Spring is finally here! And when the weather gets warm, people run outside. Then they fall down. Or twist their ankle. Or throw the ball just a little too hard for their own good.

Story: Katha has a high-powered job in the city that keeps her in high-stress mode. Her husband Ryu is a plastic surgeon who seems always to be on the run. One day, when Katha by chance meets a dapper fellow named Dean on the street and inquires about his ‘retro’ look, he hands her a brochure about the Society of Dynamic Obsolescence.

World-class artists are once again coming together for Sing for Siteman, a one-night-only performance to support cancer research for Siteman Cancer Center.

For the past few days, it was hard to ignore the world of sports—even if you’re not a sports fan. Whether you like basketball or baseball, it was good to be a Cardinals fan this week: The Louisville Cardinals claimed the NCAA Men’s Basketball title, a game that became the most watched in 19 years. And of course, this week also brought us Opening Day at Busch Stadium, which, for Cardinal Nation, is an event in itself—and that’s a good thing because…well, you know what happened there.

Story: A bureaucrat in Franco’s Spain, circa 1962, interrogates an Israeli professor at the Spanish National Archives in Madrid. The professor has landed in hot water by purloining a file dating back to the infamous Spanish Inquisition from the late 15th century.

To flourish financially into future generations, author Ellen Miley Perry says affluent families also have to thrive emotionally. A wealth adviser for 25 years and author of A Wealth of Possibilities: Navigating Family, Money and Legacy, Perry has worked with more than 150 high-net worth families throughout her career—often witnessing the same pattern. “I observed that families who flourish the most were focused on qualitative issues, not just quantitative ones,” she says. “They took time and interest in quality family relationships and raising the next generation. Far fewer families devote the same intensity, energy and commitment to human assets as they do to financial assets.”

Andy Dielmann, owner of Dielmann Sotheby’s International Realty, has plenty of reasons to smile.

Following an engagement at Busch Stadium, a local couple welcomed guests to their wedding weekend with a Cardinals’ galvanized pail of game-day treats at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark Hotel.

In this week’s Tangential Thinker column, you’ll read about the latest crop of words and phrases that have been scorned by scholarly wordsmiths due to their misuse or over-use. Making the list this year is one of my favorite words, passion. Sadly, I have to agree that—just like the words, ‘awesome’ and ‘hero’—in recent years, passion has suffered its share of mishandling from our everyday vocabulary.

Dr. Jeffrey Marsh takes the Chinese proverb, Teach a man to fish… a step further. He believes in “teaching men to fish, so they can teach others to fish.”

Jan Albus considers Variety the Childen’s Charity of St. Louis her 14,000-member family. As executive director and a national board member, she leads the nonprofit in helping children with physical and mental disabilities reach their full potential.

When Jimmy Loomis III was in fifth grade, he watched a movie that would spur him toward a life of community involvement. The movie was An Inconvenient Truth, and the moment took place just seven years ago. Called to action by the film’s message about climate change and its consequences, the then 10-year-old stood before the Ladue City Council and successfully proposed the creation of a municipal recycling program. “That’s when I first became really interested in politics,” he recalls. “I realized that no matter who you are, what you have and where you come from, you can make a difference. I was able to witness actual change taking place and that has motivated me ever since.”

Maryville University doesn’t have the ancient ivy-covered walls or Greek columns. It doesn’t have a 100,000-seat football stadium or hold on a spot in the Final Four. You might even overlook it when considering some of the other colleges in St. Louis, and yet Maryville is consistently gaining national honors. In 2011, Forbes ranked Maryville one of America’s Best Colleges; Kiplinger’s followed, calling it one of the nation’s best values in private colleges; and now, U.S. News & World Report has declared it the No. 1 ‘over-performing’ university in the nation.

As a University of Missouri student, Amy Lorenz-Moser witnessed a devastating domestic violence episode where a man came in and “clobbered” a woman who worked at the school cafeteria. From that moment, Lorenz-Moser knew she wanted to become a personal injury lawyer. “I thought that it was an area where I could make a difference.”

Entrepreneur Jason Jan admits he’s a little camera-shy. “I prefer to be humble,” says Jan, a husband and father of three children—two boys, ages 5 and 8, and a 7-month-old daughter.

It started as an innocent question one year ago to a long-time friend. Andrew Rehfeld knew the Jewish Federation of St. Louis had been looking for a replacement for the retiring president and CEO, Barry Rosenberg, and he was curious about the progress of the search. As his friend detailed the profile of the Federation’s ideal candidate, the associate professor of political science at Washington University was intrigued. “It sounded exactly like the sort of thing I was really interested in doing," he says. "The building of community—trying to inspire and move a community to a healthy and robust place where they are helping themselves and one another—was inspirational for me.”

A 14-year-old Jeremy Davenport sat in the audience of The Sheldon Concert Hall in 1984 and watched the great jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis take the stage. Afterward, young Jeremy got a chance to meet Marsalis. It was a night that would change his life. “It was the first time I got a chance to hear Wynton play live,” Davenport recalls. “He’s such a phenomenal trumpet player—he’s probably been the biggest musical influence in my life.”

St. Louis feels like home to Hungarian native Susan Polgar, the four-time Women’s World Chess Champion. “There is a nice metropolitan feel to St. Louis. There are more things to do, the people here are very nice, and the nearby hills and rivers remind me of home,” she says.

Rather than list the local institutions that Bob and Mary Lee Hermann have supported, it would almost be easier to list those they have not been involved in—if you could think of anything to put on that list. So while they may protest that they’ve slowed down in recent years, it’s no surprise to those who know them that they would be named among LN’s Most Dynamic St. Louisans.

Greg Moss, Modern Home Technology

Prudential Alliance Realtors is a dedicated group of professionals, who work to exceed clients' expectations by adding value to every real estate transaction. Prudential is known for providing quality service for sellers and buyers. Strengthened by a dynamic multi-media strategy, Prudential Alliance’s website helps generate leads and annually refers 100,000-plus potential new clients directly to local offices. The company’s broad reach provides its real estate specialists with the most effective marketing insights, materials and techniques. Prudential Alliance’s success is based on its relationships with colleagues, clients and the community.

OSEA founder and ‘chief seaweed officer’ Jenefer Palmer comes from a long line of healers. In fact, her grandmother was one of the first female chiropractors in the world, who always told her granddaughter, Always read the label. She took the advice to heart when working as spa director at Murrieta Hot Springs, which at the time was a premier holistic destination spa. But what she found came as a surprise: Many of the most expensive products used inexpensive and sometimes dangerous synthetic ingredients. Palmer now uses 100 percent natural marine-based organic ingredients in her products, which are carried at luxury spas around the world. We caught up with her on a recent visit to Soft Surroundings, St. Louis’ exclusive provider of OSEA products.

St. Louis is lucky to have some fine steakhouses, and some of the best are actually chains, putting a dent in the myth that large restaurant groups are not about quality. One of the best around is Fleming's, which combines an elegant interior with attentive service and some of the best steaks around.

Story: Andrew Jackson, America’s seventh president (1829-37), was not born into the landed gentry. Quite the opposite, Jackson endured a harsh life growing up on the Western frontier from the time of his birth in 1767. Orphaned at age 14, he struck out on his own with a fervent hatred of the British and a burning desire to take land away from Native Americans for the benefit of European immigrants. Jackson eschewed the way of politics in Washington, D.C. and carved his own career as a populist and the people’s choice.

It’s almost here…The 2012 WILLIAM BERNOUDY LADUE NEWS SHOW HOUSE officially opens next Friday, Oct. 5. But here’s your chance at a sneak peak: An Opening Night Cocktail Party will be held at the Show House in Town & Country on Thursday, Oct. 4, from 6 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $75 each ($50 for patrons 35 and younger). Proceeds from opening night, as well as the entire Show House run (through Oct. 21), benefit four area charities, including Angels’ Arms, Animal Protective Association of Missouri, SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’sMedicalCenter and Shakespeare Festival St. Louis. The LN Show House committee is chaired by STACEY GOLTERMANN, and includes TANIA BEASLEY-JOLLY, ALAN E. BRAINERD, MILLIE CAIN, KATIE HOLTON, MARK HOWALD, LISA MALONE, JUDY MOSKOFF, JUSTIN NANGLE, VICKI PICKLE, HELENE SAYAD, JULIE SCHUSTER, TRACY SPORRER and TED WIGHT. For tickets, call 269-8836.