TEACH A MAN TO FARM
Standing atop a mountain in Afghanistan last year, Springfield resident Thomas Vermeersch looked down and saw the potential of a country now embroiled in war. Despite the rocky, mountainous terrain of the arid region, the people long ago had built terraced fields and designed irrigation systems. “All of it built by hands over many, many…
The Emerald Underground
Still Springfield’s Celtic house band by virtue of the number of performances surrounding the St. Patrick’s Day ruckus, in the past year The Emerald Underground weathered another transformation in its evolution as the area purveyor of Celtic-fusion music. Longtime musician Jack White (vocals, keyboards, guitar), the last surviving member from Stone Ring Circle, the predecessor…
Greening up early
The world may seem a little greener a little sooner than usual this season, but it isn’t because of the climate change issue. For those of you who follow the Irish calendar, it so happens for 2011 March 17 is on a Thursday, but Springfield’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Marching Band parade is the Saturday…
The Kochs and the guv stir up a hornets’ nest
Thank you, Scott Walker! And you, too, Charles and David Koch! Thanks for being so ham-handed in pushing your self-serving, virulently anti-union agenda on the schoolteachers, health care workers, park rangers and other public employees of Wisconsin. The Birchite billionaire Koch brothers and Walker, their gubernatorial hatchet man in the Badger State, have unwittingly done…
Mayor candidates break from the past
Reform is the theme in the race for mayor, as the candidates begin outlining their plans to change how the city operates. At a public forum on March 3, three of the four candidates for Springfield mayor addressed issues of transparency, political patronage, minority representation and more, each saying their administration would represent a break…
Home birth bill takes a baby step for midwives
Every time Sheri Brinkmeyer ponders having a third child, she can’t help but think that her family’s recent relocation to Springfield wasn’t the best move. She’s afraid the state’s lack of midwife licensure will mean giving birth in a hospital, like she did with her first child when she felt poked, prodded and bossed around.…
Rango, a dynamic tribute to westerns, a lost genre
I’m not sure who the audience is for Gore Verbinksi’s Rango. The western has been out of vogue for so long that I don’t think kids, teens or that precious 20-32-year-old demographic know the difference between a six-shooter and a spittoon. I’m pretty sure they won’t catch the film’s allusions to Chinatown, all things Sergio…
The longest war
The steady drumbeat of the helicopter rotors was the best sound 2nd Platoon had heard all day, coming from the southwest – the three dots quickly turned into two Apache attack helicopters escorting the medevac Black Hawk. The medevac stood off until the Apaches, with 30mm cannons blazing, made sure that any insurgents left in…
A school by any other name
The good people of Chatham have built themselves a second public elementary school, to give their young the skills they will need to someday leave Chatham. The usual sorts of names for the new school were submitted to the school board by townspeople and students and staff – those of local landmarks, of a local…
Investigating Muslims or coming together as Americans?
As a proud New Yorker and the mother of a first responder who lost his life on Sept. 11, 2001, I am saddened to learn that Rep. Peter King (R-NY) is planning to hold congressional hearings on March 10 on the “radicalization of American Muslims.” My son, Mohammed Salman Hamdani, was a 23-year-old paramedic, a…
Bad news on the budget just keeps coming
If you thought that Illinois government might get a tiny breather after raising income taxes, think again. The Illinois House’s new revenue projection for next fiscal year, which begins in July, is $759 million lower than the governor’s. However, the House’s forecast is also $2.2 billion below Gov. Pat Quinn’s projected spending for the coming…
Paper and perks, top issues for city clerk candidates
Democrat Frank Kunz, 3rd Ward alderman and candidate for mayor of Springfield, says “everything just moves quicker” at the city clerk’s office since Cecilia Tumulty took the helm in 2003. Kunz began his career as alderman in 1999, the same year as Tumulty. He says she has made information a lot easier to come by…
Aldermanic candidates quizzed for answers to community problems
Doris Turner says that 65 percent of the people within the Third Ward do not have sidewalks, something she hopes to change if elected to the alderman post in the April 5 election. Infrastructure and public safety were only a few of the hot-button issues that gained traction at the Citywide Aldermanic Forum March 3.…
Task force leads the way to local food
“ ‘Eating is an agricultural act,’ as Wendell Berry famously said. It is also an ecological act, and a political act, too. Though much has been done to obscure this simple fact, how and what we eat determines to a great extent the use we make of the world – and what is to become…
Tonight better left in yesterday
It’s never a good sign when you hear that a film’s been on the shelf for a prolonged period of time, so when I read that Take Me Home Tonight had been moldering away in the vault for four years, I was expecting the worst. While the Topher Grace vehicle was not as awful I…
Life directives
If you relished Don Piper’s New York Times multimillion-bestseller, 90 Minutes in Heaven, and its sequel, Heaven Is Real, based on his taste of death in 1989 from a car accident, you’ll want to be at Barnes and Noble March 12. The author will sign copies of his newest book, Getting to Heaven: Departing Instructions…
Accents of Americana
World-famous folk songwriter and songster Arlo Guthrie performs March 16 in Springfield on his Journey On Tour with special guests The Burns Sisters. Listen to well-known classics such as his 1967 hit, “Alice’s Restaurant,” and the ’72 rendition of “City of New Orleans.” An accomplished musician who plays piano, six and twelve-string guitar, harmonica and…
Dark farce
This dark and humorous play is about a lunch date that goes all wrong between an elderly mother and her two children as a secret is exposed. Springfield Theatre Centre boasts being the first amateur production of this play, written by award-winning Chicago playwright Joel Drake Johnson and directed by Pat Pennington. Cast members include…
Spiritual soloist
Chicago singer/songwriter who won Hawaii’s version of the Grammy for favorite pop recording artist and opened for Melissa Etheridge sings spiritual and secular tunes. Kim-Char Meredith Saturday, Mar. 12, 7-8pm Unity Church417 Cordelia St.523-5897$15 love offering
Jazz divas salute Ella
Chicago jazz divas Frieda Lee, Spider Saloff, pictured, and Dee Alexander play tribute to the late-great first lady of song, Ella Fitzgerald. The Windy City trio love Ella so much, and fell in love working together, that they took their tribute on the road. For tickets visit www.hcfta.org or phone 523-2787. For more info on…
SEVEN PANCAKES
Despite being eliminated from the Progressive Automotive XPrize competition on what amounts to a technicality, the Illuminati Motorworks crew is still working on their fully-electric four-seat vehicle, Seven, which gets the equivalent of between 119 and 230 miles per gallon. The next step is testing the car’s power and efficiency at the Chrysler Proving Grounds…
Letters to the Editor 3/10/11
MARCH AGAINST SUFFERING I was amazed that the article by James Krohe Jr., “Living too high off the hog” [ March 3] was even considered for publication. His comparison of members of our community, often in the most vulnerable times of their lives, to soybeans is callous to say the least. And further, to liken…
