What can you do when you don’t do the gym?

Fitness professionals hear the same excuse many times: “I’d love to get in better shape, but I’m not a gym person.” So, for people who don’t like conventional exercise p

Yoga comes in many wonderful flavors

You can do it in the air. Or by sea. You can do it if you’re young. Or old. Or in 100-plus-degree rooms (Bikram yoga). Indeed, yoga, the ancient Hindu practice for the mind,

A dash of salsa in the gym

Meet Zumba, a fusion of Latin dance and floor aerobics

You feel it in the pit of your stomach first: a thumping Latin beat that makes your insides shake and your heel start tapping. But by the end of the hour, you feel Zumba everywhere:

Show me the funny

Local comics hone their skills at monthly open-mic night

Gov. Rod Blagojevich better run and hide. The comedians at Donnie B’s Funny Bone in Springfield have him in their sights. The Gov, the minimum wa

How much water does Springfield need?

Hunter Lake opponents say water conservation should be considered. CWLP says it already has been.

The proposal to build Hunter Lake has been around for so long that its opponents have come up with plenty of reasons why Springfield can live without it. At a recent hearing held by the I

A Hanukkah Story

Untitled Document Andy leaned diffidently against my office door. “You got a student room to rent?” “Yeah,” I said. “Aren’t you living somewhere now?”

The War Years

Untitled Document We were fishing down at Rawlins’ off a sandbar that extended into a bar pit near the Illinois River. It was an autumn day with puffy clouds in the sky placed just right

Governor in waiting

What Pat Quinn has done to get ready

Patrick Joseph Quinn’s world was turned on its head on the morning of Dec. 9, 2008. Ever the outsider, Quinn has positioned himself as a populist, taking up the causes of regular fo

Cook by the book

Take 10: Award-winning cookbooks of 2008

Give the giftof delicious desserts, mouth-watering meats and bountiful breads. Skip the extra calories with new award-winning vegetarian and diet cookbooks. Or simply

Save the day

Take 10: Superhero film favorites of 2008

Good versus evil doesn’t always play out in a stylized drama with dramatic lighting and inventive camera angles. Sometimes the battle is simpler – and more fun. Movies based on