American servicemen and -women are currently stationed in more than 140 countries from Central America to Western Europe to the Middle East; often living and working on military bases that not only dominate foreign territories but also re-create familiar space that “feels like homeâ€â€”gated communities filled with rambling subdivisions; franchised restaurants; and lush golf courses. In America Town; Mark Gillem reveals modern military outposts as key symbols of not just American power but also consumer consumption. Through case studies of several U.S. military facilities—including Aviano Air Base in Italy; Osan and Kunsan Air Bases in South Korea; and Kadena Air Base in Japan—Gillem exposes these military installations as exports of the American Dream; as suburban culture replicated in the form of vast green lawns; three-car garages; and big-box stores. With passion and eloquence he questions the impact of this practice on the rest of the world; exposing the arrogance of U.S. consumption of foreign land. Gillem contends that current U.S. military policy for its overseas troops practices avoidance—relocating military bases to isolated but well-appointed compounds designed to prevent contact with the residents. He probes the policy directives behind base building that reproduce widely spaced; abundantly paved; and extensively manicured American suburbs; regardless of the host nation’s terrain and culture or the impact on local communities living under empire’s wings. Throughout America Town; Gillem demonstrates how the excesses of American culture are strikingly evident in the way that the U.S. military builds its outposts. The defense of the United States; he concludes; has led to the massive imposition of tract homes and strip malls on the world—creating mini-Americas that inhibit cultural understanding between U.S. troops and our allies abroad. Mark L. Gillem is assistant professor of architecture and landscape architecture at the University of Oregon. He is also a licensed architect; a certified planner; and a former active-duty U.S. Air Force officer.
#1735071 in eBooks 2009-04-01 2009-04-01File Name: B00348UNA2
Review
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Manual for Slam PoetsBy ArthurThis is a pedestrian manual of sorts for those poets who want to skip any sort education about literature and move right to the stage to perform poems they have memorized in a group of others who have the same approach toward poetry as entertainment. albeit sometimes enlightening poetry. The problem with slam is its lack of connectedness to any forms of literary history since most slammers are in it for the short-term and have never read the great poets throughout time. The majority of slammers ignore other poets who are not also slammers and compete in quality with other amateur stage acts. such as the best karaoke competitions. The setting is often one that cant afford to hire live bands for entertainment. like open-mike clubs or on open-mike nights in clubs that hire live bands on weekends. Slam is a genre for amateurs who have something to say and a voice to say it in an entertaining way. Most are young. Marc Smith and Bob Holman are two who have capitalized on the slam genre. Both are urban and white males. Holman in NYC and Smith in Chicago. leading a charge of oftentimes offensive and loud wannabe rappers without music. When the post-Beat leader of Performance Poetry Hedwig Gorski started in the late 1970s Send in the Clown: Live Radio Broadcasts of Performance Poet Hedwig Gorski. slam was non-existent and grew out of the performance impulse she crystalized with her band and other conceptualized performances. At that time. Holman Back to Minors had not even started imitating rap without music. and Smith had never conceived of a slam event. Both of them grew out of Gorskis art school work. She led the way for the pedestrian and rock and roll approach to poetry off the page. is a non-urban woman from the hinterlands. and an art-school graduate who after a long performance poetry career became an academic with a PhD. Smiths book does not mention Gorski and other spoken word masters. such as Laurie Anderson. even though the short history of slam owes much their efforts in mustering audiences for spoken word like slam. Smiths book is a good practicum for those who want to enter slam. which is certainly more interesting than karaoke competitions. but it does not indicate a history or projection for those want to be involved with poetry in a deeper way. more like art than entertainment or braggadocio. I would like to see conference and festival that brings together the variety of facets of spoken word. performance poetry. and slam to understand their common ground and impetus. Theorists like Charles Bernstein Close Listening: Poetry and the Performed Word with his academically isolated version and Smith or Holman with their pedestrian versions seem to be competing without acknowledging each other when they should be cooperating to make a stronger more worthwhile genre that will last. such as what happened with Performance Art.
