May 16th, 2008 08:04am
Jennie Pollock
who says rockford doesn’t have culture? or that you can’t enjoy very different things?
on wednesday night, i played the new wii mario kart racing game with my husband. poorly, of course.
last night, we went to the full dress rehearsal of “tosca” at the coronado. the rockford symphony orchestra and the rockford chamber of commerce allowed young professionals to mingle in the manager’s apartment and meet a few actors beforehand, watch the show from the balcony and see how things work backstage during intermission. it was a very powerful show, with great voices and great music.
we learned a few interesting facts. for one, the singers/actors are brought in specially for this performance, and they’ve performed in such revered places as the met and the lyric opera. secondly, the actress who plays tosca (amy johnson) and the actor who plays scarpia (vernon harman), the villian, are married in real life. if that’s not enough, harman is actually the director filling in because the man originally cast as scarpia has a throat ailment.
the show is saturday: see our video here by bob schaper.
May 15th, 2008 11:24am
Lil Swanson
David,
Thanks for pointing out my error. I should have looked up the exact quote before using quotation marks. Duh!
It was good to read the whole quote again, savor the thought and learn that Kennedy said it at Rice University. Thanks for all.
May 14th, 2008 06:12pm
Lil Swanson
Thirteen members of the Register Star’s Voters’ Panel convened at the paper on Tuesday night. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed hearing what readers have to say about this never-ending election cycle and the problems facing the nation. Their voices and ideas stick in my mind.
For me, one of the main takeaways from Tuesday night was how much the members of our voters’ panel care about our country. I was getting goose bumps as I listened to them explain their frustration with the lack of a national purpose, and the need for sacrifice. We are just itching to be the next Greatest Generation.
One person reminded the group of President Kennedy’s famous call to action: “We choose to go to the moon, not because it is easy, but because it is hard.” In my mind I could hear that famous Boston accent saying those words. Haaaahrd. That has long been one of my favorite quotes, and propels a lot of my own decision-making. Who wants to do anything that’s easy?
In the office today, my colleague Chuck Sweeny did a pretty good imitation of Kennedy saying those words. I’m wondering if it resonates with lots of readers. Let me know what you think.
May 13th, 2008 05:29pm
Anna Voelker
People who’ve lived in Rockford for many years will often say the most horrific crime that’s ever happened here was the brutal murder of the six Nelson children — Jenny, 12; Simon Peter III, 10; Andrew, 8; Matthew, 7; Roseann, 6; and David, 3. Their father, Simon Peter Nelson, killed them with a knife and rubber mallet the morning of Jan. 7, 1978.
RRSTAR.COM FILE PHOTO
Simon Peter Nelson is pictured with his children and wife Ann in a family portrait taken shortly before the murders. Nelson killed his six children — Jenny, 12; Simon Peter III, 10; Andrew, 8; Matthew, 7; Roseann, 6; and David, 3 — with a knife and rubber mallet in January 1978 before driving from his family‘s home in Rockford to Milwaukee to beat his wife, who was seeking a divorce.
Nelson long has claimed that he “snapped” on the day of the murders, when his wife announced her intention to divorce him, and alleges that he can’t recall the killings because of amnesia. Nelson is up for parole in June. No member of the Prisoner Review Board has ever voted to release Nelson. You can sign a petition against or in support of Nelson’s parole here. You’ll also find a photo gallery and past stories
We first posted the petition online at 1:44 p.m. Since then, 226 of you have filed petitions to keep Nelson in prison. Our special report on the upcoming parole has garnered more than 6,300 page views so far.
We’re also collecting petitions on behalf of Michael Mayborne. The Winnebago County Sheriff’s deputy was killed by Theodore Bacino in 1974.
Already this year, Robert Henry Lower and Curtis Brownell were both denied parole for killing in the 1970s 15-year-old newspaper carrier Joey Didier and 17-year-old Louise Betts, respectively.
May 13th, 2008 07:09am
Jennie Pollock
last night when i was driving home from work, i heard a story by melissa block from npr, who happened to be in china for a series she’s working on for next week.
thanks to a historic, devastating earthquake, she’s covering that instead.
at the site, you can hear the earthquake hitting “live” and people’s panic thereafter.
more moving is her tale of a shattered school, where many children lost their lives. block worked hard to keep her composure, as the scene was so somber. it’s a reminder of the struggle we have as journalists to report the news while showing compassion. and that journalists can be affected by stories. just like the niu student newspaper staffers during this year’s shootings. the dart center for journalism and trauma visited them recently. i know that some of our staffers were shook up from covering the story, too.
May 13th, 2008 06:46am
Jennie Pollock
this week for rockford woman, i’m trying to live without plastic. i was going to assign it to a reporter, but since i’ve been trying to be “greener,” i figured i’d just try it myself.
since that would be impossible (have you noticed how much stuff is made of plastic? your movies. your shoes. your toothbrush. the list goes on and on….), i’ll try not to buy any plastic. good thing i bought my mother’s day gift cards last week.
i’m blogging my diary but named the blog “go green” because it could end up becoming a permanent thing, especially if some environmentally smart folks volunteer to do so. wanna, huh? anyone?
May 12th, 2008 04:48pm
Anna Voelker
Who knew pictures of Jenna Bush’s wedding would drive traffic? This morning, we posted 11 photos of the prez’s daughter and so far the gallery has generated nearly 6,000 page views. It’s been hit and miss with “celebrity-type” galleries in the past. Some galleries of red-carpet events like the Oscars didn’t garner many page views. I figure most people come to us for local-local news, stuff that other Web sites don’t have. And our priority is to publish those types of photo galleries first. Last month, we posted more than 70 local news photo galleries, for example.
May 12th, 2008 10:26am
Anna Voelker
The Rock River Valley used to be called the “Screw Capital.” Manufacturing used to make up more than a quarter of our local economy. Then we started losing those jobs.
When I was a reporter on the business desk, I wrote about CLARCOR moving its headquarters from Rockford to Nashville. I interviewed laid-off factory worker Doug Edwards, who lived near CLARCOR. He said, “We went from being the `Screw Capital of the World’ to the ‘Now We’re Getting Screwed Capital of the World,’” said Edwards, referring to Rockford’s former renown as a leading maker of fasteners. “Once the corporate headquarters moves, then the rest of the jobs will move. This town is dying.”
That was 2004. Today, local manufacturers are encouraged about their future. We’re talking less about lost jobs and more about diversifying the business. We asked several of them to blog for us. Manufacturing 2.0 focuses on global manufacturing and other local trend — and the continued importance of this industry on our community. None of them would say this town is dying. And a few of them didn’t want this blog to have any reference to the “Screw Capital” or the “Rust Belt” in its name. So, instead, we picked a name that looks at the future.
Bob Trojan, president of Rockford Linear Actuation, writes in his latest post: “So my message is … get into the export game, either directly or sell to customers who export and keep on making productivity improvements. It’s a good formula for keeping our local manufacturing economy growing.”
May 9th, 2008 01:00am
Jennie Pollock
i remember hearing that quote from “the daily show” … from none other than jon stewart.
people often say that more young people get their news from “the daily show” than actual news outlets. this study shows that its viewers actually come to the show pretty informed.
other findings?
– the show focuses on politics about as often as cable news shows.
– it skewers republicans more often than democrats.
– and it covers the media twice as much.
May 8th, 2008 03:09pm
Anna Voelker
I love that our reporters are trying new things. When I went to college, there was no such thing as a multimedia journalist bachelor’s degree. Most of the folks in our newsroom have had to learn new stuff. Much of it by trial and error. Take a look at Jeff Kolkey’s package on Page Park School that published today on rrstar.com. Jeff wrote the story, and shot and edited the video. It’s worth your time.
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