> what is hanging in my mind is this idea of the "promise" that
> sandpiper pointed out to me, and my own lack of understanding about
> how people have mythologized this place, expect so many things from
it
> etc.
Well that's exactly it. Among outsiders, those who "remember"
Asbury's "glory days" and wish for them to some day "come back" are
doing just that - mythologizing. Baby boomers who spent their
childhood summers in Asbury Park likely did so mostly on the
boardwalk or the circuit, with the occasional foray onto the old
Cookman. They were promised, via the chronological sleight-of-hand
that is youth, that not only was Asbury Park a cotton-candy
summertime fantasyland, but also that its status as such would last
forever. They remember the technicolor images you see on the
postcards for sale on eBay. The carousel and the tilt-a-whirl and the
motorboats on Wesley Lake and the Skee-Ball and the ionized air of
the bumper cars. But what 9 or 10 year old visitor in 1955 or 1960
was going to stop to consider what life west of Main Street must be
like? What postcard ever featured the segregated entrances to the
Bangs Avenue school? If the last memory of actually being in Asbury
Park that outsiders have is of riding the carousel and playing skee-
ball, and that represented a very happy time in their lives, then the
realization that those rides and amusements disappeared in such a
violent and un-fantasy-like manner will naturally inspire the wistful
hope for the return of that fantasyland to some degree. The promise
was broken. They want it fulfilled.
> I just can't understand being seemingly obsessed with ap's
> progress or lack of when you don't live here. to the point of brutal
> criticisms...
I touched on this with Sharon a while back vis-a-vis New Orleans. You
don't have to live someplace to either want desperately for it to
succeed or to take delight in its failure. Asbury Park is,
unwittingly, the figurative repository for all the hallmarks of the
continuing "great experiment" that is America. Race, class,
capitalism, aspirationalism, regionalism, crime, culture, government,
etc. It's all there in one tiny square mile.
> is it some sort of spiritual seeking? some sort of
> quest/expectation...im not sure..but there is something seriously
> dysfunctional in expecting anything outside of ourselves for some
sort
> of promised land.
The mythical promised land, perhaps. But maybe some see in Asbury
Park a chance to right finally get right what was for so long gotten
wrong. One can argue interminably about the wisdom of such
expectations or the chances of success. But certainly the desire is
born not from malice.
> the obsession with ap is as wacked to me as the
> obsession with springsteen. don't get me wrong, i can still sing
every
> word to thunder road, but i am not a teen anymore. hes just a
singer.
He'd probably be the first to agree with you.
> if you delight in the failure of this place or any
> other....you are too sad for words. your lack of soul isn't asbury's
> problem.
The money quote. Nice.
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
