Jane Jacobs, author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and critic of America’s urban renewal effort that began in the 1950’s, as well as urban planning movements that followed–such as New Urbanism, died today. From the Planetizen tribute:
Legendary urbanist, thinker, writer, and activist Jane Jacobs died today, Tuesday, April 25, 2006. Jacobs, never formally educated or professionally trained in urban planning, came to be the field’s most famous critic and commentator, through her writings and grassroots activism.She inspired countless individuals, re-establishing the importance of citizen participation in community design.
April 25th, 2006
Are you feeling politically homeless too? Join the party. But there’s reason to have hope. Kurt Anderson argues that a sensible, viable third way is within reach:
“Centrist�? is a bit of a misnomer for the paradigm we envision, since that suggests an uninspired, uninspiring, have-it-both-ways, always-split-the-difference approach born entirely of political calculation. And that’s because one of the core values will be honesty. Not a preachy, goody-goody, I’ll-never-lie-to-you honesty of the Jimmy Carter type, but a worldly, full-throated and bracing candor. The moderation will often be immoderate in style and substance, rather than tediously middle-of-the-road. Pragmatism will be an animating party value—even when the most pragmatic approach to a given problem is radical.
(Hat tip: MeFi)
April 20th, 2006
In recent oh-shit-we-really-are-adults news, Sarah and I put a bid on a townhouse and the seller said, gulp, “OK.”
Loan on Thursday. Inspection on Friday. Meet with lawyer next week. Close on May 10. Boom. Done. What?
We’re in Governor’s Village, aka, The Poor Man’s Southern Village. The three-year-old neighborhood is about five miles from the university and near other neighborhoods that have the word “Governor” in them. GV consists of apartments, single family homes, and townhouses and is a fairly nice execution of a New Urbanist neighborhood. Walkable, narrow streets, commons areas, alleys, and shopping less than a 5 minute walk around the corner.
The townhouse feels pretty darn good too. Hardwoods on first floor, a foodie’s kitchen, (no granite cabinets but we secured the stainless steel fridge!) and a manageable backyard. OK, yes, it’s miniscule. Notice the garage though. Keep reading for more pics…
Continue reading…
April 12th, 2006
When you’re inside the stone wall that surrounds East Campus, you think, ‘Wow, I’m so privileged to be at Duke’… You take that with you for the rest of your life. You’ll always know you’re a member of this club, a part of something exclusive.
Christopher Johnson, Duke Class of ‘01
April 4th, 2006
I had just turned 18. Old enough to go to war, old enough to vote, and should be old enough to drink, I told myself. Next best thing: a tattoo. I even had one in mind. This would be no Yin-Yang, or trendy Celtic knot. Chinese character, bitches. I was copying a barista at my suburban neighborhood’s bohemian outpost, Coffee Times. Hers meant “Peace.” Looked sweet, but ‘Peace’ was way too hippy. Mine would be much cooler. I don’t think I knew exactly what it would mean when I sat in the chair at Tattoo Charlie’s on Limestone. 
After flipping through their book of character templates, I found the perfect tat: “To Play Guitar”. RAWK ON. A few months later I showed my freshly decorated shoulder to a young man at Wok-N-Go. “To kill,” he told me. “By way of bullet.” I was stunned, but kind of exhilerated. Over the years I’ve shown it to others that speak and read Chinese and heard variations of the “kill” theme. I lucked out and got something even cooler than what I originally wanted. But it turns out many other suckers are getting inked-up with disasterously wrong characters, such as “Motherly Beast Blessing” and “Healthy Woman Roof.” Britney Spears allegedly got one to mean “mysterious” but instead got inked with “strange.” Ouch. It’s become such a problem that a blog, Hanzi Smatter, is even dedicated “to the misuse of Chinese characters in Western culture.”
April 2nd, 2006
