[Mary Magdalene after spin class] This is a complex weekend. Passover for some, Easter for others. Good Friday was a holiday and yet plenty are working and many are taking Monday off. Accountants are working straight through. For an expatriate under-employed lapsed Catholic, however, this weekend is not much different than all others. Nothing applies, as [...]

by Edward Wilkinson-Latham The first thing I notice after disembarking the plane in West Palm is the herd of wheelchairs and electric buggies gathered like an assembled posse. Polyester-clad blue rinses and vintage toupées battle in slow motion to be the first to climb slowly upon these complimentary electric chariots, as the nonchalant airport employees dressed [...]

(Photo: Heidelberg Project, Michael Takasaki) Following up on last post: In Detroit, at least, there’s already a number of projects underway that are designed to staunch the bleeding in neighborhoods struggling with urban decay and foreclosure. Boing Boing led me to James Griffioen’s marvelous set of photos of the abandoned Detroit Public School Book Depository, which [...]

[Photo: Heidelberg Project] While staying in Detroit, we head out toward 8 Mile and stop at the Heidelberg Project. It’s a two-block public art exercise that consumes the sides of houses, empty lots, the sidewalk, and even the trees of a long depressed, black (but once racially integrated) Eastside Detroit neighborhood. Tyree Guyton, who grew up [...]

[Photo: Zingerman's Delicatessen, Michael Takasaki] I’ve dreamed of visiting Ann Arbor, Michigan for years. Because that’s where Zingerman’s Delicatessen is. As soon as I read co-founder Ari Weinzweig’s book Zingerman’s Guide to Good Eating, I knew I had to go. Last week, on the way back from Indiana with Chris, I finally made it. There was a [...]

[Photo: First Christ Church, Eliel Saarinen, 1942] Indiana Detour: Took a day away from the China in Africa symposium to check out the southern Indiana town of Columbus, which is a little-known hub of 20th century architectural showpieces, boasting buildings by Eliel Saarinen, Harry Weese, Gunnar Birkerts, Eero Saarinen, and several Pritzker Prize-winners including I.M Pei, [...]

More scribblings from recent trip to New York City, in part for book-related research. & in part to confirm that what happened on November 4 actually did happen. (Pics from Lisa K.) November 10, 2008 Paying sporadic attention to the news one item stands out: Gun and ammo sales are booming surging (insert your own punning headline [...]