When the Washington University in St. Louis Class of 2023 arrives Aug. 17, a Saturday, they will experience a nine-day Bear Beginnings orientation program that is more inclusive, more fun and, yes, more days.

Traditions such as Convocation, SUp All Night and the Common Reading Program discussion will continue. But Bear Beginnings also will include new programs such as immersive experiences in St. Louis, a residential life block party and “Dialogue Across Difference,” a workshop introducing students to university values of free expression and inclusion.

According to 2017 data collected by the US Department of Education, 63 percent of fourth-graders read below a “proficient” achievement level, and low-income students face the highest risk of literacy problems. The importance of reading to a child’s academic and personal development has challenged literacy nonprofits to think outside the box on how to get students engaged with reading. In North Kansas City, Missouri, the world’s first “explor-a-storium” is being built to rise to the challenge.

The creators and owners of The Rabbit Hole museum, Debbie Pettid and Pete Cowdin, ran a popular children’s bookstore called the Reading Reptile for nearly three decades. In 2015, they took the leap into their passion project of creating a nonprofit museum that would build culture around children’s books and provide a more immersive, explorable experience of reading.

Past the two-story front door, limestone steps will lead down into the burrow of a magical creature named Fox Rabbit.

“What we want to create is an environment where it is a suspension of disbelief, a magical space, and a beautiful space,” says Debbie Pettid, who started the non-profit organization with her husband, Pete Cowdin. “And one that is really accessible.”

In 2018, the Rabbit Hole bought a 165,000-square foot warehouse in North Kansas City, just north of downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

With more than half of their $12 million budget raised, staff has moved in, a fabrication shop is complete, and they’re embarking on a second phase of construction this month. Plans call for activating the basement, first and second floors, in time for opening.

I believe it. In May, I was in the Greek Isles. This was pre-season, when one used to be able to beat the crowds. Not anymore. In the blue-domed white seaside village of Oia (you’ve seen it in movies and postcards, even if you haven’t been there) the narrow streets were so packed I could hardly move. Ill-tempered people jostled each other, trying to take pictures of the scenery other tourists were blocking.

Travel, the world’s biggest industry, has become too efficient in exploiting its product. Airlines keep base fares low by breaking out every comfort and charging extra for it. Airbnb enables landlords to turn whole neighborhoods of apartment buildings into unofficial hotels. Cruise ships dump thousands of passengers at the same time into choice locales.

There are lots of great cities within a short drive from Champaign-Urbana, and we love many of them for different reasons. Taking a break from our quaint, college town nestled among the cornfields, we love the hustle and bustle that comes with visiting a city and the experiences (and FOOD) we can enjoy together as a family while soaking in the sights. And over and over again, as our kids grow, we continue to find things to love about visiting St. Louis and have NEVER run out of or tired of things to do while in the city.

San Francisco artist fnnch has returned home to St. Louis to paint a massive 35-by-50-foot mural at the Centene Center for the Arts.

fnnch (pronounced Finch) is partnering with the Arts and Education Council and the Gateway Foundation and will paint four honey bears on the wall of the building.

“It’s pop art,” fnnch says. “It’s like pop music. It’s designed for people to enjoy.”

A Kirkwood native, fnnch, 32, has made a name for himself in San Francisco with various honey-bear-themed art around the city. As for why he paints them, fnnch says the figure is a universal symbol of happiness.

Bob Cassilly’s vision lives on in every worker and artist in this museum.

“Pretty much the same crew since the beginning, even with Bob. It’s a tight crew,” Erwin said. “We have a stone worker pretty much our people can work in Metal, plaster anything we throw at them they can come up with.”

Everything here has a story.

“There are some really cool things, like upstairs with the Edward Bates school, I once saw where a grandparent walked through and realized that’s where he went to school,” Erwin said.

One minute you could be inside a gorgeous sculpture of a giant whale; the next you’re crawling through a cave. You might start off in a treehouse, hop down a slide, and wind up in a massive, adult-sized ball pit. Or you can be admiring a room full of priceless opera posters and accidentally wander into an aquarium.

In an attempt to understand the enigma that is City Museum, I set up an interview and tour with Richard Callow. Callow is listed as the media contact on City Museum’s website, but he’s more like the story keeper of the place, and has been since the founder—famed sculptor and artist Bob Cassilly—died in an accident in 2011.