On July 4, 1837 – 175 years ago – the cornerstone for what we now call the Old State Capitol (OSC) was dedicated. In the decades that followed, the building was not only the center of governmental activities, it was a town center, where people gathered for social, civic and charitable activities. As part of […]
Community & Lifestyle
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Dew drop your pants
I broke up with my guy a while ago, which was the right thing to do. But, I’ve found myself hooking up with guys for no reason other than getting caught in a provocative moment. Of course, as you’ve often written, men and women are very different when it comes to casual sex, and what’s […]
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Lithuanians in Springfield
The placing of a church cornerstone is an act of faith. For the founders of Springfield’s St. Vincent de Paul Lithuanian Catholic Church it was an act of survival. Exiled from their tiny homeland on the Baltic Sea, they came to America at the turn of the last century seeking peace, opportunity and religious freedom […]
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Mourning breath
At 19, I married the first man I slept with. He died last year after 23 years of marriage, and within a month, I was in a new relationship with a wonderful man I met online. I’m certainly still grieving, sometimes horribly, but my new man understands, and he’s patient. He appreciates me and insists […]
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Captain Hookup
This guy I’m having a casual thing with is quick-witted, is droll, and makes me laugh hard, and I just LOVE having sex with him. Afterward, however, he pretty much ignores me until we hook up again, not answering texts from me for weeks at a time. Although I see him consulting his phone constantly, […]
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When Lincoln’s friend was killed just as war began
The Civil War was only five weeks old when Col. Elmer Ellsworth, 24, was killed tearing down a Confederate flag in Virginia. As the first prominent Union casualty, he became an instant hero: newspapers around the country mourned his martyrdom and composers penned songs in his honor. His death hit Springfield and Abraham Lincoln particularly […]
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Thrilla In Vanilla
My best friend is a guy. We have tons in common and have conversations that are lively, honest, and deep. He’s basically everything I’ve ever wanted in my future husband, but he has an infatuation for Filipina women half his age. I’m 37, his age, and Caucasian. His plan is to find and marry a […]
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Motherly shove
I am in my 20s and, for eight months, have been seeing a girl who might very well be “the one.” The problem is she wants to meet my mother, who is beyond controlling. She plays a game with girls I date, which I call “the 20 questions of doom.” Her questions start out normal, […]
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We’ll always have parasites
My boyfriend of two months is a gem, but his house is a horror. The fridge and bathroom are disgusting, and the whole place is seriously messy. There’s this eerie feeling that the house was formerly homey, like nothing has changed since his wife left him three years ago — down to the box of […]
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Springfield Sliders, a family operation
Some children draw pictures of dogs and cats, but when Shane Martin was a child growing up in the early 1980s, he drew baseball stadiums. Shane, the new owner and CEO of the Springfield Sliders baseball team, grew up in Farmington, Minn. – a rural suburb of Minneapolis – in a gray tri-level house with […]
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Wedding her whistle
I just turned 26, and I’m ready to be married. My previous two boyfriends dragged their feet and then said the blood-boiling line: “I will marry you…someday.” I met a guy online, and we initiated a relationship on the basis that he was ready for marriage. Four months after our first kiss, I broke up […]
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Attila the Honey
I asked my boyfriend for his email password so I could look at a message he’d mentioned. He grabbed my laptop and said he’d log in and forward it to me. He is a good guy and has never given me reason to distrust him, but if you aren’t hiding anything, why would you care […]
