Crisis = Opportunity 2009! Happy New Year

Urban Crisis = Planning Opportunity

Planners for Equal Opportunity
Conference poster, 1968

This is my favorite quote and I think it's perfect for 2009. I'm pretty sure that city planners didn't come up with it. I believe (but I could be wrong) that it comes from psychology and counseling. Picture a counselor pointing out to their client that a moment of crisis provides one with that flash of insight that things aren't perfect. That knowledge is the key to meaningful change.

The crisis that planners were referring to in this 1968 poster was the urban renewal and suburbanization of America that left the least fortunate - mostly African Americans - isolated in the inner cities where their neighborhoods were being razed in favor of the national highway system and other massive architectural wonders, while white people, factories and businesses skipped town for greener suburban pastures. Planners had really screwed up.

The new wave of people-centric, bottom up, participatory, equity planners, Planners for Equal Opportunity, sought to right previous wrongs. And they did. My advisor at Cornell, Pierre Clavel, is in the process of chronicling this information and making it publicly available at the Progressive City and Neighborhood Planning Archive and the group Planners Network carries the POE vision forward.

In this upcoming year, we are facing global meltdown of the economy, a national housing crisis, continued global warming, and the fallout from one major investment scandal. Crisis! And this crisis presents us with crystal clear 20/20 hindsight on what wasn't and isn't working. We have Opportunity.

My wish for the New Year is that we take advantage of this opportunity and make extrordinarily good things happen in 2009.

Happy New Year!

Traveling up the Connecticut River Valley

I Lovermont.

-bumper sticker

Northamptom, MA
Several friends will be happy to know that we stopped at this old haunt. Mission: Get a tasty cup of coffee.


Vermont Welcome Center
Please bare with my enthusiasm for a rest stop. Vermont does a brilliant job of promoting its arts and crafts economy in this cool, barn-esque center. Think about it: rural artists are connected with their buyers. Everybody's happy. Steve loves this place, too.


Handcrafted goods and original art hang on display throughout the spacious center.



Steve overlooks a snowy field from one of the world's most comfortable handcrafted (Vermont-made, of course) rocking chairs.


Brattleboro, Vermont
We ate lunch in Brattleboro and wandered a bit, shopping for Vermont bumper stickers for our Colorado cars. We saw Eat More Kale bumper stickers - which we already have - on two cars and eventually found our Vermont bumper stickers.




Historic preservation efforts in Vermont have been strong for decades as this steeple-saving effort demonstrates. One of our favorite brew pubs, The Alchemist, in Waterbury, Vermont, offered a brew to support preservation of a local train station. There's something to say for getting the public involved, even if all it requires is to drink a beer.


Grafton Village Cheese Company
Our last stop before heading back was the Grafton Village Cheese Company. This is the factory where they make the best cheddar cheese in the world. Hands down. Critics agree and have honored them with the highest awards. To those who have been following my blog since the beginning, the hunt for Stinking Bishop does continue, but for now we are more than content to work our way through the mini-wheel of smoked maple cheddar that we purchased at the factory store.
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Mystic, Connecticut

Did you know that Beluga whales are called the Canaries of the Sea for their vocalization abilities?

-Mystic Aquarium website

As more time passes that we are not New Englanders, Steve and I find ourselves exploring our old haunts like outsiders. We are spending the holidays with Steve's family in Connecticut. We did a day trip to Mystic, CT, driving through the downtown, window shopping in Olde Mystic Village (a kitschy, touristy, but charming "Early American Village"), and passing most of our day with the marine life at the Mystic Aquarium.


Steve and Mary Ellen in Olde Mystic Village, near the duck pond


And the aquarium life . . . I wish I could give you better descriptions of what's in these pics, but my knowledge is uneven, at best. I just know they're pretty.


Sea urchins and starfish (I learned that the term starfish is inaccurate; they're sea stars)

Blowfish? Spiny fish? Barbed fish? Pokey fish? I forget. Cute smile, huh?

Lobster

Flirtatious fish. This guy (or lady) was enamored with Steve and enamored with the little girl that was there before Steve. His/her eyes gazed with great tenderness.

Beluga whale. Moments after I took this picture, this whale splashed water over the side of the tank onto me. She was given the "spit" command by her trainer. I only was a little wet, but definitely worried when I saw it coming since it was about 40F - a little chilly.

Fabulous lion fish, darling

Anemones and crabs. See anything else?

Holiday Sweater Party

The festive holiday sweater, once restricted to mom's or grandma's closet, has found fans among young revelers who are looking for a new way to celebrate the holiday.

-Christopher Muther

Boston Globe

Article: Garish Good Fun, December 18, 2008

Two years ago, Steve and I hosted our first holiday sweater party, which was so ridiculous that we decided to host another one this year. I soon found out from friends, family, and thrift store owners that the sweater party is a near mass movement or at least a mass movement - among white people - according to the blog Stuff White People Like (a bit dubious since the picture on the Blog includes a black man who looks pretty happy in his sweater) and several Boston Globe news items (Garish Good Fun and Ugly Sweater Party photos), and, of course, the Google search "Ugly Sweater Party".

The sweater party fits today. It's green, since ideally the sweater is purchased from a thrift store or dug out of an old trunk. It's a cheap theme - fitting when I was in grad school and fitting in a Recession. It's fun to prepare for: one of our male guests had to outmaneuver several older women at a bargain rack for his find, another guest reported visiting five thrift shops, eventually finding Christmas sweaters at a shop where she had to knock on a door to get the shopkeeper to unlock the darky and dusty shop, then pick through defunct garments for the prized sweaters, Steve and Chad made their sweaters, and I scored a sweater at thrift shop #3. You get to explore your community. You get to craft. You don't have to take yourself too seriously.

Perhaps thrift store owners are keyed in on the ugly sweater phenomena, which has pushed it over the top, since one particularly hideous Christmas vest at a flea market was a whopping $24 (No way!), but it worked this year.

See pics below.

The gang's all here (clockwise from left): Melody, Storey, Beau, Chad, Ben, me, Sarah, Steve, and Ted

The handmade Christmas sweater boys, Steve and Chad.

Beau sporting a sweatshirt with an ambiguous message. What could it mean?

A Snowy Walk

In a while I will put on some boots
and step out like someone walking in water,
and the dog will porpoise through the drifts,
and I will shake a laden branch,
sending a cold shower down on us both.

-Billy Collins, Snow Day

Yesterday, I was bringing PB for a walk in the virgin snow and she charged over to her doggy friends, Oden and Isaac's back yard. Odin came running out and I heard, Chad the human male in the household, shoveling snow. Christina, his wife, soon came out with Isaac and a puppyfest was underway. We decided to take the dogs for a walk together in the open space. The thermometer in our yard says its 68F. It's on a post in the sunshine, but it is warm and the snow is vanishing quickly.

(L to R clockwise) Isac, Christina, Odin and Peanut Butter







Looks like a wolf cub chasing a fox, huh?

Rallying Against the Darkness

Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

~Chinese Proverb

As those who follow this blog now realize, I love the winter holidays. What I love the most about the holidays - Christmas, Hanukkah, Yule, what-have-you - is the way that each is an expression of the human spirit - each is an effort to come to terms with the darkest days of the year through lights and celebrations of family, friends, and community.

This weekend, Steve and I attended two holiday light events, Denver Zoo's Zoo Lights on Friday and Downtown Denver's Parade of Lights on Saturday.

Denver Zoo Lights

Last year, we tried to see the zoo lights, having been told that it was a "must do", but we were overwhelmed by the road transformed to a parking lot by would-be visitors near the entrance to the Denver Zoo. This year, Steve's co-worker Melody invited us to join her on a CU (University of Colorado) alumni event at the zoo. This VIP night meant that crowds were low, so we could get the better photo and meander with ease.

At the entry gates, we were provided with paper holiday glasses, similar to 3D glasses, that make each light point look like a snowman. We wore these for a while, but ultimately the lights were captivating enough and the paper glasses (see photo of Steve and Melody) went away. Not all of the zoo was open, but we could see many animals - pachyderms, mountain goats, reptiles, giraffes, seals - and many are much more alert some were at night. Below are pictures taken by Steve and me, which are not nearly as excellent as the photos taken by Melody's boyfriend, Ted with his Canon SLR, tripod, patience, and excellent eye.

Steve and Melody

Me, Santa, and Melody













Steve, "swimmin' with the fishes"


Denver Parade of Lights

On Saturday evening, Steve accompanied me to Denver, while I did some freelance market research for my old boss. At one of our favorite Denver establishments, the Vine Street Pub, I had the Recession Burger - an inexpensive, no frills pre-formed patty, bun and handcut fries - and a glass of house wine, while Steve enjoyed his all-time favorite nacho and a beer. We were both tired, and debated attending the Parade of Lights in Denver's downtown, but ultimately figured, "We're here. We should go."

We were both a bit impatient, so we decided to walk the parade route backwards until we would encounter the front of the first float. Within minutes of hearing the horn blast that signaled the start of the parade, Steve found short-little-me a most excellent hole in the crowd from which to view the parade. A few bands, a penguin ballon, and a float or two passed, then... Nothing. Impatience kicked in again and we decided to continue our walk against the parade route. Here's a sampling of what we found.

Steve stands in front of the Denver Post/Rocky Mountain News balloon. The nearly 150-year-old Rocky Mountain News is looking for a buyer over a six-week period of time and will, if not sold, go out of business. Sorry for that sour note in my usually positive blog, but the longevity of Rocky Mountain News in remarkable and it is sad that it is likely to go away.


This blurry picture captures the chaos around the manager scene float, the culprit for the parade stoppage, which lost a tire and held up the floats and bands behind it. The angels were shakin' it to keep the crowds entertained while two guys (Joseph? Two wise men?) stood on the tilting float. What happened to baby Jesus? Did he roll off the float? Had Al Queda staged an act of terrorism against the wheel on this Christian float? We couldn't help but see the humor in it all, while people further down the parade route were surely growing impatient.


Parade goers look on from a parking garage.


Sugar plum fairy float. I liked the Stetson hat on the onlooker on the left, which is quintessentially Western, something I still enjoy about Colorado.


Steve guessed that this was a "Macy's parade reject". "What child still knows who Dennis the Menace is?" he asked. Note the stop light in the background. Every time the balloons reached an intersections, the handlers had to put them in a limbo position to squeeze under the lights.


Tin soldiers converse near the Nutcracker float.