SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
October 7, 2021
Sullivan’s Salvos 10/12/21
In this edition:
*Homecoming Week
*Iowa City Book Festival
*Domestic Violence Awareness Month
*Lots of Anger Out There!
*Did You Know?
*Homecoming Week
I know the big game is THIS week, but… The week of October 10th is Homecoming Week at the University of Iowa. I am a UI alumnus, a huge Hawkeye fan, and very sentimental guy… probably too sentimental! With that in mind, you can understand why I love Homecoming!
I hope you all get an opportunity to take in some of the pomp and circumstance surrounding the big game!
*Iowa City Book Festival
The Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature is proud to offer you several days of excellent, one-of-a-kind, free, literary programming as part of the 2021 Iowa City Book Festival. Events are October 14-24 across Johnson County; see: Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature for details. Iowa City is a City of Literature for many reasons: The wonderful writing programs at the University of Iowa, our small presses and magazines, our wonderful libraries, our bookstores, and amenities like the Iowa Avenue Literary Walk.
The Iowa City Book Festival is organized by the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature, a nonprofit 501(c)3 that manages the Iowa City area’s designation as a UNESCO City of Literature. The City of Literature works to advance its mission of celebrating and supporting literature on a local, regional, national, and international level, connecting readers and writers through the power of story.
*Domestic Violence Awareness Month
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and I want to take this opportunity to share some statistics with you.
The Domestic Violence Intervention Program (DVIP) has been serving Johnson County since 1979. Services include emergency shelter, 24-hour crisis line, support and advocacy services, youth services, and community education.
The State of Iowa mandated some consolidations a few years ago, and DVIP now serves 8 counties for most services, and 13 counties with their 24-hour crisis line. Johnson County sources make up about 25% of DVIP’s funding, but 60% of their clients come from Johnson County. They serve about 350 individuals in the shelter each year; 80% of them are Johnson County residents. Another 60 or so people annually are served through contracts with hotels. The average shelter stay is about 45 days.
There are many events scheduled for October; to see the whole list and/or to learn more about the Domestic Violence Intervention Project (DVIP), visit dvipiowa.org.
*Lots of Anger Out There!
My last couple years have been difficult. While my family and I have been lucky as far as COVID is concerned, I am on the receiving end of more vitriol than ever before. I have always received a fair amount of hate mail/email/social media from the right. That has not only continued, but increased a fair amount. That has been matched, and probably even surpassed, by hate mail from the left. It is quite a steady stream. Finally, there is actually hate from the middle. I’m not joking! There have been more than a couple pieces of hate mail basically saying I am terrible because things should remain just as they are.
The right-wing folks often refer to me as an “N-word” lover. The left-wing folks often refer to me as a racist. I just wish they could get together and decide which it is going to be. In all seriousness, this stuff takes a toll. I don’t mind disagreeing with people. My problem is that I have a tendency to try to talk things out. That has not worked very well very often. First, most of the feedback is either unsigned or done under an alias. Even when it has a real name attached, I have found those individuals pretty unwilling to consider anything I have to say. It is just in my nature to try to reach out to someone – even someone who calls me an “N-word” lover or a racist. But my approach is simply not working.
I am going to refer to two very recent examples to illustrate my past couple years.
On Tuesday, September 28, my daughter Rachel and granddaughter Zuri were in the front yard of our house when a guy started blaring on his horn, screaming, “Why doesn’t Rod Sullivan do something about this f-ing traffic?” Rachel sheepishly said, “He’s not in charge of City streets.” The guy let loose a bunch of expletives, calling me, Joe Biden, and Nancy Pelosi every name in the book. In front of my granddaughter. It was unsettling for both Rachel and Zuri. By the way – he had a teenaged child in his own car!
Here is another illustration: On Friday, October 1, I was driving down First Avenue in Iowa City when I saw a group of three boys. Two were bigger, one smaller. One of the bigger boys had the smaller boy by the wrist, and was repeatedly hitting him. The smaller boy had dodged about half the blows, but I saw him get hit 3-4 times. So I stopped my car. Traffic is backing up behind me. I yelled, “Hey! Stop that!” To my surprise, they did. And for what seemed longer, but was probably only two seconds, I made eye contact with all three boys. You know what happened next? The smaller boy – the one who was being hit – looked at me and said, “F__ you!” That is correct. I stopped a boy from being hit, and he said, “F__ you!” Cars were now honking behind me, so I got back in the car and drove away. That pretty much sums up my life as of late.
Just to be clear, I know lots of other people have it worse than me. I have heard the stories of nurses who are being berated by COVID deniers even as the nurses intubate them. I have seen a woman I grew up with – now a nurse at UIHC – mocked by guys from our hometown for trying to urge people to wear masks. I know scores of teachers, all trying to do their jobs under the most difficult of conditions. I see daycare workers exposed every day, but without health insurance. I know wait staff who get treated like dogs by employers and customers alike, working terrible hours, exposed to unvaccinated customers, only to make poverty wages. I totally understand that I have it very good compared to most folks. That said, I am still human, and when I am cut, I still bleed.
I just finished reading a great book. The Nix by Iowan Nathan Hill is long – over 600 pages – but absolutely worth your time. There was one particular sentence in the book that I found quite poignant: “Anger is the easiest emotion.” Ain’t that the truth! I have decided to work really hard to treat others with grace. It can be difficult, yes. As Hill notes, anger is easy. But I simply can’t match the anger that comes my way. The only way to move forward is to try to do so with grace.
Though my job sucks right now, I am not in need of your sympathy. If it bothers me enough, I can just walk away. Other folks are not so lucky. So don’t worry about me. But I would ask you all to join me in putting forth a bit more kindness and grace. In all your interactions. Thanks.
*DID YOU KNOW? Unfortunately, domestic violence is up during the pandemic. 1500 Johnson County residents used 6000 services in the past year. Those numbers are for Johnson County alone!
Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.
These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.
If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan29@gmail.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.
As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan29@gmail.com. I look forward to serving you!
---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 11:18 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home