Taste of St. Louis this Weekend

http://www.tastestl.com/
This is how we do it!

Gateway {College} Football Classic

Start:	Sep 27, '08 3:00p
End:	Sep 27, '08 10:00p
Location:	Location: Edward Jones Dome

Date: 9/27/2008

Time: 3:00 p.m.
Cost: Advance tickets: $12.00, $16.00, $22.00, $30.00, $35.00
Tickets: (314) 241-1888
For more information call: (314) 621-1994

Website: www.gatewayclassic.org

Featuring Kentucky State University and Stillman College. Ameren Battle of the Bands is the featured half time entertainment.

US Cellular presents Taste of St. Louis

Start:	Sep 26, '08 4:00p
End:	Sep 28, '08 9:00p
Location:	Location: Downtown St. Louis at 14th and Market

Date: 9/26/2008 - 9/28/2008

Time: 4:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. (26); 11:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. (27); 11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. (28)

Cost: Free admission; tastes for a small charge
For more information call: (314) 306-1162

Website: www.tastestl.com

St. Louis's top restaurants will serve "tastes" from their menus, plus national act concerts, Macy's restaurant row, The Marketplace, ArtDimensions Village, The Grant's Farm Kid Zone, The St. Louis Bread Company Culinary Competition and much more.

A Shared St. Louis - A look into gangs & violence effecting our community.

http://www.kmov.com/news/news_stories/kmov_news_sharedstlouis.htm
*sigh*

5.4 Earthquake Rattles Saint Louis!!

http://www.kmov.com/justposted/stories//kmov_localnews_080418_quake.7604b4d3.html
I felt this & it scared the bejeezus outta me!

It was about 4 am, when I felt the earth move....and not it a good way! My bed was vibrating like somebody dropped 4 quarters in the slot & my other furniture was shaking too.

I closed my eyes and prayed. I didn't know what was happening. Tornado is what came to mind first. I was kinda paralyzed.

The last time I can remember something like happening I was in elementary school.

*exhaling and thank Him, that I'm able to send this message*

Wanted! Runaway Slaves

Wanted

Runaway Slaves

 

We have it on good authority that on May 24th from St. Louis several slaves with the aid of abolitionists will try to escape.  Will they make it?

 

We are staging the first ever Urban Slave Escape on May 24th this year tracing the path that 9 slaves escaping from their St. Louis masters could have taken to their flight to freedom. This escape will feature wagons with a secret compartment, a posse and dogs. Will they make it?  Would you have the courage to run?

 

Grace Hill Settlement House, Trailnet and the National Black Tourism Network invite you to participate and attend this historic occasion.  During this one day event, culture and history will converge on the river.

 

CAN YOU MAKE IT?  DO YOU HAVE THE COURAGE TO TRY?

 

PARTICIPANTS...

We are looking for volunteers who are in good health and not claustrophobic and who are willing to experience the event of a lifetime. The course is 2.7 miles and some of it on foot, some by wagon. But every foot of the way will be made to feel and experience what those who attempted escape felt. This escape will be authentic as possible. Contact us for audition schedule.

 

This takes place at the 7th Annual Mary Meachum event on Saturday, May 24th.  

 

FOOD SELLERS and OTHER VENDORS....

We are looking for groups and organizations who want the opportunity to sell food and other items.  Booth fee is $50.00.

 

STORYTELLERS, POETS, SPOKEN WORD ARTISTS ...

We are looking for you!!!  We are looking for performers who can relate stories of courage, pride and adventure to families. If you have a performance that is geared to our community, we want to hear from you. We would like to have performances throughout the day. Stories should reflect the African American cultural and historical experience.

 

SINGERS, MUSICIANS, CHOIRS and DANCERS....

Are you looking for an audience and want to share your talent? 

We are looking for church choirs to provide gospel singing before the annual re-enactment.

 Call Angela or Ashley at  (314) 865-0708 or NBTN@earthlink.net

 

 

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A Lil St. Louis Black History

Jeannette Forchet (1736-1803), a free black woman who was one of the first landowners in St. Louis. She and her first husband received one of the original plots of land in the village of St. Louis; later, she also received several farm lots on the edge of town.

Step inside the house and look for this inventory hanging on the wall.

The inventory, written in French, lists the possessions Forchet and her second husband acquired during their marriage. The inventory was made at the time of Forchet's husband's death in 1790.

Forchet's possessions are quite numerous; a number of items on the list, such as the featherbeds and the armoire, were considered luxury items in the 1700s. It seems that her life was materially successful. Forchet and her children probably supported the family by growing corn on the farm plot and raising livestock.

At the time of Forchet's death in 1803, she was one of the few free black residents in St. Louis. As a woman, under French and Spanish law, she could own property, have a legal marriage and enter into contracts. But, as a person of African descent, Forchet's other rights were restricted; she needed permission to leave town and, if she was a freed slave, a legal infraction could mean her return to slavery.

This is Louisa. An enslaved woman, Louisa was owned by the Hayward family. In the picture, she holds Mr. and Mrs. Hayward's son on her lap.  In 1860, two years after Louisa's picture was taken, St. Louis had a population of 160,773. Out of this number, 3,297 were African Americans; of those, approximately 1,500 were enslaved.

This portrait depicts Dred Scott (1795-1858). Born into slavery in Virginia, Scott traveled with his owner to St. Louis, where slavery was legal.

Scott's ownership changed hands, and he traveled with his new owner into free territories. When Scott returned to St. Louis, he attempted to buy his freedom, but his owner refused. In 1846, Scott petitioned for his freedom at the St. Louis Circuit Court, located in what we now call the Old Courthouse. He argued that because his master had taken him into free territory, he was legally free.

The judge granted Scott his freedom, but the Missouri Supreme Court reversed the decision. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 1857 that African Americans were not citizens and that Scott was still a slave in Missouri, even though he had lived in free territories. One year after the Supreme Court decision, Scott was purchased by St. Louisan Taylor Blow, who granted him his freedom.

Scott was buried in the Wesleyan Cemetery (near Grand Boulevard and Laclede Avenue). The inscription on his headstone read, "In memory of a simple man who wanted to be free."

This painting depicts a slave auction on the steps of the Old Courthouse. Each year on New Year's Day, auctioneers sold probated property - including slaves - on this site.

On January 1, 1861, a crowd gathered, hoping to disrupt the slave sale. Every time the auctioneer asked for a bid, people in the crowd shouted, "Three dollars, three dollars!" Finally, the auctioneer gave up trying to run the sale. Because of the efforts of the people in the crowd, this was the last public slave sale held in St. Louis.

William Wells Brown (1815-1884) and Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818-1907), who both worked as slaves in St. Louis. Before the Civil War, the city's growth and prosperity depended in part on the involuntary labor of enslaved people like Brown and Keckley. Brown escaped from slavery and became a lecturer and author. Keckley, a talented seamstress, purchased freedom for herself and her son. She traveled to Washington, D.C. and became First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln's dressmaker. She wrote of her experiences in her 1868 autobiography, Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave and Four in the White House. One of the dresses she made for Mrs. Lincoln is in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution.

These objects belonged to Leon Anderson (1904-1998), a center fielder who played for the St. Louis Bees and the St. Louis Sports, segregated semi-professional baseball teams.

During the 1930s and 1940s, thousands of St. Louisans would gather at the ballfield at Grand Avenue and Market Street to watch these African American teams play.

It belonged to jazz innovator Miles Davis (1926-1991). Davis used this trumpet in performance during the last decade of his life, including his famous collaboration with Quincy Jones at the Montreux Jazz Festival six weeks before his death.

Born in Alton, Illinois and raised in East St. Louis, Davis left this area for New York in 1944. In 1956, he returned to St. Louis to perform at Peacock Alley with the Miles Davis Quintet. You are hearing "All of You," which the group played at Peacock Alley and recorded later that year in New York. You also hear the reminiscences of St. Louis-born poet Quincy Troupe, who heard Davis play at Peacock Alley.

Izetta Reddick (1889-1970), a chiropodist (or foot surgeon) who shared a practice with her husband, T.B. Reddick, during the 1930s and 1940s. Their offices were located in the Jefferson and Chase-Park Plaza Hotels. Although the Reddicks operated their practice out of these hotels, they would not have been allowed to stay as guests; both were reserved for whites only.

 

St. Louis City Wins Title of “Best Tasting City Water in America”

http://www.stlwater.com/bestwater.php
I've traveled to quite a few places & sometimes the water just ain't right. St. Louis Rocks {sometimes}!

Weekends Have Just Gotten Boring

Not that I'm a party animal or anything, but the cold definitely keeps me on the inside. 

St. Louis is notorious for freezing rain & ice storms.  The temp is gonna drop to 31 & coupled with the rain, it ain't gonna be nothing nice 'round these parts. 

I hope to start & finish shopping for my nephews & nieces this weekend and get some long overdue housework done.

Remind me why the hell I still live here.....

PS That pic was taken from my front porch after the 2006 ice storm. 

St. Louis - Official Travel Information

http://www.explorestlouis.com
Official Travel Portal of St. Louis, Missouri. This web site features complete travel information for St. Louis visitors, and resources and planning assistance for group tour planners and meeting planners. With more than a thousand one-of-a-kind restaurants, a wide variety of cultural, family and sports attractions and an exciting and authentic live music and nightlife scene, you'll see why in St. Louis There's More than Meets the Arch.

St. Louis

Peanuts & Jelly Beans

Part I

I had a craving, but I couldn't identify it.  I made a stop in the candy aisle {I'm a fat girl, what did you expect? } and saw some Starburst jelly beans & then it hit me....peanuts & jelly beans!  That's what I wanted!  I just hate there are no white jelly beans {my fav} in the bag.

Part II

When we last talked it seemed only us native St. Louisans were familiar with this snack.  This was a staple for us who grew up in STL.  The best ones could be found at the Famous-Barr (now Macy's) candy counter.  If you ever crave a sweet & salty mixture, this will hook you up!

As you can tell, the bowl was close to being empty before I remembered to get a snapshot.

The next time anyone comes thru The Lou, Peanuts & Jelly Beans on me!

You Are a Margarita Jelly Bean

Wildly optimistic and jovial, you know how to get through anything with flair. You have a certain "je ne sais quoi" that makes you an alluring companion.

Mo, Sunshine & 'Nem

I met a few friends last night for a few drinks & a lil dancing.  Most of you might recognize Sunshine (far left).  It was good to see everyone, since it might be the last time we hang out before the St. Louis winter hits.  More pics coming soon.

 

Toodles!