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March 12, 2007
I Spy
I flitted away spent my Sunday working on things that I'd been avoiding for a long time, mainly domain/DNS/code/MT/upgrading- the type of eyes-glued-to-the-screen activities that are usually reserved for cold, rainy days. It was neither cold nor rainy yesterday but the work needed to be done, and as a result callalillie is now running on an up to date version of MT, a very special domain name has been purchased (*cough* think Irving), the Modern Letter Project is moving toward a more digital state and I have not seen sunlight since early afternoon on Saturday.
I have a creative short assignment for one of my classes that requires going to a place that you have never been (or not looked at closely) and writing an analysis of its landscape. The paper is meant to encourage students to think critically about their built environment, which is something that I do quite frequently and truly enjoy...though for weeks I have been fretting over the right area to visit. I am contemplating a place quite close to home, even though we are supposed to visit something more foreign to us, as I believe that second and third looks at the familiar can be equivalent to looking at something for the first time.
Take, for instance, the above house, which is one of a series of homes in Brooklyn that I have completely fallen in love with. Though I have always noticed them, I never thought about their existence and context beyond their obvious discontinuity with the more modern homes that surround them. A few weeks ago I began to visit them more frequently, taking more care in the details that I observed, and then began researching and composing a history based on their location, construction, those who lived within them and for how long. And then, of course, I started thinking about their future, or perhaps lack thereof, which made the aforementioned history all the more valid to me.
I will write about this far less obtusely soon. In the meantime, go look at something familiar in your personal landscape a few more times. Can you draw a different meaning? Don't you love it when you can?
Posted by callalillie at March 12, 2007 7:28 AM | City Life
, Geek
, Graduate School
, History
wow- where are these houses?
Posted by: lesterhead at March 12, 2007 10:22 AM
I will make that my secondary reason for visiting Royce hall this evening. sending you hugs and kisses
Posted by: Virginia at March 13, 2007 3:47 PM
There are similar houses in Astoria--some that are sort of semi-recessed like that so that the first floor is half-underground and half-at street level, and others that are free-standing one-story row houses that look almost like garages but aren't.
Posted by: Astoriette at March 14, 2007 3:11 PM
P.S. The ones in Astoria are brick, but it looks like the ones in the picture were too, originally.
Posted by: Astoriette at March 14, 2007 3:11 PM
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am working on the Design Council of Great Britain magazine and am urgently trying to source the owner of the copyright on the image of the automat that appears on your website page;
http://www.callalillie.com/archives/2003/09/meet_me_at_the.html
Do you please know where you sourced this image from so that I may contact them for a high resolution image and permission to use this picture.
With much thanks for your time and assistance.
Kind regards,
Jenny Quiggin
Picture Editor
Haymarket Network, Teddington Studios, Broom Road, Teddington, Middlesex, TW11 9BE
e-mail: jenny.quiggin@haymarket.com
Tel +44 (0)208 267 5362: Fax +44 (0)208 267 5194; ISDN 0208 267 5151; www.haymarket.com
Posted by: Jenny Quiggin at March 19, 2007 8:33 AM
