This month we review the Oscar-nominated documentary 13th by filmmaker Ava DuVernay. This film takes an in-depth look at the industrial prison complex and the 13th Amendment which contributes to mass incarceration. The film highlights the role that politics and…
Columns
Serendipity | You CAN Go Home Again
by Sandra Dempsey Post • • Comments Off on Serendipity | You CAN Go Home Again
Days after a wonderful visit with a good friend who lives in Maryland and was here seeing family, the quote about not being able to go home again popped into my mind. I googled it to see others’ thoughts, and…
Nature Rambles | Ubiquitous cottonwoods
by Mike Miller • • Comments Off on Nature Rambles | Ubiquitous cottonwoods
Sometimes trees will surprise you. Even those that are so common that they go virtually unnoticed. Take the Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides) for example. It is a tree that grows from the east coast of the United States all the…
Real Talk | Part 2: Grief hurts, but healing is complicated
by Sherry Cannon • • Comments Off on Real Talk | Part 2: Grief hurts, but healing is complicated
Webster’s dictionary has the meaning of the word “loss” as the state of feeling grief when deprived of someone or something of value; and the word “healing” meaning to make sound or whole. Since the election of Donald Trump, there…
Art: What is it Good For? | How to Become an Arts Advocate
by Doug and Eileen Leunig • • Comments Off on Art: What is it Good For? | How to Become an Arts Advocate
One of the benefits in living in central Illinois is that our communities are big enough to provide amenities and small enough to produce connections that enable citizens to be influencers. This column is a good example of how two…
Arts Beat | May 2019
by Community Word Staff • • Comments Off on Arts Beat | May 2019
MUSIC May 1 and each Wednesday: John Miller. 6 p.m. Rhythm Kitchen. 676-9668. May 1-17: Gerald M. Brookhart Arts in Education Spring Celebration. 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, Peoria County Courthouse Plaza. 672-6906. May 1: Bradley String Chamber Music, 7:30 p.m.…
Inland Art | Susanne Nestory
by Paul Krainak • • Comments Off on Inland Art | Susanne Nestory
Susanne Nestory has been a resident of Peoria for a little more than a decade. She came from New Jersey as the interim director of Bradley University’s Gallery and Collections and is currently and has been an adjunct professor since…
Views & Perspectives | Randy Simmons and leadership
by Ray LaHood • • Comments Off on Views & Perspectives | Randy Simmons and leadership
Ordinarily, I write this column on one topic. This month I’m writing on three topics. One of the saddest phone calls I received from my son Darin was to tell me of Randy Simmons passing. I have known Randy for…
Straight Talk | Bradley versus Peoria Journal
by Roger Monroe • • Comments Off on Straight Talk | Bradley versus Peoria Journal
It’s a gigantic pissing contest between two of Peoria’s major icons. Bradley’s basketball coach is ticked off at the PJ Star sports department. Wardle’s team this year made it to the NCAA tournament and suddenly the coach decided to get…
Bill Knight | County residents object to proposed hog farm
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Bill Knight | County residents object to proposed hog farm
After a career as a chef and restauranteur – including running Coop’s in Princeville for eight years – Sherri Cooper was looking forward to a retirement renovating the Washington C. Wear homestead, a property on the National Register of Historic…