The MULSA Muse is back and looking for your contributions!
The theme from now through August 2026 is Making New Memories. I hope that we can get to know each other more and foster new, fun opportunities for all and especially our many new and newer Mizzou Libraries faculty and staff members. I encourage you to share and recount experiences you’ve had in mid-Missouri that turned out to be unforgettable. Bonus points for including experiences where the places or opportunities are still accessible. It could be a restaurant, a recurring event like a festival, or anything you’d like to share. Please email me at dtmgy5@missouri.edu or message me on Teams.
Sticking with the latest MUSE post’s train theme for an example:
Mashed Potatoes and Beef Broth on Rolling Stock
As a freshman in college, I was hanging out in Benton-Stephens with my punk rock friend Leo when another friend came into the living room in a rush. Scott desperately needed someone to cover his shift and I desperately needed cash. “What kind of gig is it?” I asked. “Washing dishes on the COLT,” Scott replied. I was aware of the short rail line that ran from the industrial parts of Columbia along Paris Road to Centralia, MO. What I didn’t know is that the COLT line had a short-lived and aspirationally fancy dinner train operation from 2011 to 2014. While the desiccated till plains of Missouri can be rather scenic, I split my time and visual focus between scraping and spraying half-eaten Sunday family dinner fare and running the dishwasher. To my chagrin, you couldn’t do both at the same time. There also weren’t enough plates to support multiple courses, so we had to hustle to keep the kitchen and the diners happy.
After the two and half-hour journey, I felt grateful enough that I made it through my shift. I was ready to collect my wages and put the whole experience behind me. Thinking that this temporary shift cover would result in real, paper money in my pocket, I was sorely disappointed. Not only did my paltry pay amount to around $25 but I was also told that on Monday I needed to visit a payroll office, fill out onboarding forms, and wait for the pay cycle for a check lest I pay a rush check fee. To me at 19, that felt like too much work for too little payoff. If anything, I thought, I got a good story and free train ride out of the deal.
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Thanks,
Dylan
