Letters 7-15-04
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, IL 62705 Fax: (217) 753-3958 E-mail: editor@illinoistimes.com HUFFING AND PUFFING In fact, it is very doubtful that many people mourn the…
Revisionist history
A former University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign professor has denounced recent efforts to recreate what is considered the country’s first town founded by an African American. Prominent black history scholar Dr. Juliet E. K. Walker charges that those now leading a federally funded archaeological dig in Pike County, Ill., are “distorting” history and “discrediting” her…
Time to clean house
The scandal of the year is not about Jack Ryan’s sex life. It’s about an obscure little state board that appears to have gotten completely out of hand. For years, rumors of corruption have swirled around the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board. As it turns out, those rumors may have been true. The scandal broke…
Knoepfle 7-15-04
sandalwood poem #10 house wind sleep we do not raise our voices you hand me down my body © John Knoepfle 1978, 2004
The Stratton Building’s midlife crisis
Just west of the Capitol complex, new markers have sprouted from street signs, identifying the area as the Pasfield House Historic District. The city-sanctioned designation honors the memory of one of Springfield’s great families and the site of their 40-acre “cosy rural retreat,” as it was described in the 1881 History of Sangamon County. The…
Quick Takes 7-15-04
HOLD THE PICKLE A documentary about a guy who gorges on fast food — and blimps up as a result — won’t be showing at area movie screens this Friday. No, we’re not talking about hefty filmmaker Michael Moore, whose Fahrenheit 9/11, has been extended for another week by Kerasotes Theatres. The film that has…
Never Say Die
Last Sunday, in a cramped visitation cubicle inside the Crawford County jail, Julie Rea-Harper climbed onto a small stool and balanced carefully on her bare feet. She wanted her visitors on the other side of the bulletproof glass to admire her toenails, freshly painted a delicate shade of peachy pink. A few days earlier, when…
Alexander’s offers the thrill of the grill
Here’s a puzzle for any restaurant critic: How do you review a restaurant where patrons cook their own main courses? The answer: Focus on the restaurant’s atmosphere and the experience — and trust diners to judge their own grill skills. By that standard, Alexander’s Steakhouse offers a fun change of pace for meat lovers. At…
Da Senator
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama says he welcomes a possible challenge from former Chicago Bears football coach Mike Ditka in the November election. “The speculation is fun for everybody,” Obama says. “Particularly the press, who I think is bored with the lack of an opponent for me so far.” Ditka, 64, told Chicago-based reporters…
The more things change. . .
Getting old sure can blow sometimes. You feel kinda smart and all, telling the shiny-eyed kid that her favorite new band (a) isn’t reinventing music as we know it, (b) isn’t even inventing a new hybrid of existing musics, and (c) isn’t doing anything that someone else didn’t already do better 100 years ago. But…
“Uglier than ugly”
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but it seems architectural historians alone find reason to swoon over the massive William G. Stratton Building, located directly west of the Capitol. Lawmakers and state workers whose offices are in the Stratton have long complained that the ’50s-era building is outdated and inefficient, blocks views…
The fat rap
Corn growers and processors are fixing to pop a kernel over a recent report that blames Americans’ expanding waistlines on the widespread use of high-fructose corn syrup. Among those leading the charge: the St. Louis-based National Corn Growers Association, which recently called on members to launch a letter-writing campaign, and the Washington, D.C.-based Corn Refiners…
Movie Reviews
Robert Redford plays Wayne Hayes, a self-made man who built a fortune in the fiercely competitive rental-car business. Hayes and his wife, Eileen (Helen Mirren), live quietly in their mansion, and Hayes continues to work as a corporate consultant. But their peaceful existence is shattered when Hayes is kidnapped by Arnold Mack (Willem Dafoe), a…
Grace About Town
The funny thing about my life is that things rarely go as planned. I confess that lots of times I don’t even have a plan, but I really don’t think it makes any difference whether I have one or not. Take last weekend: Friday afternoon, my best friend, Christine, called. She just moved from L.A.…
Meet (and beat) the beetles
They’re back! The latest invasion of leaf-devouring Japanese beetles has begun. These half-inch-long eating machines have been found helping themselves to roses in the Springfield area, but you can expect them to turn to other favorites such as linden, grapes, birch, apples, peaches, and raspberries. In fact, this glutton’s grocery list comprises the leaves, flowers,…
Now Playing
Rise and shine, fellow music lovers: The time is here to share another week of music and mirth, drinks and dance, and good times with the world at large. Get yourself out to Mariah’s as Harry O (the artist formerly known as Harry Nino) and Oysters Rockefeller entertain the folks from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m.…
A simple ceremony
The eyes of the world were on Massachusetts two months ago as it became the first state to legally recognize same-sex marriages. New Jersey last week began issuing extended domestic-partnership benefits to homosexual couples, a policy already in place in California and Hawaii. In Maine, a similar law goes into effect later this month. Vermont…
On the line with the chorus
When A Chorus Line opens Friday night at the Springfield Muni Opera, I wonder, how will the show play to a new generation? Will they realize that they’re witnessing what was a groundbreaking musical when it premiered almost 30 years ago? A Chorus Line tracks the fortunes of a group of Broadway dancers auditioning for…
Earth Talk
Dear Earth Talk: Are raw foods healthier to eat than cooked foods? — Kris Amitzboll, Coledale, Australia Proponents of raw foods, which are sometimes called “living foods,” believe that raw foods are much healthier for the body than cooked or processed foods. Followers of diets based wholly or largely on raw foods claim numerous health…
