Re: unusual language [postmodernism]

BRADLEY BLECK (bleckb@NEVADA.EDU)
Thu, 10 Oct 1996 06:43:22 -0700

I've held back on this Vegas sub-thread, since all the suckers who come to
town and fill the nearly 100k hotel rooms to 95 percent occupancy, leave
lots of cash behind, keep the taxes relatively low, and fill the state
coffers from which come my wages and a great retirement program. It's
also interesting, unless I haven't been reading well, how the reference to
the Las Vegas strip (home to the tourist oriented casinos) became a
reference to strip malls. But if you have been here, it's an appropriate
shift because this is the land of strip malls that makes Santa Barbara
look like the wilderness. One of the biggest oddities, is that among the
chaos of urban sprawl that is sprawling like you can't believe, all of the
new homes are built in "master planned" communities with such rigid
covenants meant to protect investments that it is like living with an
overbearing parent.

Anyway, one of the most interesting things about this town is the
constant flux it is in. Nothing stands still, especially the strip.
The old comes down, the new is made newer, but the new often flops if it
doesn't have an effective gambling focus (the stratsophere hotel/casino
is a prime example of great glitz that is flopping. They were going to
have a ride up the side, some what an exterior elevator, that looked like
king kong, and would have been sized appropriately, that climbed up, slid
down like it was falling, and then continued it's climb. They also have
a bungy ride on top of the 1400 foot tower that shoots people a few
hundred feet higher and a roller coaster around the top of the thing,
also about 1400 feet in the air. Talk about amusing yourself to death).

But is the place a primary text post modernism or even American
postmodernism? Don't know. What I know is valets make $70k if they work
at the right casino, we have the highest drop-out rate in the nation, and
the lowest high school to college rate in the nation. We also have some
of the most conservative people you would meet anywhere. the Mormon church
is strong here (what I see as a sign of conservatism, not Mormon bashing.)
Residents/parents didn't want high school students on the internet because
of smut but taxis have placard advertisng the 100 topless girls of glitter
gulch that use a picture of what seems the largest breasted woman in
existance to attract attention. (The woman does exist. I heard an NPR
story on her once.) If post modernism is contradiction, this is the place.

It's early here, the sun will shine and the high will hit 95+ ( a little
above normal for this time of year I'm told). Anyway, if you've read
this far, you've got a little better idea about the 'primary text' in
which I live (makes me feel like Bradley in wonderland).

Bradley Bleck
CC of Southern Nevada
bleckb@nevada.edu
http://www.ccsn.nevada.edu/english/ bleck.html

On Thu, 10 Oct 1996, Nick Carbone wrote:

> This echo of Vegas as pomo-icon reminds me of Postman's _Amusing Ourselves
> to Death_ wherein he argued that Vegas was the representative American
> city because it was all about divertisment; which makes his discussion
> with Paglia which Victor's captured in the text incarnation of
> _CyberReader_ rather interesting in light of Jeff's reflections on the
> culture clashes of the nineties.
>
>
>
> Nick Carbone, Writing Instructor
> Marlboro College
> Marlboro, VT 05344
> nickc@marlboro.edu
>