Kate Carroll de Gutes lives a split life, dividing her time between a farmhouse built in 1893 in Iowa City (complete with a repaired limestone foundation) and a 3-story, modern townhouse in Portland, Oregon, with lots of light, wood floors, and a view of the best bridge in the city. Mornings find her either at a dining room table in Portland or on the screened porch in Iowa City, writing long-hand about gender, culture, and the surprises of living in a blue city in a red state where it’s either snowing or a civil defense horn is announcing a tornado.