This powerful mixed-media portrait series of first-time women voters created by artist Niki Johnson will be on display weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the library’s atrium from May 15 to May 29. And get this: At 10 a.m. May 15, Johnson will be at the library’s atrium for a combined artist talk […]
Arts & Culture
Posted inArts & Culture
An immaculate conception
Jesus Christ Superstar is the 1971 Andrew Lloyd Webber Biblical rock-musical that narrates the last seven days of Jesus’s life in a flashy, pop-filled 90-minute package. There is no intermission, so audiences make it back home for their bedtime prayers, hallelujah! A talent-studded odyssey of love, power and protest, Springfield Theatre Centre’s gender-bending production, co-directed […]
Posted inFilm
The Sheep Detectives is captivating, Hokum examines guilt
Deft touch, amazing effects makes for captivating Sheep Deftly executed and suffused with a wry sense of humor, Kyle Balda’s The Sheep Detectives is likely to entertain the adults in the audience more than the children it’s seemingly aimed at. Adapted from the novel Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann, the film threads a very […]
Posted inIT Picks
Fat Ass 5K & Street Party for Charity
FUNDAISERS & GALAS | Wacky annual downtown race returns It’s time for the Fat Ass 5K & Street Party once again! The event begins Friday night not with the run but with a free party at Seventh and Washington streets featuring music by Deja Voodoo (5 p.m.) and Lick Creek (8 p.m.). The 5K race, […]
Posted inCommunity & Lifestyle
Antiracism and reimagining community
We are long past the denial stage in the face of increasingly open attempts to reassert white racial dominance. In just the past week: Race and white supremacy were socially constructed in Europe to justify the permanent enslavement of people based solely on skin color. That system became the economic engine of this country and […]
Posted inCommunity & Lifestyle
The truth about a lie
I greet you in the morning as your thoughts begin to form. I nestle in your feelings – subtle – as if I am the norm. You may not sense my presence, as morn to night goes by – I have that subtle power – after all, I’m just a lie. I fill your mind […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Levitt AMP announces 2026 season
The Levitt AMP Springfield Music Series will return to downtown Springfield for a seventh season on Thursday nights starting May 28 through July 30. Presented by PNC, the 10-week live concert series will feature a diverse lineup of performers from across the world. Entertainment begins at 6:15 p.m. every Thursday in the vacant block north […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Olivia Newman and Shelby Van Pelt bring life to Creatures
There’s a subtle wave of optimism that gently buffets you when talking to director Olivia Newman and author Shelby Van Pelt, a sense that everything’s going to be all right if you simply sit back and let things take their course. Of course, this comes as no surprise, what with the former helming the big […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Kena Bere interview
Kena Bere is a young attorney working in downtown Springfield who is dedicating her career to building a more just and equitable legal system. She serves as a SAFE-T Act lawyer for the Illinois Office of the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor. A 2020 University of Illinois Springfield graduate, Kena focuses on criminal justice and system […]
Posted inFilm
Deep Water better than expected, message gets lost in Animal Farm remake
Water deeper than expected In the spirit of giving credit where it’s due, my hat’s off to director Renny Harlan and screenwriters Pete Bridges, Shayne Armstrong, S.P. Krause and Damien Power, where their latest film, Deep Water, is concerned. All involved obviously embraced the notion of making the ultimate disaster movie, shamelessly cribbing from The […]
Posted inIT Picks
Meet the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden
Meet former Navy SEAL Rob O’Neill, known for firing the shots that killed terrorist Osama bin Laden, during this inaugural Heroes at Home Plate event. O’Neill, 50, will be the keynote speaker at the event. Heroes at Home Plate is designed to feature inspiring individuals who have shown courage, leadership and impact through their stories […]
Posted inPoetry
Relic
A friend helping clean my kitchenbrought me resting on her palmsa long rusty flat item. I said“Doesn’t everyone keep a bayonet in their pantry?”About that weapon: My dad pickedit up in France 1924 from Belleau Wood where was the worst carnage.The trenches now overgrown with weeds. Thousands killed here –They had to clamber over the slainto fire, though […]
