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I'm watching Visions of Italy on public television...it's basically a fly-over of Italian towns and cities with some slight historical narration. I think it's designed for Italian immigrants who are sure that the Old Country was more beautiful than the New World. The evidence certainly bears it out. Nobody would film a fly-over of a MacDonald's or a Wal-Mart and expect anyone to watch it. I really shouldn't watch this...it actually makes me weep for the beauty of it, but also for the poverty of American civic design. How one can see the near-perfection that is possible and still build strip-malls and freeways and sub-divisions is beyond me. Ignorance would be excusable...but to come from a history of such skill and love and to respond with such brutal ugliness is a crime against humanity. |
