Posted by Anne M on Friday, Dec 16, 2016
This weekend, meteorologists predict we'll see one to three inches of snow followed by temperatures only inhabitants of the Yukon territory should experience. With a forecast such as this, you need to know the best routes so you can complete all of your weekend responsibilities, whether you are working or getting all of your errands out of the way. And it doesn't help that we seem to be getting snow every weekend! You do not want to get stuck, not when the warmest socks and the warmest boots will not do. So what roads are your best bet?
The City of Iowa City provides an overview on how they prioritize plowing (bus routes and major arterial streets come first), when they decide to plow or sand the roads, and a map showing where your street falls in the ranking system. If you prefer, there is also a 30-second video from City Channel 4 describing snow removal rankings. Have a question about city plowing? Check out the City's Snow Plowing FAQ page, which answers questions from what type of truck the City uses to plow cul-de-sacs to how snow is removed from the downtown business area.
Be safe and stay warm out there.
I feel like I’m reading a lot of fiction that takes on how to find meaning. These books begin with a divorce or a job loss or the death of a family member and the protagonist is trying to make sense of themselves now that their vision of who they are is no longer reality. “Creation Lake” is also about meaning, but “Sadie,” our narrator, is never who she is at any given moment. There is no sense of self—no past sense—no future self-aspirations. She is a spy that works for some multinational corporation or the like and she is who her alias is: someone who doesn’t really exist. This time she is infiltrating a rural French group opposed to corporate industrial agriculture and European Union trade agricultural regulations. It is just a job, one that involves building relationships, playing a part, instigating actions, and hacking emails. It’s this last task that moves Sadie to question herself for among the emails are missives from Bruno Lacombe, a hero of this group cooperative, who lives in caves and writes eloquently about the loss of things that make us human (I cannot detail the entire essence of his philosophy—you’ll have to read it). Sadie is so strong in her facade and skeptical of pretty much everything—does she even want meaning? This is a really compelling book. -Anne M