Jacqueline Jackson
haiku #9 quickly, look again — bare winter trees, every bough leafed out in blackbirds © Jacqueline Jackson 2006
Letters to the editor
We welcome letters, but please include your full name, address, and daytime telephone number. We edit all letters for libel, length, and clarity. Send letters to Letters, Illinois Times, P.O. Box 5256, Springfield, IL 62705; fax 217-753-3958; e-mail editor@illinoistimes.com. ORGAN GRINDER AND HIS MONKEY Having read “A taste of his own medicine” [Dusty Rhodes, Feb.…
American girl
Last spring, after cancer had spread from her breast to her bones, Patricia Clink applied for Social Security disability benefits. She had no doubt that she was eligible. After all, she’d been paying into the system since the age of 15, when she got her first job, at an Illinois State Fair concession stand. Her…
The imperial presidency
Let’s measure how far we’ve gone down the road to imperial government under the reign of King George the W: Start with 9/11, when al-Qaeda operatives crash-bombed America. In response, George W. misused and fabricated foreign intelligence in order to mislead the nation in order to attack Iraq — a country that had nothing to…
The dog with nine lives
Were Disney just another run-of-the-mill widget-making business, I have no doubt that environmentalists would love it, because there’s no company that recycles as much as it does. From its substandard direct-to-video sequels of beloved animated classics to the regular remakes of proven cash-cow concepts, the Mouse Factory knows how to beat a dead horse better…
Davis transferred
Springfield Police Department’s most controversial officer, Lt. Rickey Davis, has been transferred out of the detective bureau to patrol. Davis is a plaintiff in two separate federal race discrimination lawsuits and past president of the Black Guardians Association. His attorney, Courtney Cox, says Davis was called into a meeting with Deputy Chief Bill Rouse and…
The Hype
Fax check Judy Baar Topinka leads the pack for the Republican nomination for governor. She’s also the only Republican who holds statewide office. Lately, it seems, Topinka’s office has been cranking out a news release a day — a marked increase in communications — on everything from lenders’ forums to an African-American History Month reception.…
Stuck in park
Last weekend, the Springfield Park District advertised for a maintenance superintendent. The classified ad in the daily newspaper ran more than six column inches. Park brass know exactly what they want from the person who’ll be paid as much as $48,000 a year to make sure that park facilities stay spiffy. Among other things, the…
The end is near
Denial and willful ignorance are two of the most salient features of contemporary American society. Our political and business leaders have a financial interest in encouraging short-term thinking, selfishness, and war. As a result, topics covered in depth by foreign media are taboo for America. Some of the issues we refuse to address have the…
Foul play
When I called Elbert Kern last week, the first words out of his mouth were simply “I’m done.” Kern’s tone reinforced that sentiment: His voice was low, hollow, tired, resigned, as though he couldn’t even muster the energy to be bitter or mad. As we talked, he kept shrugging off questions by saying things like…
Stirring the pot
Through his inept handling of a silly little matter last week, Gov. Rod Blagojevich managed to make a real mess of things at the Illinois Statehouse, pitting black legislators against Jewish legislators and Jews against each other. This all started back in August, when Blagojevich appointed members to his Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes.…
American Life in Poetry
Every parent can tell a score of tales about the difficulties of raising children, and then of the difficulties in letting go of them. Here the Texas poet, Walt McDonald, shares just such a story. Some Boys are Born to Wander From Michigan our son writes, How many elk? How many big horn sheep? It’s…
In his nation’s service
Jonathan Embrey has enough war stories to last a lifetime. As a machine-gunner deployed to Iraq with the 2nd Battalion 4th Marines, known as the “Magnificent Bastards,” he went on patrol with “a really ballsy guy” named Oliver North — the icon of the Iran-Contra scandal — who was embedded with Embrey’s unit to cover…
Eek! Amid Eef’s gems, a gaffe or two
Eef Barzelay’s solo debut is exactly that: a solo album, consisting entirely of one measly voice and one measly acoustic guitar (well, almost — one very short track also features a bit of ambient bird chatter). Stripped down to the barest of essentials, Bitter Honey may lack some of the verve and variety that characterized…
Sidney Lumet’s classics
Fans of the cinema of the 1970s should rejoice over the new DVD special editions of two of that decade’s classics, Dog Day Afternoon (1975) and Network (1976). Both films are the work of Sidney Lumet, a New York-based director who excelled at urban chaos. Consistency is not a hallmark of his career, and he…
A ukulele lady like you
From her preteen songwriting attempts through her graduation from the Berklee College of Music, Victoria Vox dreamed of becoming a professional singer/songwriter. During her Berklee years, the native of Green Bay, Wis., collaborated with other students to record her first CD, the full-band extravaganza Victoria and the Ultra Pink Bicycle Incident. After graduating from Berklee…
