Volunteering around Columbia

There are plenty of places in town that welcome and encourage volunteers, for either a few hours or for a long-term commitment

5 Things: Val Kilmer

Val Kilmer is coming to Missouri. Here are some facts to prepare.

New app can control dreams

Dream:ON, a new IPHONE app, aims to manipulate people’s dreams through personalized dream themes that influence the subconscious.

It Figures: Volunteering

Book Review: This is How

The author of Running with Scissors is releasing his next book on May 8. It is blunt, relatable, heartbreaking and hilarious. Burroughs gives audiences a tongue-in-cheek self-help book. Learn how to overcome lushery!

Read This: Home

Toni Morrison, a Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winner, is releasing her tenth book, Home . She takes from her experiences with racial prejudice growing up to create detailed characters. This novel's protagonist struggles after he returns home from the Vietnam War.

Vox Asks Columbians: What is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?

A Conversation with Mark Flakne

Disillusioned with partisan politics on both sides, Mark Flakne found his own path to political involvement. He became one of the founding members of CiViC, also known as Citizens Invested and Involved in Columbia, in February 2012, and the president of Keep Columbia Free, an organization based on defending the civil liberties and natural rights of citizens.

Putting together The Secret Garden

The task of putting on The Secret Garden is intense; 51 children, ranging in age from 5 years old to 18 years old, must learn, practice and perform a play that they started learning on Monday.

Local pair embark on artistic voyage

Crazy experiences in the pursuit of art define the lifestyles of Meyer and Doss. The duo transformed the 2012 True/False Film Fest box office into an artistic paradise.

Plate to Pixel photography creates edible art

Columbia Area Career Center is offering a new Plate to Pixel food photography class to teach newbie food photographers the insider tips and techniques to make photos look good enough to eat.

Gourmet salts: A new food trend

If eating boring table salt makes your blood boil, check out these fancy flavors that come in a rainbow of colors.

Trading corporations for cows

More and more young people are moving toward careers in agriculture due to the local food movement and technological advances. Higginsville farmer Chris Heins, 26, is one of those people.

Sea to the heartland

In the time it takes to search Bon Appetit’s anthology of recipes for steamed mussels in white wine sauce, an order of fresh seafood from the Hawaiian islands can be placed, processed and sent on its way to Columbia.

One man's secret sustainable garden is changing Columbia's landscape

The row of houses on Garth Avenue looks like many of the other houses in Columbia. To the naked eye, Tim Wall’s house is no different. Yet hidden behind the weathered old fence that leads to his backyard, there’s an unexpected secret garden.

Sustain, Grow, Eat: Where food comes from

Before your next bite, think about where your food comes from. Whether it's organically grown vegetables from the backyard, fish from the sea or salt from the earth, it all has to start somewhere.

Editor's Letter: Planting the seed

Editor Kurt Woock gets a head start on the food issue as he shares some facts about how much food Americans consume and how much they spend. Hint: It's a lot. So where does it all come from? Read on.

Fun facts about beer color

Beer Color is tricky. Dark beers don’t have to be scary, light beers aren’t always an easy drink, and there are a number of factors that affect taste. Vox asked some color questions to beer expert Michael Lewis, the academic director of one of the only brewing programs in the country at the University of California- Davis. What did we discover? Purple beer does exist, and Guinness is lighter than many think.

Play This: Starhawk

In an era of exploration, a new Gold Rush has swept the colony of Frontier. Miners harvest an energy called rift. But its power corrupts humans and transforms them into monsters that kill without mercy. Now, a battle is raging.

The DoDeca-Con comes to Columbia

Like Clark Kent in Superman, comic-con goers are taking off their glasses and becoming cool. Although the hordes of fans wielding lightsabers and masquerading as superheroes in spandex used to be considered nerdy, they are now joined by huge numbers of pop culture fans.

See This: Puss In Boots

At Flat Branch Park, blankets will replace theater seats with popcorn kernels smashed in the cracks. Tomorrow, the park becomes an open-air theater for Puss in Boots, the first movie in this year’s Outdoor Movies in the Park series.

A look behind The Blue Note

Vox takes a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to make one night’s show come to life. After 15-plus hours and a dash of insanity, The Blue Note is open for business.

See this: Believers

(Web Exclusive) You better believe Believers will rock The Blue Note May 5 for their album release party.

Hear this: Believers

(Web Exclusive) Tranquil sounds of nature only strengthen the dance rhythms on Believers' new EP

The spring cleaning playlist

(Web Exclusive) Spring heralds a season for cleanliness. This playlist will help get you through the grimiest of times.