A very cute little video by the very funny Chris Rock offering helpful tips on ‘How to Not Get Your Ass Kicked by the Police.’ Â Warning, some strong language:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0mtxXEGE8[/youtube]
Maybe we should teach this in the schools?
This week I’m going to depart from my usual format and bring you some of my favorite items from popular culture.
‘Conservative, Christian, Right-Wing Republican, Straight White American Males’ is the title of one of my favorite folks songs, by the wonderful Todd Snider.
Here is a cute non-official video for the song:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si0WTCMrksw[/youtube]
Here are the lyrics (source):
Conservative Christian, right wing Republican, straight, white, American male.
Gay bashin’, black fearin’, poor fightin’, tree killin’, regioal leaders of sales
Frat housin’, keg tappin’, shirt tuckin’, back slappin’ haters of hippies like me.
Tree huggin’, peace lovin’, pot smokin’, porn watchin’ lazyass hippies like me.
Tree huggin’, love makin’, pro choicen, gay weddin’, widespread diggin’ hippies like me.
Skin color-blinded, conspiracy-minded, protestors of corporate greed,
We who have nothing and most likely will ‘till we all wind up locked up in jails
By conservative Christian, right wing Republican, straight, white, American males,.Diamonds and dogs, boys and girls, living together in two separate worlds
Following leaders of mountains of shame, looking for someone to blame.Diamonds and dogs, boys and girls, living together in two separate worlds
Following leaders of mountains of shame, looking for someone to blame.
I know who I like to blame:Conservative Christian, right wing Republican, straight, white, American males,
Soul savin’, flag wavin’, Rush lovin’, land pavin’ personal friends to the Quayles
Quite diligently workin’ so hard to keep the free reins of this Democracy
From tree huggin’, peace lovin’, pot smokin’, barefootin’ folk-singin’ hippies like me.
Tree huggin’, peace lovin’, pot smokin’, porn watchin’ lazyass hippies like me.
The song can be purchased on iTunes.
Lots of stereotypes in there. Those of you still around this week, discuss.
St. Louis, like many other older industrial cities, has made numerous mistakes in the past decades. One of those is a city park, known as Interco Plaza, located at Tucker and Dr. Martin Luther King. The city’s lists of parks simply indicates it is 0.71 acres and has a single fountain. However, the fountain no longer exists. From the City Journal on May 14, 2002 I see the Board of Public voted to approve “Demolition of the High Wall of Interco Plaza Fountain, Tucker Street & Dr. Martin Luther King.”
When proposed I’m sure the artist rendering showed many people conversing around the now-removed fountain. Politicos probably wax poetically about how this new investment in the city was going to do wonders for the area as nothing else had. It may have worked, for a while. Today it stands (barely) as a relic of the brutalist concrete movement.
Although I had been past it hundreds of times I had never stopped and taken a closer look. On a hot day this past August, I did stop and take in the beauty of all the broken up concrete:
So who is this Interco Incorporated? Their long standing name was the International Shoe Company and currently they are known as Furniture Brands. Furniture Brands is based in Clayton, in the Interco Tower which opened in 1985. Click here for a company history.
Interco Plaza is located at the SE corner of Tucker and Dr. Martin Luther King — between the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to the North, the St. Louis Public Schools HQ to the East and St. Patrick Center to the South. The balance of the area is parking. Hadley Street to the East was cut off to through traffic and Dr. King Drive between Hadley and 10th were also removed. Just as well, the Convention Center cuts off through access on Dr. King.
Getting in closer we see the Plaza before the removal of the fountain and the high wall near it. The green spaces (left & bottom) shown above are holes to the tunnel below. The balance of the green, basically the NE corner, are at grade. Still doing research but I guess that a building and basement were razed at this site and the plaza was the replacement.
A few images:
This park is such a horrible space, even the homeless will not use it! Well, at least not the top. Homeless do use the space underneath and the tunnel under Tucker for shelter. A Post-Dispatch article from October indicated the city estimates the cost to replace Tucker (either by filling in the tunnel or building a new tunnel) will cost $30 million, they are seeking federal assistance. Unclear to me is the future of Interco Plaza.
It really needs to go away.
Does Furniture Brands still own the land under the air rights? Can we re-open the closed streets in the area? What about building an SRO (Single Room Occupancy) on a portion of the land? What will become of those living underneath?
I just watched a documentary, about the homeless in an abandoned Amtrak tunnel, filmed in the late 1990s in NYC. The film, Dark Days, was very moving. The homeless themselves were the film crew. This documentary, the first for Marc Singer, received several awards, including a couple at the Sundance Film Festival in 2000.
Here is a brief intro:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpXHCRYXP7s[/youtube]
Like the rest of our city, we have many forgotten areas between areas being revitalized. We need to learn what we can from past mistakes such as brutal concrete plazas and resolve to reconnect and heal the entire city.
This morning I had a meeting attend at the St. Louis Bread Company (Panera to everyone outside St. Louis) on Delmar in the Loop area. I also have a dangerously low back tire on my scooter than needs to be replaced. What to do?
I actually had two good choices, MetroLink (light rail) or MetroBus. Given that I can see from my balcony the #97 bus as it passes along Washington Ave and the fact it would drop me off across the street from my destination it was the winner between the two. Often I would not mind a walk to the Union Station MetroLink stop and then a walk to the Bread Co from the Delmar MetroLink stop but when it is cold and rainy and you’ve got to be there by 8:30am you look for quicker ways to get there. In this case, a bus on city streets was going to be faster overall — roughly 45 minutes.
On my scooter, in this weather but with a good back tire, I’d get there in about a half hour. Fifteen to twenty minutes in good weather. So it was going to take me a bit longer, but my choices were really limited. I could have gotten the tire aired up and hoped that it didn’t deflate midway. A cap would have been way too expensive. Others at the meeting were coming from other directions and I didn’t have their numbers anyway. So this morning I simply got up when necessary and made my way over to the bus stop.
The bus arrived on time, just past 7:30am. Of the twenty I was only the second white person, everyone else was black. I say that simply as a statement of fact. Shortly after the young white kid (maybe 20) got off the bus. Between downtown and the loop numerous folks got on and off, all black, and I was the sole white person.
Personally, I think it is good for non-minorities to be in places where they are suddenly the minority. For the male business person to be among a group of businesswomen, the college student to be among only seniors, and for the white guy to be on a bus where everyone else is black.
Sitting there, on the bus, I thought about what I was going to write today. Ah, this bus trip! But I can’t just talk about bus stops and such. Race, yeah that should be a good topic.
I think to many whites we see a bus full of non-whites, often black. And many people, be they black, white or any other, see bus riders as being poor. But this morning I looked deeper, closer past the color of skin or social class. What did I see?
Today I saw many people, just like me, simply going about their daily lives. They too, probably lacked a car. People were heading to work, or in the case of the VA hospital at Delmar and Grand, getting off work. The driver seemed to know many riders, likely the regulars. If we can all learn to get past issues of race and class, and simply see others as human, public transit and so much of our public lives will be improved.
As we all know by now, in two weeks I-64/Hwy 40 will be taken out of service for two years. For many, I think MetroBus is viable choice. Yes, it will take you longer to get from A to B (or to A-B). You know what, so will being stuck in your car on Manchester Road! Interestingly, the more people use the bus and/or light rail the better the roads will be for those who are driving. Those single occupancy cars consume a considerable amount of space when stored all day and when packed onto arterial roads.
Learn the schedule(s). Bring your iPod and some reading. At the very least, give it a try. While you are doing so, leave any pre-conceptions about the bus and who rides it back at the curb.
If you haven’t heard the news (PubDef, Post-Dispatch), yesterday morning “Big John” Triplett, father of 6th Ward Alderman Kacie Triplett, died as a result of a heart attack, he was only 55. Losing a parent is tough, not getting to say goodbye makes it more difficult.
My condolences go out to Kacie, her family and Big John’s friends and co-workers.