the gateway arch | Little Amal, the puppet modeled after a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl, is not so little. She’s 12 feet tall—two feet above a basketball hoop. And how she’s going to carry her message 6,000 miles from Boston to the U.S.-Mexico border at San Diego on Nov. 5 is a tall order: She embarked Sept. 7 on a tour of 35 cities with her puppeteers, her goal to visit key places in American history to raise awareness about immigration, migration and social justice. Among these significant spots are Boston Common and the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Slated to arrive in the metro on Oct. 1 for a vibrant event at the Gateway Arch, Little Amal is a symbol of unity and hope for refugees and immigrants and honors cities like our own Gateway City that continue to welcome them with open arms. The event is scheduled for that Sunday afternoon, 12:30 to 1:30 pm. at River Overlook Stage, directly across from the grand staircase below the Arch. Twice the height of practically anyone except an NBA star, she’ll be hard to miss in the throng slated to come sing, dance and celebrate with her. Handspring Puppet Co. of South Africa designed and built Amal, as well as the puppets for the show War Horse. Amal was inspired by a character in Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson’s play The Jungle, about a refugee camp in Calais, France. During her trek, Amal will join 1,500-plus artists at more than 100 artistic events. Ours promises to be awe-inspiring. Philip A. Woodmore, COCA’s artistic director of voice, as well as the worship and arts leader of New Sunny Mount Missionary Baptist Church, has spent months collaborating with a local and national team that includes the International Institute and the St. Louis Mosaic Project to create the dynamic event at the Arch. Performers include the STL Little Amal Mass Choir, an intergenerational group Woodmore established. This special choir will welcome Little Amal to the stage, then send her on her way as she continues her cross-country journey.
st. louis
Folks in the Lou have perfected the ‘rolling stop.’ Drivers here, when approaching a stop sign, look both ways at an intersection, only because it was ingrained in them as soon as they learned to walk. But this is where fuzzy thinking commands StL motorists. Rolling stoppers, before they approach an intersection, lightly tap the brake pedal just to make sure it’s still there for when they really need it, like when they come upon snarled traffic. And stopping. And starting again. Note that we haven’t said anything about the law until right now: Stop signs are there for a driver to come to a complete stop before proceeding. Otherwise, they’re scofflaws, like the people in the far-left lane driving their bright, new, freshly washed Tesla or dented Toyota van west on U.S. 40 (OK; I-64) at 80 MPH where the speed limit is 60, maybe 65 outside the metro. Ninety-five percent of these heathens won’t get a ticket, or just don’t care, even if they’re texting or talking on the cellphone behind the wheel. Talking on the cellphone is distracting enough, but drivers usually stay in their lane unless the person on the other end has some really juicy gossip. Texting while driving is really dangerous, and it became illegal in Missouri on Aug. 28. But our dear Show-Me State, the 49th to adopt such a law, is letting us down easy. Cops cannot issue tickets until January 2025, only written warnings, unless the driver is breaking another traffic law, like rolling through—check that, running—a stop sign. Rolling or running… what’s the diff? Only someone wearing a badge or holding a Ph.D. in physics could tell you.
richmond heights
Cate loves Soft Surroundings. I do, too. She’s bought some great outfits there, many online recently, but they’re mostly finds from the Boulevard, the shopping center off Brentwood Boulevard across from St. Louis Galleria. The majority of my bride’s ‘drapes’ are still stylish enough to be plenty hip today. Anyway, she got a really nice gift certificate from her sister for Christmas, but has yet to use it. Time is running out for Cate and her cohort because another unique shop is about to bite the dust: Soft Surroundings plans to sell its direct-to-consumer assets—women’s clothing, beauty products, gifts and home decor—to another retailer as part of a reorganization under Chapter 11. And this is all since 2017, when the company announced ambitious expansion plans—that was before the pandemic, when … oh, you know. Anyhow, if approved, the bankruptcy plan calls for shuttering the approximately 80 remaining locations of Cate’s almost-favorite store. I liked it, too, and not just because there are comfortable seating areas for men as physically ‘mature’ as I am. But we’d better get down there with the gift certificate right quick, so I can relax while Cate rolls her eyes at the clothing selections. Or maybe we’ll find a nice gift for her sister.
south city
Scissors in hand, Chris Lee deftly snips a little here and more there, putting the finishing touches on Oliver’s bushy face. Lee’s been cutting this senior citizen’s hair for 15 years. Check that. Oliver (pictured with Lee) has been coming to A Walk in the Park, a dog-grooming salon at 5210 Chippewa (63109) just west of Kingshighway, since the business was established in Tower Grove East. Oliver is a ‘Pomapoo,’ Lee explains. That, for those unschooled in designer dogs, is a Pomeranian bred with a toy poodle. There are plenty of spaces designed to make such ‘special needs’ canines absolutely gorgeous. “We have seven grooming stations and six bathing stations,” he notes. It’s not always just another day at the beach Tuesdays through Saturdays because fur is flying nonstop. At pickup, every client sports a seasonal bandana and smells heavenly. Lee and partner Mark Langevin opened the salon in 2008, so Oliver was among the first dogs Chris styled there. Meanwhile, Langevin keeps the books. He’d need the finances just so, as they opened a second salon in 2010 in the CWE—the salon’s name is apt, as Forest Park was as easy a walk with a freshly coiffed canine as was Tower Grove Park from the flagship location. Lee and Langevin merged both salons into the two-story Chippewa building, which also offers daycare and boarding. The first two years of the 2020s were tough on everybody, what with masks and social distancing, but 2022 and this year have been a comparative gold rush, Lee says. More than 23 million U.S. households—nearly one in five—adopted a pet during the pandemic, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). This baby boom of barkers means plenty of ’poos and oodles of ’doodles, which some owners drop off thoroughly matted and tangled, having not thought much to brush them between appointments. “Many are troubled dogs who just need extra care,” says Lee, who’s been grooming for 41 years. He’s a graduate of Mesquite High School in Dallas, and your dog won’t be his first, or his thousandth, rodeo. “We’re always trying to do what you see in your head,” he says. To make it less scary than the veterinarian, the salon is filled wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling, with greenery. And, if you’ll pardon the dogawful pun, Lee and his 15 employees are a cut above. “We take dogs that other salons turn out,” he says. One such delinquent is your correspondent’s mutt, The Dude (pictured after a grooming at Christmastime). A high-strung, ‘Heinz-57’ variety rescue, he was handled by three other StL groomers only once or twice, all then refusing him altogether or insisting on sedation. Lee, who’d studied to be a vet until as an apprentice so many unnecessary surgeries turned him off, isn’t sure that ‘doggie downers’ are a panacea: They could distort a dog’s vision such that hand movements are perceived as a threat. And DNA testing? He rolls his eyes. It’s a racket, he says, just not in so many words. “No dog likes to be groomed,” he notes, but pooches such as Oliver grow attached and at least tolerate their time being woman- and manhandled: “They come in and crawl in my lap.” Visit awalkintheparkgrooming.com.
