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…
News
Heartland showcasing Bernstein “West Side Story” themes
by Community Word Staff • • Comments Off on 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
by Community Word Staff • • Comments Off on Building Middle Class
Sheriff Asbell: Despite beliefs, no crime wave
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on 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…
Reproductive Choice: Ask Cara
by Clare Howard • • Comments Off on 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…
First-hand account: From Anger to Amazement at National Museum of African American History & Culture
by Sherry Cannon • • Comments Off on First-hand account: From Anger to Amazement at National Museum of African American History & Culture
Editor’s note: From opening day in September, the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture has had record attendance. Admission is booked until April, but Community Word and correspondent Sherry Cannon were able to secure a press…
Oil gas pipelines already criss-cross central Illinois
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Oil gas pipelines already criss-cross central Illinois
After Community Word editor Clare Howard wrote about Enbridge’s oil pipeline through Tazewell and Woodford Counties almost two years ago, the issue has continued to percolate, like tar pits belching bubbles of air, from the cancelled Keystone XL Pipeline to…
Diversity key to community healthcare
by Clare Howard • • Comments Off on Diversity key to community healthcare
A diverse student body in medical programs is essential to the future of medical care in this country, and diversity is a key goal Kim Johnston, president of Methodist College, has pursued through a variety of wide-ranging programs since she…
Organic farmer sees ominous signs for climate & future of food
by Clare Howard • • Comments Off on Organic farmer sees ominous signs for climate & future of food
Henry Brockman planned to cut back on his extensive and demanding organic farming operation after his one-year sabbatical in Japan. He’s been farming on fertile bottomland outside Eureka for 25 years, his three children are finished or finishing college, he’s…
News analysis: TRUMP TRIUMPHANT — Don’t think for a minute he can’t win!
by contributor • • Comments Off on News analysis: TRUMP TRIUMPHANT — Don’t think for a minute he can’t win!
BY GEORGE HOPKINS In the year 120 BCE, the Roman Senate banned actors from holding elective office, according to Mary Beard, in her magisterial book S.P.Q.R: The History of Ancient Rome (2015). So why this odd footnote to history? It…