Idealist

ESSAY Life Styles in the Golden Land: Comrade Laski, C.P.U.S.A. (M.-I.) by Joan Didion, 1967

p. 63

"He is in all ways an idealist. As it happens I am comfortable with the Michael Laskis of this world, with those who live outside rather than in, those in whom the sense of dread is so acute that they turn to extreme and doomed commitments; I know something about dread myself, and appreciate the elaborate systems with which some people manage to fill the void, appreciate all the opiates of the people, whether they are as accessible as alcohol and heroin and promiscuity or as hard to come by as faith in God or History."

hwy 17

HIGHWAY 17

"The purgatory of the road preserves the paradise at its end."
- Mercury News

- never enough peanuts -

EXCERPT Sweet Thursday (Steinbeck, 1954)

p.20

"Change comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass. Change may be announced by a small ache, so that you think you're catching cold. Or you may feel a faint disgust for something you loved yesterday. It may even take the form of hunger that peanuts will not satisfy. Isn't overeating said to be one of the strongest symptoms of discontent? And isn't discontent the lever of change?"

active echo

At this moment there is pressure to become actively invisible, an echo. A dead and angry repeat of sound. Is it possible that absence is then necessary to create space for articulation, to withdraw for a moment from the cheering crowd and to listen closely for the faint sound of hearts, beating.

fog

because I am a ________ does not mean I have authority

authority is made up of minuscule fog droplets
in temporary formation

"in all but thunder clouds, the droplets make up less than a millionth of the volume"

meaningful boundaries

ARTICLE Field Guide to Fences via Next City

a typology of fences phrased in the problem-solution framework - though, it'd be nice to see the other side of it (ha-ha!?) and include the merits of those awful fences from the perspective of people who want and love them - we'd have an argument to work with - and go on to construct some meaningful boundaries - walls - fences - screens - posts - doors - gates - or naught.

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LA - Literally Glows

INTERVIEW Mike Davis in Conversation with Jennifer Wolch and Dana Cuff via Boom California

Davis: "Gee, you shouldn’t be disheartened by my books on LA. They’re just impassioned polemics on the necessity of the urban left. And my third LA book, Magical Urbanism, literally glows with optimism about the grassroots renaissance going on in our immigrant neighborhoods."

Questions on  -

negotiating developer and public agendas by tactic of design 
(in reference to Frank Gehry's Disney Concert Hall)

a free spirit in the space of the city
(in reference to the city's capacity to support safely roaming children)

toolkits as alternative to master plans
(in reference to the agency of disciplines)

elite fear of common people
(in reference to the revitalization of downtowns)