I Don’t Know does it with charm
The promise of the women’s liberation movement was that women everywhere would be able to have it all. Being a mother, wife and having a career would all be within their reach, once male perceptions were changed and inequalities in the workplace were addressed. The problem was that once they got it all, many realized…
Mayor Houston’s politics and promises
I watched with fascination the two recent nationally televised Republican debates. No, I am not a Republican nor is my allegiance to President Obama slipping. Perhaps I am drawn to these debates because, having recently run a political campaign, I, in some very small way, feel a kinship with these candidates. My stomach tightened as…
Pioneer days
The Pleasant Plains Historical Society has made progress in their job of restoring this historical old stagecoach stop village. Sept. 17-18 check out the progress, support continuing efforts, and enjoy festival activities such as pioneer artisan and craftsman demonstrations, tours of Broadwell Inn & Tavern and the Batterton Cabin, pony rides, pioneer crafts and games…
9/11 poem
sunday morning driving south onfifth I was stopped on capitol bya cavalcade of 1000? 2000? 3000?motorcyclists streaming past two threefour abreast some with flags big andsmall most multi-passengered, sidecarscrammed they started from where?going where? I turned off my enginesettled back watched thought of theanniversary thought of my personalanniversary my daughter not in the car seeing…
Meet this year’s Hope School Celebrity Chef
When Stephanie Izard, this year’s Hope School Celebrity Chef, became Bravo TV’s 2008 Top Chef – the first and, after nine seasons, still the only woman to do so – Chicago’s food world was buzzing. Would Izard return to Chicago? If she did, what kind of restaurant would she have? Formal or casual? Small/intimate or…
MacArthur Park’s Slumdog Millionaire
Linda Sexton knows about promises.Promises to replace her Brady-Bunch-era kitchen cabinets. Promises for a new living room carpet. Promises for a backyard patio behind her apartment, one of more than 170 units just off MacArthur Boulevard, next to Jerome. “They told me six months ago they ordered my windows,” Sexton says. After nearly 13 years…
Firepot explosion results in lawsuit
A Pleasant Plains couple is suing Ace Hardware and the manufacturer of a firepot used to repel insects after their seven-year-old son was burned when the pot exploded. Bird Brain, which manufactured the ceramic firepot and an accompanying gel fuel, was slow to act after more than 50 explosions nationwide since December 2009, according to…
Perry Tales: Rick is not who he says he is
Presidential wannabe Rick Perry is flitting all around the country – hither, thither and yon – spreading little “Perry Tales” about himself and the many wonders he has worked as governor of Texas. His top Perry Tale is a creationist story about what he has modestly branded “The Texas Miracle.” While the rest of the…
Mid-month mish-mash
Off we go into the fall festival season with events galore. Sometimes it’s nice to write about one thing (like next week’s return of Tonguesnatcher Revue on Sept. 24), but when so much stuff comes across the desk (if I had a desk) what’s a feller to do but attempt to fit in all in,…
Baseball’s perfect warrior
Stan Musial: An American Life, by George Vecsey. Ballantine Books, 2011. 397 pages. $26. If you are disturbed by multimillion-dollar athletes who seem less than grateful for their status, listen to this: In 1959, Stan Musial asked for a pay cut because he’d had a less-than-Musial type season. After a scorching doubleheader in St. Louis…
IDNR says mine stop order ‘premature’
A few weeks ago, after concerned citizens told the Illinois Department of Natural Resources that Hillsboro Energy, LLC, had started building an 80-foot tall coal slurry impoundment without an approved permit, the state agency in charge of regulating mines ordered the company to stop construction or face enforcement action. A week later, when asked about…
PLAQUES FOR LINCOLN
In Springfield, Abraham Lincoln reigns as king, but this year, during the city’s Historic Preservation Awards program, it’s modern-day Lincoln-era property owners who’ll receive a pat on the back. The Springfield Historic Sites Commission on Oct. 10 will unveil its Lincoln Era Plaque Recognition Program, which includes the distribution of frame-worthy certificates to anyone who…
Letters to the Editor 09/15/11
COUNTY CAT TAXLet’s call it what it is – a tax on people who own cats. The Sangamon County Board needs money for its budget and this is the way they plan to get it. The requirement to register a cat and have it inoculated each year for rabies is ridiculous. For statistics on rabies,…
SUPPORTING SURVIVORS
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is building its presence in Springfield, where on Oct. 1 the organization will hold a community walk to raise money for research and educational programs that can raise awareness and prevent suicide. This will be the third year AFSP will host a walk in Springfield, which will be followed…
Peace builder
Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, talks at Laurel United Methodist Church on Sunday, Sept. 18. This is a September Days of Compassion Event and is sponsored by Laurel Peacemakers. Like his grandfather, Rajmohan Gandhi is and has been engaged in efforts against corruption and inequalities. He is research professor at the Center for South…
Zoo master plan moving along
Results are in, and the survey says Henson Robinson Zoo is both a gem and a challenge yet to be met. As part of an effort to revitalize Springfield’s 41-year-old zoo, volunteers representing the park district, the general public and the zoo itself have gathered regularly for the past several months to work on what…
Sarah’s Key a poignant tribute to
Combining an intriguing mystery with a moving historical account of a forgotten chapter from World War II, Gilles Paquet-Brenner’s Sarah’s Key is an ambitious emotional epic that succeeds in nearly all it attempts. Shifting back and forth between scenes of wartime atrocities and a modern woman’s dogged pursuit to uncover the fate of one Jewish…
All eyes on MacArthur
MacArthur Park is a microcosm for community activists throughout Springfield who want the city to do something about problem properties in their neighborhoods. Steve Combs, president of the Enos Park Neighborhood Improvement Association and chairman of Inner City Older Neighborhoods (ICON), a consortium of community activists throughout the city, sent a congratulatory email to corporation…
Quinn’s doomsday game gets old
I began to reminisce during Gov. Pat Quinn’s Chicago press conference last week. Quinn had called the media together to announce he was closing seven state facilities and laying off almost 2,000 state employees because the General Assembly had passed an inadequate budget. Wait, I thought, haven’t I already seen this movie? Back in May…
John Paul Keith and the One Four Fives
Raised outside of Knoxville, Tenn., John Paul Keith took the hard road to getting heard in the music business. His dad gave him a guitar at age 10 with lessons coming from studying records by the likes of Chuck Berry and BB King. Next, JPK landed in Nashville ready to take on the world at…
Temples in ruins
I left one question unanswered when I wrote recently that the Horace Mann Educators Corp. building in downtown Springfield was one of four in the capital city designed by a world-famous architecture firm. (“Architectural dreams,” Aug. 4, 2011.) Why did a growing but still small insurance company in a not-growing and small Midwestern city hire…
Bowling for hoots & hollers
Dixie’s Tupperware Party is a hilarious Drama Desk Award-nominated show written by Kris Andersson, who also stars as Dixie Longate, a fiery cross between Minnie Pearl and Dolly Parton with RuPaul. The production arrives in Springfield as the last stop on a 40-city national tour. Filled with outrageously funny tales, heartfelt accounts, product giveaways, audience…
Fab flicks
Watch 62 of the best independent films from 11 countries and 16 states, as well as Illinois, during this three-day film festival held at the Hoogland Center for the Arts. About 30 filmmakers, along with some of their cast and crew, are expected to attend including some from Hollywood: writer/director/actor Michael Worth and Springfield native…
Top-notch visuals
For almost a quarter century the Springfield Art Association has hosted a fine art fair the third weekend in September on the Edwards Place Historic Home lawn. This year it promises to be just as enchanting as in previous years. Meet 75 artists from Illinois and the nation. See and buy their work. Listen to…
