ANARCHY ON CHEROKEE
Darling little vandals: Oh yes, you sweet, precious, presumably eighteen-year-old children ["White Anarchists Commit Crimes on Cherokee Street," Nicholas Phillips]. Your courage to vandalize the sides of small businesses in a struggling district is absolutely breathtaking and awe inspiring. You clearly grasp the definitive understanding of true anarchism with these acts.
Now why don't you try tagging big-box, corporate America, perhaps in Brentwood? Your lame asses would be in jail faster than the time it takes for your patches to fall off your hoodies.
Erica T, via the Internet
Washing his hands: As an anarchist myself, I think these juvenile anarchists are an embarrassment to our movement. This isn't doing anything positive to promote left-Libertarian ideas or the virtues of a peer-based society. These specific individuals are just a small group of hooligans and don't represent what I believe in.
Radio Cloud, via the Internet
Real anarchists don't narc: If you really are an anarchist, you'd know that there are many rich, diverging lines of thought, like feminism; many anarchists disagree with one another. But that doesn't mean we turn each other in to the cops.
Also, Cherokee's been gentrified for a long time. The anarchists aren't the only ones who ain't gonna cry over a shopkeeper's camera, and vandalism is nothing new on the stretch of road, but because this graffiti actually says something, people get pissed off.
M W, via the Internet
In defense of cops: No, you stupid son of a bitch. What this graffiti says is nowhere near as important as the fact that it's destroying an innocent person's property. If someone grabbed one of your possessions, say, your beloved first-pressing MDC record and scratched graffiti all over it in the name of "conservatism" or "capitalism," you'd be equally pissed.
And there's nothing inherently wrong with having cops, especially if a woman is about to be beaten and raped in an alley, and the presence of an armed officer is the only thing keeping some savage piece of shit from hurting her.
God, anarchists are fucking worthless. Take a fucking shower then get a fucking job.
Dorkzzzz, via the Internet
FEATURE, APRIL 21, 2011
THE PRAIRIE-CHICKEN DANCE
Money for nothing: Given the current condition of many of our state's wonderful park assets, I find it almost disingenuous to be spending time and resources on the repopulation of a chicken ["Little Cocks on the Prairie," Aimee Levitt]. Babler Park in west St. Louis County is in shambles because of recent storms. There have been recent beach closures related to serious E. coli contamination at Lake of the Ozarks State Park. Bennett Springs needs attention, as does Ha Ha Tonka State Park and many other properties we already have a commitment to maintain.
It only makes sense to work toward doing the most good for the greatest number of needs. Given the current economy, do we even need to entertain a repopulation project at this time?
I think there are plenty of ways to spend Department of Natural Resources money that would have better return on the investment, both in dollars and time spent.
Tom, via the Internet
Chicks for free: Thanks for the article on the prairie chickens. I didn't expect it from the Riverfront Times.
I go to Kansas and South Dakota every year to hunt chickens and sharptails. I miss far more than I get, but I really do enjoy the prairie landscape and being there with my dogs. It may be hard for non-hunters to understand how a hunter can enjoy the hunt so much but almost feel guilty when we do kill a bird (as I do sometimes). Maybe it takes someone who has experienced the birds, hunting and the prairie to truly value the birds.
Tom Hubbard, via the Internet
DAILY RFT, APRIL 13, 2011
LOOPY ABOUT THE LOOP
Defending an imperfect system: Closing the MetroLink is antithetical to the purpose of it; public transportation is for the public, plain and simple ["Hypocrisy Alert: Post-Dispatch Links MetroLink to Unruly Teens in Delmar Loop," Chad Garrison]. As our society is at least superficially egalitarian, no one person or group of people gets to decide to close off a public service to any specific group of people. That is discriminatory.
Also, I doubt anyone who has followed the growth of the MetroLink hasn't been dissatisfied with the fact that A) it travels along such a limited part of St. Louis; and B) the infrastructure at each stop is just terrible. Those huge, open platforms with little to no security and voluntary payment weren't too forward thinking.
At least people who need to use public transportation in St. Louis are making use of the system and helping to advance the city into something a little more, umm, like a city, instead of the sprawled suburbs that seem to account for many opinions of this place.
Citizen, via the Internet
ERRATA
Mike Appelstein's April 14 feature story, "Good Day, Sunshine," incorrectly stated Chuck Warner's relation to the Shaggs' Philosophy of the World. Warner was one of the first people to champion the album, not the first to discover it.
