I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors. Great work everyone.

👀 What if I told you there was a hidden art gallery scattered across the country? What if I told you some of its treasures had vanished? What if I told you that I found them? A project three years in the making (🎁 gift link):

"Through Prop NS, the city stabilizes homes in the city land bank and lists them for sale to investors or prospective home renovators. However, after five years, only 12 homes have been fully rehabbed through the program." #STL

OBAMA: “People make excuses for him. They say he’s not serious. Everything a president says is serious!”🔥

Happy to be at Leviathan Bookstore in St. Louis next week to talk about my new book, CANFIELD DRIVE. #STL @leviathanbookstore.bsky.social @umissouripress.bsky.social #4theVille

MoDOT has proposed plans to remove or significantly alter the I-64/Compton Avenue interchange in St. Louis. #STL

"Recovery officials urged property owners to apply if there’s any outstanding need before that deadline. After that, unsafe properties that haven’t applied for assistance and have shown no signs of improvement will be condemned..." #STL

Thanks to the Mound City Messenger for this review of Canfield Drive. #STL. @umissouripress.bsky.social @moundcitymessenger.bsky.social

"McKee and his firm are frequently cited as barriers to growth in North City. They’re accused of sitting on empty or deteriorating properties and not delivering on promises to redevelop the area after cutting a deal with the city to obtain around 1,500 acres of North St. Louis 17 years ago..." #STL

Happy to chat about my book on "The Way of Improvement Leads Home" blog. #STL #Ferguson @umissouripress.bsky.social

Great to see my book, Canfield Drive, at the #AHA26 meetings!

"The proposal lays out short-term actions including home repair, home down payment assistance, flexible retail permitting and more long-term plans like creating mixed-income housing, establishing a land trust and creating community improvement taxing districts." #STL

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said this about CANFIELD DRIVE by Matthew Knox Averett: “Combining a narrative of racialized housing policies with deep, statistical dives into local history, including an illuminating series of maps, CANFIELD DRIVE provides a convincing systematic analysis.”

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a short review of my book on the urban history of Black spaces in St. Louis. #STL @stltoday.com @umissouripress.bsky.social

"Primed for tragedy long before." Today's book pick from Damn History, a free monthly newsletter for readers/writers of #popularhistory. Congrats to author @matthewaverett.bsky.social & @umissouripress.bsky.social! Read/subscribe to Damn History: damn-history-16d93f.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Suburban Omaha strip mall: Starbucks, vape shop, bar, and shoe store.

I wrote about the Bernard Lynch “slave pen” in my book about #STL, Canfield Drive: upress.missouri.edu/978082622339... @umissouripress.bsky.social

My new book, Canfield Drive, is available now. The book is the first comprehensive history of Black spaces in St. Louis and it reconstructs the urban context of the 2014 killing of Michael Brown and the #Ferguson Uprising. #STL upress.missouri.edu/978082622339... @umissouripress.bsky.social

CANFIELD DRIVE: A History of Race and the American City on a Street in St. Louis by @matthewaverett.bsky.social is now available! Find the book here: upress.missouri.edu/978082622339... #StLouis #STL #BlackHistory #HistoryMatters

New projects in downtown #STL.

I have a chapter on #Petrarch and #Rome in this great new volume on "overwriting" the #MiddleAges. "'Per menia fracte urbis:' Overwriting and Building-Over Medieval Rome"

“The fire reflects a growing regional homeless population that has also prompted fires in St. Louis County, Lincoln County and East St. Louis, Ill. in the past few days.” #STL

'St. Louis tornado survivors call for FEMA reform' 🖋 Ashley Winters | The St. Louis American 📸 Photo by Lawrence Bryant #stlamerican #stlnews #stlouis #DisasterRecovery #FEMAReform #CommunityAdvocacy #NorthSTL

"They say basic services have eroded. The streets are filled with potholes and illegally dumped trash; crime is a constant concern. And yet the police only seem to show up to pull over and ticket the very trucks that serve their businesses..." #STL

Now it’s HUD and Eisenhower buildings. Though the style isn’t to everyone’s taste, it’s forceful architecture as historically noteworthy as any of the classicals. As important—there’s an effective, established process for handling alterations, etc. #accountability www.archpaper.com/2025/12/hud-...

The Trump administration has proposed demolishing the Cohen building, threatening important New Deal works. "In the event of demolition, removing the Guston would be a cinch; removing the Fogels more difficult; and removing the Shahn extremely difficult and costly, and perhaps impossible." #WPA

A report found that in April 2025, there were "9,000 vacant buildings in the city, and 15,000 vacant lots, making up 18 percent of city land parcels and taking up 6.6 square miles in the just over 60 square-mile footprint of St. Louis city. Those cost the city $21 million in upkeep fees..." #STL

4theVille "will offer tours about the history of Black wealth in the city, as well as a walking tour that highlights Black St. Louis’ connection to the Gateway Arch mall downtown. Docents will also serve as tour guides for the Missouri History Museum’s latest exhibit about Mill Creek Valley." #STL

"...there have now been 1,095 unique scorelines in NFL history. But one never-before-seen #Scorigami stands apart from all the others, on account of its maddening elusiveness: 36–23."

"St. Louisans repairing their homes after the May 16 tornado are having varying levels of success when it comes to dealing with their insurance companies." #STL

#STL #STLCards

Yikes.

"This summer, St. Louis #NAACP leaders began hearing community members complain about insurance companies underestimating their home’s damage and not offering enough to help repair roofs or destroyed walls." #STL

Sad to see this mid century building go, but hopeful for the new project. #STL

My book is available now via the University of Missouri Press (and will be available from other sources in December). #STL

The Board of Aldermen will vote tomorrow on whether to give themselves and Mayor Spencer broad authority to sell off almost half of the city’s parks.

em-dash.

“Staff cuts, the closure of regional printing presses and cuts to printed editions characterize Lee Enterprises as it tries to expand its digital subscriber base while keeping existing print customers and advertisers on board.” #STL

“The exhibition was created especially for #SLAM and overseen by Kiefer—the 80-year-old artist did everything from selecting display tables to creating site-specific works inspired by the confluence region and indigenous water spirits.” #STL

#STL doom loop or building boom?

"Through funds made available from the Prop NS fund, roughly $6 million a year, city officials hired contractors to stabilize the homes, which typically entails fixing a building’s roof, foundation, exterior walls or other aspects that keep a home from deteriorating." #STL