I was excited to attend the dedication of the new Dred and Harriett Scott memorial in Calvary Cemetery. There had been a small tombstone, but it was recently upgraded to an easier to find and much more fitting monument. As more and more Americans do not know who the Scotts are, it is more and…
Tag: Cool People
Other Fall Updates, Fires, Demolitions, Etc.
It finally happened, the Mullanphy Emigrant Home, which I last looked at back in June of this year, caught on fire and burned to the ground on the night of September 14th. There is certainly no grand conspiracy, but simply the fact that overnight lows reached 50 degrees, and a squatter’s fire probably spread out…
Big Muddy Dance Company Presents: Blaze
As I’ve done in the past, I wanted to alert readers to an upcoming cultural event that I think is worth your time. Big Muddy Dance Company is offering up another performance this Friday and Saturday. From their press release: A specially curated blend of exciting new works and audience favorites, featuring world premiere choreography…
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Perhaps a visit to the burial ground where so many iconic people are buried would not be as memorable if a steady rain were not falling as I walked the winding paths of Père Lachaise Cemetery. Designed as the first rural or garden cemetery, laid out with winding paths and forested lanes, the land lies…
The Pantheon, Paris
The Pantheon in Paris, named after the one in Rome, has gone through so many identity changes over the centuries that it’s hard to keep track. You can read about that elsewhere. However, it’s the perfect domed church-like structure to examine in the history of architecture right after the domed chapel of the Invalides, which…
The Big Muddy Dance Company Present Retrospective
I’m a big fan of the Big Muddy Dance Company, and their next performance is coming up the first weekend of April on the 1st and 2nd at 7:30 PM both nights at the historic Grandel Theater, 3610 Grandel Square. For those interested in watching a virtual performance, viewing will be available the following weekend…
Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville
St. Louis was not the only city in America to embrace the rural cemetery movement. Louisville has Cave Hill Cemetery. Two famous men are buried there, and colored lines lead visitors to their graves. A green line leads you to the grave of Muhammad Ali. On the day I was there, beautiful flowers and inspirational…
North St. Louis, Late Summer, 2019
I met new people all over North St. Louis this summer, including members of the congregation of the Original Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in the Ville neighborhood, on St. Louis Avenue. Better Family Life had organized dozens of churches to host barbecues all summer long, and the Church had been one of the participants. I…
Frankie Muse Freeman
I think too many people get bronze statues in America, but one woman who definitely deserves one is Frankie Muse Freeman, who fought for Civil Rights for decades in St. Louis. You can read about her work at this link. The newspaper in her hand references her great victory in Davis et al. v. St….
Remembering Tom Maher
I was able to attend the memorial service for Tom Maher, who was a long time reader and commenter on this website, having left, according to my estimates, hundreds if not over a thousand comments over the last decade. I had the opportunity to meet Tom earlier this year, and we ended up talking for…