Writing the City...

Just finished reading American Vertigo (2006) by Bernard-Henri Lévy. I posted about American Vertigo earlier this year in Woe is Moi and More Moi. And, while playing host for part of the weekend to an ex-pat who'll soon be moving on again - we started talking about Buffalo and how our City is imagined and portrayed in other places. Two totally different perspectives here on Buffalo. One coming from a man who doesn't live here - I really think he did a fly over ala Jayson Blair of the NYT - and another one of Buffalo's own...

Here's Bernard-Henri Lévy in American Vertigo...

That a city could die: for a European, that is unthinkable. And yet … Buffalo, a city that was once the glory of America, its showcase, where two presidents once lived (and where one was shot and another inaugurated), a city that on this late-July afternoon — the anniversary, by the way, of Tocqueville's visit, in 1831 — offers a landscape of desolation: long avenues without cars, stretching out to infinity; not one good restaurant to dine in read the rest...

And Craig Reynolds piece How Buffalo get a Warhol - is worth another look. Much closer to the mark I think than the guy from France. Craig writes...

Unlike other cities, where it’s easy to sink into the flow of everything’s fine, in Buffalo, you must be a prophet or drown in utter mediocrity. Buffalo demands existential authenticity, and the rock we push up the hill (only to have it roll back down over us time and time again) is our only salvation read the rest...

Let me know what you find. When Buffalo is losing 5o residents/week and with architecturally distinct buildings collapsing in your neighborhood and meanwhile the Canadian province right next door is anticipating an additional 3-4 million new residents in the next 25 years...let me know what you find when it comes to how Buffalo, NY is imagined and portrayed here and elsewhere. Send in the links and I'll add a few new selections to Writing the City...

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Artspace Archive • Annals of Neglect • BAVPA • Where is Perrysburg? • Broken Promises...
Writing the City • Woodlawn Row Houses • Tour dé Neglect - 2006