the Greater Nomadic Council

Greetings from Sunny Iowa

So, I should apologize up front and profusely for my dropping off the face of the earth. I still don't have internet service in my room, but more importantly I've been very busy for the last week just getting set up and moved into my new digs. I know it's a rather tired observation, but I really do have far too many books and albums, on top of music equipment and clothes, so taken altogether it's just a hella hassle to move it all and get shit set up. I do have a much larger room than I did back in Austin, so that's nice.

Anyway, I've been meaning to write up something about my first impressions of Iowa, and as it seems Blogger is acting up, I'll have to give it to you guys rather than to those who inexplicably continue to visit my own site after going a month without a substantial update.

What I've had the best chance to observe at this point is a) the people in my program and b) the people in my co-op. The department of Communication Studies at Iowa is divided into three subdisciplines – Media Studies (my section), Rhetoric, and Interpersonal/Small Group communication. The interesting thing is that the lines between these three disciplines, and the people who populate them, is so stark. The Media people are all more or less like me – pop-culture obsessed, more or less cynical hipsters. You can spot the Media people very easily by their dress. This is true to a lesser degree of the Rhetoric people, who are mainly philosophers, and thus tend to have creative facial hair and wear cardigans. But there's definitely a certain amount of blurriness between these two groups, while the Interpersonal/Small Group (IPSG for short) people are of a whole different class. A large component of the IPSG program is Health Communication, and the people in the program are largely women and could be best characterized as nurse-esque – dressed unremarkably and uniformly "nice." Actually, I shouldn't put that in quotes, they really are nice, and even adventurous – two of them, one a non-drinking Christian, came with us on Wednesday to a little club called "Let's Dance," which is located in a strip mall about half an hour away in Cedar Rapids. It was hip hop night, and someone got their ass beat, but that's another story for another time.

Anyway, so yeah, three categories of students, and I don't anticipate them mixing too much over the next few years. I've met a few people who I like well enough, and one guy who I bonded with quite well who's in Rhetoric – but as far as making genuine friends, I think I may have to look outside of my department. These people have very much internalized the discipline of Grad school, which I think is why I spent last night playing a game called "Cranium" with five other people in someone's apartment living room. I've gotta find some kind of way out of that lifestyle, toot sweet. Or maybe I just need to give in and find a boardgame that somehow reinforces my study habits. Yeah.

That leaves my co-op. The people here are much different from those I lived with in co-ops in Austin, in a few ways. First and foremost, everyone's older, most in their late twenties and some as old as forties and fifties, so everyone's considerably more on the ball than the mostly undergrads that lived at Helios in Austin. Second, since this is Iowa City's only co-op system, and there are only two houses, as opposed to the two large systems, and countless independent houses in Austin, it seems there is a much higher concentration of the hardcore here – which is to say, hippies. I can sum it up pretty conveniently, actually - there's a guy here named Truth Hawk. 'Nuf said. Thirdly, and mostly subtly, everyone in the house is noticably soft-spoken and retiring, sparing in their expression of emotion, and quite hesitant to rub anyone the wrong way. This is one that I'm going to go ahead and call a Midwest thing.

Overall, I think I'll get along, though. I'll find the people I want to know, hopefully sooner rather than later – I'm going to start volunteering at the student radio station, so there'll be more social opportunities there. The only thing that hasn't been going so well is my hunt for a girlfriend. I'd really like to hook up with someone before things get too intense school-wise (does that sound crass?), and it seems like most people who I'm interacting with are in relationships, which is a bit of a shock coming from swinging singles Austin. But on the other hand, I'm better looking than most of the dudes around here, so we'll see how it goes.

Also, it really is sunny and beautiful here - perhaps the single most striking thing is the very, very noticeable difference between Texas' constant smog and the clear, blue, bright skies here. It's really quite amazing.

More to come.