The man in the Statue of Liberty suit talking on his cell phone before suiting up may have captured the American spirit more than he intended. Times Square is a chaotic, overwhelming, dysfunctional, overpowering corporate and greedy mess, I think I miss the porn shops and seedy hot dog stands, that was at least authentic. Tourists flock to it, seem to love the lights and atmosphere – it is pretty wild. But also pretty sad. Like so much of America, the square is overwhelmed by corporate marketing and messaging, almost all of the lights are peddling something, and most of the stores are corporate chain stores.

This is not, to me, the spirit of America in any way, it is a monument to greed, insensitivity, noise, excess, environmental deprivation, ugliness and really bad and visionless urban planning. I guess New York has a habit of destroying things in order to save them. Surely in this vast square, there was room for one meaningful, beautiful, inspiring thing. I wonder what all of the tourists taking cell phone photos are really thinking about us. Is America really about a three-story M&M smiling down on us?

A fascinating place, barren and without a trace of soul.