USA 12 May: St. Louis, MO - University City, MO
Today we were treated to some very special experiences by our friends from New York, Nayana and Chetana Hein. Nayana, who grew up in the St. Louis area, worked tirelessly arranging meetings, ceremonies, meals, and short runs for our team.
We started the day in what some call the heart of St. Louis -- Forest Park. In addition to its beauty, the 1300-acre park is home to the city's top cultural institutions. Rae Morhmann of the St. Louis Track Club led us on a running tour of the park to nearby University City, a suburb of St. Louis, and hometown of one of the Harmony Run’s St. Louis coordinators.
Rae is a “50-stater”, having run at least one marathon in each of the 50 American states – a perfect and inspiring guide for our team running through America.
We also had help from Brooke, Marianna, Donna, Jasna, Andrew and others as we enjoyed their wonderful city and took photos at various sites in Forest Park. Special thanks to Pam Mosca, President of the St. Louis Track Club, and to the club’s Gwen Eckelman for arranging for Rae to lead us.
Mayor Shelley Welsch greeted us as we reached University City and kindly carried the Torch with us to the City Hall ceremony of this “Neighborhood to the World”. We are so grateful that she took time out on a weekend to welcome us and share some of these important moments with us.
At City Hall we were welcomed by a wonderful group of people who were anxiously awaiting our arrival.
We were proud to offer the Torch Bearer Award to the Regional Arts Commission for its leadership to the city, the nation and, increasingly, the world in the area of community arts. The Regional Arts Commission was founded in 1985 to promote, encourage, and foster the arts and cultural institutions in St. Louis City and County and to contribute to the economic development of the area through a strong presence of the arts.
Recently, more than 200 people from across the United States – and a handful from other countries – gathered in St. Louis under RAC auspices to discuss and share ideas on how the arts can be used in community efforts to create positive social change.
Jill McGuire, Executive Director of the Regional Arts Commission, who accepted the award on behalf of the organization, noted, “We embrace the beliefs of the Harmony Run – that the qualities of harmony and peace are living and dynamic --and we try to exemplify and promote those qualities through the arts.”
A special welcomer at the ceremony was Joe Edwards, a St. Louis leader known for his creative vision, dynamic spirit and for contributions to the development of the Delmar Loop which has been named “One of the 10 Great Streets in America”. Joe himself has been named “Best St. Louisan” by organizations on several occasions.
We are also grateful to our friends Celeia (pictured here with Mayor Welsch) and her husband Andrew Yuen from Belas Artes who kindly hosted us last year at their wonderful art gallery and came to greet us this year as well. Others who came to offer their goodwill and support also deserve are heartfelt gratitude for their time and sincere efforts in support of these kind of important events.
We received and later read out a very special message from Mr. Jason McManus, Editor-in-Chief of Time, Inc. from 1988 to 1994: "As a 1952 graduate of University City High School and a proud recipient of its Honor Role Award a few years ago, I am delighted you are receiving representatives of the late and beloved Sri Chinmoy who are friends of son Alan McManus. We moved to University City and a house at 1255 Waldron off Heman Park when I was 12 and my parents stayed until their deaths. We loved St. Louis, our Lion Gate suburb, and my class returns every five years for a reunion and stay in constant touch by e-mail. So we will be back this Fall! Unroll the sidewalks!"
Our friends and coordinators for St. Louis, Nayana and Chetana, made a delicious lunch for us including awesome homemade chocolate chip cookies.
Young at heart.
Experimenting with the wonders of static electricity.
We enjoyed the meal outside The Magic House, a children's discovery museum, where we later offered a World Harmony Run program.
We then hurried over to the City Museum in St. Louis to catch a showing of Circus Harmony there. Circus Harmony, a past recipient of the Torch Bearer Award, was originally called 'Circus Day Foundation' and was founded in 2001 to expand on the circus education and community building opportunities available to St. Louis youth.
Circus Day’s first project was Circus Salaam Shalom, which brought together Muslim and Jewish children. Next came Far East Meets Midwest, a multiyear project that joined Asian and Midwestern arts and artists. Thus, the show Circus Harmony was born--- featuring children from different neighborhoods performing to music of different cultures. Jessica Hentoff is the Director of the circus and mother of two of its star performers.
After the incredible performances by the young stars called the St. Louis Arches, Jessica introduced the World Harmony Run to the hundreds of people there. We made a brief presentation and passed the torch around to those who wished to offer their wishes and prayers for a more peaceful and harmonious world.
Here is a link to Circus Harmony for those who wish to know more about it or perhaps support some of its initiatives: www.circusharmony.org
Many thanks to Jessica(right) and her staff and all of the very talented children who gave a wonderful performance today.
Hundreds of people enjoy sitting down to rest on 'The World's Largest Pencil', built by some of the members of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in 2007 and kindly donated to the City Museum.
Finally we were able to make it to the Jefferson National Expansion Gateway Arch and Museum located on the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Louis. This incredibly impressive and massive structure is over 600 feet (200 meters) tall.
Built in the 60's it represents the vision of Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, to expand our newly formed country's borders west of the Mississippi River. It was near here that he sent out an expedition of explorers, called the 'Corps of Discovery', under the guidance of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on May 14, 1804, to explore the new lands and make friends with the people of these uncharted lands all the way to the Pacific Coast.
We are following in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark who were sent by President Thomas Jefferson to blaze a trail westward to the Pacific Ocean.
Three members of our team pose with Thomas Jefferson.
These pioneering young ladies are scouting out their next running route the way Lewis and Clark did it over 200 years ago.
Nayana then treated us to dinner at a wonderful Indian Restaurant called 'Gokul'. They gave us a special deal for all you can eat at their wonderful buffet. The food was exquisite even for those who are not used to eating South Indian dishes such as curries and dhal.
Aslam is the chef extraordinaire from Bangalore, India and Dennis Oling is the Manager who waited on us and treated us with such courtesy. Dennis was a world class 10K runner and marathoner who has run 2hours and 8 minutes for the marathon and around 27 minutes for 10Km. We asked him to join for the next day but being that it is Mother's Day tomorrow he said that the restaurant will be very busy.
Wishing Happy Mother's Day to all those mothers who really know what love and harmony are as they sacrifice their own life breath for many years in raising their children.
Arpan De Angelo
See Local St. Louis, MO coverage of days events at: UniversityCityPatch : The Neighborhood Files -
Video Message from Dr. Davidson Hepburn, President (2009 - 2011) of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for 25th Anniversary of the World Harmony Run and a vision for the decade: "Toward a Oneness-World".
Full Text of the 25th annversary message and link to 25 language informal Translations: http://www.worldharmonyrun.org/25
or Click on language button for separate youtube videos wth sub titles in varous languages
- Youtube video on African experience which illustrates IYY slogan "Our Year Our Voice" International Year of Youth - Zambia World Harmony. They surprisingly mention Presidents and UN Secretary-General in a unique way!
- Listen to the World-Harmony-Run song: 2 min version // 6 min
See start of the International 25th Anniversary Celebration across from the United Nations at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in New York.
On 27th April 2012. in many cities around the world, special events marked the WHR 25th Anniversary
Below are 3 page images of Local coverage in the University City Patch:
Distance: 5 miles
Team Members:
Arpan DeAngelo (New York), Shobhavati Davies (New Zealand), Jana Duskova (Czech Republic), Tom McGuire (New Zealand), Katya Percheklii (Ukraine), Larissa Zub (Belarus), Matthias Eckerle (Germany), Priyala Carvalho (New Zealand), Salil Wilson (Australia), Dzmitry Kuzmich (Belarus)
Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.
Gallery: See more images!
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