Weight loss
During her years in practice as a dietitian, Neala Ausmus says, she met many clients who could have taught the mechanics of weight loss better than she. “As I worked with clients,” she recalls, “I realized that they frequently knew about calories, portion sizes, food groups, and exercise.” After seeing this over and over, Ausmus…
Families for adults
Why do so many family movies have to be family movies? Why does the presence of children in Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and Yours, Mine & Ours mean the films must be dumbed down for children? The best family movies are actually made for adult-minded audiences. The Upside of Anger (2005), the best recent film…
Moral issues
The Green Party of the United States called on Congress this week to begin impeachment procedures against President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. First, they’ll need to find a Green-friendly member of Congress willing to draft a resolution. Then, the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee would have to decide whether the allegations of…
Earth Talk
Dear “Earth Talk”: How many Americans are adversely affected by air pollution, and what can we do to improve air quality? — Tom Weaver, Sioux City, Iowa According to the State of the Air 2005 report, published by the American Lung Association, air-pollution levels improved in many parts of the nation during the first few years…
Veteran cop quits
Springfield Police Department’s most experienced narcotics officer resigned unexpectedly this week, saying that he feared retribution for exposing the misconduct of other officers. On Tuesday, Sgt. Ron Vose delivered a two-page letter outlining his concerns to Mayor Tim Davlin’s office and left another copy with Chief Don Kliment. In the letter, Vose claimed that he…
Lock up the women
From Giovanni Giacomo Casanova’s 12-volume memoir, we know that the great lover was also a gambler, philosopher, escape artist, soldier, gardener, and prisoner. At various times during his life he worked as a spy, government official, and novelist; was an aide to Russia’s Catherine the Great; fought in more than a few duels, worked for…
Playing for keeps
This must be some kind of joke, Dr. Glennon Paul thought as he read the missive from Health Alliance. In the letter, sent six years ago, Dr. Jon S. Rahman, the health-maintenance organization’s chief medical officer, accused Paul and two of his colleagues at Central Illinois Allergy and Respiratory Services of receiving “overpayments” from Health…
Letters to the editor
Letters policy We welcome letters, but please include your full name, address and a daytime telephone number. We edit all letters for libel, length and clarity. Send letters to: Letters, Illinois Times. P.O. Box 5256. Springfield, Illinois 62705. Fax: (217) 753-3958. E-mail: editor@illinoistimes.com CONDONING OBNOXIOUS BEHAVIOR I was appalled by the “Reporter at large” column…
American Life in Poetry
Many of us keep journals, but while doing so few of us pay much attention to selecting the most precise words, to determining their most effective order, to working with effective pauses and breath-like pacing, to presenting an engaging impression of a single, unique day. This poem by Nebraskan Nancy McCleery is a good example…
Checks and balances
Top officials of the Village of Sherman admit that they made a mistake when they approved expenditures from a recent bond issue. On Tuesday, they attempted to rectify the error — but at least one critic is frustrated. The dispute involves $856,000 in expenditures from a recent tax-increment-financing bond approved by the village’s president, Frank…
The Katt came back
Kevin J. Cox, also known as Bob Katt and sometimes as Boss Toots, explains his lack of recent Springfield shows this way: “I hate booking gigs — always have.” Now how does a fellow who strongly dislikes getting jobs stay busy for more than 40 years as a full-time musician? “I was a sideman in…
Keeping a resolution
My friend Becky always made the same New Year’s resolution: to have a hot date on New Year’s Eve. That way, she had 12 months to work toward her goal, and it didn’t involve passing up beer or potato chips. I don’t recall making many resolutions myself. Way back in the 1900s, I accepted those…
The examined life
Last week I drove to the Avon Theater in Decatur to see Capote. I shouldn’t have to do that, but here we are, a few years into the 21st century, and the local theaters still avoid running films with gay content. Most of the films that the folks at Kerasotes run are Hollywood blockbusters such…
Jacqueline Jackson
newyearspoem # 1 well it’s the new year hope it’ll be better than last can you believe a head of state who argues for torture who spies on us all who sends kids off to be blown to bits and for what on the personal front can’t complain fifty-two poems or somethings for this publication…
The King of country
Cast King Saw Mill Man (Locust Media) If fate had dealt Cast King another hand, he might be as famous as the late Johnny Cash. Like his more celebrated contemporary, King toured extensively in the late ’40s and early ’50s and even cut some tracks with Sam Phillips at the legendary Sun Studios. But when…
Sharing the pain?
Robert “Steve” Miller is a “corporate turnaround specialist,” but his specialty really amounts to nothing more than whacking blue-collar workers. Miller was brought in as CEO of Delphi Corp. in July 2005 in the wake of an accounting scandal that helped bring the corporation to the brink of bankruptcy. After only three months at the…
