Monday, June 15, 2009

Go go grocery!!

We're on the internet!!!So we painted and cleansed the co-op grocery building by the 13th Street garden all last week, leading up to the CSA pick-up on Thursday. Documented here by Sean Thomas of the Old North Restoration Group. Woop woop. It was very satisfying to just go in there, get some clutter out, and paint it fun fun fun colors. I hope this leads to more usage of the building. Right now, it is used as the drop-off point for the CSA and some of the vendors for the North City Farmers' Market (which you should go to every Saturday 9-12, they take debit and credit cards as well as EBT cards and vouchers hooray!). It is still a total monster, but it's becoming lovable for strangers, too.
(Isn't it funny that the garden has started and is rocking a booth at the farmers' market while all we've given the building is some paint and reused wood? Either way, the building is on its way!)
many many hugs
Hitomi

Monday, May 25, 2009

My Career Pathes Lie in My Hands

I read this article! And I thought about the farm. And what everyone said at the Real Food Summit and what everyone said at the Michael Pollan talk the other day. Are we changing?
Can we bring back our hands into our lives? Can we stop typing typing typing on the computer for no good reason? Can we all become awesome grown-ups?

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Getting your hand grenades ready

Paul McKee and co. spoke at Central Baptist Church this evening. It was basically the first time the public saw what the developer had been planning with the massive amounts of plots he had bought out in North City; the presentation was prefaced by a statement saying that there was no final plan. The slides were not very specific, and the audience grew frustrated as the developers and politicians told them over and over that there were no plans, just "concepts and opportunities."
McKee did not present a comprehensive plan of what will go where, and how much. Costs were shown, but in very general terms. The grave concerns of the residents, especially about the use of eminent domain and the poor upkeep of the existing McEagle properties in the area were not satisfactorily resolved. Most importantly, the atmosphere of the meeting was very tense (especially when the man cussed McKee early in the meeting and stormed out) because the residents felt as though he had facilitated the decay of their respective neighborhoods by allowing properties to deteriorate. No one took him seriously when he or his colleagues mentioned McEagle's maintenance practices.
The plan seems too large of a scale and relies on the completion of all the components to be successful and worth all the losses incurred already. Someone in a discussion mentioned how WingHaven had to change plans mid-development and ended up something different from what the initial residents hoped for. Any valuable opportunities from this plan have been marred by the secretive and corrupt dealing of McEagle and their disrespect for the existing neighorhoods. The meeting was pretty well-attended (I think), but the take away from it for me was the question of if someone that didn't show you respect to you deserve your respect?

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Teach me things, wise people



WashU architecture school is hosting many a cool things right towards the end of the school year to cram in brownie points. No matter. David Orr is speaking at the architecture school graduation, which is happening right after commencement on Friday May 15th. Orr's writing about education being a driving force in the environmental movement resonates with a lot of the stuff going on right now on the grassroots level. The faculty speaker is Jen Maigret, who is also an awesome person that brought a lot of great teaching and honest ecological perspective into the design studios. (she has a masters in ecology) She's also leaving WashU.
It would be interesting to see them speak about the state of education at this school.
see you there?

Monday, May 11, 2009

Reconsidering Saint Louis

The Hug Life crew loves loves Andrew Faulkner. He loves the city and he loves his bike. (maybe a little bit too much, but it's a nice bike.) He invites "all community activists, developers, politicians, design professionals, artists, concerned citizens, and anyone with a love for Saint Louis" to Reconsidering Saint Louis: Forming a New Future.
The exhibition and dialogue is the graduate architectural thesis projects from this year and focuses on "adaptive reuse of existing structures and new visions for development within Saint Louis city and the broader metropolitan region."
It is going to be at:
1400 North Market St. (corner of N. Market and N.14th Street) in Old North St. Louis
Thursday May 14, 2009
6-9p.m.
See you there!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Deets

Forgive my long absence from the blogosphere, stuff has been crazy. I do this much too often.

Anyway, here is a ridiculous picture I found today in my building systems book. It's unintelligible, so i am appreciating it purely for its aesthetic value.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Diplodocus the Dinosaur


People at shows in St. Louis need to dance.
Get ready get ready get ready
 
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