Competitive edge
More than 70 emergency homeless shelter agencies across Illinois will share state grants totaling $2.4 million. And the two biggest recipients, according to Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s office, are Springfield-based Contact Ministries and Fifth Street Renaissance. They competed against nearly 100 other nonprofits for the money. “We are very pleased, because the more resources we receive,…
Prairie Notes 6-24-04
“You can’t do just one thing.” So goes the old ecology adage, meaning, of course, that each change that occurs in the natural world precipitates a series of other — often unknown and unexpected — changes. You may know it as the ripple effect. Much of the concern about genetically modified (GM) crops has to…
letters 6-24-04
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 PROUD TO HAVE HER As a frequent reader of Illinois Times, I…
Make way for the queen of rockabilly
When Wanda Jackson began singing country music in the ’50s on an Oklahoma City radio station, her voice had that certain something that caught the ear of Hank Thompson, a popular singing star of the time. He called Jackson and asked her to perform at his next show. ” ‘I’d sure like to, Mr. Thompson,…
Knoepfle 6-24-04
sandalwood poem #7 I would build a nest in your ribs I would quarrel in your eyes I would fly out of your mouth and strike down death for you sparrow a dry wind has parched this land and there is no water please do not say it is my fault the lilies sleep in…
Mission accomplished
Last week, when John Dale Kennedy resigned from the top job at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center, he sent friends an e-mail peppered with adjectives hinting — ever so artfully — that he just might be dancing a gleeful little jig on his way out the door. The 18 months he spent getting…
Grace about town 6-24-04
I went to the Route 66 Drive-In a couple of weeks ago, the first time this summer. Boy, the drive-in is the quintessential summer experience for me. When we were kids, we went to the drive-in, my brother David and I, in our pajamas with our pillows and blankets, and we watched the movie for…
Garden talk 6-24-04
I can’t think of a more beautiful, colorful, sweet fruit than blueberries. The highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum, is a woody perennial plant that is native to North America. The fruit was a staple for early settlers who used the berries in various food dishes and medicines. Because of the star-shaped calyx on top of the…
The politics of war
Political potboilers have always scored high on summer-reading lists, and Bush’s War for Reelection: Iraq, the White House, and the People seems to qualify. Written by investigative reporter James Moore, the book seems to possess the ingredients necessary for inclusion in the genre. The difference, of course, is that this study of the White House…
Flashback to iconic Ike
Ike Turner His Woman, Her Man (Funky Delicacies) It was Ike Turner’s curse and blessing that he hooked up with Anna Mae Bullock, a teenage girl from Nutbush, Tenn. The same might be said of her. She started out as a backup singer in Turner’s band, the Kings of Rhythm; was impregnated by one of…
When they were kings
It is, at first, a vexing and somewhat daunting undertaking to write about a nearly 100-year-old high-school athletic-team yearbook picture, especially when it requires more than a little sleuthing to merely put names to the faces. It is, for the writer, a revelatory experience, for the resultant effect of a little curious investigation is that…
Earth Talk 6-24-04
Dear Earth Talk: How can I reduce the number and amount of toxins my new baby is exposed to? — Beth Stevenson, Leesburg, Va. Because babies are so much smaller and their metabolisms so much faster than those of adults, proportionally they are exposed to higher doses of toxins from everyday foods and consumer products.…
Movie reviews
Expect an amazing chemical reaction I hate a good love story. Perhaps it is just a quirk in my personality, but I have never appreciated the shameless manipulation of the genre. As films, they are rarely challenging or intriguing. Why then would I recommend The Notebook, an unabashedly romantic and sentimental tearjerker? This one seems…
Ryan’s hope
Jack Ryan’s bid for the U.S. Senate may be toast, as some Republican Party leaders began calling on him to quit the race after the release of his divorce files on Monday. The documents include allegations from Ryan’s ex-wife, actress Jeri Ryan, that he took her to sex clubs where he tried to force her…
Hero or hellion?
Some heroes have great talent. Others do great deeds and overcome enormous odds. Robert Pulliam was such a man, but what he is remembered for most is that he was the first Anglo settler of Sangamon County. The early city fathers admired Pulliam so much that they erected a marker near the site of his…
quick takes 6-24-04
NEW HISTORIC AREA On Tuesday, new Springfield historical markers began appearing west of the Capitol, designating the new Pasfield House Historic Area. The Pasfield House, part of a 40-acre estate that once was the city’s largest, served as the residence for three generations of George Pasfields after its purchase in 1841. The new designation encompasses…
People’s poetry 6-24-04
Old Elms A few old elms may here and there be seen Even today. Their long legato limbs Lift up and offer summer gifts of green. In fall, soft gold. In winter sometimes hymns When winds through branches’ filigrees might sing. A freezing mist may cast crazed crystal chimes. Should a chartreuse haze appear aloft,it’s…
Now Playing 6-24-04
Welcome to my world. Hey, it’s your world, too. Here are some musical happenings in “our world” of Springfield nightlife. On Thursday, Keith Harden, one of central Illinois’ most vibrant and prolific musicians, returns from his adopted home in upstate New York for a show at the Trading Post Saloon. Harden, a long-time Champaign-Urbana full-time…
