Playing in the park
Untitled Document A few years ago the Springfield Parks Foundation, in cooperation with the Springfield Park District, began producing “Music in the Parks,” featuring live music by area bands once a month, May-September, in various city parks. Local sound guru Ric Major — a stalwart of the central-Illinois music scene since the 1970s and owner/operator…
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. GUNS PROTECT OUR FREE SPEECH It’s a mad, mad, mad world. I’m not talking about the star-studded comedy movie but Hal…
A green wedding
Untitled Document What are some tips for making the festivities greener for those getting married this summer? You know environmental consciousness has really taken hold when couples start to worry about whether their weddings will be green enough — but more and more people who care deeply about the planet view getting married as a…
Five sleepers
Untitled Document Once May rolls around, you can’t pick up an entertainment magazine without seeing a story on the slate of big summer movie releases. Flicks such as Iron Man, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and The Dark Knight get most of the attention, but hidden away in the list of…
Fighting dull food
Untitled Document Have you ever eaten blackened fish? Blackened chicken? Blackened steak? Credit Paul Prudhomme, who invented the technique of blackening, and brought it into American kitchens. In the 1970s and ’80s, when American food and cooking were experiencing a revolution brought about by such people as Alice Waters and Wolfgang Puck on the West…
Third time a charm?
Untitled Document Almost nine months after initial plans for a new headquarters for the Sangamon County Department of Public Health fell through, county officials expect to issue a third request for proposals by early June. The project’s new RFP will have two parts: the first for vacant property and the second for the facility’s construction.…
The sensuality of everyday life
Untitled Document Imagine sitting in your favorite coffeehouse, surrounded by paintings done in a riot of color. A wise friend is sharing a latte, along with stories from her life that make you smile in recognition. Subtract the caffeine and you’ve got the experience of reading Celia Wesle’s Light: Paintings and Poems. Now retired from…
Going to church with Mom
Untitled Document On Mother’s Day I go to church with Mom. She’s still with our old home church, Central Christian, though it’s hardly the same church I grew up in. Central has become our small town’s version of a megachurch. Over the past 20 years it has leaped enthusiastically into the contemporary-worship movement, first ditching…
Cap City
Untitled Document ROCK IN A HARD PLACE James ‘Rock’ Haley, who recently turned 71, should be relaxing and enjoying his golden years — but instead he’s had to return to work to afford the medicine his wife, Edna, needs for a rare muscle disease. Although the couple’s only income up until now has been Rock’s…
Fee fie, ho-hum
Untitled Document Ward 6 Ald. Mark Mahoney was just like every other Lake Area Disposal customer when, on April 30, he opened a letter saying that he would be slapped with a $20 fee if he left yard-waste bags out without stickers. “The council’s not too happy and the mayor’s office knew nothing about it,”…
Cutting-edge
Untitled Document Civil War medicine is notorious for being gruesome. It’s an odd topic for the squeamish, like Springfield author Glenna Schroeder-Lein, whose book, The Encyclopedia of Civil War Medicine, was just published. “I’m the sort of person who feels faint at the sight of blood,” she says, laughing. This was the third book and…
Pasta salad
Untitled Document Q. Do you have a really good recipe for pasta salad? — Elizabeth A. As a matter of fact, I do. This is my personal favorite and one that’s been a big hit with family and friends as well. In general there are two kinds of pasta salads: those tossed with a vinaigrette…
Get it fresh
Untitled Document In the past couple of years we’ve begun hearing such phrases such as “Think local, eat local,” “Buy local, eat healthy,” “Buy fresh, buy local,” “100-mile diet,” “Eat-local challenge,” and “Eat close to home.” Essentially they’re all saying the same thing: It’s good to buy and eat locally grown produce. There are many…
Camp Misery
Untitled Document During the Civil War, Springfield had one of the state’s largest soldier-training facilities: Camp Butler, located about six miles northeast of Springfield, west of the current site of Camp Butler National Cemetery near Riverton. The camp was established quickly but not well. According to the Camp Butler history (written by cemetery staffer Mabel…
Get stimulated
Untitled Document I’m totally excited that our tax-rebate checks are coming! Washington has turned into Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, all rolled into one, now delivering $300 to $600 checks to nearly every one of us. The idea is that we’ll all rush out and buy, buy, buy — thus stimulating…
Recipe for hunger
Untitled Document With hungry, angry people taking to the streets in countries on every continent — from Morocco to Mexico and Pakistan to the Philippines and at least 20 other nations — the biofuel debate is clearly moving into new territory. Arguments for and against using crops to make fuel are no longer focusing on…
The formula for global despair
Untitled Document The International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization promised that more trade would help eradicate poverty and hunger. Food crops? Self-sufficiency in food? They had a better idea. Local farms would be closed down or encouraged to concentrate on exports. This would make the most not of natural conditions that might be…
More for the money
Untitled Document Bespectacled, soft-spoken, and neatly dressed, Jonathan Lackland has a demeanor and appearance that’s more policy wonk than political firebrand or slick high-powered lobbyist. In fact, he looks like one of those guys at government hearings who slide little pieces of paper and whisper things to big-shot public officials when they don’t know the…
Tip of the iceberg?
Untitled Document Less than a year ago, Lisa Steelman — the mother of a skater and a lobbyist for Novartis Pharmaceuticals — worked her magic and, despite drastic state budget cuts, scored a $40,000 government grant for the Springfield Figure Skating Club. But in a recent letter sent to the SFSC board of directors, obtained…
People’s poetry
Untitled Document ecopoem #11 coming in august to uisour newest residence hallannouncement with pictures “founders hall” in honor ofour founders it will go greenhave a leafy roof as one ofthose founders yes a fewof us are still around I willdonate a pair of goats to liveon the roof keep it trimmedwhat pleasure for us…
