Leaving home to study in a new country is about more than academics. It is about navigating loneliness, building community, and finding your place between cultures. Stephanie Mamaga Avi and Josephine Kamwela, international studies students at UIS, share their experiences adjusting to life in Springfield, the challenges of being far from family, and the cultural […]
Arts & Culture
Posted inArts & Culture
Goodwill to host Youth Summit
Area youth, families, community members and service organizations are invited to attend the Land of Lincoln Goodwill Industries 5th Annual Youth Summit on Thursday, June 25, at its headquarters located at 1220 Outer Park Drive in Springfield. The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and is free and open to the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Footloose meets Jailhouse Rock
When talking with All Shook Up director Kelly Robertson, she cleverly offers, “If you bring the wine and crackers, we’ll bring the cheese.” The show, a jukebox musical packed with Elvis songs and loosely based on Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, indeed stands as a high-energy, crowd pleaser with lots of corny jokes and a campy storyline. […]
Posted inCommunity & Lifestyle
Do we really want to be human?
Do we really want to be human? Sometimes I think not. I’m pondering this now in light of Pope Leo’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas: On safeguarding humanity in the time of Artificial Intelligence. Billed as the “AI” encyclical, it is more than that. The document includes a masterful summary of Catholic Social Teaching. It recenters […]
Posted inCommunity & Lifestyle
United Is the Way
As I wrap up my year as board chair of United Way of Central Illinois, I find myself reflecting on a journey that began more than 25 years ago. My United Way story started in 2001 when I led the workplace campaign at Eaton Hydraulics. Not long afterward, I began volunteering as a co-chair on […]
Posted inIT Picks
Former Cubs, Cardinals stars to playÂ
See former Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals legends battle it out in this seven-inning game. Playing for the Cubs side will be former pitcher Kyle Farnsworth, Women’s Pro Baseball League star Amanda Gianelloni and actor Thomas Ian Nicholas, who starred as Henry Rowengartner in the movie Rookie of the Year. Representing the Cardinals will […]
Posted inFilm
Leviticus both terrifying and heartbreaking, Jessie stars in Toy Story 5
Heartbreaking Leviticus terrifying yet poignant Though discredited, conversion therapy relating to homosexuality is still being used today, albeit with much less frequency. Some of these practices are folded into other approaches, have been renamed and also presented as a free speech issue through a U.S. Supreme Court ruling issued in early 2026. While steps are […]
Posted inPoetry
Today’s Poem
What is it like to be 98, tra la?I have all of my bits and most of my witsexcept those that are gone that I might try to hailif I could but glimpse a vanishing tailAre you a turn-pager? If so, I will wagerYou’ve not reached this stanza. I’ll stop while I can-za! 2026 Jacqueline […]
Posted inCommunity & Lifestyle
Call me Ishmael
“And God heard the voice of the boy …” Genesis 21:17a Call me Ishmael. With these three words, Herman Melville begins his 19th century novel Moby Dick and introduces the man who will be telling his story of the adventures at sea. For Melville, naming his narrator after the biblical character Ishmael who was sent […]
Posted inCommunity & Lifestyle
What we meant when we wrote the Calls to Action
Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti once wrote that if you want to dispossess a people, the simplest way is to tell their story and start with “secondly.” I have been thinking about that idea often because history is full of stories that begin too late. Many Americans were introduced to Juneteenth only after it became a […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Michael Thomas interview
Michael Thomas was incarcerated five different times but sobriety and faith have changed his life. His story is one of brokenness, consequences, grace and the kind of hope that refuses to give up. But this episode is more than a testimony. He discusses the complex family dynamics that often fuel substance abuse, how faith evolves […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Follow this rainbow
“These last few weeks working with this group of beautiful Black women and this amazing staff has healed me in ways I can’t even put into words! We don’t usually get opportunities like this. This is so much more than a show. It’s poetry, it’s art, it’s truth, it’s life!” – excerpt from Brianna Gude-Price’s […]
