downtown | Sshhh … don’t tell anyone. Well, heck. Tell everybody! A wild and woolly whodunit is being cooked up at Circus Harmony inside City Museum downtown! Someone has swiped a cookie from the cookie jar! OMG! Call the cops? Nope: Somersaulting sleuths are sure to solve the mystery as they fly through the air and whisk around on one wheel in this year’s annual Circus Harmony show, Misterioso (the title is the musical term for playing something in a mysterious way, creating a feeling of intrigue). It’s the 25th anniversary of this social circus, founded in 2001 by an accomplished aerialist who had been involved in StL circus arts for years. Circus Harmony’s youth performance troupe will be directed by artist-in-residence Susan Voyticky, a renowned circus artist, choreographer and director. Misterioso is being performed at 2 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday in February. Your ticket gets you a seat for the show and a single-day ticket to the City Museum beginning at noon on the day of the show. Circus Harmony, St. Louis’ only social circus, teaches the art of life through circus performance. The circus works to build character and expand community for youth of all ages, cultures, abilities and backgrounds. Through learning and performing circus arts, participants can learn to defy gravity, soar with confidence and leap over social barriers, all at the same time. For tickets and more information, walk the high wire on over to circusharmony.org.
slu
Our Jesuit university in midtown will admit freshman students from low-income families, tuition-free, come Fall 2026. SLU’s generosity is to be commended, but they’re a little late to the party—by four years, actually: The WashU Pledge kicked off in October 2022. That said, there are many distinct features that differ between that program and the SLU Tuition Promise, starting with who is eligible, and from where. WashU will accept first-year undergrads only from Missouri or Southern Illinois; SLU has no geographic restrictions. SLU’s family income requirement is $60,000 or less; WashU’s entry level is $75,000 or less. But WashU will also cover room and board for low-income students in its program, while the SLU Tuition Promise covers only tuition. SLU administrators say the SLU Tuition Promise was established to remove financial barriers, but also to more directly reflect the university’s Jesuit promise. That is, WWJD… What Would Jesus Do?
north st. louis
Bellefontaine Cemetery has been called our fair city’s ‘other sculpture garden,’ and it’s at least the oldest compared to Laumeier Sculpture Park in Sunset Hills. This is a quiet, serene place to reflect and soak in the stately trees and dramatic monuments, whether or not you’re a Busch, Wainwright, Griesedieck or related to another prominent St. Louisan. For the last few years, through a collaboration with local artists and landscape teams, lead StL artist Robert Fishbone has been building another structure there where one may slowly walk and pray. A meditation labyrinth, it has been designed as a quiet, reflective walking space—not a maze—set within the cemetery’s historic arboretum landscape. The single winding path of granite leads visitors toward the center—this is not a puzzle maze that those who enter must figure out how to escape, like a cornfield maze in the fall. Rather, it’s been built from granite pavers set in a wheel design intended to slow your pace and focus your attention inward. Created to encourage mindfulness, grounding and quiet reflection within such a serene setting, Fishbone’s meditation labyrinth is a single continuous path. The space has been intentionally built for slowing down, focusing on your breathing and stepping away from the busy world. Heaven knows we all could use a space to get away from daily chaos into such a welcoming environment for a while.
notable neighbors
richmond heights
She’s grateful that Bubbles the cow was moved from our Children’s Zoo after it closed to Longmeadow Rescue Ranch, where she continues to thrive in a place where she’s probably spoiled just a wee bit, too. Carolyn Mueller Kelly, a keeper at our Saint Louis Zoo for 17 years, started working there 23 years ago. She’s in her element among the reptiles, mammals and birds, and of course it’s always been her main duty to keep them alive and healthy, like Bubbles. (She’s undoubtedly glad that Bubbles is not threatened by a fate that befalls so many cows whose original purpose has expired.) Mueller Kelly’s favorite animal is a canid, the coyote—the nemesis of any farmer who raises chickens or other vulnerable critters. Why on earth does she love a creature that so many people detest? “Their social dynamics are very interesting,” she points out. She’s familiar with the life cycles of all the zoo residents, as she’s worked in practically every habitat during her career. Rather than a biology degree, she was awarded an English degree upon graduation from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. (High school: Nerinx Hall.) She has decades of real-world experience taking care of animals, and her English degree has served her quite well as an author of eight books, the latest of which came out last month: Amazing Missouri Animals. This parlays her experience at our zoo with a genuine love of all creatures great and small, and of course there’s plenty here on the coyote. The book targets fourth graders, but adults also will be fascinated by the animals that sometimes breathe out of their butt. (Freshwater turtles, in their torpid state, such as hibernation, can survive via cloacal respiration—breathing underwater through the cloaca, the rear opening also used for excretion and reproduction. Quite the versatile body part.) She loves what she does and can’t imagine working anywhere else. She’s heard that people who work at the zoo for five years continue on for at least 10. “And if they’ve worked here 15 years, they stay here forever,” she says. Mueller Kelly brings to the page animal observations from the perspective of a lifelong nature nerd. A carnivore expert, she’s spent time in Africa with the world’s fastest land animal, the cheetah, which has been clocked at 75 mph in short bursts. But bears can get a move on, too: As fast as 35 mph. We didn’t ask how long a bear can keep it up, nor whether she’s ever been chased by one. A marathoner, she’d rather go the distance against other humans. She and her family live in Richmond Heights. Her son, Jack, is about to turn 7. His sister, Adelaide, is 4. Home is close to the zoo, but also Art Hill, and the youngsters were clamoring to go there—this was what your writer heard in the background on the phone as our recent snow was just starting to fall. For more about Amazing Missouri Animals and Mueller Kelly’s other books, explore reedypress.com.