Panic hit at the border. For months, my father had prepared for this trip to Canada. At 84, he figured this might be his final return to the country where he had lived for his first three decades. He wanted to see the North Vancouver house of his childhood and the nearby stream where he […]
Upon Further Review
Posted inOpinion
Recycled Records reaches golden age
Queen Elizabeth has a throne. James T. Kirk had the captain’s chair. Mark Kessler presides from a cluttered desk that is equally iconic for locals with an appreciation for records, posters, neon beer signs, books and assorted other stuff – don’t dare call it junk – that graces the walls, display cases and shelves of […]
Posted inOpinion
When I lost my dog
There’s never a good time to lose your dog, but my dog chose the 11th hour of a 16-hour workday during the hellish heat wave that hit near the climax of the state budget impasse. I was at a committee hearing for a bill I’d been watching for more than two years when my son […]
Posted inOpinion
Leveraging Lincoln
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum doesn’t belong to the public. The institution built with tax dollars belongs to big shots. Just ask the big shots. “After it belongs to us, it is our decision to do what makes the most sense for the ALPLM,” Tolbert Chisum, a board member of the private foundation […]
Posted inOpinion
Paprocki vs. unions
Bishop Thomas Paprocki has curious ways of looking at the world. Homosexuality is sinful. Muslims are the enemy. Exorcism works. These sorts of stances have earned Paprocki plenty of WTFs since he came to Springfield eight years ago. He’s a hardliner’s hardliner, the sort who, if he managed in the American League, would send the […]
Posted inOpinion
Go Lions
It is too soon – far too soon – to declare victory. But the numbers are in, and Springfield public schools are making progress when it comes to academic excellence for the best and brightest students. The district in July received scores of advanced placement tests taken by high school students last spring. It’s the […]
Posted inOpinion
Money to burn
I was nervous, opening my latest light bill. Late June and early July had been sweltering, and I don’t skimp on air conditioning. Plus, the air had gone out for a couple of days, forcing emergency installation of window units. The bill was higher than usual, which I had expected, but not staggering. It could […]
Posted inOpinion
Homeless have nowhere else
It is quarter of five, too early for sun’s first rays. A half-dozen people are snoozing in pre-dawn darkness on walkways around Lincoln Library. None have anything thicker than cardboard to cushion them from pavement beneath. Half don’t have even that. They are easy to spot, given abundant lighting that surrounds the building a shout […]
Posted inOpinion
Dressing for success
Life’s too short to look like a homeless person. That’s why I shop at Goodwill. Spend enough time combing racks in Springfield’s thrift stores and you will, eventually and inevitably, find barely worn Brioni sport coats and flawless Alden Norwegian split toe bluchers made from finest shell cordovan leather for south of $5. You have […]
Posted inOpinion
Dr. No Feelgood
After he was refused painkillers, Charles King traveled to Maryland for spinal cord sugery, which left a deep scar down his neck. Photo Courtesy of Charles King Concerned about a burgeoning opioid crisis, the General Assembly has passed a bill that would allow folks with prescriptions for opioids to purchase medical marijuana. But even if […]
Posted inOpinion
Miles of smiles
The only thing less fun than getting a root canal is not getting a root canal. And so a crowd is expected next month at the Bank of Springfield Center, where dentists from around the state will gather to work for free. This will be the first time that Springfield will host the Illinois Mission […]
Posted inOpinion
Don’t fence me in
Forget, for a moment, the deeper mysteries of life, the sound of one hand clapping and why it’s still legal to traffick in bump stocks. For the moment, at least, I’m more interested in intersections. The intersection of North Grand Avenue and Sixth Street, to be precise. When I moved to the North End nearly […]
