How’ve you been?
The “I go to my reunion” essay is a staple of the genre. By now there is nothing new that can be said, but readers read them anyway, fearful that other people’s reunions were better than theirs. Which is a very high school reason. The most the reader can hope for from such an essay…
Cleaning up after pundits
Jim Hightower PHOTO BY LARRY D. MOORE Being a muckracking political writer often makes me feel like a custodian in a horse barn, constantly shoveling manure. Indeed, I’m now a certified Equine Excrement Engineer, having developed a narrow but important professional specialty: cleaning off the horse stuff that careless politicos and sloppy media types keep…
Putting Rauner’s money into perspective
The Washington Post published a story the other day entitled “Meet the wealthy donors who are pouring millions into the 2016 elections.” The paper listed the top ten national donors to so-called “super PACS.” The list is topped by wealthy San Francisco Democrat Tom Steyer at $38 million. Second place went to “New York-based hedge-fund…
Letters to the Editor 9/15/16
ILLUSTRATION BY CHRIS BRITT LIQUID BOONDOGGLE With one comment, Alderman Kris Theilen revealed the primary reason he now supports this liquid boondoggle: “Theilen now says that the city needs Hunter Lake to help attract industries that need water and will create jobs” (“On a mission,” by Bruce Rushton, Sept. 8). So, it is not because…
Editor’s note 9/15/16
Chuck Todd, the political director of NBC News and the moderator of “Meet the Press,” was informative and entertaining as he commented on the current political news for the Better Government Association’s annual banquet in Chicago this week. Hillary Clinton’s illness was less important for what it revealed about her health than it was as…
Why this Democrat wants a strong GOP
I’ve been a Democrat all my life. I believe in the party’s values, I’m pleased when its candidates win elections and I’m persuaded the country is better off when Democratic ideas get a fair shake in the public arena. But none of this means that I favor a weak Republican Party. Indeed, just the opposite.…
Ice princesses
Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream What better way to spend your time than with Mickey and Minnie Mouse and four of Disney’s most-loved princesses? During Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream, a touring family show, attendees will become Tangled in laughter with princess Rapunzel and her sidekicks Flynn and Maximus; travel across the Enchanted…
A play with music
Peter and the Starcatchers Based on the popular books by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Peter and the Starcatcher, Rick Elice’s five-time Tony Award-winning play, poses and answers one of the age-old questions of childhood: “How did Peter Pan and Captain Hook Meet?” Written as a prequel to James M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, this enchanting…
A jaunt through the jewel of Springfield
Enos Park Home Tour Step through time during the annual Enos Park Historic Home Tour on Saturday, Sept. 17, from 1-5 p.m. See fully restored historic homes, homes that are currently in the process of being restored and notable homes in need of a bit of TLC. The self-guided tour begins at the ticketing location,…
Casualties of war paint
PHOTO COURTESY AMY ALKON Amy Alkon I dragged my boyfriend into the makeup store Sephora, and he said, “Save your money. You don’t need any of this stuff. I like you better without makeup.” Huh? Why is there a huge makeup industry when so many men say they don’t even like makeup? – Pretty Confused…
Fall Home & Garden event calendar
PHOTO METROCREATIVECONNECTION.COM Grapes and GourdsSep 15, 6-8pm. Create a handcrafted gourd birdhouse. $25 includes glass of wine, supplies and instruction. Registration at lincolnmemorialgarden.org or 529-1111. It’s All About Wine, 1305 Wabash Ave., 546-9463. Enos Park Home TourSep 17, 1-5pm. Self-guided tour of historic homes in Springfield’s oldest neighborhood. Wine and cheese reception to follow in…
Digging and storing cannas
Cannas PHOTO WWW.ISTOCKPHOTO.COM Now is the time to devise a plan for digging and storing cannas. To successfully overwinter cannas indoors, the bulbs should be dug up after the first light frost has killed the top of the plant. Although technically they are not bulbs, but rhizomes, cannas need to be treated as tender bulbs…
Late-blooming beauties
Light pink anemones PHOTO WWW.ISTOCKPHOTO.COM Just as most flowers are frying or fading, late-blooming perennials take off and steal the show. Here are a few late-blooming beauties to create a fantastic fall flower garden. Fall anemones, which include an array of species (Anemone hupehensis, A. x hybrida, A. tomentosa, and A. vitifolia) are reliable late…
Benefits of fall core aeration for the lawn
PHOTO METROCREATIVECONNECTION.COM Although it’s true that core aeration relieves soil compaction in the lawn, coring has several more benefits for the grass plant soil profile, microbial activity in the ground and thatch management. When the soil beneath the lawn is compacted, grass roots grow poorly. They stay nearer to the surface and are more readily…
Recycled leaves make inexpensive mulch
PHOTO METROCREATIVECONNECTION.COM Rather than bagging or removing fallen leaves, use them in your yard. The tree leaves that accumulate in and around your landscape represent a valuable natural resource that can be used to provide a good source of organic matter and nutrients for use in your landscape. Leaves contain 50 to 80 percent of…
Every room is a family room in this light and bright home
The dining area abuts a two-floor slatted wall that not only connects the upper and lower levels in the central atrium, it also adds an element of safety for bouncy kids. “We did that instead of continuing the steel railing,” Meharry says. � PHOTOS BY BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER/THE SEATTLE TIMES/TNS For now, anyway, Mom and Dad’s…
Fall doors that say welcome
With a little finessing, this wreath springs to life and becomes a rich, full, fabulous halo of fall leaves. PHOTO BY HANDOUT/TNS Every day, my husband, Dan, takes our golden retriever, Lyric, out for a walk around our little lake community. Good thing they aren’t trying to rack up steps on their Fitbit, because I…
The unexpected uses of stone
PHOTO COURTESY CENTRAL STONE & LANDSCAPE SUPPLY Traditionally, furniture is made of wood or metal, because of their appealing aesthetic quality and durability. These days, there is a new material many designers and homeowners are considering: stone. Granted, stone is an unlikely material choice for furniture-building, but in the design community, stone is quickly building…
Warm up your windows
PHOTO BY BOB GREENSPAN/TNS I have fallen back in love with window coverings. Do you remember when we covered our windows in big, heavy drapes? I was not a fan. Then, as people grew tired of all that fussy finery, we gravitated toward clean, simple coverings like blinds and plantation shutters, or left our windows…
Easy home updates for every budget
PHOTO METROCREATIVECONNECTION.COM As a lover of interior design, I’m a firm believer in the phrase, “There is always room for improvement.” That being said, sometimes there’s another famous saying that comes to mind when refreshing the look of your home: “You can’t always get what you want.” That’s the constant push and pull of interior…
Open house for MacArthur apartments
Landscaping crews prepare the grounds for an open house at The Boulevard Townhomes. PHOTOS BY BRUCE RUSHTON New roofs. New doors. New windows. A new name. And, its owners say, a new attitude. Once considered an armpit of apartment complexes in Springfield, a 187-unit complex on the 2700 block of MacArthur Boulevard, formerly called MacArthur…
A meeting of monarchs
Snail darters are ugly, spotted owls are hard to spot, but no one has anything bad to say about butterflies, which helps explain why nearly 100 environmentalists, farmers, academics and others gathered last Friday in Springfield to talk about saving the monarch butterfly. The so-called butterfly summit at the state Department of Natural Resources came…
Crime kept dropping after death penalty abolished
The statewide murder rate continued to decline after Illinois abolished the death penalty five years ago, following a nationwide trend of decreasing crime. However, some state lawmakers want to reinstate capital punishment in certain cases. Illinois has a long and complicated history with the death penalty. The first execution after Illinois attained statehood occurred in…
Trouble tracking children
Troubled kids in Illinois spent weeks in psychiatric hospitals and emergency shelters unnecessarily over the past two years. That’s one of the problems at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services uncovered by an audit report released last week. DCFS struggles to place troubled children in appropriate settings and has trouble tracking those children,…
CONN-GRATULATIONS
With the second Obed and Isaac’s scheduled to open in Peoria on Sept. 26, the Conn’s Hospitality Group is being honored by Landmarks Illinois for the Springfield company’s work in historic preservation. The company is being recognized for leadership in historic preservation and will receive one of nine Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards at…
HEALTHY AND HAPPY
Central and southern Illinois have some serious work to do when it comes to getting healthy. According to the 2016 County Health Rankings compiled by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, the least healthy counties in Illinois are mostly concentrated in southern and central Illinois. (Sangamon County is ranked 69 out of 102, despite…
Disappointments haunted by better films
Kate Beckinsale as Dana in The Disappointments Room. Unless someone can come up with a fresh angle, I think there should be a moratorium put on haunted house movies. We’ve had ghosts scaring families that move into old creepy mansions, people who don’t realize they are ghosts, and folks who willingly identify with specters and…
Music in the making
New City Road plays outside Conrad’s in Riverton on Saturday, Sept. 17, 5:30 p.m. for the bar’s fourth anniversary celebration. Come along as we trek through the weekly jaunt of Springfield music-making moments. Take the time to notice the hard work and terrific talents of those involved in the process. Thursday evening at The Alamo…
Wilderness Alive
Wilderness Alive An emo-indie-alternative rock band out of Nashville, Tenn., this quartet of Peyton Rodeffer (vocals, guitar), Sean Jensen (bass), Dagan Crews (drums, vocals) and Andy Pollitt (guitar) started as a solo project and ended up as a band out on the road. The adventures began when singer-songwriter Rodeffer went on a two-day songwriting binge…
north fifth street poem #22
north fifth street poem #22 the stump’s base two yards across andhollow a few inch circle of live growthsupporting the most majestic leafycrowned tree in our neighborhood it had to go every storm huge limbscrashed down I watched its demisebut left before the saw found theraccoons habiting its core fourhastened away to seek new homesin…
Experiments in music and meat
Steak cooked to a perfect “medium” PHOTO BY PETER GLATZ My two favorite avocations are music and cooking; I have found that camping at music festivals in Bertha Bus, my mobile kitchen, gives me the perfect opportunity to enjoy both. Over the years, as my meal preparations have become more elaborate and time consuming, I…
