Yet Another Ruin Porn Story

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wesley Mouch

Yet another article on Ruin Porn -- this time in Salon -- just in case you missed it.
http://www.salon.com/2012/05/12/rust...ack/singleton/

I dunno, WM. It seems like a pretty even-handed look at the Midwest, at least from scanning it. Where's the breathless prose describing the Packard, the 20-shot slideshow of crumbling buildings? He seems fair enough:

But Rust Belt chic is at least partly a romantic fantasy, and that makes it a risky way to try to revitalize. Last year, Guernica magazine ran a withering critique of what it called “Detroitism,” the fetish for crumbling urban landscapes mixed with eccentric utopian delusions, “where bohemians from expensive coastal cities can have the $100 house and community garden of their dreams.” What these dreams seldom include, however, are the almost unimaginable systemic problems many of these cities suffer from: failed schools, violent crime, the threat of municipal bankruptcy. Photographers parachuting in to shoot Michigan Central Station and Anthony Bourdain’s gushing endorsement may be clouding the fact that cities in crisis won’t be lifted by chicness alone.

Not exactly ruin porn, IMHO. But thanks for sharing.