Category Archives: Urban Life

May 29 3 comments
Education, Emerson College, Urban Life

Lessons from a purple alien fetus

“I’d say it was a setup for disaster, but, it’s so much more than that. It’s my routine.”

Last Friday I fell. I fell hard.

I was sprinting down the stairs of the Central Square subway station when it happened. In typical Aubree Lawrence fashion I was listening to my iPod, reading an academic paper (marking it up with my favorite red pen), and hurrying down the stairs on my way to a meeting at Emerson. Yes. Listening to music, reading, writing, and hurrying. I’d say it was a setup for disaster, but, it’s so much more than that. It’s my routine.

I’ve pretty much pieced together what happened. At the bottom of the stairs I took a long stride toward the gate—not realizing I still had (at least) one more stair to go. When the floor didn’t meet me with it’s usual timing I pitched forward out of control. My confused right foot twisted on impact, bringing the rest of me down off-kilter. The resulting blow to my left knee has since blossomed into something resembling a subcutaneous purple alien fetus—summer fashions are on hold. My body stressed every muscle in panic. The next second I had the first of many sharp chest pains that (after stopping into the meeting to “touch base” first, of course) sent me to MGH fearing a (fourth!) lung collapse.

I don’t need to learn the same lesson twice. I’m done rushing. Rushing, scrambling, hurrying, hightailing it—whatever you want to call it, I’m over it. Yes, this means I will need to learn to leave on time. If I fail and end up being late somewhere then it will just have to be an (albeit public) important reminder to practice diligent time management. Not only that, I’m DONE multitasking as I walk place to place. True, I was harried, but with my adept skill paying attention to everything other than my surroundings the fact is, this accident could have happened at any time. (I must admit, though… for dramatic purposes I’m rather glad I was at least nobly risking life, limb and, um—knees, to get to a meeting when it happened. ::sigh:: Anything for a good story.)

Being a person of intelligence, and bearing the bruises (to knee and ego) of my fall from grace (sorry), I am henceforth resolved:

  1. I will not listen to my iPod for walks under 10 minutes long.
  2. I will no longer read papers, books, Spare Change News, or the Improper Bostonian while walking.
  3. I will not check my email on my cell, nor reply to text messages. (I still need to check texts in case someone is writing to say “meeting’s canceled, go back home and finish that half-eaten yogurt,” but I’ll stop and step to the side to do so.)
  4. I will not place phone calls. I hate talking on the phone anyway.

Only maybe worth noting: I will probably continue to drink coffee while walking; I am still a grad student/”human” after all!

Up until now I just cruised through the world in hopeless distraction. And why? “Efficient use of time! Productivity!” goes the argument… But seriously, could I really take good notes while walking? Compose a respectable email? How many times have I had to reread a paragraph after a near-stumble? Gods and callers alike know I can’t hear a damned thing on the phone with all the city’s street noise in the background!

I’ve been practicing my new walking-life philosophy for three days. I’m shocked to realize how much of the world I was missing, everything from the lilacs I didn’t see because I was always looking down, to snippets of some seriously eves-drop-worthy conversations that now leave me alternating between laughing and realizing humanity is a lost cause (which is to say alternating between laughing, and laughing even harder). The change has been surprisingly rewarding.

I suppose I shouldn’t make it sound so simple. It’s rewarding and all, but it’s also really hard. At this point I’m fighting well-honed habits, acts in which I once took pride! Seconds after I exit to fresh air I instinctively reach for my cell to have it fetch my email. The phone buzzes with a text message (most likely a Facebook Mobile status update) and I have to resist. I no sooner correct myself for going for my cell, and I’m already I’m shifting my bag to reach my iPod. But I have stay strong. I have to be patient and just keep reminding myself: Slow down. Breathe. Look around. Listen. Take notice of the world. Be radical and give a go at actually participating in it. And most importantly—don’t fall down.

Feb 02 1 comments
Personal Rants, Urban Life

WBOS Axes its DJs and Format

A wildly personal and local outraged blog entry.

WBOS Changed its format and axed its DJs
(except George Knight who will still do a Sunday morning show)

I can’t even give you the link because they’ve axed their website too.

I used to brag about WBOS… George Knight moved to mornings, but I remember saying of him “I actually feel like I’m just hanging out at night and George is over in the corner goofing off a bit, giving me some scoop on musicians I love, introducing me to great new songs and artists, and playing fantastic music.” They also played all that great Boston local Music. That’s how I found out about Laura Vecchione. WBOS - What are you thinking??

And the Studio 7 series - brilliant and philanthropic… what will come of that?

…And how weird that mid-day host Dana Marshall is now Program Director and was a part of the decision. I suddenly feel like I’ve been cheated on for weeks!

Jan 31 0 comments
Personal Rants, Urban Life

MIT’s not-so-fun-afterall house

MIT Stata Center

MIT’s Stata Center is really, well, let’s just say “Something.” I once heard some one say “The building went up looking like it had just been knocked down.” I’ve always seen the Stata Center as a gross excess of labor, time and materials that culminated in a layout so awkward it’s hard to find the bathrooms. The building is unfriendly, at best, and I won’t lie that there’s some small part of me that is glad it’s causing so much trouble.

Fast Company has a brilliant article, “Lost in the Funhouse” detailing the efforts by the MIT community to sue revered architect Frank Gehry (who is now even designing for Tiffany’s, go figure) and The Stata Center’s construction firm, Skanska U.S.A. An important question raised early in the article (and is, sadly, never properly developed) asks:

But what about the “construction” piece of the lawsuit? What if the Stata Center’s woes are really about the growing gulf between computer-aided design and literal bricks and mortar?

I recall stating in class the highly unpopular theory that the building simply wasn’t as remarkable architecturally as it would have been 20 years ago. Back in the day any subtle shift in the design meant hundreds - if not thousands - of clearly documented recalculations, all now done in nanoseconds using sophisticated CAD. Though not quite “drag and drop,” much of today’s conceptual architecture is designed by dragging a point on a line, releasing the mouse button, and watching it snap back to its most extreme–yet structurally sound–angle.

So if math isn’t part of an architect’s job anymore, surely understanding materials is. When you’re dragging that point you need to know if you’re moving wall that will be made out of steel or putty. Interestingly, that is where the “fault” lies, according to the article.

So who is to blame? Lstiburek posits that the architects should have done a better job of specifying materials and techniques. [...] In other words, Gehry’s billowing sheets of metal and unexpected angles aren’t at fault: It’s how they were specced out and implemented.

It’s a mistake Ghery has made before:

True, some of Gehry’s other buildings have been tweaked after opening their doors, as when the steel-sided Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles had to be sanded to remove a glare that could practically cook eggs on the sidewalk.

There seems to be sympathy in the article at the end, that Gehry’s reputation may be tarnished as a result of the lawsuit. But doesn’t that make sense? Or has not having to do the math relieved architects of carefully considering how the “structurally sound” 30 degree corner, where glass meets brick, is going to respond to New England weather. If anything, it seems like they would have more time to investigate such things.

MIT is on the job, and has already spent millions of dollars “fixing” the three year old building, with “tens of millions” still to go. If awarded, the funds from the lawsuit will go toward making the Stata Center leak and crumble less. One wonders if they might address the other stark architectural issue while they’re at it, and make it look, well… finished.

Nov 23 0 comments
Consumerism, Urban Life

Let the Resolution(s) Begin

The Holiday Season has begun and I am once again looking forward to my favorite one: New Year’s Eve. I love it not just because it signals all the rest of the stuff is (finally) over, but because of it’s cultural and economic significance. Leave it to me to make it about more than champagne hangovers.

Here’s the vision I forsee… “Today is January 1, 2008″

I am not the only one posting to their website today, millions are online right now. Some are posting resolutions, some are (regrettably) posting to Facebook/MySpace about the crazy antics of last night. Some are on Match.com making that new love a reality (or at least trying to), some are on boston.com in the jobs section, or maybe the personals. Still more are visiting Bally’s signing up for gym memberships, street searching local yoga studios, or on amazon.com buying (into) self-help books like, Body Clutter: Love your body, love yourself. One or two are surfing the Phillip Morris website for hints on quitting smoking, just like they did last year.

It can’t be denied that the internet plays some role in the modern day execution of New Years Resolutions (for brevity, NYR). Once upon a time NYRs were abstract rhetoric, followed quickly with vague notions of follow-up, “tomorrow, when I have the paper,” “next weekend I’ll get to the gym,” “I swear I’ll call a hypnotist as soon as I get a good referral.” This was a practiced routine, predictable in its diminishing returns on talk.

But now the excuses are over. Whether its 12:01am and you’re really inspired, or 5am and the buzz is gone but you’re oddly wired, or 11am and you’re just glancing at something you wrote on a napkin you found in your pocket, there isn’t anything, save champagne-blurred vision, to excuse a person from not executing the classic set of NYRs.

What a boon for the economy! Take Bally’s. They don’t have to be on your way to work, near your doughnut shop or in your office building to have a flying chance of catching you in your moment of determination. They don’t even have to be open—just online. They don’t have to worry that a customer will walk in the door, smell the sweat, see the tears and run out the door before they get a chance to get your money. They don’t have to pretend that they can help your lazy ass, they don’t have to pretend they care if you show up; in fact, they’d sort of prefer if you didn’t, esp since you were so inspired you took the 1 year membership with the $500 cancellation fee.

Abstract rhetoric becomes concrete idealism, as you enter your credit card number(s)—only to become expensive abstract rhetoric. So much for talk is cheap.

Happy New Years everyone. I’m off to the gym…

“We now return to our regularly scheduled black Friday.”