CHEWING GUM
Ah, the sweetgum tree. Such a nice name, evoking visions of sugarplums and chocolate chips falling from cotton-candy clouds before the rainbow arrives. The truth, as we all know, is much different. Those spiky balls that fall from sweetgum trees throughout Springfield clog storm sewers while roots tear through sidewalks, and they taste terrible to…
The Sessions survives narrative oversight
You’d have to be a hardhearted individual indeed not to be moved by Mark O’Brien’s story. Having contracted polio at the age of six, the writer spends most of his time confined in an iron lung, a prison he’s dependent on for up to 19 hours a day. Yet, this hardly proves to be an…
Sounding praise and alarms
It was tough to tell the D from the R last Friday at a joint discussion by U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin and former governor Jim Edgar. The conversation sponsored by the Citizens Club at the Hoogland Center for the Arts included analyses of the presidential election and a good deal of talk about fiscal predicaments…
Case closed
It didn’t take long for things to get weird when Jay Magnuson started work as a Sangamon County prosecutor. “ ‘I’ve got a doozy for you,’” Magnuson recalls a Springfield police sergeant saying during a wee-hours phone call on Mother’s Day in 1996, just five months after he arrived in Springfield after two decades as…
Geoff Turner
Singer-songwriter Geoff Turner returns to his native Springfield from his current home base of Nashville, Tenn. on a mission to introduce fans, family and friends to his new EP CD. Winter Songs, Turner’s self-produced and independently released recording, “has been over a year in the making.” He credits much of the CD effort to encouragement…
The sorrow and the pretty
Do men in troubled relationships often seek someone to give them a nudge to get out? I often attract these men, some of whom I suspect just want a backup relationship before splitting with the wife. I happen to be interested in the current man confiding in me about his angry, obsessive wife. I won’t…
Skin City
Why would someone voluntarily undergo several hours of a needle stabbing them several thousand times per minute? The simple answer is for the sake of art, but the long answer is a bit more complicated. Thanks to athletes, celebrities and TV shows, tattoos have gone from taboo to typical over the past 20 years. What…
Billionaires crap out in 2012 elections
They came. They spent! Then, they limped home, tails between their legs. “They” are the far-right corporate billionaire extremists who tried to become America’s presidential kingmakers this year. Unleashed by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United edict allowing unlimited sums of cash in our elections, they spewed an ocean of money into efforts to enthrone Mitt…
Fahner goes too far trashing pension reform
For the past few years, the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago has been one of the most feared participants in the state’s pension reform debate. Ty Fahner, a former Illinois attorney general who heads the Civic Committee, managed to convince both parties to elbow each other for a position of favor with…
Death penalty’s dying days
I sat back and watched the debate that unfolded in the Illinois House Judiciary Committee. Prosecutors from across the state each spoke and put their best arguments forward as to why lawmakers should vote to defeat the bill that would ultimately abolish the death penalty in Illinois. They had all but abandoned the original argument…
Thanks for Thanksgiving Eve
As reported in this column for the past several years, for those of you who care, the night before Thanksgiving is known as the biggest party of the calendar year for the live music/bar scene. Even lacking a proper name like St. Patrick’s Day or New Year’s Eve – the other big participants in the…
Thanksgivings past spur thoughts on race, present and future
“Mrs. Obama … do you realize that when your husband becomes the next president of the United States, it will be historical?” “Why yes, I understand that. What does that mean to you?”“It means I can imagine anything for myself.” An exchange between Michelle Obama and a 10-year-old Ohio girl during the 2008 presidential campaign,…
Tuning in to others
Lincoln Land Community College presents Hootenanny with Ken Bradbury, Barry Cloyd and friends. This is a free and fun evening of music and sing-a-longs to benefit the Jacksonville Area Community Food Center. In lieu of an admission charge, bring nonperishable food items or a monetary donation. All money and goods received go to this great…
Interactive showing
Warm up your vocal chords, cut up those chintz curtains and parade, bike or skip on down to the Hoogland Center for the Arts for the Sing-a-Long-a Sound of Music. On Nov. 23 and 24, watch the classic film on the big screen and interact with the movie under the direction of Johnny Molson, morning…
Letters to the Editor 11/22/12
DON’T LOSE SIGHT The health care system will dramatically change in 2014 as a result of the Affordable Care Act, or health care reform. As an optometrist who has served Illinois for 39 years, I strongly recommend that the vision benefit included in health care exchanges be defined to include a comprehensive eye exam plus…
Serving the community
For the 27th year, Central Baptist Church will serve free Thanksgiving meals to the public on Thanksgiving Day. On the menu is all the tasty classic fare: roasted turkey breast, homemade dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, bread and dessert. Piano music completes the soothing yet festive environment. Free winter gloves, socks and…
cosmologypoem # 9
cosmologypoem # 9 before dawn tomorrow is the prime timeto see leonids 20 shooting stars anhour predicted – one every three minuteswith me not acclimated yet to the timechange I may be up to watch for themmissed the perseids in august both showerscome around every year but every yearis one less year for each of…
POOR PAT
Gov. Pat Quinn can’t catch a break these days. He’s hounded at nearly every public appearance by angry union workers because of his efforts to cut union pay, renege on contractual raises and close state facilities like the Jacksonville Developmental Center. The recent election may have rendered his executive veto power moot, as both chambers…
Draining the pool
Making one’s address a condition of employment is one of those latent viruses that reside in the American body politic, and which flares up in full-blown symptoms every few decades. Residency requirements were first imposed by big-city political machines; if you wanted the alderman to give you a city job, you and your family had…
Go ahead, wax nostalgic
This holiday season, the familiar warm glow of candles will be complemented by frosty winter wonderland colors and fragrances. “There’s a sense of icy, fresh, watery – like a really light snow that’s glistening over things,” says Barbara Miller, spokeswoman for the National Candle Association. “That’s not only in the colors, you also have it…
U game?
Nintendo is back to change the gaming experience with its latest console, the Wii U, arriving this month, just in time for the holidays, for $299.99. The company lured gamers off the couch with the release of the Wii in 2006, spearheading the motion-gaming segment that now includes Kinect for Xbox 360 and PlayStation Move.…
BUSTED
The Sangamon County Bar Association is addressing two well-known shortages by putting another lawyer in the local courthouse while also gracing Springfield with not one but three depictions of Abraham Lincoln. Lawyers being lawyers, the bar association waited until the last minute – actually three years beyond the last minute – to file, er install,…
Latino voting soars in Illinois
Back in 1992, Latinos made up about 8 percent of Illinois’ population, yet only 1 percent of that year’s total Election Day voter pool was Latino. The trend continued for years. Latinos just didn’t vote. Twenty years later, things have changed in a big way. According to exit polling, 12 percent of Illinois voters last…
Prairie troubadour
You’ve been warned, you won’t get far Life’s crooked as a scimitarCut the cord there ain’t no doubtThere’s one way in and one way out – John the Baptist So goes the refrain of John the Baptist, the opening song on Ben Bedford’s latest record, What We Lost, sentiments that ring true across the ways…
SPECIAL SKATER
Erin Hart has autism, but you’d never know it when she’s on the ice. The 18-year-old figure skater from Pleasant Hill, Ill., trains at Springfield’s Nelson Center ice arena twice a week, and her dedication to the sport has paid off. Erin is one of 11 figure skaters from the U.S. competing at the Special…
Holiday help for nonprofits
If you’re like most Illinois Times readers, your life is safe and secure and the holidays are a time for family fun and delicious meals. Sadly that isn’t the case for everyone in our community. Many won’t have packages to open or a festive celebration to look forward to. Thousands around the area count on…
Bothering to vote, and bothering voters
Two heroes emerged at the polls this year, and neither was named Barack or Mitt. Their names are Galicia and Ken – ordinary Americans with extraordinary depths of civic spirit. While nearly 40 percent of eligible voters didn’t bother to cast their ballots this year, these two demonstrated that our democratic right to vote is…
Local big cheese on variety and expertise
Her voice halted me in my tracks. Right in front of the Montvale Schnucks’ newly renovated and expanded specialty cheese display, I quit pushing my cart. Shamelessly eavesdropping, I cast periodic surreptitious glances toward the speaker behind the counter. “This is Raclette. It’s from Switzerland and ….” A young Schnucks staffer was showing a piece…
Letters to the Editor 11/15/2012
GOOD CONDUCT CREDIT FOR ALLWith Illinois having $85 billion in unfunded pension liabilities, the credit rating agencies could no longer ignore the state’s fiscal mess. What’s worse is that our state continues to perpetuate flawed policies that make no sense – the Illinois Department of Correction’s Earned Good Conduct Credit being the perfect example. It…
Chicago Farmer
After an upbringing among offerings of punk and grunge sounds in his hometown of Delavan, Ill. in southern Tazewell County, Chicago Farmer, aka Cody Diekhoff, saw the light upon hearing the songs of Hank Williams. Soon he discovered Woody Guthrie and John Prine, finding in the simple melodies and complex themes a sense of kinship…
Spielberg’s powerful portrait of Lincoln the man
Surprisingly intimate yet dealing with moral questions of epic proportion, Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln is a movie befitting its subject as we know him. At once warm and folksy, at others fierce and impassioned, this is perhaps the most accessible film yet made about the Great Emancipator in terms of presenting him as a man –…
Various November varieties
Every once in a while it’s fascinating to take a look at all the music out there in the big picture rather than focusing in on one subject. With all the happenings this weekend, plus the upcoming Thanksgiving feast of music next week, that once in a while is now. First, what’s up with all…
The way of the nail gun
My boyfriend of four years is a wonderful man who makes me incredibly happy. He was there for me throughout my breast cancer, making me feel sexy, beautiful and loved. I’m 43, divorced five years. He’s 41, never married, and his longest relationship was with a train wreck of an alcoholic on house arrest (I…
Strong sass
Get ready to be wowed by a blues singer Elmore Magazine called the “modern-day, female version of Louis Armstrong.” Another awesome WUIS Bedrock 66 Live concert takes place Nov. 17 at the Hoogland Center for the Arts featuring Davina and The Vagabonds. The magazine got it right. Davina’s sound and fire will heighten your senses.…
Modern Romeo and Juliet
Broadway comes to Sangamon Auditorium, UIS with the Tony Award-winning Arthur Laurents musical West Side Story, recreated for tour by David Saint. Don’t miss this one night of amazing dance, song and story that for more than 50 years has captivated theater goers. The Bernstein and Sondheim score features songs you’ve never forgotten “Tonight,” “America,”…
Diagnosing the cost disease
Find a cure for Baumol’s Disease and you will be hailed as the benefactor of millions, even though the only people it harms are politicians. Baumol’s Disease strikes the body politic, specifically the tendency of government costs to so outpace the cost of everything else. Right-thinking commentators liken them to a cancer, in spite of…
Answers, please
Federal environmental regulators have joined the Illinois attorney general’s office in asking why the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency transferred a pollution permit in Macoupin County, enabling continued coal mining near Carlinville. When Macoupin Energy, a division of Foresight Energy that has invested heavily in Illinois coal in recent years, purchased the then-idle Carlinville mine from…
Does UIS stiff laborers?
A group of union workers at the University of Illinois Springfield claims many of their non-union counterparts got raises above the university’s own limits. The workers also claim UIS pays support staff nearly a third less than the same jobs at the university’s flagship campus in Urbana-Champaign. The claims come amid a round of wage…
The golden boy of Illinois
Reading Golden: How Rod Blagojevich Talked Himself out of the Governor’s Office and Into Prison, is an excruciatingly painful experience. But the pain does not come from the work of Jeff Coen and John Chase, reporters for the Chicago Tribune who, like all Illinoisans, lived the Blagojevich years firsthand. In covering the atrocities of the…
R&B soul
Glenn Leonard, former lead singer from The Temptations, brings his nationally touring Motown review, Hitsville Live, to The Legacy Theatre Friday, Nov. 16. You will be transported back to the 1960s when the sounds of The Temptations, The Supremes, The Marvelettes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson permeated the airwaves. An all-star cast of…
A straight flush
What does it take for a Democrat to win countywide office in Sangamon County? Pretty much a miracle, unless your last name is Langfelder and you are running unopposed. On paper, at least, things this year looked more promising than usual for local Democrats. Republican coroner Cinda Edwards, whose appointment to the post drew criticism…
Crowd-pleasing holiday dips
Avocado goat cheese dip• 3 ripe avocados• 2 gloves minced garlic• 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)• 4 ounces cream cheese• 4 ounces goat cheese• 2 teaspoons lemon or lime juiceMix all ingredients at once with a large spoon or hand-mixer in a medium bowl. Serve with blue corn chips, pretzels or crackers. Smoked salmon…
Where there’s smoke!
Breaking with tradition is always a test of the home cook’s mettle, especially around the holidays. Loved ones have expectations and when they aren’t met, disappointment causes upset even Tums can’t relieve. For those looking to make the leap from the oven to the outdoors this year, there are a few general guidelines to make…
A way forward for local Democrats
Election night was a mixed bag for local Democrats as nearly a hundred activists, many who worked on local races, filled Floyd’s Thirst Parlor to await vote returns. The mood was festive and optimistic, but as the night advanced without a presidential winner declared, nervousness lingered. Sporadic cheers erupted as the projected winners of high-profile…
Christmas extravaganza
One of the best places to go in Springfield to feel the joy of the holiday season (30,000 people thought so last year), the Festival of Trees is a nine-day Christmas extravaganza. Decorated trees, swags and wreaths (150 to be exact) are decked out by area designers and groups. It’s always fun to see the…
tooth fairy letter #3
dear tooth fairy: I have lost three molars and one eyetooth since you have lastpaid me and you don’t haveto pay me anything if you canarrange with my mom so she gives me a clothes allowance next year – tell her I wouldn’t mind if she doesn’t raise my regular allowance thoughit would be nice
