Your Turn . . . 11-13-03
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 When horse is the course Thank you for your article “Neighsayers” [Pete…
It’s beginning to look a lot like holiday-plant-buying time
The holidays are fast approaching, and poinsettias no doubt again will be the most popular seasonal houseplant sold in the United States. There’s good reason: With their rich colors and variety, poinsettias add a festive touch to any home. In addition to the traditional red bracts (modified leaves), poinsettias are available in white, pink, peach,…
Cutting class
Tennessee started experimenting with class sizes in 1985 as part of a broad education reform effort led by then-Gov. Lamar Alexander. Kindergarten students were assigned to one of three classroom settings: in classes with no more than 17 students, in classes with 22 to 26 students, and in classes with 22 to 26 students and…
Grace about town
OK, I guess what I’m doing here is trying to prove Tom Wolfe wrong. He went back to his hometown, he wrote a very thick book titled You Can’t Go Home Again, and it went on and on and on. I can’t remember exactly what happened, but Tom didn’t have such a great time, back…
The Indian Embassy
Loneth Soares isn’t just the manager of Springfield’s only Indian restaurant. She feels somewhat like an ambassador for the country. Since opening Gateway to India in 2001, she has learned that part of her job is educating new customers about Indian food and answering their many questions. And if they order something they’re not pleased…
Now Playing 11-13-03
What do you want for the middle of November? Everything — at once? Okay, not a problem. Kick off your week with one of the best. It’s our gal pal, the Rockabilly Filly, the San Antonio Rose herself, Rosie Flores, on stage Thursday at the Underground City Tavern. Rosie recently released a solo acoustic CD…
Knoepfle 11-13-03
fall break IWU why did she abandon this cup tea still drying in the bottom white cup with its green collar preoccupied I guess going home for fall vacation and her mother with a lap full of worries her brother using her barbies for spears her father disturbing the sunday with his new riding mower…
A celebration of everything fowl
John James Audubon — that is, a reasonable facsimile of the famous American artist — makes a local appearance Saturday as part of the Illinois State Museum’s “Bird is the Word” event. Storyteller Brian “Fox” Ellis, who plays the role of Audubon, will regale visitors with stories of the artist’s adventures in wild America in…
The Color of Money
The neighborhood looks a lot like any other freshly-minted subdivision across town or across the Midwest — shiny new houses with attached garages, fenced backyards, preternaturally green lawns and a pleasant uniformity of design, plopped down on a patch of prairie where no houses stood before. It’s the kind of place where Beaver Cleaver might…
Squirtgun delivers a cure for a bad day
Quick! What do you get when you unite a college professor, a record label owner, a molecular geneticist, and a veteran punk rock record producer? You get pop punk legends Squirtgun! For the last decade, this Lafayette, Ind.-based outfit has been setting the standard for composing songs laden with infectious guitar riffs, sweet harmonies, and…
Movie Shorts
What other critics are saying. . . Brother Bear [G] An American Indian, who seeks vengeance against a bear, is turned into a bear. “A play- it-safe pastiche of familiar Disney tropes, from the senseless killing of a poor animal to the headstrong young adventurer to the ragtag comic relief to … well, you can…
What the Dickens! A site devoted to his public readings
Charles Dickens would have loved the Internet. To the boy who worked in the boot-blacking factory, the digital highway would have been an endless piece of paper and a bottomless pot of ink. Dickens never knew the Net, but now the Net knows him. Anyone who has written an essay for his or her English…
Renaissance art
It’s a mellow golden Saturday, the first weekend of fall, during the Stark County Fall Festival Drive in rural west-central Illinois. Chicago artist James Wisnowski and five of his students from the city have set up their easels in the softly rolling countryside just outside the town of Toulon, the seat of one of the…
Ruffled feathers
You’ve probably heard that Gov. Rod Blagojevich is fighting with state legislators again. This time, he’s claiming the General Assembly is on a “spending orgy” and tossing around taxpayer money like “drunken sailors” who have “run amok.” We’ve seen this time and time again. The governor often tries to control the General Assembly’s behavior by…
