When Aozora “Zoe” Brockman’s first book, “The Happiness of Dirt,” was published in 2011, this is what Illinois Poet Laureate Kevin Stein wrote: “In an era when most stand sorely distanced from the planting, tending, and harvesting of our food,…
Elder Care Concern: Boredom
BY DAVE WEIMAN Last month I wrote about loneliness, one of the three plagues that affect the well-being of elders. This month I want to address one of the other plagues, boredom. Next month I’ll discuss the third plague, helplessness.…
Health damage from exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals much greater in U.S. than E.U.
Exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals is costing the United States more than $340 billion a year in treatment compared with $163 billion a year in the European Union, according to a new study by researchers at New York University…
Free specialty clinic in Peoria is fulfillment of 20-year dream
When Lutfun Nessa pushed her walker slowly through the doors of the Cordoba Healthcare clinic in Peoria, she had no idea she represented the goal of an idea born 20 years ago in the mind of a young medical student…
Nuclear Accident: Is an accidental apocalypse inevitable?
Since the 1950s Cold War era, when “duck and cover” drills were common in schools, nuclear weaponry has become abstract, if not ignored outright by most Americans. But with belligerent rhetoric – whether Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump or North…
First-hand account: Car buyers beware
BY ELAINE HOPKINS If you bought a new vehicle recently, here’s a word of advice: check to see whether it has a spare tire. Many new car models now lack a spare tire, and some don’t even offer one as…
NO COMPETITION Mayor Jim Ardis has announced he will seek another term. He made it official, by the way, on our morning radio show, “Breakfast with Roger and Friends,” on WAZU-FM 90.7. His announcement included a list of Democrat and…
The popularity of “Sesame Street” isn’t debatable. Still, when Bradley University’s former debate coach writes about the long-running program, one might expect persuasion, syllogistic reasoning, and rhetoric. Instead, Gary Dreibelbis in the new “Gospel According to Sesame Street” focuses on…
Voter Restrictions: The New Jim Crow “Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot” is a new documentary produced by the Southern Poverty Law Center with financial support from Terry Matthews, one of the co-owners of Community Word. Terry is passionate about…
Letters
Your Right As a Patient vs. Your Medical Providers’ Religious Beliefs It is basically dishonest to characterize Illinois Senate Bill 1564 Health Care Right of Conscience Act as invalidating the First Amendment right to freedom of religion. The legislation, effective…
OP-ED
Nutrition, Politics, and the Destruction of Scientific Integrity By T. Colin Campbell, PhD Reprinted with permission from the September issue of The T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies newsletter, http://nutritionstudies.org. On Aug. 1, it was 60 years since I…
170 Years of Service: Ward Chapel AME Church The African Methodist Episcopal Church grew out of the Free African Society, an organization started by Absalom Jones, Richard Allen, and others in Philadelphia in 1787. The Free African Society formed after…
Sulphur Butterflies Along the sandy roads in Mason County grows the Partridge Pea. A member of the bean family, its feather-like leaves are familiar to many. The leaves of Partridge Pea have the interesting habit of folding up in the…
Heroes are somewhat in short supply these days, say many disappointed and disillusioned folks. Perhaps, although various tragedies have included heroes who helped soften the intensities of loss and devastation. Heroic deeds are often accomplished by unlikely individuals, leaving onlookers…
The 16th West Peoria Annual Night Out Against Crime was well attended. Judge Jodi Hoos spoke to the crowd and emphasized that when neighbors work together and report crime, crimes go down making your neighborhood safer. Live music, exciting vehicles,…
Martin vs. Malcolm Theoretical Perspectives on Why Black Lives Stopped Mattering In America We can all agree that when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, the American people were delusional with the idea that race relations in America…
Deric Kimler has been busy. He directed the very successful production of “Rent” for Peoria Players this past spring and then he played Huey Calhoun, the male lead, in Cornstock’s recent wonderful production of “Memphis.” He is as good a performer…
ARTS BEAT
MUSIC Oct. 1: Cousin Eddie. 8 p.m. Rhythm Kitchen. 676-9668. Oct. 1: Skillet, with Thousand Foot Krutch and Devour the Day. 8 p.m. Limelight Eventplex. 693-1234. Oct. 2: Sarah McQuaid playing “Music in the McKenzie” 2 p.m. Peoria Public Library…
Through the African American Lens A group of black Civil War veterans had an idea in 1915 and now just over 100 years later, Americans are witnessing it come to life as “A place that transcends the boundaries of race…
Labor Roundup
Unions, progressive groups ask Congress to restore bank controls. Organized labor and allied groups have demanded congressional leaders control the nation’s banks by restoring the Glass-Steagall Act, the Depression-era law that for decades separated financial finagling and regular consumer banking.…
Maximum Greed — The EpiPen This is the amazing success story of Heather Bresch, daughter of U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin. Bresch become a pharmaceutical CEO, quadrupled the price of her company’s lifesaving EpiPen and was then able to increase her…