Plenty to do

There were plenty of things to do in Cape Girardeau last weekend. In fact, there's plenty to do every weekend, including the newly announced longer hours and opening of the Glenn House, The Cape River Heritage Museum, the Red House Interpretive Center and Old St. Vincent's Church.

I visited the attractively remodeled River Heritage Museum, which features some of the prolific writings of Cape Girardeau's Jean Bell Mosley and other exhibits. It is well worth a visit.

Tunes at Twilight starts its early summer season this week, and there are so many art galleries that it's hard to visit them all the first Friday each month. So visit them during regular hours.

The Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce's First Friday Coffee was attended by more than 250 members this month as author, agent and lawyer Ron Shapiro motivated all attendees with his message "Dare to Prepare."

Last Friday the autistic-focused Tailor Institute held a fundraising dinner at the University Center. The institute is motivated by the life experiences of Taylor Crowe.

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Last Sunday the Show Me Center was jammed to overflowing for Southeast Missouri State University's commencement.

Personally, I liked the lowered lights effect.

I attended so I could hear one of my favorite people, Art Wallhausen, give the address.

Art spoke on the metamorphosis of the university, its growth in facilities, enrollment and choice of accredited courses over his span at the university, with the last stage benefiting the graduates to prepare them for their next phase in life.

Wallhausen has been a right arm for six Southeast presidents and a well-respected and trusted liaison to this community and the media of Southeast Missouri.

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Last Saturday night I took in one of the best performances ever of Cape Girardeau's community theater, the River City Players. The play "Steel Magnolias" proved to be one of the finest all-women ensemble casts I've seen. All stayed in their distinctive characters in this touching, funny play that takes place in a beauty shop.

More shows are scheduled this weekend for this limited-capacity theater space at Port Cape Girardeau.

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Central Junior High School didn't disappoint in its colorful, costumed, staged rendition of the musical "The Wizard of Oz."

Director Mike Dumey has again created a memorable lifetime experience for these young thespians while providing an enjoyable event for the audience.

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Southeast Missouri State University's baseball team had two remarkable last-inning rallies against Eastern Kentucky to put them in position to make the Ohio Valley Conference tournament (six teams qualify).

Like the Capahas provide us each summer, we have the opportunity to be a spectator at some quality baseball, and it's free.

Eastern Kentucky's first-game pitcher Saturday drew about a dozen scouts to clock this good-looking sixth-rated college pitching prospect at 90-plus mph. I took time to watch part of the game and enjoyed it.

And there were many other meaningful events that I couldn't fit all of them into my schedule.

Nothing to do in Cape? You're not looking.

Between bowling, fishing, hiking, art galleries, biking, books, summer parks programs, fitness facilities, live music, learning to fly, golf, tennis, church and volunteering, one only has to look.

And take a look at SE Live, the Thursday section in this newspaper that includes many events and the movie schedule.

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Gravity of the edge: Whether it exists in the public consciousness or only in my mind, I can't be sure, but there's an anxiousness about 2008 that gives me pause. We seem to be pushing our way to the edge.

Presidency, economy, war.

What will happen?

I take a breath and close my eyes and remember the words of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus published 1,800 years ago. "Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present." Anthony Hopkins shared a similar thought with James Lipton during a recent interview on "Inside the Actor's Studio."

"Today is the tomorrow I was so worried about yesterday."

— Roy Williams, Monday Morning Memo

Gary Rust is chairman of Rust Communications.