Posted in A Town Square on March 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
On the Atlantic
We explorers are off again on Thursday the 27th, across the Atlantic from San Juan to the Azores, Spain, France, and England. We will be taking good notes, lots of pictures, videos, and I hope making a few watercolors. We’ll keep our thinking caps on, and we’ll be on the lookout for stories [...]
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Posted in A Town Square on March 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The Small People
Saturday was egg hunt day at our branch of the Public Library. It was great fun to see all the little people, and our neighbors their parents, having a great time together on a spring morning. Amy, who volunteers at the Library, was asked to assist, and somehow I became her photographer. [...]
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Posted in A Town Square on March 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Neighbors Web, painting by Brett Busang
We are not the only ones wandering around the alleys of Capitol Hill. This painting, by a terrific artist here in DC, Brett Busang, illustrates the point that alleys tell great stories. You can see more of his stuff at www.brettbusang.com.
So get out there and walk in your alleys!
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In the last couple of days, I have been making notes from several different articles in the Post.
First there was an article in the Business section about the rising cost of diesel fuel. Here is my favorite fact from that article: in 1999 a cross-country trip by tractor trailer truck cost $550; today that same trip costs [...]
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A street in Priene, Turkey
Priene seems to have firmly wedged itself into my imagination of late. Yesterday, after writing about it as a lost city, I got to thinking about what it must have been like to live or visit there. This morning, I found some images that I could stitch together to offer a sense of [...]
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The Maeander River Valley, from Priene
In the end, I suppose, all cities are temporary, changing and reforming over time, responding to the nature, literally, of their surroundings, and sometimes disappearing altogether. Witness Priene, an ancient Ionian city built on the shores of the Aegean, on the Anatolian Peninsula in Turkey.
Priene is a city now often studied [...]
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A regular reader here asked me a question the other day. He said: “You talk about the challenges facing the next cities, but I am not sure I understand exactly what you mean.”
So to be as clear as I can, I invite you to read the text below. It is an edited version of an article from The [...]
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The crew, with cinematographer Jim Morrisette at the camera and producer/director Judith McBrien in the green coat. Sculpture of Columbus by Lorado Taft.
Filming continued today, first at Burnham’s Union Station, and then on the West Front of the Capitol, looking into the afternoon sun at Burnham’s (and L’Enfant’s) Mall.
We were led through the Capitol (!) [...]
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The Commission of Fine Arts, at the National Building Museum
For some good long time now, I have been helping friend, TV producer and director, and Chicagoan Judith McBrien put together a two part/one hour each PBS series on the life and work of Daniel Burnham. I have conducted a number of interviews for Judith, noted here [...]
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Out for a walk this morning, and crossing our street, a block west of our house, we made an interesting discovery. For decades, one of Washington’s streetcar lines ran down our street. I have always suspected that the rails were still there, just under the pavement. And sure enough, here they are, at Amy’s feet.
Where’s my shovel?…
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