IP: I hear America singed

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

> From: "Janos.Gereben" <janos451 () earthlink net>
> To: "jg" <janos451 () earthlink net>
> Subject: I hear America singed
> Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2001 09:35:31 -0800
> X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200
>
> At the end of a week-long trip, I had several strange experiences in the
> exotic, fabled Southland. Most of the 120-mile stretch from Palm Spring to
> Los Angeles offers severely limited opportunities to the radioholic:
> mariachi, Rush and his ilk, and religious programs. I cannot be sure of the
> lyrics I heard when the dial stopped momentarily on music stations, but all
> (please note: all) other stations had only one topic on this fine morning, a
> week after the Bushauguration. The abomination of Bill Clinton.
>
> Yes, Rush and pals are in a time warp, obsessed with evil incarnate, even
> after eight years, even after the man is gone. No mention of Bush or anyone
> else. No other topic. It's like a never-ending spasm, and the preachers are
> raging on too, backtracking from the pardons, connecting the dots back to
> Monica and to Arkansas stories 20 years ago, then contrasting it all with
> the pure being manifested in St. John the Ashcroft. Here's a bet: check the
> airwaves in the desert a year from now. Or two. It will be the same. Forever
> and ever, amen.
>
> I SEE AMERICA GATED
>
> There is a striking similarity between La Quinta during the day and LA at
> night: empty streets. The Palm Springs suburb consists of gated communities,
> walled in and guarded, and a main street of fast-food restaurants for those
> working inside the fortresses. The neutron-bombed LA downtown is something
> that stuns me every time; in the middle of a huge metropolis, I walked three
> miles and saw seven people. But even during the day, from among the
> thousands working in the downtown skyscrapers, almost nobody ventures out.
> People drive into the well-guarded basements in the morning, drive home to
> their gated communities in the evening. Whatever may bother you about
> London, New York, San Francisco or any real city, just check out LA, and
> count your blessings.
>
> I SENSE AMERICA FUTURE
>
> You *can* see people on the streets (which, to me, is what a city is about),
> but you have to go to Chinatown, Little Tokyo, the Korean quarter or visit
> the sections where only Spanish is spoken. That's where life is... where the
> future is. "America" was built by the most daring (and most desperate) from
> England, Ireland, Germany, and so on. The same kind of people from China,
> Korea, Vietnam, Central America will be the "America" of tomorrow. Then, if
> they are as successful as the immigrants of the past turned out to be,
> perhaps they too will go from safety to safety, leaving the streets empty.
>
> (A tip for retro-romantics on a budget and hungry in the empty night of LA:
> at Figueroa and Ninth Street, for the 76th year stands The Pantry, open even
> after the "late spots" close at 8. It serves huge piles of meat with
> mountains of peas and mashed potato under lakes of gravy, in the manner of
> the lamented Forties, for under $10. The place, the menu - on the wall, of
> course - the waiters, the prices. it's all out of some old movie. This being
> LA, perhaps The Pantry *is* part of a movie set.)
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Janos Gereben/SF, CA
> janos451 () earthlink net



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