Welcome to KarenKalish.com

My home was featured in TOWN & style (pages 43 to 48).

A commentary I wrote for The Jewish Light appeared on October 5.

My home was featured on STLToday.com.

Historic Clayton home bursts with art and color

By Amy Burger
SPECIAL TO THE POST-DISPATCH
Saturday, Feb. 13 2010

Read the article!            See the photos!

My Letter to the Editor in the PD
http://bit.ly/g2GoJV

St. Louis unsafe? Not in my experience

I am sick of studies that appear to show that St. Louis is dangerous. It's not. Another such 'study" was reported earlier this month.

A few years ago, I did a ride-along with the St. Louis Police. I was allowed to choose any jurisdiction, any day, any time. I chose north St. Louis from 7 p.m. to midnight on a Saturday. And it was boring. Yes, boring.

Initially, it was exciting to ride in a police car, to watch how the police look at what's going on in a totally different way than you and I do, to see the computer, to hear other cops talk on the two-way, to meet with other officers along the way for a quick chat. But action? No. Danger? Not that night.

There was a break-in in a building, but no one was there and nothing was taken. There was a stolen car in an alley. No one was there. There was a small marital dispute. Period. And that was Saturday night in north St. Louis, seven to midnight.

I had the same opportunity in Washington, D.C., a few years earlier. I chose the same night, same time, in Anacostia, an area of the nation's capital that many feel is the most dangerous. There were murders and drug busts and knives and guns and beatings. We raced from one dangerous situation to another all night long, the lights atop the police car blazing. I wasn't allowed out of the car at times because of danger. There wasn't one idle moment that night in D.C.

I am a 65-year-old white, privileged woman, and I am in north St. Louis often. I never have felt as if I weren't safe. I visit Holy Trinity School; I read with my mentee at Confluence Academy; I have coffee at the new coffee house near Crown Candy with Rod Jones, president of Grace Hill; I go to Dunbar Elementary and Vashon High School. I went door-to-door for then for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama. There is police presence everywhere and a lot of friendly people who are glad to see you.

People should not believe all those trumped-up reports that have no basis in fact. All kinds of people with no credibility can make statistics say anything they want and send a press release.

Karen Kalish • Clayton

The Post-Dispatch's Deb Peterson interviewed me and this story ran on October 10.

On Wednesday, July 21, five Cultural Leadership students — Tyler Adelstein, Jarvis Brown, Drew Rubin, Juliana Wishne, and Erin Schroeder — and I were on Don Marsh's radio show St. Louis on the Air.

Click here to go to the official St. Louis on the Air archives page to listen to the show.

I went to school with a Russian spy!! One of the accused Russian spies — Donald Heathfield — was a classmate of mine at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. St. Louis's KSDK and Good Morning America both interviewed me about it:

Watch the Good Morning America interview.

Watch the KSDK interview.

The Cultural Leadership students are back from their Transformational Journey!!
View the complete itinerary(PDF).
Read the trip blog.

The Teacher Visit Home Program
Visit our new web site

Read about us in the papers!

Karen's column in Jewish Light
Sunday, October 25, 2009

Read about Karen here.