PeoriaStory

Heartland Festival Orchestra and the Sword & Bow

EAST PEORIA, IL -- In the oddest program yet, the Heartland Festival Orchestra on March 1 at the Illinois Central College auditorium was reduced to accompanying a play about an 18th century musician, Joseph Bologne.

The play Saint-Georges' Sword & Bow by Gill Sotu was performed by two actors from Chicago, Kelvin Roston Jr. and Dmetra Dee. There was fencing and music, as the teenage Dee was transported from now back to the 18th century to learn to appreciate classical music.

Both actors were Black, and their color and status as slaves was also  an issue in this otherwise light-hearted play. 

The performances were well done, but the hour-long play offered scant music in the background, by Bologne, Mozart and others.

Bologne was a real person well known in  his time, and remarked on by the U.S.  president John Adams, according to program notes. The play was amusing, but the music was too brief, perhaps for the many children in the audience. 

-- Elaine Hopkins

 

 

Rally on Monday, Feb. 18, 2019

PEORIA, IL -- From a news release, action on President's Day:

>>> PROTEST! CALL OUT THE FAKE CRISIS & DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION

Yes, we are protesting the fake 'national emergency.'

Monday, February 18, 12:00 noon
Federal Building
100 N.E. Monroe, Peoria, IL

 

This is an event planned as a rapid response protest against the fake national emergency declared by Trump on February 15.

In the Peoria and multi-county area, progressives will meet at the Federal Courthouse in downtown Peoria. Park in parking areas open to the public, on streets or in parking decks. Carpool, too. Dress for the weather conditions. This is intended to be a peaceful event. Please be respectful.
Event is public.

RSVP here

https://www.crisisresponse.us/event/crisis-response/search/

 

***

Be prepared: flood preparations

PEORIA, IL -- The Illinois River regularly floods at Peoria and other central Illinois sites.  Tornadoes and other disasters also strike, usually without much warning. A reader sent these links for preparation:

How to Prep for Every Type of Natural Disaster

Here’s What You Need to Know About Flood Insurance

Home Emergency & Disaster Safety

Disaster Checklist for Child Care Professionals

The Ultimate Guide to Hurricane Facts, Information & Resources

Disaster Preparedness for Pet Owners

Driving to Safety: The Car Owner’s Guide to Emergency Evacuation

Flood Safety and Preparedness Guide

"I hope this list not only helps families prepare, but instills a sense of confidence into the idea of tackling the unknown and unexpected!" said Sara Bell
http://educatorlabs.org/ | [email protected]
2054 Kildaire Farm Rd. #204 | Cary, NC | 27518

 

Call the governor

PEORIA, IL -- Of all the awful things the Illinois General Assembly has done lately, approving bobcat hunting and trapping is the worst.

These small cats are no threat to anyone. They're shy and rarely active in daylight. They hunt vermin, so are beneficial. They are likely endangered or threatened as a species.

To save them, call the governor and ask him to veto the legislation, the bobcat bill HB 352.  Here's the number: 217-782-0244.

I did it and it works.

-- Elaine Hopkins

Disgusting PJS/GateHouse story

PEORIA -- Here's a disgusting story that ran on Sept. 14 in the print edition of Peoria Journal Star, though it ran earlier in the Springfield newspaper, and is posted on that paper's website. 

It involves a celebration of the trapping of otters in Illinois -- 2,000 killed last year.

Here's an email I sent to the author, reporter Chris Young:

As a journalist you should be ashamed of the story on otter trapping, which ran in the Peoria Journal Star today.

It's totally one sided -- no effort made to interview people who view trapping as cruel and inhumane.

Trapping is disgusting and should be banned, not celebrated.  It causes extreme animal suffering.

Otters are intelligent, lively creatures who should not be trapped for their fur, which likely is going to Asia, given anti-fur attitudes in the more enlightened world. 

The price of fur?  Ridiculous argument. If people are so poor they need to trap to eat, they can get
food stamps.

If people want to get out into the outdoors, they should take cameras, not guns and traps.
Photography is much more challenging than using a gun or trap on a helpless creature.

It's biased stories like yours that fail to present other points of view that cause backward attitudes in the US. For shame.

It's also biased reporting like this that has been killing US newspapers, as their reports do not present the whole truth:  fair, accurate, comprehensive.

No wonder people won't buy newspapers any more.

Why an email and not a comment?

I don't do comments to the GateHouse papers because they require a FaceBook log-on, exploiting the individual's information on FaceBook for advertising and other purposes. Astute web readers must have noticed that GateHouse/PJS web stories don't have many comments any more.  They stopped when the FaceBook program began.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

A petition to protect elephants

PEORIA -- Now for something different.  A petition has been created to ask the Peoria Civic Center to ban elephants from a circus.

I signed.  Will others sign?

Here it is, with the reasons.

  Petition | Peoria Civic Center: Cancel the Performances of the Ringling Bros. Circus in Peoria, IL! | Change.org.

 

There also will be a demonstration and people are invited to join in.

Local PETA supporters are standing up and advocating for elephants who are forced to perform in the Ringling Bros. circus, and we'd love for you to join us!

When: Friday, October 12, 6-7 p.m.
Where: On the public sidewalk in front of the Peoria Civic Center, 201 S.W. Jefferson Ave., Peoria, Illinois 61602 (Please meet at the intersection of S.W. Jefferson and Harrison streets; see this map).

-- Elaine Hopkins