Science Quiz

Ever look up to watch a hippopotamus swim?  Or stand between diving penguins and puffins?  On a delightful Saturday morning, the St. Louis Zoo proved again why a recent survey called it America’s favorite zoo. The experience invigorates the senses.  … Read More

Crossing the Lexicon

“…ours is a mongrel language,” Mark Twain said about the world’s most expansive tool kit, “which started with a child’s vocabulary of 300 words and now consists of 225,000; the whole lot, with the exception of the original and legitimate … Read More

Back Door Branson

It bothered him like a gnat, the red dot on his chest. He knew it wasn’t a rash because the dot danced in a tight circle on the outside of his grimy wife-beater undershirt. He tried a few times to … Read More

On Seeds

There are seeds in every abandoned house, in the dry rotted floorboards and the mildewy walls, in the moss on the roof where sunlight doesn’t reach. The seeds are in the windowsills, in the clawfoot tub with as many rings … Read More

Dan “Coach Hoags” Hogan

“I’ll come see you if I can make it.” I knew what he meant. Dan was battling serious illness and the Grand Referee had granted him limited precious overtime. I didn’t expect to see him. But he showed up, game … Read More

Good Water Gone Bad

It’s the greatest water park in the world. A summer afternoon at Johnson’s Shut-Ins will make you forget about manmade water parks. That’s because it pushes humans through some of the most hair-raising chutes a body can stand without drowning. … Read More

St. Louis: birthplace of fast food, but…

The Gateway to the West doesn’t have stockyards like its western sisters Saint Joseph and Sedalia and Kansas City. Still, one prime Saint Louis cattle drive steers my tastebuds to Lindbergh Boulevard. Kreis’ Restaurant has been kicking steak house butt … Read More

Pegleg Shannon’s County

Shannon County is a synonym for wilderness, with a few small settlements scattered across the deep woods. It’s a great place to hide, or get lost. From border to border, as the Jacks Fork River slices across its face, Shannon … Read More

‘Til We Meet Again

“I met an old buddy of yours,” I told my uncle Dan. He received the news as I expected he would, since he lies six feet beneath the granite marker that bears the name Daniel W. Drake. There was a … Read More