The Friends - A Defenition.

Since I use this phrase so often, I felt it needed it's very own post.
"The Friends" is the term Amy B and I use when referring to the large group of about 20 of our High School friends, their spouses (usually also classmates), their parents, and the few random stragglers that have been picked up a long the way. They're all thick as thieves. It's sort of a bizarre and wonderful phenomenon that I haven't seen anywhere else. On most weekends you can find The Friends in a giant herd hanging out in someone's garage, patio, pool or the bowling alley. Once a year they all trek to a giant cabin in the Smokey Mountains. They are a super lot of people and I'm lucky to pop in a few times a year from my side of the river to open arms and juicy gossip.

Facebook Friends: Dawn - Debbie

Dawn Stine

The only real-life rodeo cowgirl I've ever met who is also fluent in sign language. Really, the only real-life cowgirl I've ever met period. She lights up any room she walks into.

Deanna Hemmersmeyer

Deanna is gorgeous and REALLY quiet. I love quiet people for two reasons. Number one: When they talk, it's usually worth listening to. And Number two: Every time they give you a bit of personal information, it feels like you've earned it.

Debbie Arnold Gregory

Some people are more fun to draw than others. Debbie's more fun. Big eyes, long lashes, a great nose and a mouth with such great character. When people have really great features you can just relax and have fun. I bet if Talous Lautrec were alive today he'd beg her to be his reluctant model.

Debbie Mackintosh

I haven't seen Debbie since I was about 7 years old. Her and my mom were best friends when they were kids and stayed that way until Debbie and her family moved to NYC to build a church and produce musicals (at least that's what my 7-year-old memory tells me she was doing.) You know, no big deal. I remember Debbie being very kind and radiantly warm and nothing I've seen or heard since leads me to believe she's changed.

Debbie Steudeman Stieferman

Debbie is great and she has the two hardest-to-spell last names of anyone I know. She is also one of those people who made my life what it is today. She gave me my job at the science center nearly seven years ago, even though, looking back, I was pretty terrible. We spent most of the interview talking about cats and crafting, so I guess she thought I was at least qualified enough to be entertaining–lack of talent be damned. She's a tiny ball of concentrated individuality. Her hair was always sticking up and her sweaters were sprinkled with whatever she had for lunch and it was totally and completely charming. These days she is the owner/operator of Gooey Louie. THE BEST gooey butter cake in St. Louis. Food Network even came to visit them!!! Debbie gives hope to creative scatter-brained types like myself. Someday we CAN get our acts together achieve something!!! Thanks for everything Debbie!!!

Facebook Friends: Dan - Dawn

Dan Posey

What do you call your brother-n-law's nephew? I call mine Dan and I only see him once or twice a year. Just like the rest of my family! He's an awfully sweet and multi-talented guy with fancy hair that always looks different. He should walk around with a frame on his head, because that coiffure is art.

Dan Zettwoch
I'm not going to be overly-flattering here because I know he hates it. Here goes. Dan is what happens when two incredible people get together and make other incredible people. Not only is he pretty much the most talented artist on the face of the earth, but he's also an asset to any trivia team. He knows everything about almost everything (except practical things like how to use a Q-tip or how to cut pizza) From sports to US presidents to geography to Gilmore Girls. His brain doesn't work like the rest of ours. When he learns something new it stays there. FOREVER. Like Rain Man.

Some of Dan's other talents include, but are not limited to: playing sports, being patient, balancing the fine art of being humble and knowing you're awesome at the same time, teaching people what he knows, growing a beard, running in a circle and punching the air at hard-core punk shows, being nice to everyone, being thoughtful, making anything, being liked and respected, wearing hats, and sweating–and all this is me NOT being flattering.

Dan is going to be more successful and famous than the rest of us, so you should probably go and check out his stuff here so you can say you've been following him since way before he got famous and sold out.

David Cashman

I'm sure you all had a David Cashman in your High School. The guy that was friends with everyone, involved in everything and so kind and generous that it really raised the bar on what being a "good person" equates to. Dave is the kind of guy I wish would run for politics. He should really consider running for mayor...mayor of planet Earth.

Dave Oliver

A quarter of my high school social life was spent in the basement of Dave's parents house...sitting at their 70's style bar...waiting to drive my drunk friends home...because I couldn't drink...because my mom insisted on smelling my breath when I got home. I don't know where Dave's parents were all this time (I'm pretty sure they were sleeping), but I'll bet they never threatened to smell his breath. (I'm actually thankful for that tight leash now, Mom!) Dave has been a very nice and hospitable guy ever since. I guess he has his sleeping parents to thank for that!

Dawn Mais
I have a pretty good smile. Having braces three times will do that. But, Dawns smile makes my smile look like an eighty-year-old mid-evil British peasant who eats dirt for breakfast.

Dawn and I were illustration majors together. I don't see any art anywhere on her facebook, but there's plenty of pictures of pets, planes, and exotic places. Certainly more than I'll ever have.

Facebook Friends: Dan - Daniel

Dan Glynn
Dan Glynn is my unofficial bright-blonde cousin who makes a chili that I try to beat out every year at his annual chili cook-off. One of these days, Dan!!!! He's also one of the nicest guys you'd want to adopt as a relative.


Danielle Stewart
When I say things like " I love the people I work with!," Danielle is included in that lot. She has a big brain in which she stores everything that's going on anywhere and everywhere in the Science Center. She knows EVERYONE and she is so supportive. I can always count on her to know someone's name when I don't, to remind me to do something that she asked me to do five minutes earlier that I've already forgotten about, and to tell me what book to read next. She's a very important cog in the gears that make that place function and she is forbidden to ever leave us.

Danielle Thompson Sowers
Oh, how I loved Danielle when we were cheerleaders together! (For that one semester) We got along so easily. She's a sunny and positive person who couldn't make an enemy if she tried. I can't be sure, but once when I was facebook investigating her I gathered that she now does something with fashion, although, I can't find evidence of it now. Danielle, you should probably take me on as a charity case. And PS - you live right near me!


Daniel Lough
I went to college with Dan. We were both art majors. He took me to my first formal Fraternity puke-fest. I once went to his parents house and ate half a jar of olives stuffed with blue cheese and made myself sick. About an hour after that I ran my car into an icy ditch and he had to come rescue me. We once had an art show along with Katie O'Malley and while his talent astounds me, his pornographic subject matter seemed somewhat inappropriate for a small town winery. What can I say? I'm a prude.

Daniel Price
I never went to summer camp, but I have gone to the same resort on the same island for one week every summer since I was 3. Danny has the same exact tradition. For one week a year we're family. Our parents are besties. Most of my fondest memories of Danny involve him cheating at cards, stuffing me in a dryer or pushing me into a pool - and not just when we were kids. I didn't have an older brother to pick on me, and he filled that void. Danny has a dead-pan sense of humor that I wish I could get away with and a laugh you can't help catching. Some of his favorite pastimes, as far as I can tell, are throwing children, eating, and getting a good sunburn.

Facebook Friends: Coryn - Dana

Coryn York

Cory is a beautiful girl with perfect eyebrows that I feel was born in the wrong decade. She should have been a flower child. I picture her natural environment to be a muddy music festival that she arrived at via hitchhiking.

Courtney Holtmeyer

Courtney, no matter how many kids you have or how much older you get, you'll always be Tim Leake's sweet kid sister to me.

Craig Markus

This once skinny, funny and slightly awkward teenager must have gone off and cocooned hisself sometime after we graduated and come out a successful man-sized husband and father of three beautiful children–once again reminding me how truly far behind I am in the game of life. Thanks a lot, Craig!

Dana Harris Schultz

If I was a teenage boy, I would hope and pray that a girl like Dana would move in next door. Grace Kellyesque beauty, brains, and a sense of humor that keeps you on your toes with just enough weirdoness to be unintimidating. Way to be, Dana. Way to be!

Dana Johnson Cuneo

This gorgeous girl is always so well put together that she makes me feel homely when I show up to parties in my only pair of jeans (that fit) and my shirt-of-the-week. I'm always happy to see Dana. She's got such a sisterly quality, and not just because she is one.

Facebook Friends: Chuck - Cori

Chuck Smith

My dear, sweet, intellectual, creative friend. When I first met Chuck he had loooooong beautiful raven black hair that any goth-metal enthusiast would give their right steel-toed boot to whip around at a hardcore show (forgive me if I just mixed genres.) I imagine the stiffs on campus thought he was a freak–which I think he probably prided himself on–but Chuck is one of the warmest and most genuine people I knew/ know. I don't know if my memory works the same way as most folks. I don't have very clear memories about things, dates, or details but I have very clear memories of my feelings. When I picture myself walking into a room full of people and seeing Chuck there, my heart warms up and I think "Thank, God. Chuck is here."

Clayton Moore

Clayton was one of our presenters at SciFest 2010. But, really, "presenter" seems like too small a word for someone of this magnitude. He's a first class Edutainer from Science Museum Oklahoma. He packed our house. Standing room only. The man has a gift. As an artist, I get asked about 4 times a year to illustrate someones book that they haven't written. Clayton included himself on that list. I really wish he would write that book because I know it will actually be nothing but brilliant.

Cody Mason

Cody is the soulmate of my soulmate. There could be no better man for her. Cody, a geologist, looks like a Calvin Klein model, has the soul of a philosopher, the adventurous-cunning spirit of Huckleberry Finn and the outdoor know-how of Bear Grylls. (I am always impressed by people who thrive in the outdoors since I'm such a panzy.) His beloved and myself are two very similar creatures. We thrive most when we feel safe, adored and challenged. Cody provides all that for her in spades. Sarah can always count on Cody to tell her she's beautiful, to tell her when she's being a baby, and to remember the car keys while she's busy thinking about what animals she can paint in tutus.

Corey McNamara

Corey Mac is an extremely special guy. The great-wise-leader type. The Braveheart of ministry. Not that he's going to paint himself blue and ride about saving his countrymen in a loincloth or anything, but I think out of all the people I've come across in my life, he'd be the most-likely to do such a thing. I wish I was half as brave as he is. And, for Corey, life isn't just about smothering out hopelessness with love for people all over the world; he wields a pretty fierce sense of humor, too. Granted, I only knew him for about half a second about a hundred years ago, but that was enough. Some people leave a mark on your psyche that doesn't really go away. He may not see himself this way at all, but this project isn't about what you think of yourself, it's about what I think of you; and Corey, I think you're inspiring, strong and thank God for you and others like you who aren't afraid to roll up their sleeves and get dirty living outside the box for the good of mankind.

Cori Green Roton

I haven't seen Cori in about 6 or seven months. I went to her page and noticed that she just had another baby! Life sure changes fast, especially when you're not paying attention. Cori is one of those people who LOOKS like she'd be shy and reserved, but that ain't so. She's a smart, strong and opinionated woman. I love it when people surprise me. She's also Mom to the only 2-year-old germ-a-phobe I've ever met.

Facebook Friends: Christian - Christy

Christian Mendoza

I don't remember a ton about Christian from High School other than that beaming white smile he was always wearing. The same one that I can sort of pull off when I have a wicked summer tan and a box of crest white strips.

Christie Jordan Filla

Oh, Mrs. Filla. A beacon of wisdom, respect and faith. Christie (uh, Mrs. Filla) isn't one of those mom's who threatens to throw your stuff out on the lawn if you don't clean your room, SHE DOES IT! A woman of her word. People like me need people like her in my life and luckily she passed down those dependable traits to my beloved BFF, Katie. Practical, organized, caring and so analytical it makes my head hurt. Oh, and did I mention freakishly patient? All those traits she has had for all of the 16 years that I've known her. But one adjective that I would bestow upon her today that I wouldn't have when I was a teenager, is WARM. Not that she was ever cold, but she definitely has a glow about her that wasn't always there. Now it's the first thing I notice.

Chrissy Stone

In the sitcom of my college years, Chrissy Stone is the fiercely witty hippie with expensive taste and ever-changing hair color. Every time I accidentally wander into a head shop or catch a whiff of patchouli, I think of sassy and slightly aloof Chrissy Stone.

Christine Ellington Yount

I work with Chris. She's a fundraising machine and St. Louis Cardinal fanatic. Clearly we have nothing in common other than our likeableness. I like working with Chris. She always leaves me plenty of room to be creative.

Christy Jacoby

So, this is an odd case. I don't know Christy Jacoby, but after my art show at the foundry last May, I got a friend request and a glowing email from her husband - through her profile - telling me how much he liked my work. So, basically, Christy Jacoby's husband sent me my first (and only) piece of fan mail from someone I don't know. I go back and read it when I feel sucky.