IT Picks
BAND SPOTLIGHT | The Henhouse Prowlers Maybe you don’t think of Chicago when you think of bluegrass music, but you just might after experiencing the Henhouse Prowlers. The five-piece, traditional bluegrass outfit hailing from the Windy City, features Ben Benedict (guitar), Jon Goldfine (doghouse bass), Ryan Hinshaw (fiddle), Nathan Sitzman (mandolin), and Ben Wright (banjo),…
Two strong women I knew
Georgina Blair died last week at 92. When I visited in her home on the family farm in Virden a few years ago, she showed me this picture of her and her father with one of his prize mules, the Grand Champion at the 1939 Illinois State Fair. Over the years Georgina and I had…
Letters to the editor
O’Hare pollution I’ve been hearing about noise pollution in Park Ridge and Des Plaines due to the new runway at O’Hare. Yes, noise pollution has serious health consequences, but I’m surprised that no one seems to talk about airport toxic emissions. If the O’Hare expansion moves forward, toxic emissions alone will cause cancer risks to…
Back to the FutureGen
Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Roland Burris, along with several other Midwestern lawmakers, took a critical step last week toward making the planned 275-megawatt coal-gasification plant, commonly referred to as FutureGen, a reality. In a letter to U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Burris and Durbin asked for the release of the project’s Record…
The Graduate looks for work
In these troubled economic times it’s hard not to notice the subtle irony in the tale of a young band called The Graduate, who are unemployed, without a record label and looking for work. But the indie-pop-rock quintet, based here in Springfield, isn’t standing in a line waiting for a bailout. These guys are busy…
How Henry Selick brings Coraline to life
His colleagues claim that animator Henry Selick sports a “rock and roll meets Da Vinci temperament.” This is an apt description for the director of the cult classic, The Nightmare Before Christmas, as well as James and the Giant Peach and the underrated Brendan Fraser feature, Monkeybone. The filmmaker’s current work, an adaptation of the…
Safety hazards at the Stratton
Nearly two years after the state was told to clean up asbestos and mold in the William G. Stratton building, the hazards remain. In March 2007 an Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) inspection cited Secretary of State Jesse White’s office, which is responsible for managing state buildings at the Capitol Complex, after finding several violations…
Smokin’ fried chicken
“As American as apple pie.” How often is that saying heard? The problem is, apple pie isn’t really all that American — or at least not exclusively American. Apple pie in various traditional forms can be found throughout Europe from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, from Ireland to Eastern Europe; South Africa to South America to…
Loads of Lincoln lore
Next week, Illinois’ favorite native son finally turns 200. After days, months, and even years of planning and preparing, Springfield residents will tip their hats to the 16th president in a weeklong celebration of his life and legacy. The party kicks off Feb. 6 with the opening performance of Our American Cousin, the play Abraham…
Rising star
“So how was the inauguration?” If you had asked Lisa Madigan that casual question on Barack Obama’s third day in office, you would’ve been treated to a 15-minute rhapsody on the joys of having a seat on the platform looking out over the podium and onward toward the estimated 1.5 million well-wishers thronging the mall.…
Pat Quinn has a tough act to follow
Before Rod Blagojevich came along, Pat Quinn was often ridiculed as a camera-hungry huckster with lots of ideas and little follow-through. But after six years of Blagojevich’s bomb-throwing, empty promises, flat-out lies, needless political wars and miserable failures, finally topped off with a shocking display of corruption and self-immolation, our new Gov. Quinn looks like…
The troubling ethics of Timothy Geithner
In describing a suspicious character who had visited his home, Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.” Average Americans today might need to be counting their spoons, because President Obama and the Congress have visited Timothy Geithner upon us. He’s the new treasury secretary, our…
Cops: Why we love ’em and hate ’em
We certainly have divergent opinions about police officers. Are they gallant knights or authoritative villains? I am involved in an organization that assists family members of victims of drunk driving crashes. We provide an ear for them in their grief and do everything we can to assure that the offender is brought to justice. During…
Fairy tale conventions and primal fears propel Coraline
Primal fears are at work in Henry Selick’s Coraline. From the days of fairy tales to Star Wars, abandonment issues have been a familiar theme in popular lore, as they deal with an issue none of us want to face, yet are destined to do so. The loss of our parents, whether we’re young or…
