One for the books
Nothing about last Thursday’s press conference was by the book. The announcement was hasty (less than an hour’s notice) yet the cast included the mayor, the police chief, two city attorneys, and the director of the Lincoln Library. Between the short notice and the long list of bigwigs, the sense of urgency was unmistakable. The…
Letters to the editor
Letters policy We welcome letters, but please include your full name, address and a daytime telephone number. We edit all letters for libel, length and clarity. Send letters to: Letters, Illinois Times. P.O. Box 5256. Springfield, Illinois 62705. Fax: (217) 753-3958. E-mail: editor@illinoistimes.com DOWNTOWN SHOULD OPEN SUNDAYS This is response to an article written by…
Behold, the great pumpkin
Besides corn dogs, lemonade shake-ups, the butter cow and giant slide, the Illinois State Fair has much to offer. My favorite part of the fair is seeing products that Illinois residents have grown or made. Therefore, my first stop is the Hobbies, Arts and Crafts building, which houses the finest Illinois produce, handmade textiles, yummy…
These old houses
Mike Boer, president of the Illinois Medical District at Springfield, wants residents to know that when the master plan for the proposed district receives approval from commissioners, advisory board, and ultimately, the City Council, that changes won’t be immediate. Train tracks won’t move, the direction traffic flows will not shift suddenly, no buildings will sprout…
Bearing witness
You probably don’t know this, but Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn has attended all but three of the 92 wakes and/or funerals held for Illinois servicemen and women who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. A top member of his staff attended the three Quinn missed because he was out of state. His office contacts the…
Corporate ethics lesson
If you’re a rank-and-file employee and you don’t produce, you’re handed a pink slip. But if you’re a top executive who doesn’t produce, you get a golden handshake. Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley recently gave us yet another demonstration of this inequity and hypocrisy that goes to the core of modern corporate ethics. In late…
Quicktakes
TAKE THAT, EVANSVILLE! If you thought Springfield tilts conservative, a new report suggests you may be, um, right. A national study of voting patterns by the nonpartisan Bay Area Center for Voting Research ranks the capital city as the 59th most conservative of U.S. cities with populations exceeding 100,000. Springfield was just a tad less…
“Before it’s gone”
His life today is simple and quiet. His days are spent in the tiny town of Fillmore, Ill., where he was born more than eight decades ago. But in an instant, Morgan Evans can return to another time, and to places all over the world, as part of a generation who gave up their innocence,…
Sculpting a career in transition
George Hinds was a recreational sculptor for most of his life until a recent employment “speed bump” prompted him to turn his art into a full-time enterprise. He’s off to a promising start. Along the way to today, Hinds has been a technical illustrator at Fiat Allis, a construction worker, and a coal miner. This…
A life sentence, by choice
It’s hard to tell if James Intveld would rather be making movies or playing music until you realize it’s all the same to the California native. Getting a chance to be heard and be seen is all part of forging a life in the unpredictable entertainment world. “It’s been 25 years of struggling and I’m…
Solving Chief Illiniwek
Given the recent NCAA ruling regarding Native American-themed sports mascots, it was time to call in the big guns, the committee of the highest rank: Yanks Avatar, Knuckles Kloof, Tom “Snorts” Sullivan, and Sam “Frog” O’Malley, Illini fans for 40 years each. Knights of truth and reason. Social scholars. Enlightened four. Sportsmen sensitive. Giant but…
People’s Poetry
The Harbor For Paul Evans A snake of black oil winds it way to the surface Almost a sign of life from this watery grave It blurs the water but does not blend in Misplaced, like its source A single orchid blossom floats silently by A nameless request for peace While coral sways softly, coaxed…
Loneliness
The June day is perfect for a wedding — bright sunshine, water merrily cascading from the large metal statutes in the fountain, a slight breeze playing with the bride’s dark hair and long, slim slip of a wedding gown. The two bridesmaids, clad in short, fashionably black satin dresses, smile and tease their soon-to-be-married friend.…
Thrill ride of the season
Taut, suspenseful and smart, Wes Craven’s Red Eyeis the thrill ride of the summer, an old-fashioned nail-biter that signals a new direction for the veteran filmmaker as he ventures into Hitchcock territory to pull off his most accomplished and satisfying movie. Craven and screenwriter Carl Ellsworth tap into many our most basic fears — enclosed…
The feet of war
At least two Illinois soldiers have given their lives in the War on Terror — recently renamed the Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism — each month since 9/11. The American Friends Service Committee, the social-justice arm of the Quakers, will remember these servicemen and women with a special exhibit called Eyes Wide Open-Illinois: The Human…
A glimpse into a cosmos
There’s a fine line between “concept” and “gimmick,” and Sufjan Stevens straddles it admirably on Illinois, his fifth album and the second installment of his Fifty States project. Invoking Carl Sandburg as his muse, Stevens commemorates the Prairie State and a motley assemblage of former residents, including Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, Frank Lloyd Wright,…
By hook and by Crook
I don’t know for sure whether history repeats itself, but I do know this: What goes around comes around. Nearly 100 years ago, on Nov. 27, 1907, Professor Alja Robinson Crook, curator of the Illinois State Museum, addressed the Springfield Ad Men’s Club at the group’s home in the Ferguson Building at Sixth and Monroe…
New treats
Whether you see the Illinois State Fair as a dieter’s nightmare or a junk food lover’s dream, there’s no denying that it’s one of the few Springfield events to offer such a variety of culinary treats. This year, there are more choices than ever, including iced Thai coffee (coffee topped with heavy cream) sold by…
When TV goes Hollywood
The Dukes of Hazzard brings yet another mediocre television series to the big screen, and there is no end in sight for the trend. Pop quiz: what was the first television show adapted into a movie? If you guessed Star Trek you are way off. If your answer is Batman you are still off by…
Jacqueline Jackson
lakepoem # 3haiku quintet my little john-boat skims this pond like a green leaf with barber-striped oars nearby in the swamp a bullfrog’s raspy gargle drowns the new york jet mating damsel flies struggling in a spider’s web part when I free them the orb of the sun squats like a squashed tomato on top…
