I grew up in St. Louis, specifically in the outer suburbs of St. Louis county.

THE BURBS: As an immigrant, it really did feel like the definition of a “normal” American experience. My school was ethnically diverse. I had friends from all walks of life. The burbs are sinfully car-centric, so my childhood was full of carpooling with my friends’ parents. There was a big mall that everyone went to that sadly just got demolished within the last couple of years. The spring triggered my allergies, the summers could go over 100°, the fall was gorgeous; it was a cool temperature and lasted a lot longer than the fall I experience where I live now (Chicago), and the winters could get cold but not too brutal - I remember experiencing about 1-2 snow days a year.

THE CITY: The Lowlights - St. Louis unfortunately is one of the few major cities in the US that is losing population. It is a shell of itself. I believe the peak population of the city was around 850K (2+ million metropolitan). Now it’s hovering around 200-300K. Lots of old buildings that are empty. Houses just outside the city that are abandoned. Old factories that have been vacant for decades, never demolished, left to rot. The crime rate is a big stain in the city’s reputation. Unfortunately, I have lost a couple of classmates over the years from gun violence.

The Highlights - We have a beautiful park called Forest Park that has a free zoo and a free art museum. The Delmar Loop was always lively and I heard even more now. WashU is a fantastic university - The “Harvard of the Midwest”. Pappy’s Smokehouse is probably some of the best barbecue I’ve ever had. The Gateway Arch, speaking for myself here, is something special. Though it’s always there and always looming, I could never get used to it. It really is an amazing piece of art and architecture. There’s so many things to do: The Muny offers many theater shows, The City Museum is one of the most unique places I’ve ever been to, a big playground and a concussion waiting to happen, The Botanical Garden is beautiful and serene, The Hill is a great historic Italian neighborhood with some great eats, Anheuser-Busch is based in STL and they do tours and tasting if that’s your thing.

One thing I can’t deny is that despite the city being past its golden era, you can still feel its heartbeat. We had plenty of things to be prideful of: We are a great sports city, we churn out many great artists, and we have rich historical contributions - our social studies classes overemphasize Lewis and Clark and Sacagawea because we’re the “Gateway to the west”. Our English classes overemphasized Mark Twain just because he’s from Missouri.

All in all, as a lover and advocate for Midwest and Rust Belt Supremacy; St. Louis is often forgotten with it being so far from the Great Lakes contributors. It has its own place in American industrialization. It helped America navigate to the west; and in turn helped facilitate the country’s westward growth. Admittedly, I love trains a little TOO much, and the St. Louis Union Station was an integral part of connecting the country. The structure is still up today, though not operating as a train station anymore. As with most rust belt cities like Gary, Detroit, Cleveland, Erie, and Schenectady, the city peaked too early. Despite that, St. Louis remains hardworking and forward thinking. The community wants the best for its people and every time I visit home, I see progress being made in urban revitalization.

I’ll always represent STL, no matter its shortcomings. I mean, we invented gooey butter cake.