5.31.2009

Don Quixote, Updated

And other pictures from Saturday, courtesy the brand spanking new Nikon D90.
























Don Quixote, lookin all fresh with his Elton John circa '74 glasses and OU girl pink hat. Forget that helmet, dude.
























Look at what this fabulous camera will do!! If it could only trim nosehairs...

















Laiyee gave us some fresh tarragon and thyme we used with this chicken yesterday. with some black sesame seeds and yum yum

















teeny, tiny flowers
























lunch leftovers of chicken, avec pasta, cream, butter, wine, and parmesan... and champers. for dinner
























Wake up! *i could use a shave*

















and so could this

















Bob and Laiyee had made $700 by noon yesterday when we stopped by to see their yard sale. It was a scream to watch Bob in action driving hard bargains with the OU kids. Bob told us they'd already cleaned out the cash and stashed it several times as i was taking this photo.

















Tin Tin wondering why all these strangers are showing up today?? What's all this fuss?

















Washington Street, home of beloved Donkey Coffee

5.29.2009

Mysterious Prezzies

appearing now on the dining room table. Somebody gets his birthday prezzies (that word is a quote: can anyone identify which heroine of mine it is attributable to? Here's a hint: HGB) a week early... owing to the fact we'll be whitewater rafting next weekend with the boys, and it's no good to bring such a suite of pink and blue frill along. He is a la cuisine cooking our fried noodle dinner right now and hasn't been to the table yet.

Meanwhile, I discovered i can spin around really fast and photograph myself with my notebook! Whew, me dizzy.

In related news, these may be the last crappy ass photos i take with my Macbook Pro. Heh.







Time to Vote on all Marriages!

Oh I love how this makes such an easy point of this. It really isn't rocket science. But then again, everyone knew the colored schools, waiting rooms, water fountains, and ghettos were wrong too. Thanks KELLY for posting!


5.28.2009

An Anniversary

I just realized that exactly one month from today, the 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York City (June 28 1969) will occur. How should we mark this significant date?

HERE is a primer i just read while fact-checking the date.

Seriously, now, y'all. How should we honor this date and what happened? And where we are now?

The Dallas Principles

No, it's not about Sue Ellen or Bobby. Have a look:

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

I just went to HRC's website over lunch to see the current picture of legislation up for consideration, and THIS is a huge amount of legislation in the works. 4 bills at the federal level, and a whopping 32 in the states... which must be at best an incomplete view, since it doesn't include HB 176 going through the Ohio Legislature currently. It really does make one wonder if the tide is really changing, and this flurry of legislative activity will actually lead to real, systemic change. We must do more to support one another--no matter who we are--or we will never have lasting success.

Thank You, Dan Stewart and Ross McGregor

You are friends, indeed. Have a look HERE to see what's brewing up in Ohio regarding same-sex rights. The two gentlemen in the title are sponsors of a HB 176, the Equal Employment and Housing Act, which seeks to make it against the law to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

Excerpt from the Do What's Right Ohio website:

From Equality Ohio Director Lynne Bowman:

"It is time for Ohio to remove the barriers at our borders that tells them they are not welcome if they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered," Bowman said. "It's time for our laws to match our values."


Only two Republicans - Ross McGregor of Springfield and Terry Blair of Washington Twp. - have signed on as co-sponsors. McGregor promised that after it passes the House, he will work for its passage in the GOP-controlled Senate.

The bill is supported by the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, which would investigate violations and enforce the law. Ohio law already prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, religion, ancestry, national origin or disability.

Twenty states have adopted laws to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and 433 of the Fortune 500 companies, 11 of Ohio's 13 public universities, 16 Ohio cities and the General Assembly have established similar workplace rules.

Bowman said statewide surveys conducted in 2006 and 2009 show support for anti-discrimination legislation grew from 66 percent to 72 percent among Ohioans.

5.26.2009

Thank You, Julian Bond

You are a Friend, indeed. Thank you, Joe Solmonese. You are a Friend also. Oh, and California Supreme Court? Drop dead.

5.22.2009

Ohio Statehouse Museum Preview

My project at the Ohio Statehouse Museum opens in a couple weeks, and David at my office has been busy getting all the lighting done. It's only about halfway there, but these photos he took yesterday look great. After the opening i'll have all kinds of good photos to post. Really excited my Mom and BC will be here to attend the opening with me!











By the way, you can go HERE to see a 7 minute flythrough of my design from the design development stages (a little more than halfway through design... much more detailing, graphic design, etc. happened after this flythrough was made).

5.17.2009

Seriously Creepy

Well no, actually THIS is way beyond seriously creepy.

Charles Towne Landing

Long ago, I designed a museum on the founding of Charleston (formerly Charles Towne) in 1670. It opened 3 years ago, but i only got there to see it last spring on a trip there with Steven (who kindly provides a scale reference or two). I have just now gotten around to stitching photos together.

The project looks at the context of the city's initial founding as a project of the Lord's Proprietors--a group of 8 London fatcats who were given the New World venture by Charles II after his restoration to the British Crown after Cromwell's death in 1658. Much trial and tribulation visited the planning and preparation of the colony's founding, which finally happened when the first group arrived in 1670. And even more happened in the first 10 years till 1680, when the initial landing site (hence the name) was abandoned for higher ground across the Ashley River, where the city has remained.

My project is in a large park at this original site--surrounded by Charleston suburbia--where much archeology has happened and many amenities exist (such as a full scale replica of one of the 3 original ships to arrive in 1670, and a live animal park stocked with the critters of the day, and many reconstructed dwellings, subsistence gardens, and live-interpreter sites).

Enjoy!



The building that houses the exhibits i designed went through 3 rather torturous and wildly divergent revisionings, the third and final being by far the best, in my opinion. This is a simple, modern building that sits lightly on pilotis. The existing landscape runs right under the building, and some portions project over tidal lagoons.



The "Cabinet of Curiousities" is all about the mindmaps of the Lords: specimens, booty, and mysteries (such as alligators) from the New World surround the visitor in a slightly Lordsy Londonesque setting. I wanted the wood to be much darker.



A London wharf scene explores all the preparations: what was brought along, who, why, and where they went. It wasn't a straight line by any means.



The Ocean Voyage was eventful. Storms, treachery, sickness and death, the loss of one of the ships. Unscheduled stops for long periods of time. And a long layover at Barbados, the model for raping the land that the Lord's Proprietors intended to follow.



First Encounters is all about the first few days after the landing, and the close calls and events with the Natives in the area.



Many agreements were made and broken early on, as the settlers experimented with crops, barely survived, and relied on trade with Natives.



Breaking Ground explores all of the backbreaking labor of the first settlers: what was done, who did it, and what it achieved.



The Physical Setting is the largest gallery, where visitors are able to put together the puzzle pieces of what the place looked like in those first years. Much about archeology (notice the patterns at the floor), birds-eye views and models, and recreations based on written accounts (not the least of whom was a Spanish Spy, sent incognito as an innocent visitor).



Setting Up Society is all about recreating daily life, dwellings, and issues of subsistence from the archeological record, and is a part of the larger Physical Setting gallery.



At the end are Legacies of these first 10 years, within which the seeds were planted for many of Charleston's futures. The "Grand Modell" which established the new, permanent city firmly in a Euro-via-Carribean image is the brightest. A darker legacy is that of slavery, indentured servitude and the people who performed all the labor, and ensured this would be the model in the South for nearly two hundred more years. A perhaps even darker legacy surrounds the decline, defeat, and decimation of initially friendly Natives. Another legacy looks at the huge impact on the natural environment, which, after more than 300 years, is becoming positive.
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