New Orleans.

OK, this is the last post on Absinthe (for now), but I couldn't resist its appositeness and topicality. It's art from the absinthe era (late 1800s): 'Absinthe House, New Orleans', by Guy Pene du Bois*.

George Bush has promised: "And here in New Orleans, the street cars will once again rumble down St. Charles, and the passionate soul of a great city will return."
But this city's passionate soul is not so easily recreated, for it was formed from a rich cultural past, many aspects of which are repugnant or embarrassing to today's 'respectable' society. I fear that once more the real juice of history will be watered down a little further, cleaned up, sanitized, reset in modernized form in concrete and plastic that: 'You can touch, but you can't feel'.

* Painting shown by permission: Curtis Galleries, Minneapolis, MN.