Fields of Opportunity

Between Des Moines, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska, there are thousands of modern windmills towering over the farmland, generating clean electricity for Iowans.

Beneath many of the windmills are cows contentedly munching on this and that, perhaps oblivious to the social and political significance of the giant, spinning, white machines, or, if Gary Larson was right, perhaps not.

The enormity of the windmills is astounding at first. It is surprising to see something so contemporary, so massive, coexisting in the same visual space with something as ancient as agriculture.

Who are these Iowans who straddle the ages? Why do they simultaneously allow a chain of gas stations to be constructed along their highways called "Kum & Go?" There are more questions than answers out here, happilly.