Law Law Land

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF when you think of a landmark? The word has become so institutionalized, especially in New York City, that it can conjure the thought of functionaries passing judgment on which buildings deserve protecting and which don’t; which ones can be torn down to make way for development and which ones need to be meticulously preserved exactly as they once were, imprinting on those places an enduring relevance that trumps the relentless march of “progress.” I think of these things when I think of landmarks, and I also think about my grandmother, a woman who lived her whole adult life half a block away from the house where she grew up on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. She could never remember the names of the streets, because for the better part of the last century they didn’t have signs, but she knew where everything was and could get you there with exacting precision. Walk past the corner store, then take a right, then you’re going to walk three blocks until you see the church on your left, then you’ll turn there, then keep going until the train tracks… To…