"East of anywhere," writes a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "often evokes the other side of the tracks. But, for a first-time visitor suddenly deposited on its eerily empty streets, East St. Louis might suggest another world." The city, which is 98 percent black, has no obstetric services, no regular trash collection, and few jobs. Nearly a third of its families live on less than $7,500 a year; 75 percent of its population lives on welfare of some form.
- Jeffrey Kozol, Savage Inequalities
(Through total coincidence, between the time we planned and undertook this trip, I discovered Jeffrey Kozol's 1991 book. The book lays out a case that separate-but-equal education systems still exist, although they have been made palatable because they are now imposed through economic means, rather than legislative ones. Chicago and St Louis featured prominently in the book. It provided an interesting context for our trip.)Cleveland
We kicked off a 10-day US road trip by celebrating Lindsay and Rick's impending parenthood with our family in Cleveland. The mom and dad to be were excellent hosts:
We're excited to welcome Grace to the family in a few short weeks! We'd also like to apologize for any confusion. This photo speaks to our scholarship, not our fertility:
After two days in Cleveland, we picked up our car from Avis. We received a "free" upgrade to an SUV, as the attendant apologetically explained that the four cars in the parking lot were all non-functional. Seinfeld, anyone?
Indianapolis
Onwards! Interstates 71 and 70 brought us to Indianapolis. Our arrival coincided with Rick and Lindsay's wedding anniversary, so our first stop was the IMA and its iconic LOVE sculpture:
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| New York City is such a trend follower. |
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| Not pictured: 0. |
No law shall authorize any debt to be contracted, on behalf of the State, except in the following cases: to meet casual deficits in the revenue; to pay the interest on the State Debt; to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or, if hostilities be threatened, provide for the public defense.
Indiana State Constitution, Article 10, Section 5With that one exception of raisin' war, Hoosiers aren't fans of big government.
These signs, posted a block apart from each other, provide insight into why Indiana distrusts government:
Or this sign in a government building:
This truck's bumper stickers seemed fairly representative of Joe Blow's views on government:
Look, people, even Lincoln recognized that if there was one thing Hoosiers could do, it was throw down at the hoedown:
Correspondingly, Indiana has the Sailor and Soldiers Monument, which stands as tall as the Statue of Liberty. It dominates the middle of the city. Ringing it are larger-than-life bronze statues of each governor who led the State of Indiana during a war.
Unsurprisingly, they ran out of space. Overflow statues are present at the State Capitol Building.
And also at the World War Memorial Plaza, although plaza is a misleading name: the World War Memorial Plaza is a park spanning 5 city blocks. Next to a huge obelisk and an imposing museum styled after the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (central feature: a 510 square foot American flag), there is a statue of a man literally draping himself in the flag.
The plaza is situated on the 1821 location of "University Park". A helpful sign informs:
In 1821, this block was platted to be the site of the first state university. [...] The university was never built.And yet...this city had great bike infrastructure in the downtown core. Off-street bike lanes. The very expensive, yet elegant and functional, Arc bike racks dotted the city in plentiful numbers.
It also has a gorgeous canal that leads you to the 250-acre White River State Park:
White River State Park is home to outdoor theatres, a sculpture gallery, and beautiful gardens.
And two more war memorials: the September 11th Memorial (now with eagle statue!) and the Medal of Honor Memorial.
Indy, you're a weird city, but I think I liked you.
Indianapolis to St. Louis
You know you're heading into heartland America (or heartland Canada) when you start seeing cities that bill themselves as being home to the world's largest X. The two that I recall passing: the world's largest golf tee and the world's largest cross, an imposing 200-foot monstrosity.
This is also where we saw a roadside sign exhorting us to "Vote Common Sense, not Communism!"
We didn't get a photo of that; my mind was fixated on ensuring that we didn't end up in East St Louis by accident. Each road sign we passed warned us that the margin for error was narrow:
St. Louis
As it turned out, we did indeed miss our exit, but we missed it on the right side of the tracks. It worked out, as it meant this was our introduction to Missouri culture:
Oh, that rascally state government: always taking condemned buildings from their rightful owners. At this point, we were lost and had to stop to ask directions. Say, the stores here don't look so good, and those windows seem awfully covered in plywood...
We somehow found our hotel, checked in, then went to the Delmar Loop for a bite to eat, a beer or four to drink, and... well, I'm not ashamed to admit, some bowling. We're a sucker for anything math related, and the Pi Pizzeria didn't disappoint.
St Louis has some awesome bike racks:
They were all empty. After all, who in their right mind would bike in this city?
Missouri likes its booze. In fact, passengers in cars can drink alcohol (drivers can't -- wink, wink, nudge, nudge). As a result of their lax booze laws, some federal highway funding for Missouri is actually held back and diverted into an alcohol education program.
That program frankly doesn't seem to work. Taxi service in St Louis is abysmal. When we finally scored a cab, we asked the driver what St Louis residents did when they went out for a night of drinking. Drive, it seemed, was the answer -- "You look OK, it'd take a real asshole of a cop to write you a ticket." The conversation turned to universal health care, which our cabbie reliably informed us was coming to America courtesy of Obama. "Do you guys have to wait a long time to see a doctor up there?"
On the day of the Hellogoodbye/Metric/Paramore concert, we started the day with a walk around downtown.
Three things stand out in my mind about this scene:
1. The red in the fountain is for the Cardinals, who would lose the World Series in a 6-1 loss that night, evocative of their 8-1 loss in game 1. (I'm not a baseball fan, but I did subscribe to /r/StLouis, so I understand that this is a thing they struggle with.)
2. The courthouse in the background is where the Dred Scott case was decided. Blacks aren't citizens, slaves are property, full stop. Civil war and the fourteenth amendment, here we come!
3. "Thanks for not stealing my camera!" - Tourist who asked that we photograph her in front of the fountain.
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| Alternative title: Baby's First Whitewashing of American Race Relations |
The arch itself is neat. We didn't pay the exorbitant fee to go up it, but it's an engineering marvel and fun to behold.
Directly across the Mississippi River in East St Louis is the Gateway Geyser. Built in 1995, it blasts a fountain of water into the air twice daily that matches the Arch's 630-foot height. It also represents the backbone of the East St Louis fire fighting arsenal, a department facing cuts down to 33 fire fighters from 150 due to budget issues.
But enough about the arch, let's talk about camels. I'm a sucker for a good camel or llama.
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| A Bactrian camel. Arabian camels suck. |
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| Watching sea lions frolic will indeed pick you up. |
I felt vaguely bad for renting our car with Budget.
Huh, a Silverado can haul up to two mature bull elephants. Useful knowledge when I next go truck shopping.
And then, the concert! We were mainly there for the first opener (Hellogoodbye), but Metric and Paramore were also great. Paramore has a habit of playing Misery Business towards the end of the concert. When they do this, they reward a superfan who has been dancing and singing along all night by pulling them onto the stage to sing the last chorus. Meet Dominique:
The video doesn't do it justice--Dominique was into it. And the crowd was into her. Much love. I don't know how bands tour for hundreds of day and still put out such high energy performances. Cocaine? At any rate, amazing.
St Louis to Chicago
Take exit for I-55 North. Continue for 4.5 hours. Arrive destination.
Those were the directions. We stopped outside St Louis for breakfast at a Waffle House just off the interstate. Waffle House is a southern institution. It's rumoured that FEMA gauges how bad a hurricane was based on whether Waffle Houses in the affected area shut down entirely or just serve a reduced menu. And it's easy to see why it's an institution: Those people are talented. This summarizes the short order cook tracking system.
Our server was really nice. We chatted about Hallowe'en and her kids' costumes. They were worried about rain that evening, a prescient concern as you'll see later.
In the background of the kitchen I noticed signs touting Waffle House's benefits: competitive pay, medical coverage, vacation, stock purchase plans.
What forward thinkers, I thought! Of course, reality is bleaker. The waitresses make $4.95 an hour. Medical coverage is an 80% coverage of in-network providers, with a co-pay, after an $1,800 deductible. You get two weeks of vacation, which is good for the US, but you're encouraged to take extra pay in lieu of time off. As for stock purchase plans--who has the money for that? It's not publicly traded either, and the CEO owns 78% of the stock, raising some obvious valuation and liquidity concerns.
Contrast that with Starbucks: health care is still 80% coverage, but the deductible is $600 and it has an annual out-of-pocket limit. You can buy the publicly traded stock at a discount of 5% and sell immediately for a profit. They offer a 401(k), one of the few ways to tax shelter income in the US, with better matching terms than Microsoft.
Oh, and SBUX pays you time and a half on a holiday. Most Canadians probably don't realize this, but statutory holidays and guaranteed vacation pay don't exist in the US.
In conclusion: Waffle House sucks.
Chicago
On the other end of the health care spectrum is Chicago, a town that clearly knows Obamacare is here to stay.
We were on I-55 on the wettest Halloween in 19 years, totalling some 2 to 3 inches of rain. Here's a news story about it:
Heavy rains and high water led to flooded roadways, traffic slowdowns and many crashes on Thursday morning, including one caught on camera on the Stevenson Expressway.Here's how our fellow road warriors saw things:
Heavy flooding was reported on several area expressways, where high waters can be especially dangerous. Between Pulaski and Kedzie, flooding led to a four-car pileup. Drivers are urged to take it slow.
"It's been horrible. I mean everyone is driving so slow today," Eric Aranda, driver, said.
"There is definitely some high water on the side of the road, but it's slowing things down. But not too bad, could be worse," Rob Felts said. "Most people are driving right through it, as far as I can tell."Rain was falling in torrents. Visibility could be measured in tens of metres. Some cars still had their lights off. And people were driving 65mph. To be fair, Illinois does have one of the highest liability insurance requirements of all the states. Every law-abiding motorist was carrying at least $40,000 in insurance that night. Wonderful.
The first order of business on arrival was food. Chicago had great food. Our first night: Beatrix. An amiable penguin served us and it was delicious.
We also did deep dish pizza at Edwardo's and Chicago-style dogs at Portillo's. Nestled next to a cheque cashing place and a combination beauty/liquor store (?), we had a great breakfast at Daley's.
Daley's was neat. You take the Green Line all the way to the end. You know you're seeing the non-tourist part of town -- the L car whisks you past buildings in increasing states of dilapidation and emptier and emptier lots until you arrive. En route, you pass Woodson South Elementary School, another school featured in Kozol's Savage Inequalities.
22 years ago, only 14% of Woodson students would go on to become high school graduates. Little seems to have changed. Today, only 22% of students are "meeting or exceeding" requirements. In teacher surveys, 88% of teachers identify gang activity as a problem at the school. Unsurprisingly, 41% of students report not feeling safe around the school.
But we didn't come here to feel bad about poor black people! Indeed, that's why CTA Bus Route 10 exists. On to the Museum of Science and Industry, whose website helpfully explains that while the Green Line is an option, "we suggest that people unfamiliar with the city may prefer to take CTA trains as far as downtown, then transfer to an express bus".
The Museum was stunning. Huge facility set in a classic building built during the 1893 World's Fair. The centrepiece: a German U-boat captured during WW II.
We also meandered the streets of Chicago, taking in the many architecture styles on display. This federal prison is a great example of the brutalist style:
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| Metropolitan Correctional Center, Chicago |
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| Mathematics & Computer Building, Waterloo |
Armed guards, grills on windows, and the X-ray screening device lead me to believe that the cash was real, too. Nifty.
We wrapped up our trip with one last concert: British singer Kate Nash!
But first, an opener. Skating Polly were a talented opening act, and, as a bonus, featured a Dalek:
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| EX-TEM-PO-RIZE! |
Sunday had just enough time for a selfie atop the Ferris wheel on Navy Pier and then it was off to O'Hare and home!
America remains an amazing place to visit. The history and variety of people and places seem never-ending. At the same time, I don't know if I should hero worship the country or pity it. For a brief period of time, Savage Inequalities was used in some Arizona curricula. Then the Arizona government apparently became afraid that the school system was training a Mexican-American junta, so House Bill 2281 was passed. Kozol's book became a public school pariah alongside some 50 other books. Latino-American literature classes transformed--mid-semester--into English literature classes.
America, the fascinating. We'll be back!
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