Where's Your Head At?

Basement Jaxx repeatedly ask, "Where's Your Head At?" in their song of the same title.

This post is what I have been thinking about what I have been wanting to do with my planning degree after I graduate.

Initially, I had started school thinking that I wanted to revitalize downtowns, such as Detroit. Then I realized that such a prospect could become rather depressing. A classmate of mine is from Hartford, CT and is absolutely head-over-heels crazy in love with that city. He can't wait to move back and apply his knowledge and help return it to its former glory. I'm not sure I share his enthusiasm, but I know that it won't be long before I'm reading about him in the Journal of American Planning.

After my enthusiasm for revitalization/ economic redevelopment waned I thought that I could tackle gentrification. It is a two-headed monster. On one hand, it provides a much needed economic boost to a so-called "blighted" area. But on the other hand, it should be asked, at whose expense?! I love to shop as much as the next girl, but I don't want my desire for a good bargain at Nordstrom Rack to literally displace a low-income resident, who finds themself living literally at the "wrong" place at the wrong time.

Therefore, I thought, I've done a lot of research on gentrification, why not stop bad business and be more accountable? I'm still for transparency in business, but I also have accepted that sometimes lobbyists and politicians, the latter whom make the final decisions, are so intertwined that I can only practice incrementalism, and push a lot of paperwork through the necessary channels.

At the same time I have not given up. I subscribe to the sentiment expressed in the poem, "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley (1849-1903)-

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole.

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

As the immortal Bard reminded us, "If it be now, it is not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all." Hamlet 5.2

Bring it.

Lately my attention has turned to suburbia, its inevitably, and how can I make it better? I would like to believe that in newer suburban developments/metropolitan regions, cities are more open to pursuing new, more sustainable ideas. This may be pie-in-the-sky wishing, but it is my wish. My plans may change in the future. But for the present that is where my head is at.

And That's When I Realized, I Was Home, a valentine to the City of Angels

I just got home from a trip to Sin City, Las Vegas, with a bunch of my classmates at USC. As much as Las Vegas reminds me of a zoo, they really shouldn't exist, but they're here, so we may as well enjoy them, I had a great time.

The problem with Las Vegas is that if you're there for only a short time there is a desire to squeeze out as much fun and debauchery as possible. This leads to dehydration, exhaustion, and other unpleasant sensations.

We were only there for a day and a half, so we rushed around to the Bellagio, the MGM Grand, Caesar's Palace, etc., having a grand old time. But after a while I grew tired and was relieved that we were going home so I could collapse on my own bed.

But what I wasn't counting on was the reassuring sensation that came over me as we pulled into the city. I saw the skyline and familiar road signs and I thought to myself, I am home.

Home is an abstract concept for me as my family and I have lived in a ton of places, I have lived on my own in a variety of settings, and I have friends all over the U.S. I have written about this before, but it is still something with which I am wrestling.

I never expected to fall in love with L.A. other than enjoying wearing t-shirts in January while my parents are still shoveling snow in Minnesota. But I really have fallen in love with L.A. There is such a diversity here that is unmatched by any place on earth, even New York, or my beloved Chicago.

I went back to Chicago for New Year's and there was so much that was familiar and felt like I'd never left. But at the same time I yearned for things that were in L.A. that didn't exist in Chicago, and not just warmer weather. They don't have taco trucks, or especially Korean BBQ trucks (horrors! though they do have the vendor pushcarts i.e. roach coaches) nor is their Asian population as large as L.A. There is a Chinatown in Chicago, but no Thai Town, Little Tokyo, or Koreatown. Though in their defense they have Greektown and a much more predominant Polish and Irish population than the City of Angels.

It was also a little eerie seeing American Apparel stores popping up in Chicago. American Apparel is based out of Los Angeles, including their manufacturing plant. But to see it in the Windy City with negative wind chills was surreal, though inevitable as American Apparel's population increases without abatement.

Chicago still outpaces L.A. any day in terms of public transit and the way it so seamlessly woven into the urban landscape is inspiring. But the cold and ice is miserable.

Quite a few of the architectural hallmarks in Los Angeles are grounded in pop culture, not architectural history, such as Capitol Records and the Hollywood sign versus the Sears Tower and the Hancock Building. But there is also an abundance of Art Deco to be found in L.A., for which I am a HUGE sucker.

I still love Chicago, but I don't think that I will be planning there any time soon. Chicago politics being what they are is a huge obstacle and I don't think I want to move back to the Chicago "area" to plan one of its suburbs, though I may change my mind on that in the future.

The future remains unwritten, but for now I have found my place, and it is under the sun.

Food for Thought

I've been thinking a lot about food and food networks over the last semester. One of the doctoral students in communications was very big into food networks, urban gardening, and not being reliant on faraway sources for food.

Also, my bff is involved in a start-up non-profit called Institute for Bionomic Urbanism (headed up by a Ms. Laura Burkhalter), which seeks to develop urban gardens, even temporarily.

http://www.ibu-la.org/index.php/programs/urban_farms/

See their page on the Whitley Gardens as an example of their work-

http://www.ibu-la.org/index.php/projects/whitley_gardens/

An article by the founder of IBU called Beyond the Crisis: Towards a new Urban Paradigm

http://www.archinect.com/features/article_print.php?id=90159_0_23_0_M

I am a fan on Facebook of Edible Landscapes and Roots of Change. And the lady who runs the Edible Landscapes page posted an article from the Atlantic that left me more than a little gobsmacked-

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201001/school-yard-garden

I don't want to summarize the article, as it'll be shaded by my bias

But here's my take on it-

I don't think the intent of school gardens is to stilt or shortchange kids so much as an opportunity to teach them to be mindful stewards of the earth and to know where their food comes from. (hint: it's not grown in Styrofoam packages in the supermarket) Is the author implying that migrant farm worker parents have some kind of "edge" over non-agricultural parents?

(scene: in the grocery store): Hey kids, daddy used to harvest this, don't you feel all warm and fuzzy?

And besides, Euclid isn't in high demand these days :( I'd rather kids know where their food comes from than who Descartes was. I am an amateur philosophy enthusiast, but it's ridiculous to think that a little school garden is going to hamper kids' learning. If there is one thing I really have no patience for (besides post-post modern art), it's displaced liberal guilt. Kids need to know where their food comes from just as much as they need to know their three R's. Boo Atlantic boo.

Also, one of my favorite memories from childhood was growing alfalfa sprouts in washed out milk cartons in second grade. I took great pride in being able to grow something myself. And yeah, now I'm a masters of urban planning candidate. A little ag learning didn't hurt anyone.

And here is the reply to the article from the administrator of the Edible Landscapes page-

Ok, now I’m really mad. I’ve been a Master Gardener since 2004 and have designed and run public school gardens for the last 10 years. Granted, I’ve seen some garden programs that started off being not what I’d call “rigorously designed”. But as with all rapidly institutionally adopted programs, roll-out and resources for school gardens were erratic and scare at first, so many teachers and parents were left “to find their own way”. My standards-based garden curriculum, covering more than the nutrition education aspect, NEVER replaced book learning in the classroom. In fact, it proved to be another invaluable teaching tool in the educator’s toolbox. As any of our education reformers will tell you, book learning alone is not effective in teaching students who do not learn that way (Multiple Intelligence Learning styles: visual, auditory, tactile/kinesthetic learning). Garden, if well designed and supported by the school staff and parents, can be a VERY powerful teaching tool. EVERY talented teacher I know uses a variety of many different modalities of teaching a single concept; not just books and not just inside a classroom.
Many of my fellow Master Gardeners can share dozens if not hundreds of stories of witnessing a child, struggling to overcome the obstacles of language, economic and, yes, even health issues, become engaged and even inspired by a lesson augmented by a garden activity. Why? Because the abstract concept introduced in the classroom from a book came alive to that child when they experienced that same concept in a hands-on, project-based learning activity in the garden.
Ms. Flanagan comes very close to equating the School Garden Movement to …racism and directly (and nastily) bashes the parent volunteers who push for gardens as being “a certain kind of educated, professional-class, middle-aged woman (the same kind of woman who tends to light, midway through life’s journey, on school voluntarism as a locus of her fathomless energies)”. WOW! MG’s are mandated to work with the under-served. We can tell you that this does not accurately describe the parents OR typical volunteer we see.
Oh yes…I could go on venting but suffice it to say that Ms. Flanagan REALLY needs to walk a mile in my garden boots!
Geri Miller - LAUSD

What is this skool of which you speak!?

Back in the saddle again. Back where a friend is a friend. Where the long-horn cattle, um, OK never fed on the lowly gypsum weed, at least not to the best of my knowledge here in California. But tomorrow I start my classes, hence, the Back in the Saddle medley!

A renewed sense of purpose! A new zeal for learning! Um, maybe. Not gonna lie. I really enjoyed my break. After several years in retail and the healthcare industry, where apparently time does not stop for festivus, it was nice to have a long stretch of "me time."

Christmas was awesome, but bizarre. It was weird getting urban planning books from my grandparents. Especially as I hadn't requested them. But the titles were on my amazon.com wishlist. Am looking into digging into them, especially Boomburbs: the Rise of America's Accidental Cities by Robert E. Lang and Jennifer Lefurgy.

This will coincide nicely with my urban demography class and my Smart Growth and Sprawl class, which is being taught by Bill Fulton.

I am unabashedly excited that I am going to be studying under Professor Fulton, who is the mayor of Ventura, author of the (definitive) Guide to CA Planning, and wrote several other (!) books including the Regional City with Peter Calthorpe and also wrote the Reluctant Metropolis. Yes, it sounds like brown-nosing, and probably is, but he is one of the heavy-hitters in the field and it's exciting to be able to say that he was one of my professors. Hey, our department head studied under Kevin Lynch- this could be a pattern!

More to come. Have to head over to the bookstore, see if our books every got stocked. The irony kills me. Here's to an exciting new year!