It was late Friday when Jack the tow truck driver dumped Erifnus and me. Handshake and Jack was gone. University Garage had an alternator waiting, and slapped it on in minutes. On the way home we heard a radio wag … Read More
Missouri’s Unknown Superstar
Next time you sit down with the kids to watch Disney’s Pinocchio, listen to the cricket. He was born here. At least, his voice was born here. When that loveable bug sings “When You Wish Upon a Star,” the voice … Read More
Five minutes in an old veteran’s life…
He was going the wrong way down Broadway. As I approached him head-on, I could see he was holding a can of Budweiser. But that wasn’t the issue. It appeared he didn’t care if this trip ended in suicide. He … Read More
Crewless from Seattle–Columbia Channels Olympic Royalty
You don’t see this every day, not on a Midwest neighborhood side street. In one of Columbia’s stately old neighborhoods, a sweet spot tucked behind Garth and Rollins streets, populated by eighty-year-old trees and the professors who planted them, the … Read More
Requiem for an Old Broadway Star
The demolition ran into a snag. A piece of equipment broke, and the wrecking of the old hotel stopped for a few days, leaving a solitary four-story turret rising above the rubble. Maybe it was an elevator shaft, I couldn’t … Read More
The Pits and the Pinnacles
I drove a couple of miles north to a geologic marvel, a naturally sculpted breathtaker called the Pinnacles Youth Park. Like the name suggests, the featured attractions are the Pinnacles themselves, 80-foot limestone towers carved by water and wind, pointing … Read More
Out, out, brief candle
Within one lunar cycle they were gone. Over a 28 day period, Columbia endured a tragedy in three acts, and lost a major chunk of its soul when three of the city’s most visible luminaries died. City officials? No. Big … Read More
Wings Over Columbia
It was the largest crowd ever to invade Memorial Stadium. One autumn Saturday a dozen years ago, thousands of football fans packed together, and their colorful clothing attracted a million Monarch butterflies who rode the breeze across the stadium. From … Read More