Post Post Modern?

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I am here inside the Very New Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at CCNY. I feel a bit wierd about the name, but maybe I am getting used to it. Since I learned of the name a few months ago I have notice the spitting is a popular past time/event in the surrounding neighborhood. Apparently AF=Bernard Spitzer was (is?) an architect/engineer/real NY Real Estate mogul who spawned AF=Elliot Spitzer, former Governor of NY. (Can you tell I have become increasingly skeptical about given identities in the six years since I moved to Manhattan?)I would love if there could be a watermelon-seed spitting contest to christen the building.

This Fall I am taking a course in World Architecture and attempting to get a leg up on the reading this week. (I cheated my way through world history class at John Marshall H.S.. Don't tell Coach Kirby.)

As for the building, I enthusiastically give two thumbs up. Mostly my praise is for the excellent lighting, beautiful floors, and large amounts of public space including a central gallery space. (Someday someone will invent public toilets that don't spray water everywhere when flushed...but not this year...not here.)

Thermodynamics--The Musical

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It's hot as something unbeliveably hot...well not really. (NYC in the summer is paradise compared to the earth scorching triple 104's of central Texas.) Anyway I am taking shelter in the AC of the NAC at CCNY where I recently registered for a World Architecture class.

I spoke to one of my neighbors today about the amazingly bad condition of the building we inhabit. How nice it would be to live in a clean building with a rooftop garden and a plant filled courtyard, an elevator than runs and is not filled with the scent of urine...sigh. Where there is life there is hope--to quote a teabag.

The University of Nebraska has begun sending me books to review. The first one is a book of poems, Taste of Cherry, by Kara Candito. The picture on the back reminds me of a girl who went to my elementary school. She looks nice.

The Experience of Modernity

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These long days I am walking (again) from Coney Island to the Bronx Botanical Gardens taking photos and reading about Modernism according to Marshall Berman who coinsidentally was roomates with Michael Templon (not his real name?)a few weeks ago when he was in the hospital having his adominal aorta repaired (Michael T. that is. Michael said Berman was having a knee replacement.)So far this book (All that is Solid Melts into Air)has been mostly about Faust and his deals with Mephisto.

Jon




Blue, the dog




Moses and Lynn at the Bronx Museum



magazine vendor outside Yankee Stadium

Kevin Walter



John Ross




Louise Brown

Carols and Nikki



Carlos B



Kevin

David Francis and Jose Dias


JJ (Joyce)



Leon Kendrick at the International Center for Photography

Mohammad's roommate




Bryant Park News Stand



Mohammad

Finally have a chance to upload these images from the secomd half of the 2008 walk from Coney Island to the Bronx Botanical Garden.

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I am here at Krishna's attempting to upload the second half of the people pictures from the 2008 Walk. Unfortunately there are some technical difficulties and I will have to try again another day.

I've been singing in the choir at 4th U Church on the west side which, if you know me you know, is kind of a feat because I am not especially gifted in this arena. This lack of training/talent is heightened by the fact that pretty much everyone else seems to be fantastically talented. Luckily, everyone there is also very nice and good at teaching and tolerating the less musical. I wish I was saying this to be modest. Krishna lent me a book called Music Theory for Idiots. This book has actually helped, causing no less than three epiphanies so far.

The church is also hosting a production of the Vagina Monologues (April 4th). This has pretty amazing as far as church experiences go. It prompted me to go to the library and check out the book.

I have started to practice typing/writing by typing one 11pt page every morning (or almost every morning). This has been good. I've also taken up belly dancing.

Last night Charlie Rose had a guy from Amazon Books on talking about Kindel (sp?) paperless reading devices. This guy looked very much like Tom Beach if Tom Beach had gone partially bald and gotten a very conservative hair style. Apparently, Amazon or his branch of the business is buying up land in Texas and building spaceships.

Walking through Downtown Brooklyn, Chinatown, NYU to Bryant park

Vatya & Eli Levi




Jilberto




Turan




Anah, Alexa & Stephanie




Carolin Chin




Amy at the Center for Architecture




Ryan at Housing Works




Reef



New Museum








Russel Reaves & Rashawn






Dennis Christie






Shateisha





Mr. S Wayne & (Johnny B.?)



Louis




Randy Chin




Louis

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Walking the D-line

Doyle Dill









Maria



Will













Yosef Goodman

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Snow! Great big fluffy hunks of it were falling as I walked around the cemetary, down 4th and Flatbush to the Dekalb st.

Last night I went to a good talk called Eutopia Now at the Center for Worker Education (25 Broadway right next to the Bull). Michael Sorkin spoke in amusing tones about zoning, soy plastics,new urban vehicals, Santa Monica, Far rockaway, 600 Miles of waterfront, artificial islands, better ones (bedouins?), photovoltaics, parks, and showed some great images. I rode down in the elevator with him and Greg Williams, the president of the CCNY, but couldn't think of anything witty to say.

Here is a list of terms that I had to look up:

Prolix
Levon?
Malthusian
Berman
Arverne
Arendt
Buzz Passwell
Bio-remediation

I have loads of pictures from the walk, but can't up-load them here at the library.

Henry Mayzick


Kristina Gindinova


Carol Solovay


Laureano Feliciano


Ary & his mother



Angelica, Catherine and Amanda




Some of Ms. Kosovich's (sp.?) Social Studies students at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shallow_Jr.Highhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shallow_Jr.Highhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shallow_Jr.High//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shallow_Jr.High




Shirley and her very cute dog.




John Dooley recommends this website: www.nycsubway.org




Mike and co-workers near New Utrecht