Be my velvet Valentine
Untitled Document Tea for two needs cake. So do Grandma, your pals from work, and all of the other lonely hearts sticking out their tongues at this lovers-only holiday. With or without an admirer, one needs an antidote for the irrepressibly goopy love stuff taking center stage at the local CVS or Walgreens. Walk on…
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. THRILL GONE FOR FAMILY FARMS I read your article about ethanol and found it interesting, but I would suggest you do…
Guns and Roses
Untitled Document Three years ago this week, a pair of bodies was discovered in a wooded area near central Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks. One was a young woman with wavy blond hair and a beautiful face marred only by a small-caliber bullet wound. The other was a man in his midforties, identifiable only because…
School days
Untitled Document White. Magee. Kirby. Miller. Renshaw. Columbia. Zion. Fairview. Bethel. Flood. Pleasant Grove. Oreana. Progress. Hickory Point. These are the names of 14 of the 12,000 one-room schoolhouses that once graced Illinois. We are fortunate to have a book containing just about everything from the students who attended these Decatur-area schools. The title refers…
To love and lose
Untitled Document On seeing the trailer for the new romantic comedy Definitely, Maybe, my initial reaction was that it was too bad that a film with so many actresses whose work I enjoy would be ruined by the presence of resident screwball Ryan Reynolds. Imagine my surprise when Reynolds proved an engaging presence in this…
Fondue for romance
Untitled Document Thirty years ago, it was Chicago’s most romantic restaurant. Today, Geja’s Café is still a serious contender for the title. For my husband, Peter, and I, Geja’s still conjures up a host of happy memories because that’s where’d we’d go several times a year to reconnect romantically when his dental-school pressures, our new…
Leader of the pack
Untitled Document There could be some fireworks the next time the Illinois Senate Democrats meet behind closed doors. Two of those Democrats, Martin Sandoval and Tony Muñoz, contributed a combined $45,000 to Rep. Rich Bradley’s losing Democratic-primary campaign against Sen. Iris Martinez. That is a big political no-no. Martinez pulled off a stunning upset last…
The laughs are guaranteed
Untitled Document If you’ve never seen Larry Shue’s play The Nerd, try making a point of catching one of the performances being presented by the Springfield Theatre Centre at the Hoogland Center for the Arts. Steve Williams directs the comedy, which is continuing into its second weekend, Feb. 15-17 with performances at 8 p.m. Friday…
Cap City
Untitled Document PACHYDERMSAND JACKASSES OK, our adopted son Barack Obama handily beat our native daughter Hillary Clinton in the Illinois Democratic primary. Predictable though the outcome may have been in the Land of Lincoln, the presidential campaigns on the whole have had all the suspense of this year’s Super Bowl — complete with coaching controversies…
Fast forward to Rewind
Untitled Document So what’s the rumble on the streets these days? Is it the newest of the new, the cutting edge of modern pop, the groundbreakers and world-shakers? Well, that may be the case somewhere, but here in Springfield the word that keeps drifting in is about Rewind, a classic-rock quintet with about 200 years…
The trouble with chocolate
Untitled Document What goes into chocolate that would raise environmental concerns? Like coffee beans, the cacao seeds from which we derive chocolate can only be grown successfully in equatorial regions — right where the world’s few remaining tropical rainforests thrive. As worldwide demand for chocolate grows, so does the temptation among growers to clear more…
Sweet memories
Untitled Document Joyce Faulkner thought our readers would enjoy reading about her parents’ long love story and how they met. When we found out that her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Bliss — as in “50 years of wedded Blisses” — we couldn’t resist: We whipped out the phone book and started searching for other…
Cowboy George, horse thief
Untitled Document We’ve learned the hard way over the past seven years that President George W. Bush lives in his own fantasy world — a place in which reality is whatever he wants it to be and facts are not allowed to intrude. We should have known this from the start of his White House…
In a pickle
Untitled Document Just call him our resident “Mr. Fix-It.” Timothy Bramlet became Springfield’s newest financial adviser after signing on as chairman of the city’s Blue Ribbon Committee this week. Bramlet — along with a select group of business, labor, and community leaders — is expected to spend countless hours between now and early summer evaluating…
From esvb.org, he helps those who help others
Untitled Document Eric Scott Volkel-Barno is a person who likes to help people. He especially likes to help people who are helping other people. A quiet person who tries to live by the motto “Speak less, help more,” he didn’t always know how to go about it. In 2005 Kres Lipscomb, his pastor at First…
People’s poetry
Untitled Document lovepoem #10 in 1903 when my mother was eight she and her chums formed a music club they eschewed mozart beethoven bach in naming chose the buster brown and tige club after their favorite comic strip their motto was semper fidelis furnished by an older sibling studying latin they felt the need…
Before the storm
Untitled Document Even with a record number of homeowners defaulting on their mortgage loans, TSP-HOPE’s housing programs and services have remained unaffected, says the agency’s executive director, Ron Fafoglia. Fafoglia says TSP-HOPE, which helps low-income people get homes, requires prospective clients to have a minimum credit score of 620. Also, he says, the organization doesn’t…
Southern biscuits for a Yankee girl
Untitled Document Dear Scott Peacock, You and I have known each other for many years without ever having met. We’ve got mutual friends and associates in the food biz, and I’ve had the pleasure of brunching in your dining room at Watershed, but, alas, a meeting of the minds has yet to materialize. Maybe you…
To do list of shows
Untitled Document In a feeble attempt to answer the often-asked question of “Hey, what’s going on?” let’s check on upcoming shows and concerts in the area. This is not a complete schedule — nor is it meant to be. These picks reflect my tastes; that’s why they pay me the big bucks. Let’s start with…
“Tell the truth”
Untitled Document Preston Jackson’s bronze and steel sculptures — from his “Martin Luther King Memorial Bronze Bust” in Danville to his “Stainless Steel and Cast Bronze Relief of Gwendolyn Brooks” in Chicago — dot cityscapes across Illinois. Now Springfield will host its very own Jackson creation, thanks to a $300,000 grant from the Capital Development…
On Lincoln’s trail
He was born in Kentucky, grew to manhood in Indiana, and became the nation’s leader as an Illinoisan. Now, all three states that lay claim to Abraham Lincoln’s life story are preparing events, commemorations, and exhibits to honor his legacy during a national two-year bicentennial celebration. The celebrations officially begin next week and continue through…
Debt traps?
Untitled Document By now you’ve seen the TV commercials or had a flier stuck in your screen door that describes how quickly a particular company can do your taxes and get you your refund. And, chances are, you’ve seen retailers’ ads enticing consumers to spend those rebates just as quickly on everything from toys to…
The great debate
Untitled Document The Lincoln-Douglas Debates are like the Magna Carta or the Gadsden Purchase: You kind of know that they’re important and maybe even have a rough notion of what they’re about. So why read Allen C. Guelzo’s new Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America? The prairies were a-fired up in 1858. Stephen…
The Tribune way
Untitled Document Be careful; it’s a jungle out there — especially if you’re the editor of the Los Angeles Times. If you don’t eat your own editorial staff, that newspaper’s corporate brass will eat you. In 2000, the Times was bought by the Tribune Co., the Chicago-based conglomerate that owns the Chicago Tribune and other media…
People’s Poetry
Untitled Document northfifthstreet poem #4 he wasn’t walking at midnight it was daylight though lowering for a sudden downpour caused him to step inside the foyer of the house dr janes was building for his daughter kitty-corner from the governor’s manse where abe’s brother-in-law lived he chatted with the workmen looked around the sort…
“Apprehending the unmentionable”
Untitled Document For the fifth year we present poems about Abraham Lincoln’s life, written by author and professor Dan Guillory as though the Great Emancipator had penned the verse himself. The poems offer an unusual look into the great and mundane events of Lincoln’s life. Guillory is professor emeritus of English at Millikin University in…
Monumental achievement
Untitled Document It’s hot off the press, published Feb. 4 — and hot off the keys, cameras, and many footsteps of our own Carl (retired head of Lincoln Library) and Roberta (retired art consultant, State Board of Education) Volkmann. Here’s what the book is: 128 pages of what the title states, in five sections: “Where…
Brown is beautiful
Untitled Document “One of the main reasons restaurant food tastes so much better in America than home cooking,” says renowned chef Mario Batali on his Food Network show, Molto Mario, “is that chefs aren’t afraid to really brown things.” It’s a mantra he repeats on any show in which he’s browning anything. Batali knows what…
Swimming with sharks
Untitled Document There was a time, not so long ago, when adjustable-rate mortgages were just as unusual and as mysterious as cell phones and state-sponsored lotteries. The notion that an interest rate could change during the life of a mortgage loan seemed, well, unconventional and fraught with risk — for the borrower. But in 1981, when…
Hello, sweetheart — get me rewrite!
Untitled Document Life is good for Roscoe Jenkins. His daytime talk show is a runaway success, he has a healthy young son, he’s engaged to the hottest celebrity in Hollywood, and he’s a bestselling author. Though his self-help book The Team of Me has been embraced by millions, there’s more than a bit of ego…
Cap City
Untitled Document WELCOMEWAGON Nothing says “Welcome home” like a monthly visit from a gun-toting law enforcer who reminds you — just in case you were able to forget — that all eyes are watching you. This week, Mayor Tim Davlin announced that the Springfield Police Department will team up with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and…
The silver lining of climate change
Untitled Document Say what you will about the looming catastrophe facing the world as the pace of global heating and polar melting accelerates. There is a silver lining. Look at a map of the United States. The area that will be completely inundated by the rising ocean is the American Southeast, including the most populated…
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. I WANT MY VOTE TO COUNT Thomas J. Immel sets a scene that if the states move away from electoral votes to…
Troubled waters
Untitled Document During a budget hearing last week, Ward 1 Ald. Frank Edwards sat dumbfounded as City Water, Light & Power general manager Todd Renfrow announced to the aldermen that the water department was in dire need of infrastructure improvements — a project that would cost $84.4 million and require a four-tiered water-rate increase. Edwards…
