Ten days ago, 105 members of Missouri's House of Representatives passed a Bill to allow licensed gun owners to carry concealed weapons onto public college campuses. It is a cop out. The Bill relieves elected officials of the hard job of making informed decisions to ensure public safety.
To advocate that each of us, whether student, teacher, shopper, or anyone, carry a concealed weapon into a public place for our own protection is to abandon all sense of responsible governance for our safety.
To have this Bill passed at a time which marked the anniversary of the wholesale murder of people in educational campuses and buildings is outrageous and indicates that elected officials are copping out of dealing with one of the most vexing issues of our time. This behavior and the Bill it produced should be unacceptable to all of us here and elsewhere in the country.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
CORRECTION
People in St. Louis do not call Robins "Roby," only writers with poor typing skills do. My apology.
SPRING FOR SURE?
Winter's refusal to give up did not deter the return of Robins and some plants from blooming early even when the weather was inhospitable. But today on my morning walk, I saw my first real indication that Spring may have won the climate battle.
This time, the Roby I spotted had his beak filled with straw and small sticks as he went about collecting debris to build his nest. It reminded me that a nest, like a home, is built in good weather. Spring may finally be here!
This time, the Roby I spotted had his beak filled with straw and small sticks as he went about collecting debris to build his nest. It reminded me that a nest, like a home, is built in good weather. Spring may finally be here!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Truman and Us
A few weeks ago, I read that Matthew Algeo was about to publish a book about how easy it was for President Harry S. Truman and his wife to travel as ordinary citizens on America's roads after he had left office. The article sparked a memory of my own.
Sometime after Truman left office, my family and I were traveling by car on our way from Philadelphia to New York. With us was my sister and her year old daughter. As we passed another car, we recognized Clifton Daniel and his wife Margaret Truman in the front seat. In the back seat were Harry and Bess Truman.
No entourage accompanied them. They were just another car on the road. We were thrilled to see them. We waved. My sister held up her daughter to show them her baby. The former President of the United States laughed and waved back. We were so excited, we talked about the encounter all the way into New York and for years afterward.
Sometime after Truman left office, my family and I were traveling by car on our way from Philadelphia to New York. With us was my sister and her year old daughter. As we passed another car, we recognized Clifton Daniel and his wife Margaret Truman in the front seat. In the back seat were Harry and Bess Truman.
No entourage accompanied them. They were just another car on the road. We were thrilled to see them. We waved. My sister held up her daughter to show them her baby. The former President of the United States laughed and waved back. We were so excited, we talked about the encounter all the way into New York and for years afterward.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Antique Row
Antique Row is located in the Southeast section of St. Louis. The area is an historic one. It was settled in the 1700s by German immigrants and is now attempting a revival of the neighborhood.
It differs from other antique areas I have visited because its historic markers commemorate ordinary citizens. Visitors learn about the family who lived in the small houses above the business they conducted.
Small houses standing next to each other display the lovely architecture of the time and are still lived in year around. Shops hold lots of vintage merchandise worth seeing, art galleries and small coffee houses welcome visitors.
No great event seems to have occurred in Antique Row. It was just refreshing to walk about in a neighborhood proud of its heritage and sharing its history with visitors.
It differs from other antique areas I have visited because its historic markers commemorate ordinary citizens. Visitors learn about the family who lived in the small houses above the business they conducted.
Small houses standing next to each other display the lovely architecture of the time and are still lived in year around. Shops hold lots of vintage merchandise worth seeing, art galleries and small coffee houses welcome visitors.
No great event seems to have occurred in Antique Row. It was just refreshing to walk about in a neighborhood proud of its heritage and sharing its history with visitors.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
A Library Treasure
St. Louis' Central Public Library can hold its own when compared with other public libraries around the country. I've always been intrigued with libraries. When I first arrived here, I visited several small ones, some in my neighborhood, others further out in the burbs.
Yesterday I was looking for the book "An Aquinas Reader" for a class assignment. I was told it would be found in the City's Central Library. Of the many places suggested to me to be sure and see, no one mentioned the Central Library. So I was quite surprised and delighted with the treasure I found.
The City's first Public Library was in a room in The Board of Education. Now, there are 16 Branches around St. Louis. The Central Library is located in an imposing building built in 1907 by the famous American architect Cass Gilbert who designed New York City's Woolworth Building, The U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. and a long list of other institutions, churches and hospitals.
The Library houses 3 million, 7 hundred thousand items on three floors with children's and popular libraries and a micro form room in the basement. The third floor is used for exhibit space along with some administrative offices.
The main floor's reading room is in the Great Hall where deliveries were once made and now has a balcony lined with books. Columns and floors are of marble. Walls and ceilings are done in beaux arts decor. Individual rooms carry individual themes. European, Monastery and one was inspired by Michelangelo's Laurentian Library. Gilded plaster is shaped into swags, flowers, cornucopias, Fleur-Di-Li's and Durham stained glass are seen throughout.
I did not have time to browse the Stacks. I will when I go again and take the tour.
Yesterday I was looking for the book "An Aquinas Reader" for a class assignment. I was told it would be found in the City's Central Library. Of the many places suggested to me to be sure and see, no one mentioned the Central Library. So I was quite surprised and delighted with the treasure I found.
The City's first Public Library was in a room in The Board of Education. Now, there are 16 Branches around St. Louis. The Central Library is located in an imposing building built in 1907 by the famous American architect Cass Gilbert who designed New York City's Woolworth Building, The U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. and a long list of other institutions, churches and hospitals.
The Library houses 3 million, 7 hundred thousand items on three floors with children's and popular libraries and a micro form room in the basement. The third floor is used for exhibit space along with some administrative offices.
The main floor's reading room is in the Great Hall where deliveries were once made and now has a balcony lined with books. Columns and floors are of marble. Walls and ceilings are done in beaux arts decor. Individual rooms carry individual themes. European, Monastery and one was inspired by Michelangelo's Laurentian Library. Gilded plaster is shaped into swags, flowers, cornucopias, Fleur-Di-Li's and Durham stained glass are seen throughout.
I did not have time to browse the Stacks. I will when I go again and take the tour.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Quick Fix?
Sometimes when communities, like people, are in economic trouble, they tend to forget their historic or cultural heritage and look for a quick fix rather than look to natural advantages.
I saw this happen in Baltimore when in the 60s a plan to make the city a destination for visitors and businesses was stymied. It wasn't until Baltimore looked to its unusually beautiful inner harbor, rehabilitated it and its downtown that Baltimore became a destination city.
In Philadelphia, around the same time, the City's Mayor moved into a home in a center city neighborhood that was almost abandoned except for a few historic buildings. The area was rehabilitated and became known as it was in the 1800s as Society Hill. Now, Independence Hall is joined by the National Constitution Center with people from around the world awe struck by the City's heritage where people make their homes.
Atlantic City, suffering from sever economic and corruption problems, looked to gambling for the quick fix which it was until competition from casinos in other places came along. Now the City is fighting hard to replenish its once famous beaches and family-like atmosphere while trying to stave off the corruption it had wanted to fix.
Here in St. Louis, where many citizens live outside the City, a start up effort is being made to reclaim and sustain the downtown. But unless there is support by all Missourians for this effort, it could remain unfulfilled.
The continuation of the unusual and welcoming free admission to all of the City's lovely and unique museums will be lost. Its geographic beauty astride the great Mississippi River where men and women and children encamped on their way to open the West will deteriorate, as will the Court House where the history making Dred Scott trial took place. If because of these hard times, we overlook natural, historic and cultural heritage and look for the quick fix, we shall not prosper. We will have lost something not easy to replace.
I saw this happen in Baltimore when in the 60s a plan to make the city a destination for visitors and businesses was stymied. It wasn't until Baltimore looked to its unusually beautiful inner harbor, rehabilitated it and its downtown that Baltimore became a destination city.
In Philadelphia, around the same time, the City's Mayor moved into a home in a center city neighborhood that was almost abandoned except for a few historic buildings. The area was rehabilitated and became known as it was in the 1800s as Society Hill. Now, Independence Hall is joined by the National Constitution Center with people from around the world awe struck by the City's heritage where people make their homes.
Atlantic City, suffering from sever economic and corruption problems, looked to gambling for the quick fix which it was until competition from casinos in other places came along. Now the City is fighting hard to replenish its once famous beaches and family-like atmosphere while trying to stave off the corruption it had wanted to fix.
Here in St. Louis, where many citizens live outside the City, a start up effort is being made to reclaim and sustain the downtown. But unless there is support by all Missourians for this effort, it could remain unfulfilled.
The continuation of the unusual and welcoming free admission to all of the City's lovely and unique museums will be lost. Its geographic beauty astride the great Mississippi River where men and women and children encamped on their way to open the West will deteriorate, as will the Court House where the history making Dred Scott trial took place. If because of these hard times, we overlook natural, historic and cultural heritage and look for the quick fix, we shall not prosper. We will have lost something not easy to replace.
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