St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Who Fires the Sugar Plum Fairy?

This story is just unbelievable to me. Unless what the “Sugar Plum Fairy” did is wildly different from what was reported in the newspaper, I think it’s a wild overreaction, and gross abuse of power on the part of the city of St. Charles. Laura Coppinger has truly given a voice and a personality to a character in a story who never actually utters a word, and she completely embodies the spirit of the Sugar Plum Fairy. I speak from experience–we’ve been enjoying her performances for many years!

If she was cursing in costume in front of children? Sure, a reprimand is in order. But at a drug-testing facility, off the clock, with no costume? Give me a break. Everyone makes mistakes. It’s a good thing no one’s keeping track of when I use foul language when I’m upset with myself. I’d also really like to know what employee got their panties in a bunch and reported her–again, a gross abuse of power.

I hope the city of St. Charles rethinks this decision. If they don’t, I know two little girls who will be heartbroken if they don’t get to see their favorite Christmas character!

This is a story about how the Sugar Plum Fairy got fired.

Laura Coppinger played the holiday sprite for six years during the Christmas Traditions festival in St. Charles. By all accounts, the 29-year-old was a popular character at the monthlong festival along historic Main Street.

“The spin that I gave to her was that I was a fairy on a sugar high,” she said. “I was really loud and really over the top, and that’s probably why I was the Pied Piper of children,”

Her trouble started with a drug test. Festival hiring came under the control of the city of St. Charles this year, and all city employees are required to take the test. Coppinger was told to report to a local testing facility to give a urine sample.

After she filled the cup she accidentally flushed the toilet, a no-no. Apparently, some people try to dilute their samples with the incoming water.

“I don’t have to take drug tests too often,” she said, ‘so out of habit I flushed the toilet, and as soon as I did it I was like, oh, no.”

Coppinger said the woman working at the facility dumped her sample and told her she would have to go back to the waiting room until she could supply another one.

Coppinger, who also works as a substitute teacher in the St. Louis Public Schools, said that meant she was going to miss a job interview.

“Out of frustration with myself and frustration with the fact that I was going to have to sit another hour, I cursed,” she said.

Coppinger said she didn’t direct her words at anyone, but she was visibly angry, and she stomped back to the waiting room and started slurping down soda and water. A short time later, the woman working the counter told her that she should go home.

“I asked her why and she said, ‘I think you should call St. Charles HR about that,’ ” Coppinger said.

When she called the city, special events coordinator Karen Godfrey told her she had broken the Christmas Traditions code of conduct, specifically a section titled: “Christmas Characters Don’t Know Naughty Words.”

via St. Charles festival clips Sugar Plum Fairy’s wings after she violates anti-cursing rule.

Bernie: The ‘perfect’ team takes a bow

The Cardinals staged their final, precious rally of 2011 on Sunday, this one in the form of a victory lap in downtown St. Louis.

It truly was a parade for the people, as the best team in baseball merrily celebrated with the best fans in baseball.

Less than 48 hours after clinching the 11th World Series championship in franchise history, Cardinals players bundled up and sat in the back of flatbed trucks, waving to adoring crowds that lined Market Street.

Manager Tony La Russa hitched a ride with the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales. And then everyone convened inside Busch Stadium, this Midwestern cathedral of baseball, to relive the highlights, savor the memories and appreciate the gift of togetherness.

It was a beautiful scene, with more than 40,000 fans packing the ballpark to give their baseball heroes a proper thank you and sendoff. And the love was returned in full by La Russa, his players, general manager John Mozeliak and team chairman Bill DeWitt Jr.

Three thoughts kept bouncing in my head:

1 • At this moment, Busch Stadium really was the happiest place on Earth.

2 • I know it is true, it is validated and confirmed. I saw it. I wrote about it. But I still can’t believe that the Cardinals really did this. I can’t believe they really won the World Series.

3 • And I can’t believe it’s over.

After being completely consumed by the dramatic exploits of this baseball team over the last two-plus months, what the heck are we going to do now?

We’re exhilarated but exhausted. The adrenaline rush has slowed. And now it’s time to return to the normal days of our lives. What can possibly fill the void?

You can never take winning the World Series for granted. Some baseball franchises (ahem) have gone more than 100 years without winning one. Maybe the Cardinals will do it again soon; after all, they’ve won two in the last six seasons. Maybe there will be a longer gap or an extended drought in between championships. Who knows? But I don’t believe we’ll ever see the likes of this team again.

That isn’t just because Albert Pujols could leave through free agency.

“I think it’s the perfect team,” La Russa said.

What does La Russa mean by that?

The Cardinals lost 72 games in the regular season and barely made it into the playoffs as the wild-card entry. How is that perfect?

You have to look past the numbers. You have to look at the Cardinals’ attitude and indefatigable spirit. This team’s mental strength and inner toughness is impossible to quantify. When we start talking about “heart,” our sabermetric friends tend to foam at the mouth. I don’t blame ’em, really. Still, whatever this intangible quality is, the Cardinals have it in abundance. They had it in a way that few teams ever have. Mathematically, no team in Major League Baseball history made a comeback as challenging or problematic as this one.

And then there’s the composition of the 2011 Cardinals. Young guys. Older guys. There are mainstays such as Pujols, Chris Carpenter and Yadier Molina. They were part of the 2006 World Series championship here. There are players such as Lance Berkman, Arthur Rhodes, Octavio Dotel and Rafael Furcal. They’ll be getting a World Series ring after coming up empty-handed during lengthy and mostly distinguished careers elsewhere. There are the young veterans such as David Freese and Jason Motte (among others). Now that they know what it takes to win it all, they’ll develop into leaders.

This was just a fantastic mix of personalities assembled by general manager John Mozeliak. The GM was roundly criticized for dumping two players (Brendan Ryan, Colby Rasmus) that were a lot more popular with fans than teammates. Mozeliak knew what he was doing.

“We have the best group of guys that I’ve ever been around,” Carpenter said. “I will do anything for them.”

That’s why La Russa threw “perfect” out there.

“The veterans on this team have great integrity about playing the game, they want to mentor the young guys,” La Russa said. “They’ll never cheat you when they come to play. And what’s just as impressive is our young guys don’t have all the answers. And they come in and they want to learn and benefit from the leadership of our older guys. It’s really a perfect blend of team.”

Speaking on stage at the Busch Stadium ceremony, Berkman called the 2011 Cardinals ‘special” for the way so many players put a piece into a winning effort.

“This team received contributions from everybody,” Berkman said. “There was a moment in the playoffs that just about everybody on the 25-man roster can say, ‘If I hadn’t done fill-in-the-blank, we wouldn’t be standing on this stage.’ Just a total team effort.”

I would expand on The Puma’s point by adding the late regular-season run to the equation. From Aug. 25 through the end of the World Series, the Cardinals played on the edge, narrowly escaping disaster and elimination.

The Cardinals went 34-16 during this baseball-adventure action movie. And over those final 50 games, 20 players scored runs, 23 had hits, 20 knocked in runs, 24 reached base. On the pitching side, 16 appeared in games and threw at least one inning and 11 were credited with a win.

What a lovable, team the 2011 Cardinals were. What a thrill it was to watch them play baseball with such an appealing combination of desperation and elation.

On Aug. 24, the Cardinals were 10 1/2 games out of the final postseason spot. They were given less than a one-percent chance of making it by multiple website services that calculate a team’s playoff odds on a daily basis.

Well, these Cardinals gave their fans one crazy surprise party. They gave us a postseason that included Carpenter’s masterpiece at Philadelphia; the silencing of Nyjer Morgan and the Milwaukee Brewers; Pujols’ epic performance in World Series Game 3; and a Game 6 that might have been the most exciting World Series game ever.

The surprise party lasted for a month. And I have to say it again: I still can’t believe it happened. I still can’t believe it’s over. But on Sunday afternoon, we had no choice but to gather to stand and wave goodbye to an extraordinary group of players that turned Market Street into the street of dreams.

via Bernie: The ‘perfect’ team takes a bow.

A Lutheran School Success Story

This just summarizes the success of an inner-city Lutheran School in East St. Louis, which is supported by churches of the Southern Illinois District, (including our congregation), and even other churches and schools around the country. The full article details how they’ve managed to succeed, when so many other Lutheran schools with better odds are failing, and what kind of difference they’re making in children’s lives.

“Odds said Unity Lutheran Christian School wouldn’t make it.

It opened in 2003 as other urban faith-based schools were closing. And it took hold in East St. Louis, a place where the two Lutheran churches were barely scraping by, and most parents could not afford private-school tuition.

Nevertheless, a Lutheran mission board wanted to open a school in this struggling city, where the public school system had failed for years. And ever since, Unity Lutheran Christian School has defied the odds, growing from 17 that year in preschool and kindergarten to 150 students this year through seventh grade. Next year, there are plans to add eighth grade. About 20 students are on a waiting list.”

via Lutheran school thrives in E. St. Louis.