Letters to the Editor
Untitled Document We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address, and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to Letters, Illinois Times, P.O. Box 5256, Springfield, IL 62705; fax 217-753-3958; e-mail editor@illinoistimes.com. REST IN PEACE, AIDAH I was never more moved than while reading about the plight of Aidah Mahmood [Dusty Rhodes, “Twice…
People’s poetry
Untitled Document philosophy poem # 8there are fewunalloyed pleasuresin this life oneis feedingcarrotsto a rabbit © Jacqueline Jackson 2007 The American poet, Ezra Pound, once described the faces of people in a rail station as petals on a wet black bough. That was roughly 75 years ago. Here, Barry Goldensohn of New York offers…
A very human Bean
Untitled Document There are three boys in our household — Alex, 10; Nathan, 7; and Grant, a far-too-sophisticated 3-year-old. My wife and I do our best to filter out the many offensive and violent video games, movies, and television shows that litter their road to adulthood. Although we do our best, these forms of entertainment…
Recycle Styrofoam
Untitled Document What can be done to recycle Styrofoam economically and efficiently? Known within the packaging industry as expanded polystyrene (EPS) and usually bearing the No. 6 recycling symbol, Styrofoam (which is actually the trademark name for Dow Chemical’s product) has long been an environmental bugaboo, partly because it contains chemicals known to cause central…
Getting children outdoors
Untitled Document It’s hard to believe that children have returned to school and another summer vacation has met its end. As I reflect on this summer, I wonder what my children will remember about the past 11 weeks. They spent most mornings playing in the back yard and the afternoons playing video games and watching…
Make music, not babies
Untitled Document As I pondered the subject of this week’s message — the debut CD by local group the Damwell Betters — I found myself comparing the making of a child to the production of an album. Both creations reflect the values and personalities of the creators, and although the original effort in each is…
The secret is in the sauce
Untitled Document Question: When does a host boast? With any luck it’s not very often, but I’d argue that the superego emerges whenever a marinade is involved. We’ve all been here before: “Yeah, that’s right, that pork shoulder has been marinatin’ for 16 hours, I reckon. It’s an ancient family recipe, from the South Pacific,…
Broken promise?
Untitled Document In state legislative politics, your word is supposed to be your bond, but that doesn’t always happen. Illinois legislators will often tell one person one thing and tell another something completely different. Rank-and-file legislators aren’t completely trustworthy. Legislative leaders, on the other hand, are supposed to be different, particularly when it comes to…
True confessions of a barbecue judge
Untitled Document Not long after I began writing this column, I realized that the job came with some perks. I was invited to a food writers’ dinner showcasing Anheuser-Busch’s line of artisanal beers at Blackbird, one of Chicago’s best restaurants (both the food and the beers were sublime). Promotional cookbooks began showing up in my…
