Mid-June music sampling
Untitled Document It’s Sangamon County Fair time, so pack up the crew and make the annual pilgrimage to New Berlin, because this year’s entertainment is fabulous. In the beer tents, otherwise known as the Miller Lite Roc House and the Budweiser Pavilion, you’ll find our best local bands, including F5, the Mudbugs, Hot Property, and…
Take a walk in the garden
Untitled Document Gardeners love getting new ideas for sprucing up their gardens, and Springfield-area green thumbs will have the opportunity to get those ideas and talk with master gardeners in a garden walk scheduled for Saturday, June 23. The walk, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m., will take place on a private 30-acre property at 917 West Lake…
Mr. Costner
Untitled Document Kevin Costner needs no introduction, but he seems to need a reintroduction. Audiences mistakenly think that they know what to expect from him. His taking on the role of a serial killer in Mr. Brooks certainly has surprised many of his fans. Costner is generally viewed as the strong all-American actor of the…
What a jerk!
Untitled Document Jerk. Even the name’s fun — it could’ve been created by fast-food marketers trying to come up with a product name appealing to adolescents. Jerk originated centuries ago in Jamaica when maroons — runaway slaves — fled to the hills to escape their British masters. Wild boars were their main food source. Because…
PURPA haze
Untitled Document A local environmental group is calling on City Water, Light & Power to adopt five standards of the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act. But federal law only requires that CWLP consider the new standards, formally accepting or rejecting them by August. “We’re not required not to do anything right away. That would…
Takes a weirdo to understand weird
Untitled Document It seems unimaginable that Joni Mitchell, one of the most influential singer/songwriters of the latter part of the previous century, hasn’t received the tribute-album treatment until now, but it’s true. A victim of label consolidation and executive turnover, the unimaginatively titled A Tribute to Joni Mitchell languished in limbo for nearly a decade,…
When deer and rabbits attack
Untitled Document As the line between urban and rural settings continues to blur, human beings will undoubtedly encounter the wildlife they are displacing. Some, especially rabbits and whitetail deer, have adapted well to their human neighbors and may remain in close proximity. Fragmented forest areas, such as parks and forest preserves, may have contributed to…
Ralph!
Untitled Document The June 1 announcement arrived on the standard city of Springfield press release stationery with the word “NEWS” splashed across the corner in 48 point italics. The content, though, was strictly old hat: Mayor Tim Davlin had tapped Ralph Caldwell to be chief of the Springfield Police Department. Davlin’s decision surprised no one.…
The 17 traditions
Untitled Document My father taught me about progressive values by living them. He actually thought of himself as conservative, but he had a strong faith in common folks, a populist distrust of big business and autocratic government, a deep belief in economic fairness, and a commitment to the notion of the common good. He summed…
Not-so-new Drew
Untitled Document Back in May, when I was looking over the many lists of films for the coming summer movie season, Nancy Drew did not make my must-see list. However, after watching some of the trailers I realized that this was not my grandmother’s teen sleuth but instead a postmodern take on the seminal mystery…
Beyond potholes
Untitled Document Irv Smith now knows how poor transportation planning feels. Late last month, Smith and his wife, Joan, were injured in the six-vehicle pileup at MacArthur Boulevard and Lawrence Avenue. But as alderman of Ward 8 for two decades, Smith always sided with neighborhood preservationists in opposing plans to make improvements there. Now the…
Getting it right
Untitled Document Long, long ago, I was the host of a public-access cable-television show in St. Louis, a boring gabfest about world affairs. We had a panel of regulars — academics and journalists — and guests, most of them foreigners: An anti-Marcos Filipino. An Iranian whose father had been a general. A Sandinista official from…
Letters to the Editor
Untitled Document We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address, and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to Letters, Illinois Times, P.O. Box 5256, Springfield, IL 62705; fax 217-753-3958; e-mail editor@illinoistimes.com. WRONGABOUTTHELAW ANDTHEACLU Robert Huck’s recent letter lambastes the American Civil Liberties Union for laws that he asserts give children an absolute…
Snap judgment
Untitled Document I was 14, maybe 15. It was late spring, around this time of year, when the school year was coming to a close. My mother had hired a guy named Larry to paint our very old three-story house, both inside and out. It was a huge job, so Larry was at the house…
Whose subsidy is it anyway?
Untitled Document The farm bill, which Congress will likely vote on this fall, will affect environmental, consumer, industrial, trade, and anti-poverty policies, as well as the prices and subsidies farmers receive for producing commodity crops such as corn, wheat, and soybeans. Legislators are now conducting hearings and readying proposals, but the outcome is “more up…
Dead seed goals
Untitled Document What is the “terminator seed” proposed for use in agriculture, and why is it so controversial? Since the dawn of civilization farmers have saved the seeds spawned by their crops and replanted them to grow more crops. Such is the natural science of agriculture that has provided food for thousands of years. But…
Sensitive guys
Untitled Document The toxic combination of an overabundance of testosterone and fragile male egos seems to be contaminating everything it touches during the Illinois General Assembly’s overtime session. More issues were added last week to the large pile of bills being held hostage to the never-ending feud between House Speaker Michael Madigan on one side…
People’s poetry
Untitled Document backthen poem #1 when I had to be awayI used to leave four casserolesin the fridge and a chart thatcovered the fridge door tellingwhere and when everyone had to beand who got what medicine whenincluding cats and dogs andlists of sitters’ numbers indescending order of dependabilityand where the clean socks wereas if he…
Blundering Blagojevich
Untitled Document Gov. Rod Blagojevich made a last-minute attempt last week to at least show that he was trying to get the hopelessly stalled budget negotiations back on track. Blagojevich, who has tried harder to avoid blame for the current overtime session than to actually negotiate in good faith, walked into House Speaker Michael Madigan’s…
