Arts and Culture

As she led reporters around displays of the pins she wore during her career, it was as if Madeleine Albright were introducing old friends at a family reunion.

With each pin came a memory for the former Secretary of State; crucial diplomatic decisions, casual moments in the White House, and tense meetings with international heads of state… including Kim Jong-Il. 

One of the biggest changes for the music industry is the shift from publishing music on CDs, to downloadable music files.  There are still artists who prefer their music be available on a tangible medium, even one as old as vinyl.  In Iowa the two year old label Maximum Ames Records, publishes all of its titles on vinyl, including H.D.

The brewers at the Cedar Ridge Distillery are bottling and packaging a whiskey brewed with malted barley… if it were made in Scotland, you’d call it scotch.

They say it’s the first single-malt whiskey produced in Iowa.  

Latino immigration has helped to shape - and re-shape - Iowa communities for more than a century. Dr. Omar Valerio-Jimenez, associate professor of history at the University of Iowa, joins Sarah McCammon to discuss "The Latino Experience in Iowa." That's the title of a lecture he's giving as part of a series on race and gender at Mt. Mercy University in Cedar Rapids.

In the second half of the 20th century, native Iowan Norman Borlaug developed wheat seeds that increased crop yields in third world countries.  His work in agriculture led him to a Nobel Peace Prize, a Congressional Gold Medal, and next year he’ll be remembered with a statue in the National Statuary Hall Collection housed in the United States Capitol.  South Dakota artist Benjamin Victor is commissioned to create this sculpture and brought his work in progress to the Iowa Historical Building for a two week artist in residency to get the final details right.

The former Iowan who fathered one of the world’s most celebrated architects has been pulled from the shadows of his legendary son. The father was William Carey Wright, and Iowa Public Radio tells the story of his love for music and how it influenced the life of and career of his son, Frank Lloyd Wright.