St. Louis is a crossroads. Here, the Mighty Missouri and Muddy Mississippi Rivers meet, where they continue to flow, married, together, until their merger with the great cosmos of the Atlantic Ocean. Here, roads meet from all over the country, from Kansas City to Indianapolis, from Chicago to New Orleans. The west becomes the east here, and the crazed cowboys and rugged mountains give way to rolling fields of soy and dense forests of oak and birch.
Katy Trail heading toward downtown.
The city is conflicted between these clashing forces, but such spurs creativity. It is the creativity of the City Museum, which takes garbage and creates entire worlds within an abandoned factory building. It is the creativity of its public spaces, which are free for everyone to use and imagine in, from science to art to zoo animals. It is the creativity of its kids, which all came into our workshops to learn and ask questions.
The City Museum.
Now I don't know much about the history of the city, or about its identity. As a visitor, I only had a glimpse behind the panes of a car window. But it is a gateway, a gateway to the west, a gateway to what the U.S. has striven to become. It brings up all sorts of questions about our imperfect past, and our ever lucid promises of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The city still tries. And it builds on yesterday's legacy.
Who are you?
Thank you Saint Louis. See you again soon.