All posts of Mia Pohlman

from the editor: Spring 2024, “open”

In the first draft of this letter to open our issue on the theme of “open,” I wrote an anecdote about the students I taught in Greece who used the phrase “Open the lights” or “Close the lights” when they meant “Turn on the lights” or “Turn off the lights” in English. Their phrasing always […]
2 months ago

Let’s Talk: Autumn Grim and Georganne Syler, public health

Autumn Grim, MPH, CPHA, began working at the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center in 2019. Prior to that, she had been with the Missouri Health Department for more than 20 years, where she worked as the epidemiologist program coordinator for the state. In 2023, she became the director of the Cape Girardeau County Public […]
2 months ago

Let’s Talk: Rodaina Nasreldin and Karla Cornelius, entrepreneurship

Karla Cornelius, owner of the coffee shop El Kolibri in Cape Girardeau, first met Rodaina Nasreldin when Rodaina came into El Kolibri for a cup of coffee. They started talking and realized they had a lot in common: As Karla had been an exchange student from Mexico City at Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) 25 […]
2 months ago

Let’s Talk: Tameka Randle and Rachael Long, community strengthening

Tameka Randle and Rachael Long work together daily with residents of South Cape and other partners and volunteers to transform the South Cape neighborhood through education, housing and wellness initiatives, using the Purpose Built Community model. Tameka works as the executive director of People Organized to Revitalize Community Healing (PORCH) and serves on the Missouri […]
2 months ago

What’s in Your Bag?: Kayla Johnson, mom and registered dietitian

One can tell a lot about a person and their life by the items they carry with them: the stage of life they’re in, what they value, the belongings they consider necessities.  We wanted to get to know local women better through the contents of their bag. So, we invited them into our photography studio […]
2 months ago

meet along the way: Carol and Tony Glueck

This story was first published in the September 2023 issue of The Best Years as “Racing Moto-Trials: Couple passes love for sport to son, grandchildren.” When Tony Glueck started riding moto-trials bikes in the late 1970s, he didn’t know he would pass on his interest in the sport not only to his son Joshua Glueck, […]
3 months ago

meet along the way: Shirlee Wilson and Fred Jones

This story was first published in the Winter 2023 issue of mind + body as “‘Sugarhouse:’ Local couple creates feature-length film to share message of hope.” Wife and husband filmmakers Shirlee Wilson and Fred Jones of Jackson co-directed their first feature-length film “Sugarhouse” in Perry and Cape Girardeau Counties in Southeast Missouri, as well as […]
3 months ago

Solo Travel: Get out and explore

I was 22 and in Venice, Italy, for four days by myself, walking through winding streets while the city was waking up, women hanging laundry on lines between windows, setting out pastries they’d already baked by breads on shelves, men pushing wheelbarrows over cobblestones to pick up trash. I napped in the park as teenage […]
5 months ago