1WWWWWWWWWWestern Illinois Magazine

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In Macomb, everyone knows him as “Boomer.” He’s the town favorite for

bar conversations.

The Staff

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Editor-in-Chief Carlos Williamson Managing Editor Isom Jacobs Art Director Jacqueline Covey

Photographer Mary Friday Staff Writers: Ryan Brushaber, Erika Davis, Sarah Despain, Sandra Sepaniak and Ajia

Harris

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Contact Info:A Western Illinois Publication1 University CircleMacomb, IL 61455309-298-1876 ext. 7Westernillinoismagazine@yahoo.com

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Western Illinois Magazine: students engage in happenings of rural Illinois.

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first had the pleasure of meeting Clinton Boomer about a year ago at The Cafe,

shortly before I was to do stand up at its biweekly open mike night. I was

in need of a cameraman as well as someone who’d be capable of

giving me honest feedback on my performance. Through a friend of his, Boomer was

introduced to me and enthusiastically fulfilled the roles I was looking

for that night. He struck me as a very

distinct individual, physically sharing a

close resemblance to a younger Rich-

ard Dreyfus, who played the role of

the marine biologist in the movie “Jaws.” Boomer was also one of the most friendly,

intelligent and humor-ous people I had ever

met. Little did I know, at the time, that there was much more to Boomer than I initially expected. Aside from being a good cameraman and a reliable

critic, I found out that he was also a good bartender, profession-al writer and well-known by a large portion of the Macomb community. In order to gain a better perspective on Boomer as a person, I interviewed him a

few weeks ago at The Ritz, as well as a couple of his closest friends, which include Sam Berry, a local tattoo artist at Tattoo Blue & Body Piercing, and Kate Polka, a pre-nursing major at Western Illinois Univer-

sity, who’s also Clinton’s girlfriend.

Western Illinois Magazine: What do you do exactly? Boomer: I am a professional writer. I’ve been a game de-

signer. I’m a novelist. I’ve been writing professionally since 2008, and I’m a full-time bartender. I work here in The Ritz at

the square, and I’ve been tending bars since 2005.

WIM: Why do you do what you do? Why bartend and write?

Boomer: That’s a really good question, man. I love bar-tending. I’ve been doing it for years and years and years.

I worked at the movie theater here in town from the

sum-mer of ‘99 to the

summer of 2009. First show I’ve ever worked there was “Star Wars: Episode I,” and the last one I’ve ever worked there was the new “Star Trek.” Not “Into Darkness” but the 2009 “Trek,” and yeah I love doing it. I

worked as a janitor there. I’ve had a bunch of other jobs over the years. I worked at a

bookstore at Copperfield & Co Booksellers. I’ve worked at a little place, Monet’s Gardens. I’ve worked at a factory. Hell, I’ve actually worked at Subway for like two weeks before I

realized I didn’t like it very much. But yeah, I love tending bars. It’s a great gig. And I’m good

at it. I like doing it. It pays the bills. And yeah, I sling drinks, and in addition to that, I write.

Write write write write write. That’s obvi-ously the dream.

WIM: When did you find out that you love to write?

Boomer: What’s funny is that I’ve been writing since before

the time of my own recollec-tion. My mother, god love her heart, when I was very young, she pretended she had to learn how to type

faster. She didn’t, she’s a very very faster typer, but what she’d do to me

was say, “C-J-, Clinton John,” that’s my name, but she called me, “So, C-J-, c’mon here. Tell

me a story, and I’ll write it down.” And so she

has these epic, strange, bizarre tales of five-year-

old me telling stories about fire monsters and

ice monsters throwing kids into garbage cans and just

the strangest s--- you’ve ever heard.

And yeah I love writing. I’ve been doing it forever and ever

and ever. I went to school for it at Culver-Stockton College, as well as

here at Western Illinois University. And in 2008, I started writing profes-

sionally. I got paid for the first time. It was a game design for a company called Paizo.

They used to publish Dragon magazine and Dungeon magazine, and yeah, they hired me on to

do the pathfinder chronicles campaign setting. It was a wonderful time. I remember the first time I got a check

for 1,800 bucks for writing about vampires and elves, and I went, “This is pretty good; I’ll do this for a living.”

WIM: What hobbies do you have? Boomer: Eric Mona, who is the publisher of Paizo pub-

lishing, which is one of the first companies to ever hire me, to pay me, for my writing has an interesting statement,

which is, “If you don’t have time to play a game, you don’t have time to design a game.”

And Steven King says much the same thing, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the write, and you cer-

tainly don’t have the tools to write.” So, at the end of the day, a lot of my hobbies are playing games and reading. I’m a

firm believer that unless you want to write for television, as

Clinton Boomerby Ryan Brushaber & photos

by Mary Friday

5

a writer, there’s no real reason to watch television.

So I don’t watch a lot of TV, but I do enjoy my Netflix. My lady

friend and I, my special lady, she and I have date night whereby

I’m catching up with “American Horror Story,” which she just

loves. And she’s catching up with “Firefly,” which I just love, and

the two of us have kind of fallen in love with each other’s fiction

and yeah, far be it from me to say I didn’t sit down and just binge-

watch “BoJack Horseman,” “Bora,” “Hemlock Grove” or “Arrested

Development.” I love these things, I love comedy

and what’s neat about my job, especially at a bar is, you know, my work. I spend my work time doing

a lot of what people do for their free time. I hang out at a bar and

chat with people. For my free time, I enjoy film. I

have a screenplay that I’m working on right now. I have been working on it for a couple of months. Yeah, I write write write and then read

read read.

WIM: After talking to Boomer, I made to the local tattoo parlor,

Tattoo Blue & Body Piercing, where I sat down interviewed one

of Boomer’s friends.

WIM: How long have you known Boomer?

Berry: A little over 10 years. I met him when I was a freshman at Western actually. We were in a theater showcase class together. He was one of the first people I

met when I came to college. WIM: How would you describe

him as a person? Berry: Boomer is one of my best friends. He’s a dude at the end of the day I’m pretty sure, like, if I

needed just about anything, I can ask him and he could provide that.

He’s one of the most charming people I’ve ever met. Like, he has the ability to talk anybody. That’s a hard thing, like, if you’ve tried to do that, it’s just hard to do. He does

it really well. WIM: What do you think of him

as a writer?

Berry: I really enjoy Boomer’s writing style. For the most part, it’s for adults, but it’s a lot of fun

to read at the same time. I’ve read “The Hole behind Midnight” I

think two or three times. I got to read drafts of it as he was writing it, which was a lot of fun actually,

just to watch it come together. WIM: Any particular stories you’d like to share of Boomer?

Berry: It could be anything. We were at that diner I was telling you about, and we figured out, because

we would go every Wednesday, we were there once, and this

huge group would come after we’ve been there for two or three hours, and they would just take

up like the whole back area of this restaurant.

And it took us a couple weeks to figure out, Boomer is actually the one to figure out that they were

LARPers (live action role-playing gamers).

When we were able to figure out what they were playing and

Boomer was like, “I really want to go back there, and I just wanna

scream, ‘All hail the sword of Kane!’” ‘Cause that was some like

specific thing to that LARP. We were like, “Pff, do it!” So he just walked up with them and

went, “All hail the sword of Kane!” And one dude turns around and

just goes, “No!” Boomer goes, “Eh, alright.”

There’s also… every year outside of Peoria there’s a Renaissance

Fair, the Jubilee Renaissance Fair, and Boomer’s been going to it way

longer than I have. And I don’t think he goes any-more, but a few years ago he

would go every year, and he would have a friend who is actually a

well-established ceramics artist, and he would set up a vending

booth, and he made like pottery, like really beautiful mugs, and bowls, and plates and stuff like that. He would sell the stuff the whole weekend then he would

take everyone out to Olive Garden.So, Boomer and another friend of ours, they were like, “We need to sell something; we should figure

out something that we could sell.”

But the problem is neither of us knows how to make anything, so what they did was they got this really like nice paper, and they

printed up what they called Ritz of Indulgence, and Boomer dressed

up as a priest, and our friend dressed up as like his hobbled

man-servant. And these Ritz of Indulgence were you could pay anywhere

from $1 up to like $20, depending on how bad the sin was that you were planning to commit, and it

was like a Ritz that could give you forgiveness from the church.

So they printed up like 5,000 of these things, or something, just

this giant ridiculous stack of them, and they took those with them

every year, and every single year they made more money selling

those little bulls--- Ritz than our friend who put in like these hours and months of his life into these

little cups and things because Boomer did the sales pitch, and his friend would run around do-ing the whole like, “Oh yeah, you

should totally do it!”He talked a guy one time into buying one, and he was like,

“What’s the sin?” The guy was like, “Pff, I don’t know.” Clinton said,

“How about dirty deeds done dirt cheap?” the guy was like, “Sure.” So he wrote out a Ritz of Indul-gence for dirty deeds done dirt cheap and sold it to the guy for

like $5. WIM: Is there anything else you’d like to mention about Boomer that

you think would look good in a biography?

Berry: He’s written at least one novel. I think he’s working on an-other one. He has designed games

professionally for several years now, and at the end of the day, he’s

one of the best people I know. WIM: Sometime after I interviewed Berry, I got the chance

to speak with Polka.WIM: When did you first meet

Clinton?Polka: I think we met in March

at the coffee shop, and we talked a little bit, and we have mutual

friends and decided to hang out, and we ended up going on a road

Q&A

inside the friendly Macomb

bartender

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trip to Galesburg (Illinois). He told me about his writing and books the first time I met him, and he gave me a free copy of his book, which was awesome, and yeah,

we ended up going on more road trips.

WIM: So what do you think of his writing? How do you like his

book?Polka: Oh, I just hate everything

Clinton has ever written ever. Just kidding. No, I really enjoyed his book. I would say that it’s for a

specific taste. I like Stephen King and um… I don’t know. I like game

of thrones. I like things like that, so I was not easily offended. I

think it’s very intricate as far as the storyline goes, but I really like the

characters. One of my favorite things in books is character development, and I’ve been very disappointed with char-acter development in some of the books that I’ve read, and I was not even close to being disappointed with his book ‘cause there was so much character development in it. And it just has some fun, little

twists inside of it.WIM: How would you describe

him as a person?Polka: I’d describe him as

wholly selfless in a way, not like he doesn’t think of himself ever,

but he has a very good grasp on respect for other people. He

respects people that he doesn’t necessarily know, and I really

appreciate that. Always tips, he always tips, and I love that. I

dated guys who didn’t tip at all or tipped poorly.

I would say that he’s very pas-sionate about his work, and I appreciate that. But I respect that he’s always getting new

ideas, and he’s always picking up new projects, and he isn’t a

writer in a sense that he doesn’t want to do anything but write. He’s a writer because he loves writing, and he wants to work hard for it. I think that some

people pick it up, thinking it’ll be easy. He doesn’t let it be

easy, and I like that. I would say that he’s hardworking and

friendly, obviously. I don’t think I need to explain that one. He tries to think the best of people, and I like that. I think that’s a rare quality to find in somebody. I like that

he treats people as equals. He’s smart. He’s very intelligent.

He’s one of the smartest people

I know, but he doesn’t rub it in your face.

And I think that that’s nice. He has a lot of opinions that

I would agree with, but he respects other people’s opinions, which is something that I wish

that I always did. He could listen to someone he totally disagrees

with and hear their point, not nec-essarily agreeing with their point, but respecting that they have it. I think that it comes from, not

humility, there’s no need for him to prove that he’s right. I think he shares his opinions, and if

people disagree with him, he’s all right with that.

WIM: Do you have any stories that might reflect his

personality?Polka: A certain friend of mine

got really intoxicated at The Ritz. Clinton was not bartending that night. He was just out, hanging

out with friends, talking. I was just hanging out with my friend. So

this friend got super intoxicated. I’m talking like 15 shots, like an in-sane amount for this little person. And we’re like staring at her, and

at a certain point, she stopped talking to me. She started talk-ing to some men, and she’s just

being friendly, not doing anything weird. But these two guys over by

Clinton, they’re like hitting on her, and they’re not drunk.

So they’re being creepy, and I don’t like this ‘cause she’s really

drunk, even though she holds her liquor really really well. She looks like she’s sober even though she’s totally off the wall drunk. So I’m

like, “I know you’re plastered right now, and no one else knows.”

I tell Clinton we need to walk this b--- home. She needs help. So he’s

like, “Yeah, let’s walk her home. Let’s do it.” So Clinton and I are try-ing to walk her home, and he trusts her. He’s a trusting person, and he’s like, “She’s fine, she says she’s not

drunk. We have to trust her.” So, we’re walking her on the side-

walk by the road and he’s like, “Uh, she’s a little close to the side of the road.” We’re both noticing, so he

says to her, “Let’s go this way.” Clinton helps and he’s helping her

walk, and the whole time we are walking she’s going, “Really, I’m mad at you. I don’t want you to

walk me home. I’m actually really offended that you’re walking me

home right now.” Clinton’s just like, “Oh, no no no, we’re not walking you home for

you, we’re walking you home for us. In fact, we’re not even walk-ing you home, we’re just going to

walk the same direction as you are. If you decide to go that direction,

we decided to go that direction to.” He’s just very excellent at deflecting

things in a positive way. He makes things positive.

WIM: I briefly spoke with a few other people who knew Boomer, and like the friends of his I inter-

viewed, their opinions of him were mostly in a positive light. It seems that anyone who’s been fortunate enough to cross paths with him

share a similar perspective. To those of you who doubt the credibility of

this article, I encourage you to get to know Boomer.

He currently resides in Macomb where he works as a bartender at The Ritz. He’s also working on his

latest novel, “Soapscum Unlimited: Welcome to Bad-Burn City.”

His first book, “The Hole be-hind Midnight,” can be found on Amazon.com. Although Boomer

is unsure of what the future holds for him, he and Polka are looking forward to the birth of their son. May they have the best of luck.

7

Journey to the top...

Many people know of the famed Hilton Chicago at 720 S. Michigan Ave in

downtown Chicago. But what most people don’t

know is that the historic building wasn’t always a Hilton property. The majestic 25-story brick structure, built in 1927,

actually traces its roots back to the rural Western Illinois community of Colches-

ter — today it has a population of about 1,500 — and a man named James William

“JW” Stevens.Stevens was born in Colchester in 1853, son

of Socrates Stevens, a school teacher and prominent local merchant. In the 1870s, Stevens joined his brother, Edward, to

open a successful mercantile store. In 1886, Stevens relocated to Chicago and founded the Illinois Life Insurance Company with

his oldest son, Raymond.The company was very lucrative; it eventu-ally grew to include approximately 80,000

policyholders. In 1908, Stevens decided to enter the hotel business and built the

LaSalle Hotel, which he turned over to his younger son, Ernest, to operate. The latter was an exemplary manager, and the hotel,

one of the city’s largest, was very profitable.“But the Stevenses dreamed of more,” wrote

journalist Charles Lane in a 2007 Chicago magazine article about the family. “They

believed that Chicago, the booming hub of the Midwest, needed a state-of-the-art des-tination for travelers and conventioneers. It

needed the biggest hotel in the world.”To pay for the hotel’s $27 million cost,

Stevens sold bonds, including $3 million to his own insurance company and another $350,000 to family members. Construc-

tion began on March 16, 1926, and the project was completed a little more than a year later. With 3,000 rooms, the Ste-vens Hotel was not only the city’s largest

hotel, but also one of its most elegant.It sat on a prime location in the heart of the city’s downtown, overlooking Grant

Park and Lake Michigan. Inside, it boasted a ballroom, where, two days after it

opened, the Motion Picture Association

Ball was held.The hotel was remarkable in which it

contained nearly everything that a person could ever need. It had convention centers, restaurants, shops, a hospital, a pharmacy,

a library, a miniature golf course on the roof, a bowling alley, a movie theater, a barbershop and a special room for pets.

And it also had an ice cream parlor. Among the first guests to stay in the hotel were the Vice President of the U.S., Charles

G. Dawes and the President of Cuba, Ge-rardo Machado.

But all was not rosy with the Stevens Hotel. Despite being nearly fully booked during its first year, the hotel still lost $1 million in 1928 and half that much the following year. Ad-

ditionally, the nation’s economy started to go into a funk, meaning the public wasn’t travel-ing as much or going to conventions. To keep

the hotel afloat, Stevens loaned more than $500, 000 of his personal funds to the hotel

and authorized Illinois Life Insurance to loan additional hundreds of thousands of dollars to the hotel, all backed by the hotel’s assets,

which largely existed only on paper.The start of the Great Depression in 1929 signaled the beginning of the end for the Stevens Hotel. Finally, in 1932 it all came crumbling down. Stevens filed for bank-

ruptcy protection, and the company records revealed that Illinois Life Insurance had sunk more than $13 million into the Stevens and La Salle hotel properties. James and his two

sons, Raymond and Ernest, were indicted for embezzlement for allegedly shifting

resources improperly from the insurance company to the hotel. Ernest was convicted but the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the

decision a year later.Faced with financial ruin, Raymond commit-ted suicide, while James suffered a debilitat-ing stroke in 1933 and died three years later.

Not surprisingly, the insurance company went out of business. An interesting post-

script: Ernest was the father of future Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens,

who grew up in and around the hotel.Following the Stevenses exit from the

hotel, it passed through several different

owners. During World War II, the U.S. Army

purchased it for $6 million to use as a bar-rack and as classrooms.

In 1944, the federal government sold it for $4.9 million to a businessman who, a year later, sold it to

famed hotelier Conrad Hilton. The latter renamed the property the Conrad Hilton

in 1951.In the 1960s, Hilton added a three-story

convention center to the property. In 1984, the Hilton Corporation invested

$185 million to completely renovate the old hotel, including enlarging its rooms

(the hotel’s original 3,000 rooms were consolidated into 1,544 bigger rooms). The face-lift, however, did retain the grand two-story entrance flanked by

two staircases — which still manage to impress after all these years. Along with a new floor plan, the hotel received a new name: the Chicago Hilton and Towers. In 1998, the name was shortened to simply

the Hilton Chicago.Today, while most people don’t know the hotel’s tragic backstory, they do appreci-ate its elegant architecture and recog-nize that it’s one of the city’s historical

landmarks. For example, Tierra Riley, an event planner from St. Louis and a fre-

quent guest, said, “The hotel looks brand new to me. It is the only hotel that I will

stay at in Chicago. Its artwork amazes me every time that I go. I just love it.” Patrick

Burton, a Western Illinois University student, just visited the hotel for the

first time this past summer. “I visited the hotel while taking a tour of Chicago,” he said. “I must say it is impressive. I cannot believe that the building was originally

built in 1927. It holds so much legacy and has so much history.”

The hotel may be currently known as the Hilton Chicago, but to many it will always be remembered by its original

name — the Stevens Hotel — the grand palace built by a family from the small

town of Colchester who had big dreams.

A Colchester family’s rise

and ruin by Erika Davis & photos by Nicholas Stewart

8

Dennis Hetzel is the executive director of the Ohio Newspa-

per Association. He previously served as Kentucky general

manager for Enquirer Media in Cincinnati. He’s a longtime professional journalist, and his

success with writing led him to write his fi rst novel, “Killing the Curse,” published earlier this year. Although he has always

loved writing, he said being editor-in-chief of Western Illinois University’s student news-paper, the Western Courier in 1972, inspired him. He recently spoke with Western Illinois Magazine’s Erika Davis to share more about

his journey of writing his book.

Western Illinois Magazine: When did you fi rst notice your

love for writing? Dennis Hetzel: In high school, I liked to write. I was a pretty bad athlete, but I liked sports. I went to a local weekly paper, and I got

a job writing a weekly column about my high school sports

team, and I received 30 cents for each column. I was pretty lucky because my football team was

good my senior year. I wanted to be a high school teacher, but I

couldn’t fi nd a job and took a job as a sports columnist instead. As much as I loved sports, I wanted

to be a daily news writer and teacher, so I moved to Galesburg

and did some teaching, some college teaching.

WIM: What did you do as a child to prepare for your career?DH: I was in advanced English

and journalism courses

in high school. Writing was

something that came pretty easy rather than chemistry. I

enjoyed it. Everybody has had some level of success that points to an English teacher, and I still

remember mine teaching. He was a very inspirational

teacher and pointed people in certain directions.

WIM: I read that you went to Western and wrote at the Cou-rier. What was one of the most

memorable articles that you wrote and why?

DH: While I was there, it was an intense time for Courier. I

learned about management. We had a hole on the sports page one night, and we made up a fake WIU pinball team called

the Steelballers. We wrote about them winning and even made

T-shirts for them. That was really fun.

interviewed by Erika Davis

DENNISa Q&A with successful Western Illinois University graduate, Executive Director Dennis Hetzel

Photos given by Dennis Hetzel

9

WIM: What are some things you learned from writing

at the Courier that you still carry with you today?

DH: Accomplishing publish-ing a newspaper with limited resources and we were on our

own because the university had taken everything. We had

to be a team and make sure that we got the work done.

WIM: In 2011, you were named executive director of ONA? Can you explain what qualifications you had that

led to that position?DH: I had a career in newspa-per. I ran a paper for 13 years.

I was political junky and sports writer. I was in charge of a northern Kentucky mar-ket, which was very demand-ing. I was a lobbyist. I knew how to get answers. My lob-bying work goes towards my

political degree. At first, I was like an editor on the bleacher watching the game, and now I’m able to get off the bleach-

er and work with people. DH: Your success with execu-tive roles is outstanding. Are there some things that you

have yet to do that you want to accomplish?

DH: Writing a sequel to “Kill-ing the Curse,” more writing, teaching, guitar playing and

nonprofit stuff.WIM: Your book, “Killing the

Curse,” received many great reviews. Where did the name

come from?DH: Well if you are from Chi-cago, then you know the Cubs are cursed. So the story is to kill the curse. This book is a sports and thriller blender. The book was online, and

now we have physical books

coming this month.WIM: When you first came

up with the idea of the book, what were your primary in-

tentions for it?DH: My friend (Rick Rob-inson) helped me write the

book. Rick and I talked about this fictional story of the

Cubs, and he pitched the idea to his publisher. She liked it. People liked the book. I

got good reviews for it. I just wanted people to like it.

WIM: What was the worst part about writing the book?DH: The most difficult thing was that I never had to write anything this long. Writing

was fun, but structuring was difficult. Trying to form the order and expose characters

was difficult.WIM: How many hours

roughly would you say you

spent writing it?DH:It took roughly about

three to four year time period. Rewriting the book was fun,

but peer writing was tough. It was hard.

WIM: From reading the book, I am assuming you’re a Cub

fan. Are you really a Cub fan?DH: Yes, I don’t hate them. My dad was a Cub fan so I

grew up watching them.WIM: Are you going to

continue to write fiction part time, or will you become a

full-time writer?DH: It would be interesting

to do when I retire. That’ll be great, but we will see.

WIM: With all of your suc-cesses in life, are you plan-

ning to share them in an autobiography?

DH: I don’t know. I haven’t given it much thought. I’m not

sure I have that much of an interesting story. I’ll have to

think about it more.WIM: What advice would

you offer to people who are currently trying to achieve

their goals?DH: Make the most out of

your college experience, and take advantage of everything. You never know what could happen. If someone would have told me at age 21 that I’d be doing this I’d be like

“whoa!” They say people will change jobs an average six, seven or eight times in

their career. Therefore, you have to build as many skills

as you can. Write, learn html, and build communica-tion skills. Choose one idea of what you want to do, and work for it. Be focused, and

make experiences.

KILLING THE CURSE

10

Bigfoot is probably as far from my mind as starting a new Myspace account. It’s

hard to imagine how people rarely think about animals during the day unless one is seen. The possibility of a newly discovered large animal can be fascinating

because, whether we want to admit it or not, we see the U.S. as a tame landscape.

Naturally, it sounds very il-logical that a 6-foot primate

or bipedal mammal could live in the heart of the U.S.

with very few reported sight-ings. Bigfoot expert Stan Courtney believes fear of

ridicule is the main cause for the few reported sightings.

The legend, however, creeps near our home with multiple

reports of Bigfoot in Mc-Donough County with the

last incident in March 2013. Courtney recorded over 80 sounds that are considered to be an unknown animal. Assuming his research is

genuine, this says the ani-mals making these sounds are insufficiently studied by scientists, or there are undiscovered species in the

backyard of the U.S.

This could also mean

some spe-

cies are well-adapted at avoiding contact with people.

After all, humans caused several animal species to go threatened, endangered or

extinct; the smart ones learn to stay away or co-exist in our

shadows.“Bigfoot(s) are an intelli-

gent, generally shy animals,” Courtney said. “If you hap-

pen to have a sighting, enjoy the moment because you

have been fortunate to see something that most people

can only dream about.”The perception of Big-foot being big would

suggest that this animal needs a

wide range and needs to eat a lot more

food than smaller ani-

mals. Knowing Bigfoot’s diet is a big step in un-

derstanding its potential existence.

“ We know more about diet than any other single aspect

of Bigfoot,” Courtney said. “They

have been ob-served eat-

ing al-

most a huge range of vegetable matter as well as

fish and game animals.”Bigfoot eating a variety of vegetables could mean a

real feast of corn and soy-beans right before harvest times. I see a lot of corn

and soybean fields in Mc-Donough County, the pest on crops show nature will take advantage of a plenti-ful food source. Crop fields could reduce the need for an animal to travel, and I

like to think of Bigfoot not needing to travel

much. This animal might

store food for hard times in

the winter. It is more

likely the case if

Big-foot

is

actually a primate because primates are usually social and intelligent. Conceptu-ally, there is enough food in McDonough County to support Bigfoot or a large

animal; all one needs to do is stay out of sight.

Being a biology major, and I know this may be con-sidered pseudoscience to some of my peers, I think

this should be taken seriously. Things may seem strange

even made up when describ-ing something vague because of lack of sightings or under-

standing.On the other hand, if I could

make a crazy prediction of the animal that most resem-

bles Bigfoot, then I would say it’s a sloth. Being a biology student, I don’t think it’s a

primate. My perception may be unique, but I wondered

what others ...mate, part human or some-

thing else?“(The same) typical of other

parts of the country, basi-cally an upright walking

humanoid,” Courtney said.

I still think it may be another

animal because there is little

evidence of the genus

homo

FINDING BIGFOOTphotos and story by Isom Jacobs

11

genus homo (hominid) branching out and becoming very large. However, there is an animal that lived in North

America long ago that was very large, the giant ground

sloth.This seems shocking that the

word sloth comes to mind as that small slow moving

animal from South America. However, there was a time

when the giant sloth rivaled the mammoth in size. These sloths are much smaller than

their ancestors millions of years ago, but it’s possible that there are more living ances-

tors in a variety of sizes before the genera (plural for genus,

meaning taxonomic rank above species and below fam-

ily) bottled necked.It is pretty farfetched, but Big-foot existing is also farfetched. Bigfoot is most likely a living

ancestor of previously as-sumed extinct genera, so who knows what kind of animal it

could be. The next problem we face is the amount of concrete evi-

dence that emerges as a hoax. I could imagine how famous a person would become if they found and confirmed Bigfoot.

The problem I have is how massive these creatures are

conceptually, yet they are so elusive.

Controversial footage like

Todd Standing’s video of a figure far off into the distance

seems too well designed. In the video, the figure was

standing then kneeling straight down. I think that was done to rule out a bear

because how human the movements were.

The figure was so massive that it seemed inhuman in re-

spects to its broad shoulders. In the video, this Bigfoot was on a hill far away while being recorded. Even in daylight the

figure was still out of focus, fuzzy and the camera was shaky. The height could be

misjudged as something taller than that of an average hu-

man. Add a costume and it’s possible to get some believers

and publicity.That being said, it would be

difficult to say what is genuine and what is not. It is safe to say that each case is looked at critically or else experts

would start to lose credibility. In fact, there are anonymous reports of suspected animals

on the Bigfoot Field Research-ers Organization’s (BFRO)

website.“When we got ready to go

around the last bend to where we had parked, I took a look

back and saw something squatting on a point next to a dead blackened tree which stood around three to four

feet tall,” said the witness of report 40995 of BFRO. “The

top of it came to right around the top of the dead tree, and it was fairly wide. The only thing I could misidentify it

as was a black bear, and they haven't been seen in our area for well over 50 to 100 years.”This happened near Colches-

ter, Illinois at Argyle State Park. Courtney did a follow up investigation and spoke

with the witness. The animal was approximately 100 feet

from the witness with 4-foot-wide shoulders. Shoulders

like that are crazy. That’s like wearing shoulder pads the length of a small child with a body to match. That hap-

pened at 4 p.m. the same time I decided to take a trip to

Argyle State Park.The first thing I noticed when

I came to Argyle Park was how large it seemed com-

pared to the map on my GPS. I wanted to see what kind

of massive animal could live there without being seen by

campers. I saw a decent sized lake that could help support a large predator, and I also

found the wetlands.I did notice many steep hills. Some almost resembled cliff

faces. If Bigfoot had a 4-foot-wide body, how could some-

thing that large navigate a ter-rain like that? I would think

it would be less advantageous for an upright animal unless its food source is high in a

tree. I’d imagine a light-footed animal if it is a primate, but possibly heavy feet for an-

other animal.It first sounded like a bad legend, but even with lies,

there is usually some truth. I’m still not sold on Bigfoot yet, but I cannot dismiss it as if I can fully predict the

natural world. As a professor once told me, the ecosystem is

infinitely complex.

Bio student chases the myth

12

Danny Daniels’ robust phy-sique is not typical for a sopho-more in college, but neither is

his workout regimen. I saw him running on campus and climbing trees without a T-shirt and won-

dered what he was doing. It’s easy to tell that some stu-

dents at Western Illinois Univer-sity are athletes just by looking at them. But few people know that

Daniels is on Western’s track team.Instead, students refer to the

pre-law enforcement & justice administration major as the

muscular, shirtless runner. Like most people, however, Daniels is

well-rounded. “(Running) has been a pas-

sion of mine for five years now,” Daniels said. “In high school, the

soccer team and cross country team mainly did track, (but) we had no winter events. And we

would go run three to six miles ev-ery other day, no shirt just shorts

no matter the temperature.”I trained with Daniels, in

chilly fall weather, to see how

tough it was. I wasn’t brave enough to exercise without a shirt, though. During our run, I realized it was a

mistake. After a quarter mile, I was winded.

“Hey Carlos, how are you?” Daniels asked during the run.

“You know around this time, I’m usually halfway done with my

workout.”Struggling to keep up with

Daniels, all I could think about was how fit the Oregon, Ill. native

was. Every stride he took was purposeful. And the muscles

in his arms and back gleamed from sweat.

I’m not the only person who noticed the 20-year-old’s herculean build. “People have said, ‘you have phenomenal abs,’ or ‘get at that,’” Daniels said. “There are people that

stop andSnapchat me or Yik Yak me.”Although Daniels admires the

attention he receives on campus, his ambitions keep him focused.

“My ultimate goal is probably

to be the best that I can,” he said. “I want to make the school record here for javelin, which I think is 72 or 73 (meters). And as of right

now, it looks like I’m on track.“I really want to be able to

make it to the Olympics, which is a minimum of 80 meters to get

on the practice team.”While Daniels is in spectacu-

lar shape, he still wants to im-prove his athleticism, he added.

“Including track, I probably (work out) five hours a day,” he said. “We have about an hour

and a half of lifting in the morn-ing, two hours of practice and

then I go run on my own time or lift. I try to get five days a week, but then it conflicts with homework.” Daniels said his favorite exercises are climbing trees and handstands to strengthen his core. “My inspi-ration is to do a handstand on a

pull-up bar,” he said. I knew he was unique when

I saw him. But conversing and training with him genuinely

showed me who he was.

Through unhealthy eating habits, I’ve developed a healthy relation-ship -- with my friend that is. The

same provolone cheese that smoth-ers and meshes all the contents of a Philly cheesesteak together also

binds our friendship.Although I don’t see my best

friend, Kortne Porter, nearly as much as I would like

to, our addiction to artery-

clogging foods is one of the few

com-monalities

we share nowadays.

Over the past few years, Kortne and I searched for the best Philly cheesesteaks

Chicago had to offer. Contrary to its name, we believe it’s possible to find the best cheesesteaks in the

Windy City. In addition, Kortne, 25, has lived in Chicago almost his entire life and

is convinced that the best foods regardless of origin can be found there. Usually, we begin our quest by talking about what we’re in the

mood to eat.After Kortne beautifully described the Philly he devoured, we took ac-tion. We compared several restau-rants in the Chicago metropolitan area. We considered the location, price, quantity and quality of our

mouthwatering sandwich.We also discussed what comprised

an authentic Philly: thinly sliced,

well-seasoned steak was impera-tive of course, provolone cheese,

tomato, mayonnaise, grilled onion and lettuce in no particular order.After considering all of the factors, we concluded that BABA’s Famous

Steak and Lemonade, a Chicago based restaurant, was the best

option.The price was relatively cheap,

and the portion of food we received

surmounted my original

expecta-tions. The

Philly, however,

was greasy instead of juicy,

and I wasn’t too excited about the crinkle cut fries

either. On the other hand, whether we enjoy or detest the food we eat

together, it still gives us an opportu-nity to bond.

Despite the forgettable experi-ence at BABA’s, we moved on and

tried Penn Station, a restaurant that specializes in making hoagies.

After the first disappointment, we had finally found the restau-

rant that met all of our gluttonous necessities. The strips of steak were perfectly seasoned; the ingredients were fresh and high in quality; the

cheese melted exquisitely over every topping, and it was made to

order. Satisfied, Kortne and I decided to indulge in a new endeavor: baby

back ribs.

Over the past few years,

Kortne and I searched for the best Philly cheesesteaks Chicago

had to offer. Contrary to its name, we believe it’s possible to find the

best cheesesteaks in the Windy

by Carlos Williamson

food preserves friendshipsDanny Daniels

the man behind the muscle

by Carlos Williamson and photos by Isom Jacobs

Courtesy photo

13Iowa b

rew

s aga

in

In 2010, the Iowa Legislature removed a ban, which prohibited the tast-

ing or selling of spirits from distilleries located around

the state. The ban was lifted in hopes of bringing in more tour-

ists to Iowa and the surrounding areas. The same year, brothers,

Ryan and Garrett Burchett, decid-ed to quit their day jobs and start

making craft spirits for a living, and so began the Mississippi River Dis-

tilling Company.The distillery, located in the small

town of Le Claire, Iowa, a sister city to the Quad City area, overlooks the scenic

Mississippi River. Since opening its doors four years ago, the company has been a

popular tourist attraction, bringing in over 50,000 visitors each year.

In addition to the large number of visitors, the distillery is continuing to see a growth in

spirit sales since its opening. It currently distrib-utes its spirits to over 20 states in the U.S., as well as three countries: Australia, Germany and New

Zealand.“All of our grain comes from within 25 miles of

the distillery,” co-owner Ryan said. “We do every-thing by hand here, no shortcuts, and I think that

people have a tremendous appreciation for that.“Our bourbon and whiskey (Cody Road), as well

as our vodka (River Pilot) are the most popular of our products to be distributed throughout the

world.”The distillery also makes craft artisan spir-

its and gin and offers customers seasonal and limited edition spirits. During the summer, customers can enjoy peach liquor, as well as

strawberry flavored vodka. The distillery also makes coffee liquor and cream liquor

as part of its limited edition specials.“Our seasonal and limited edition spir-

its allows for a renewed interest in the distillery and also gives people some-

thing to look forward to,” Ryan said. “They are also a huge hit.”Friends, family and volunteers

help with the bottling of the spirits made at the distillery. All of the

hand-bottled spirits have a unique batch note on the bottom of

every bottle. Each batch notes where the grain has come from,

the day the spirit was made and the names of those who

bottled it.From the moment the

Burchett brother’s knew

they were going to open the distillery, they also

knew that they wanted to give customers a firsthand

look at what they were doing.“From the very beginning,

we decided to do these tours on a regular basis, basically as a marketing investment” Ryan said.

“I think that a huge part of our success is just that we have been accessible to anyone who wants to come learn and see what we are do-

ing, and that’s what this whole thing is about.”

A truly unique experience is what customers will get during the tour of

the distillery. Tours are free to the public from10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and open seven days a week. All ages are welcome to attend the

tour, but patrons must be 21 to taste samples of the spirits. They can also purchase spirits,

glassware and apparel at the retail store.With the large number of tourists visiting the

distillery and the town of La Claire, The Missis-sippi River Distilling Company will be expanding

its doors starting in 2015. The expansion will in-clude a new warehouse area, patio, plaza and tasting

room.“We are also excited to welcome a craft brewery to

the La Claire area,” Ryan said. “The brewery will be connected to the distillery.”

With a local winery, craft distillery and craft brewery all within blocks of one another, more tourists will be attracted to the La Claire area.

phot

os a

nd st

ory

by S

arah

Des

pain

by Ryan Brushaber

14

“It was never effective, not even for 5 minutes.”

Small town confusionWho’s the hero?by Jacqueline Covey

1900’s blue-collared work emanated the

small town American lifestyle, each day end-

ing with a cold one. Enter Prohibition, Janu-

ary 1920. Temperance movements rallied to awake the nation and ratify the 18th amend-

ment.In the small mining town, Colchester, Il-

linois, alcohol blended the culture. They

worked hard, and they drank harder.

“Mining and booz-ing, go together,” said

John Hallwas, author of “The Bootlegger.” “How would you like to work

at a job where you’re working on your back or

on your side, trying to get coal to come down so you can put it in a

low cart and take it out, but if too much comes out, like a whole ton, then you’re dead. So

you gotta do that all day long.”

The twenties began with societal purification,

banning the manufac-ture, sale and distribu-

tion of alcohol. It roared with the defiance of that law. Bootleggers became

the dark heroes of the era.

“So you have a town that has a sense of vir-tue and goodness and

commitment, well here comes Prohibition,”

Hallwas said. “People said, ‘This is too much, to have the government tell me what I can drink for dinner? This is silly.’

Or they had personal family members in-

volved, they weren’t go-ing to obey the law. So

you start corrupting the conscience of people.

“The law was never ef-fective, not even for five

minutes.” Then, every guy had a nickname, and his was Kelly. Colchester need-ed a boozing-hero; the

town had a demand and

Henry “Kelly” Wagle devoted himself to its

fulfillment. People then were faced with an is-sue: turn in a friend to compensate the law or

turn a drunken eye. “You have all these

bootleggers all over the place selling booze, and you got a public that is

basically looking the other way because to

not look the other way would mean that you

would have to turn the police on to people that you knew in your small town and you’re not go-ing to do that,” Hallwas

said. “Your son your brother your father your uncle or some-

thing. And so it wasn’t working probihiton

wasn’t working, every-

body knew it wasn’t.”Prior to the end-all law,

states had the option to enforce sobriety town-by-town (the local op-tion law). With such a

variety in town person-ality, state maps looked

like checkerboards, Hallwas said, where the different counties allow

the sale of alcohol.“In the rural areas,

Courtesy photos 14 -15

15

The townof Bishop Hill

“Where else can you be with the doors open and

when every one’s on vacation?”

Kathy Johnson said.

by Sandra Sepaniak and phots by Hank Moreno

where the churches have a big impact you can stamp out liquor, but all a guy has to do is drive up to the next

place buy it bring it back and sell it illegally,

and that’s what they did,” Hallwas said. “The local option law simply,

in a way, trained Illi-noisans to be bootleg-

gers. “Moreover, many

people resented the fact that temperance

crusaders, as they were called, or the Anti-sa-

loon league in the early twentieth century, they felt that this was push-ing laws a little too far, telling me what I can drink and not drink,”

Hallwas said. Despite the 20s insur-

gents, who became more violent in their wits,

temperance movements

had been circulating the country well before the civil war. Organizations, such as the Anti-Saloon League, feverishly had set prohibition cam-paigns to end the era of drunkards and scofflaws.

“So, they were fighting the

battle already, before the civ-il war, women especially be-cause the men

would get drunk they’d go to the sa-loons down-

town,” Hallwas said.

In a patriarchal society, women had enough. They wanted

their husbands, their head-of-households, to act with respect. Men

who drank did not

reflect the ‘American dream’ lifestyle, they

act- ed

more like criminals then revolu-

tionaries. “They’d get liquored up sometimes, they’d fight or they’d come

home and slap the wife around or whatever

else,” Hallwas said. Various groups of people, denominat-ed, organized, etc.,

joined the rally against alcohol. It

had been a part of American so-

ciety for decades. It featured in

celebrations, de-spairs, reunions, etc. It was every-where and most

everybody used it. “That was the situ-

ation in which Kelly Wagle strived,” Hall-

was said. “He was Col-chester’s hero.”

Even though Kelly was famous around Col-

chester, he was still a

criminal. However, the town believed in him.

“We admire them (boot-leggers) because they

are assertive, they put it all on the line,” Hallwas said. “They’re individu-alistic; they strive, they

stand up for themselves. These are basically

good things, except they are doing it for a highly selfish purpose that of-

ten leads to bloodshed.”Kelly represented

what was happening all around America. Townspeople didn’t

know whether to con-demn bootleggers or condemn the nation.

And what started off as a demand for legitimacy

in the states, resulted in conformed justice

against the 18th amend-ment.

16

Sometimes, even the quaintest of places can have sketchy or humble beginnings written into their his-

tories, while others become their own versions of Jonestown.

For Bishop Hill, a town with just 128 residents in the middle of miles of cornfields and wind farms in Henry

County, the former is the case. Though the city is known as a popular spot for weekend trips from around the

region, there was a time when it was perceived as a quasi-communist utopian town.

When the colony of Bishop Hill was first established in 1846, it was intended as a refuge for Swedish immi-grants escaping corruption and government handling of the Lutheran church. The leader of the colony at the

time, Eric Jansson, had hoped to settle the town with the hopes of being able to follow his own radical ideologies

without fear of persecution.According to records from the colony’s museum,

many of Jansson’s followers died of disease on the way to Illinois, and those who survived spent the winter in

dugouts on the banks of the South Edwards River. Soon after that, however, the colony quickly got up and run-

ning.By 1849 the colony had become a worker’s paradise,

complete with 700 acres of crops, a flour mill, two saw-mills and a thriving industry for broomcorn and beer.

The land belonged to everyone in the town, and likewise everyone was expected to work. However, there was a

religious aspect that kept many of the colonists in place.“If they were true believers, he said they would be able to speak English,” Sue Schultz, a resident who works at the colony’s museum said of Jansson. Seeing as the

majority of his followers spoke Swedish, she added that his prediction didn’t come to pass. However, as many of the locals do today, the colonists loved what they had on some of the best farmland on Earth and considered it to be more plentiful than anything they had had back in

Sweden.“The land is covered with grass everywhere,” Olof

Black wrote in a letter now housed in Bishop Hill’s mu-seum among other artifacts. “There is no moss, nor any

stony soil, only wonderful black soil.”

Unfortunately, things weren’t meant to last for Jansson. After fellow Swedish immigrant

John Root expressed desires to leave the colony with Jansson’s cousin, whom Root

had married, Jansson and the other colonists refused to let the disillusioned Root leave. Because of this, in 1850 while the two men were dealing with unrelated matters at the Henry County Courthouse, Root shot and

killed Jansson.Most intriguing of all, however, is the rumor

shared by today’s residents who claim Jans-son was not buried for a week. According to Bishop Hill Colony Store clerk Pat Hyer, this

is because he had declared himself a prophet, and the townspeople had thought he would rise from the dead as Jesus did in the Bible.

History marched on and the colony fell on hard times after 15 years of idyllic life on the prairie, primarily due to economic troubles,

but also because the broomcorn crop had burned one year and the Civil War started. After that, the land was sold to individual

families and Bishop Hill began to bear

closer resemblance to all of the other towns around it.

Today, Bishop Hill still serves primarily as a functioning colony and an attraction for

tourists from around the region. A substan-tial amount of employees for the shops and

restaurants in town commute from the nearby town of Galva and work alongside those who

already live there.Today, many of the original buildings still

stand, including the three-story church where Jansson and his followers worshiped, along with the Colony’s general store. Inside the latter, guests can smell gourmet coffee and see Dala horses being painted, all while a

selection of candies made both in Bishop Hill and in Sweden are on display. The refrigerator

full of creamed salmon and pickled herring in the back of the store adds to the authentic

Swedish vibe.“It’s great working here,” Mariah Smith, a

Galva resident who works at P.L. Johnson’s restaurant said. “The people are really sweet

and the food here is great.”

Smith’s comment seems to ring true just by listening to the chatter inside P.L. Johnson’s. In addition to serving Swedish-style food includ-

ing steaming cabbage rolls and meatballs covered in thick, salty gravy with lingonber-

ries filling every empty space, they make pies that are so hot and still crumbling so that they

have to be served in a bowl.The restaurant is also good place to listen to

members of the kitchen staff discuss every-thing from politics to what their dogs have

been doing.Additionally, there are shops around town

where craftsmen weave baskets and make soft, brightly-colored rugs out of scrap fabric. One of these weavers is Bishop Hill resident

Kathy Johnson, who sits at a traditional loom and makes patriotic rugs when she isn’t

teaching.“I work part time, a couple of afternoons

here and there and a weekend,” Johnson said. “I’ve always thought it looked interest-ing, and I’ve been doing this for eight years,

going on nine.”

The craft shop where Johnson works is inside a converted barn with a concrete floor. Handicrafts from both the colony and other parts of the world are displayed and sold all over the interior, all while she and her co-

workers work. She also said that she can make a four-foot rug in about three hours and that

it wasn’t particularly hard to learn.Regardless, tourists who come to Bishop

Hill enjoy watching her and the others work.“We want this building to be a craft build-

ing,” Johnson said. “I do the rugs, and we have two guys who make brooms. I’ve worked here

since 1986, and I love it.”In particular, Johnson said that she loves

the atmosphere of the town, especially with how quiet and peaceful it is. She also said that the higher gas prices mean that people from around the region were more likely to come,

as opposed to visiting further-flung places out of state.

“Where else can you be with the doors open and when everyone’s on vacation?”

Johnson said.

ABDCAB

17

Student seeks sanctuary Macomb offers religious options

In the small town of Macomb, Illinois, home to Western Illinois University, some

students may get involved in organizations or party. How-ever, other students come to Western also looking for a place to worship, but aren’t

sure where. In Macomb, Christian

denominations are plenti-ful. For example, there are

Roman Catholics, Protestants who are known as Apostoli-cism (Pentecostal), Church of God in Christ and Full Gospel, Methodists, Epis-

copalians, Baptists and the Assemblies. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day

Saints (Mormonism) is a part of the Christian belief but is not a part of the Protestant

movement. Some people, on the other hand, practice the

Christian faith, who are open to people of any Christian

denomination. This is known as non-denominationalism, meaning any church that is

independent and not a part of a larger denomination. This is similar to one of the churches in Macomb called The Cross-ing Church, which originally began in Quincy, Illinois in March 1974. It now has nine locations across the Western

areas of Illinois, Keokuk, Iowa and Hannibal, Missouri.

According to CNN’s web-site, most Christians believe the teachings of Jesus Christ and that one God created the

heaven, earth and the uni-verse. Christians also believe that Jesus is the son of God

and that he died for human-ity’s sins. Jesus was crucifi ed on the cross and rose again

on the third day, which is the reason for Easter, properly

known as Resurrection Day. In general, Christianity is one of the oldest religions. How-ever, many races and ethnici-ties worship Jesus diff erently.

* * *When I fi rst came to

Macomb, I knew I was not going to fi nd a church that I

would enjoy worshipping and fellowshipping with others,

mainly because there are not many Christian denomina-tions similar to my church

back home. Besides the stu-dents on campus, there is not much diversity in Macomb,

and I was not sure that I’d be accepted as an African-Amer-ican woman. It is true that as Christians we are supposed

to be kind to one another regardless of race, but looking

back at history, many people used Christianity to justify

slavery in the U.S. In addition, I did not

want to go to any church but mine. My church in Chicago is called Greater Way Min-istries. It is a small, store-front-family church, and

the congregation is mostly African-American, but we welcome everyone. It is a

Christian church that teaches under the Full Gospel

doctrine, believing in the Father (Jesus/God), the Son and the Holy Ghost, which also means the spirit of the Lord, speaking in tongues and believing that God is a healer. My church also believes that Jesus will

return, due to him rising on the third day before

he was crucified, and be-

ing baptized in the name of the Father, the Son

and the Holy Ghost. My church is also lively. We sing, dance, praise and

worship and listen to the word of the Gospel-the

Bible that is. However, when I trans-

ferred to Western as a sopho-more, I still did not know

where to fellowship. Since I was involved in Heritage Ensemble, a singing group affi liated with the Gwendo-lyn Brooks Cultural Center on campus,I attended the

Christian Fellowship Campus Ministries (CFCM). CFCM is

a non-denominational fel-lowship organization formed

by predominantly African American students.

Going to church services at CFCM was good while

by Ajia Harris and photos by Mary Friday

18

it lasted, but I still missed my home church. I did not attend

CFCM during my junior year, and I haven’t attended

many services my senior year either. The reason why is

because I now work at The Western Courier as a proof-

reader which I enjoy. I plan to, however, visit CFCM before I graduate in May. Although

Christianity is a notable religion, other places of wor-ship in Macomb include the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s

Witnesses, the Islamic Center of Macomb and the Unitarian

Universalist Fellowship. The Kingdom Hall of Jeho-

vah’s Witnesses is considered a Christian church; however, Jehovah’s Witnesses’ beliefs

are different from most Protes-tant Christians. According to JW.org, this religion believes

“the Bible teaches that Jesus is the Son of God, not a part of

the Trinity,” while most Chris-tian church believe that God is the trinity, meaning one diving

being. Jehovah’s Witnesses also

do not believe that humans souls are immortal, that God tortures people in hell or that people who take the lead in

religious activities should have a title.They believe that

Jesus should not be wor-shipped, only God due to the scripture of John 14:28 stating, “The Father is greater than I am.” However, this faith does believe in the Bible teachings.

Another place of wor-ship is the Islamic Center of Macomb. According to the

Islamic Center of Macomb’s website, it was built at a cost of $450,000,including the cost of land and furnishings. Most of the funds were raised by Mus-

lims in Macomb and across America. The president of this

religious organization is Dr. Mohammad A. Siddiqi, who is also the Journalism Program

Director at Western. According to BBC, the

religion of Islam began in Arabia by the Prophet Mu-

hammad. Those who follow Islam are known as Muslims and believe in Allah, which is Arabic for God. However,

they believe that Jesus, Moses and Abraham are prophets of God. Muslims also believe in one God and that Allah sent

prophets to mankind to teach them how to live according to

his law. The religion Islam is be-

lieved to have been discovered over 1,400 years ago in Mecca,

Arabia. They holy book of

Islam in the Quran which con-tains many references of other

book such as, the Book of Abraham, the Taurat(Torah),

the Zabur (David)and the Injeel (Gospel). Muslims also

practice the Five Pillars of Islam, which are the declara-

tion of faith, praying five times a day, giving money to charity,

fasting and a pilgrimage to Mecca. If Christianity or Islam

are too overwhelming, the Unitarian Universalist Fel-

lowship may be a good fit for some students at Western.

Unitarian Universal-ist Fellowship is a reli-

gion that is pretty much free of religion. Accord-

ing to the Unitarian Universalist Association,

Unitarian Universal-ists do not not believe in one faith. They believe

that everyone should be accepted in their fellow-ship regardless of what religion or non-religion

that is practice. They also follow seven

principles. The first principle is the inherent worth and

dignity of every person. The second principle is justice, equity and compassion in

human relations. The third principle includes acceptance

of one another and encour-agement to spiritual growth in congregations. The fourth principle is accepting a free and responsible search for

truth and meaning. The fifth principle dis-

cusses the right of conscience and the use of the democratic

process with the congrega-tions and society. The sixth principle explains that the

goal of the world in the com-munity is peace, liberty and justice for all. The seventh

and final principle states that everyone within this religion should have respect for the interdependent web of all

existence. Unitarian Univer-salists also have principles for

kids to follow. In addition to this, some

Unitarian Universalists believe in God, and some do not. They do not read from the Bible, but they include other texts such as the Dhammapada and Tao Te-Ching to find inspiration.

* * * It is obvious that one may

not think of Macomb as a town filled with many diverse

religions, but they exist. Re-gardless of what anyone else

chooses as a place of worship, Macomb seems to have a

wide, fascinating range of re-ligions. However, I think I am

just going to visit CFCM when I get a chance and continue

to worship at my church back home.

For more information about places of worship in Macomb, go to the Center

for International Studies at Western or www.wiu.edu/in-

ternational_studies/. In the small town of

Macomb, Illinois, home to Western Illinois Univer-

sity, some students may get involved in organizations or

party. However, other students come to Western also look-

ing for a place to worship, but aren’t sure where.

In Macomb, Christian denominations are plentiful.

For example, there are Roman Catholics, Protestants who are known as Apostolicism

(Pentecostal, Church of God in Christ and Full Gospel, Methodists, Episcopalians,

Baptists and the Assemblies. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon-ism) is a part of the Christian belief but is not a part of the

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Protestant movement. Some people, on the other hand, prac-tice the Christian faith,who are open to people of any Christian

denomination. This is known as non-denominationalism, meaning any church that is

independent and not apart of a larger denomination. This is similar to one of the churches in Macomb called The Cross-ing Church, which originally

began its church organization in Quincy, Illinois in March 1974.

It now has nine locations across the Western areas of Illinois, Keokuk, Iowa and Hannibal,

Missouri. According to CNN’s web-

site, most Christians believe the teachings of Jesus Christ and that one God created the

heaven, earth and the universe. Christians also believe that Jesus is the son of God and that he died for humanity’s sins. Jesus was crucified on the cross and rose again on the third day, which is the reason for

Easter, properly known as Resurrec-tion Day. In general, Christianity is

one of the oldest religions. However, many races and ethnicities worship

Jesus differently. When I first came to Ma-

comb, I knew I was not going to find a church that I would enjoy worshipping and fellowshipping with others, mainly because there are not many Christian denomina-

tions similar to my church back home. Besides the students on

campus, there is not much diversity in Macomb, and I was not sure what sure would accept me as an African American woman. It is true that as Christians we are supposed to be kind to one another regardless of race, but looking back at history; many people used Christianity to

justify slavery in the U.S. In additions, I did not want

to go to any church but mine. My church in Chicago is called Greater Way Ministries. It is a small, store-

front-family church, and most of the congregation are African American,

but we welcome everyone. It is a Christian church that teaches under

the Full Gospel doctrine, believ-ing in the Father (Jesus(God), the Son and the Holy Ghost, which also means the spirit of the Lord,

speaking in tongues and believing that God is a healer. My church also believes that Jesus will return, due

to him rising on the third day before he was crucified, and being bap-

tized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. My church is also lively. We sing, dance, praise and worship and listen to the word

of the Gospel-the Bible that is. However, when I

transferred to Western as a sophomore, I still did not know where to fellowship. Since I was involved in

Heritage En-semble, a singing group affiliated with the Gwen-dolyn Brooks

Cultural Center on campus,I at-

tended the Chris-tian Fellowship

Campus Ministries (CFCM). CFCM is a non-denominational fellowship organization formed by predominantly African American students.

Going to church services at CFCM was good while it lasted, but I still missed my home church. I did not attend CFCM during my junior year, and I haven’t attended many services my senior year either.

The reason why is because I now work at The Western

Courier as a proofreader which I enjoy. I plan to, however,

visit CFCM before I graduate in May. Although Christianity is

a notable religion, other places of worship in Macomb include the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Islamic Center of Macomb and the Unitarian

Universalist Fellowship. The Kingdom Hall of Je-

hovah’s Witnesses is considered a Christian church; however,

Jehovah’s Witnesses’ beliefs are different from most Protestant

Christians. According to JW.org, this religion believes “the Bible teaches that Jesus is the Son of God, not a part of the Trinity,” while most Christian church believe that God is the trinity,

meaning one diving being. Jehovah’s Witnesses also

do not believe that humans souls are immortal,

that God tortures people in hell or that people

who take the lead in religious activities should have a title.

They believe that Jesus should not be worshipped, only God

due to the scripture of John 14:28 stating, “The Father is greater than I am.” However, this faith does believe in the Bible teach-

ings. Another place of worship is

the Islamic Center of Macomb. According to the Islamic Center

of Macomb’s website, it was built at a cost of $450,000,including

the cost of land and furnishings.

Most of the funds were raised by Muslims in Macomb and

across America. The president of this religious organization is

Dr. Mohammad A. Siddiqi, who is also the Journalism Program

Director at Western. According to BBC, the reli-

gion of Islam began in Arabia by the Prophet Muhammad. Those who follow Islam are known as Muslims and believe in Allah, which is Arabic for God. How-

ever, they believe that Jesus, Mo-ses and Abraham are prophets of God. Muslims also believe in

one God and that Allah sent prophets to mankind to

teach them how to live according to his law.

The religion Islam is believed

to have been discovered over 1,400 years ago in Mecca, Ara-bia. They holy book of Islam in the Quran

which contains many refer-

ences of other book such as, the

Book of Abraham, the Taurat(Torah), the

Zabur (David)and the Injeel (Gospel). Muslims

also practice the Five Pillars of Islam, which are the declaration of faith, praying five times a day,

giving money to charity, fast-ing and a pilgrimage to Mecca. If Christianity or Islam are too overwhelming, the Unitarian

Universalist Fellowship may be a good fit for some students at

Western. Unitarian Universalist

Fellowship is a religion that is pretty much free of religion.

According to the Unitarian Uni-versalist Association, Unitarian Universalists do not not believe in one faith. They believe that everyone should be accepted in their fellowship regardless of

what religion or non-religion that is practice.

They also follow seven principles. The first principle is

the inherent worth and dignity of every person. The second

principle is justice, equity and compassion in human relations.

The third principle includes acceptance of one another and

encouragement to spiritual growth in congregations. The fourth principle is accepting a free and responsible search for

truth and meaning. The fifth principle dis-

cusses the right of conscience and the use of the democratic

process with the congregations and society. The sixth prin-

ciple explains that the goal of the world in the community is

peace, liberty and justice for all. The seventh and final principle states that everyone within this religion should have respect for

the interdependent web of all existence. Unitarian Universal-ists also have principles for kids

to follow. In addition to this, some

Unitarian Universalists believe in God, and some do not. They do not read from the Bible, but they include other texts such as the Dhammapada and Tao Te-

Ching to find inspiration. ***

It is obvious that one may not think of Macomb as a town

filled with many diverse reli-gions, but they exist. Regardless

of what anyone else chooses as a place of worship, Macomb seems to have a wide, fascinat-

ing range of religions. However, I think I am just going to visit

CFCM when I get a chance and continue to worship at my

church back home. For more information

about places of worship in Macomb, go to the Center for International Studies at West-ern or www.wiu.edu/interna-

tional_studies/.

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