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. “MORAL DIPSTICK” ALMOST DRY Renatta Frazier. The Black Guardians. Quality of service at Insight Communications. Trash pickup. Homelessness. The smoking ban.…
Biscotti? That’s amore!
Untitled Document My friend Maura is far from a cook. She’ll tell you so herself. But a baker? Damn straight. So what if she’s a one-hit wonder — Maura makes some mean cranberry-pistachio biscotti. These dried-fruit-and-nut-studded biscuits earned her approval (and, ultimately, love) from a group of people she now calls her in-laws. That was…
People’s Poetry
Untitled Document aroundtownpoem #17 in this deep snow deep freezethe sparrows cardinals juncosmourning doves many mourningdoves are hunkered down on myporch rail awaiting the birdseedand sunflower seed I spread onthe back porch feeding traylike the homeless lined up at thelibrary lined up at the overflowshelter when we arrive with milkbananas tangerines a tub of…
Running with scissors
Untitled Document Wearing a thick black leather wristband and faded black T-shirt, Mario Ingoglia lounges in a swiveling office chair, most of his weight on one armrest. Seated across from him on the set of Metro Variety, Ingoglia’s cable Access 4 show, is George Bastin, a candidate for the Springfield City Council. Bastin is dressed…
Reel to real
Untitled Document Every time I interview Tony Kerasotes, he presents me with the exact same problem: How do I ask a follow-up question when my chin is on the floor? We first talked in January, just after he had exercised his extraordinary powers as the CEO of Kerasotes Showplace Theaters — which owns…
Shelter force
Untitled Document The Inner City Mission first opened in 1984, in a house on North Fifth Street, the result of an ambitious plan by eight Springfield area churches to provide for the city’s homeless population. In 1987, the shelter moved from that house into the current, larger location on South Seventh. In its 23-year history,…
Free parking
Untitled Document Residents of the Applegrove Mobile Home Park have received a reprieve from the eviction notices that were hand-delivered to them a few days after Christmas. The little trailer park, nestled between the end of Spring Street and the railroad track, just around the corner from the Warehouse, changed hands in December, and new…
Picturing Macon County
Untitled Document Arcadia Publishing’s series Images of America enlists various authors to research the history of a certain town or area. Endnotes in the books state that Arcadia is the leading local history publisher in the United States, with more than 3,000 titles in print. Formats are similar and attractive: about 130 pages, a few early…
The future of food
Untitled Document “If you eat food, you need to see The Future of Food.” — Newstarget.com Have you have you ever read or seen something so powerful, so mind-boggling, so eye-opening that you had the urge to rush out and grab total strangers off the street and insist that they read or see it, too?…
The thrill when stars align
Untitled Document Those familiar with the case of the Zodiac Killer, who first struck in San Francisco in 1968, know that the murderer was never caught — so there’s no hope that Zodiac will be a neat-and-tidy mystery. Be that as it may, director David Fincher (Se7en, The Game, Fight Club, Panic Room) succeeds in…
Walk on to Chicago
Untitled Document In 2006, readers of Illinois Times picked Micah Walk as the best musician in Springfield. Now the twentysomething singer/songwriter is moving to Chicago. Why in the world would he leave? “Why? I don’t know,” Walk says. “Some people think it’s crazy, but crazy can be all right.” With plans to “just hang…
Davlin vs. Strom
Untitled Document On election reform and campaign financing . . . Springfield’s primary election cost Sangamon County taxpayers between $45,000 and $50,000 to tally votes in four city wards where there would not have otherwise been any need to hold an election. Mayor Tim Davlin wants that to change. His top challenger, Ward 10 Ald.…
Pure pop savage delight
Untitled Document The Internet giveth, and the Internet taketh away. Under these harsh new conditions, the buildup-to-backlash cycle is over in the blink of a blognerd’s eye. Consider the case of Lily Allen, the 21-year-old daughter of British actor/comedian Keith Allen. The younger Allen attained It Girl status by posting MP3s, cute pix, and orthographically…
State’s wrong
Untitled Document Illinois overstepped its authority when it enacted legislation to fight genocide in Sudan, a federal judge ruled last week. The Act to End Atrocities and Terrorism in the Sudan — a response by the Legislature to mass killings in Darfur — interferes with the federal government’s authority to set foreign policy, said U.S.…
Ad nauseam
Untitled Document Corporate advertisers used to put their ads on television, radio, in publications, and on billboards. But ads today are everywhere, with corporations fighting each other to shove their promotions in our face. Most Americans already encounter 5,000 ads a day, and the race is on to cram more corporate messages into our eyes,…
Romantic rogue
Untitled Document One usually knows what to expect from a Hugh Grant movie, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. He guarantees the perfect date movie, or two hours of depression for those who are alone. He has been the predominant male lead in romantic comedies for more than a decade, even those in which…
