Guest Opinion | Thursday, June 16,2005

Green ham and interrupted prayers

They were known as plain people with a practical faith. Their church was called German Baptist and later changed to Church of the Brethren when ethnic identity became a

Guest Opinion | Thursday, June 2,2005

What I learned in elementary school this year

By Fletcher Farrar

Last week the faculty and staff at McClernand Elementary School held a breakfast to show appreciation for its volunteers. A lot was said about how we mentors plant seeds of h

Guest Opinion | Thursday, May 19,2005

Medical District worries

By Fletcher Farrar

Last week’s first of three public planning meetings on the comprehensive plan for the Springfield Medical District drew a big crowd and a healthy discussion. The

Guest Opinion | Thursday, May 5,2005

Seeds in the ground

By Fletcher Farrar

Come on, you grumps of Springfield — it’s time to quit complaining and get seeds in the ground. There’s a movement afoot to make this a better place, one

Guest Opinion | Thursday, April 21,2005

Why is Illinois so stingy to its oldsters?

By Fletcher Farrar

I now have to travel the 30-or-so miles to Girard to take flowers to my friend Elizabeth Brown, who’s living at the Pleasant Hill Village nursing home. She was organist

Guest Opinion | Thursday, April 7,2005

Time to speak out against Clinton II

By Fletcher Farrar

When Forbes magazine gleefully headlined its recent article on the re-emergence of nuclear power “The Silence of the Nuke Protesters,” it was, in a way,

Guest Opinion | Thursday, March 24,2005

Writing “from the ground up”

By Fletcher Farrar

The cover article by Chicago writer Alex Kotlowitz, “Suddenly, a Terrorist?”, in the March 20 New York Times Magazine, is about a small-town Michigan restaurant owner,

Guest Opinion | Thursday, March 10,2005

Last days of the shelter

By Fletcher Farrar

At 4 a.m. in the homeless shelter, we make the notation “Quiet” in the logbook, though it hardly is. There is a racket of snoring in the basement of the Contact

Guest Opinion | Thursday, February 24,2005

On abortion, the new search for common ground

By Fletcher Farrar

Thanks to Sen. Hillary Clinton for her recent attempt to reopen and reframe the abortion discussion. As a strong pro-choice advocate, she is looking for common ground with th

Guest Opinion | Thursday, February 10,2005

Bring back Mom & Pop

By Fletcher Farrar

Ralph Laughery’s eyes light up when he remembers his neighborhood the way it used to be. “Everybody knew everybody,” he says. “It was an extremely fri