THE WRITERS OF THE CWE: WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS

 

Ah, my favorite of the Central West End writers, William S. Burroughs. Born to a wealthy St. Louis family (anyone remember Burroughs adding machines?), he revolutionized fiction writing with his bizarre techniques such as cut-ups, taking  finished text and literally cutting it into strips and rearranging it. Much of his work was drawn from long but intermittent periods of addiction. His narrators were notoriously unreliable, shifting times and personas. Novels such as Naked Lunch, Cities of the Red Night and The Western Lands stirred outrage and admiration. Characters like Dr. Benway wielded humor with predator’s claws.  

Towards the end of his chaotic life he moved to Lawrence, Kansas, of all places. He died at 83 of a heart attack and is buried in St. Louis, in the Burroughs family plot in Parisian-elaborate Bellefontaine Cemetery. His marker is unassuming.                

THE WRITERS OF THE CWE: KATE CHOPIN

 

Kate Chopin is not as widely known as the other writers depicted at this Central West End intersection, yet she is a major figure in American literature. She is considered one of the first feminist authors of the Twentieth Century. She was born and grew up in St. Louis but moved to Louisiana with her husband. Much of her fiction is set in the South. After her husband’s death, she returned here for the rest of her life. To learn more about her, see https://americanliterature.com/author/kate-chopin/ .                    

THE WRITERS OF THE CWE: T. S. ELIOT

 

Euclid and McPherson Avenues is a major intersection in The Lou’s trendy Central West End neighborhood, or CWE. Each of the four corners has a bust of a famous native writer or, in one case, an author with major ties here. This is Thomas Stearns Eliot. His image is that of the consummate English intellectual, High Church Anglican and all that. Well, not quite. He was born and raised in St. Louis, living here until he went to school in Massachusetts at age 16. He’s the one who told us that the world ends not with a bang but a whimper. Got my doubts about that.                     

JUST HANGING OUT

 

Wednesday’s super moon, hanging over a building in St. Louis’ Central West End. This was as close in as I could get with my longest lens, 600 mm equivalent with the camera’s 2:1 crop factor.              

TODAY’S THE DAY

 

Halloween itself. It has been so horribly commercialized and monetized, very much with the consent and participation of Americans. The day seems to allow people to let out something that is otherwise repressed, and that’s a good thing. The over-the-top home decorations, some more elaborate than Christmas, well, that’s something else. Mrs. C and I don’t get into holidays much.                     

GLAM

There is strong competition to stand out at the Central West End Halloween party, and I think this couple was particularly successful. Lots of effort went into these ensembles. On the other hand, when I’m shooting at an event like this I dress in black. I want to notice them but I don’t want them to notice me.                   

FALL COLORS

 

One of the more creative costume ensembles at the Central West End Halloween party. Our temperatures have gotten much cooler and we’ve had some rain, so maybe we will get more natural versions of this. Note, though, what is in the hand pf the person on the left. Someone was selling cocktails in IV fluid bags, with the liquid tube to use as a straw. Medicinal purposes only.        

ROUND IN CIRCLES

Pre-party entertainment in Maryland Plaza before the Central West End’s main Halloween festivities. This person is there every year, doing tricks that are hard to photograph. He fully rotates, twists and spirals, somehow not squashing his hands. Where do you learn this?              

IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR

 

Halloween isn’t until Friday but The Lou’s biggest party was last night. On the Saturday before the official date, our trendy Central West End neighborhood sponsors a huge street party. The costumes range from the mundane (who needs more Super Mario brothers?) to people like this. Not sure what’s going on with this couple, she dressed as Lady Liberty with wings and he, wearing a bishop’s mitre, symbolizing something more sinister.                

DRAGON, DON’T EAT THE KIDS!

A Chinese dragon threatens some children at the Red Lantern Night Market. All in fun but the girl on the right looks a bit concerned.

Trip coming up, big flow of new images.                          

A TOP SALESPERSON

How could a buyer resist? This charming young woman was at a tent at the Red Lantern Night Market selling jewelry. The only jewelry I own is my wedding ring so I kept my credit card in my wallet and picked up my lens. She gave me a great deal.                   

GOOD KARMA HYDRATION

It was a typical St. Louis July evening at the Red Lantern Night Market, hot and humid. Time for some hydration with blessings. The dress suggests to me that the figure is female, not the big guy. When I zoom in on the beverage container I see lettering that says Las Vega… S? N? Either one would be interesting.                         

 

JAPANESE CUTE

 

At the Red Lantern Night Market. I don’t think there is a people on earth who do cute as intensely as the Japanese. You could leave the market with more J Cute stuff than could fit in your car (nobody goes by public transport here), and some people might eagerly do so.                             

RED LANTERN NIGHT MARKET

There is an event in St. Louis’ Central West End neighborhood that’s been going on for two or three years called the Red Lantern Night Market. We hadn’t heard about it before but it was featured in the local newspaper and our public radio station (we just increased our contribution, for reasons Americans will understand). All of our East Asian communities came together for a party in a narrow street lined with tents of vendors and throngs of visitors. There was a lion dance and lots more.                  

GUSTAV WAS HERE

 

March, 1973: I was a broke law student who went to a bar on St. Patrick’s Day with my roommate, having only pocket change between us. The crowd literally pushed me into a young woman whom I found attractive. One thing led to another and I asked her out on a first date. It wasn’t the norm at the time, but we went to the St. Louis Symphony (cheapest seats) and heard Mahler’s First Symphony, one of my favorites. 52 years later, we are hearing it again today at the SLSO.    

The Mahler Ballroom in our Central West End, https://www.mahlerballroom.com/, was a dance academy and center of St, Louis society in the early 20th Century. It has been beautifully restored and is now an event space.             

BOO

 

A candy store for local photographers: on the Saturday before Halloween, our Central West End neighborhood has a big public Halloween party in Maryland Plaza. The strange side of St. Louis shows up in force. Curbside bars line the surrounding streets. Costumes range from simple to wildly creative, and there is a contest that we will come to. Plenty of things that go bump in the night.                  

AND YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT LOCUSTS

The eastern half of the United States is about to be infested by the 17 year locust explosion. Home town boy William S. Burroughs, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Burroughs, has other bugs to worry about, possibly from all those things he self-injected. At least he is protected from substances in the air.

His bust is in the Central West End, across the street from that of a much better behaved but no less revolutionary native writer. T. S. Elliott.               

CLEAN CITY

When I was younger, perhaps high school age, there was a ubiquitous public service ad in my home town that said "a cleaner New York is up to you." There may have been a time when that was assumed in St. Louis, if perhaps less so now. The J. Arthur Anderson Laundry, in a much different neighborhood than Dinks Parrish, looks more like an expensive mortuary. What's with the slow laundry theme? Careful is good, but perhaps many decades ago Americans were much less impatient.

I was wrong about something. Dinks Parrish were not the names of two families. They are the first and last names of one person. There is an interesting piece about the history of the two companies at https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/joe-holleman/spotlight-two-st-louis-buildings-harken-back-to-s-laundry/article_cbf13e2e-7fda-545f-bfc8-118b8e1641cd.html .

THAT HOUSE ON THAT STREET

You have seen this view on television, in electronic media or a newspaper. This is the entrance to Portland Place, a private street filled with old mansions in The Lou's Central West End. You also saw the owners of this mansion, fellow members of the local bar, standing in front. He had a semi-automatic rifle. She had a small hand gun pointed at the passing protesters, finger on the trigger. It is unclear whether the crowd broke through the locked gate.

The car in the foreground is from the news department of a local television station. No particular repercussions so far but the story has not ended.                

OUR BETTER ANGELS

How much more pleasant than the pair of demons that guard entrances in some cultures. This is a shop on McPherson in the Central West End. It's closed, of course.