’so, what do you do here in the city?’ i get this question a lot. it’s the natural result of being a new person… i get asked the most basic of questions over and over again. and the benefit of the exercise is i’ve had countless opportunities to practice my response. the ironic thing, i still cannot figure out how to answer. ‘well,’ i hesitatingly begin, ‘i’m an architect by education,’ immediate eye brow raise and two points for me. yes, it is the perk of being a student of architecture… i’m automatically assumed to have a high income, high profile, and high intelligence. i’ll...
Read Moreoctober 10, 1981 is the date of my birth and i wonder if my mom did that on purpose. i think i was early… supposed to be a halloween baby. but maybe, just maybe, she knew i would someday love being born on this date… i mean she does know me well, i spent nine months tucked inside of her, listening to my heartbeat and teaching me to fall in love with the sound of a her sewing machine… and maybe her maternal instinct is stronger than i realize. maybe she knew somehow those number would guide a lot more than...
Read Morei slept on a bed for the first time in a month. a real bed. with high count, chocolate brown fitted sheet below my skin and a tucked layer of goodness above me. an authentic down comforter and custom, mom-and-daughter made cover allowed me to forget every previous cold, drafty night. the steel head board dad and i fashioned together aestically holds the visual pleasure and functional warmth together. [though i doubt he'll ever want to move it cross country again] illuminated by a single light from above, it toys with me and silently beckons me to climb into its layers with my...
Read Moreko.yaa.nis.katsi (from the Hopi language) n. 1. crazy life. 2. life in turmoil. 3. life disintegrating. 4. life out of balance. 5. a state of life that calls for another way of living. there seems to be no ability to see beyond, to see that we have encased ourselves in an artificial environment that has remarkably replaced the original, nature itself. we do not live with nature any longer; we live above it, off of it as it were. nature has become the resource to keep this artificial or new nature alive. it’s not that we use technology, we live technology. the film consists primarily of...
Read Morei wrote a letter to myself. have you ever done this? it’s quite a bizarre experience… do you use i or me, you or us… i was afraid to contemplate such pronoun usage for fear of developing a psychological, bi-polar-ish disorder. none the less, i wrote a letter to myself because i wanted to remember and i didn’t want to forget. my indian friends mailed my letter to me a few weeks ago and it’s been sitting unopened, and unread amongst my belongings. i was kind of afraid… i was afraid i had forgotten what it said, which i guess is the purpose of writing it, but not reading its...
Read Morethe place the movie the trailor the review
san francisco bay. . . . bay windows bet you never knew where they got their name, i didn’t either… …but now, i’m a proud renter of one.
’so where are you living?’ i get this question a lot by clients, new friends, random public transportation people. i have to smile as i answer, ‘on a couch in berkeley,’ for several reasons… one] it seems as if in some time in everyone’s life, they should have no other place to call home but a couch in a friend’s living room. i mean seriously. always having a room and knowing you have a place to lay your head is completely overrated. living with only the contents of 2 suitcases for a month and changing in the living room… who wouldn’t want that? two]...
Read Morethis is the third year in a row i’ve ’started over’…argh… ’start over’… that phrase automatically conjures up preconceptions and presumptions in my mind. these linked notions include words like… ‘new beginning’ as if the previous end was undesirable, perhaps a ‘clean slate’ as if to say the wrongs are behind me and a clear canvas ahead, or even more appropriately, ‘back to the drawing board,’ implying the first idea was not quite right so let’s try it again. [fyi... architects rarely use drawing boards anyway despite what we may tell you.] hmmm… yeah. i don’t like any of these ‘new...
Read MorePart anthropology, part history, part deconstruction - this is new material that Rob hasn’t taught before, exploring how humans invented religion to make themselves feel better. the tour. the community. the videos. the books: velvet elvis & sex God.
a lyrical remix of the words which have been accompanying me in lately. sometimes, others say it better. and i won’t back down i won’t turn around and around and i won’t back down doesn’t matter what comes crashing down i’m still gonna stand my solid ground won’t back down [mat kearney] i can tell by your eyes that you’re not getting any sleep and you try to rise above it, but feel you’re sinking in too deep oh, oh i believe, i believe that it’s going to be alright it’s going to be alright it’s going to be alright [sara groves] and i don’t think that i can even remember why it was that...
Read Moreeveryone dances. some in steamy night clubs, others a grand plié on the horizontal bar. perhaps you skillfully avoid the cracks as you’re walking to work or maybe you spin around in your apartment when nobody’s watching. someway or another, you find a way to physically express an internal feeling, you bring to life dreams of silent rhythm, you move in a way only you can move. as for me? i like to dance on the soccer field. i haven’t played in a couple of years, but that’s what’s amazing when you learn to dance your dance, it’s like riding a...
Read Morei pulled my shirts from their places on the hangers and squeezed my 3 oz bottles into the 1 qt bag as tightly as i could. one last scan of the room before i wheeled my luggage down the hall. i think i’ll tire of this suitcase soon…it will continue to be my dresser for the next month until an apartment is found and the rest of my things arrive. as well, work will require its use often, already a trip next week to la and this is only the beginning. but it’s okay… i get the feeling this job...
Read Morei think it’s the light. i haven’t quite been able to put my finger on what it is, but i know the light has something to do with it. the rays come down soft and almost diffused, though no cloud acts as a filter and the blue skies remain in their purest form. the light here makes me smile. i sit on the steps today and am enjoying making friends with these california rays. they’re friendlier here than i had anticipated. there’s sound of traffic cruising by and breezes in the trees. when i close my eyes and lay my head...
Read Morelife here in kansas is ending, it’s really ending. the one way ticket i bought carries me away on saturday. my suitcase is filled and my ‘to do’ lists are complete… or nearly complete. my boxes are packed and my closet empty, okay nearly empty. the ’see you laters’ have been said and panera coffee punch card is finished. all that’s left to do is leave… am i scared? yes… a little. it’s not going to be easy, i know that. this is the third year in a row i’ve started over. i know it’ll be a few months before i feel settled and can process my...
Read Morean attempt at capturing my little sister's beauty...
the book the products the exhibition the video the praise the criticism
i still have a big girl bed. when most people my age have fully furnished houses and make meal plans for groceries, i still sleep in the corner bedroom of the house i’ve grown up in on the bed my parent’s bought me when was too old to sleep in the crib. everything i own in life fits into one single room and if i packed really well, in the back of a pick-up truck. don’t get me wrong, i’m not complaining by any means. the rent is cheap, the food appears in the refrigerator, and i have no cable...
Read Moreif you cannot make it to one of my 5 talks this week on india, [i know... all the same week... why do i do this to myself?!] here’s a sampler… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju-9FOlDty4
dear india. part of me wants to close your cover. i’m ready for the next book and to move past my time with you… i don’t want to tell your stories nor try to figure out how you changed me. i’m ready to write your conclusion and put your numbered book on the shelf with the rest of them. i’ll pick you up again someday, when i’m ready to read you again. but not until then. then part of me is afraid to finish you. i’m beginning to forget what your soap smelled like in the kitchen, the freshness of your morning,...
Read Morea little out of balance. forgive my neglect.
[written while in india] as we walk through the streets, my friends tell me everyone is looking and staring at me. [as if i didn't already know] i smile. most of the time, it can be ignored; but sometimes, it gets to me. it really gets to me. sometimes, i tell them, i want to walk these streets and blend into your mosaic of dark faces. now they smile. they can’t really understand but thought they might feel the same if they visited my country. and then, that got me thinking… [yeah. surprise, surprise...] so often, i wish i weren’t an outsider. at first, it didn’t bother me. at first,...
Read Moreeverything is a dream and it’s moving fast oh it’s hard to hand the present over to the past so i don’t know where to start cuz i fear the end and all this transition into ‘remember when’ every day is sailing by drinks you dry but you’re balancing the world it never fails you’re last in line by design so you’re balancing the world all alone sometimes it’s hard to see when our cheeks are wet and the storms inside our hearts won’t let our heads forget that this is part of a life a chapter in the book that’s where one day we’ll sit back down and take a look every day is sailing by drinks you dry but...
Read Moredisclaimer: the following passages may need to be read several times to understand the intent, enjoy the carefully crafted personification, and relish in the meaning… sometimes, words are truly beautiful. sometimes a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man. it happens to nearly everyone. you can feel it growing or preparing like a fuse burning toward dynamite. it is a feeling in the stomach, a delight of the nerves, of the forearms. the skin tastes the air, and every deep-drawn breath is sweet. its beginning has the pleasure of a great-stretching yawn; it flashes in the brain and the...
Read Morethe transition seems to be much easier than i anticipated, though there were some funny things that unexpectedly caught my attention… +i’ve been used to tuning everything out in hindi and perking my ears when i heard a familiar english conversation. suddenly being able to understand everything around me is exhausting me! +wedding rings, we didn’t have them in india. +starbucks…i think there were 29 in chicago’s airport. +women wear jeans and their shirts don’t always cover their backsides. in fact, they don’t really cover much at all. +men are no longer smaller than i am, but big and tall. did i mention big? +i can...
Read MoreFriends University senior and Wesley child life specialist assistant, died Friday, May 25, 2007. Service, 1:30 P.M., Tuesday, May 29, Covenant Presbyterian Church. Kelly was a member of Covenant Presbyterian Church and a counselor at Westminster Woods church camp. He was also active in the Olivet Baptist youth group, Friends University Campus Ministries, and a member of the Friends University soccer team. Kelly had a spirit of love that touched many lives from Wesley Medical Center to kids in Mexico, Thailand, and anywhere he had the opportunity. His smile was contagious and he knew no strangers. In all he did,...
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