She was stressed, and I knew why. Cheryl wanted to redo our master bath. I had promised her that once we stabilized the foundation in our house — soon to celebrate its 90th birthday — we would tear into the bathroom, a process I welcomed like a colonoscopy. But the most important room in the […]
It’s a peaceful spot, tucked into the beauty of the Missouri Botanical Gardens. George Washington Carver would approve of the Carver Garden, while gently reminding us of his simple prescription for healthy plants. It’s understandable that in America’s fast-food appetite for history, we know little more than peanuts about George Washington Carver. In too many […]
How many businesses make it to 100 years old? According to a 2021 online article published by Family Capital, approximately 1,000 businesses, or less than one-half of 1% of all businesses in the United States have survived more than 100 years. In Columbia, Booches comes to mind. And up on Broadway, a 150th birthday bash […]
She was voted least likely to ever tend bar, according to her obituary. Not so fast. If you live to be 102, you can pack in a lot of living. Margaret Moyer left this world a year ago. She was a mother, nurse, U.S. Navy veteran and, yes, a bartender. When Margaret and Richard Moyer […]
Photo by L.G. Patterson Good fences. Good neighbors. Melody and Fred Parry have been our neighbors for four decades. We first became neighbors when they moved into a house across the street from my wife and I. Immediately, Melody arranged to build a white picket fence. I don’t think she did it to keep us out. […]
It’s a good bet you have a place in your house for storage, where you keep things you haven’t used in many years.It could be in your garage or your basement, maybe a back room or a shed.Mixed into the stacks and piles are items that have fallen from everyday use: the old dining room […]
Elsewhere on these pages you will find the winners of Inside Columbia’s Cutest Pet Contest. It’s a fun contest, filled with lots of dogs mugging for the camera and cats posing as, well, cats. But as we all know, even before the cutest pet takes the podium and wears the sash, the cutest pet is […]
The goddess has left the building. She is the Roman goddess of fertility. Her moods cause the seasons to change. And the common people of Rome identified with her more than any other god. When the 10-foot-4 statue of Ceres, goddess of agriculture, mounted the Missouri State Capitol dome in 1924, she planned to stay […]
At some point in our lives we become primary caregivers for an aging family member. My most recent patient wasn’t a parent or a pet. It was a Pontiac. From the tow truck’s shotgun seat, looking through a shoebox-sized side mirror at my car in chains, I had time to reflect on her journey. In […]
Your children were perfect angels when they visited Santa. They get that from you. But not everybody’s Santa experience was perfect. Not mine. My bad Santa experience happened when I was a grown adult. My first job out of the Mizzou School of Journalism was selling advertising for the Rolla Daily News. As the rookie […]
You don’t see this every day, not on a Midwest neighborhood side street. Riding my bicycle home from the MKT Trail, I cut through one of Columbia’s stately old neighborhoods, a sweet spot tucked behind Garth and Rollins streets, populated by 80-year-old trees and the professors who planted them. The streets are quiet, more bicycles […]
I was running late. Hannibal was still an hour away. So I took a short cut. My car was making good time on the back roads, slicing down straightaways that squeezed between flat soybean fields, where traffic is sparse. The phone lines drooped and rose in rhythm from one telephone pole to the next. My […]
They do it at Disneyworld. They do it in Colorado. And now you can do it in Columbia. While world-class talent entertains you from two stages at this year’s Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival, you’ll be wearing the latest digital fashion. Roots N Blues N BBQ is going cashless. Put away your wallet and […]
The entire planet is coming to your backyard this month. If you believe the hype, our highways will be jammed, restaurants overflowing. Latecomers to Columbia’s total eclipse will find no room in the inn. Better stock up on snacks. Sun Chips. Moon Pies. Get creative in the face of this onslaught of humanity. It’s a […]
Missourians can’t help it. They keep tearing Lawrence down. Apologies to the good people of Lawrence, Kansas — both of them — but there’s bad blood between them and us. You know most of the story: The Civil War really began along the border between Missouri and Kansas, long before the first shots rang out […]
Queenie was pissed. She’d just overheard that the American Dog Museum is leaving Missouri, moving from St. Louis back to Manhattan. It was a blow to Queenie’s psyche. That’s what I believe she thinks. But who knows? We’d just given her a bath, an event she tolerates like a cat. And the mailman just rang […]
Columbia loves a winner. Our pride soars when we watch our hometown heroes. NASCAR backflippers. Hollywood Hamms. Gridiron greats. This town has cranked out bold thinkers and bestsellers, cool actors, business titans, and science wizards. So who is Columbia’s Best Man? Would you pick a man who can pack Memorial Stadium? A man who could […]
She’s an absolute knockout, the goddess perched atop the Missouri State Capitol dome. She’s been there for a hundred years. Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, has watched over us through droughts and pestilence, fires and floods. But forgive her today if she peeks under the dome to see what the Hell is happening. The […]
photo courtesy of Andree Martis Think “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” But this story is real. “We were planning our first real vacation in several years,” Gina Overshiner recounts. Her family considered a cruise or Disney World. Her husband, Tim, commented that for the same cost, they could go to New York City. “We asked the kids. […]
