Letters to the Editor
Untitled Document We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address, and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to Letters, Illinois Times, P.O. Box 5256, Springfield, IL 62705; fax 217-753-3958; e-mail editor@illinoistimes.com. OUR GATEWAY TO INDIA I enjoyed reading the article on Indian food [Julianne Glatz, “Springfield’s Indian night,” Sept. 6]. However, while…
Tanked
Untitled Document Illinois environmental regulators this week issued a citation to Land of Lincoln Goodwill Industries for failing to remove a dormant underground fuel tank. The permit for the unit expired in January. No fines were levied, but Goodwill has 60 days to comply with an order to extract the 2,000-gallon gasoline tank, which is…
Jazz treats and eats
Untitled Document What’s all the jazz about jazz this week? It is not ours to ponder the mysteries, but only to enjoy their delights. Perhaps it’s the end of summer or the beginning of fall or, more than likely, it’s nothing at all, which then allows us the total freedom of being absolutely nothing. Or…
Healthy baby food
Untitled Document Where does one turn in order to give babies fresh, organic food? Babies deserve the best possible start in life, so giving them nutritious food is a must, not only for good health but also to establish positive eating habits as early as possible. According to Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, commercial…
Getting ugly in the House of Saud
Untitled Document Just what is it about Peter Berg’s The Kingdom that bothers me? Could it be the Ugly American swagger that its characters flaunt? Could it be the fact that this so-called important film is nothing more than a slice of warmed-over C.S.I. with a hefty budget? Could it be that the action scenes…
America
Untitled Document What happened to the good ol’ American notion of the common good — the idea that we’re all in this together, trying to build a strong, unified society by fairly sharing the economic gains that all of us help produce? Oh, sure, we’ve always had the rich and the poor, but at least…
Squash me all fall long
Untitled Document With autumn officially underway, I have to be a big girl and let go of my melons. I must blow a kiss goodbye to my tomato lovers, my peach darlings, my curvaceous eggplant. It’s time to get reacquainted with the orange flesh of the winter squash. I need not worry about…
Time to plant garlic
Untitled Document This fall while adding daffodils to your landscape, don’t forget to plant some garlic. Garlic has been cultivated for thousands of years and is still popular today as a flavoring in food dishes and for its medicinal properties. Though a member of the onion family, garlic differs from onions in flavor, leaves and…
Not in my black yard
Untitled Document Anybody who knows what NIMBY means can recognize this classic tale: Residents of an upscale subdivision discover that a nonprofit organization is purchasing vacant lots in their neighborhood with the intention of building affordable houses for “needy families.” Officers of the homeowners’ association try to block these plans by creating more stringent requirements…
“Significant compromise”
Untitled Document Ward 6 Ald. Mark Mahoney is calling his proposed trash ordinance nothing short of a “give and take.” The new ordinance, which will come under review by the public-affairs and safety committee Monday and by the full City Council Tuesday, avoids controversial measures such as centralized billing on City Water, Light and Power…
Missing Lincoln link
Untitled Document In April 1857, the Logan County Courthouse burned to the ground and court officials temporarily arranged to hold court in nearby Lincoln Christian Church. That fact is not in dispute. In the 1850s, Abraham Lincoln was a respected Springfield lawyer, trying cases all over the state, including in his namesake town, about 30…
The CHIPs are down
Untitled Document As he moves ahead with his plans to cover more of Illinois’ medically uninsured, Gov. Rod Blagojevich also is weighing in on the national healthcare debate. Blagojevich, along with a bipartisan group of 30 governors, last week sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt asking for…
People’s poetry
Untitled Document A number of American poets are adept at describing places and the people who inhabit them. Galway Kinnell’s great poem, “The Avenue Bearing the Initial of Christ into the New World” is one of those masterpieces, and there are many others. Here Anne Pierson Wiese, winner of the Walt Whitman Award from the…
New digs for the YWCA
Untitled Document Things are looking up for the YWCA building and the organization it houses, with a potential buyer moving in and the struggling nonprofit moving out. Mary Hardy-Hall, executive director of the Young Women’s Christian Association, which provides job retention, after-school, and life-skills programs for women and children, said the organization will be moving…
Cider memories
Untitled Document Every fall I remember what it was like to come as a child to this place that has been my home for almost 25 years. I live in the old Spaulding Orchard farmhouse. It’s the first home my husband and I bought, and likely will be our last. It wasn’t our first choice,…
