Las Vegas, America

I just got back from Las Vegas. What a bizarre place. There's no point in critiquing the cultural aspects of the city--it is what it is. What I will say about the place is that perhaps it is the most American of cities or that it represents a certain Americanness. In Las Vegas, you have the Disneyified entertainment, the glutton of Americans in the buffets (as well as the mediocrity of them which is pretty representative of my parents' generation of food). The lack of understanding over the environmental consequences of that city is most certainly American--although there were hundreds of people at Hoover Dam when I was there, I wonder how many made the connections between its existence, its environmental implications, and the existence of Las Vegas. I think whether you love or hate Vegas, its ultra-American qualities make it an extremely interesting place. I can see why so many people study it.