Cultural Shift?

[Hilary C. Granados]

I went to New Mexico this summer and was amazed at how unlike "America" it
was in its shrines-more like being in Mexico or Israel. They were
everywhere! In people's yards, within the old mission churches, along
roadways and fences and in the chili fields. I wonder if it's not the
influence of the Native Americans on the European invaders that created this
interesting sense of presence the dead have in New Mexico. They're almost
fetishized there, as are European religious images.

Hilary Granados
The Devil whispered behind the leaves, "It's pretty, but is it Art?"
Rudyard Kipling, The Conundrum of the Workshops
http://www.csupomona.edu/~hcgranados/hilaryweb/

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org]  On
Behalf Of Steve Maas
Sent:	Wednesday, December 01, 1999 8:59 AM
To:	pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject:	Cultural Shift?
<Snip>  The United States and
northern Europe have long emphasized privacy, individual loss, and solemnity
in grieving; but sidewalk altars and parking lot shrines invite
participation by all, allow displays of emotion, and implicitly recognize a
continuing relationship with the dead."  Of course, the Opposition is not
inactive.  Julian goes on to write: "[H]ighway departments. . .have
restricted or outlawed [roadside shrines].  The hostility of the opposition
can be jarring.  A Nevada highway spokesman characterized the offerings as
'debris,' for instance, and a Houston legislator condemned them as 'visual
pollution.'"

     Steve Maas

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