“Other” review

What is Community? part 4: Lupin Lodge

Posted onWednesday 12 September 2012Wednesday 6 February 2013

I’ve written several posts now on Paolo Soleri’s Arcosanti, and his vision of cities as mostly-self-sufficient, compact communities instead of sprawling and isolating urban blights that consume and destroy the land they’re on. I’ve also mentioned some of my agreements and doubts with what I saw in Arcosanti (as a concrete entity somewhat separated from…

What is Community? part 3: Soleri’s definitions

Posted onTuesday 11 September 2012Wednesday 6 February 2013

So does CoH qualify as a community? Does Arcosanti as it stands today, or Lupin Lodge? Paolo Soleri (who is still alive, though I speak of his writing in the past tense) devoted quite a bit of thought to community. According to him, there is a “magic of the big city” (23) as much as…

What is Community? part 2: City of Heroes

Posted onMonday 10 September 2012Monday 10 September 2012

What causes a feeling of community? What creates a coherent sub-culture? Both my housemates play on the on-line multiple-player game City of Heroes, which is being startlingly abruptly shut down by NCSoft, the Korean company that bought the game some years ago. Watching my housemates, I find myself faintly surprised at the real distress I…

Arcosanti photos

Posted onWednesday 29 August 2012

More Arcosanti photos; click on the thumbnails for a larger, clearer version of each photo. Also, you can read my thoughts on Arcosanti here, for more background, and see more photos at the end of that article. Enjoy! :)

What is community? part 1: Arcosanti

Posted onMonday 13 August 2012Friday 17 August 2012

Photos are at the end of this article; all are clickable for larger versions. You will need to use the Back button on your browser to return to this page. Enjoy! :) Arcosanti was designed in the 70’s by Paolo Soleri, who dreamed of ecologically friendly cities. His soaring design precludes cars, integrates multiple levels…

New Mexico: very weird! part 2

Posted onWednesday 8 August 2012

I stumbled across this today while writing down my memories of further proof of New Mexico’s inherent weirdness: Roswell UFO Crash: There Were 2 Crashes, Not 1, Says Ex-Air Force Official. Yep… that’s about par for the course for New Mexico. :) So on the way home I was planning on driving through Texas in…

Laissez les bons temps rouler! part 3

Posted onWednesday 8 August 2012Tuesday 7 August 2012

(Continuing from the earlier part 2) That was not the end of that exceptionally pleasant day. I went down several streets in the French Quarter in my wanderings, and was amused at the strong (and unsurprising) French theme for the street names: Burgundy (pronounced bur-GUN-dee), Dauphine, Decatur, Dumaine, Royal, Conti… but most of all I…

Laissez les bons temps rouler! part 2

Posted onMonday 6 August 2012Monday 6 August 2012

As several folks know by now, I’m home again — yay! Home is wonderful; I think it’s truly where those you love are, rather than any particular geographical location. I’m writing as swiftly as I can — whilst also unpacking, relaxing, greeting old friends, and otherwise enjoying myself — since I want to get down…

Laissez les bons temps rouler! part 1

Posted onSaturday 28 July 2012Monday 30 July 2012

I think I’m in love. :) I have never been in a city like New Orleans before, or seen a neighborhood like the French Quarter. I ended up wandering the French Quarter for most of the day that I was in New Orleans, in fact. By the time I left the city, I’d gotten: sore…

Who dat? :)

Posted onThursday 26 July 2012

I’m in N’Awlins! It is… an astonishing mix. Dignified antebellum grande dames draped with Mardi Gras beads on their wrought-iron upper balconies sit cheek-by-jowl with sleek concrete modern banks adorned with cocky neon signs. An ornate “classical” style court building gleams internally from multiple glittering chandeliers I see winking from a side window. Looking up…