The land of pork and corn

Yes, I'm talking about Iowa. And if you're lugging around stereotypes of a state full of hicks, let me tell you it isn't all what you think. At least not when it comes to Iowa City.

I've been coming to this university town for several years as a result of my membership on the Quill & Scroll Society board of trustees. (See next post.) Admittedly, I pop in for a weekend and then I'm gone. And I'm coming during the fall, not during the dead of winter or the humidity of summer. But these are a few facts, impressions and things to keep in mind:

-- When you think of Iowa City, think of other college towns like Ann Arbor, Mich., Bloomington, Ind., Evanston, Ill. -- or even Eugene. It's got an international flavor due to the university, a student district with a pedestrian mall (above), and a more liberal voting population than the rest of the state.

-- Because of those influences it might surprise you to find Indian, Ethiopian, Korean and Japanese restaurants clustered downtown. It's also got a classic greasy spoon -- Hamburg Inn No. 2 -- which would hold its own with any slacker-friendly breakfast joint in Portland.

-- The famed Iowa Writers Workshop, the first creative writing degree program in the U.S., is based here. Its graduates have won 16 Pulitzer Prizes, numerous National Book Awards and many other literary prizes. Among the Pulitzer winners: John Cheever, Jane Smiley, Marilynne Robinson and Tracy Kidder. (Plus, I also like Ann Patchett and Kim Edwards.)

-- The city has a Midwestern politeness that never loses its charm. Just as in Portland, motorists stop for you and insist on having you cross in front of them. Sales clerks, by and large, look you in the eye, make small talk and say "thank you." And everybody loves the Hawks -- the University of Iowa Hawkeyes who, as of this writing, are the No. 7-ranked football team in the country with a perfect 7-0 record.

-- The Iowa River runs through town, giving a scenic quality to the city -- that is, unless it's flooding, as did last year. The newly constructed Philip D. Adler Journalism and Mass Communication Building (at right), where Quill & Scroll now has its offices, was among a number of buildings on campus and throughout the city to suffer flood damage. I suppose it's something city residents just deal with, as they do tornado warnings.

-- Every time I come here, I make time for an afternoon run, from the Iowa House Hotel to City Park (left). I'm able to run on paths alongside the Iowa River that eventually take me by riverfront homes and through leafy neighborhoods reminiscent of Northeast Portland's Irvington, Grant Park and Laurelhurst.

-- Lastly, don't forget that Iowa, despite its skewed demographics (94 percent white!), gave Barack Obama his first crucial victory in the Democratic caucuses back in January 2008, thereby establishing him as a legitimate candidate. Iowa also went for Obama over McCain in the general election. And, most recently, the Iowa Supreme Court, in a unanimous ruling, became the third state (and the first in the heartland) to legalize gay marriage.

Sure, there are lots of tractors and cornfields, and you'll see plenty of pork chops and spaetzel on local menus, but there's plenty more here than meets the eye.