All posts of Mia Pohlman

meet along the way: Nora Speight

This story was first published as “Faces of Southeast Missouri: Nora Speight” in the July 2022 issue of “The Best Years.” Nora Speight’s love of flowers comes from her grandfather she calls “Paw Paw.” He lived on a farm in Marston, Mo., where Speight got paid $3 to pick 100 pounds of cotton as a […]
2 years ago

from the editor: movement, Summer 2022

I used to think I had to do everything I wanted to do in my life before I turned 30. Now, as I leave behind my 20s and move into a new decade, instead of feeling like a closing, life feels like it is opening up. And I’m pretty delighted by the surprise of that. […]
2 years ago

Taking a Step: All-female drumline leads band at Perryville High School

Drums are loud. They are visual. They are large and cumbersome, and they keep the band together. Historically, they are a male-dominated position within the band. But the Perryville High School Marching Buccaneers Drumline in Perryville, Mo., is changing that. During the 2021-22 school year, the drumline has been comprised of all female drummers, and […]
2 years ago

Madelyn Hussman: From the Pacific Crest Trail to the Cape Girardeau Studio

For six months, jewelry maker and leatherworker Madelyn Hussman and her husband Joe lived in a tent in what many consider some of the most beautiful places in the U.S., hiking 2,653 miles from the Mexico-U.S. border to the Canada-U.S. border through California, Oregon and Washington. After completing this thru-hike along the Pacific Crest Trail […]
2 years ago

meet along the way: Autumn Abernathy

This story first appeared in the May 2021 issue of “The Best Years (TBY).” Autumn Abernathy of Jackson was experiencing abnormal headaches, numbness and tingling, and none of the doctors she saw about it could tell her why. Her counselor  suggested she take up an activity she loved to do as a child. Abernathy liked […]
2 years ago

meet along the way: Melissa Scholes Young

This story was first published as “Examining Roots: Novel ‘The Hive’ set in Cape Girardeau” in the March 2022 issue of “TBY.” How did the recession in 2008 lead to the events and effects of the 2016 and 2020 elections? That’s the question Melissa Scholes Young set out to explore while writing “The Hive,” a […]
2 years ago

Get Your Finances in Order: 7 tips from an economist

Dr. Rebecca Summary is a professor emeritus at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau. She taught principles of macroeconomics, law and economics, and economic problems and policies, among other courses, for 38 years. She says she is fascinated by the ways psychology and human behavior affect the economy and is passionate about the ways […]
2 years ago

Starting a Business: 7 Tips from Laurie Everett

Interested in starting a business? We sat down with Laurie Everett, owner of Annie Laurie’s, the Indie House, Mother Earth and The Downtown Guesthouse, to talk about being a business owner. Here is some of the wisdom she passed along: 1.Purchase mixed-use properties. Living on the second floor of my shop means I only have one mortgage and set of […]
2 years ago