EPILOGUE SAINT LOUIS: Where the Wild Thing Was...

ST. LOUIS (ZP) - Anyone who thinks staring at a giant metal sculpture is the only thing to do for fun in St. Louis is about as hip as a lump of coal.

Having just gotten back from a wonderful research/pleasure trip from the city once called the Gateway to the West, I find myself strangely sick of coffee, one of my last drugs of choice (nicotine and good spirits are the others.) That's because my research partner and I logged close to 24 hours over four days in the same coffee shop working on our holistic overview article on Information Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Mesi and I drank too much coffee at the Coffee Cartel, one of my new hangouts-away-from-home, where the staff was more than accomodating to our need for both semi-nutritious foodstuff and privacy. We took up a portion of their wireless bandwidth, occupied 2, sometimes 3 tables with random UNESCO and other government reports, and I paced around like a gorilla in a cage (something I do when I'm thinking). Yet, no one ever complained.

If anyone is reading this, I left a $10 in the tip jar as a thank you.

I did get to have some fun with Mesi and her fiance, Mike. Mike's basically an older, Eritrean version of myself. We're both laid-back, kind-of happy-go-lucky guys who enjoy socializing yet enjoy spending time alone, as well. He and one of his friends took me out for drinks one night to perhaps the most bizarre martini bar I've visited in a long time.

The Pin-Up Bowl, located in the Loop District on Delmar Ave., is both a bowling alley and a retro, 1950s nightclub. Mike, Amar, and I drank cocktails while discussing politics, art, and culture.

Too much more to blog about. I had an awesome time. Research, injera (the East African equivilent of a sourdough tortilla), and time with friends. Awesome trip.

JWJ