Dateline: Miami & Miami Beach,1930s Pauls Safari Into Miamis History ____________ Oh, Right! Yeah, Thanks. Two Sugars & Cream, and,,, a Little Art Deco on the Side, Please. Oh, is it looking like that kind of day already, Hon? she remarked solicitously as she focused on adding up the tab for the next table over. The dramatic pause that followed suggested unconvincingly that she might have any interest whatsoever in, or even listen in the first place, to any response forthcoming. Wheat, sunny side up, strawberry, I guess, I rattled off, and bacon, today, not too crisp. I then pointedly buried my face deep within the wide-open morning paper Id just picked up for that purpose. By all appearances I was fully engrossed in my ritual of reading the morning news, when in truth I just wanted to be let alone, and peered slyly from behind my sunglasses over the top of the newsprint pages, gazing contentedly upon the beautiful ribbon of sea, smooth and deep blue, just beyond the white sand beach across the street. It never ceases to delight me, sitting so near the sea. Especially with a cafe con leche in my hand, and a nice breakfast coming my way. Maybe its a spiritual practice of some kind. Or maybe its not, but could be if I were somehow able to work in even just a little self-flagellation, or endure more suffering, before, after, and ideally during the experience... Yet these thoughts are ridiculous, I know; just noise passing through on a journey from nowhere, back home. Yet the kind sea gently eases them along their way, as it has a way of doing, and I am once again left in peace. And I like it! ___ You know how it is: there are times when we hunger for something that we know perfectly well won’t be on “Today’s Menu,” or, for that matter, any others to follow between, say, tomorrow and infinity... At times, we might not know exactly what it is that we so hunger for, or even have the first idea. It will all become clear in time, generally, yet first awaits that journey known and experienced by you, as your life. If you recognize that experience, of hungering for something you cannot name, then though it might not seem it, at all, you are among the fortunate, and on the growth path. Art deco is for some reason on my mind. What is it about art deco that makes it important? Its story has now been told, re-told, then told again, and studied most carefully by any number seeking clues, or deeper understanding, many among them professional, and others not. Yet for all that we have learned, discovered, uncovered and charted, its mysteries remain intact. Even in a place famed for the abundance of its art deco style, design, and architecture, something about all of it remains stubbornly mysterious, though countless clues remain scattered all about, ingeniously hidden in plain sight. How did this particular movement of style come to express, in so utterly diverse and grand a manner, and with such bottomless creativity, the soaring aspirations and ideals of a generation? They stood, dazzled, upon the threshold of the brilliant new era of the Modern, alive with visions of a better way, and Bigger Life. Why did the sun set so quickly and with such finality upon so great and heralded a new dawn? How might it have fallen from grace so quickly and completely, all of it, leaving yesterdays finest dreams simply preposterous? How had the once-lovely, partaking even of the superlative, been reduced to mere object of derision and scorn, to be smashed into bits and discarded without further thought, as needed to make room for the obviously better, and new? And please, tell me: by what sequence of perversity, and according to whose twisted reasoning and sense of priorities, had it become necessary for the once-proud and elegant Senator Hotel, with its etched glass windows, sitting porch, and soothing view of ocean nearby, to become a parking lot? _________ There is something about art deco, I would swear, that’s just got to be good for the soul. It can lighten the spirit, if one is not careful, and even inspire. It just is what it is, sometimes playful and ridiculous on its face, and others reaching the soaring peaks of elegance. Yet all the while it refuses completely to affect an air of solemnity, or otherwise take itself too seriously. What might it care if the whole world has somehow jumped off the rails, and become quite clearly stark, raving mad? It was a pioneer in following that course over eighty years ago! And yet: it took that plunge with playful purposefulness, undeniable panache, and persistent aim to delight! And all by the sea, yet. Yet more, so much more than any of these things, it did it, its way! Thank you.
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 10:04:35 +0000
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