Welcome to the Hug Life

Go go grocery!!

2009-06-15T21:48:00.005-05:00

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

My Career Pathes Lie in My Hands

2009-05-25T22:07:00.003-05:00

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?

Getting your hand grenades ready

2009-05-21T22:09:00.003-05:00

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?

Teach me things, wise people

2009-05-13T15:29:00.004-05:00

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?

Reconsidering Saint Louis

2009-05-11T13:10:00.005-05:00

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!

Deets

2009-04-14T10:39:00.005-05:00

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.

Diplodocus the Dinosaur

2009-04-09T01:26:00.004-05:00

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

Black White Barbie

2009-03-06T01:24:00.004-06:00

I met someone at a bus stop today, and he (she?) was very good at talking. Sometimes people get good at speaking because you need to, and sometimes people get good at speaking because you NEED to. I think this case was the latter, in conjunction with the right amount of sass in the personality department.
The feeling that I got was that of general amazement, love, fear, joy, sadness, among other things. It was really complicated and confusing. But great speakers can just jolt you into some land and shake you up.
I really would love to become one, but I think my voice is too squeaky.
hug life,
Hitomi

Required Rants

2009-03-06T01:17:00.003-06:00

Yo.
Does this blog partake in hibernation??

What do you guys/gals think about requirements? Do you think it destroys the souls of most involved, or does it seem like a good idea to you?
In general terms, I think it's pretty vague and iffy, but what about required classes? I only thought about it seriously when I (overreacted and) felt as if my educational plans were in shambles. Having to teach a required course must suck, especially since many required courses are general overviews of topics whereas electives are more specialized and both the teachers and the students care about that specific topic. Isn't there a better way to teach general knowledge? What happened to good elementary school teachers?

Love,
Hitomi

Blogmania from Rural Studio

2008-12-25T22:16:00.004-06:00

I am just now realizing (in a flurry of excitement and a tinge of jeals mad jeals!) that each of the newer Rural Studio projects have blogs!! Some of them document the process really well, from the site to the design process to the construction. It's really really cool. The Lions Park Concession Stand one has fun fun sketches and photos.
Maybe we should do that more often?
Hugs Mcgee

Chouteau Ruins

2008-12-08T02:07:00.005-06:00

A few weeks ago, DJ and I were biking home from an Architecture for Humanity event and we stumbled across this set of ruins. Its about a block south of Chouteau near Lafayette Square. Its surrounded by some small houses on two sides, an alley on the other, and an abandoned, also overgrown lot. We were left awe-struck. Obviously, this building is really old. But why is it still standing? Or maybe, more importantly, HOW is it still standing? It's such a beautiful, old creature. Was it once a home? A shop? Or something more sinister? Who knows?
Now, it's returning to the earth from whence it came. We're going to do some investigation and attempt to discover its provenance. We'll keep you posted.

Hugs,

Antonio Pacheco

So Groc

2008-12-05T21:21:00.008-06:00

We've mentioned in prior posts that we're working on designing a co op grocery store/kitchen incubator/artist's studio in Old North St. Louis. Our project is moving along slowly, with many fits and stops. But ultimately, it is moving forward. We're taking this existing building on 13th st and St. Louis ave. It sits on a large lot and has a small community garden funded by a grant from Missouri Foundation for Health. Our main goals with this project are to 1) provide a venue for healthy, good food in the Old North area, 2) create habitable, pleasant space, 3) reuse this old building in an interesting way.
Here are some images from the work we've completed so far.
That's an elevation DJ drew of the north side of the building. The grey part is the artist's studio. The boxes on the roof are greenhouses and the red part is the actual grocery store. The original building was built in the early 1900s. There was an addition made (the artist studio) in the 70s. At this point, much of the building was clad in ugly brick. Since the artists studios are distinctly different from the original building (where the grocery and incubator will be housed), we didn't feel right keeping the ugly brick veneer. Instead, we're proposing taking the brick off and exposing the concrete masonry unit construction.
This is a drawing Hitomi made of the same elevation that takes DJ's ideas further. Here, the blank, windowless walls are cut into to 1) allow light into the space, 2) help with ventilation, and 3) break up the facade, giving it a more human, less monolithic scale. Hitomi proposed the idea of cutting these notches into the wall (the lower half of the drawing) to do just that. We're thinking of covering the walls between these notches with advertisements for the grocery or simply, pictures of veggies and maybe installing benches along these spaces, as well.
This is a drawing I made that we all helped photoshop. It's of the loading dock/east/west facades. Here, we're exploring rooftop access and how that could work. We're proposing having a staircase that leads to the roof but begins inside the building. We're proposing this for safety reasons (Roofs are dangerous, you cant just have random people climbing up there willy nilly) and because it's kinda cool.

We made a rough Sketch Up model. It has helped us quite a bit with figuring out some of the spaces, but we're still far from done. The following screenshot looks down into the building. Please not the elevated deck/covered eating area on the right (south) side of the image. This deck will help to soften the transition from the inside of the building to the garden on the opposite side of the lot, as well as help enclose and define a playground we're proposing for this part of the site.

Here's a plan. Again, it's rough. The bottom rectangle house the grocery (far left), incubator (square-ish thing near the center), bathrooms and an office/storage space (far right). The rectangle above all that stuff is where the artist studios will be (note hitomi's notches along the uppermost/northern wall). The deck is the angled form at the very bottom.

I know these were all pretty superficial analyses of the building; we're still trying to work out all the kinks. So, please, forgive the roughness. But we'd love some feedback!

Hug Life,

Antonio Pacheco

Go r-e-a-d a b-o-o-kay!!

2008-11-30T01:23:00.008-06:00

Michael Pollan came,
and he said (something like)
"Is a building a piece of art,
or is a building a reaction and adaptation to its surroundings?"
(apparently the theme of his book A Place of My Own)
Although I don't agree with his woodchuck management methods, Dependent Study is having a Pollan intensive period; it would be fabulous to have you along.

There are Multiple "I"s in Teamwork

2008-11-30T00:58:00.006-06:00

I just finished Storming Caesars Palace: How Black Mothers Fought Their Own War on Poverty for a class. It's very informative in the history of the specific area and the program the author focused on (Westside Las Vegas), but the meat of it is the personal growth of the women leading the change in the impoverished community. It made me feel better about a lot of things because it documents people that don't have specific training or education in terms of getting political, financial, and social support for starting community-based antipoverty programs. Similar things are going on in St. Louis, with Urban Studio and a lot of other new things that I come in contact being initiated by motivated people that manage around different obstacles in getting to their goal.
It relates to the idea that companies and firms are beginning to be less homogeneous, that engineers, social workers, architects, businessmen, and whoever else would be working on a same project to bring their expertise into the same goal. I find that really really exciting, but as of now, a lot of grassroots movements lack the variety of resources, so individuals end up doing multiple of those tasks by themselves. Maybe after this generation (which I think is focused and very specialized) grows up, the grassroots movement can have a more dynamic, cohesive momentum behind it.
Maybe maybe?
love, Hitomi

Apple Break 11/11

2008-11-11T10:18:00.006-06:00

We're having an Apple Break tonight!!
It's and rainy out, so we might have it indoors.

We just got these nifty new posters from our friend Kevin McCall.
He's got talent; We've got apples.

So, wherever you are in the world, take 15 minutes tonight, find some friends, have an apple, and relax.

hugz,
Antonio

Some Yummy Quotes

2008-11-05T12:58:00.003-06:00

"I do not put my faith in institutions, but in individuals all over the world who think clearly, feel nobly and act rightly. They are the channels of moral truth." -Rabindranath Tagore

"Beauty will not come at the call of a legislature, nor will it repeat in England or America its history in Greece. It will come, as always, unannounced, and spring up between the feet of brave and earnest men." -Ralph Waldo Emerson (on the cover of Louis Sullivan's copy of Henry Hobson Richardson and His Works)

Knowledge is Power

2008-11-05T11:08:00.004-06:00

Sadly, Proposition M did not pass. It was a really close margin (52% for no, 48% for yes with the difference being under 20,000 votes), and I can see glimpses of hope in that. The only thing we Metro supporters can do is to try to come up with better ways to fund and support it in the near future.

Things I noticed from the comments on the Post-Dispatch article online were that people were unaware that the city had already passed a similar tax measure in support of Metro years ago, the leaders that misused funds in the past have been replaced, and that revenue from fares do not run the Metro or any public transportation system anywhere. It's a failure on our part to properly educate the public, but Metro also could not advocate for themselves at their stations. I think it makes a huge difference if people truly understand the issues and consequences at play, which is very difficult to do from a short proposition on a ballot. It's frustrating that hope was such a large part of this election, and many propositions (M, 8 in California, etc.) failed due to voter's unwillingness to give these issues a chance for whatever reason.

Thanks for voting. We'll keep fighting/loving.
Hitomi

Proposition M and St. Louis

2008-11-03T21:02:00.008-06:00

The only serious political advocacy I have ever participated in is for Proposition M on tomorrow's ballot. This issue seems entirely dire to me; if it fails, I know St. Louis itself will not be able to recover. The idea that punishing poor management by removing funding is preposterous. If the Metro system doesn't get enough funding, they will be forced to cut services, thus decreasing reliability for the riders, and in the end (which won't be so far away if it is to come) the entire system will have to shut down due to lack of ridership. Of course I want the Metro to be managed better so that it can run more trains, buses, and Call-a-Rides more frequently and more cheaply, but the current situation trumps this concern. Prop M is not a heart-attack prevention plan; it's a defibrillation, and it's the last try.

Public transit has allowed St. Louis businesses to hire more employees who had no way to commute to their jobs before it existed. Public transit made St. Louis more conscious about the effects of traffic on both people and the environment. Public transit funneled tons of Cardinals fans together into the Stadium station every summer. It lets me go places that makes me feel like I live in a city that's worth saving. Unfortunately I cannot vote (in the U.S.), so I'm hoping that the joy I feel of riding public transportation has reached enough people in time for tomorrow.

Please please vote,
love,
Hitomi
p.s. Let's go on a Metro adventure when Prop M passes, yeah?

Sample ballot can be found here. Prop M is the second from last measure on the ballot tomorrow.
Video testimonials about the importance of Metro (including one from Miz Metrolink herself!) here.

"Kids"

2008-10-27T22:54:00.002-05:00

Aren't we all doing it for the kids/future generations? Whatever we're doing?

Metro Adventure

2008-10-25T14:54:00.002-05:00

Last weekend, a few of us headed out on a Metro Adventure to Maplewood for lunch and MacKenzie for some thirft store shopping. Maplewood was a really cool place with a nice Main Street/shopping area. There were quite a few locally-owned restaurants, specialty shops, boutiques, and a bike store! The bike shop had bubble gum pink grip tape. There was also a cool spice shop that sold $70 saffron and a DJ store that had strobe lights and sound equipment.
We had lunch at this Cuban restaurant, Boogaloo. It was sosososo good. The picture below is of their bar. The seats are suspended from the ceiling and swing around a bit. When we're old enough to get drinks, we'll come here for sure.
We took the Metrolink to Shrewsbury:
And then, we took the bus to the thirftstore.

All in all, a good time. You should ride the Metro.

Antonio

Prop M

2008-10-24T23:40:00.004-05:00

Why Public Transit is A Social Justice Issue (and Why You, as a caring person, should care about proposition M)

I don't own a car. I guess, if I changed the way that I budget my money, I could be privileged enough to own an automobile. But some because of finances, and some because of personal responsibility, I choose not to own a car, and to avoid driving as much as possible. For me, this is a choice. But for so many others in our community, there is no choice. Public transit is their link to the rest of the community. This isn't just the disabled and the poor. What about the elderly? Youth? Others who have made a choice to live a life without personal transit?

Public transit is not just about being able to get to the baseball game or to the Landing for a night out. It's about getting people to jobs when there aren't any near home, and to the doctor when there isn't an adequate clinic nearby. It's about going to work in a way that doesn't damage the environment. It's about interacting with your neighbors!

We need public transit. Even if you don't ride it, we still need it. Proposal M will raise $80 million annually for Metro, which will prevent service reductions, fare increases and employment cuts and allow for expansions of MetroLink and potentially the development of Rapid Bus Transit for the St. Louis region. Metro provides an invaluable service to our community, and we must support it. A YES vote for Prop M is a YES vote for St. Louis.

-Miz Metrolink

Hope or Hype

2008-10-19T18:55:00.009-05:00

The leaves in St. Louis are just starting to turn. It's almost as if they know it; the chilly winds of change are blowing. The sort of symbolism I see in these leaves makes me hopeful, but they foreshadow the unknown, something new and different. And I think we all know this. Or at least, we hope that a few speckled and crunchy leaves actually signal the coming of autumn and not some fluke coldspell followed by another six weeks of summer.

Saturday morning marked the third time I had seen Barack Obama speak and although his speech was pretty standard, this appearance was of such monumental proportions that it meant so much more than usual. The settings for the speech were epic in both magnitude and proportion; excitement and anticipation ran high, you could feel it in the air. I had never really seen so many hopeful and positive faces on a chilly saturday morning. These faces were framed by the stout towers of downtown St. Louis on one side and the Arch and Mississippi River on the other. And in many ways, this speech was the sort of speech I have always been dying to see: a major figure, speaking within a monumental architectural setting, to a vast crowd of adoring fans. It's the stuff of movies and history, the sort of stuff you only hear about, but never witness. But saturday, I witnessed this vast specticle of a political event and was left quite impressed by the sheer humanity of it all. On that beautiful St. Louis day, 100,000 people came out to listen to a person share their vision for the future. And they did so hoping and praying that his vision would indeed come true, with the awareness that his ability to fulfill that vision was in their hands.

But I feel a certain sense of anxiety over the whole situation. What if we lose? What if the message we're all fighting for simply isn't enough to enough people?

But then again, what if it is?

Hugz,

Antonio

Old peeps

2008-10-11T14:47:00.002-05:00

I started reading this book Heat Wave about the heat wave that happened in Chicago summer of 1995. It talks about how certain groups of people were more prone to dying in a heat wave because of lack of social attachments and other factors that can't really be expressed in numbers all that well.
One of the first factors the book discusses is the increase in single (divorced, widowed, never married, etc.) elderly individuals that live by themselves in cities. It's a developed country trend in recent years; I saw a television program about how a ungodly percentage of Japanese households will become single persons older than 70 within a few years, not to mention Italy's crisis over its upside down age pyramid. The book talks about how a lot of elderly folks don't have children or resources that can take care of them daily, have health issues already that prevent them from traveling outside the home, and fears the urban environment due to crime presented in mass media that might be the only source of information about the outside.
The book goes on to talk about cultural communities that managed to keep each other alive, among other things, but I haven't read those parts yet. The descriptions in the book is sorta terrifying, because it makes me feel like there are a whole bunch of people living by themselves that don't talk face-to-face with a person for weeks at a time, can't grocery shop on their own, and feels content in that type of situation. I'm not going to pretend I understand everyone's feelings or rationale for doing what they do (because I don't), but it feels like modern isolation in its most extreme.
My friend Natty does this program at WashU called S.A.G.E. where they visit senior citizens around the city once a week (I think the program changed a bit this year, so they're doing more tasks for individual old people, not so much fun activities for a group). I think the elderly peeps really enjoy the visits; if you've ever visited your grandma or grandpa, I think you would understand.
Two of my favorite people in the world are my grandma, who makes me yummies and cat pouches, and my grandpa, who can talk with me about architecture and politics and sumo (he's 80 this year). It's ridiculous how much wisdom and knowledge and sheer experience old people have. It's not just the scariness of lonely seniors, but the loss to the rest of society where older people lose touch with their community and young people can't benefit from their wisdom. I'm not sure how, but family ties and programs like S.A.G.E. that connects young with old seem like a very good idea in terms of fostering healthy community life and passing on priceless experience.

hug your grandma
(also Antonio is an old person, according to the cartoon above from here)

We're not good Christian people

2008-10-02T13:22:00.002-05:00

We three were walking down the street yesterday morning, and this small lady just comes up to us and asks for a group hug. It was really sudden, so Antonio and I just went for it, and DJ patted her on the back. Then she offered to sell us a freaky movie on a DVD. She just needed money for food.
It's difficult a lot of times how people begging need to be creative to get people to give them money. I tend to just give money away because 1) I don't need the money I have in my wallet at that moment and 2) if you have the guts to go up to a stranger and ask for money (AND offer a freaky movie in return), then you're pretty bomb in my book. Those are probably terrible reasons for me giving money to people, but it's also hard for me to understand how my voting or working for certain organizations can help the same people in a direct way. It seems like bureaucracy gets in the way of resources that people need from getting to them. There are certain places and organizations (Centenary that FeedSTL works with, What's Up magazine, St. Patrick Center/McMurphy's Grill) that affect homeless or needy people in a direct and constructive way, but waiting for policy change is so frustrating and seems indirect.
It might be that I'm impatient (even if I'm officially the patient one) and rather hand someone money than not, saying handing out things doesn't help the poor, and policy changes will be able to deal with the poverty problem in a better and more efficient way.

Values not Incomes

2008-09-25T21:24:00.005-05:00

Richard Baron of McCormack Baron Salazar spoke at the Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition Kickoff today on the WashU campus. The posters came up couple of days ago, and I'd already heard Mr. Baron speak in one of my classes last year (I think he's friends with my friend Jodie also), so I went for the heck of it.
It's really exciting to hear him speak, because he's this old guy with a funny voice (funny in a good way) that talks non-stop for an hour and a half about building housing and financing them so that it becomes a successful, mixed-income housing development in the most blighted areas of the country. He has pretty awesome jokes and anecdotes as well.
Some things he deems important are:

forest people, not tree people (collaboration and diversity in thinking is key)
that it's easy(ier) to start something up because everyone's excited; you have to have your finances figured out before you start so it doesn't crash right after the first year
that people can live in the same community because they have the same values, not incomes
building for people means you gotta be able to listen to them

I particularly like the last two. His projects are all very interesting, and the way they carry out the long-term aspect of housing developments is innovative and gutsy. It feels good to see young and old people react to his work in an energetic way; I'm Wall-E getting a boost from the Sun.

Yay!

The Earth Beneath Us

2008-09-24T13:46:00.010-05:00

Sometimes I feel like a bike is a non-polluting car. I feel pretty isolated when I'm on a bike; it's irritating and scary when people jump in front of you. Patience in transport is lacking in the collective modern mind, I believe.

Hitomi is the pink robot that invades plazas.

However, one thing I really, really appreciate about bikes is that it makes me aware of the topography of St. Louis more than any other form of transportation. I walk way too slow to notice subtle ups and downs, and being in a fast vehicle (car, bus, train) undermines those changes greatly. Biking is the perfect way to go fast enough to feel the burn when you're trucking up a hill and enjoy the scenery and the breeze when you're coasting down a gentle slope.

Clayton road is difficult. I like the speedy ride from the Burning Kumquat to Givens Hall. I bet my friend Steph knows the shape of St. Louis from biking so much.

Structure

2008-09-23T21:03:00.001-05:00

how do we let this happen? why?

These pictures come from a building we found in Old North a few weeks ago. We saw it quickly go from being somewhat standing to... well, a pile of broken bricks and gnarled wood. It really struck me as something terribly profound and saddening, that a building could so quickly go from space to object, building to rubble. And it made me sad for St. Louis because I know this situation is far too common in this city and cities like it. I wonder how this happened and why we let it happen, still. Because we do still let it happen and it does, every day, every week; all of the time.

It made me wonder what we cherish as a people in terms of our history and legacy. Do we cling to simple-minded notions of a more chaste and simpler past or do we seek to preserve the physical remnants of those prior times by continually and creatively adapting and reusing them
But we don't, we havent. Throughout our recent history, we have allowed people and jobs and life to migrate from historical places to new ones, often at the expense of those left behind and at the expense of the natural environment. Through our laws and opinions, we reshape the landscape each and every day, little by little, rarely looking back or thinking about how today's actions impact our children or our grandparents. We have chosen to live our lives in the absolute present, searching for meaning and happiness in the sprawl and highways. And this old house, and every brick pile like it in St. Louis, is a direct result of that narrowly-defined way of life.

Will we ever change?

Well, yes. That's the whole point of what we're trying to do, I think; Change. I believe that it is our job to change the way our culture views the cradles of this contemporary society. That is, it's our job to convince people of the life thats left in those cities and educate them as to how they can contribute to and enrich that life and vitality. We can do this through not only examining what's there today, but envisoning what might be there tomorrow. This building represents a missed opportunity in such an endeavor. And yet, it can still serve as a tool for education because it is a casualty and just as we venerate and learn from both the castualties and survivors of war, we can learn from and through the buildings we have denied a future.

Hugz,

Antonio Pacheco

PUBLISH something REAL

2008-09-20T14:52:00.009-05:00

We spoke to a guy today who is starting a new campus publication with the intention of being a "no bullshit" source of information/news/music/art/etc. Our quick conversation made me think of the state of publications on the Wash U campus and in the world as a whole. What has happened to the quality publications that stirred up so much great thinking/controversy/creativity in the past? Archigram is one example that comes to my mind: six guys come together and start producing a magazine with images that challenge the core fundamentals of the institution of architecture. What happened to that? There is something very powerful to be said for spreading information through publications that you can pick up and read. The internet has made it so that most people would prefer to start a blog (like this one) to get their ideas out rather than invest the time, effort, and money in starting a real publication. This gives rise to tons of blogs just like this one, that have a hodgepodge of ideas and irregular posting schedules, without a cohesive uniting idea. A real publication forces really innovative thinking because people actually feel like they are a part of something bigger when they read them. Essentially, I give mad props to whoever starts a real publication like that because I think it's long overdue, especially in St. Louis (and if anybody knows about any please holla).

Building Profile: Grocery Co Op

2008-09-18T12:15:00.001-05:00

The following pictures are from the building we're looking at in Old North. We've been asked to help design a grocery store/ Co-Op for this building. It seems like a really interesting project and I'm excited to take part in it. Right now, theres a bicycle building workshop being run out of the building in conjunction with the Old North Farmer's Market grant. It'll be interesting to see how we incorporate the past and current uses for the building in our attempt at rehabilitation.

The building itself used to be the distribution center for this horseradish company (!!), but that was a few years ago. It's been vacant til the bicycle shop moved there. It's a really big building that has lots and lots of space, but it's kinda dark. There's a cool refrigerator thing inside that really rocks. Ideally, there will be enough room (and there is) for the grocery/co-op and the bicycle shop and perhaps even some other sort of artsy space. There are nice concrete floors throughout the building.

It's maybe not as flashy or outwardly beautiful as some of the other buildings in this hood, but that's part of its appeal for me. It's like taking in that scruffy-looking, not-so-cute dog that follows you home. You know? Except we followed it home. and it's not really scruffy, just... bricky. But you get the pictures.

Hopefully, we can make something useful and awesome.

Hug it out,

Antonio Pacheco

Coltrane can visit Bowles Plaza

2008-09-18T11:10:00.004-05:00

We had this discussion about plazas in my section for a class today (oh wow), and it made evident food is really important in plaza use, especially at WashU. Food, being one of the seven pillars to good public urban space design in William Whyte's Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, holds a special place near and dear to my heart. Not only do I think food is yummy, I believe it can create community, preserve social connections, and nourish the body and mind.
One plaza that has gone from hopping to nopping is Bowles Plaza, which was adjacent to the main eatery on campus during the day. Now, since the new university center was built, and it has a funny food court, students have no reason to visit the old Bowles. Bowles plaza is one of those places where you wouldn't expect people; it's gray and concrete, hard and windy. The giant steps that make the quarter circular amphitheater are hugely giant. It looks pretty severe. But when Mallinckrodt housed the awesome food court, and the weather was nice, Bowles would be packed like sardines in a can. People would walk down to and up from the building and greet friends that were sitting on the steps.
The new university center outdoor seating area has none of that charm; it's fragmented with awkward open space, it has artificial amenities like a fake fire pit and rocking chairs (we're grandmas and grandpas, I know.), and a mini-Bowles that do no justice to the original. People still sit there, because the food court is just inside the doors. This is the great power of food that I'm talking about, but I'm thinking someone should design an easy route connecting the new food court to Bowles and reviving the giant steps for all.

hip hop hurray poodle

2008-09-17T00:44:00.004-05:00

FIRST APPLE BREAK FALL 2008

Apple Break

2008-09-15T21:58:00.006-05:00

We're having our first Apple Break of the year tomorrow in Steinberg Plaza. Please come!

Hugz,

Antonio

Hugs of Various Sorts

2008-09-15T15:30:00.007-05:00

I google searched some pictures of hugs. And this is what I found.

This one's pretty cute:

This one's sustainable:
This one is maybe a little sad?
This one is maybe a little bit scary:
This one is romantic:And this one is just plain awkward:

Hugz,

Antonio

A Sense of Plaza

2008-09-15T08:09:00.002-05:00

These pictures are from a plaza we found in Old North in front of a church on 11th and Carr. It's a pretty sweet plaza. We really like plazas. And what's not to like? They're nice spaces designed to facilitate interaction between people. This one, however was empty til we got there. Then, it was really fun for a while.
According to DJ, this is probably the sweetest spot in St. Louis to skate at, as evidenced by this handrail. I think our love of plazas started wayway back when we watched this movie:

I'm afraid because we ain't spoke in so long

2008-09-12T12:28:00.007-05:00

I was trying to come up with a word for the emotion that Margie has at the end of Fargo, but couldn't think of one and eventually used two words to place it within a spectrum of feelings. Trying to communicate is a mad struggle every second. Being a person is both really difficult and enjoyable at the same time because words are so imperfect and not comprehensible enough. It's interesting to talk to really eloquent people (Liz Kramer, Julia Weese-Young, etc. etc.) to see how they do it. If I had a superpower, it would be that I can communicate far better than I can now.
I'm hugging life today, are you?

Into the Darkness

2008-09-10T18:09:00.005-05:00

Dependent Study heard about this via Ecology of Absence, and I think we're gonna try to go? You should peep it. Basically, it's a documentary movie about urban exploring and the people who do it. We're sort of doing some urban exploring,during day. But it's interesting and its at Webster University. So, we're taking this as an opportunity to:

1) see this awesome movie
2) take a bus adventure to Webster
3) explore Webster

Come, yeah?

Antonio

Crown Candy might be a problem

2008-09-10T12:43:00.004-05:00

We ate lunch at Crown Candy today and noticed two important things: 1) for an area so devoid of population and nearby jobs, the place was packed. There were people waiting at the front of the store to get a table. 2) We decided that the vast majority of the customers were not from Old North. Some were wearing business suits, hinting that they came from downtown. Anyway, these phenomena led us to discussion of the larger problem of gentrification in areas like Old North. Even if there is affordable/low-income housing in Old North, if there is enough desire to live there the locals will be forced to move out because the cycle snowballs until everyone wants to live there and prices can't help but go up. Crown Candy itself is not the problem, in fact the Malts are delicious and it's an amazing place, but if people are willing to drive from far away just to eat lunch there, and if Old North becomes as desirable as it seems it will, people will pay big money to live there, which will totally change the area.

GRAFFITI 4 GOOD

2008-09-09T17:25:00.011-05:00

<- Some 2002 STL graffiti
Every time I ride the metro I stare out the windows at the concrete walls whizzing past and look for new pieces of graffiti that have cropped up since the last time I rode that way. I love graffiti a lot. Wait, I should qualify that: I love good graffiti a lot. Let me now define "good": good graffiti is not done on buildings/structures/places which would otherwise be beautiful without the graffiti (I know everyone has opinions about what is beautiful, but some are easier to pinpoint than others). For example, I don't like it when there is graffiti on brick buildings or old buildings. Actually, it's pretty hard for me to think of a building on which I approve doing graffiti. So where should graffiti be done? I think that all underpasses, all concrete walls that run next to train tracks, and train/metro cars should be viable grounds for graffiti art. They are pretty ugly as is, so adding color can never hurt, and has the potential to be beautiful. I'm not saying I think graffiti should be made legal. The illegality of graffiti is what makes it appealing: it's risky and exhilarating. The point of most graffiti is to leave your mark on a place, artists merely write their names in ever more complex and interesting ways. The status of a piece is elevated by its complexity and difficulty of location (like if it's on the side of Eads bridge or something). I think that graffiti needs to evolve. Artists have the potential to reach a vast audience (young and old alike) with their work, and they should take advantage of it. Graffiti should be a means for The People to voice their opinions in a very public way. Doing graffiti that has some sort of message (a good message of course) can affect a ton of people. I think it would make a lot of people's day if a big fill-in of "SAVE THE METRO" showed up on the side of some underpass on the way to downtown.

-DJ

Let Me See You Bounce That Bounce That

2008-09-09T16:47:00.005-05:00

The Skandalaris Center in Simon Hall helps people do things to help people.
In the past few weeks, they've just come up again and again in helping fund community-development-type initiatives, especially WashU grads trying to make things happen in St. Louis.
I briefly talked to II Luscri (most awesome name probably ever) about this event that they have about 5 times a year called IdeaBounce. It's where they pick out 10 or 15 people's ideas from the ones submitted on their website, give them a two-minute elevator pitch, then pick five winners and give them 100 dollars. The real point of the event is not the Benjamin, but the connections the people can make with the people that attend the event. Apparently some guy got a job overhauling an entire company's website because he pitched a cool intracompany idea sharing web thing at IdeaBounce. And of course, the Burning Kumquat was at IdeaBounce once upon a time. Ideas presented in snippy snappy talks, yummies, and all these people you can talk to? What more could you ask for?

It's on September 18, Thursday at 5:00p.m. in
Room 310, Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom, Anheuser Busch Hall (law skool)
This one's environmental-themed! In association with this year's Freshman Reading Program, which was organized by my super awesome ex-advisor Alicia Schnell.
Sorry about the excessive name-dropping, but you should definitely come.

Lift for Hug Life

2008-09-09T10:30:00.001-05:00

pictures!! Over the weekend, we worked with Architecture for Humanity-St. Louis on the Lift for Life Academy greenhouse project. Again, it was my first time visiting a project Hitomi and DJ had been working on over the summer and I was impressed yet again. The LFL charter school serves St. Louis City kids and provides them with a middle school education (grades 6-8th) starting this fall, they will begin to offer 9th grade courses, adding another year of high school each year until 2011.

Anyway, this project is really cool because the greenhouse is designed to eventually be taken apart and repurposed when the Academy begins to expand its buildings. It's great that there is an organization in the city devoted to offering top-notch educational services to kids who cannot afford to buy a private school education. From what I've heard, the public education system in the city is not so great, so it's excellent that there is such an opportunity here for these kids. Of course, it would be great if there was more than just one LFL-style educational institution in the city or- better yet- if the public education system could get its act together and perhaps begin offering a meaningful and worthwhile education to the children of St. Louis. We cannot expect our cities to grow and flourish if we dont first focus on educating the people who will one day be voting, living, and working in those cities. It's irresponsible and idiotic for us to believe that we can get by without an adequate educational system.

dont you think?

Hugz,

Antonio

Mo Money Mo Problems

2008-09-08T12:43:00.000-05:00

One really frustrating thing about staying involved in academia is the amount of manipulation and competition that sway true learning. It's pretty obvious that money plays a big role in how a scholastic institution is run. If your middle school was in a struggling school district, you hardly learned anything in class because your classes were too big, there weren't enough books to go around, and the school administration didn't have enough resources to organize a sane school day. In college, funding becomes a big deal, especially for a private school (which I attend), and every aspect of its education and operation tend to lean towards what the investors want, or what the administrators think the investors want.
I'm not saying this is a bad thing; I think it's good and honest that an organization with people putting money into it tries to listen to those people keeping that organization afloat. It only gets tricky when things like genuine curiosity in a subject or a thirst for learning becomes hindered by the monetary and logistical concerns of the educational institution. This can be also interpreted as specialization in a field by each school being a strength in the American school system. It's still hard as a student to cope with the realization that your school would rather listen to an old guy that may not even live in St. Louis to make decisions about what affects you every single day.
Another interesting facet of academia is the research industry. It's a crazy mix of pure curiosity, big-money greed, and philanthropy. A lot of researchers research things they don't really care about or for in order to make a living; a lot of researchers go into a field of research to try to solve a problem. Apparently a surprising number of cancer researchers had cancer as children and was inspired by their recovery aided by cancer research and treatment. Even if you aren't a scary greedy cash money monster, if you have two kids to send to college, you need to keep your job no matter how much or how little you personally have investment in your research. A lot of researchers (like my dad) really enjoy the process of discovery and creative problem-solving that is inherent in research.
Money is a really difficult thing that gets imposed on everything people do nowadays. It's refreshing to think about society without money or constraints of endowments, but it's also difficult to imagine how the current global culture would function without currencies. But on a small scale, I'll bake you brownies and you can teach me how to grow fish in a rain-collection barrel. Deal?

North City Farmers Market

2008-09-08T06:35:00.002-05:00

This weekend, we took a trip to the Old North Farmers Market to have a chat with Julia, the coordinator for the market. It struck me how excited people were about the farmers market. There were people of all sorts there who seemed really happy that there was fresh produce in their neighborhood. And that, I think is a really special thing. We all deserve to have fresh food available to us, no matter where we live or who we are but somehow, St. Louis thinks it's okay for a large swath of the city to get by on fast food. Even though this famers market is tiny when compared to Soulard's or Maplewood's farmers markets, it seems to me to be the most genuine and effective. Not only is the food grower-produced (meaning that the person selling you that food has a meaningful relationship with what they're selling you), but it provides food to a part of the city that is drastically underserved by the major grocery stores and food providers.

Living in a city requires a certain level of interdependence that is vital for the functioning of the city's fabric as a whole. It seems that this city is very much intent on effecitively cutting out one segment of the population in terms of the reciprocation they need in order to be healthy enough to contribute to the city's wellbeing. But the North City Farmers Market represents a very important challenge to that thinking. It is helping to literally sow the seeds of tomorrow in the fallow earth of today.

For that reason, I appreciate this market a lot. It's a no brainer and it's about time.

Hugz,

Antonio

Built and Building

2008-09-07T18:06:00.002-05:00

Jackson Park and Tyvek in Old North

Weekend Commute Memories

2008-09-04T21:45:00.003-05:00

One of the best repeated memories I have from my childhood is this: on Saturdays when my mom was working, sometimes she would let us kids come up to her workplace and hang around. My brother and I would hop onto the train, walk a bit to her work, and she would give us stuff to play with (paper clips? minesweeper? markers galore?) before she gave us money to go eat somewhere. We would always think about it for a little bit then end up going to a nearby Moss Burger. Tea would happen, office supplies would be further messed with (usually color-coordinated), then we'd take the train home.
My mom always talked about the wisteria trellis pergola that was near the train station that bloomed during the spring months.

It's really devastating for me to think that some people that ride the Metrolink have memories of scenes from the Metro, everyday going back and forth to and from work, that might not be perpetuated. This is a romanticized perspective on trains and public transit, but I think this kind of thought process underlies all appreciation of small things in life.

Crown Candy

2008-09-04T09:24:00.002-05:00

Last night, the Dependent Study kids took a trip up to Old North St. Louis to have a conversation with Claire Wolff of the Urban Studio and Mikey Naucus of... lots of stuff. A synopsis/video of that inspiring conversation will be posted within the next few days as we figure out Final Cut Pro and get some intracurricular work finished up.

For now, I'll leave you with some pictures from our trip to Crown Candy immediately following the meeting with Claire and Mikey. We were trying to kill some time waiting for the bus, so we got a malt. I was SO down to try the 5 Malts in Half an Hour Crown Candy Challenge, but I was dissuaded by my colleagues. Regardless of that fact, Crown Candy was a great and yummy experience! It had been my first time both to Old North St. Louis and Crown Candy, but boy was it enjoyable. I felt there was a sense of progress there I have only dreamt of in other parts of St. Louis. There seems to be a sense of community there, a community that cares about not only where it's been, but where it might be headed. I think that sort of concern is what makes it a special place. And its people like Claire and Mikey and Phil Valko who are going to help take Old North St. Louis into an interesting direction.

Here are some silly pictures we took at Crown Candy. Until I can figure out my camera, we'll have to live with blurry pictures. I think DJ was in the bathroom or something when we took these pictures?
Hugz,

Antonio

Smell the Summer

2008-09-04T09:09:00.008-05:00

One thing I've been working with for almost a year is the WashU garden, the Burning Kumquat. We grow vegetables and sell them at the North City Farmers' Market (during the summer) and on the WashU campus. We don't use chemicals, we have work day every week, and we plan events and talk to people. I like to talk about this a lot.
So if anyone's around, you should come rub our tomato plants and smell your hands. Then you should rub the gourd leaves, too. Walk past the herb bed with the basil forest, the thyme machine, and the fennel trap; enjoy their massive attack on your olfactory system. And if you, like most of us that work at the garden, have never seen an okra plant, hide under the enormous (if you're short) okra canopy. Beware of spiky squash vines. Let the beans twirl up the corn and nourish the soil that its roots cluth onto. Inhale the aubergine with your eyes.

Public Hearings

2008-09-03T10:19:00.007-05:00

Metro is having a series of 15 community meetings over the next few weeks to gauge public opinion on the upcoming service changes. Here is a list of when they're happening. The Dependent Study kids will definitely attend at least some of these meetings, maybe even all of them. Stay tuned.

Metro Public Hearings

Hear about the future of MetroBus, MetroLink, and Metro Call-A-Ride, and voice your opinion about potential service cuts.

9/3/2008 — 12:00 - 5:00 pm
Eric P. Neuman Center at Washington University Medical Center
320 S. Euclid Ave
St. Louis, MO 63110
Metro Access: Central West End MetroLink Station
Location Map

9/8/2008 — 2:00 - 6:00 pm
Kirkwood Presbyterian Church
100 E. Adams Ave.
Kirkwood, MO 63122
Metro Access: 49 Lindbergh, 56 Kirkwood
Location Map

9/9/2008 — 4:00 - 7:00 pm
Florissant Valley Community College
3400 Pershall Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63135
Metro Access: 27 North County Shuttle, 74 Florissant
Location Map

9/10/2008 — 3:00 - 6:30 pm
Daniel Boone Branch, St. Louis County Library
300 Clarkson Rd
Ellisville, MO 63011
Metro Access: Clayton Road Connector
Location Map

9/11/2008 — 2:00 - 6:00 pm
Tesson Ferry Branch, St. Louis County Library
9920 Lin-Ferry Dr.
St. Louis, MO 63123
Metro Access: 46 Tesson Ferry, 49 Lindbergh
Location Map

9/12/2008 — 2:00 - 5:45 pm
Carpenter Branch, St. Louis Public Library
3309 S. Grand Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63118
Metro Access: 70 Grand
Location Map

9/15/2008 — 2:00 - 6:30 pm
Busch Student Center, St. Louis University
20 N. Grand Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63103
Metro Access: 70 Grand, 13 Union
Location Map

9/16/2008 — 1:00 - 5:00 pm
Mid-County Branch, St. Louis County Library
7821 Maryland Ave.
Clayton, MO 63105
Metro Access: Clayton MetroLink Station, 47 Hanley
Location Map

9/17/2008 — 2:00 - 6:00 pm
Julia Davis Branch, St. Louis Public Library
4415 Natural Bridge Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63115
Metro Access: 4 Natural Bridge
Location Map

9/18/2008 — 3:30-6:30 PM
Tomorrow’s Charter School, Emerson Park Development Corp.
1405 State St.
East St. Louis, IL 62205
Metro Access: Emerson Park MetroLink Station
Location Map

9/20/2008 — 11:00 am - 2:00 pm
Millennium Center, Student Government Chamber, UMSL
One University Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63121
Metro Access: UMSL North MetroLink Station
Location Map

9/23/2008 — 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
City of St. Louis City Hall, Room 208
1200 Market St
St. Louis, MO 63103
Metro Access: Civic Center MetroLink Station
Location Map

9/24/2008 — 3:00 - 6:30 pm
Southwestern Illinois College
2500 Carlyle Ave
Belleville, IL 62221
Metro Access: College MetroLink Station
Location Map

9/25/2008 — 3:00 - 6:30 pm
Lodge at Des Peres
1050 Des Peres Rd.
Des Peres, MO 63131
Metro Access: 57 Manchester
Location Map

9/29/2008 — 5:00 - 7:30 pm
Metro Headquarters, 6th Floor Boardroom
707 North First Street
St. Louis, MO 63102
Metro Access: Arch-Laclede’s Landing MetroLink Station
Location Map

MetroFuss

2008-09-03T08:34:00.009-05:00

This will hopefully be the first of many posts on this important topic.

We recently learned that the St. Louis Metro is suffering from some serious budget shortfalls (they're some $45 million dollars in debt) and will soon begin cutting servic e across the city. These budget shortfalls are, according to the metro website, a result of "long-term erosion of ... funding sources," including the phasing out of subsidies from the state of Missouri, as well as the costs associated with the Metrolink extension to Shrewsbury. All this, in spite of increased ridership across the region.
As you can see from the yummy pie chart above, exactly 2/3 of Metro's operating budget goes to "Compensation & Benefits." According the Metro, that includes the over 2000 people employed through the city's public trans system. I think this is pretty interesting; Metro's biggest cost is people, not buses. Which makes perfect sense, when you think about it: buses and trains are big, one-time expenses, followed by periodic "services" and touch ups whereas bus and train operators require salaries on an annual basis, in perpetuity.

Some facts from the Metro site :

Fewer Transit Options

If additional funding is not made available, Metro must operate a significantly reduced level of service across all modes. The reduced Metro system may include:

Increased passenger fares
Overcrowding on already busy routes
No Metro service outside of Interstate 270
No service after 8 p.m.
Eliminations or reductions of some MetroBus routes
Service hours and frequency on remaining routes reduced 25-75%
No special event MetroLink service
Elimination of Call-A-Ride trips that begin or end outside the reduced service area and operating hours

What this Means for the Region

35% of jobs in St. Louis City and County now served by transit would lose all transit access

50% of St. Louis County residents would have service eliminated

41% of St. Louis City residents would lose at least half their service

MetroBus Service Reductions

Up to 28 of the 60 existing MetroBus routes may be eliminated, including all service outside Interstate 270. In a second phase of reductions, all express bus routes would be eliminated, as would all night service. Some remaining MetroBus routes would be consolidated in efforts to retain some level of service in neighborhoods. The changes to service would take place in two phases, Spring 2009 and Summer 2010. To view the potential changes for each phase, follow the links below.

And for the MetroLink:

MetroLink Service Reductions

MetroLink frequency would be decreased at all times -

Trains would run every 15 minutes during the peak rush hour on all Branches, rather than every 10 minutes.
No service after 8 p.m.
Non-rush hour service would operate every 20 minutes rather than every 15 minutes.
MetroLink trains would shuttle between the Shrewsbury I-44 and Forest Park-DeBaliviere MetroLink Stations during non-rush hours (trains currently operate from Shrewsbury to Emerson Park in Illinois).
Extra trains would not be available for Blues, Cardinals and Rams games, and special events like Fair St. Louis and Race for the Cure.

So essentially, Metro's service would be decimated and they will have to lay off a sizable portion of their workforce. Metro really is on the move.

-Antonio

Sharing Candy and Stuff

2008-08-31T16:32:00.002-05:00

Antonio, DJ, and Hitomi will spend this semester at Washington University in St. Louis to study the city and its people with all of the grueling struggles and dyanamic solutions. We will try to come up with our solutions, too, but not without the help of fellow St. Louisans along with principles of ecological, economical, and social sustainability.

We'll be blogging about what who we talk to, what we see, and what we do.
What it is, what it is.
Welcome to the hug life.