Hartford
September 8, 2007
I met up with my friend Jim, who showed me the city. Hartford has an odd feel in
that it's so close to New York City, however feels like a city you'd find
anywhere in the country; much more laid back and less hectic than New York. I felt
like it was New York's backwater, where the people who aren't interested
in that rushed lifestyle can live and work at a much more peaceful pace.
September 12, 2008
Jim took me to Mohegan Sun casino in the southeastern part of the state. Jim loves
these megalithic structures and in this case I can't blame him. When I watched
Jim here I felt like he just can't wrap his head around the motivation, construction,
and justification of cost put into the complex. Jim's been all over the world
and has seen everything from Rome's Coliseum to historic cities hundreds of
years old, yet he's always more mesmerized by modern architecture it seems.
His wonder is justified; and when you spend a couple hours here you start asking
yourself the same questions. To question the coliseum is to try to understand a
people long since gone, but to understand this casino is to try to understand a
modern culture; it's more real and present. However questioning why they installed
a multiple story waterfall is ridiculous. Why wouldn't you install one?