esprit de l'escalier

I heart Prezi

I'm in the midst of writing a lot of papers, but I wanted to post *something* since I've been MIA for a bit too long.

Last week I had a debate in my planning theory class.  We had to argue that there were universal ethic rules for planners. We had the hard side of the debate because all of our readings said that ethics were situational. To make our argument we had to go back to Kant and stretch some things a bit.

Anyways, why am I telling you this? Because I gave the initial argument and used this cool program to do so and wanted to share. Instead of using Powerpoint, I used this free, flash-based presentation program called Prezi. It's super easy to use and it's nonlinear, which makes it (at least) seem more dynamic than Powerpoint.

Basically, you have this blank sheet and you start adding text and images, and then start grouping them into sections or subsections. You create paths to different sections or objects and which sets up the route of your presentation. It sounds a little complicated, but once you start in at it, you realize it's pretty simple. You can see my presentation here. Click the right arrow to proceed through the slides. (You miss my explanation, of course, but you can get the gist of our argument. Really, I just want to show you how cool this program is!)

It's official

I passed my comprehensive exams! Barring any unforeseen problems, I will be graduating with my master's degree in a few short weeks. Soon I too will have a mix of letters after my name. I will also soon be "funemployed" as I'm looking for work. Please think good thoughts for me (and pass any tips my way).

I celebrated with some Presecco and bench-standing.

Oh, and go see how freaking cute Blue Kid is, ready for prom. Sniff!

Fighting sprawl

Sorry for the lack of posts - I've been having quandaries - about blogging in general and also about the cookie contest. (Only one group has submitted. It seems the cookie contest is DOA this year.)  Here's something I meant to post about last week.

I just finished a project about creating walkable communities for a class on urban design and public health.  The idea behind the assignment was to research some aspect of "healthy" cities, find a case study, and then apply it in some way to Columbus.  I did a case study on an existing project to create a "main street" in Arlington, VA, specifically the Columbia Pike Corridor.  Basically, using form-based code, they are changing 3.5 miles of sprawly, car-oriented stretch of roadway to a dense, walkable, mixed use environment, that is designed to be public transit ready.  The goal is not to gentrify, but to create a vibrant, urban environment.  (Of course whether it will push out completely is still yet to be seen.  A lot of projects say they aren't going to do that but then only build expensive housing - and even if they do build mixed income housing, some people always get pushed out.  I am very curious to see or to know of projects that don't just gentrify.)

Anyhow, as you might guess from the long paragraph above, I have become an urban planning nerd.  I love to talk about things like form-based code, new solar technologies, using wetlands for water treatment, etc.  The reason I chose this topic was that the suburb I intern with is writing a new plan for one its neighborhoods, and I helped at a community meeting.  Also, one of the other interns and I like to have lunch and discuss what we think would strengthen and make this area better.  I saw this project as an excuse to put these ideas to paper, and to think about them more critically.  It was fun - my friend and I did our own mini walking audit, and I think I came up with some sensible suggestions and shared them with the city's planner.

Last week, after I had given my final presentation for class and turned in my papers, I heard this piece on Morning Edition, about Tyson's Corners in N.  Virginia.  (I'm also a huge Morning Edition nerd.)  Over the next thirty years, Tyson's Corners is going to try and change from a sprawled edge city that has a day time population (ie: workers) that more than dwarfs the  number of actual residents (117,000 workers to 17,000 residents - can you imagine the congestion?).  This is a feat that has never been done before.  A lot of the literature I read seemed to suggest that a project like this would be something of a fool's errand - massively expensive and difficult from a legal perspective.  It will be very interesting to follow this project's progress, because I think other cities like Tyson's Corners are going to looking to change their modus operandis, especially if they can't  count on building (and filling) new spec office  parks.

A little blurry

This polaroid turned out a little blurry.  I didn't mean it to, and would have taken another if it wasn't my last shot in the pack.  But it's very fitting for my current state of being: blurry.  School's out people.  I just turned in my final paper.  Thank god.  I'm worn out and am so happy this quarter is done. 

My brother has been in town (he actually just left this evening).  While I don't enjoy sharing a bathroom with him, it's always fun to have him around.  He collaborated in an art project with his old roommate from art school and some other friends, and there was a big show for it Saturday.  (It even scored a write-up in the paper - including a mention of the brother!)  It was a really cool video collaboration that was projected onto the windows of a building.  About a hundred or so people were sitting on the sidewalk outside watching.

Anyhow, tomorrow I will be running around getting things together as I leave in the evening.  Thanks for all of the book suggestions.  I have tried to find some used copies and have come up short.  I deeply miss the used book stores of Chicago.  There are no good ones here.  Boo.  I will probably pick up one or two, though.

I don't know if I will be blogging while I'm in Europe.  At this moment I'm leaning to no, as I think I'd like a break, but I'm currently exhausted and that might be factoring in to that.  Ten to one, I'll want to write.  Either way, I hope you all enjoy your June.

I do not feel a scream coming on

Today started foggy - I was exhausted.  I was pretty focused in the afternoon and somehow got a lot of research done for a paper I'm writing on shrinking cities.  My studious behavior made me late to a reception my department was having, and (much to my surprise) I found out I won an honorable mention in a poster competition!  I really thought the person who told me confused me with someone else or was kidding.  I'm fairly tickled about it.

This weekend I went to a reunion for a place that was really important to me, and I will post about it tomorrow.  I planned on posting on it tonight, but I got a little distracted.  The Self-Styled Siren inspired me to watch The Shop on the Corner.  My mother hates Jimmy Stewart, but there are things that I love him in.  Particularly this scene (from a different movie, but so good).

Did anyone else catch the lame-o finale to Gossip Girl?  I'm assuming the floppiness of the last couple of episodes can be blamed on the strike, right?  How else to explain what was building to be a juicy arch fall flat, right?  In my head I had written a much more salacious ending.

I also watched the Reaper finale and was pleasantly surprised.  That show has been a pleasant surprise its entire season.  It's not going to change your world,and it's weekly storyline can be a little repetitive, but it's consistently entertaining, and actually liked the twist at the end this season (unlike GG).  I also think Ken Marino and Michael Ian Black have been perfect as demons plotting against the Devil.

Twenty-three days and counting

I have two weeks and three days until I leave the country for three weeks to ping pong around Western Europe. I have less than that time to prepare for/finish any number of group projects, homeworks, 20 page papers (only one thankfully), final exams, other detrius that school throws in my path.

I need to start planning what I'm packing. A rough list is sketching itself in my brain, but I need to write it down. I have to pack in a some-what smart way, seeing as I'll be gone long and will be hauling my crap on my back for three weeks. Luckily I don't have to pack the bridesmaid's dress I'm wearing for the wedding in Ireland in week 2 of my trip (thank you bride!). I'm just going to try and pack as minimally as possible, assuming at least once I will hit a laudromat. (I believe the key to this is packing a LOT of changes of underwear.)

I have my first two-ish weeks planned, but have about 4 or 5 days between my Germany school-related program ending and my return flight in London that are wide open. I would like to spend a couple days in London, but am worried about the cost. I am already planning on bothering a friend of a friend who just moved there, because once he slept on my futon, and maybe now he has a futon that can reciprocate. If anyone has any lost-cost solutions, or suggestions of how to spend my time, I'd love to hear them!

I am ready for the adventure and both wish I could play it totally by ear and simultaneously have all of my nights booked in some hostel or another. I plan on taking copious photos to share when I return, but don't be too jealous of me, because have you seen the exchange rates recently? Ouch.

In other news, my awesome friend Eliza is working on the new version of The Electric Company and it got written up in the NYT. I hope it succeeds!

Quick note on school and reading

I don't have a lot of time to write right now, but wanted to a) drop down the creepy picture of baby rats and b) link quickly to something.

I don't have time to write NOT because I'm crazy busy (thank god), but have a couple hours and want to get the hell out of my academic building, where I spend too much time as it is. I fanagled my schedule this quarter so that I will have two afternoons a week to myself (and my studies). Two spring afternoons to loll in the quad reading, or spend in a sunny window seat at a coffee shop, studiously working. Best decision I've made in a while, which involved dropping a required class (that I'll have to take next spring) and picking up a class I'm very interested in (a super small seminar on sustainability and the urban form).

So anyway, my thoughts go out to Natasha and her continuing pest problem. My congratulations also go to my old work team, who just got the contract for the project I worked on for 2+ years renewed! GO TEAM!

I also want to link to this essay on the NYTimes about women, reading and dating. It's hilarious and oh-so-true.

Later. I'm off to soak up as much sun as I can. (And to of course finish my homework.)

(Update: Oh, I just read this post about "faux female empowerment" icons and have to agree. Partially because SatC bugs the hell out of me. And for the last two grafs:

The bottom line: If you were going to choose a gender-specific role model, why one of these four cardboard characters? As American women have won more and more rights, the feminist movement has had the luxury of branching off in many, even contradictory, directions. Feminist icons run the gamut from activist Gloria Steinem to porn star Jenna Jamison…not to mention our first viable female Presidential candidate in Hillary Clinton.

One friend suggested we organize a boycott of the Sex and the City movie. But it's just not that important. In an ideal world, former fans wouldn't show up because they've moved on. The movie—neither a hit nor a stinker—would simply go out with a whimper, just like any idea whose time had come and gone.

Amen to that, "like any idea whose time had come and gone." Later for real this time.

Updated, once again, several hours later:
Apparently, blog, I just can't get enough today. I did an errand, went to a coffee shop, read my homework for my class and scribbled on a big post-it something I was planning on appending to this post. Now, though, I think I'll append something slightly different.

Recently my mind has been taken up almost entirely in the things that I am studying, although (to me) this isn't really translating to this space. I think that's sort of a time issue. My posts since starting up school again full time have been more rushed and less thought out; more reactionary than anything else. In general I feel rushed and jumbled and worn out. I can't say I like that. I read a couple of articles recently about how meditation is supposed to be good for your health in the long run, and I'm thinking of trying it out to help me clear my head. (Are there books where you can learn that? No idea.) I want to take the time to write about the bigger issues I deal with in my classes that have me excited. Here's a pledge to try and make time and brain cells available to do so in this space. I think writing about it regularly and in a more measured way will help me de-jumble my ideas and reactions to the things I read and discuss in my classes.

Okay, that's seriously it for the day.

Soggy thoughts on what I want to be when I grow up

Today started off a bit soggy. It started raining yesterday evening and did not stop until this evening. Thus my trip to the polls early this morning was fairly wet, and my galoshes got a work out. I found something amusing with voting today. It must be that Ohioans aren't used to voting in primary elections, because I saw two people have mini tantrums about having to choose one ballot over another. I think it's because they were Republican and only wanted to vote on the Democratic ticket for president. Frankly I didn't have a lot of sympathy.

I am currently coming off the giddiness that follows public speaking. I just gave my final presentation for my "Where Do I Fit?" class, in which I had to describe what kind of planner I want to be when I get done with my master's program. We had to have one slide with an image that would serve as our inspiration. I chose this photo of the Urban Planning Exhibition Hall in Shanghai. When I saw it, I thought about the mass of humanity that would be living in such a dense urban area, and how nature and community could possibly be balanced. My interests in planning are related to design, community and sustainable living. In a perfect world I'd be able combine these three interests in a job to make urban living better in America in places like Columbus, Ohio. I'd also like to be able to write about it. (Have I told you how Dwell magazine influenced two major life decisions last year, including getting a master's in urban planning? I'd love to be published by them one day.)

I'm writing about this now partially to start forming more coherent thoughts for myself (and my final paper for that class). It's funny how this assignment has been both difficult and easy. I know what sparks my interests and passions, but it's hard to consolidate those interests into goals. Part of the assignment entails writing a "perfect future resume" - which I haven't yet started. It's exciting and scary to dream, especially when there are real life implications (even if they are good implications).

Anyhow, sorry for the navel gazing, though that's what this space is often for. I just got two rolls of film back today and have some great photos to share this week. Stay tuned! (Below is a shot of the main drag in town, taken Sunday during our short bit of beautiful weather.)

Freedom and some snow

As of about 1:18 this afternoon I was a free woman. Free of classes, stress-induced paranoia and long commutes. Until January that is. And I'm not entirely free, as I'll be working four days a week, but I'm looking forward to my break.

I was not so excited to have to make the trek into town today, what with snow steadily falling and none of the roads or highways properly plowed. But I went in and took that exam and now I continue to hope that the class is curved and that it will positively affect me. At this very moment I've got a cat curled up beside me, begging for attention, a roaring fire and an inclination to fix myself a drink. See below for photos of Frank's first snow.

I'm cruise directing tonight's bloggage of Project Runway. Join us at New Critics for some fun in the comments section, starting around 10pm (eastern).

My eyelid is twitching

I messed up on the self-portrait above the other night. I was supposed to be in it. My life is a bit hectic right now. I'm trying to finish about eight things for school, go to work, go to sleep, etc. I'll have one big project done tomorrow. Another Monday, tests Tuesday and Wednesday. Wish me luck. Then I'll be able to return emails and phone calls.

Tomorrow, Jennifer is the cruise director for our Project Runway blogging. Join us! I'll most likely be light-headed and a little late...

Update: Natasha sent me a link to the video below. Spoon + dancing Japanese robots = excellence.