Congratulations! If you're reading this blog, chances are you're one of the thousands of learned residents who've made St. Louis the 12th most literate city in the nation.
Of course, it helps that our leader, Mayor Francis Slay, is one of the most erudite men around. One need not scroll any further than Slay's blog to know the value our wordsmith-in-chief puts in the power of prose. To wit, just last week Slay used the literary survey of the nation's 70 largest cities to opine on some of St. Louis' more revered academic assets — as well as place another dig at the Post-Dispatch.
Regular readers of Slay's blog know that on more than one occasion (here, here and here) the mayor has used the Web site as a launching pad for attacks against the daily. Last week's affront was noteworthy in that it failed to mention the paper.
The literary survey gave St. Louis high marks in large part due to our public libraries, bookstores and newspaper circulation. In the latter category St. Louis ranked No. 7, with more of our residents reading the daily paper than in 63 other cities.
Spinning the survey to his liking, Slay linked his blog to the institutions he believes most contributed to the city's favorable ranking, including the St. Louis Public Library and book shop Left Banks Books. But when it came time to acknowledge the daily paper, Slay instead offered a link to one of his recent blog entries on the Vital Voice — St. Louis' weekly GLBT paper.
Slay writes that he was recently "reintroduced to the Voice by its irrepressible ad/sales director" and says he "will certainly not make the mistake of forgetting the Voice again."
With its editorial department unable to curry favor with the mayor, perhaps it's time the Post-Dispatch's advertising department give ol' Slay a call. His number: 314-622-3201.
