Before the Olympics, get in on some gold-medal conversation Friday

Whether in Paris, France or Paris, Iowa, give Iowa Writers Collaborative columnists a piece of your mind at the online "Office Lounge" gabfest at noon Friday

The Upper Paris Bridge, spanning the Wapsipiniocon River near unincorprated Paris, Iowa in northern Linn County, is on the National Register of Historic Places (Iowa Department of Transportation photo)...

Iowa may not have the Olympic Games, which begin Friday, but we’ll always have Paris — unincorporated Paris, Iowa, in Linn County that is — famous for its historic high-trestle Upper Paris bridge.

And in the Olympic spirit, the columnists who make up the Iowa Writers Collaborative invite you to a high-trestle, gold-medal gab session Friday.

It’s the monthly “Office Lounge” Friday noon online discussion via Zoom. It’s a perk to our paid subscribers.

Iowa Writers Collaborative, is a collection of 60 writers with Iowa ties — current and former journalists, authors, politicos and professors.

You’re invited — not just as a listener, but as a participant. Ask anything. All it requires is a paid subscription to one or more of the Iowa Writers Collaborative columnists.

The session is called “Office Lounge,” named after a dearly departed watering hole for old Des Moines Register and Tribune staffers and other fellow travelers. that existed in the downtown heart of Iowa’s capital city.

For those of you of my locale and vintage, think of the dearly departed Picadilly Tap or Dewey Hundley’s Ritz Lounge in downtown Waterloo. Without the pool cues. A place where everybody knew your name and lively discussion was always on tap.

If you’re worred about not being able to get word in edgewise, fear not, my fellow Northeast Iowans and aficionados of University of Northern Iowa. The session is moderated by veteran broadcast journalist and rural Renaissance man Robert Leonard Ph.D, a published author and anthopologist whose work has graced the pages of The New York Times. Most importantly, the dude wrestled for Chuck Patten at UNI. This grizzled grappler will slap a whizzer on any raconteur trying to rack up too much riding time.

A link to the Zoom conversation lurks just beyond the paywall at the bottom of this tome with a paid subscription.

To see the array of Iowa Writers Collaborative columnists, click here. It includes sportswriters, academics, authors, politicos and current and former journalists, ranging from Pulitzer Prize winning Storm Lake Times editor Art Cullen, to Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, to Black Iowa News editor Dana James, to Meskwaki poet Ray Young Bear, to the collaborative’s poet laureate Suzanna de Baca, and many others.

Subscribe and venture beyond the paywall below for a load of fun conversation.
Let the gabbing begin.