Local St. Louis Metro Opinion

UNGER UPFRONT: Some memories stay fresher when they're on ice

Do you remember what you were doing 32 years ago tonight? Unless you were having a baby or turning 21 or hosting a big party for George Washington's 248th birthday, that's probably a stupid question. But let's see if we can jog your memory.

Feb 22, 2012 | 6:15 am | Loading…

Town Talk for Feb. 22

If you have a comment you would like to share with the Journal, call us and leave your message on the Town Talk line. Call (314) 744-5731 if you receive the South edition or (314) 965-7849 if you receive the West edition. Please confine your comments to matters regarding the local area. Town Talk…

Feb 22, 2012 | 5:45 am | Loading…

OPINION SHAPER: Warning: Doctor's offices can be hazardous to your health

I'm going to suggest that no one ever get sick because even when you're well, dealing with doctors' offices can be hazardous to your health. I've changed the names to protect both the innocent and the guilty.

Feb 22, 2012 | 12:00 am | Loading…

OPINION SHAPER: Calling timeout may be the healthy thing to do

I felt it coming on. That dreaded achiness that means your body has hit a wall and it's telling you to stop for awhile.

Feb 22, 2012 | 12:00 am | Loading…

FOX TALES: St. Louis' favorite question irrelevant to city schools

"Where did you go to high school?"

Feb 22, 2012 | 12:00 am | Loading…

Give the ultimate Valentine: Donate blood

This week, many around the world have taken the time to celebrate Saint Valentine's Day. While not recognized as a national holiday with banks, post offices and stock exchanges closed, most of us enjoy demonstrating our love, appreciation and affection to those near and dear to us with the gift o…

Feb 21, 2012 | 12:00 am | Loading…

UNGER UPFRONT: Living the right life at the right time

Most of you are probably familiar with "Forrest Gump," the story of a simple man who changes people's lives — and history — through a series of chance encounters and weird coincidences. At the end of the movie version, Forrest delivers a touching soliloquy to his dead wife at her gravesite.

Feb 15, 2012 | 6:00 am | Loading…

FOX TALES: Entertainment hotspots putter out

Jay Versen, an old South Sider, called to ask if I remembered the miniature golf course and driving range at Juaniata and Kingshighway.

Feb 15, 2012 | 12:00 am | Loading…

OPINION SHAPER: Technology can open road to fewer car crashes

On Oct. 21, 2011, a car accident killed a young woman near my home at the intersection of Dougherty Ferry and Des Peres Road when a taxi purportedly failed to yield to oncoming traffic while making a left turn.

Feb 15, 2012 | 12:00 am | Loading…

Town Talk for Feb. 15

If you have a comment you would like to share with the Journal, call us at (314) 965-7849 and leave your message on the Town Talk line. Please confine your comments to matters regarding the local area. Town Talk does not publish comments about national politics.

Feb 15, 2012 | 12:00 am | Loading…

UNGER UPFRONT: The finality of vinylity: farewell, record stores

You may have seen stories in the news last month about the closing of the venerable Webster Records. The music store with its anachronistic red-and-white sign was a fixture on the Lockwood strip in Old Webster Groves for almost sixty years, and its many long-time fans were saddened to see an era …

Feb 08, 2012 | 6:00 am | Loading…

FOX TALES: Who do you blame when things go wrong?

Most of us play this game. It is based more on emotion than reason.

Feb 08, 2012 | 12:00 am | Loading…

OPINION SHAPER: Karma and the cycle of life

Life has a tendency to hit you with some amazingly profound blows from time to time. A span of about six weeks has caused me to run the emotional and spiritual gauntlet from top to bottom and front to back.

Feb 08, 2012 | 12:00 am | Loading…

OPINION SHAPER: Pinning our election hopes on a lapel

As America hurtles toward the November 2012 presidential election, we can expect to be inundated with commercial after commercial extolling the strengths of each party's candidate.

Feb 07, 2012 | 6:15 am | Loading…

Vaccinations can prevent serious childhood illnesses

To the editor:

Feb 06, 2012 | 4:15 am | Loading…

UNGER UPFRONT: What's in a name might depend on its middle

If you're like most of us, there's probably a good chance you've made fun of a person's middle name at some point in your life. As an adult, such teasing is usually done with a modicum of good-naturedness — as in "Really? What were your parents thinking?" — but I have memories of mean kids gettin…

Feb 01, 2012 | 6:00 am | Loading…

Town Talk for Feb. 1

If you have a comment you would like to share with the Journal, call us at (314) 744-5731 and leave your message on the Town Talk line. Please confine your comments to matters regarding the local area. Town Talk does not publish comments about national politics.

Feb 01, 2012 | 12:00 am | Loading…

UNGER UPFRONT: Tales of kings and queens and lost diamonds

Do people still play cards? I mean other than poker or something online? When I was growing up, and actually for about the first half of my life, it seemed as though you could find card games happening all over the place.

Jan 25, 2012 | 5:15 am | Loading…

FOX TALES: Banging out column a noisy business

I took a course in typewriting at Roosevelt High School many years ago. I was not very good at it, but it got me through 33 years of working at three newspapers, The Daily Pantagraph in Bloomington, Ill., the old St. Louis Star Times and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Jan 25, 2012 | 4:15 am | Loading…

OPINION SHAPER: Humor me, I write cartoon captions

After raising three children to adulthood and after having had a busy career as a college professor, teaching English courses, I was very thankful for the opportunity to retire about six years ago. I taught at a university in Oklahoma for 33 years and spent a lot of time grading students' tests a…

Jan 25, 2012 | 12:00 am | Loading…

OPINION SHAPER: In Town & Country, it's always deer season

I've been through neighborhoods where I've feared getting shot, but I never thought that neighborhood would be my own.

Jan 19, 2012 | 12:15 pm | Loading…

OPINION SHAPER: Lightening up a weighty issue

The start of the new year is notoriously the start of self-improvement plans, especially weight loss. Yet weight is a touchy subject all year long. At least for women. Men don't seem to mind a little harassment about their extra padding.

Jan 19, 2012 | 12:00 am | Loading…

Town Talk for Jan. 18

If you have a comment you would like to share with the Journal, call us at 314-965-7849 and leave your message on the Town Talk line. Please confine your comments to matters regarding the local area. Town Talk does not publish comments about national politics.

Jan 18, 2012 | 7:00 am | Loading…

UNGER UPFRONT: Some memories are cheaper by the dozen

This week's column is a tale of love, lust, pleasure and passion — for doughnuts. Or as the sign-painting industry would apparently have us believe, "donuts." Warning: you may not want to read this is if you're hungry.

Jan 18, 2012 | 5:45 am | Loading…

OPINION SHAPER: A word of caution: No deep water

Growing up on the Dust-Bowl plains of northwest Kansas in the 1930s in the midst of depression and drought meant that there was no abundance of water at our disposal.

Jan 11, 2012 | 6:00 am | Loading…

FOX TALES: Think of spring and blow those post-holiday blues away

Do you have post-holiday blues or blahs?

Jan 11, 2012 | 12:00 am | Loading…

OPINION SHAPER: Father-daughter bonding sets the stage for life

I continue to marvel at the bond our three daughters have with their father. Their interactions are loving, respectful and irreplaceable. This is due to the wonderful job my husband has done in nurturing these critical relationships with his girls throughout their lives.

Jan 11, 2012 | 12:00 am | Loading…

Town Talk

If you have a comment you would like to share with the Journal, call us at 314-965-7849 and leave your message on the Town Talk line. Please confine your comments to matters regarding the local area. Town Talk does not publish comments about national politics.

Jan 11, 2012 | 12:00 am | Loading…

UNGER UPFRONT: New Year's inspiration from America's great lyrical poets

Have you made any New Year's resolutions? Maybe a more fitting question would be if you've broken any yet.

Jan 04, 2012 | 6:00 am | Loading…

OPINION SHAPER: The joys of cheap city living

I am a well-known spendthrift. My general motto is: "I like having stuff, I just don't care how nice that stuff is."

Jan 04, 2012 | 12:00 am | Loading…

Town Talk for Jan. 4

If you have a comment you would like to share with the Journal, call us at (314) 965-7849 and leave your message on the Town Talk line. Please confine your comments to matters regarding the local area. Town Talk does not publish comments about national politics.

Jan 04, 2012 | 12:00 am | Loading…

Letter: Strange Town Talk caller

To the editor:

Dec 28, 2011 | 12:00 am | Loading…

Town Talk for Dec. 28

If you have a comment you would like to share with the Journal, call us at 314-965-7849 and leave your message on the Town Talk line. Please confine your comments to matters regarding the local area. Town Talk does not publish comments about national politics.

Dec 28, 2011 | 12:00 am | Loading…

OPINION SHAPER: Can our children resist the lure of technology?

The other night I walked into my tweener's bedroom to say good-night and paused to chuckle at what I saw. My son, an avid reader, had strapped a head lamp to his forehead and was flipping through unseen pages of his new e-reader. I remembered when I was his age, sneaking a flashlight and book int…

Dec 28, 2011 | 12:00 am | Loading…

UNGER UPFRONT: Hoopy holidays to old high school sports fans

This week between Christmas and New Year's Eve represents a lot of things to different people, especially if you're a party planner or work at a store's exchanges desk. For many of us, it's simply a time to relax and catch our breath, maybe even finding time to play with our new toys.

Dec 28, 2011 | 12:00 am | Loading…

UNGER UPFRONT: Visits from ghosts of Christmas presents past

It's hard to believe that another holiday season has almost come and gone already. Didn't we just have one a few months ago? It's kind of scary, but all of those clichés about time going faster when you get older are apparently true, at least in my experience.

Dec 23, 2011 | 9:30 am | Loading…

OPINION SHAPER: Freewheelin' on The Fourlane

My grandparents left their home in Southeast Missouri and moved to St. Louis to seek their fortune working in the shoe factory. Thus it was that my parents made the trip to visit my grandparents in St. Louis at least two or three times each year.