Call for Guest Columnists

The Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus are once again seeking guest columnists for their Viewpoints page. Up to 5 writers will be chosen to produce 1 column every 5 weeks and be paid for their work.

As a former guest columnist I can say that it’s a great opportunity for any writer looking for more exposure and experience. I dug out my entry for the 2008 call and reprinted it below and left it as it was submitted.

I was lucky in that Governor Blagojevich gave me the perfect pedestal to stand on. I could gather facts and opinions just by walking down the street to get a cup of coffee. Distilling all that information into a compact column of 600 words was a bit harder and I went through a lot of rewrites in a short amount of time. Yes, I was pushing the deadline.

The deadline for 600 words is BEFORE midnight on Feb.5^th. 

Look for all the details in The Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus newspapers. 

Go for it!

Don’t Wait to See Bishop Hill

By Mary Davidsaver

“You don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone,” a common refrain usually said with sad overtones of regret.  Well, it didn’t happen this time around, at least, not yet.

Governor Blagojevich’s amendatory penmanship stirred up some dust over here in Illinois, maybe more than anyone expected.  Could be he thought no one would notice or care if state parks and historic sites closed their doors, barred the gates, and quietly went away.  Wrong—it was noticed right away.

It got a lot of people to rise up off their sofas, brush off the crumbs, and get active for their cause.

For some, it’s been a crash course in Civic Activism 101.  For others, it was doing the work that was necessary; to sit by and do nothing was not an option.

The first petitions to “save” the Bishop Hill State Historic Site in Henry County got out so fast that they had to be rewritten when further details became available. 

A committee formed to coordinate the information that needed to be gathered.  Petitions went out to all the surrounding towns and letters of support were garnered from everywhere possible.  The dry statistics that proved the financial impact of the proposed closings were gathered and collected into a notebook that grew in thickness as the days passed.  It was copied numerous times and passed around wherever possible. 

Most importantly, it was working the telephones, talking to the right people, and getting appointments in Springfield to talk to even more people. 

The response from our local elected officials was fast, sincere, and as effective as possible.  Rep. Don Moffitt came on short notice and returned often.  His support mirrored that of thousands of others.

The result was getting noticed and making a difference.  The closing date has been pushed back twice so far.

One might wonder if any good can come from a mess such as this.  Well, there is good to be had aside from this new found activism and community cohesion.

When you live in a small historic community like Bishop Hill, it can become easy to believe that the world revolves around you.  This coming crisis of closing the state historic sites has proven that to be a false belief.  Yes, we have support pouring in from local and international sources, but there are many more folks out there who haven’t a clue what all the fuss is about.  These are the ones who will call or email to ask if anything is still open, as if there’s a gate at either end of town that is going to be closed and locked somehow, as if there is nothing else here besides the state sites. 

Businesses have resorted to posting signs in their windows to reassure their customers that the majority of Bishop Hill is not going to disappear any time soon. 

Losing the state historic sites would be bad, but Bishop Hill is a unique little place that may well have more museums per capita than Springfield.  The visitors that are returning for another look know that.

And it looks like Bishop Hill is attracting new visitors, while others are encouraged to appreciate our historic treasures one more time.  Judging by the number of cars in town, it’s fair to say that visitation for Bishop Hill as a whole is up—at least for now.  Thank you, Governor, for that much. 

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