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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Curtis Orchard is always good for an hour or three, especially if you have rugrats.
eugh….I remember that sex ed class and i’m pretty sure I know the teacher you’re referring to. that place was hell.
Love the story about sex ed at the middle school. That’s what I do every day for my job—it’s so exciting to see students engaged in material many adults and parents assume is above their understanding or maturity level. Thanks for sharing! Oh, and if you…
“Rag Doll” by Aerosmith is a great accompanying song when you are throwing a tennis ball onto the floor to bother the people below you.
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/agriculture/2010-09-01/south-farms-taking-aim-birds-noise.html If U of I did any research into repelling birds, they would use a very silent but effective high output LASER instead of adding noise pollution to the already olfactory polluted area http://www.allpestco.com/2009/06/laser-bird-deterrent-or-laser-gun-vs-birds/
“I have some reading to catch up on, poolside.“ Classic.
What sticks in my neck is that most noise (unwanted sound) is a violation of the law. So why is it often so difficult to get the authorities to address the issue? Why are the anti-social elements so protected? These lowlife induviduals now seem to have the…
Spirit echoes - http://www.iainandjane.com/work/silentsound/index.shtml
People are entitled to peace and quiet. That gift has been lost and once lost is hard to regain. Anti-noise activitists fight for everyone’s right to have peace and quiet. Thanks to those that fight for our right to peace and quiet.
Most Recent Comments
Illinois has simply had no luck at all in these Mizzou games. None. I think maybe we’re do for a couple of bounces to go our way. If we get one or two (or sever or eight) breaks, I think it’s a win.
Jason, Savoy could easily join the CPL tax district, which is probably closer to most Savoy residents than the Tolono library is. But my impression is that Savoy residents as a whole don’t want to pay the cost of the CPL (Tolono’s library taxes are cheaper), even…
Sorry, but I am lagging behind on updates to the map. Also, some construction projects were delayed from their original start date. On a more positive note, I am putting together a map of haunted houses in Central Illinois. I have a few plotted already, and I…
I’ve never gotten the privilege of all the services CPL cardholders get. I just want to be able to go out of my way to drive to the CPL to check out books, pay fines, maybe buy some coffee, and enjoy the library. None of those activities…
These days, there is more to using a library than checking out books. At one time, paying into the Lincoln Trails system probably would cover the expenses incurred by other libraries in the system. Now, with Internet, videos, coffee shops, wireless Internet hubs, etc., I suspect the…
(speaking as a Savoy resident) By paying taxes to support a member of the LTLS, we are paying our “fair share” to use any LTLS library—Tolono, Champaign, Urbana, etc. This is how library systems work. The 6% of CPL’s circulation represented by Tolono users is NOT significant…
I read Timbo’s argument. I think the key word is “speculating.“
I would be interested to hear more about the “word on the street”—how are individual hauling companies fulfilling their promise to recycle?
Timbo makes a smart, sound argument. Reread it.
I joined on 09-09-09 after living here over a year, and having to listen to my dad tell me how his best friend is, like, #27 or something crazy like that, and how said friend never lived further than 50 feet from the Illini Inn while going…
And, I might add, no one is being prevented from using the Champaign library. They are just being asked to pay their fair share if they are going to use it as their primary library.
The equation is pretty simple here. If you want social services, then pay the taxes required to run those social services. These things only work if everyone puts in their fair share. As a heavy user of the Champaign Library, I say bravo to this new policy.
Curtis Orchard is always good for an hour or three, especially if you have rugrats.
What is the increased marginal cost of serving a resident of Savoy or Mahomet? I suspect negligible. What is the increased revenue to be realized by this new policy? I suspect very little. Aside from these financial aspects, what are the most probable results from this new…
Looks like you are also all members of the killer sideburns club.
Thanks for the article, Ben. I was not familiar with this band until now and even though I won’t be able to attend the show on Friday they are now on my radar. A *good* jam band is hard to find, and these folks appear to fill…
Nice article, love the Dead quote in the beginning. If they can get down here to Central FL I’ll definitely be heading out to the show. Some of my friends have finally stopped wincing when I say “jam band.“ I’ve now tried my best at more descriptive…
@Annie: Yeah, my bad. That was the best part! Drinking + memory exercises = fun @Rob: According to Ask the English Teacher, “My dictionary says ‘drunk’ is an archaic past tense of ‘drink.‘“ We’re all about the new grammar around here.
Katie, have the residents of Savoy and Tolono thought about having their taxes raised a little to help their public library expand? That’s a possibility for them. And then everybody wins.
good call on that Herring recording, Josh. Love that version of Exit Music….here’s a clip of the Cinco de Mayo show (from about six months prior). As I recall, this Shakedown went on for roughly a half hour, while getting into the Trampled Underfoot jam in the…
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Sorry, but I am lagging behind on updates to the map. Also, some construction projects were delayed from their original start date. On a more positive note, I am putting together a map of haunted houses in Central Illinois. I have a few plotted already, and I…