the metro
Mavis Wanczyk, whose first language is apparently not English, must be awful busy. Wanczyk, of Chicopee, Mass., recently won $758 million, the largest jackpot in lottery history—and I found out last week on Instagram how bodaciously generous she is. You see, maviswanczyk988 has chosen me as one of 6,000 people to each receive $10,000 from her winnings. Really? Well, her profile picture is the image everybody saw on TV when she came forward. Since her family and friends call her Mave, so will I. Mave’s chances of winning were 292 million to 1. I wonder what my chances were to be one of the 6,000 lucky recipients of 10 grand. I mean, Mave got only a little less than $400 million after taking a single lump-sum payment. She up and quit her job at the hospital where she’d worked since she was 21. If my calculation is correct, she’s giving $60 million away to complete strangers. For a multimillionaire, that’s chump change. But actually, 10 grand is not nearly enough for the lifestyle I so richly deserve. I mean, she’ll still have $320 million left. That’s hella cash, which is one of the options she gave me to receive my gift. Cash? In the mail? Suspicious, so I messaged to ask where she lives, where’d she worked, things like that. She messaged back with no answers, only insisting that I needed to activate my special delivery code for the FedEx driver. Incredibly, a FedEx truck arrived the next day, but the driver didn’t hang around for my special code. He only delivered the replacement checks my bride had ordered. Rats. Then, maviswanczyk3922 sent an Instagram message … same picture, different number after the name. My new ‘Mave’ had urgent instructions: I needed to buy a $100 Amazon gift card and apply it to her account to activate my delivery code. I asked her if she was running a scam. She replied she only wanted to help people, with attached images of ‘followers’ holding up notes to prove her generosity. Misspelled, badly punctuated notes. So, beware of beneficent messages from one, two or 300 folks claiming to be Mavis Wanczyk. Or, just divulge your personal information and wait for the FedEx truck. Then let us know how it works out for you.

creve coeur
Dante has nothing on this divine comedy. Imagine the Supreme Being delivers a new and improved set of Commandments. God’s introduction of the revised laws is refreshingly positive, insisting on the separation of church and state and encouraging us to believe in ourselves, not some elderly white guy in the sky. OK, now; watch it! An Act of God is a sinfully funny play, delivering new meaning to the phrase ‘divine intervention’—God and his devoted angels answer some of the deepest questions that have plagued mankind since creation. The Big Guy finally has arrived to set the record straight, and He’s not holding back. (In God we trust? Oy, gevalt!) The play runs Nov. 29 through Dec. 16 at New Jewish Theatre at the J, 2 Millstone Campus Drive. Talkbacks are scheduled after the Dec. 2 and 6 performances. (Sorry; the director will not be able to tell you at this point whether you’re headed for heaven or, well, heck.) The New York Times calls it “a gut-busting-funny riff on the never-ending folly of mankind’s attempts to fathom God’s wishes through the words of the Bible and use them to their own ends.” Perfect for the holiday season, don’t you think?

u.city
Just in time for the kind of weather in which most people won’t want to ride it, The Loop Trolley officially began limited service last Thursday morning (Nov. 25). It will run four days a week, Thursday to Sunday, noon to 8 p.m., with service extended to 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Final price tag: $51 million. Fares: $2 for two hours and $5 for all day. It will run every 20 to 25 minutes. Can you believe it? We almost can’t, although refurbished trolley cars from the Left Coast have been running back and forth intermittently for months of dry runs. (Testing … testing … is this thing on?) A ribbon-cutting ceremony was to have been held with city and county officials including the mayors of St. Louis and U. City—Lyda Krewson and Terry Crow, respectively—but since we didn’t see it with our own eyes, we can’t be sure. Video from the news media is often fake, according to President Trump. What we do know to be true is that the trolley was proposed by Joe Edwards in 1997. Babies born that year would be able to buy a drink legally in one of Joe’s drinking, dining and entertainment establishments in The Loop. After umpteen delays for this and that … lawsuits, funding, the ‘gummint’ (from local entities to Washington) and MoDOT … the trolley’s here in time for the holiday season, although the seemingly endless project caused several local merchants to vamoose. Cyclists bemoan getting a wheel trapped in the tracks, thus the bright yellow warning signs that depict just that. Parking challenges already throw many visitors for a loop, and the trolley already has managed to clip a parked car or two. So, who’s eager to ride two miles to the Missouri History Museum, the other way or both? Hello? Anybody?

ladue
The Interfaith Partnership of St. Louis (IP) recently moved its offices from Eden Theological Seminary in Webster Groves to a new and larger space in a house on the grounds of Ladue Chapel known as ‘The Cottage.’ Interfaith Partnership counts 30 religions and other communities of conscience as members, with Ladue Chapel representing the Presbyterian Church USA. The congregation contributed hundreds of hours of labor to fix up the house and ready it for IP. The new office provides more space for IP’s growing staff, plus meeting and conference rooms under one roof. The stand-alone, five-room house has served over the years as a residence for some Ladue Chapel staff and more recently as the location for Care and Counseling, an interfaith agency providing mental health services for children, adults and families, as well as congregational and clergy training and psychoeducation programs. Founded
in 1985, the Interfaith Partnership works to deepen respect and appreciation across lines of religious difference and move people toward greater peace and understanding. Membership includes more than a dozen Christian denominations as well as Judaism, Islam, Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, Baha’i Faith, Ethical Humanism, Unitarian Universalism and others.

u.city: notable neighbor
Jeanne Kerwin of U. City is grateful for every day, and she’s had about 36,505 of them so far. Born five days after the Armistice that brought World War I to a close, Kerwin turned 100 last Friday, Nov. 16. She’s the senior member of the Garden Appreciation Club of Greater St. Louis, but since she fell and broke her hip at 92, she does her gardening in her sunroom. Kerwin showed off a violet and handed an orchid to a visitor for closer inspection. “They’re an ugly plant until they bloom,” she says. So orchids languish, all stems and dirt until they bloom again, but some folks think that once they’ve bloomed, it’s time for the mulch pile. Gardeners know otherwise. Some bloom once a year, others continuously; some flowers last four weeks, and other varieties’ blossoms last up to four months. We might have had our chat and photo session with Kerwin outside, but she was inside because she hadn’t listened to her daughter, Karen Stiers, eight years ago just after Kerwin’s cataract surgery. Stiers insisted she stay inside. But as soon as Stiers left, Kerwin opened the back door and headed down the back steps to water her neighbor’s plants. The light was too bright for her sensitive eyes, and she took a sideways tumble. If she’d gone forward, she would’ve hit concrete and might not be here to tell the tale. Despite her daughter’s wishes, Kerwin liked to prune, too. And mow the lawn. Lawn service? Pah! Now, Kerwin has accepted that she just can’t be as active as she once was. Nowadays, U City in Bloom helps out with lawn maintenance. A neighbor picks up the paper every day and puts it inside the screen door. “That’s just indicative of how nice people can be,” she says. Kerwin gives much of the credit to her daughter. And she’s not naïve: “The longer you’re in your own home, the better.” She paused for a moment, then explained, “If plants don’t like where they are, they don’t do well either.” She is humble, the personification of gratitude. And not surprisingly, she’s old school. She enjoys phone calls but doesn’t have a computer. She did want a BB gun for those darn squirrels, but she didn’t get one. Kerwin remains engaged and involved with more sedentary brain-stretching activities like garden club and bridge once a month. But the sun room is her idyll. “Anyone who doesn’t appreciate nature doesn’t know what they’re missing,” she says