This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Aug. 31, 2012 - Dear Beaconites - Politics has dominated our homepage lately, and for good reason. But politics is only one course on the St. Louis menu. This week, the Beacon focused also on several people who give our community its complex and unique flavor. Some examples:
- Gail Cassilly. Five excerpts from her autobiography, featured in the Beacon, recount a string of extraordinary experiences. They include her stint as a nun in Africa, her development as an artist and her life with and without the late Bob Cassilly, her ex-husband. The book is full of surprising perspectives -- on herself, St. Louis and human nature. Life is made of contrasts, she told Beacon arts reporter Nancy Fowler. "Beautiful shiny gems and crushing sorrows: You kind of only get one with the other."
- The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Preparing for a four-city European blitz, the musicians treated St. Louisans to a preview Tuesday. Knowing music from a recording is like knowing a painting from a reproduction, maestro David Robertson told Beacon associate editor Bob Duffy. The orchestra is eager to share with Europeans what St. Louisans get to experience throughout the season. Bob has arranged his personal vacation so that he can cover the tour without burdening the Beacon's budget. Look for his dispatches next week.
- Sara Sitzer. Coincidentally, the Beacon's Voices section included another perspective from this St. Louis cellist and chamber musician who now lives in Chicago. No amount of practice, however necessary, can provide the inspiration she gets from the connections that electrify a performance, she wrote.
- Normandy High School alums and the student cast of "Dreamgirls." Our "Seven Nights in July" project has been exploring how this musical affects and reflects larger issues. In Normandy, as the latest video chapter of the project shows, alums stepped up to help the production, and barriers of race, age and perception broke down.
Highlighting the flavor of St. Louis life is one way the Beacon delivers on our mission, one way our journalism helps power a better St. Louis. It's also one way the Beacon differs from some other nonprofit news organizations that focus more narrowly by topic or geography. This week, the Beacon earned recognition from our peers. We are a finalist in two categories for awards from the Online News Association, the largest organization of its kind in the world.
This marks the third of four years the Beacon has been chosen as a finalist in the General Excellence/small category, and we're honored to be on a list that includes such luminaries as "Frontline." The Beacon also is a finalist in the category of explanatory reporting for "Class: The Great Divide," a project that looks at the ways class shapes individual and collective prospects and problems. In other recognition, the Beacon also learned recently that we will receive the Missouri Bar’s Excellence in Legal Journalism Award for coverage led by William H. Freivogel.
Politics and public issues are the meat and potatoes of civic life, and we're proud to make them the main course of Beacon coverage. But people are nourished as well by the varied talents, insights and inspirations of fellow St. Louisans. The Beacon was pleased to highlight some of the richness of our region this week, and to be recognized for work that embraces the full flavor of St. Louis.
Sincerely,
Margie