The Railsplitter always remains newsworthy. Perhaps you remember the recent Lincoln-related crime wave in Kankakee, Illinois, where a thief or thieves took a plaster sculpture of Abraham Lincoln’ hand. Let’s go […]
Category: Illinois / regional
The Beginning of a University Press
“The University of Illinois Press is destined to be one of the greatest Presses in the country.” —President Edmund J. James in a letter to the first University of Illinois […]
“What I Want for Christmas,” an excerpt from Christmas in Illinois
With hopes for peaceful holiday celebrations everywhere, here is “What I Want for Christmas,” by Robert Green Ingersoll, from Christmas in Illinois, along with the introduction by editor James Ballowe: […]
Oh, gnarly tree: A holiday tale
I am fortunately immune to nostalgia about past celebrations of the yule, with one exception: the Christmas tree. Not a tree in the abstract, but the Christmas tree I grew up with, a […]
200 Years of Illinois: Making way for Fermilab
It came from the future: Tevatron. The villain in the new Michael Bay feature? Actually, the world’s largest particle accelerator once it opened in 1983. But to get there, the giant […]
Flammulina velutipes, the space shuttle mushroom
Flammulina velutipes (Curtis) Singer Edible, but tough. Despite appearances, the commercially produced “enoki” mushroom found in many grocery stores is a cultivated form of this mushroom. One of the best-known […]
200 Years of Illinois: The half-eaten bison sandwich of Richard M. Nixon
September 22 is an auspicious date in Illinois history. As this post recounts, boxing history took place on the date. Willie Nelson took time out from his 1985 to team […]
Q&A with Lex Tate, Co-author of An Illini Place
Lex Tate is an adjunct lecturer in journalism and advertising at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and served as associate director of the University of Illinois Office for University Relations. She […]
Entoloma salmoneum, an attractive fungus
Entoloma salmoneum (Peck) Saccardo Entoloma salmoneum can be found growing alone or scattered in leaf litter under hardwoods, or in moss under conifers; frequently on rotting, moss-covered conifer logs. When […]
On Mutinus elegans, a mushroom both naughty and smelly
Mutinus elegans (Montagne) E. Fischer Usually at least partially submerged in the ground; appearing like a whitish to pinkish or purplish “egg” up to 4 cm high; when sliced, revealing […]
200 Years of Illinois: They Haunt By Night
Forget Halloween. August is the time for monster mashing in Illinois. One peruse of the state’s long history of monster sightings shows that warm summer nights bring the cryptids out […]
The Food’s The Story
While on the UI Chicago campus this week, we had the distinct pleasure of visiting the current Special Collections and University Archives exhibit at the library: “The Food’s The Story.” […]