THE WRITERS OF MARYLAND PLAZA: T. S. ELIOT

 

Maryland Plaza is a major intersection in The Lou’s trendy Central West End neighborhood. 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 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 UPSTREAM

 

Same bridge as in yesterday’s post with the lens backed up. It’s part of the complex system of waterways in Forest Park. Note, though, the stump at right canter. It is what remains of one of the trees knocked over in last year’s tornado.                      

STEPPING STONES

     

Down the road a bit in Forest Park. A couple and their dog avoid the high road and take the low road across one of the waterways. The structure in the back is part of the amphitheater we call the Muni, for Municipal Opera, that presents Broadway shows and the like during the summer.                           

WINTER IN FOREST PARK 2

 

A membrane of ice here, some open water there. Temperatures fluctuating a lot in recent weeks. There used to be more big trees on the horizon before last June’s tornado.                     

WINTER IN FOREST PARK

As I am always happy to point out, Forest Park is the largest urban park in the U.S., just a bit bigger than Central or Golden Gate Parks. It has plenty of variety for images.                        

WHAT’S THIS?

 

I was driving around yesterday, again looking for something, anything, to photograph. When I pulled into Forest Park something caught my eye that made me stop and pick up the camera. A middle-aged man was cruising down the sidewalk on contraptions I’ve never seen. A little hard to see at this scale, but this variation on roller skates/blades has one wheel in the front and three in the back. He was pushing along with poles and a smile on his face.                     

AMTRAK

 

Passenger rail service in the US. This is the Amtrak train coming into downtown from Chicago, the only one that comes from this direction. None of the sleek lines of the Shinkansen or TGV, but it’s something. Outside of the Boston - Washington corridor, we just dont' have the population destiny. This is America. We drive or fly.                        

BUT WHERE DO THE VANQUISHED LIVE?

 

From the downtown gray-day cruise, another old commercial building newly converted to apartments. That is wonderful but I wonder about the occupancy rate. Downtown has one good-enough grocery with a pharmacy, a shrinking number of restaurants and some issues about safety. Maybe the residential population will reach a critical mass.                 

WHY NOT START THE YEAR WITH THE ARCH?

 

No new material so I went out driving under leaden skies. Terrible light, iffy images, but I needed something and the Arch is always available. I worked in downtown St. Louis for 47 years and have been retired more more than 4. The pandemic hit downtown hard. Over the last 4 or 5 years, it has become more and more desolate, although there are a couple of big redevelopment projects on the boards. Hope they work.