The Death of a Tavern Keeper
When Bobby Kirksey bought Jacobsmeyers—already a legacy tavern in Granite City—he made it clear to his musician friends that his tavern was open to us. He meant it.
Dispatches
With Relentless Mischief, Life Surprises Us
No matter how tight your friendships, you cannot predict where you will find a burst of empathy and help.
The Curious Importance of the Big Toe
The big toe freed our hands to make art, use tools, carry babies, and write literature. Why do we mock it?
Searching for Debussy’s Cathedral, Behind the Wheel
Sitting in my idle rental car at various stoplights in rural Michigan, I felt the transcendent parallel fifths of Claude Debussy’s “La cathedral engloutie” wash over my ears all over again.
Our Hand-Wringing About the Planet Could Be Hubris
Robinson Jeffers thought even our angst was self-centered. “We must uncenter our minds from ourselves;/ We must unhumanize our views a little.”
The Heartland Student Journalism Fellowship Announces Second-Year Recipients for 2024
Washington University in St. Louis undergraduate student Alethea Franklin and St. Louis writer Marie Wenya Burns are the second annual recipients of the Heartland Journalism Fellowships.
The Most Useful, Least Appreciated, Most Stolen Article in the World
Do not underestimate the humble No. 2 pencil.
Poverty Council Reveals Tensions in the Party: TCR at the DNC
Despite political rhetoric slung to get elected, no party can take care of all people and all problems at once, and resources and time are limited. This was tacitly acknowledged by the DNC when they tried to quash the Poverty Council.
Retirement Should Be Festive
Go look for soulmates in Paris, as Martha Gellhorn did. Loosen lifelong inhibitions in Tahiti. Retire in Mexico.
Bob Putnam, My First Man, Is Gone
Though Bob Putnam was old enough to be my father and he nurtured and supported me, as he did for hundreds of other young creative artists, I would not say he was a father figure. I would expect a father to be an authority figure. Bob was an anti-authority figure.