The Downstate returns have started to come in
The wheels of our nation’s book review machinery turn very slowly, and only now has the first proper review of my new book, Corn Kings and One-Horse Thieves, been published. It was worth the wait. My old friend and colleague, Harold Henderson, whom older readers of this paper will remember from his days at IT.…
Foreign exchange
A college campus is a sleepy place in the summer, which makes summer a good time to go sightseeing. I’ve always enjoyed visiting the main campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana for that purpose. One sees things one seldom sees at home, such as people reading books in public. (And people say Angkor…
How to get a health care system for people
Believe it or not, we can get Congress to enact a new program providing good quality, lower-cost health care for your family and (what the hell, let’s think big here) for every man, woman and (especially) every child in our society. Step one: eliminate every dime of the multimillion-dollar government subsidy that now covers platinum-level…
Two female pioneers announce retirement
Late last Thursday night I was chasing a story about the rumored retirement of state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, Illinois’ first female House Majority Leader, when I got a text message from a high-level employee of Attorney General Lisa Madigan. She asked if she could call me Friday morning about something her boss was doing that day.…
Letters to the Editor 9/21/17
LOST FAITH IN MACARTHURI lost faith in making MacArthur Boulevard better (“Mixed bag on MacArthur,” Bruce Rushton, Sept. 14) when Roberts Auto was “not allowed” to build there and a Dollar General went in instead. The straw that broke my back was the treatment of the owner of the Shell service station. That was a…
Editor’s note 9/21/17
Many of us of a certain age are this week reliving a painful chapter of our past with nightly installments of Ken Burns’ documentary The Vietnam War on public TV. For me it’s not just revisiting the confusing times and political turmoil of then, but beginning to understand some parts of that complex era for…
A bigger Sinclair is bad for TV and bad for democracy
In May, the Sinclair Broadcast Group – one of the largest owners of TV stations in the country and owner of WICS-TV in Springfield – announced plans to spend $3.9 billion to acquire Tribune Media, parent company of 42 TV stations located in larger markets like Chicago and Los Angeles. The resulting merger would create…
The ultimate ‘ladies night out’
Take a trip through the 1940s, 50s and 60s on Sunday, Sept. 24, during Leaders of the Pack, a 90-minute celebration of the major female musical artists from the 1940s, 50s and 60s. The retrospective musical biography is hosted by the charming Lovettes (Darcy Jo Wood, Jessica Lyons and Temeka Rameriz), who lead the audience…
From Shostakovich and Bach to Nas and Jay-Z
On Saturday, Sept. 23, Black Violin, a classically trained violin duo that combines an array of daunting musical influences (such as jazz, hip-hop, funk and classical) to create a signature sound described as “not quite maestro, not quite emcee,” will perform at Sangamon Auditorium. The artists known as Black Violin, Kev Marcus and Wil Baptiste,…
Loathe story
My boyfriend who dumped me says he wants to be friends (talk to me, see me sometimes), but I’m not ready for that because I’m still in love with him. A female co-worker said that if he can be friends, he was never in love with me to begin with – that if he’d really…
Outdated?
Tax collectors in the Bible occupy the same social strata as sinners and prostitutes. The Beatles portrayed the taxman as a taunting, greedy parasite. And then there’s Janine Stroble. For 32 years, Stroble has been the tax collector in Springfield Township, home to 6,234 people who live in an area that stretches from Grandview to…
Time traveling through the Lower Illinois Valley
The tranquil lower Illinois River valley, roughly the 71-mile stretch from Meredosia to where the river meets the Mississippi near the southern end of Calhoun County, belies its more turbid past. In the last 50,000 years, two fluvial episodes particularly affected the formation of the river valley seen today. Prior to about 20,000 years ago,…
Tom Irwin tilts at the big time
“It’s like starting anew out in the big world,” said veteran Springfield singer-songwriter Tom Irwin about his experiences recording and releasing his most recent album, All That Love. While far from his first solo release (which was 1989’s cassette-only Cornucopia for anyone counting), the new album feels like both a fresh start and a giant…
Humane Society takes larger role in Illinois ag
On Aug. 25, the Humane Society of the United States announced the formation of the Illinois Agriculture Advisory Council, with the aim of promoting farmers and ranchers who produce animal products with high animal welfare and environmental standards. “I’ve always wanted to do something with agriculture,” said Marc Ayers, Illinois state director of the Humane…
BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE SOME FREON?
It was a tough summer for campers who remain at the State Journal-Register. Down to a half-dozen news reporters (Springfield city hall reporter Mary Hansen, who’s taken a job at NPR Illinois, is the latest to leave), the paper has soldiered on in an era of cuts that have decimated newsrooms nationwide, and it shows…
JAPANESE INTERNMENT DOCUMENTARY
The University of Illinois Springfield will host two screenings of the “Hidden Histories” film series, including the short film A Song for Manzanar, produced and directed by Springfield native Kazuko Golden and based on a story of the family of her mother, Springfield resident Yosh Golden, who was born in the Manzanar concentration camp in…
Challenging Mother! a dark parable for our times
I remember that during one of my father’s melancholy moments, of which there were many, he expressed a theory he had where God and human beings were concerned. He felt as though Earth and all that lived on it was simply an experiment in the Creator’s eyes and that He watched and waited to see…
Hurricane Ruth and more
With all the hurricanes in the news lately, we humbly send our love and care to those affected by the sea storms, but today we talk a bit about a hurricane known to central Illinois folks as Ruth. Ruth LaMaster, born and raised in Beardstown, just released a powerhouse new CD called Ain’t Ready for…
Marina V
Our Moscow-born, central Illinois-college educated and Los Angeles-residing singer-songwriter friend has a new album out. And with Nick Baker along to join in making music, Marina V is heading cross-country in support of Born to the Stars. The album includes collaborations with several diverse artists and is number 10 for the prolific writer as she…
Fall harvest feasts
School is back in session and pumpkin spice has started to infiltrate our subconscious, but our local farmers are still out in the fields weeding, watering, harvesting and even planting new crops for fall. The harvest season is in full swing, and every year at this time I revel in the bounty of the peak…
whynever poem #1
whynever poem #1 four boggling things:first, that there is “is”–that there’s any “is”at all – second, thatthis “is” has producedlife – third, that somelife is thinking andself aware (maybemore than we know) andfourth, this aware lifepossesses emotions; wecan love and care – suchamazing things – onemight add a fifth – that inthe reaches of an…
