north st. louis
It’s the circus, by Jove! That’s great … is it on the Internet? Yeah, yeah … more on that in a few lines. But it’s also live, in person and free of charge, boys and girls! In the next few weeks, Circus Harmony is taking the holidays to new heights at the Wohl and Gamble recreation centers in North City. The first show is at 1 p.m. Dec. 15 at Wohl, 1515 N. Kingshighway (63113). The second is at 1 p.m. Dec. 22, 2907 Gamble St. (63106). Circus Harmony spotlights agile, multitalented youth from the metro area. After each show, performers lead workshops in juggling, hula hoops and other circus arts. PNC Arts Alive provided support for these combined circus shows and workshops. If you can’t make it to either, they will be livestreamed at facebook.com/circusharmony. There … you don’t even have to get off your duff.
the metro
Among the safest cities in the world, according to a website devoted to dining out, are Madison, Wisconsin, Irvine, California, Raleigh, N.C., and Salt Lake City. Alas, those are the only U.S. cities on the list. Many of the others are in Asia, western Europe, the Middle East and the former Soviet Union. According to the foodies who created the list, the safest city on earth is where Garfield the cat was always going to send Odie the overly eager dog: Abu Dhabi. Suffice it to say, Chicago’s not on the list, nor is The Lou, which has achieved the dubious honor of being the most dangerous city in the country, according to another website. (We started with the foodie list to distract you from grim reality.) According to the most recent Gallup polls, fears of cybercrime, identity theft and home burglary top the list of American crime worries. Meanwhile, the personal-finance website WalletHub has released its own safety survey. Results are about as attractive as the brick buildings crumbling into dust everywhere in our city. With 1 as the safest and 91 a ‘C’ (average), we’re failing miserably in many categories, among them: 182nd – Traffic fatalities per capita 168th – Assaults per capita 100th – Hate crimes per capita. After all those fear-inducing stats, isn’t it time for another distraction? Well, we’re fresh out of rainbow unicorns. But how about those Cardinals? At his recent Las Vegas show, Grammy Award-winning rapper and St. Louis native Nelly made a personal pitch to mega-fan and baseball wunderkind Bryce Harper, one of the most sought-after free agents in any sport, ever. And if that’s not enough to wish for, have you bought a lottery ticket this week?
university city
Celeste Grayer is a social worker at Bertha Knox Gilkey Pamoja Preparatory Academy at Cole, a city school where reading, math and science are taught alongside African values, customs and culture. Those values are also as American as apple pie, among them self-control, respect toward elders and giving back to the community. It makes sense that Grayer, an artist, has been a driving force behind the Kwanzaa celebration held for the last two years in The Delmar Loop, where students have been responsible for the whimsical holiday storefront decorations. This year, kids will dance, play African drums and otherwise exuberantly mark Kwanzaa from 5 to 7 p.m. Dec. 29 at St. Louis Artworks, 5959 Delmar. Grayer is working with George Buckner Jr., the school’s music director, to put more than three dozen kids through their paces. Not coincidentally, she’s also a creative wizard, an abstract artist (her company is named The True Trifecta) who can transform found and discarded objects and recyclables into wondrous, unusual works. BKG, a three-story brick building at 3935 Enright Ave., is a city school whose curriculum is modeled after similar programs in Kansas City, Detroit and L.A., where African-centered schools are popular and growing. Grayer, who’s been on staff at BKG since 2013, simply describes Kwanzaa as an exhortation to “live life every day, to love yourself.” Developed in the early 1960s during the Civil Rights era, the seven-day observance focuses on the seven principles of Nguzo-Saba, among them Umoja (unity), Imani (faith), Nia (purpose) and Kuumba (creativity). Kwanzaa starts Dec. 26 and ends Jan. 1. Although the menorah, tree and stockings may still be up, we’d all do well to honor Nguzo-Saba in the New Year.
st. louis
There’s a golf tourney for this cause, a dance for that disease. But for the last several years, proponents of Fathers’ Support Center have taken their best shot at clay pigeons. It’s an unusual fundraising spin for this unique nonprofit: FSC offers parenting education and support services to dads in the StL … specifically those who have children but need some help learning to raise them. Halbert Sullivan, the nonprofit’s founder and CEO, notes the present location in an old hospital building (4411 N. Newstead Ave.) has grown beyond cramped. Last year, FSC launched a capital campaign, Fathers Forever, to pay for its new headquarters at 1601 Olive St. The new location has 20,000 square feet, twice that of Newstead. Nothing succeeds like success, and more space was needed as the slate of services increased. The program is like a boot camp, a tough-love environment where dads learn, at the very least, to handle child support and negotiate the legal system—and ideally, to interact with their sons and daughters. There are parenting programs for mothers, too. Fathers Forever aims to raise $4.3 million to cover renovations at the new location. Donors already have pledged $2.8 million, and FSC is looking to raise an additional $1.5 million, hoping to make the move by next October. The new HQ will improve access to the Metro by centralizing FSC’s services in the area some call Downtown West. The size and location also will allow the agency to serve more than 1,000 people annually, an increase of 34 percent. To date, the 20-year-old agency has reconnected nearly 15,000 fathers with their children. But kids represent the most important number—40,000 boys and girls who are fatherless no more.
notable neighbor: ladue
Consider these two words: Ylang Ylang. Then, these three: Location, location, location. And, thirdly, this monogram: JEM, which is how Julie M. Ettinger’s is situated. Confused? Well, it’s hardly a riddle. JEM sounds like ‘gem,’ which is the business Ettinger has been in since the early 1990s—jewelry. She started her career modestly, albeit a bit reluctantly, in the fine store her mother, Lois Morganstern, established at Plaza Frontenac in 1985. Ettinger wrapped packages as a high-school and college kid. And she told Morganstern she felt self-conscious about approaching people … at first. She was preparing for a career in pharmaceutical sales once she finished up at Mizzou. But by the end of a summer, she remembers exclaiming about the jewelry business, “I love this!”
A co-worker and friend says Ettinger has a huge heart and always seeks to make authentic connections with others. This is the woman we met at the ‘coolest’ small jewelry store in America, according to InStore, an industry trade publication. She’s on the cover of the August issue next to the man who runs the ‘coolest’ large store, which is in Beverly Hills. Coolest, perhaps; but warm, mostly. In no time, you feel like a friend. “We’re not stuffy or judgmental,” says Ettinger, who makes you feel as though you’ve known her since high school. (Parkway North, since obviously you were about to ask.) Soon enough, it becomes evident she’s a very spiritual woman in her approach to fashion, jewelry and life. Her outfit is eclectic: ripped jeans, funky black boots, black velvet top. And, of course, diamond hoop earrings that manage to be both striking and subtle. She’s designed jewelry with a gold-and-diamond ‘harness’ holding a crystal, blessed on the slopes of a volcano in Bali.
Ylang Ylang is its own slice of paradise, a treasure trove where you may browse in comfort with a fresh latte made in-house. It has been in its present location four Octobers so far. The space had been taken down to the gravel before she moved in, but Ettinger achieved her vision for the interior. “It just hugs you,” she says. Indeed. The walls and cases are curved; the glass-beaded wallpaper sparkles like (you guessed it) diamonds. It’s like theater in the round, but without the drama. Fine jewelry? Of course. Costume jewelry? Why not. And sooner or later, you notice the skulls, handmade from aquamarine and turquoise in innumerable color combinations and sizes. She takes off her own necklace and hands it to you for a closer look: A tiny sterling silver skull wearing a gold crown, made in South Africa. It’s whimsical and thoughtprovoking, a conversation starter. Not ‘goth’ or ‘biker chic’ in the least, it’s as much a statement about the here and now as it is about eternity. “We’re all equal,” Ettinger says. “Everyone has a skull. Your soul is all that’s left behind.
