“I never try to pretend that I know what anyone took away from my performance, but what I hope they took away was joy in personal sensuality and maybe [that they] felt inspired to embrace that," said Leah Franklin who performed a pole dancing routine in front of nearly 150 people for the Muse Pole Fitness 11th Anniversary Student Showcase on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023, at The Blue Note in Columbia, Mo. The sold-out event featured 58 performers with acts ranging from striking and sultry to poignant and political, each drawing applause, supportive shout-outs and cheers from the crowd. Franklin first “stumbled into pole” a decade ago while trying to find a new outlet for movement and dance. “I became hooked about a year into it, on and off, and I haven't looked back since," she said. Now, in addition to being a nationally-competitive pole dancer, Franklin is a studio manager and instructor at Muse Pole Fitness. "My favorite part of the showcase is watching all of my students show everything they've worked so hard for to prepare," she said. "I love seeing their growth as dancers as well as people."

Madison Thompson, left, Tess Killmade, mirror, Kaitlyn Genereux, center, and Amanda Griffin, right, talk backstage before the Muse Pole Fitness 12th Anniversary Student Showcase begins on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, at The Blue Note in Columbia. “Pole doesn't always get a good rap in the community,” said Genereux, who is an aerial hoop instructor. “So I do really also hope that people take away that while stripping is a career and sex work is work, there are other ways to do poll, and all of those are valid. And if somebody wants to try this, there's no shame or no harm. And it's just a really good supportive environment.”

Every summer around sunset, the Phantom Piper fills the air with the sound of bagpipes from his lookout atop the Kincardine Lighthouse, the melancholy melodies traveling across the pier. Before the music begins, Dallas Bosman, 11, jumps off the Station Beach pier while other young swimmers watch on Monday, July 24, 2023, in Kincardine, Ontario. Locals and tourists alike swam, ate ice cream and listened to the music as the sun sinks below the horizon of Lake Huron. This year, however, wildfire smoke in Canada diluted and obscured the sunset's glow.

The old I-70 Rocheport Bridge was demolished Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023, between Cooper and Boone counties. The demolition dropped close to 6 million pounds of steel into the Missouri River.

Members of the Missouri House of Representatives celebrate the end of the legislative session by tossing papers into the air on Friday, May 12, 2023, at the Capitol in Jefferson City. The session was marked by restrictions on gender-affirming care for young Missourians and the passage of the largest state budget to date.

Tolton Catholic High School assistant coaches Jadon Henry, left, and Brock Davis cheer for one of their wrestlers on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, at Mizzou Arena in Columbia. Six Tolton wrestlers competed in the Class 1 Semifinals.

Referee Barbara Brummet, left, checks on Boonville High School’s Audrionnah Donahue during her match on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, at Mizzou Arena in Columbia. Donahue lost by fall in 5:29 to Savannah High School’s Jade Brundige.

May Hall, front, and Harry Castilow, back, share a tearful embrace after the City Council voted 6-1 to make Columbia a LBGTQ+ Safe Haven on Monday, Feb. 19, 2024, at City Hall in Columbia. “I have never cried with happiness, and I have wept in the past five minutes,” said Hall, who is a transgender woman. “I’m over the moon about it. I couldn’t be happier. And honestly, I desperately, desperately needed this win.”

Stella Mann fixes her wig between drag performances on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, at the Dandy Lion Cafe in Ashland, Missouri. “There’s a lot of queer people probably who live here who don’t feel like they’re included,” said Ethan West, the performer’s name when he is not in drag. “So not only is bringing the drag here opening them up to that kind of community and letting them know that they’re loved and they’re appreciated, but also with the Dandy Lion, specifically, with the diversity that is within [the] Dandy Lion, it is amazing. So I feel like it is a good way to go out and let people know that they’re not alone.”

Bre Thompson, a backup dancer to drag queen Mahajanay DeMornay, watches performers on stage during the final night of the 50th annual Miss Gay Mid-Missouri drag competition on Saturday, March 23, 2024, at the Sun Theater in St. Louis. Performers arrived around 6 p.m., but the competition didn’t end until after midnight when DeMornay lost the crown and was named the first runner-up.

Sarai Buckins, 11, performs with The Dancing Divas during the March March parade on Friday, March 3, 2023, on Ninth Street in Columbia. “I really enjoyed doing that. It was really fun to get to really dance,” Buckins said. “I hope that [the crowd] enjoyed it.”

Eron Harvey, 7, center, lies on a blanket watching the eclipse while surrounded by friends and family on Monday, April 8, 2024, at Trail of Tears State Park in Jackson, Mo. Eron Harvey’s mom, Peggy Harvey, said the whole day had been “a beautiful experience.”

Jeff Stack, an anti-death penalty advocate who helps coordinate the Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation and largely organized the evening’s vigil for Raheem Taylor, stands for a period of silence on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, at the Boone County Courthouse in Columbia. Despite Taylor's claims that he was not in Missouri when the killings occurred, he was put to death Tuesday evening with 5 grams of pentobarbital.

“Raheem Taylor is a human being who has a right to life. He should be spared. We wish that the governor would intervene, but we think it’s really important to be a witness to what our state is planning in our name with our tax money,” Stack said. “It’s really important to remember them and just to realize that that great and terrible tragedy is not erased by erasing yet another human being. Enough murder, enough killings occur.”