The streamers on the Governor s Mansion lawn, blowing in the night, are a somber memorial to the COVID dead who have flown away. In the spring sunshine those same fluttering streamers signal new life, fresh energy, reimagining, liberation and resurrection. In the season of Passover and Easter, we grieve the past and celebrate possibilities.
–Fletcher Farrar, editor and CEO
Illinois Times has provided readers with independent journalism for more than 40 years, from news and politics to arts and culture.
Now more than ever, we’re asking for your support to continue providing our community with real news that everyone can access, free of charge.
A new memoir traces an immigrant s journey of faith and kindness
June Wood Agamah moved to Springfield in 1995 with her husband, Dr. Edem Agamah, and their three young daughters. It s a long way from her Guyana homeland – where she was called Caryl. Edem was born in Ghana. Frequently Americans assume they are from the same country. They were born nearly 4,000 miles and an ocean apart. Guyana is on the northern coast of South America and Ghana on the western coast of Africa.
June and Edem have a deep faith and feel guided by God in their life s journey. They ve led 37 mission trips to Ghana, training volunteers months in advance of the biannual trips. Their daughters accompanied them from a young age and experienced Ghana s culture and people. Yet, June s homeland was mostly a mystery. In 2014, middle daughter Aseye delved into a closet looking for old photos of her mother to make a collage for her mother s birthday. Aseye found no baby picture, as none were taken. Ho
–Frank Zappa Now that I m immune – the second shot kicked in full force last weekend – I wonder what I should do. Are buffets safe? Are any left? Was I better off without all-you-can-eat fried chicken at the VFW and bottomless blue cheese dressing at the Hy-Vee salad bar? Probably, but no matter. Life, or its demise, is built from little things, cholesterol and saturated fat included. Speaking of buffets, toilet paper shortages seem eons ago. Covidiots without masks don t bother me as much. It s too soon to know anything for sure, but maybe a thrice-postponed flight to visit folks on the West Coast will come true at the end of May. The Summer Camp music festival in Chillicothe, a Memorial Day weekend tradition canceled last year, is on for August. No word about redneck fishing in Bath, but school crossing guards are out again.
For some, the pandemic has meant months of monotony. For others, those months have come with an onslaught of seemingly impossible decisions to make. Jennifer Gill, superintendent of District 186, falls into the latter category. On March 24, she announced the latest controversial move. Starting Tuesday, April 6, public school students in Springfield under the hybrid learning model – those attending some in-person classes – will start four-day weekly schedules in classrooms. Previously, hybrid students were broken into two different groups that attended either Tuesdays and Thursdays or Wednesdays and Fridays. The new Tuesday-Friday schedule will be maintained until the end of the school year. It will mean students who were once separated into two different groups for each class will be joined together. Both remote and hybrid students spend Mondays learning asynchronously – independently but with lesson plans to follow – which will continue.