After a certain number of years, a community tends to get bored with something that once seemed exciting and new. Participation dwindles. This year marks the 10th that the River Cities' Reader has conducted its Best of the Quad Cities poll, yet community interest in this institution continues to grow.

Alternative-health-care provider 1. Palmer Chiropractic Clinic 2. Dennis Hagemann, Hagemann Chiropractic Center 3. Brad Merritt, Merritt Chiropractic Clinic Best alternative health care- Palmer Chiropractic Clinics This year, Davenport's Palmer Chiropractic Clinic received the Reader's citation for best alternative health care in the Quad Cities, and because it's been around forever, it's safe to say it did have a leg - as well as a neck, spine, and lower back - up on the competition.

Interviewing the Haiti-born artist Edouard Duval-Carrié is a lesson in interpretation. There's little discussion of technique, color, or space. Instead, with a precise vocabulary but slightly askew English syntax, Duval-Carrié talks of symbols and meaning, and how the history of his land is also the history of the United States.

The six houses on Fifth and Ripley streets - just north of the county jail and elevated railroad tracks - aren't much to look at. A glance suggests they should be torn down. Among other things, peeled paint, broken and boarded-up windows, graffiti, and missing gutters tell a story of long-term neglect.