselves to say it

"ICE held a 5-year-old hostage to try to smoke out his family, then disappeared him when it didn't work" is the closest I've gotten to fedposting

“At 2am, a University of Iowa detective was doing ~15 searches per hour, investigating a moving violation on behalf of Iowa City — a city that banned ALPRs.” Read and share: haveibeenflocked.com/news/search-...

No, we are not surprised. Read and share: haveibeenflocked.com/news/reid

If we’ve learned anything this year, it’s that the Coralville, IA city council needs eyes on them at all times. Join us tonight! (Tues Nov 25 at 6:30 pm at Coralville City Hall). Agenda: coralville.org/AgendaCenter... Council meetings are 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at 6:30 pm.

Hayworth not Hayward

The massive nationwide effort by the private surveillance company Flock to establish contracts leasing their automated license plate readers arrived in Coralville, Iowa in January of 2025. This is our timeline. Please keep reading. Links to everything mentioned are available at JoCo7.org

Join us for the shared Coralville Campaign Kick-off for Ryan Swenka and Katie Freeman this Sunday Sept 14 from 12-2 pm at Diversions Tabletop Game Lounge - 119 2nd St, Ste 300 in Coralville. Swenka is running for Coralville Mayor and Freeman is running for Coralville Council. All are welcome!

Whoops, we’re famous. Louis Rossmann is correct that “…this isn’t left vs. right, it’s up vs. down”. youtu.be/4RM09nKczVs?...

When you say “I’m not political”, I hear “I have an abundance of privilege and a dearth of compassion.”

Thanks to everyone who came to the Coralville city council meeting last night. There were community members of all ages making brilliant and important points about how the city has endangered us by entering into this agreement.

Today I learned that what everyone has been calling a $19,000 contract between Flock Surveillance and the city of Coralville is actually a $36,000 contract. It’s a 2 YEAR contract and yes, I know the math isn’t mathing.

ACLU of Iowa created this action alert form to make contacting Coralville electeds fast and easy. secure.everyaction.com/0YdbQql0PUO3... See you tomorrow night (Tues Aug 26 at 6:30 pm) at Coralville city council (1512 7th St).

Please join us tomorrow (Tues 8/26 6:30 pm) to ask Coralville council to appropriately represent the community by ending the surveillance contract they unwittingly entered by not properly researching the fiscal year budget. Related: 3 of the 5 councilors and the mayor have terms that are ending.

Edited because these systems are opaque and my brain is broken. Deadline to file is actually September 18. The silence from the other candidates remains notable.

What the fuck is going on in Coralville?

Proud of Iowa City for this tremendous effort and of Michael Powers for this excellent article peoplesworld.org/article/hawk...

We saw It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley last night and it’s as sumptuous a film as Grace is an album. Playing only through Thursday at Filmscene. He’s been gone now almost as long as he was here and his loss still feels both impossible and inevitable.

ACLU is doing an event in Coralville

Unchecked surveillance data sharing is used disproportionately and wrongfully against immigrants, Black, brown and indigenous people, unhoused people, people seeking reproductive and gender affirming care. People with less access to power have every right to not only exist but also to thrive.

This group exists for the specific purpose of trying to get Dems to throw trans people under the bus.

All good people need to get 30% braver as soon as possible

Blue dot PSA: the common enemy is actually empire and supremacy. When liberals in power perpetuate empire and supremacy by dismissing the suffering of the disenfranchised, thus cements the work of those who create the suffering. Allyship is daily and tangible action, not a marketing strategy.

Oliver won handily in his district with 69% of the vote. Now all of Iowa City can vote for Oliver on March 4!

In our small “progressive”corner of Iowa, we talk a good game. Today is a city council primary election and the entrenched Dems in power are so terrified of a working activist and community organizer representing the thousands of workers and renters here that their focus has been tearing him down.

If you want to show love to the trans community in Iowa, it would be really cool of you to set up a recurring donation to Iowa Trans Mutual Aid Fund. Small amounts add up, this is an org that we love and trust and the need is huge and ongoing.

There’s a kind of “safety planning” that is actually just hoarding and there’s a kind of safety planning that is community building

Oliver Weilein discussed the importance of “getting creative” with solutions to housing and utility costs, and avoiding “a mindset of pre-compliance” towards discriminatory state and federal laws.

Everything is terrible but my dog made a friend.

For strength today: hat knit by sweetheart’s grandma, “love lifts me” necklace made by friend, a favorite album shirt (“Focus” by Dan Padley), notebook made by friend with notes from another friend’s talk “Narrative Change and Relationship Building: Why Love Matters in Achieving Social Justice”.

Iowa City (corridor, etc), our legacy cannot be that we live in the most temperate corner of hell. The leopards are at the door and our stupid faces are delicious. Other red states have progressive areas that make creative choices in exercising moral courage. We can too.

Choose your own allegory.

my notes for tonight’s call are up on the blog, i know i was speaking fast 🙏🏽❤️‍🩹🫶🏽 adriennemareebrown.net/2025/01/24/w...

Have at it, Iowa whoaremyrepresentatives.org

tonight!

Excellent letter in support of OliverForIowaCity.com Really clears up a lot of the bullshit lies that I’ve been seeing circulate about Oliver. Take some time to consider what makes a person so threatened that they’d spread lies about a person they don’t know. littlevillagemag.com/letter-to-th...