There’s Gonna Be a Heartache Tonight

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More About

• St. Louis Public Library
• Museum of Broken Relationships
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

We've all been there: slopping around in crumpled up clothes from yesterday or even the day before, with a tear-stained face and a mascara-stained pillowcase, looking over a half eaten bowl of cereal here, some stale delivery pizza there. You're not hungry, and nothing sounds appetizing anyway. Plus, how could you eat when your heart isn't the only thing that hurts — your stomach feels perma-punched ,your fingertips throb, and you're trying to remember what it felt like before he left. For good. You couldn't have been this achy, right? And how is it that you never noticed how difficult breathing was? Yeah, breaking up is hard to do — it'll damn near kill you if you let it. The Museum of Broken Relationships wants us all to realize that we're not alone at our pity parties, that everyone knows heartache, and that it's OK to wallow in it a bit. On display at this traveling museum are the many mementos from relationships long gone: There are the gifts he gave you, the day-to-day necessities she left behind and even those oddball items that just remind you of what you'd rather not remember. All of the exhibition pieces were donated anonymously and cathartically, and all include a bit of information about the object and the love that is no more. The museum, which hails from Croatia, sets up shop in St. Louis at the Schlafly branch of the St. Louis Public Library (225 North Euclid Avenue; 314-367-4120 or www.slpl.org) and opens with a reception from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 11; the exhibition remains on view through Sunday, June 27.
June 11-27, 2010