The first three days of the Trash Emergency were cloaked in gloom. We weren’t under a watch. We were in a warning. Not exactly despair, but resignation set in, as though sheltering in the basement and sprinkling the children with holy water were to be the accommodating ministrations.

The collection of our bins was in jeopardy.

That is, the collection of our bins was in jeopardy until the mayor declared a Trash Emergency, a power we didn’t know the mayor even had nor had the power ever been previously used.

It wasn’t an entirely chaotic start. After the new hauler, FCC Environmental Services, came through, some bins were tipped over in the street, some were on their backs in the yard and couldn’t get up. But certainly, a disaster was averted and we were spared photographs in the newspapers of uncollected piles of garbage, like we sometimes see from Rome or New York.

Unfortunately, the Trash Emergency is good for only 90 days, unless mayors have a post-trash-emergency emergency they can pull from their vest. A recent communication breakdown appears to be the root of the problem, although a great many of us looking for the problem would go back seven years or so when the city fixed a system that wasn’t broken. Out went the family-owned haulers and in came only five haulers, all to ostensibly reduce noise and save the Earth, neither of which happened anyway.

And then, just when we were finally getting to at least a hand-waving familiarity with one of the big five haulers, out they go in favor of FCC Environmental, which won the current bidding process. That was last year, August, even months ago.

FCC bought property at the foot of Randolph Avenue at Shepard Road. It’s a big brown field surrounded by a chain-link fence. They bought the land after a developer probably gave up on it because not many developers want to develop in St. Paul with rent control breathing down their necks. It’s been a big brown field for as long as anyone can remember. This is where FCC would dispatch trucks, wash them and fuel them with compressed natural gas.

FCC had it clarified from the city zoning administrator that FCC’s intention for the land fit with I-1 zoning, light industrial, similar to the uses of a public works yard. They were going to build a headquarters and pay property taxes.

Good to go!

Whoa, hold up a minute. The West Seventh/Fort Road Federation got the ear of the city Planning Commission and appealed, but the commission supported the stance taken by the city staff.

The neighborhood advocates then went to the least diverse city council in America, who probably had to put down a resolution they were studying to preserve sand in the Polynesian Islands, and the next thing you know, the council voted to uphold the neighborhood federation’s appeal and right on the cusp of its April 1 start date, FCC had no base of operations.

A war within a war seems to have developed. Mayor Melvin Carter told the council that they had plunged the city into crisis. He called the Trash Emergency. That was for three days, but the council did vote to allow a 90-day Trash Emergency. Council President Rebecca Noecker, presumably smarting, told the mayor and FCC that they had better use the 90 days to find a new site for that $25 million dispatch center.

If you were dropped out of a spaceship having never seen Earth, and shown the land in question, you’d say, “This looks like a place where a trash-hauling company might operate.”

But not in St. Paul. Not to worry. We’re playing with house money. Still more than 80 days to go with the Trash Emergency, all the time in the world.

Joe Soucheray can be reached at jsoucheray@pioneerpress.com. Soucheray’s “Garage Logic” podcast can be heard at garagelogic.com.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald fans across the globe are celebrating the centennial of “The Great Gatsby” this year.

From Princeton University, Fitzgerald’s alma mater, to the French Riviera, where he worked on the novel, this milestone anniversary will be marked with all kinds of “Gatsby”-themed events.

Here in the author’s birthplace, St. Paul will host parties, exhibits, performances and more — even a live reading of the entire novel at the Minnesota History Center on Thursday.

F. Scott Fitzgerald in the third-floor bedroom of his parents’ residence at 599 Summit Ave., where he wrote “This Side of Paradise.” (From the “Sight Unseen” exhibit at the George Latimer Library in downtown St. Paul)

But all this fuss over “Gatsby” would have been hard to imagine when it first landed on store shelves 100 years ago. After receiving mixed reviews from literary critics, the book sold poorly.

Fitzgerald died in 1940 believing it was a flop, said Maureen Corrigan, book critic for NPR’s Fresh Air program and author of “So We Read On: How ‘The Great Gatsby’ Came to Be and Why it Endures.”

“He really did think it was a failure,” Corrigan said. “The torture was he knew he had written a great book, and he wanted people to read it. … I do think it broke his heart that it wasn’t received as anything special by a lot of people.”

In St. Paul, Fitzgerald’s hometown newspapers did little to help, offering only qualified praise of his masterpiece in their 1925 reviews.

It was “the best of his novels,” but “not of the greatest importance.” It was “never dull for a moment,” but full of “stupid” characters and “very little” plot.

The book’s lukewarm reception in the local press may not be surprising given its author’s complicated relationship with St. Paul, said Mark Taylor, a Fitzgerald historian who gives walking tours of his old haunts along Summit Avenue.

“It seems like there was a reluctance on the part of St. Paul to embrace Fitzgerald during his lifetime … perhaps wanting to distance the city from this person who is known for having led kind of a fast life,” Taylor said.

‘They raised eyebrows’

Fitzgerald had made a triumphant return to the city that shaped him four years before “Gatsby” was published.

Already the acclaimed author of “This Side of Paradise,” he was working on revisions to “The Beautiful and Damned” in summer 1921 when he moved back to his hometown with his pregnant wife, Zelda.

F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald at Dellwood on White Bear Lake the month before their daughter, Scottie, was born. (Courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society)

The Fitzgeralds were by then national celebrities and avatars of the Roaring Twenties, famous for their glamorous, gin-soaked lifestyle in New York.

“Fitzgerald was one of the first people who was famous for being famous,” said Dave Page, a St. Paul historian, of the author’s life and career. “He and Zelda understood that they could monetize their fame.”

They became known in St. Paul for wild parties that earned them a handful of eviction notices from a series of fashionable lodgings — and perhaps the disapproval of their neighbors.

“They raised eyebrows, that’s for sure,” Page said. “St. Paul was a very conservative, Catholic town. You just didn’t do that kind of stuff. You didn’t make a big deal out of yourself. It was very Victorian, and the Fitzgeralds were post-Victorian.”

Thomas Boyd, a friend of Fitzgerald’s who was then the literary editor of the St. Paul Daily News, wrote in March 1922 that the author appeared to have “ruffled the composure of his fellow townsmen.”

After the successful release of “The Beautiful and the Damned,” Fitzgerald began to workshop the story that would become “Gatsby” that summer at a rented house in White Bear Lake, but he wouldn’t write it here.

He and Zelda had both had enough of Minnesota, and they moved back to New York with their infant daughter, Scottie, that fall. They would never return to St. Paul.

Fitzgerald carefully crafted “Gatsby” over the next couple of years, infusing his Jazz Age melodrama with artful commentary on class, wealth, ambition and the American dream.

“Fitzgerald thought ‘Gatsby’ was going to be the novel that would break all the records,” Corrigan said. “It was going to top ‘This Side of Paradise.’ It was going to raise his literary reputation even higher. … And it didn’t.”

Not-so-great ‘Gatsby?’

Critics greeted “Gatsby” with ambivalence when it was released on April 10, 1925. Many reviews praised Fitzgerald’s elegant prose but dismissed the book’s literary significance.

The first mention to appear in the St. Paul papers was an unsigned review in the Pioneer Press on April 19, which called it by “far the best of his novels.” Its praise, however, was a bit backhanded.

The dust jacket of “The Great Gatsby.” (Courtesy image)

“While the work itself is not of the greatest importance, it does mark a distinct advance in the author’s command of his medium,” the anonymous critic wrote.

The St. Paul Daily News was even less generous in its review on May 3, despite admitting that “Gatsby” was “never dull for a moment.”

“Of plot there is very little, save for some hectic love affairs that are not above reproach, the author’s aim and interest all being centered on Gatsby himself,” wrote Clifford Trembley, the paper’s books editor. “Personally I don’t think the fellow was worth so much effort.”

That same day, the Pioneer Press returned to “Gatsby,” publishing a Chicago Tribune review by H.L. Mencken that — despite praising the “charm and beauty” of Fitzgerald’s writing — called the book itself “no more than a glorified anecdote” and “obviously unimportant.”

Fitzgerald was wounded by the critical indifference to his novel — and by its lackluster sales. While Fitzgerald’s first two novels had each sold about 50,000 copies, “Gatsby” managed a meager 21,000.

When he died in 1940, Fitzgerald and his work were largely forgotten, evidenced by the many unsold copies of “Gatsby” gathering dust in his publisher’s warehouse, Corrigan said.

Fitzgerald was eulogized in the St. Paul Dispatch by his friend James Gray, the newspaper’s literary and drama critic, who seemed to sense the book’s significance.

“He wrote one novel, ‘The Great Gatsby,’ which reveals his gift at its most urbane, sensitive and imaginative,” Gray wrote. “It is one of those small masterpieces which inevitably misses tremendous popular success because its implications are more subtle than the casual public cares to disentangle from a melodramatic story.”

“Perhaps some day it will be rediscovered,” he hoped. He didn’t have to wait long.

New life for an ‘old sport’

The United States entered World War II almost exactly a year after Fitzgerald’s death — and it would help revive his masterpiece.

A consortium of booksellers and publishers decided American troops overseas would benefit from some free reading material they could carry with them into battle. Their answer was the Armed Services Editions — hundreds of titles printed on cheap paper and handed out to GIs, who devoured them in their downtime.

Melting snow beads off a statue of F. Scott Fitzgerald in St. Paul’s Rice park on Nov. 6, 2013. The statue was unveiled in 1996 as part of a celebration of the author’s 100th birthday. (John Doman / Pioneer Press)

Roughly 155,000 copies of “The Great Gatsby” found their way into the hands of American servicemen through the ASE series — several times more than had been sold during Fitzgerald’s lifetime.

The book’s popularity surged in post-war America, and a 1951 biography of its author by Arthur Mizener helped bring Fitzgerald and his work back into the public consciousness.

Fans of the late St. Paulite began making pilgrimages to his hometown. Ethel Cline, who lived in the Summit Avenue row house where Fitzgerald finished writing “This Side of Paradise,” told the Pioneer Press in 1958 that “she has received numerous callers curious about Fitzgerald’s days in St. Paul.”

Over the years, the city has fully embraced its association with the famous author, and “Gatsby” — his “glorified anecdote” — has become one of the most acclaimed novels of all time.

“It’s our greatest ‘great American novel’ about class and the hidden ways in which that American promise doesn’t extend equally to everyone,” Corrigan said. “Gatsby tells us the American dream is a mirage, but at the same time, we reach for it. Fitzgerald said the novel is about aspiration. And he thinks aspiration is beautiful.”

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Photo gallery: Throwback Thursday

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of “The Great Gatsby” on Thursday, a handful of F. Scott Fitzgerald enthusiasts will read the entire novel aloud at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul.

Published on April 10, 1925, “Gatsby” is the St. Paul native’s best-known work and widely regarded as one of the greatest novels of all time.

Scheduled to run from 1 to 7:30 p.m., the live reading is one of several events planned by the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library commemorating “Gatsby’s” centennial in its author’s hometown that will “revisit the book and consider how its themes apply today,” the organization’s website says.

Upstairs in the History Center’s Gale Family Library, several Fitzgerald-related items from the collection of the Minnesota Historical Society are on display.

Later on that evening, Storyline Books will host a “Gatsby”-themed cocktail party at 1881 Eating House in Union Depot. Celtic Junction in Midway will host a “Gatsby Speakeasy Dance” on Friday night, complete with a live jazz band.

The Friends’ series of “Gatsby” events will continue throughout the rest of the year and include these events:

April 15: A book club discussion of “The Great Gatsby – A Graphic Novel Adaptation” by Katherine Woodman Maynard at Urban Growler in St. Paul.

May 1 to May 31: Books from Minnesota women authors of the 1920s will be on display at George Latimer Central Library in St. Paul.

Sept. 13 to March 22, 2026: “Gatsby at 100,” an exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art in Minneapolis.

Sept. 19 to Sept. 22: “The Last Flapper,” a one-woman show by William Luce based on the writings of Zelda Fitzgerald, performed by Monette Magrath at Landmark Center in St. Paul.

Nov. 9: “Teaching The Great Gatsby,” an online panel discussion with teachers from around the United States.

A full schedule of events can be found on the Friends website at thefriends.org/fitzgerald.

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Reports of Powassan virus, a potentially fatal tick-borne illness that can have permanent neurological effects, are increasing across the country, including in Minnesota, which had 14 confirmed cases in 2024.

Though the aggressive and quickly transmissible virus is rare, public health officials are urging precautions as tick season approaches.

“What we try to remind people is yes, it’s scary, but it is really rare,” said Elizabeth Schiffman, a Minnesota Department of Health epidemiologist specializing in mosquito- and tick-transmitted diseases. “Don’t forget to do all those prevention things that we talk about that no one ever wants to do because they’re boring and not fun. Do your tick checks. Know when your risk is highest.”

Powassan virus is primarily transmitted to humans by one of Minnesota’s 13 tick species: the blacklegged tick, also known as the deer tick. Symptoms of Powassan include seizures, paralysis, speech difficulties and, in severe infections, meningitis and brain inflammation.

An estimated 10% to 15% of Powassan virus cases are fatal, and around half of infected individuals sustain long-term neurological problems such as recurring headaches and memory issues.

There are no treatments or vaccines for Powassan.

“It replicates in neurons, and it replicates in cells that are in brain cells, and so through simple destructive processes in the brain, you’re going to have downstream effects that result in these long-term cognitive impacts,” said Matthew Aliota, professor at the University of Minnesota Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences. “Powassan has the capacity to invade the central nervous system, to cross the blood/brain barrier and to infect brain cells, and that can have really bad long-term consequences.”

Aliota received a $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health in 2024 to assess the potential public risk of and build a foundational understanding of Powassan, focusing on Minnesota and New York — two of the country’s Powassan epicenters. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 54 human cases across 10 states in 2024.

“This really has been an understudied virus to date, and the number of cases have been increasing over the past, say, 10 to 15 years,” he said. “Some of this is related to better recognition by clinicians, but some of it I think is just ecology as well, a true increase.”

Powassan is often compared to Lyme disease because both are spread by blacklegged ticks, but Aliota says the two are “apples to oranges.” Lyme disease is significantly more common than Powassan and is not a virus.

Undated courtesy photo, circa 2007, of the pathognomonic erythematous rash in the pattern of a bull’s-eye, referred to as erythema migrans. The rash manifested at the site of a tick bite, on this Maryland woman’s arm, signifying a case of Lyme disease. (James Gathany/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Lyme disease is spread by Borrelia burgdorferi, a bacteria a tick acquires when feeding on white-footed mice. These comparisons have led some to believe — possibly incorrectly — that the white-footed mouse is also a reservoir for Powassan. It is unknown which tick host animal harbors Powassan; some ticks are also born with the virus.

“People have just assumed that that mouse is the same host for Powassan as well, but we don’t know that,” Aliota said. “That’s one of the questions that my lab is trying to answer.”

Reasons for increasing Powassan reports may include more abundant animals for ticks to prey on: white-tailed deer, a favorite host of the blacklegged tick, have larger numbers in the state than in past decades.

In addition, more people may live near deer ticks than compared to a few decades ago. As housing developments are built and expanded, more people encroach on tick habitats. Many suburbs have wooded pockets on their edges, and these forest fragments place ticks close to people.

“It kind of creates this ideal habitat for encounters between humans and this tick species,” Aliota said.

To increase awareness of Powassan, Minnesota Department of Health epidemiologists like Schiffman frequently give presentations to inform health care providers, medical associations and the public about the virus.

“So it’s about hammering home that messaging like, ‘Well, when we talk about tick-borne diseases, it’s more than just Lyme disease,’” she said. “We talk with providers, ‘Here’s how you find these rare cases, and if you have a person who you can’t figure out what they have, please loop us in at MVH, we’d love to help you sort out what might be causing that person’s illness.’”

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People who exhibit mild or no symptoms are less likely to seek testing, and for patients who are tested, the virus’ rarity may lead some doctors to overlook the possibility of Powassan. Most diagnostic labs in the state are unable to screen for Powassan, meaning doctors must send blood work to places like Mayo Clinic or the Minnesota Department of Health for detection.

“I think with the way that we capture these cases and the way we do surveillance, we’re kind of biased towards the more severe cases,” Schiffman said. “We’re probably missing some of the milder ones, just as an artifact of how that testing is done.”

That bias may extend to the age demographics of infected individuals. More than 70% of cases reported nationally within the past two decades occurred in people age 50 or older.

“We also tend to see a lot of people who are older and who have those immunosuppressive conditions in our case population that we report on because they’re also more likely to be the ones who get sicker,” Schiffman said. “If you’re sicker, you’re probably more likely to be tested. So you’re definitely biasing the data in that way.”

The Minnesota Department of Health recommends being aware of areas at high risk of tick activity, using Environmental Protection Agency-registered tick repellent (epa.gov/insect-repellents/find-repellent-right-you) and diligently checking the skin and clothing after outdoor activities.