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Pop Culture Happenings: July (7/13/24)July from 50, 40 and 25 years ago saw Cardinals rise and fall, the first female VP candidate, and another Kennedy tragedy. 1974 50 years ago July 1974 was a big month of records and record breakers for the St. Louis Cardinals. On July 17, Bob Gibson became the second Major League Baseball pitcher to throw 3,000 career strikeouts. ...
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Meet the Experts: The benefits of playing pickleball with Jeff Brune, vice-president of The Pickleball Factory (7/13/24)Get ready for The Pickleball Factory, the go-to pickleball place opening in Cape Girardeau in late summer to early fall. The name gives a nod to the fact the Thorngate building where it will be housed used to be a factory. The 34,000-square-foot facility dedicated solely to pickleball will have 14 climate-controlled, fenced-in, USA Pickleball-approved cushion courts made from 10 layers of acrylic and cushioned technology to best support players’ backs, hips and knees. ...
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Meet the Experts: Enjoy music in the park with Scott Vangilder, Jackson Municipal Band director (7/9/24)For the past 104 years since its formation in 1920, the Jackson Municipal Band has been a summer tradition for the people of Jackson and surrounding areas. Yet, the music they play is new every week: Director Scott Vangilder selects a variety of music for each concert, ranging from Broadway tunes to John Philip Sousa marches to chart-topping pop and rock ‘n’ roll hits, so there’s something for everyone...
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Create and Maintain a Pollinator-Friendly Yard: Five tips from the Department of Conservation (7/5/24)A beautiful outdoor area for personal enjoyment and entertaining that requires less work and money to establish and maintain while being safe for humans, pets and plants may sound like the stuff dreams are made of. Yet all of that and more is possible when an outdoor area is created with the goal of attracting and protecting pollinators such as ants, bees, beetles, butterflies, flies, hummingbirds, moths and wasps...
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Meet the Experts: How to choose olive oil with the most health benefits with Georgia and Todd Lowman, owners of Water & William Olive Oil Co. (7/5/24)Georgia and Todd Lowman, owners of Water & William Olive Oil Co., believe you are what you eat. That’s why they opened Water & William Olive Oil Co. in the historic River & Rails building in downtown Cape Girardeau in December 2022, to bring the health benefits of quality olive oils and balsamic vinegars to Southeast Missouri...
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Meet the Experts: Tips for getting your best sleep from Patrick Furniture Owners Pat Young and Mike Young and Fourth-Generation Mallory Ansberry (7/5/24)In true family business fashion, Patrick Furniture has offered hometown service to the Southeast Missouri region since Peyton “Pat” Patrick founded the business in Cape Girardeau in 1946. “We have a huge connection going back four generations to this community, from our Grandpa Pat, then to our parents Tim and Carolyn,” says Patrick Furniture Owner Mike Young...
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The Right Time to Move: First residents of 55+ active adult community Ramsay’s Run share experience of downsizing (7/5/24)Living outside of city limits, Charles and Judy Wiles had a lot of property to maintain. As the owners and developers of acreage including a tree farm and three ponds, they were responsible for the roads and landscaping. And they no longer wanted to spend their time taking care of it...
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Spirituality Column: Finding more funny bones (7/5/24)Moving fast through the garage in one of the frenzies of our whole-house remodel, I thought, “I really ought to either slow down or force better order on my workspace,” just before I whacked the top of one foot against the lower jaw of Great-Grandpa Fulford’s blacksmith vise. “Ah-ha-ha,” I moaned and laughed at the same time, because it felt just like hitting my elbow’s funny bone. I didn’t know I had a funny bone in my foot!...
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Conservation Column: Cultivating your yard for pollinators (7/5/24)As a recent transplant to Missouri, I can say this: Y’all do fireworks big here! My first year living in Jackson, we walked approximately 12 blocks from our home to the park to watch the main show. Little did we know the revelry of color we would witness in every driveway along that mile stroll. What a sight!...
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The Best Books Club Column: "The Lonely Hearts Book Club," by Lucy Gilmore (7/5/24)For our July book club selection, I wanted something light, but not too light. Or, as I tend to think of it, “light with depth.” Several people suggested “The Lonely Hearts Book Club” (2023); intrigued, I checked it out at the library. The cover looks light, the title sounds light, and the first chapter or so was somewhat light. But unlike the proverbial duck, the novel isn’t light. Not at first glance, at least...
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Faces of Southeast Missouri: Theresa Taylor (7/5/24)Theresa Taylor’s experiences with food insecurity started at a young age. Growing up in Bernie, Mo., she remembers her family getting assistance from local food banks and churches. Her dad was on Social Security, and her mom worked part-time as a waitress. Their combined income for a family of six wasn’t enough to make ends meet. Taylor married at 18, but after her husband Michael lost his job, they moved to Tennessee to stay with family. Within two years, they were living out of their car...
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Health + Wellness Column: Water! (7/5/24)Did you know 75% of Americans are walking around chronically dehydrated at any given moment? A large population of Americans are only drinking two and a half cups of water each day. Wow! We often encourage individuals to drink half of their weight in ounces of water, but a good rule of thumb is 15.5 cups of water per day for men and 11.5 cups of water per day for women...
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Community Cookbook: Make cinnamon rolls with Nancy Bishop and Molly Brown from Jackson (7/5/24)Nancy Bishop was born and raised in Galesburg, Ill., during the 1950s, a time when life felt simple. Her mother made their food from scratch, and many of their dresses were home-sewn. Between growing up in 4-H and helping her mother in the kitchen, Bishop learned to cook homemade chicken and noodles and every kind of dessert. If her mom worked in the evenings, Bishop prepared the meals for her dad and brothers...
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Senior Moments Column: Filling the Pages of Life (7/5/24)If I would have guessed how this year was going to play out, I would have most likely come up with a million possibilities and hopes for what could have happened. Never in a million years, though, would I have been able to come close to imagining all of the things I’ve experienced and learned. The funny thing about life is that hopes and dreams are meant to be guidelines, and it’s our job to fill in the content. This year has exceeded any expectations I have ever had...
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Faces of Southeast Missouri: Karla Kiefner (6/28/24)Before Karla Kiefner saw the advance digital copy of the Quiltmaker March/April May/June 2024 double issue her quilt is featured in, she didn’t know what to expect. When she opened the file, she felt shocked. “[My quilt] was on the cover. And I'm sitting there looking at it going, ‘Wait a minute,’” Kiefner says. “It really took a while for me to go,‘I think I know that [quilt].’”...
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Healing Through Writing: Local author advocates for “invisible children” through new memoir (6/4/24)Vivian Selby of Cape Girardeau recently wrote and published a book about growing up in Saginaw, Mich., as a middle child from a single-parent family in the early 1960s. Her book, “The Invisible Girl on Ames Street: A child’s search for God, Walt Disney, Communists and food” is a collection of personal memories from that time. ...
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Community Cookbook: Egg rolls with Kilja Israel, from South Korea to Cape Girardeau (6/1/24)Kilja Israel grew up in the southern part of South Korea, in a town similar to Cape Girardeau, where she currently lives. As a young girl, she knew the expectation: Learn to cook and sew, get a minimum education and marry. She wouldn’t go to college, because that privilege was reserved for her brothers. ...
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Pop Culture Happenings: June (5/31/24)None of the president’s men could put Nixon together again, the streams of pop culture got crossed creating a monster mash of ‘80s hits, and the King of Terror lived through his own horror story. 1974 50 years ago On June 15, 1974, “All the President's Men,” by Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, published. ...
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Conservation Column: Getting Your Toes Wet (5/31/24)Something funny happens every time I drive across a bridge over a creek, a reflex I can’t control: For a split-second at highway speed, my neck snaps sideways, eager to catch a fleeting glimpse of the water below. Why? Who knows. Maybe the busy traffic and beating highway heat makes me long to sit under shady trees with my toes playing amongst the cool water and minnows. ...
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The Best Books Club: Awesome! (5/31/24)You couldn’t escape the recent solar eclipse even if you tried. In the weeks leading up to the event, local shops showcased commemorative T-shirts and memorabilia, businesses offered special promotions, and media outlets bombarded us with tips about where and how to safely watch the show in the sky. And on the big day, social media feeds were filled with pictures of backyard watch parties, people wearing funny cardboard sunglasses and the eclipse itself...
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Connecting With Community: Walk to End Alzheimer’s fosters support, works toward finding cure (5/31/24)JUNE IS ALZHEIMER'S AND BRAIN AWARENESS MONTH. Doctors diagnosed Ada Jones with Alzheimer’s disease in May 2021. She had previously been having difficulty remembering things while driving, forgetting to take her medications and experiencing frustration when she couldn’t remember things. Her mother had also had the disease approximately a decade before, so she and her husband Willie Jones, who have been married for 52 years, were familiar with it...
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Poem: Boys (5/31/24)You know, there’s just something about a boy That makes his father wonder Why do they ask, why does it rain, Or Dad, what makes it thunder? Why does the sun rise in the east And always goes down in the west And is it true of all the girls...
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Back in Time Column: Shady Grove Cemetery (5/31/24)In 1891, a cemetery was deeded to three trustees at the junction of two of the largest slaveholding estates in Cape Girardeau County, near present-day Dutchtown. Here, much of Cape Girardeau County’s Black population took control of their burial rituals and their children’s education in post-Civil War Missouri. That place still exists: Shady Grove...
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Senior Moments Column: Turning the Tassel (5/31/24)When a student first enters the hallways of high school, there is always one thought that lingers. It’s not “I am nervous about schoolwork” or “What is for lunch.” The thought that completely consumes every high school student until the very last day is that they are ready to graduate...
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Community Cookbook: Fried Chicken Wings by Leni Santoro from Brooklyn, New York (5/14/24)Fried chicken wings remind Leni Santoro of childhood and the three years her family spent living in a barn in upstate New York. She says the house they planned to live in burned down six months after they moved to the remote part of Madison County in New York, where not even the roads and nearby towns were printed on maps. Santoro was 8 years old at the time, and to make their barn livable, she says her family put rugs on the floor and placed cardboard around the walls as insulation...
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The Best Books Club: "Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff" (5/14/24)You’ve probably seen the meme showing a beaming parent standing in front of an open garage filled to the brim with stuff, exclaiming to his or her obviously-dismayed offspring, “Just think — someday all of this will be yours!” Some prime-timers chuckle ruefully, thinking of the Herculean task they have already faced with their own parents; others become concerned about what is awaiting them...
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A Mother's Ingenuity: Day of the Diaper (5/11/24)Believe it or not, there was a time not so long ago when there was no such thing as a disposable diaper. In those days, parents relied on safety pins and cotton cloth to contain the dirty doings of young children. That, of course, made changing from one such cloth to the next rather onerous...
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Faces of Southeast Missouri: Amy Loomis-McDonald (5/10/24)Amy Loomis-McDonald, program director of Thrive Birth to Five, says her children are the reason she does what she does. She has been a foster parent since 1996 and has four adopted children, guardianship of two children and a current long-term foster placement. Because she “loves meeting people [whose] vision of family is so open,” she is also a foster parent trainer...
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Pop Culture Happenings: May (5/4/24)Pop culture in the month of May 50, 40 and 25 years ago saw Steely Dan give Rikki his number, Molly Ringwald have the worst Sweet 16 and George Lucas give the world Jar-Jar. 1974 50 years ago On May 11, 1974, rock-jazz band Steely Dan released their single “Rikki Don't Lose That Number,” the opening track from the album “Pretzel Logic,” which peaked at No. ...
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Spirituality Column: Salty Life (5/4/24)I don’t remember where I first saw one, 15 years ago or more. No reason to recall; some impressions have to add up before they draw interest. By the hundredth or so, I wondered what the scrawly decals on rear windows said. So, I walked up to an SUV for a squint...
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Staying Safe Online in the Age of AI (5/4/24)Generative artificial intelligence (AI) refers to computer algorithms that can create realistic text, images and videos from scratch. There are plenty of fun and practical reasons for people to use AI. In fact, you’ve probably bumped into it before — customer service chat boxes that pop up on websites are based on AI, as are voice assistants like Siri and Alexa...
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Column: Looking Beyond the Headlines (5/4/24)If you were to hear someone talk about your hometown, what would they say about it? Would they talk about the attractions around town? Or maybe the food and nightlife that fuels the place? Whether or not you thought of something like this, your mind most likely filled with all of the positive things about where you grew up. ...
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Poem: Poem For A Good Mother (5/4/24)For it is from your dear womb from which I came Your dear sweet love became the best breath of life Through your courage I could be somebody now I would be a known. If your love for me had gone away and hid I would not have lived to see this very day...
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Column: Exercise is Medicine (5/4/24)My goal and passion as the fitness and wellness specialist for the City of Cape Girardeau is to help people improve their health and quality of life. Although we all have different goals and are at different stages in life, we still have the same end goal: To be able to enjoy the life we have, because let’s be honest, our time on Earth isn’t promised for tomorrow. ...
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Faces of Southeast Missouri: Gerry Keene (4/19/24)When introducing new people to caving, Gerry Keene advises them to channel their inner eight-year-old. He says caves are dark and dirty, full of streams and tough terrain that cavers need to crawl over, under and through. “As an adult, you’re like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ But if you look at it like a kid, you’re like, ‘Yes! Go for it!’” Keene says. “You've got to reprogram your sense of adventure back to what it was as a kid, what was really fun, and then you can really enjoy the environment.”...
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Meet the Experts: Find the right fit in an assisted living home with Megan Steimle, Andy Blagg and Kim Wilcox (4/18/24)Capetown and Auburn Creek are all-inclusive, pet-friendly senior living homes in Cape Girardeau locally-owned out of Sikeston, Mo. Capetown, a larger environment, and Auburn Creek, a smaller environment, focus on family values and resident choice. They cultivate this feeling through efforts like serving breakfast made-to-order at whatever time a resident wakes up and decides it’s time for breakfast. Residents order lunch and supper from a menu restaurant-style...
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Community Cookbook: Rice casserole with Debbie Crane from Dexter, Mo. (4/14/24)Debbie Crane grew up in Dexter, Mo., but somehow, she says she didn’t know what Branson, Mo., or Silver Dollar City were until her mother asked to take a vacation there. Debbie made arrangements with a travel agency and visited the park for the first time with her mother Virgina Crane in 1996...
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Meet the Experts: Create a DIY gift for someone you love with Brittney Swicionis, owner of Board & Brush Creative Studio (4/14/24)Brittney Swicionis, owner of Board and Brush Creative Studio in Cape Girardeau, believes in giving back to the community through her business. She has done so through initiatives such as donating DIY projects to the Red Cross to incentivize people to give blood during last year’s blood shortage, teaching about entrepreneurship to young people, and utilizing Board and Brush’s social media accounts to help animals waiting to be adopted find families. ...
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A Tailor for Books: Gary Howard, Jr. restores books for himself, others (4/6/24)It all started with a love for magic. Then a love for magic history kept in books. Now, Gary Howard, Jr. cultivates a love for restoring books — his own and others’ — to preserve precious tomes for future generations. Howard first got into book restoration after reconnecting with his mentor — magician, collector and book restorer Leo Behnke — around 2017. ...
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Pop Culture Happenings: April (4/6/24)In Aprils past, the world saw the “King of Terror’s” reign begin, learned of the tragic death of an American music icon and took a chance on an ABBA musical. 1974 50 yeas ago On April 5, 1974, Stephen King’s first novel, “Carrie,” was published. The story follows Carrie White, a shy, bullied high-school girl who discovers she has telekinetic powers. ...
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Rural Perspective Column: Leadership (4/6/24)Rural America represents a vast amount of land in the United States that, although varied, reflects similar people facing similar challenges and opportunities. Although definitions may differ among those who might refer to themselves as rural citizens, according to The Rural Aperture Project, there is a common thread in the manner that people choose to govern their lives, make their contributions to America and experience the fullness of nature that creates this rural character...
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Poem: Putting the Birds to Bed (4/6/24)Of lately A little before dusk I take a book out to the porch And read ‘til it’s too dark to see And then I sit and watch And listen As the robins and the cardinals And the others Grab one last bite Settle one last squabble...
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Senior Moments Column: One Day at a Time (4/6/24)All throughout my life, I have been told I am a hard worker. Whether it’s working hard within my church, school or home, I always watched as others around me praised me for my work ethic. I never understood why they praised me, as working hard with everything I do always seemed like common sense to me, until the day I woke up in the real world, a world filled with unmotivated people who get nothing done because of a lack of commitment. ...
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The Best Books Club: Contemplating Difference (4/6/24)When I first read “Raven Black” by Ann Cleeves eight years ago, I initially thought it was boring. But I kept reading, and I fell in love with Shetland and Jimmy Perez, as well as the writing of Ann Cleeves. Before I even finished it, I learned “Raven Black” was first in the “Shetland” series, and Cleeves also has a “Vera” series; both were the inspiration of the television series of the same names. ...
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Live Longer, Live Stronger Column: Your blood pressure, it's more important than we think! (4/6/24)A healthy blood pressure reading is critical to our health and livelihood, considering it can prevent heart attacks, strokes, kidney damage and many other health issues. Those who eat more plant-based diets have lower blood pressures, in part because they weigh less — slimmer people have lower blood pressures...
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Community Cookbook: Caramels, Wes Mueller from Sidney, Nebraska (3/16/24)Wes Mueller grew up in Sidney, Neb., a city of 6,000 people — which he says wasn’t small for Cheyenne County, a mostly rural farming community in the western corner of the state. Wes says his mother Bert Mueller was known for her cooking throughout their community...
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Crowned Queen at the Queen's Ball: Attendees carry on French tradition in Ste. Genevieve (3/6/24)Laura Jablonski arrived at the Queen’s Ball in Ste. Genevieve, Mo., dressed as a peasant woman but went home wearing the crown of the queen. To find who would be crowned queen of the ball, the women were served cake, with one slice containing a figurine of baby Jesus. Jablonski said she went back for several pieces of cake until she found the figurine...
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Meet the Reptiles: Reeves Reptile Rescue educates about their cold-blooded friends (3/5/24)Dru Reeves says it all started when his daughter Makenzie wanted a chameleon for her 14th birthday. He says like most kids, she lost interest in the pet after the first month, but Dru and his wife Tara did not; they were completely fascinated by the creature...
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Faces of Southeast Missouri: Nancy Johnson (3/2/24)While sitting in the Emergency Room (ER) waiting room one evening in 1990, Nancy Johnson decided to become a nurse. Her friend’s husband had been in a fatal automobile accident, and two women in one-piece uniforms who had been part of the flight crew came over to talk with her friend. As Johnson watched them get into a helicopter and take off, she decided she specifically wanted to become a flight nurse...
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Pop Culture Happenings: March 2024 (3/2/24)The last Japanese soldier surrenders, a waitress gets a $3 million tip and Keanu learns Kung Fu. 1974 50 years ago On March 19, 1974, a Japanese soldier surrendered 29 years after World War II ended. Hiroo Onoda was sent to Lubang Island in the Philippines on Dec. ...