Saginaw: "the city on the right track"

This semester I enrolled in a ceramic class at TCC Northeast Campus so driving to the perimeter of Fort Worth allows me the visual pleasure of scale, divergent civic programs, heavy industrial and residential to co-exist. I don't know how the many daily activities manage to live within this vast playing field unlike the light industrial, mix-use residential of Greenpoint in Brooklyn. There has always been a practical and logical idea of locating massive industrial structures outside the city limits i.e. noise, traffic and pollution.

I like to drive through a planned community of identical houses with the gigantic grain storage structures anchored on my horizon. I want to drive my car right into it as close to the beast as I possibly can till its shear size further draws me into its many separate parts. All the parts are big. These grain facilities are the largest in the world owned by Cargill, Inc; they operate 24 hours, seven days a week. Saginaw is the last stop on the southern route to Fort Worth so these railroads are very busy. The eighteen wheeler trucks are in constant flow through the major arterial streets onto highway 820. The intense movement of transportation on McLeroy Boulevard leaves no room for the domestic regards of a residential neighborhood. I believe the absence of the big box retail chains make the residential versus heavy industrial scale appear to be out of a Batman movie set. But I like it alot.

I have not understood Saginaw's claim to be "the city on the right track" or which group of interested people find it to be on the right track--could they be the developers?

Can a Dentist Visit be Worthy?

I know; yes, I don't like them either. In fact, I try to ask,and insist on paying, for sweet air for a routine check up and cleaning. My dental interactions have mainly been when I lived in New York City and have had adult work done with my Chelsea dentist. I liked him for many reasons but the two that stands out were: we were both going through a break up at the same time (to different people) and we both detested the Bush Administration. However through the years, I have become increasingly sensitive toward dental work and the last time I visited him; he did not let me have ANY sweet air for reasons that were unclear to me, then and now. So physical memory prevails until today.

Jessica insisted we connect with a local denstist besides she is a very strict six month check-up-girl. For me I could wait for an annual visit. However we went to Dr. Sorokolit's office, www.drsorokolittdds.com, and we both had a great experience. My dental hygienist, Hayley Holland was extremely gentle, knowledgeable and forthcoming with the number of times she actually flosses. For me, the hygienist's touch is a precursor to a dental visit and I was relaxed and happy. And my dentist was Dr. Catherine Chaumont who eased my worry about a previous crown, not to mention, she praised my teeth. More importantly, I felt like she took some time this morning to listen. This was important for me because I just heard about a new book called, "How Doctor' Think" by Dr. Jerome Groopman regarding how doctor's make decisions regarding their patient's care. And those first few minutes in the beginning of a doctor/patient meeting can "set up" a patient's eventual treatment path in the mind of a doctor.

Being an architect, I have to spend some time ruminating about their space. It's no fault of the unhappy offices that reside just north of Rosedale; the construction is lenghthy, horrible and ill planned after several years. However the 1050 Fifth Avenue building is internal, meaning it has a central courtyard, which in the Texas heat it must help with heat gain. Not to mention it's better to enter an office from the exterior instead of those stuffy corridors, like the Medical Arts building on Eighth Avenue--it's gloomy and need of ventilation. If I was a teenager, Suite G may hold some promise; it has two comfortable-looking sofas and a gigantic video game machine. Both of which I did not physically encounter since my appointment time was quickly met. The patient rooms were typical except a thoughtful detail at the overhead light fixtures, a glowing animal picture. Perhaps a touch to ease young patients but as an adult--I hate glare.

The Fort Worth Zoo

My brother's family arrived this week while passing thru on their way to Colorado Springs. They wanted the kids to stretch their tiny legs and get a sniff of the animal kingdom. Luckily we went on Wednesday which is half price day, the crowds were fairly tame except for lunch and snack time.

The front part of the zoo's attractions are similar to most that I have visited; the primates, rhinos, the ghastly warthog but the Texas Wild! is the exhibit that I most enjoyed and found to be educational for someone who just moved to Texas. The exhibit is broken down into Texas' five main environments along with the animals that inhabit those areas. The landscape of Texas has so many variations and extremes that the plant life as well as the animals are as dynamic. The information on the cards are brief but enough to begin a relationship with Texas and its wildlife. We are still getting used to the idea of racoons and possums circling our neighborhood and camping under our house.

A Clearing of the Soul: A Backyard Solution

In September 2006, we purchased a small house built in the mid-1920's with four previous owners before us. Owner Number 3 had erected on top of a low existing rock fence a horrendous physical barrier--a barbwire fence. I understand from our neighbors that our neighborhood used to have the characters of the "wild west" so a painful barrier would keep them away but geez. Furthermore owner Number 4 allowed the dominant trumpet vine to overgrow onto the barbwire hence destroying the scale of the rock fence and making the vine The King of the Backyard. Owner Number 5, that is us, felt the weight of the barbwire especially with the ongoing global friction of monitored borders. We wanted the barbwire fence to come down and the trumpet vine controlled to a manageable beauty. Of course, I have just read Joe Eck's gardening book so I have been feeling like I know something about my yard.

The beginning of spring has brought plenty of sunshine, the birds, daffodils and the clearing of flower beds. The dry, light grey, skeleton of the trumpet vines was ripe for my human dominace and finally the barbwire was coming off. As the hours and the days passed, the rock fence has come to be a special border between my neighbor and the back alley. The space beyond has widen the breadth of our view as well as our idea of place. The backyard's potential as a habitable space for plants and an extension of our house can be seen and taken stock. However, my poor neighbor feels completely exposed and vulnerable in this new arrangement; I can see all of his stuff from past trash pick up treasures. Everytime we see each other, he gives me a similar solution to the problem I just removed from my very sight. I suppose physical memory is difficult to change after many years.