The Stonewall Riots and visits by Allen Ginsberg and other leaders sparked LGBTQ+ activism in Bloomington-Normal through the 1970s that s still felt today.
After 30 years at the
State Journal-Register, political columnist and reporter Bernard Schoenburg accepted a buyout and left the paper on Dec. 1. He began his journalism career at
The Pantagraph in Bloomington and also worked at the Associated Press before coming to Springfield, where he became one of the state s best-known political writers. Following is an interview with Schoenburg that has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Q: Tell me about Jethro Tull. A: This helped get me into journalism. I never imagined myself in this profession when I was, for example, in high school. There was this big push back in the late 60s, early 70s, for science – I thought I would be a science person. I had to declare a major after a year and a half (at University of Illinois). I just picked a major without really knowing what it was, which was public relations. Once I got into a public relations course, there were things about it I didn t like. One of the courses I