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. WHEN HOPE IS AN ILLUSION Today, the richest people own and control a great deal of the world while making up…
Time for a new year
Ready or not, here it comes: 2008 A.D. is well on its way. I would give a nice little rundown of all the highlights of 2007 — both of them — but that would be living in the past, and we like to move forward, correct? Onward and upward we go, marching into the future…
Get lucky this New Year’s Day
Untitled Document Even this gal, born and raised north of the Mason-Dixon Line, knows that Hoppin’ John rules when it comes to New Year’s Day traditions. You can’t start a year off right without it. Thing is, you kind of hope you’ll get invited somewhere for a bowl of black-eyed peas and rice, lovingly prepared…
Time for a sergeant
Untitled Document In June, Springfield Police Sgt. Al Jones went from being president of the patrol officers’ union to being expelled from its membership. As painful as that was for Jones, he soon learned things could get worse. In August, Jones, who has had heart problems for years, suffered his second heart attack. His cardiologist…
Beyond the grave
Untitled Document As you walk through Oak Ridge Cemetery’s beautiful 365 acres, it’s easy to forget that each tombstone represents a life — a person with friends, enemies, heartbreaks, and dreams. The recently published local book In Lincoln’s Shadow: Oak Ridge Cemetery Chronicles helps us remember. In Lincoln’s Shadow tells the stories of more than four dozen…
Adultery, Murder, and Lincoln
Untitled Document The autopsy confirmed what the doctor suspected; someone had been trying to poison George Anderson. The strychnine in his system certainly explained his excruciating stomach pains, but it had not killed him. Apparently, his assassin ran out of patience and resorted to a more traditional method of execution. It did not take a…
Big Jim to the rescue
Untitled Document The host of a TV show recently asked me what I thought could be done to bring Illinois Democratic leaders back from “the brink of the abyss.” Too late, I said. We’re already in the abyss — and we’ve been there for a while. House Speaker Michael Madigan refuses to even be in…
“Whole again”
Untitled Document The interim executive director of the Illinois Association of Minorities in Government, Jerrie Blakely, says that the embattled organization is “whole again.” Now it just needs to find a permanent director, an administrative assistant, and a receptionist. The IAMG has advertised the positions in publications across the state. The top job has drawn…
Gifts for a happier new year
Untitled Document Wait till you hear about the gifts I gave to some of America’s power elites for Christmas. To each of our Congresscritters I sent my fondest wish that from now on they receive the exact same income, health care, and pensions that we average citizens get. It might make them a…
People’s Poetry
Untitled Document lovepoem #9 have I a special spot for my last-born of course she nursed longest was with me longest gave boundless joy to me to her sisters still does but do I love her more than my first-born that tiny miracle who was not on this earth then was who even now sometimes…
Springfield in 2007
In the capital city, the more things change, the more they stay the same. At Illinois Times, we started 2007 with a look at racial issues in Springfield; we pretty much ended on the same note. Expect more of the same in 2008 as we mark a sad anniversary of a dark chapter in Springfield’s…
Fighting Illini vs. Cabbage Patch Kids
Untitled Document After years of ignominious obscurity, the University of Illinois football team was going to the 1984 Rose Bowl! For my husband, Peter, and me, the timing was perfect. Neither of us had ever been a big football fan. During our tenure at the university’s Champaign-Urbana campus, we hadn’t gone to a single game.…
No debate about the message
Untitled Document Films like Denzel Washington’s The Great Debaters are tricky to bring to the screen; in tackling serious subjects, they run the risk of collapsing under the weight of grand intentions. Although a degree of gravity is warranted in this film, the manner in which some characters’ actions are presented is overly melodramatic and reverential,…
My best buddy
Untitled Document Like turkey and mistletoe and eggnog and fruitcake, there’s a tradition in the journalism business of wrapping up each year with a look back at the stories and events that made news. We get to reprint our favorite photos, revisit our favorite characters, and see how it all looks through 20/20 hindsight. I’ll…
Green day
Untitled Document To get on the ballot in past elections, candidates from the Green Party have first had to beat off challenges from Democrats and Republicans. Now that the Greens belong to an “established” party in Illinois, though, they will be able to slug it out in February with one another — just the way…
Holiday highlights
Untitled Document Christmas at Dana-Thomas House Through Dec. 30. The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house is decked out for the holiday and open for tours. Dana-Thomas House, 301 E. Lawrence Ave. (www.dana-thomas.org) Santa House Dec. 20-23. Santa visits Springfield to give out candy canes and greet children. Santa House, 1415 North Grand Ave. (www.springfieldparks.org) Holiday Lights…
