Conquering the Century
The 38th annual Capital City Century was this past Sunday, and although I didn’t bike it, I did sleep in. It’s a 100-mile bike trek outside Springfield, and a few of my friends and family rode the whole thing. Here’s a video of the race put together by a friend. It’s pretty amusing, and it…
When central Illinois was king of ceramics and pottery
We may be the land of Lincoln and prairies, but at one time we were the land of pottery, too. Greene County is celebrating that fact during its Greene County Days next weekend. Illinois was a major player in the country’s ceramic industry, according to archaeologist Floyd Mansberger with Springfield’s Fever River Research. (His article,…
As Iraq war ends, invest in peace
“It is well that war is so terrible – otherwise we would grow too fond of it.” (General Robert E. Lee, statement at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862) Whether we as a nation are too fond of war is subjective opinion. That we continue to engage in war and build newer, more destructive…
Goodbye, Kerasotes
“Frankly, it’s not the end of the world for me,” asserts Tony Kerasotes when queried about the January 2010 sale of all but three of his family’s 96-theater empire — including all Springfield locations — to cinematic behemoth AMC this past January. “My family hadn’t owned a controlling interest in the company since 2004 anyway.”…
Report criticizes ‘clean’ coal plant
The Illinois Commerce Commission is neither ‘for’ nor ‘against’ the Taylorville Energy Center – officially. But good luck finding anything project developer Tenaska can boast about in the agency’s 45-page report on the “clean” coal facility’s costs. Lawmakers are expected to use the report in their decision, perhaps as early as this fall, on whether…
MUSEUM LOOKING FOR LOGO
A museum in the making needs a logo, and organizers are looking to the community to create it. The Springfield Illinois African American History Foundation plans to open the Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum sometime in spring 2011. Community members of all ages are invited to submit original logo designs for the…
Trusting to miracles
It’s back-to-school time again – the hopeful buzz of the first few weeks when the backward and the indifferent say to themselves, “This year I’m going to get it right,” followed by the chastening failures, and the gradual realization that there are some disciplines that are just too difficult to master. I am talking of…
This, that and one more thing
First up I’d like to offer a standing invitation for all musically inclined bands, groups, combos, duos and individual artists from near and far interested in participating in the weekly Band Spotlight in Illinois Times Pub Crawl. We feature one artist each week with a large photo and a short paragraph and from two to…
Why are there so few black farmers?
Urging his fellow lawmakers to release funding for a discrimination lawsuit originally settled more than a decade ago, U.S. Sen. Roland Burris last month pointed to the increasingly homogenous culture that is Illinois farming. The still unreleased funding would go to farmers, or former farmers, who had been affected by systematic racial bias in the…
Letters to the Editor 9/9/10
GIVE QUINN A BREAK“Nice guys finish last.” That’s not a very nice headline for the chief executive officer of the State of Illinois in my opinion. I am not necessarily a Pat Quinn proponent. I think Pat Quinn is an OK guy, though. Although he’s not the answer to all of our problems (and who…
ART MART ONLINE
Springfield is full of artists, from brilliant painters to inspiring sculptors and everything in between. Pop into the Prairie Art Alliance exhibit at the Hoogland Center for the Arts, for example, and you’ll be greeted by numerous skillfully crafted works – all for sale by local artists. It makes sense that to find local artists,…
Craft beer celebration
Welcome to the world of craft beer. A taste awaits you. Members of the Prairie Schooners Home Brewing Club are putting on a celebration where you can sample brew from both large and small breweries that produce craft beer – a beer that uses traditional and natural ingredients and methods, though sometimes processing it in…
Why true conservatives should vote for me
@font-face { font-family: “Calibri”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-size: 11pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Let’s be candid. If you identify yourself as a conservative, your first inclination will probably be to vote for Republican candidate Bill Brady in the Illinois governor’s race. I understand…
Dog fight ends with hall pass
A legal battle over a boy and his dog has ended, allowing an autistic second-grader to bring his service dog to school for good. In a ruling released Aug. 24, the Fourth District Appellate Court of Illinois said the Villa Grove Community Unit School District #302, located south of Champaign-Urbana, could not keep seven-year-old Kaleb…
Double header delicious
My husband, Peter, is a bit jealous. He’ll be camping with friends at a music festival in Kentucky this weekend. But ever since Peter heard about the trio of food events scheduled for this Saturday, he’s been wishing he could stay in Springfield as much as he’s enthused about his trip. I was initially concerned…
Distance: The perfect date movie
Chemistry is everything when it comes to romantic comedies and stars Drew Barrymore and Justin Long have it to spare in Going the Distance, a rare entry that’s surprisingly intelligent in the genre. That writer Geoff LaTulippe isn’t afraid to throw in bits of effective ribald comedy now and again only helps separate the film…
Rocking ballet
Springfield Ballet Company presents Rockballet featuring the music of the 1970s – including Queen, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Electric Light Orchestra, Sly and the Family Stone, Heart, Wild Cherry and many more. Since its 1994 debut, SBC’s annual production of Rockballet continues to be daringly different. The brainchild of SBC Artistic Director Julie Ratz Rockballet…
Prison reform advocates lament Randle’s departure
A group of prison reform advocates says the recent resignation of the state’s corrections director is unfortunate, but the reforms he quietly enacted should continue. The unnamed group, which includes state legislators, religious congregations and activists, sent a letter to Gov. Pat Quinn on Sept. 8, calling on Quinn to support the reforms implemented by…
The American: Portrait of a killer at the crossroads
After another summer of mindless action movies, Anton Corbijn’s The American is a welcome respite from the drivel Hollywood foists upon us. Whereas Salt, the Bourne films and countless others focus on improbable action sequences and indestructible heroes, this European production concentrates on what makes its characters tick rather than what makes them run. Buoyed…
Alejandro Escovedo
Considered one of the most prolific and profound artists in the Americana genre, Alejandro Escovedo quite simply is legendary. From his early days with punk/country/rockers Rank & File in the 1980s through a brilliant solo career nearly cut short by a serious bout with Hepatitis C in 2003, the Austin-based artist plays blistering electric guitar…
Onstage, a vet tells it like it was
When Springfield resident Tom Jones reads about or meets a young veteran returning from Iraq or Afghanistan, something deep within him stirs. Jones remembers well the difficulties of adjusting to life inside the comfort of America after reality within the hell of a war zone. The days he spent in the jungles of Vietnam might…
A renewed commitment to the common good
America’s corporate chieftains must love poor people, for they’re doing all they can to create millions more of them. They’re knocking down wages, offshoring everything from manufacturing jobs to high tech, reducing full-time work to part-time, downsizing our workplaces, busting unions, cutting health care coverage and canceling pensions — while also lobbying in Washington to…
