Stuber’s Nanjiai and Bautista have chemistry on and off-screen
You can tell that Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista like each other. They are very much at ease with one another, finish each other’s sentences and laugh at inside jokes while those around them stand amused at their genuine camaraderie. This was all on display during a recent stopover in Chicago where they were promoting…
Flags and railroads
“Their actions following their victory were not what…fans have come to expect from their champions,” the head of the sport’s sanctioning body said afterward, calling the celebratory behavior “regrettable.” This, of course, was the U.S. men’s relay team that shocked the planet in 2000, not by winning gold at the Sydney Olympics – that was…
Municipalities not likely to receive pension bailout
One of the points that Gov. J.B. Pritzker has made since Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot began using the news media to ask for a multi-billion dollar state pension bailout is that other parts of Illinois are having the same problems as our largest city. Rockford is one of them, as the governor noted last week. …
Letters to the Editor
USE FOOD WEEKS TO PROMOTE TOURISMMy friends know I’m compulsively loyal. Maybe it was that trait that compelled me to take on 217 Pony Shoe Week like a champ. Yes, I ran the distance, going to all 14 participants on Illinois Times’ official passport. I enjoyed everyone’s presentation, ranging from creative to more traditional. At…
Editor’s Note
Now that the Code Red storm has passed, Storm Team 20 still regularly warns us that terrible weather may be coming, but now adds that there is but a “slight to moderate risk” that any of it will happen. The real storm is the one being stirred up by Ana “Bulldog” Espinosa and the news…
The day terrorists destroyed Black Wall Street
June 1 of this year was the 98th anniversary of the annihilation of Greenwood, a community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, known as the “Black Wall Street.” Following the massacre of African-Americans by a white supremacist at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in June 2015, I wrote an article (see “Black Wall Street,” Letters, IT July…
A sailor meets the Tongan people
Sharon Graf, associate professor of ethnomusicology at University of Illinois Springfield, will speak on the culture of the little known geographic area of Tonga. Her presentation is based on participant observation data collected in Tonga and other Pacific islands in 2010-11 and follow-up fieldwork completed in 2017. Graf will examine the interactions between local artists,…
Al-Anon Family Groups
Alateen is a peer support group for teenagers who are struggling with the effects of someone else’s problem drinking or drug use. At Alateen meetings, teenagers meet to share their experiences and help find solutions to problems, learn effective ways to cope with difficult circumstances and to encourage one another. Al-Anon is a mutual support…
And, they’re off
Shortly after the first race, a thunderstorm descends on Arlington International Racecourse, just north of Chicago. An hour before post time, families toting coolers had streamed into the track, paying $10 apiece for admission, less for kids and extra to reserve spots alongside the final stretch, a football field or so from the finish line…
Baseball on the Fourth of July
The Fourth of July and baseball are irretrievably linked. The celebration of American independence in midsummer and the game share many traditions. Across America on the Fourth of July, baseball tournaments and games were played as part of celebrations of America’s birthday. Major League baseball is a foremost part of the July Fourth tradition. The…
Census advocates forge ahead
Amid national uncertainty about whether a citizenship question will be included on the 2020 U.S. Census, advocates in Illinois are not changing their approach to ensuring all residents are counted. “Whether a citizenship question is on the form or not, the damage is done,” said Anita Banerji, director of the Democracy Initiative of the nonprofit…
COLORED SECTION
The Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum is hosting a public tour of the “colored section” of Oak Ridge Cemetery. The tour and presentation will be led by longtime Springfield historian Richard E. Hart. “Many African-Americans buried in this beautiful section of Oak Ridge Cemetery have descendants still living in the Springfield community,”…
GRISCHOW FOR PRESIDENT
It didn’t take long for Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge Raylene Grischow to rule in favor of Illinois Times in our quest to wrest a personnel file from Secretary of State Jesse White, who claimed that the file of Candace Wanzo, whom White hired after she’d embezzled six figures from Southern Illinois University, is a…
Tired Stuber a collection of cliches
I don’t mind leftovers. Actually, some things are better the second time around. I tend to like spaghetti and meatballs after it has sat in the fridge a day or two. (I have no hard evidence to back this up, but I think the sauce is absorbed by the noodles as it sits, making it…
Cool music for hot times
Ye olde music scene is heating up in more ways than one and it all leads to fun, just not always in the sun, or you’ll be cooked until you’re done. And that’s no good. How about a hip-hip-hooray for the amazing crowd that managed to find a way to make the Y-block work just…
John Clifton Blues Band
Where does one start to list the accomplishments of John Clifton in the world of blues music? During a career spanning 40 years of making music his life’s work, the vocalist, harmonica player, songwriter and musician has nearly done it all and continues doing more. Steady on the road for some 150 dates a year,…
science exodus poem # 17
USE FOOD WEEKS TO PROMOTE TOURISMMy friends know I’m compulsively loyal. Maybe it was that trait that compelled me to take on 217 Pony Shoe Week like a champ. Yes, I ran the distance, going to all 14 participants on Illinois Times’ official passport. I enjoyed everyone’s presentation, ranging from creative to more traditional. At…
Quick pickles, for a sexy kick
My summers during college and dental school were spent farming with Julianne’s grandfather, Bob Stevens, on North Cotton Hill Road. We were what was known as a “truck farm,” a term that hearkens back to an earlier time when the produce in our markets came from local farmers rather than being shipped in from places…
