Fort de Chartres (pronounced “Fort Charters,” as Cairo, Illinois, is “Care-oh” and New Madrid, Missouri, is “New Mad-rid”) is a reconstructed French colonial fort, in Illinois, 40 miles due south of the St. Louis Arch. It was built in its durable form in 1753 to govern and house soldiers for Upper […]
There are pieces of furniture that serve their purpose admirably but temporarily. Then there are pieces of furniture that, over time, appreciate in value so well you think nothing of mistaking them for a family member. Such was the beloved status of my late, great, golden-brown, Danish sofa, consecrated in the […]
I woke up today with a kind of heaviness. It is the kind one might easily attribute to accumulated exhaustion, the slow burn of a long semester, the grind and hustle that have come to define my life as a graduate student. But it feels like more than that. There is also […]
Over dinner last week, a friend said she could not stand hearing President Donald Trump’s name anymore. He tries to be a king. Another friend across the table shrugged, “Well, at least the stock market was doing fine. Maybe people should pay attention to that as well. My 401(k) is great.” The […]
“What do you lie to yourself about?” my friend wanted to know. I floundered. Tried to escape the question. Then took a minute to realize I knew the answer. “I think I’m patient,” I blurted. And as I said the word, the full truth of it sank in. The only reason I am […]
A friend of mine is a little witchy, a little woowoo. She gets “feelings” before something happens. Me, I roll my eyes. Something is always going to happen. The claim is too easy. Deep down, though, I am jealous. Trapped inside my head since, oh, third grade, I have no gut feelings. No […]
“Of course you have to take the phone to the bathroom with you when you shower,” a friend told me. “In case something happens.” “What?” I said. Until my younger son went away to college two years ago, I had never lived alone except for a year in college. Even then, I […]
I remember well my first father-son conversation about girlfriends because it soon devolved into an argument about slang. “Why limit yourself to girls you only think at first glance are foxy?” he asked, substituting my straightforward description of “good looking.” “Foxy girls are not the be-all-end-all,” he continued, substituting another of […]
A friend texts me a video of pianist Julian Cohen. A kid asks him to play a certain song, then startles everyone in the restaurant with his gorgeous voice. A sucker for any spontaneous musical performance or revelation of young talent, I ignore all the other directions my fingertips should be flying on […]
You have probably walked into the Saint Louis Art Museum’s grand Sculpture Hall before. But you have never walked in and seen it like this. Five new works by Anselm Kiefer, each the height of a three-story building, surround you. They glow dark, gold leaf vibrating against rich blacks and a shimmering sea […]