#downtown springfield

[snake-jailbird-official]

Enjoyed a romantic burger and movie date with my babe @cindy-lecce-space at Five Guys and the Aztec theater in Downtown Springfield to see the new Venom movie. We also shared a totally sweet chocolate shake and fries together and couldn't believe it was just the 2 of us in the entire room when we headed to the movies. Definitely going down in the history books, yo!

[legstheoctomobster]

Uhhh shitty Johnny drawing featuring his inner child

He ain’t happy with his adult self’s bullshit

[hotelbooking]

Hampton Inn & Suites Springfield/Downtown Welcome to Hampton Inn & Suites Springfield/Downtown, a modern and inviting 2.5-star hotel located in the heart of Springfield, Massachusetts. Built in 2017, this hotel offers a contemporary and comfortable atmosphere, making it the perfect choice for both business and leisure travelers. At Hampton Inn & Suites Springfield/Downtown, check-in begins at 3:00 PM, allowing you to settle in and start your stay with ease. The friendly and attentive staff will be ready to welcome you and ensure a smooth check-in process. When it's time to bid farewell to this wonderful hotel, check-out is until 12:00 PM, giving you ample time to pack up and depart at your own pace. With a total of 87 well-appointed rooms, Hampton Inn & Suites Springfield/Downtown offers a range of accommodation options to suit your needs. Whether you're traveling solo, as a couple, or with family and friends, you'll find comfortable and spacious rooms that provide a relaxing retreat...

[rabbitcruiser]

Official Simpsons Mural, Springfield

It may seem like yesterday, but "The Simpsons" mural in Springfield is nearly a decade old.

Cowabunga!

Many things have changed in 10 years, but two constants endure.

"The Simpsons", an animated sitcom on Fox, is still on the air — 36 seasons and counting. 

And, Springfield, Oregon is the undisputed true setting for the satirical story of the dysfunctional middle-class American family and their neighbors.

Don't have a cow you other Springfields, but eat our shorts!

Clues have existed since the show's first episode, but in 2007 the show’s creator Matt Groening, who grew up in Portland, sent a plaque with an eerily prophetic cartoon image to Springfield city officials that read, “Yo to Springfield, Oregon — The real Springfield! Your pal, Matt Groening, proud Oregonian.” The plaque now hangs in the mayor's office at Springfield City Hall.

If that isn’t evidence enough, seven years later Groening agreed to collaborate on a mural to grace downtown Springfield.

In 2014 a crew from Old City Artists spent four days painting a 15-by-30-foot mural on the west wall of the Emerald Arts Center on Fifth Street between Main and A Streets. 

Some of the features of the painting, like the spotted owl, beaver and Three Sisters Mountains reportedly came directly from Groening.

When the work was completed on August 25, 2014, the city shut down Fifth Street and threw a huge block party featuring Yeardley Smith, the Emmy-winning voice of Lisa Simpson. The voice actress and entrepreneur flew in from California to dedicate the mural and leave her hand, shoe prints and name in cement, Hollywood Walk of Fame style. 

Since its creation, the mural has been a huge hit. TripAdvisor ranks the location as the number one thing to visit in Springfield. A typical day sees people from all over the world stopping by the location to make a selfie in front of the painting and more importantly, spend money at nearby businesses. The renaissance of downtown Springfield may owe some of its success to the mural. 

Source

[lizardsfromspace]

The speed with which the anti-Haitian hoaxes took off is just unbelievable. It started with one Facebook post *a couple weeks ago*, and in a matter of days it made its way onto the Presidential debate stage, and then into bomb threats that closed schools in Springfield for multiple days

No better sign of how omnipresent it's become than this

From the way it's phrased, you'd think someone died. But no, this is a minor accident with little damage to either car & where no one involved was hurt, which the story tacks on at the end. This is the kind of story that would, normally, be about 5 seconds on the local news: "In other news, a motorist making an illegal turn hit a car carrying two people downtown today. Thankfully, no one was hurt" - if it made the news at all! But bc of a racist campaign of harassment, now minor car accidents that occurred nearly 600 miles away from the publication's office are a national concern. An illegal u-turn can be a national story if the right targeted minority group does it. This obsessive documentation of every crime, no matter how minor or overtly false, done by minorities is not so much giving Der Stürmer as it is literally just the same thing Der Stürmer did

[beardedmrbean]

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overturned actor Jussie Smollett’s conviction on charges that he staged a racist and homophobic attack against himself in downtown Chicago in 2019 and lied to police.

The state’s highest court ruled that a special prosecutor should not have been allowed to intervene after the Cook County state’s attorney initially dropped charges against Smollett in exchange for forfeiting his $10,000 bond and conducting community service. The ruling and the appeal did not address Smollett’s continued claim of innocence.

Smollett, who is Black and gay, claimed two men assaulted him, spouted racial and homophobic slurs and tossed a noose around his neck, leading to a massive search for suspects by Chicago police detectives and kicking up an international uproar. Smollett was on the television drama “Empire,” which filmed in Chicago, and prosecutors alleged he staged the attack because he was unhappy with the studio’s response to hate mail he received.

“We are aware that this case has generated significant public interest and that many people were dissatisfied with the resolution of the original case and believed it to be unjust,” Justice Elizabeth Rochford wrote in the 5-0 decision. “Nevertheless, what would be more unjust than the resolution of any one criminal case would be a holding from this court that the state was not bound to honor agreements upon which people have detrimentally relied.”

Smollett’s attorneys have argued that the case was over when the Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office dropped an initial 16 counts of disorderly conduct. A grand jury restored charges after a special prosecutor took the case. A jury convicted Smollett of five counts of disorderly conduct in 2021.

Emailed messages seeking comment were sent Thursday to Foxx’s office and to Smollett’s attorney, who have argued that Smollett has been victimized by a racist and politicized justice system.

Testimony at his trial indicated Smollett paid $3,500 to two men whom he knew from “Empire” to carry out the attack. Prosecutors said he told them what slurs to shout, and to yell that Smollett was in “MAGA country,” an apparent reference to the Donald Trump’s presidential campaign slogan.

Smollett testified that “there was no hoax” and that he was the victim of a hate crime in his downtown Chicago neighborhood.

He was sentenced to 150 days in jail — six of which he served before he was freed pending appeal — 30 months of probation and ordered to pay about $130,000 in restitution.

A state appellate court ruling upheld Smollett’s the conviction, declaring that no one promised Smollett he wouldn’t face a fresh prosecution after accepting the original deal.

Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis and Justice Joy Cunningham took no part in Thursday’s decision.

[retropopcult]

December 1930: Christmas shoppers in downtown Springfield, Illinois

[writingquestionsanswered]

I’ve been reading some craft books and online posts about the world building because my story is an urban fantasy set in present day US, in a fictional town, and theres not a secondary world where the fantasy happens, it’s all in the real world, except the magic is a secret that only certain people know about, but all of the resources I find about world building only talk about fantastical worlds that exist by themselves and not the kind of more subtle world building that I’d have to do. Do you have any tips?

Guide: Creating a Fictional Town in the Real World

Step 1 - Choose Your Location - There are two ways to go about choosing a location for your fictional town. One is to go the "Springfield U.S.A." route, ala The Simpsons, and be vague about the specific location (borough, parish, district, county, region, state, or province) and instead give a broader geographic region... "the East Coast," "the Pacific Northwest," "Central Canada," Northern Scotland," etc. The other option is to go ahead and put your fictional town in a specific location. Just figure out where (for example, somewhere outside of Des Moines, Iowa) and go to Google Maps, click on satellite view, then start zooming in on big empty areas. Choose a place big enough to fit a town. Yes, in reality it's probably farm fields, pasture, or someone's property, but that doesn't matter. You don't have to actually show it on a map. It's just a plausible spot to build your town. Now you can measure how far it is to other places, you know what highways to take to get to it. You can even do street view to get the lay of the land, see what the landscape looks like and try to envision the buildings there. You can also use what's there to create parks, popular recreational areas, and anything else your town needs.

Step 2 - Choose Your Inspiration - Even when you're creating a fictional town, it's still a good idea to use a real town (or two, or three) from that general area as inspiration for your town. For a fictional town in Des Moines, I would zoom in on the map to find a nearby town of similar size... like Elkhart, then I can take a look around to see what it's like. Just looking at the map, I can see they have a couple of churches, a couple baseball fields, a very small main street/downtown area with a couple shops and restaurants, a post office, a few different neighborhoods, and a cemetery. This would be a great model for a small fictional town outside of Des Moines. And, as I said, you could look at a couple other sand combine them. Once you have your inspiration town/s, you can walk around on Google Maps street view, go to the town's web site, watch a tour on YouTube (if one exists), or look up pictures in Google Image search.

Step 3 - Start Planning - This is the really fun part! First, you might want to draw a basic map of your fictional town using your inspiration town/s as a guide. This doesn't have to be a pretty map... just a basic line drawing to help you envision where everything is. Think about some of the basic things this town might have, like the ones I listed in step two, and any other things you might want your town to have, like maybe a library, a hospital, a city hall, school, and maybe a movie theater. It might even be helpful and fun to put together a collage of pictures to represent your town so you've got something in mind as you write about it. You can even choose representatives for specific locations in your story, like your MC's house, school, and their favorite hangout.

Step 4 - Naming Your Town - Start by looking at the kinds of town names that surround your town. Look for common naming conventions... suffixes like -ton, -ville, -dale, -burg, -wood, -field, etc. Words in a particular language, like a lot of French-inspired town names, or towns with geographical terms (lake, hill, valley, river, canyon, gap, etc.) My guide to Naming Locations has additional tips.

Step 5 - Populate Your Town and Give it a History - Last but not least, make up a little history for your town, again, using surrounding towns as inspiration. Who founded it? When was it founded? What's the town's main industry? What are the people like in this town? What jobs do they have? What do they do for fun?

Here are some other posts that might help:

Five Things to Help You Describe Fictional Locations Setting Your Story in an Unfamiliar Place WQA’s Guide to Internet Research Happy writing!

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[video-game-jams]

The Simpsons (Arcade) - Downtown Springfield

[railwayhistorical]

In the Capital City

This post will conclude the series focusing on one train, powered by F-units, on the former Chicago & Alton, later GM&O/ICG.

We begin at Ridgely Yard, Springfield, Illinois, where our train is approaching a signal bridge adorned with a color position light for each main track. The second image has the train crossing over North Ninth Street, while the third shows it south of downtown Springfield at Iles Tower. You may be able to see in that last image that the engineer is leaning out of the window, arm extended, so he can pick up train orders on the fly.

Three images by Richard Koenig; taken November 21st 1976.

[darkmaga-returns]

By Olivia Murray

Logansport, Indiana has become the new Springfield Ohio—during the Harris-Biden years alone, more than ten thousand migrants poured in, largely from Haiti and other third world nations, and the population of this small midwestern town surged by more than 30%, per a conservative estimate from the county health department.

And, reported by an item published at the New York Post today, the demographic change is forcing local kids out of the public school system as the teachers find themselves diverting more time and attention to the non-English-speaking portions of the class:

Thousands of migrants from Haiti and dozens of other countries have arrived in this isolated Indiana city of 18,000 in just a few years. Furious residents say they no longer feel safe in the once sleepy downtown, and their kids are being muscled out of the schools by new students who don’t know English and need a lot more help.

To get an idea as to how that number translates into non-citizens in the K–12 range, the article reports that the number of foreign students has increased “15-fold” just over the past three years. According to one local parent whose daughter left the system and enrolled in an online school, all those little American afterthoughts (whose parents actually foot the bill for the public school to be even be open) are “falling behind” academically:

[halberdbooks]

I just realized that I never showed off my new tattoo! I got this done a month ago by Elise Lima at Electric Quill Tattoo in downtown Springfield, Illinois! It is a collection of lines from eight works that mean a tremendous amount to me. Over time, I will add so many more important words. I'll put a transcript of what it says in the alt text, but if you want a full explication on the major themes present in my first tattoo, you'll just have to read Halberd Books vol. 3 when it comes out this December!

[legstheoctomobster]

Capo Headcanon Redesigns bc holy fuckballs I cannot fight art AND writer’s-block to save my life ‼️

[hotelbooking]

Holiday Inn Express Springfield Downtown The hotel provides front desk services such as concierge service, express check-in or check-out, luggage storage and safety deposit boxes for guests' convenience. If you need, the tours can even help you book tickets and reservations at all the best shows and programs nearby. Staying for a long time, or just need clean clothes? laundromat, dry cleaning service and laundry service offered at the hotel will keep your favorite travel outfits clean and available. For lazy days and nights, in-room conveniences like room service and daily housekeeping let you make the most of your room. Little things you forgot to pack aren't a big problem! Just stop by the convenience stores to get what you need. Please be advised that smoking is not allowed in the hotel to allow cleaner air for all guests. Smoking is limited to designated areas only, for the health and well-being of all guests and staff. Each guestroom at It's good to know that a hair dryer, toiletries...

[opheliasnotdead]

In my dream

We are having coffee

at a shop downtown,

maybe Springfield.

You look at me

over too much creamer

and smile

And all at once

I see the years

in a backwards carpet roll,

spanning

the distance between us

Thanksgiving burgers

at 29 palms

and tears over acrid cigarettes

on the torn screen porch,

And god,

I miss you.

I wish

I could tell you

that you really look like

You

now

That I am so happy

to see your insides

Bloom

across your once fearful skin

and your chipped teeth

Braving

the sun that has always

loved your freckled surface

even before

You

did.

I know I will wake

distant

and aching

at that frayed ribbon

Tug

in my heart,

The one that lingers

around the perfect soft curve

of your ankle

as you move steadily

Away

But here

Now

in the verdant warmth

of my sleeping brain

I can finally tell you

I am

Proud,

so

Proud,

Of

You.

[harmonyfriends]

Downtown Springfield - The Simpsons Arcade Game [Harmony Friends Arrange]

This was commissioned for a KFAD-style project that sadly got cancelled. I especially had fun with the solos. I've been sitting on it for a year, so I'm happy to be able to share it now!