Movie Reviews- What a Girl Wants, Head of State
What a Girl Wants What seventeen-year-old Daphne Reynolds (Amanda Bynes) wants is to meet her long lost father, an English aristocrat named Lord Henry Dashwood (Colin Firth). Seems a freak accident threw him and pop singer Libby Reynolds (Kelly Preston) together. A whirlwind romance ensued and Daphne was the result. Evil machinations of a family…
Beyond the boxed lunch
Don’t visit Bentoh’s expecting the food to fall into a simple category. Bentoh’s offers sushi but isn’t a sushi bar. It offers Japanese bentos–which consist of meat and vegetables served over rice and accompanied by chilli sauce or a teriyaki glaze–but it isn’t just a Japanese restaurant. Its menu also includes Thai dishes and fresh…
The Case of Sampson’s Ghost
During the summer of 1837 Lincoln represented a widow who claimed an attorney named James Adams stole land from her husband. At the time, Adams was running for probate justice of the peace in Sangamon County, opposed by Lincoln’s friend, Anson Henry. As Adams and Henry campaigned and Lincoln pushed the widow’s case forward, letters…
Now Playing 4-3-03
What says it’s spring, feels like summer, and could become winter in a day? Why, central Illinois weather, of course! Along with teaching us lessons in patience and understanding, this time of year also brings out the bounce and the balls, short-lived shorts, and a feeling of optimism about what is to come. It’s also…
Highwayman
Writer John Jermaine has long heard about speed traps in the towns of Edinburg and Rochester, located south of Springfield on Route 29. With the route expanding from two to four lanes, the highway will now skirt around Edinburg. Jermaine decided to check in with Officer Dennis Greenwald, chief of the Edinburg Police Department for…
The Lincoln Files
On the morning of Thursday, March 13, seven people gathered around a long wooden table inside the offices of the Lincoln Legal Papers. Few subjects have been written about more than Abraham Lincoln, yet these scholars are constantly uncovering new facts and interesting connections. Two groups, working independently of each other, are currently compiling all…
Prison Diaries
Prison is a good place to get some writing done. In the 14th century, Marco Polo recorded his Travels in an Italian cell. Martin Luther King moved a nation with his “Letter From A Birmingham Jail.” Nelson Mandela dictated his autobiography on Robben Island, hiding the papers in a buried can. During his 16-year, on-again,…
Your Turn 4-3-03
Everyone likes a winner To the editor: Last Sunday the State Journal-Register picked a Democrat as their choice for mayor. Last Monday I got up early to watch the sun rise in the West! Donald E. Palmer Springfield Opportunity knocks Dear editor, I want to thank Pete Sherman for his excellent article on District #186…
Strange embedded fellows
Welcome to what NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw calls “the greatest televised event of the history of humankind.” The Iraq war has become a place where journalists and politics make strange embedded fellows. When networks go wall-to-wall with any story, they move fast to brand their coverage. It gets a catchy name, dramatic music, and flashy…
SPD’s revolving door
This story isn’t about Renatta Frazier or Rickey Davis. The long-awaited and much-anticipated report on the Springfield Police Department’s treatment of those two African-American officers (one resigned, one still hanging in there) is due to be delivered to the City Council at the exact same hour Illinois Times goes to press. It’s a coincidence that…
Abraham the barbarian?
Edgar Lee Masters enjoyed taking off everyone’s rose-colored glasses. His Spoon River Anthology wipes away the facade of pleasant, small-town American life. His 1935 biography of his friend Vachel Lindsay, while complimentary, broke the news behind Lindsay’s death–that he died by drinking liquid Lysol, not after suffering a heart attack, as was widely reported. He…
