By BILL KNIGHT When Corn Stock Theatre launches its Winter Season Oct. 27 with “The Glass Menagerie,” it will be 73 years since the premiere in Chicago of Tennessee Williams’ first successful play. Directed in Peoria by Amy Glass, the…
Heartland showcasing Bernstein “West Side Story” themes
By BILL KNIGHT Six decades after the Broadway production of Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story,” the Heartland Festival Orchestra this month pays musical homage to the work and to Bernstein with a musical program titled “Class Rumble” featuring accomplished timpani…
Building Middle Class
Sheriff Asbell: Despite beliefs, no crime wave
BY BILL KNIGHT Many people worry about crime; they assume there’s cause. But much of that concern is an example of belief versus reality. That disconnect faces 44-year-old Brian Asbell as he starts his position as Peoria County’s new sheriff…
NOW president: Persist, Resist, Unite
BY CLARE HOWARD Some pharmacists in Florida have taken contraceptive prescriptions from women and ripped them up. Pharmacists in other states have refused to fill prescriptions for contraceptives and abortifacients. The National Organization for Women is pushing back and ramping…
Reproductive Choice: Ask Cara
BY CLARE HOWARD Julia Sun and Celina Crisman were roommates at Cornell University. Sun graduated with a degree in engineering. Crisman went on to medical school and is now a surgeon. The two friends, supporters of Planned Parenthood, watched sweeping…
Happy Birthday Woodruff High Woodruff High School was closed in 2010 by a slim 4-3 vote of the District 150 school board. All of those board members who foolishly destroyed the high school are gone, but not the Woodruff Alumni…
Congress should listen to Sen. McCain’s wise words I had the opportunity to listen to Sen. John McCain’s speech given to all 100 senators on the U.S. Senate floor upon his return to Washington following the very bad news that…
Happy re-birthday Three years ago, some 20 Peoria-area journalists and activists came together to buy the Community Word to ensure its future as an independent, locally owned newspaper. Initially launched in 1977, the free monthly now reaches about 19,000 readers…
Legacy of the Heidelberg case There is no way to compensate for a wrongful conviction. It destroys lives and taints the entire judicial system – a key foundation of democracy. Totalitarian states don’t need or want a fair judiciary. Just…
Unjustly denied adequate medical care Thank you for the article “Healthcare in prison: ’Nonexistent’” (July, Community Word) about the lack of healthcare Cleve Heidelberg and I received in prison. We were both wrongly convicted and both of us were released…
Unions Benefit Both Members and Non-Members BY SHARON K. WILLIAMS Most people may not realize how much unions have positively affected the workplace. If you value your weekend, your health insurance, your retirement plan, your middle class income and your…
Like many of you, I am numb with tears and pain that I have from the scenes of hatred over recent days. These events started on a Friday evening in Charlottesville, Va. Once again, in the history of our country,…
Singing Woods is growing! On May 24, 2017, the Peoria Park District acquired a 9-acre parcel of woodlands. It was part of an estate that was home to the Raistrick family for a couple of generations. After the death of…
My husband and I had been married nearly 18 months when CBS introduced “The Waltons.” It premiered on Thursday, Sept. 14, 1972, and I was an immediate fan. My television viewing is minimal, but I’m loyal to my selections. My…
A critical tenet of modernism extoled the full dimensions of ordinary life, the dignity of the commoner and the value of labor. Lionizing the worker, the invisible other of pre-modern history, was an ideological rebuke to the religious, social and…
MUSIC Sept. 1-2: Blues & Heritage Festival, featuring John Mayall, Dr. John, the John Butler Trio and 18 other bands. For schedule, ticket or other information, contact: http://peoriabluesandheritagefestival.com. Sept. 1: Sammy Kershaw. 8 p.m. Limelight Eventplex. 693-1234. Sept. 1: Old…
Once again we have an annual opportunity to honor fellow West Peorians who have spent many hours improving their yards which in turn improve the neighborhoods. Nominate someone who has noticeably changed and improved the community through their hard work.…
No Justice or Mercy in Donald Trump’s Department of Justice In the introduction to his book, “Just Mercy,” Bryan Stevenson writes: “This book is about getting closer to mass incarceration and extreme punishment in America. It’s about how easily we…
Teachers’ President Weingarten links school privatizers to segregationists. American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten tied the so-called school privatization movement to the racists and segregationists of the 1950s and before. School privatization features taxpayer-paid vouchers for parents of private…