Among the names of those who have been most involved in advancing civil rights in St. Louis, Frankie Muse Freeman’s is one of the most prominent. On Friday’s St. Louis on the Air , host Don Marsh discussed the life and legacy of the civil rights lawyer. Freeman died Jan. 12 at age 101. She worked to address and end cases of discrimination in St. Louis and nationally. Joining the discussion were community activist Percy Green, St. Louis City NAACP president Adolphus Pruitt II and James Buford, former president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis. “What I think about when I see Frankie is stature, courage, power, carriage – the way I would want my kids, anybody I know, to carry themselves as a leader in the African-American community,” Buford said. “She was magnanimous. She was holistic.” While Green’s political approach differed from Freeman’s, he said Freeman was personable. Green said he disagreed with some of Freeman’s political decisions, like her support of former
On this month’s Sound Bites segment produced in partnership with Sauce Magazine , managing editor Catherine Klene gave an overview of the six up-and-comers the publication chose for its annual " Ones to Watch " feature. The article highlights local culinary talent to watch in 2018. On Thursday’s St. Louis on the Air , host Don Marsh talked to Klene and featured chefs Bryan Russo and Evy Swoboda. “It’s definitely a chef year,” Klene said. “It speaks to the caliber of restaurants in St. Louis and the talent that these kitchens are incubating.” Klene said Sauce Magazine selected the professionals who not only cook well, but have potential to lead and partake in different culinary projects. “We want people with goals, who really want to grow in the St. Louis food scene; who are committed to this area and growing their careers and the culinary scene as a whole,” Klene said. For example, Russo experiments with bread and its various fermentations. He’s a chef at Público, a Latin-inspired
Twenty years ago, St. Louis filmmaker Geoff Story went to an estate sale on Lindell Boulevard. There he picked up two canisters of home movies, not knowing what were on them. What Story found shocked him – dozens of gay men at a pool party in a remote location in Hillsboro, Missouri in 1945. Check out Nancy Fowler’s story about the home movies revealing what is was like being gay in mid-century St. Louis. Story’s upcoming documentary, “ Gay Home Movie ,” will incorporate the home videos as well as interviews with the families and friends of the men in these films. On Thursday’s St. Louis on the Air , host Don Marsh discussed what gay life was like during the 1940s and 50s in St. Louis. Joining the discussion was Nancy Fowler, arts and culture reporter at St. Louis Public Radio, Steven Brawley, author of "Gay and Lesbian St. Louis" and Miranda Rectenwald, curator of local history at Washington University. “[The videos are] a really wonderful glimpse. There is not a lot of visual
This year, the International Institute estimates the arrival of only 450 refugees arriving to St. Louis. That’s a sharp decline compared to the amount of refugee resettlement in previous years – 659 refugees in 2017 and 1135 refugees in 2016. On Wednesday’s St. Louis on the Air , host Don Marsh addressed the decline of refugees arriving to St. Louis over the past couple of years. Joining him for the discussion was Betsy Cohen, executive director of the St. Louis Mosaic Project and Anna Crosslin, president and CEO of the International Institute of St. Louis. Crosslin said initiatives at the White House last year resulted in the sharp decline of refugees resettled nationally and in St. Louis. Refugees are part of a subset of immigrants arriving to the United States, who are admitted due to well-founded fears of persecution in their native countries. The president’s executive orders and various travel bans heavily impacted the International Institute’s refugee clients, where family
Author Daniel Pink researched the science of timing to see how time of day affects what we do and how we do it. On Wednesday’s St. Louis on the Air , host Don Marsh talked to Pink about his latest book, “When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing,” where the bestselling author drew on research from psychology, biology and economics to reveal how to live and work efficiently. Time of day influences our performance “Chronobiology” is the study of time in living organisms and their adaptation to solar and lunar-related rhythms. Understanding your “chronotype” (biological rhythm) is the first step to understanding what you should do, and the time of day to do it. Time of day explains 20 percent of the variants in human performance on brain power tasks at work. For example, handwashing in hospitals deteriorates significantly during the afternoon and physicians are more likely to prescribe necessary antibiotics in the afternoon and anesthesia errors are four times more likely to occur at
St. Louis native John McDaniel is a Grammy and Emmy award-winning musician. For years he performed as the band leader of The Rosie O’Donnell Show. Londoner Barb Jungr is known for her pop music, theater and cabaret performances. McDaniel and Jungr will perform together at Kranzberg Arts Center later this month. On Tuesday’s St. Louis on the Air , host Don Marsh talked with McDaniel and Jungr about their upcoming performance “Come Together,” which features music by the Beatles. Growing up not too far from Liverpool, the birthplace of the iconic band, Jungr had always avoided listening to their music until McDaniel arranged their song, “In My Life,” for her to perform. She loved the arrangement and the two decided to feature their take on the group’s music for their next album. The musical duo will give the familiar sound of the Beatles something new. They will take the music apart and reconstruct it to give the audience a different type of presentation. “We will take a song and have a
How can children learn to respect other people’s identities and differences in the world? On Tuesday’s St. Louis on the Air , host Don Marsh talked about how parents, grandparents, other relatives and caregivers can help young children understand and appreciate differences in other human beings, families and communities. Joining the discussion were Tabari Coleman, project director of the Anti-Defamation League’s A World of Difference Institute, and Stephen Zwolak, CEO of LUME Institute and executive director of the University City Children’s Center. Zwolak said concepts of understanding start imbedding at infancy. Coleman said understanding doesn’t mean ignoring another’s differences, but rather recognizing and accepting them. “Be matter of fact with a child, [do not] avoid the situation,” Coleman said. “When we don’t have an honest conversation, what we do is we prepare them to avoid those conversations when they get older.” Zwolak said the role of schools is more influential than
The impact of Martin Luther King Jr. continues to influence various civil rights movements today. Washington University will commemorate the late civil rights leader at 7 p.m., Monday, in Graham Chapel. On Friday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Don Marsh talked to Vernon Mitchell Jr., curator of Popular American Arts and Culture in the Department of Special Collections at Washington University. Mitchell talked about his research and the message he plans to deliver as part of the university's commemoration. He studies the impact of African-American art and culture on movements and popular culture. In his speech, Mitchell wants to reclaim King. “What I try to do when I teach about Dr. King is I try to humanize him. I try to take him off of the pedestal,” Mitchell said. “Not in a way that is sensational. I try to understand him as a man, as a human being.” Mitchell said that allows students to resonate with the iconic leader. During the civil rights movement, King remained hopeful in spite
Should the news media have published a story about Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens’ extramarital affair and his alleged blackmail of a woman? On Friday’s Behind the Headlines segment, St. Louis on the Air host Don Marsh discussed journalism ethics and the process of reporting the affair with Lauren Trager, KMOV’s investigative reporter who broke the story , and with Shula Neuman, St. Louis Public Radio’s executive editor. The two journalists talked about their varying approaches. Neuman said St. Louis Public Radio decided not to go forward with a story on the affair, partly because the organization did not have on-the-record sources. “If the woman wasn’t willing to tell the story herself, then we didn’t think that it was appropriate to let somebody else tell the story for her ,” Neuman said. The unnamed woman made off-the-record remarks to Trager about the affair. KMOV also concealed the identity of the woman’s ex-husband to protect her identity. Trager said KMOV decided to publish its
As part of University of Missouri-St. Louis’ annual Martin Luther King Jr. observance, keynote speaker Freeman A. Hrabowski III will address the impact of the iconic civil rights activist over the last half century. The celebration is at 10 a.m. to noon on Jan. 15 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. On Friday’s St. Louis on the Air , host Don Marsh talked with Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) about his work in advocating for equal access to education for all. Hrabowski said he’ll draw on his experiences during the Civil Rights Movement and the ongoing fight for civil rights during his speech to look at the progression of education in American families. As a child in 1963, Hrabowski marched under the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. in Birmingham, Alabama. He said barriers to education for all races remain. ‘Race still matters’ “This has been a 50-year experiment. It’s only been in the past 50 years that we’ve been trying to bring more
On Thursday’s St. Louis on the Air , host Don Marsh analyzed the aftermath of Missouri Governor Eric Greitens' 2018 State of the State address. Joining the discussion were St. Louis Public Radio’s statehouse reporter Marshall Griffin, political reporter Jo Mannies and interim political editor Jason Rosenbaum. Hours after Greitens delivered his second State of the State address, he acknowledged his involvement in an extra-marital affair before he launched his campaign for governor in the fall of 2015. Greitens and his wife, Sheena Greitens, issued joint statements through their lawyer after St. Louis television station KMOV-TV (Channel 4) reported on the matter , denying any allegations of blackmail. “It’s as if the State of the State address didn’t happen last night,” Griffin said. “Everything that constitutes the business of government right now is focused on this story that broke last night.” The House convened for five minutes Thursday morning to adjourn the meeting until next week,
Feb. 22, 2018, marks the centennial of the birth of Robert Wadlow, the tallest man who ever lived, and a lifelong resident of Alton. Wadlow was normal size at birth, but a growth on his pituitary gland caused him to grow rapidly and never stop. By kindergarten, he was 5 feet 4 inches. He grew to 8 feet 11, and 490 pounds, by the time he died at age 22.
The shopping center known as the Promenade at Brentwood was once a prominent African American neighborhood. The historic Evens-Howard Place neighborhood in Brentwood was home to generations of middle class African-American families for 90 years. On Wednesday’s St. Louis on the Air , host Don Marsh discussed the history of Evens-Howard Place with local writer Beth Miller, who’s researched the neighborhood. Also joining the discussion were Olivette Thompson, former resident of the neighborhood and Ed Wright, former alderman of the district that included Evens-Howard Place. Miller, who lives six blocks away from the historic neighborhood, decided to research the community after seeing it featured in a Missouri Historical Society picture book. “It’s difficult to describe, but I had a feeling come over me that said, ‘I need to tell this story,’” Miller said. She focused on the neighborhood after she realized many people had forgotten the area’s history. “It was a real tragedy to me that our
When singer, songwriter and author Storm Large is not with her band Le Bonheur, she fronts Pink Martini and symphony orchestras. Her varied interests include performing music from Broadway, the American songbook, rock music and her own originals. On Wednesday’s St. Louis on the Air , producer Alex Heuer talked with the singer about her career and her performance in St. Louis on Jan.17 .
For many years, comedian and St. Louis native Greg Warren traveled around the country to make people laugh. He’s appeared on CMT Comedy Stage, NBC's Last Comic Standing, Late Night with Seth Meyers and CBS's The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. On Tuesday’s St. Louis on the Air , host Don Marsh talked with Warren about his upcoming appearances at the St. Louis Funny Bone. Friends, family and fans will line up to see the new material he’ll showcase, starting Jan. 11. “We’re also trying something new this year … I’m doing an all ages family show,” Warren said. “I do feel a little pressure there because I haven’t done a whole lot of that before.” The family show is open for kids ages 12 and older. Warren is now based in St. Louis after living in New York. He said often times, it’s hard for people to just sit down and think “what’s funny?” His comedic inspiration draws from a mixture of past experiences and current observations. Warren said he also journals freely in the morning to come
This Thursday, Jan. 11, marks 153 years since slaves in Missouri were finally freed from bondage. Missouri’s Emancipation Day will be commemorated at the Missouri History Museum, in a collaborative event between the museum and Greenwood Cemetery. On Tuesday’s St. Louis on the Air , host Don Marsh discussed the event at the Missouri History Museum , which will highlight the lives before and after emancipation of six individuals buried in Greenwood Cemetery, located in Hillsdale. Joining the discussion were Shakia Gullette, manager of local history initiatives at Missouri History Museum, Etta Daniels, head historian at Greenwood Cemetery and Marvin-Alonzo Greer, visitor experience lead at Soldiers Memorial Military Museum. Greenwood Cemetery opened in 1874, shortly after the end of the civil war. It opened as the first commercial cemetery dedicated to the burial of African-Americans in the St. Louis area. Since its establishment, Daniels said more than 50,000 people have been buried at
The construction of the Eads Bridge a century and a half ago almost made St. Louis one of the most important cities in the country. The steel combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River brought rail and other traffic from the east to St. Louis and beyond. The bridge serves as the backstory to St. Louis author Ken McGee’s latest historical novel “The Great Hope of the World.”
On Monday’s St. Louis on the Air , host Don Marsh talked to KSDK anchor Casey Nolen and long-time journalist Dick Weiss about their recent two-week visit to Pakistan. They were among a dozen visitors from media and academia who made the trip sponsored by the University Of Oklahoma Gaylord College Of Journalism and Mass Communications and the U.S. State Department.
Circus Harmony, the local social circus, is preparing for a series of performances at the City Museum this month. The production will take a look at circuses through the decades from 1920-2010. On Friday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Don Marsh talked about the next production, “ Legato ,” with Jessica Hentoff, artistic and executive director of the organization. The new show includes 20 performers, aged 10 to 22. Overall, the organization serves 1,400 people in the area each year. While Circus Harmony is a professional training school, Hentoff said the organization’s main purpose is social. “… And to help these kids so that what they learn in the circus ring will travel with them throughout their lives, whether they go on to circus careers or whatever they choose to do.” A social circus involves the teaching and performing of circus arts to motivate social change. While learning circus arts, people can also develop life skills, including responsibility, conflict resolution and the
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