1. Oh Hey →

    Some friends and fellow members of Brain Drain and myself are taking part in GOOD Ideas for Cities (St. Louis edition), and will be presenting our solution to the following problem on March 8th at CAM.

    Have an animated conversation with a young transplant or multi-generational loyalist and you will understand the passion people here have for St. Louis. But, too often, the message falls back on empty boosterism. Whatever the cause, we must understand it, admit it and fix it. How do we deepen the pool of diverse people who love St. Louis and are personally invested in its progress?

    We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to work on this, as this is something quite close to our hearts. If you can, please come to the event. It should be a ton of fun.

  2. A lot has been made of late concerning the suckage or non-suckage of our fair city. I would like my fellow St. Louisans to please read this article. In particular, this bit:

    It’s not that something is missing from Stan’s legacy. On the contrary, one could argue that his legacy would be incomplete if he hadn’t been overlooked. Stan spent a long career showing up, playing hard, and going home afterwards. He considered himself lucky to be able to do so, and to do it well. That was all he needed. Had he been more of a prominent figure, something special about him would have been lost. His legendary wholesomeness just wouldn’t play right as an ESPN feature story, and it would open him up to undeserved cheap shots and cynicism. He lives well in the shadows. I mean that as a compliment.

    We should disregard the pat-on-the-back write-ups as much as the link-bait lists that prompt them. Good things are happening here, but our success or failure matters not one bit on the recognition of others. Those who get it, get it—those who don’t probably never will. Like the Man, all we can do is try to better ourselves one day at a time. (Though a kind word every now and again isn’t the worst thing.)

  3. (I)f I came here as a tourist, I wouldn’t really have an excuse to talk to people. I get an impression from every city by talking to people. At a show, people have just seen you do your most personal presentation. They’ve been singing along with songs that came from somewhere deep in your imagination. In some way it’s a kind of intimate experience with people who would otherwise be total strangers. I feel very lucky to be going on tour and to meet people in this way. Even after only talking to someone for two seconds we know that we have something in common. I was able to talk to many people tonight and I got the same impression from many people. The impression I got was that St. Louis is very supportive of the arts and supportive of people who are trying to do artistic things. There’s that rare feeling that people that live here feel that this place is good for them. This makes it easy for them to do their music or do their art. That to me is very exciting, and you don’t hear that everywhere you go.

    — Greg Sauiner (of Deerhoof)

  4. secret republic: “The presence of so much vacant land allows poor cities to revitalize... →

    secretrepublic:

    “The presence of so much vacant land allows poor cities to revitalize without the same fear of gentrification.”

    — John Powell, Urban Sprawl: Causes, Consequences, and Policy Responses

    jaech1ck said: Can you provide context for this quote?


    Powell assumes the…

  5. Interior renovation at the Peabody Opera House. via

    Interior renovation at the Peabody Opera House.

    via

  6. Check out this beautiful bird’s-eye view map of St. Louis, circa 1907. From the excellent Big Map Blog (which happens to be a product of our fair city).

    Check out this beautiful bird’s-eye view map of St. Louis, circa 1907.

    From the excellent Big Map Blog (which happens to be a product of our fair city).

  7. Good news on this dreary Monday morning, as I’m finally allowed to announce this: good friend/killer illustrator (killustrator?) Noah MacMillan and I have been selected to collaborate on a print from the upcoming 2011 St. Louis edition of Artcrank. Among the other 29 contributors are numerous friends and role models: Dan Zettwoch, Amy Thompson of Paper Boat, former CDes-er Sam Washburn, Alexn Inhen of NextSTL, and of course, fellow TOKYs and friends Jamie Banks-George, Katy Fischer, and Kirsten O’Loughlin. What?! That’s not even half of the lineup. The show runs May 12th–14th at Atomic Cowboy, and supports the exceedingly wonderful St. Louis BicycleWORKS. You can bet you’ll hear from me again on this.

    Good news on this dreary Monday morning, as I’m finally allowed to announce this: good friend/killer illustrator (killustrator?) Noah MacMillan and I have been selected to collaborate on a print from the upcoming 2011 St. Louis edition of Artcrank. Among the other 29 contributors are numerous friends and role models: Dan Zettwoch, Amy Thompson of Paper Boat, former CDes-er Sam Washburn, Alexn Inhen of NextSTL, and of course, fellow TOKYs and friends Jamie Banks-George, Katy Fischer, and Kirsten O’Loughlin. What?! That’s not even half of the lineup.

    The show runs May 12th–14th at Atomic Cowboy, and supports the exceedingly wonderful St. Louis BicycleWORKS. You can bet you’ll hear from me again on this.

  8. When looking at this map and seeing the jumble of ancient riverbeds – imagine all those shifts sped up: the Mississippi is like a shifting snake, twisting to find its easiest way down to the Gulf. These shifts occur every thousand years or so, especially in the lower parts of the river, through a process known as delta switching, or avulsion: when the river flow is slow, the sedimentation clogs the river channel and it eventually finds another channel. This process is by no means ‘historic’ (i.e. ‘over’) – from the 1950s onwards, the US government has worked on the Old River Control Structure, meant to prevent the Mississippi from switching to the Atchafalaya River channel.

    When looking at this map and seeing the jumble of ancient riverbeds – imagine all those shifts sped up: the Mississippi is like a shifting snake, twisting to find its easiest way down to the Gulf. These shifts occur every thousand years or so, especially in the lower parts of the river, through a process known as delta switching, or avulsion: when the river flow is slow, the sedimentation clogs the river channel and it eventually finds another channel. This process is by no means ‘historic’ (i.e. ‘over’) – from the 1950s onwards, the US government has worked on the Old River Control Structure, meant to prevent the Mississippi from switching to the Atchafalaya River channel.

  9. Yet, there is something enduring in all of these cities. Beating and pulsing, the hue of life circulating in encrusted factories turned incubators, in new neon signs rising above teeming streets, in cafes dispensing local brews of every breed, in rehabilitated row homes with more dignity in one brick than the entirety of Iowa.

    — RJ Koscielniak—From Possible to Real: Recognizing the New Frontier

  10. I can’t wait to see this. Pruitt-Igoe is one of the more tragic (and insanely fascinating) stories from St. Louis’ history.