Think about the person you are now. You are a product of your time. Of your upbringing. Of your environment. Think about the person you were before the pandemic. Just a year ago. Different person? Think about you 10 years ago. Different person? How about 20 years ago or more, around the time of 9/11. Different person? We all evolve, we all change, according to our times, environments and circumstances. The question, as always, is how do we change and how much? Is it for good? Is it for ill? This week, the estate of Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which controls the late author’s books, decided... Read More

The past couple months have been a busy time in the private college presidential search business in the Quad-Cities. In late January, Augustana College president Steven Bahls announced he was delaying his planned retirement one year – from July 2021 to July 1, 2022. In early February, St. Ambrose University concluded its search process for the 14th president of the Davenport institution, naming Amy C. Novak, president of Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D., to take the helm this August, with the retirement of Sister Joan Lescinski. And in late February, Augustana in Rock Island held... Read More

In late October 2020, Quad City Arts’ Visiting Artist Series launched the Educational Resources project with content from 11 professional performing artists. A dozen new artists presenting a broad selection of music, dance, theatre and visual arts are joining the project as of Friday, March 5, for a total of 21 artists and ensembles participating. Quad City Arts has enlisted these performers, including a North Carolina rapper and banjo player, a former NPR “Tiny Desk Concert” contestant, and an emerging Chicago dance studio, to create videos and documents to be shared with Quad City educators... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL — COVID-19 surveillance testing is underway at Western Illinois University and will continue as the semester progresses. Additional open appointment times may be added periodically for those who would like to be tested,but have not been selected as part of the surveillance test population. In addition, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has added select dates for free test clinics on the WIU-Macomb campus (see below). Each week, approximately 700 students, faculty and staff* will receive an email encouraging them to get a free COVID test provided by Beu Health... Read More

Christina Myatt, drama director at Pleasant Valley High School in Bettendorf, continues to give her students acting options. Live theater has persisted during Covid, and their latest production – the small, intimate “Feiffer’s People” – was performed in front of audiences at PV last weekend, and a filmed version will be shown online at 7 p.m. Friday, March 5 and Saturday, March 6. “It went really well,” Myatt said Monday of the eight-member cast in PV’s huge auditorium, at 25-percent capacity maximum. “It’s a smaller cast, it allows us to work in a way, people aren’t on top... Read More

Less than three months after securing its lease and creating its name, the new Deanery School of Music has chosen its first executive director, Rishi Wagle of Bettendorf. A 2016 Pleasant Valley High School alum and 2020 graduate of Brown University, he will work closely with the board and with Hannah Holman, the school’s artistic director, to address the many initiatives associated with the start of this new and unique cultural organization serving the Quad-Cities. “There are so many moving parts associated with an adventure like this that we feel it needs someone who is a quick learner with... Read More

The Bettendorf Public Library is offering an inside look at the Mississippi River this month through an online edition of Community Connections: Life on the Mississippi River with John Lynn. This special, live program will take place on March 18th at 7:00 PM.  The event features the story of America’s great river; its course, character, and general river life as experienced by John Lynn, a modern-day Huck Finn, while canoeing solo down all 2,300 miles of the Mighty Mississippi. This presentation will take place via GoToMeeting. Registration is required to receive the invitation and password... Read More

The Western Illinois University Office of Student Engagement (OSE), in conjunction with numerous other campus offices, will host “Spring Into a Fun Semester” during week seven and eight of the Spring 2021 semester, March 1-13. The goal of the events is to help engage students and help them make meaningful connections. The week seven and eight schedule includes: • Tuesday, March 2 – 11 a.m.-1 p.m. – Tuesday on the Terrace with the Women’s Center, from the Multicultural Center, located on the Union Terrace • Wednesday, March 3 – 4-5 p.m. – FSL Human Bingo, virtual –... Read More

Living Proof Exhibit – which provides hope, support, and healing through the arts to Quad Citizens touched by cancer – is growing with new programs and a new program manager. Each month, LPE offers free Creative Sessions where participants use various art forms to heal and find hope. Everyone impacted by cancer is invited to these free sessions, including those undergoing cancer treatment, family members, friends, and caregivers. You can register online at livingproofexhibit.org. Due to Covid-19, sessions will be virtual or outdoors with limited capacity. Each session will be available live... Read More

WQPT presents a variety of outreach activities in conjunction with the new Ken Burns documentary Hemingway. Directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, Hemingway examines the visionary work and turbulent life of Ernest Hemingway, one of the most influential writers America has ever produced. Interweaving his eventful biography with excerpts from his writing, we will see beyond the façade of the public image, becoming intimately familiar with this brilliant, ambitious, charismatic, and egocentric man. Beginning this week you can log on to https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/hemingway/events/ and join Conversations... Read More