“Happytime” an Embarrassing Display of Immaturity
There’s something very interesting at play in Brian Henson’s The Happytime Murders, which is really more a temper tantrum than a movie. The son of the beloved Jim Henson, the trailblazer who created the Muppets, is in a rebellious state of mind, as he seems intent on crapping all over his father’s work. While steps…
Closing “The Home”
The last nursing home resident left Pleasant Hill Village in Girard last week, almost 112 years after the first ones arrived at “The Home for the Homeless,” a beautiful large brick facility with 50 rooms and great halls, built by a small German-originated denomination, the Church of the Brethren. At the dedication on Thanksgiving Day,…
A test of character
Early on Sunday morning, April 1, our Head Fool received a report from his most trusted intelligence source. “Small army of migrants marching toward the United States,” headlined his favorite show, “Fox & Friends.” The commander-in-chief wasted no time in responding to this imminent threat, reflexively trumpeting to his loyalists that a caravan of some…
Rauner fights back against Pritzker
If you were wondering whether the latest NBC/Marist poll showing Gov. Bruce Rauner trailing JB Pritzker by 16 points was enough to take the wind out of the incumbent, you only had to look to an event last week for an answer. Rauner, along with other major statewide candidates, spoke to the Illinois Agricultural Legislative…
Letters to the Editor 8/30/18
HELPING THE HOMELESS There seems to be multiple discussions ongoing about how the city of Springfield can solve the homeless conundrum in our city. I have been a part of two groups who have prepared warm meals for the homeless, and Helping Hands has done its best to provide sleeping arrangements and meals, too.Now that…
A better way to help the homeless
Imagine there are a lot of people who have heart disease hanging out at Lincoln Library – and every day patrons have to walk by people having heart attacks and strokes, or wheezing and coughing from congestive heart failure. They won’t – or can’t – go to the hospital and no one knows where else…
Celebrate the joy of reading
During the daytime, A Likely Story looks just like any other book store, but at night the characters in the books come to life. During this presentation by M.A.S.S. Media, six characters from various stories band together to help Margie, the scatterbrained owner of a A Likely Story, save her store. The Enchanted Bookshop is…
12 hour-long historical presentations
The 20th Annual Prairieland Chautauqua, an official Illinois Bicentennial event hosted by the Morgan County Historical Society, will take place on Saturday, Sept. 1, through Monday, Sept. 3, from 4-9 p.m. nightly in the Jacksonville High School auditorium. The Prairieland Chautauqua consists of 12 independent, hour-long history programs (four per evening) that reflect on 200…
Spoon River Anthology
A cast of local actors and musicians is bringing Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology to New Salem’s Theater in the Park. Blending the voices of the cemetery “residents” with Americana folk music from local father-daughter duo Mark and Molly Mathewson, Spoon River Anthology is a poignant, breathtaking presentation of life in early 20th century…
Mock Love To Me
Mock Love To Me My boyfriend has this irritating habit of making fun of my outfits or my spray tan. When I get upset, he says I’m being “sensitive.” I try to look cute for him, and I just don’t think it’s funny for your boyfriend to mock your appearance. Is this his issue or…
Politics of civility
The two men running for the 99th District State Representative seat in the Nov. 6 general election had the exact same thing to say about each other: “He’s a nice guy.” Democrat Marc Bell and Republican Mike Murphy have known each other for several years and have ridden bicycles together as members of the Springfield…
Mature Mob celebrates the 50s
It’s well established that the 1950s was a decade of enormous change on many fronts. It’s especially true within the narrower context of popular music, from the growth of rock ’n’ roll, rhythm and blues and country music, as well as how those musical genres influenced each other, and society in general. All these years…
Pillars of salt
St. Louis-based artist Amanda Bowles’ current exhibit at the University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery is entitled “digital dusk shadow storage,” a multimedia installation which combines striking sculptures made from crystallized salt along with a large oil painting and re-contextualized pieces of computer technology. “The objects made from salt take many years to grow,”…
SPD fights gun violence with tough love
Springfield Police Department Chief Kenny Winslow spoke at the Citizens Club of Springfield’s August policy breakfast, held at Hoogland Center for the Arts on Friday, Aug. 24. His subject was gun violence in Springfield, specifically the SPD’s recent adoption of a “focused deterrence” policy where offenders are identified and offered two options: either go to…
HOSPITALS BOOST COMMUNITY HEALTH
The American Hospital Association presented a national award last week to both HSHS St. John’s Hospital and Memorial Medical Center for their work to improve the health and quality of life in the Enos Park neighborhood. The two nonprofit hospitals received the NOVA Award, which recognizes hospitals and health systems across the nation for their…
CLIMATE MARCH IN DECATUR
Macon County activist group SONA (Save Our National Areas, a subcommittee of the nonprofit Community Environmental Council of Macon County) will lead the “RISE for climate, jobs and justice march” on Sept. 8, part of a nationwide RISE initiative of demonstrations in hundreds of communities that day to encourage local leaders to “invent strategies and…
AUTHOR AT NEW SALEM
Jan Jacobi, author of a new young adult historical novel called Young Lincoln, will be appearing at the Railsplitter Gift Shop inside Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site to sign copies of the book during the New Salem Music Festival on Sept. 8 at 10 a.m. The book is said to “bring Abe to life in…
Isaac, Kingsley arresting in Finale
Unlike many of the other high-ranking members of the Third Reich, Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Final Solution, survived World War II. He fled to South America where he continued to live with his family and get up each morning to enjoy the day, a privilege those put to death because of his machinations…
Fruits of music labors
Here we are rolling into Labor Day weekend 2018, signalling the end of summertime and the beginning of autumn, if not by weather, at least by date and tradition. Let’s go out and in with a band and a bang, becoming a blustering, beautiful beacon of believers in our musical labors on this celebratory day…
Ivas John Band
Born in Chicago to first generation Lithuanian immigrants, young Ivas first learned music through his family’s folk sensibilities, then as a teenager, felt the powerful pull of Chicago blues. After furthering his blues education in weekend performances while attending Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, he morphed into full-time music performance, playing the region with an…
Food as medicine
I recently had to spend an unanticipated couple of days in Memorial Medical Center. Aside from the unpleasant and painful circumstances that precipitated my visit to the ER, my experience was actually quite pleasant. In contrast to the pale, green sterile drabness of my hospital rotation in dental school 40 years ago, Memorial felt more…
archiving poem # 4
archiving poem # 4 not all my archiving for U of Wis is letters ledgers documents photossome is hardware a cow drinking cupa salt cup I emailed my kids I can’t findthe stanchion I’m sure I had a stanchiona message came back: the last I saw itit was behind coats in the downstairscloset– sure enough…
