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AFTER_THE_FLOOD

                                                     February 14, 2007

Mona Caron and Chris Carlsson are both
people with a shared utopian vision
for San Francisco (and for cities in
general).

After the flood, after the deluge,
they hope that the city will be
re-born, a haven for green
technologies and post-capitalist
volunteerism, a land where bicycles
rule the roads, but which also
accomodate some electric busses,
cabs and delivery vehicles.

                                        [ref]
Chris Carlsson: one of the original
critical mass people, and the long-time
editor of the zine "Processed World.

He's written a novel, "After The Deluge":

   [ref]

I've tried to read it, and I'll no
doubt go back to it some day, but it     It is, however, one of
suffers from all the problems people     the few examples that
usually attribute to didactic art.       I know of of "New Urbanist
                                         Science Fiction", a
Mona Caron's medium is                   sub-genre that I think
painting, and she's done some            the world could use more of.
superb wall-murals around San
Francisco... hers are some of
the best, in a city known for      [ref]
many an impressive mural.
                                            [ref]
She's clearly working with the same
"future history" as Chris Carlsson,
but in her hands it's a much more
delicate presentation... her background
assumptions sink into your brain
slowly as you study the fanciful
details of her alternative San
Francisco.
                                [ref]

    For example...

        [ref]

    Slices of Market Street throughout history...
    and in the future, there appear to be
    canals running up to Market Street, what?

    Oh.  The waterline is in a different place:
    the seas have risen.  A post-global warming
    scenario --


    She lets the implications creep up on
    you with that delicate touch...

    [ref]


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