AlexM's blog

For our first post in this class, we talked about “a good place”. Looking back over my blogs, I am amazed at how much I learned about how landscapes, buildings, and even architecture can change the sense of a place. I always believed in the old saying “it doesn’t matter where you are, but who you are with”. However after this class, I look at general happiness in a slightly broader way. Although it is very important to be surrounded by people you love, I think people underestimate how important it is to love yourself as well. I have found that I am happiest with myself when I am somewhere that I love to be. My good place that I mentioned in my first blog is still my number one place I want to be, my dorm room in NYC. This is mostly because of the layout of the room. As Pollan mentions in his book, decorations and last minute touches are key components in what sets a mood of a place. I knew that from the start, and actually had a preconceived notion that interior décor was the most important thing in setting the mood of a place. However now I realize that there is so much more to the sense of a place. I thought it was really interesting when we discussed how the layout of the windows and doors of a building, or the layout of benches in a park, can make the difference of making a place uninviting or inviting, a social gathering or a  place of transportation. I began to analyze my good place and realized that I loved it not only because of the decorations, but because of the floor to ceiling windows, as well as the seating arrangements.  

Out of all the readings, I think I connected to the most was the Tuan reading. I am a nature girl and I personally find my most relaxing places being outside. My favorite quote by Tuan is “Quality is what you see out of the corner of your eye” (Tuan 147). I think this says a lot about New York City as a whole. I think most of the beauty of NYC is somewhat of a secret, a secret that can only be truly observed by those of us that live here. We notice the little things, the small qualities, like the hidden gardens in Soho or the tiny cafes and dive bars in the East Village. One of my favorite places in the city is in the Brooklyn Park. I love sitting on a bench looking at the NYC skyline and knowing that most of my quality places are somewhere in the skyline.

My overall experience of this course was amazing. I have never taken a class like this before and I wish that it was a two semester course. I have already started to notice that I look at places differently. The best lesson that I learned overall was how to analyze the good and bad in every place. Even in the worst of places you can find something unique and special about it, whether it’s the colors of the place, the climate, the timing, the feung shui,  the interior décor, the location or the people involved. As I mentioned in my last post, I was even able to find the good in Times Square by taking this course. I know I will benefit from the readings and the class discussions for years to come.

 

Within my first year of living in New York, I quickly learned that if you are a New Yorker, you hate Times Square. I wanted to go since I had never been there, but my roommates refused to take me. “Crowded streets, too slow, ugly advertisements, obnoxious tourists, screaming children, annoying salesmen,  overpriced merchandise, etc," they described. Sound familiar? Once I actually visited Times Square, I too realized how easy it is to loath the few blocks. I worked as an intern in the Rockefeller Plaza during my first semester, only a few blocks away from Times Square. Unfortunately, I had to run many errands for my boss, which led to me weaving through the fanny packs and the "I heart NY" t-shirts in search of a precise ball point pen, or the nonexistent 8.5 by 5 inch notepad. By the end of the first month of my internship, I had an even worse impression of Times Square, if that were possible. All of the positive aspects of New York that I had witnessed by attending NYU simply did not exist in Times Square.

 

What gives Times Square this negative sense of place?  Of course, I mostly blamed the tourists, which is I am sure where Sorkin  gets most of his hype from whenever there are tourists in the West Village. The idea of making such a cultured area into a public space must upset most of the West Villagers, and provide them the fear of the area becoming similar to the horrid Times Square. So is this why Times Square is the New Yorker's hell, because it attracts 250,000 tourists a day? Sorkin discusses how Times Square was designed to uphold a "yin and yang" space. In other words, the area was designed for leisure and traffic, but is also expected to uphold large rallies or masses, like New Years Eve in Times Square. “Its most celebrated occasion, the mass gathering at New Year’s Eve requires the area to assume a state of exception from its normal purpose, the movement of people and vehicles (Sorkin 103). This statement by Sorkin finally explains what gives Time Square its sense of place. The area tries to transport people and vehicles to their destinations, but at the same time is expected to be a place of gathering and entertainment. Here in lies the conflict because we are shoving people with completely opposite missions into the same area: those who don’t want to be acknowledged and just want to get their job done, and those who want to stop and see all of the lights and take pictures with the naked cowboy. According to the Times Square Alliance, 500,000 people go through Times Square every day - 250,000 employees and residents and 250,000 additional in tourists and passersby.With this many people in one area, it is hard to find peace and relaxation around 42nd and Broadway.  Readings like Tuan and Pollan have made me realize that favorite places usually involve quiet spaces with nature or even nurture, both of which Times Square clearly lacks. Pollan was able to create a place like this by building his house in the middle of the woods. How can we add a little bit of the peace and serenity, the atmosphere that Pollan was in search for, to a place like Times Square?

My very recent experiences in Times Square have showed me an unexpected new light to Times Square. This new understanding was due to two interesting variables, time and climate. The ironic part about my discovery is that the times I truly enjoyed 42nd and broadway were when the weather was unappealing and the time was inconvenient. I discovered this when my friend visited me a while ago and he had never been to NYC before. His visit quickly led to the predictable yet depressing question: Can we go see times square? I held a grudge at first and went through a list of some of the places we could see instead: the east village park or seaport. Possibly walk around in west village and get magnolias or get mamoun’s falafel on St. Marks. But he wanted to have the true NYC experience, which apparently meant Times Square. We decided to go for an hour on a Thursday morning to avoid the tourists, but just as we got on the subway it started to rain. As much as I tried to dissuade him, he still wanted to go. Once we arrived by taxi, we started to hop around to all the usual merchandise stores: the Hershey Store, Toy’s R Us, and the M & M store. I was taken aback by how much fun I ended up having. Because of the rain and the timing, Times Square felt like an empty amusement park. There was barely anyone in any of the stores and the streets were empty. We had rain gear on so we just ran threw the puddles and never had to deal with crowds. We had the excitement of the lights, shops and musicals all to ourselves, and it felt like we were the only people in the world. If I were to ever tour Times Square again, I would go during this time again. By going at a dead time, the place seemed much more appealing and the sense of place was much more apparent. 

 

In this trip with my friend to Times Square, I started to realize the good that the area possessed.  I ask myself the question that Waldie asked about his hometown: What is beautiful here? “The calling of a mourning dove, and the others answering from yard to yard ( Waldie 13). Although there are very rarely even pigeons in Times Square, it does possess some beauty if you take the time to notice it. I work in Times Square for my internship this spring. During lunch on Wednesdays, a coworker and I sometimes escape outside and walk to a little hole in the wall cuban restaurant that I love, Margon’s. The streets are filled with the business travelers and other locals on Wednesdays, as most tourists come starting on Thursdays. So around noon on Wednesdays most of the people on the street are on lunch break as well, and everyone seems to be happy to de-stress. There is a sense of community for an hour or two and the lights and commotion of the area seems less threatening, even enjoyable. 
 

Earlier this semester, I had an even greater experience of Times Square, one that clearly showed me this newfound sense of place. It occurred during our biggest snowstorm of the spring semester. It was a Thursday, and although my classes were canceled due to the two feet of snow, my work at Disney was not. I remember being a little bit grumpy as I put on my snow boots, and trudged up to 42nd street. But as soon as I stepped into Times Square, my mouth dropped, and I was speechless. For the first time ever, the entire two blocks were silenced. Big fat snowflakes fell from the sky and all of the advertisements and billboards seemed even more colorful when compared to the white streets. A blanket of snow covered the streets so there were no cars, and a few people walked quietly in bundles of clothing with their heads bowed. There was certainly an aura about the place, one that I had never felt before in all of NYC. Actually the only place that that I had felt the same way was in Walt Disney World. Walt Disney World gives off a magical feeling, that all dreams are possible and that the world really is a happy place. This aura, as tacky as it may be, exists in Walt Disney World because that was Walt Disney’s intention when he created the park. This was never the intention of Times Square, yet when everything was silenced and all of the lights were unthreatening in the snow, I could feel the magic of the place. I remember smiling to myself as I walked to work, and I felt like anything was possible, and all of my stresses lifted away. I never would have guessed that Times Square could have made me feel like this, but I actually felt comfortable and content. 

Even though I have all of these newfound discoveries, I do not think I will become a Times Square fanatic. After all I am a New Yorker, so I still have to hate Times Square. I have to despise the place that attracts both traffic and rallies; that brings together the annoyed business man and the screaming teenage girl on her choir trip. But even as I huff and grumble about the next time that I will have to go to Times Square, I will admit that on occasion I have been touched by the few blocks once or twice. There is a sense that the place possesses, a sense of magic that is usually overridden by the negative. And maybe someday, you will get stuck in the rain or snow in Times Square, and you will notice it too. 

(Here I have posted links to two commercials. Together they express the yin and yang of Times Square that I have mentioned earlier. The first commercial is a Verizon Wireless droid commercial that shows Times Square as a transportation center. The second commercial is a car advertisement that is clearly depicting Times Square as a social gathering.)

I love how Sorkin talks about the Urban Glass House located on Spring Street. I have walked passed the structure before and have been unable to avoid it, it stands out especially when its next to a tiny little pink building that also seems very out of place. I found the sight peculiar, and tried to picture what the architect was thinking when he built the structure. Was he trying to give the occupants a view of the outside world, or the outside world a view of its occupants. I feel like he was trying to show off his building  to the world and sort of make a celebrity out of the structure, as it is such a spectacle. The original glass house became iconic not simply for its architecture but as a medium for self-exposure (Sorkin 192). I wonder if the people that occupy space there feel like celebrities at times, always being in a public area, even in their bedroom. 

 

Sorkin mentions that even Johnson himself is on display as the creator. “In a masterstroke of celebrity, the house made the career of its creator by putting not simply itself but himself on display (192). In my opinion, the glass structure was built to honor not only Johnson, but the architecture, the landscape, the art, and the occupants of the building?

 The NYC Urban Glass house is an interesting representation of Philip Johnson’s private residence. He had built fourteen structures over the past few years in order to represent the bareness and openness of  art, landscape and architecture. One of them was his own residential home, which is call The Glass House (this is what the movie was based off of). Even after the architect passed away in 2005, his site was preserved and is now a National Trust Historic Site. The forty-seven acre site is located in New Canaan, Connecticut, this is such a place that offers the privacy and nature that NYC does not.  

So why did Philip build glass houses in such opposite areas? I think he was trying to connect space in a way. He was trying to make all private space public, and public space private. He did kind of accomplish this in the way, because even though the houses are in two very different locations they both represent Johnson’s common theme of self-exposure. They both became celebrity sites for the occupants, the creator and the architecture pieces themselves. This may seem obnoxious to some, but isn’t that the goal that most architects really share? 

 

Michael Sorkin brought up a very interesting proposition when he was talking about roofs in Manhattan. His idea is to turn all of the roofs into gardens. This, according to Sorkin, would not only benefit the individual but the environment as well. “Imagine instead, that our rooftops were parkland that the area of ground occupied by building was, in effect, simply displaced upwards. Imagine that the city enacted legislation requiring that the equivalent of 100 percent of the surface area of New York to be green” (Sorkin 43).

 

I found it particularly interesting when he talked about how we currently view manhattan. Most of us see the Manhattan ground as a road grid, where we can exit our buildings, walk on the sidewalks, cross streets, and walk through the sectioned off gardens that randomly litter the city, then go back into buildings again. Although I live on the twelfth floor of my building, my skyline is only of the other windows across from mine. The average height of a building in Manhattan is 5.4 stories according to the New York Times.  So besides people that live in the penthouses like Sorkin, most people only perceive Manhattan from the sidewalk or from their window view which may show one or two but certainly not all the roofs of Manhattan. Being one of those people, I never thought about what Manhattan must look like from an ariel view. The roof space must take up at least 60% of Manhattan’s ariel view, and the space is mostly covered by the cheap roof covering that attracts more heat and negatively influences global warming. What would normally be grass and trees is now replaced by the black roofing, 

 

Considering how popular and expensive it is to be in manhattan, it is crazy that the wasted space has not been taken over. “If such ariel parkland were linked by bridges or by a more continuous building form, an entirely new kind of public space would be created” (Sorkin 43). Although it would be an expensive project, out of all cities Manhattan would be able to support the idea what with its popularity. I think this is a magnificent idea that would make any city even more enjoyable to be in. I am a country girl at heart as I grew up in the woods in a suburban area. I love the city, and New York City in particular, but I miss all the green that is available to us in the suburbs.

 

There are a few issues that I can see with roof access. I think a potential issue with this problem would be safety. If all rooftops were connected via bridges or extensions like Sorkin mentioned, people of all ages would be able to walk across buildings that are stories high off the ground, so if anything (or anyone) fell, the could be in danger from above or below. Also on a slightly morbid note, if everyone had such roof access on such a common basis, I wonder if the suicide rate in NYC would increase.

 

Overall though I think that this is an excellent idea and I cannot believe it has not already changed cities as we know them, especially with the go green fad that is currently running through our society. If this were to go through Legislation I think the environmental and individual benefits would override any issues that might arise. 

 

The picture I used for my blog was taken from this website. The architects who built the rooftop garden at the Rockefeller Center had planned to make many rooftops that were connected by bridges, just like Sorkin had envisioned. For more photos of the Rockefeller garden click here

Why we love the park, and why it has made a difference in our NYU experience.
What would NYU be like if Washington Square did not exist? For the most part I feel like it would be a school with very little pride because of the lack of community. Although NYU lacks the traditional college campus, it still has Washington Square, which allows some sort of gathering. As a freshman coming to the city, I was already overwhelmed by how NYU has no real campus. I transferred from a college town because of this, I wanted to be more independent and on my own. But being able to walk around Washington Square gave me a sense of what NYU represents.

The park with its musicians and artists milling around, as well as dogs running and children playing in the fountain. “But for most city dwellers, their only backyard, the only place they could let their kids be outside, was the neighborhood park” (Flint 64). Flint talked about Washington Square park like it was a hidden backyard that is available to the New Yorkers. The uniqueness that the park possessed is almost indescribable. One day when I was eating my lunch in the fountain, I was observing all of my fellow students along with other local residents, and felt such a sense of family even though I was eating alone in a crowd of a hundred people that I did not recognize. I quickly realized that this is the reason I love New York City, the reason that I want to live here for the rest of my life. I love that people from all different backgrounds and different agendas can gather in the area.

Washington Square reminds me of the vernacular spaces that we have talked about talked about. I know this doesn’t exaclty make sense, since the park was clearly designed for people to hang out in, but in many ways the park is not remarkable. For example there are no fields of grass where people can lay around, no gardens with exotic or unusal trees or flowers. There are  a few trees over a cement playground, with an arch and a fountain smack dab in the middle of it. In many ways I see it as just an empty space, I am definitely not attracted to the actual layout of the park. The people and the culture that the surrounding area possesses is what brings the park to life, and gives it the earthy, artistic feeling that I get from it.

If Moses had been able to carry through with his plans, the park would be lacking all of these qualities. On page 60 of Wrestling Moses, a picture is shown of what Moses wanted. Although the picture shows actual grass and smaller parks around the main highway (some of which seemed even more park-like and accomodating), the essence of the surrounding areas would have been lost due to construction. This is the main reason why the park is so precious, the reason the park has a unique personality. I think that the qualities of the nearby neighborhoods have had a tremendous impact on the liberal arts university that we all have pride in. Without these qualities, I think NYU would become even more sectioned off, especially because we would no longer have the W. 4th street area for all of our main buildings. College students would just go to random buildings to go to their classes, and then they would go home. The school would have much more of a commuter feel, and a lot of school clubs and activities would be affected. Right now, New York University is the number one dream school in the country, but most of the college tours are centered around Washington Square and the West Village. I think that most of NYU’s appeal would have been lost and would be nowhere near what it is today.  

 

Totalitarian Architects

the decor of a place

 

In Pollan’s later chapter, he discusses how his house is still unfinished in the architect’s eyes. A while after the house was finished, the architect (Charlie) visited the house, but he seemed somewhat flustered when his gaze drifted around the room. Pollan confronted him to discover that they had decorated the house in a way that Charlie had not expected them to decorate the interior.

 

“On the blueprints Charlie even sketched in the books on the shelves, as if to suggest the correct ratio of upright to sideways volumes (with a few casual leaners- at precisely 60 degrees- thrown in for good measure” (Pollan 277). 

 

This seems a little anal and obsessive at first, I think that the decorations and last minute touches are a key component to what sets the mood of a place. A few weeks ago, I had to move out of my apartment. Seeing the apartment bare and empty made me realize how much of a difference the few decorations made in my dorm room. In the case of Pollan, he was able to create his own place, so to him, he though that the project was done and that his house looked great. But the architecture knew better because it was not only the space that needed to be designed, but what went INSIDE the space. 

 

This reminds me of the earlier chapters on the feng shui of a place. Feng shui is built more around the concept of representing the earth and heaven in your everyday life, but it still represents the idea that the materials and decorations that are in a house can make the difference of what mood the place has. Right now I have friends visiting, and although I love having them here, having the extra luggage and clutter takes away from my usually peaceful room. I think that this has made me more distracted and stressed this weekend, and since I did not have time to clean before they got here it is hard to relax now in my apartment. But normally my apartment is a very relaxing place to be, and I think it is because of the interior decorating. Over the summer, I had sketched out exactly what I wanted my apartment to look like, then I purchased materials and decorations based on the drawings. My mom would suggest different purchases or looks but I found it very hard to rearrange my original idea. I am assuming this is how Charlie felt when he would visit Pollan’s house and when he would see that it was not how he had envisioned it. My opinions of my room and Charlie’s opinions of his structures show how there is this totalitarian view that architects have over their spaces. 

 

I think that after reading this chapter, I will take different steps in finding and designing my future home. I would then make sketches of exactly what colors and actual artifacts/decorations I want in the room. Honestly it makes a lot of sense though that this would be the most important concept. Its not important what the place looks like, but what you do with it that counts. “Charlie wasn’t so much trying to impose a shelving policy on me as he was tacitly acknowledging the crucial stuff would play in establishing the look and tone of this room” (Pollan 277).  As you can see by my main picture, just by organizing your positions in an appealing manner, a bookshelf can look very comforting instead of stressful. I think that being so anal and demanding about the inside of a house is actually what makes the house’s character. 

 

As Pollan discusses in his first chapter, his idea of creating a place of his own originated from his childhood tree house. I thought this was ironic because when I had read about Pollan’s creation of “a place of solitude a few steps off the beaten track of everyday life”, I had immediately pictured my own treehouse as a child. My father, like Pollan’s father had hired a contractor, which led to me also having the “fanciest treehouse” in the neighborhood. “Fancy” is an understatement. My dad tried to mimic the swiss-family robinson tree house by make a two story structure that encompassed much of our back yard. The treehouse was every child’s fantasy, what with the huge slide, the tire swing, and the rope ladder. The first floor is about fifteen by twenty feet and the second floor had a platform where a zip line will eventually extend towards our house, at least 25 feet of the ground. At night, the lights would all go on in the treehouse and to this day it still looks like an imaginary playland. Many birthday parties and events have been held in that treehouse, and I remember being able to entertain myself for hours playing make-believe with my younger brother and sister.

 

“For this was a high childhood ritual, and more than anything else, it was the treehouse itself that these ceremonies commemorated, this airborn room of my own, which I came to regard as a temple of privacy and independence” (Pollan 16).

 

As much as I appreciated the magic and captivity that the treehouse provides, I think that my father secretly built it for his own benefit. My father is a writer, like Pollan, and as I read the first half of his book a lot of what he said reminds me of my father. If my father had the money I am 100% positive that he would build a one room house in the back of our thirteen acres of woods, isolated from everyone and everything. Every once in a while he will take our camper and stay in an isolated area to write. As a child I think that my father always pictured having this temple of independence that Pollan’s parents built for him. Unlike Pollan’s treehouse, mine was more than big enough for any age or person; many afternoons I would come home from school to see my dad writing in the treehouse. I think that the treehouse meant more to my dad than it ever did to us kids. He was secretly trying to create a place of his own, where he could think and bring all of his dreams to life, his past dreams as a child and his presents dreams as a man and as a father. He would claim that the treehouse would be for his children, but it would be a place that meant much more than that, a place to daydream. Pollan quotes Bachelard as he attempts to explain the reason he needed this place of solitude and independence. “I should say: the house allows one to dream in peace” (Pollan 7). My father using our treehouse as “his space” shows that even though we crave the privacy of children, the craving for this sacramental place never really goes away and whether its in a den in the basement or the backyard garden, everyone should have that place to daydream. 

Buck County, Pennsylvania; a county made up of several towns that are separated by forests and stretches of roads. Although the atmosphere of a farmland still exists, many of the towns have changed over the years to satisfy the middle class. Each individual town holds the same general landscape, the small original town is nestled in the middle of the surrounding developments. Random houses trickle out as the roads become more windy, and then there is a mixture of forest and farmland. Each town however is connected by main highways that connect shopping centers to the communites.

The classic suburban appeal that bucks county offers has attracted a general type of crowd. In particular, my small town Perkasie in the county is made up of mostly caucasian conservatives. The town was created in 1969, and has now grown to a community covering 15,034 acres with over 8,000 residents. The town has a very classic look to it, with its small streets and brick buildings with white trim. A large old clock is in the center of the town is surrounded by antique shops and a few restaurants. When walking on the streets you feel a sense of community, and the past memories have faded but are still present in the old buildings and familiar streets.

Growing up, I used to love visiting the oldest strip of shops in Perkasie, Pennsylvania. This is where I had my dance classes with the high ceilings and the older wood floors that creaked under the running ballet slippers. Then there was the candy store that still sold 10 cents candy, just like it did twenty years prior. The store was callled Leshers and we used to save up all the change we could find that week, just to spend it when our parents would have to buy other supplies.

There was a man who owned a small shop that sold train sets. The old man with his train collection used to be up late at night, so we could visit him on the second floor after our dance lessons were over. Every night he would turn on the most expensive set, which was a mini version of Perkasie. We would watch the miniversion and picture what Perkasie must have been like during the 1900s. 

In early childhood, another joy was when the Perkasie Carousel would open. The Carousel ran only a select days over the whole summer, so the park was always hot and crowded during that time. The line for the carousel would wrap around the park, and it could take over an hour just to get to ride around the circle for a few minutes. The original organ plays the same tunes that were played when the carousel was originally made in 1851. Families still come from all over town just to hang out around the carousel and feel the sense of community that Perkasie offers. 

to see more pictures go to http://www.perkasieborough.org/photo_gallery.html


 

As inhabitants on earth we like to put our roots down and to belong to a certain spot, never to move again; the road or highway is a menace. Yet that other, political identity urges us to leave and to seek out the focus of action and discourse” (Jackson 27). 

Two years ago, my best friends and I embarked upon the journey of our lives. We left our hometown, our roots, our comfort zones and drove three Suburban vehicles along the Northern states of America until we hit Washington state, then we continued to drive straight down Route 1 to San Diego, California. “Movement is a key theme in American History” (Tuan 99).  The lure of the West and the idea that the West is some sort of ideal space has been a relevant theme since the beginning of American civilization. The three week trip that my friends and I embarked on was an experience of a lifetime, and the five cities and eight national parks that we visited proved that the west did possess ideal spaces. Through this experience I was able to see the many wondrous landscapes that the United States possesses. One particular adventure stands out in my mind, our hike in the Grand Tetons. I wonder if the national park stands out to me because I was hoping to find my personal identity in another space besides my hometown; a connection to the unusual instead of my vernacular landscape. 

 

After researching the Grand Tetons we learned that the area was known for its breathtaking mountains and morainal lakes. The highest snowcapped peak, the Grand Teton had an elevation of 13,770 feet and was surrounded by seven lakes and other mountains. We decided to attempt our first backcountry hiking trip so that we could see this wonder. Our plan was to leave early in the morning, as it was supposed to be about an eight mile hike up and a four mile hike back the next day. We had checked the forecast and although it was supposed to rain lightly, we were enthusiastic about the adventure. As we hiked farther and farther into the wilderness (and farther away from civilization) a sense of peace and openness filled me. The sense of the place began to change, and although I was surrounded by eleven of my friends, I still felt the solitude and serenity that the wilderness bestowed upon me. As we took the last few steps into our destination, I was at a loss for words. The trail opened into a grotto of sorts. It felt like a garden of eden and I could somewhat relate my feelings to Kunstler’s chapter on the American Space. In this chapter, Kunstler discusses how the Europeans felt when they came to the new promised land and how they saw it as their own garden of Eden. This is how the Grand Tetons felt to me. There was a bare space in the middle of the tree line that exposed the snowcapped mountain, the Grand Teton. The mountain loomed in front of us, the reflection echoing magnificently in the lake that we had spent hours hiking around. 

 

What were the qualities of the Grand Tetons that made it seem so magnificent? When I arrived there I felt like I had reached an escape. Many times as a child I had dreamed of a place where there were no parents, rules, homework, or chores. I used to build fairy houses with sticks, rocks and moss with my best friend, and I used to picture escaping to this place with her where time stood still and I could just play all day. Ten years later, I had found that my childhood dream was a real place. After hiking about eight miles into the wilderness, miles away from any other human being, we had reached a little alcove of privacy. As Tuan mentions “Long ago and far away are the opening words of many legends and fairy-tales” (Tuan 122). There is an appeal to the idea that as you distance yourself from society; more time passes and more of the unknown and undiscovered reveals itself. “As the objective horizontal plane stretches away from the observer to the remote distance, a point is reached at which details cease to be knowable. This is a borderland between the objective and the subjective realms; it is the timeless past, a country told about in myths.” (Tuan 121). The privacy that the Grand Tetons possessed is what made it seem magical, even exotic; like we were in a Garden of Eden.

 

Tuan discusses how “timelessness is a quality of distant places” (Tuan 122). Much of the magic that the Grand Tetons possessed was because of the lack of measurement. There was no telephone service out there and most of did not bring watches. As I mentioned earlier, we left for the hike in the early morning and after that we did not have a concept of time for hours. We hiked out there, set up camp, ate dinner, and relaxed for what seemed like hours. I was amazed when someone decided to look at the time and shouted out that it was only 6:30 p.m. We still had 3 hours of daylight. Time seemed to stand still and we only had each other and nature.

 

Interestingly enough, right around the moment when we decided to look at a watch, the best of times became the the worst of times. Although we had had a few episodes of light rain during our hike, the weather had been holding off for most of our trip. However around 6:30 p.m., the sky opened up and it began to rain. We had no choice but to seek refuge in our tent, which we had gratefully set up a few hours prior We had packed light, and against our better judgement, we had only brought one tent to save space. This led to eleven young adults being jammed into space recommended for six people. The ten bowed out slight allowing rain to seep in from all directions. All of us laid there like sardines for a few minutes before someone mentioned the time again: 6:45 p.m. The sun would not be setting for a very long time. Cold and wet, we became very aware of the loneliness of the wilderness. Imagine having a house in the woods like this, the only thing connecting you to society is one windy road. Kunstler would be against living in such an environment, even if it did resemble the Garden of Eden. He argues that we need a sense of community that the suburban and rural areas lack. However even when I picture how soaking wet and miserable I was, I do not know if I could compare the American dream that Kunstler is obsessed with, with the sense of place that the Grand Tetons gave me. If I could have a house in overlooking the Grand Teton, that is within 10 miles of a town, I would absolutely rather have that then a small home in a quiet neighborhood with a white picket fence, and a park a few blocks down the street that provides “nature”. However, if my friends were not with me, if I was in a tent alone rather than crammed in a tent with eleven people, would I have thought of the landscape as magical? And if I had stayed there for more than a night would I have craved the community feel? 

 

In Jackson’s chapter called A pair of Ideal Landscapes, Jackson discusses how there are two identities in society in which the human being wants to relate to. The one identity involves a relationship with nature, and the serenity and solitude that nature can provide. The other identity does not involve solidarity, but the gathering and sharing of experiences with others. This recognizes the fact that that people want to be together in work and living, even while they are seeking their own independence. “We enjoy the vitality of the city only to complain that there are not enough green spaces where we can be alone with nature” (Jackson 12).  Standing in front of the Grand Tetons with all of my best friends, I felt both of these two identities come together. I felt the serenity and solitude of the wilderness, but I did not feel alone even though we were the only human inhabitants for miles.  We all accumulated the experience together, absorbed the natural world without solidarity.

 

The quality of the Grand Tetons represents the conflict of space that Jackson and Tuan recognize. They both discuss how space and place are intertwined. That the human being seeks independence, privacy and solitude, but at the same time we seek the comfort of belonging to a society or a group of people. I thought that this was an impossible landscape, and maybe a permanent landscape like this is impossible. But, in the Grand Tetons, I felt both solitude and companionship. Even if only for one night, space and place, nature and society were intertwined. 

To see the slideshow of my journey, click here

Kunstler discusses Walt Disney World in his chapter called capitals of unreality. He discusses how Walt Disney World has an aura of dread underlying the attractions. He goes over an average trip to disney, what it is like getting there, spending a day there, getting on the rides. However he makes everything seem horrible and contaminated about the park, like Walt Disney World is like a cheeseburger, it tastes good but is horrible for your body. Walt Disney world may look picture perfect but to Kunster, it is filled with fakeness and morbidity.

I have to say I am somewhat annoyed at Kunstler’s judgements on Walt Disney World. Maybe it is because I have a very strong attachment to the parks. I have been there about a dozen times in my life, two times in the last year alone. So I will be first to admit that I have a very personal connection to Walt Disney World. The theme park is definitely a capital of unreality but why is that a bad thing? The whole idea is the MAGIC of disney, being there is supposed to be like a dream, (as the tagline to the themepark says, where all your dreams come true). 

Also even though the rides and everything are fun, I do think it makes a big difference who you are with. I picture going there with my family, and everyone is happy and having fun because there is something there for everyone and every age. But being with your loved ones is definitely what brings out the magic in disney. I wonder if Kunstler just went by himself, a man with a frown and a notepad being shoved around and only concentrating on the negative, like the 80 degree weather or the overweight people driving around on electric wheelchairs. As he writes about Walt Disney world he wrote nothing about the good experiences that make the park worthwhile, but talks about the negative aspects of the unreality. I feel like throwing him on Splash Mountain with my little cousin, maybe that will bring out the magic in him. 

There are some points that Kunstler brings up that are very true, and I know that I tend to turn a blind eye to them while I am there. A bunch of the rides have a sick and twisted side and definitely have a weird theme of death and mayhem. The tower of terror still terrifies me to this day. The Pirates of the Caribbean ride also got in trouble recently for 

I agree with him that Walt Disney World does seem to have an underlying theme of morbidity, but I think it is also approaching the theme that you cannot have the bad without appreciating the good. Every ride tells a story, and tell me a good story that you heard recently that one of the characters did not die in? One of the theme parks main attractions, Fantasmic is a light show that spends a solid ten minutes on all of the villans and horrible scenes but then shows them all being destroyed by love and the imagination and such. Yes it has its morbid part but then it shows the happiness, and I am ashamed to say that I tear up almost every time at the end, and I start to believe in my dreams. So yes Walt Disney world may be very unrealistic and a classic example of the corporate pirates in America that Kunstler is fascinated with. But without places like this give happiness and love to families across America, and Kunstler in my opinion is just choosing to look at the bad and closing himself off to the magic of disney. 

In the first chapter of the book, The Geography of Nowhere, Kunstler discusses his experience of the college town. “The State college I went off to in 1966 was located in a small town of 5000 in remote wester New York state. To a city kid, Brockport was deeply provincial, the kind of place where the best restaurant served red wine on the rocks. Yet I enjoyed it hugely....Its little Main Street had a full complement of shops, eating places, and of course, drinking establishments, for this was back in the days when eighteen-year-olds could buy liquor (Kunstler 14)” His experience and this passage creepily reminds me of my own experience.

I am a transfer student and the original college that I went to was in a college town very similar Brockport. And for most people that attended the college, they enjoyed it hugely just like Kunstler did. My college West Chester University was equipped with the similar restaurants and shops. I was a freshman who lived in the cul-de-sac of dormitories on campus, but most upperclassman lived in houses from the 1900s like Kunstler mentioned. If it were not for the college students that made up half the population, the town would have been a ghost town. Most of the students that I went to college with came from restraining, lonely suburban households, they appreciated the “life of the real town”. 

However as much as Kunstler and my fellow students enjoyed the streets that were too small for cars, I did not. I wanted the life of a real city. I did not enjoy the peace and quiet of a small town at night. I have included a picture of my college university which has the same rolling hills and atmosphere that Brockport gives off. I came from a town very similar to this growing up and I hated that my college life directly reflected my home life. That is why I transfered to a city college. But considering that Kunstler was trying to escape the city life, I am not surprised that he enjoyed the difference that the small town provided. We had very different reactions to the college town life, but thats because he was experiencing something different and I was not. Kunstler and I are similar in that we both craved a change of environment during our college years. I wonder how many students came to NYU for the same reasons that I did. How many came for a change in environment, to be placed outside of their normal zones for their 4+ college years. 

Jackson spends some time discussing the original meaning of the word “landscape”. In the concluding chapters he discusses how noblemen and clergy would look at the word landscape as a measurable space. “a merely vernacular or peasant term describing a cluster of small, temporary, crudely measured spaces which frequently changed hands and even changed in shape and size.” (149.) They used the landscape to measure how much power they had over the land. 

 

I think that Jackson’s analysis on how the noblemen viewed the land can apply to a much bigger audience. Many people use their landscape to measure how much power they have. My hometown for example is sectioned off according to wealth. The middle classes houses are in developments where as a few streets down the houses seem to change in shape and size to something of lower quality. Although I come from middle class I would say that I (as well as most of my community) perceive my hometown similarly to how the noblemen viewed the land. 

 

My opinion of New York City as a landscape has dramatically changed over the last several years. Before I became a student at New York University, I perceived the city as an inmeasurable space, a landscape unknown and scary. I did not see it as a noblemen, I could not identify the clusters of measurable spaces. But as I began my day to day routine in the city the landscape started to become more familiar, and I fit myself into a groove that caused my perception of the landscape to become more known, more measurable. I feel that everyone must view landscapes in a similar matter. The land is inmeasurable until it becomes familiar. “Landscape must have been a word much used by villagers and peasants and farmlands, it describes their own small world” (148). It is not until the land becomes familiar territory that one can view his or her landscape like the noblemen and clergy did. For example as I become more familiar with my world in New York City, I would describe it as a crudely measured space that is frequently changing in shape and size.

Tuan discusses how quality and intimacy are directly related in chapter 10. He quotes Robert Pirsig’s account of a tourist site to prove the point that the quality of a place can be lost when it is pointed at or noticed by too many people. Although this may be true on occasion I do not believe that all situations that are public are not intimate. Pirsig says that “Quality is what you see out of the corner of your eye” (Tuan 147). I must say that I disagree with him in this matter. The quality of a place (or anything for that matter) does not have to be observed by the corner of the eye, if something is made of good quality it is obvious and apparent. I feel that it is not some sort of hidden secret whether a place is of good quality or not. 

Maybe if the space is destroyed or damaged then the quality can be destroyed as well . But the quality cannot fade simply because someone has noticed it. For example, picture walking into a relative’s house during the holidays. The smell of cinnamon and freshly baked goods fill the air and there is a fire crackling in the fireplace. Laughing and chattering can be heard from inside the dining room. Just by stepping into a room like this, you instantly are aware of the quality of the space. People can point this out, or more people can be invited over, but the quality of the moment will not be damaged.

Robert Pirsig states that “You point to something as having quality and the quality tends to go away (Tuan 147). I do not think the quality of something can go away just by being noticed. In fact, if anything I think the quality of something is overlooked sometimes if it is not pointed at. You may not realize how beautiful a starlit night is unless someone told you to look up. I will agree that the intimacy of a situation may be destroyed by pointing and attention, but that does not necessarily mean the quality is also destroyed. 

In fact, National Parks, like the Crater Lake referenced in A Sense of Place, may exist today solely because people noticed the parks and wanted to preserve them. According to the national park service, 84,000,000 acres of land and 4,502,644 acres of oceans, lakes and reservoirs have been restored and conserved. If it were not for people noticing (11,700,000,000 visitors pointing) and taking the time to take care of our environment, the quality of the places would have gone unnoticed and would have been abused. 

In chapter five, Tuan discusses spaciousness and crowding and how they both relate to one another. I found it intriguing how Tuan compares an Eskimo and a New Yorker, and how they can both experience the sensation of being crowded, and how they both respond similarly, even though their atmospheres are quite different. I can relate to the example of the eskimo and the New Yorker, and how an eskimo that must share a confined igloo with one other person may feel the same sense of crowding that a person in Times Square would feel.

 

 I come from a suburban area right outside of Philadelphia. At home, I can feel crowded with my family of four in our suburban house that has about 10 rooms. However, at school in NYC, I feel less crowded sharing an apartment with four girls in a three room apartment. I find my apartment in NYC to be more peaceful even though the entire apartment could fit into the living room of my suburban house.  I believe that the reason I feel more crowded at home is because I am aware that I am not comfortable in the suburban setting anymore. Everything is more spacious and eerily quiet, which makes the presence of another person much more prominent. I feel that I am always being observed at home because I do not fit in and I stand out to an extent. As Tuan explains, “crowding is an awareness that one is observed.”

 

How we react to this feeling of crowdedness is even more interesting:

 

“The eskimo, though less often than the New Yorker, must on occasion screen the stimulus of other people by turning them into shadows and objects. Etiquette and rudeness are opposite means to the same end: helping people to avoid contact when such contact threatens to be too intense” (Tuan 60).

 

I find this relationship of etiquette and rudeness to be a key component in explaining today’s society, especially in cities like New York City. take a normal day on the subway for example. There is an accepted rudeness that is almost preferred when riding the subway in the mornings and afternoons. Words of excuse me or thank you are unnecessary, most people would prefer you just stand quietly next to them and not communicate, so that they can zone out and pretend that they are alone on the train. By avoiding one another on the subway, people can pretend that they still have their space. This concept that Tuan introduced of avoiding contact when contact threatens to be too intense has strengthened over the years. Devices such as cell phones and ipods are used now to help “screen the stimulus” or avoid the intense crowds. My day to day routines are completed with this idea of accepted rudeness. 

 Even in the midst of school, work and stress; my tiny three-room home is the happiest place on earth. Although are apartment is tiny and cluttered, it is very cozy.  In the kitchen, You are immediately embraced with warmth, even in the dead of winter since our apartment in one of the highest floors in the building. Our little table is the first thing you always bump into in our closet of an apartment. Normally a mug with cold tea is sitting on the table amongst the place mats and colorful napkins. Our kitchen is filled with every cooking utensil you can imagine, and our fridge normally contains a few leftovers of the meal that we all made together the night before, which is always very inviting next to the few old cans of beer, a bottle of grenadine and an assortment of cheeses. It is a pathetic amount of food that every college fridge contains, but somehow I always smile when I think about our horrible array of food substances. Maybe because even with the small amounts of food, I can always count on walking in on a pleasant aroma from one of my roommate’s dinners. 

 My room is decked out with wall hangings, picture frames, and colorful fabrics. My bed is covered in rich-colored feather comforters and many pillows. The lamp lighting alone causes a sense of relaxation. My two roommates share a room, and although it is not as elaborately decorated, you can still feel the happiness and love when you step into the room. Many times I lay in their room just to slow down my heart rate and breathe normally again.

I have been lucky enough to have the best roommates in the entire world. We were randomly placed together but you would never have guessed that. My roommates always seem to brighten my spirits, even if I am grumpy from a long day. We share everything with each other, because we know that we are always there to support one another. 

As I walk into my apartment, I feel a sense of home that I haven’t felt for 7 years, since my parents split up. Are whole apartment is nothing fancy, probably about 20 by 20 feet, but you can feel the laughter and comfort as soon as you walk in. I make it through the bad days knowing that I can come home to this apartment. Many places that I consider to have been happy places have one or two bad memories, but I can honestly say that this place has only brought me joy.It is my home, my haven, my good place.