Friday, September 16, 2011

Phantom Traps.

"All external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.

"You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."   Steve Jobs via macuser



Steve Jobs has always followed this mantra. It is so simple and so wise and yet so difficult to embrace. I admire his spirit of experimentation and drive.

Monday, September 12, 2011

To those...


What can you say about September 11, 2001 that doesn't sound trite. I never really liked the slogan "Never Forget" because it is the kind of tragedy that is impossible to forget. It just becomes a part of our collective psyche that we take along wrapped up in everything else we encounter in our cities and in our lives.

I remember so much about that day, and we were very lucky not to have lost anyone in the attacks, but every year I find the hype and re-living moment of the attacks stomach-wrenching.

The terrorist attacks were horrible, and at the time inconceivable, but I am happy to celebrate the city as it is now in all of its wonder in the spirit of Walt Whitman:


"A million people--manners free and superb--open voices--
   hospitality--the most courageous and friendly young 
   men,
City of hurried and sparkling waters! city of spires and masts! 
City nested in bays! my city!"

What do you think?

Sunday, September 11, 2011

11 September 2011




via poets.org


Mannahatta
by Walt Whitman

I was asking for something specific and perfect for my city,
Whereupon lo! upsprang the aboriginal name.

Now I see what there is in a name, a word, liquid, sane,
   unruly, musical, self-sufficient,
I see that the word of my city is that word from of old,
Because I see that word nested in nests of water-bays,
   superb,
Rich, hemm'd thick all around with sailships and
   steamships, an island sixteen miles long, solid-founded,
Numberless crowded streets, high growths of iron, slender,
   strong, light, splendidly uprising toward clear skies,
Tides swift and ample, well-loved by me, toward sundown,
The flowing sea-currents, the little islands, larger adjoining
   islands, the heights, the villas,
The countless masts, the white shore-steamers, the lighters,
   the ferry-boats, the black sea-steamers well-model'd,
The down-town streets, the jobbers' houses of business, the
   houses of business of the ship-merchants and money-
   brokers, the river-streets,
Immigrants arriving, fifteen or twenty thousand in a week,
The carts hauling goods, the manly race of drivers of horses,
   the brown-faced sailors,
The summer air, the bright sun shining, and the sailing
   clouds aloft,
The winter snows, the sleigh-bells, the broken ice in the
   river, passing along up or down with the flood-tide or
   ebb-tide,
The mechanics of the city, the masters, well-form'd,
   beautiful-faced, looking you straight in the eyes,
Trottoirs throng'd, vehicles, Broadway, the women, the
   shops and shows,
A million people—manners free and superb—open voices—
   hospitality—the most courageous and friendly young
   men,
City of hurried and sparkling waters! city of spires and masts!
City nested in bays! my city!

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Ooooh Swish!


This ephemeral film (via ecoterre) from the 1930's is funny but not that far fetched. Clothes that can be adapted for day and night and the disappearance of the skirt seem fairly typical in 2011. And despite the slightly unfortunate wizardly look of the male "spacesuit",  we are all carrying our phones, coins, keys, and 'candies for cuties' in multi-functional pieces that go from day to night. Wonder what is up for the 80's and 90's--the 2090's that is?