Feature

The South African Boer goat quietly invaded the United States via Texas about 15 years ago – and has been nibbling its way north ever since. Developed by Dutch farmers in South Africa in the early 1900s, the hardy Boer goats were bred for their rapid growth, ability to produce large amounts of meat and […]

Like an art critic judging a sculpture, Mike Earles leans back and places the end of his goateed chin between the raised thumb and forefinger of his left hand. His eyes narrow as he leans forward. Meanwhile, his brother, Drew, pauses and steps back, too. He grips in one hand an electric hair clipper that […]

T he trained eye rarely misses them: three-barred crosses and primitive, colorful icons, occasionally spotted in roadside cemeteries and out-of-the-way chapels from Chicago to Carbondale. Onion-shaped domes, curious spires and cupolas — the international symbols of Eastern Orthodoxy — still adorn churches in small, former mining communities where Baptists, Methodists and Evangelicals now abound. The […]

“This is one of those moments to step up and articulate what urbanism is worth to America.” That’s how Scott Bernstein, president of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, summed up the call-to-service at CNU 17, the 2009 Congress for the New Urbanism, June 10-14 in Denver. The planning organization has stepped up its no-sprawl message, […]

Springfield is bursting with new urbanists. While the phrase “new urbanism,” coined in the 1980s, often frightens people who think that new urbanism entails mandating an organic arugula garden on every rooftop or forcing folks to trade in their cars for a pair of Crocs, the concept is much more simple than that. New urbanism […]

T here must have been scores of kids who, like Clayton Penrose-Whitmore, found themselves enjoying a snack in the Ethnic Village at the Illinois State Fair, just as a group of Suzuki violin students took the stage. And there must have been several whose parents, like Clayton’s, figured, “Hey, my kid could do that,” and […]

At 10 a.m. on a Saturday, RaeLynn Costa crouches next to a plastic kiddie pool, massaging oatmeal shampoo into the scruffy coat of a shelter dog named Buddy. She murmurs softly to the water-wary pooch as she rinses the soap from his fur and towels him dry. Her 14-year-old daughter, Nicole, along with a squad […]

What can a 16-inch pancake do for Springfield? Plenty, said a recently formed Springfield nonprofit group last week, explaining that the unique products sold by independent businesses inject color, character and money into the local economy at a time when it needs it badly. During a July 1 press conference at Charlie Parker’s Diner (home […]

What do you do with 156 years of photos, programs, ribbons, exhibits and other memorabilia collected from the annual Illinois State Fair? Ask Pam Gray and she’ll quickly respond, “Build a museum.” While the answer seems simple, raising the $5 million needed for the building is anything but. Yet Gray, who helped found the Illinois […]

President Barack Obama announced his plan for a national network of speedy passenger trains in April by painting a scene familiar to high-speed rail utopians. “Imagine boarding a train in the center of a city. No racing to an airport and across a terminal, no delays, no sitting on the tarmac, no lost luggage, no […]

The old man leaned on his cane and stared at the line that inevitably forms at the Merwyn’s stand at the Old Capitol Farmers’ Market during strawberry season. At first he seemed to be mumbling to himself, but when he stepped up the volume it was clear he wanted those of us in line to […]

“Children and young people are perhaps the key to realizing true racial unity,” wrote Mike Lang, one of the organizers of the 12th Annual Race Unity Rally held June 7 at the Statehouse. “Young people tend to ignore superficial differences, and make friends with people from all strata of society — a key component to […]