Annotated Weeklies
The music and image are directly related to my missing Seattle and the area around it. I don't know why, but that place is a child tugging at my hand when I am in the middle of a conversation. I feel commited to finishing my words, but I really want to run off and play tag with the kid.
I went out to visit Seattle and the Olympic mountains when my brother and his wife first moved out there, though Emily had to stay back in MN. We spent a good deal of time in Seattle itself and I found that I loved it there. We also took a day trip around the mountains in the car and I fell into a sort of trance that I can only compare to the feelings of a deep friendship. Occasionally I find myself daydreaming about the Pacific Northwest and feel the need to just pack Emily, the creatures, and I up into a U-haul and get on the road.
So the weekly music is a clip of the song (Tori Amos' "Your Cloud" from Scarlet's Walk) we listened to as we drove around the mountains and by the place in the photo: Lake Crescent. I was really wishing Emily was there at the time to see this lake for which I had some unexplicable fondness. That feeling and the trip that I was on made me extremely empathetic to the character of the song (though she and I were not splitting up). I think that album was on repeat for a few hours of the drive.
By the way, that album is more and more influential to me each month. My understanding is that it is meant as a sort of exploration of the U.S in body and spirit and it overflows with impressions of journey and emotion. Listen to some good clips at that link I provided.
Internship
The "place" is the organization I am interning this summer. They do a lot of restoration work and have started doing pilot design programs to serve as examples of what can be done with native plants in design to integrate instead of separate a site from its greater ecosystem. I am very excited.
Rastafari
One more reason it is great to work with so many people from all over the place is that they teach me so much. A guy I work with explained to me that the Rastafari movement was about the guy in the article and it made Bob Marley's music make so much more sense. It also makes me finally understand references in the lyrics of Common and Lauren Hill.
Why doesn't anyone explain these things to the Honkies? Some of us want to know...
Take care y'all. More to come.
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4 Comments:
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The internship sounds cool. Are they paying you too? I heard through mom that those landscapers' clients liked your design.
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Greg, at 5/17/2006 10:36 AM
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Yeah. The intership will be great. I had all of this design work in front of me this summer and I realized two things:
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1. I am less comfortable doing this on my own at this point. I will do it, and I will do my best, but I feel like I am only giving people 75% of my potential as of yet... but I am straight-up with people about that from the beginning so I don't feel horrible about it. The extra experience, cash, and precedent will be nice.
2. I want to do more than just design work. I want it to be more meaningful. I got a call from an old co-worker who just finished grad-school in Architecture. They invited him to go to Harvard's Landscape Architecture School to study restoration ecology design. He told me that if I wanted, he could hook me up with some people to work with. Crazy business. I was honored by his thoughts of me in the middle of the beginning of his career. But it got me into thinking about my goals and desires and that restoration work in addition to design is going to be necessary for my satisfaction.
With these things in mind, this job is perfect. No pay... but that doesn't really bother me. I have volunteered in other organization which were fulfilling to some extent, but at this point in my life I need something that has reciprocal benefit.
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But regarding the desing work:
Yeah. She just wanted a little work done, but I drew up an overall plan for the garden's future anyway. She seemed excited, but I didn't think much would come of it. But based on more recent conversations, I think she will implement the whole design. Kind of a surprise really, but a welcome one. Ian, at 5/17/2006 11:12 AM
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Not sure if this has anything you're interested in, but:
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Restoration Ecology Network at UW.
p.s. I'm starting to build a new blog for my upcoming trip... Still just working out the layout, etc. It will be at Spring City Diary. Let me know what you think of the layout. Greg, at 5/18/2006 1:17 PM
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Thanks, brother-man.
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I dig the site. The colors are amazingly unobtrusive and peaceful. Kind of strange really. I am looking forward to reading it. Only a couple things left worth reading on the net anymore. You should update frequently. Ian, at 5/23/2006 10:44 PM
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