creve coeur
Here’s what you’ve been missing: the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival, an annual celebration of books, authors and ideas during the first two weeks of November. Say you wouldn’t miss it for the world? Well then, you know the vast range of topics that will be available, including business, economics, cooking, family issues, fiction, history, music, religion, sports, fitness, mystery, etc. Now in its 40th year, the festival at The J pulls in more than 10,000 folks annually. People from all backgrounds and religions come to hear speakers and share their thoughts. This year, journalist, essayist and local author Sarah Kendzior discusses The View from Flyover Country, her account of life in the heartland, a critique of labor exploitation, race relations, gentrification, media bias and other challenges of the post-employment economy. With an updated introduction and epilogue that reflect on how the You-Know-Who presidency was inescapable, the book is essential for anyone who believes the only way to fix America’s problems is to first discuss them with honesty and compassion. Come to Kendzior’s presentation from 7 to 9 p.m. Nov. 3 and ask questions. Say you don’t care about any of that? Why’d you read all the way down to here, then? You’re meshuggeneh, that’s why.

grand center 
Urgent! At 7 p.m. tomorrow, Oct. 18, the Missouri Senate debate between incumbent Claire McCaskill and Republican challenger Josh Hawley is happening in the studio at KETC Channel 9 in Grand Center. You might be able to watch in person, but time’s a-wasting: You must register for tickets to gather and watch on the large screen outside in the Public Media Commons. The debate will be moderated by Judy Woodruff of PBS NewsHour. Casey Nolen of 5 On Your Side, Nine Network’s Jim Kirchherr and Ruth Ezell, and St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum will get real-time audience perspective before and during the debate and host a live, postdebate analysis show in the Public Media Commons. The debate watch party and post-debate analysis show will be outdoors, weather permitting. Please dress accordingly. Seating is limited, so please bring your own chairs. You also may bring food, and a cash bar will be available. OMG! Who’ll win the election? Only you can determine that. Vote Nov. 6.

kirkwood
Seems that the Shop ’n Save on Manchester Road just east of Lindbergh Boulevard won’t be vacant for all too long after it closes Nov. 19 with the other stores that Schnucks hasn’t absorbed. The former discount supermarket’s gigantic shell could have become another hockey rink, but the metro apparently won’t need any more of those because soon there will be one in Maryland Heights and another in Chesterfield. Rumor central has it on unconfirmed suspicion that the space is going to be the site of a self-storage facility, a hoarder’s paradise, because nobody has any room left in the basement, attic or garage for all of that stuff they just might need some day and can’t part with. In the past few years, multilevel storage facilities have become a thing. One took over the lot that was vacated when the Civil War-era home in Rock Hill once occupied by The Book House was demolished in January 2014. (The independent bookstore had relocated to Maplewood in 2013.) It’s a perfectly suitable building, as far as utilitarian structures are concerned, but what’s a company to do when American attitudes shift and people become more comfortable with donating stuff (after the estate and garage sales), realizing that the storage fee sucked monthly right out of the checking account is downright silly? Hey, it could happen. In any case, Kirkwood will be well-served—south of town is another brand-new, multilevel self-storage facility on Big Bend at Interstate 44. Considering all of the Public Storage locations and places like Bob’s E-Z Store, a name we just made up, everyone will have a place to keep extra stuff … you know, until we really, really need it.

richmond heights 
A glutton for puns, Mattress Firm is going soft. (Mattress. Firm. Get it?) Well, its gluttony—it paid $780 million for Sleepy’s, a competitor, in December 2015—has been punished by the marketplace. It’s filed for Chapter 11. More than 800 of 1,300 stores will be closed in waves until it gets right-size. Who knew? Well, just about anybody who goes online to buy a bed in a box. Remember, like, 20 minutes ago (and I’m exaggerating only a little) when folks scoffed at an upstart Internet company named Amazon that started to sell books online? Waldenbooks, Borders et al. kept gulping their own Kool-Aid. They’re no longer with us. You can get a book, CD (remember those?), electronics, or practically anything you want or need by tomorrow from Amazon Prime. Except groceries. Order fresh milk, eggs, meat and produce from—well, just pick any grocer that wants to stay in business in our post-retail world, and you’ll probably get them within the hour. Alas, poor Blockbuster; we knew them well. In every other strip center, you could rent a movie on videotape … we mean DVD. Netflix sounded the death knell. Blockbuster didn’t listen. Today, you don’t even have to count on the U.S. Postal Service for your Netflix fix. Heard of streaming? If you’ll allow us to condescend to you for just a few more lines, it’s nothing like canoeing or fly fishing. Have your kids or grandkids help you figure it out, but you’ll have to get them off Facebook, we mean Instagram, we mean Snapchat, we mean … oh, never mind. It’s your fault, after all, that they have smartphones and you’re not smart enough to figure out your own. But we were talking about Mattress Firm. Among the first 209-odd stores coast to coast set to close ‘imminently’ is the one in Richmond Heights at 1142 S. Brentwood Blvd. Store associate Marshall said they hadn’t been told exactly when they’ll close for good. Meanwhile, floor models were 50 percent off.


notable neighbors: st. louis 
Mary Haislip once found a garter snake in her bed. She didn’t scream. An über animal lover, she picked it up gently and returned it to the great outdoors. One of her dogs had brought it in. She also likes spiders … outside. There’s a photo of Haislip with an owl at World Bird Sanctuary. She’ll take injured songbirds to Wild Bird Rehab in Overland. But she’s most fond of the critters she keeps at home, on purpose. For 25 years, she’s helped rescue dogs and cats by the thousands as a ‘train’ volunteer with Paws on Wheels, or Rescue Road Warriors. On a given weekend, she’ll drive her boxy SUV, packed with as many as eight cages, to Cape Girardeau or Rolla, pick up a load of rescues and transport them to the next driver, who could be as far east as Terre Haute on the way to destinations in the Northeast, from New Jersey to Maine. In rural areas, fewer animals are spayed or neutered. There, unfortunately, comes the abundant supply. Demand? Populated areas. Haislip helps turn heartbreaking into heartwarming. Dozens of stories start in the Missouri hinterlands. She tells of a dog chained up outside in filth, its owners nowhere to be found, maggots in its bowl. Another, Bruce, needed a $2,000 hip replacement. Through the rescue network, his surgery was covered. Today, Bruce is living the high life in a mansion on the Jersey shore. Most homeless animals aren’t so lucky: An estimated 2.5 million cats and dogs are euthanized every year. “Education is the key,” Haislip emphasizes. She’s fit to be tied about people buying pets when so many could be adopted. “You’ll save two lives,” she points out. “The pet you adopt, and the one you made room for at the shelter.” She’s reached capacity at home with four cats and two dogs. Betty, the brown dog, came from a high-kill facility in Oklahoma City. Eli, the black Lab mix found wandering a Walmart parking lot? He’s now a therapy dog, adored at nursing homes. Haislip will admit she’s not fond of cicadas. But rodents or possums? No problem. And there’s a bat house in her backyard. The neighbors were cool once they learned how many mosquitoes one bat can eat. “When I’m not at work, you’ll find me transporting animals, volunteering at rescue events, fostering, and posting and networking about animals needing placement,” she says. “I wouldn’t mind fostering a pig at some point, although I’m not sure my neighbors would go for that.” Visit rescueroadwarriors.org or Paws on Wheels Transport on Facebook.