Language is important

Iowa: the test case for Project 2025

The splitter stopped working a while back. It was down in the sub zero temperatures where we live for chunks of the last month. In years past, S’s parents would come from a few hours away regularly to split wood for us, so having wood for the wood stove has never been an issue. But with the broken splitter and the fact that her dad is well into his 80s with a number of health issues, (that he stoically ignores,) and her mom is 80 herself, our supply of split wood became disappointingly low. In fact we have run out. We have no shortage of wood on the property. In the last 3 years S has had to cut down 20 ash trees. Their fat corpses are strewn about the acreage, the majority of them in a pick-up-stix tumble in the front yard. She has spent a few weekends with a friend and large chainsaw, cutting large limbs into splitable, wood stove length chunks. Those have been piled in a wood rack, drying for the past six months or so. We found recently that splitting by hand is not an option. I have spent a fair amount of my youth splitting wood, what with growing up a hippie child in the NW US and all. But it turns out splitting ash and splitting fir are very different. Even with S’s half a kajillion pound and then full kajillion pound awls I’m not strong or tall enough to split it. S even has a hard time. Some of those round chunks are actually small enough in diameter to fit into the mouth of our wood stove. So I have sorted through the stacked chunks and found the smaller rounds to keep on the porch and ready to put in the stove. When I told S that I was collecting “rounds” she teased me for calling them that.

“What would you call them?” I asked, defensive.

“I don’t know, round chunks. Or how about logs?!”

“Right! Rounds! Besides a log comes from the trunk of a tree not limbs. And these round chunks are the right length for the stove - so ROUNDS.”

“Whatever.”

Since that conversation I can go out and say I’m going to collect rounds and she knows precisely what I’m talking about. Even if it’s just on these two little acres, the meaning of “rounds” is precise. It’s not just a log, it’s not just a chunk, it’s not just a piece of wood. It is an unsplit, round piece of wood that will fit into our wood stove. Precise.

Another example: My kid stayed with us the fall of 2023 and S hired them to paint the house. As she was giving instructions she said to paint the facia and soffits red.

“Those words don’t mean anything to me.” My kid said.

So they went out and she pointed to the strip of trim along the rafters saying, “that’s the facia,” then the space under the eaves, “and that’s the soffit.” Easy peasy. It was clear then what they were talking about with no need to continue explaining exactly what needed to be red or green. Precise. Also when my kid is on the next job, they will know the correct terms.

Having the right language helps so much.

The Iowa Department of Education (DOE) knows that language is important too and that’s why they are pushing to change language in the Science standards.

After a committee of educators and experts spent hours and hours in meetings creating the standards that have not been rewritten since 2015, the DOE took them and changed the language to conform to a particular political agenda - not science - not facts.

They have replaced the precise phrase “climate change” with the vague phrase “climate trends” and have changed the precise “biological evolution” to the vague "biological change”.

“KCRG News (January 15, 2025) reported that at a public forum, two members of the committee said that the problematic revisions were not present in the document prepared by the committee. The department refused to answer questions about the source of the revisions.”

Perhaps they refused to answer because they know the plan and are toeing the line. The same line that the Cheeto knows: if you tell a lie over and over it becomes the truth, if you obscure the truth with imprecise terms like “climate trends” there is not the agency to make changes, if you conjure fear with made-up terms like “trans agenda” you get votes.

The DOE took out whole sections as well. One that specifies human’s impact on climate and another that refers to the earth as 4.7 million years old. Umm - feels a little like the DOE has more churchy concerns than educational. Iowan kids will go on to colleges, universities and jobs without having been taught some basic, precise facts about our experience and our responsibilities here on Earth.

In the public comment sessions held last month the majority of commenters were against the changes. I’m unclear when the new standards will be put in place, but I’m quite sure the public comments will make no difference. Not much that’s fair, moral or fact based seems to make a difference these days.

In other Iowa news the state has taken away civil rights protections from trans citizens. Here are some beautiful, angry pieces about this heinous act:

The place I Call Home no Longer Calls Me One of its Own by Parker Williamson

Cowardly Iowa Lawmakers Should Be Ashamed Of Themselves by Daniel Henderson

Iowa is the test case for Project 2025. Gordie Felger saw the writing on the wall back in July and explains it in this post.

I will most likely write more about the bills coming down the pike, in a later post. Right now I need to take a nap.