Tuesday, May 07, 2002

point-to-point or walkathon?
This last Sunday, Delaware was host to two different events. One was the Point-to-Point equestrian showcase held on a Dupont estate, drawing 22,000 people to a day of fun in the sun, and the other was a 14,000 person charity walkathon organized by an MBNA charitable foundation. Fortune Magazine has a feature on the timing of the events called Who's the King of Delaware?
Not since Beverly Hills was stormed by hillbillies has the world seen such a clash between the old gentry and the new. Yes, it would be easy to dismiss it as a tempest in a gilded teapot, a mere triviality in a world riven by bloody conflict on three continents. That view would be correct, of course. But then, who can resist the spectacle of a collision between what may be America's original corporate culture--Du Pont--and an upstart, mildly messianic cadre of executives with money and ambition to spare? From the invasion of blue-blood redoubts to the changing face of Wilmington's downtown; from MBNA's growing political brawn to its, well, distinctive sartorial philosophy, the credit card company is shaking the old order in the first state of corporate America.
I missed both events. Delaware really needs something like the sxsw as a counter point to such corporate sponsored events. Anyone interested in working towards one for next year?

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