History
A Black Friday Romp Through the Metro’s Shoplifting History
Not long ago a woman walked into an Oak Park Mall bath and body store carrying two shopping bags. She lingered for two hours, examining the scented candles. Then the phone of Detective Byron Pierce of the Overland Park Police Department buzzed. The caller was an employee of the store. “Everything okay?” Pierce asked. No….
A Better Big Blue Battlefield in Kansas City | Part III
Editor’s note: This is the final installment of a three-part series on the restoration of the Big Blue Battlefield in Kansas City, Missouri. The engagement on the Big Blue Battlefield was pivotal in the larger Battle of Westport, an October 1864 clash that effectively ended organized Confederate military operations in Missouri. As the years receded,…
A Better Big Blue Battlefield in Kansas City | Part II
Editor’s note: This is the second installment of a three-part series on the restoration of the Big Blue Battlefield in Kansas City, Missouri. In the mid-19th century, overland trail teamsters driving wagons west sometimes followed a branch of the Santa Fe Trail out of Independence, using the shortcut to reach fields where the animals used…
A Better Big Blue Battlefield | Part I
Editor’s note: This is the first installment of a three-part series on the restoration of the Big Blue Battlefield in Kansas City, Missouri. It was cold for late October in Kansas City. In 1864 Lt. Patrick Henry Minor, then leading an artillery battery against Confederate forces, would die the following March, from what likely had…
From Monasteries To Mainstream: Some Find Healing And Purpose Through Spiritual Direction
Several years ago, the Rev. Lisa Senuta, now an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Kansas, became the rector of a church on Chicago’s ritzy North Shore. But, she says, “about 18 months in, the place was just eating my lunch. I was having panic attacks, which was very unusual for me.” So she got…