FEATURES

14 Artful documentary
George Atkinson preserves a way of life.

by Robert Kuhn McGregor

16 Long live the book
Reading will not die. What will change is venue.

by Dan Guillory

19 Prairie hybrids
Haiku is the future of poetry in the heartland.

22 Art for the new millennium
An exhibit celebrates the visions of Illinois women artists.

by Maureen F. McKinney

26 One-dimensional honors
What a rich mosaic could have been depicted.

by Ryan Reeves

28 The once and future small press
Cutting-edge technology can promote cutting-edge arts.

by Ed Wojcicki

30 Q&A
Chicago librarian Mary Dempsey.

by Beverley Scobell

33 Classic cinema
Entrepreneurs are reopening old movie houses.
Credits: Painter Billy Morrow Jackson, whose art appears on our cover, has been called a contemporary American "realist." Howard E. Wooden, in his Billy Morrow Jackson: Interpretations of Time and Light, notes that Jackson is best known for his scenes of everyday activities. "As an artist, his accomplishment is his ability to change significantly what he sees into something that allows us to see more fully and more clearly and to feel more deeply." Jackson, who lives in Champaign, once taught at the University of Illinois. His works hang in the National Museum of American Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and in several Illinois public buildings.
Editorial and business office: Building K-10, University of Illinois at Springfield, P.O. Box 19243, Springfield, IL 62794-9243. Telephone: 217-206-6084. Fax: 217-206-7257. E-mail: Ilissues@uis.edu. E-mail publisher: wojcicki@uis.edu. E-mail editor: boyer-long.peggy@uis.edu. Subscription questions: Illinois Issues, Subscription Division, P.O. Box 251, Mount Morris, IL 61054 or call 1-800-827-0266. Hours are 7:30 a.m. - 10:30 p.m. Central Time, Monday-Friday (except holidays). Subscriptions: $39.95 one year/ $72 two years/ $105 three years; student rate is $20 a year. Individual copy is $3.95. Back issue is $5. Illinois Issues is indexed in the PAIS Bulletin and is available electronically on our home page: www.uis.edu/~ilissues. Illinois Issues (ISSN 0738- 9663) is published monthly, except during the summer when July and August are combined. Periodical postage paid at Spring-field, IL, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Illinois Issues, Subscription Division, P.O. Box 251, Mount Morris, IL 61054.

DEPARTMENTS
3 Conversation
with the Publisher
   by Ed Wojcicki
4 Editor's Notebook
  by Peggy Boyer Long
6 State of the State
   by Lee Bey
  The art of redevelopment
8 Briefly
  by Rodd Whelpley
36 People
  by Rodd Whelpley
40 Letters
41 A View from Metro East
   by James Ylisela Jr.
  The art of budget-making
42 Politics
    by Charles N. Wheeler III
   The art of campaigning

©2000 by Illinois Issues, University of Illinois at Springfield, P.O. Box 19243, Springfield, IL 62794- 9243. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without prior written permission is prohibited. Illinois Issues is published by the University of Illinois at Springfield. In addition to university support and subscription income, the magazine is supported by grants and donations. The contents of the magazine do not necessarily reflect the views of the university or the donors.