Category > From the Flyover Zone
Last winter, looking for a rest stop off the interstate south of Pueblo, Colorado, my family came across a small picnic park with a monument to the victims of the "Ludlow Massacre," a bloody 1914 incident that occurred during a standoff between striking miners and the National Guard. In the end, 20 people died, including many women and children who suffocated in underground bunkers when the army set fire to the strikers' tent city. You can actually walk down into …
| Chicago is packed full of adventures beyond the Shedd Aquarium, Water Tower Place and Wendella boat tours. But sadly, for many of us, that is about all we seem to manage on our summer day trips up to the windy city. With or without kids, we spend hundreds of dollars on tickets, parking and food, and yes, we come away with pleasant memories, but somehow I think we often miss a very real and vibrant side of Chicago that sometimes …
It's been over ten years, but I finally made it back to Wrigley Field last year to watch a game with my youngest son. Walking from the Red Line "L" stop, I prepared myself for the worst: hoards of frat-boys guzzling beer, businessmen with their Blackberries in hand and tourists from the far far west suburbs. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by how genuine the place still seemed, with its emphasis on the actual game of baseball and the nitty-gritty …
Every spring break for the past eight years our family has camped on a rugged state park beach in an area of northern Florida relatively untouched by the real estate development so ubiquitous in other parts of the state. The key word here is “relatively,” because in the course of these past years, even in one of the sparsest populated counties of the sunshine state, we’ve witnessed large tracts of shore-front land turn from long leaf pine and palmetto forest …
Last night I received emails from friends interested in my opinion regarding the seven candidates for school board. Champaign voters will have the opportunity tomorrow to pick three of these candidates, and many voters, my friends included, have no clue who these people are. And although I try to follow educational issues in the area, I too am scratching my head a bit on this one, and may have to take my ouji board to the polls. That's not to …
Every March, I get road trip fever. The promise of warmer weather, the arrival of summer camp brochures in the mail, the melting rivulets of road ice that suggest, for those like me with desperate imaginations, kayak runs or water-park slides, all get me in the mood to research trip itineraries, dust off the kayaks and picnic basket, and make camping and cabin reservations. In fact, most of my outdoor family trip brainstorming for the rest of the year gets …
Political scientist Hannah Arendt was right about the banality of evil. Certainly, if ever an educational evil was perpetuated on children, the current standardized testing system is one of them, and yet here in Illinois we are strangely silent. Just like the famous studies that show how quickly people fall into complicit behavior patterns characterized by concern with details, bureaucracy, and following orders, Illinoisans mutter under breath about all the ill-effects of testing, but don't do anything about it. In …
Way out on the southwest outskirts of town, in the middle of farm fields ripe for upscale development, an immense structure has arisen that has attracted the attention of quite a few folks around here, most notably those folks with young children. Why? Because within it's cavernous walls lies a veritable "neverland"-esque indoor play-space that is free, open to the public, and conveniently located just off the new Windsor Road highway exit. When parents enter this space for the first …
In the weeks leading up to Obama's inauguration, it has been easy to get sucked into the hype and hero worship, considering the historical significance of the event, Obama's promises of change and our deep emotional need for someone and something to believe in. Because of this, it is increasingly difficult to separate our cherished image of Obama as liberator-in-chief from his actual politics. Yet there are those who have been able to look beyond the media images and rhetorical …
“So little of what could happen does happen.” –Salvador Dali In the next room, my kids are listening to a book on CD about the “dead days of winter” – those days between Christmas and New Year’s – and I’m lying on the couch reading an Andrew Porter short story about a kid who disappears into a backyard hole. Christmas is only ten days away, it’s cold and dark outside, and really I just want to hunker down inside my …
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Ok, just tell me when I can exhale - Just curious, since all the globalists, carbon traders, and pretty much anyone with copious amounts of wealth have weighed in on population reduction in recent years, i was wondering what yer magic number was. Some of the more…
Change is the only constant thing in this world. Change is just an indication that a particular place is improving or not. It is a good thing that there is a room for a change but it must be a change for the better. It is just…
Now that Olympian is probably a given, they’re going to have to rename the section between Willow and 45. Any suggestions? Now lets get onto Urbana’s next road to nowhere. Airport Rd., They want to extend it from Bartlow west to Lincoln thru 3 farm fields. One…
I had a great time reading around your post as I read it extensively. Gold
I’ve always suspected that there’s a direct correlation between projected land use for the Rt 150 corridor [Industrial / Commercial] and the drive to expand 74. See the CCRPC Future Land Use Map for details, and then take a look at who owns land there, and you…
The University does not subsidize the Airbus. For decades bus transportation to the airport was provided expressly for Institute of Aviation students. This service was paid for by the Institute of Aviation, not campus as a whole. Some of you may even remember the old orange or…
A book just published gives a very useful different perspective on the “growth for growth’s sake” model and its ecological unsustainability. It is “Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet” by Tim Jackson. The first chapter of the book can be downloaded via http://earthscan.co.uk/pwg . This…
I agree with most of the comments on the Orange “Krush.“ They are mostly immature, ignorant, college students who can’t wait for the next frat party so they can get wasted on Keystone light
“Since there is no congestion on 74, one wonders what he is talking about.“ - Duh. Perhaps the congestion is wishful thinking? And IL DOT is planning to spend $71 million taxpayer dollars widening I-74 between Champaign and Mahomet. I contacted IL DOT on the I-74 stuff. …
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Awesome looking lineup… I’m excited. Another vote towards the Smoking Popes rocking out at the first Laughing Prairie Dog festival… it was a pretty good energy, and plenty of groups considering the cheap ticket. The rest all look pretty good for the ticket price as well. …
(Not to talk too much, but I would delight in being proven wrong. I hope that there are many vegan dishes, and next time I am there, I will ask the owner for dishes that are vegan that are offered and post them as a comment here,…
I understand the disclaimer, and I appreciate it, but given the title of the article, it would be nice to have more of a talk with the owner and less of a “to the best of my knowledge” thrown in the article as an aside, when vegan…
Nate, No offers to crash but I was wondering if you’d ever considered publishing the plans to your trailer. You might make a dollar or two especially after you go solar! Let me know if you do it. Sincerely, Don
Not sure if it’s been mentioned here, but they’ll also be playing the Old Rock House in St. Louis on May 22
Interesting about who owns land in the path of the Olympian Drive extension. My comment was in response to ‘Tony C’s remarks about the I-74 expansion. Just who owns land in the 150 [BloomingtonRd]-I-74 corridor?? Because the corridor is zoned for future use as Commercial/Industrial, I am…
(happy face)
Wow, great article. I wish you the best in your endeavors and hope you have a nice trip.
Um. Yeah — check out that “General Disclaimer” at the bottom of the article, folks.
As an adoptee, I can empathize—although I’m not an international adoptee, and I apologize if I’m assuming too much on the nature of your adoption. You can feel what you feel, but don’t be too hard on yourself. When I started a search for my birth family,…
I highly doubt a single dish is vegan at Bombay. Most Indian dishes use Ghee(essentially clarrified butter) as the base fat. While I guess they could make some dishes with canola oil, I would for sure ask the exact ingredients before I consumed if you are following a vegan diet.
You’re right! Every runner, in my opinion, is a real runner.
Congratulations on the AG place! In all of your accomplishments, don’t forget what it was like to think a mile was an impossible distance. Getting to the six-mile point takes a lot of training and preparation to acclimate the mind and musculature to so much pounding. Your…
Sounds like it!
I heading out on my 9 miler before my 10 hour work day right now. Do I have what it takes?
Nice, killer work pretty man…the channeled, one sided collaborated rhyming poem. An oft forgot genre. The ruckus was felt even here in my living room, which is normally a safe haven from ruckus.
wait, I was commenting on the wrong thing - sorry - he’s actually a gigantic sellout but who really knows what all this is about.
If the democrats didn’t have Kucinich, and the republicans didn’t have Ron Paul, where would both these parties really stand? These men actually mean what they say.
Joel, thank you for the opportunity to answer these questions and have them posted here. I really appreciate it! Yes, I was thrilled to see that Rep. Kucinich flipped today, so he will has committed to voting yes for health reform. I appreciated his comments which seem…
It appears to me that your reviewer did all that could be expected: she paid her money, saw the play and conveyed her impressions. The review (on the whole, laudatory) may have been rushed, in a generous attempt to publicize the production while it was still available…
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Interesting about who owns land in the path of the Olympian Drive extension. My comment was in response to ‘Tony C’s remarks about the I-74 expansion. Just who owns land in the 150 [BloomingtonRd]-I-74 corridor?? Because the corridor is zoned for future use as Commercial/Industrial, I am…