St. Louis

At first glance, there are some simple ways to identify a St.

Many people see nonprofits only as charities – the last hope for individuals in need.

I’ll probably get hate mail for saying this in a town like ours, but I've never been a big baseball fan. 

In St. Louis, that’s pretty much the equivalent of saying I hate America and apple pie. 

Don’t get me wrong – I have respect for baseball and even greater respect for the St. Louis Cardinals. There are so many elements of the sport I’ve loved since childhood – the history and the tradition and the camaraderie. I love the energy as the fans pour into the stadium and the good-natured ribbing of the Cubs fans who enter our midst. 

But the game itself, ehhhh. 

All these tornadoes lately!  Not to mention floods, earthquakes, nuclear meltdowns and blizzards (had to throw that in for my family up in North Dakota). The end-of-the-world folks have to be buzzing.

Usually I try to shield my kids from disaster stories. But on Friday our family happened to dine within sight of the TVs above a restaurant bar, and my 7-year-old spent the meal avidly reading news headlines about the horrible storms and tornadoes in the South. At that point the death toll was in the 200s; now it’s at 345.

He had a million and one questions. The trickiest for me to answer was why people didn’t go somewhere safe when they heard the sirens? 

Parenting is hard enough when both parents are in the same home. But when you are divorced or no longer with your significant other, it can make parenting that much more difficult.

Children often like to play both sides, sometimes pitting one parent against the other to try to get their own way, which can create havoc in an already delicate relationship. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

A few weeks ago we reported on the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Regional Competition. Under strict rules, time constraints and limited resources, teams of 25 students built a robot to perform tasks against a field of competitors. Students from more than 40 high schools in Missouri and eight other states battled their bots at the Chaifetz Arena in March. The top performing teams not only earned bragging rights but also a ticket to the preeminent celebration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) at the National Championships.

Luckily for us St. Louisians, the worldwide FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Championships are being held next week at the Edward Jones Dome.