#bettendorf

[unteriors]

Valley Drive, Bettendorf, Iowa.

[wikipediapictures]

Pleasant Valley Community School District

“Pleasant Valley High School in Riverdale, Iowa, near Bettendorf.” - via Wikimedia Commons

[badsciencejokes]

I am pleased to announce the Bad Science Jokes grant presented by Orion Technical College! We are helping people go back to school locally in Davenport, IA, and AROUND THE U.S., with their online classes.

🚨   $100,000 in total tuition assistance for 100 eligible students !  🚨 

💻The current online offerings are:  

Medical Billing and Coding

Medical Assisting

Health Information Management 

🏫Current on-location offerings in Davenport, Iowa:

EET (Electronics Engineering Technology)

Mechatronics

Massage Therapy 

Medical Massage Therapy

🖱️Learn more by clicking here (or go to Orion.edu/BSJgrant ). It will take you to a #BadScienceJokes landing page. Fill out the form and someone from Orion Technical College will contact you soon to answer any questions you may have! All information you submit will only be seen by Orion Technical College staff.

Please share and let your friends know about the new Bad Science Jokes grant from Orion Technical College! 

⏰Next start date is April 8th!

[munchieeatsfood]

Lunch at Red Ginger in Bettendorf IA. It was delicious, will definitely be coming back on my next visit to the area.

[alisaineurope]

Bettendorf (Luxembourg)

IG: lostinluxembourg

[minnesotadruids]

I’ve been interested in getting started in druidry for a while, but I have a really hard time self-studying without someone else to hold me accountable in person, but I live alone in the Quad Cities and the only druid groups I know are over an hour away and I have a hard time justifying the ecological impact of making that journey. Thoughts?

Thank you for this really important question! As druids I believe it is almost universal that we should have concern for the environment, and sometimes we need to scrutinize our actions or try to rationalize them.

I have a few questions to which I don’t necessarily need an answer, but are aimed to help you explore some options.

Is there an intercity bus route that can get you close enough to your destination? I think I heard that bus travel has the equivalent of 150-180 “passenger miles” per gallon depending on the number of passengers.

I’m going to guess that you have a vehicle at your disposal. Does it have a higher-than-average fuel economy? If not, are you in a comfortable financial situation that you could consider purchasing a more efficient vehicle?

This is not a paid endorsement, but I bought a new Chevy Spark in 2016, and I’m getting a lifetime average of 43 MPG with my driving habits over the last three years. It is the #1 most affordable new car of 2019 and has high safety ratings. It is a really small car and it doesn’t accelerate quickly, but that’s the price of being more eco-friendly.

I’m assuming you’re in the Iowa-Illinois border Quad Cities? (There’s a cluster of mining towns in the Iron Range of northern Minnesota also called the Quad Cities, but there are only like 20,000 people there.) Assuming Iowa-Illinois Quad Cities, I would next check out local metaphysical shops like Crystal Palace in Moline. You could ask the proprietor if they have a community bulletin board you could tack a flyer on to try to generate local interest in a study group or druid group, or propose carpooling to the group that’s an hour away.

You could do the same at bulletin boards at public and community colleges in the area to generate local interest, too. It takes a bit of courage do do that, but it could be worth a try.

How do you feel about buying carbon offsets? Or planting trees to bring balance to your impact on the environment? 

I calculated that if I were to make an hour-long journey and back home again in my Chevy Spark twice a month for a year, I would only need to plant four trees to make up for the CO2 emissions. If you drive an SUV, you would need to plant 12 trees (or 8 trees for a midsize sedan) annually, and that only covers meeting up with the other druid group.

There’s a carbon emissions & tree-planting calculator [here].

My other suggestion would be to make the journey a multi-purpose adventure or help in additional ways. 

Can you make an occasional camping trip out of these travels? 

Can you visit nearby places of natural beauty as sacred pilgrimages?

Do you pick up litter to mitigate damage to the environment?

Could you join an “Adopt a Highway” group?

Is there a local food co-op near your destination that you can support?

Make offerings to the gods in exchange for a blessing on your journey?

If you feel any of these questions merit further dialog or inspire additional questions I would be more than happy to help!

[theaidsmemorial-blog]

. . #MichaelGrumley (July 6, 1942 – April 28, 1988) was a writer and author who died of AIDS in New York City. He was 46 years old. . Grumley, pictured left, was born in #Bettendorf, Iowa and attended the @uofdenver, @cunyedu and the @uiowa. He also received a Bachelor of Science degree from the @uwmilwaukee. . Grumley was a founding member of #TheVioletQuill along with his partner the writer #RobertFerro (October 21, 1941 – July 11, 1988) and 5 other gay male writers that met in NYC. Grumley and Ferro resided mostly on New York's Upper West Side for 20 years, but also lived in Rome, London and Sea Girt, New Jersey. Ferro, pictured right, also died of AIDS at the age of 46. . From 1980/84, Grumley’s work regularly appeared in the #NewYorkNative — a bi-weekly gay newspaper that ran from 1980/97. He also wrote reviews and essays for periodicals such as the now defunct #Stagebill and Philadelphia Gay News. His books include ‘Atlantis: the Autobiography of a Search (1970), ‘There Are Giants in the Earth’ (1974), ‘Hard Corps: Studies in Leather and Sadomasochism’ (1977), ‘After Midnight’ (1978) and ‘Life Drawing: a novel’ (1991). . Following their deaths, The Ferro-Grumley Foundation, which manages their estate, created #FerroGrumleyAward, an annual literary award, presented by Publishing Triangle and the foundation to a book deemed the year's best work of #LGBTQ+ fiction. . 📷 © Robert Giard, 1985. . #whatisrememberedlives #theaidsmemorial #aidsmemorial #neverforget #endaids . (at NYC AIDS Memorial)

[somepikminpostcards]