Portraits of Democracy in Action--"Liz from Iowa"
A series...
This column is also posted at Jason Walsmith’s Substack, The Racontourist. Please consider subscribing to The Racontourist. Jason is a member of the celebrated Des Moines band, the Nadas. He’s also a professional photographer. If you value his photos and can afford it, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to The Racontourist or buying him a cup of coffee here.
With “Portraits of Democracy in Action,” Jason and I continue our collaboration highlighting Iowans from different walks of life.
We did a series of “Portraits of Hunger in Iowa” (you can find the first in that series here). We also did “Portraits of Formerly Incarcerated Women” (you can find the first in the series here) and “Portraits of Nurses Building Power” here.
Jason and I attended the Iowa State Democratic Convention in Des Moines on Saturday, June 13, where we spoke with attendees and Jason shot photographs. We begin our series with interviews and photographs of three members of the Iowa Creator Corp, a new organization, and then we will continue with a few Democrats running for office, and other people at the convention.
I wrote the narrative, and Jason did the photography and photo captions.
The following brief interview with the amazing Liz Fleming, aka Liz from Iowa, is the first in this series. Our friend Jay Stahl, then with the Des Moines Register and now with USA Today, had a feature story on Liz in December of 2023 titled: Liz from Iowa is a liberal lightning rod with millions of views on TikTok. Who is she?
Liz says she “is a content creator and advocate who covers Iowa politics, public policy, and civic engagement, helping Iowans stay informed about issues affecting their communities.”
She has over 110,000 followers on TikTok and over eight million likes and nearly 27,000 followers on Instagram. As always, please consider listening to the recorded interview below if you can to get a deeper sense of who Liz is. The recording is followed by a lightly edited transcript.
Me: Liz, you’re the famous Liz from Iowa.
Liz laughs
Liz: Am I?
Me: Yes, you do wonderful work on TikTok and social media in general.
Liz: Okay, well, I’m glad that we’re recording audio cuz I’m going to blush.
Me: What drives you? What makes you you?
Liz: What drives me? What makes me me? My people, my family, my friends, my fellow Iowans, all the people who grew up here and live here and want to live good lives here.
I have a really empathetic heart, and I don’t like injustice. So, anything of the sort, I feel like it’s my duty as someone who can speak and reach people to do so, to speak and reach people, to show people that we deserve a lot better here than we’re being given by our state legislature and our federal government, honestly, but I just want people to know that we deserve better and we can do better if we act collectively.
Me: We’re coming upon the 250th anniversary of America. Tell us your thoughts on that.
Liz: 250 years is a long time. Most empires fall around this time, don’t they? I think it’s a shame that Donald Trump is in office during this momentous occasion. It’s a shame that somebody who really perverts the themes of patriotism and what it means to be American. It’s a shame that he’s in office at this time because there is a lot to celebrate in this country. There’s a lot of really wonderful communities and really wonderful people who are proud to be Americans, but the person in office right now does not reflect our values or who we truly are. So as we approach the 250th, it’s mixed feelings, right? I’m proud of who I am and the people I know here, but as a whole, I know the American brand is tainted.
Liz is being modest when she describes herself as a “content creator and advocate.” She’s also a powerful public intellectual. Historically, the concept of “public intellectual” has most often been associated with those few in the academy who address a broad segment of the public via traditional modes of communication (e.g., books, articles, documentaries) about key concerns. Precious few in the academy today are public-facing in part because their reward system doesn’t value it. I argue here that academics in the social sciences, in particular, have failed for the most part at being public intellectuals, and the rise of anti-intellectual and anti-higher-education movements in the early 21st century is, in part, a response to this failure.
TikTok, Instagram, Substack, and other platforms have freed informed and passionate intellectuals from all walks of life from academic publishing constraints and have democratized commentary (there is, of course, a dark side to this that’s beyond the scope of this essay, e.g., pseudo-intellectual racist, sexist, MAGA manosphere crap).
At the same time, the struggles of our local newspapers and other legacy media have resulted in less news coverage and commentary by them. Larger legacy media have, for the most part (e.g., CBS, The Washington Post, and soon CNN), been captured by corporate control, often working against the good of the people to enrich the wealthy and further Trump’s authoritarian impulses, either explicitly or in fearful compliance.
As the old media stumbles, into this void step stars of the new digital media like Liz.
The above screenshot was taken of her TikTok page on June 20th. Look at the political coverage! Liz also does commentary on life in general. In her commentary and analysis, she runs the gamut of emotions from joy to anger in a way very few in legacy media can do or are allowed to do if they can. Liz is clever, smart, and witty, and her TikToks are also visually engaging and reach an audience that legacy media doesn’t always reach—young people where they are! Get that Democratic leadership?
Liz reaches YOUNG PEOPLE WHERE THEY ARE!!!!
I believe something historic happened, media-wise, at the state convention that might have gone unnoticed. While it’s common for there to be a candidate press gaggle at events like the Democratic State Convention, for the first time in my many years of “gaggling,” there was also a press room where candidates came to be interviewed by Iowa social media mavens.
These mavens do not replace the press—they are a different kind of press. They supplement it with different perspectives, life experiences, questions, and audiences. They are also free from corporate control (which is also true of the majority of members of the Iowa Writers Collaborative).
Merriam-Webster defines a maven as “a trusted expert, connoisseur, or someone dazzlingly skilled in a specific field”…synonyms are guru, master, virtuoso, expert, and ace.
Like we say, there’s a colony of ants, a pack of dogs, a school of fish; and since I can’t find another descriptor on Google, I’m going to define a group of social media mavens as a “Miracle of Mavens!”
The Miracle of Mavens interviewing candidates was orchestrated by the Iowa Creator Corp.
The Iowa Creator Corps is a new initiative to empower aspiring, Iowa-based social media creators in their efforts to build a more progressive and prosperous Iowa. We look to provide tools, resources, training, and a sense of community to local creators to help them build their own brands and produce more fact-based, pro-democracy content that will spread across Iowa social media.
The Iowa Creator Corp is run by Pat Rynard and Liz (with funding by Swing Left, 31st St, and incubated under Project Bullhorn). Pat has worked for over two decades in Iowa politics and journalism, founding Iowa Starting Line in 2015 after working a decade on Iowa Democratic campaigns. Check out their website—there are some remarkable people participating (mostly young people; I’m the only geezer involved), and their success in elevating Iowa stories is remarkable.
One more thing about our friend Liz Fleming—she really pisses off MAGA men—largely because they are uncomfortable with the truths she shares in her posts, but also because she’s a woman who’s much smarter, more knowledgeable, and talented than they are.
My column will always be free, but please consider upgrading to a paid subscription or making a one-time donation here.
I’m a proud member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please check out our recent work here. I also publish Cedar Creek Nature Notes, about Violet the Dog and my adventures on our morning walks at Cedar Bluffs Natural Area in Mahaska County, Iowa.
And I’m now on TikTok as a member of the Iowa Creator Corp, believe it or not. Here you go.
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Liz is amazing. Thanks for introducing new folks to this "lightning rod"!
The proof is in the pudding! and old saying around my house growing up, and fully discribes Liz and her cohorts! I too believe it is high time the Democratic Party look at this, and see it for what it is worth. Somewhere it has to become evident that running the Democratic Party on money most voting independents and even many Democrats don't have, is a loosing proposition. I believe it was Harry Truman who commented that voters know the dfferance between a Democrat and one that acts like a Republican and tells you he's a democrat! Running on "dollar bills" is far different than looking for votes, that was the way Democrats beat the vast majority of their Republican wealthy competition, with "shoe leather", not calls to people with money and agendas. An injection of young and smart people into the party that is looking more like they are ready to move into the graveyard before they even get to the polling place one more time, might be a shot in the arm and get some spark back into the party. Thank You Bob! You are showing us the way to the future and not to the bottom of the Trump heap!