P A L L I D P L A C E B O
Written by Gabriel Shapiro
Graphics by David Higgins
Is total mediation your goal?
Scientists, $12 billion in lawsuit awards say Roundup is unsafe
By Daniel ‘digger’ Romano
Illustrations by Sandra Ure Griffin
It’s all around us — and even in us. Despite worrisome evidence, makers still say it is safe to use.
Fix or Destroy?
By Eddi Bellando / Art by Mark R. Taylor
Leading political theorists discuss the erosion of worldwide democratic systems and offer remedies to reverse the decline.
Turtles, serpents, kids – and a bug
Cartoon, photo and essay by Micah Liesenfeld
Talking stones at the sculpture playground.
Against the Modern
Written by Dr. Brian Frederking
Artwork by Philip Slein
The Trump administration eschews a win-win world.
Dancing together
By Sydney J. Norton
St. Louis and Slovak dance companies collaborate to premiere new work.
Oh, Bu#@%er Bi&#uits!
Comic & Text By Micah Liesenfeld
A place you will probably never go.
Distraught over ‘King’ Trump’s coup?
By Oliver James / Art by D. Higgins
Longtime Missouri activist tells us how to stymie his agenda.
The Ball goes Up, the Ball goes Down
By David Higgins
Streetball legend ‘Fly’ Williams brought his immense talent – and his large problems – to the ABA Spirits of St. Louis.
Declining Democracies: Political philosophers offer solutions
Written by Eddi Bellando
Illustrations by Mark R. Taylor
Our writer reports from Turin, Italy, on the conference.
Where have all the buskers gone?
Photos by John Montre
Buskers also get cold.
Spelunking the City
By Chris Naffziger
Photos by Jason Gray
Two intrepid St. Louisans wander our oldest sewer.
Almost fresh . . .
By Our In-House Cartoonist,
Micah Liesenfeld
Drawings & Words =
A Good Combo
The Twain Throwdown
Photo essay by David Higgins
Elmira, N.Y. vs. Hannibal, Mo.
Quien es mas Mark Twain-o?
Closing Time: A requiem for Uncle Bill’s
Essay and photos by Johnathan Poertner
Not many places stay almost the same for your entire life.
POW! Supplement St. Louis gains a Cartoonist
By Micah Liesenfeld
Sometimes, you just gotta see it in pictures.
ACME Pocket Toilet
Written by Max Waterman
Illustrations by Charles “Edward” Hunt
Local homeless man details the difficulty of fulfilling basic needs — and his solutions for doing so.
KDHX veteran explains turmoil at STL radio station
By Steve Pick
To many St. Louisans, KDHX has been a vital part of what defines our city. Upheaval at the station has caused many longtime listeners to stop listening.
Trains, Planes, Automobiles . . . or Buses?
Written by Eddi Bellando
Photographs by Tamara Lee
Traveling via U.S. trains isn’t always best for the environment. Using the proper fuels to electrify our rail system would make a huge difference.
Adored — or ignored
By Paul Howard Alpert
St. Louis sidewalks host many talented musicians. Paul has been honing his musical skills for 30,000 hours. You can hear him busk in the University City Loop.
Four from Jenny
Carefully chosen words
from longtime poet
Jenny Mueller.
Very carefully chosen.
Provocateur No. 1
Written By Gabriel Shapiro
Photographs by Chaim Nazeer
“They were trying to be The Jam. We were aiming more at being the Sex Pistols.”
Maybe we’re doing it wrong?
By Dr. Brian Frederking
Illustrations by Andy Cross
A common perception is that the United States is the best democracy, that it is a shining example to the rest of the world. Despite that, there is much angst about the future of our democracy.
Summer Guestbook
Art by Kathryn Norton-Remillard
Written by Gabriel Shapiro
Summer rentals often come equipped with a prominently placed journal wherein guests can leave their thoughts on their lodging experiences. The below entries are from a very small, hut-like structure on Cape Cod.
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Where is the silverware?
Essay by Eddi Bellando
Artwork by Emily Cross
The spoons are supposed to be in the drawer across from the sink.
I just arrived at my second home, and it always takes me some time to remember where things are. The same will be true for the other essential items in the next minute, hour and day. This is what happens when you have two homes – a “first world problem” if there ever was one.
Keepers of the Book
Text by Landon Charlebois
Photos by Caitlin McFalls
“Things should be at angles – it opens up your thinking tremendously. When you have all your shelves straight, it just gives a path for people to go in and go out. People want to go around corners, they want to see what’s there.”
Long live peacekeeping?
By Dr. Brian Frederking
As civil wars predominate, the United Nation’s approach to mitigating conflicts has changed dramatically.
Sailing alone around the world
Text & illustrations by Don Burgett
With apologies to Joshua Slocum for using the title he chose to tell about his circumnavigation, I can relate my excuses for not completing my tour, by sail, around the globe.
A gift of faces
Drawings by Charles Hunt
As time passes, I realize more and more that I am not just Old School but Old World. Overall, I greatly prefer the analog life. I want to be in direct contact with people and places and things, as opposed to witnessing the world in externally mediated ways. I prefer to walk in the woods rather than watching someone else do so via the internet or another of the multitudinous and voracious reality interlopers.
Of the Worker, the Work, and the History
By Tim Rakel
I lived in Saint Louis for nearly 35 years, and so it has inevitably crept into my songwriting. The May Day Orchestra, with which I play most often, has focused on farther-away places. Nonetheless, Saint Louis still emerges in the band’s creations. In writing about May Day and the anarchists of the labor movement, it is important to note that Saint Louis was shut down by a general strike in 1877, a decade before the more widely-known events in Chicago. It is the closest a North American city has ever come to being, however briefly, a collective worker’s state.
Country Mouse takes Urban Ride
Essay & illustration
by Greg Kassen
This past winter, when temperatures were low and snows frequent, I decided to travel into the Big City via MetroLink. I live in Albers, a small town in Southern Illinois. Here on the east side of the river, we believe that the train has become more unsafe the longer it has been around. This opinion reigns despite many articles, studies and officials arguing to the contrary. I have been fairly ignorant about the realities of the urban conveyance, having only traveled amid large crowds to infrequent Cardinal games or major wrestling events. Nonetheless, I shared my fellow Illinoisans’ fear of the Metro. I wanted to experience the ride solo, so I went without a crowd on a random snowy Tuesday.
Self-Parodying Institutions
By Gabriel Shapiro
We must hold our society’s venerated institutions to higher standards. They occupy much indulged positions that bring them many attendant rewards; consequently, they must continually prove worthy of such regard and accord. There are many institutions in this position, but the following ones must be subjected to even higher expectations by us all: education, healthcare, religion.
At Great Cost
By Chris Naffziger
Close medical observation of the 1849 cholera epidemic in St. Louis led to important public health changes.
The year 1849 in St. Louis serves as a watershed in the city’s history. The boundless optimism of the last two decades came crashing down with the twin disasters of the cholera epidemic and the Great Fire. However, despite the death and destruction of 1849, the population climbed sharply from 35,979 recorded individuals in the 1840 census to 104,978 in 1850 census.
Hierarchy vs. Networks
By Dr. Brian Frederking
Trump’s campaign rhetoric did foretell his actions in office.
Presidential campaign slogans rarely offer insight or explain an election cycle. Many simply refer to the candidates: “I Like Ike” or “Honest Old Abe” or “Give ‘em Hell, Harry” (or my favorite …
P r e a m b l e
Dear Reader,
I have spent a good amount of time planning how I would introduce a magazine such as this to people such as you. I am relieved that I will not burden you with those highly elaborated notions. In a sudden, bracing instant, they evinced ethereal, unattached as they were to any particular publication.