Knox in the News

From the Monmouth Daily Review-Atlas:

Dr. Bruce Polay, professor of music and chair of the Knox College Music Department and artistic director/conductor of the Knox-Galesburg Symphony (KGS) will return to guest conduct the world-renown State Orchestra of Mexico (OSEM) for two concerts, in Toluca on July 16, and in Mexico City on July 18. The “All French” program will include “Polyeucte” Overture by Paul Dukas (composer of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”), the Symphonic Poem “Pheaton” by Camille Saint-Saens (composer of “Carnival of the Animals”), and two works by Claude Debussy: Scottish March and his epoch “La Mer.” The featured soloist from Mexico City and the OSEM will perform 20th-century composer Jean Rivier’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Trumpet. This is Polay’s third visit as guest conductor with the OSEM.              

A three-time recipient of the Illinois Council of Orchestras (ICO) Conductor of the Year Award, Polay most recently won the prestigious Illinois Conductor of the Year, Professional Orchestras Award in April, 2010. In addition, Polay has been awarded the ICO Cultural Leadership and Programming of the Year Awards. 

During his tenure, the KGS has been consistently recognized by the ICO 17 times in nine different categories, including the Illinois Orchestra of the Year Award for an unprecedented third time. 

From the Register-Mail:

The money came at a perfect time for Betty Conner.

“We got a $4,800 check at a time when we really need it,” she said. “And we took it to the president of our bank, and he said, ‘I can’t cash it.’”

In the long run, that was a good thing for Conner. Because if the bank would have cashed it, she likely would have become one of approximately 31,000 annual victims of consumer fraud in Illinois.

“He said it would wind up costing us far more than $4,800,” said the Prairie City resident.

The fake check scam was just one of several fraud schemes targeting seniors outlined by Attorney General Lisa Madigan during her visit to Knox College Thursday.

Madigan was in town to kick off her office’s Silver Beat training program, which is aimed at helping a vulnerable segment of society — seniors. Conner was one of about 50 seniors who attended the event.

From the Register-Mail:

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan will make a stop at Knox College on Thursday to showcase how her office can help struggling seniors facing tough economic times.

Madigan will be in town to kick off her office’s Silver Beat training, which will help teach seniors about reverse mortgages, new rules of credit cards and how to avoid counterfeit check scams.

From the Baltimore Sun:

You can talk all you want about cleaning up the environment, but sometimes you just have to get your hands dirty.

That’s the lesson a muck-spattered Ben Boor says he’s picked up from his summer job clearing debris from Back River, one of Maryland’s most degraded waterways. And some think it could be a lesson on how to tackle the Chesapeake Bay, too.

As the sun blazed overhead Wednesday morning, the 21-year-old from Bel Air and three other area college students waded across the mudflats downriver from Interstate 695, reaching into the shallow water to wrest tires, a plastic garbage can and a waterlogged foam cushion from the murky ooze.

Boor, a senior at Knox College in Illinois, had planned to spend his summer studying botany, something related to his major. But when he couldn’t find any paying internships, he opted instead for part-time work for minimum wage with the Back River Restoration Committee, a local community group trying to clean up the river. He says he’s not sorry it worked out that way.

From the Register-Mail:

 A couple of weeks ago, I traveled to Washington, D.C., for the first time. I had always wanted to visit our nation’s capital, to see the seat of government and America’s monuments arranged along the National Mall….

Walking down the Mall, seeing the towering Washington Monument and the marble edifice of the capital, it is hard to conceive of this being in the same country as Galesburg. Galesburg does not have skyscrapers, and our largest monuments are the courthouse and Old Main, tiny in comparison to the monuments in our nation’s capital. But it’s there that the connective tissue of our nation resides.

At the end of the day, my last stop was the Lincoln Memorial. To reach it I walked the length of the reflecting pool. It is stagnant in the summer, green and surrounded on all sides by roosting ducks and their droppings. It’s not a pleasant place to be on a hot summer evening, but it is an aromatic reminder of the fact that Washington, D.C., was built on top of a swamp. It makes you wonder why anyone thought it would be a good place for a city.

Despite this the memorial rises above everything, its powerful facade dominating all. It is a long walk down the length of the pool and up the stairs to the massive entrance of the memorial. As I walk up the steps I pass tourists and visitors from all over the country, and the world. They are there for the same reason I am — to see the great man, Abraham Lincoln.

I had seen pictures of the statue many times, but I had never really comprehended it. Lincoln is seated on a throne, with a cape thrown over his shoulder, in a regal mode, and the architecture of the building, from the columns to the fasces at the doors, are reminiscent of Imperial Rome. Lincoln is both inspiring and intimidating.

He appears powerful but also thoughtful. The Gettysburg Address is painted on the inside walls of the memorial.

It is Lincoln, and this address, that tie Galesburg to the capital. As I read the Gettysburg Address in the Lincoln Memorial and looked at his statue, the connectedness of it all becomes apparent. Not a day goes by that I, a student at Knox College, do not see a statue of Lincoln; he’s everywhere. And he is in Washington, D.C., constantly watching over the nation.

It was in Galesburg that Lincoln first denounced slavery on a moral basis, and the words that he spoke as he sought to fulfill his ideals and maintain the union are permanently inscribed on the walls of his monument in Washington. It is because of Lincoln that Barack Obama is now able to be the president of the United States and it does not seem like a mistake that Obama also comes from Illinois and spoke, just like Lincoln, in Galesburg at Knox College.