The weather has cleared up a bit so i can't bitch about that so much, but i can get a bit upset over the Florent closing down after so many years. I started going there for brunch with my mom,step-father, and sister around 1987, maybe two years after it changed from the old R&L Diner. We lived a few blocks south in the west village. back then the area was pretty much the last place you would want to go eat in. It was always hard to maintain an appetite walking through the old meat packing district because besides the crack heads and tranny whores, there was the ever present stench of rotting meat. there would be whole chunks of bloody carcasses lying discarded on the cobble stoned streets and in the heat of the morning sun, it would instantly start to decay. the whole area seemed like it would never clean up and the Diner was just this anomaly of hipness and Parisian decor that stood out as a juxtaposing perspective on the area's future. well, the Florent was right in it's gamble, the area was meant for a different future then what was expected, and unfortunately for the restaurant/diner it's own prediction ended up being its own demise. rent that was $1300 dollars 23 years ago, has just topped $30,000. and the only rotting meat in that area is the rot of the bridge and tunnel pseudo foo-foo culture that has taken over.so sad. i haven't had any Florent-style Boudin Noir in over a decade, but knowing that is a culinary delight that will soon disappear still disturbs me. It was nice just knowing that i COULD get some of the delish black saussiche if i really wanted too. It was nice to know my childhood sanctuary from the endless racks of dead cows and blood stained union butchers still resided on its ancient cobblestone street. I loved taking shelter from the stench there, and believe you me, they didn't have outdoor seating until well after i left the area to go to college. outdoor seating would have been a sort of olfactory torture. like nose water boarding.
notable memories are spotting Marla Hanson every Sunday. She was the up and coming model whose face got slashed by her landlord and some hired goons. I remember thinking how pretty she was despite her slashed up face. That made me wonder why those scars would have affected her career. I thought it only supported her good looks as they stood out anyways. it just revealed how bad the fashion industry is at really knowing what is really beautiful about women. that's around the time when i figured out that it's really not straight men who drive the distorted look of fashion models. the waifish skinniness, and all too perfect and androgynous faces you see on fashion magazine covers. I was always told, in a slightly accusatory tone, that it was men who created these visions. At least, that's what the girls in my school always accused me and my ilk of doing. pressuring them, through these mags, into losing weight by controlling the media. but i never bought the idea that that is what men project onto women as being beautiful. not for a second. if there are men who like that look, then they are most likely the ones NOT sleeping with women.
Moving on, getting into the Op/Ed section i come across another Thomas Friedman piece about how we are losing our super power advantage to the rising economies of the global market. he's right again, as he usually is when it comes to America's failures. I don't agree with some things he has said, like that we needed to spank Iraq to pop the "terrorism bubble". that comment was a bit on the extreme side. i, by no means, think the Iraq war was needed or a good idea on any level, thanks to my sister for pointing that out to me.
But in this case, he's right, but he's not happy about it. that's why i really like him. he's kind of a liberal hawk. His almost feverish patriotism always bubbles out in his pieces in the middle of impaling the administration and the country's politics. he is kind of like me, very concerned with the success of America. not only because he is Jewish and knows that Jewish success on the planet is very much dependant on America's success. but also that he is American, born and raised, and he wants us to lead the world just as much as any cowboy on the range does. And he knows that just remaining a super power is more important then America's current policies towards Israel and the rest of the world, because if it doesn't remain on top, then it's policies won't even matter anymore. He points out that we are all busy discussing whether or not we should be having dialogues with our enemies (which we currently don't, unfortunately), meanwhile, some of these enemies are caring less and less IF we talk to them at all. Friedman speaks of our biggest failure post 9/11 not being Iraq, although that is horrible, but really the failure is to make some quick and decisive changes to our fundamental dependence on oil.
"The failure of Mr. Bush to fully mobilize the most powerful innovation engine in the world — the U.S. economy — to produce a scalable alternative to oil has helped to fuel the rise of a collection of petro-authoritarian states — from Russia to Venezuela to Iran — that are reshaping global politics in their own image."
I agree with this whole-heartedly. Not only is oil a pollutant which might be destroying our environment, and a limited polluting resource at that, but it also what gives power to our enemies. Considering that it is the vast amount of oil profit and resources that are enabling the theocratic and monastic regimes of the middle east to rake in money, as well as Venezuela and Russia. If we weren't paying so much for the stuff at the pump, these countries wouldn't be emerging despite our ignoring them or even sanctioning them diplomatically. the more we need the juice the more power they claim regardless. It seems completely ass-backwards to remove taxes on gas, or somehow pad the price to put a band aid on the problem...it's kind of like putting a filter on a cigarette, instead of quitting smoking.
when really, the spiraling gas price is our only hope of having the "natural" and "reactive" forces of capitalism define a new infrastructure that finds its energy elsewhere. i hope the price of gas keeps on going up, not only because it would initiate change as it loses control, but also because my investments are solidly in the oil and gas sector. i hope our economy flops around dealing with it for two reasons, i will profit, and America will finally realize it has to ween itself off. our system has always been good in a clutch, so maybe its high time we got squeezed like this. i know this bodes worse for the poor average American who uses food money for gas. but it will anyways be them who makes the biggest sacrifice. its the poor that sends its finest soldiers to die for the stuff in the middle east, and its the poor that have lost money while the oil execs claim the largest profits in history, and it will be them who loses work when the rest of the emerging economies of the world compete for the same limited amount of oil. i say bring it. America, if she can get her head out Bush's ass, will be very capable of overcoming this. it's high time we checked ourselves in at the Betty Ford clinic, and figured out how to cut ourselves free and to redefine technology and re-organize the energy consumption of our very capable and versatile economy. i have all the faith an agnostic can muster in this great country.
In the meantime, do yourself a favor, invest any spare change in Natural Gas and Oil Trusts and stocks. There is still a growing global dependence coupled with a depleting supply. it's simple math really. And, as long as your heart and vote is going in the right direction, feel free to profit off of everybody else's short-sighted politics. they certainly are in the white house.
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