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‘CETACEAN’ performance shows connections between whales’ environment and humans
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Shafts of sunlight pour through the skylights of the Stock Pavilion on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus, illuminating swirls of dust stirred up as several people on a dirt floor uncoil ropes, pulling them taut and twirling them in circles like lassos. It looks like the setting for a rodeo, but […]
Volunteers maintain ‘first gallery’ of flowers outside Krannert Art Museum
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — It’s one of the hottest days of the summer, but a dozen people have gathered with their water bottles, sun hats and gardening tools in front of Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. They’re starting early in the morning, before it gets even hotter, amid blooms of pink, purple, yellow, orange […]
Changing police culture with stories of wrongful convictions
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – I’m in a room with more than 100 police recruits and I can’t believe what I’m hearing. The future police officers are learning about the devastating consequences of criminal prosecutions gone wrong. These aren’t just abstract stories. More than a dozen exonerees are here to share their stories with the police recruits. […]
Following in the footsteps of early 20th century naturalist Elizabeth Kerr
WEST OF HONDA, COLOMBIA. – I am walking in a forest and listening to a concert of birdsong at dawn. I pick one song out of the chorus – a fast chatter full of melodious whistles – the sound of the sooty ant tanager. “Today, we will probably get to know this bird up close,” […]
Preserving the sound of the Altgeld Chimes
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Early on a sunny Sunday morning, the chimes tower in Altgeld Hall is filling up with people. Students climb the steep staircase to the tower, several of them carrying snacks. They are all chimes players who will perform for a recording of chimes music. Chimesmaster Michael Broussard, a doctoral student in ethnomusicology […]
‘Blind Field Shuttle’ brings a new perspective to campus walk
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — It is noon on a cool, gray early spring day on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. I am breathless, surveying my fellow travelers who, like me, have hiked up a winding staircase to a fourth-floor landing in the Architecture Building. We sit quietly on benches, awaiting instructions from our host, Vancouver-based […]
Preserving Illinois forests, one landowner at a time
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS – No matter how many times I do this, I always get nervous. I am demonstrating the proper use of a chainsaw to fell a tree and I want it to go well. After choosing the right tree, a medium-sized box elder, I walk through the steps out loud so that everyone in the […]
Returning to Illinois theatre to direct, mentor students
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — It’s a few days before the opening of a new play at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and the student actors are rehearsing the opening scene. Director Tyrone Phillips is watching from the seats of the theater – a place familiar to him from his days as an acting student at […]
Nurturing a tropical paradise in the heart of the Midwest
URBANA, Ill. – Lexi Gomez is knee-deep in a pond when I first see her in the U. of I. Plant Biology Greenhouse and Conservatory. A fifth-year senior who will graduate this semester, Gomez dips a net in the dark water to clear the pond of debris fallen from the lush jungle of tropical plants […]
Teaching generations of students about outbreaks – with art
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Most people don’t visit the health department to view student art, but here we are, in the busy main hall of the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District. We are wearing face masks, reading artist statements and reviewing more than a dozen visual and digital explorations of influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, COVID-19 and – […]
Using a 19th-century hand press to teach history of printing technologies
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Three students gather around an old iron letterpress at the Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab, preparing to make a print using 19th-century technology. The press requires all three students to operate it. One student uses a roller to spread ink across the type sitting on the bed of the press. Another places the […]
Bringing a game to life through dance
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — I’m in my little sister’s room, where I’ve grabbed her Bop It! toy from her desk. I will use this toy to structure the dance I’m choreographing. I have my little black notebook and favorite black pen nearby. My phone leans against my computer, ready to record. I pull the Bop It! […]