Dear Huffington Post, Let’s Talk About Iowa
Hello from the cornfields of Iowa
“I’m happy wherever I go, whatever I do. I’m happy in Iowa, I’m happy here in California.” Ashton Kutcher (Some of us are happy here too, Ashton”). Have you noticed he seems like kind of a nice guy? Not surprised.
Dear Huffington Post,
I really like your site. In fact, sometimes I even write for your site. But, the other day I ran across a piece from your site on Twitter about a quest for style in Iowa. Apparently, this was such a strange notion that the Onion had to do their own version, which was pretty good, and in some cases, pretty accurate. http://www.theonion.com/articles/iowa-fashion-week-begins,31579.
I’m glad you visited, though. I actually liked the video piece, full of charm and good characters, but your written piece left out some of that charm. So, readers all over the U.S. were left with just these photos as a representation of all of us here in the fields of dreams…. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/29/iowa-fashion-style_n_3831853.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
So, with your permission, (can I have permission?) I’ll use your photos but add a couple of my own.
Here’s your picture of where we shop….
You really should have shown Walmart. We have some good ones here. Photo courtesy Huffington Post.
But sometimes I shop in places that aren’t in malls, with, like, cool brick walls and everything…
Like this place…called Studio 427, not in mall. Courtesy Studio 427, Sioux City
or this place
Indigo Palette, also in Sioux City, Iowa. Here, I’ll prove to you that this isn’t in a mall….
Not a mall. So, there’s only two or three places that aren’t a mall, I still thought I’d show them to you.
Then we proceeded to the type of hair salon, we all frequent, from your story…
You kind of picture Aunt Bea here, don’t you? Photc courtesy Huffington Post.
Here’s my hair salon, if you’d like to add this to your follow up story…
This doesn’t suck too bad. Bliss salon, Sioux City. Not in mall. Have you noticed I’m trying to get you to come to Sioux City? Photo courtesy Bliss Salon
Not done yet, but neither were you, so we’ll move onto the clothing styles, particularly our choice of denim… Here’s yours..
Here’s your Iowa denim fashion statement. I actually kind of like overalls, and they work on this guy. Photo courtesy Huffington Post again. I would imagine that probably only about .001 percent of us wear these but thank you anyway…
I found one just about like this…so you were darn close here… Photo courtesy Huffington Post again
Ok, a bit different, but not bad…. Photo courtesy La Ventura and the Weekender, yes, Sioux City again.
Two young Sioux City kids wishing they had overalls… I think I’ll find them and buy them some. Photo courtesy La Ventura and The Weekender.
Here’s another jeans picture from Iowa, taken of my husband during a protest.
Oh, shit, are these dad jeans?
But wait there’s more….
I loved your beard picture of the guy that lived in Paris and moved back to Iowa. I can’t find a damn thing even close in Sioux City, so you win big here….
This beard is awesome, great job. Photo courtesy Huffington Post again. You guys are great and so is this beard..
Nothing remotely like it that I could find in Sioux City, so here’s two guys I know, with rather short beards.
Here’s two friends who apparently need to work on their beard length if they want to be a bit freakier than they are. Photo courtesy Garie Lewis and Mike Langley.
I do get it, though. It’s easy to pigeonhole Iowa. I was the executive producer of a documentary called “Bully”, partially filmed here in my home town. My friend, Lee Hirsch, who I love, didn’t show much of Iowa. In fact, Sioux City looked like one bus, one train track, and a school. Here’s a shot…
Sioux City in “Bully”, footage courtesy of Lee Hirsch, and I think the Weinstein Company too. Thank you, Mr. Weinstein and thank you for buying our film too. 🙂 Will you please buy my next documentary? Call me….
Heck, we’ve got bridges and everything here in Sioux City, and cars too….
Sometimes, half the town gets together for a big party close to the fourth of July. There’s usually about 30,000 of us and some good bands too, so I am inviting you to visit and get kind of a cross section of types, because, you’ll get the general idea that we are a bit more nuanced here in the heartland than people think.
Here’s the party….
Gosh, we can fit about half the town here…. and just the denim fashions alone will give you much to work with. Photo above and below courtesy Saturday in the Park.
These folks aren’t from here, but we let people like this play here and no one has to pay to get in. So, join us next year, ok? I like Melissa’s jeans.
I’ll close by saying that we come in all shapes and sizes here in flyover America, so do come visit again, particularly in Sioux City. We need you. Poor Sioux City is doubly not blessed by not only being in a flyover state, but for having the unfortunately airport designation SUX. I’m not making that up. So, on your purchase of a ticket from whatever coast on our one and only airline, you can see it yourself. And, you’ll get a free gift basket, with items such as this…
All SUX photos courtesy Sioux City gifts….
and my personal favorite…
So, come visit and be nice, or as Glinda once said, be gone, before I drop a Walmart on you. 🙂
Most Sincerely Yours,
Cindy Waitt
This is me and my family. When we’re in California, we wear dark glasses, so we can pretend we are cool too.
And finally, can I still write for you?
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