Semo.net Weblog

Perhaps certain people are instinctively well-suited to the soldier’s life. Perhaps some such individuals are aware of this suitability early on. But even after 22 years of service, First Sergeant Jeffrey Pennington, 1137th Military Police Company, Missouri National Guard, remembers having sensed no such calling as a teenager at Neelyville High. “When I was in high school,” he says, “I had no desire for military service. I was more interested in computers”.

So how did Pennington find himself in the National Guard? “In the mid-’80s, during the Reagan administration, there was a serious anti-communist ideology spreading through the country,” recalls Pennington. “The news media, television, movies all painted a picture of ‘the red threat’.

“At the time I saw that as a very serious threat to our way of life. I thought, ‘Hey! Somebody’s got to do something about that.’ And that’s when I decided to join.” (more…)

Semo.net will be closed on Sunday, October 28 for a staff event. We will re-open for normal business hours on Monday, October 29 at 6:00 AM.

Information. We’re awash in it. Info sources are vying for our attention at every turn. But for people who are looking expressly for information on Poplar Bluff and its goods, services, and happenings, there’s a one-stop cache of resources you’ll want to check out—that’s the Poplar Bluff City Guide online.

This ambitious website is filled with material on local businesses, dining out, healthcare, current events, leisure, real estate, and other topics linked to quality living in Poplar Bluff. Too, the Guide boasts a strong creative, user-centric element, inviting reader participation in everything from writing content to establishing photo galleries. (more…)

He was reared in the Episcopalian tradition, and he knows it well. It is easy for him to acknowledge the role his church has played in his personal and cultural growth from birth. That is why, of all the religious traditions he has come to find wanting over the years, this one holds a special place in his heart. He declares it “my own ‘Thing That I Don’t Believe In’”, as opposed to the many other Christian assemblies and world faiths to which he feels no connection at all.

Growing up in Poplar Bluff, he visited churches with friends, perhaps less in a pointed quest to find a spiritual home, and more in search of the answer to three key questions which continue to intrigue him even now: “What do they believe?”, “How do they express it?”, and “Why?” to both.

This information technology worker is of the generation weaned on “personal” gizmos, uniquely troubled pop divas, gravity-challenged trousers, and the lightning pace of information transmission and tech development. What they can conceive requiring a computer, an entertainment module, or a handset, they can bring into play with ever-increasing speed and sophistication. There is little in the prevailing culture encouraging them toward anything other than well-wired lives of large-scale consumption. (more…)

Rosie Glass leans back in her swivel chair behind the counter and does a leisurely spin, scanning the expansive yet crowded space that is G & R Back Forty, the new hunting supply shop she and husband Gary just opened on Highway 53. Glass says she’s got more camouflage gear than she has places to store it, but says “that’s the way you buy, then you can pass the savings on to someone else”. Glass may be engaging in shop talk at the moment, but overall, she is simply holding court; a few friends are seated nearby, and the atmosphere is one of ease and good cheer.

Glass and her husband have opened their doors in good time for hunting season, but at G & R, you’ll find supplies and equipment for fishing, camping, and hiking as well. (more…)

National Geographic has released a story about the newest dinosaur found in Argentina. This 4-story-tall plant eating creature was found among a treasure-trove of various fossils.

The story can be found at National Geographic.

There’s a woman I know who agreed to share her thoughts on the state of television today, but only on condition of anonymity, since she doesn’t care to field questions on the subject in the future.

An English teacher whose family roots go back to the 1930s in the Poplar Bluff area, this woman claims to have loved television growing up. At dinnertime, her family would “gather around the set to watch The Lucy Show” and other programs of the day. Gunsmoke, Barnaby Jones, and The Carol Burnett Show were favorites. When she names All in the Family as a beloved program, I point up its often-controversial subject matter. “Look, we didn’t feel like only Sesame Street counted as good t.v. Mom felt like Archie Bunker was smart, funny, responsible t.v., and I agree”.

Back in the 1970s, she says, “People weren’t snatching eyeballs from their sockets on the cop shows. They weren’t studying blood-spatter patterns in college dorm rooms”. When reminded that there is clearly a booming market for the kind of drama to which she refers, she responds, “I know, I’m just not in it. I mean, I never learned how to enjoy these kinds of images with family and friends”. (more…)

Ever wonder what valedictorians do once they’re let loose on an unsuspecting world? I’ve always liked to think that they bring the energy and focus of their youth to adult life in such a way that innocent bystanders might be inclined to catch the fire and be invigorated by it. Documentary filmmaker and journalist Dianne Becker—yes, the valedictorian of her graduating class at Greenville High School in 1977—has kept the momentum going full force. And yes, she has managed to shape life and career in a way that invigorates, and empowers, many around the globe.

After having taken a degree at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, the one-time KFVS reporter began rising through the ranks in newsrooms from Missouri to Rhode Island. “People told me, ‘You’re too nice to be in journalism’. I thought, “Nobody can tell me I can’t do this’. But there really is a sort of ‘weeding-out’ process involved,” Becker says, asserting that in the end, ‘the stubborn probably do make the best journalists”. (more…)

I had a meeting Saturday here in Poplar Bluff, which brought me face to face with what appeared to be the Mother of All Poplar Bluff Street Jams—the 14th Annual Fall Arts Festival/Art on the Run blowout, spilling forth along the historic red-cobblestone stretch of Main Street with gusto. Simply put (if you happen to be Frank Sinatra): The Friends of Margaret Harwell Art Museum, organizers of the event, really know how to throw a swingin’ shindig.

There was live music. I saw Toni Becker engage those assembled with her rich vocals and wonderful guitar. To my chagrin, I had missed by a hair Gary Garner’s performance on the Chapman Stick—an instrument not unlike a guitar, but for people who laugh in the face of additional strings, and who are likely closet keyboardists at heart. (more…)

DonorsChoose.org is a non-profit organization that works with people from all over the web, to enrich and enhance the opportunities of students all over the US.

DonorsChoose.org is a simple way to provide students in need with resources that our public schools often lack. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need for more effective learning. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, whom we call Citizen Philanthropists, choose projects to fund.

On completion of a project, donors receive a feedback package of student photos and thank-you notes, and a teacher impact letter.