All posts of Mia Pohlman

meet along the way: Rhonda Weller-Stilson, MFA

This story was first published as “Faces of Southeast Missouri: Rhonda Weller-Stilson, MFA” in the September 2025 issue of The Best Years. Rhonda Weller-Stilson, MFA, first took the stage in the second grade when she played a fairy in a play at her public school in Cincinnati. She continued theater throughout high school and into […]
2 weeks ago

meet along the way: Dara Drury

This story was first published as “Community Cookbook: Make Senior Center meatloaf with Dara Drury of Cape Girardeau” in the August 2025 issue of The Best Years.   Mondays through Fridays, Cape Senior Center kitchen manager and head cook Dara Drury feeds approximately 400 people in Cape Girardeau County, from Scott City to Whitewater to […]
2 months ago

from the editor: Fall 2025, Collect

My bookshelf is the centerpiece of my home. There it stands in my living room, and it is the deepest compliment when people pay attention to it. I love to buy books because I love to write in them, and also because the physical copies are a visual representation of the invisible: This is what […]
2 months ago

Collecting: Jennifer Birk-Cook, Hats

As a child, Jennifer Birk-Cook says she always loved her family’s tradition of wearing Easter bonnets to church on Easter Sunday each year. And she remembers her first two hats: her cowboy hat, which she wore when her family rode their horses in the Sikeston Rodeo Parade, and an Easter bonnet she wore to church […]
2 months ago

Collecting: Taylor Ebersohl, Seashells

The Bahamas; Tybee Island, Ga.; St. Augustine, Fla.; Gulf Shores, Ala.; Biloxi, Miss. Taylor Ebersohl, a recent graduate of Perryville High School who now attends Missouri State University to study entertainment management, has collected seashells from her family’s trips from all of these beaches. Some of her unique finds include a shark tooth, fish scales […]
2 months ago

Collecting: Nancy Sims, Books

For Nancy Sims of Cape Girardeau, reading has always been an intergenerational endeavor. As a child, her grandfather often bought her comic books, which ignited her lifelong love of reading. When her children were younger, she bought a newspaper everyday and they read it together, especially enjoying the comics. Now, Sims has four grandchildren and […]
2 months ago

Artist Spotlight: Renee (Zyra) Neal

Originally from Memphis, Tenn., artist Renee (Zyra) Neal first encountered art at 4 years old when her grandmother taught her how to hand quilt. After sewing a quilt for her doll, she remembers being proud she had created something. This, she says, was the start of her love for creativity. After serving in the Army […]
2 months ago

meet along the way: Brenda Newbern

This story was first published as “Faces of Southeast Missouri: Brenda Newbern” in the June 2025 issue of The Best Years. Brenda Newbern, manager of Parks and Recreation Tourism Division for the City of Cape Girardeau, was born and raised in Cape Girardeau. She worked her first job at Cape’s public library and then entered […]
4 months ago

From the Editor, Summer 2025: Failure

A couple of years ago, one of my friends asked me if I’d ever felt like I’d failed at something. At the time, I honestly couldn’t think of an example from my own life. We got interrupted and never came back to the conversation, but sometimes I still think about that moment and what I […]
5 months ago