The Regular Joe - April 2016

THE REGULAR JOE - IT’S FREE! - GRAB ONE!

Jay KernerPublisher/Daydream Believer

My friend, Sandy at the bank, always says the same thing when I stop in: “Well, I hear you have your big spoon out again.”

She’s referring, of course, to our habit of stirring things up (though she sometimes describes it a bit more colorfully when outside the bank).

I can’t argue. It’s sort of what we do.We just know a lot of folks. (Our friends are pretty evenly spread

between the high and low places.)And we pay attention. They tell us stuff we can talk about, and often

things we can’t.Sometimes we know things in the works, and have to sit on it for a

while. Those are the hardest.But we’re excited to finally be able to tell you about this one:ST. JOE IS GETTING A FREE DRIVE-IN MOVIE THEATER THIS

SUMMER!The only unfortunate thing about this is the timing. We realize we’re

announcing this in our April 1st issue and everyone is going to say, “Ha Ha, funny April Fool’s joke.” Except it’s not.

What it is, is a partnership between The East Hills Branch of the St. Joseph Public Library and East Hills Mall, who are working out the final details. We pitched the idea, and these two groups stepped up to make it happen.

For this first season they’re going to try it four separate Saturday nights, one each in May, June, July and August, with some specific tie-ins to other events.

The mall has sprung for a giant, 40-foot wide inflatable screen, and we’ll be experimenting with different locations on the property to see what works best. The plan right now is to start with the lot directly east of the library for their May 14th Premiere, then adjust accordingly, if they need to, for space. (We bet they have to!)

The Library will provide the restrooms and the Friends of the Library will run the Snack-bar.

As for us, we’re loaning them some equipment to get started and helping with the promo.

But let me make this clear. We’re not just talking outdoor mov-ies here. Other places do that. We’re talking about a real, sit-in-the-car drive-in. Unfortunately, a lot of younger folks have never experienced the difference.

Sure, you can bring lawn chairs. Plenty will, and a nice place will be arranged up front for that.

But we’re talking about a giant screen you can see from a really large, paved area. The sound is broadcast on your FM radio in your car. Some folks will bring boomboxes.

From our own years in the drive-In business, we know about the older folks who can’t park and walk far enough to go to an indoor theater anymore.

We know about the families with mini-vans full of little ones impos-sible to wrangle, and pocketbooks that require sofa spelunking for a trip to Redbox.

We also know a whole big bunch of folks that remember drive-ins in this town and would love to share that experience with their kids and grandkids.

Our East Hills Drive-In will be right smack in-between where so

many of us spent our summers back in the day (at the old Belt or Skylark Drive-Ins. And sometimes fight’n the skeeters at the Cowtown!)

Now about the movies. Our little committee considered everything. We looked at top 10 lists. We looked at genres. And obviously, for an event with no admission, we had to look at the prices.

(We’d hoped the library got them for free, but no dice!)So, after all the cussin’ and discussin,’ as my grandma used to say,

here is the movie schedule for this first season, and hopefully you’ll get the tie-ins we’re shooting for.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.I can’t tell you the names of the movies.I know, I know, but hang on. It’s part of the deal. You’ll be able to go

to easthillsmall.com or st.josephpubliclibrary.com pretty soon and find out, but noooooooo! Print and electronic media can’t. At least not unless you want to pay a whole lot more for the same films. (We don’t!)

What they will let us do, is describe it without using the actual name. So let’s see if I can nudge that line a little without stepping completely over.

Saturday, May 14th: To celebrate the kickoff of the St. Joseph Pub-lic Library’s Summer Reading Program, (this year’s theme is “Get in the Game”), we’ll be showing a mostly animated basketball movie starring Mike J. and Buggs B. that we’ll cleverly refer to as: Celestial Dunking.

Saturday, June 4th: In conjunction with East Hills Mall’s Incredible T-Rex visit that weekend, we’ll be showing last fall’s animated family film, The Nice Brontosaurus.

Saturday, July 23rd: We don’t have a tie-in exactly but we do have one of the all-time top drive-in movies.

We’re calling it, Shark Mouth.Saturday, August 27th: You probably know about the big Air Show at

Rosecrans that day. We’re inviting everybody to join us after, for maybe the best flying movie ever made. The one with Maverick and Goose. Wish we could tell you the real title, but maybe you can figure it out, when we call it Uppermost Firearm.

So there you have it, the 2016 Season of the East Hills Drive-In.We’ll see how it goes. If the demand is there we’ll consider expand-

ing it for the following year.We’re excited about this, and can’t wait to see those cars lining up

to get in when the gates opens. Kids throwing Frisbees. Dancing candy and hot dogs on the screen. The smell of buttered popcorn on the summer breeze.

We’ll be there with the grandkids, chillaxin’ under the stars. Hey, stir-ring is hard work dontchaknow?

Drive-In Theater Coming to East Hills May 14th

The Pony Express Farmer’s Market will be open Wednesdays and Saturdays East of Dillards from 7am-1pm starting April 23rd! Come see us!

Dear Joe,This year marks the 20th anniversary of the National Poetry Month, which

was inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in April of 1996. This event is the largest celebration of poetry as an important expressive literary art form in our culture.

In honor of National Poetry Month, the St. Joseph Writers Guild is holding a poetry reading at the Joyce Raye Patterson Center at 100 S 10th St. in St. Joseph at 1:00 pm on Saturday April 16th. We would like to invite the community to come to our April meeting to listen to and/or read original poetry and help us celebrate this national event.

For more information on the event, please email Julie Casey at [email protected].

Dear Joe,

The Regular Joephone 816-617-5850

www.theregularjoepaper.comemail us at

[email protected] mail us at

The Regular JoeP.O. Box 1304 St. Joseph, Mo. 64502

The Lucky Tiger 718 FrancisFirst Saturday with live music all after-noon. See flyer pg. 12

First Ward St. Joe Ave & GrandLive Music most week ends.

Eagles Lodge N. Belt Hwy.Live Country MusicMost Saturday Nights

Paradox Theater, 107 S. 6thMon Mar 21 St Joseph Big Band Jam! 7-10p

St. Joseph SymphonyMissouri TheaterChamber Concert with Arturo DelmoniYo-Yo Ma describes Delmoni as “an enormously gifted musician and an impeccable violinist. His playing style is unique, and his gorgeous sound is reminiscent of that of great violinists from a bygone era.” Also featuring:Rico McNeela, violin & violaCharles Badami, pianoSasha Groschang, celloApril 3, 2016 | 3:00 PMAshland United Methodist Church 2711 Ashland Ave. St. Joseph, MO 64506Tickets:Adults:$23 Students:$10saintjosephsymphony.org 816-233-7701

St. Joseph Live Music Highlights

Dr. Robert Corder

Hugh Glass was a seasoned mountain man when he signed on for a trip up the Missouri River in 1823 with General William Ashley, the purpose of which was to trap and trade for beaver pelts in the far reaches of the Louisiana Purchase. General Ashley, the presiding Lieutenant Governor of the new state of Missouri, was intent on making a fortune in the newly lucrative beaver fur trade. His partner, Andrew Henry, had proceeded up river in 1822 and had already established a post at the mouth of the Yel-lowstone River where it empties into the Missouri.

This 1823 expedition, consisting of about 100 men and two keelboats, would be disastrous for Ashley and harrowing for Glass. The opening scene of the movie depicts the massacre of Ashley’s men as they were trading with the Arikara Indians (nickname Ree) at their villages on the upper Missouri. Ashley had 13 men killed outright and another 11 injured, one of which was Hugh Glass. Ashley and his remaining men (several deserted after the attack) fell back to Fort Kiowa about 100 miles back down the Missouri and sent for help in the form of General Leavenworth who was commanding Ft. Atkinson near present day Omaha. His subse-quent adventure which attempted to chastise the Rees for their disregard of American lives and commerce is an entirely different, and somewhat comical, story.

That being the case, it was August, and Ashley needed to get at least some of his men into the field that year in order to recoup some of his losses. So, he dispatched Andrew Henry, who had come down river to help after the massacre, with several men overland to the post on the Yellow-stone. They had only a few horses so the men would have to walk. Glass was in that group when he stumbled upon a grizzly bear and her two cubs. Before he could shoot her, the bear began to tear him to shreds. Fortu-nately, two of Glass’ companions were able to subdue the bear, but “old” Hugh, as he was called, was hurt mighty bad. Glass, however, refused to die. For many reasons Henry couldn’t wait; so, he decided to leave two “volunteers” to stay with Glass until he could travel or until he died. The two volunteers were John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger.

The “volunteers”, who were offered $80 to stay with old Hugh, hung around for 5 days. They left and took all of Glass’ possessions with them. They reported later when they rejoined Henry that they had buried Glass’ remains. Glass still refused to die. He somehow managed to survive, eat-ing bark and berries and devouring whatever meat he could find from wolf and other predator kills. He then hobbled and crawled dozens of miles over the scrub plains of what is now South Dakota.

He eventually made it back to the Missouri where he met up with a small party of trappers also headed to the mountains to trap. Glass healed rapidly thereafter and in 3 weeks was healthy enough to begin scouting and hunting for that group. One day he surprised another war party of

Rees, and they set out after him in pursuit. He was saved by a friendly Mandan Indian on horseback who carried him out of harm’s way back to the Mandan village. Glass later learned that the Ree war party had slaugh-tered the group that he had been with thus narrowly escaping death again.

Glass decided to walk to Fort Henry 200 miles away where he could meet up with the group that left him for dead, especially Bridger and Fitzgerald. He made it to Fort Henry only to find that it had been aban-doned. He continued on to the new outpost on the Bighorn River another 250 miles from the mouth of the Yellowstone. It was with great astonish-ment to all when he walked in to Henry’s new encampment on New Year’s day of 1824. Most of that contingent thought him to be a ghost.

For some unknown reason, Glass forgave Bridger, perhaps because it was Bridger’s first time in the mountains. He wanted Fitzgerald. However, Fitzgerald had deserted several weeks prior and had headed back to Ft. Atkinson. In early spring Glass and 4 other men were sent to Ft. Atkin-son to deliver a message to General Leavenworth from Andrew Henry. They built a bull boat and floated down the Platte River. They pulled into a Pawnee village only to discover that they were actually Arikaras. Glass and two others survived. Once again he had defied death from the hands of the Ree’s. But, once again, he was on foot and only had a knife and his “possibles” sack.

He finally made it to Ft. Atkinson in June having spent time with the Sioux. However, he found that Fitzgerald had joined the army and was in uniform. This presented a problem for Glass because he would unlikely get away with paying Fitzgerald back for leaving him for dead the previ-ous September. Glass gave up his plans for revenge after General Atkinson forced Fitzgerald to return Glass’ rifle. He then decided to leave the fur trade and found work scouting for wagon trains on the Santa Fe trail.

Old Hugh eventually made it back to the Rocky Mountains where he was killed in the winter of 1832/33 by his old enemies the Rees.

Hugh Glass’s survival is legendary in the annals of the American West. The Hollywood version is, of course, a bit different than that of most ac-counts of his ordeal and subsequent search for revenge. The movie does take a few liberties with some of the known facts, but that does not take away from the heroic nature of his survival.

I think I would be remiss if I did not mention that our town, St. Joseph, was founded as a result of the fur trade. Joseph Robidoux founded a trad-ing post here in 1826. Joseph had been traveling the Missouri since he was 16, in 1799 or 5 years before Lewis and Clark. The Missouri River was the I-29 of its day. Almost all trappers and traders moved up and down the river until overland travel became more practical. Robidoux founded St. Joseph in 1843. He had his trading post on Indian lands until the govern-ment bought this part of Missouri from the Iowa, Sac, and Fox Indians in 1837, and it officially became part of the state.

THE REVENENT, THE “TRUE” STORY OF HUGH GLASS?

8

Mug ShotsSee anyone you know?Tell ‘em you saw their mugs in The Regular Joe!

Children’s Book Fair April 23

Tobiason Stained Glass Studio, 302 S. 8th St., St. Joseph, Missouri is hosting a book fair featuring local authors on April 23rd, 2016 from 1 to 4 p.m. with book signings, art projects, refreshments, and door prizes. The event is free and open to the public.

Sixteen authors, including Irene Alexander, Vashti Daise, Megan Marie, Mary Ebrecht, Donna E. Hart, Theresa Henson, Thomas Kirschner, Andrea Plummer, Kathy Hendricks, James Fields, Joan Reinbott, Kathy Blair, Larry Anderson, Melody Schaefer, Sharon Lea Larsen and Jill Hontz, all with Amazing Things Press of St. Joseph, will be launching their new releases. The books, which include thirty children’s books and one young adult book, will be available for sale with personalized auto-graphs by the authors.

There will be several art and literature activities during the fair as well, most offered for free. For just $5, visitors can make a fused glass art project.

Free popcorn and other refreshments will be available. Find out more at www.tobiasonstudio.com or www.amazingthing-spress.com.

When most of us in the Midwest hear the word, mushroom, we think of the spring time jewel, the Morel. Some may think of those button mushrooms on a pizza, or sliced up in your favorite salad. Anyway you consume mushrooms by eating or even drinking them, not only are they tasty but good for us in many ways. Believe it or not even the Morel has healthful benefits. Morels have many vitamins and minerals in them, like Vitamin D and Iron. The button mushrooms in the store also are a great source of vitamin D. Mushrooms will absorb even more vitamins if you set them in the sun for an hour before cooking them. But these familiar mushrooms are only two of the hun-dreds of medicinal fungi now known to us.

In places like Asia and Russia, mushrooms have been used as medicines for centuries. Only in the past ten years have Americans begun to use fungus on a broader range. Most people recognize that antibiotics come from fungus. But did you know that mushrooms can and do amazing things in our bodies? There are over 500 types of mushrooms seen as medicinal and used in either food or drink.

Some mushrooms are far too woody and dense to eat. For example, the Chaga mushroom. It is a growth on birch trees. It is necessary to grind it into a powder then add it to tea, coffee or juice. Some companies have made chaga capsules to be consumed that way. Chaga has been used to treat cancer patients and arthritis pain and inflammatory issues. It also has antitumor, antibacterial, antivi-ral, and cholesterol reducing properties.

If preparing fresh mushrooms is new to your culinary skills, you can now find many products online or in stores with mushrooms as an ingredient. Many detoxifying products have mushrooms as the main ingredient in them as well. Mushrooms like Chaga, Maitake (Hen of the Woods), Rei-shi, Turkey Tail, Enoki, Oyster Mushroom, Lions Main, Wood Ear, Birch Polypore and Umbrella Polypore are immune-enhancing and antioxidant boosters. Many of the mushrooms I just listed have been used to cure health issues from the common cold to cancers! If you go to the doctor with a cold, there is not much they can do about a virus but since Oysters, Maitake, Turkey Tail and Umbrella have both antibiotic and antiviral properties, your body gets help when consuming these mushrooms, no matter what! In conclusion, if you have an ailment, mushrooms have a cure. Many of these same medicinal mushrooms are simple to cultivate and very easy to find online. Knowledge is power, study your mushrooms and add more to your daily diets for better overall health. So make 2016 the year of the mushroom!

2016 The Year of the Mushroom by the Mushroom King

In her new book, Fortify Your Life, acclaimed integrative physician Tiera-ona Low Dog, M.D. makes a compelling case for supplementing our diets with different dietary supplements ranging from vitamins and minerals to enzymes and herbs. She says that rather than being a modern phenomenon as many commonly assume, supplementation has been something that traditional societies have always done. For example, when French explor-ers were plagued by scurvy in 17th-Century Canada, they were cured when given cedar needle tea by the native tribe. Scurvy is caused by a deficiency of Vitamin C, and cedar needles happen to be a natural source of the vitamin. Today, despite the convenience and availability of a vast food supply, many Americans, even affluent ones, may be deficient in certain nutrients due to a variety of reasons: aging, antibiotics, environmental toxins, lack of exposure to sunlight, use of prescription medications, and genetic varia-tions. That being said, it is not wise, Dr. Low Dog advises us, to willy nilly purchase a bunch of supplements just because we think we might need them. Most people can’t afford to waste money that way. In order to pro-vide our bodies with the nutrients they need and that we might be deficient in, she recommends working with our primary care physicians and health care providers as well as taking charge of our own health to determine if we need a particular supplement or not. How do we do that? Symptoms, Dr. Low Dog, says, can provide clues. Low energy, for instance, might indicate low iron levels, a marker for anemia, or a lack of B12, which is necessary for the production of red blood cells.Chronic diarrhea might mean that someone has taken too many antibiotics, resulting in the depletion of beneficial bacteria, that might be alleviated by supplementing with a probiotic. Depression might indicate low-levels of Vitamin D or Omega 3 fatty acids, both of which are critical for cognitive function. Symptoms, however can only provide partial answers. Laboratory tests ordered by physicians and other qualified health care providers, can pinpoint deficiencies more accurately. Nevertheless, Dr. Low Dog says that most of us ought to at least consider the following eight supplements to maintain good health: 1. Vitamin D3: It’s estimated that 90 million Americans are deficient in Vitamin D, the “sunshine vitamin” due to lack of sunlight in the winter and overuse of sunscreen in the summer. 2. Multiple Vitamin: Even eating a balanced diet today doesn’t insure that we’re getting all nutrients are bodies need. Studies have shown that the food today is significantly lower in certain vitamins and minerals as compared to the same foods 50 years ago.3. Vitamin K2: Recent research indicates that K2 is im-portant for transporting calcium (we absorb more calcium when we take Vitamin D) into the bone matrix and keeping it our of our arteries where it doesn’t belong.4. Magnesium: Over 300 biochemical processes in the body require magnesium and many of us are deficient in this critical mineral. 5. Turmeric: Inflammation is the common denominator in almost every chronic disease and this yellow spice is a potent antiinflammatory as numerous contemporary studies have highlighted.6. Omega 3 Fatty Acids: Another potent antiinflammatory, omega 3s, found in fish oil and plant sources such as wal-

nuts and flax are essential for the functioning of the human body and most of us don’t consume enough of them.7. Probiotic: The overprescription of antibiotics and consumption of them (through the meat of factory-farmed animals) upsets the “microbiome”-the balance of bacteria in the digestive system, which is important for both digestion and immunity.8. Digestive Enzymes: Eating too much cooked and processed food as well as aging, affects our digestive enzymes which we need to absorb nutrients from the food we eat. There are certainly other supplements that could be listed, but these are the big eight. Before spending a lot of money on dietary supplements, it is wise to consult with your primary health care provider as well as to listen to your own body be-fore you plan your dietary supplement budget. Yours for Smart Supple-mentation,

James FlyCertified Health Coach (Institute for Integrative Nutrition)

What Should You Take? Consider These Eight.... pg. 11

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by Jay Kerner

I’ve lived in several interesting places around St. Joseph, over all or parts of seven de-cades, but none with anywhere near the history of our present abode.

We purchased our two-story, brick Carriage House in the Cathedral Hill Neighborhood a dozen years ago now.

Built in the 1870’s, as the name might sug-gest, it was originally intended to house horse-flesh and the vehicles they powered. The second floor held the hay.

The little building sat conveniently, right outside the back door of the prosperous owner’s big house, at the eastern edge of a city rapidly expanding from the river in that direction.

When, sometime early in the 20th Century, “the horseless carriage” nudged its way into the picture, it created a boon for the glue industry and new housing options for the well-to-do’s domestic staff.

We’re guessing ours was converted to human quarters sometime in the early 1900’s, when the small upper and lower apartments were created.

Not long after, our Carriage House became a free-standing property of its’ own, when it was sold and separated from the big house.

The tiny postage stamp lot was only slightly larger than the footprint of the building on it, leaving but a narrow enclosed courtyard for outside space.

The former hayloft hadn’t had much need for natural light, so it was likely around the same time, when the structure’s most unique feature was added, in the huge skylight jutting from the north side of the roofline.

That’s pretty much how it’s stayed config-ured ever since, though we keep the connecting doors open between the upper and lower units to live in both halves.

The way we found it was kind of flukey. It was listed for sale, but so nondescript on the outside, that it gave no indication of what was within.

When we finally made it through the gate into the courtyard, we were instantly charmed. When we got inside, we were sold.

The angles. The hardwoods. The abundance of indirect light

It was a wonderful tiny house for a small fraction of what we’d spent for any of the last several we’d owned.

We kept it rented for a couple

of years as we started making plans to move in.

We finally woke up the first morning in the new place and realized we both had this weird sense of contentment. We just knew we were in exactly the right place for this time in our lives.

And it wasn’t very long at all till we started learning about the history of our new home.

There was an ancient piece of label-maker tape on the mailbox, painted over so many times that you couldn’t really read it. But I scraped off a few layers with a fingernail, until I revealed the name of a local attorney I know, a genera-tion my senior. When I happened to run into him downtown soon after, and told him where I lived, he put on the biggest of grins and started telling stories.

He’d rented the downstairs back in his wild, bachelor days, while a pair of crazy artists were in the loft.

He described those years as some of the happiest of his life.

He was also the first to tell me about the parties.

Turns out this is a party house! Always has been.

That first conversation has been followed steadily, by lots of others just like it.

I’ve talked to at least a half dozen people who’ve actually lived here themselves.

I’ve heard the names of numerous painters, who’ve made use of the skylight to illuminate their canvases through the years.

And the individuals claiming to have partied here some time or another, has to be well over a hundred. (And counting! We won’t be surprised if this piece turns up a few more.)

I can’t tell you how many times one of my older friends has grabbed me by the arm at some event, called one of his pals over and said, “Guess where this guy lives?”

I’ve heard about booze-fueled dance parties. I’ve heard about pot parties and

acid trips.Swinging and swapping and all kinds of

shenanigans.Even if only a fraction of these tales are

true, this tiny building has to be in the running for the most-parties-per-square-foot title.

And now, we’ve seen it ourselves a few times.

We’ve had a couple of small gatherings in our small space, where certain people, (most of whom know who they are!), were… uncharac-teristically…let’s say… way more boisterous than usual.

The place just has this cool energy. Like it’s filled with “the ghosts of good times past” or something.

I like to think of myself as the caretaker of the Carriage House. (Sort of like Jack Nicholson in The Shining, but without all the murder.)

I hope I do it justice, during my time with the keys.

And for any young reader out there, who may one day be lucky enough to live here, long after we’re dead and gone… well, … let’s just say that when the level in the liquor bottles goes down mysteriously, overnight, it just might have been me. And my friends.

Cheers!

Our Very, Very Fine House

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Approaching its 25th anniversary, the Great Flood of 1993 was one of the costliest natural disasters in the United States. According to Kenny Keiser, author of Missouri’s Great Flood of 1993, the damage caused by the flood totaled over 20 billion dollars with at least 10,000 homes destroyed and 50 lives lost. Mr. Keiser has served as a subject-matter expert for a new exhibit on the flood called Confluence: The Great Flood of 1993. The exhibit is the newest addition to the Wyeth-Tootle Mansion in St. Joseph, Missouri. A large team worked on the project, which has brought together technology experts, photographers, videographers, graphics and curriculum designers, historians, and, museum professionals. Mr. Keiser worked along with Mike Bracciano, meteorologist, TJ Peacher and Kasey Whitehead, conservationists, and Michael Gossenauer, river engineer, to complete this exhibit, which will be featured on the third floor of the Wyeth-Tootle Mansion.

What originally began as a commemorative exhibit morphed into a larger exploration of the importance of flooding to the area, as well as human attempts to control flooding, and how these interventions have affected the natural environment. According to Missouri Conservationists and the Army Corps of Engineers, 100% of Missouri River wildlife has been affected by humans narrowing the river and deepening its channel.

The interactive exhibit will debut an Augmented Reality Sandbox which will allow visitors of all ages to al-ter landscapes and create virtual rivers and floods. Some of the taxidermied animals that have been on display at the Mansion since the 1940s will be covered during the span of this new exhibit, but some old fa-vorites – such as the Squaw Creek diorama and the Fish of the Missouri and Missis-sippi Rivers exhibit – have been updated.

The opening reception for Conflu-ence: The Great Flood of 1993 will be held at the Wyeth-Tootle Mansion, 1100 Charles Street, on Friday, April 15 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The public is cordially invited and admission is free. The exhibit is funded in part by the Morton Fund for the Arts.

Confluence: The Great Flood of 1993

Mindi L. Phillips, Regular Joe NW Editor

My “day job” is running an arts center which, for one, provides children of all ages a place to cre-ate and express their artistic spirit. My official title

is “Happiness Facilitator.” Most times, I think I embody that descriptor. There is no feeling quite like watching the wheels turn in a child’s mind, seeing the look of satisfaction on their little faces as their imagination be-comes reality, and their dreams take shape, be it on paper or in 3D.

Children come into the Happy Place and go right to it: drawing, paint-ing, building. Adults, well, at some point in life many of us do this dirty, mean, nasty thing called “growing up.” We lose our sense of wonder and imagination. We don’t dream out loud. Imagination is used for coming up with tonight’s dinner or how to stretch a meager paycheck across a burden-some month. If we do have a job where creativity is required, it’s often for the sake of some “responsible” purpose.

This month, I am challenging myself to be more creative. Oh, mind you, with a difficult year or two behind me, creativity has been quite neces-sary, for everything from finances, career paths, and other “grown up” du-ties. But I want to be that wondrous kid again, that satisfaction crossing my face as I paint, draw, make, and do. I don’t intend to revert back to full-on childhood. No, not at all. I just want to reintroduce the fun and fulfillment

of being artistic to my daily grind, so that it once again becomes daily dis-covery.

As you look around this Spring and watch April showers bring on May flowers, watch the baby calves buck and run, and see the kids’ faces as they play and grow in the sunshine, let it take you back to wonder and excite-ment. Challenge yourself to make something new every single day. Doodle while you’re on a conference call. Paint the old chair on your front porch - don’t just spray paint it, but add a few flowers with a cotton swab and fifty-cent craft paint. Replace some old buttons with new, colorful ones. Take a class and learn a new technique if you can. Just do it, one thing a day, one step right back in time...

From the Desk of Joe Northwest

Northwest Missouri Section

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New And Ongoing Live Music & Events

ALBANY: 2nd Wed: Book Club, 10am (Carnegie Library)

BETHANY:Wed & Sat: Dungeons & Dragons, 5pm (Gamers Palace)Fri 4/1: Country Style Band, 7pm (VFW Hall) (TOP PHOTO)Fri 4/8: Country Style Band, 7pm (VFW Hall)Fri 4/15: Country Style Band, 7pm (VFW Hall)Fri 4/22: Country Style Band, 7pm (VFW Hall)Fri 4/29: Country Style Band, 7pm (VFW Hall)

CLARKSDALEFridays: Clarksdale Opry, 7pm (Hawman Center) (BOTTOM PHOTO)

FILLMOREFridays: Music & Dance, 7pm (Community Hall)

GENTRYFri 4/8, Ramblin Country Music Show & Dance, 7:30pm (Lions Club)Fri 4/22 Ramblin Country Music Show & Dance, 7:30pm (Lions Club)

GRANT CITYWednesdays: Jam Session, 6pm (Senior Center)2nd Friday: Potluck, Noon (Senior Center)Sat 4/16: Country Style Band, 6:30pm (Skating Rink)

KING CITY3rd Wednesday: Potluck Dinner (Senior Center)Last Monday: Pitch Tournament (Senior Center)Daily: Cards (Senior Center)Sat 4/16: Rock N Country Variety Show, 7pm (TriCo Visitors Center)

MARYVILLESundays: Northwest Opry Country, 2pm (Nodaway Co Senior Center)Sundays: Forney & Paxson, 7pm (Eagles Lodge Bearcat Aerie#3669)Tue 4/5: “What Matters?” documentary about extreme poverty, 7pm (Charles Johnson Theater)4/7-4/9: “Legally Blonde: The Musical”, 7:30pm (Ron Houston Center)

OREGONThursdays: Country Music Dance, 7pm (TJ Hall Comm Bldg)

SAVANNAHSaturdays: Savannah Country Jamboree, 6:30pm (Senior Center)

20 - NW Live Music, Events, & Festivals in NWMO

MARYVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY EVENTS FOR APRIL4/5-4/6, 4/8-4/9 Used Book Sale during open library hours.Thu, 4/7, “Drum It Up” Story Hour. 5:30pm. For ages birth to 6. Mon, 4/11, Book Club. Middle School 4-5pm., High School 5-6pm.Tue, 4/12 Minecraft Club. 6-6:45pm. Ages 8-13. Must register to attend.

Sat, 4/16 “Beer and Wine for Books” Library Fundraiser. 3-5pm. Tickets on sale now.Tue, 4/19 “Rainy Day, Splash” Story Hour. 6:15pm. For ages 3-8 Thu, 4/21 Lego Club. 6-7pm. Grades 1-5. Must register to attend.Mon, 4/25 “Misc. Monday” 4-5:30pm. For grades 5-12.

Mike Rockett, Jr.Middle Aged Hustle: Adventures in Motivation

Author’s note: The story you are about to read is true; the names and a few identifying details have been changed to protect privacy by special request.

Kids are known to be daring acrobats who sometimes end up with the strangest of injuries by simply being children. That gruesome bump

on the head or the foreign bruise on a leg can be scary looking, while the story of the injury itself can be humorous.

Jack was a middle-aged man who lived in a trailer park in southwest Texas, and it was one summer night that he answered an unusual knock at the door. There standing in his doorway was Dennis, his 6-year-old neigh-bor, the wunderkind with more energy than should be legally allowed a child. The boy was crying and bleeding profusely from his left arm. Jack was convinced the kid had fallen victim to one of those peculiar accidents.

Jack brought Dennis in and tried to calm him while tending to his in-jury. Of course when asked for an explanation Dennis was too keyed up to explain. Upon closer inspection Jack found a fountain pen jammed in the boy’s arm. Dennis was finally able to explain that his stepfather had held him up by his leg with one hand and beat him with his other hand. The pen that punctured his arm was in his stepdad’s shirt pocket.

Jack was absolutely mortified. He bandaged the boy up and walked him home. Jack con-fronted the stepfather and told him that if he ever hurt Dennis again he would “kill him.”

Satisfied that he had gotten his point across, Jack left. Yet Dennis knew that not only would this not help, it would only serve to escalate the violence.

Dennis was abused physically, emotionally, and sexually. As he grew into adolescence, his parents simply stopped providing for him. Food was scarce, and the purchase of clothes stopped altogether. He was forced to get his own job to feed and clothe himself. His mother (who her-self was routinely beaten) eventually discovered the boy was making money of his own. She demanded the money he earned, but Dennis re-fused, and was therefore beaten with a telephone cord. This carried on for the next few years un-til, for fear of his own life, he fought back. By the age of fifteen Dennis had moved out, secured representation (using his own money), and was legally emancipated.

You see, Dennis was in a catch twenty-two situation. Statistically he was destined to be the

very thing he was running from. Abusers create abusers in the children they abuse. Abused children run a high risk of psychological disorders, chemi-cal addiction, and intimate partner violence as adults.

At that time none of this was a concern to Dennis, who was just trying to survive. The reason I relay this story is because Dennis not only survived his abusive childhood but he used it as motivation to make himself better.

Today he is almost forty years of age and is about to accept a manage-ment position with a major media conglomerate in south Florida. He has two boys of his own, one that is grown and on his own and the other one is just about to enter high school.

Dennis endured many of the same struggles of life, made many of the same mistakes that we all do. And like any caring father, he is convinced that he wasn’t the parent that he thought he should be. Yet there was one de-cision that was never a struggle: he made up his mind that if he had children he would never replicate the violence and abuse he had to suffer.

Mike Rockett Jr. is a writer and photographer who resides in Northwest Missouri. He has a passion for fitness and bodybuilding. He seeks to share his motivational journey with others.

Editor’s Note: If you or a child you know are beingabused, contact National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453)or visit www.childhelp.org

Extreme Adversity NW - 21

Regular Joe is looking for your stories of Northwest Missouri past - your childhood memories, old traditions, favorite corner store...Photographs are also welcome. Email us at [email protected]

Northwest to present ‘Legally Blonde: The Musical’ April 7-9

MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University’s Department of Fine and Per-forming Arts, in conjunction with the Encore performance series, will present the Broadway hit, “Legally Blonde: The Musical” as its bien-nial student musical at 7:30 p.m. April 7-9 in the Ron Houston Center for the Performing Arts.

The fabulously fun, international award-win-ning musical is based on the “Legally Blonde” movie. It follows pink-loving, wealthy sorority president Elle Woods as she enrolls in Harvard Law School in an effort to win back her ex-boy-friend. After discovering her surprising aptitude and appreciation for law, she uses her new-found skills to defend a workout queen in a murder trial, defying the odds and proving that pink can save the day.

“This show is unique because it plays to a young crowd,” said Lauren Sveum, a senior vo-cal education major from Elkhorn, Nebraska, who plays the role of Elle Woods. “You can feel the college theme throughout the show. It’s very relatable, very modern, and I think students will laugh because they can relate to specific mo-ments.”

The production combines the collaborative efforts of Professor of Music Dr. Brian Lanier and Assistant Professor of Theatre Katheryn Bilbo.

“This show is fast-paced, very upbeat, with great music and lots of dancing,” Bilbo said. “I have a feeling that even if an audience member thinks they don’t like musicals, they will leave this one with a different opinion. I can’t imagine

anyone seeing this and not having fun.”Lanier added, “The level of musicianship

among the players is fantastic. I believe the combination of the talent on stage supported by great players in the pit will result in an incred-ible musical production.”

Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for stu-dents and senior citizens. They may be pur-chased at the Student Services Center, located on the first floor of the Administration Building between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Patrons wishing to order tickets over the phone may call 660.562.1212 and must have a valid credit card. Tickets may also be purchased

at the door beginning one hour before the show.The production is recommended for ages 13

and older.Sveum and other students involved with

the production build a range of skills, including teamwork, focus and commitment. The cast con-sists of 30 people.

“There are both music majors and theater majors in the show,” Bilbo said. “Each of them must be able to sing, to dance and to act. Rehears-als take a lot of time, patience and practice.”

Andrea Boswell, who works as assistant cos-tume designer to Assistant Professor of Theatre Stephanie Jorandby, also plays the role of Vivi-enne.

“Costume-wise, this is the biggest show I have ever been a part of, and it’s amazing to me to see the incredibly large amount of hands work-ing on different parts of this show,” Boswell, a junior theatre performance major from Corning, Iowa, said.

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Public invited to annual Evening of English Country Dancing

MARYVILLE, Mo. – The public is invited to celebrate Regency England during the sev-enth annual Evening of English Country Danc-ing, Friday, April 1, in the gymnasium of Hor-ace Mann Laboratory School, located in Everett Brown Education Hall at Northwest Missouri State University.

The evening will include dance instruction with dance caller Jerome Grisanti and dancing from 6:45 to 9:30 p.m. The event will feature live music, provided by fiddler Alice Boyle and

guitarist Robert Rosenberg.The event is free and sponsored by the De-

partment of English and Modern Languages. Participants are invited, but not required, to dress in period costumes.

“I will call dances ranging from before 1690 to dances written just recently, with all being ac-cessible to regular people,” Grisanti said.

Boyle and Rosenberg are members of the contra dance band STEAM! They play a variety of modern, old time, Irish and French Canadian tunes from around the world. They regularly lead jams and clogging workshops as well as perform concerts.

English country dancing dates back to the Renaissance and was popular during Regency period. English country dancing is often por-trayed in Jane Austen movies.

For more information, contact Dr. Jenny Ryt-ting, assistant professor of English, at [email protected] or 660.562.1741.

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Registration open for Technicolor Run for Can-cer at Northwest

MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University’s Student Senate and Student Activities Council will host their second annual Technicolor Run for Cancer from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 16, at the Raymond J. Courter College Park Pavilion.

The event is open to the public and all pro-ceeds will go to the American Cancer Society. Families are invited to participate in a two-mile color run, a 5k, a 10k, bike races and a carnival.

Pre-Registration closes at 5 p.m. Friday, April 1. Check-in opens one hour prior to the race start and closes 10 minutes prior to the race start. Indi-viduals who do not check-in, may not participate in the races.

To register visit www.nwmissouri.edu/stu-dentaffairs/ssenate/forms/technicolor.htm

For more information contact Student Senate at [email protected] or 660.562.1218, or Student Activities Council at [email protected].

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For more information about NWMSU events, visit www.nwmissouri.edumedia/

22 - NW “Legally Blonde”; English Dancing; Color Run

TRIVIA: Which actress originally played Elle Woods in the motion picture “Legally Blonde”?Like our “Regular Joe Northwest Edition” Facebook page and be the first to post the correct answer to win a large pizza from Benelli’s!

Rich PiperThere are so many things that each of us appreciate

about rural life that it is difficult to list them all. Yet, I suspect that for most readers, once they read “appreciate about rural life” their mind has been filled with images and other thoughts of the nice things about living and/or work-

ing in Northwest Missouri.Yet, in rural America, including the land of The Regular Joe, we have a

tendency to think less of ourselves because so many of our institutions are small. The small things may not compare well in the minds of urbanites; something that at times becomes contagious and infects rural folks. Or we only think of the limitations of the rural small, instead of the benefits of the rural small.

Yet, with regard to some of the seemingly most pressing concerns that are being expressed and reacted to within our nation, rural small America, to the surprise of perhaps some, or many, might actually be full of examples of what in urban big America is being attempted to solve problems.

Let me give you a few examples of how rural small isn’t ahead of the curve – it has actually been before the curve.

With the difficulties that arise from time to time in the non-rural cit-ies regarding crime and law enforcement, there has been a movement for several decades to what is often referred to as Community Policing. With recent urban big difficulties, it is receiving renewed attention. It’s a prac-tice of deploying officers in such a manner that they are connected to the neighborhood in which they police, and the neighborhood is thus hopefully connected to them.

Officers who basically work in a small area, live in or nearby, have one-to-one contact with citizens, participate in civic and social organiza-tions with that small section of residents, express a legitimate caring and concerned attitude toward the people they work for, view crime and other law enforcement issues as impacting themselves as well as the citizens they serve, have supervisors that are responsible to leaders in the community, and seek to set a positive example.

Not seeking to be Captain Obvious, but that is a fair description of: the less than a handful of folks who police the little village my wife and I live in, the state trooper who has lived for years in the community in which I teach, the sheriff’s Department deputies of both the county in which I live as well as the county in which I work…

Just a suspicion, but all of those folks, as well as those local, county, and often state law enforcement officers throughout Northwest MO, probably have more personal knowledge of, and connections to people, and schools, and groups, etc., than many an urban, large active patrol officer. (This gen-erally not being the officer’s fault but mostly the department’s fault!)

Personal and local, that is the way that rural small has generally always been. It is urban big that is trying to emulate us.

Now I confess that grumpy people are found in rural small, as well as urban big. But the difference is that, setting aside personalities, the person at the post office who is actually a customer as well as the postmaster, is sim-ply likely to have a greater reason to provide friendly, supportive customer service. The same with the city clerk, or the county tax collector, who not only works and lives within the community, but has kids in the same school as other citizens, probably goes to one of the four churches within that com-munity, eats regularly at one of the three (or less) cafes, reads The Regular Joe as others in the community do, and if he or she doesn’t know the name probably recognizes the face of most of the folks that come to them as a government servant.

Personal and accountable, that is the way that rural small has generally

always been. It is urban big that is trying to mimic us.Personalized teaching instead of standardized one-size-fits-all has de-

veloped into quite a concern in many of the urban big school districts. A recognition that applying only the science of education (researched learning strategies are applied to all, standardized tests fit all needs and provides all data, accountability is by test result, discretion is bad as all must be treated the same, etc.) has led to many expressed concerns when parents find that behavior problems are rampant in their child’s school, up to half of the stu-dents do not graduate from high school, and basics are intended for high ex-pectations instead of basics that are related to real life and real career, future training or education opportunities, and real citizenship and personal roles.

And where does the opportunity to practice the Art of Education, not just the standardized Science of Education still exist? That Art of Educa-tion, that recognizes that building a relationship often precedes learning, and that demonstrating real life applicability is helpful to encourage learn-ing, and that because students are individuals standardized lines (such as on a coloring sheet) do not always meet an individual students needs. In the Art of Education, lines are helpful, but they are not restrictive to the greater purpose of helping students to desire to learn, and to learn.

Personal and practical, that is the way that rural small often has been. It is urban big that tries to imitate it with such efforts as Charter Schools and smaller class sizes.

Recycling, Reuse, Repurposing are a continuing concern within many of the folks of urban big. There is a recognition that many human activities result in unnecessary waste of resources. And there are many humans in urban big.

Every year, crop land is reused, sometimes intentionally repurposed so it can be restored. Talk to a rural small teacher and he or she will likely be more than glad to give you a list of items that can be used science experi-ments, art, geography, or a variety of other learning activities. Where it be in one’s house, a school, the street department, or elsewhere, getting by with less, making it stretch, repairing, and reusing is a fairly common cycle in rural small - long before giving an item up for recycling takes place.

Re-creation of neighborhoods is also a big endeavor in many a urban big setting. Who would have thought that building up, and in compact fash-ion, wasn’t the most neighbor-encouraging. Likewise, why would anyone think that renters would not have as much concern about maintaining their residence, let-alone their neighborhood, as folks who have made a financial investment. Or, surprise, crime matters. (My apologies for being “snarky.”)

Well, it is sometimes true that in a rural small community everyone does seem to know everyone’s business. However, in order to be that way, everyone has to know everyone. In other words, they have to be neighbors by relation rather then neighbors by location.

Personal and relational, that is the way rural small has always sought to be. Urban big is trying to create something that it diminished to near oblivion, but rural small has been able to maintain.

So, let’s build up our rural small esteem a bit by recognizing that in some very important areas “we’ve got it” and urban big wants to copy us.

Rich has spent most of his adult life living and/or working in small, ru-ral communities in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri, including several long stretches in Northwest Missouri. Rich chooses to spend most of his week-day, daytime hours teaching students science, and other things, in Union Star. He also chooses to spend his Sundays, and some other occasional time, with the good folks in Cainsville. You can reach Rich at [email protected] with comments.

Have You Noticed How Urban Big Copies Rural Small?

Joe NW Classifieds24 - NW

MugShot

Jay B. Claywell

It was an interesting thingto be in a bookstorewith him.

The altered state came almost immediately,it was hard not to notice the happeningof it.

It was an electricitythat changed,charged his large frame,

making him almostmountainous.

For just a minute,we were all blokes who liked books,

but he became a book-buyer/booksellera few paces pastthe threshold.

When he spotted thatone treasure, that particularhardcover,perhaps a first-edition, he proclaimed it’s value forthwith.

With his eyes wide,a sidelong grin,he dived into the pages,inhaled deeplythrough his nose.

Continuing,he examines the tome fastidiously,expertly announces the novel’s value at thrice what the shopkeeper is asking

and advances to thecounter.

Soon after, we left that shop,each of us weighed down with brown paperparcels.

Stowing those,we then soughtsmoked gouda,beef sandwiches,and potatoes fried in duck fat.

It was time for lunch.

*

-JBClaywell©P&ZPublications; 2016For my good friend, Hans. He’s more important to me than he realizes.

Buying Books w/a Bookseller NW Music- 25

APRIL is...National Humor MonthInternational Guitar MonthKeep America Beautiful MonthLawn and Garden MonthNational Poetry MonthNational Pecan MonthNational Welding MonthRecords & Info Management MonthStress Awareness MonthSexual Assault Awareness Month

WANTED: Aspiring writers to submit short stories, articles of general interest or

NW Missouri content.Email us at [email protected]

Photo submissions are also welcome.

YOUR AD HERE!Contact us for rates on display and classified

ads. We strive to support independent and small business people in the NW Missouri community

by providing competitive rates!816.596.0701 or

[email protected]

26 - NW Joe NW Classifieds

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Northwest Missouri Dining

By Shannon Bond

How do we balance work, family, fitness, and everything else? Many of us make checklists. We map the day out in our minds, and as we are slogging through our morning workout, we’re thinking about work, the clock, or the next task on our list. While this may be an efficient approach to project manage-ment and great way to work toward fitness goals,

when we approach our existence as a schedule, we often lose sight of the moment. In other words, we aren’t present for our own lives. Cultivating this behavior also takes us away from our physical bodies and as health-minded people, it’s important to be in tune with our bodies.

Our society has all kinds of definitions for disorders, but we rarely attempt to define “healthy” as it pertains to the mind and body. While it undoubtedly varies from person to person, a guiding principle is balance. Instead of how to accomplish everything, maybe the question should be, what is healthy? Some eastern philosophies define this balance as the Middle Way, and some psychologists, such as Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson, authors of The Whole-Brain Child, compare this balance to floating down a river. One riverbank represents rigidity and the other, chaos. When we live by the task list, without acknowledging the present moment, we are floating toward rigidity. In this frame of mind, schedule deviations and missed workouts are stressful. We are hyper-focused on our

long term goals, and see the day as a set of tasks. These tasks and those goals start to define us. This is the rigid shore.

On the other hand, when we plow ahead without rhyme or reason, with no goals or mindfulness in the moment, we are drifting toward chaos. On this shore, we ride the roller coaster of our emotions and have no schedule to balance us. Only in the middle of the river can we find peace. Floating in the middle, we are present to experience our life and be in tune with our body and any changes that it experiences. We are present for our child’s birthday, the amazing salad at lunch, or even the fifth meeting of the day (that’s a hard one). We have goals, but are not consumed by them. Only when we are able to slow down and attend to the moment are we aware and thankful. The hardest part is working this into practice.

It is a practice because life is not static and our behavior must be cultivated every day. As we do this, our brain continually remaps its neural pathways and develops us into the people that we want to be. Maybe, it is a ten-minute meditation session in the morning, or mindful stretching after the morning run, followed by another at lunch, and one more right before bed. It is surprising how short sessions of being present will help to integrate awareness into the rest of our day. And, maybe that goal and that ironclad schedule will begin to loosen its grip.

Floating In The Middle

Movie Review

Irrational Man by Lisa Erdman

One of my favorite actors of my generation is Joaquin Phoenix. He did a little Woody Allen movie last year that wasn’t a hit at the box office called Irrational Man. I checked it out this week and absolutely loved it.

IRRATIONAL MAN is about a tormented philosophy professor who finds a will to live when he commits an irreversible act. Abe Lucas (Joa-quin Phoenix) is at rock bottom emotionally, unable to find any meaning or joy in life. Soon after arriving at his new job, Abe strikes up a friend-ship with his best student, Jill Pollard (played by the lovely Emma Stone). Pure chance changes everything when Abe and Jill overhear a stranger’s conversation & Abe makes a decision that will change the course of both of their lives.

The chemistry between Emma Stone and Joaquin Phoenix is fantastic - and if you are a fellow Phoenix fan like me, you will not be disappointed. He portrays vulnerability like no other actor in his time, & somehow makes every woman want him.

There is much to be said for just “getting by” in life - losing the desire to go beyond our comfort levels. I see it all the time when I talk with people about being a dream chaser. They look at me a bit lost, I can see them think-ing “what is she talking about?” While few people would go to the lengths Abe Lucas goes, most people do day-dream about changing their path. This movie does a brilliant job of showing us just how far some will go, the risks we are willing to take, and what we are capable of doing to keep our secrets safe and sound.

While Irrational Man may not have been a hit with the box office, it was a hit with me.

Irrational man is rated R & is now streaming online, or available on DVD or Blu-Ray.

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