st. louis
The ribbon has been cut and the doors open since June 1 for the new Downtown YMCA (pictured at top) in the MX (Mercantile Exchange) District. This site—at 6th and Locust streets—is especially meaningful because it returns the Y to the very spot where 23 men met at the Second Baptist Church and organized St. Louis’ first YMCA in 1853. There have been a few monumental changes since the Y was established there. For one thing, of course, women are welcome. Also, the new Y features the latest in fitness amenities, chronic disease prevention programs and financial assistance for people who may need a little help with membership. (In and around the MX District are restaurants, retail, a movie theater, the Central Library, Convention Center and National Blues Museum.) The newfangled Y includes a fitness center and pool (natch), a spirit-mind-body studio, group exercise studio, private showers, changing rooms, steam rooms, an outdoor patio for outdoor classes and social functions, and an open lobby with free Wi-Fi, coffee and gathering and working areas. It also features the latest in group exercise programs, kickboxing, and the only hot-yoga class downtown. And Y membership allows access to all 24 branches in the metro. The grand opening was part of the YMCA’s 173rd Founders Day nationally, and all Gateway Region Ys in Missouri and Illinois waived the joining fee as part of the celebration. That continues, after a fashion, with free seven-day guest passes for anyone who wants to check out this amazing new experience. May 25 was the last day for the Y at its former location, 1528 Locust St., having operated there 91 years!
chesterfield
At 17, Hannah Haedike was already a theater soul. But … skipping your own high school graduation because the show must go on? Hannah, a member of the teen ensemble in the Stages production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, was set to graduate from Francis Howell High School—until she got the casting call. Hannah, a true thespian, did not hesitate, but there was a mitigating circumstance. Her mom, Christy, who was just finishing up chemotherapy, really wanted to see her walk in her graduation ceremony. Flash forward to the opening weekend performance, when Hannah was surprised at the curtain call by a musical theater-style graduation! Before a sold-out crowd of 375, including her mom and dad (David), cast and crew adorned an astonished Hannah in cap and gown and presented her with a ‘diploma’ from ‘Canaan University’ in the land of Egypt (the show was Joseph, after all!). Hannah got cheers and a standing ovation. We surmise that’s probably more hoopla than she would have received at her school ceremony that same night. You can still catch Hannah in Joseph through this weekend as one of five in the teen ensemble. She actually may have picked up her real diploma by then, but acknowledged she’s been plenty busy with her ‘Dance Intense’ program at Stages Academy in advance of her freshman year at Milliken University in Decatur, Ill., where she’ll major in—what else?—musical theater.
kirkwood
What constitutes a ‘dangerous dog’ in Kirkwood? We’re pretty sure the appellation doesn’t refer to the canine characters in that lurid velvet painting on the neighbor’s ‘rec room’ wall, across from the Aloha-themed bar. (If that’s you, we apologize.) Municipalities have struggled for years with dog regulations. They wrestle with the language that keeps residents safe from dog attacks. But which canines, exactly, do we need protection from? For a while, in many towns, ordinances were breed-specific. But that doesn’t apply very well to the cuddly pit bull or sweetheart Doberman that rolls over for a belly pat. Dangerous dogs dart seemingly out of nowhere to accost you and the much-smaller canine you’re taking for a leisurely walk. Many municipal ordinances require ‘dangerous’ dogs to be kept inside a fenced yard or restrained by a leash. Kirkwood officials have been working on appropriate language for a rewrite since last year, when a dog reportedly jumped from its owner’s car to attack a smaller dog being walked in the street. The small dog required emergency surgery and the owner was bitten as well. The prospective new ordinance being bandied about in city council would require several steps to be taken, starting with a letter from officials requiring a dog owner to show proof of $100,000 in liability insurance to cover damage and/or injuries caused by a dog deemed dangerous. A warning sign on the fence, a short leash, a muzzle and walkers no younger than 18 also would be required. Meanwhile, the exact fate of ‘vicious’ dogs, those that have attacked once, also is being worked out. Anyhow, we surmise that the mention of ‘$100,000’ will weed out most nincompoops, whereupon the dogs will be sent away ‘to live on a nice farm.’ That’s where our dog Impy, short for Impossible, went after nipping the next-door neighbor’s kid who kept taunting him through the porch screen.
university city
Depending on how early you start it today and how fast you can read, you might still be able to conquer enough of a Very. Big. Book. to engage in a discussion at 7 p.m. tonight (Wednesday, June 28) at U. City Public Library. David Copperfield is the select tome for UCPL’s adult Big Book Summer Reading program. The epic Charles Dickens novel—his “favourite child”—was first published serially from 1849 to 1850. A group is reading it serially today, with discussions of Part 1 happening this evening and then over the next few days. Anyone who’s read the book or made it partway through is welcome. (Spoiler alert! Those of you who’ve already read all 800-some pages or skimmed the Classics Illustrated graphic novel—OK, it was a comic book —please don’t be a creep and divulge it.) Upcoming discussion sessions are: Part II, July 26 to 28; and Part III, Aug. 23 to 25. As readers progress through the book, an esteemed scholar will bring the story into the present day. Imagine the average human lifespan being about half what it is now! With that in mind, discussions will be facilitated by Miriam Bailin, Ph.D., associate professor of English at Washington U., a specialist in Victorian and modern British literature, and author of The Sickroom in Victorian Fiction: The Art of Being Ill. (Anyone feel they’re ‘getting the vapours’?) Meanwhile, dear readers, participants need not be U. City residents. Anyone may join in online when they wish … or consider reading the contemporary nonfiction work Born Bright: A Young Girl’s Journey from Nothing to Something in America by C. Nicole Mason. Both books explore the critical role education plays in a child’s life. There’ll be a panel discussion of that theme on Wednesday, July 21 at 7 p.m. at the library. You say it’s too darn hot to just sit and read in the metro? Well, think of what few pastimes were available in the 1850s, other than fishing. Corsets, coal soot, no air conditioning … it’s no wonder urban denizens ‘got the vapours’!
ballwin
You may have heard that a total solar eclipse is coming Aug. 21. Yeah, that’s a thing. It’s happening in Ballwin … and anywhere else the sun shines in the metro … scarcely two months from now. But, did you know that there’s also a Solar Eclipse Task Force? It’s been preparing for this rare cosmic event for two years, and had an expo in Queeny Park earlier this month featuring magicians, marketers and scientists—excluding Bill Nye and Neal deGrasse Tyson (who were busy being famous somewhere else). Total-eclipse fun and tomfoolery are planned here, there and everywhere, of course. But you must wear special glasses to observe the event safely … and not just those spiffy, polarized Ray-Bans you think look so dope. You need eyewear that filters 100 percent of harmful ultraviolet and infrared light and 99.999 percent of intense visible light. But don’t get hoodwinked into paying more than you need to for, essentially, a cardboard frame and dense filters that provide an image of the moon-obscured sun. Some sellers provide quantities of more than 200 for 99 cents apiece, even less for schools. Note: Tin foil hats not required.
