Cape Girardeau History and Photos

December 24, 2014February 25, 2021

English Word Problems

After I wrote about Dreaded Word Problems and the nightmares left over from math class, Anola Gill Stowick commented, “Ken, you have given rise to that huge lump in my throat that I thought dissolved sometime in my 40’s. Seriously, these look like the word problems our 5th grade granddaughter brings home when we’re babysitting overnight. I don’t do math, I only do English.”

Well, I’m glad Anola has such fond memories of high school English, because I happened upon this English pocket reference guide at the same time I found the math books. I must have held onto it as my form of throwing salt over my shoulder to keep the elephants away. (To see what that means, go to the bottom of this post.)

Experimental English

I was in what much have been some kind of experimental English class. We learned unconventional names for the parts of speech. All I remember was that one of them was called a “2-ing word.”

I don’t have a clue a 2-ing word is, but it must have been important enough that it stuck with me.

Looking at the book, I can figure out that “subject” probably meant “noun,” and “predicate” might translate to “verb. Once we got beyond those basics, though, I was in the weeds.

“Predictive Nominatives (sometimes divided into Predicate Noun and Predicate Pronoun)” is NOT an English phrase I can ever recall using. Maybe SOME folks would divide those things up, but I was basically, “can’t we all get along?” kind of guy not prone to either long or short division (because that sounded too much like math class).

You can click on the photos to make them larger if you REALLY want to revisit those days. Anola, I’m talking to you.

This REALLY made me tense

Pages 22 and 23 made me tense, and it’s not because it “indicated the time of the action.” My head was swimming with Present Perfect, Past Perfect and Future Perfect tenses. I mean, what made them so all-fired perfect? Can’t we get by with Pretty Close Tense?

Item 108? I didn’t even know we were ALLOWED to conjugate when I was in high school. That must have been what the kids in the non-2-ing word class were up to.

I got decent grades in writing

The crazy thing about it was that I got good grades in English when it came to actually writing stuff, and I worked on newspaper copy desks where I had to whip reporters’ stories into readable form.

If I kicked back a story, I didn’t tell the reporter that he had an incomplete throckmartin in the story about the couple caught conjugating on Cherry Hill; I’d just say, “This doesn’t make any sense. Please rewrite it.” It would come back with the throckmartin in the right place, then Rich Renfro would spike the story because “The Missourian doesn’t run stories about people conjugating.”

My writing style was – and is – to string together a bunch of quotes, then drop in a transition sentence or two from time to time to tie them together. I write like I talk, which causes debate coach and speech teacher Ruby Davis to whirl in her grave because I still type “warsh” from time to time.

I’m taking a break

I don’t watch a lot of TV, and when I do, it’s whatever I’ve set the TiVo to record or it’s streaming video. Last night when I went in to unwind, it dawned on me that everything that had been captured was a rerun – some that went back as far as 2010.

The networks are running old shows because nobody is sitting around watching TV at this time of year. My traffic stats show a similar dropoff on the blog, too.

I haven’t missed a day of posting in over a year, and that includes when I’ve been on the road trying to get a weak Internet connection in some No-Tell Motel. I need a break so I can figure out how I’m going to tackle some ambitious projects in 2015, and there’s no better time to do it than when you are distracted by friends and family.

I may post some reruns between now and the first of the year so you don’t go into withdrawals (and so Mother doesn’t nag me about slacking off).

I want to thank those folks who have used the yellow Donate button at the top left of the page. I appreciate your support and wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

December 22, 2014

OK, It’s REALLY Christmas

This has been a strange Christmas season. Even Mother, when I called her Sunday night, said she’s having a heard time getting into the spirit of the times despite having her Christmas decorations up.

Maybe we’ve all been traveling so much lately that we’re needing recharging more than celebrating.

Still, Wife Lila came home from shopping today with something that convinced me that it really IS Christmas. She gave me two boxes of chocolate-covered cherries. I’ve associated those with Christmas ever since I was a kid.

One thing for sure: a chocolate-covered cherry can find a cavity faster than a dentist with a fresh x-ray. After I finished off the cherry that sacrificed its life for art, I was glad to report that I am cavity-free.

You can click on the photo to make it large enough to make your teeth hurt.

December 22, 2014May 4, 2021

Top 13 of 2014

#1 – Dancing in the parking lot

That’s a headline that’s going to drive Wife Lila crazy. She HATES it when I tell her I’m going to take a 19-minute nap or set my alarm for 9:32.

I learned a long time ago if you fill out your expense report and round stuff off to even 5s and 10s, you are more likely to get it kicked back than if you say, “Breakfast – $3.97;” “Lunch – $6.43;” Dinner – $16.22.” Mileage should never be 100 miles (even if it was); that sounds like an estimate. Make it 98.7 miles and it’ll sail right through.

She complains when I set the microwave for 2:22 to make popcorn, but I’ve found 2:25 produces some burned kernels, and 2:15 leaves a bunch of orphans behind. It’s all about precision.

Since everybody else does Top 10 lists at this time of the year, I thought I’d find out what the 13-most read posts were in 2014. Interestingly enough, some oldies floated to the top of the heap.

The most-viewed post this year was the 2010 account of the Teen Age Club dance that set the floor bouncing and caused it to be moved to the bank parking lot at Broadway and Main. You can click on the photos to make them larger if you want to see if you were there.

# 2 – 43 years of Cairo photos

A 2011 post of 43 years of Cairo photos slotted in as Number Two. The sad thing is that even most of these buildings have disappeared since the picture was taken in 2010.

#3 – The house in a hole

Readers kept asking me about the “house in a hole,” which ended up as the third most-read story. I ran these photos made earlier, and promised I’d tell the rest of the story later.

The next time I was in Cape, I knocked on the door and was given a complete history of the home and how it got tucked in between commercial properties and the Interstate, but she asked that I not publish it. I’m respecting her wishes. Sorry to disappoint you.

#4 – Dino’s Pizza is doomed

It was a sad day when a fire closed Dino’s Pizza in 2011. These pictures of the last days of Dino’s were taken in May of 2014. A follow-up showing the empty lot where the pizza joint once stood didn’t make the top 150.

Sounds like we’d rather remember that which was there rather than that which is gone.

#5 – Photographs of Smelterville

People still come back to look at a 2011 post I did of Smelterville residents I photographed in 1967. I posed the question, “Where are they?”

I’m happy to report that I’ve been successful in locating almost all the families of those pictured. I’ve produced three “works in progress” books, and am editing video interviews I’ve done with some of the folks who lived there. It’s been a rewarding project.

#6 – Jo Ann Bock’s book

Jo Ann Bock’s book, Around the Town of Cape Girardeau in Eighty Years plows a lot of the same ground I do, but decades apart. She was getting married (1950) just about the time I was getting born (1947), so we’ve viewed the town through different lenses.

By the way, a lot of you have ordered her book through my Amazon link, we both thank you for that. Click here to order your copy of Around the Town of Cape Girardeau in Eighty Years.

#7 – Town Plaza Shopping Center

A photograph of the Town Plaza Shopping Center that ran in the 1962 Girardot drew 20 comments from readers who remember when the Town Plaza was a Big Deal.

#8 – Ruth Ann Seabaugh 1947 – 2012

The dictionary could save a lot of words by just putting a photo of Ruth Ann Seabaugh next to the word “Majorette.” This gal from the Class of ’65 knew how to dominate a street. What I didn’t know until her daughter contacted me was what an extraordinary woman she grew up to be. If you missed the story the first time, it’s worth a read.

#9 – Purple Crackle becomes The Pony

A 2011 story about the Purple Crackle’s transition into “the ultimate strip joint” continues to attract readers and comments.

Even Mother said “I’ve danced there.” I’m assuming she was talking about in the old days when she and Dad would go there and not recently.

#10 – Crash on Independence

It was amazing how many Cape Girardeau landmarks and cultural icons showed up in a simple three-car crash at Independence and Henderson. The photos capture a simpler time when the whole neighborhood would turn out to speculate, estimate and ruminate about exactly what caused the vehicles to try to share the same space at the same time.

As I pointed out in a comment, “Estimates of how much it would cost to repair the damage would be exchanged. Skid marks, the dirt that falls from a vehicle at the point of impact and broken glass would be analyzed by people who were probably as good as most investigators of the time.

“Of course, the fresh crash would cause past crashes to be brought up and compared in detail.

“Any injuries would take the excitement to the next level. That afternoon, everyone would rush to pick up The Missourian to find out how many mistakes they made in their account.”

#11 – Blechle’s Grocery

Posts about neighborhood groceries are always popular. Blechle’s Grocery was no exception. Some readers documented shenanigans that are, hopefully, outside the statute of limitations.

#12 – Founder of McDonald’s killed in crash

Jerry Davis died in a plane crash in 2003. Mr. Davis was not only the founder of Cape’s McDonald’s, but he also owned at one time or another some of Cape’s best-known restaurants: Royal N’Orleans, Ricardo’s, Shakey’s Pizza and Pfister’s Drive-In.

#13 – Those are SOME Cheerleaders

A photo from the annual CHS student-teacher basketball game. It contains some the hairiest-legged cheerleaders Central ever fielded. For cheerleader fans, the post contains 10 links to other cheerleader stories and photos.

Honorable Mention – Randy Morse

This post finished just out of the money, but I just had to include Randy Morse, 1947 – 2014. He and his escapades, including a trip to Florida in a hearse, were well-remembered.

Shameless plug

I want to thank those folks who have used the yellow Donate button at the top left of the page. I appreciate your support and wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

If you celebrate something else (or nothing), I’m still going to send you Best Wishes.

December 21, 2014January 7, 2015

The Dreaded Word Problem

$Math book$ Let’s get this out of the way first: I was a lousy math student. I could, with some tutoring from Friend Shari and Dad, grasp the concepts, but I was too interested in debate and photography to waste time (from my perspective) doing the homework.

Geometry was even a bigger bore: I mean, why bother “proving” stuff that had already been “proven.” Come on, let’s plow some new ground here.

We had soft-cover books

$Math book 2$ We folks in the Class of ’65 had “proof” books of the Concepts of Modern Mathematics. They books were printed on regular 8-1/2 x 11″ paper and had a pink heavyweight paper front and back with some kind of black tape binding, if I recall correctly.

By the time Wife Lila’s Class of ’66 got there, the book was a real hardback with Grace Williams’ name on the flyleaf as an author.

Misses Williams and Rixman were good teachers and extraordinarily patient with the likes of me. I mentioned to Shari one day not long ago that I was sure they gave me a higher grade in their classes than I deserved.

Her theory was that if they thought a student had the potential to accomplish something if they ever pulled their act together, they’d cut them some slack rather than give them a low grade that might torpedo their chances to go on to college. I’m not sure I was THAT pitiful, but I appreciate them giving me the benefit of the doubt.

Wife Lila was more diligent

$Math book 5$ My pink-covered books are lost in a box somewhere in my storage shed, but Lila’s are out on a shelf in plain sight. You can tell from her notes that she took the class seriously. (And, seriously enough that she bought the books at the end of the year.) You can click on the images to make them larger, by the way.

This is a management problem

$Math book 3$ The problem read, “Mary and Jane complete a typing task together in 3 hours. If Mary types for 2 hours and Jane 4-1/2 hours, they complete the same task. In how many hours could Jane complete the task working alone?”

Well, this sounds more like a management problem than a math problem.

Is Mary a Chatty Cathy who distracts Jane from her typing duties, which would mean that Jane would be faster alone.
Is Jane a supervisor, who is helping Mary learn the job, so she has to do the work of two?
If Jane is that slow, shouldn’t we fire her and hire another Mary?
What if Jane is the only one in the office who knows how to make good coffee or clear the jam in the copier, and she’s constantly interrupted?

Don’t even get me started on all the unlisted variables in the touring group problem at the bottom of the page.

Who cares how high the tree was?

$Math book 4$ Problem 8 says “During a storm a tree is broken and falls with its tip touching the ground 24 feet from its base. If the top part makes an angle of 30 degrees with the ground, what was the original height of the tree?”

Who CARES how tall the tree was originally? It ain’t never gonna be that tall again.
If I’m going to climb up the trunk to determine the exact angle, why don’t I just measure the stump, then say, “Hey, Joe, catch the end of the tape and tell me how far it is to the tip of the tree.” Height of stump plus the distance from the stump to the tip of the tree equals the original height.
Of course, you’re going to take a productivity hit for the time you take to answer Joe’s question, “Hey, boss, why’d you do that?”
While I’m up there measuring the height of the stump, I might as well drag along a chainsaw to whack off the widowmaker.
If I do that, I don’t even have to throw the tape to Joe: I can just say, “Joe, cut those pieces up into four-foot lengths, then let me know how many there are.” See, simple math, I get the truck loaded and I don’t have to explain anything to Joe.

Maybe THAT’S why Misses Rixman and Williams held out hope for me: they saw me as a budding practical mathematician, not a theoretical one.

Or, more likely, they didn’t want me to repeat their course.