We’ve lived in St. Louis for 29 years. We’ve rented in North Hampton, Holly Hills, Soulard and Dutchtown before buying houses and living parts of our lives in Holly Hills, Boulevard Heights and Fox Park. We raised our kids in Fox Park for the most part, the last 14 years that is. They are in high school and college now; they are Fox Park, St. Louis kids when it’s all said and done.
I’m getting old. But I’m not done. And I will fight the curmudgeon negativity that comes with age.
“And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Their immune to your consultations
They’re quite aware of what they’re going through”
As a parent, I’ve tried not to preach, rather to share. And shared experiences are life affirming.
I’ve been digging into and sharing things I’ve learned about my adopted home town of St. Louis for many years. This website is part of that learning I’ve chosen to share with the public.
I’m getting closer to the stage in life where I may not be required to work 40+ hours a week for a corporation and will contemplate retirement.
So what then?
Rehabbing a home that is abandoned and off the tax rolls and bringing it back to inhabited and functional is something I want on my lifetime resume.
Mount Pleasant or Gravois Park are areas I’d love to hang out and help make positive change.
I am also thinking about volunteering for an organization like the International Institute, or a community development corporation, vacancy collaborative or something that helps people get a foothold in St. Louis.
I’ve also dreamed about starting a non-profit that seeks to convert under-utilized city park space to no-mow, native pollinator spaces. See the Anne O’C Albrecht Nature Playscape as an example of what can and should be.
Then there is this website, and whether to keep doing it or move on completely. Alternatively, I’ve weighed modernization to switch gears to cater to the younger folk and those short on attention span.
This website has brought me so much joy over the years. The people I’ve met and the things I chose to challenge myself with have done nothing but make me smarter, more informed, critical and empathetic. It has partly made me who I am today when it comes to my “St. Louis guy” interests.
But, I don’t think the younger generations read long form writing unless they have to. AI is going to change the way people write. It will likely become less personal and, well, less human.
I use Squarespace as the platform for this website, it recently added an AI function that would speed things up drastically. But, so much is wrong or I just simply disagree with the information presented.
It doesn’t feel genuine to publish those outputs.
Social media doesn’t work for me either, but I get why it is there. It is easy and fast and instantaneous. TikTok and the others that have come and gone are the thing I just can’t see doing. Too dumb, selfish and strange for my tastes.
But writing on websites is searchable, discoverable and a document that is way more meaningful to me than posts on the latest/constantly changing phone app.
My readership is still about 50:50 desktop to mobile, so there are still people sitting down and reading vs. swiping and moving on. The former are likely closer to 50 years old than 20 years old, and I’m okay with that.
I’ve learned very little from social media other than how to react and become more negative and short-sighted; creating an echo chamber that eventually becomes boring.
I’ve learned a lot from reading books and online longform stuff and watching movies and videos. These media forms allow me to stop, contemplate, think and learn from someone who has put in time, effort and their skills to help educate others.
I want to be that long form guy. But I want to expand and modernize.
YouTube and podcasts are things I thoroughly enjoy. I’ve seen so few STL ones that have lasted or are decent and good. I think I could do this. But, I’m terrified of public speaking and super anxiety-ridden when it comes to formality, seeing myself on a screen and selling something that is largely public in nature. I am a terrible interviewer. But I like to shoot the shit, talk and learn, all the while forcing me to meet real people that I would not have any reason to talk to unless I had a platform to share their opinions and expertise.
Sometimes I think you can become an online persona. Even a schlub like me has people who read what you write and see your Tweets, but still totally don’t get it or have the full picture of what you’re trying to convey. Talking and sharing the real perspective humanizes the STL experience when it is in a conversational form via video or podcast. Especially sharing the negatives of what the city does. You can write about it and come across as elitist or negative or even worse, a hater. When you listen to critics talk, see them, listen to them and watch the conversation unfold, it is easier to seen as a critic with betterment and hope in your soul.
I want to figure this out. Steve Patterson from UrbanReviewSTL (a hero of mine) is interested. I think it could be really useful and a way to keep it real with criticism and booseterism when it is humanized by genuine emotion and bona fide citizens who’ve lived the life and have no partisan/idealist axe to grind.
The non-entrenched, hard working, smart people on the fringes tend to fascinate me the most. I get bored being around careerists or politicians. When working for joy/free, I don’t want to have to do anything I don’t enjoy.
Podcast or YouTube channel? I think it could be a fun adventure.
This website is like a personal diary for me and that is it. But, I think there can be more to shine a light on the bads and overwhelming goods happening in theses parts.
I am tiring of the blog/copious photo posting process and think a new format would bring back the challenge and passion.
Damn, I’m an oldhead now. But, I want to let the doers and devotees in and hear from them. I’ve had it with the planners and talkers. I want to figure out my next steps.
Rehabbers, volunteers, immigrant advocates, people working to combat vacancy, no-mow/tree advocates, the whole nine.
Maybe this is something to build into the retirement plan.
Need a camera, mic, home base and ideas…
I can’t wait to realize the next stages in our lives post kids in house. Having more time to devote to rehabbing, bird watching, magnet fishing, walking, volunteering and maybe a YouTube channel…all with the love of St. Louis in our hearts.
Could be fun.
On to the next stage…
