My alarm went off at 5:30 am yesterday…it was Saturday, and I was still sleepy, but I could see the sun making the Eastern sky reddish.

I hit the snooze button twice before I crawled out of bed. I had washed my hair the day before, saving me at least 20 minutes. While waiting for the coffee to brew, I put dishes in the dishwasher and picked up the little nests each of my family members left the night before.

A blanket on the couch. A cup on the end table. A Cosmic Brownie wrapper stuffed inside the cup on the end table.

Then as always, I started to think about what I was going to say to the folks in Wapello County, Iowa in a few short hours. I needed to be on the road early. I had heard there would be coffee and donuts and maybe cinnamon rolls at the event, but I already knew that I would be stopping about 45 minutes into my drive in Mount Ayr, IA to grab a Diet Coke and a piece of breakfast pizza from Casey’s.

Gas station pizza. The Midwestern breakfast of champions.

The drive to Ottumwa, Iowa is prettier than most of my drives through the heartland. I was on two-lane highways and county roads the entire trip which let me indulge in one of my favorite activities — looking at old farmhouses.

I am obsessed with farmhouses and I take cues for my own when I see a particularly pretty one.

Once you get to Mount Ayr, you can see rolling hills and old farmhouses dotting the acres and acres of farmland. I loved seeing the trees on this drive. We are missing trees in much of the heartland. They were cut down a hundred years ago to make way for row crops, but this drive was lined with trees, and I assume it’s because you can’t plant corn on hills effectively.

You know, a few weeks ago, I drove from NWMO all the way to Columbus Ohio — an 11-hour trip, and I promise you, there was not one hill along the way and only a few trees. It was corn and beans and winter wheat and potholes the entire way. And it rained. The entire way.

I listened to Howard Zinn, and the narrator’s voice kept time with the windshield wipers.

While researching Ottumwa before my talk, I realized it was the fictional hometown of Radar from M*A*S*H. I didn’t remember that fact from the series. I watched M*A*S*H throughout my childhood, but I feel like I missed much of it as it came on when it was time for me to go to bed.

I do remember that Radar was an Iowa farm boy who was young and naive and slept with his Teddy bear and drank grape Nehi pop. He also once sold tickets to the guys in the unit to watch the nurses as they showered.

Fun fact: My grandpa served in a Medic unit during the Korean War. He was an Arkansas farm boy. I don’t think he ever sold tickets to a naked nurse event, though.

I knew I had travelled through Ottumwa a few times as soon as I hit the city limit and saw the Des Moines River running through the town. I also remember having some of the best Mexican food in my life somewhere in that town, though I wouldn’t have time to stay for lunch on this visit.

Folks were waiting for me when I arrived at the Temple of Creative Arts. It was a Jewish synagogue donated to the town about ten years ago. I knew as soon as I stepped into the space that it was a holy space. The wood and the windows and the seating arrangement gave it away.

I spoke to an audience of about 40 people. They listened politely and as I ended my talk, we started a Q&A session — the question session is my favorite part of my speaking events.

You might like to know what rural Midwestern folks typically ask me at these events.

Question: Why is Iowa sending taxpayer money to private religious schools? Isn’t that against the separation of church and state?

Answer: Iowa school vouchers were not approved by voters. They were pushed through by a Republican supermajority hungry to defund Iowa public schools by siphoning taxpayer money to religious schools. The fact is, many private Iowa schools raised their tuition once vouchers went into effect, proving that vouchers are not meant for poor children to advance, but instead as a coupon to well-off folks who already have their children in private schools.

Yes, school vouchers are a blatant violation of church and state separation. They do it anyway.

Question: As I look around this room, I only see one young person. How can we engage more young people?

Answer: Invite them. Show up where they are. Understand that younger folks work and have kids and ball games and homework and supper to contend with. They are busy and we have to meet them where they are. Also, don’t just assume they will be your tech and social media folks — invite them to be part of leadership roles. Don’t just ask them for a Tik Tok. Ask them to lead a rally.

Question: What can we do about the Trump Executive Orders that come down every day that disrupt and threaten our community and our friends?

Answer: I am not a lawyer, but I know we do not serve a King in this country and EOs are not laws and we need to stop acting like they are. I am not following the shit Trump decrees from his imagined throne on high.

I am not giving up my neighbors who weren’t born here and I am not snitching on anyone because they are not Christian, but I will support every person who stands up to that tyrant. I won’t be quiet and I hope you aren’t either. I am supporting those who stand up to Trump, be it Bert and Ernie or Maine’s Governor.

F’ck that fascist.

Question: How can we bring sanity back to our state? How can Democrats win again?

Answer: Have a candidate on each ballot in each race. We have to take a play out of the Republican playbook — invest in races you know won’t flip for a cycle or two or three. Make sure every county race has a Democratic candidate and start at the grassroots level by competing on school boards and town councils.

We can’t win when we don’t show up. I couldn’t vote for even one county office this last August because there was not one Democrat running. Iowa is in a better place than Missouri — you aren’t that far gone, so it will take less to claw your way back. Contest every race. And remember to help your local candidates. It’s immoral to ask someone to run and then not help them.

The solution is to run everywhere. Even in the races you know you’ll lose.

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This event was my first in May. I spoke at eleven events in April.

I didn’t mean to do this as a part-time gig, but I realized no one else is doing the work of speaking to mainly rural folks in the heartland. Call me the Temu AOC, but I think helping regular folks fight the oligarchy is worthwhile. We are often forgotten in the race to the next election.

Swing states usually take center stage.

We live in the middle of nowhere, but many of us are fighting the hardest battles and my part of the world is worth fighting for. I also think we may be fighting the most important fights living MAGA adjacent.

In MAGA land.

We are well accustomed to this fight.

We were born for this.

~Jess

P.S. I am also the Executive Director of Blue Missouri — we are the only organization in the state to fund down-ballot Democrats running in mostly red, rural districts. You can take look here.