Arts & Letters

Patricia Beatrix Villanueva

The Commencement Speech Is Bigger Than We Know

Some way, somehow, commencement speakers come to embody the ideals and principles of millions of hard-working students who some way, somehow, want their ideals and principles embodied in the choice of commencement speakers across hundreds of institutions of higher education. Basic laws of probability tell us the majority of these choices will not match.

The Devil Wears Prada in St. Louis, Too

The following sentence just begs for snorts of derision, and I can imagine Stanley Tucci’s character rolling his eyes. But The Devil Wears Prada 2 parallels to the Midwestern magazine world.

Sure, our versions are inevitably smaller scale and far less sophisticated, less privy to talent, couture, exposure.…

Catch Us If You Can

The Cardinals under Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog (nicknamed the White Rat) were the daredevils of St. Louis in the 1980s, our biggest disappointments and our greatest heroes. St. Louisans lived and died for the guys who wore the birds on the bat. And this era was named for the style that the Cardinals brought to the game, Whiteyball.

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