Jacqueline Jackson
featherspoem #1 behind as I swim the dawn chorus calls feebee feebee pee-a-wee pee-a-wee cheerup cheerily cheerup hey sweetie hey sweetie sam peabody peabody peabody all affirming their right to these vermont woods while nearby in addison county whooping crane number three-o-nine snowy plumage jet wing tips red skullcap yellow eyes legbands white and green…
letters
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 NUCLEAR: THE “RATIONAL” ALTERNATIVE Rather than adopt the narrow view of our…
common sense
Isn’t it obvious by now that President George W. Bush is totally lost in Iraq, without a clue of how to get out? Instead of a coherent Iraq policy, Bush relies on political one-liners. His most infamous was “mission accomplished,” but, for me, the most disgusting was his response two years ago when he was…
The green bad boy
A surly old-timer named Deere disrupted a carefully choreographed square dance last month at the Montgomery County Fair — and the audience was thrilled. The interrupted show was a performance by the Dancing Farmalls, a group of International Harvester tractors driven in intricate, daring maneuvers that have been thrilling fairgoers around the Midwest since the…
Last word
Michael Campion, the psychologist who has screened Springfield police and firefighter candidates for more than a decade, claims that he lost his contract because of his political and religious views. In a three-page letter sent to aldermen, Campion said that he had chosen not to sue the city, even though an attorney he consulted assured…
movie review
Anyone familiar with the cult sci-fi film Logan’s Run, the paranoid medical thriller Coma, or that brilliant modern take on existentialism, The Truman Show, will quickly piece together the plot that drives The Island. Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) and Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson) think that they’re survivors of an apocalyptic cataclysm known as…
Going green
For every acre paved, another will be saved. Sounds like a mantra for green business, a lullaby for the shopper with a troubled conscience. For the first time, a mammoth corporation has pledged to conserve wildlife habitat equivalent to the acreage it develops. But the company launching the program isn’t Patagonia or Timberland. It’s Wal-Mart.…
earth talk
Dear “Earth Talk”: I’ve been told that automobile air conditioners are bad for the environment. Why? And what part of the air conditioner is bad? — Susan Vogel, Somerville, N.J. The harmful effects of automobile air conditioners can be directly attributed to the leaking of CFC R-12, one of a number of cooling ingredients patented…
music
In 1990, two average groups from the Boulder, Colo., area joined forces, and ended up creating one of the most popular jam bands to fill the void left by the decomposition of the Grateful Dead. That band, Leftover Salmon, last year gave six shows at Boulder’s Fox Theatre, then went on hiatus — perhaps permanently.…
Gidwitz’s problem
The level of arrogance and political stupidity exhibited by wealthy office-seekers never ceases to amaze me. Long before the media got wind of it last year, much of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Blair Hull’s top staff knew about the police report alleging that Hull struck his then-wife during a late-night argument. Some of those staffers,…
Sticks and stones
Catching up on some light reading, I tripped over a piece about our presidential museum in the Weekly Standard, Rupert Murdoch’s answer to political magazines such as The Nation and the New Republic. Andrew Ferguson, a senior editor at the magazine, gauged reaction to the museum, focusing on Springfield’s response to Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair…
Leaders are born and made
Regardless of whether genetics or circumstances get the credit for their success, even leaders need a little guidance now and then. “We want to expose the potential that people already have, to recognize that they can be the next alderman, mayor, or news anchor or own a business,” says Tim Rowles, executive director of the…
sound patrol
For the past decade, Joe Pernice has practiced the art of pop chiaroscuro, crafting sunny songs with sudden shadows and dark songs that dazzle. With its buoyant hooks, chiming riffs, and major chords, his sad-sack soft pop goes down easy, but make no mistake: it’s not easy-listening pabulum. These creamy confections are steeped in bile,…
theater
Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson moved to Springfield three years ago to help build a theater program at University of Illinois-Springfield with his wife, Missy Thibodeaux-Thompson, a fellow actor and director and part-time assistant professor of theater at Illinois College in Jacksonville. Before their move to the capital city, the couple’s pursuit of work in the theater had…
flicks
When a director finds the perfect actor to personify his vision, it can lead to an interesting collaborative history. The most prominent ongoing director/actor relationship right now is that of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, which has resulted in five films. Charlie and the Chocolate Factoryis their new release, and Depp seemed destined to take…
quick takes
AN EIGHT-MONTH ODYSSEY The Illinois Humanities Council is accepting applications for the Odyssey Project, a free eight-month college-level humanities course for low-income adults. Classes, which meet two evenings a week, begin in mid-September at the Urban League Head Start Center, 1108 E. Cook St. For more information or to request an application for the program,…
now playing
What started out as an experiment in songwriting has blossomed into a productive creative outlet for Bagheera, a husband-and-wife duo from St. Louis. A few years ago, Theodore Moll, the drummer in MU330, a popular underground ska/punk band, decided that it was time to start playing guitar and writing songs. He got a four-track recorder…
Playing it SAFE
Colleen Connell, a longtime litigator and executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, came to Springfield last week to in effect prosecute the Bush administration for using the U.S.A. Patriot Act to take away Americans’ constitutional freedoms. “The administration has not met yet its burden of showing how it is that the…
Subject to change
Literary clubs, in a sense, have been around since Socrates and Plato convened their many intellectual discussion sessions. The British coffeehouses of the 18th century, where men met to discuss all aspects of politics and religion, continued the tradition. In the 1830s, Margaret Fuller, a friend of Transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau,…
gardening
Up until last week, at least one of three calls to local master gardeners for help concerned those pesky Japanese beetles. But now there’s new trouble in Lincoln Land, and the question of the week is: “What is eating my Euonymus alata compacta?” The experts all agree on what’s chewing on your burning bush plant:…
