gruffgoat

While the city vibe is not necessarily what psycoanalyst CB Jung meant by collective unconscious, at least to my feeble understanding, I’ve thought it a natural extension. That the shared experiences of the inhabitants provide the thrum and whir and tick toc of a city.

I’ve just come back from Vegas in the spring time, where it’s not so hot as to melt your rubber soled shoes if you walk too long. And did I walk. You can’t tell much from a city through the window of a car, though you certainly get a sense of its size, its sprawl. To walk the heart of a city is to listen to that collective unconscious.

On the strip, sidewalks are thick with people. The young are there to drink and gamble— “Its Vegas, baby!” With middle-age comes the talk of shows and shopping, in addition to the drinking and gambling. And the elder generation seems to be there for the slots and free drinks. I found no vibrancy, but a hope for renewal or redemption through a quiet suffusion of despair.