When cruise ships come to town, it can be hard to still see the town. A video about Stavanger by Odveig Klyve.
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The architecture of “Chinatowns” around the world have a similar style that can be traced back to the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. A vox video by Ranjani Chakraborty and Melissa Hirsch.
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Halpate, a short film by Adam Khalil and Adam Piron, explains how Florida’s exploitative tourist spectacle became a means of survival for Seminole and Miccosukee people.
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Why hasn’t space tourism taken off? The Guardian explains.
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Wealthy Americans are leaving Coronavirus-ravaged U.S, cities for their second homes in coastal and ski resorts. Year-round residents of these rural areas are concerned that these rich refugees have brought COVID-19 with them and will overwhelm local grocery stores, pharmacies, and the limited medical resources of their small towns.
More:
“This Pandemic Is Not Your Vacation,” Anne Helen Petersen, BuzzFeed News
“Locals are petitioning to close the bridges into Cape Cod to keep out the influx of second-homeowners fleeing the coronavirus,” Dominic-Madori Davis, Business Insider
“‘We should blow up the bridges’ — coronavirus leads to class warfare in Hamptons,” Maureen Callahan, New York Post
“A plea from rural America: Urban covid-19 refugees, please stay home,” David Yamamoto, Washington Post
“Luxury resorts face coronavirus crisis as the 1% flee cities for holiday hideaways,” Amanda Holpuch, The Guardian
“In Epidemics, the Wealthy Have Always Fled,” Allison C. Meier, JSTOR Daily
Updates:
“New York man fleeing pandemic pays almost $2m to rent Hamptons hideout,” Adam Gabbatt, The Guardian
“Private jet full of super-rich holidaymakers is sent back to London after the group landed in France and tried to get to their villa by helicopter during coronavirus lockdown,” Peter Allen, Daily Mail
“Where the Very Rich Fly to Hide,” Justin Farrell, New York Times
“Tourist Towns Ban Short-Term Rentals to Prevent Virus Spread,” Andrea Noble, Route Fifty
“Vacation Mecca Wants Visitors to Stay Away — For Now,” Bruce DePuyt, Maryland Matter
“Weekending in an Emergency,” Robert Rubsam, The Baffler
“‘It’s beyond frustrating’: tensions peak as Hawaii locals urge tourists to stay out,” Nick Pachelli, The Guardian
“Billionaires’ compound with its own coronavirus testing center stokes anger on the French Riviera,” Washington Post
“Eastward, Ho! Even Art Is Leaving for the Hamptons,” Ted Loos, New York Times
Related:
“When It’s This Easy at the Top, It’s Harder for Everyone Else,” Nelson D. Schwartz, New York Times
“Why the Wealthy Fear Pandemics,” Walter Scheidel, New York Times
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The owners of Noah’s Ark have sued their insurance company over rain damage. It didn’t happen on Mount Ararat, but in Kentucky, off Interstate 75, on State Route 36 in Williamstown.
Ark Encounter, a Bible-themed tourist attraction, was partially funded by state economic development dollars because, First Amendment be damned, Biblical Literalism is the state religion of Kentucky. It took 2 years of heavy rain, not forty days and forty nights, to damage a publicly-funded access road, and the park’s insurance provider says that’s not covered. As election time nears, we predict political, not divine, intervention.
Note to nonbelievers: Kentucky’s major tourism attractions are horses, bourbon, music, arts, the outdoors and food, not big Biblical boats with dinosaurs.
More:
“Ark Encounter: State-Subsidized Religious Tourism in Kentucky,” NotionsCapital.com
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Image (“Ark Encounter, after Edward Hicks”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Illustrator Matthew Armitage visits Florida.
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Noah’s Ark may have landed on Mount Ararat, but you can see it in Kentucky off Interstate 75, on State Route 36 in Williamstown. Answers In Genesis, the outfit behind the Creation(ism) Museum, has built a 510-foot-long biblical boat as a tourist attraction, Ark Encounter ($40 admission, $10 parking). The wooden hull is stocked with pairs of animals said to be on the Ark, including dinosaurs (from the Book of Flintstones?). There’s also a zoo, but don’t expect any dinosaurs there.
Ark Encounter opened on July 7th and was built at a cost $102 million. Of that, $62 million was raised from Industrial Development Bonds issued by the City of Williamstown. The Kentucky state government granted Ark Encounter $18 million in tax incentives and is building a new $10 million highway interchange for the new Christian theme park.
The rationale for granting this public largesse for religious evangelism is that the big boat will stimulate the tourist economy and create jobs. Want to apply for those jobs? You’ll have to sign a statement of faith in Genesis and Jesus Christ, disavowing homosexuality, same-sex marriage and premarital sex. Somehow, Federal Judge Greg Van Tatenhove (alumnus of Christian Asbury University) has ruled that this is all constitutional and isn’t state sponsorship of religion. It seems Ark Encounter is a secular outfit when it gets public funding and tax breaks, but a religious organization when it hires employees. Glory be, it’s a miracle!
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival is back in Washington DC, June 29th to July 4th and July 7th to July 10th. You’ll find it on the National Mall between Fourth and Seventh streets, north of the National Air and Space Museum. The free festival features Basque culture of the Old World and the Americas (music, dance, craft and foodways), music of California, and the cultural impact of Immigration.
The festival schedule is here. See you on the line at the food concessions.
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