Riverfront Times, September 9, 2021 by Riverfront Times

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SEPTEMBER 8-14, 2021

RIVERFRONT TIMES

SEPTEMBER 8-14, 2021

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

MARCH 6-12, 2019

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THE LEDE

“My intent in bringing her to the exhibit was really to showcase how things can come full circle. And also just how, even when you think that something you’re doing isn’t important, it can end up changing the entire trajectory of music ... I mean, I’m sure that when Scott Joplin was locked in his house [writing] ‘Ragtime,’ he wasn’t thinking that he was going to alter the course of music ... but ... that’s what happened. So if you follow your dreams passionately, this could be you.”

PHOTO BY THEO WELLING

TIFFANIE CASH WITH HER DAUGHTER KERRINGTON CARADINE AT THE HISTORY MUSEUM’S EXHIBIT ST. LOUIS SOUND ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 4 riverfronttimes.com

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A Fair Accounting

he 1904 World’s Fair is a story too often told without nuance. We like to remember it as a source of St. Louis pride and point out the grandeur of the surviving structures. But read Danny Wicentowski’s feature about one of its most-popular exhibits — a human zoo that was known as the Philippine Village — and it will be impossible to ever again think of the fair without the undercurrent of suffering, racism and callous voyeurism. Danny tells the story through artist and researcher Janna Añonuevo Langholz, who has fought a lonely battle to make us all aware of the terrible truth of what happened in 1904. St. Louis should remember the fair, but we should remember the full story. —Doyle Murphy, editor in chief

TABLE OF CONTENTS Publisher Chris Keating Editor in Chief Doyle Murphy

E D I T O R I A L Digital Editor Jaime Lees Interim Managing Editor Daniel Hill Staff Writer Danny Wicentowski Contributors Cheryl Baehr, Eric Berger, Jeannette Cooperman, Mike Fitzgerald, Eileen G’Sell, Ryan Krull, Andy Paulissen, Justin Poole, Jack Probst, Theo Welling, Ymani Wince Columnists Thomas Chimchards, Ray Hartmann Editorial Interns Phuong Bui, Zoë Butler, Madyson Dixon A R T

& P R O D U C T I O N Art Director Evan Sult Production Manager Haimanti Germain M U L T I M E D I A A D V E R T I S I N G Associate Publisher Colin Bell Account Managers Emily Fear, Jennifer Samuel Multimedia Account Executive Chuck Healy Director of Public Relations Brittany Forrest

COVER What the World’s Fair Forgot

C I R C U L A T I O N Circulation Manager Kevin G. Powers

Savagery, racism and the lost dead of St. Louis’ human zoo Cover photograph courtesy

MISSOURI HISTORY MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

INSIDE The Lede Hartmann News Big Mad Feature Cafe Short Orders Reeferfront Times Culture Savage Love 6

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HARTMANN Republicans’ Obsession With Sex Anti-abortion forces aren’t “pro-life” BY RAY HARTMANN

he late, great Anne Keefe of KMOX had it nailed when it came to those who would deny women their reproductive freedom. “This isn’t about life,” she would say. “It’s about sex. They’re just obsessed about other people’s sex.” Keefe, a mentor of mine, was the wisest person I have ever known. But far more important, she was an inspiration for so many women and a warrior for their rights. And she taught me that no matter how passionately I viewed abortion as a civil-liberties issue, it is ultimately about women and their dignity. I’m never getting pregnant. The nation — and especially its women — was taken to a dark place last week when the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a cruel and immoral ban on all abortions after six weeks by the Texas legislature. This is widely assumed to represent the end of the road for Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that has protected women’s reproductive freedom since 1973. No one knows the extent of human carnage that will be wrought through the false invocation of life. And let’s not tiptoe around: The same “leaders” who pretend so piously to champion life are the very ones who would remove basic health care — see “Medicaid expansion, opposition” — and virtually all other safety-net provisions once unborn children become born. Their message to American women is clear: From the moment you become pregnant, it’s your baby. From the moment they’re born, it’s your problem. Now, do many people self-identified as pro-life genuinely care about babies before and after they’re born? Of course. Millions

of them do. And not one of them should ever be discouraged from supporting childbirth under any conditions. In fact, I’m one prochoice person who believes the nation can and should do more to make adoption an accessible choice for all women. But the good intentions of values voters should not be confused with the bad intentions of those who exploit them for political gain. You’ve got a clue about the latter group when their self-proclaimed compassion stops at birth. Aside from caring about life only until birth, the anti-choice politicians follow an essential, if unstated, creed: “Rules for thee and not for me.” These politicians universally fall into the ultimate protected class regarding the availability of abortions for all women in their orbit: They are not impacted by antiabortion laws, because they will always possess the means to access safe and legal abortion services somewhere. Without exception. This was a primary argument a half century ago when the abortion debate first began raging in the public square. The women who were impacted by laws restricting abortion access were overwhelmingly poor and disproportionally people of color. They still are. Unlike the politicians’ valued constituents, they’re often not going to find the comfort of a private physician’s office. They’re not going to have the means to travel to another state. They have no one to call, unlike, say, campaign donors. Footnote: There’s one other important carve-out for politicians: a personal exemption. It is true that no statistics are maintained as to how many of these people — mostly men — engage in adultery which might yield an unintended pregnancy, but it isn’t zero. No, zero is the number of politicians, across party lines, who would actively interfere with a woman’s right to choose an abortion in such situations. But enough about sex, the X factor that animates this issue. Regardless of why the abortion issue has been ignited, the next big thing is what it will mean politically. A major unknown is what the real-world impact will be on the hundreds of thousands of American girls and women who

No one knows the extent of human carnage that will be wrought through the false invocation of life. might be impacted. Right away. In 2018, the most recent year for which official CDC statistics are available, there were 619,591 abortions performed in the U.S. Some 54,582, or 8.9 percent, were teenagers. Just 38.7 percent were white women, with 33.6 percent Black, 20 percent Hispanic and 7.7 percent classified as other. In Missouri, the total number was 2,909 abortions, of which 300 or 10.3 percent were teens, including fourteen who were younger than fifteen years old. Black women (47.5 percent) having abortions outnumbered white women (42.6 percent). What they all had in common was that, for whatever reason, the women and girls either did not want to go forward with a pregnancy or felt they were unable to. In either event, if tens of thousands of them, say, could be forced by their state governments to bring to term a baby against their will — in a world of diminishing social services and resources — who knows what would happen? Nationally, this might spell trouble for Republicans. President Ronald Reagan, remembered now by conservatives as “the father of the pro-life movement,” followed an interesting political philosophy regarding abortion. It was not advanced officially, but it went like this: You run on abortion. You do not govern on abortion. Reagan campaigned passionately in the 1980 election on a specific promise to advance a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. But the movers had barely unpacked him in the White House when Reagan discovered it might suffice for Congress to pass a law declaring that human life began at conception, or some such thing. In any event, the Great Communicator — a man with enough

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political capital to win landslide reelection in 1984 with a margin of 525-to-13 electoral votes — never introduced a word of legislation (much less a constitutional amendment) outlawing abortion. Republicans have reaped political gold ever since by campaigning and railing against Roe v. Wade without actually eliminating it. But now, this arrow apparently might go missing from their political quiver. This scares them greatly, a fact borne out by the absence of any victory celebration whatsoever by Fox News and Republicans writ large when SCOTUS announced its refusal to freeze the Texas case. The seismic moment barely got covered in right-wing media. Similarly, here at home, Republican Congresswoman Ann Wagner, who has built her political career around a central organizing principle of fighting abortion, has not uttered a peep publicly that I can find. Not a press release, tweet or email. And certainly not an on-camera statement. That says all you need to know about Wagner’s enthusiasm for campaigning against abortion — in a metropolitan area naturally leaning prochoice — in a post-Roe world. As for Missouri statewide politics, however, that’s a different matter. It will be shocking if the Republicans don’t exploit their 70 percent majorities in both chambers to mimic what Republicans with just 55 percent margins in Texas did this year. That would present a perfect election-year stunt with which to demonstrate their culture-war bona fides, even though most surveys show only a slight majority of Missourians would outlaw abortion in all or most cases. It is what it is. But to channel my dear friend Keefe, get out of here with all the cheap talk about life. Not in Missouri, a state that could not care less, as a matter of policy, about poor children after they’re born. n Ray Hartmann founded the Riverfront Times in 1977. Contact him at rhar tmann1952@gmail.com or catch him on Donnybrook at 7 p.m. on Thursdays on Nine PBS and St. Louis In the Know with Ray Hartmann from 9 to 11 p.m. Monday thru Friday on KTRS (550 AM).

SEPTEMBER 8-14, 2021

RIVERFRONT TIMES

NEWS

City Clears Unhoused Encampment from Park Written by

DANNY WICENTOWSKI

n a move that advocates say was unannounced and unnecessary, City of St. Louis employees began clearing a downtown encampment last Friday and offering to move residents to what a city official described as supportive housing” with individual spaces. But the scene at Interco Plaza, a public park southeast of Tucker Boulevard and Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, appeared not as a rescue mission, but something closer to eviction. Without notice, residents piled their possessions into black trash bags. At about noon, city employees began dragging tents some still filled with belongings — to a larger dumpster. In a press release sent at 1:30 a.m. Friday, advocate group Tent Mission STL claimed the city’s decision to clear the camp came without warning and that the group had learned of the plan through the community, and, only via pressure, was able to confirm this with the ayor’s administration.” About twenty people lived in the camp, advocates say. As residents sorted through their tents on Friday, several complained that they had nowhere to go, or that they would refuse to relocate to city shelters because they had already been kicked out of existing programs for minor infractions. Technically, the clearing of Interco Plaza was not an eviction. In an order from the city’s Department of Health, acting director Dr. Frederick Echols wrote that the department had found the encampment to be a plain and continuing nuisance.” Included in the order was a list of the park’s health conditions, including serious sanitation issues,” non-functioning bathrooms

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The city cleared a tent encampment from Interco Plaza, throwing away any tents and belongings people didn’t take with them. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI and hand-washing stations, gatherings of people without face coverings, blocked sidewalks — all factors that have created the threat of increased communicable disease.” The order concluded, These nuisance conditions are hereby declared a nuisance and a danger, and it is hereby ordered that such conditions be immediately abated.” But the city has had weeks to address those health challenges and provide resources, argues Lisa Winter, a volunteer with Tent Mission STL. hat’s frustrating is they’ve known this is what they want,” she says, watching a team of workers from the city’s Streets Department use pitchforks to dump piles of bedding into the maw of a obcat dirt mover. hy have they not been down here for the last couple weeks and helped get people housed?” As the work of clearing the camp got underway, Winter and other advocates stood in front of tents and told workers that the occupants would likely return to collect their things. The workers focused on picking up trash and loose items from the ground. However, shortly after noon, city employees began carrying the

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“Why have they not been down here for the last couple weeks and helped get people housed?” tents to a dumpster. One resident complained that his tent had been thrown away along with a bag of important documents and IDs — city workers were eventually able to find the bag in the dumpster and return it to him, but others appeared to lose clothing and personal items still in the tents. Nick Dunne, a spokesman with the office of ayor Tishaura Jones, insisted that efforts to clear the park included resources to relocate the residents. He said the people who lost their tents were being offered alternative shelters. ur intention is not to forcefully remove people,” Dunne said. This is providing them with alternative options where they can find indoor shelter, locations that are more sanitary and free from the violence that has been occur-

ring lately.” Dunne clarified that the unhoused residents of the camp were not the source of the violence, but rather it had been committed by outsiders from this area who were coming in.” No one deserves to live in those conditions, housed or unhoused,” Dunne repeated. ur priority was to ensure that people got into a safe space or into conditions that were free from violence and unsanitary conditions.” That violence claimed one of the camp’s residents last week. DeMarco McNeal, known as treets, was shot and killed ugust 29. The shooting prompted the company Square to close its neighboring headquarters for the following two days. During the city’s action to clear the encampment last Friday, several friends of McNeal gathered on the sidewalk to construct a memorial. One man described cNeal as a good dude who had struggled with mental-health issues and didn’t know how to get out” of the conditions that led him to live in the encampment. e never liked crowds, so he would just walk the majority of the day, the friend said. Then at night he would come here, and get him a rest.” n

Parson Struggles to Explain LGBTQ Exhibit’s Removal from Capitol

until “receiving several complaints regarding the display.” State law requires the department to coordinate with the board of public buildings in regards to displays in the museum, Parson’s spokeswoman said. That process wasn’t followed, so the display was removed. State Senator Greg Razer, a Kansas City Democrat and the Senate’s only openly gay member, quickly decried the removal of the exhibit, saying it reprsent-

ed a “personal insult to me and to my community.” He doesn’t believe the governor’s explanation, calling it a “poor bureaucratic excuse” and noting that years of meeting minutes posted online of the board of public buildings show no evidence that museum exhibits have ever been a topic of discussion. “We know what happened,” Razer said. “They were trying to keep extrem-

ists and homophobes quiet, so they just got rid of the exhibit and hoped no one would notice. Unfortunately for them, we found out about it. And this was the best excuse they could come up with.” Razer added: “I’m personally offended that my history is deemed to be not fit to be displayed in my capitol building.” After learning the news, Razer said he was able to speak to leadership at DNR, who repeated the governor’s rationale for removal. He said he was also told there was fear the exhibit could be vandalized. “I offered to raise money personally to provide security,” Razer said. The exhibit should be put back in the museum as soon as possible, Razer said, and he promised to continue applying pressure until that happens. “I’m sorry my existence offends them,” Razer said. “But here I am.” Cunning said he can’t recall a time during his tenure when he had to remove an exhibit from the capitol museum. There were times he had to answer questions about why an exhibit was on display, he said, or how it fulfilled the museum’s mission. “But I don’t remember ever being told to take an exhibit down,” he said. The state museum in the capitol has a responsibility to tell the history of Missouri, Cunning added. “Sometimes that history is uncomfortable,” he said. “But we still have to tell that history.” n

St. Louis-Area Abortion Providers Prepare After Texas Ban Takes Effect

Six weeks is just two weeks after a missed period, a time before many women would even know they’re pregnant. The Texas law also allows citizens to sue anyone who helps someone obtain an abortion for at least $10,000. The ban took effect on September 1 after the U.S. Supreme Court failed to rule before the deadline. The court did finally rule 5-4 later that night to uphold the law, dealing a further blow to abortion rights. This isn’t the first time Texas has enacted extreme abortion measures; early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s governor, Greg Abbott, used an emergency order to shut down abortion clinics. “We were seeing patients fly to us from left and right to get the care they needed,” Dreith says of the situation then. “Even though there are many states in between Texas and Illinois, we’re one of the only clinics in between that geographic area that provides up to 24 weeks.” Doomsday preparations began in 2019 for Dreith’s clinic when Missouri’s lawmakers passed a similar bill to Texas’ law — one that banned abortion after eight weeks and created criminal penal-

ties for any doctor who provided an abortion after that mark. Dreith says about 55 percent of Hope Clinic’s patients are women from states other than Illinois — 50 percent from Missouri, 5 percent from other states. The bill that triggered Hope Clinic’s preparations is still tied up in the court system, an important point to emphasize, according to Yamelsie Rodríguez, president and CEO of Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region. “RHS in Missouri is currently fighting one of the most extreme abortion bans in the country,” Rodríguez writes in a statement to the RFT. “The Eighth Circuit is hearing that case in a matter of weeks. Today it’s Texas, tomorrow it could be Missouri.” Dreith says between Missouri’s bill and six other states that have enacted similar laws, her clinic and others — some near, others nationwide — have undertaken the task of keeping their clinics widely available for those traveling long distances to receive the health care they need. Hope Clinic has ramped up staff and Continued on pg 10

Written by

JASON HANCOCK, THE MISSOURI INDEPENDENT

ireworks last week over the sudden removal of an LGBTQ history exhibit from the museum in the Missouri State Capitol caught the attention of John Cunning. For 24 years before he retired in 2018, Cunning oversaw the museum as part of his job at Missouri State Parks. So when he read Governor Mike Parson’s explanation for removing the exhibit — that it didn’t get the necessary pre-approval of the board of public buildings — Cunning says he was “befuddled.” “In the 24 years I was involved with the state museum, we didn’t have to go to the governor’s office or to the board of public buildings to get permission to put up an exhibit,” Cunning said in an interview. “That never happened.” His experience echoes that of Chuck Hatfield, a longtime Jefferson City attorney who worked in the attorney general’s office under Democrat Jay Nixon. The board of public buildings is made up of the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. It’s tasked with general supervision and charge of state facilities at the seat of government. Hatfield tweeted last week that he served as staff for that board on behalf of the attorney general for a decade and that it was never involved in approving museum displays. Neither the governor’s office nor the Department of Natural Resources, which oversees Missouri State Parks, responded to requests for comment. The exhibit in question consisted of banners, curated by University of Missouri-Kansas City history students, recounting the activism of the city’s LGBTQ community. It was on display for only four days before it was taken down, even though it had been scheduled to remain until December 26. Word of the removal spread on Facebook following a post by a GOP legislative staffer celebrating the display being taken down. “Thanks to the efforts of several of our great elected officials, the exhibit has been removed from the Missouri State Museum! To God be the glory!” the staffer posted. Parson said last week through a spokeswoman that he was unaware of the exhibit

Senator Greg Razer says the removal is an insult. | TIM BOMMEL/HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS

Written by

JENNA JONES

lison Dreith has been preparing for a doomsday scenario. Not a “stocking a bomb shelter full of soup cans and dry goods” kind of doomsday, but a doomsday scenario for reproductive health care — and it’s here. Dreith, deputy director of Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City, Illinois, tells the RFT her clinic is ready to care for women as a new scene emerges out of Texas, one of people seeking reproductive health care fleeing their state to receive an abortion. In May, Texas successfully passed a strict ban on abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy, but it had until last week been tied up in the court system.

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St. Louis-area abortion providers are preparing for the fallout. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI

ABORTION PROVIDERS Continued from pg 9

increased the number of physicians from two to four. The clinic was built to see 10,000 patients a year, and Dreith says they see about half that now, leaving plenty of room for those who need help. Rodríguez acknowledges the existing barriers in place in Missouri — the one clinic left standing is a Planned Parenthood in the Central West End, and patients have a 72-hour mandatory waiting period — and says many patients have had to travel to the Planned Parenthood in Fairview Heights, Illinois, for care instead. She says that’s why RHS and Hope Clinic for Women have invested nearly $10 million in clinical capacity and infrastructure. “As neighboring states eliminate abortion access, Illinois providers like RHS and Hope Clinic for Women are ready to receive patients no matter their ZIP code,” Rodríguez says. She and Dreith say those who wish to help can donate to abortion funds. Mallory Schwarz, executive director for NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri, also encourages residents to donate to an abortion fund. The leaders of the three organizations all emphasize the importance of these funds, saying it’s not just the cost of the abortion in these cases. Expenses include transportation, lodging, food and childcare. The numbers add up, weighing on the patient even further. Volunteers for the clinic escort program through NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri are also welcome, since the organization provides volunteers for both Hope Clinic and Planned Parenthood. Dreith says she can’t imagine traveling all the way from Houston and still having to “face the vitriol” that pro-life protestors outside of clinics throw at the patients.

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Schwarz says the fight for abortion access is needed now more than ever. “We need folks to be empowered and motivated to come out and fight with us for these fundamental freedoms to control our bodies and plan our futures on our own terms,” Schwarz says in an interview. “We know that we can win if we fight from the ground up.” To Schwarz, everyone has a role to play in keeping abortion access available to those who need one, no matter their race, ZIP code or other health identity. Donors, advocates and providers are all important, but one of the most important roles anyone can fill, according to Schwarz, is achieved just by being yourself and being transparent. Sharing your own reproductive healthcare story — whether it’s about abortion or birth control or any kind of support received at a Planned Parenthood or other women’s health clinics — is a seemingly small thing, but helps end the stigma, Schwarz explains. Abortion is common and normal, but stigma “is one of the most insidious barriers to care,” she says. She adds that people have continued unwanted pregnancies out of fear of being judged. Dreith says it’s a shame that “a routine health-care procedure has been so stigmatized in this country,” causing patients to travel thousands of miles “to reach the critical care they deserve.” She, Schwarz and Rodríguez plan to continue to fight, whatever direction that goes in Missouri. “We have the power to change the fate of abortion access in our state, but only if people show up. And only if they act now,” Schwarz says. “We know the majority of Missourians support abortion access without government interference. “And we need them to join us now before it’s too late.” n

THE BIG MAD ANTI-EVERYTHING Ignorance as policy, sweet and savory outrage and the death of civility Compiled by

DANIEL HILL

elcome back to the Big Mad, the RFT’s weekly roundup of righteous rage! Because we know your time is short and your anger is hot: OFFICIAL IGNORANCE: It can be tricky to figure out what some of Missouri’s Republican legislators are anti- at any given time, but maybe it’s just anti-knowing stuff? From their role in the manufactured outrage over the lessons in critical race theory (that weren’t actually being taught), we know they’re opposed to kids learning about the effects of slavery and racism on our society. Most also seem to prefer an alternate reality where we don’t know Trump lost, and they would definitely not like to know more about the roots of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Hits a little close to home when your fellow representative Justin Hill skipped his swearing-in to be there.) So maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise last week when it was revealed that Republicans were so offended about an exhibit highlighting the history of LGBTQ rights in the state that they worked back channels and sought out never-before-used procedural technicalities to get it removed. God forbid the state acknowledge that Missouri is or has ever been populated by anyone other than straight white men and the women who love them. But the lamest part? They were scared to admit what they had done. In a celebratory Facebook post, a legislative aide outed representatives Ann Kelley and Brian Seitz as two legislators who pushed to have the exhibit removed. But Kelley and Seitz kept their heads down, even as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch uncovered an email from Kelley to a state official, questioning the exhibit. And then Governor Mike Parson acted like the exhibitors had skipped a routine step for approval, only to be undercut by the Missouri Independent’s interview with the retired program director of the Capitol museum, who confirmed that it was never standard practice. The whole episode was hateful, clumsy and (perhaps least surprising for anti-knowing-stuff legislators) ignorant. SWEET AND SAVORY OUTRAGE: Just because you can do something doesn’t

mean you should. Case in point: Lion’s Choice and Crown Candy Kitchen teaming up to create the monstrosity that is the “Heart Stopping Bacon Concrete.” In case you’re one of the lucky ones who have never heard of this thing, allow us to burden you with this knowledge: It’s Lion’s Choice’s vanilla custard with chunks of Crown Candy’s crispy bacon in it. God has abandoned us. There is simply no hope for humanity, and the Heart Stopping Bacon Concrete was the fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse. This thing sounds so offensive to our taste buds we cannot fathom even biting into it. The point behind the awful offering was to celebrate the history behind the two staples of St. Louis society — which is something we can get behind — but why did they have to bring ice cream into it?! Couldn’t they have concocted a perfect bacon roast beef sandwich? A milkshake complete with candies from Crown Candy? Something other than pouring bacon into an otherwise perfectly fine cup of custard? We’re not mad at the St. Louis restaurants. We’re mad at the chef who went as far as Dr. Frankenstein, never stopping to wonder what the implications of such a creation might be. We love roast beef sandwiches and milkshakes just as much as the next St. Louisan, but for the love of all things holy, please stop this abomination in its tracks. We need separation of bacon and ice cream, now more than ever. THE DEATH OF CIVILITY: Think of life, let’s say, six years ago. The year was 2015. You couldn’t escape “Hotline Bling” by Drake at any given moment. The biggest online debate was if the dress was black and blue or white and gold. The world was, for the most part, OK. Yet now you cannot go into any comment section on social media without wanting to light something on fire. It’s man against man, neighbor against neighbor, and damn it, we are tired of it. Will we never know peace again? Did the dress curse us to forever debate each other over stupid shit? Whatever happened to “if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say it at all?” Commenting nasty things on a news post about someone dying or wishing for someone’s death or a civil war to break out is fucking awful, people. Just chill. Take a deep breath (perhaps while wearing a mask, if you’re not willing to get vaccinated and show some compassion to those who are at risk of getting seriously ill in your life, because not everything is about you). Remember that you don’t have to be so full of hate — and then take a gander at that godforsaken dress and realize it’s been blue and black the whole time. n

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Savagery, racism, and the lost dead of St. Louis’ human zoo By DANNY WICENTOWSKI n April, St. Louis artist and researcher Janna Añonuevo Langholz began walking the paths of Calvary Cemetery, looking for headstones. She searched section by section, hoping to see the names of four men and a woman, the oldest 43, the youngest sixteen: Ibay, Falayay, Basilio, Maliquido and Dadao. Two of them had died of pneumonia in late March 1904, just days after disembarking from an unheated train car that had carried them from Seattle. They were far from their homes in the Philippine islands, and they had spent weeks crossing the globe, covering thousands of miles, only to die in St. Louis less than a month before the opening day of the World’s Fair. The other three had died later that same summer, also from pneumonia. They were among the roughly 1,200 arrivals from the Philippines in the lead-up to the fair, where they were to populate the so-called Philippine Village. Arranged like a themepark attraction over acres and filled with imported people from four indigenous tribes, the village was a lavishly appointed human zoo — or, an “ethnographic exhibition,” as the organizers called it. Constructed at a cost of $1.5 million (the equivalent of some $46 million in 2021), the exhibit featured neighborhoods separated by tribe, furnished with huts built of bamboo and palm leaves by Filipino workers. Among the dozens of structures were a hospital, a schoolhouse, rice fields and a panish fortress built from the ground up to replicate the city of Manila. All had been arranged for the pleasure of white patrons, who paid a 25-cent fee for the privilege of gawking at what was advertised as a “primitive” civilization in its supposedly “natural state.” When those being exhibited died of disease, crowds of World’s Fair attendees gathered to watch the mourning rituals. Their misery became just another part of the spectacle. The five buried in Calvary are far from the only tribal members from the Philippines to die in St. Louis that year, but, more than a century later, Langholz is reviving their legacies and pushing for a long-neglected reckoning with the past. Using newspaper archives and burial records, she’s documented the lives of nearly 200 Philippine Village residents and more than a

Continued on pg 15

Janna Añonuevo Langholz places flowers at the graves of tribal members imported to St. Louis for the 1904 World’s Fair’s “Philippine Village.” | DANNY WICENTOWSKI riverfronttimes.com

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PHILIPPINE VILLAGE Continued from pg 13

sixteen deaths. er effort began when she first read about the deaths of Falayay and Ibay in newspaper accounts from March 28, 1904. The coverage named the burial sites as Calvary Cemetery. “All I knew was that they were at Calvary,” Langholz says now. “I had decided, ‘I’m going to look at every single gravestone until I find them.’ Eventually, in a way, she did. On a recent Friday, Langholz drives through the wide entrance of Calvary. As she navigates, she watches closely for the lot numbers. There are some 300,000 people buried in the cemetery, with the oldest remains dating to the 18 0s. he takes her first left, passing a group of turkeys picking their way through a grassy field of obelisks and gray stone mausoleums. A few minutes later, Langholz parks on the side of a sloping hill scattered with worn gravestones. From her car’s trunk she retrieves a bou uet of five orange-petaled owers. he walks across the grass to a spot about 30 feet from the road and stops. She’s come to a patch of grass isolated from the nearby gravestones. It’s unadorned but for the signs of a recent mowing. One by one, she places the five owers in a row on the ground. “I just think about how they came to be here,” she’ll say later, describing her thoughts as she marked the unmarked graves. “It’s really just heartbreaking for me. They had no idea that this would be where they were going to end up for the rest of time.”

n April 22, 1904, local newspapers announced the fourth death among the “Filipino colony” of the World’s Fair. In the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, the coverage made little attempt to humanize their conditions, culture, or even basic personhood. “Pagan Funeral in St. Louis ToMorrow,” the headline trumpeted, and, continuing on a second headline, it promised the performance of “Weird Ceremonies Over Remains of Filipino Woman.” The story itself advised that spectators should anticipate “strange tribal rites” among the mourners for Maura, an eighteen-year-old member of the Igorot tribe, who had spent ten days in a hospital before dying of pneumonia. “The Igorots are pagans,” the re-

port continued, “and there will be no religious observance. It will be the first pagan funeral ever held in St. Louis since the Indian days. The body has been embalmed and will be kept in storage until the band returns to the islands after the Fair.” Earlier that month in 1904, a surprise snow and freezing temperatures had smashed into St. Louis — just as the Philippine travelers were preparing to settle

An interdisciplinary artist whose work often expresses her heritage as a Filipino American, Langholz was already familiar with the exhibition of the 1904 World’s Fair. In 2015, she founded the Filipino American Artist Directory and began a mission of compiling a network of 1,200 Filipino artists. It was the same number as those featured in St. Louis’ human zoo, but now, according to the project’s “About” section, the

Langholz displays the sign she carries during tours of the former Philippine Village — a temporary marker, for now. | DANNY WICENTOWSKI

into their new “village.” The tribe members were completely unprepared for the cold. On her computer, 117 years later, Langholz watched as snow piled outside her apartment not far from the original site of the Philippine Village, which is now partly Clayton’s DeMun neighborhood. It was mid-April, and, once again, a spring snow had surprised the city, prompting local news outlets to consult their records for previous April snowstorms. “There was an article about how the last time it snowed on that day in St. Louis was in 1904,” Langholz recalls. “That’s when I started digging into the St. Louis Post-Dispatch archives, because I just thought, ‘There has to be a Filipino connection. How did they react to the snow?’”

dynamic would be reversed, with Filipino artists “exhibiting their work between the United States and the Philippines, as opposed to being exhibited.” But Langholz couldn’t stop thinking about Maura, the teenage subject of the lurid newspaper account following the snowstorm in April 1904. “I started reading the newspaper every day, and it just kept going — there was one death after another. I think all the deaths were really preventable,” she argues, noting how slow the fair organizers were to realize the island-dwelling peoples would be unready for the Midwestern cold. “Especially the fact that there were young people, so many between 18 and 30 years old.” While some reports of deaths in the Philippine Village included

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mention of the bodies being embalmed by a local St. Louis funeral home, only a few were listed with specific burial sites in local cemeteries. Langholz pored over months of newspaper coverage, searching for mention of Maura — and she began collecting the stories and names of the Philippine tribe members mentioned in the reports. Through the eight months of news coverage of the fair, she could find no mention of aura or the status of her body’s return to the Philippines. So Langholz expanded her search — and eventually stumbled across a St. Louis GlobeDemocrat article from December 25, 1904, more than a month after the official end of the fair. By then, many members of the Philippine Village had already begun their journeys home. “Bodies of Filipinos Becoming ummified, the headline read. The story included a summary of the deaths that had taken place during the fair, making mention of five people buried in Calvary Cemetery and four in the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. In total, thirteen Filipinos had perished during the fair, the story claimed, “but only one body was ever shipped back,” that of a schoolteacher who had died in February. That wasn’t all. The story described how three “well-preserved bodies … which have never been interred” were still being held by a local undertaker. All three were women. One was named Maura. According to the story, the bodies had only recently been placed in caskets, but the undertaker had apparently found a new use for Philippine Village’s former residents. “Now all three lie in state in the undertaking rooms,” the story noted, “where many visitors view them.”

t. Louis’ oldest cultural institutions are but shadows of the 1904 World’s Fair. The lush expanse of Forest Park, the edifice of the aint ouis Art Museum, even Washington University’s soaring Brookings Hall — all began their lives amid the fair’s palaces and showpieces, the exhibition representing more than 50 countries and 40 states, each attempting to outdo the other in ambition and scale. In the end, most of the fair’s 1,500 buildings were never intended to last. All but a few were torn down, sold for scrap or simply thrown away. Though widely reported at the time as the fair’s most popular exhibit, the Philip-

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Built by contracted native artisans over two years, the 47-acre Philippine Village strived for authenticity even in its exploitation: A bamboo structure built for the Moro tribe sits on Arrowhead lake (topleft). Igorot tribal members (top right and bottom left) display “savage” dances and sparse clothing to white patrons taking in the show. A tribal chief is photographed using a typewriter. | MISSOURI HISTORY MUSEUM COLLECTIONS pine Village quickly disappeared, the tribal members sent back to the Philippines or taken on tour to be degraded for the amusement of crowds in other U.S. cities. Today, the 47-acre area is mostly occupied by a private neighborhood in Clayton, its gated streets lined with million-dollar homes. lthough there is no official recognition or memorial to go along with it, Langholz argues that this is a historical site — and that she is its caretaker. Since she began her research in April, Langholz has taken to offering guided tours through the area. Starting at a Kaldi’s Coffee, she leads a reporter through streets that once bustled with villagers, vendors and fairgoers. During the tour, Langholz car-

ries a metal sign that she designed several years ago as part of a previous art exhibit. Its black background is stenciled with gold lettering: PHILIPPINE VILLAGE HISTORICAL SITE. Without a permanent memorial, the sign travels with her. We pass unremarkable corners where thousands of visitors had once crowded around bamboo huts to leer at the daily performances of tribal rituals. Later, Langholz points out a quiet street as the former location of the ornate bridge over Arrowhead Lake that led to the “Walled City” of Manila. But even with so much documentation of the fair’s geographic footprint, it’s difficult, she admits, to identify a single appropriate place for a formal “historical site.”

The former village is now segmented between two Clayton neighborhoods and Concordia Seminary, a private religious institution. “I would like to have a permanent sign somewhere, so I’m not always having to carry this thing around,” she says, pausing to adjust the metal sign into a more comfortable position under her arm. She acknowledges that it’s not the way most historical sites are marked, with one person walking around with a sign they designed and produced by ordering it through a website. “I just kind of wanted to make it official, she e plains. live near here, I’m already doing these tours, I might as well get a sign. When I’m walking around Continued on pg 18

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When those being exhibited died of disease, crowds of World’s Fair attendees gathered to watch the mourning rituals. Their misery became just another part of the spectacle.

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PHILIPPINE VILLAGE Continued from pg 17

with people, they want to see a landmark, they want to see something. And there’s no visual, like, evidence of that being here.” In a city that has done almost nothing to preserve the history and people who came here in 1904, it would be easy to let the past be the past. But Langholz can’t look away from the names and faces, the images of the Philippine Village residents preserved in newspaper archives and the stories they left behind. Despite the exploitation, the tribal members and Filipinos did their best to make their lives here. They fell in love, had children and mourned their loved ones before they departed. “Can you imagine,” Langholz poses, “being asked to go to another country, to represent your people, and it sounds like this great thing? No one had expected that they would be treated this way.” Even with digitized newspaper accounts available at the click of a button, “There’s just so little known about them,” she says. ow do you find descendants Who has the right to memorialize this space?”

or Langholz, those questions twist even deeper now that she has located the site of the five graves in Calvary Cemetery. The complete lack of an identifying memorial disturbs her. ut she says her first attempts to contact the cemetery led nowhere, because she only had first names for each person, as they were listed in the 1904 newspaper reports. Later, she discovered that the St. Louis Archdiocese database of burial records did, in fact, list the five deceased residents of the Philippine Village, including their ages and dates of death. t confirmed what she had found in her search of the cemetery — but it didn’t explain why there were no gravestones there. Last week, in response to questions from the Riverfront Times, a spokeswoman for Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of St. ouis confirmed that there are no records of previous markers” related to the five burials, though records show they were completed “as an act of charity” and therefore are “typically unmarked.” But the archdiocese’s statement also pushed back on the notion that these markless graves — those of people who never wanted to be buried in St. Louis and whose mourning rituals were mocked as

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pagan — have been forgotten. “The grave sites, as with all grave sites on Catholic Cemeteries properties, are never lost nor forgotten,” writes Maria Lemakis, a multimedia manager with the archdiocese’s ffice of Communications and Planning. “All are treated by Catholic Cemeteries with the same care and reverence. The blessed remains of all who rest in Catholic cemeteries make them places for remembering, forgiving, hope, healing, and thanksgiving. They are a bridge to the communion of saints.” One could make that argument for the five buried in Calvary, but it can’t be said for Maura, the teenager whose body had been put “on display” after the fair. After months of searching, anghol finally discovered her name listed in a database of St. Louis death records, though without a burial place. Langholz believes Maura never left: “That leads me to believe that her body was never shipped back to the Philippines as promised.” Instead, it appears that Maura’s body, or at least portions of it, was donated for anthropological research to the U.S. National Museum, an institution later renamed the Smithsonian. The museum’s 1905 list of acquisitions includes a brief description of the subjects, including the anatomy and tribal identification. mong them was “the cerebellum of a Suyac Igorot ... collected for the Museum from the Philippine department and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.” “I don’t know what happened to the rest of their bodies after they took out the organs that they wanted, but I know it’s Maura’s,” Langholz says, “because she was the only Suyoc Igorot who died at the World’s Fair.” To die, be displayed, then forgotten and donated — this was the path of Maura and, Langholz believes, several other Filipinos, Africans and Native Americans who met their ends during the fair. But Langholz is just one person, pushing back against the silence of a century. Each week, when she visits Calvary, she lays fresh owers to replace the ones blown away by the wind or torn up by a groundskeeper’s lawn mower. Then she greets each of them by name. Ibay, Falayay, Basilio, Maliquido and Dadao. “There’s kind of a ritual that we do in the Philippines, where you just say the name of the deceased, over and over, to invoke their presence and remember them in this space,” she says. “It’s to let them know that they haven’t been forgotten.” n

CAFE

[REVIEW]

A Taste of Home American Falafel’s Jordanian version of Middle Eastern cuisine is a revelation of flavor Written by

CHERYL BAEHR American Falafel 6314 Delmar Boulevard, University City; 314-553-9553. Tues.-Sun. 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m. (Closed Mondays.)

o the outside observer, Mohammed Qadadeh had it all: a successful career with a multinational corporation, financial security, a life filled with international travel. Qadadeh en oyed all the key indicators of having made it and yet he still couldn’t help but feel something was missing. He had glimmers of what that void was every time he would travel back to the iddle ast for work. ordanian native who moved to St. Louis to attend school at the age of seventeen, Qadadeh realized how much he missed the food he grew up on whenever he had the opportunity to eat it while abroad. Though he appreciated the St. Louis food scene and relished trying new places, he longed for a truly authentic taste of home and wished that someone would take a chance on bringing traditional ordanian cuisine to town. He never considered that person might be him. However, about three years ago, he was feeling particularly filled with creative energy and in search of an outlet. Though he en oyed his ob and the professional success it brought him, Qadadeh found his entrepreneurial spirit pushing him to try something new. restaurant made sense, and when he heard that a renowned ordanian chef was now living in the United States, he encouraged him to come to St. Louis to help him reali e his culinary dream. or two years, adadeh and his chef eshed out a vision of what would become merican

You can’t go wrong with fattoush, kefta burger, Eggplant Amman, falafel sandwich, falafel bites or hummus. | MABEL SUEN Falafel, testing out dishes, battling over whose grandmother’s recipes were better and seeking out equipment, breads and other ingredients necessary to reali e the level of authenticity adadeh was not willing to compromise. inally, on arch 1, 0 0, adadeh took the leap and signed a lease for a storefront in the Delmar Loop, with plans to open as soon as possible. Then, less than two weeks later, the dining landscape he thought he was entering ipped on its head when the full e tent of the C D-19 pandemic revealed itself in St. Louis. In far too deep to back out, adadeh forged ahead, and finally opened merican alafel in ay of last year, confident that, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, he was onto something special. That gut feeling was right. Though St. Louis has no shortage of e cellent iddle astern restaurants, the fast-casual merican alafel stands out thanks to its focus on ordanian food shawarma, hummus, falafel and the typical dishes found on the menus at other iddle astern spots are all present, but what’s so thrilling

A Jordanian native turns his longing for the food he grew up on into a fast-casual success story. is that this particular in ection allows diners to understand the nuances that make each country’s cuisine so unique. Take the falafel, for instance. ike with other versions, you’ll find chickpea fritters, tahini, lettuce, tomatoes and other trimmings. However, adadeh’s makes you understand that all falafel is not created e ual. merican alafel’s version — which is made using a machine imported from ordan is breathtaking, accented with warm spices that season the ground chickpeas throughout the entire fritter. But the te ture is what makes it so special. hile others can be dry and crumbly, merican alafel’s frit-

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ters are moist and pleasantly tacky on the inside, soaking in the earthy tahini sauce and juices from the pickles and tomato garnish. ven the bread is special. Instead of the usual pita, Qadadeh uses lavash, which is like a cross between a pita and a crepe when griddled and pressed, it develops a glorious nutty avor reminiscent of brown butter. This bread, alone, is reason enough to ustify adadeh’s leap into the restaurant business. ut there are others, too. merican Falafel’s babaganoush is revelatory, a thick, creamy mash of gently smoked eggplant generously mi ed with tahini so that both avors are e ually prominent. Diced tomatoes, sprinkled with tangy sumac, break up the richness. Hummus, another ubi uitous iddle astern dip, is a thing of beauty thanks to its silken te ture that is completely devoid of any grit from the chickpea. Though so simple in terms of ingredients, he and his chef’s fastidious adherence to technique turn the ordinary into something magical. Chicken shawarma is another

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Continued on pg 21

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WEDNESDAY, 9/8 9PM

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Owner Mohammed Qadadeh is doing what he is meant to do. | MABEL SUEN

AMERICAN FALAFEL Continued from pg 19

example of how taking the time to do things right pays off. The wrap features succulent, seasoned meat dressed with lettuce, pickles and tomatoes and served with a garlic sauce that’s akin to an aioli. The combination of avors is powerful; together with the outstanding lavash wrap, it’s one of the best versions in the city. Even a simple cheese wrap is otherworldly, thanks to the rich haloumi cheese, pickles, tomatoes and pesto; griddled in lavash, it’s like a Middle Eastern caprese wrap. Though Qadadeh adheres to tradition for most of his dishes, his kefta burger is where he shows ingenuity. Here, the Middle Eastern dish typically served as a kebab over rice or in a wrap is shaped into a burger patty, then placed atop a sesame-seed bun with lettuce, tomato and cheese. It’s a work of genius that seems so obvious when you try it. However, American Falafel is at its most soulful when it’s serving the dishes that taste like they came out of Qadadeh’s (or his chef’s) grandmother’s kitchen. Tomatoes galaya, Qadadeh’s favorite dish on the menu, may look like simple stewed tomatoes, but the avor is otherworldly. The tomatoes are cooked down to the point where they nearly break apart completely, absorbing the gentle Middle Eastern spices, generous black pepper and slivers of gar-

lic that season the dish. Served with warmed lavash for scooping, it’s a bowl of pure comfort. Likewise, the kidreh rice is the culinary equivalent of a warm blanket. Here, basmati is cooked with chickpeas, onions and whole garlic cloves, then spiced with cumin, cardamom, black pepper and turmeric. There are so many avors going on, yet they are so well balanced and gentle. It’s a masterful dance. As haunting as that rice is, the Eggplant Amman is the restaurant’s unforgettable dish. Here, cubes of sautéed eggplant and pita chips are dressed with a rich tomato sauce that alone would be a worthy offering. However, the component that makes this absolutely transcendent is the thick layer of a tahini-yogurt concoction so creamy and avorful you’ll want to spread it all over everything you eat going forward. The tangy sauce combines with the tomatoes and eggplant, resulting in layers of avor that make your palate feel like it’s tasting in Technicolor. If Qadadeh ever decides to change course, he could bottle up that sauce and start a condiment empire. Hopefully, he won’t do that anytime soon. With American Falafel, he’s shown that, in walking away from what seemed like the obvious path, he got to exactly where he was meant to be.

American Falafel Original falafel sandwich ............................$9 Tomatoes galaya ....................................... $10 Eggplant Amman ..................................... $12

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RIVERFRONT TIMES

SHORT ORDERS

[ S T. L O U I S S TA N D A R D S ]

A Family Affair Maplewood mainstay Michael’s Bar & Grill offers a little something for everyone Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

n 19 9, ichael alliotakis, an immigrant from the reek island of Rhodes, sat down with his then-wife’s dad and struck a deal. Diagnosed with cancer ust a year after he took over the bar himself, alliotakis’ father-inlaw needed him to buy him out. The bar, a raucous neighborhood tavern called Nick’s ittle ebble, wasn’t necessarily the sort of place alliotakis wanted to run, but he could sense this was an opportunity he needed to accept. “It was a rough place,” recalls atina alliotakis, ichael’s daughter and the current proprietor of ichael’s ar rill. t was a Cracker ack bo of a place, really small with pool tables — a typical Maplewood neighborhood bar, and a really rough place. ike every reek who comes to merica, he had a dream of opening a restaurant, and eventually, he got tired of the ruckus, shut down, dug out the basement with his bare hands and the help of some guys in the neighborhood, and reopened as a restaurant. Four decades later, Michael’s ar rill has become a mainstay of the city’s dining scene, beloved for its ability to execute both classic merican comfort food and traditional reek cuisine. s atina alliotakis describes it, ichael’s is the sort of place that will serve kids the best grilled cheese they’ve ever had as their parents en oy a gorgeous rack of lamb. Known as much for its burgers and wings as it is its reek salads and moussaka, alliotakis credits the restaurant’s staying power to its ability to offer a little bit of something for everyone, a way of dining she believes is waning in

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Katina Malliotakis guards her father’s legacy at Michael’s decades after he turned a rough bar into a neighborhood pillar. | ANDY PAULISSEN the current restaurant climate. Considering his culinary pedigree, there’s no way that the elder alliotakis could have done things any other way. The son of a butcher, ichael loved his mother’s cooking and taught himself how to prepare her dishes. Though he had no professional e perience, he snuck his way into the reek army’s food service at the age of nineteen, telling his superiors that he was a chef so that he could make sure everyone ate good on his watch. hen they asked if anyone was a chef, he raised his hand,” his daughter says. e said he wanted to make sure he had the food situation covered. e also told them he was a tailor so he could handle the washing. e was determined to have good food and crisp, clean clothes. fter leaving the army, ichael was introduced to Katina’s mother, who had come back to reece for their arranged marriage. The two moved together to t. ouis, where Michael was immediately thrust into the restaurant business and reali ed he had a knack for the industry. e was a keen observer, picking up on what business owners did right and what they did

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Not even the pandemic has been able to stop Michael’s. | ANDY PAULISSEN wrong, and banking that knowledge in the hopes that he would one day have a place of his own. ne of his most formative obs was at the iconic cafeteria aravelli’s, where he was taken under the wing of the owners and taught everything from how to carve meat to how to run the business. ventually, ichael alliotakis took the leap and opened his own cafeteria-style restaurant in

downtown t. ouis, then another concept on Cherokee treet. owever, it was ichael’s ar rill where he really staked his claim. Though he reopened as a restaurant with only a few menu items written on a small chalkboard, he found immediate success and kept building upon it. t didn’t take long for more items to appear on the menu, which was finally printed after a short while,

[FOOD NEWS]

St. Louis Wing Company Seeks Buyer Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

B Regulars have kept the restaurant going all these years. | ANDY PAULISSEN followed by an expansion of the physical space to accommodate the legions of regular diners who ocked to the taverna for a taste of his e cellent cooking. atina alliotakis has been by her dad’s side through it all, understanding that it was her duty to carry out the restaurant’s legacy as Michael’s right-hand woman — even before she was old enough to truly know what that entailed. was about twelve years old when he called me up and said he was sending a cab for me and needed me to get down to the restaurant because he needed my help,” she recalls. showed up that day and never left. e even bought the house two doors down from the restaurant, and we moved in. call this place the otel California, because no one ever leaves. Though alliotakis describes her fate as being sealed that day she walked into the restaurant, she wouldn’t have it any other way. She admits she frequently questioned whether or not it was what she wanted for her professional life, and even tried to venture away from the industry a couple times to try out a different career. owever, all of her other endeavors were short-lived, because she knew, deep in her heart, that hospitality was her calling. alliotakis also felt a responsibility to be there for her dad and knew there was no one else who could be his go-to like she could. That reality filled her with a sense of duty that has been especially

salient since 2008, when Michael suffered his first stroke and had to hand over some of the day-today operations to her. ince then, she’s been steering the ship — with her dad’s guidance, of course and has done her best to make sure the restaurant keeps going, even in the midst of the challenges the pandemic has created over the past year and a half. “There was no way that, after 0 years, we were going out like that, alliotakis says. This is about his legacy, and I need to make sure it succeeds. The people who come in here and have supported us through this all are family and friends, and I couldn’t imagine not being here. n her mind, that’s the key the guests who come through its doors every day, some of them since the very beginning, who are willing to support Michael’s because they know they will consistently get a good meal prepared by owners who pour their hearts and souls into everything they do. ’ve always appreciated everyone who comes through the door, but I had no idea that they felt that way about us, too, alliotakis says. eople have been so supportive and thank us for being here. tell them, No, thank you.’ t’s great they feel the same way I do and that they are ust as grateful. There’s nothing better than seeing people eating and drinking and having a good time. e’re reek. The only way we know how to show our love is by feeding you. n

obby Tessler knew people would be upset when he let the world know that he was closing his beloved Rock Hill restaurant St. Louis Wing Company (9816 Manchester Road, Rock Hill; 314-962-9464). However, he wasn’t fully prepared for the outpouring. “It sent a shock wave through the city,” Tessler says. For ten years, Tessler’s wing spot has been a staple of the Rock Hill dining scene, drawing in guests for its outstanding chicken flats and drummies dressed in a wide variety of creative flavors. He’s built a loyal following — some regular customers insisting, quite seriously, that they’ve thought about getting his logo tattooed on their bodies — and has enjoyed robust business, even in the midst of the pandemic. However, as he explains, the catastrophic staffing challenges that are currently wreaking havoc on the hospitality industry were simply too much for him to bear. “I’ve been in the restaurant business for over 25 years, and this is the worst I’ve ever seen in terms of staffing,” Tessler says. “It’s happening across industries, but it’s really affecting restaurants. You drive down any street, and all you see are ‘Now Hiring’ signs. That’s what drove me insane enough to say that I can’t do this anymore. I was having daily anxiety waking up every day and wondering what’s going to go wrong, who was going to call in, and who wasn’t going to show up. I

had to choose my health over my brand.” However, Tessler is hoping that his decision to step away from St. Louis Wing Company is not the end for the popular restaurant. In a social-media post the Friday after his closing announcement, Tessler announced that he is looking for a buyer to keep the brand alive. With the help of a broker, he’s looking to sell the St. Louis Wing Company brand, a deal that includes all furnishings and equipment, proprietary recipes, policies, procedures and checklists, and the company van. In an interview with the Riverfront Times, Tessler disclosed that he is asking $250,000 for the sale — a number he understands may seem like a lot to invest, but that he feels is actually quite reasonable considering how well the restaurant is doing and its potential to expand. “If somebody came in fresh with enthusiasm, and they could find a good staff, it’s worth well more than that,” Tessler says. “If it gets into the hands of the right people, you could put it all over St. Louis.” Tessler insists he is not looking to sell to just anyone, though. The sale includes a contingency that provides for him to stay on as a consultant to help train the new owners. He is particular about who he wants to take over what he considers his legacy and, though he is eager to sell, he is looking for buyers who share his enthusiasm for the brand. In the meantime, Tessler is grateful for all of the support he has received over the years and is trying to take things day by day. “I sound chipper and cheerful, but it’s pretty depressing knowing that I conceptualized something on my couch eleven years ago, made it happen and now this,” Tessler says. “My emotions are all over the place, so it would be great if someone could come in, step up and sell some chicken wings. I’d love to show them how to do it.” n

St. Louis Wing Company is seeking a second chance with a new owner. | KHOLOOD EID

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Presented by

+ 0 3 IPATING PARTIC RANTS RESTAU

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sponsored by:

[CLOSINGS]

Nadine’s Gin Joint Has Closed Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

beloved Soulard watering hole is the latest casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nadine’s Gin Joint (1931 South 12th Street, 314-436-3045), the two-decades-old gathering spot, served its last guests on August 29. Nadine Soaib, who has owned the tavern for 1 years, confirmed the news, citing staffing shortages and associated revenue decline as the reasons for the closure. “Personally, I spent too much time in the kitchen and was closed half of the hours I should’ve been open, because ust couldn’t find cooks,” Soaib says. “My restaurant is open six days a week, and it was just me and one other cook

Pour one out for Nadine’s Gin Joint. | JAIME LEES Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night, and Saturday and Sunday for breakfast. That means the kitchen was only open about 50 percent of the time it could be open, which affected sales. It also affected the income of the servers and bartenders, who graciously didn’t abandon me, even after they knew we were closing. I’m so grateful to them and to customers, but ultimately, the lack of food affected the bottom line.”

oaib’s situation re ects a crisis that has plagued the hospitality industry since restaurants and bars began to reopen last year after temporary, pandemicinduced closures. Establishments across the spectrum — from elegant fine-dining restaurants to fast-casual spots to neighborhood bars have all struggled to fill their ranks to meet demand from eager guests, turning to increased wages and hiring bonuses to en-

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tice would-be workers. For Soaib, there was simply no way to hang on any longer, despite her loyal front-of-house staff and customer base. “I have people who came here for our last night— Customer Appreciation Night — on Sunday, and they were teary-eyed,” Soaib says. “Everyone had a story, and they all told me things like this was their safe place to come and have a drink or read a book. You just never know what a place means to people.” Despite the closure, Soaib remains upbeat about her situation. Because she owns Nadine’s building, she has been able to lease it out to a forthcoming establishment. The arrangement allows her a little bit of time to figure out her next move — one that will hopefully not take this veteran Soulard bartender too far from her old place. “I’m not sure what I am going to do yet, but I have an idea for a smaller-scale, breakfast-only restaurant,” Soaib says. “Only time will tell, but I feel so fortunate that I own the building and have been able to lease it out. There are a lot of people out there who don’t have that, and it’s heartbreaking to me. I feel so fortunate.” n

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[WEED NEWS]

Grass Is Always Greener Missouri cannabis industry adds more than 4,000 jobs as others struggle to hire Written by

DANIEL HILL

ven as employers all across the state and nation struggle through a labor shortage — particularly affecting the hospitality sector — Missouri’s medical marijuana industry has added more than 4,000 new jobs in less than a year. According to a report this week from the Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association, or MoCannTrade, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has to date issued some 4,584 state agent ID cards, which are required to work in medical marijuana facilities. That’s up from just 200 IDs issued back in September 2020, when the local cannabis industry was still in its infancy the first dispensaries in the state opened the following month, in October). And according to data released Friday by the Missouri DHSS, the majority of licensed medical marijuana facilities in the state are now approved to operate, with 235 out of 380 cannabis companies receiving approval. Those numbers include 140 out of 200 authorized dispensaries now approved for operation, as well as six testing labs and 29 cultivators. Naturally, all of those facilities need employees, leading to the boom in ID cards. “Just as patient demand has far surpassed early projections, interest among prospective medical cannabis workers has consistently blown the roof off our license operators’ expectations,” Andrew Mullins, executive director of MoCannTrade, says in a statement. All this hiring success comes

Missouri’s medical marijuana industry has seen a significant boom in new hires in the past twelve months. | VIA GREENLIGHT DISPENSARY in stark contrast to the troubles faced by other industries in the St. Louis area. A St. Louis PostDispatch article this week notes that the metro area is tens of thousands of jobs shorter than it was at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite a urry of hiring bonuses, job fairs and the end of e tra unemployment benefits. The daily reports that these employee shortages have hit the food and entertainment industries the hardest, pointing to a recent job fair at the newly opened City Foundry Food Hall that brought out far fewer applicants than its operators hoped — with 50 positions open, only about a dozen people showed up. “It’s really tough,” Susie Bonwich, the food hall’s operations director, tells the Post-Dispatch. “Everyone’s hiring right now.” Other businesses reportedly struggling to hire include the Enterprise Center, Blueberry Hill, the Pageant, the Moonrise Hotel and Gus’s Pretzels. Still others have thrown in the towel altogether due to the hiring crisis, with Nadine’s Gin Joint closing just last week and St. Louis Wing Company shuttering at the end of August. “I’ve been in the restaurant business for over 25 years, and this is the worst I’ve ever seen in terms of staffing, t. ouis ing Company owner Bobby Tessler re-

cently told the RFT’s Cheryl Baehr. “It’s happening across industries, but it’s really affecting restaurants. You drive down any street, and all you see are ‘Now Hiring’ signs. That’s what drove me insane enough to say that I can’t do this anymore. I was having daily anxiety waking up every day and wondering what’s going to go wrong, who was going to call in and who wasn’t going to show up. I had to choose my health over my brand.” It’s hard to say exactly what is driving the reluctance in potential hires to seek jobs in the food and entertainment industries. Some theories have blamed the enhanced unemployment benefits that were offered due to the pandemic, suggesting that potential employees were choosing to stay home and collect a check rather than work. But even as several states including Missouri have moved to end those benefits, hiring has yet to increase in any dramatic fashion. In fact, August’s disappointing jobs report, released Friday, says the U.S. added just 235,000 new jobs in the last month — dramatically less than the 750,000 economists had expected. Many experts blame the increase in COVID cases, spurred on by the rise of the delta variant, for the disparity in those numbers. “There’s no question, the delta variant is why today’s job report

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isn’t stronger,” President Joe Biden said during a speech on Friday. “We need to make more progress in fighting the delta variant. “This is a continuing pandemic of the unvaccinated,” the president added. “Too many have not gotten vaccinated, and it’s creating a lot of unease in our economy and around our kitchen tables.” But if you work in the Missouri cannabis industry, you might have no idea about the employee shortage. According to MoCannTrade, analysts expect the sector will add “several thousand more new jobs, more than $800 million in direct spending and another $570 million in indirect spending over the course of its first full year of sales and operation.” John Pennington, CEO of Proper Brands and a MoCannTrade board member, says his company alone has seen approximately 4,500 job applications for a total of 150 full-time positions — with no signs that the high level of interest in the industry will let up anytime soon. “The talent that we’ve been able to recruit has been second to none,” Pennington tells the St. Louis Business Journal. “This is an industry that is made up of incredibly talented people who are now in a position to work in a field that’s been a dream for them …. That’s not slowing down. This business is moving the needle.”

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HELP WANTED ST. LOUIS AND SURROUNDING AREAS

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CULTURE

In Sweat, Actors Can Relate to Economic Uncertainty Written by

ZOË BUTLER Sweat Written by Lynn Nottage. Directed by Ron Himes. Presented by The Black Rep through September 26 at the Edison Theatre at Washington University (6465 Forsyth Boulevard; www.theblackrep.org). Tickets are $20 to $50.

ive actors curl around a makeshift bar on a recent Tuesday, rehearsing a scene for the Black Rep’s season-opening show. Two of the characters are off-shift factory workers, and as they drink, they heckle the bartender after he nonchalantly brings up NAFTA and suggests their jobs will soon be moved to Mexico. Ron Himes, the theater company’s founder and producing director, brie y interrupts to make a suggestion and then sets them to work again. “Take it from ‘You’re an asshole,’” Himes says. “Which one?” they ask. Everyone laughs and continues on seamlessly. The scene is from Sweat, the first play in the lack ep’s th season. It’s an in-person show premiering Wednesday, September 8, at Edison Theater on the campus of Washington University. The play, written by Lynn Nottage, centers around a group of friends who work together on a factory oor in eading, ennsylvania, in the years 2000 through 2008. “The factory is in the midst of negotiations, where they’re trying to cut back on the workers’ salaries and benefits, and the workers are pushing back against management, not willing to accept the demands that are being made upon them,” Himes says. “It’s a play that deals with race, immigration, economics and working-class

Amy Loui, left, who plays Tracey, sees parallels in the labor-issue themes of Sweat and the pandemic’s effect on the theater industry. | PHUONG BUI people.” Actor Amy Loui plays Tracey, a lifelong union member whose father and grandfather worked in the factory and whose son now does, too. As with all her characters, Loui has spent the past few weeks connecting to the history that comes with Tracey. “She’s got several onion layers, and they do get peeled back during the course of the show, so you do see little glimpses of what’s behind her, what makes her tick, what she cares about — that sort of thing,” Loui says in an interview. nd while Tracey is fictional, and Sweat is set across the country in what now feels like a different era, there are parallels between the world of upheaval described by playwright Nottage and the tumult of today, even down to challenges faced by the Black Rep and its staff and performers. The pandemic forced the theater company to cancel plans for in-person shows last season, and the performers and crews

turned instead to a run of virtual programming. The company returns to the theater this season under strict guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and revention and ash . Those include mandatory masking for audience members. Actors and crew members are required to be vaccinated and wear masks during rehearsal time. “We’ve never really canceled a production,” Himes says. “We’ve maybe lost a performance, but never a whole run of a production, so [last year] was quite different. There’s never been a time like the past fifteen months. The pandemic hit theaters particularly hard, and thousands across the country closed at least temporarily when a packed house suddenly became a hazard instead of an accomplishment. And Loui is one of the actors who has suffered the consequences. “It’s been a long, hard out,” Loui says. “And I know we’re not alone. There are entire segments of the population who have been shut

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down and can’t do what they’ve been trained to do, what they love to do.” Loui says theater is centered around being in community together. “If you think about it, painters could keep going,” she says. “Sculptors and musicians could keep going. Even when we’d try to do something through Zoom, there was always a disconnect.” Shifting online was not ideal, but it helped them survive. The scramble is far from over. And like the characters in Sweat, Loui and actors around the country have experienced massive changes with their union, Actors’ Equity Association. It started in March of 2020, when theater companies first started closing their doors and actors’ contracts fell through. or oui, her first concern was not being able to qualify for her union’s insurance plan. re-C D, you had to earn a certain number of contract weeks within a twelve-month period to qualify for health insurance,”

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Ron Himes is leading the Black Rep into its 45th season. | PHUONG BUI

SWEAT

Continued from pg 29

Loui says. “Once you had thirteen weeks of contract work, you were covered for six months. If you earn eighteen weeks of contract work, they cover you for a year.” Loui had signed two contracts at the beginning of 2020, both of which fell through when theaters closed, no longer counting towards the requirement for health insurance. Luckily, she had done enough contract work from the year prior to maintain her health care, but that wasn’t the case for many actors. Still, the health insurance wasn’t what concerned Loui the most. For her, and many other actors, the biggest concern is with changes being made by the Actors’ Equity Association in regard to its membership ualifications. Recently, AEA updated its policy to one called “Open Access,” where the previously rigorous and prestigious membership ualifications are no longer in place. Now, all stage managers or actors need only to have worked in one professional theater production to qualify. To explain the situation, Loui references the necessity of the workers’ union in Sweat. “Being a member of the mechanic’s union was not only a sign of professionalism, but it was a sign of the quality of the work you were getting from these people,” she says. It’s similar to the actors’ union, she says. “For us, the companies that have committed to equity contracts, like the Black Rep, treat our

work with value,” Loui says. “It’s a standard of quality in the performances, but it also means that they’re supporting the actors as a livelihood.” With this new union policy, Loui worries her membership in the union will be of less value, and the credentials she has worked to achieve throughout her career will be watered down. AEA’s explanation is that the union is working to provide accessibility and benefits to traditionally marginalized groups. “The reason they’re doing it is because they need the dues,” Loui says. “We’ll see how much the union gets pushed back, because there are a lot of people who are really upset about it. On the other hand, you also think, ‘Well, how is it going to survive?’” If the reputation of the union does weaken from this change in membership policy, Loui believes equity theater companies — those committed to paying their actors — will feel less of a responsibility in maintaining that relationship. By becoming non-equity companies, theaters would save money, but at a cost to actors. She has faith in the Black Rep’s commitment to being an equity theater, but she worries about others. The economic forces are largely out of the control of Loui and other workers, just as they are for the characters in Sweat. For now, Loui and fellow union members can only wait for the cascading effects of the pandemic to settle, hoping to maintain their careers as best as possible. “It’s still changing,” she says. “Even though things are opening and it’s seeming more normal, things are still changing.” n

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SAVAGE LOVE ON THE DOWN BLOW BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: I’m a gay man. After a decade together and five years of marriage, my husband informed me he wasn’t really interested in sex anymore. That was a year ago, and we haven’t had sex since. He told me I should leave him, if regular sex was “really that important” to me, but if I chose to stay, I had to remain “faithful.” To him that means me not having sex with anyone else. I’m 35, he’s 38, and he doesn’t see his unilateral decision to end our sex life as him breaking faith with me. There’s also the issue of financial dependence. I am NOT dependent on him, he is dependent on ME. I didn’t want to abandon him during a pandemic while he’s unemployed, so I stayed. Now he tells me he’s asexual and accuses me of being unsupportive of his sexual identity if I so much as mention missing sex. To make a long story short, three months ago I met a guy at work. We’re the only people on our floor currently coming into the office, and we got to talking and it turned out he’s bisexual and married but open. I’ve been blowing him a couple of times a week for the last two months. He’s close to my age, and I really need this. We aren’t in the same department, so I don’t report to him, and he doesn’t report to me. He doesn’t reciprocate, but I don’t care. I wasn’t on Grindr and didn’t go looking for this. Do I need to feel bad about it? Cheating Homo On Knees Eating Dick So, your husband insists you honor the commitment you made to him (not to have other sex partners) but he’s released himself from the commitment he made to you (to be your sex partner) and invited you to divorce him if you didn’t like it. And you didn’t divorce him. You stayed. Not because you wanna stay in this marriage, and not because you’re obligated to stay in this marriage to affirm his se ual identity, but because he’s unemployed and you don’t wanna turn him out on the street during a pandemic. OK. You don’t need to feel bad about this — you don’t need to feel bad about the dick you’re eating at

work — and if you’ve been reading my column for longer than a week, CHOKED, you knew I was gonna say that. So, you wanted a permission slip and you’ve got it, signed and notarized. And now if you stop giving those hot non-recip blowjobs to the bise ual guy at the office, ’m gonna be pissed at you for wasting my time. So don’t let me down here, CHOKED. Keep eating that dick. Of course, eating that dick isn’t a long-term solution to your problem, CHOKED, but that dick will make your life more bearable in the near-term. (It sounds like it has already.) But ultimately, CHOKED, you’re gonna have to counter your husband’s ridiculous ultimatum with a perfectly reasonable ultimatum of your own: He doesn’t have to be sexual with you — he never has to eat your dick ever again — but he can’t expect you to live a sexless life. Tell him you’re gonna seek dick elsewhere, CHOKED, and if he doesn’t like it, then he can leave. Hey, Dan: Just wanted to commend you for your advice to “Having A Realistic Discussion On Needs” in last week’s column. I say this as someone who recently went through a similar — though blessedly temporary — situation with my girlfriend. The first time I lost my erection before I came, I was a little bummed, but my attitude was basically, “Dang, well, at least I made her come.” My girlfriend, however, had a mild-to-moderate freak-out: Was everything OK? Was she doing something wrong? Was I not attracted to her anymore? Like HARDON’s partner, I also “got in my own head,” and the same thing kept happening. It got to the point where I was avoiding sex because I didn’t want to deal with the crisis-counseling session that would inevitably ensue if I couldn’t come again. After a few weeks of this I was finally able to get through to her that talking and obsessing about it was only making it worse. She backed off, I got to a point where I could relax again, and it wasn’t long before our happy, healthy, way-hotter-than-you’dexpect-from-a-couple-of-divorced40-year-olds sex life picked up where it left off. As you implied to HARDON, sometimes you just need to STFU and hope for the best. Guys being who we are, nothing sets our deep-

seated insecurities ablaze like being pestered about our dick problems, no matter how well-meaning and sincere the pesterer is. We’re kind of like toddlers who suffer a minor boo-boo: If we see you frantically running toward us waving your hands and asking what’s wrong, we’re going to flip out. But if you don’t make a big deal out of it, we won’t either. Just wanted to share my straight-dude perspective and thank you for your levelheaded response. Please End Needless Interrogations Speedily Thanks for sharing, PENIS. And while I sometimes feel like I should say, “Everybody doesn’t always need to come during sex,” I worry about some straight guys reading that and then giving even less of a shit about getting their female partners off than they already do. I don’t want to accidentally widen the orgasm gap: While more than 95 percent of straight men self-report that they always come during sex, according to the Archives of Sexual Behavior, only 65 percent of straight women said the same. We should all want our partners to get off and should make a good-faith effort to get them off, but we shouldn’t make a huge deal out of it if our partner, every once in a while, for whatever reason, doesn’t get off.

addressed with your hot young man — if HARDON had mentioned something similar, i.e. her boyfriend using what I’ve long called the death grip to finish himself off. Dive into the Savage Love archives, T, and you’ll find tons of advice for guys who used the death grip during masturbation and then couldn’t get off during partnered sex because the inside of a vagina, a mouth or a butt doesn’t feel like the inside of a bony clenched fist. My advice for guys who suffer from death-grip syndrome is the same as yours: Stop jacking off like that, use a lighter touch, get some lube and maybe a Fleshlight, and retrain the dick. It doesn’t work in all cases — some guys can’t come back, for other guys that’s just what their dick needs — but I’ve heard from plenty of men over the years who successfully retrained their dicks.

Hey, Dan: I just read your reply to HARDON and I think you missed something. (I know, I know! Who am I to tell you anything?!?) I’m a mature woman who had a younger male lover for a while. Same scenario in that he was super fit, had stamina, was eager, etc. All was good — except that he had to finish himself off with a hard and furious handjob every time. I suggested that he go on a masturbation diet: Stop jerking off every day and when he did masturbate, use props, e.g., wrap a cloth around his hand, grind against pillows, Fleshlight, whatever he could think of, because I had the idea that the intense and hard hold he used when masturbating was the culprit. And I was vindicated! It took a few patient tries, but he got there! Someone In Toronto

TO MY READERS: I want you to know that I’m furious about what happened in Texas last week (a law banning abortion went into effect) and what didn’t happen in the Supreme Court (the Trump-packed court didn’t block that law from going into effect, essentially nullifying Roe v. Wade). Texas’s new anti-abortion law empowers individual citizens to sue anyone they suspect of having helped a woman get an abortion — doctors, clinic staffers, parents, anyone. Lend a friend some money to pay for an abortion? You could be sued. Drive a friend to a clinic? You could be sued. If a lawsuit brought against you is successful, you could be ordered to pay the person who sued you $10,000 and reimburse their legal expenses; if you prevail in court, you get nothing — no damages, none of your legal expenses reimbursed. Women still have a constitutional right to an abortion in the United States, but abortion is effectively illegal now in Texas and will be soon in other states, as GOP legislators and governors drive a truck through the hole the Supreme Court just ripped open in Roe v. Wade. My advice to women and men in Texas: Stock up on morning-after pills — available over the counter (for now) — and vote every last GOP motherfucker out of office.

Thank you for sharing, SIT, and I would’ve addressed the issue you raised — the issue you successfully

mail@savagelove.net @FakeDanSavage on Twitter www.savagelovecast.com

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