Uncharted waters
Almost half of the entire Illinois House has signed up to sponsor an anti-abortion bill this year. The proposal is an exact replica of a federal law that ostensibly protects infants who are “born alive” during botched abortion procedures. Opponents say that the bill is merely a backdoor attempt to ban almost all abortions, but…
common sense 3-10-05
A U.S. senator, campaigning for re-election, visited a nursing home, where he approached an old fellow who was watching TV and asked, “Do you know who I am?” The old man replied, “No, but if you go to front desk they’ll tell you.” Luckily for us, if we forget who we are, we can go…
jacqueline Jackson 3-10-05
aroundtown poem #2 john knoepfle has a poem that lists the dogs of auburn I learned in college that poems often have lists especially epics that’s one way you can tell an epic so here are the cows in the round barn, 1914: marie, beauty, princess, lassie, easter, may, fantine, fern, gladys, elsie, gretchen, hester…
health wise 3-10-05
Come in. Shut door. Sit down. Close mouth. Barely out of her teens, Joyce Surbeck-Harris found her life forever altered by those words. As a child, Surbeck-Harris was aware and proud of her Eastern Cherokee and Cree heritage but was starving for more cultural knowledge. Her search led her to the most influential teacher of…
Razing the roof
Homeless for seven years, Nancy has spent much of this winter huddled under blankets on the front porch of a derelict building in downtown Springfield. The semienclosed wooden porch offers some shelter from the wind and snow, she says. And it’s conveniently located across the street from St. John’s Breadline, where she takes two meals…
commentary 3-10-05
The Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty to curb the greenhouse gases that cause climate change, took effect last month. More than 125 nations — including Canada, Japan, the members of the European Union, and a host of developing countries — ratified the protocol. The treaty requires 35 developed nations, with varying targets, to reduce their…
First step
Ward 7 Ald. Judy Yeager has heard the complaints for years. The southern stretch of MacArthur Boulevard, with its vacant buildings, giant parking lots, obnoxious signage, and abundance of payday-loan stores and auto-parts shops, has long topped the list of grievances from concerned constituents. “I get a lot of angry phone calls and a lot…
art seen 3-10-05
Quincy philanthropist John Willis Gardner accomplished two goals in one stroke when he founded the Gardner Museum of Architecture & Design in 1977, preserving important pieces of Quincy’s history that otherwise might have ended up in landfills and saving a gorgeous stone Romanesque Revival structure that had been built in 1888 to house Quincy’s public…
Moving forward
Discussion continued this week between leaders of Ministerial Alliance and the Boys & Girls Club of Springfield over how to proceed with the construction of a new $4 million East Side community center. Members of both groups met for an hour and a half on Monday to broach a wide range of issues, including the…
quick takes 3-10-05
VOICES OF DISSENT Area religious organizations and peace groups mark the second anniversary of the U.S. attack on Iraq with a monthlong series of meetings, vigils, concerts, and protests. The observances begin Saturday, March 19, with an 11: 30 a.m. interfaith service at the First Church of the Brethren, 2116 Yale Blvd., followed by a…
appetite 3-10-05
The celebration of St. Patrick’s Day begins early at D’Arcy’s Pint. The staff begins the day at 7 a.m., serving several hundred people a breakfast buffet of homemade corned-beef hash, potatoes O’Brien (fried potatoes with peppers and onions), and traditional items such as bacon and sausage. At 11 a.m., lunch begins, featuring a mouthwatering special…
sound patrol 3-10-05
The consensus on The Great Destroyer, Low’s seventh full-length and first for Sub Pop, is that it represents a Great Departure. Adjectives that have never before appeared in reviews of the Duluth, Minn.-based trio — “aggressive,” “loud,” “rocking” — have been edging out the usual descriptors (“hushed,” “narcoleptic,” “austere”). If anyone took rock critics halfway…
letters 3-10-05
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 DON’T IGNORE PRIVACY RIGHT Thank you, Fletcher Farrar, for your editorial [“On…
flicks 3-10-05
Will Smith is such a megastar that I bet you forgot he used to be half of the rap duo DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Smith’s current release, Hitch, in which he portrays a dating consultant, is a surprise blockbuster, and it is the perfect vehicle for his charisma and sharp verbal skills.…
music notes 3-10-05
Everyone wish a happy birthday to the Illinois Central Blues Club as it commemorates two decades in the blues society business. The ICBC, one of the senior blues associations in the nation, is celebrating in grand style with the Larry Taylor Blues Band of Chicago, featuring slide guitarist Tom Holland. Taylor plays traditional postwar Chicago…
now playing 3-10-05
Guitar-slinging, rockabilly singer Rosie Flores has been making music since she was a child, recording her first song at the age of 7. A Texas native, Rosie is heading back to her home state next week for a show with Katy Moffatt at Austin’s world-famous South by Southwest music conference. She’s been on the road…
Last days of the shelter
At 4 a.m. in the homeless shelter, we make the notation “Quiet” in the logbook, though it hardly is. There is a racket of snoring in the basement of the Contact Ministries building, but it’s a good sound. Some 40 troubled souls are stretched out on the bunks here. Some are on medicines; some are…
movie review
Two years ago, 20th Century Fox entered the crowded animation category with Ice Age. Compared with the blockbusters that DreamWorks and Pixar were turning out, it was an underwhelming effort. I expected the same with the studio’s latest animated release, Robots. Surprisingly, Robots proves every bit as imaginative as anything Pixar or DreamWorks has done.…
Puppet masters
On the surface, nothing in the April 17, 2001, evening-news broadcast on Baltimore’s WBFF-TV was atypical. A reporter from the Fox affiliate covered efforts by environmental groups to clean up the North Branch of the Potomac River in western Maryland. It featured visuals of factory crud in the river, interviews with canoeing enthusiasts, and a…
