Adventures in Writing and Life
With the turkey eaten, and Christmas just ahead, it’s time for another of my favorite Suburban Journals stories, “Resident finds fowl something to cluck about.” http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/resident-finds-fowl-something-to-cluck-about/article_16005726-5e37-57e0-935c-141c844cc756.html
In a half-hour one Sunday afternoon, fifty westbound motorists on Fyler Avenue were spotted approaching a stop sign at Macklind Avenue. Only seven of them stopped, as in, their wheels stopped moving. Some of those apparently did so because traffic from Macklind stopped them from going forward. The others tapped their brakes with different degrees of firmness.
For what it’s worth, the forty-three tappers committed a crime. The city traffic code really does require drivers to stop at a stop sign. For those who aren’t sure of the meaning of “stop,” the code offers a definition: “‘Stop’ means the complete cessation from movement.
It’s one of the tales in the Second Edition of Hoosiers and Scrubby Dutch: St. Louis’s South Side. Most of the old favorites are back, guaranteeing this is a definite winner for the Hoosier or the Scrubby Dutch in your life.
You can get the new second edition at any bookstore or through the Internet. Or we can mail you an autographed copy for $21.50, tax and shipping included. That’s less than what Amazon charges for the book, handling and standard shipping.
Mail a check for that amount made out to Jim Merkel to Jim Merkel, 4216 Osceola St., St. Louis, MO 63116. Tell us how you want Jim to sign the book.
Saturday from 11 am to 2 p.m., I’ll be signing my books with my good friend Edna Campos Gravenhorst, for a joint book signing at the Walgreens at the corner of South Kingshighway Boulevard and Arsenal Street. She’ll be signing her new book: Famous Barr: St. Louis Shopping at its Finest. I haven’t looked at it yet, but I know its a splendid read.
Here’s what Jane Henderson of the Post-Dispatch wrote about her: http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/books-and-literature/years-of-famous-barr-remembered-in-new-book/article_f12b7b01-5a75-5574-b45a-cb6f63266567.html
If you have money to buy a book from both of us, do so. But if you can only buy one, buy hers. You can buy mine later.
Today was Stan Musial’s 94th Birthday. In honor of that, I hereby publish another in my series of my favorite Suburban Journals stories, I like Stan, but my real hero is Tom Lawless.
Does race play a part in traffic stops in West County? Statistics and the words of African Americans who drive in that area would seem to say so. But police officials in West County say there’s more to it.
In this article I did for the West Newsmagazine, I quote both sides and weigh in on how Ferguson might affect West County. http://www.newsmagazinenetwork.com/2014111954298/impact-of-ferguson/
Here’s your chance to see me talk about the Second Edition of Hoosiers and Scrubby Dutch:
St. Louis’s South Side really early Saturday morning. I’ll be on “City Corner” with Steve Potter at 5:30 a.m. Saturday on KDNL Channel 30. If you’d rather not get up that early, here’s a link to the program. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McgqP-noiFo&list=UUWU3FRSmVSxDcuzPDQGe24g
Steve Potter
Yet another in the best of my Suburban Journals stories. All the yummy things that go on at a sewage treatment plant. http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/illinois/news/hour-story-what-happens-after-you-flush-the-toilet/article_2713af74-d26b-50b7-bf72-6e6bd0f0e4e3.html
