***stardust

*spazzes all about*
In case it changes before anyone reads this, check this screencap of cnn.com's front page just now.

One guess as to whose fast ferry that is. *giiiiggles*
(article)

But duuuuude! they-- *sniffle*

"a midsize American city that has seen better days"
"this faded industrial city"

Now, alright, that may well be true.. but--! It sounds so sad.
And the picture on the article has a fisherman far more prominent than the damn ferry itself, we're painted as a midwestern ghost town.

"The prospect of losing such a unique attraction -- only three other high-speed car ferries operate in the United States -- elicited varying degrees of cynicism, sadness, bewilderment and yearning"
And gales of "I-told-you-so!"s and laughter at the idiocy of whoever got this thing into existance, but y'know...

But this article treats the ferry as Rochester's one last hope for revitalization, someone actually comes out and *says* this...and I *really* don't see that. Ferry = tourism. While tourism supports nice, warm, attractive locals... Rochester has some amazing historical things that we jaded natives tend to overlook (the George Eastman House, anything to do with Susan B. Anthony, countless other things that I've probably half-forgotten about.. there's a big Underground Railroad thing someplace nearby, isn't there?), some amazing buildings and neat venues and pretty views, but... It's just *not* a touristy city. There's no shopping center in the city itself (Midtown doesn't count, is *anything* left there now?)...and how far's the city from Charlotte anyway? Goodness knows Charlotte's got nothing anyway - the only reason anyone goes down there is cos our parents passed on the Abbott's tradition to all of us. And cos it's the nearest thing to a beach we have, even if it's closed all the time. Really, that carousel oughta be far bigger of a thing than it is... I forget what the deal is, it's been so long since I've been near it, but isn't it really old? or modeled after the original which was...

*googles out of curiousity*
ooooooooh... I'd forgotten about that lighthouse - not the one on the pier, that's an overgrown barber pole. *giggles* But there's one not far away, stone and things, we went there once when I was little... it's like uber-historic yo.

O_O!!!! pictures of what the beach used to look like! omg... "the Coney Island of Western New York": pics. Holy shit... it really *was* something huge down there! How the feck did they let all that slide away?! "The only thing that remains is the 1906 carrousel and a lovely public beach." ..ehm..depends on your definition of a lovely public beach, but... well that's the carrousel anyway. ^_________^ That's insane, it's almost a hundred years old??? It's so incredibly gorgeous, you all remember how detailed and beautiful those animals are? And it still *runs*! And there's the calliope off to the side, with angels playing cymbals and things... *mega rush of nostalgia for things both from childhood and a past never seen* That's it you guys, we're going down there during the day sometime during the summer, when the thing's actually open.
And I'm delveing into this whole long-gone beach front...I've always been curious about it, even back when my parents were younger it was really nice down there, there was apparently a kick-ass miniature golf course that my dad's always on about...
(edit: gogogo! omg so many postcards - and info! nearly every time I search for something, I find a new and awesome area on this site, I *adore*. <3 <3 <3)

What on earth happened to Rochester? ..Kodak can be blamed for the last five, ten years, but not much beyond that... such a huge, important, politically and otherwise intellectually active city, so many things invented and prominent people living in it... we developed XEROX, yo, have you any idea how much that changed the world?? Xerox and *FILM*! for cameras - we'd still be dragging around glass and silver plates were it not for good ol' George. <3

*Ananda Daydream * 1:25 AM * *

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