Shuck ´em, suck ´em and chuck ´em! Twenty thousand oysters are gathered for consumption at the St. Louis Brewery & Tap Room's Oyster Festival. At the shucking table stands Dave Von Allmen, an aquaculturist from Samish, Wash., and former West Coast oyster-opening champion, clocked at 240 per hour. "They each have their moments," he says, "but I think men are moodier. Men are pragmatic. They're trying to position themselves into the hierarchy, and that makes for moods.... Women are more positive. They stop and smell the roses."
Over by the pool tables, music producer Grant Gordon and Ronnie Graham, a service specialist at Edward Jones, are making like lovebirds. "Oh, women are the moody ones!" spouts Gordon. "Women got PMS all the time, and they ask too many questions. They want the finest things in life, always judging a man for what he has and what he can do for her -- that makes them moody, which makes us moody."
For 66 years the Western Wire Company operated on South 18th Street in Lafayette Square. When the factory moved to roomier digs in 1998, developers converted the sprawling brick complex into residential and commercial lofts. SqWires Café and Market debuted on the site in late 2001, and server Natalie Edwards has been there nearly from the start. "I'm gonna say men," she declares. "We'll tell you what's wrong with us, but guys don't express themselves freely. Guys, they act like they're macho, but when things don't go their way they either throw a fit or they act like nothing's wrong, and they won't say anything."
Sunny Riley, administrative coordinator with the advertising/PR firm of Maring Kanefield & Weissman, offers: "I would say women are moodier because of our complex nature and our supremely high intelligence level. And poor men! They have only two moods -- one if their sports team is winning and another if they're losing."
Eminence grise of the St. Louis Community College-Forest Park theater department and the man currently directing Chekov's The Seagull, Jim Sala is accosted as he's getting into his car in the Central West End. "Are you kidding?" he exclaims. "Women! When there's a breakup, the men worry that the woman isn't going to make it, while the woman worries that the man is. And that's the truth!"
