A big suburban shopping mall is dying, yet I’m not shedding any tears

Today I took my two daughters to a movie. The theater was located in a large suburban shopping mall in Southwest St. Louis County, "Crestwood Plaza." I had not been to this mall for several years, and I was shocked at what I saw. Approximately 40% of the stores have been shuttered and the entire place was like a ghost town. A lonely security guard told me that the stores have been rapidly failing over the past two years. That comports with my recollection. Two years ago, this mall was a packed and thriving shopping area located in a solidly middle-class community. Crestwood Plaza is not an isolated story; shopping malls are failing all across America. [I've posted a gallery of today's images many of these shuttered stores along with this post. If you don't see that gallery, click the title to this post to go to the permalink, where you will see those thumbnails.] I sometimes get snarkish when someone tells me they're going to a shopping mall. I sometimes ask the Intrepid shopper to do me a favor and buy something practical for me, "Could you please buy me a hammer." I usually get the same reaction, a puzzled look accompanied by a response "They don't sell practical things like hammers at shopping malls." Now I'm not denying that malls sell clothes or that we need clothes. Most mall clothes are for far more than staying warm or covering up. They are much more often than not, for impressing others. For that reason, I'm not shedding tears for the shattering of dozens of mall stores at Crestwood Plaza or anywhere else. The failure of most of the stores means that we won't be buying things we don't actually need. Because Hallmark no longer sells its commercial greeting cards, we might be "forced" to create and send our own personalized cards and letters to each other. Now that Libby Lu gone, our pre-teen daughters can get back to being children rather than obsessing about their sex appeal. In my mind, many of these store closings are mostly good things, although I am saddened by the thought that so many people have lost their jobs due to these shutdowns. See these terrific videos by Josh Golin of CCFC regarding the dangers of turning our children into rampant consumers. Another silver lining is that the mall owners have been forced to do something different with their space in order to survive (assuming they do survive). What they've done at Crestwood Plaza is to lease out many of the "store" spaces to art galleries, educational facilities, community theaters and other arts and crafts workshops for children and adults. In other words, it appears that the mall owners are opening up their malls for people who want to develop their minds and skill-sets rather than simply their pocketbooks.

Continue ReadingA big suburban shopping mall is dying, yet I’m not shedding any tears

Manger scenes from around the world show that humans create God in their own image and likeness

People create their Gods in their own image and likeness.  This is not an argument that God does or does not exist.  It's merely an observation that what people claim to know about God is always a projection. This thought that God is a projection occurred to me when looking…

Continue ReadingManger scenes from around the world show that humans create God in their own image and likeness
Read more about the article Where do you take your ugly daughter so that she can be fixed up?  Club Libby Lu!
Transform Your 'Ugly Daughter' at Club Libby Lu

Where do you take your ugly daughter so that she can be fixed up? Club Libby Lu!

I'm sure that the people who run the corporation that operates Libby Lu stores would object to my title for this post. Too bad. What else could you say about a store that slaps unnecessary makeup and shallow-minded accessories on little girls so that they can feel like their appearance…

Continue ReadingWhere do you take your ugly daughter so that she can be fixed up? Club Libby Lu!

Please don’t send me any store-bought greeting cards!

I know that pre-written store-bought greeting cards are not the cause of America’s current downfall, but they are a symptom of America’s cultural, moral and educational decline. Really. I know that many of you are thinking that I’m way off base here, but let me give you a few examples based on today’s trip to my local grocery store (the name of the St. Louis grocery chain is “Schnucks”).

First of all, I just don’t get why we need to segregate “boy” cards from “girl” cards. Take a look at these cards for boys and you won’t be surprised at the themes. There are lots of superhero cards and other action/adventure characters and themes.

boys greeting cards

Now compare the “boys” cards to the “girls” cards, where you’ll find princesses and other characters much more concerned about their looks than with their accomplishments.

girls greeting cards

As if girls don’t enjoy superhero stories (my daughters certainly do) or anything other than trying to look pretty. This greeting card sexual segregation reminds me of this recent post on America’s rampant sexualization of young girls.

There are also cards for men and cards for women, of course, and they too are segregated. Why do we use greeting cards to instill a message into our girls and women that they should be interested in their own looks and body image to the exclusion of their accomplishments? This destructive message should be stopped immediately, especially when so many girls are getting messed up by this message, which causes them to

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A brave yet curmudgeonly man visits The American Girl Store.

 My daughter has a doll called Kaya.  I really don’t mind this doll at all, although many dolls aggravate me.  Most dolls are unabashedly materialist.  Kaya genuinely seemed to be an earnest survivor–a native American just trying to get by.  American Girl did a great job with Kaya. She is hardworking (according to the books that describe her tales) as well as gorgeous.  My oldest daughter (aged 9) admires Kaya for the right reasons.  Meet Kaya.

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Well . . . my daughter and I traveled to Chicago to have a special father-daughter vacation.  My daughter asked to visit the Chicago American Girl Store.  I quickly agreed.  It was her vacation too, and I like to believe that I am an armchair anthropologist.  Therefore, I’m always at work. 

If you have trouble finding the store in Chicago, ask anyone walking down the Magnificent Mile and they’ll tell you.  The American Girl store is a major Chicago institution.

I just assumed that I knew what kind of merchandise was in the store, but I was wrong.  There is a lot more to American Girl than brave little Kaya.  There are all kinds of dolls, including trendy, preppy, smug, materialist little dolls.  And how dare I call what they sell “merchandise”!

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Here’s a slogan prominently displayed throughout the store: Those dolls are “just like you.”  Just like me?   Oh, I suppose they weren’t really talking to me.   But those dolls are supposedly just like all those little girl customers.   You’ll recognize those …

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