Cedar Rapids Cereal Makers

January 08, 2015Luke Neff

by: Luke Neff

I grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which makes being Quaker quite difficult.

Have you heard about the study where researchers found that if you’re holding a warm mug, you have more positive feelings about the people you meet? And if you’re holding a cold cup, then you have more negative feelings? My childhood was like that. But instead of a cold cup, there was a smell, a vile, invasive smell, a stench even.

Where I grew up, the east side of Cedar Rapids, not infrequently—not frequently either, but much more frequently than we would like—the wind would blow in from the west. And it brought with it a stench that was awful, absolutely awful. And I blamed the Quakers.