Rich Sigberman Art & Illustration 90

We went to Las Vegas to meet friends who had come in for a conference from Massachusetts. What is there to say about the place? Does it symbolize America for the rest of the world? If so, that's a pretty sad commentary.

The scale of the buildings and their symbols is BIG. In fact, everything on the strip of hotels and casinos that are the most famous parts of the place are BIG, giant in scale, and if some is good, more is better, or so the philosophy would seem to go. The signage is spectacular, the hotels and casinos mind-bendingly , overwhelmingly large and ostentatious, loud and filled with sensory overload. One goes into any of the interchangeable casinso and first one is nearly overcome by the smell of stale cigarette smoke. After one's eyes stop tearing, you see zombie-like people sitting and staring lifelessly at the slot machines they're lined up at, with only one arm moving to put in the money and pulll the lever, over and over again. Their eyes are dull, their skin pallor pasty.
The hotels have buffets with sumptious amounts of food, most of which is well prepared. To not overeat is a major accomplishment. To attend one of these without feeling vaugely guilty is another major accomplishment. Hedonism and excess rein in Las Vegas, and, for many, this place is as good as it gets. I found it utterly exhausting.
Our friends treated us to a show, Cirque d' Soleil's "O", which is all water-based. The skill and scale of the show is tremendous. The design is beautiful; the acrobatics at a high level. Good choreography. I had no idea what it was all about, and it evaporated into the night the moment it ended. It was great style with little substance to my way of observation.
The amount of money that gets spent in Las Vegas is nothing short of phenomenal. What this money could do, and who it could feed is something we all ought to think about. We Americans who have so much - what are we doing with it all? What do we think money is for? Why do we think it will all be here forever? It's no wonder this country is despised.

Since my Dad passed away on October 20th, 2007, I've had two quite vivid dreams with him in them. In the first one, I was walking along a country road and a car pulled up on my left. The passenger door opened, and when I looked in I saw my Father circa 1959, head of black hair and stocky of build, in the driver's seat. He put out his hand and said, "let me help you in", then pulled me by my arm in, gently and firmly. I noticed how strong his grip was and went in to the back seat of the car, and then we drove off. That's the dream. When I awoke, I felt like my Father was giving me support, the type of which I never felt in what we call "real life".

In the second dream, he is in his coffin buired in the ground. He stirs, looks at his watch, and say to himself, "Hey! I'm not dead yet." He then gets on a cell phone and calls his doctor, telling the latter that he made a mistake, and to come and get him out of this coffin. The doctor does that, and the last thing I saw is my Father standing on the sidewalk of a busy street, dusting himself off, chatting amiably to passers by. That's that dream. When I awoke, I had to first question whether he was really gone. When I realized that he was, in fact, dead, I then marvelled at these new qualities that I had never seen in my Father that I was now seeing in my dreams. He never chatted amiably with me, after all.

So, I guess there was more to Dad than I saw and experienced. I've seen it in the old photographs of him, before I was born. He looks happy and relaxed. Why he didn't show me that side of him, I'll never know. But, I guess it's a good thing to realize that he had those qualilties, as I have them now.

I've surpassed my Dad on many levels, but feel more connected to him now than I did while he was alive. Can you beat that?