lake poem 2018 #1
lake poem 2018 #1 we’re back to this spot where we’ve comefor so many years usual plumbing probsnatch plus mice chippy squirrel detritusstill the lake is clear cool I’ve heard abullfrog, owls – and the loons! last nightit sounded like a whole well-oiled partynone could stop laffin laffin laffin noother sound is anything at all…
Interiority gets exteriorized at UIS Gallery
A smiley-face pin balanced on a wall-mounted thermostat; an infant’s onesie reflected in an antique mirror; an office lamp propping open a window shade. The experience of walking through “Interior Space” – an installation which opened July 26 at University of Illinois Springfield’s Visual Arts Gallery – is something like wandering into a stranger’s sparse…
Riley’s “Sorry” an Audacious Look at Race
Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You has been compared to last year’s lighting rod examination of modern race, Jordan Peele’s Get Out and it’s easy to see why. The protagonists in each unwittingly find themselves in the midst of a white nightmare in which they may be consumed, their race and personality erased by personal compromise…
Homeless have nowhere else
It is quarter of five, too early for sun’s first rays. A half-dozen people are snoozing in pre-dawn darkness on walkways around Lincoln Library. None have anything thicker than cardboard to cushion them from pavement beneath. Half don’t have even that. They are easy to spot, given abundant lighting that surrounds the building a shout…
Cowboys for Liberty
Hiding one’s true identity can be done for many legitimate purposes, but it tends to be widely used these days by scheming people or nefarious interests with … well, with something to hide, using a dishonest, Orwellian representation of themselves for villainous reasons. Two of the most notorious practitioners are common crooks and corporate front…
Dems try to rebuild state party
A couple of years ago, a little more than 1,400 voters took Democratic primary ballots in sparsely populated Warren County, which is about an hour west of Peoria. Almost twice that many took Republican ballots. The Warren County Democratic Central Committee is not exactly a campaign powerhouse. The organization officially opened its PAC with $923.72…
Letters to the Editor 7/26/18
THE REAL PUBLIC HEALTH HAZARD I read the article by Daniel Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.H., captioned “Gun violence is a public health hazard” in the July 12 edition of Illinois Times. Unfortunately, Dr. Blumenthal’s conclusions are as shallow and misleading as his facts. Firearm-related deaths for 2016 were 38,658. Of this total, 22,938 or 59 percent…
Common-sense gun laws down under
Recently my brother, who has lived in Australia since the 1980s, came to Illinois for my son’s wedding. One of the topics for discussion was the different directions gun violence and mass shootings have taken in our two countries. In the early 1990s Australia was having problems with mass shootings and in 1996 enacted gun…
Prizewinning photography
On Thursday, July 26, join Illinois Times, the Springfield Art Association’s SAA Collective and other sponsors in congratulating the adult, youth and teenage winners of the 2018 Images of Illinois photography contest during the exhibition’s closing reception from 5–7 p.m. at the SAA Collective Gallery, located in the Hoogland Center for the Arts at 420…
A bride’s search for her father
This weekend, visit the Legacy Theatre and take in the regional premiere of Mamma Mia!, the charming, feel-good musical set to the music of ABBA. Mamma Mia! is the story of 20-year-old Sophie, a Greek bride who is set to be engaged to the man of her dreams. The only problem is, Sophie wants her…
Five decades of arts programming
Celebrate the 50th birthday of the Decatur Area Arts Council with a birthday celebration titled “Half-Century Hullaballoo! A Birthday Bash” on Saturday, July 28. This event, open to adults ages 21 and older, will feature typical birthday party elements with a timely twist, as all three floors of the Madden Arts Center will be decked…
Ultra-high-speed rail
Springfield may not be a suburb of Chicago, but efforts are afoot to make practical, daily commuting between the two cities – and other Illinois cities – a reality. And it would only take a rail system almost three times as fast as current high-speed trains, at a cost nearly equal to the entire fiscal…
Make tracks to Galesburg for a daytrip adventure
Bob Stenander and Ross McIntire may be decades apart in age, but both are pretty proud of Galesburg and its success in making the city’s history come alive. Stenander, a retiree and tour attendant at the Galesburg Railroad Museum, loves to walk visitors through the restored mail car, engine, caboose and Pullman sleeper car on…
A way forward
Throughout July, three prominent Illinois politicians working together as the Anti-Harassment, Equality and Access Panel (AHEA) has been holding meetings across the state in order to engage women in conversation about their experiences of sexual harassment, inequality and barriers to access in the political arena, whether as candidates, campaign staffers or officeholders. The members and…
The fourth kind of corruption
Early on Wednesday evening, July 18, Springfield grassroots groups Action Illinois and Indivisible Illinois jointly held a rally in front of 18th District congressman Darin LaHood’s downtown office at Sixth Street and Monroe. The gathering, which attracted around 50 people with very little advance publicity and was part of a national vigil to “confront corruption…
ARMORED ANGELS FIGHT VIOLENCE
Springfield-based Armored Angels, Inc. will host the “Fighting for Women Medieval Sword Workshop” on Saturday morning, July 28. The fundraising workshop will include training from Chicago martial arts studio Forteza Fitness, with practice swords and other equipment provided. Armored Angels sells angel-themed products, with profits going towards helping domestic violence survivors via monetary grants. The company’s…
OBAMA, LINCOLN AND SAM
State Sen. Sam McCann, R/CP/AFL-CIO/?-Plainview, caused quite a stir this week by announcing that he’s sponsoring legislation that would yank $180 million in state road funds that’s slated to help build a presidential library for Barack Obama in Chicago. The money, McCann says, should be spent fixing roads and bridges in our neck of the…
Stunning, spectacular Fallout delivers
The hallmark of the Mission: Impossible franchise is that it takes its title seriously, setting the bar higher and higher with each entry to show us that what might seem impossible is actually quite doable in the hands of star Tom Cruise and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie. Also improbable but inexplicably true is the fact that…
Retro music fits
What a weekend this is with stuff happening everywhere, especially events reliving highlights of the past. But rest assured that the music will be firmly in the present and well-directed toward the future of the scene. Let us first honor two local musicians we’ve lost too soon. John Brillhart, our singer-songwriter who passed last fall,…
Jimmy Riemer
As our young troubadour completes his “summer tour” of acoustic venues in central Illinois and heads back to college, we salute Jimmy Riemer in a job well-done of entertaining and performing for literally hundreds of listeners during the last couple of months. Way back in his younger days (a few years ago), Jimmy learned the…
personal poem# 15
personal poem# 15 our folks bought us the world bookan impressive row of blue volumesalphabetized holding all the wisdomof the world we had other books (wewere a bookish family) but this classycompendium intrigued us my sisterand I decided we’d read them straightthrough we were maybe eight andten I soon realized the enormity theimpossibility of the…
Sangria
Few beverages look more enticing at a summer soiree than a big pitcher of sangria. Ripe fruits suspended in a concoction of dry wine, seltzer, a bit of sugar and liqueur make up this traditional Spanish punch that is as beautiful to look at as it is delicious. In addition to being attractive and quaffable,…
