Coming soon- a new road or bus stop probably near you!
Today, January 28th, the House OK'ed $819B stimulus bill. President Obama, in a written statement, said that it will "save or create three million new jobs over the next few years." Included in this stimulus is money for highway construction and (yay!) a "last minute $3 billion for mass transit."
source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090129/ap_on_go_co/obama_economy
It's always gratifying when your elected leaders actually follow through on what they say they will do. For this I am willing to have a hike in my taxes! Just not a painful one, please.
For further thought, once he digs us out of this economic snafu perhaps the president will be able to give more attention to urban cities, and not just the schools, but the entire cities as Mick Cornett, mayor of Oklahoma City observed,
"What I hear mayors say typically is that urban issues aren't truly understood at the White House."
(as quoted in "Mayor League" by Jess Zimbabwe, Next American City, Issue 20, 25)
Dear President Obama, For Christmas I would like mass transit in every major city, a small park in every neighborhood, zero dependence on foreign oil,. . .
I know President Obama's a busy man, but I do have my personal causes. Still, I like to imagine him every day since he's been in office, kicking out of bed like a kid on Christmas morning, excited to see what the day will bring, in old-fashioned striped pajamas of course. Or "fierce pajamas," if you are of the New Yorker persuasion. (Fierce Pajamas is the name of an anthology of humor from the New Yorker magazine. Not funny? OK, pretend I didn't say anything.)
Our president has already demonstrated a commitment to clean, green energy and environmental causes, but more is always better! And innovation cannot come soon enough. Sleep tight Mr. President, you have a big day tomorrow and the next day and the day after that. . .
An informative article on the background of three of the women who will be actively involved in heading up the Obama administration's green tech, job stimulus, and environmental actions can be found at-
http://seekingalpha.com/article/110449-obama-creates-an-energy-policy-troika
But more mass transit? Hip hip hooray!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
the (Temporary) Death of the McMansion?
This is a small thought, but hopefully a valid one.
As I walking home from work I pass by a two story building that is being constructed to house a new Remax office. It is definitely a testament to optimisim in these times, but perhaps the deals were already signed, labor paid for, and the owner thought it better just to go through with it then not. Walking past the future real estate office I considered that another potential blessing in disguise to this whole economic meltdown, as I have come to call it, (with my penchant for hyperbole firmly in place), is that we will, hopefully, see a reduction in big, ugly houses.
You know the ones that I'm talking about- the McMansions and the ungainly houses that pretend to display their girth as a desirable quality, not who the heck would want to live in such an ugly place?
I lived in Connecticut in the Simsbury-Avon region during the dot.com boom and it was odd to see the more modest Colonial-style salt boxes juxtaposed next to the nouveau riche mini mansions that sprouted up, which looked like saltboxes on steroids. Or the McMansions tried to imitate some Palladian style mansion of yore- the Villa Emo, etc., Feeble attempts were made at incorporating symmetry and classicism. But it was weird seeing literally flat columns pasted on houses that look like they were just there as a stab at credibility.
Even here in the town that I live in, which has modest economic incomes across the board, there have been numerous subdivisions that have sprung up with houses so monstrous and crammed so close together that I wonder if the neighbors literally know when you're taking a shower because they can see right in your window that's only two feet away from theirs. OK, the distance is probably slightly greater, but driving by it certainly doesn't look like it.
I also privately wonder who could afford to buy those houses since we only have one hospital in town = there are only so many doctors, but I guess our current economic state can tell me who- everybody who was trying to keep up with the Joneses, who in turn were trying to keep up with the Dr. McDreamy's.
While I wish that front porches, turrets, and real gables would make a comeback, I'm not militant about the subject. At the very least I would like to see houses that don't look like an intro course to Auto CAD come to life. There is one house in town that is so square that it's hard to tell where the front door is. I think it's the side that faces the street, but other days I'm not so sure. I'm equally committed to this concept in terms of public space as well. Not every place has to look like a Norman Rockwell, but I'd like it to not to resemble scenes out of Bladerunner either. I advocate places with a mix of architectural styles, with lots of green space, and of course many access points to mass transit!
(more thoughts on whose fault it is that we have a low-density auto-dependent society it really is/ a review of the premise of Jonathan Levine's work, Zoned Out: Regulation, Markets, and Choices in Transportation and Metropolitan Land Use coming up)
My reasoning not only is aesthetic, it's also environmentally based. Bigger places consume more resources and use more energy. This is kind of a duh point- your office building's A/C bill is (hopefully) higher than your house's. But a 500,000 sq. ft. house consumes more resources and emits more waste than say a 5,000 sq. ft. house. I'm not saying we should all live in hobbit houses and cram ourselves into shoebox sized spaces. But how badly does one need that house on the hill? versus how badly do we need a healthy planet?
(I try to reduce my carbon footprint by not turning on my A/C for the past two consecutive summers. Highly unadvisable. I was just cranky and probably alienated people with both my attitude and general sweatiness. Solution: only turn on A/C when absolutely necessary, fans are quite lovely, and find other ways to reduce your footprint, by say, driving less and using CFLs. Not perfect, but significantly less sticky)
And for more thoughts on houses that feel instinctively "right" versus those that just feel "off" I highly recommend Jonathan Hale's work, The Old Way of Seeing: How Architecture Lost Its Magic (And How to Get It Back)
As I walking home from work I pass by a two story building that is being constructed to house a new Remax office. It is definitely a testament to optimisim in these times, but perhaps the deals were already signed, labor paid for, and the owner thought it better just to go through with it then not. Walking past the future real estate office I considered that another potential blessing in disguise to this whole economic meltdown, as I have come to call it, (with my penchant for hyperbole firmly in place), is that we will, hopefully, see a reduction in big, ugly houses.
You know the ones that I'm talking about- the McMansions and the ungainly houses that pretend to display their girth as a desirable quality, not who the heck would want to live in such an ugly place?
I lived in Connecticut in the Simsbury-Avon region during the dot.com boom and it was odd to see the more modest Colonial-style salt boxes juxtaposed next to the nouveau riche mini mansions that sprouted up, which looked like saltboxes on steroids. Or the McMansions tried to imitate some Palladian style mansion of yore- the Villa Emo, etc., Feeble attempts were made at incorporating symmetry and classicism. But it was weird seeing literally flat columns pasted on houses that look like they were just there as a stab at credibility.
Even here in the town that I live in, which has modest economic incomes across the board, there have been numerous subdivisions that have sprung up with houses so monstrous and crammed so close together that I wonder if the neighbors literally know when you're taking a shower because they can see right in your window that's only two feet away from theirs. OK, the distance is probably slightly greater, but driving by it certainly doesn't look like it.
I also privately wonder who could afford to buy those houses since we only have one hospital in town = there are only so many doctors, but I guess our current economic state can tell me who- everybody who was trying to keep up with the Joneses, who in turn were trying to keep up with the Dr. McDreamy's.
While I wish that front porches, turrets, and real gables would make a comeback, I'm not militant about the subject. At the very least I would like to see houses that don't look like an intro course to Auto CAD come to life. There is one house in town that is so square that it's hard to tell where the front door is. I think it's the side that faces the street, but other days I'm not so sure. I'm equally committed to this concept in terms of public space as well. Not every place has to look like a Norman Rockwell, but I'd like it to not to resemble scenes out of Bladerunner either. I advocate places with a mix of architectural styles, with lots of green space, and of course many access points to mass transit!
(more thoughts on whose fault it is that we have a low-density auto-dependent society it really is/ a review of the premise of Jonathan Levine's work, Zoned Out: Regulation, Markets, and Choices in Transportation and Metropolitan Land Use coming up)
My reasoning not only is aesthetic, it's also environmentally based. Bigger places consume more resources and use more energy. This is kind of a duh point- your office building's A/C bill is (hopefully) higher than your house's. But a 500,000 sq. ft. house consumes more resources and emits more waste than say a 5,000 sq. ft. house. I'm not saying we should all live in hobbit houses and cram ourselves into shoebox sized spaces. But how badly does one need that house on the hill? versus how badly do we need a healthy planet?
(I try to reduce my carbon footprint by not turning on my A/C for the past two consecutive summers. Highly unadvisable. I was just cranky and probably alienated people with both my attitude and general sweatiness. Solution: only turn on A/C when absolutely necessary, fans are quite lovely, and find other ways to reduce your footprint, by say, driving less and using CFLs. Not perfect, but significantly less sticky)
And for more thoughts on houses that feel instinctively "right" versus those that just feel "off" I highly recommend Jonathan Hale's work, The Old Way of Seeing: How Architecture Lost Its Magic (And How to Get It Back)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Hardship = opportunity
Welcome to 2009. Time for a new president, the reality of predatory loaning and credit defaulting- ouch, a war that may, or may not get resolved by this time next year, mass layoffs, and general belt-tightening.
This is far from good news, but it has given me pause to consider all of the implications.
For a while I considered posting a rant about how it's stupid people who insist on living beyond their means and buying houses that they can't afford while literally walking away from their current homes that got us into this mess. I would also pontificate by saying that anyone with a brain in their head would also read Panic! the Story of Modern Financial Insanity by Michael Lewis if they knew what was good for them.
But then I took a step back and did some more research instead of just being all self-righteous.
"If you don't like it Stewie, you can do what everybody else does and go on the Internet and complain." -Brian, Family Guy
And I realized that there is a lot of blame, but it can be spread out a lot of places. I also saw the reviews of Mr. Lewis's book on amazon.com and they weren't all that great. So, save your money.
Instead, please seek out the absolutely fantastic article, "Um, What Just Happened?" by Richard Medley, Esquire December 2008. I seriously cannot tell you how incredibly illuminating Mr. Medley's article was on breaking down how we (America and the world) got into this giant financial pickle and the potential ways of digging ourselves out. It's entitled, "The End of America’s Capitalist Fantasy and the Shape of Banks to Come" on Esquire's Web site.
http://www.esquire.com/features/green/features-why-is-our-economy-in-a-recession-1208?click=main_sr
I pretend to have a good grasp on international financial matters. When it comes up in conversation, I can roughly translate the exchange rate between the British pound, the euro, and the American dollar. And I would nod my head at all the right places when my friend brought up the Nikkei index in relation to her stocks' performance.
But like the war in Iraq, our current economic state has a lot of controversy surrounding it, though on an admittedly smaller scale, but equally plagued with tons of opinions masquerading as fact and jargon that I just don't want to wrap my brain around. So, do yourself a favor and read Mr. Medley's article. (I am also going to see how many times I can insert the words "Mr. Medley" into this blog before someone notices.)
In the meantime, also consider the good, yes good! that can, has come, will come out of this sorry state we find ourselves in.
As I was pondering this topic I realized that this "situation" makes us take stock and really look around and consider what are we doing- with ourselves? our lives? our priorities!?
Yes, we may not get a glut of new shopping malls, bistros, and boutiques anytime in the near future. Heck, Starbucks might not even gain back their market shares for at least several years. But in the end, do we really need such things? Yes, they are great for urban revival yet they also foster our desire for stuff, of which we all have more than plenty. And this is coming from someone who has a business plan for an art gallery wedged in her file box and actively seeks out the "artsy" section of any town she's visiting so she can load up on sun-dried tomato pasta and handcrafted hot ciders.
But we are stepping back and evaluating actual relationships and what really matters in life. With mass layoffs happening at frightening speeds, it makes us stop to look around and say, "Hey, I see you as a person and you know what? I value you as a person too." even as the rafters fall around our ears. We have an opportunity to reach out and help some one. Maybe we really can continue that "Christmas feeling" throughout the whole year, though in ways we may not have considered a few holiday seasons ago.
Several of my favorite magazines, including GQ and Esquire, purveyors of the finer things in life are also stepping back and offering thoughtful articles instead of how to find the best tailor in London, the latest fine dining trend, the newest hot but "brain-y" female celebrity, etc., Recent articles have included the tongue-in-cheek "Things We're Excited About" by Tom Chiarella, Esquire, February 2009, What I've Learned the (stock market) Bull, Esquire January 2009, 50 Reasons to Have (Actual) (Legitimate) (Genuine) Hope, GQ February 2009, "Congratulations, You Have Not Been Fired!" by Joshua Ferris, GQ, February 2009, and the quietly devastating "What Happened to the Neighbors?" by Charles Bowden, GQ, January 2009.
In the end, we all look around with sheepish smiles as we put back that shiny bauble at Target and consider, is this what it's all about?
This is far from good news, but it has given me pause to consider all of the implications.
For a while I considered posting a rant about how it's stupid people who insist on living beyond their means and buying houses that they can't afford while literally walking away from their current homes that got us into this mess. I would also pontificate by saying that anyone with a brain in their head would also read Panic! the Story of Modern Financial Insanity by Michael Lewis if they knew what was good for them.
But then I took a step back and did some more research instead of just being all self-righteous.
"If you don't like it Stewie, you can do what everybody else does and go on the Internet and complain." -Brian, Family Guy
And I realized that there is a lot of blame, but it can be spread out a lot of places. I also saw the reviews of Mr. Lewis's book on amazon.com and they weren't all that great. So, save your money.
Instead, please seek out the absolutely fantastic article, "Um, What Just Happened?" by Richard Medley, Esquire December 2008. I seriously cannot tell you how incredibly illuminating Mr. Medley's article was on breaking down how we (America and the world) got into this giant financial pickle and the potential ways of digging ourselves out. It's entitled, "The End of America’s Capitalist Fantasy and the Shape of Banks to Come" on Esquire's Web site.
http://www.esquire.com/features/green/features-why-is-our-economy-in-a-recession-1208?click=main_sr
I pretend to have a good grasp on international financial matters. When it comes up in conversation, I can roughly translate the exchange rate between the British pound, the euro, and the American dollar. And I would nod my head at all the right places when my friend brought up the Nikkei index in relation to her stocks' performance.
But like the war in Iraq, our current economic state has a lot of controversy surrounding it, though on an admittedly smaller scale, but equally plagued with tons of opinions masquerading as fact and jargon that I just don't want to wrap my brain around. So, do yourself a favor and read Mr. Medley's article. (I am also going to see how many times I can insert the words "Mr. Medley" into this blog before someone notices.)
In the meantime, also consider the good, yes good! that can, has come, will come out of this sorry state we find ourselves in.
As I was pondering this topic I realized that this "situation" makes us take stock and really look around and consider what are we doing- with ourselves? our lives? our priorities!?
Yes, we may not get a glut of new shopping malls, bistros, and boutiques anytime in the near future. Heck, Starbucks might not even gain back their market shares for at least several years. But in the end, do we really need such things? Yes, they are great for urban revival yet they also foster our desire for stuff, of which we all have more than plenty. And this is coming from someone who has a business plan for an art gallery wedged in her file box and actively seeks out the "artsy" section of any town she's visiting so she can load up on sun-dried tomato pasta and handcrafted hot ciders.
But we are stepping back and evaluating actual relationships and what really matters in life. With mass layoffs happening at frightening speeds, it makes us stop to look around and say, "Hey, I see you as a person and you know what? I value you as a person too." even as the rafters fall around our ears. We have an opportunity to reach out and help some one. Maybe we really can continue that "Christmas feeling" throughout the whole year, though in ways we may not have considered a few holiday seasons ago.
Several of my favorite magazines, including GQ and Esquire, purveyors of the finer things in life are also stepping back and offering thoughtful articles instead of how to find the best tailor in London, the latest fine dining trend, the newest hot but "brain-y" female celebrity, etc., Recent articles have included the tongue-in-cheek "Things We're Excited About" by Tom Chiarella, Esquire, February 2009, What I've Learned the (stock market) Bull, Esquire January 2009, 50 Reasons to Have (Actual) (Legitimate) (Genuine) Hope, GQ February 2009, "Congratulations, You Have Not Been Fired!" by Joshua Ferris, GQ, February 2009, and the quietly devastating "What Happened to the Neighbors?" by Charles Bowden, GQ, January 2009.
In the end, we all look around with sheepish smiles as we put back that shiny bauble at Target and consider, is this what it's all about?
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Overthinking
I haven't posted anything in a while, which, ironically, has given me great cause for anxiety. I hold my blog in somewhat high regard and don't feel that the world is exactly chomping at the bit to know what I had for lunch or what music I'm listening to at any given point. For those who are curious it was spaghetti and Franz Ferdinand's You Could Have It So Much Better :-) I prefer to blog solely about topics that are related to urban planning, but lately the muse has been fleeting.
For whatever reason there hasn't been much on my mind that I felt like blogging about. And the more I thought about what I wanted to blog about, the less and less came to mind.
For a while I even despaired, thinking, incorrectly, that I had covered every topic worth writing about within the realm of urban planning! Ah, hubris, you are a seductive, though misleading siren.
Have no fear faithful reader, whomever you may be, I do have some topics floating around in my (slightly dented) cranium- the role of architecture in our society, skate punks, etc., But like a good red wine, they require a little aging before being savored.
However, I have been thinking about what compels us to stay or go in a place. I had remarked a little bit on this in my January 4th, 2009 posting, Home is Where the Heart Is?
But the thoughts continued during a conversation with my friend, who I had mentioned in the aforementioned post, had moved up to Boston after abruptly leaving Savannah. Although she still is enraptured by the (forgotten) possibilities that come with a big city, she sometimes feels a pang for the little conveniences that Savannah afforded her. Minute, little, inconsequential details like the fact that her Best Buy was open until 11 PM. The one closest to her in Boston closes at 9 PM. Or that she used to be within walking distance of her local grocery store- the big kind, not the little get-n-go corner store. Now it is a train ride away, which makes loading up a challenge. She wondered when these thoughts would go away.
I, all too keenly, know what she meant. I graduated from college in Savannah, kicked around town for a few months while eagerly sending out resumes and waiting for responses. When I did not receive any replies at the companies I hoped to work at, my parents decided that it would cheaper for me to live at their house in Wisconsin then continue to pay my rent in Savannah, where there are not a lot of opportunities within the fine art insurance field, my chosen field. So, I moved back in with my parents, while pining for my college town.
Ironically, at the same time, when I left Savannah I had grown slightly tired of the city. Don't get me wrong, I love Savannah itself. It is beautiful, it has heartbreakingly gorgeous architecture, the city's Jewel Plan, with its unique squares, each with their own little park, a microcosm unto itself is fantastic. But everything kindof grinds to a halt at 6 PM. Not 9, not 11, 6. There are bars, good bars, heck, great bars to be enjoyed. However, that's about it.
If one is a student at SCAD, you often spends your evening's crouched on the floor of your apartment or dorm feverishly gluing together scraps of toothpicks and Bristol board for some lame project that you will probably trash as soon as the class is over. But in that moment it means the world to you and Heaven help anyone that stands in your way or tries to persuade you otherwise.
This actually applies to all majors at SCAD, even the fashion and historic preservation majors as we are all subjected to the horrors of 3-D design class, which, regardless of the professor, make us construct bizarre little sculpture-like projects in order to understand form, volume, etc., This lesson plan in itself is not bad. It's just the materials that they make you use has one question the validity of such an expenditure. That which separates us from the kindergartners who build birdcages from Popsicle sticks is a $2,000 price tag per class. To their credit, SCAD does make us use more classically traditional 3-D materials as well, but lugging around a 20 lb. block of aerated concrete in the Southern heat does not exactly inspire visions worthy of Michelangelo.
As I was an art history major I had relatively few classes that were studio-based, which afforded me exorbitant amounts of free time in the evenings, much to my roommate, the interior design major's chagrin. So, like many red-blooded college co-ed's I spent my meager paycheck at B&B, or watching movies in our apartment, while pretending that White Chicks was for my History of Film class or something equally erudite, as my roommate tried not to cut off her finger cutting endless sheets of foam-core with her xacto knife.
But I pined for those nights at B&B and days sitting in the squares, soaking up the Southern sun, as I sat in my room in New Berlin, WI, a modest suburb of Milwaukee, as I drafted yet another sincere cover letter to a farway company in New York City. I missed stupid stuff like the throngs of tourists that flocked to the Riverwalk. I missed homeless people that sat in Forsyth Park and the over-privileged, entitled freshman who strutted around like they were going to be the next Picasso or Miuccia Prada.
Time wore on, and eventually I moved to Chicago and forgot about the specifics of Savannah that made my heart yearn.
The character, Lillith on the season finale of Frasier astutely observed that "with one hand the past holds us back and with the other it pulls us forward." I have found that very true.
We are all the end product of the sum of our parts, be they good, be they bad, regrettable, or vindicating. And as we settle into new chapters in our lives, we often experience a longing for what we have just left, even if it did not always give us pleasure. Sometimes the fact that it just was, and could be counted on to be, creates an unexpected ache. I suspect that we are creatures of habit, and within familiarity lies comfort. Then again, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Therefore, there is no shame in looking back, as long as you do not lose sight of what lies ahead of you as well.
For whatever reason there hasn't been much on my mind that I felt like blogging about. And the more I thought about what I wanted to blog about, the less and less came to mind.
For a while I even despaired, thinking, incorrectly, that I had covered every topic worth writing about within the realm of urban planning! Ah, hubris, you are a seductive, though misleading siren.
Have no fear faithful reader, whomever you may be, I do have some topics floating around in my (slightly dented) cranium- the role of architecture in our society, skate punks, etc., But like a good red wine, they require a little aging before being savored.
However, I have been thinking about what compels us to stay or go in a place. I had remarked a little bit on this in my January 4th, 2009 posting, Home is Where the Heart Is?
But the thoughts continued during a conversation with my friend, who I had mentioned in the aforementioned post, had moved up to Boston after abruptly leaving Savannah. Although she still is enraptured by the (forgotten) possibilities that come with a big city, she sometimes feels a pang for the little conveniences that Savannah afforded her. Minute, little, inconsequential details like the fact that her Best Buy was open until 11 PM. The one closest to her in Boston closes at 9 PM. Or that she used to be within walking distance of her local grocery store- the big kind, not the little get-n-go corner store. Now it is a train ride away, which makes loading up a challenge. She wondered when these thoughts would go away.
I, all too keenly, know what she meant. I graduated from college in Savannah, kicked around town for a few months while eagerly sending out resumes and waiting for responses. When I did not receive any replies at the companies I hoped to work at, my parents decided that it would cheaper for me to live at their house in Wisconsin then continue to pay my rent in Savannah, where there are not a lot of opportunities within the fine art insurance field, my chosen field. So, I moved back in with my parents, while pining for my college town.
Ironically, at the same time, when I left Savannah I had grown slightly tired of the city. Don't get me wrong, I love Savannah itself. It is beautiful, it has heartbreakingly gorgeous architecture, the city's Jewel Plan, with its unique squares, each with their own little park, a microcosm unto itself is fantastic. But everything kindof grinds to a halt at 6 PM. Not 9, not 11, 6. There are bars, good bars, heck, great bars to be enjoyed. However, that's about it.
If one is a student at SCAD, you often spends your evening's crouched on the floor of your apartment or dorm feverishly gluing together scraps of toothpicks and Bristol board for some lame project that you will probably trash as soon as the class is over. But in that moment it means the world to you and Heaven help anyone that stands in your way or tries to persuade you otherwise.
This actually applies to all majors at SCAD, even the fashion and historic preservation majors as we are all subjected to the horrors of 3-D design class, which, regardless of the professor, make us construct bizarre little sculpture-like projects in order to understand form, volume, etc., This lesson plan in itself is not bad. It's just the materials that they make you use has one question the validity of such an expenditure. That which separates us from the kindergartners who build birdcages from Popsicle sticks is a $2,000 price tag per class. To their credit, SCAD does make us use more classically traditional 3-D materials as well, but lugging around a 20 lb. block of aerated concrete in the Southern heat does not exactly inspire visions worthy of Michelangelo.
As I was an art history major I had relatively few classes that were studio-based, which afforded me exorbitant amounts of free time in the evenings, much to my roommate, the interior design major's chagrin. So, like many red-blooded college co-ed's I spent my meager paycheck at B&B, or watching movies in our apartment, while pretending that White Chicks was for my History of Film class or something equally erudite, as my roommate tried not to cut off her finger cutting endless sheets of foam-core with her xacto knife.
But I pined for those nights at B&B and days sitting in the squares, soaking up the Southern sun, as I sat in my room in New Berlin, WI, a modest suburb of Milwaukee, as I drafted yet another sincere cover letter to a farway company in New York City. I missed stupid stuff like the throngs of tourists that flocked to the Riverwalk. I missed homeless people that sat in Forsyth Park and the over-privileged, entitled freshman who strutted around like they were going to be the next Picasso or Miuccia Prada.
Time wore on, and eventually I moved to Chicago and forgot about the specifics of Savannah that made my heart yearn.
The character, Lillith on the season finale of Frasier astutely observed that "with one hand the past holds us back and with the other it pulls us forward." I have found that very true.
We are all the end product of the sum of our parts, be they good, be they bad, regrettable, or vindicating. And as we settle into new chapters in our lives, we often experience a longing for what we have just left, even if it did not always give us pleasure. Sometimes the fact that it just was, and could be counted on to be, creates an unexpected ache. I suspect that we are creatures of habit, and within familiarity lies comfort. Then again, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Therefore, there is no shame in looking back, as long as you do not lose sight of what lies ahead of you as well.
How to Survive a Heart Attack
OK, if you want to survive a real heart attack, exercise, eat a diet low in saturated fats, floss often, and take a baby aspirin every day, if approved by your doctor.
For me, this is how I weather a myocardial infarction- which is what your doctor would call a heart attack- I was checking my e-mail one night and received a message from University X saying that my application was incomplete as they had not received my letters of recommendation nor my transcripts. I learned this on the day of the deadline for consideration for scholarships at Universtiy X. Not great. This was also a shock because I'd send out the aforementioned materials a week earlier, in my naivete, trusting that institution that is the United States Postal system.
I called the admissions department of University X the next day and spoke to an angel in human form, who was very reassuring saying that they are still going through their mail. While I'm not sure how this reflects on my chances of getting in, at least it means that the postal system may not have royally screwed up and my forlorn little package may be at the bottom of a monolithic pile.
But lesson learned, when in doubt, send it certified! That way there is some accountability in this universe! Or at least in the postal system. Let this be a lesson to anyone considering applying for grad school ever in the future. Do as I say not as I do.
For me, this is how I weather a myocardial infarction- which is what your doctor would call a heart attack- I was checking my e-mail one night and received a message from University X saying that my application was incomplete as they had not received my letters of recommendation nor my transcripts. I learned this on the day of the deadline for consideration for scholarships at Universtiy X. Not great. This was also a shock because I'd send out the aforementioned materials a week earlier, in my naivete, trusting that institution that is the United States Postal system.
I called the admissions department of University X the next day and spoke to an angel in human form, who was very reassuring saying that they are still going through their mail. While I'm not sure how this reflects on my chances of getting in, at least it means that the postal system may not have royally screwed up and my forlorn little package may be at the bottom of a monolithic pile.
But lesson learned, when in doubt, send it certified! That way there is some accountability in this universe! Or at least in the postal system. Let this be a lesson to anyone considering applying for grad school ever in the future. Do as I say not as I do.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
It Must Be Easier to Get Into the C.I.A. Than It Is to Get Into Grad School
Sorry, my last two blogs were so long that I thought I'd split it up a bit and provide you with some pretty pictures of my spiritual home, Rome (prior post) and a quick glimpse into how incredibly time-consuming it is to get into grad school.
It is kind of funny that I am applying to grad school since, when I graduated from college- ugh 4-!? years ago I never wanted to pursue higher education again. My thesis had officially fried my will to live or learn ever again.
But then plans to implement my undergrad degree didn't work out as hoped and I discovered urban planning and I had to get in on the action! Unfortunately, I didn't know as a high schooler that urban planning even existed, so here I am applying to grad school, which is infinitely more complicated than applying to undergrad was.
Of course, I opted for the undergrad school that didn't require a portfolio review and and as long as your SAT score was higher than that of a toaster oven, you were pretty much guaranteed admission.
It's terribly, terribly ironic that if I know I have something huge that will require a LOT of time and effort, I try to map it out to the last detail. Grad school is no cake walk and can't just be done on a whim. Unfortunately, there are a lot of unexpected twists and turns in this road as well.
You have to know where you want to apply to.
You have to take the GRE several months in advance cuz you need your scores for your application package.
You have to study for the GRE, including a LOT of remedial math, which I had conveniently forgotten.
You have to write to all those nice people who will be writing you letters of recommendation (LOR)and refresh their memories why you are awesome and should go to X school.
Allow plenty of time for this so that they have plenty of time to sit down and write you those glowing letters. Badgering them at the last minute is highly underadvised.
You need to procure lots of monies for application fees. Ick.
You need to request your transcripts, something that considering I gave my alma mater over $100K and probably 4 oz. of my soul I should get those transcripts for free. Haha. No.
You need to check the school's deadlines if you want to be considered for scholarships. Always a plus.
You then need to freak out when you realize that one school's deadline is a full month earlier than the other schools and you really need those LORs. Now!
Subsequently, you need to freak out, having not perused the school's application Web site with a fine-tooth comb, you did not realize that the LOR needs to be accompanied by the school's specific cover letter-like thing, which of course you didn't send to the writers. Immediately fill out, print, and mail while simultaneously banging out rapid-fire e-mails alerting your letter writers of this impending and extremely important piece of mail.
Later, you need to send your very nice LOR back to its writer because it wasn't in a sealed envelope and the school will not take it.
You need to stare at your computer screen until drops of blood spontaneously form on your forehead due to such intense stress that the capillaries burst as you try to write a heartfelt statement of purpose that does not make you come off sounding like a pompous ass or arrogant blowhard, but a sincere and genuine student of learning without sounding like a total suck-up either.
When this is all over you need to buy yourself the best single-malt scotch you can afford while you wait to hear back from the schools who have your destiny in their hands. Avoid consuming the contents of the entire bottle in one sitting, unless it came from a mini-bar.
To know what it's really like to try to get into the real C.I.A. read Blowing My Cover: my Life as a C.I.A. Spy by Lindsay Moran. Pretty good stuff. Not mind-blowing great. But good.
It is kind of funny that I am applying to grad school since, when I graduated from college- ugh 4-!? years ago I never wanted to pursue higher education again. My thesis had officially fried my will to live or learn ever again.
But then plans to implement my undergrad degree didn't work out as hoped and I discovered urban planning and I had to get in on the action! Unfortunately, I didn't know as a high schooler that urban planning even existed, so here I am applying to grad school, which is infinitely more complicated than applying to undergrad was.
Of course, I opted for the undergrad school that didn't require a portfolio review and and as long as your SAT score was higher than that of a toaster oven, you were pretty much guaranteed admission.
It's terribly, terribly ironic that if I know I have something huge that will require a LOT of time and effort, I try to map it out to the last detail. Grad school is no cake walk and can't just be done on a whim. Unfortunately, there are a lot of unexpected twists and turns in this road as well.
You have to know where you want to apply to.
You have to take the GRE several months in advance cuz you need your scores for your application package.
You have to study for the GRE, including a LOT of remedial math, which I had conveniently forgotten.
You have to write to all those nice people who will be writing you letters of recommendation (LOR)and refresh their memories why you are awesome and should go to X school.
Allow plenty of time for this so that they have plenty of time to sit down and write you those glowing letters. Badgering them at the last minute is highly underadvised.
You need to procure lots of monies for application fees. Ick.
You need to request your transcripts, something that considering I gave my alma mater over $100K and probably 4 oz. of my soul I should get those transcripts for free. Haha. No.
You need to check the school's deadlines if you want to be considered for scholarships. Always a plus.
You then need to freak out when you realize that one school's deadline is a full month earlier than the other schools and you really need those LORs. Now!
Subsequently, you need to freak out, having not perused the school's application Web site with a fine-tooth comb, you did not realize that the LOR needs to be accompanied by the school's specific cover letter-like thing, which of course you didn't send to the writers. Immediately fill out, print, and mail while simultaneously banging out rapid-fire e-mails alerting your letter writers of this impending and extremely important piece of mail.
Later, you need to send your very nice LOR back to its writer because it wasn't in a sealed envelope and the school will not take it.
You need to stare at your computer screen until drops of blood spontaneously form on your forehead due to such intense stress that the capillaries burst as you try to write a heartfelt statement of purpose that does not make you come off sounding like a pompous ass or arrogant blowhard, but a sincere and genuine student of learning without sounding like a total suck-up either.
When this is all over you need to buy yourself the best single-malt scotch you can afford while you wait to hear back from the schools who have your destiny in their hands. Avoid consuming the contents of the entire bottle in one sitting, unless it came from a mini-bar.
To know what it's really like to try to get into the real C.I.A. read Blowing My Cover: my Life as a C.I.A. Spy by Lindsay Moran. Pretty good stuff. Not mind-blowing great. But good.
Home Away From Home
Sorry, I forgot. I do know where my home is. It's just so expensive to get there :-) And yes, I did take all of these pictures. And no, none of them are Photoshop'ed. I am terrible at Photoshop.
Every time I go to Roma something is always under construction, this time, in the first picture, way in the back it is to Vittorio Emmanuel, aka, "the wedding cake" -the Romans' words, not mine. But you'd have to see it, to believe. And when you do, you'd concede that they have a point.
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