The “anti-Starbucks” Starbucks
There’s a joke going around that Starbucks has so saturated the coffee market that it is now opening new Starbucks stores inside its old stores. Well, not quite — not yet — but the corporate coffee colossus is presently trying to expand through an equally bizarre marketing strategy: By disowning its globally ubiquitous brand name.…
Letters to the Editor 8/20/09
DON’T CUT COPSHow in the world can Mayor Davlin threaten to cut police funding when we need them more than ever? A town these days cannot function without a strong police presence. A few years back, I attended the Citizens Police Academy and they talked about gangs in Springfield. If you think they don’t exist…
Animal attraction
{image-6167}Members of more than 45 Illinois park districts entertain fairgoers at sites throughout the fairgrounds and host activities in Conservation World. Decatur Park District’s Scovill Zoo, Glenview Park District’s The Grove Zoo and Springfield Park District’s Henson Robinson Zoo kick up the dust in Conversation World from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Other attractions include…
World wonders
If you attend the fair, make it a point to visit Ethnic Village. While you munch on tasty food from around the world, this weekend you will also see some great acts on the Ethnic Village Stage. Terran’s Greek Band plays 12-1 p.m. on Friday before African American Ensemble takes the stage at 2 p.m.…
Walter Trout
Walter Trout may not be a household name, unless your household revels in the history of rock blues from the mid-to-late 20th century. In that case you’d know Trout as an exceptional blues guitarist who spent time working and playing with the likes of John Lee Hooker, Canned Heat and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers before setting…
A diet to die for
Hamburger patties, mac and cheese, and pastries. Sounds appetizing. But a group of inmates recently filed a lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC), alleging the food is making them sick. At issue is the amount of soy that the IDOC currently uses in the food served to its inmates. While the Food and…
Boy Scouts leave United Way
When Curtis Penfold was a sophomore at Auburn High School, he picked performing arts as his primary interest on a career interest survey — not for a class, but for the Boy Scouts’ Venturing & Exploring program. He soon joined theater Explorer post 420, a co-ed group of 15 teenagers who meet twice a month…
Where do we go from here?
After four days off, Mike Williams was relaxed and feeling pretty good when he showed up for his shift at the City Water, Light and Power water treatment plant at 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 26. As with the start of every workday, the 46-year old assistant water works operator entered the main control room…
Wife’s time travels trip her up
It’s easy to see why Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife became a best-seller and remains a favorite among a core of devoted readers. More than a simple romance, it offers up a wish-fulfillment fantasy we’ve all harbored. What if you could go back and forth in time, seeing the loved ones you lost when…
Tearing away the medical mask
Reading Scope, the 16th annual literary magazine of Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, uncovered a more human side to the health care system than that to which I have become accustomed. In the last decade I’ve been inundated by red tape and bad experiences as I cared for my son, my 85-year-old mother-in-law and…
Judging the fair culinary contest
The fairgrounds are bustling in the days before the Illinois State Fair opens, and no location is busier than the culinary division in the Hobby, Arts, and Crafts Building. On Friday is cleaning and set up. On Sunday and Monday, contestants’ entries are checked in. Tuesday and Wednesday the items are judged, then put on…
Final fair fling
Okay I give up. I’m trying to find something else to cover other than the Illinois State Fair for this week’s blathering, but not much else is a-coming into the column coffers. Sobeit, let’s head back out to the fairgrounds one more time. Unfortunately, a couple of my personal favorites perform on Thursday, the day…
Marvelous mags
Calling all comic book fans. The Springfield Comic Book Convention zooms into town Sunday. Do you still need Incredible Hulk 181? Looking for a new book just out or a related collectible such as an X-men T-shirt? Do you need a few bucks and are willing to part with that old Spiderman comic book? Don’t…
College loans fall as applications increase
At least 267,000 Illinois college students will receive little to no state financial aid this year, according to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. Executive director Andy Davis says that applications for student aid in Illinois have increased by 25 to 30 percent in 2009 — likely due to greater financial instability of students and their…
Everyone saw a crash coming
Imagine that while you’re on an airplane nearing its destination, the pilot announces that there’s not enough fuel to land safely. The plane could be refueled in mid-air, but the crew won’t do it. The pilot must determine whether to steer the aircraft to a crash on land or in the water. But before he…
Pumpkin Braid
Denise Turnbull from Monmouth won last year’s Blue Ribbon Grand Championship with this recipe: 1 c. warm water 1 T. active dry yeast 1/2 c. brown sugar 1/2 c. nonfat dry milk 1 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. nutmeg 1/4 c. melted butter 1 c. canned pumpkin 2 eggs 4 1/2 – 5 c. bread flour…
Boys gone wild
Patty Meyer made her way through the crowd gathered at city hall calling for an end to racism in Springfield to give Mike Williams a big hug and offered him a piece of advice. “Watch your back,” she said. “I know, girl,” Williams replied. Both of them know too well what Williams is up against…
Dem bones
The scam was, said the Sun-Times, “every family’s nightmare.” Maybe not. Some families’ nightmare is that Uncle Delbert will come back from the dead to live with them. But news of the foul burial plot at Alsip’s Burr Oak Cemetery was unsettling. Caskets and their contents were removed from at least 300 graves that were…
artsycraftsy poem #1
there’s this college kid, see, whodue to inspiration or a few beersstole several of those barrelsstriped orange-and-white thatsurround road construction he spenta few hours making a fifteen-footcreature thumbing a ride returnedthe monster to the roadside he wasapprehended of course the hitchhikerdestroyed can’t remember the sentencea fine community service maybe alittle jail time but the interesting…
