Best ideas since sliced bread
Have you heard of Otto Rohwedder? He’s the guy who perfected the bread slicer, back in 1928. Well, if you can come up with the best idea since sliced bread, it could be worth $100,000 to you. That’s the top prize being offered in a unique and useful competition sponsored by the Service Employees International…
Movie writers
Writing is a lonely profession, and the subject rarely lends itself to drama. It works if the writer or journalist develops a relationship with a known lunatic, as is the case in two new high-profile films, Capote and Good Night, and Good Luck. For Truman Capote, it was Perry Smith, one of the In Cold…
Decking the Hall
The Springfield Art Association opens its inaugural Holiday Hall Exhibition and Sale this weekend. The event marks a departure from the themes of past holiday exhibitions in favor of a fine-crafts sale for shoppers. Typically SAA’s juried exhibits draw works from artists all over the Midwest, but for the Holiday Hall, the SAA chose the…
Harry comes of age
The biggest surprise about the Harry Potter films? They just keep getting better. Instead of simply repeating elements that worked well the first time around, the sequels have expanded on the original situations and allowed their appealing characters to grow. Credit, of course, goes to the source material, the immensely popular novels by J.K. Rowling,…
Achievement examination
The achievement gap, typically thought of as disparities in test scores between racial groups, is really more complex than that. Among 11th-grade students in Springfield’s District 186, only 20 percent of low-income students met or exceeded standards on the science portion of the Prairie State Achievement Examination. The issue of the achievement gap and, more…
A slump so sublime
Love Kraft, the Super Furry Animals’ seventh studio album, begins with a splash — literally. It’s the sound of guitarist Huw “Bunf” Bunford diving into a swimming pool, and, given the fact that there are no accidents in the SFA cosmology, the effect would seem to serve some kind of symbolic function, to augur a baptism…
They’ve stiffed us. Again.
For the second time this year, Congress said no to an increase in the minimum wage, leaving it — and millions of workers — stuck at the poverty level of $5.15 an hour. That’s $10,500 a year for full-time work. Yes, this is the same Congress that gave itself a pay raise in July, making…
Rating Springfield’s buffets
Please hold the letters and e-mails. Of course the buffet you ate at last week deserves mention, whether you ended up in blissful nap or ran out of toilet paper in the wee hours. We did the best we could, but with so many buffets to choose from, space constraints, and the price of Alka…
The last stuffer
How many times you go through the line is a private matter between you and your capacity, and then between your capacity and the chef’s evil eye. — William Pearson, from the novel The Muses of Ruin Back in the day, nearly 40 years ago, Heritage House stood alone. “No one had anything close to…
“The sweetest thing”
In my 15 years writing about Illinois politics, I’ve never had a better day at the Statehouse than Wednesday of last week. That was the day the World Series champion White Sox came to Springfield. I’m a Sox fan, and it was thrilling just to see manager Ozzie Guillen and, to some extent, chairman Jerry…
Judy raises the bar
We have ourselves a ballgame. After keeping everyone guessing for months, state treasurer Judy Baar Topinka on Monday finally threw her hat into the three-ring circus that will be the Illinois governor’s race, albeit unofficially. But before Topinka locks horns with Gov. Rod Blagojevich in next year’s general election, she must beat out at least…
Letters to the editor
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 TREAT TROUBLED JUVENILES A recent article in Illinois Times describes the proposed expansion…
People’s poetry
We’ve all done it. People watching as spectator sport. Lola Lucas has a keen eye as demonstrated in this snapshot of her recent trip to a local bookstore. At the Springfield B & N Moms with strollers stop by the café For a shot of much-needed espresso While a farmer in bib overalls sorts through…
Abe’s Molly
Mary Todd Lincoln knew a lot of grief. Her mother died when she was 6. She lost three of her four children and was sitting beside her husband the night he was assassinated. When I picture her I see a woman veiled, dressed in voluminous yards of black silk. Fate and history have not been…
Comb-overs and sensible shoes
There’s a small celebrity associated with writing words that find public display; for instance, a few folks have asked me for writing advice. Of course, what they mean but are too kind to say is, “I have a wicker chair that can write better than you. I’m 50 times the writer you are, and I…
Rosa’s legacy
The recent passing of Rosa Parks is a reminder of how one person can effect social change. She became an icon in the civil-rights movement by refusing to yield her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955, standing up for what she believed and proving that there are numerous ways to fight injustice.…
Third time’s a charm
Chris Van Allsburg’s wildly imaginative, lavishly illustrated children’s books contain simple yet heart-warming messages that have wide appeal and are obvious candidates for adaptation to the big screen. Unfortunately, the first two — Jumanji (1995) and The Polar Express (2004) — misfired. The same cannot be said of Zathura. Here, finally, is a film that…
Staying focused
Retired Illinois State Police investigator Michale Callahan last week agreed to accept $150,000 in punitive damages from two of his former superior officers in hopes of resolving the federal civil-rights lawsuit he won in April. Callahan, who charged three officers in his chain of command with retaliating against him after he sought to reopen a…
Dynamic duo of duets
Country music, love it or leave it, is a open book of human emotion turned to the chapter on love. Unabashed love, unrequited love, unattainable love, undesired love, unfinished love, under-the-rearview-mirror love — it’s all there, masked within shuffles and waltzes, boogies and ballads, two-steps and swing. The king (and queen, in this scenario) of…
Her huge heart
There’s a specific string of words people use to describe Judy Dyer. They don’t just say she was smart; they use the word “wise.” They don’t just say she was funny; they say she was a bawdy smart-ass. And they don’t just say she was a friend; they say she made each person feel extra…
The worm’s turn
Have you ever wondered what an earthworm thinks? I recently purchased a children’s book, The Diary of a Worm, for my son. The book is about the life of a young earthworm. As I read this book to my son, I found myself laughing hysterically. My 6-year-old didn’t understand all the humor, but he enjoyed…
Jacqueline Jackson
uttermadnesspoem #1 I wonder how many soldiers fighting our oily war wondered if they’d be two-thousandth or after or before © Jacqueline Jackson 2005
