Change we don’t believe in
The phrase “climate change” pisses me off.
Polyphemus
Staring upward from the feet of Polyphemus, I feel a twinge of vertigo overwhelm me. The arrogant, towering cyclops seems to lean over me, mocking me and threatening to crush me. He is unmoving, yet he seems ready to raise his club and end me. A blink and a deep breath reveal Polyphemus to be…
Green Links 2/12: Dear Livejournal …
This week has been crazy! I’ve been doing a lot of running around and going back-and-forth between our main office and the Capitol. (I also locked my keys in my car yesterday. That turned into a two-hour debacle with lots of ridiculous circumstances and oh god I don’t wanna talk about it.) Hence, I haven’t…
Mardi Gras and all
Slowly but surely the whoop-it-up holiday known around the world as Carnival season has taken hold in Springfield. Just a few years ago some hardy souls around town were determined to make a local annual party of this centuries-old, global celebration leading up to Lent. Now we have a legally official, not-for-profit group known as…
Extraordinary brass and pipe
Hear and see the unique sounds and costumes of Celtic culture and pageantry as The Band of the Irish Guards and the pipes, drums and highland dancers of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 5th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland perform on stage at Sangamon Auditorium in their first U.S. tour. The Band of…
Interest in organic food may not be all good
As the eating patterns in America shift towards healthier foods, the demand for natural and organic products is rising. No one wants to support the food industry using unnatural, cheap, and secretive methods to produce our country’s food. So people instead head for the foods that are produced by everyday people, the average ruralites more…
Pat Quinn’s amazing comeback
Every night before an election day, I spend four or five hours on the phone with people I trust asking what they think will happen. There are always a couple of races that will have them stumped, but I’ve never seen everybody perplexed about so many outcomes until the night before last week’s election. Take,…
African-American annals
Several free programs are scheduled this week for Black History Month. Nationally known author/historian Marc Aronson discusses his book, Race: A History Beyond Black and White, and the art of nonfiction Feb. 11, 6 p.m. at the Vachel Lindsay Home. Church leader and retired music teacher La Von Wilson reflects on “Life in Springfield through…
Holy inkwells
Many years ago, I made my first visit to the Illinois State Historical Library in its handsome but cramped new quarters beneath the Old State Capitol. Having time to kill while waiting for the staff to fetch me a book, I wandered up the stairs to the mezzanine that overlooked the reading room. There, in…
CHILLY? TRY CHILI!
When you’re buried in snow, a hot bowl of chili goes a long way toward curing the winter blues. Springfield’s Sparc developmental disability advocates are holding their 21st annual Sugar and Spice Chili Dinner just in time to help bid winter an enthusiastic farewell. The March 13 fundraiser will feature chili, vegetarian soup, hotdogs and…
Letters to the Editor 02/11/2010
A LESSON IN STATE GOVERNMENTRe: Caroline Newsmann’s letters [Letters to the editor, Dec. 23 and Jan. 14], Miss Newsmann and friends of Senior Services of Central Illinois, as polite as possible I have to ask — where have you been the last eight years? The same could be asked of Daniel Hynes, since he had…
lovepoem #7
I long to be back with pam hiking the cornwall coast the waves far below curling then crashing but there’s no pamto hike with anymore I long to be backwith jessie amid the bluebells in the dorset lanes laughing at what her mumhad to say on everything “ketchup isan insult to the cook” and “men…
Kid’s Carnival
Get transported to the French Quarter and celebrate Mardi Gras during an evening of hands-on activities for the entire family at the Springfield Art Association. While listening to live entertainment, make a crown, string beads, try your hand at carnival games and get your photo taken on Bourbon Street. All activities and artists’ demonstrations will…
Margaret Murphy with Chuck Webb
A world-class jazz vocalist and her equally celebrated bassist husband makes Valentine’s Day weekend a special event at Remy’s on Monroe. The Chicago-based couple entertains with a drummer and pianist filling out the band and your hosts at Remy’s promise hors d’oeuvres, champagne and strawberries plus roses for the ladies. Murphy, a Chicago native, lays…
Don’t just stand there, create a commission
Many of Illinois’ 310-plus state commissions and task forces are rendered ineffective by vacancies and the state’s often lax response to their recommendations. When Illinois faces a problem or controversy, the solution is often to create a commission, task force or panel to study the issue. But many of the state’s numerous panels have multiple…
A yen for Yanni’s
My first was at the U of I campus town in Champaign back in the ’70s. The place was Zorba’s, a dark and dingy dive that smelled of stale beer and broiling meat. It was my first gyro. Waiting in line, I saw a cylinder of ground meat rotating slowly in front of a vertical…
Composting digs deep into sustainability
Autumn leaves, the contents of your hamster’s cage and last week’s chicken wings may not seem like a recipe for success, but together they form the perfect combination of waste for a backyard compost pile. For Ken Dunn, founder and director of the Chicago-based Resource Center, leaves, wood shavings and food waste are essential ingredients…
Throwing insurance reform out with the bath water
The Illinois Supreme Court last week struck down a law limiting awards in medical malpractice cases, but the decision also does away with profit reporting requirements for insurance companies and numerous other rules. In a 4-2 decision released Feb. 4, the state’s highest court called the 2005 “tort reform” law unconstitutional under the state constitution’s…
Romantic rendezvous
Looking for something special to synchronize your beating hearts this Valentine’s Day? A scrumptious, intimate candlelight dinner followed by romantic music is planned by Gordon Productions and the Hoogland Center for the Arts. The menu includes mouth-watering juniper and sage brined America’s cut pork chops topped with apricot-tassso sauce, homemade buttercrust rolls and more. Gus…
Milton wants to pick low-hanging fruit
Dr. Walter Milton calls it “low-hanging fruit” — a list of short-term projects that the Springfield School Board can tackle as it waits for answers on Option B and its funding. The superintendent of Springfield Public Schools told school board members recently that Matheny-Withrow Elementary School, 1200 S. Pope Ave., and Enos Elementary School, 524…
High price for high schools
No one disputes that Springfield’s three public high schools need help. Students at Springfield High School squeeze into 93-year-old classrooms that were meant for their grandparents and great-grandparents’ generations. Even at four stories, the building lacks modern necessities like computer labs and art spaces. Instead, students share six computer carts, each equipped with 20 laptops,…
Republicans out of touch as middle class sinks
American politics is a hoot! Where else can raw ignorance rise to such high places — and then flaunt itself shamelessly for all to see? For example, who needs Jay Leno or Conan O’Brien for comic relief, when we’ve got Andre Bauer? He’s the lieutenant governor of South Carolina (a state, by the way, that…
Firth gives a singular performance in Ford’s Man
When designer Tom Ford was charged with pulling Gucci back from the brink of bankruptcy, he wasted no time reintroducing a sense of style and daring to the venerable fashion line. So, it should come as no surprise that he would take a similar approach when directing his debut film. In adapting Christopher Isherwood’s novel,…
LOVE SONGS AND LARGESSE
How often do you get to take your significant other out for a romantic evening? What if you could have a nice date and support good causes at the same time? Peyton Tosh, a civic-minded teen from Jacksonville, is putting on a show to do just that. On Feb. 13 – just in time for…
