My recent purchase of the sweatshirt pictured with this post sent me down memory lane. From 1979-83, I worked alongside smart, talented, ambitious, hard-working, purpose-driven colleagues in an atmosphere we could not recreate. We were all University of Illinois students putting in the foundation for our careers. The Daily Illini, the independent, student-run newspaper, was …
I had issues with access to my website when I posted this introduction and Jerry Esker profile (two separate links). Thus, I’m reposting in case you experienced frustration accessing the articles last week. I enjoyed getting back to journalistic roots and learning about Sarah Bush’s regional growth. I appreciate the opportunity and access provided to …
I enjoyed getting back to journalistic roots and learning about Sarah Bush’s regional growth. The introduction and article are in separate links below. 2022.0515.sbl.intro jeesker
“We spend roughly $50 per student per year on STEM fields and 5 cents per student per year on civics.” In writing these words, scholar Danielle Allen acknowledges the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). “The United States needs science. It needs technological innovation, and it needs scientists to advise elected leaders,” she wrote, …
A third of the people take the newspaper because of the ads I was told when beginning as a publisher. People get the flyers and plan their grocery shopping. When the rummage sales come out, rummagers map out their route. Classifieds represented a community exchange. Some took the car ads and purchased a specific car, …
Standing in the endzone at Lantz Arena several years ago, food and beverage in hand, I unexpectedly encountered a college acquaintance who drove from Champaign-Urbana to see the EIU game. We quickly began updating each other about our lives. He introduced me to his friend Mike McCuskey. To his surprise, I knew McCuskey. I could …
One thing I enjoy on weekends like this one when I make time for national and international newspapers is the journalist-written obituaries. Some are about people I know a little about, others not. Some lived more prominent, public lives than others. It is always welcome to see the varied paths that encompass life stories. You …
I recently was reminded that it’s been seven years since my farewell reception from the newspaper business and the Journal Gazette/Times-Courier. Attached to this post is a picture my friend John Plevka took that afternoon. The smile is real. The reasons are multiple. The first time an article was published with my byline I was …
Impactful. Intentional. Professional. Dignified. Those are a few words that describe Pat Hemmett’s reach into East Central Illinois life. I met Pat in 1992. By that time, she was 8 years in to having started an adult basic education program in the counties that cover the Lake Land College district. In the program’s infancy, she …
On the opening weekend of professional football in 2021, I look back. One of my recent reads is Red Grange, the Life and Legacy of the NFL’s first superstar, by football historian Chris Willis. This 2019 biography takes a fresh look at the first person to capitalize on his college and professional football prowess. It …