we built this

And guys like Herbert Hoover helped. Let me apply some context to this.

Towers of ilium does not travel often, but I just returned from a trip to Louisiana, where I visited my brother-in-law and his fiance. We spent an afternoon in New Orleans, and even more time in places to the southwest of the city. Before I went down there, a friend of mine, who was born in the state, told me: "It's like nothing you've ever seen." Rarely has someone described an experience more thoroughly. As a native of New England I was thrown for a loop by the endless, inexorable expanses of water--the graveyards with the tombs built on top of the ground, the flatness, the decay of the buildings, the indifference of most of the architecture, and the imminent sense of total collapse when the water finally comes and washes it all away.

I have more to say about New Orleans proper in another post, but the major experience was of the suburbs and stretched out development that consumes whatever space isn't completely water or completely swamp. The refineries and oil rigs were never seen up close, but they could be glimpsed on the horizon. In immediate view, alongside the main roads that led down to the coast there were endless metal warehouse with crazy collections of machinery. They had names like "Chevron Maintenance Facility" and "Lateral Hydraulics" and "Rig Fitting." Nothing I could call familiar, but all a critical part of the infrastructure that culminates in the experience of every America at the gas pump.

I did not see a single Toyota Prius. I saw many churches. There were few sidewalks, and what with the heat and humidity, there was not much reason to be outside anyway.

From what I saw, I must admit that James Kunstler was right--it is a geography of nowhere. Outside of a few parts of the city, everything I saw was authentic--with a terrifying sameness. All new construction was of the classic strip mall horror, and the vast parking lots were  full of big cars--some of them pulling up to drive-throughs that served 20 oz. strawberry daquiris (yes, we bought one). This is America.