An “Iowa-Adjacent” Perspective of the Caucuses
Setting out to be a stranger in a strange land
A Chicagoan at heart, a series of events, including falling for a local boy, led me to spend time “Iowa-adjacent,” in Moline, Illinois. Moline is on the Mississippi River and part of the Quad Cities region. When I first started coming here in 2015, and when asked “What’s it like?” by friends in Chicago, I highlighted three points that stood out the most.
First, five cities make up the Quad Cities, well at least five, some might even say eight or nine. Apparently, they started as the “Tri-Cities,” changed to Quad as the region grew, but “quint” never stuck. Second, the Mississippi River runs through the Quad Cities. Residents move between Illinois and Iowa — sometimes many times a day — crossing the largest river in North America like it’s no big deal. Being from Chicago, crossing the Mississippi meant a great adventure ahead, not “We ran out of peanut butter, so I am going to the Super Target.” As a result, the little girl in me avoided Iowa to keep a sense of adventure alive. Finally, fall 2015 marked the beginning of the primary season for the Iowa caucuses, and although I was in Illinois, it’s an Iowa media market. This proved to be incredibly painful because I don’t travel with my Tivo and for the first time since 2004, I had to watch commercials — and…
