IOWA CITY — While many women her age are giving up collections, Erda Jo Thomas, 78, continues to see blue, as in Smurf blue. For, in about 20 years, she’s amassed a collection of more than 2,000 figures and items of the worldwide popular cartoon ...

By Diana Nollen/ SourceMedia  “My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes a Family” (Gotham Books, April 26,2012; 235 pages; $26) isn’t the most elegant, sophisticated book on the planet, but it’s methodical, intelligent and passionate. Zach Wahls, the Iowa City college student whose three-minute ...

From a media release Clamoring to get into Mayberry Hancher and Working Group Theatre add a second additional performance IOWA CITY -- Desire for tickets to see Mayberry—written by UI alum Sean Christopher Lewis, performed by Working Group Theatre, and commissioned by Hancher—continued to be substantial. The original ...

By Diana Nollen/ SourceMedia EcoFest: Good Green Fun April 21, 2012 Celebrate Earth Day with some “good green fun” at Saturday’s third annual EcoFest in Cedar Rapids. The Czech Village/New Bohemia Main Street Cultural District along Third Street SE will be buzzing with all-ages arts and environmental activities. ...

IOWA CITY — "Many homes are filled with sorrow and with sadness." The shock was felt around the world after the April 15, 1912, sinking of the Titanic. "Many hearts are filled with anguish and with pain." Everyone had heard it was indestructible. "And our nation now is wrapped ...

Comedian Josh Blue April 13 and 14, 2012 Josh Blue continues to break down stereotypes of people with disabilities, one laugh at a time. The comic, who lives with cerebral palsy, exploded onto the national comedy scene as the 2006 winner of NBC-TV’s “Last Comic Standing.” Having ...

By Diana Nollen/ SourceMedia Group Among Donald Glover’s many names and faces is Childish Gambino, who will be rapping a SCOPE concert Monday night (4/16/12) at the Iowa Memorial Union in Iowa City. Perhaps best known as college student Troy Barnes on the NBC hit sitcom “Community,” ...

Following the "fantastic" success of their first item-specific peanut butter and jelly drive in February, the Crisis Center of Johnson County is once again targeting one local need for a month: baby products. "They are expensive," Communications and Development Director Beth Ritter Ruback said of products ...

By Diana Nollen/ SourceMedia Group Hancher: Dave Pietro April 5, 2012 Jazz sax man Dave Pietro will debut his “Iowa Memoirs” tonight at the Englert in downtown Iowa City. Commissioned by Hancher, the piece has been inspired by Pietro’s trips around the state. Also through Hancher, this New ...

One of the most dynamic art galleries locally these days is at the UI Old Capitol Museum.  Currently on display through April 27 is Minneapolis artist Lynn Fellman’s “Gene Stories: DNA Portraits of a Diverse Community.”  The exhibition is in conjunction with a gathering of ...