In absence of exhaustive reporting crafted into a single compelling narrative, here’s a sampling from my recent media diet. …

Bracing for the lithium boom

For your podcast listening I recommend the “On Point” miniseries “Elements of Energy: Mining for a Green Future.” What do we think needs to happen before we stomp on the accelerator of our electric vehicle, or tap the screen on our smartphone? Increasingly, we need to extract lithium from deep underground in Nevada and North Carolina—as well as other essential minerals from many other mines. It’s a fascinating series that digs deep (sorry) beneath the headlines.

Don’t look back in anger—unless it’s lucrative business

grayscale photo of man in white shirt and pants playing basketball — Photo by Jurre Houtkamp on Unsplash

I really didn’t think Oasis qualified as the current biggest band in the world, but it isn’t everyday I receive a New York Times push alert for a reunion tour—as I did for the return of fractious brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher to the same stage to lead a reunited Oasis, the sneering British rock band that first took the world by storm in the 1990s with songs such as “Rock ’N’ Roll Star,” “Wonderwall,” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger.” (Yes, sentences sometimes run on when everybody’s writing on Substack without editors. And don’t get me started on the unnecessary parentheticals.) Step aside, U2, the Rolling Stones, Coldplay, etc. However, when it comes to the Britpop war, I’ve always preferred Blur over Oasis. (Blur frontman Damon Albarn managed to launch a second globally successful and entirely stylistically different pop act, Gorillaz—a feat unequaled by the Gallaghers.) But I get the allure of a band that has been out of action for 15 years: Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Even better that it’s a pair of brothers who seem to relish getting under each other’s skin: The Gallaghers have only become more relevant to our modern reality-TV and social-media culture that craves oversharing every iota of family drama. And as Iowans we certainly understand sibling spats within a landmark band, thanks to the foundational example of the Everly Brothers.

Oasis also benefits from Liam’s belligerent anti-hero charisma: He’s the most entitled and unapologetic rock star on the planet, unafraid of insisting he’s in the best band in history (except for maybe the Beatles) while expecting everybody to worship Oasis, shut up, and shell out hundreds of dollars for their reunion tour. The hilarious video clip below of Gallagher complaining about no longer being able to afford several stagehands to help make his tea has circulated again in the wake of the Oasis news.

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Debating debates

I think all of us can be forgiven for approaching the Sept. 10 debate between presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump with some measure of post-traumatic stress.

The June 27 Trump-Joe Biden debate, as none of us can forget, set fire to the summer political calendar as the first in a series of events that transformed the presidential race.

This debate will be held in Philadelphia, the “City of Brotherly Love” (nothing to do with Oasis). The National Constitution Center, the venue for the event, is home to a private, nonprofit, and nonpartisan organization dedicated to supporting constitutional education among the general public.

I’ve long extoled the virtues of this org and its diligence in strengthening our democracy through simple means such as civil debate and free education; their weekly podcast, “We the People,” is one of my longtime favorites.

The center also recently published “a brief history of presidential candidate debates” on its website. The article reminds us of the modern TV history of these rhetorical fencing matches, stretching back to John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960.

This year we’ve entered a new era of presidential debates—not only because of the dramatic Biden-Harris switcheroo but also because the Commission on Presidential Debates was scrapped in favor of the Democratic and Republican parties directly brokering their own terms. There’s been plenty of reporting on the rules for the Sept. 10 debate—including a tussle over whether the microphone would be switched on or off for the candidate not speaking. (It will be off—an advantage for Trump to help prevent him from undermining himself by slinging continuous insults?)

I tend to find most debates entertaining, but I can’t promise this one will be enlightening.

You can rely on the regular National Constitution Center programming for that.

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The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative roster

The Iowa Writers Collaborative has grown to include more than 50 members and a Letters From Iowans column. Each member is an independent columnist who shares two things in common: They have made a living as writers and are interested in the state of Iowa. Subscribe to the main account for a convenient way to be notified each Sunday about most posts by most members. You can support individual members according to your unique interests by becoming a paid subscriber to any newsletter. We are also proud to be affiliated with Iowa Capital Dispatch, where some of our content is regularly republished.

Nicole Baart: This Stays Here, Sioux Center

Rekha Basu: Shouts and whispers, Des Moines

Ray Young Bear: From Red Earth Drive, Meskwaki Settlement

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Tory Brecht: Brecht’s Beat, Quad Cities

Dartanyan L. Brown: My Integrated Live, Des Moines

Douglas Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Jane Burns: The Crossover, Des Moines

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Rachelle Chase : Reading with Rachelle, Ottumwa

Steph C: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley

Taylor Deckert: Taylor’s Millennial Mindset, Sioux City

Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

Randy Evans: Stray Thoughts, Des Moines via Bloomfield

Daniel P. Finney: Paragraph Stacker, Des Moines

Marianne Fons: Reporting From Quiltropolis, Winterset

Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts, Okoboji and Sioux Falls

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji

Dennis Goldford, “Let’s Talk Politics,” Des Moines

Avery Gregurich: The Five and Dime, Marengo

Fern Kupfer and Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Rob Gray's Area: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny

Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Iowa

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla

Iowa Podcasters' Collaborative

Black Iowa News: Dana James, Iowa

Chris Jones: Chris’s Substack, Iowa City

Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Darcy Maulsby: Keepin’ It Rural, Calhoun County

Hola Iowa: Iowa

Alison McGaughey: The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities

Kurtis Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar

Vicki Minor: Relatively Minor, Winterset

Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines

Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids

Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines

Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines

John Naughton: My Life in Color, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines

Ty Rushing: Ty’s Take, Iowa City

Steve Semken: Ice Cube Press, LLC, North Liberty

Macey Shofroth: The Midwest Creative, Norwalk

Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona

Mary Swander's Emerging Voices: Emerging Voices, Kalona

Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport

Bill Tubbs : Impressions, Eldridge

Phoebe Wall Howard, “Shifting Gears,” Detroit, Michigan

Jason Walsmith: The Racontourist, Earlham

Kali White VanBaale: 988: Mental Healthcare in Iowa, Bondurant

Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines

Kyle Munson’s Main Street

Essential minerals, English rock stars, and…