EAST VILLAGE, NYC: The major justification for taking this apartment (as a share) was the outdoor space � a cute fenced-in square of patio garden. Besides some general benefits such as an acceptable roommate, this was such a large advantage because in some way the outdoor space made the apartment satisfactory. I was living in a room that is 6 x 8 feet and looks onto a filthy airshaft � there is only my roommate�s bedroom, the bathroom, and then a mini kitchen with enough space for a tiny loveseat � hardly a comfortable environment. However, knowing I could actually leave the apartment and enter our own private space that had plants and open sky above made me feel happier. It certainly did not justify, but maybe soothed the pain of paying $900 out of a $2150/month rent for 50 square feet of personal space. Nevertheless, winter came�and ruined my escape. Before, I could go outside and sit in our laz-e-boy chair and smoke a cigarette while reading the paper; now I could only look out the window and watch the freezing wind blow through our yard. But I still had an affection for that clear square of fresh air we rented. It was a bit of freedom and clarity in the city.
34E7ST: One day while sleeping I was woken by a persistent doorbell. I desperately needed sleep and was wondering how this person did not buzz for front-door access first, and hoped they would go away. No such luck; the doorbell was abused. I roused myself from the loft bed that takes up the closet-sized bedroom and stumbled to the door wearing no contacts. As soon as the door opened I was greeted with an upset superintendent who immediately confronted me with questions about the garbage in our entranceway (in front of the mailboxes beside the garbage door). He wanted to know if I had left garbage there; I said No. He then accused me saying �yes, I did!� and I again stated �no, I do not even know what you are talking about and I did not put garbage in the hall.� He grew more frustrated and retorted with comments about how I was lying, and he had poked through the trash and found an envelope with my address on it. I again said, �well there must have been a mistake because I did not put garbage out there but I did put out a bag of paper for recycling.� The garbage area was chronically overflowing that placing recycling in there would have guaranteed toppled and spilled papers everywhere. It was a polite gesture of me by placing the bag of recycling outside the garbage door, eliminating the need for Mr. Super to pick up all the paper spillage. He argued again saying �NO! No, it was not recycling; it was garbage.� I replied to this onslaught of interrogational insults by saying �Look, I know what I did and did not do; I did not put garbage out there but maybe someone else in this building did.� He began chiding me on how when I put garbage out there then everyone in the building thinks its okay� Why am I paying $2150 a month for this residence? The super accuses me of trash problems and assumes it is my own bad influence which causes the whole building to consider it acceptable to leave trash in this area. I told him calmly that people can do what they want, but I understand what he is saying about garbage not allowed in that area but I do not deserve to be yelled at and accused of something even after I explain I am not his culprit. I have not seen him since.
THE LOW-INCOME HOUSING DEFICIENCY: The period of time between 1970 and 1973 saw a 65 % increase in housing production, which was kept active by a Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, which also increased local government power in decision making related to housing development. This act created the Section 8 Program, providing a more flexible source of funding for the rehabilitation of low-income housing. There were other amendments to previous programs that continued to support the development of lower income housing and provide local government power and support to make positive changes. However, in the early eighties the situation became bleak, as the Reagan administration in particular focused on reducing federal non-defense spending, therefore creating a strong sentiment of ignorance against the growing problem that thousands and thousands of countrymen were facing - not enough affordable housing. The Section 8 Program was severely cut back, to the detriment of the previous success, thereby damaging the previous accomplishments and progress and critically wounding future prospects of low income developments and the rehabilitation processes. This completely turned from the federal leadership of the seventies and the situation gradually became worse because of the insufficient federal attention. The production of low income housing greatly declined, financing techniques became more complicated, and lower income housing that was actually being developed was aimed at households with incomes between $15,000 and $20,000 and did not address households with incomes less than $15,000 a year. However, there was progress in the combination of private and public funds that appeared promising; these groups include local foundations, major corporations, and national intermediaries that work with nonprofit community development corporations. But these emerging forces have not been adequate to serve the immense lack of affordable housing.
GROUND ZERO: Total destruction of 16 acres of the most influential financial district in the world� Now we have proposals that can change the fa�ade of the greatest city in the world. Disregarding the input of Silverstein and PANYNJ, Kaufman�s plan for an inhabitable bridge is fantastic in theory. It would span the Hudson River connecting lower Manhattan with Jersey City but be closed to vehicular traffic. There would be two main levels with the upper one catering to tourist with attractions and gardens while below would be prepared for transport (emergency services and goods). A large portion would be reserved for hospitality services, mostly hotel and entertainment based. The computer generated images are striking because of the sleek curve, minimal detailing and mass. Huge, cylinder shafts stretch across the water, gently meeting at the midpoint. The engineering science behind such a structure baffles me, but the flexed tendrils are designed to meet the shoreline in an agreeable proportion. From the edge of the World Trade Center site, a great bridge should rise up and soar above the Hudson River to land in a larger base in Jersey City. The fragmented foundation would splinter towards land and leave the center as a thin stem from which artistic life grows. A positive energy must be reinforced; creative communities must have a location in the bridge along with attractions to a certain degree. This should not be directed at tourism; this needs to be an interactive life-sustaining neighborhood. For this reason, low profit return shops can find their home here, because they are usually the first to disappear and are supported by long-term residents (meaning dry cleaners, cobblers, etc). These service shops may be vital, but are a daytime use function. If residents lived and had sources of income the economy would be stable; tourism would help, of course. Some transportation, perhaps a subway extension, could easily connect residents with New York or even New Jersey. An inhabitable bridge near the World Trade Center with views of the Manhattan skyline would certainly attract visitors from near and far. Housing is an obvious inclusion; hotels are suggestible, but not necessary or recommended. Aesthetically the design should be similar to Zaha�s proposal � Eytan�s is too sterile and symmetrical to be exciting and worth constructing. A clean, modern appearance would be perfect, though. It would symbolize purity and simplicity, two noble qualities appropriate for a memorial.
MATISSE: �The Joy of Life� from 1905-6 illustrates the �Garden of Eden� ideal with healthy bodies lounging in an organic paradise filled with warm colour (in addition, there are dominating contour lines yet also spatial distance � demonstrating the tension between 2-D and 3-D images popular with Matisse and other artists such as Cezanne.) �The Red Studio� of 1911 is a field of crimson peppered with objects that have sparkling pattern, drawing the eye around the canvas. Here the colour of blood is not used to evoke emotions such as anger or rage; rather is a plush pool made with the colour of love enticing the viewer to enter his celebratory vision and share his joy of painting. Later in his last years of life, when illness kept him bedridden, the decades of peeling away details of a scene became the dominating skill of his work. Matisse was entertained by creating cutouts (with the aide of an assistant, apparently) to assemble collages. Again he used form and colour but these became even more direct in a somewhat digital manner (as in ON-OFF/ON-OFF, no depth but space, no shade but colour, ideally 2-dimensional). They have an immediate power and are successful at using his characteristic elements of �suggestive� form and dazzling, bright colour for an emotional impact. It is art therapy for all of us � as it was for him in the beginning and end of his life.
FERNS: One well-known characteristic of ferns is the presence of sporangia. Ferns reproduce solely by these spores. Ferns drop millions and billions of spores throughout their life but only a selected few have the good luck to land in a place suitable for growth. These sporangia usually occur on the lower or abaxial surface of the sporophyll. (Sporophyll is a spore-bearing leaf, as in these leaves of the lower vascular plants, which bear sporangia.) �Sporangia are not static structures, and their originally primitive position at the margins or on the abaxial surfaces of fertile leaves has been profoundly modified in the more advanced members of the pteropsid line of development.�5 Most ferns produce homosporous spores. These spores are usually collected in lines, dots, or variously shaped clusters on the back or on the margins of the frond or its divisions. If sporangia are in compact groups on leaves, then each group is called a sorus, and the sori can be linear or circular in outline. If the sporangia are not grouped in these specific sori groups, they may just be scattered along the bottom of large leaves, or hanging off small leaves. Either way, they can be unorderly and dispersed randomly around veins. �The spores of the Pteridophyta often provide useful characters to distinguish genera or species. Diverse perispore ornamentation is often the most distinctive character of these spores.�2
DIRECTION: I had mostly felt the position of actor, but I received the director�s attention. All of these concepts were used on me (mostly by my professor) but I did not realize their meaning or importance until I read this book. I was exposed to the rights, the tactics, the way of the work. However, I felt differently about it as an actor. I know I hadn�t been completely open-minded during class. I always accepted my responsibilities, criticisms and comments and tried to use and learn from them. But I realize I did not look at them from every side. I was only looking at myself (when acting) from an actor�s point of view, but now as a director�s. That is all right because I was actor, but when I was director, I found opposite things pulling and leading me. I was concerned with more; not just one character, but everything. I did not have to technically use it all but I felt that I could have gained much more experience from knowing how important every little detail, action, conversation is. I recognize it now. I can look back and see that when I was acting in Picnic, that when my director said to follow my words and if I said, �I don�t care for so-and-so� I should not care for so-and-so in every way. When I was acting in Dangerous Liasons and I was not being as loud and assertive as needed and my SD told me to feel how pained my character was, I needed to be more expressive � he was telling me basically that the audience will not see, not believe, I am pained. When my professor told me to imagine it as the worst thing that could ever happen to me, it was to achieve the effect that was needed.
copyright (c) Chrissie Carlin 2005