Flips on Trips: 2010

Dollyanna @ ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

Tuesday, March 30 - Friday, April 2, 2010

Although I was in town to deliver two papers on race and media, I had a hidden agenda: to find some Flips! More specifically, to find traces of the Flips who were put on display almost 100 years ago during the (in)famous 1904 St Louis World's Fair. Most people just remember the musical "Meet Me in St. Louis" starring Judy Garland.

However, the real star of the World's Fair were the people of the Philippine Exhibit, arguably the most popular attraction in what was --at the time -- the most expensive and expansive world's fair. Although sociologists and proponents of U.S.'s invasion of the Philippines had hoped that visitors would see the potential their newly acquired "brown brothers" had for social evolution (they praised the so-called civilization of Christianized Visayans), Americans were more fascinated by the Igorots with their spears and *gasp* appetite for dogs. They proved almost too popular. White men objected to "their" women fraternizing with Igorot males. They were okay to look at, apparently, but God forbid actually getting to know them. In the end, the largest and most visited exhibit was dismantled and the people shipped away in the middle of the night. The Flips came as they went, as specimens of a putatively regressed humanity that--through white tutelage--might eventually progress into mimics of American advancement. There's no official count of how many Filipinos died in captivity, nor any official record of how acting in a living display affected those who made it back home.

Photos were taken at the Missouri History Museum. Exhibit photos were taken during my visit to the museum's special display on the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.

Suggested Readings

For more on the 1904 World's Fair: All the World's a Fair by Robert Rydell (1984).
For U.S. imperialism in the Philippines: The Blood of Government by Paul Kramer (2006).

I continued my search for Flips at the museum's affiliated library and research center. Here is the big treasure trove of archival materials! Old magazines, newspaper articles, and photographs dating long before the 1904 World's Fair. However, my interest lay in materials that documented the fair, its visitors, and the Philippine exhibit in particular. Alas, cameras were not allowed inside the carefully monitored reading room. So I'll just say that the place rocked! A beautiful dome in the center ceiling. Gorgeous wood shelves. And the almost 100-year-old papers I got to touch oh-so-deftly with the tips of my fingers. Yes, I know I'm a nerd.

Of course, I couldn't visit St. Louis without going to see the famous Gateway Archy which was built to commemorate the city's role as the gateway to westward expansion, or, as others call it, the gateway to further genocide against Indigenous people.

I was surprised to learn that you can actually ride up inside the Arch. When I booked my visit, I neglected to consider the logistics--tall arch--and my fear of falling from great heights. And how was one supposed to ride up to the top of the Arch anyway?

First, you go underground.

Next, you and four others squish into these carriages that work sort of like buckets in a ferris wheel. They feel just as rickety too, although they look more like escape pods from a space ship.

Below is a picture of what these pods look like inside the arch-loading staircase. And yes, it's a staircase where you wait on a narrow step outside the pod and, once the previous riders have alighted, crawl through the very tiny window.

Once inside, you must balance on a rather precarious-feeling stool. Then the metal gears start grinding and you feel yourself being lifted upwards. Feels strange since there is no indication you're actually moving except for the view of various steel panels that you pass on your way up. By the way, if you are at all claustrophobic, DO NOT get on this ride.

When you arrive, you climb a few more steps up to the viewing area. Because it's at the very top of the Arch, the most angled part of the entire structure, there is no real level standing area. Everything under your feet and above your head is set at a dizzying curve which is hard to detect in the pictures below.

To see how far up you really are, you need to lean against carpeted inclines and peek through teeny landscape windows. It's good you get to lean and look out because on windy days, like this one, the freakin' Arch SWAYS!!! There were a number of times when, just standing innocently in the viewing room, I would find myself tumbling off-balance. Nice.

View from the top of the Arch looking down and out. The river in these pics is the great, if muddy, Mississippi.

Views of the Arch from the safety of the ground. A helpful reference point: my head.

Q: How did I get to the Missouri History Museum? The Library and Research Center? The Gateway Arch?

A: The Metro train! And below is my favorite station, the one that drops you just outside the Arch's park grounds. FYI: there is a Metro train stop just steps outside the city's international airport. Take note, Los Angeles.

It was a little embarrassing to have to take all my own pictures during this trip (I missed my photog and all-around uber travel companion, Liezl!), especially while visiting tourist spots like the Gateway Arch that are frequented by couples and families, NOT singles who are in a city they have never visited. And on their OWN. But the people were all very friendly and helpful. And the families that rode with me on the scary Arch elevator only laughed at my fear out of kindness.

I think.

Thanks, St. Louis! I hope to visit again soon!

Flips on Trips

Tripping to Sacramento

Tripping to Palm Springs

Dogeaters and Swaying Arches: Tripping in St. Louis, MO

Tripping to Vegas