Gateway Arch National Park known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial until 2018, is an American national park located in St. Louis, near the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition; the Gateway Arch and its immediate surroundings were designated as a national memorial by executive order on December 21, 1935, redesignated as a national park in 2018. The park is maintained by the National Park Service; the memorial was established to commemorate: the Louisiana Purchase, the subsequent westward movement of American explorers and pioneers. The national park consists of the Gateway Arch, a steel catenary arch that has become the definitive icon of St. Louis; the Gateway Arch, known as the "Gateway to the West", is the tallest structure in Missouri. It was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen and structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel in 1947 and built between 1963 and October 1965, it stands 630 feet wide at its base. The legs are 54 feet wide at the base, narrowing to 17 feet at the arch.

There is a unique tram system to carry passengers to the observation room at the top of the arch. The Old Courthouse is built on land deeded by St. Louis founder Auguste Chouteau, it marks the location over. Its dome was built during the American Civil War and is similar to the dome on the United States Capitol, built during the Civil War, it was the site of the local trials in the Dred Scott case. The courthouse is the only portion of the memorial west of Interstate 44. To the west of the Old Courthouse is a Greenway between Market and Chestnut Streets, only interrupted by the Civil Courts Building which features a pyramid model of the Mausoleum of Mausolus on its roof; when the Civil Courts building was built in the 1920s, the Chouteau family sued to regain the property belonging to the Old Courthouse because it had been deeded in perpetuity to be a courthouse. Underneath the arch is a visitor center, entered from a circular entryway facing the Old Courthouse. Within the center, a project to rebuild the Museum at the Gateway Arch was completed in July 2018.

The new museum features exhibits on a variety of topics including westward expansion and the construction of the arch, all told through a St. Louis lens. Tucker Theater, finished in 1968 and renovated 30 years has about 285 seats and shows a documentary on the arch's construction. A second theater was added in 1993 but removed in 2018 as part of the CityArchRiver renovation project. Located in the visitor center are a gift shop and cafe; the memorial was developed through the efforts of St. Louis civic booster Luther Ely Smith who first pitched the idea in 1933, was the long-term chairman of the committee that selected the area and persuaded Franklin Roosevelt in 1935 to make it a national park service unit after St. Louis passed a bond issue to begin building it, who financed the 1947 architectural contest that selected the arch. In the early 1930s the United States began looking for a suitable memorial for Thomas Jefferson. Shortly after Thanksgiving in 1933 Smith, on the commission to build the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park in Indiana, was returning via train when he noticed the poor condition of the original platted location of St. Louis along the Mississippi.

He thought that the memorial to Jefferson should be on the actual location, symbolic of one of Jefferson's greatest triumphs—the Louisiana Purchase. The platted area of St. Louis was the site of: The Battle of Saint Louis, the only battle west of the Mississippi River in the American Revolutionary War; the first capital of Upper Louisiana for the United States, the Louisiana Purchase north of the 33rd parallel, the original Louisiana Territory in 1803. The Three Flags Day ceremony in 1804 in which Spain formally turned over Louisiana to France, less than 24 hours before France officially turned it over to the United States; this technically completed the Louisiana Purchase, cleared the way for Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to begin their exploration of the continental west, which Spain had prohibited. All of the historic buildings associated with this period had been replaced by newer buildings, his idea was to raze all of the buildings in the original St. Louis platted area and replace it with a park with "a central feature, a shaft, a building, an arch, or something which would symbolize American culture and civilization."

Smith pitched the idea to Bernard Dickmann who assembled a meeting of St. Louis civic leaders on December 15, 1933 at the Jefferson Hotel and they endorsed the plan and Smith became chairman of what would become the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association; the Commission defined the area, got cost estimates of $30 million to buy the land, clear the buildings and erect a park and monument. With promises from the federal government to join if the City of St. Louis could raise money; the area to be included in the park was bounded by the Eads Bridge/Wash

Takuma Abe is a Japanese footballer who plays as a forward for J1 League side Vegalta Sendai. Abe played football for the university. Abe joined J. League Division 2 side Tokyo Verdy on a free transfer in January 2010, he made his league debut on 10 April 2010 in Verdy's 1–0 loss to Ehime, coming on at half time. After three seasons at Tokyo Verdy, Abe joined 2. Bundesliga side VfR Aalen in January 2013, he made his league debut on 16 February 2013 coming on as a 65th-minute substitute in Aalen's 1–0 loss to Hertha BSC. He scored his first goal for the club on 17 March 2013 in the 90th minute to draw the game 2–2 against SV Sandhausen; as of 18 February 20191Includes Emperor's DFB-Pokal. 2Includes J. League Cup. 3Includes AFC Champions League. Profile at Vegalta Sendai Takuma Abe at J. League

Lamia Makaddam is a Tunisian poet and translator. Lamia Makaddam was born in 1971 in Tunisia, she began writing poetry at an early age and, despite having no female mentors in poetry, was encouraged by her family and teachers in her writing. She published her first poem in the leftist newspaper Badil, she has written two books of poetry, her work has been translated into English, French and Kurdish. She was awarded the al-Hijara Literary Prize in the Netherlands in 2000, she has an MA in Arabic literature and, in addition to writing, works as a translator. She has lived in the Netherlands for 20 years and lives in Amsterdam. Al-Hijara Literary Prize, the Netherlands, 2000 Intahā hāḏahi al-qaṣīda.. Intahā hāḏā al-ḥubb, 2015 Biṭaʻm al-fākiha al-šatwiyya, 2007 Anta qulta, translation of the Dutch novel Jij zegt het, by Connie Palmen Two poems, World Literature Today, 2018 Four poems, Banipal, 2017 Three poems, Banipal