Rigged
Turns out the election was rigged, after all. Voters were asked to chose from among four candidates, and the one who was awarded the most votes was – Illinoisan Hillary Clinton. She lost, however, in the only tally that counts, the Electoral College. The college was set up by the Founders as a political hedge.…
Of the women, for the women and by the women
I just voted a few minutes ago, with pleasure and relief. Just visible n spite of the smoke and mirrors was the fact that this was an election of the women, for the women and by the women. I fully expect by end of day that they will have saved the country, and finally realized…
Sidney Watkins back in Illinois
Sidney Watkins is back in Illinois and living with her late father’s kin. The 9-year-old girl whose father Steven was murdered by her maternal grandmother returned to the area about three weeks ago after her mother, Jennifer Watkins, was arrested in Massachusetts for violating a court order requiring visits between the little girl and her…
Women’s place
Some further observation on, and from, Women, Work, and Worship in Lincoln’s Country: The Dumville Family Letters from the University of Illinois Press, which I review this week in “Old letters.” The book’s editors, Anne M. Heinz and John P. Heinz, offer the letters as lessons in American social, political, and cultural history, as essays…
Lucky charm
In 2002 I moved to the Chicago area and became a White Sox fan; they won the World Series in 2005. In 2010 I moved to the Bay Area and started following the Giants; they won baseball’s top prize that year and again in 2012 and 2014. I moved back to the Chicago area in…
Powell’s politics of pragmatism
Pragmatism used to be a dirty word in government. The pragmatist was too quick to sacrifice principle for the grimy give-and-take of backroom deals, too eager to exploit the interests of the many for the enrichment of the few. Three such pragmatists were Paul Powell, Clyde Choate and John Stelle of southern Illinois, the dealmakers…
Old letters
Hepzibah was a young woman of a sort we’ve all known – smart, full of gumption and eager for a little bit more from life than life was prepared to give her. “It does seem to me that any one who thinks me either pritty or remarkably inteligent must err greatly. I often complain of…
The Cannon Ball saga
The Dakota Access Pipeline is a massive 1,172-mile-long pipeline being constructed by Energy Transfer Partners. It will cut through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. This pipeline, owned by oilman Kelcy Warren, crosses 200 rivers and countless farms, and it cuts through the ancestral lands and burial grounds of the tribe. DAPL risks economic…
TV ads as far as the eye can see
During any given campaign season, one or maybe two state legislative campaigns wind up running ads on Chicago broadcast television stations. But in the age of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s gigantic campaign contributions, it may be easier to count the number of Chicago-area candidates who aren’t running any city broadcast ads. State Rep. Michael McAuliffe (R-Chicago)…
Letters to the Editor 11/3/16
STANDING ROCK SOLIDARITY I was glad to see the opinion piece in the last edition of Illinois Times (“A tale of two pipes,” Jim Hightower, Oct. 27) about the historic event going on at Standing Rock Reservation between the indigenous people and Energy Transfer Partners, the owner of Dakota Access Pipeline. We have seen so…
Editor’s note 11/3/16
Take a look at the architectural rendering on p. 17. It shows the old YWCA building preserved as part of the redevelopment of that entire block, old mixed with new, and a public park space on the southwest corner of the block where the Town Branch sewer poses development problems. The $7-9 million estimate for…
We need more sunlight
Less than one-third of Americans view elected officials as “honest,” and a lack of transparency lies at the core of this distrust. Government secrecy has been a driving force behind many of the most salient political issues in this election cycle, ranging from disclosures on Flint’s water crisis, to debates on revelations made by NSA whistleblower…
Celebrate ethnic diversity
Celebrate 39 years of diversity at the University of Illinois Springfield by attending the Annual International Festival on Friday, Nov. 4, from 5-8 p.m. The free festival is hosted each year by the Office of International Student Services and serves as UIS’s longest-running student-led program. This year’s theme is “World at a Glance” and features…
Independent films in Springfield
See some of the top films from around the world shown right here in central Illinois during the 15th Annual Route 66 Film Festival. The two-day festival consists of five sessions of films along with a Friday night after-party and a Saturday evening awards ceremony and reception. The Friday film session runs from 7-10 p.m.…
The healing power of art
On Monday, join the University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience Speaker Series (ECCE) for a presentation and discussion of the 2005 documentary film Shakespeare Behind Bars. The film, written and directed by Hank Rogerson and produced by Jilann Spitzmiller, documents Shakespeare’s final play, “The Tempest,” featuring inmates who have cast themselves in roles…
The shrining
Six months after meeting this amazing woman – I’ll call her Ms. Perfect – I asked her to marry me. A year later, she broke off the engagement, saying, “I shouldn’t be wearing your engagement ring and noticing other men.” That was two years ago. Since then, I’ve dated three women. None came close to…
Titanic exhibit comes to Peoria museum
Ever since Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet stood on the bow in that blockbuster movie, crowds have flocked to exhibits dedicated to all things Titanic. Swinging a trip to museums in Southampton, England, or Halifax, Nova Scotia, would be a stretch, but soon your heart can go on with a day visit to Peoria. “Titanic:…
Running out of time
Before he was president, state senator Barack Obama used to kid Mary Hardy Hall of Springfield about the outdated manual elevator at the YWCA. “ ‘If it isn’t the woman with the oldest elevator in Springfield,’ ” Hardy Hall says with a laugh, imitating Obama. She was the last director of the Young Women’s Christian…
Mud and money
Even Avery Bourne doesn’t believe what the GOP has said about her opponent Mike Mathis in the 95th House District race. “Mike Mathis chaired a political group that helped bankroll a politician guilty of child pornography,” blared a mailer sent to voters last month by the Republican Party, as opposed to the candidate herself. It…
Keeping parolees out
Parolees accused of violating parole conditions may have a better shot at avoiding prison under a recent settlement of a class action lawsuit against state prison authorities. The settlement in the lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Corrections and the state Prisoner Review Board comes as the state’s prison population has plummeted from nearly 49,000…
True heroism at the heart of brutal Hacksaw
On May 1, 1945, the unthinkable occurred. Attempting to take a ridge on the island of Okinawa, the 1st Battalion of the United States Army suffered massive casualties due to heavy enemy fire. Refusing to let his fellow soldiers die on the battlefield, medic Desmond Doss returned again and again, under fire, to where they…
Now November
Goodbye October, and hello November. The days of outdoor shows have faded into the nearness of holiday walks and upcoming Thanksgiving specials. This weekend features a good collection of fun happenings to keep it all aglow and in flow, and you in the know. First up, let’s celebrate Anna Fermin’s Trigger Gospel coming to town…
Anna Fermin’s Trigger Gospel
She’s been called “the voice of Chicago” and “one of Chicago’s most treasured voices” by respectable critics in the Windy City, and this charming, Americana-based singer-songwriter indeed lives up to the spectacular reviews. After 20 years with her terrific backing group Trigger Gospel, Anna Fermin can look back on an incredible run of five critically…
shakespeare poem # 1
shakespeare poem # 1 spectacular uis macbeth last evedon’t miss it folks it’s still on I tookmy granddaughter years ago shewas nine we prepared by readinglambs’ shakespeare tales recitingdouble double toil and troubleshouting out out damned spotat the performance she was onthe edge of her wooden bench wewere at the globe in bloomingtonshe didn’t miss…
NO CONTEST
As the most sordid political campaigns in memory wind down, the most depressing part of what’s left of democracy in America isn’t the mud or the promises to build walls or never-ending investigations of emails or zillions of dollars given and spent to spin and obfuscate and insult and buy influence. No. The worst part…
There’s joy in a pot of ham and beans
There is a certain type of satisfaction that comes from cooking a pot of beans from scratch. I always catch myself meditatively stirring at some point in the process, once again amazed that a $1.39 bag of beans and some veggies could turn into a huge pot of utter deliciousness. We grew up eating variations…
WHAT DO YOU WANT?
What do you get when combine interactive maps with representative democracy? The answer is something like the City of Springfield’s new “You Plan It” map, which gives residents a chance to tell the city what they want to see done around town. Made possible by the clever folks at the Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission,…
