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The encouragement of competent teachers
As Bradley recalls Miss Graham, she was the schoolmarm personified. Though long retired, she treated indifferent or unruly visitors to the Vachel Lindsay home as if they were naughty pupils in her class. Some found the experience annoying, some comical, but no one forgot it.

The Lincoln funeral train, Chicago to Springfield
The train carrying Abraham Lincoln’s body drew throngs of mourners across Illinois as it completed the last leg of its journey from Chicago to Springfield. That was 150 years ago this week. Despite the late hours of the nighttime journey, thousands of weeping, embittered Illinoisans paid their last respects to the fallen president.

‘Dr. Evil’ turns out to be ‘Dr. Silly’
But Rick Berman is not a doctor, not evil and not a scourge. While he is a wholly unprincipled little man, he’s just a selfserving huckster who grubs for corporate dollars by offering to do their dirty PR work.

LETTERS
TEA PARTY ON IHPA Remember when President Obama made his announcement and VP choice at the historic Old State Capitol? It was IHPA that gave him special permission to do so, although the site is not to be used for political events. The Springfield Tea Party was then denied use of the same facility twice.

Speaker Madigan’s peculiar new habit
A couple of weeks ago, I started noticing that House Speaker Michael Madigan wasn’t voting on most legislation during his chamber’s floor debates. Madigan was feeling under the weather that week, and was ill enough that a leadership meeting with the governor couldn’t be scheduled until a few days later, so I let it go.

Cutting to the bone
On April 21, the newly formed House Budget Oversight Panel grilled budget director Tim Nuding and Greg Bassi, acting secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services, on how money from a $1.3 billion supplemental funding bill the Illinois General Assembly authorized earlier this year was spent.

Morals in medicine
She and her husband, Adam, were excited to have their second child, she told an Illinois Senate legislative panel at the Capitol in March, but their doctors informed them the child likely wouldn’t survive. Having the child, they were told, could hurt Mindy’s ability to have future children and possibly endanger her life.

SWEETEST SOUNDS
There’s nothing quite like a soaring vocal harmony that awakens tired ears and excites the soul. That’s the feeling you’ll get when the Sound Celebration Chorus sings. They’re a Springfi eld-based volunteer women’s chorus specializing in four-part barbershop harmony, and they just won a handful of honors at a major choral competition.

SERVING FAMILIES SINCE 1863
In 1865, Mary Jane Tully came to Springfi eld from Arkansas seeking a new beginning from the destructive Civil War. When she arrived here, the Springfi eld Home for the Friendless helped Tully settle into her new life.

Project hits stumbling block
The council without discussion tabled an ordinance that would have provided $700,000 in tax increment finance money to build the 70-unit project at the intersection of Fourth and Madison streets. The money would be spent to buy land for the five-story building proposed by Bluffstone, an Iowa company that specializes in building student housing.

Lincoln Funeral Reenactment events calendar
This is your unofficial guide to the concerts, presentations, lectures, dinners and other events surrounding the 2015 Lincoln Funeral Reenactment. Please note that parking downtown will be restricted, and no parking will be allowed in Oak Ridge Cemetary or along the funeral route.

Mr. Lincoln goes to the movies
Fox showed three extended clips during the evening, preceded and followed by indepth discussion of the circumstances of the films themselves and what they say about Lincoln’s legacy. The first clip he showed was from D.W. Griffith’s notorious 1915 epic Birth of a Nation,.

Aftermath of an assassination
Burlingame says what appeals to him about Lincoln is the fact that he overcame not only economic poverty, but also emotional poverty. Lincoln endured the loss of his mother at a young age, then later the loss of his sister. His father was distant and unsympathetic.

Life and death in Lincoln’s day
A recent discovery in the archives was John Richards, who was doctor to the Lincoln family at the start of the Civil War. When the war broke out he went to the South to retrieve his son and was accused of being a Union spy when they found out he was Lincoln’s personal physician.

A nationwide project
shipped via railroad to Springfield from St. Louis, where it was used at funerals for dignitaries, including a senator and governor.

Better get on board
The final concert of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra’s 2014-2015 season is happening on Saturday, May 2, as part of the Lincoln Funeral Coalition. “The whole city is going to be gripped by this and we are so, so thrilled to be playing our part in it all,” says ISO music director Alastair Willis.

Judith and Julia
She’s as legendary in publishing circles as her most celebrated culinary author. It’s not an exaggeration to say that without Judith Jones, an editor at Knopf, Julia Child may not have become the iconic person and personality who became a driving force in changing how America views food and cooking.

A sense of the mechanical plagues Avengers: Ultron
For better or worse, Marvel Films has ushered in a new production method, planning out interlocking movies that form a universe all their own.

May music be
Let’s start this week off with a howdy-do to the Curve Inn. Located out off of South Sixth on what was once the famed Mother Road, Route 66, the longtime bar has a colorful history. Once a seedy and rough place, the Curve has certainly blossomed in the last several years under the current ownership of Ray and Ami Merchant and Don Thompson.

PUB CRAWL
Dates, times and locations are subject to change, so we suggest calling before attending an event..

BAND SPOTLIGHT | Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys
Big Sandy is no stranger to Springfield, and you can bet in his 25-plus years of travels with the Fly-Rite Boys this guy made some stops across the country.

THE CALENDAR
and four other full-length poetry collections. Free, open to public. Vachel Lindsay Home State Historic Site, 603 S. Fifth St., 217-524-0901..

FAIRS & FESTIVALS | The first official U.S. water circus
This weekend, come enjoy Cirque Italia, a unique Italian circus experience featuring talented performers from all over the world. The show will be performed six times across three days this Friday through Sunday in the southeast parking lot of White Oaks Mall, under the swirling red white and blue tent.

SPOKEN WORD | Master storyteller Garrison Keillor
Garrison Keillor’s voice is heard on more than 900 NPR affiliates each week, and now is your opportunity to hear his voice live. Join Sangamon Auditorium on Wednesday, May 6, at 7:30 p.m., for An Evening with Garrison Keillor.

ARTS | Creative interpretations of Lincoln
A multi-media arts showcase to honor a multi-faceted man. Benedictine University and Quiddity,.

HISTORY | Walk where Lincoln walked
Immerse yourself in Lincoln’s culture as you take a self-guided tour through mid-to-late 1800s homes in the Enos Park neighborhood. You’ll view half a dozen homes that Lincoln had various connections to during his time in Springfield such as the Governor Cullom Mansion, the General McClernand home, the Dr.