Bertha Raffetto - Nevada State Song

There is no questioning the fact that Iowa is awesome. That said many native sons and daughters have wandered far from the Hawkeye State for one reason or another and have ended up falling in love with another state.  I am sure I will highlight my own journey from Adel to the Evergreen State at some point, but suffice to say my adoption of Washington has not been devoid of longing for home, and even though Snoqualmie is home now, home will always remain metaphorically Iowa for me.  I do believe that Iowa lays the foundation for love of place, perhaps it is the connectedness its people feel to the top soil, or the isolation from the coastal centers of culture that fertilize the pride in Iowa, whatever it is it is certainly real and surely leaves its mark on all Iowans, even those like Bertha Raffetto, who began her life in Bloomfield and ended up becoming famous for penning the state song of Nevada.  Here is the band the Killers singing her song at a political rally, she certainly was fond of the Silver State, but I would venture to say that her childhood in Iowa was the first spark of personal sense of place in her life.

Jean Seberg - Simply Breathless

Some like myself leave Iowa when they are young and travel to France.  Some return and end up writing a blog about how great Iowa is.  Others star in one of the most iconic films of our time, have an affair with Clint Eastwood, and are pursued and slandered by the FBI. I of course am the former.  The latter, the gorgeous Jean Seberg, has to be one of the most beautiful things to ever come out of Marshalltown.