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. NEWSPAPER’S CREDIBILITY PROBLEM Now that the Abraham Lincoln Hotel and White Elephant debacle has been finally settled, a lot of folks are…
Fish Fridays, Thai-style
Untitled Document I think I’ve figured out why so many fish eaters consider themselves vegetarians. It’s a Catholic thing, y’all. Lent — the 40-day fasting period leading up to Easter — is under way. For Catholics that means giving up meat, particularly on Fridays and designated holy days. Their definition of meat, however, applies only…
People’s Poetry
Untitled Document ufopoem #2 (with apologies to jerome kern and otto harbach) they asked me how I knew what I saw was true-oo-oo — I replied with sighs I believe my eyes wal-mart in the skies — they said some day you’ll find that your eyes are bli-i-i-ind humbly I replied something here inside cannot…
Get low
Untitled Document Even though 17-year-old citizens are allowed to drive, get jobs at the local cineplex, and serve in the armed forces, anybody familiar with kids of that age knows that teenagers also have a predilection for treating their parents’ cars like GT prototypes, getting fired for sneaking their friends into National Treasure: Book of…
Saving the world, one note at a time
Untitled Document The first thing Joshua Foster did after his encounter with an armed robber was to call his sons’ daycare provider. “I’m gonna be a little late picking up the kids today,” he told her. “I’m not sure exactly how late — maybe very late — but I know I’ll be at least a…
Sanctioning corporate autocracy
Untitled Document Corporate executives have long used intimidation and thuggery to try to beat back organizing campaigns by unions, environmentalists, farmers, consumers, and others. But now at least one corporation is moving from goon tactics — to tactical goofiness. Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pig processor, has a long and sorry record of anti-union nastiness,…
Say farewell to sharks?
Untitled Document What is the status of sharks around the world? Marine biologists report that sharks are in rapid decline around the world. In the North Atlantic, shark populations have declined by more than 50 percent over the past 20 years alone, with some species now nearing extinction. Experts see overfishing, which depletes sharks and…
A little pucker, a lot of flavor
Untitled Document The sight of them stopped me in my tracks — literally. They were here? In a grocery store in Springfield? I only just stopped myself from letting out a whoop of joy. Getting excited about being able to buy Meyer lemons here unquestionably classifies me as a food geek (if there was ever…
Cap City
Untitled Document DYIDOESITHERSELF “There’s more to Springfield than just corn and Lincoln — there has to be,” says Dyi Kinney. Sometimes we’re not so sure. A graduate of the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Kinney is hoping to prove us wrong. Kinney wants to capitalize on the capital city’s youthful brain juice with her…
Lowney’s legacy
Untitled Document The contents of 77 boxes shelved in the special-collections department of the Brookens Library at the University of Illinois at Springfield tell a love story, a love story that gave rise to one of the most curious chapters in modern American literature. The documents, including diaries, journals, manuscripts, and approximately 2,000 letters, chronicle…
Sampson and the Swedish singer
Untitled Document Remember those music competitions held last year by the Illinois Central Blues Club? The club sponsored one for bands during the Blues & BBQs downtown festival and a later one at the Alamo for solo acts and duos. The winners represented our community at the Blues Foundation’s 24th annual International Blues Challenge, in…
Obamanomics
Untitled Document JANESVILLE, Wis. — When I talked with U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold about what the Democratic candidates for president needed to do to win the Wisconsin primary, he suggested that both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton go to the senator’s hometown of Janesville and talk about trade. Obama got the hint. On the first…
Fiscal follies
Untitled Document The city administration handed out a revised fiscal year 2009 budget at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, but some aldermen complained that the newly-crunched numbers weren’t what they had requested. The council is set to meet at 5:15 p.m. tonight (Thursday, Feb. 21) to discuss and approve the budget, but Ward 1 Ald. Frank…
Banned Valentine
Untitled Document Helen Howe’s audience on this bone-chillingly cold day is an English class of about two-dozen seniors sequestered in the library of Robinson High School in eastern Illinois. To get their attention, the snowy-haired octogenarian pulls a well-preserved issue of the now-defunct Saturday Evening Post from her valise and holds it up. The page she…
An “A” for effort
Untitled Document As a genre, the teen comedy would seem to be played out. Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off have achieved cult-classic status, and the American Pie movies and Superbad have taken the concept of teenage awkwardness into the 21st century — is there really anything left to say regarding…
The principle, not the principal
Untitled Document It’s difficult enough these days to get through high school without having your peers and teachers slap a label on you: Prep. Goth. Emo. Nerd. Jock. But “HIV-positive”? For 20 years in Illinois, whenever a young person tests positive for the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, state health officials have been required, under…
The Marshall Papers
Untitled Document When Thomas J. Wood began working at then-Sangamon State University, in late 1986, the files of Lowney Handy, James Jones’ mentor, were still in disarray. “Apparently when they emptied her files they just dumped them into boxes,” says Wood, curator of the Handy Writers’ Colony Collection at the University of Illinois at Springfield.…
