Three major issues are currently on the minds of most Americans. These are (1) jobs going overseas, (2) swelling numbers of immigrants, both legal and illegal, and (3) transferring to foreign organizations the power to dictate our nation's policies.
The number of entries in this year's River Cities' Reader short-fiction contest jumped to over 120, up more than 25 percent from last year. There was one significant rule change - the word limit was cut from 250 to 200 - but that didn't seem to affect the quality of entries.
New Ground Theatre's current show, David Schulner's An Infinite Ache, appears to be a conventional love and marriage story. A man and woman meet, fall in love, and get hitched - nothing unusual. But the script is so intricately crafted that we see snapshots of the couple as they progress through a partnership of more than five decades and take on sex, marriage, children, and death - in a mere hour and fifteen minutes. The fast-paced, natural dialogue travels seamlessly through the years, with no specific scene divisions. Time simply progresses.
When leaving Circa '21 last Friday night, I caught glimpses of conversations about Hello Dolly!. One audience member loved it, while another found the show bland and unmemorable. I silently agreed with the latter critic.
Theatre is evolving. While some scripts still relate the story of a unique person or community, it seems more writers are attempting to use representative characters to capture something more universal. These shows often consist of monologues that revolve around a central theme, such as girls' and women's lives in A ... My Name Is Alice and female sexuality in The Vagina Monologues. Sometimes, as in The Vagina Monologues, each component is the result of real-life research and interviews conducted and modified by the playwright.
Move over Oscar, Emmy, and Grammy. It's time to bestow honors upon the Quad Cities' artistic community. The 28th Annual Rock Island Fine Arts Exhibition boasts a roster that reads like a venerable who's who of local visual artists.
The first presidential election season since 9/11 poses a vital question for U.S. voters. What does the leadership of al Qaeda think? Which candidate would do more to further their interests? Consider the following: • An international survey concludes that popular support for the U.
Barack Obama's victory in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary for Illinois looks a lot like Glenn Poshard's 1998 Democratic gubernatorial primary win, only upside down. Poshard won a bunch of small southern Illinois counties with overwhelming margins.
With political discourse defined by (and often limited to) spin and sound bites, it seems a particularly appropriate time to celebrate the presence of C-SPAN, the not-for-profit corporation that provides America (and the world) with coverage of U.
• Iowa Senator Bryan Sievers, R-New Liberty, has two Democrats vying to face him in the general election this fall. Eldridge Mayor Frank Wood, who also serves as associate principal at North Scott High School, announced that he will be seeking the Democratic nomination and will face off against Dennis Starling, the Calamus man who nearly defeated Sievers in the 2002 District 42 race.

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