It's true. All those years in Sydney, I seem to have forgotten about weather like this. But then, I had a more serious thought. Perhaps the reason why cities like New York and (in Australia) Melbourne, are such centres of art is because one of the great impulses behind art is the search for sun and colour, whether stained glass windows, chromaticism, or paens. Such art can still provide an observer a glimpse of something 'we have not experienced quite that way before' (to quote Pauline Kael).What changes is the 20th obsession with art which rips holes in the viewer in order to let in the cold blast of 'cutting edge' innovation.
More experiences along Manhattan Ave:
An old Polish man pointed out to us two helicopters circling above Greenpoint. "Boom, boom," he said, and indicated someone injecting into their arm, from which we construed that he was telling us there had been a shootout in relation to a 'narcotics bust'.
There are people here, including young people, who speak Polish in preference to English. I understand that in America if you want to take up citizenship, you need to renounce, repudiate, abjure all other princes, potentates and other heads of state, but it seems you may keep as much of your benign original culture as you like.
Yesterday, in a 99c store, we met a very speedy guy who had been a marine. "You went to Vietnam?" asked Kate. "Yes ma'am - three tours." We told him we'd been there - it is a beautiful country. "But we f#$%%$ it up," he said. Then he said, "If I may venture my own opinion. We have a saying in the marines 'To the victor belongs the spoils'. But what are we getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan?" I said, "We're supposed to be getting democracy." As I said this he was already nearly out the door. But he turned, pounded his fist over his heart and opened his hand in a point towards me (a gesture Kate later told me means 'sympatico'). "I'll leave you now," he said as he raced off.
No comments:
Post a Comment