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Had the opportunity last weekend to watch one of my plays performed by middle school actors. They had fun, I had fun. Watching them connect with the audience gave me an indescribable feeling of joy. Smiles everywhere. This is why I write. This is better than Broadway.
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Charles City Press, 3-28-19 Good news for “Logan’s Law” came this week, in the wake of difficult news earlier this month for Lenny and Wendy Luft. Iowa House File 148, known as “Logan’s Law,” moved out of subcommittee to the Natural Resources committee on Monday, then — after a small amendment was made — the bill was passed to the floor of the Iowa House unanimously. The bill is expected to be debated and voted on by the Iowa House of Representatives sometime next week. The law — if it passes the House and is signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds — would let Iowans put a symbol on their hunting and fishing licenses indicating they wish to be an organ donor. It’s named for Logan Luft, a 15-year-old from Charles City who died from injuries suffered in an ATV accident in July of 2017. Logan was an avid outdoorsman, and had expressed interest in organ donation while he was alive. The Lufts — Logan’s parents — have been actively lobbying for the bill’s passage since its introduction. Lenny Luft is a Charles City police officer and Wendy Luft is a local real estate broker. The couple were in the Capitol on Monday and spoke on behalf of the bill to both the subcommittee and the committee. Their latest efforts to support the bill came in the wake of a trip to Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, on Saturday to help mourn the death and celebrate the life of teen Faith Westby at a memorial service at Pelican Rapids High School. Faith died last week. Since July 2017, she had been living with Logan Luft’s liver. “In the last year and a half, we’ve connected with her and bonded with her family,” said Lenny Luft. “They were just ecstatic about receiving the liver to have her live on.” Faith was one of five people who received major organs from Logan. His heart went to a 7-year-old girl in Kentucky, his kidneys went to a 3-year-old girl in Minnesota and a 39-year old man in North Dakota, and his pancreas went to 52-year-old woman in South Dakota. “We’ve seen the great benefit and impact of Logan’s donations being received by other families,” Lenny said. “It’s carried us forward.” Faith was diagnosed with a large atypical adenoma in the left side of her liver in 2017, and her family had registered her on the donation list in the hopes of finding her a new liver. On July 7, two days after Logan died, they received the call they had been waiting for. Faith received Logan’s liver. It was a gift that saved her life, her family said. Over time, the Lufts and the Westbys became friends and called each other their “second families.” They welcomed each other into their lives, thanks to Logan’s gift, they said. “Seeing and experiencing that process with them, and seeing what good has come out of this tragedy, has been a healing process,” Lenny said. “It’s been a healing process for us, and for the community.” Lenny said that the Pelican Rapids community embraced Faith’s family in much the same way Charles City embraced Logan’s family. “Their community is just like Charles City,” he said. “Everybody was involved with her and her family, just as much as our community has been involved with us.” Faith was hospitalized late last year for a fungal infection in her bloodstream caused by treatment for rejection of the liver transplant. While being treated for her infection, she suffered a pulmonary hemorrhage and died Saturday night, March 16. “Even though she passed away, she lived a year and a half longer than she would have, had she never received anything,” Lenny said. “For us to be able to put the education process out there, and create more ways to sign up as an organ donor, it puts more people out there to be able to provide for somebody that needs it.” The experience has made the Lufts even more determined to get Logan’s Law passed and signed. “The bill overall is a good thing for everybody. It’s good for Iowa, and it’s non-partisan,” Lenny said. Lenny said that many of Iowa’s legislators have shared their own stories with the Lufts regarding organ donation. “Some of these people who we’ve met down there have been impacted by a donation from someone,” he said. “They know the result of it, and want to carry that on like we do.” Lenny spoke to the three-person subcommittee on Monday, as did lobbyists representing funeral directors and lobbyists from the Iowa Donor Network. “Since we were already down there, we ended up asking the committee chairman if we could move it forward,” Lenny said. “He agreed to move it forward, and have the committee meeting on that day.” Rep. Robert Bacon, R-Story County, chairman of the Iowa House Natural Resources Committee, also invited both Wendy and Lenny to talk at the committee meeting. Wendy presented a 10-minute synopsis for those on the committee who weren’t already aware of the Luft’s story, and after a brief caucus, the bill passed 19-0. An amendment was added to the bill which helped differentiate between organ, eye and tissue donation. If it passes the House, the bill will have to go back to the Iowa Senate for another vote, because of the amendment. The Senate voted 47-0 in February in favor of the bill. Rep. Todd Prichard, D-Charles City, originally filed the bill in the Iowa House, while Sen. Waylon Brown, R-St. Ansgar, introduced the legislation in the Senate. Gov. Kim Reynolds will have 72 hours to sign the bill into law if it reaches her desk. Both Wendy and Lenny Luft have said they believe the governor is in favor of the bill. “The governor, from what I’ve been told, is an organ donor herself,” Lenny said. “She’s signed up on the registry to be an organ donor." There has been talk of trying to arrange the signing in conjunction with a governor’s visit to Charles City at an event at Comet Gym, although much of that depends on the governor’s schedule. “The public and the whole student body can be there for that,” Lenny said. “If it doesn’t happen in Charles City, then we would do it down at the Capitol. It would just be a lot better for our student body to see it happen in our hometown, and have the general public show up.”  Wendy Luft addresses the Iowa House Natural Resources committee on Monday. Charles City Press, 3-21-19 You might refer to it as the “I know” song. I heard it on the radio on the way to work this morning. Any time I hear those first few notes, I have to crank it up. It’s pure ear candy, and it makes my heart seem warm. The song is “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers. The song was released as a single in 1971, became a breakthrough hit for Withers, and reached No. 6 on the R&B chart and No. 3 on the pop/rock chart. You might call it the “I know” song because right smack in the middle of it, the vocalist repeats “I know, I know, I know” a total of 26 times — and honestly, it seems like more than that — which can get annoying, especially to those who are adverse to repetitiveness. To me, that block of “I knows” doesn’t hurt the song overall, and in many ways gives the song a uniqueness that helps it stand out. Bill Withers was an unknown artist when he recorded the song, but there was some rock royalty among those who recorded the song with him. On guitar was Stephen Stills, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member who’s best known for his work with Crosby, Stills and Nash and Buffalo Springfield. And there’s Donald ‘Duck” Dunn on bass, another Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, who played with the likes of Elvis Presley, Otis Redding, Booker T & the M.G.’s and, of course, with John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd in “The Blues Brothers.” And speaking of Booker T & the M.G.’s, it was the great Booker T. Jones himself who initially produced “Ain’t No Sunshine.” The song has been covered over the years by a young Michael Jackson, Nancy Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Tracy Chapman, John Mayer and many others — including a tastefully-restrained rendition by the metal band Black Label Society. My personal favorite is a old-school blues version by the great Buddy Guy, who has a way of making every song his own. The original singer and songwriter, Bill Withers, is one of music’s overnight success stories. At the time he recorded the song, the then-unknown, 31-year-old musician was working at a factory that built toilet seats for 747s. Which leads me to one strange thought — there is a distinct possibility that there are several people out there who listened to “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers in the bathroom of an airplane while sitting on a toilet seat that was built by Bill Withers. Don’t think about that for too long — your head might explode. Anyway, legend has it that when the song went gold, the record company presented Withers with a gold-plated toilet seat to mark the start of his new career. The song itself is a simple one. Most of the good songs usually are. It’s little more than a low-tempo, A-minor blues riff played under a short, solemn poem about missing someone — or something — you care about. “Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone,” the song says. “It’s not warm when she’s away.” You can feel the coldness inside, the inner darkness that comes when you’re alone, and away from someone special. “Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone, and she’s always gone too long, anytime she goes away,” the verse finishes. And that puts something in my eye every time I hear it. It doesn’t matter if it’s five minutes or five years, when someone you need is missing, it seems like forever. In the second verse, Withers “wonders where she’s gone,” and “wonders if she’s gone to stay.” A desperate feeling of no control — it’s not up to me if that missing person is ever coming back to me. It’s totally up to her. I have no say in the matter. On the surface, it seems like Withers is singing about a beloved girlfriend. Or perhaps it’s a close friend, or family member, or even a pet that’s run away. After the the block of 26 repeated “I knows,” Withers changes one line in the final verse — from “It’s not warm when she’s away” to “Only darkness every day.” There’s a finality suggested there. It’s an absolute — only darkness, every day. It’s a sad and lonesome ending — I’ve accepted the fact that she ain’t coming back, not now, not ever. I know, I know, I know she’s gone. Ever lose something that you’ve come to rely on? Ever lose someone who you’ve seen every day? It can leave you in a dark, cold, uncertain place — maybe for the rest of your life. There are theories that the song isn’t about another person at all, but about drug or alcohol addiction. It’s said to be about withdrawal and co-dependency — you’ll never open another bottle again, you’ll never again get that fix you’ve relied on, you’ll never again be able hang out with the people you got drunk or high with. That could be right, I don’t know. Maybe it can be about pretty much anything you want it to be about. To me, it’s about dealing with the loss of someone you thought would be there with you forever. I know, I know, I know how horribly hard that is. |
IowaScribeThoughts on all topics from the twisted mind of a Midwestern writer. Playwrighting, poetry, journalism, sports, hunting, fishing, rock music, movies, good food and 
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