Flown by many protesters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the Gadsden flag has a design that is simple and graphic: a coiled rattlesnake on a yellow field with the text “Don’t Tread On Me.” But that simple design hides some important complexities, both historically and today, as it appears in rallies demanding President…

Historians know that turkey and corn were part of the first Thanksgiving, when Wampanoag peoples shared a harvest meal with the pilgrims of Plymouth plantation in Massachusetts. And traditional Native American farming practices tell us that squash and beans likely were part of that 1621 dinner too. For centuries before Europeans reached North America, many…

U.S. farmers overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump in 2016 and remain critical to his reelection in many swing states such as Iowa and Minnesota. Farmers have suffered a lot in the past few years — the trade war with China, natural disasters, and the COVID-19 pandemic have all resulted in substantial losses for many producers. However,…

The coronavirus pandemic has forced most people to create an office space of their own – whether by devoting a room in their homes for work, sitting socially distanced in common areas, or just creating a “Zoom worthy” corner in a bedroom. As a scholar who researches and designs learning and workspaces, Iowa State University…

Rural areas seemed immune as the coronavirus spread through cities earlier this year. Few rural cases were reported, and attention focused on the surge of illnesses and deaths in the big metro areas. But that false sense of safety is now falling apart as infection rates explode in rural areas across the country. Iowa State University…

Religious communities have been forced to find alternative ways to worship together during the coronavirus pandemic. For some that has meant going online, but others have turned to a distinctly non-digital practice steeped in the history of the American religious experience: outdoor worship. Prayer sessions in parking lots and services in green spaces formed part of…

One hundred years ago, the 19th Amendment enfranchised millions of women across the United States following a seven-decade campaign. The struggle to expand voting rights to women resonates today as the country continues to debate who should vote and how. As scholars of civic engagement and women’s suffrage, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics Karen…

“Home” is not a word typically associated with prison environments. People living inside prisons must endure isolation, tight spaces, loss of identity, and separation from loved ones. But Iowa State University associate professor of landscape architecture Julie Stevens, and a design-build team made up of design students and incarcerated women and staff at the Iowa…

The COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting daily routines around the world. Overwhelmed hospitals, desolate schools, ghostly towns and self-isolation echo a campy horror flick, but an all too real one. Companies are laying people off by the thousands, the service industry is teetering on the brink of collapse, and socialist ideas suddenly don’t sound so bad to an average…

What does it mean to serve the United States, and who should be required to do so? The question of service gained renewed relevance in late 2015 after then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced that all military jobs – including combat specialties – would be open to women, essentially negating the Supreme Court’s 1981 rationale for excluding…