Home sweet homely Dear editor: I can help answer the question, “Whatever happened to Scenic Springfield?” [August 21] The article covered a number of events that can help explain it. I wish to add to the list. The first is an expansion of the trash issue. Even though the city replaced trashcans downtown with recycle/trash […]
Illinois Times Staff
Posted inOpinion
Your Turn . . . 8-21-03
The state fair is in his blood To the editor: Thanks for the state fair stories [“Our Fair City,” August 14]. From the age of 7 to 13, I always went away for a few weeks of the summer to spend time at my grandma’s house in Somalia, MO . . . home of the […]
Posted inOpinion
Your Turn . . . 8-14-03
Another Findley fan To the editor: During the years in which I served in the public sector, I came to know Congressman Paul Findley on a primarily business and somewhat personal level. I always had a great respect for him as a public official who spoke his mind on the basis always of what he […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Bards of the Sangamo 8-14-03
By Lee Gurga And for those of us who have Seabiscuit on our minds . . . Hooves Pounding Capitol Teletrack contains the fascinating world of horseracing. I’ve gone there in winter to warm, bet races, and get something to eat. I’ve gone there in summer to cool, play races, and beat the heat. At […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Movies
What other critics are saying . . . Edited by Imran Siddiquee American Wedding A comic weekend wedding, complete with bachelor party. “The grossest, least funny–and, here’s hoping, the last–installment in the American Pie series.” (Manhola Dargis, Los Angeles Times) “Awkward and mythic in its humor, the American Pie movies have accomplished a unique position […]
Posted inOpinion
Your Turn . . . 8-7-03
Findley fan Dear Editor, Thanks for the feature on former Congressman Paul Findley [“Our Darkest Time,” July 31]. Paul is a largely untapped treasure of Central Illinois. Oh, that his foreign-policy wisdom would be called upon by today’s decision-makers. I grew up in an avidly Democratic household, and I can remember my father telling me […]
Posted inNews
State Fair Stories & Traditions
Does the Illinois State Fair hold some special meaning for you? Is it the place you lost your first tooth, met your true love, or discovered your peculiar fetish for tractors? Does your family have a tradition of seeing certain shows, riding certain rides, eating certain treats? Whether you’ve been to the state fair every […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Bards of the Sangamo 7-31-03
TRINITY ‘Neath faille skirt of zealous genuflect, gold stare by pious eye, valley city sweat goth despair that cloudless cursed July. ‘Round coo-still Capitol dome pigeon bird shallow panted. While from burb to bowery home, fan whirred–summer recanted with each ragweed sneeze each rale each weeze on fallow grist. Stampeding stale through settler’s swath, wild […]
Posted inOpinion
Your Turn . . . 7-31-03
No Tom Tomorrow! Dear Sir or Madam, I grow increasingly tired of the liberal fire-fueling cartoons and articles in your paper. I pick up your paper every week in order to get Springfield information and ideas for my upcoming weekend. However, I am appalled at your partisan beliefs. Yes, you have freedom of the press. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Bards of the Sangamo 7-17-03
By Lee Gurga Stephen Glosecki, an associate professor of English at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, will present “Over the Hills and Home”–a program of writings about Springfield and family–at 3 p.m. on Friday, July 18, at the Vachel Lindsay Home, 603 S. Fifth in Springfield. An award-winning poet, Glosecki, will read selections from […]
Posted inArts & Culture
King of the herbs
One of the highlights of July is garden-fresh tomatoes with olive oil and fresh basil. Basil is one of the easiest herbs to grow. The International Herb Association has declared it the herb of the year for 2003. Most basils that you use for cooking are cultivars of the species Ocimum basilicum, or sweet basil. […]
Posted inOpinion
Your Turn … 7-24-03
Proud to be a local artist To the editor: Your recent story by staff writer Pete Sherman on our movie-in-production, “It Came From the Slurry Pond” [“Hollywood or Bust,” July 17], was outstanding. Yet I wanted to point out a flaw in the characterization of my own life as a local artist, movie producer, and […]
