Christine Ledbetter – Page 3

People walk by Stephen Sondheim Theatre in New York City on Nov. 26, 2021.

Op-ed: A trip to ‘Frozen’ with the grandkids can plant the seed of a lifetime love of the arts

January 11, 2022 at 4:05 p.m.

The road to Stephen Sondheim is paved with Disney musicals. Seven years ago I bought Broadway tickets for "Aladdin" in New York to take my first grandchild to their first...

Op-ed: The move to a rural community reveals the ‘other’ Illinois

September 10, 2021 at 4:01 p.m.

It would take a tornado to topple the Trump 2020 signs in Downstate Illinois. Ten months after the election, the "us vs. them" thinking in west central Illinois symbolizes a...

Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore in an episode of the CBS series "The Dick Van Dyke Show," circa 1964.

Flashback: Dick Van Dyke found his footing on the stage in his beloved hometown of Danville

June 10, 2021 at 11:49 a.m.

It was standing room only at Danville High School's production of "Bye Bye Birdie." Crowds are not unusual at school performances in this arts-loving Illinois town, but the mood was...

A painting by Thelma McWorter Kirkpatrick Wheaton depicts New Philadelphia, the first American community legally founded by a Black person in the 1830s.

Flashback: Tucked away in rural Illinois is the site of America’s first town founded by a free Black man. His descendants want you to know its history.

February 16, 2021 at 10:38 p.m.

The pages of history turn agonizingly slow, particularly when chronicling the lives of African Americans. What else explains why the story of Free Frank McWorter, the first Black person to...

Year 2020: Even Zoom can’t slow down our grandparenting time

December 11, 2020 at 12:23 p.m.

Note: The baiduhai Editorial Board invited readers to share their stories of 2020, a year made challenging by the coronavirus pandemic, civil unrest and a contentious presidential election. We...

Commentary: Searching for Nellie, a woman lost to history

July 31, 2020 at 4:02 p.m.

For most of my life, I have been haunted by a portrait of a woman lost to history. She died nearly a century ago at the age of 19. Her...

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