FAUSTIAN BARGAIN

There is a meme in old American movies about a stick-up, an armed robbery. The criminal is facing his victim and holding a gun. "Your money or your life," the thug barks. It's a bad choice but one is much worse than the other.  

A Faustian bargain refers to the legend of the old alchemist who sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for youth, love and wealth. Everything the world has to offer came to Faust, but in the end he was doomed. Our government's policies about the virus and economic recovery have begun to feel like this. Your money or your life, indeed. Granted, my family is financially secure and I understand why others would be desperate. In the big picture, though, I'd rather have my life, and my family's, friends and co-workers. And yours.

Normally at this time of year I'd be shooting The Lou's many outdoor events. All canceled, of course, so I have to find something else. Last weekend I went to one of our two huge old cemeteries, Bellefontaine. It's all Protestant (every name is English, Scottish or German). The Catholic one, Calvary, is adjacent. It's where our rich and famous get planted. I got a good shot of the grave of our native son and cultural hero, William S. Burroughs. Tennessee Williams is across the road. We will come back to the subject.  

The Worst of Us

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There is a neo-Nazi convention in the area this weekend. They held a pathetic little rally under the Arch on Saturday afternoon. The police, in effect, fenced them in and kept the public at a distance. There were not many of them. Only a handful of spectators watched in the steady light rain. In the bottom picture some of them offer their reaction.

I wondered whether I should post this. In the end, I thought that we need to be reminded that this horror still exists in our city and country. Revealing its existence was the right thing to do, despite its repulsiveness.

BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, we attended a riveting performance last night of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Marguerite's inherent goodness was rewarded, Faust's sins were terribly punished but Mephistofeles, the deep core of evil, was triumphant. Where's the lesson in what I saw and heard today? In any event, nobody but nobody writes glorious high-art bombast like Hector Berlioz.