Continued from last time

So what happened to Modernism? I think it died. It had a commitment to destroying what happened before, to make room for the new. An aesthetic of destruction became an inherent part of Modernism...which ran into the second world war...and destruction as a positive became inexcusable.

It lived on as a style, but I think the hope for the "new age" they had hoped for was dead. Post-Modernism realized this lack of hope, but went on to create without hope.

We have a great hope.

It seems to me...

Rev Peter Barnes at my church growing up would always write an article in the newsletter with this title, and I have some "it seems to me" thoughts right now.

I have been learning a lot about Modernism in my architectural experience so far. I have been doing a design excercise that started out looking very much like a Mondrian painting of the de Stihl movement of the 20's in the Netherlands and Germany.

The ideas/terms/ethos (ethi?) of Modernism and post-Modernism was never explicitly expressed to me as an undergrad, which I find inexcusible for an English department. Modernism, in a small nutshell, came out of the mechanization of the Industrial Revolution. It came out of the Enlightenment, or Scientific Revolution. The Avante-garde, was a specific group of people who saught not to just make something new and shocking, but new and shocking, because they meant it to move us forward into a time where all men were equal, and there was a great continuum of all ideas, good will, and friendship. The bastions, hopeless traditions and comforts of aristocracy must be destroyed. Le Corbusier, one of the most famous 20th century Architects built one shining white building after another that looked like a ship, taking us into the future. Architecture and art were the vehicles for a new world. They were very passionate, not simply destroyers, but people with a great hope.

They thought that science and machine, technological advance would help set people free. They build everything they could out of pure forms, that alluded to no previous ideas. They built everything out of new materials, concrete, steel, glass. All spaces were open, free, continuous.

I have more to say about this...

This is what I do

I live in an abstract land where we talk a very strange language. I am a gringo, so it goes without saying that it seems a little silly to me. Why be obscure when you could be frank?

Anyhow, I took some pictures of the project that I have been working on for the last six weeks. It looks strange.
And also, Scott Allen has a blog. Trees love wind.

Breakfast

I was going to meet Scott Allen for breakfast this morning but his nemesis, I mean his 1985 Ford Bronco II, prevented the rondezvous. Here's what he missed:

Garden tomatoe, home-made bread, monterrey-jack, two egg toad-in-the-whole. Maybe I'll drive up to Boulder tomorrow and have another...

kids and straw

Nice title, eh? I'm going up to Boulder to help build a straw bale house today. Then, later, I'm going to build my own (but not today).

This is my youngest nephew, Ethan: he's one of the funniest people I know.

Third Snow

We just getting the end of our third snow of October here in Denver. It's pretty great. I still have no idea what to do with this blog, but I'll try to keep it interesting.

Halloween costume choices: Burt Reynolds, Richie Tenenbaum, Charles Bronson, or sans beard.

Sufjan Stevens on Monday Morning

Well, its been a hell of a long time since I have blogged, and I'm sitting here, waiting for class to start. More about school later.

Anne and I have maybe finally found a community to be a part of here in CO. It's called Hillside Community Church in Golden. We love the worship, which is a bonus; what we love is a sense of the Spirit moving between all of us as we worship. Well, I guess that's what we love about the worship. We introduced ourselves to a hasband and wife last week through an old connection; and this Sunday Mindy and Tom really welcomed us, made us feel like we might be able to connect; no one we have met at a church has extended this love of the Father to us since we returned to CO. It is fresh air. It is the Spirit. I love Him/It/Them/us.

Quotes from Jose

On the swings: "Mr. Capp! Push me high, so I can fly like a meteor!"

Later: "Mr. Capp! It's me, Jose, who you push on the swings!"

Later still: "Mr. Capp, you're getting very furry."

Overheard kindergarten conversation:

"Oh hi, Nadia. So are you going to, like, destroy me?"

...

Well, I am entering a new world. I am sitting in the Auraria Campus in downtown Denver, and I just went to my first class for the master of architecture program I am starting this summer. I am using a new computer that I bought for the program (it's not a Mac) and I am feeling kind of strange about this all.

I am waiting for Anne to come from her class. She is taking her last class this month to get her teaching certificate...even though she already has a job. Two jobs actually. Anne just started working in a little natural market called Wild Oats in Golden, CO; she'll work there this summer. In the fall she will be teaching French at Clear Creek Middle and High School in Evergreen, CO. In the mountains. She absolutely kicked but at school (all A's in grad school) and getting a killer job. She's going to support me in my school which is three (?!) years long.

Anne and I are moving to a new place in Golden (famous for the Coors brewery and Mines goggles); 925 9th Street. It's part of an old house in downtown Golden, four blocks from Clear Creek and the base of Lookout mountain.

Anyhow, I will (possibly) start blogging again, and maybe I'll find out how to do something actually worth checking out.