Rarely in publishing is there such a perfect collaboration of writer, photographer and publisher as in the new book, Abraham Lincoln Traveled This Way. The lovely landscape photographs by Illinois photographer Robert Shaw are complemented by the narrative of preeminent Lincoln scholar Michael Burlingame. Shaw used his own company, Firelight Publishing, to assure quality control […]
Ginny Lee
Posted inArts & Culture
Outstanding country gardens on annual symphony tour
There are some remarkable gardens on the 22nd annual Illinois Symphony Garden Tour in Springfield. “A Symphony of Country Gardens” will be held from 11-4 Saturday, June 18. Shelly and Ken Hoffman’s garden south of Chatham is the most mature, the Hoffmans having moved into their shingled Cape Cod home next to a cornfield in […]
Posted inNews
What did Mortenson do with Springfield’s money?
Philanthropist Greg Mortenson, author of the best-selling books Three Cups of Tea and Stones Into Schools, is known worldwide for building schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, largely for girls. His books and school-building program have been widely praised, and his books are required reading for military commanders deployed to Afghanistan. But after CBS’ “60 Minutes” […]
Posted inNews
‘Health care is a civil rights issue’
“Health care is the civil rights issue of the 21st century,” Donna Christensen, a member of Congress, stated Monday evening at the SIU School of Medicine in Springfield. The congresswoman from the U.S. Virgin Islands spoke on “Ethics, Race and Class” to members of the medical community and others. Christensen is a former practicing […]
Posted inNews
Iraq vets urge end to multiple deployments
Some 70 folks gathered at the home of Meg Evans and Peter Lazare in Springfield Sunday, Dec. 19, to hear members of Iraq Veterans Against the War speak, as well as enjoy music by local musicians. Participants read poems written by Iraq and Afghan War vets as well. Sarah Lazare, 27, who organized the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
A green beauty
Architect John Shafer’s new office building at 1230 S. Sixth St. in Springfield recently won an award for sustainable design from the Central Illinois Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Not only is it a “green” building, it is also lovely to behold. It may have caught your eye while under construction during the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Schedule a day of mindfulness
An entire day meditating in silence may not be how you usually fill a Saturday, but here’s an opportunity to try something different. Eva Muller and Juliet Slack are leading “A Day of Mindfulness: a Meditation Retreat” Saturday, Oct. 23. They claim that the activity is a calming, healing experience. And as the cacophonous political […]
Posted inNews
Congolese march shines light on genocide
Some 30 former citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo now living in Illinois cities walked quietly through downtown Springfield on Friday, Sept. 17, to call attention to the genocide and mass rape happening in their former country. “Our country is known today as the World Capital of Rape,” Pappy Bakungola of Springfield said. Tens […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Visit Mt. Vernon, for art and wine
Venture into southern Illinois this fall and discover two outstanding art venues that may not have been on your radar screen — the Mitchell Museum at Cedarhurst in Mt. Vernon and the Southern Illinois Art and Artisans Center at Rend Lake. The Mitchell Museum, the legacy of oil entrepreneur John R. Mitchell and his wife, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Artist to paint a five-story mural in pursuit of ArtPrize
Springfield artist and mural painter Mike Mayosky is always working on and promoting something. Our colorful local artist has something very big that he is promoting right now. He has entered the ArtPrize 2010 competition in Grand Rapids, Mich., and he is hoping to win the grand prize of $250,000. Second or third place would […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The blacksmith as artist
L. Brent Kington, professor emeritus at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, is widely regarded as the father of blacksmithing as an art form. The Illinois State Museum is hosting a retrospective of the 76-year-old artist, and it is well worth a visit. When Kington and his wife, Diana, moved to Carbondale in 1961 to head […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Stranger in Paradise
The Rev. Howard Finster produced more than 46,000 pieces of art before he died at age 84 in 2001. He was a man possessed, not by demons, but by the need to create art. He was a self-proclaimed “man of visions” who put his visions into his colorful folk art. Born in rural Alabama in […]
