When I heard about the “beautification project” to demolish two historic buildings on East Washington to make a “green space” surface parking lot, it reminded me of something. Had I heard this story before? Oh yes, I finally remembered, the 2001-2002 “Vista Block” proposal. That project seemed to come out of the blue, but really […]
Times by Fletcher Farrar
Posted inOpinion
SIU and hospitals dive deep into antiracism
The conference on “The Hope and Promise of Co-liberation Work” began with a celebration on Friday, Feb. 17. It was followed by two days of lectures, panel discussions and breakout sessions that together showed how far the Springfield medical community has come on the road to racial and ethnic inclusion, diversity and equity. And how […]
Posted inOpinion
Battling the Green Nuclear Deal
In their determination to save the world from greenhouse gases, some environmental organizations have gone over to the other side, while the Sierra Club nationally has maintained its longstanding opposition to commercial nuclear power. Some local Sierra groups seem not so sure. “Is Nuclear Power a Great Way or a Terrible Way to Cut CO2 […]
Posted inOpinion
An after-school program where children teach grownups
I volunteer a couple hours a week at a Springfield after-school program called Compass for Kids, but it’s for adults. It’s for both, I suppose, and I’m sure these elementary-school kids from low-income families get a lot out of it too. If we described it as a program to help adults learn how to be […]
Posted inOpinion
Helping the homeless
Last week Julie Bartlett Benson got a 79-year-old Vietnam veteran into a hotel, where he could stay until Feb. 2, when his check comes in. She got a pregnant woman off the street for a week. The woman is trying to get into rehab, but she has a dog so couldn’t get into a shelter. […]
Posted inOpinion
Old Times
One of the founders of this journal told me long ago – when he feared that I, as the new owner coming from the world of daily newspapers, might put out a prosaic product – that my predecessors would always try to include something special, a gem, in every issue. We tried to continue that […]
Posted inOpinion
War doesn’t work well. Here’s a strategy for peace.
In the Ukraine city of Bakhmut, fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops has been going on for six months now. The city had 100,000 residents before the war; now only 7,000 remain. Many neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble by Russian artillery. The city has little strategic value, but it carries symbolic value for both […]
Posted inOpinion
A new bid for a new year
It’s a new year, and I need a new bid. Maybe we all do. I just read “The Art of Bidding, or How I Survived Federal Prison,” a long essay by Eric Borsuk. On his first day of a seven-year sentence a cellmate told him, “Man, you gotta get a bid.” A bid, he learned, […]
