It's been ten years since we began our architecture education in Manhattan, Kansas but I still call these friends some of my favorites. When it came time to leave, we had our pick then of jobs and the possibilities of our dreams were limitless. We scattered to different corners of the world... each one of us taking our own unique approach to our trade. We've gone to far off lands and stayed to explore known places; we've ended jobs and begun new chapters in our education. In the course of these years, we've gathered others along with us in the journey....
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 Morewe all have our weaknesses and i am no exception. perhaps you are numerically challenged [math] or visually challenged [color blind]. some are horizontally challenged [short] or financially challenged [broke]. i would like to state for the record i am directionally challenged. what i mean by this is that unless i have a map in front of me, in a city i've lived in for longer than 5 years, or the sun is out, i cannot tell south from north, east from west. in my mind, it seems west should always be to my left and east to my right....
Read Morei’d like to say i’m an equal mix of both of my parents. but if i’m really honest with myself, i would have to admit i fit more into the mold of my father. i possess his same work ethic and listening skills…as well as his stubbornness and smiling eyes. i’m proud to take his good as well as his bad. i have found no man i respect more. of no one am i more proud. working in the overlapping profession of construction, i’ve been amazed at the respect i am granted with just the mention of his name. “oh, you’re...
Read Moreanother video is in the works. this one requires me to look through pictures of my own. along with my journals, i record life pictorially in the seven photo albums at my feet. [perhaps this is an unaddressed obsession] i rarely take the time those images deserve to reminisce. pictures capture an instant, an event, regardless of their worth. but hindsight tells us they always are. i laugh at some of my outfits/hair styles from high school already [i didn't think that was supposed to happen for at least five more years] soccer games and sleep-overs, trips and birthdays; all...
Read Morelied. call it seasonal memory lapse or a fall infatuation, but the previous mentioned [25 october] tree is not really my favorite. i believe you can have but one favorite it any given category [ie food, movies, cars, friends]. although you are allowed to change favorites over time, the title must only be given to one object at any given moment. long ago, a gave my favorite tree title away. we have few traditions in my family. of course there is the special plate we eat from at birthdays and other monumental occasions, popcorn for dinner on sunday nights, and grandma's...
Read Moreit was final project week. i had left at 3am to rest my mind and my body before returning 6am. i liked coming in at this time because all of my classmates were leaving in order to avoid the 7am parking tickets. the lights were off, the room was still, i was in flow. instant messenger was my tunnel to the outside world during final projects; the only way i interacted with people outside of seaton. however, this may morning, it became my poison, as it carried to me the one thing that had the capability to bring down an...
Read Moremy mind has been everywhere but on work this week. it often drifts off to far away places, known and unknown, to people in my past and others i have yet to meet, to memories and unwritten events. half of the time i'm sitting at my desk, i'm really not there, but nobody seems to notice. i don't mind either. never seeing the ocean until i was 20, i think it had a greater impact on me than most. i was so overwhelmed as i stared into the vastness of it all at virginia beach; i wanted to turn completely around...
Read Morefor the first time since i left, i miss being in manhattan. i miss the flint hills in the fall. i long to run up manhattan hill to look down on the city clothed in its fall wardrobe. i miss my favorite tree in manhattan. i don't call very many things favorites; i use that title cautiously. however, i do not think twice in stating that i have a favorite tree, or perhaps had one. it was the kind of tree that caused me to change my walking path through campus in the fall just so i might walk by...
Read Morei always hated coffee. we would take studio breaks and walk down to radina's for a cup o' joe, i would opt for my alternative, tea. i just couldn't stand the bitter black drink. it didn't matter how much cream and sugar i added, nothing could beat my hot berry, or christmas chi. i must admit now, i have come to appreciate the caffeinated wonder, but my first love is not rooted in those potent beans. over a good cup of tea do people relax and open up. as they are inhaling the warm sweetness do they let their guard down...
Read Moregrowing up, i was a creative child. sometimes i think my mom must have just looked at me and laughed wondering what i would come up with next. i was always making or creating something, imagining or forming something into being. many of my creations were started with such passion and excitement only to never see their own completion. i always tried to do things bigger or better than they needed to be; some things never change. i remember one time i got into cross stitching and rather than begining with a magnet for the refrigerator or a pillow for...
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