Editor's Letter
March 18, 2010
Playtime in Columbia
Weeks before I was born, my grandfather bought a raffle ticket in my name and won me an iron horseshoe set. Too bad it didn’t bring me any luck in the recreation department. Years later, I quit little league basketball after an embarrassing season of throwing only granny shots. I ran my bike into so many ditches that my neighbors cringed when they saw me steering a car. And my ballet instructor said my leaps resembled someone jumping hurdles. Graceful? I’d say not.
March 11, 2010
Bright ideas in CoMo
With a city center bordered by three institutions of higher learning, Columbia’s status as a college town is unquestionable. However, most people equate this with the staggering (both literally and figuratively) masses who teem the downtown streets on Friday and Saturday nights and leave cigarette-butt-littered, beer-scented sidewalks in their wake. This stereotype is a shame because it sweeps the academics under a mental rug.
March 04, 2010
This is news
When I heard about this week’s incident at MU’s Black Culture Center, especially after reading about the noose and, later, the KKK-style hood found at the University of San Diego, one of my first thoughts was This could make national news.
February 25, 2010
The Reel Story
When the Vox staff began discussing what we would write about this year’s True/False Film Festival, we found ourselves almost out of ideas. What was left to say about this fabulous festival? It’s a cultural mecca that takes over downtown, consumes Columbians and brings in business.
February 18, 2010
Get your fix
A few months ago, after getting dressed up for a presentation, I headed toward my car. As I stepped in, I heard — and felt — my favorite I’m-a-professional dress rip at the seam along the back. Luckily, my wardrobe had not malfunctioned during my speech, but I had one of those classic Laverne & Shirley moments when I got home and tried to walk into my apartment.
February 11, 2010
Mountain lions, barbershops and Vox, oh my!
Bigfoot. The Loch Ness monster. Area 51. As a child I was enthralled by legends and lore — I pored over books about the Bermuda Triangle, and I loved the Indiana Jones movies. My juvenile obsession with these monster myths reared its dorky head when I read our feature on mountain lions in Missouri: Are they real? Could they be in your back yard? Use your cat-like reflexes to discover what’s fact versus fiction.
February 04, 2010
Spring into Columbia
When I first moved from Chicago to Columbia, my family and friends scoffed at this fair city. They wondered what people did for fun here — how, they pondered, could life in a small (in comparison to Chicago) town in Missouri stack up against Chi-town? I quickly provided tales of Mizzou football games, weekend nights out with friends, Wednesday evening concerts at The Blue Note and big-name comedians at Déjà Vu.
January 28, 2010
Boys II Men
Dozens. I can count dozens of men and women I know who got married the year after they graduated college. Marriage at 22? Kids by 25? No thanks. I’m not ready for marriage, kids or anything along those lines. Like many 20-somethings, I’m stunted in an in-between kind of adulthood. Legally and biologically, I’m an adult, but I’m not mature enough for so many of the milestones we consider part of adulthood in our society.
January 21, 2010
Snowed in
Three years ago, I spent 25 hours in a Colorado avalanche. OK, my butt was parked in a coach bus at the time (I was on my way to a ski resort), but trust me, popping a squat with 40 people who have gone 25 hours sans toothbrushes is hardly sitting pretty.
December 17, 2009
Busted!
December 10, 2009
Legally Boone
Americans are pros at taking things for granted. We see the Internet as a birthright. We lavish in showers like our pipes are connected to Niagara Falls. And we often ignore the legal system, going distractedly about our days while it ceaselessly ticks away in the name of Lady Justice. Even here in Boone County.
December 03, 2009
A gift for every Grinch
The holiday season means different things to different people. For some, it’s a time to reconnect with friends and family and reminisce on the past year; for others it’s marked by an exchange of high-price electronics, deep-discounted DVDs and other oh-so-thoughtful gifts; others use it as an excuse to bust out holiday classics such as Miracle on 34th Street and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
November 26, 2009
Weight to go, CoMo
In elementary and middle school, I took full advantage of Pizza Hut’s BOOK IT! program, which rewards eager students with free pizza if they meet a monthly reading quota. Reading seemed so much easier (and even fun) knowing there was pizza at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Looking back on it now, it seems like a match made in heaven (or hell) for American children: build brain cells, and be rewarded with artery-clogging cheesy goodness. I’m sure Pizza Hut has only the best intentions, but surely there’s a better way to reward youth learning.
November 19, 2009
Building Broadway
Yogi Berra once said, “You can observe a lot just by watching.” It might seem obvious, but it’s something that tends to be overlooked in our fast-paced, on-the-go society. As winter rears its ugly head, the holiday season is here once again, and for many of us it’s difficult to slow down, both literally and figuratively. While we dash from warm cars into the grocery store, we miss a lot.
November 12, 2009
They need no recognition
Columbia’s bursting at the seams with successful people. From the triumphs of MU football and basketball coaches Gary Pinkel and Mike Anderson (though Pinkel and his team are currently in a larger-than-average dog house) to Mayor Hindman’s goals to make Columbia more bike-friendly (which got a national shout out in a September issue of Parade magazine), this town has a lot to be proud of.
November 05, 2009
CoMo Rising
Let’s face it: Not everyone is a morning person. Many of us would willingly waste our days by sleeping well past noon, but it takes a special kind of early-morning go-getter to start his or her day with a smile instead of a sigh.If you’re like me, you’re blessed (sometimes cursed) with an internal alarm clock that rarely malfunctions.
October 29, 2009
Matters of music and death
Nearly every night I’m treated to the sweet sounds of my roommate singing along to ’90s alt-rock, most notably Oasis, Goo Goo Dolls and Third Eye Blind. Well, I suppose you could call it singing. There’s also headbanging. And air guitar solos. And interpretive hand motions. Much in the same way William Hung captivated audiences with his so-bad-it’s-awesome rendition of “She Bangs” on American Idol, these nightly shows are painful yet endlessly entertaining.
October 22, 2009
Are you ready for some football?
There is nothing like game day in a college town. Although they are the most important, the three to four hours spent in the stands are only a small part of the experience. College football games are events that begin with an anxious murmur during the week and continuously build to an exhilarating crescendo at kickoff.
October 15, 2009
Chatty cabbies
If there’s a rulebook for taxicab drivers, odds are the first rule is never insult customers. It seems fairly obvious, but nothing is too surprising these days. In Dec. 2007, my now-roommate and I traveled to San Antonio with thin wallets and high hopes to cheer on the MU football team in the Big 12 championship game. We were greeted at the airport by Kelvin, a cab driver and self-proclaimed Mizzou football fan who strangely had no idea what game the team was playing in that weekend.
October 08, 2009
The importance of elsewhere
Last week, I took a trip to New Franklin to do some reporting for a news story. I knew very little about the town (with a population of just more than 1,000) except one of my sources taught school there. As I headed west on I-70 and eventually north past vast green fields and gravel roads, I felt a sense of anxiousness. I had no idea what to expect.
Twitter
Facebook
