This next reading (pun intended) reading was a student essay written by Maribeth Theroux. The thesis of her essay is that MTV's reality show NEXT, girls are taught to be sexual objects through seeing contestants forced into that role and that the show polices female appearance and behavior in specific, harmful ways that rob girls of their control, power and worth as individuals.
In this show 5 girls are placed on a bus and a male "dater" one by one calls the girls out for "dates". If the girl does not meet his liking, he calls "Next" and the girl is summarily dismissed back to the bus and the next girl "date" is sent out. The girls get rewarded one dollar for every minute they spend with the "dater" before being "nexted". If the dater chooses a girl for a second date she must forfeit any prize money before opting for the second date.
The author notes that this reality show is seen in the male dater with 5 females, female dater with 5 males and in the homosexual mode involving both sexes as well. Her point was that MTV is the number one cable network for viewers in the 12- to 24-year-old demographic range with viewers in 342 million homes nationwide. She also notes that 12- to 19-year-old girls make up over 30% of the viewers. This seems to support her stance that MTV's influence on our society's young is compelling.
She presents a strong and startling argument that not only does the format of the show objectify girls, the commentary by the female narrator, the girls participating and the the commentary and actions of the male dater further "police" and enhance the objectification. Specifically, she uses one statement made by a male dater who states that he "nexted" a girl simply because "I just had to see what else is on that bus". Not "who" else, the author notes, but "what" else. This, Theroux notes, "exemplifies the blatant objectification that occurs on actual episodes of NEXT.
As I have three teenage girls in my household ranging from age 14 to 17. MTV is what's on frequently when I walk into the house after class or work. I have seen NEXT and find that I have to agree with the author. The way the girls dress, act, speak and are portrayed in the show are offensive to my personal view of how I my daughters treated and viewed by society. The essay also suggests that because of MTV and other influential reality TV such as "Girls Gone Wild" and "MTV Spring Break" contests conflict with feminist values.
This added to the statistics quoted by the essay's citation of Catharine MacKinnon noting that "only 7.8% of women in the United States are not sexually assaulted or harassed in their lifetimes." That statistic blew me away. To say that my daughters have a 92.2% chance of being sexually assaulted or harassed in their lifetime is scary to me and indeed has already occurred with my 17-year-old. So, how do we fix this?
Theroux calls this trend a plague. And as such should be "eradicated". If the young women of our society today are going to assert their worth in society as something more than that of a sexual object to be used and abused, that eradication of such societal influence must be eradicated. Otherwise they will never further the empowerment established my the women of our past. And that empowerment, states the author, is not only so deserved, but so rarely given the chance to achieve.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
"Black Bart" Simpson
Our first of two reading assignments for tomorrow's class was an essay entitled; "Black Bart" Simpson: Appropriation and Revitalization in Commodity Culture, written by Peter Parisi. I have sat and read the complete article twice and some sections multiple times. If I understood the essay thesis, he used the Black Bart t-shirt craze of the early 1990's as an example of how the black and white cultures interact with each other. His dissertation also noted that the Afro-American culture actively upon wide areas of the dominant white American expressive culture.
Parisi takes the appropriation of "Bart Simpson" and subsequent revitalization into "Black Bart" and assimilates it with slaves taking protestant hymns, psalms and spiritual songs and reworking the structure using different rhythms, text and melodies. He further this assimilation by citing jazz and blues as appropriation and revitalization to take an element of the dominant culture uniquely theirs. That this co mingling of African and Euro-American cultures is a "complex and multi-dimensional" relationship. He went on to suggest that this co mingling of cultures was a two-way street and while it had become more visible was not completely studied.
The commodity aspect involved the t-shirts. The t-shirt of today has become a message board of our individual persona. The messaged whether stated or intoned say to people who we are, were we have been and identify those issues or objects important to us. What is unclear, according to Parisi, is who created the commodity. He notes that because of copyright infringements, the creators remain unknown. Koreans and whites, were noted to possibly be involved. The African-American cultural leaders expressed concern over the Black Bart t-shirts as well because of the messages regarding "Underachiever", and those showing disrespect for parents in particular were of concern. One comment in particular quoted by a Baltimore t-shirt vendor that "We are the only people in the world that let somebody take a White cartoon character, paint it Black and then sell it to us for 10 bucks."
The meaning of the t-shirt was also explored. School principals banned the Black Bart t-shirts. Some people condemned the show and made improper assumptions about show content based on the t-shirts messages. Children quoted in the article seemed very knowledgeable about show content one forth grader's quote seemed to reflect a perceptive observation about the show's portrayal of positive family dynamics.
I found some enlightenment into the role commodity plays in the expression of appropriation and revitalization of culture. That cultural diffusion is a dynamic process that moves back a forth between African and Euro-American cultures. It helped me to understand why the diverseness in cultures exist but yet is at it's core, an individual product of universal roots.
Parisi takes the appropriation of "Bart Simpson" and subsequent revitalization into "Black Bart" and assimilates it with slaves taking protestant hymns, psalms and spiritual songs and reworking the structure using different rhythms, text and melodies. He further this assimilation by citing jazz and blues as appropriation and revitalization to take an element of the dominant culture uniquely theirs. That this co mingling of African and Euro-American cultures is a "complex and multi-dimensional" relationship. He went on to suggest that this co mingling of cultures was a two-way street and while it had become more visible was not completely studied.
The commodity aspect involved the t-shirts. The t-shirt of today has become a message board of our individual persona. The messaged whether stated or intoned say to people who we are, were we have been and identify those issues or objects important to us. What is unclear, according to Parisi, is who created the commodity. He notes that because of copyright infringements, the creators remain unknown. Koreans and whites, were noted to possibly be involved. The African-American cultural leaders expressed concern over the Black Bart t-shirts as well because of the messages regarding "Underachiever", and those showing disrespect for parents in particular were of concern. One comment in particular quoted by a Baltimore t-shirt vendor that "We are the only people in the world that let somebody take a White cartoon character, paint it Black and then sell it to us for 10 bucks."
The meaning of the t-shirt was also explored. School principals banned the Black Bart t-shirts. Some people condemned the show and made improper assumptions about show content based on the t-shirts messages. Children quoted in the article seemed very knowledgeable about show content one forth grader's quote seemed to reflect a perceptive observation about the show's portrayal of positive family dynamics.
I found some enlightenment into the role commodity plays in the expression of appropriation and revitalization of culture. That cultural diffusion is a dynamic process that moves back a forth between African and Euro-American cultures. It helped me to understand why the diverseness in cultures exist but yet is at it's core, an individual product of universal roots.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Reading & Writing about TV - Assignment 1-26-10
Our reading assignment for tomorrow's class focused on television. The authors begin by discussing how watching TV promotes passive viewing. That when we watch we aren't actively involved like we would if we were reading text of the show. Laugh tracks, welled timed applause and viewer driven scene settings are the root of sitcoms today. The authors note that TV of today has become predictable have no recognizable author are plot oriented and commercially driven. I have to agree with a lot of what the authors of our text wrote about.
TV of today has become predictable. While the punch lines on occasion still make me laugh, most of the plots involve upper middle class people with unrealistic portrayals of social, racial and economic situations most of society lives in. The commercials are long and the content is shallow and non thought provoking as the authors pointed out in the section on the lack of meaningful themes.
I personally do not watch a lot of the normal TV programing and tend to watch more of the Discovery, Science, Food Network and "off channel" educational content. It drives my kids nuts and allows me to spend lots of quality alone time, especially when I'm in control of the remote!
In addition I read "Life According to TV" by Harry F. Walters relating to a Newsweek article from 1982. In the reading the discussion revolved around a study done by Georg Gerbner of Penn's Annenberg School of Communications. Gerbner's study broke down specific demographics of TV viewers by hours watched weekly, age, sex, race, work, and health. At the time of the study and probably seems like even today he was able associate, with good methodology, that the more a person watched TV the more likely the person would display TV influenced misconceptions of the outside world. A very interesting insight into the results of viewing TV.
The second essay I read was on Sex and the City by Dave Rinehart. I, like the author did enjoy the show and the recent movies. I also agree him that the series was capitalistic, classicist and consumerist. The shoe brands, places shopped, the eateries and the lives of the characters all supported the author's claims about the shows. In the section on Commodity Fetishism he was correct that the characters spent whole episodes wanting specific consumer items, or dated only older wealthy men and wanted only material or sexual happiness in their lives. This section really tied into the opening reading regarding character, genre and plot.
Overall, this was a good reading assignment. I thought that the authors gave us a new look at an old subject. A twist that allows us to be more active in our thoughts on TV as a media.
TV of today has become predictable. While the punch lines on occasion still make me laugh, most of the plots involve upper middle class people with unrealistic portrayals of social, racial and economic situations most of society lives in. The commercials are long and the content is shallow and non thought provoking as the authors pointed out in the section on the lack of meaningful themes.
I personally do not watch a lot of the normal TV programing and tend to watch more of the Discovery, Science, Food Network and "off channel" educational content. It drives my kids nuts and allows me to spend lots of quality alone time, especially when I'm in control of the remote!
In addition I read "Life According to TV" by Harry F. Walters relating to a Newsweek article from 1982. In the reading the discussion revolved around a study done by Georg Gerbner of Penn's Annenberg School of Communications. Gerbner's study broke down specific demographics of TV viewers by hours watched weekly, age, sex, race, work, and health. At the time of the study and probably seems like even today he was able associate, with good methodology, that the more a person watched TV the more likely the person would display TV influenced misconceptions of the outside world. A very interesting insight into the results of viewing TV.
The second essay I read was on Sex and the City by Dave Rinehart. I, like the author did enjoy the show and the recent movies. I also agree him that the series was capitalistic, classicist and consumerist. The shoe brands, places shopped, the eateries and the lives of the characters all supported the author's claims about the shows. In the section on Commodity Fetishism he was correct that the characters spent whole episodes wanting specific consumer items, or dated only older wealthy men and wanted only material or sexual happiness in their lives. This section really tied into the opening reading regarding character, genre and plot.
Overall, this was a good reading assignment. I thought that the authors gave us a new look at an old subject. A twist that allows us to be more active in our thoughts on TV as a media.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Reading Assignment 1/25/2010
The reading assignment for today involved Section One, parts 2, 3, 4, 5 & 8. These sections reviewed the writing process and gave the reader information on how to improve their ability to write at a higher level of intellectual ability.
All of the parts of the reading contained information on not only improving the writer's thought process but gave additional information to better structure the essay. What it really did for me was to reinforce a lot of the information we covered in class on January 20. The reading did go more in depth regarding developing arguments to support the thesis statement and part 5 covered researching popular culture which expanded upon the classroom experience. The last section reinforced that the text we write is an extension of ourselves. More importantly, our knowledge, culture and experience dictates the content and perspective of our writing.
What I learned from the reading made me go back and literally deconstruct my first two drafts of the writing assignment due Wednesday. As is usually my tendency in life, I rushed headlong into the project not fully prepared. It was, however, a great learning experience and I think will result in a better finished product. I will remember that writing is a dynamic process. Ever changing and ever flowing like the ocean tides with the writer's life experiences.
All of the parts of the reading contained information on not only improving the writer's thought process but gave additional information to better structure the essay. What it really did for me was to reinforce a lot of the information we covered in class on January 20. The reading did go more in depth regarding developing arguments to support the thesis statement and part 5 covered researching popular culture which expanded upon the classroom experience. The last section reinforced that the text we write is an extension of ourselves. More importantly, our knowledge, culture and experience dictates the content and perspective of our writing.
What I learned from the reading made me go back and literally deconstruct my first two drafts of the writing assignment due Wednesday. As is usually my tendency in life, I rushed headlong into the project not fully prepared. It was, however, a great learning experience and I think will result in a better finished product. I will remember that writing is a dynamic process. Ever changing and ever flowing like the ocean tides with the writer's life experiences.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Manor House Update
This past week saw progress in the masonry work under the balcony at the courtyard, but other work has slowed considerably. The lead project manager/carpenter has been working on the forms for the arches and was able to get some rough waste line plumbing in for the kitchen sink and dishwasher. My work was slowed by a time consuming project in the living room and closet area. The third worker was only in two days this week and we kept him busy with mostly clean up and organization activities.
The masons have to be constantly watched. They do good work most of the time, but we've been noticing they are rushing through the job and aren't checking for vertical and horizontal level. Not checking level results in wavy wall facings. This week they are working on building brick columns that will support 5 arches and carry two additional lintels on each side of the series of arches. Lintels are what we call the supports to carry brick or stone work across the tops of doors, windows and other spaces that will have masonry work overhead. This makes keeping the tiers of brick in the columns critical to keep everything in line. During the day on Monday, on three different occasions, I went down to check on their progress and the column course of brick was up to a half an inch lower than the corresponding course on the back wall just 3-1/2 feet away. This resulted in having to tear out courses back to level and rebuilding that section of the column. As the masons get paid by the brick laid and not by the hour, these "redo's" do not make them happy. They've been doing much better the rest of week.
I've been working on a wall in the living room. Before my coming into the project, metal stud walls had been erected between what will be the library and living room to form a 4 foot by 16 foot long area. This area is being made into a closet and media control room as well as a small powder room. A decision was just made a few weeks ago as to the doors to be installed. Unfortunately I already had wires running through where the doors were to go. In addition, the owner wants to hide all light switched from view. So I actually spent the better part of two days, one was shortened by our Wednesday English class, to build a small wood cabinet with a sliding door that will house a 4 switch outlet box for lights. It was a first for me.
Some additional time was lost on Thursday and most of the day Friday as I was off with my daughter have her wisdom teeth removed. The project manger too got pulled Thursday for some repairs on one of the owner's rental properties and he normally doesn't work on Fridays anyway. Next week we are meeting Monday to discuss bringing in some extra help to make a push to get the 1st floor rooms ready for rough inspection by the township codes enforcement officer. While I would love help, it will really put the pressure on everyone involved to get the owner nailed down on final plan decisions. We've really been operating on a dynamic work scale, but if we're bringing in more work crews, the work plan must become static. In other words we need to have definite plans as to what, where, when and how we are doing things. That would be nice, although the "change plans daily" plan works best for my attention deficit disorder. We'll just have to see what Monday brings.
More to come next week. Have a greet weekend!
The masons have to be constantly watched. They do good work most of the time, but we've been noticing they are rushing through the job and aren't checking for vertical and horizontal level. Not checking level results in wavy wall facings. This week they are working on building brick columns that will support 5 arches and carry two additional lintels on each side of the series of arches. Lintels are what we call the supports to carry brick or stone work across the tops of doors, windows and other spaces that will have masonry work overhead. This makes keeping the tiers of brick in the columns critical to keep everything in line. During the day on Monday, on three different occasions, I went down to check on their progress and the column course of brick was up to a half an inch lower than the corresponding course on the back wall just 3-1/2 feet away. This resulted in having to tear out courses back to level and rebuilding that section of the column. As the masons get paid by the brick laid and not by the hour, these "redo's" do not make them happy. They've been doing much better the rest of week.
I've been working on a wall in the living room. Before my coming into the project, metal stud walls had been erected between what will be the library and living room to form a 4 foot by 16 foot long area. This area is being made into a closet and media control room as well as a small powder room. A decision was just made a few weeks ago as to the doors to be installed. Unfortunately I already had wires running through where the doors were to go. In addition, the owner wants to hide all light switched from view. So I actually spent the better part of two days, one was shortened by our Wednesday English class, to build a small wood cabinet with a sliding door that will house a 4 switch outlet box for lights. It was a first for me.
Some additional time was lost on Thursday and most of the day Friday as I was off with my daughter have her wisdom teeth removed. The project manger too got pulled Thursday for some repairs on one of the owner's rental properties and he normally doesn't work on Fridays anyway. Next week we are meeting Monday to discuss bringing in some extra help to make a push to get the 1st floor rooms ready for rough inspection by the township codes enforcement officer. While I would love help, it will really put the pressure on everyone involved to get the owner nailed down on final plan decisions. We've really been operating on a dynamic work scale, but if we're bringing in more work crews, the work plan must become static. In other words we need to have definite plans as to what, where, when and how we are doing things. That would be nice, although the "change plans daily" plan works best for my attention deficit disorder. We'll just have to see what Monday brings.
More to come next week. Have a greet weekend!
Monday, January 18, 2010
The World is a Text reading assignment.
Introduction to "The World Is A Text"; pages 1-21
Our assignment was to read the introduction to the text book and blog our thoughts and feelings about the reading. From a reader's standpoint, I found it very difficult to physically read the textbook. Maybe it's my eyeglass prescription, but gee, I just was at the eye doctor and got new glasses last month. It must be then, in my opinion, that the text was way too small to comfortably read. I have already jotted a note to myself to purchase reading magnifying glass on next trip to the pharmacy. Already I'm off on a bad foot, or eyes, so to speak with the authors and/or publishers of the text.
As to the content of the reading, I found the authors have indeed broached on thought provoking insight, controversial thinking and pushing the reader's boundaries on what they perceived to be both the definition and scope of involvement in "rhetoric". That they would have the reader believe that rhetoric is the art of speaking was not new to me. That they would have the reader believe that rhetoric also includes the art of writing effectively, with emphasis and persuasion were new to me. When they noted the idea that rhetoric also included advertising and all forms of media made me stop and think. I understood that I could, in the writing process improve my ability to write by understanding the rules of writing, use of proper grammar and ensuring that I utilized my spell checker. What I didn't think about was how I could improve my writing by just reading or paying attention to other forms of media that bombard us daily.
The case studies were interesting. I never thought about the process of observation jotted down in such a fashion could lead one to the conclusions about what the business, Starbucks in this case, was trying to interject upon their customers with almost blatant subtleties. The case study on Fonts and the advertisements that are tossed at us constantly. I understood and agreed with the authors on. What I really found interesting, and had to agree with, is that you become more thoughtful and insightful when writing about what you read or thoughts you may have. I just never really thought about in that way.
For instance, normally after reading an article or other assignments, I put the book or text down and don't think about it much again until class time. Tonight, after reading the text I found myself sitting at the computer drafting this writing re-reading various sections of the text and in the process having to re-write or rephrase this writing. It also made me think harder about the material I read in order to make sense of the subject enough to formulate the writing. In essence, that's what the text is telling us. That by reading any form of media, or in fact all the elements that make up our world as we know it, and then writing about it makes us think about those "signs" we are given to read on a daily basis.
The introduction to the text also put forth to the reader how to utilize the text book and gave us an overview of the text book's content. The authors have challenged us to use the essay "suites" or groupings of essays about a topic that are meant to provoke us into thinking about different ways to approach or view a topic. By doing this the authors hope to inspire us to develop our own interpretations on specific sources of media input. The other goal of having us read these suites of essays was to help the reader develop a better idea of how writers write.
Our assignment was to read the introduction to the text book and blog our thoughts and feelings about the reading. From a reader's standpoint, I found it very difficult to physically read the textbook. Maybe it's my eyeglass prescription, but gee, I just was at the eye doctor and got new glasses last month. It must be then, in my opinion, that the text was way too small to comfortably read. I have already jotted a note to myself to purchase reading magnifying glass on next trip to the pharmacy. Already I'm off on a bad foot, or eyes, so to speak with the authors and/or publishers of the text.
As to the content of the reading, I found the authors have indeed broached on thought provoking insight, controversial thinking and pushing the reader's boundaries on what they perceived to be both the definition and scope of involvement in "rhetoric". That they would have the reader believe that rhetoric is the art of speaking was not new to me. That they would have the reader believe that rhetoric also includes the art of writing effectively, with emphasis and persuasion were new to me. When they noted the idea that rhetoric also included advertising and all forms of media made me stop and think. I understood that I could, in the writing process improve my ability to write by understanding the rules of writing, use of proper grammar and ensuring that I utilized my spell checker. What I didn't think about was how I could improve my writing by just reading or paying attention to other forms of media that bombard us daily.
The case studies were interesting. I never thought about the process of observation jotted down in such a fashion could lead one to the conclusions about what the business, Starbucks in this case, was trying to interject upon their customers with almost blatant subtleties. The case study on Fonts and the advertisements that are tossed at us constantly. I understood and agreed with the authors on. What I really found interesting, and had to agree with, is that you become more thoughtful and insightful when writing about what you read or thoughts you may have. I just never really thought about in that way.
For instance, normally after reading an article or other assignments, I put the book or text down and don't think about it much again until class time. Tonight, after reading the text I found myself sitting at the computer drafting this writing re-reading various sections of the text and in the process having to re-write or rephrase this writing. It also made me think harder about the material I read in order to make sense of the subject enough to formulate the writing. In essence, that's what the text is telling us. That by reading any form of media, or in fact all the elements that make up our world as we know it, and then writing about it makes us think about those "signs" we are given to read on a daily basis.
The introduction to the text also put forth to the reader how to utilize the text book and gave us an overview of the text book's content. The authors have challenged us to use the essay "suites" or groupings of essays about a topic that are meant to provoke us into thinking about different ways to approach or view a topic. By doing this the authors hope to inspire us to develop our own interpretations on specific sources of media input. The other goal of having us read these suites of essays was to help the reader develop a better idea of how writers write.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
The Manor House
In last week's post I noted that I am currently helping to build a house. I am part of a small crew of 3, working to construct a 12,000 sq ft. English style manor house that will eventually encompass a small winery as well. The project is well known in the Palmyra, Hershey and Middletown areas. Just about everyone I describe the place to has some recollection of the property. The Manor, as it will be referred to henceforth, is located along Schoolhouse Road in Londonderry Township, Dauphin County. The project began over 7 years ago by a local man who had a dream to recreate a bit of Europe in this area. Set on 12 acres of what is left of an 19th century working farm, the Manor dominates the horizon as you travel north on Schoolhouse Road from Route 341.
Besides the size and scope of the Manor, there are quite a few features that make this project very unique. Many of the materials to build the house are recycled. The exterior walls are either formed concrete and concrete block construction making the core of the walls 8 inches thick. Then, for insulation, US Military surplus refrigeration panels were attached to the outside of the core walls. These panels are 5 inches thick and constructed of dense foam sandwiched between an exterior of wood then a metal coating. The military used these panels to make mobile refrigerators, freezers and even morgues for temporary encampments. House wrap, an air tight membrane was then applied to "seal" the house. Brick was then laid to complete the exterior finish. The brick are specially manufactured for color and form then tumbled to give the brick an aged, well worn look. On average the total thickness of all exterior walls is about 15 inches.
Double pane windows have been installed and salvaged stained glass windows will then be mounted inside so that the insulation value of the structure can be maintained. There are 10 fireplaces in the manor. The mantles for them have all been salvaged from old structures that have been torn down. Some of the more ornate items have come from a contractor's salvage yard in the Baltimore area called "Second Chance, Inc.". Second Chance seeks out older buildings to "deconstruct" to save unique and ornate architectural elements that are not being duplicated today. They use the deconstruction process to train unskilled, unemployed people in the area how to salvage these old buildings without damaging the unique and interesting items so that they can be reused in different ways or incorporated into new construction as we are doing here. It saves landfill space, provides a community service and preserves the beautiful and unique work of our heritage. The picture above left shows a marble mantle piece that came from Second Chance. It is late 19th century and made up of about 13 different marble pieces. In the picture we have put the mantle back together temporarily to check for fit. As the project progresses we will be re-assembling the mantle just as it was when it was originally installed with mortar and molten lead.
The above right picture shows part of the front property wall constructed of barn foundation stone from Lancaster County. When finished, the wall will have 8 foot tall columns above what you see in the picture with 12 foot long by 4 foot high sections of early 19th century wrought iron salvage by Second Chance from Washington D.C. and welded together on site here. Another interesting find is a pair of Oak doors 7 foot high, 3 foot wide and 3 inches thick that were salvaged from an old Federal court house in Baltimore.
Other recycled items include an 8' diameter granite fountain base, front entry door and stone trim from another government building, fireplace inserts, early 18th century bar and back bar with copper counter top and a 1200 gallon aquarium from a bar in the Baltimore area. The sub-floors are used shipping pallet bottoms and tops. Steel I-beams and floor underlayment are recycled from old mobile homes. Heating of the manor will be done in part using geothermal radiant floor heat. US Military sleeping pads will be used to protect the plastic piping for the radiant heat system.
As for keeping the project green, all rain water from the roof of the manor is directed into 2 - 2000 gallon underground storage tanks. From there it goes through a filtration and UV light system into 4 - 400 gallon storage tanks in the basement. A pump in the basement will pump the water up into 2 - 400 gallon storage tanks in the third floor and will be used to flush toilets and shower. All of the 400 gallon storage tanks are surplus shipping containers used in food manufacturing. These storage tanks will also be used to supply water to the fire sprinkler system that is being installed using salvage water pipes.
For the past 4 weeks we have had a 2 person mason crew on site completing the brick work on the walls surrounding the formal courtyard. We have the whole area covered in tarps, which are recycled 48 foot by 14 foot advertising banners, so that we can maintain a temperature in the 50-60 degree range to ensure the mortar sets up without freezing. The picture above left is the courtyard from this summer. Above right shows the area underneath the balcony as the brickwork continues. By tomorrow, we should be setting up forms for 5 arches that will compose the areas around and between the metal poles in above right picture.
Each week I will use this blog to track the progress of the manor's construction. This project currently has no plans in writing only the owner's ideas. Each day is like a new adventure. Sometimes it's frustrating because with no set plan the changes are frequent. There are times that you end up undoing things because the original thought or idea won't work. The up side is that there also are wonderful moments of serendipitous discovery. Those are the moments that keep me going.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
A Winter Wonderland
This picture was taken after the December snow storm just before Christmas. Pictured is "Baby Boy", a Llama I care for at the farm where we're constructing a one of a kind 12,000 sqft English Manor style house and winery. The streak of grey to the right of the picture is one of my dogs, Rosie. She is part Brittany Spaniel and Blue Tic Coon Hound. Rosie often accompanies me to the farm to work.
The llama and dog have an interesting relationship and really look forward to seeing each other. Rosie gets restless before we make the final turn onto the road to the farm. With her head out the window, regardless of weather, her front paws begin to nervously move and tremble. By the time the farm comes into view she's back in the van looking out the front window. If the llama is in the front pasture, Rosie begins to whine in anticipation.
The llama perks up the second my vehicle starts to slow down to turn into the driveway. By the time I drive around the barn, he's headed for the area were I park. If he sees Rosie's head out the van window he starts running to greet her. Once we're parked, Rosie's headed over to greet him. Usually just touching noses. Then they're off chasing each other, at least until Rosie catches sight of one of the many farm cats. Their interactions have brought me great contentment at times and those moments sometimes had great timing to snap me out of stress related thoughts or down moments. Their play never fails to remind me how simple and fun life can be.
My Name - Assignment
My first name, John, was given to me in honor of my paternal grandfather. He was born in Nuremberg, Germany in 1907. As a young boy he experienced firsthand the horrors of World War I. Following the war, his sister met and married an American soldier. Once she arrived in the United States, she sponsored my grandfather to come here as well. he worked many obs upon arriving here in America and even owned a gas station and a lumberyard at one time. Eventually, he migrated west to a Los Angeles suburb. He was a great story teller and was a true "jack of all trades". His mastery, however, was in his knowledge and skills of creating and maintaining his organic garden. One of my most vivid memories of him was the first time I visited him in California and seeing his garden. There was no grass. Literally every inch of his property was either structure or garden. His neighbors initially complained about the odors from his compost piles. The complaints stopped when he began sharing his three harvests a year with his neighbors. I am very proud to have known him and honored to have been given his name.
First Class Assignment
This blog is part of an ongoing class assignment for Penn State University English 15 class. On a regular basis you will find both general entries as well as class assignments written here. Enjoy!
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