There is no secret formula or process to local author Larry Baker’s writing. He wakes up in the morning, drinks some coffee, and sits down at his computer for a few hours every day. For him, consistency...

At midnight tonight, the sounds of shrieking women will resonate throughout Iowa City. No, the screaming isn’t because vampires are sinking their fangs into unsuspecting victims. The cries will come...

Sassy zebra couches, affordable couture, and a friendly, customer-oriented environment fill the space next to Java House. Once the home of Vortex, the store now houses trendy designer items. With its...

In a world with more than 6 billion people and nearly 200 hundred countries, there’s one thing we all have in common — the need to eat. “Food is the one common denominator to humans and the world,”...

In seven days, hundreds of millions of Americans will sit down and all eat the exact same food at roughly the same time. Such behavior would probably seem like one of the strangest cultural phenomenon...

Phillip Graham never planned on traveling across the world. “I’m not very good at planning, and I think if I’ve ever tried to plan something, it has fallen apart,” he said and chuckled. “So...

When Ayumi Irie, 23, stepped onto Iowa soil for the first time, she was flabbergasted. “I had never seen squirrels outside of a zoo,” the native of Hitachi, Japan, said. “And there was grass everywhere.” The...

Lately, my attempts to turn on the charm have fallen flat. With all the striking out I’ve been doing, I considered giving up all together. Fortunately, America’s advertisers have struck gold with the...

At the age of 9, Dean Jacobs hopped onto his green Schwinn Stingray bicycle and rode from his hometown of Fremont, Neb., to the neighboring town of Arlington. He rode by himself for miles down gravel roads...

*** 1/2 out of ***** Since at least his second album, Heavier Things, there have been two types of John Mayer. There is the “Daughters” and “Your Body Is A Wonderland” Mayer, who writes catchy,...

**** out of ***** Shakira is back and sinking her claws into the charts. She Wolf, Shakira’s third full-length English album, is strange, exotic, and positively hypnotizing. Its disco-inspired tracks...

The choice between bathroom doors is automatic for the “Cisgender” majority (those who identify with their given sex), but the decision is complicated for those who don’t fit into this category....