Part one of a three part series. Way up near the headwaters of the Sangamon River, just a couple of miles south and east of Arrowsmith along Mclean County Road 1000 North stands a small reddish granite monument. It’s easy to miss if you’re not looking for it, and it stands silently in a bucolic setting among the windmills and […]

  OK February, I’ll try reasoning with you. I’m dejectedly staring outside at the Sangamon River flowing past without me on it. It’s just too cold! So the self help books I’m reading to cheer myself up during these dull days suggest I should try to focus on the positive; try to keep myself on the sunny side of the […]

As the mercury drops into the twenties and teens, it’s a great time to think about paddling the Sangamon River. Think about it that is, but not actually do it. Not yet. Gazing out at leafless trees standing silently on the powder sugar dusted forest floor along the banks of the Sangamon while mini icebergs float lazily downstream, inspires dreams […]

  It seems strange to me that we might arbitrarily measure age by the number of revolutions that our rock has revolved around the sun. Perhaps a better assessment of our age would be the number of good deeds we’ve done for others, or perhaps the number of life lessons we’ve learned along the way. In any case, our rock […]

  On the wall of my campus office hangs a picture of two plaid shirted area farmers with a pitchfork between them ‘American Gothic’ style. They are gazing intently and quizzically forward, hands on their chins as if to say “What the…?!”  And suspended on the tines of the pitchfork are the printed words “Stop the Dam.” The image reflects […]

  Yes, it’s that time of year again! The time when rich, glamorous and fabulous people at the height of their careers give awards to other rich, glamorous and fabulous people who are also at the height of their careers. Yes, it’s Academy Award season! And why should the fabulous Sangamon River miss out? So here, in a debut performance, […]