Smile Politely is Champaign-Urbana s independent online magazine. We provide the community with a passionate, trustworthy, informed point of view on local music, arts, culture, food & drink, sports, politics and news. Whatever entertains you, informs you, excites you, or frustrates you, is all likely to be covered in our magazine.
Datebook: Artists Process Lockdown Emotions In With One Stone wglt.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wglt.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
In “The Eyes Have It,” photographer Karl Smith is buried up to his eyes literally in diabetic pen needles. The photo is one of 18 in a new exhibition, Punctuation: 35 Years of Diabetic Debris on display at the McLean County Arts Center. Courtesy / Karl Smith
In “Punctuation: 35 Years of Diabetic Debris,” on display now through June 4 at the McLean County Arts Center, photographer Karl Smith documents life as a Type I diabetic, from diagnosis at age 15 to organ transplant at age 50.
Smith took the first photo the series in 1990 as a photography student at Illinois Wesleyan University.
“I’ve got all these syringe caps lined up in rows after rows after rows,” Smith described. “I was thinking it would have that pattern similar to the headstones at Arlington National Cemetery. I was using a particular type of camera that I was experimenting with where it would get this extreme depth of field.”
Nightshop
The COVID-19 vaccine rollout has many optimistic a return to something resembling “normal” is approaching. That includes a Bloomington Normal live-music scene gutted by the pandemic. Most music organizers in the Twin Cities said they are shooting for summer and fall performances.
Edward David Anderson’s live performance on March 14, 2020 was the last live show at Nightshop before the pandemic changed everything. Owner Chris Golwitzer finally closed the food side of his downtown Bloomington restaurant and music venue at the end of the year. He said he couldn’t meet expenses and obey safety orders.
“We take the pandemic very seriously,” said Golwitzer. “We followed all safety guidelines, almost went overboard with them just to protect my team but especially the customers. We are nothing without them.”