Following the siege at the nation’s Capitol, many were left to ponder the question, is this America? For many, their race, ethnicity, culture and political beliefs determined the answer. America has always been a tale of two countries. There has…
Columns
Straight Talk | Bad judgment
by Roger Monroe • • Comments Off on Straight Talk | Bad judgment
A dispute between Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood and the Peoria Fire Department became a public debate, and it was entirely unnecessary. News releases from Harwood and the Fire Department described a garage fire at 1928 S. Stanley that claimed…
Bill Knight | Carl Cannon pushes himself
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Bill Knight | Carl Cannon pushes himself
The longtime weightlifter, soldier, policeman, family man and mentor also pushes others – to bear life’s burdens and condition themselves to meet future challenges. In Full Cannon, published late last year, the 61-year-old Peoria who founded programs such as ELITE…
The Watch | Council discusses restaurants and COVID-19
by Community Word Staff • • Comments Off on The Watch | Council discusses restaurants and COVID-19
If you don’t like what you saw in Washington, D.C. last month, start change by paying attention to elected officials here at home. For example, here are some highlights gathered by the League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria: In…
Real Talk | This is who we are
by Sherry Cannon • • Comments Off on Real Talk | This is who we are
We watched in horror on Jan. 6, as the nation’s Capitol was breached by white terrorists on the behest of the president of the United States of America. These terrorists broke down doors, attacked Capitol Police, killing one officer by…
Nature Rambles | Frost in bloom
by Mike Miller • • Comments Off on Nature Rambles | Frost in bloom
For anyone who lives for the delicate splendor of flowers, winter can seem like a bleak landscape. A period of stillness before the spring breaks across the landscape with blooming things. However, if you pay attention to the winter landscape,…
Inland Art | Story Stitchers
by Community Word Staff • • Comments Off on Inland Art | Story Stitchers
Like the majority of the Inland columns, this is a story about prairie culture, specifically contemporary culture in one Midwestern city. This month it’s about collective action in St. Louis, and it’s about stitching. For decades representation of the prairie…
Art and Justice | How African American artists address the environment
by Clare Howard • • Comments Off on Art and Justice | How African American artists address the environment
Juarez Hawkins, Chicago artist, daughter of an artist and art instructor at Chicago State University, explores the role of African American art and its focus on environmental justice at a zoom lecture Feb. 11 hosted by the Fine Arts Society…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Reasons for a Dividend-Based Carbon Tax, Part 3: Heat that Kills
by William Rau • • Comments Off on Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Reasons for a Dividend-Based Carbon Tax, Part 3: Heat that Kills
Kim Stanley Robinson opens his climate fiction opus, “The Ministry for the Future,” in the year 2025 with a brutal heat wave spreading across India. Heat and humidity approach the survival limit for humans. Then, the grid goes down across…
Reflections from an Existential Lens | Religion, Secularism and Life-Meaning, Part I
by Community Word Staff • • Comments Off on Reflections from an Existential Lens | Religion, Secularism and Life-Meaning, Part I
I have a friend of a friend who is Christian and interested in abstract theological questions. When we first met, he knew both that I was non-religious and that I know about religious arguments. Yet when I met him and…