Recent Smile Politely Entries
- Ask Politely #3108/29/08 - Smile Politely Editors
- Hurry to Mackinaw Valley Vineyard Before Grape-Picking Season Ends08/29/08 - Sam Vandegrift
- Curlin Ready for Saratoga — Will He Meet Big Brown?08/29/08 - Jamie Newell
- An Epidemic of Hip-Hop’s Illest Descend Upon the Cornfields08/29/08 - Edward Moses
- Man on Wire: Following the Object of One's Obsession08/29/08 - Chuck Koplinski
- Jared Bartman Plays Monday on WEFT08/29/08 - Joel Gillespie
- The Big Ten Football Report: Week 108/29/08 - Seth Fein
- Market Watch: The Full Swing of Summer08/29/08 - Alisa DeMarco
- Pygmalion Pre-Party at Urban Outfitters08/28/08 - Caitlin Cremer
- Kick Out the Jams with Tea Leaf Green at Canopy on Sunday08/28/08 - Joel Gillespie
About Brock Peoples
Brock Peoples
After earning his B.A. in English literature and professional writing from Millikin University in 2003, Brock Peoples spent some time in the north woods of Wisconsin before returning to his hometown, C-U. He now lives with his wife and son in Savoy, working as a freelance writer and editor. Brock also edits Riverbed Haiku. A beer snob and bicycle commuter, he spends as much time as possible outdoors cursing those who litter trails with empty cans for all their poor choices.
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Showing all entries for Brock Peoples
Simplifying Life: Cell Phone-Free Living
A month and a half ago, my wife and I canceled our cell-phone plans and became a cell-phone-free household. I related our initial impressions to the Smile Politely audience on July 1 (Simplifying Life: One Phone at a Time).
Reactions to our decision are still mixed more than a month later. Some people seem to assume that we’ll break down and have shiny new phones in time for Halloween. A surprising number, though, are supportive. Supportive in the way people are supportive when you lose thirty extra pounds, or study abroad, or participate in any other life-altering, difficult endeavor: “Wow. That is phenomenal — I wish I could pull it off.”
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Around Town: The Fall and Resurgence of Neighborhood Businesses
Growing up in southwest Champaign, my family made a weekly trek to either Jerry’s IGA or Roundbarn IGA (depending on if Mom or Dad were driving) for our grocery shopping.
Hardware needs were fulfilled at the Roundbarn TrueValue. For a bookstore, Pages for All Ages was conveniently located in the newly built Old Farm shopping center, with a video store and ice-cream shop at the strip mall on the other side of Mattis.
Champaign was a small place for me. Market Place might as well have been in Indiana for as often as we went there, and how far away it seemed when we did. Everything that was needed — parks, school, church, groceries, ice cream and VHS rentals — was within no more than a few miles from home.
Simplifying Life: One Phone at a Time
Our home phone was connected today. This is after two and a half years of being a cell-phone-only household. This in and of itself is likely unremarkable, but in conjunction with signing up for the landline phone, we canceled our cellular service.
This is a move that has been seen as radical — almost to the point of sacrilege — by many people we know. The very thought of being without a cellular phone has become a nightmare scenario for many. Why on Earth would we choose a cell-free life?
We decided that cellular phones are not necessary for our lifestyle.
Local Streams — What's In a Name?
Two small waterways flow through north central Champaign County. One drains land from the Rantoul-area, flows through Urbana’s Crystal Lake Park, and then eastward before joining with the Salt Fork River at St. Joseph. The other begins its journey near Ludlow, taking a southerly route past Rantoul and connects with the Spoon River north of St. Joseph, the two of which form the Salt Fork River itself.
