The times they are growing more interesting
Sitting outside in E’s beach shack in his backyard uptown drinking a sweetish Reisling, we talked about how we are living through interesting times – just think of this decade so far – 9/11, the Tsunami, Katrina, not to mention that we will soon see a power shift in Cuba, and all the lessons learned here will only be known as they are recollected in tranquility – so it will take another decade for us to digest what all this turmoil has created. So since we are still in the eye of the storm – what do you add to these incredible times – will you be a recorder of them, will you be an activist seizing the opportunity for change, will you huddle in the fetal position and pray for it all to be over with soon?
Today my friend with the mordant tongue (when she’s bad, she’s horrid – but when she’s good, she’s very very good) is on her way home after a sojourn to Western Europe – we welcome her and the Snake back but she may find her street still has heaps of trash and her step son has maybe not cleaned up the inside any better, but her cat and dog are fine.
An old colleague from San Francisco left a comment the other day – I saw the name of his firm in a line up working on developing ideas for bringing back neighborhoods – but I flinch at architects coming from New York to rebuild New Orleans – years of living in and amongst architects I fear most are out of touch with how people want to live. They want to build stiff enclosures with hard surfaces and twist and contort to force houses into entities they have not wanted to become – home dwellers seek soft wood and soft light and soft focus, they seek sanctuary most of all. Steve understood this with his quiet architecture. Should a home challenge you? Architects want so badly to make an art piece they often times forget humans are the art and the structure that encloses them might take a back seat and just be.
Of course, this notion also harkens to a discussion E and I had last night about writing? For instance, if you are writing for the masses do you spoonfeed them what makes them comfortable or do you speak the truth and the truth just happens to have some shock to it? As it is with architecture, what is its role in society – should architecture shock you, make you think outside what is comfortable? Or should it provide sanctuary?
This coming weekend is another symbol of the abundance we have here in New Orleans – there is the Thomas Mann workshop which I will be attending, the Satchmo festival in the Quarter, White Linen night in the warehouse district, and another wine tasting at the Pitot House – no “what to do?” for New Orleanians.