“Paper Towns” – Paper Thin
While I may be running the risk of courting the wrath of young adult lit lovers everywhere, I am honor bound to be honest in all of my reviews. As such, I must say that I hated, I mean hated Jake Schreier’s Paper Towns. Filled with unrealistic characters, hoary plot points and ridiculous circumstances, this…
Stunts Anchor “Rogue Nation”
Paramount Pictures has been very aggressive in promoting Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, moving it forward from its original Christmas Day release date and having much of the advanced publicity focusing on a stunt that finds franchise star Tom Cruise hanging from the side of a plane as it takes off and reaches an altitude of…
Historic commitments
No loyal son or daughter of Illinois can ignore this pleas from Tara Winter, the Director of Development for the Illinois State Historical Society. The Illinois State Historical Society (ISHS) was founded in 1899. Our mission is to foster awareness, understanding, research, preservation, and recognition of history in Illinois. In order to meet our mission and provide services in our communities,…
You say
Words are to a writer what nails are to carpenter or lies to a diplomat. To do your job well you must choose just the right one for the job. I was chagrined today to learn, some 60 years late, that the standard plural of “octopus” is not “octopi,” as I always assumed. The Oxford…
Being boiled alive
Now and then in recent columns, I’ve touched on the risks and the occasional opportunities faced by Illinois as the world’s climate changes. Over at WUIS-FM’s useful news site, three experts at the University of Illinois taking part in the U of I’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs’ Climate Policy Initiative — Dan Fullerton,…
The gift that keeps on giving
We here at Illinois Times are neither rich nor proud, which is why we shop for bargains at local thrift stores. So it was that we stopped by the Goodwill on Dirksen Parkway today during the lunch hour. It was the typical assortment of used shirts and pants and shoes and what-not from Joseph A.…
Tuning in
So much of happiness, I’ve realized, depends on getting tuned in. When he was a young married, my father used to tune in the console radio in the living room of the Krohe family mansion on Manor Avenue to the live broadcasts of big-band music “from the beautiful Blue Room in the Roosevelt Hotel” in…
The rebellion against big money politics
If you are one of those cynics who think that none of today’s presidential candidates for the White House care about people like you and me, check out Republican wannabe Scott Walker. The Wisconsin governor, who is presently a full-time campaigner for the GOP presidential nod, not only cares, he wants to sit down with…
Between a rock and Michael Madigan
Last week, Gov. Bruce Rauner declared to reporters that if it wasn’t for House Speaker Michael Madigan the budget impasse would’ve been resolved. And perhaps if the sky was green, then grass might be blue. For starters, what the governor said was highly doubtful. It’s not like in the absence of Madigan that Senate President…
Letters to the Editor 7/30/15
A BAD DECISIONThanks to Illinois Times and Scott Faingold for the excellent article on the Museum’s Research and Collections Center, “Extinct.” It is another very good example among many of why the quick, ill-informed decision to close the museum and all of its facilities is a very bad one. Nicky StrattonSpringfield SECURING THE SCHOOLSSchool shooters…
Editor’s note 7/30/15
House Speaker Michael Madigan wasn’t being overly dramatic when he told his fellow legislators Tuesday, “We are involved in a historic struggle.” He said the House has passed four separate bills that attempt to meet Gov. Bruce Rauner half way, but he said the governor’s response is always, “I have to have my agenda. As…
Trading up for a better trade deal
As the dust settles on the fight in Congress over Fast Track for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, we have an opportunity to think anew about what good trade policy could be. If we get past the rhetoric, we can expand the public and political dialogue about trade and truly understand the impact it…
Abe’s auto and air show
PHOTO COURTESY WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/ABELINCOLNCARSHOW/ The Abraham Lincoln Car Show Spectacular is the largest car show in central Illinois. Displays include the replica Lincoln Funeral carriage, 30-50 Pinto Stampedes, the Fordzilla Monster truck, Justin Allgaier’s #51 Nascar show car, the Sangamon County Sheriff MRAP vehicle, several “celebrity” movie cars – such as Christine and Bumblebee from the…
Fresh food, close to home
PHOTO COURTESY ILLINOIS STEWARDSHIP ALLIANCE In celebration of the United States Department of Agriculture dedication of August 2-8 as National Farmers Market Week, the Illinois Stewardship Alliance has partnered with local like-minded businesses for a week-long celebration of local libations and delicacies. Curious gardeners can try farming for a day during the Crop Mob event…
Sleepless in Fallujah
I just broke up with my girlfriend of seven months. We fought constantly but the sex was amazing. Reviewing my relationships, it seems I have the best sex in the volatile ones – those where we argue all the time and really don’t get along. I’m wondering whether there’s a connection between anger and sex.…
Lincoln and the Jews
Abraham Jonas of Quincy, a fellow lawyer and legislator. Probably the first Jew Lincoln knew well. PHOTO COURTESY W. Wells Family Collection A thought-provoking exhibit on Lincoln’s relationship with Jews will open at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum on Monday, Aug. 3. “With Firmness in the Right: Lincoln and the Jews” addresses how Lincoln helped…
Faith and practice
Rabbi Barry Marks inside Temple Israel, where he has served for more than 40 years. Photo BY DAVID HINE Springfield’s original Jewish settlers arrived in the city in the 1850s. Some of them moved into Springfield from the surrounding small towns, where they had lived previously. Early immigrant Jews frequently began working as peddlers, selling…
Magical musical
Diane Dietz as Mary Poppins. PHOTO BY PATRICK RUSSELL Mary Poppins. We all know her and love her from the 1964 Disney movie. She is a little bit sarcastic, clever, always kind and very magical. Did you know, however, that the creator and author of the series of children’s books, Australia-born P.L.Travers, disliked Disney’s rendition…
Urban League accused of bias
Hit with a $100,000 verdict in a discrimination lawsuit decided last week, the Springfield Urban League faces a second lawsuit from a former Head Start employee who says that she was the victim of racial and religious discrimination. Rhonda King, a former teacher and parent advocate at the Urban League’s Head Start program in Jacksonville,…
Rebuilding Springfield
Karen Davis, director of the Office of Planning and Economic Development for the City of Springfield, will also lead the mayor’s new Economic Development Commission. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE A newly created business committee for Springfield offers opportunity for the city’s east side. Springfield mayor Jim Langfelder announced Tuesday a seven-member Economic Development Commission aimed…
Sanctity of life
Rev. Thomas Paprocki PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE The Rev. Thomas Paprocki espouses exorcism and opposes gay marriage. He has said that Muslims should be treated differently than others at airport security checkpoints because most terrorists are Islamic. In short, Paprocki is known as a conservative’s conservative. But there is another side to the leader of…
Child care cuts threaten families on the edge
ILLUSTRATION BY WES BAUSMITH/TNS Chandra Ankoor of Springfield gets three or four hours of sleep a night, seven days a week. She’s not sure how much longer she can keep that up, but she does it for her three young daughters. On a typical day, Ankoor wakes up early to get her girls ready for…
QUIT CARPING – FOR NOW
It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s a fish that sure doesn’t look like Superman. And the infamous flying Asian carp can keep soaring unmolested in the wilds of Bath – that’s in Cass County, well out of cell phone range – for a bit longer this year. Soggy weather has swollen the Illinois…
WORDS MATTER
In honor of the 25th anniversary of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, Gov. Bruce Rauner this week signed a handful of laws regarding people with disabilities. Among them is House Bill 4049, which changes several subtly dehumanizing terms within existing state law. For example, references to “the disabled” and “the handicapped” now say “persons…
Satisfying Mr. Holmes
Ian McKellen as Sherlock Holmes in Mr. Holmes. PHOTO COURTESY ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS One would think that, what with Sherlock Holmes being the fictional character who’s appeared in more theatrical films than any other, the well would be dry where coming up with new ways to portray and explore him are concerned. And while Mitch Cullin…
A blue moon weekend
Deep Lunar Blue plays the Trails End Saloon in Curran on Fri., July 31 for a Blue Moon Celebration. I’m not sure if you can stretch a blue moon, like the one this Friday, the only one in 2015, into an entire weekend, but if you’re willing to go along with this cockamamie idea, so…
The Cadillac Three
Hailing from the other side of the tracks in Nashville, the long-haired trio of Jaren Johnston (lead vocals, guitar), Kelby Ray (bass guitar, Dobro, acoustic guitar, vocals) and Neil Mason (drums, vocals) are making it in Music City U.S.A., without the usual trappings. They don’t fit the mold of working-out, cowboy hat-wearing, country-crooning, cookie cutter…
Pill Cosby
CARTOON BY CHRIS BRITT
playdate poem #1
on a recent new yorker cover a room’sprominent wide window reveals backyard greenery swings a ball trees clear skyinside two young girls sit back to back butyards apart each intent on a screen eachplaying her own game books toys art stuffin the room each screen shows a child ongrass with clear skies though not the…
National Farmers Market Week
“This is incredible,” I said to Lindsay Record. Record has long been a driving force in the Illinois Stewardship Alliance (ISA), a primary proponent of local, sustainable farming. I’d called Record after scanning the schedule of local events celebrating National Farmers Market Week, which runs from August 2–8. “Isn’t it great?” Record replied. “More and…
