Heaven or hellhole?
Take your pick: Lawyers are either responsible for all of Illinois’ economic misery and job losses or they’re selfless champions of the less fortunate who wouldn’t dream of taking advantage of the legal system. That’s the gist of the latest round in the continuing national battle over lawsuit reform, also known as tort reform. Once…
backstage pass 3-17-05
So many companies in the region have scheduled productions of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast during the next few months (including the Springfield Muni, St. Louis’ Muny Opera, and the Little Theatre in Sullivan), I wish they could have been spread out a bit. Undoubtedly one of the best of the lot is the current production…
movie review
One thing about Bride and Prejudice, Gurinder Chadha’s Bollywood version of a Victorian classic, is certain: It’s really different. And, may I add, it’s audacious, lavish, and enthusiastic — more than enough to help the film over a few rough spots. Chadha’s take on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice plays out as a clash of classes…
letters 3-17-05
Letters policy We welcome letters, but please include your full name, address and a daytime telephone number. We edit all letters for libel, length and clarity. Send letters to: Letters, Illinois Times. P.O. Box 5256. Springfield, Illinois 62705. Fax: (217) 753-3958. E-mail: editor@illinoistimes.com TOWER POWER: WHY STOP AT ONE? In regard to your recent reporting…
Return to grace
Dan Hynes was once the brightest of Illinois’ young political stars. After Hynes won his first statewide race for Illinois comptroller in 1998, the 30-year-old Democrat’s future looked limitless. Hynes was the youngest person elected to a statewide constitutional office since World War II — his father’s long service in politics helping automatically smooth relations…
Why we speak out
On March 15, 2003, just days before the United States went to war against Iraq, more than 70 of us stood vigil in front of the Paul Finley Federal Building to speak out against the coming attack. We’ve been there almost every Saturday since. Our numbers have dwindled considerably, but the dedicated few who remain…
This is no cowtown
Back in the summer of 1999, Tony Leone had an apartment in Chicago, just behind the Wrigley Building. It was the same summer that Chicago was invaded by some 300 psychedelic cows — bovine monuments, that is, each painted or decorated by an artist, for a project called Cows on Parade. At summer’s end, the…
earth talk 3-17-05
Dear “Earth Talk”: Is there a way to wash the pesticides off fruits and vegetables before we eat them? — Michelle Chalmette, Los Angeles Many fruits and vegetables sold in the United States today are treated with pesticides, and residues of these potentially harmful chemicals often remain on their surfaces. Rinsing all produce thoroughly before…
Canned news
The Champaign-based sister station of WCFN-TV (Channel 49), which will begin airing a half-hour news broadcast in the Springfield market next month, was singled out in a New York Times story this week for advancing what some experts consider government-sponsored propaganda. The Bush administration’s efforts to promote its agendas through media manipulation came to a head…
Free to speak
The retirement of an Illinois State Police lieutenant is normally noteworthy only to his family, friends, and co-workers. But Lt. Michale Callahan, due to retire March 18, already has a stack of interview requests ranging from the Decatur Herald and Review to the Chicago Tribune and, sources say, the network news show 48 Hours. That’s…
Jacqueline Jackson 3-17-05
naturepoem #2 (adapted from sandcounty almanac by aldo leopold) draba sprinkles sandy soil with small white blooms that catch no eye lost in the gusty winds of march its scent attracts no passerby in sun too weak for bigger blooms in sand too poor for flag or rose a postscript to the hope of spring the…
Coming home
Like any proud parent, Jeff Elston happily shows off pictures of his three children. Many people know that he and his wife, Toni, went to Ukraine to adopt two of them. But when they try to guess which is the couple’s natural child, they’re usually wrong, he says. Riker, who looks exactly like Jeff, is…
music notes 3-17-05
Viele’s Planet (126 E. Jefferson St., 217-525-9029), long the last refuge of Springfield’s still-performing original rock bands, hosts three of the best this Friday, March 18: the Timmys, Abe Lincoln Continental, and Resident Genius. Jay Vanselow of ALC, who is now also a member of Resident Genius, will be doing double duty. But don’t worry,…
common sense 3-17-05
As Will Rogers once observed, “This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.” This Congress is especially terrifying because the Republican majority has decided that 2005 is payback time for their big-business backers, and they’ve turned Washington into an assembly line…
appetite 3-17-05
Several things make a steakhouse a steakhouse: a slightly smoky piano bar, comfortable seating, and thick, juicy slabs of steak. Gallagher’s reminds me of the restaurants I visited as a child when I went out with my parents and their friends for a nice meal on a Saturday night — a white-linen-tablecloth kind of place,…
Considering the alternative
The Rev. Martin Woulfe grew up in a military family. His father was an officer in the Marines, and young Martin prepared for a military career. At 17, he received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, but, after much soul-searching, he turned it down. “It had been my goal, coming of age, to serve…
flicks 3-17-05
The horror! Why has there been such a flood of horror films this year? Is it a reflection of the times? Could audiences be using the fantasy of horror to escape the horrors of the real world? So far in 2005, we have had Hide and Seek, Boogeyman, Alone in the Dark, White Noise, Cursed,…
now playing 3-17-05
Given the treatment of Irish immigrants by Americans in the middle and late 19th century, it’s nice to know that those who were once scorned are now praised. Somehow those plucky Irish went from being the scourge of the earth to getting their very own holiday. As they say, time wounds all heels and heals…
sound patrol 3-17-05
Besides being a character in a William S. Burroughs novel, Clem Snide is a band, a funny and touching alt-countrified/indie-rock band whose frontman and singer/songwriter, Eef Barzelay, is often accused of being too clever for his own good. For many music fans — especially those passionately invested in their own sense of uniqueness — cleverness…
health wise 3-17-05
Donna Griffiths’ life is marked by many firsts: She’s the first in her family to go to college, Springfield’s first female union carpenter, and the area’s first resident Rolfing practitioner. Griffith’s interest in Rolfing — a process to improve posture and body structure — dates back to 1976, when Griffith met a 67-year-old woman who…
people’s poetry
For Badger and Andy Well if she sings it sharp, he’ll sing her flat Though they once played a tune the other’s ways. But ain’t no more rabbits gettin’ pulled from this hat, Best ones past, moving toward better days. Yonder come a time when they’ll take it back, Searching once again for a piece…
New faces of protest
On a Sunday afternoon in February, a young man made a plea to a room full of 400 antiwar activists who had gathered in St. Louis for three days of strategizing on how to end the war in Iraq. “I’m probably the most experienced activist in my organization and I’ve been an activist for one…
quick takes 3-17-05
TO MERGE OR NOT TO MERGE A public forum on the proposed merger of the city and county health departments will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 21, at the Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 1601 E. Laurel St. Leroy Jordan, former assistant superintendent of District 186 and professor emeritus at the University of Illinois…
