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November 5, 2008
Hope. Change. It's a small world after all.
The Midtown Plaza, an early downtown mall in Rochester, closed up lately - but they moved the touchingly sweet 1962 Clock of Nations to the Airport.
The "It's a Small World" mindset seems appropriate on this, the first day of Change.
Further: Yes, I believe that optimism in world affairs is akin to believing in a Disney version of the world. I checked the history of the ride-from-hell only to find out that it post-dates the Rochester Clock of Nations - it went up, according to the Wikipedia entry, for the New York World's Fair of 1964 and was subsequently moved to Disneyland. Wikipedians said (which, of course, may not be what they're saying when you go there - Wikipedia is a beautiful idea, too):
In 1956, Walt Disney attended a conference, along with many other notable celebrities of the time, at the invitation of President Eisenhower. The conference was about founding a national organization to help promote world peace through international civilian travel. (This dream became a reality in 1956, when Eisenhower founded the People to People Student Ambassador Program.) Inspired by the ideas from the meeting, Disney returned to California and set to work, creating the "It's A Small World" ride at Disneyland.Peace through tourism. Sounds about right.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at November 5, 2008 9:07 AM
Comments
One can only hope, with time, that Change will begin to heal the scars that have made that "small world" so distant.
Posted by: bucko at November 5, 2008 2:51 PM
The Disneyfication of the Caribbean is equally disturbing. We spent some time on the eco-tourist site of Dominica, only to hear a fellow American grousing, "It's so dirty and so poor". Actually, it wasn't in contrast to Haiti, it just didn't fit her skewed idea of what the Caribbean should be.
I turned to her and said, "I'll tell you what I didn't see today. I didn't see pollution, traffic jams or any unhappy faces. Those women who were doing their laundry down in the stream look pretty happy to me. They were singing while they worked."
This is not to say that Dominica doesn't have it's problems because it does. But the idea that every place should look like a Sandals resort is just crazy.
- Suzanne, the Farmer's Wife
Posted by: Suzanne, the Farmer's Wife at February 1, 2009 12:16 PM