Current Chaos

So after my brief foray back into blogging last night I felt remorse that I hadn't kept up with it better so here I am again. I realized that the pics from yesterday were rather "clean". So let's get down to the nitty gritty. First, two of my podmates,



Dave (in red) and David. This pretty much gives you the attitude we strike when summer calls but the studio calls louder.




And then there is me. I call this,





"self portrait". Or the current chaos of my desk.









Let's give you a little more info. The smell of wood...though I'm not sure if it is the desk's surface or if someone is burning designs into balsa for a model. Chatter...near and far...ideas being passed around, thrashed, supported, regenerated, revised....you get the picture. Tracing paper rustling as fellow students draw their ideas out over our oversized waterfront plans that comprise the site of our current project. What else, the "sssshhhhhtttt" of scissors splicing through paper as a GSDer prepares boards for tomorrows crit with images of planting choices and color schemes....

The list could go on. And so must I...to all of the verbs I just wrote above.

I'm glad you are all enjoying this as much as I am. Even if laying out in the grass with a bottle of wine and a sweet companion calls to me as well. But for now I am here in the flourescents and not necessarily unhappy about that either. See you soon! And again, come visit!!!! B

Midway to Friday

Hi ho! It's Wednesday and where have I been? In the studio! A poor excuse for not blogging but...well, it's the only one I've got. Speaking of the studio,






puruse the trays going up










and scan the close up of tray one.












I snapped these this morning on my early morning arrival before the masses swarmed in. I really need to capture the teaming beehive that this place becomes starting around 9 am. Perhaps a little time lapse movie. Hmmmm....well, for now these will have to do. And I will have to go to bed. But not before the Kenny Update! He "totally" hooked up with the librarian. Twice. The drama has begun. Catch you all later in the week. B

ps...and since many of you have asked...to "kill" in crit is good.

In Summation

Okay. So how long have I been here? A year? Oh, only a week. Hmmmm. Things happen fast here. Already I've logged 27 hours making two different models of fences made from panty hose. You want to see my contribution to the Atlantic Yards construction sites you say? Done.



This would be the rigid fence.











This would be the flexible fence.










The idea being that you had to use the same material for both. 27 hours you say? They don't look like much. I know. Sad but true. And yet somehow they killed in crit. Who knew?

But you are all wondering about Kenny I know. One of these days he's going to get wind that he is prominent in my blog and then what will happen?! I'm sure we'll find out.

Here's what I can tell you about Kenny this week. First of all, he greeted me one day with a birdcall that sounded like, "Ka-ka! Ka-ka!". The woman unlocking the dorm floor door in front of me was a little confused but I got it. The next day he wore a fedora to lecture and sat in the front row during "Career Day". Afterwards he milled around and questioned each of the professionals who had come to explain their personal experiences as Urban Planners, Landscape Architects, and Architects. The boy is thirsty! Except he doesn't drink.

Last night my "podmate" (more on what that means later) Eric and I commandeered Kenny for a night out on the town. Which led us to the Barking Crab in downtown Boston. I highly recommend it for purposes of cracking crab legs on the water amidst a rowdy crowd of urban professionals and locals.

The upshot of the dinner is that basically I am Kenny's love coach now. Kenny, if you are reading this, dump the girlfriend who can't say she likes you and get busy with the dreadlocked librarian who "facebook friended" you. I don't want to try to get into what that means but it's all the rage with the majority of contestants in the game of under 21 dating.

There is much more to write but I'm too tired to make it happen now. I will say that the schedule is grueling. Sleep...well, I'd like a little more of it. The process takes immense concentration and ingenuity. But the result felt pretty good to present.

Two last things. I want to introduce some of my podmates. Yes. I said podmates. Here at the GSD they split you up into "trays" and "pods". A tray is the floor you are on and it is called a tray because the building has been designed like a football stadium...steps leading up to the top in tiers except the tiers are large enough to accommodate multiple open studios that are grouped in "pods". A pod consists of 8 desks in 4 carrels. Whoever is in your carrel is your "buttmate". I'm not making this up. I just learned that tonight at dinner. My podmates are all of an older descent. The youngest in our ranks is 26...so that means that after the big critique we can....

you guessed it....

drink....













Starting from the left you have me, Elise, David, Sarah, and the afore mentioned Eric. Dave and Ken are missing from the picture as they were missing from the drinking but we like them anyway. I'll give the lo-down on everyone another day when I can do them justice. I will say that we pretty much spend 15 hours a day together at least and so far no one has shot anyone. Stay tuned for dramas to unfold. Nah...we are a good bunch.

And finally, I have to give a shout out to Team Franklin who inspired this blog in the first place. He's got one of his own that is definitely worth the read. Check it out here.

Team Franklin is coming to Boston soon and will hopefully be filling in his peeps about pods and trays in his own special way. Don't just take my word for it. Get a second opinion at http://franklinespinal.blogspot.com/

Okay, enough for now. See you on the morrow. B

Day of few words

Tanner Fountain...one of the inspirations for this crazy endeavor. It's midway between my dorm and the GSD (the Graduate School of Design). Come visit!

Day 1 and 2

Alright, alright...so I'm over the dorm thing. Enough already. I won't be here that much anyway. And frankly, once you get past the...well, the whole thing of it really, it's kind of fun.

Two things. Kenny is going to be a recurring character. Today I saw him on my way into the building and again with the pointing and the bug eyes and the impish smile and the implied "You!". "Get your bike inside!" he threw across the foyer at me. "My bike was stolen last night from outside the dorm". Which is a huge bummer for two reasons. One, who needs that. And who wants to worry about that. And two, Kenny is obviously enamored of his transportation options. Though at our next encounter at lunch he explained that it really wasn't such a bad thing because the bike had been given to him for free and he really didn't like having that many possessions anyway because it meant that other people might want them. And having them meant he was spoiled. Ah Marxism.

On other fronts, today was a much better day. I feel a little more grounded and into the whole program. The car is "disposed of" for the time being at my awesome friend Barbara's house (thanks Barbara!) and the work has begun in earnest. Even if that work is drawing plan views, section views, and elevations of a donut (no, I'm not kidding) and experimenting with materials for a theoretical bridge or fence in an area you know well. For all of you Brooklynites out there I'm creating a construction fence for the Atlantic Yards project. Feel free to send suggestions for the profanity that will be spray painted in tiny letters on the surface.

And last but not least, I had dinner tonight with Ken, a house husband from Chelsea NY whose husband/partner brings home the bacon via lawyering for a bank. We bonded over the craziness of the ice cream social (he is 43) and swapped stories about life in the "real" world. Now I am off to play with panty hose for my fence. And again, I'm not kidding.

Miss you all. B

Arrival

Alright folks. Let's just say it. I live in the dorm again. I sleep in a twin bed and carry my shampoo to the shower a floor down. Unless I decide to give in and just use the men's bathroom on my floor for all purposes. Which I am close to doing.

I arrived yesterday after a whirlwind departure from NY that involved losing my drivers license, credit card, and ATM card. All a day in the life and not so upsetting but very inconvienent. I could go on about the departure but really, let's focus on the arrival. Specifially, the ice cream social. Did I mention that I live in a dorm again? And dorms have meetings when new people arrive. And as a reward afterwards they have ice cream socials. Let me give you one of the highlights from the ICS.

By far my favorite person so far is a young "kid" (a word I put in quotations because he is 20 and I am not) named Kenny. The week before we all arrived here Harvard signed up every new student on a List Serve and duly sent out an email telling everyone of such. Something in the email made people feel the need to send shout outs to the group. Things like, "Hi, my name is Michelle and my email address is michelle@michelle.com. I can't wait to meet everyone next week." Like that. A hundred emails just like that from total strangers. Except one. Kenny's. Kenny's email said, "i think it strange, for i prefer faces-kenny" Which in my opinion is genius but what do I know.

So fast forward to the ICS. The ice cream is melting on the table, students are packed onto the concrete slab underneath one of the dorm overhangs chatting about god knows what and I pass by one little dude with longish brown hair still wet from the shower in disorganized pieces around his head and he is yelling out indiscriminately, "Urban Planning! Anyone! Urban Panning! Am I all alone here? Urban Planning!" And he does it with a smile and abandon. No self conciousness. No worry. Just pure delight and zeal. To be yelling out to strangers with joy. As Mastercard says, priceless. I should add that Urban Planning is one of the smaller subsections of this whole summer thing. Architecture takes up the bulk with Landscape Architecture, Urban Planning, and Urban Design taking up the significant rear with about 90 students total across all three fields. But back to Kenny, not being an Urban Planning student I let the man alone and took my ice cream elsewhere. But Kenny arrived in my little corner and introduced himself around and as soon as he said his name I knew...You! You're the one that wrote the only original thing on that list serve! To which he pointed at me and said...you read it! Ha! Did you write one? To which I had to admit I had...I couldn't resist flooding strangers inboxes.

All of which is to say, Kenny is a one of a kind and he has no idea. I want to shake him and say "Don't change!" Continue to wear two different color socks. Continue to shout into crowds indiscriminately looking for your kindred. Continue!

I think he shall.

As for me...well, I'm taking it in. I have to admit the dorm thing throws me a bit but I think a lot of things are going to throw me. Which I guess is part of the point with this time. Shake it up. See where it all lands.

If I have the time I will keep posting updates but frankly, they've pretty much laid down a rigorous schedule. But who knows. Talking to all of you seems just as, if not perhaps more important than a schedule of assignments. Continue!