My semi-regular blog documenting the fun and excitement of traveling along the Mississippi River.
Langston Hughes (1936) Here's a treat I want to share today. NPR and Codeswitch asked artist Afua Richardson to create a piece to illustrate a favorite work of art. She chose to illustrate the Langston Hughes poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers. You can see what she created here. But wait, there's more! Open
Okee Dokee Brothers Congratulations to the Okee Dokee Brothers (aka Joe Mailander and Justin Lansing), who won a Grammy Award on Sunday for Best Children’s Album. In the summer of 2011, the Minneapolis-based duo spent a month canoeing down the Mississippi River from Lake Itasca to St. Louis, using the trip as inspiration
Levon Helm passed away last Thursday at age 71.I have only become familiar with his music in the past few years. I'm sad that we've lost his musical gifts and regret that I never had a chance to see him perform. Others have already written eloquent tributes (such as this one), so let me just
If you've never listened to the show Radiolab, now is a good time to start. Most of their shows focus on emerging topics in science, which may sound dry, but they present their topics with very engaging storytelling. The most recent episode is a great example of this. Robert Johnson is a legendary, nearly mythical
Does St. Louis have a food identity?
I must be quickly descending into grumpy old man-hood, because it seems that virtually any show I see anymore on the Mississippi River is disappointing. Wild Mississippi on Nat Geo Wild is just the latest effort that made me cranky. Narrated by a poor man’s Sam Elliott (is that accent real?), the basic narrative for
