Taking action
Molly Schlich frequently travels from her home in Springfield to theaters in Champaign, Decatur, and St. Louis to see independent films. But for the next few months Schlich will be able to sink into a seat at a hometown theater for a series of under-the-radar films at a festival she began hosting 15 years ago.…
Capital ideas
We’ve been seeing many news reports lately that Gov. Rod Blagojevich thinks he can pass a massive $3 billion road- and school-construction plan this year. But Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson is throwing cold water on much of this speculation. An article last week in Crain’s Chicago Business suggested that a deal may be near…
Hot air costs money
As we break piggy banks to pay our heating bills, we can all give thanks that Springfield doesn’t tax natural gas. Or can we? At first glance, a tax on natural gas may seem onerous, particularly in light of steep increases in gas prices that have just taken hold. Bills of $200 or more aren’t…
Feeling the heat
Even during the daylight hours of January, Christmas lights twinkle on some homes in Springfield’s Oak Ridge neighborhood. In one yard, a partial Nativity scene features Joseph and Mary, kneeling in prayer. The Christ child is conspicuously missing. All is understandably quiet here on a drizzly, cool weekday morning. No children play on backyard swing…
On your mark, get set. . . get silly
The tip came last Friday from an alert reader: Illegal Chuck Redpath campaign signs are posted on Dirksen Parkway. This was easy enough to check. Sure enough, the caller was right. Out there, for the whole world to see, were campaign signs for Democrat Redpath in front of the Teamsters’ hall and the laborers’ union…
Fifty years of harmony
“I love to hear those minor chords and good close harmony.” — from “The Old Songs” (words and music by Geoffrey O’Hara, 1921) Every Tuesday evening, about 40 men meet at the Hoogland Center for the Arts to carry on a local tradition that stretches back to the time when Elvis was a rising star…
Ethics training for Congress
Some days, I don’t know whether to laugh, cry . . . or run for the hills. What’s gotten me wound up is a little news item about Dennis Hastert. He’s that rotund Republican who serves as speaker of the House of Representatives. It seems that he’s now proposing a new training session for our…
Meditation
Gentle, soft-spoken David Cain wears many hats — artist, businessman, practitioner of the healing arts — and the blossoming of his career closely parallels his personal development. Cain graduated in 1981 from Illinois State University with a bachelor’s degree in music composition and performance. In 1983 he received a master’s degree in communication, with a…
The politics of God-talk
You’d think that political scandals, inept disaster relief, a war going badly, and low poll numbers would be enough to humiliate politicians and the religious right out of claiming that God is speaking to them directly. Then along comes Pat Robertson, host of The 700 Club, suggesting last week that Ariel Sharon’s stroke was divine…
Well-traveled Road
I wish that I could report that Glory Road is a fresh new addition to the sports-movie genre, an innovative piece of work that surprised me from the first second to the last. I can’t. This family-pleaser, directed by James Gartner, is strictly by-the-numbers, containing all of the elements we’ve come to expect in sports…
A prodigy’s odyssey
After a hiatus spanning more than two decades, guitarist James “Blood” Ulmer’s Odyssey trio has returned with a new album, a 55-minute tour de force that neatly encapsulates the myriad musical directions that its iconoclastic leader has pursued over the past half-century. Don’t let the CD’s title fool you: An amalgam of free jazz, country-blues,…
Asian buffet
Memoirs of a Geisha brings the Asian cinema to America. Well, not exactly — a Hollywood view could never take the place of homegrown product. Why not see an authentic Asian film instead? Now that Asia has supplanted Europe as the dominant foreign influence on American film, that source is essential viewing for anyone curious…
Mental health
Eva Muller says she learned how to be a therapist as a child, sitting on her mother’s knee and listening as her mother related memories of the Holocaust, including being separated from her husband and forced to give birth to her son amid the horrors of the Bergen-Belsen death camp. As her mother’s stories of…
Letters to the editor
We welcome letters, but please include your full name, address, and daytime telephone number. We edit all letters for libel, length, and clarity. Send letters to Letters, Illinois Times, P.O. Box 5256, Springfield, IL 62705; fax 217-753-3958; e-mail editor@illinoistimes.com. THE BUSH AGENDA ON IRAQ A reply to Keith Housewright’s criticisms of Roland Klose [“Letters,” Dec.…
Jacqueline Jackson
friendquotepoem #3 judy says you can save your smart classrooms just give me smart students © Jacqueline Jackson 2006
String Band reties the knot
Members of the Allen Street String Band, for many years the unofficial keepers of the old-time-music flame in central Illinois, are having a reunion, and you’re invited. The combo was originally formed sometime around 1981 with Bill Rintz on fiddle, Dave Landreth on banjo, and Ed Hawkes on guitar. All were accomplished players of the…
