Brown eyes dart first up the downtown Waterloo street and then down toward the river before turning skyward to glisten in the midday sun. When they close against the glare, the 19-year-old woman sways slightly and wraps her arms around her thin waist.
"I don't know if I should be doing this -- talking to you," she said, eyes still closed. "There is so much confusion even now, and I'm not sure who can be trusted. I don't want to do something stupid that will cost me what little I have left."
For several moments the group stands silent, then the woman's eyes open and she squints before continuing. "I want you to call me Lidia Castillo," she said and then turned to the 20-something Hispanic man beside her to speak in a Mayan dialect that is similar to Spanish. When he speaks it is only two words: "Luis Morales." She nods and takes the notebook and pen to write down the names, explaining that she doesn't trust those who cannot speak the language to spell the names correctly. Her smile is open and all hesitation is gone when she looks up and asks, "What do you want to know?"
"The next disaster we need to fix is Congress," Peter Teahen says on the stump. The Cedar Rapids funeral home owner and Red Cross disaster relief expert is one of three Republicans facing off in the 2nd Congressional District primary for the right to challenge first-term Democrat Dave Loebsack in the fall.
