Historical April 1995 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
As apartment dwellers for many years, everything we knew about Skinker-DeBaliviere came from the little newspaper dropped on the doorstep monthly. (Not even the Post-Dispatch would deliver on our block back then!) I learned there was a Council Office, with a singular mission of recruiting people to stay here and buy homes in the neighborhood.
I learned of the Story Hour at the library.
We learned of the House Tour and Art Fair and began to realize that there were people that we wanted to know, just around the corner. Eventually, after moving to Westminster, I was recruited to help with layout and shared the stimulating conversation and camaraderie of our group of stay-athome moms. Layout was a physical challenge as well: back and forth up three flights of stairs at the Weir’s, tending to toddlers and juggling cut-and-paste and last minute trips to the typesetters.
But writing Vicissitudes was my first real job with The Paper, and it took me in a new direction.
As Pat Kohn had done before me, I had to call strangers, on every block of the neighborhood, for above all we wanted coverage of everyone–the older neighbors who hadn’t flown, the newer people who were determined to make the area succeed.
I found something extraordinary: the strangers became friends, now friends of over 22 years. And I learned all about their children and the schools and the churches and the historic architecture, and all the issues we confronted in reinventing our neighborhood. Years later, after I moved on and Lisa Homer had written the people column for another five years, it somehow dawned on us how important it all is, the sharing of our lives. It’s part of that small town feel of a very special place, proud of its diversity and its history. 25 years is a wonderful milestone for those of us lucky enough to have been involved with our neighborhood newspaper. May it last another 25!
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, April 1995.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1995_04.pdf, printed page(s) 4; PDF page(s) 4.
