Description: I visited St. Louis recently for a friend's wedding. We stayed in a hotel right across the street from the arch. I had visited as a child when my cousins lived there, but the arch still seemed incredible to me. I spent a few hours alone one afternoon, walking beneath the arch and around downtown St. Louis. It was about 1:00 pm, so the sun was high in the sky. When I passed the northern branch of the arch, the structure looked really immense and foreboding. It brought to mind the Monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. It then occurred to me that the symbolism was maintained from the film to this structure. The arch is a symbol of the American conquest of and into the West. That entailed the genocide and coralling of Native Americans, war with Mexico, and killing off all the buffalo. Next came continental domination, industrialization, and over-population. So in a way, the arch is a gateway into evil.

St. Louis, however, is a pretty cool little town--perhaps what Detroit could become.

Date: August 12, 2008

Location: St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Camera: Nikon Coolpix 5600

Edited with: Photoshop CS3