Smile Politely. Speak Directly. A Champaign-Urbana Culture Blog

Angles dominate the city. From ten-story buildings to six-inch curbs, human-built landscapes are mazes of interlocking planes. And no type of angle dominates more than that famous heavyweight from high-school geometry: the right angle.

Vertically, we see these angles everywhere: in the high corners of buildings and window frames and doors. But right angles are horizontal creatures as well, and on the ground level the quintessential right angle is the street corner.

On Oct. 24, Champaign County Health Care Consumers and Planned Parenthood of East Central Illinois co-sponsored an event to distribute free packs of emergency contraception pills, otherwise known as "EC," or by the commercial name Plan B.

Free EC Day isn't exactly news anymore, but it's still worth talking about. As the Health Care Consumers reported at their Women's Health Task Force meeting on Nov. 11, 180 people received packs of Plan B that day. Many of us, on the other hand, continue to be at least somewhat unprepared.

Peter Kogen works at the university grants office. He is a dedicated employee, arriving at work early and never leaving a minute before five. Ask his coworkers and they will tell you he is polite, respectful and keeps to himself.

So if any of them were driving through Urbana last Saturday, they were probably shocked to see Kogen, the quietest person in the office, standing alone on the corner of Springfield and Lincoln, holding a large sign that read: “THE WAR ON TERROR IS A LIE. 9-11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB.”