opinion
UNGER UPFRONT: Looking for some history outside of the books
This week's column starts with a topical joke. Apologies in advance if you've heard it.
May 23, 2012 | 6:00 am
| (
Town Talk for May 23
If you have a comment you would like to share with the Journal, call us at our south phone number (314) 744-5731 or our west number (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 ab…
May 23, 2012 | 5:15 am
| (
FOX TALES: Column brings dinner invitation
It's a small world. How trite can you get?
May 23, 2012 | 5:00 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: Spell check has its hazards
I want to be upfront with you as you start to read this column. I was the runner-up in my 6th-grade spelling bee at Reavis Elementary School. I have always taken pride in my ability to spell words. More often than not I can just look at a word and determine if it "looks right," and I am usually c…
May 23, 2012 | 5:00 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: Herbicide a billboard company's best friend
In Tallahassee, Fla., Lamar Advertising Co., has been accused of killing trees that interfere with the viewing of billboard signs. According to a story on msn.com, one of those involved explained how you go about destroying a tree so no one suspects anything until it's too late.
May 22, 2012 | 6:00 am
| (
LETTER: Don't judge a movie by its quotes
To the editor:
May 21, 2012 | 5:30 am
| (
LETTER: Why subsidize outlet malls that want to locate in Chesterfield?
To the editor:
May 18, 2012 | 9:30 am
| (
Town Talk for May 16
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.
May 16, 2012 | 5:45 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: Thanks, Dizzy, St. Louis is great
In a column last fall, I mentioned my father's passion for telling stories of his youth in rural Iowa, some of which came out before his death in 2010. One such account was how, at the age of 10, he became a life-long Cardinals fan amidst a field of Cub fans.
May 16, 2012 | 4:45 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: Some advertisers deserve to be smothered with a mattress
People say things without thinking. To be sure, this generalization applies to me, too. I once had a teacher who enjoyed saying, "All generalizations are false, including this one." Still, as a whole, we say things that we often realize in retrospect, were foolish.
May 16, 2012 | 4:45 am
| (
FOX TALES: Life is one small adventure after another
Most of us live our lives made up of little adventures. For example, a woman in my neighborhood called the other day and told me she and members of her quilting club grew up around Meramec Street. She said they often talk about all the businesses and stores that they remember from Meramec Street.…
May 16, 2012 | 4:45 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: There's a lot to be said for staying gullible
I believe too much. Some people might think that, but I feel I believe just enough. Ever since I was little, I have been gullible. I think it is because I have always had a lot of trust in people. Sometimes it can make you look extremely stupid, but I believe that my gullibility has been to my ad…
May 10, 2012 | 6:00 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: Why men fail at movie criticism
I consider myself a qualified movie buff, not over the top, but I don't get bullied out of many movie conversations.
May 09, 2012 | 12:00 am
| (
FOX TALES: I'm true South Sider through and through
When we moved to St. Louis, friend wife wanted to look on the north side because it was cheaper. "No way," I said.
May 09, 2012 | 12:00 am
| (
Town Talk for May 2
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.
May 02, 2012 | 6:15 am
| (
UNGER UPFRONT: A new era of Mizzou football ... uniforms
You may have noticed stories in the newspapers or on TV a few weeks ago when the University of Missouri unveiled its new football uniforms. If you kept reading in the days that followed, you probably also saw the inevitable arguments of pros and cons for making the change.
May 02, 2012 | 6:00 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: Tropical nights run hot and cold for botanist
Throughout most of my career, collecting plants in the New World tropics, I have managed to avoid most medical problems, aside from dysentery and food poisoning.
May 02, 2012 | 12:00 am
| (
FOX TALES: Friend Wife's fall jars life for the Fox household
It is the unexpected that makes life interesting. Most of us live rather routine lives, up in the morning, get dressed, eat breakfast and off to work or other chores.
May 02, 2012 | 12:00 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: Let the women handle it
My youngest son, who is 20, informed me over his Christmas break that he may get thrown out of his dorm.
May 02, 2012 | 12:00 am
| (
FOX TALES: You're never too young to be a patron of the arts
My great granddaughter, Madison, is only 10, but she is already a patron of the arts. That is, live theatre.
Apr 25, 2012 | 12:00 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: Life's embarrassments become source of amusement
I have had my share of embarrassing moments. I find some of them amusing.
Apr 25, 2012 | 12:00 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: Citizens can step up to shape North St. Louis redevelopment
A close friend sent me an intemperate e-mail several days ago about the move to revitalize what he called St. Louis's "burned out" neighborhoods. His message was inspired by the report that McEagle Properties was trying to purchase 1,233 parcels of city-owned land as part of an $8 billion, two-sq…
Apr 25, 2012 | 12:00 am
| (
UNGER UPFRONT: Pros by any other name; thanks, whatever you are
One of the fun things about being a writer is getting to put a creative, positive spin on a description of something. Carefully chosen (or omitted) words can dramatically affect the way readers perceive the issue or person in question.
Apr 25, 2012 | 12:00 am
| (
Town Talk for April 25
If you have a comment you would like to share with the Journal, You may call the South Town Talk line at (314) 744-5731 or the West Town Talk line at (314) 965-7849 and leave your message. Please confine your comments to matters regarding the local area. Town Talk does not publish comments about …
Apr 25, 2012 | 12:00 am
| (
FOX TALES: Stores once nickel-and-dimed way to success
I keep remembering things that made my boyhood fun. Many are gone now.
Apr 18, 2012 | 6:00 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: Why we can't grade teachers on student test scores
Currently, lawmakers in some states are pushing to evaluate teachers based on their students' test scores. While everyone agrees that improving student growth is important, test scores don't always accurately reflect this growth.
Apr 18, 2012 | 5:15 am
| (
Letter: Rockwood School District needs to demonstrate fiscal responsibility
To the editor:
Apr 18, 2012 | 12:00 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: Healing political divisions a matter of heart and will
As we enter the countdown to election day, the Feb. 20 New York Magazine aptly called these next months "The coming tsunami of slime." As if the headline wasn't foreboding enough, the article said political destruction, aka advertising, would be the most negative in history.
Apr 18, 2012 | 12:00 am
| (
Town Talk for April 18
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.
Apr 18, 2012 | 12:00 am
| (
UNGER UPFRONT: What's more fun than a trainful of Monkees?
Many of us lost a little piece of our past earlier this year when Davy Jones, the former lead singer and designated tambourine-whacker of the Monkees pop-rock group, died after having a heart attack.
Apr 18, 2012 | 12:00 am
| (
LETTER: Child abuse is everyone's concern
To the editor:
Apr 11, 2012 | 6:00 am
| (
UNGER UPFRONT: It's April in St. Louis, so let the games begin
"It's baseball, Ray."
Apr 11, 2012 | 6:00 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: Early to bed was the rule; wealthy was the exception
"Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise!"
Apr 11, 2012 | 5:30 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: Try 'semi-veganism' to eat healthier
It's still early in the new year 2012 to make your annual pledge to eat better, although this concept may be more often reduced simply to "lose some weight".
Apr 11, 2012 | 5:30 am
| (
FOX TALES: Not all change is progress
Change is often called progress, but as far as I am concerned, it is not always progress.
Apr 11, 2012 | 3:15 am
| (
UNGER UPFRONT: Easter flowers fade, but chocolate lives on
Easter is almost here, and it's a season that means a lot of different things (or nothing at all) to different folks.
Apr 09, 2012 | 12:00 am
| (
Town Talk for April 4
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.
Apr 04, 2012 | 5:15 am
| (
FOX TALES: Remember your teachers; they shaped your life
I spent seven years on the Bayless school board and was impressed with the importance of teachers in our lives.
Apr 04, 2012 | 5:00 am
| (
Town Talk for March 28
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.
Mar 28, 2012 | 6:00 am
| (
UNGER UPFRONT: Do you believe in Peter Pan? And then what else?
Happy Peanut Month! March is almost over, but it's not too late to wish you an appropriate greeting of the season. Since 1974, March has officially been National Peanut Month, although its celebratory worthiness is probably overshadowed at this time of the year by stuff like basketball, spring br…
Mar 28, 2012 | 6:00 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: Forty feels like freedom
I will turn 40 later this month. I'm not really torn up about it.
Mar 28, 2012 | 5:45 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: Do children fly kites on computers?
Preparing and flying my kite was a ritual during my childhood. It was a rite of spring on warm and windy days.
Mar 28, 2012 | 5:45 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: Pinewood Derby delivers parenting reward
"How's it going in there?"
Mar 28, 2012 | 4:45 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: Lincoln with a penguin on his lap and a tomato on his head
I have run out of space. Every wall and hall in my home is filled. Every nook, corner and cranny is occupied. There's nowhere else to go unless I build an addition or finish-off the attic.
Mar 28, 2012 | 4:45 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: You can solve anything -- five minutes at a time
I may have come up with the solution to most of the world's problems. I call it The Five-Minute System. It is based on the premise that we can do most anything for five minutes, and, conversely, we can abstain from doing just about anything for five minutes.
Mar 22, 2012 | 12:00 am
| (
UNGER UPFRONT: What's a free lunch worth? You be the judge
Let's be honest: we've all done some stereotyping at one point or another, haven't we? Unless you're saintly noble and instinctively assume the best about people, it's hard not to be judgmental sometimes. If you're driving across the rural South and see a pickup truck with a gun rack and a Confed…
Mar 21, 2012 | 6:15 am
| (
Town Talk for March 21
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.
Mar 21, 2012 | 5:00 am
| (
OPINION SHAPER: Every season is a winner, but one more than others
Tis' the Season
Mar 21, 2012 | 12:00 am
| (
UNGER UPFRONT: Happy St. Patrick's Day from an Irish wannabe
At my relatively advanced age, it's hard to remember a time when I wanted to be older. We've all been there at some stage, though, when we envied our bigger friends and siblings who could drive, or vote or see R-rated movies.
Mar 14, 2012 | 6:00 am
| (
Xenon International Academy - Only $13 for a spa pedicure from Xenon International Academy! (A $26 value!)
