This Fourth of July was very different in West Peoria with no parade or family and neighborhood celebrations. The many visitors to our community were missing. Some families have three generations who normally celebrate with us. In 2021, we will…
Columns
The Lion’s Den | The Cliff
by Daniel McCloud • • 0 Comments
Eight minutes and 46 seconds was the time it took for Dereck Chauvin and his fellow officers to murder George Floyd. But it has been 401 years since Africans were kidnapped and brought to this country as slaves. From 1619…
Straight Talk | The end of an era of caring
by Roger Monroe • • 0 Comments
The Peoria County Board approved a resolution that will allow voters to determine whether Heddington Oaks can be sold. The measure will be on the November ballot. Voters should not be confused whether their vote will determine the nursing home’s…
Bill Knight | Protesters and infiltrators
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
The country’s protests about police brutality persist despite distractions and infiltrations. The distractions stemmed from social-media hoaxes such as the June 4 warning that “antifa operatives are organizing a plan to bus large numbers of antifa terrorists to the vicinity…
Real Talk | Breaking Democracy. I can’t breathe.
by Kamara Taylor • • 0 Comments
As I reflect on my grandmother, I understand the rule of thumb instilled in her to live by and fear Jim Crow –– a fictitious name but one with real life ramifications. My great grandfather was on the run from…
The Watch | Budget woes
by Terry Bibo • • 0 Comments
Your government officials are still Zooming, still adapting, still dancing backward around COVID-19. And the bills are just starting to arrive. All members of the Peoria County Election Commission met via Zoom on May 12 to confront a knotty problem:…
Nature Rambles | Early cicadas
by Community Word Staff • • 0 Comments
During the second week of June, I heard a noise from the canopy of the woods that I haven’t heard for some time . . . “weee-eeeerrr” repeated at regular intervals. Then it dawned on me –– It is a…
Inland Art | Dan Ramirez
by Paul Krainak • • 0 Comments
“The falling away of illusion” is a description that Buzz Spector, artist, writer and longtime colleague of painter Dan Ramirez, uses in discussing perception in the artist’s “Contemplation of the Virgin: var#3.” The essay appears in Ramirez’s “Certainty & Doubt”…
Art: What is it Good For? | The Power of Art in Social Justice Reform
by Doug and Eileen Leunig • • 0 Comments
What makes art “public?” Is it the approval of a committee or government, or is it the number of people who see it? Is it how large the work is, or how much change it can bring? Is it beautiful…
Reflections From The Clergy | Black Lives Matter; A Story Worth Telling
by contributor • • 0 Comments
Inspired by the book “It is not necessary to breathe!” by Ali Ben Jaber Alfaifi We are in Minneapolis, in the United States of America; the land of dreams. The sounds of auto machines, horns, traffic and the hustle and…