One catastrophic event affected 16-year-old John Boone so deeply he recounted the vivid story in nearly every concert until he died. Around suppertime on Sunday, April 18, 1880, a tornado with winds topping 200 miles per hour leveled much of … Read More
Sunrise with Coast Guard Cutter
Our sloop sailed all night across the Bermuda Triangle. At dawn we crossed the Gulf Stream. We had maneuvered into position to enter the Lake Worth cut into West Palm when a voice crackled over our ship-to-shore radio: “Westbound sloop … Read More
Smash Rock on the Jacks Fork
Every year in early spring, Smash Rock stands between me and inner peace. As my rendezvous with Smash Rock approaches, I concentrate on little else. My sole mission hardens into a successful negotiation past this looming Lorelei. Smash Rock could … Read More
Who still owns a superball?
Not since Elvis left the building has Vegas laid a table so heavy with hyperbole. But it was a party. The show opened with gridiron visuals glued to Paul Anka’s lyrics My Way sung by Old Blue Eyes to the … Read More
The Day The Capitol Burned
Sunday evening, February 5, 1911. Unusually warm. A thunderstorm approached the state capitol from the west and lightning struck the dome around suppertime. Monsignor Joseph Selinger remembers, “I was standing on the front steps of the hospital [Saint Mary’s] about … Read More
Winter Water
The air was cold, a few degrees above freezing. Three of us pushed one long canoe away from shore and paddled out of a swirling eddy into the main stream, thus surviving the most dangerous phase of the trip: the … Read More
19 minutes at Burger King changed my life
I was running behind. Miles of untraveled road awaited to unfold north of Springfield, and it was already nearing lunch time. I wanted to stop at the legendary Anton’s Coffee Shop, looming ahead in my windshield. The experience at … Read More
The Sad, Strange Case of the Missouri Waltz
You’ve heard it a thousand times. At Mizzou games. On TV. Radio. Most recently at Mizzou’s Cotton Bowl victory over Ohio State. The Mizzou band begins the familiar strains of the Missouri Waltz. Then the song morphs into a march … Read More