ABSTRACT
Miami is not a typical US city. The perception is it’s too hot, too wet, too violent, and, the real clincher, it has too many foreigners. We are used to hearing negative comments – often from tourists returning to land-locked middle America after being here just long enough to take a cruise and develop an attitude. We who enjoy the excitement of Miami have grown weary of responding to comments such as “I can’t wait to get back to the United States,” or “Miami is too ____” (you fill it in). They are, after all, correct. Miami is different – always on the move and usually moving rapidly in hard-to-predict directions. Even before Hurricane Andrew, this city was used to the heavy-handed media attention associated with international politics, crime, social unrest, and even epic natural disasters.
