The other side of the tracks
The visiting architects and city planners who made up the Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team said over and over that Springfield is poised on the edge of greatness. “The new museum may move Springfield from a sleepy town to a world-class city,” said Chuck Davis, the San Francisco architect who headed the team. “The bar has…
At diversity’s expense
Ray Coleman was fired in January from his job as site superintendent at Horseshoe Lake State Park, and a month later he was in court, alleging that he’d been the victim of discrimination. Coleman, an African-American, says that he was passed over for several promotions at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and ultimately fired…
Had enough?
Kathleen Christ considers her son a trained killer and a mercenary to boot. But you know how mothers are. “I’m very proud of him,” she says. “He’s an incredible human being. We just differ hugely on philosophy.” Christ’s son Joe, it seems, just can’t get enough of Iraq. He was there at the very beginning,…
Had Enough?
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Room 122 of the Cannon House Office Building. It’s small — it’s not a hearing room — and about as far away from the Capitol itself as it’s possible to be and still be in a House office. No surprise, then, that this is the room U.S. Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., was…
The great textbook robbery
In recent weeks, on campuses all across America, students have been enrolling in university. Ah, what an experience — the camaraderie of college spirit, the titillating possibilities of higher learning! Then these eager innocents go to buy their textbooks, and — wham! — the dispiriting reality of corporate greed whacks them upside the head. Students,…
Quicktakes
NAUGHTY NOW NICE Springfield gets a reminder of the value of free expression next week with a reading of great American literature that was once suppressed or challenged. The fifth annual “Banned-Book Reading” at Lincoln Land Community College will include readings by students and faculty from To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye,…
“Public Official A”
The U.S. Attorney’s office allowed two guilty-plea agreements to weave a sinister tale last week about an alleged “fundraising strategy” supposedly headed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The alleged strategy was designed to strong-arm firms seeking business with the Teachers’ Retirement System and other state boards into hiring do-nothing consultants who would then kick money back…
Home sweet concert hall
Is it not the dream of every music lover to host a living-room concert? Imagine being able to book your favorite performers, sell seats to help cover costs, and watch the show from your own couch. Sound too good to be true? Well, in the case of Ann Bova and Joe Bohlen, the sounds are…
American Life in Poetry
Nearly all of us spend too much of our lives thinking about what has happened, or worrying about what’s coming next. Very little can be done about the past and worry is a waste of time. Here the Kentucky poet Wendell Berry gives himself over to nature. The Peace of Wild Things When despair for…
Weirdly endearing torture music
Skeletons and the Girl-Faced Boys Git (Ghostly/Shinkoyo) Stravinsky once opined that Beethoven’s “Grosse Fuge” is an “absolutely contemporary piece of music that will be contemporary forever,” but the problem with such predictions is that time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future. As soon as we invent a term to distinguish the art of…
Aldermania, revisited
After months of meetings characterized by brevity, unanimity, and efficiency, Springfield City Council on Tuesday night held a lengthy, contentious, and, at times, raucous session that paved the way for several major changes for the city — including a new $540 million power plant, a new retirement development in southeast Springfield, and a new citizen…
Jacqueline Jackson
aroundtownpoem # 6 a gaggle of girls next door in the schoolyard chants we’re not playing we’re not playing we’re not playing we’re not playing which means of course they are © Jacqueline Jackson 2005
Who’s the Man?
The Man Who Came to Dinner, the popular comedy by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, opens a five-performance run tonight (Thursday, Sept. 22) at the Hoogland Center for the Arts. Back in 1939, when it premiered at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway, audiences knew that the lead character, Sheridan Whiteside, was based on…
Letters to the editor
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, IL 62705 Fax: (217) 753-3958 E-mail: editor@illinoistimes.com CITY COMMITED TO EAST SIDE Congratulations to Fletcher Farrar for his commitment to neighborhood…
Exquisite Corpse
Based on a European folktale, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride gets off to a rousing start as director Burton and co-director Mike Johnson’s camera bobs and floats through the gray village where the Van Dorts and Everglots live. There’s a great deal of scurrying about for the wedding of shy guy Victor Van Dort (voiced by…
Movin’ on along
The proposed $4 million community center on Springfield’s east side has entered its next phase of planning, says Boys & Girls Club executive director Kristin Allen. Allen says that her organization, working with the Ministerial Alliance, has defined several areas of service that the new building will provide, including programs aimed at senior citizens, educational…
Yes, it’s the same ol’ D’Arcy’s
My friend Joyce, who now lives in Dallas, recently requested two food items during a visit to her hometown of Springfield: a Vose’s corn dog and a D’Arcy’s horseshoe, not necessarily in that order. Joyce isn’t the only one who knows that D’Arcy’s Pint has made a name for itself by serving some of the…
Stone’s epic failure
Watching the rare failure of a great director is disheartening, but, considering Oliver Stone’s track record, he can afford a dud such as Alexander. Stone has made many great films, but he will always have a special place in my heart for Natural Born Killers. Alexander stars Colin Farrell as the Macedonian general who conquered most…
