Hugh's Worthless Blog

The recent attack of a white passenger on the Metrolink train by a group of African American young men made me reflect on the racial tensions plaguing the St. Louis region. It also reminded me of an incidence when I was a victim of racial profiling by one of my fellow passengers on the train. It was much more subtle, and much less violent, but telling nonetheless. It was a day like any other day when I was taking the train home to my car parked at the Richmond Heights Metrolink station . I was just standing there minding my own business, positioned just a yard or two away from a young, clean cut looking Caucasian fellow with a St. Louis College of Pharmacy backpack. I easily guessed he was in his early 20's and a student there (it is a rigorous 7 year program to complete the full doctorate degree), probably commuting home. On the train, we both noticed a middle aged African American man making his way through the train, stopping to ask one of the other passengers if he cou...

Since I work on a college campus where building construction never ends , I love to watch the construction progress both live and virtually. They have been working on the expansion to the Brown School of Social Work here at Washington University for a while, and I see the construction progress from the big parking lots just fine. However, I discovered they have a live  webcam which looks from Goldfarb Hall so we can see what it looks like from that vantage point. Yes, I could get off my lazy behind and walk over there the several hundred feet and look, but I prefer to do so from my desk! I also like the live  webcams they have up over at the medical campus which views the construction there from three separate vantage points. You can see the traffic going up and down Kingshighway from the three views which makes it easy to track individual cars as they drive around. If you lived in the Central West End and had people visiting you that you knew would be driving on Ki...