Road Trippin'

Neon Memes • Almost two decades ago, in November 1990, I moved to the vicinity of I-55 and the River Des Peres, Carondelet, the first outlying neighborhood annexed by St. Louis qua St. Louis. Huntleigh or Country Life Acres it ain't; "gated communities" in Carondelet involve chain-link fences with padlocks. In any event, soon after the move, I noted what I've come to regard as "the South Side slither." Beyond (supposedly) preventing municipal plows from clearing streets of snow―ah, the amenities of city living!―the narrowness of many of those streets often forces motorists to weave among oncoming vehicles and others parked on the curb, in something like a road rally for spastics. In all honesty, I can't quite decide whether the South Side slither amuses me or appalls me; even thoroughfares in my beloved hometown, rural Ste. Genevieve, Mo., can accommodate two-way traffic, for God's sake. Moreover, heaven forbid that one of the weaving vehicles should be a Hummer―or that a westbound Zax should meet an eastbound Zax. A truly absurd moving violation. ―Bryan A. Hollerbach, Managing Editor