[chesterfield]
Last issue, we did a blurb on the lottery, which is a contest of blind luck. And big winners are like needles in haystacks—kind of like perfect scores on the ACT. About one-tenth of 1 percent (one in 1,000) of test-takers scores a perfect 36. Then there is the student who also achieves a perfect 2400 SAT score, which a minuscule .035 percent of students do nationwide. Of course, both these tests measure academic prowess, but a little bit of bloomin’ luck can’t hurt, either. One extremely gifted kid (who also acknowledges luck) is Abby Lammers (pictured), a Parkway North senior who humbly pointed out that she flubbed a question or two on the ACT, which meant she scored 35.5. OK, but it was rounded up to 36. Meanwhile, she also admits to making some guesses that just happened to be correct on both tests. What’s next for Abby? Not the lottery. She plans to attend Northwestern in the fall, where she will take up environmental engineering and economics, the latter of which is anything but an exact science … although Abby may help bring all that mishegas in line. Meanwhile, she could probably explain to you that the lottery is really a tax on the mathematically challenged.
[clayton]
Changes are afoot in restaurant-related enterprises … as usual. First, The Wine Merchant is pulling up stakes and moving a few blocks away to the old First National Bank building near The Crossing restaurant. How cool is this: The old vault will be reconfigured as a wine cellar. Look for the move to be completed by late this spring or early summer. Meanwhile, Qdoba, the quick- Mex eatery, is eyeing the space that St. Louis Bread Co. vacated last summer on Clayton Road when it moved across the street into Richmond Heights. BTW, if you haven’t yet visited the renovated Esquire a few doors to the east, plan a movie night there. The recliners are really comfy.
[eureka]
Albert Einstein is oft credited with saying, “The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.” And occasionally knuckleheads come up with schemes that—if they weren’t in the end so amazingly stupid—approach the level of genius. Eureka cops got a recent call about a Pacific man who stole a wrecker from a Franklin County towing company, then drove to Jefferson County and stole two more vehicles from an impound lot, leading authorities on a surreal chase through our county and all over hell’s half-acre. By the time he was ‘forcibly apprehended’ from the truck, deputies had flattened its tires with spikes and run it into a bluff. Our antihero knew what he was doing; in fact, the vehicles he drove off in belonged to him. Sort of. They were in the custody of Jefferson County authorities. Maybe someone needs to make a movie about the suspect, who was charged with first-degree tampering and felony resisting arrest, and at this writing sits in the clink with a bond of $50,000.
[kirkwood]
If we were to merely list the plaudits earned by four honorees of the Kirkwood-Des Peres chamber, it would probably take up all the space allotted for this column, and perhaps a few others you enjoy reading every week. James T. Walsh, Jim Gura, Ellen O’Brien and Scott Mosby all got nods at the annual gala last Friday (Feb. 6) at the Frontenac Hilton. All are busy execs also deeply involved in volunteer work. Gura (Volunteer of the Year), who, along with his day job at Oppenheimer and Co., works with Kirkwood School District, the chamber’s strategic planning committee, and as a coach. Walsh, Citizen of the Year and a 44-year Kirkwood resident, is executive VP and a managing member of Project QA (Quality Assurance), yet still manages to set aside time to work with the St. Louis Minority Economic Development Association and multiple other groups. O’Brien, recognized for Lifetime Achievement, began her real estate career in 1972 and also has volunteered extensively, including for the county Housing Commission for the Homeless. Mosby, named Businessperson of the Year, is president of Mosby Building Arts, has a home improvement show (aired weekends on KMOX radio), and applies his avocational skill to hosting Crisis Nursery’s Razzle Dazzle Ball. Whew!
[ladue]
One might think that a math intervention specialist wouldn’t be needed in the Ladue schools, but trouble with math cuts across all demographics. Lindsey Mayer knows firsthand how much angst the subject can cause. Mayer is a Title 1 math teacher at Old Bonhomme Elementary, one of four K-4 schools in the district. She works exclusively with Tier 3 students, who are anywhere from two to four years below grade level, meeting with them in small groups for 30 minutes every day. Remember flash cards? That is sort of what Mayer does, using a specialized program that breaks down numerical principles into concepts that kids can visualize. Slices of pizza may be used to illustrate fractions. But that may still be too advanced for some of her charges, who need help with basic arithmetic. For example, students count floors during an elevator-themed game, or put house numbers in order for a pretend mail carrier to deliver letters efficiently. In either case, she makes sure math is no longer a vague concept. Mayer points out that kids of any age respond when the work they’re doing with numbers is relevant to their lives. It helps to know that counting coins is necessary at the grocery store or vending machine. Mayer says there are several markers for success; one is for pupils to move up a grade level in the subject. The best-case scenario is for kids to exit the math intervention program entirely. Meanwhile, they feel a sense of accomplishment and self-confidence. And, there’s much less stress in their lives.
[webster groves]
Some view the ‘Stupor’ Bowl as only a series of commercials and a glitzy halftime show interrupted by a football game. And some of the ads are memorably hysterical. However, many viewers throughout the area were jarringly brought down to reality by a spot from our local NCADA chapter in which a teen dies from a heroin overdose, and his mother finds him a few minutes later in his bedroom. Doritos commercials aren’t reality; unfortunately, the heroin epidemic is. We applaud the NCADA for choosing such a propitious moment to air this disturbing commercial, when viewership is peak. Some have said it was in bad taste. But, it was unforgettable—and timely, indeed. St. Louis County police report there were more heroin deaths than homicides last year in their jurisdiction, many of them in affluent areas such as Webster Groves. A heroin fix can be had for about $10—but it’s usually not ‘mainlined’ as so many shocking images from TV still tend to show. Rather than a ‘needle and spoon,’ as may have been the case in 1970s urban America, this epidemic has started at suburban parties with a snort up the nose. I know two boys who made a trade 15 or so years ago, a skateboard for a guitar. They separated to run with different crowds. The guitarist will graduate college in the spring, with a Washington U. research job lined up. Sadly, the skateboarder is still trying to kick a heroin habit.
[st. louis]
It was 1915. The Titanic had already been on the floor of the Atlantic for three years. Muddy Waters and Billie Holiday were born, ragtime progenitor Scott Joplin was 47 (he died at 49), and statesman Booker T. Washington passed away. Carter G. Woodson formed the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, laying the groundwork for what would become Black History Month. Meanwhile, the St. Louis Public Library was 50 years old, still too young to begin receiving those annoying AARP mailings on a regular basis. The library celebrates black culture each February during Black History Month, from literature and music to the ongoing struggle for social justice. Throughout the month there will be featured speakers, special showings of the lauded TV miniseries Roots, and even a quirky presentation titled ‘From ’Fros to Cornrows: African-American Hair Through the Decades’ (4 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Carondelet Branch, 6800 Michigan Ave.). Programs at the Carondelet and Carpenter branches (pictured, 3309 S. Grand Blvd.) will feature a look back on what it meant to be black in St. Louis and Missouri. It may help put in perspective the continuing struggle in Ferguson and throughout the metro. (pictured above)
