Michael Cooper performs Masked Marvels & Wondertales for Edison Theatre Jan. 17

Ron Steele*Masked Marvels & Wondertales*A high-kicking giant. A clumsy cowpoke. A grumpy, pipe-smoking trout fishing beside an imaginary stream. Welcome to Masked Marvels & Wondertales, the eye-popping one-man variety show by Michael Cooper, the virtuoso storyteller, mask-maker and mime. In January Cooper will bring his colorful cast of characters to St. Louis for a performance sponsored by Washington University’s Edison Theatre.

Reception honors cancer patients as artists

On Dec. 17 at the Duane Reed Gallery in Clayton, the Arts as Healing Program is hosting a public showing of art created by cancer patients. This reception, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., will celebrate these patients as artists and honor “their journey of hope.”

Mann named director of cardiovascular division

Douglas Mann has been named the Tobias and Hortense Lewin Professor and director of the Cardiovascular Division in the Department of Medicine at the School of Medicine. The appointment will be effective in March 2009. He will also become cardiologist-in-chief at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and director of the new Heart and Vascular Institute at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University.

‘Perfect knight’

Photo by David KilperSutera’s leadership lifts engineering to new levels

Marriage vs. civil union

Frank K. FlinnIn November, California citizens passed Proposition 8 upholding the idea that marriage is defined as and limited to the union of one man with one woman. The vote has given encouragement to many in other states who want to pass similar legislation. The United States is about to enter a period of legal upheaval on the question of marriage in the civil law, suggests Frank K. Flinn, Ph.D., adjunct professor of religious studies in Arts & Sciences. His proposal? Give marriage to the churches and let the state define civil unions.