LEONARD KRI EGEL
71
disappeared from Ameri can life , th e pull o f the crashing surf as o ne looks
down from th e hi gh curves of Califo rni a One. "But you 've never lived
there!" a coll ege fri end wh o left th e go lden land after twenty years to
return to N ew Yo rk 's G reenwi ch Vill age in sists, vo ice raw with se lf–
righteousness . Sh e fe els betrayed by C aliforni a. How do I respond to so
virulent a vi ctimi za ti o n? Do I tell her th at I never take my touri st's leave
witho ut b etting my do ll ar on T wain 's jumping frog? That is not what
Wilson meant by " the strange spell o f unrea li ty" eith er.
In
th e w indow of a Madi son Ave nue print shop , a framed blow-up
of a
Nell) Yorker
cove r. Manh attan ave nu es mu scle th e Pac ific Coast , a
sli ve r of land slipped like an afterth o ught into co nsc io usness . T he car–
toon map reminds me fo r some reason o f the subway gratings I fi shed
with bamboo po le and chewin g gum , a N ew Yo rk child 's sea rch fo r
wea lth. And now N ew Yo rke rs co ntemptuously wink at a nation
caught between coasts lik e a wo rm in a bird 's beak . A cartography in
whi ch sco rn speaks no t volumes but a stri ct party line . Besieged by the
passing of power, we remove o ursel ves from a nati o n. With th e Met and
MOMA , wh o needs th e gray Pacifi c swells?
Th e poster an itch I wa nt to sc ratch in publi c. It's no t snobbery but
fear of the wo rld clos in g in that crea tes humo r £i·om geography. Maps
are th e wo rk of visio nari es. T he Manh attan ave nu es compri sin g th e
map's focus arc a N ew Yo rk fa ntasy. W e arc European Americans, whil e
Californians can remain obli vious to Europe's very ex istence.
Forty-three by th e time I first went th ere, I take no pleasure in the
mawkish cho rus bewa iling Califo rnia's fa te today . O ur crippl ed giant has
been hit so hard ove r th e past seven o r eight yea rs that it has come to
resemble a club fi ghter answerin g th e bell on instin ct alo ne. Surviva l his
sole triumph , he ca n o nl y hope that if his lu ck is equal
to
hi s courage, he
will outlast this bea tin g with di gni ty.
The riots after th e first R odney Kin g ve rdi ct, th e contrac ti o n in th e
defense and ae rospace industri es, the Sa n Francisco and L.A . quakes that
left nerves frazzled w ith th e threa t o f th e Bi g On e to come, th e mush–
rooming traffi c j ams, th e illega l immi grants swarmin g ove r po ro us bo r–
ders to raise heated ethni c and rac ial temperatures - its power and singu–
lari ty under siege, Califo rni a dreams of past glo ri es as it takes its beating.
Only the res t o f Ameri ca isn ' t do ing very well eith er. T he Soviet decline
has not created that mu ch- heralded peace di vidend. T he nati on is irrita–
ble, compartmen tali zed, its hard times fee ding a raspy un eas in ess w ith
California's woes.
As if Californi a's declin e we re dese rved , its troubles no t economi c
