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

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

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

Two Tom Cats, the Westminster Poets

They grew up a half block from each other. Two of the world’s greatest purveyors of felinity—one associated with New Orleans cats, the other with London cats—spent their wonder years on Westminster Street. Both left this street more than a … Read More

Custerfluck

It was a butt-clenching rollercoaster ride on the Black Hills backroad to a park named for a man best-known for getting slaughtered. Halfway up the twisting mountain road to the park, our journey resembled a Custerfluck. Swollen rain clouds shrouded … Read More

The Woman Who Toppled Madmen

I left grad school to take a job with Gardner Advertising, Saint Louis’ second-largest ad agency. Clients ranged from Busch Beer and the St. Louis Baseball Cardinals to Puppy Chow and Chuck Wagon dog food, to Jack Daniels whiskey. Even … Read More