Of Santa and Che on South Broadway

The kid on South Broadway passed by the city crew emptying parking meters off of South Broadway, walking like he had stepped out onto the main street of Dodge City, ready for a shoot out at high noon. He wore a red T-shirt with the image of Che Guevera emblazoned on it. "I see taxation," he said to the workers. "But I don't see representation." Pleased with himself, he repeated himself, grinned and strode down the street, his misfitted trousers displaying a pair of sagging white socks.

Minutes earlier and a few blocks south, a man in camo-hunting outfit with American and Confederate flag sown on his back stuck a quarter into a meter and marched into the St. Louis Carnival Supply store, which had Santa costumes on display in the front window.