THE INSIDER PATTY UNLEASHED

THE INSIDER

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slso at home

Music lovers won’t want to miss the remainder of St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s digital concerts for the spring 2022 season. Through May, enjoy a new concert recorded at Powell Hall each month. Find out more at slso.org.

CINEMA ST. LOUIS

has received a $100,000 gift from the Jane M. and Bruce P. Robert Charitable Foundation. Along with supporting SLIFF’s overall programming, the funds will go toward the annual Robert Classic French Film Festival. After 25 years with the Center of Creative Arts (COCA), executive director Kelly Pollock has announced she will be exiting the organization later this year. Under her leadership, COCA received numerous awards and underwent significant growth, including the completion of a $49-million campaign to expand and update the organization’s facilities and build its endowment. City Foundry STL and The Women’s Creative are launching a new retail experience this month. Procure by the Women’s Creative will provide a space for women-owned local brands, including skin care, beauty, lifestyle, apparel, accessories and home goods.

PATTY

The St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum is seeking entries for the 19th annual Holocaust Art and Writing Contest. Students in grades six through 12 are invited to submit works that reflect on the difficult and inspiring lessons of the Holocaust. Submissions are accepted through April 25. For more information, visit stlholocaustmuseum.org/artandwriting.

by patty hannum

I KNEW WE HAD WALKED INTO A

cesspool of COVID as we entered a restaurant in Key Largo. As a matter of fact, I told my husband and daughter just that. The tables were all scrunched together, and while the servers were masked, the diners clearly weren’t because, well, how would they eat? We were all there for the same reason, the outstanding fish. We took a chance, and we lost. Even though we were vaccinated and boosted, a few days later, my husband and I tested positive. As I’ve stated before, I’m a hypochondriac so I’ve purposely avoided studying all the details about COVID, but I knew this variant was supposed to be mild. Not for me! So, what did I do while I laid around for more than a week as I hacked and moaned in bed? Let me tell you.

I discovered Wordle. Actually, my daughter showed it to me. The only time my daughter, who never got COVID, let me anywhere near her was on her last try for Wordle. I play a game called Text Twist, which is similar to Wordle so she knew I liked to look at letters and figure out words. We got it, much to her surprise and then I was hooked. Every morning, I go online and play the game, and every morning, I swear it is the last time. Am I the only one that is getting worse each day? The first few days, three tries and I had it. Now, it takes me nearly all the tries, and I am completely stressed out before I’ve changed out of my pajamas.

I watched so many movies and mini-series, some of them you should too. Others, no need to since my brain cells have already died as a result. Belfast and The Tender Bar are both just beautiful movies about family and love. I watched them back-to-back, and I have Jamie Dornan and Ben Affleck’s performances completely muddled in my mind. All I really remember is they were fantastic. Then I watched Don’t Look Up, which will make you laugh and cringe at the same time. I’ve never been a Leonardo DiCaprio fan. I might be the only person who has yet to see Titanic, but his portrayal of a middle-aged professor was spot on.

I always like to stay up-to-date on current trends so I watched Hype House on Netflix and wanted to gouge my eyes out. Content creators for social media live together in a mansion and and complain a lot. I kept thinking at some point someone would say, ‘Whoa, aren’t we the luckiest people in the world to land this gig. I could be working at the mall selling pretzels.’ (There is nothing wrong with working at the mall. I did it for seven years.) I then found The Real Housewives of Cheshire on Amazon Prime. Most of the housewives are married to footballers (soccer players) and live in these amazing estates. I had to watch wearing my glasses because even though they are speaking English, it is not St. Louis English, and I needed to read the subtitles. I loved some of the expressions and would like to incorporate them into my everyday life, but would people understand what I meant when I said ‘jog off?’

Anyway, I am out of bed and ready to get out of the house, but I tell you COVID is one nasty illness. Peace my Peeps