My perceptions of St. Louis before: a Midwestern town, slightly boring, not that beautiful. Also: baseball, beer and an overly grandiose and somewhat unnecessary Arch.

My perceptions now: well, the baseball, beer and Arch are obviously still there, but it turns out St. Louis isn’t boring at all. Nor is it ugly. It is rolling and green, with more parks and hills and lakes than Oklahoma City could ever hope to have. Its history is fascinating, from the 1904 Worlds Fair to the second-winningest baseball team in history to an entire area of the city being molded and shaped by two German immigrants with a beer company.

St. Louis World's Fair

St. Louis is distinctly Midwestern yet once had all the class of New York or Chicago, and it still shows in the architecture and neighborhoods. At one time, St. Louis was actually the U.S.’ fourth largest city. Its heyday was at the turn of the last century when almost 20,000,000 people visited the 1904 World’s Fair, and remnants of that major event (the St. Louis Art Museum and the 1904 Flight Cage at the St. Louis Zoo, for example), still dot the cityscape.

A side note: this is probably a huge offense to any native St. Louisans (if that’s the correct demonym), and may be totally unfounded based on only a day and a half of surface-level observation, but St. Louis seems to me to be an eerily similar, Bizarro-Chicago.

Old Courthouse, where Dred Scott sued for his freedom

The two Midwestern cities have similar industrial histories. They both hosted a historic Worlds Fair. They both were centers of their own distinctive styles of blues and jazz. Both cities are baseball crazy and are home to some of the most storied and historical franchises (unfortunately, the St. Louis Cardinals have been way more successful than either Chicago team). I kept thinking that if I looked at this red city (red seemed to an over-arching theme, from the Cardinals’ team colors to the red brick buildings all over downtown) through a blue lens, I would just see Chicago (memories of Chicago are always blue in mind, and not just because of the Cubs or Bears). I hope that makes even the slightest sense.

And with that, I leave you with some pictures of places we visited in this great city. Visit if you can, and never overlook it.

1. The Arch

Duh. A symbol of St. Louis for 40+ years, this was a no-brainer. It really is impressive. The park underneath made me feel like I was at the National Mall. Its history, as a memorial to Manifest Destiny and Westward Expansion, is interesting. The ride up, in Jetson-like spacey egg cars, was claustrophobic but fun. And the view is indeed spectacular. I’d only do it once, but it was worth it.

2. Busch Stadium

While it would have been even better to see the original Busch Stadium, and though I was betraying my family by venturing into Cardinals territory, you really haven’t experienced St. Louis until you’ve experienced Busch. The stadium is beautiful, especially from behind home plate with a panorama of the skyline. This city is baseball-crazy and the fans are wild. My favorite part was when they booed Cincinnati second-baseman Brandon Phillips at every at-bat because of a fight he started over a year ago.

3. St. Louis Zoo

This is truly one of the best zoos I’ve ever been to. The theming is exotic, the animals are super-close to you but have great habitats, and it’s free. The standout exhibit for me was the penguins – and not just because I wildly love penguins (I really do). Their habitat was open so you could be less than a foot away from one without any glass holding you back. If you’re a zoo-lover, this is a must see.

4. Pi

Delicious Chicago deep-dish pizza? Check. So good, it’s the favorite of POTUS? Also check. That’s right, Barack Obama loves Pi Pizzeria‘s Chicago deep-dish pizza so much that he, a Chicago native no less, is willing to claim a St. Louis chain as his favorite and is rumored to occasionally have it shipped to Washington. That’s practically blasphemy. Our verdict: it really is that good. I can see why Obama would give up his Chicago-cred just to have it.

5. St. Louis Art Museum

I have to say that St. Louis truly surprised me on this one again. This museum looks and feels like one you’d see in New York or even Europe, and its contents do not disappoint. All the greats were there, from rare Monet’s to some great Rodin sculptures. And their rooms full of Asian artifacts were possibly even more riveting. Also, the building is one of only two still surviving from the 1904 World’s Fair. Well done, St. Louis.

6. Forest Park

And last, my favorite part of St. Louis. Which is funny, because it’s only a park. Maybe it’s because I feel somewhat park-deficient in Oklahoma City a lot, but this massive green space in the middle of the city was a breath of fresh air. It really felt like Central Park, what with its trees, ponds, fountains, sculptures, magnificent buildings, joggers, bikers, picnickers and kite-flyers scattered throughout. Forest Park holds the Zoo and the Art Museum, as well as a science museum, a theater, a botanical garden, and probably way more that we missed. This, more so than any other aspect of St. Louis, made me the most jealous. But it also made me that much more excited for OKC’s future downtown park.

The impressionist painted 250 images of water lilies in his career.

A select group meant to provide insight into Monet’s methods will be on display in St. Louis starting October 2nd.

Three of the series’ works were painted as a set that stretches 42 feet. The three works will be displayed together for the first time in more than 30 years.

Copyright KMOX Radio

You can have fun and help out those in need by bringing some canned goods for the St. Louis Area Foodbank.

On July 8th, you can catch Breakfast at Tiffany‘s beginning at 9pm. Get more details at slam.org/filmseries.

You can have fun and help out those in need by bringing some canned goods for the St. Louis Area Foodbank.

On July 8th, you can catch Breakfast at Tiffany‘s beginning at 9pm. Get more details at slam.org/filmseries.

Ian Monroe is currently showing work inspired by the modernist archictecture of St. Louis’ Lambert Field Airport as part the St. Louis Art Museum’s Currents series.

There are crocodile sculptures, funerary statues, duck-head vases, a pelican head…frankly it was a bit overwhelming because almost every piece has a rich mythic backstory and is executed with fine and complicated detailing. The whole time I was mesmerized by geometric configurations, stories of gods emerging from sharks, the idea of a cosmic turtle, and just how lovely a bloodletting ritual could be. Honestly, I need to go back to take it all in more fully. But I’m running out of time because the show is only in St. Louis until May 8…and then the world ends in 2012.

But it wasn’t until I hit the show’s gift shop that I became a true sucker. Usually I fly right past all the goodies laid out to tempt museum goers, but not this time. Delicately placed on a pedestal at the front of the store was a basket of adorable three-legged ceramic pigs from Chile called chanchitos. The name comes from the diminutive of chancho, which is a word in parts of Latin America for “pig” (both the four-legged version and the guy who your mother always warned you about). Normally the word chanchito refers to a piggy bank, but the chanchitos at the art museum were ceramic art obejects made in Pomaire, Chile that are exchanged between family and friends as good luck symbols. I was smitten and had to have one. And personally, I don’t think there is a luckier or more attractive swine than the one my wife and I picked out of that sales basket. (Though this Facebook page would take issue with us.)

Chanchito con sus nuevos amigos

Bringing our chanchito home made me do a little more investigation into Pomaire. The village is about 60 km west of Santiago and is home to some really amazing potters and pottery studios. It is also famous for its almost two-pound empanadas. My goodness, it’s almost lunch time and I’m ready to book a flight to Chile right now! (Here’s a great blog about the cuisine of the village and how to cure any cooking vessels you might buy there on a future trip.)

(Five-minute video en español on pottery arts in Pomaire).

Over the course of the semester, our class has ventured into several different realms of public history, from podcasts to documentary films.  One sphere of public history that we didn’t have a chance to cover in this course is that of art museums. As an undergraduate, I dedicated a great deal of my time to studying art history as well as studio art, and even though I am obtaining my Master’s degree in Historical Studies, the influence of art is still in the foreground of my thoughts.

I have unfortunately heard some of my classmates say you can’t learn as much from visiting an art museum as you can in a history or science museum. I could not disagree more! There is so much more to an art museum than looking at oil paintings and thousand-year-old clay pots. Art museums are an excellent way for the public to understand cultures of the past because they display pieces of art that are not only worthy of technical artistic talent but also because they are infused with meaning from that time.

Tomb at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is a perfect example of history (even if it’s not technically a history museum!) Inside the museum visitors, can walk through a real Egyptian tomb, or an abbey of a medieval church, or even the living room of a Frank Lloyd Wright house. These visual and physical experiences engage the visitors with the objects, allowing them to feel like they are actually in that time period.  This is a way the museum brings history to life; instead of reading what it’s like, visitors get to experience it first hand.

Another example can be found in our own backyard at the Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM).  While there is not an ancient palace room to walk into, SLAM’s current special exhibit, entitled Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea, teaches the history of the Mayan culture through art and artifacts. For instance, visitors learn that the ancient Mayans believed that water, and therefore rain and the ocean, was the source of life, and they illustrate the symbolic power that they believed water had on the objects they used in day to day life. Through this exhibit, the museum offers the public an insight into an ancient culture by means of connecting everyday objects and ornamentation to their belief in life-giving water.

While art museums are sometimes clustered into their own category of fine arts, I believe they are an integral part of public history. They provide the public with a different perspective on history by telling a story through art and material culture.  While art museums are a great resource on artists and artistic styles, they are also another avenue to explore history.

After the trip home, I returned to Missouri a few days early to take a sever storm spotter training class. We’re required to attend a safety class outside of the normal university meeting time for one of my gen ed classes. Storm Spotter Training in Missouri is…well…intersting. These hillbillies lose it. It’s like Christmas for them, so not only was it educational, but a great time to people watch. (But that’s a whole different story.)

My boyfriend, Andrew and I have been trying to celebrate our one-year anniversary for quite a while. The plan was to go to St. Louis as a mini-vacation. I have only been to St. Louis once, but it was night time and I was young enough to not remember. Our Anniversary was January 23rd, and we just got there this weekend, over 2 months later. It wasn’t for a lack of trying on our part. The first time Andrew scheduled his leave and the trip as a surprise, but it was right in the middle of my finals week, so we had to cancel. The next time we made reservations, the Air Force screwed us over and put travel restrictions on us due to “impending blizzards,” so we had to cancel yet again. (It never snowed a single flake, by the way.) The last time we scheduled our trip, Stoli got sick with an advanced bladder infection and upper respiratory infection, which set us back $225 in vet bills. Fourth Time’s a charm, I guess.

The trip was not all a walk in the park. I think someone was trying to keep us from getting to St. Louis (we apparently didn’t catch on after getting turned away 3 times!) When we left Warrensburg the forecast called for light snow with little to no accumulation. Things were fine until we switched drivers about 2/3 of the way there. I started driving the last part of the journey as as soon as I did, all Hell broke loose. It got mega snowy and icy in a heartbeat. There we lots of cars and semis in the ditch. I was driving 40 in a 70 mph zone and passing cars like they were standing still.

View from our balcony of the snow

We made it to our hotel safely, but they didn’t get our room right. Although the room wasn’t what we had reserved, it was still really very nice. The hotel was full–there was a plastic surgeon convention staying there and they must have gotten everything mixed up room-wise.

We didn’t bring swimming suits or anything to do in the hotel as we didn’t figure we’d be there a whole lot other than to sleep, but with the blizzard-o-death outside, we were sort of stuck on ideas of what to do. We explored the hotel from the pool to the cigar lounge. I wanted to take pictures, but andrew wouldn’t let me. Something about already being totally out of place…( I would have liked to have seen all the old rich American Royalty getting their mustaches in a bunch over it.)

The snow calmed down a bit once the sun went down and we decided to hit the city. Andrew’s dad had suggested a nice restaurant downtown by the arch called Mike Shannon’s. We dressed up and decided to give it a try

(I didn't take this photo, but I wanted to show what the restaurant looked like.)

I had filet mignon and Andrew had the prime rib. It was amazing! After supper we explored the city a bit, but it was still nasty out, so we headed back to the hotel and watched some TV. We called it in early as we were both really tired.

The next morning we got up and headed out for lunch. We originally stopped at a BBQ place, but the line was ridiculous as it had been featured on the travel channel and voted best BBQ in St. Louis. We settled for a T.G.I. Friday’s near where we had eaten supper the previous night. After that we headed over to the arch.

We got to the arch at around 12:30. They were ALREADY SOLD OUT OF TICKETS FOR THE REST OF THE DAY! We weren’t able to do anything other than look around on the main level. Andrew and I milled around the museum and walked the campus outside the arch and then headed out. The original plan was to go to the zoo, but it was only in the low 40′s and was very windy, so we decide against that. Instead, we went to the St. Louis Art Museum. I had been to the Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City a fair few times and decided that I’d like to see what St. Louis had to offer. I was surprised that Andrew wanted to go too. Normally getting him to go to anything cultural is like pulling teeth (for lack of a better idiom.) When we got their, we found out to my dismay, they had gotten rid of ALL their photography! I like looking at paintings and sculptures, but photography is pretty much the whole reason I go to art museums. We spent about an hour looking around. I love taking andrew to the modern abstract art. Rothko and Jackson Pollak make him want to beat up hippies.

We decided to head home after the art museum. It was nice to be back in Warrensburg and to see Stoli again. All in all we had a really good trip, despite all the hiccups. I’d like to go back and visit St. Louis again as there were many things we didn’t get to see and do. We both really enjoyed our very belated anniversary. It was great to get out of warrensburg and see the world (even if it is still in Missouri!)

After a long day of dancing on Friday we all decided to take Saturday morning and afternoon off from the ballroom. John picked my mom and I up at our hotel in the morning and we set off for the St. Louis Art Museum. Navigating the highways in the city can be a bit confusing at times, but we eventually found the museum after pulling over in a rather run down and abandoned portion of town in order to get the GPS working.

The St. Louis Art Museum is free, which is awesome. Sadly the food in the cafe is not but we were hungry after grazing the night before between heats the day before. My favorite exhibit was the European art from the Middle Ages. I was extremely thrilled to walk in and see a wooden statue of the Virgin and child that had been on my art history exam that Thursday. I was also very excited to discover that the museum has a small collection of Iznik tiles and plates. I fell in love with this type of glazed pottery during my time in Turkey this summer.

Perhaps one of the most entertaining moments of the day was when John discovered in the corner of a large, beautiful painting of the inside of St. Peter’s at the Vatican a floating head. Seriously, it’s in the lower left corner of the painting behind another figure. So he mentioned it to one of the staff in the gallery. She kindly pointed out that it was quite easy to see the pattern on the floor through the other figures in the painting, but on further inspection she too noticed that the child (that’s what we think it is) has no body. She was a little taken aback by this revelation and informed us that she will always notice it from now on when she does her rounds through that room.

We had so extra time after we finished at the museum before the events at the St. Louis Star Ball that night, so we took a short drive down the road in Forest Park to the St. Louis Zoo (which, like the museum, is free!).

I was surprised to see how active all of the animals were. I suppose it may have something to do with the fact that it was really nice outside and it has been a rather harsh winter. So if I were an animal at the zoo I suppose I would be really excited to be outside too. The penguins where having a lot of fun swimming by all of the small children with their noses pressed to the glass.

However, I think the chimps stole the day. One decided to eat its own excrement much to the disgust of the crowd gathered around the enclosure. Many couldn’t tear their eyes away from the scene and, as a result, John, my mom and I were serenaded by a chorus of ewwwws all the way to the orangutans.

And, of course, we had to make sure we stopped at the elephant exhibit – they are John’s favorite after all.

My mom and I in Forest Park, St. Louis

The traditional image of us with the elephants at the zoo

 The U-S Attorney in St. Louis filed a complaint today seeking the forfeiture of the death mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer.   The complaint alleges the mask was stolen at the time it was imported to the U-S., and that the lack of a record showing the lawful transfer out of Egypt constitutes circumstantial evidence for its theft.

An attorney for the Art Museum was unavailable for comment.  

Last month,  attorney David Linenbroker filed a suit seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the U.S. government from seizing the 32 hundred year old mask, which remains on display — at least for now — in the basement of the Art Museum. 

Copyright KMOX

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the suit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis.

The museum claims the U.S. government is trying to seize the Ka-Nefer-Nefer mask and return it to Egypt. But the museum says it has legal rights to the mask it purchased from a New York art dealer for $499,000 in 1998.

Egypt officials have claimed the mask was stolen in the early 1990s from a storage room near a pyramid.

The suit claims there is no proof the mask was stolen. It also claims that the statute of limitations has expired for any seizure.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press

in keeping with my post about making evangelism primary, and everything else secondary, I am going to the museum to hand out tracts, Lord willing engage in conversation, and with a secondary goal of looking at some pictures someone drew and painted a long time ago.

In case you couldn’t tell, I am not an “Art guy”… My idea of art is a drawing of Batman sitting atop a gargoyle in the rain.

in any case this is a call out for prayer for tomorrow, divine appointments, and courage. Thanks!!

If you click on the photo, it should be background-ish size.

In keeping with our “boy” theme, as well as continuing to learn about real people, on Friday we focused on Squanto, in Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving. This is a beautiful book, because of the way the author makes parallels between Squanto being sold as a slave, and the same thing happening to Joseph in the Bible. It is easy to see God’s hand in way the whole Thanksgiving story unfolded when reading this story.

We also read another book in the “If You…” series: If You Were at the First Thanksgiving. There is some overlap between this book and the Mayflower story, but there is enough detailed information to make it worth it. The question and answer format continues to be popular, and I look forward to using more of these books in future unit studies.

Our craft for the day was a Pilgrim boy to match the Pilgrim girl we made on Thursday. They can both ride in our paper plate Mayflowers, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they also hunt the turkeys we’re going to be making next week!

This was also field trip day–we went to the St. Louis Art Museum to view their pre-Columbian and Native American art collections.