We need ERA now more than ever
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia just asserted for a second time that our Constitution does not protect women against discrimination. That was one of the arguments for passing the proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), and ironically, people of Scalia’s “conservative” persuasion often countered that the ERA was not needed precisely because women are already protected…
Notable locals
The latest art exhibit of the Art Association of Jacksonville at the stunning David Strawn Art Gallery includes the work of artists Kevin Veara of Springfield and Toni Freesen of rural Scott County. Veara holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from SIU Carbondale, and his paintings and illustrations have been displayed around the country…
Third Thursday phenomenon
Close to a year ago area artist Mike Mayosky extended his longtime outreach of art to the public by inviting other artists to display works in a free-for-all party of sorts that functioned as a downtown art show/music concert event. As one might imagine, it went over quite well and Mayosky had another and another,…
A Former Compulsive Gambler Speaks Out, A Family Torn Apart
Jerry Prosapio knew he was knee deep in his gambling addiction when the Las Vegas mob began tracing some of his family members in Chicago nearly 28 years ago. A native of Crestwood, a south suburb of Chicago, Prosapio watched Springfield this week, and waited on an outcome to the gaming legislation, which has yet…
Schools ‘wrap’ troubled kids
In the fall of 2009, one Springfield elementary student was sent to the office for discipline 30 different times. The next semester, that number was down to 12 visits, with only three before he became temporarily homeless. The decrease was achieved through the district’s most intense behavior intervention program, a PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and…
Riding into town on a rail
If you bend down and put your ear to a railroad track, you might be able to hear a faint clanging and banging. That’s the noise of far-off cities building new public transit systems that run on rails – the kind of transport that Springfield and most other U.S. cities of any size once had…
Country Strong weak where it counts
It makes sense that Country Strong, the new drama starring Gwyneth Paltrow as a big time honky-tonk queen on the ropes, would resemble the sort of songs its characters sing. There’s infidelity, drunkenness, jealousy, pickup trucks, insecurity, trains, a fistfight and an untimely death. The only things missing are momma and prison. And while the…
Get your vitamins here
Science fiction would have us believe that one day in the future we’ll get all our food through little pills. Many of us have started down that path by opting for a handful of supplements in order to compensate for not eating right. Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, Northwestern Memorial Hospital Wellness Institute, Chicago, subscribes to…
Becoming Nana
My family has been keeping a secret for the last couple months. We haven’t done a very good job of it, in spite of lawyers and experts who cautioned us that it was the only wise course. But it’s hard to keep quiet when your heart is bursting with joy and love. Sometimes you just…
Comedic spell
Springfield Theatre Centre presents their take on the Tony award-winning hilarious musical about six overachieving geeky adolescents, overseen by grownups who barely managed to escape childhood themselves, learning that winning isn’t everything and that losing doesn’t necessarily make you a loser. Directed by Donna Ragan and produced by Patty Lanser. The 25th Annual Putnam County…
King remembered
The Frontier International, Springfield Club once again hosts a Martin Luther King, Jr. breakfast with this year’s keynote speaker The Honorable Thelma Wyatt Moore, retired judge of the Superior Court of Fulton County Georgia. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased by phoning 787-8373 or 529-0767. There is also a service Jan. 16 at 6…
New collection brings Springfield poems to life
The late Pat Smith was a former Springfield resident, one of the three founders of Brainchild, a women’s writing collective that lasted more than 30 years and published a number of books. Now Pat Smith, who died in St. Louis on Thanksgiving Day, 2009, has a book published, a volume of more than 150 fine…
Witch’s spell only partially effective
As bad Nicolas Cage movies go, and, yes, that has regrettably become a sub-genre, Season of the Witch is at the top of the heap. To be sure, this is faint praise when set aside the actor’s Bangkok Dangerous, Next and The Wicker Man, among others. Yet, with Season’s troubled history – a delayed release…
Weighed down
The State Journal-Register is as much a part of Springfield as Abraham Lincoln. In fact, the city’s only daily newspaper even carries an accolade from Lincoln on its editorial page. Formed in 1974 from the merger of the Illinois State Journal and the Illinois State Register, the SJ-R has become an integral part of the…
Letters to the Editor 01/13/11
REMEMBERINGThank you, Bill Parker, for writing the article about my mother, Frances Richardson [see “Remembering the lives they lived,” Dec. 30]. Thank you to all who continue to remember what a remarkable woman she was. I was really missing my mom this week and with all the snow in Chicago I decided to go sledding down the local hill…
Pete Sander
Here’s the idea: take four singer-songwriters, set them on stage then let them sing their songs and talk about the inspiration behind the tunes. Springfield songwriter Pete Sander participated in a Chicago round robin song swap before creating his Homegrown Folk Show. The first public viewing last month was a smashing success and for January…
SANGAMON SCHOLARS
Education is expensive, and it’s getting more so. The College Board estimates that tuition costs nationwide increased an average 9.3 percent beyond inflation in 2009-2010. Put simply, the cost of going to college requires more dollars even as those dollars lose their purchasing power. That makes scholarships like those administered by the Sangamon County Community…
Fitness at home
So the economy has you rethinking that gym membership, and now you’d like to start working out at home – but you don’t know where to put all that cumbersome exercise equipment. Or perhaps, you already have the equipment, but your Nordic Track has become just another interesting focal point in the family room and…
Coal ash disposal draws ire
Strolling along Macoupin Creek in October, environmentalists observed in the middle of the day flowing water the color of a moonless night sky. While the samples they grabbed weren’t analyzed at a lab, Mary Ellen DeClue, of Citizens Against Longwall Mining, is convinced she knows why the water was black – it had been contaminated…
Yoga blossoms in Canton prison
Yoga is hardly the first thing that comes to mind as an activity for male prisoners. But two inmates who teach yoga classes at a state prison near Canton believe it is ideal for prison life. “Yoga is my sunrise,” says Marshawn Feltus. “I want yoga every day.” Quite a few others at the Illinois…
Intelligent indies
One of Springfield’s most popular annual events, the Molly Schlich Springfield Art Association Film Series, begins Jan. 16 and 18 and runs through April. Seven independent, international films cover the big screen each month at the Parkway Pointe Cinema. The Secret In Their Eyes, last year’s Academy Award winner for best foreign language film (Argentina),…
TEACHER’S PRIZE
Reading, writing and arithmetic just don’t set in very well with students unless the person teaching them knows, embodies and promotes the three Rs of education – building relationships, setting rigorous standards and striving to bring relevance of a subject to students’ lives. It’s those qualities, shown through service that goes beyond the usual, that…
Playing with economic dynamite
By golly, America is still an exporting powerhouse. In fact, the good ol’ U.S.A. is No. 1 in the world in exports! Our corporate leaders, backed by Republicans and Democrats alike in Washington, are now routinely exporting America’s most precious goods – our jobs, factories, technologies and middle-class opportunities. With unemployment and underemployment devastating millions…
To the Winter Solstice
One of Damaris’s friends sent this poem just in time for Dec. 20, 2010, too late to publish for the Solstice. But it is fitting now, for we are still seeing snow and feeling cold as the days graduallylengthen. JJ For those of us who still go out, and yearnFor signs of sun-return, …
Happy feet
Most of us use our feet all day, every day – for work, for play, to get to our car , to get a drink of water, to get ourselves to the bathroom. With all of this walking, it’s not surprising that there are more than 300 types of foot problems that can develop. More…
Democrats prepare for a game of mapmaking
The official U.S. Census numbers were released not long ago. The statistics revealed that Illinois will lose one U.S. congressional seat when the new district maps are drawn. It’s impossible to know exactly what will happen with the new maps since block-level census numbers aren’t yet available. That very specific, hyper-local data is plugged into…
