You can ratatouille, too!
Untitled Document Ratatouille got me my first new kitchen floor. I’m talking not about the movie but the classic French vegetable stew (pronounced ra-ta-TOO-ee) that gave the movie its name. We’d moved into our historic farmhouse a month before. Farm kitchens are usually envisioned as large, warm, and welcoming, but the folks who’d built our…
Fair elections now
Untitled Document We have yet to cast a single vote in the 2008 elections, but winners are already being picked. Unfortunately, you’re probably not one of the pickers, because this is an exclusive, anti-democratic process controlled by corporate executives, lobbyists, and rich people who make high-dollar campaign contributions. Less than 1 percent of the American…
Head case
Untitled Document Despite what you may have read in some newspaper editorials or Statehouse news coverage lately, Gov. Rod Blagojevich is not insane. I can’t believe I had to actually write that sentence, but I’ve noted an increasing number of claims that the governor is losing his marbles. The Peoria Journal Star editorialized last week that…
Tightrope
Untitled Document As director of the state’s Partners for Hope program, Frederick Nettles plays a key role in disbursing taxpayer money to faith-based groups. As pastor of Living Word Fellowship Ministries in Springfield, Nettles heads a faith-based group. What some people may see as a conflict, Nettles sees as an advantage. Nettles says he’s able…
The Holy Grail?
Untitled Document Back in December 2005, I spent several days in a Sangamon County courtroom watching a middle-aged man stand trial for possession of marijuana. Set up in a sting by a co-worker who was trying to earn “consideration” in his own drug case, this state employee — who had no history of drug use…
Free state tree guide
Untitled Document Last year’s high winds, tornadoes, and ice storm played havoc on central-Illinois trees. If you haven’t already replaced trees in your yard, take some time this summer looking at trees in your area and learning about them. To help you decide on the perfect tree, Illinois professional arborists representing cities, villages, universities, the…
Build an eco-home
Untitled Document How does one build a residence that is sensitive to the environment? There are many ideas as to what constitutes an “eco-home,” depending on how pure one wants to be, but certain common elements — such as energy efficiency, responsible materials sourcing, and minimal landscape disruption — must be in place to meet…
House settling
Untitled Document A year-and-a-half after a settlement was reached in a class-action suit against Ameriquest Mortgage Company, Illinoisans can now get their share. Under the terms of the settlement, reached in January 2006, Ameriquest must pay $325 million in restitution to customers who accused the Orange, Calif.-based company of employing illegal lending practices, including pressuring…
The people’s work
Untitled Document She lived in the four-room house her father built. She had been away from home only once, 37 years ago, one year in college. She came home pregnant. The baby’s father did not step up. Sara’s mother’s dementia started the year Sara returned from college and ended 10 years later; her father’s ended…
“Mind-boggling”
Untitled Document Aldermen were mostly silent Monday as landlords, presidents of neighborhood associations, and concerned residents took the podium to offer solutions to Springfield’s garbage problem during the city’s second of two waste-subcommittee hearings. The new panel, chaired by Ward 6 Ald. Mark Mahoney, first met in June to discuss the trash issue and heard…
Letters to the Editor
Untitled Document We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address, and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to Letters, Illinois Times, P.O. Box 5256, Springfield, IL 62705; fax 217-753-3958; e-mail editor@illinoistimes.com. BLAMING GAYS FOR MARRIAGE WOES In a recent letter, David E. Smith cites a Pew Research Center study to support his…
Tortilla flap
Untitled Document A hawk screeching overhead and an occasional breeze rustling tall stalks of corn are about the only sounds Jeff and Angie Wrench hear on their farm in Lodge, a small bedroom community in the heart of Piatt County. For almost two decades the Wrenches have hosted family reunions at the farm, which is a…
Volume control
Untitled Document When Kris Theilen was campaigning for a seat on the City Council, he polled Ward 8 residents about their biggest concerns and kept track of their answers. After hearing about everything from the flouting of school-zone speed limits to the lack of police presence in area neighborhoods, Theilen says it soon became obvious…
Writ large
Untitled Document You probably have nothing to worry about when it comes to your right to file a writ of habeas corpus — that is, until someone in the White House decides that he doesn’t like your friends. A Peoria man, Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, found that out the hard way in July 2003, when…
People’s Poetry
Untitled Document deathwatchpoem #3 okay guys here’s what I wantwhen I’m comatose keep playingall the bach mozart handel you wantplus any standard violin concertosmaybe that really nice bit from faure’srequiem and I’d especially like —if anything registers — donald swannsinging I sit beside the fire and inwestern lands and the road goes everon and on…
Temptation Island
Untitled Document I have a hunch that one of the highlights of the area’s summer theater will be the rarely seen musical Once on This Island, which opens Friday, July 20, at New Salem’s Theatre in the Park. The 1990 Broadway musical is directed by Daniel J. Bonnett, a Springfield native who now lives in…
Ready for a big bouncy ’do?
Untitled Document The heck with blowin’ stuff up real good, double-crossin’ pirates, and conniving con artists — the secret to success, as far as summer movies in 2007 are concerned, is putting John Travolta in a dress! Although one might think this is just a cheap gimmick to get audiences to see Adam Shankman’s film…
Summer’s sandwich
Untitled Document I won’t deny that Christmas held a certain cachet for me as a kid, with the oft-unbearable anticipation of Santa’s arrival and gift-delivery service, but none of it held a candle to Mother Nature’s gift of summertime, not then or now. Visions of sugarplum fairies? Not for this kid. Instead, my thoughts turned…
Three Fridays and a Wednesday
Untitled Document In his press release Phillip Walker is billed as “An American Treasure.” Take a few moments to browse his biography at www.phillipwalker.com, and you may want to add the word “Unsung” to the accolade. Walker — to let you know some highlights — was born in Louisiana in 1937. His family moved to…
