IMPORTANCE OF PLACE

Building BRIGHT BOX

2011-11-07T14:20:00.012-05:00

It has always been my strong belief that artists are at the center of any vibrant town or city. As a way of demonstrating this belief and helping to create more vibrancy in a place I dearly love, I am spearheading the creation of Bright Box, a dynamic performance place in the center of Old Town Winchester, Virginia. It is scheduled for completion in December 2012.

Located at the heart of Old Town in Bright Center, Bright Box will be carefully designed with the best lighting and sound to ensure that the performances are magical. And we'll have all kinds of performances and entertainment: jazz, comedy, theatre, art-house films, art shows, dances, juggling, anything that the brilliant imagination of local artists and performers can create. Our partners include Shenandoah Arts Council, Shenandoah University, Old Town Development Board, and Winchester Main Street Foundation.

This creative facility will consist of a 2000 square feet black box theatre, plus a beautiful concession/bar area, a ticket office, green rooms, dressing rooms, and rehearsal areas. Our goals: To give the public an intimate viewing experience, to give our local artists a unique venue for displaying their talent, and to create ever-increasing vibrancy in Old Town. Stay tuned for updates on Bright Box!

Avoiding a Paved-Over Soul

2011-09-15T11:17:00.000-04:00

"Our kinship with Earth must be maintained; otherwise we will find ourselves trapped in the center of our own paved-over souls with no way out."

Terry Tempest Williams

Poetry Captures Essence of Place

2011-08-31T11:15:00.011-04:00

Poetry is one of the best ways I know to capture the essence of Place. In this wonderful poem by George Ella Lyons, I can feel my own homeplace in her intimate details.

Where I'm From
I am from clothespins,
from Clorox, and carbon-tetrachloride.
I am from the dirt under the back porch
(Black, glistening,
it tasted like beets).
I am from the forsythia bush,
the Dutch elm
whose long-gone limbs I remember
as if they were my own.

I'm from fudge and eyeglasses,
From Imogene and Alafair.
I'm from the know-it-alls
and the pass-it-ons,
from perk up and pipe down.
I'm from he restoreth my soul
with a cottonball lamb
and ten verses I can say myself.

I'm from Artemus and Billie's Branch,
fried corn and strong coffee.
From the finger my grandfather lost
to the auger
the eye my father shut to keep his sight.
Under my bed was a dress box
spilling old pictures,
a sift of lost faces
to drift beneath my dreams.
I am from those moments -
snapped before I budded -
leaf-fall from the family tree.
George Ella Lyons

Place as Part of Prosperous Life

2011-06-29T06:00:00.000-04:00

"In a culture best identified by its uncompromising commitment to individual rights, enlightened self-interest, and the icon of the self-made person, any discussion of a life lived in place and in common with others will seem quaint, romantic, idealistic, and thoroughly backward looking. But we forget, or never knew, that there is an alternative view of human nature that sees membership in a community as the central feature of a successful and prosperous life." William Vitek

Sticking It Out Rather than Fleeing

2011-06-26T15:09:00.003-04:00

"One of the key problems in American society now . . . is people's lack of commitment to any given place -- which . . . is totally unnatural and outside of history. Neighborhoods are allowed to deteriorate, landscapes are allowed to be strip-mined, because there is nobody who will live there and take responsibility; they'll just move on. The reconstruction of a people and of a life in the United States depends in part on people, neighborhood by neighborhood, county by county, deciding to stick it out and make it work where they are, rather than flee." Gary Snyder

A Place Is Formed by Slow Accrual

2011-06-14T12:13:00.005-04:00

"A place is not a place until people have been born in it, have grown up in it, lived in it, known it, died in it -- have both experienced and shaped it, as individuals, families, neighborhoods, and communities, over more than one generation. Some are born in their place, some find it, some realize after long searching that the place they left is the one they have been searching for. But whatever their relation to it, it is made a place only by slow accrual, like a coral reef." Wallace Stegner

Just Pause & Breathe

2011-06-11T21:00:00.004-04:00

"Perhaps all we need to become placed in this chaotic world is to pause and breathe, though the paces of our countries, societies, and cultures attempt to dictate otherwise. Middle to upper class society offers little time for such necessities as place and demands like climbing the corporate ladder continue to urge us forward in a march towards placelessness."
Amanda Hooyhaas, The Study of Placelessness

Financial Stability Necessary for Rootedness

2011-06-07T14:17:00.011-04:00

My niece, like many young people throughout the United States, is having to make a tough decision: To raise her children in the small town where she grew up or to move someplace, anyplace where she can make a living wage.

Frankly, it's not much of a choice. She has to leave her hometown if she wants to make enough money to feed her kids. So she'll eventually go, like I did, to another place where she knows no one and where she'll be at least temporarily placeless. If she's lucky or makes it a distinct priority, she'll be able to put down roots and create a long-term home where her kids can go to school, find jobs, and where she can retire someday. But that possibility is becoming increasingly remote, because few places like that exist any more in our vast suburbanized America. The average American only lives six years in the same place; we move on to other jobs, into better tax districts, into places where the kids can go to school, or where retirement is cheap. Says Amanda Hooykaas, "The new lifestyle of this and future generations is that of placelessness -- conscious or unconscious, intentional or forced separation or alienation from place." It's a human tragedy, because as Simone Weil writes, "To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul."

It's vitally important now to create places again, both individually and as a society, where we can stay for the rest of our lives if we choose. Those places must provide the financial security that is so vital to Place. Says Hooykaas, "To be placed requires trust that a place will be able to provide life and growth for an individual's self and their family through the availability of adequate resources, primarily steady and sustaining income." It's only one aspect of real places, but it is a prerequisite that is often overlooked.

Encouraging Art Encourages Place

2011-06-01T05:00:00.001-04:00

One of the best ways to create a sense of vitality in downtowns is to welcome the arts community with open arms.

To help give our talented artists exposure in downtown Winchester, we recently donated Bright Center's big front display window to the Shenandoah Arts Council for a revolving, ongoing, highly-visible art gallery. This has worked out well for everyone involved: Local artists get increased exposure to their work and the chance to make a little money; Shenandoah Arts Council offers increased value to the community and area artists; Old Town Winchester enhances its brand; and Bright Center's appearance is dramatically improved by turning a formerly empty window into one full of life, color and beauty.

With storefronts sitting empty in this tough market, perhaps now is the time to get imaginative and find ways to revitalize our communities through engaging our local artists. They typically can't pay much, but they can certainly bring in the vitality and beauty that makes towns and cities real Places again.

Our Fabric is Frayed

2011-05-21T08:14:00.003-04:00

". . . the fabric of America is frayed, because people are moving in and out of the towns and cities that define us. We are losing our sense of place, and with that we are losing the very land we are supposed to cherish."

View from the Ridge, Blue Ridge Leader

No Other Place Like Cairo

2011-05-17T08:44:00.011-04:00

Last month we visited Cairo, Egypt and had a sudden glimpse into a place so vivid and unique it's little wonder that people everywhere dream of visiting. The Pyramids, tombs, and temples were amazing, of course, yet oddly what I may remember most was the incomprehensibly chaotic traffic that made Cairo vibrantly, jaw-droppingly alive.

Upon arrival at dusk, we took a taxi from the airport to our hotel and were immediately ensnarled. Countless lanes of traffic merged from all directions with no signs or lane markings. Trucks piled high with garlic or sugar cane bumped along through the pot holes, wending through pedestrians balancing heavy loads on their heads, hawking merchandise, playing chicken with the traffic. Donkeys and horses pulled enormous loads and shepherds herded goats along the sidewalks. Families pedaled along on bicycles and camels peeped over the tops of truck cabs. Boys on bicycles with 12' pans of bread wended their way between the cars, rubble, and buffalo, while horns chattered.

I was overwhelmed by the chaos, yet after a day I found that the traffic was one of the central events in our visit. On our day trips out to the Pyramids, I looked forward to watching all the activity, breathlessly staring out the open windows. Ironically, the auto had not replaced all other modes of transportation here as it had in most places I've visited, but had been forced to blend in and become part of this place. It certainly wasn't efficient, but it was amazing, and I feel, upon reflection, that until I visited Cairo, I'd never traveled at all.

Where We Live Matters

2011-03-25T12:52:00.000-04:00

"People are not equally happy everywhere, and some places do a better job of providing a high quality of life than others. Some places offer us more vibrant labor markets, better career prospects, higher real estate appreciation, stronger investment and earnings opportunities. Some places offer more promising mating markets. Others are better environments for raising children . . . The point is, where we live is a central life factor that affects all the others -- work, education, and love."

Richard Florida

Even a Gas Station Can Be a Place

2011-03-22T14:32:00.019-04:00

On the corner of Mt. Vernon and Braddock, on the edge of DelRay, Alexandria is Yates Automotive Services, which has been in business since 1964. It has the standard gas pumps and signs that initially suggest the cookie-cutter sameness of suburbia, but upon closer inspection, it's clear that Yates strives to be a unique, integral part of the neighborhood and is a strong believer in Place.

The little station keeps its lot meticulously landscaped. Its windows shine and its employees are spotless in their uniforms. And every holiday season, DelRay can count on Yates to be in the spirit; the station has reindeer on the roof in December, great shiny hearts in its window in February, and gravestones in its bushes in October. This obvious care and attention to detail goes far in earning the company local business. Says one customer, "I initially selected Yates because of the Christmas lights and decorations 25 years ago when I first moved here. I looked closer and saw the detail to the exterior maintenance and the cleanliness of the station. I figured that anyone who takes that amount of effort in being a good neighbor probably pays the same level of attention to its work."

I can't help but think that Yates has been around since 1964 because it obviously values the importance of place. Unlike many other similar establishments, it is not a business which feels temporary, transient, and disconnected. Rather it is nested in a community, hires local people, keeps them for decades, and contributes to the local community in small and not-so-small ways. It's also a pretty, little place that exudes pride. It's the only gas station I've ever been able to say that about. Photo courtesy of Eridony

Why the Spirit of Place is Worth Keeping

2011-01-19T11:01:00.007-05:00

"Sometimes the spirit of a place is so strong
you may think you see its face and glimpse it gamboling over a field or peeking out of a forest. This spirit we sense in each locality would once have been described as the scintilla or spark of its soul, the pearl in the oyster. It accounts for the magic of a region and without it, an acute sense of place dissipates into a vague and lazy feeling of nowhere . . . It's when we lose a vivid sense of region and locality that the spirits of the place crawl back into hiding and human life becomes pale with the loss." Thomas Moore, The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life

A Clearing: A poem about Place by Levertov

2011-01-11T08:47:00.010-05:00

What lies at the end of enticing
country driveways, curving
off among trees? Often only
a car graveyard, a house-trailer,
a trashy bungalow. But this one,
for once, brings you
through the shade of its green tunnel
to a paradise of cedars,
of lawns mown but not too closely
of iris, moss, fern, rivers of stone rounded
by sea or stream,
of a wooden unassertive large-windowed house.
The big trees enclose
an expanse of sky, trees, and sky
together protect the clearing.
One is sheltered here
from the assaultive world
as if escaped from it, and yet
once arrived, is given (oneself
and others being a part of that world)
a generous welcome.
It's paradise
as a paradigm for how
to live on earth,
how to be private and open
quiet and richly eloquent.
Everything man-made here
was truly made by the hands
of those who live here, of those
who live with what they have made.
It took time, and is growing still
because it's alive.
It is paradise, and paradise
is a kind of poem; it has
a poem's characteristics:
inspiration; starting with the given;
unexpected harmonies; revelations.
It's rare among the worlds one finds
at the end of enticing driveways.
Denise Levertov
This Great Unknowing: Last Poems

The Land We Story

2011-01-09T08:23:00.004-05:00

I recently saw a passionate, beautifully written editorial in a local Loudoun newspaper, and have chosen to publish it in its entirety below. It expresses brilliantly why place is so important and how we are losing it everyday in America:

"The population of this great and grand country is in turmoil. There is a constant shifting of people from places of their birth to places very far away. The college of their choice or acceptance is far from home. Employment requires a long commute. Mother, who has been living in another city, now requires intensive care. Has anyone measured the waste of time this traveling and commuting entails? The pollution, the isolation, the frustration it creates? We move. We shift around. We keep looking for that perfect place or we keep looking for a place that can get us to the perfect place. In all those places in between we try to live our lives and make meaning of our existence.

Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Aren’t we supposed to “story” the land, and give ourselves up to it? Isn’t the sense of place one of the most important parts of the air we breathe and the heart of our homeland? Where is our home? Who is our home? Why do we keep shifting around and trying to find a sense of place, all the while leaving the places we know, and have known, for the better part of our lives?

The Nichols family didn’t need a sense of place. They storied the land. They gave the place its meaning. They knew who they were and they made their place here. And they kept it as a sacred trust. In doing so they drew all of us in who came to them for our little and small needs, our garden seeds and paint, the bolts and nuts that make our shelves stay in place or our doors open and shut, and our daily endeavors connected to our community at large. The Nichols were a staying force. A binding and enduring presence. They were an essential part of the landscape and the meaning of this place. They were what gave America its strength. And they are dying out. And now the fabric of America is frayed, because people are moving in and out of the towns and cities that define us. We are losing our sense of place, and with that we are losing the very land we are supposed to cherish.

Over fifty percent of the American population moves within a five year period. Think of that. Can a community survive that? Can any town keep its binding and cohesive force when over half of its population moves in such a short time? On average ten percent of the population is moving out every year, and being replaced by people who have no sense of the place they have moved into. A sense of place takes time. It takes time to story the land because, as Frost said, we need to give everything we have into it. And we won’t do that if we know the stretch we are spending here will be short. So we withhold ourselves. And we give less. And we love less. And the stories we tell are more superficial and sentimental stories. We are not putting down roots, we are sending out feelers. Our communities become plastic and artificial. No one is accountable because so many of us will be leaving soon. The critical mass of engaged adults never coalesces. Talk of small town life becomes a platitude.

In the Harris Teeter appeal Judge Chamblin said essentially that citizens have no rights to determine what happens on the site plan for the Gateway Development. Here are all the capitalists who want businesses to thrive, but communities to falter. Here big business is all that matters while the heartland falls away. Thousands and thousands of towns in this country have been mugged by Walmart. This is what Donovan Rypkema was talking about at the Carver Center. Did anyone listen? People like the Nichols, whose steadfast belief in getting up every morning and knowing the landscape of their earlier lives is reflected in the people they hired who have stayed with them so many years, this is what Donavan Rypkema was talking about.
Here is the land of the free and the home of the brave. And here is the land where a good percentage of people leave because the lovely landscape they moved into is being turned into a shopping center. And for no good reason. Who is free when he is forced to move because capitalism or the Town Council trumps the rich inheritance of time and the wishes of the people? How free are you when you are “tied up” in traffic two or three hours a day because you need to get to work in a place out of your community?

Land of the free and home of the brave? Where is everyone when the corrupt council members make their decisions and you are somewhere else because this place is temporary, and you will be moving on to better things? Where will these better things be if at any time the landscape of your dreams can be changed into a shopping mall? How many people who now look onto the lovely Cole Farm will move when the fumes of parking cars hit them as they sit out on their decks? When the trash and noise builds up? When crime increases?

Another ten percent gone. Gone to disgust, to disillusionment, to looking for a better life. Another ten percent that could have storied the land and made the community strong, but who left because leaving was the only vote they had the right to express. This is the desperate sense of helplessness the American population is living through. And we express this as freedom?? The freedom to never connect ourselves to a sense of place? The very freedoms that our forefathers built this nation upon??

Because there is no way, apparently, that the people who live in a community have any control over how that community will evolve. As long as citizens have no say in the development of their own communities, we will keep shifting around, looking for the perfect place when, in fact, it is just below our feet, if we could just keep hold of it.

Local businesses, like the Nichols, like Crooked Run Orchard, keep communities strong and cohesive. Chains, like Harris Teeter, keep communities poor and force people to commute long distances or to leave. The 200 jobs that the article talked about creating are temporary jobs and the permanent jobs are low-paying jobs that will be filled by people living in West Virginia, as they are now at Giant and Bloom. The hell in traffic it will create isn’t worth the tax revenues that this town will spend on new and useless projects.

When we have no control over where we live and where we work, who is free? And when we let others decide for us how our landscape will look and feel, who is brave?

Until the ordinary citizen gets involved we will continue to be tossed about by overweening interests and money. The Tea Party was an expression of anger, but showed little sense and reason. The single person is all that matters in this country. And single persons need to start attending the meetings at the Town Hall. And single persons need to start electing honest and reasonable people who care about their futures, about the land, about the country we inhabit, about our freedoms and well-being. That is the only way we will be the land of the free and the home of the brave. Anything else is a fairy tale. And we have been riding on the fumes of fairy tales for some decades now." November 20, 2010, Alice in Wonderland, The Purcellville Post; photo courtesy of VistaVision

Place as Prerequisite for Energy Conservation

2010-12-27T10:15:00.003-05:00

Recently I was asked to help a military base launch an energy conservation campaign. Since most base residents are not responsible for the cost of their utility bills, this proved to be an enormous challenge, but I discovered that the challenge goes far beyond economics. Most residents only live on base for a few months, so the base is only a transition in their life, a place to pass through, and the care and attention often dedicated toward "home" can be lacking. How do you convince people to "do the right thing" (turn down the heat, shut a window, put on extra layers -- ultimately be uncomfortable) when their home is little more than a pass-through place anyway?

One of my business associates lives in an old high-rise apartment. Last week during a particularly bitter coldsnap, she proclaimed that she had to put the heat up to 80 degrees when she got home so she felt "comfortable." (I discovered she wears short sleeves and shorts much of the winter).

"There are better ways to keep warm," I suggested, "put on an extra layer."

She wasn't convinced. "I don't have to pay for the heat or air anyway," she told us. "And the landlord hasn't done anything to fix the windows. There are drafts everywhere." It wasn't a place she necessarily cared about, felt any responsibility toward, and shrug, she didn't see what difference her small sacrifices would make anyway.

I wonder if "energy conservation" is only possible when we live in a place that we consider "home." Perhaps being responsible for the bills is one way to feel that we're home, but it goes far deeper than that. If our contributions seem pointless, it makes it more difficult to conserve, and if we don't care much about where we are, the sacrifice doesn't seem relevant. Perhaps we need to find ways (economically, psychologically, spiritually) of making people feel at home on this earth if we are to create the sense of care and responsibility necessary to ensure the sustainability of our planet. Photo courtesy of rickjames330

Social Media: Coming to the Rescue of Downtowns

2010-12-22T10:59:00.000-05:00

In the past it cost a great deal in advertising dollars to promote our downtowns and draw crowds to our events, but tools like facebook, if used appropriately, can do this for a fraction of the cost and can help create the buzz and vitality that make places come alive.

Recently I worked with Corey Brown at Bright Cowork to turn downtown Winchester's static website into a site that constantly gives friends and fans news and updates about downtown happenings. Any time an event or news item is posted to the site, it automatically posts to our facebook and twitter feeds as well. Without spending any money on advertising, our fan base has grown to 433 in less than two months, and Old Town Winchester has seen a 25% increase in event participation.

Once we start advertising on facebook, with targeted ads geared toward specific geographic areas, we know that our fan base will grow into the thousands and, as a result, more and more people will be drawn to see our wonderful restaurants, shops, historic attractions, and events. Far from being a destroyer of human interaction and community, as many contend, social media has come to our rescue and promises to help dramatically in revitalizing historic Winchester.

What Makes a Place a Great Place?

2010-12-09T06:46:00.003-05:00

Every year, the American Planning Association unveils Great Places in America -- "30 places with a true sense of place, noteworthy character, community involvement, resilience, and a vision for the future." APA has specific criteria about what makes neighborhoods, streets, and public places truly great, and these are worth sharing because they help define what makes place Place.

What sets a Great Neighborhood apart from a non-Neighborhood? A Great Neighborhood:

Has a variety of functional attributes that contribute to a resident's day-to-day living (i.e. residential, commercial, or mixed-uses).
Accommodates multi-modal transportation (i.e. pedestrians, bicyclists, drivers).
Has design and architectural features that are visually interesting.
Encourages human contact and social activities.
Promotes community involvement and maintains a secure environment.
Promotes sustainability and responds to climatic demands.
Has a memorable character.

What are the characteristics of a Great Street?

Provides orientation to its users.
Balances the competing needs of the street — driving, transit, walking, cycling, servicing, parking, drop-offs, etc.
Fits the topography and capitalizes on natural features.
Is lined with a variety of interesting activities and creates a varied streetscape.
Has urban design or architectural features that are exemplary in design.
Relates well to its bordering uses — allows for continuous activity, doesn't displace pedestrians to provide access to bordering uses.
Encourages human contact and social activities.
Employs hardscape and/or landscape to great effect.
Promotes safety of pedestrians and vehicles and promotes use over the 24-hour day.
Promotes sustainability through minimizing runoff, reusing water, ensuring groundwater quality, minimizing heat islands, and responding to climatic demands.
Is well maintained, and capable of being maintained without excessive costs.
Has a memorable character.

Finally, what are the characteristics of a Great Public Space?

Promotes human contact and social activities.
Is safe, welcoming, and accommodating for all users.
Has design and architectural features that are visually interesting.
Promotes community involvement.
Reflects the local culture or history.
Relates well to bordering uses.
Is well maintained.
Has a unique or special character.

It is noteworthy that whether judging a street, a neighborhood, or a public space, APA looks for memorability and the fostering of social engagement. For more on APA's guidelines for great places and neighborhoods, visit http://www.planning.org/.

The Wisdom of Tuscany

2010-12-07T08:29:00.003-05:00

"Would the world not be a better place if we could, like many Tuscans, bequeath our children a piece of fertile land, a modest house, basic life skills, and a tightly knit community that gives us identity, self respect and pride?"
Ferenc Mate, The Wisdom of Tuscany

Thoughts on Ghost Towns

2010-09-29T07:00:00.002-04:00

Not long ago, we visited the ghost town of Bodie, California. Desolate, chill, and empty now, the town was once notorious as the "wildest town in the West," boasting 10,000 residents, and producing over $35 million in gold and silver in the span of ten years.

Looking into the once raucous bars, hotel rooms and school houses of this abandoned world, I realized how easily Places can be lost. Without any other industry but mining to provide jobs, Bodie residents fled to other areas when the gold ran out, leaving their ramshackle houses and belongings behind. It is the same phenomenon that has happened to many once wonderful Places around our country -- small towns when small farming died away . . . old town centers when the malls were built on the edge . . . cities like Detroit when their main industry disappeared.

Bodie wasn't built to be sustainable I suppose. The houses were slapped up overnight and the weather at that high, dry, remote elevation is not meant for pleasant living. It was built as a short-term place where vast sums of money could be made fast. Perhaps building around short-term gains is a precursor to building No Place, but aside from choosing to build in locations appropriate for the long term, perhaps one of the best things that we can do as a nation, as leaders of our towns and cities, or as concerned citizens to sustain our beloved Places is to ensure they continue to have the diversified industry and progressive foresight to avoid the fate of Bodie.

Poetry Fence

2010-09-27T07:07:00.001-04:00

One of our Del Ray neighbors created something only possible in a real Place.

On their fence, along the sidewalk where we ride bikes, jog, walk dogs, and push strollers, they've tacked up their favorite poems. Passersby are invited to pause for a moment to read something beautiful, and if they are so inclined, write a comment underneath with a pen hanging from a string. It's a concept like facebook, but somehow the shady trees, the smell of garden tomatoes, and the folksy hand-written comments make all the difference. I find myself going out of my way to stop by as the poetry varies by the season, the suggestions of neighbors, and the whim of the fence owner.

It's the kind of care and attention to detail that has made Del Ray the special place that it is.

Paw Paws

2010-09-24T07:07:00.004-04:00

Needing to clear my head last Friday after a particularly hectic week, I took a long walk into the woods behind our Loudoun house. My mind buzzed with errands to run, reports to write, clients to call so I wasn't particularly aware of the sky, the trees, or the creek.

Until I stumbled upon a paw-paw. It surprised me -- the cool green fruit in the late summer leaves so far from anything cultivated. When I bent to pick it up, it felt soft and ripe in my hands and the fruit inside, when I cracked it open, had that familiar custard-like sweetness with the big black seeds shiny when I spit them out. There's simply no other taste like a wild paw-paw, and I remembered again that I was in Virginia, on an old carriage road along a creek bottom that had been used for centuries by homesteaders long before I was born.

Funny how taste brings Place alive. To this day, the tang of a green apple ignites sharp memories of my childhood home in Western New York where we used to pick bushels for apple pies. Unfortunately, the green apples from the supermarket don't spark the same memories --the perfect, waxed, refrigerated orbs taste like Any Place, without the pungence created from the earth and sun, worms and ants, rain and sky.

Love at First Sight

2010-09-23T12:01:00.000-04:00

"You can fall in love

on first sight

with a Place

as well as a person."

Alec Waugh

Bluemont Fair: Ritual of Late Summer

2010-09-23T07:06:00.006-04:00

One of the rituals that helps usher in fall in Loudoun County is going to the Bluemont Fair, a good old-fashioned country fair that shows off area handicrafts, baked goods, music, livestock, and wines. My husband and I go every year to mill around with thousands of others who stroll through the tiny town, eating and enjoying the day. And this year we brought our friend, David, who needed a break from the crazy pace of DC.

"Wow!!!" he wrote in a thank you note, "What a perfect afternoon. Trying to describe it to my wife it almost seemed surreal -- as if we had been transported back in time. Gravel roads. Country homes. Artisans. Hand-cranked organs. General store. Fresh baked goods from non-state approved kitchens . . . I almost didn't want to return to the beltway again -- ever." I think that's the kind of hold that real places can have on a soul.

Dreaming of JJ Newberry's

2010-04-21T11:21:00.007-04:00

A high school friend of mine recently posted on facebook a series of old postcards set to music of our hometown of Wellsville NY. The images brought back so many memories of the Place where we grew up: The Old Fassett Hotel, the big pool, The Texas Hot, the David A Howe Public Library, JJ Newberry's, and many other buildings and places now long gone.

I realized that many of these places still exist in my dreams. For instance, I often dream of JJ Newberry's, the five-and-dime store on Main Street that had toys in the basement, shiny floors, and delightful racks of clothes on sale. Let me rephrase that: I don't dream OF Newberry's, but for some odd reason the store appears in my dreams often -- the ching of the cash registers, the long aisles packed with merchandise, the sun coming through the front windows, the back door leading out to the street. I hadn't realized it was still in my dreams, until I saw the postcard, and became conscious that I'd been there countless times through the years though it closed over 30 years ago and that was impossible.

I commented on my friend's post that Newberry's still appeared in my dreams, and I clearly was not the only one. "Wellsville must be deep in my bones since almost every dream I have has bits of buildings, hills, and certain locations of Wellsville in it," another long-ago resident of my hometown replied back. Perhaps William Least Heat-Moon captures this odd geography of dreaming best when he wrote: "To know a place in any real and lasting way is sooner or later to dream it. That's how we come to belong to it in the deepest sense." Photo courtesy of ja harton

Home Is Like a Delicious Piece of Pie

2010-04-20T17:00:00.000-04:00

"One's home is like a delicious piece of pie you order in a restaurant on a country road one cozy evening -- the best piece of pie you have ever eaten in your life -- and can never find again. After you leave home, you may find yourself feeling homesick, even if you have a new home that has nicer wallpaper and a more efficient dishwasher than the home in which you grew up."
Lemony Snicket

Sorrento: Beautiful Way to Experience Seattle

2010-04-06T17:00:00.003-04:00

My trip to Seattle last week turned out to be a wonderful experience, though most of my business trips are a blur of No Place. Rather than staying in a Holiday Inn Express or some other franchised hotel that is convenient, efficient, and new, I decided to stay in the Sorrento Hotel, a 100-year-old relic of Seattle's past located in the City's center. And that made all the difference.

Typically after a busy day on the road, I come back to my room and plop down in front of the TV in a room that could be anywhere. But not at the Sorrento. I spent an hour walking on friendly streets and poking around in shops just before dinner. And upon my return, the fireside lounge, full of mahogany wood, art, brocade, and soft conversation, drew me like a moth to flame, and I spent two enjoyable hours sitting by the fireplace soaking up the atmosphere of the place. When the server cleared away my dinner dishes, I asked her what was a special drink from Seattle that I should try. "An apple martini," she told me, "that tastes just like Washington apples." She didn't have to twist my arm, and I felt like I was on vacation for the evening, rather than just passing through a faceless city.

I've generally thought of business travel as something to get through, but I rediscovered that by choosing the right place to stay, somewhere that reflects the character of the city and is centrally located, I can choose to have a unique, memorable experience that stays with me upon my return. Sure beats the typical business trip blur.

Airport Creates Brilliant Gateway to America

2010-03-26T14:16:00.008-04:00

Last night I had to catch a connecting flight in Detroit and was blown away by what I discovered. Walking from Terminal B to Terminal A, I began hearing nature sounds -- crickets and water tinkling. And then I rounded a corner and suddenly encountered a brilliant tunnel of light and music that made me beam with delight though it was late and I was exhausted.

Like the other travelers, I suddenly slowed down to admire the artistic light show underscored by classical music and the sound of water. Rather than pounding along on the people conveyer belt like I'm known to do, I strolled along through the tunnel, not in any hurry to leave. Many others around me did the same, particularly the Asian business men just in front of me. Like me, their eyes were bright and they were smiling.

As a key gateway into America from Asia, this brilliant light tunnel is ingenious in shaping perception of our country and letting travelers known that they're arrived in an amazing Place. And it certainly changed my perceptions of Detroit's decrepitness into one of beauty and new beginnings.

Driving As Amnesia

2010-03-05T11:01:00.006-05:00

I've often thought that our obsession with the automobile has been one of the major contributors to our creation of meaningless places. When I drive, separated from the surrounding landscape by glass, fan whir and stereo blast, I feel strangely disconnected. Jean Baudrillard, author of America, captures this feeling of disconnection more precisely: "Driving is a spectacular form of amnesia. Everything is to be discovered, everything to be obliterated." And it's so true. When I drive on America's endless highways, I don't remember anything along the way, not just because much of it looks alike but because I'm not physically connected to it -- driving is primarily a way to pass through quickly to get from one point to another without a lot of hassle or disturbance. I could just as well be in California or Florida as Virginia. It's amazing how often I forget to roll down the window, open the sunroof or just turn off the radio so I can hear the wind. Photo courtesy of Photodu.de's

The Most Important Thing to Teach Children

2010-02-25T11:00:00.000-05:00

"The most important thing to teach your children is that the sun does not rise and set. It is the earth that revolves around the sun. Then teach them the concepts of North, South, East, and West, and that they relate to where they happen to be on the planet's surface at that time. Everything else will follow." Buckminster Fuller
Photo courtesy of Lea and Luna

Meaningless Places

2010-02-14T16:00:00.003-05:00

"For the first time in human history, people are systematically building meaningless places."
E.V. Walter

Photo courtesy of Chris L. Harris

De-Junking & Reorganizing

2010-02-13T10:49:00.000-05:00

It's easy to clutter a house or office up with stuff that has no meaning. Magazines that no one will ever read again . . . wall hangings bought on sale from some unremembered store . . . odds and ends shoved on top of shelves.

Recently we realized that our townhouse didn't feel so much like a Place any more -- it felt like a pass-through point, just somewhere to sleep, an after thought. We thought about painting it, getting new furniture, or buying new art pieces to give it a facelift. But surprisingly all it needed was a de-clutter and a reorganization. We threw out stacks of magazines, reorganized shelves, and took clothes to the Thrift Store. We got rid of furniture that no longer served, rearranged dishware to provide more shelf space, and cleaned out the medicine cabinet.

In our "archeological dig," we discovered things we had forgotten: a beautiful vase we'd bought at a local fair, a mirror we'd brought home from our travels, books we'd bought and forgotten to read, tableclothes hidden in a bottom drawer. Clearing away the meaningless, allowed us to discover and enjoy the things that actually have value and which make our place feel like Home again. I need to remember that next time I feel like going on a shopping spree.

Snowstorms and Walkable Communities

2010-02-11T19:40:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we had another huge snow storm in the DC area, but unlike most people, my husband and I were not snow-bound and unable to get to work. Why? Because we live, during the work week, in the walkable community of DelRay, where with a good pair of snow boots, we can get to the grocery store, the coffee shop, and our offices in a matter of minutes.

The wind blasted in 40mph gusts and we had nearly three feet of snow on the ground, yet we still managed to walk the few blocks to work, have lunch in the local cafe, and grab a chai tea mid afternoon in the coffee shop. It was a good day.

My suburban friends weren't so lucky. Anyone who had to drive a car to get anywhere was just simply stuck, and the Federal Government, who must consider the thousands of geographically-dispersed commuters on snow-clogged roads, has been closed for the last four days. With the massive numbers of roads and sidestreets created by our low-density, sprawling building practices, it will be days before many are dug out and able to go anywhere.

I wonder how much easier and less costly it would be to get the City going again if we didn't have the endless miles and miles of sprawl to clear, and if more people lived where they could walk to work. As things are, we have become increasingly dependent upon our increasingly-strapped Government to dig us out and save us from the storm.

Building Cities for Children

2010-02-10T16:00:00.000-05:00

"Over the last 30 years, we've been able to magnify environmental consciousness all over the world. As a result, we know a lot about the ideal environment for a happy whale or a happy mountain gorilla. We're far less clear about what constitutes an ideal environment for a happy human being.

One common measure for how clean a mountain stream is, is to look for trout. If you find the trout, the habitat is healthy. It's the same way with children in a city. Children are a kind of indicator species. If we can build a successful city for children, we will have a successful city for all people."
Enrique Penalosa
Photo courtesy of daystar297

Need for Citizen Leaders

2010-02-08T16:00:00.002-05:00

In tough economic times, people in struggling downtown areas have the tendency to point fingers at the Government and conversation seems to be around "who's to blame." While local Government shares much responsibility for the economic well-being of communities, I have always felt that citizens, business owners, landlords, artists, and others with a stake in Place, have as much and more power to transform their communities.

If rhetoric can be changed from blame to solutions, and citizen helplessness to empowerment and action, much can be done to transform sluggish downtowns. City Governments, especially with today's tight budgets, cannot be expected to do it all, and must actively seek citizen involvement and public-private partnerships to help revitalize and promote their City. If citizens can be transformed from complainers to ambassadors and their energy and good will put to use to plan special events, update websites, wield a paintbrush, clean up a lot or stream, host gatherings, organize an art show . . . amazing things can be accomplished without a lot of money.

The same, of course, can be said about our national economy, and I'd encourage all those out there who are truly interested in revitalization and preservation of Place to stop asking for permission and to just start making things happen. Your stories about how you've done this are welcome!

Photo courtesy of convexstyle

City Historian Makes Huge Difference in Havana

2010-02-04T10:40:00.004-05:00

I had the opportunity to visit Havana, Cuba on a humanitarian mission early in January and was inspired by what a single individual can do to protect Place, while providing employment and improving the local economy.

Once considered the "Paris of the Caribbean," Havana has fallen into terrible decay over the last 50 years as little has been done to maintain the rich architectural heritage. While art, community, music, and dance have flourished in Cuba, the wild eclecticism of architecture that helps make Havana a unique Place is in a state of decrepitude and collapse. But recognizing how vital Havana's built environment is to Cuba's lure as an international tourist destination (as well as its importance in culturally rooting Cubans), one visionary man seeks to preserve much of what remains.

Eusabio Leal Spengler, Havana's City Historian, has worked tirelessly despite inadequate funds and innumerable hardships, to ensure that Havana's significant architectural treasures are preserved. While we were there, we saw the results of his work. Blocks and blocks of Spanish colonial, French belle epoche, Italian renaissance, and Gaudi-esque art nouveau buildings have been brought back to their original glory, and some of the squares are as grand as Prague, Paris, and Rome. So much more remains to be done as every year more treasures collapse from rot and neglect. But Eusabio Leal's office continues to make major strides in preserving Old Havana, while employing thousands of skilled workers and attracting hundreds of thousands of cultural tourists.

Many of our American cities could benefit from persons with similar vision and perseverence, especially in today's troubled economy. Perhaps one of the best things we can do to protect our future, is to preserve those things that make our cities real Places.

Solastalgia: Feeling Homesick While Still At Home

2010-02-03T10:34:00.010-05:00

There's a fascinating new word that seeks to capture the feeling of homesickness that I've come to associate with No-Place. Glenn Albrecht, a professor at the School of Environmental and Life Sciences at the University of Newcastle recently coined the term "solastalgia" and defines it as the distress within an individual or a community about the loss of endemic sense of place.

While studying the distress of farmers in drought-striken lands, Albrecht learned that there was no word in the English language that completely expressed this feeling, so he crafted his own. “Solastalgia” combines solacium (solace)with nostos (to return home) and algos (pain). Basically, Albrecht explains, it's the feeling of "homesickness while still being at home."

Though specifically used to capture the human pain wreaked by environmental damage (e.g. Hurricane Katrina's impact on the people of New Orleans, the earthquake's impact on the people of Haiti, etc.), the term is also a perfect one to capture the pain and homesickness many people feel as our small towns turn into suburbs, our farmland disappears, and the things we've known forever no longer apply.

It's a term that may become common as our consciousness increases about what we're doing to the human ecology.

Christmas: Ultimate Place-Making Experience

2009-12-24T10:15:00.022-05:00

Last weekend, we had a huge 2' snowstorm in Washington, DC, one week before Christmas. I couldn't have been more delighted. It reminded me of my childhood in Western New York where Christmases were always white and where the holiday season meant putting on nativity plays, singing carols, and making gifts for friends and family.

As I sit here listening to the carols I've heard ever since I was born, I realize that this time of year is the ultimate place-making experience. If I get beyond the commercialism that can make Christmas superficial and stressful, I re-immerse myself in all those things that make America America and home Home. As I continue our own family traditions, I remember how we always hung Christmas cards around our doorways . . . how we decorated the tree together . . . how the neighbors gave us hot chocolate and gingerbread when we sang Jingle Bells for them . . . how we'd go up to Grandpa and Grandma's to open gifts and eat macadamia nuts and chocolate candies.

Many today say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" and while I understand and appreciate the intension of inclusiveness behind the phrase, I can understand why some are uncomfortable with the new expression. Whether you're religious or not, Christmas holds traditions and memories for most of us that go to the meaning of Home and Place. And in a rapidly globalizing, increasingly commercialized world, we consciously or unconsciously cling to traditions that root us again and remind us of where we come from.

Lincoln Knew the Importance of Place

2009-10-06T07:00:00.003-04:00

“I like to see a man
proud of the place in which he lives.
I like to see a man
live so that his place will be proud of him.”
Abraham Lincoln

What Would Jefferson Say About Sprawl?

2009-09-30T05:30:00.000-04:00

"But how is a taste in this beautiful art to be formed in our countrymen, unless we avail ourselves of every occasion when public buildings are to be erected, of presenting to them models for their study and imitation? . . . . the comfort of laying out the public money for something honourable, the satisfaction of seeing an object and proof of national good taste, and the regret and mortification of erecting a monument of our barbarism which will be loaded with execrations as long as it shall endure. . . . You see I am an enthusiast on the subject of the arts. But it is an enthusiasm of which I am not ashamed, as its object is to improve the taste of my countrymen, to increase their reputation, to reconcile them to the rest of the world, and procure them its praise."

Thomas Jefferson, 1785

Photo courtesy of wallyg

What If We Created Places to Stay?

2009-09-29T17:01:00.005-04:00

I know few people, other than a handful of locals, family members, and high school friends, who have stayed in one Place all of their lives. It used to be common to do so, until automobiles gave us unlimited freedom to live anywhere, and most of us, with an American's passion for freedom, fled our hometowns to move off to distant places to "progress in the world."

Many of us have moved so much, in fact, that we approach all the places we live as a stop in the road. Even as we settle in, we think . . . when my child gets old enough for school, we'll move to the suburbs . . . when I get a better job, we'll move to that big house . . . when it starts getting too overrun with crime or traffic, we'll just move farther out . . . and when I retire, we'll head south. These thoughts of transience are manifested in the No Places we leave behind and, often, the emptiness we feel. But what if we approached the places we pass through with the thought: How do I help make this a Place I could live in for the rest of my life? (whether we eventually do so or not).

If we replaced thoughts of transience with those of permanence, I suspect we'd push for more town centers and fewer McDonald's, more sidewalks and parks and fewer four lanes, more walking paths, bike lanes, dog parks, and gathering places. I suspect we'd push for houses that were built to last, and that were close to schools, work, entertainment, and friends. I suspect that we'd take better care of our air, our water, and our land because we'd want them to be there for the rest of our lives and for the lives of those who follow us.
Photo courtesy of rebel shooter

Artists Required

2009-09-18T05:00:00.003-04:00

Only an artist
could look at a scrap yard
and see a future cultural district.
Marcel Diallo, Community Activist, Oakland

Intelligent Design

2009-09-14T18:00:00.007-04:00

“I believe we can accomplish great and profitable things within a new conceptual framework—one that values our legacy, honors diversity, and feeds ecosystems and societies . . . It is time for designs that are creative, abundant, prosperous, and intelligent from the start.” William McDonough

Photo courtesy of joaobambu

What's Needed to Protect Loudoun Countryside?

2009-09-11T18:43:00.004-04:00

Despite the massive wave of surburbia across eastern Loudoun, "Beautiful landscapes remain in Loudoun," writes Noel Grove, co-author of The Lure of Loudoun, a gorgeous book that reveals the historical roots that underpin Loudoun's feeling of Place. "On back roads, one can still see rolling green hills dotted by farm buildings and stone houses dating from earlier centuries . . . They are maintained by longstanding residents whose love of the region has been passed on by their forebears, and by people of means who can pay the high taxes and resist the tempting purchase offers made by developers. If the same values, the same means, and conservation easements protecting undeveloped areas are not passed on to their children, the remaining open land of the county will disappear. When the vistas become rooftops, when meadows and forests have disappeared. . . , when water is scarce . . ., what then will be the lure of Loudoun?"

Photo courtesy of jameswbailey

Childhood and Love of Place

2009-09-10T17:00:00.005-04:00

We could never
have loved the earth so well if
we had had no childhood in it.
George Eliot
Photo courtesy of Little Laddie

Vintners as Placemakers

2009-09-09T17:00:00.003-04:00

With autumn in the air and a long holiday weekend upon us, my husband and I ventured forth to visit several Loudoun County vineyards. I've always loved visiting vineyards perhaps because, better than anyone or anything else, they distill the essence of Place.

Sited surely to maximize grape production, Virginia vineyards seem sited to maximize beauty as well. Most are ringed with glorious views of rolling field and lavendar hillside, immaculate rows of vines canopied by sunrise and sunset. Most, too, take advantage of the old farms there before them, serving wine in centuries-old barns or farm houses with low beam ceilings. Proud of the local history, they tell stories of early settlement, the first Norton grapes planted, who owned this house originally, and which parts date back to 1830. And they have a strong connection to the wildlife and weather, remembering the year of the big floods, the big droughts, the year when deer and raccoon ate every grape or when the weather turned cold too soon.

The wine itself is a distillation of everything that makes Virginia Virginia. It tastes different from California or French wines and that is to be expected, because the land and air and water are different here, as are the leaves and flowers, which add their own taste and aroma, as the vintners add their different preferences and history. We bought several bottles to bring home, and I feel certain that someday, maybe weeks, months, even years from now, when I uncork a Virginia Viognier, Meritage or Cab Franc, I'll remember this glorious, windows-down day in September when we ventured forth down dusty, sun-dappled Old Loudoun roads.

Photo courtesy of Neva Spell

Temple of a Nation's Vows

2009-09-05T18:00:00.015-04:00

Thou shalt make thy house the temple of a nation’s vows. Spirits of a higher strain who sought thee once shall seek again. I detected many a god forth already on the road, ancestors of beauty come in thy breast to make a home.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Connection Between Inner-City No-Place and Costly Environmental & Social Issues

2009-08-31T18:00:00.001-04:00

In a recent Ted talk, Majora Carter draws a powerful connection between our blighted inner-city No Places and environmental and social degradation. She shows how her neighborhood's health, crime, and employment problems are directly related to land-use decisions made in the 1960s when the once-white neighborhood began to become African-American. Though once a shady, walk-to work neighborhood, Hunts Point quickly began to change when banks began red-lining this area disallowing most types of investment, and planners began locating power plants and highways there.

"Unfortunately," Carter argues, "race and class are extremely reliable indicators as to where one might find the good stuff, like parks and trees, and where one might find the bad stuff, like power plants and waste facilities. As a black person in America, I am twice as likely as a white person to live in an area where air pollution poses the greatest risk to my health. I am five times more likely to live within walking distance of a power plant or chemical facility -- which I do. These land-use decisions created the hostile conditions that lead to problems like obesity, diabetes and asthma. Why would someone leave their home to go for a brisk walk in a toxic neighborhood? Our 27 percent obesity rate is high, even for this country, and diabetes comes with it. One out of four South Bronx children has asthma. Our asthma hospitalization rate is seven times higher than the national average. These impacts are coming everyone's way. And we all pay dearly for solid waste costs, health problems associated with pollution and more odiously, the cost of imprisoning our young black and Latino men, who possess untold amounts of untapped potential. 50 percent of our residents live at or below the poverty line. 25 percent of us are unemployed. Low-income citizens often use emergency room visits as primary care. This comes at a high cost to taxpayers and produces no proportional benefits. Poor people are not only still poor, they are still unhealthy."

I'd encourage anyone concerned with the effect that No-Place has on human well being to view Majora Carter's truly powerful talk. Photo courtesy of sgrunt.

Do We Carry Memories of Place In Our Genes?

2009-08-26T18:00:00.010-04:00

We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies. ~Shirley Abbott

I recently discovered that in the early 1900s a long-forgotten relative, John Finnemore, wrote a series of travel books about some of the most beautiful places in the world. This was an amazing discovery to me since 100 years later, I've written my own series of travel books, on several of the same places my great, great ancestor wrote about. I found originals of his books on line in a second-hand bookstore in New Zealand, and when they arrived yesterday, I felt like I'd discovered a buried treasure.

My excitement goes beyond the odd connection in topic, style, and interest between myself and my distant relative. I found a passage in Peeps at Many Lands: England (1917) that gave me a profound insight into who I am. In this small passage, John captured the essence of Devonshire, the place where I recently discovered my Great Great Grandfather lived before leaving for the United States in 1861:

"A Devonshire lane in the cultivated portion of the countryside has hardly its like elsewhere. The land is red and through this land the lanes run in deep, hollow ways, often so deep that a carriage is quite hidden from the view of one standing in the fields on either hand. One writer speaks of driving in a dogcart along one of these deep lanes on a day in late autumn, when he heard the cry of hounds. The hunt was coming his way, and he drew rein. Presently the hunt went whirling by, literally over his head. Horsemen and horsewomen cleared the lane, one after the other, in flying leaps, the big hunters taking the huge trench with tremendous bounds. These trench-like lanes have been formed by the wear and tear of ages of traffic. In the soft red soil the crunch of wheels and the stamp of hoofs have worn the surface down and down, and rain has washed away the loose soil, until the lane itself has become, as it were, one vast rut. The rich red soil and the soft warm air of this southern county work together to form a scene of wonderful charm. The steep banks are one glorious mass of ferns, wild-flowers, and shrubs during spring and summer; in autumn they burn with the fires of the fading leaves; in winter they are bright with berries."

Perhaps the reason I live in Virginia Hunt Country, and love its red soil, its foxhunting, flaming fall foliage, ferns and deep-set carriage roads, is because in my genes, I carry memories of Devonshire and long-ago memories of what it means to be Home. When I first came to Loudoun County, neighbors often asked me how I came to know the area so fast, almost as though I'd been born there. I found it difficult to explain adequately how effortless it was to turn my deepest attention to the undulation of the land, the smell of fresh-cut grasses, and the sound of the fox horn in the Fall distance. In my book Home: A Meditation on Blackberry Wood, written years before I started doing genealogy, I wrote: "With every gallop across a field and every footfall on the dusty road, I absorbed the spirit of Western Loudoun, and in ways that I was unable to explain or understand, it felt like a returning rather than a discovery."

I suspect that all of us, whether consciously or not, carry with us profound genetic memory of places loved by those who preceded us -- perhaps this is the profoundest reason of all for us to consciously create and protect Home and Place wherever we go.

Building Walls

2009-08-25T18:00:00.002-04:00

Before I built a wall I’d ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offence. Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, That wants it down!

Robert Frost

Why Do We Need Green Places?

2009-08-19T05:00:00.001-04:00

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.

John Muir

Photo courtesy of Sabatoa

What Do You Value?

2009-08-18T18:00:00.005-04:00

People often express to me that they'd like to live close to where they work, but simply don't see it as a possibility. The only realistic living option, in their minds, are those far-flung subdivisions with the big houses and the grand lawns. The nicer houses close to their work are often too expensive they argue. The question I always ask them is: What do you value more? A big house or time and community?

Most people, if they answer honestly, put much more value on that big house. I've seen people buy their dream house in a distant suburb believing it to be better for their children, yet they spend three hours on the road each day and are so exhausted at night and on weekends, that time with their children is a chore. Ultimately, though often unconsciously, they're sacrificing a great deal for that big house, because it represents in their mind achievement of the American Dream.

My husband and I were certainly tempted by those spanking-new suburban houses and the developer incentives that went along with them. But when we calculated our car time and lawn-cutting time, we chose to go, for our first home, with a small townhouse in DelRay. From DelRay, we could take the Metro anywhere in the City, and later, we decided to start our business there, first in our basement and then later in an old building we renovated on Mt. Vernon Avenue. We still own this small place, and though we bought another house in a country community years later, we still stay in this small DelRay townhouse during the work week.

These were conscious choices, most of them made when we had almost no money. It wasn't easy. I remember spending many weekends looking at possible neighborhoods and so many run-down houses, the only thing we could afford inside the beltway. DelRay was a little rough around the edges at first, an old railroad community that had seen its heyday years before, but through the conscious focus of many people like us, it became truly vibrant again, a real place where children play on grassy lawns, where neighbors chat over the fence, and many walk to work. I think if we're all willing to do with a little less, we can consciously create a whole lot more.
Photo courtesy of hyperial

We Create Our Heavens

2009-08-13T18:00:00.000-04:00

Heaven is under our feet

as well as over our heads.

Henry David Thoreau

Photo courtesy of Alison Lyons

Why Are We So Lonely?

2009-08-11T11:56:00.014-04:00

Heightened loneliness may be the biggest tragedy of No Place. Living where we do not know our neighbors, where there is no central place to gather, where we spend a great deal of time in our cars, where we do not feel connection to the land, the climate, or the community, many of us often find ourselves overwhelmed with inexplicable homesickness and feelings of alienation.

In the excellent book Loneliness, John T. Cacioppo and William Patrick show through scientific study that social connection is vital to human well being and "is a fundamental part of the human operating system." Drawing from research on brain imaging as well as analysis of blood pressure, immune response, stress hormones, behavior, and gene expression, the book reveals just how intertwined and interdependent we are as human beings, and argues that we have everything to gain, and everything to lose, in how well or how poorly we manage our need for human connection. Perhaps the email from "a man in California" sums up the soul-sick loneliness better than the authors' scientific studies:

"I remember the year eye contact stopped. It was not some big demographic shift. People just seemed to give up on relating to each other. Now this town is one of the loneliest places on earth. People are vaguely paranoid, oversensitive and self-involved. Incomes are high, the cost of living is astronomical, but everybody is in debt, living in million-dollar homes and eating take-out pizza. And when the divorce comes, the guy moves out of the house to live on his boat."

Photo courtesy of juditny

So What Do You See?

2009-08-05T18:15:00.001-04:00

"Any landscape is composed not only of what lies before our eyes but what lies within our heads."

D.W. Meinig

Photo courtesy of Tiana RAti's

Dandelion Cafe: Thinking Locally

2009-08-04T20:00:00.001-04:00

"Our original mission was to save the world and we're accomplishing that by starting in our own back yard," says Julie Norris, founder of the charming Dandelion Cafe. This small Place tucked in the great No Place of Orlando, Florida, is thriving, despite the economy, primarily because it creates an important gathering spot for the creative community.

After watching their mini documentary on line, I was fascinated at how Norris and her business partner Chris Blanc intentionally created a Place that matters by thinking locally: They serve local foods, buy from local vendors, host local artists and musicians, and serve as a local business incubator. I encourage you to listen to Norris and Blanc as they describe their business philosophy and why it matters in their community and in the world: http://dandelioncommunitea.com/about-us/. They may inspire you to do something equally world changing in the place you live.

The Problem: How Do We Build Places That Matter?

2009-07-29T18:30:00.003-04:00

"When I'm working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong."
Buckminster Fuller
Photo courtesy of Torley

Future Crime Spots and Slums?

2009-07-28T06:30:00.011-04:00

When I first graduated from college and had no money, my husband and I moved into a low-rent area just outside College Park, MD, one of the original suburbs of DC. I remember being weighed down with a sense of gloom that I had never felt before.

While the feeling was partially caused by the well-reported crimes that kept me from walking alone and made me watchful and wary, it had more to do with the terrifying ugliness of the area. To get to the Metro, I had to take an endless bus ride down an endless highway past rundown shopping plazas, all-you-can-eat restaurants, and pawn shops. I spent hours each day looking out windows at apartment complexes, weed-choked lots, bridge abutments, overflowing garbage cans. It made me feel empty and very alone. Even now, a quarter of a century later, I'm holding my breath as I recall living there. I can't remember the name of a single human being from that area, though we lived there for over a year.

We fled the area as soon as we were able. Perhaps the only people who ultimately stay in these aging No Places are those who cannot afford to flee to the tidier No Places being built farther out. And God only knows what damage is done to those people who have to face endless years of disconnection, alienation, and ugliness. Many of today's tidy suburban communities seem headed for the same fate, once the sidewalks begin to crack and the siding to peel. Instead of moving on to another burb, we somehow, for America's sake, need to find a way to bring beauty, connection, and care into what we've already created.
Photo courtesy of Grant Neufeld

Note to Environmentalists: Become New Urbanists

2009-07-25T20:00:00.000-04:00

In the excellent article Man in Nature: The Fiasco of Suburbia (published in Orion Magazine, Spring 2001), James Howard Kunstler makes a fascinating argument.

He believes that we need to stop focusing on "saving the environment" and rather start focusing on saving the "human habitat." "We are never going to save the rural places," writes Kunstler, "or the agricultural places or the wild and scenic places (or the wild species that dwell there) unless we identify the human habitat and then strive to make it so good that humans will voluntarily inhabit it." As a result of our terrible urban landscape, people flee into the suburbs and the suburbanized countryside, blurring the distinction between the wild places and the people places, ultimately destroying both habitats by creating No Place.

He speaks to Environmentalists when he writes: "Stop yammering about open space and green space, and open your mind. Start helping with the task of making American towns and neighborhoods magnificent places to live and work, and move downtown yourself, even if you have to give up one of your mighty SUVs. The antidote to America’s terrible urbanism is, simply, good urbanism."

Poetry, Like the Land . . .

2009-07-22T06:45:00.001-04:00

"Poetry, like the land, asks us to pay attention to beauty."

Wendell Berry

Photo courtesy of Digital Agent

Bundoran Farm: A New Concept in Rural Place

2009-07-20T15:29:00.009-04:00

For years now, I've had an idea for the Ideal country place. A place where I could have privacy, but also a sense of community. Where I could have access to hundreds, even thousands, of protected acres for riding and hiking but without an owner's upkeep and taxes. Where I could drive 10 minutes into a cultural center, yet know that Wal-Mart or a sea of McMansions would never become my neighbor.

Bundoran Farm, a 2300 acre working farm 10 minutes South of Charlottesville, VA, is making this idea a reality. Using, "Preservation Development," Bundoran seeks to protect the rural character of this lovely Place in the mountains, while allowing about 100 families to make it their home. Residents are required to build green houses that fit into the character of the land, allow other residents to cross the pedestrian/equestrian trails on their parcel, and allow their land to be farmed in perpetuity. In return, they are granted unlimited access to the entire 2300 acres and can be assured that the farm will look the way it does for the rest of their lifetimes.

It's expensive to purchase property at Bundoran (by necessity) but I have hopes that this wonderful concept can be applied in different ways to other parcels of land around the United States for people with lesser means. Rather than cutting big land parcels into a patchwork quilt of 3-acre lots, as we do here in Western Loudoun County, it would be better to cluster houses close together and leave most of the land in fields and forests that are farmed and shared by all residents. It's an idea whose time has come -- this sharing of property. It's more beautiful, less work for individuals, and more sustainable. More importantly, it allows places to remain Places.

For more on this wonderful rural Place, listen to this podcast.

Photo courtesy of Jim Duncan

Do You Know Where You Are?

2009-07-09T18:00:00.002-04:00

"You can't know who you are
until you know where you are."
Wendell Berry

Photo courtesy of romanlily

Finding Your Place Through Genealogy

2009-07-07T18:30:00.005-04:00

I discovered yesterday, after spending the afternoon on the internet, that my Great, Great Grandfather, David G. Finnemore, came from a remote parish in Devon, England called Pancasweek. From various records, I could see that he journeyed by ship to Canada in the mid 1850s with his wife Harriet, and then journeyed down to Allegheny County, New York to settle permanently and raise an enormous family. I always knew that the Finnemores came from somewhere in England (or was it Ireland or Germany?), but until I discovered the picture of my Great Great Grandfather and learned of his birthplace in a remote Devon county, the fact didn't mean much to me. My descendants were European. Shrug.

The afternoon revealed numerous other facts about my family. Many of our descendants died from appendicitis and lung ailments (interesting, since we still have similar health concerns today) . . . having twelve to fourteen children was common (my relatives still have huge families). . . one branch of our family settled in Wisconsin (ah, yes, didn't Grandpa come back from Wisconsin in the 20s?). . . we're related to the Glyddons, the Honeys, the Moores . . . and wonder of wonders, apparently Finnemore means Splendid Love (fine amour).

I've only begun my family research, but discovering my Great Great Grandfather's name, his stoic picture, and the swirl of other small facts about our family, somehow made me feel more . . . rooted, more . . . connected to my past and to the many other Finnemores alive in the present. I'm beginning to see the Finnemore Family's existence as a story connected to other continents, other states, other families, beginning long, long before I was born. Not sure why, but the thought is interesting and somehow comforting to me.

The Foundation of Place

2009-07-03T18:00:00.004-04:00

"Indeed, we all live on one planet, and yet, the beauty and strength of this Earth does not derive from a single global sameness, rather from articulation in arctic and tropics, seacoast and mountains, plains and valleys, deserts and woodlands."
Thomas Berry

Photo courtesy of goreckidawn

Place Mixes It Up

2009-07-01T11:46:00.017-04:00

When we visited Peru in April, we remarked on how vibrant Cuzco felt. Though the enchanted smells, the colorful clothing, and the adobe architecture contributed to this vibrancy, we determined it came primarily from the diversity. Babies, old people, llamas, dogs, tourists, school children, wealthy and poor, bicycles, cars, pedestrians, houses, churches and cafes, everyone and everything were mixed together in a lively hodge podge of activity and texture that created real Place.

It was such a startling contrast to the many No Places in the United States where there is tidy, compartmentalization between everything. Business districts separated from houses, old from young, schools from the community, rich from poor . . .

Some of the Places that I love most in the United States -- DelRay, Alexandria, VA, Old Town Winchester VA, and numerous places like them -- mix things up. People walk past shops and businesses with baby carriages. Retirees eat lunch at cafes and chat with children and people in suits. Couples live above shops and walk to the library and the post office. There's a feeling of vitality in these places that has been eradicated from the suburbs where there is no diversity in age, race, use, or social economic status.

Ironic how sprawl diminishes the important lines between towns and countryside, yet separates with knife-like precision the people who live there.

Rest Stops Disappear Along with Sense of Place

2009-06-17T09:26:00.011-04:00

In her excellent article Rest Stops, RIP in GOOD Magazine, Emily Badger argues that states are losing a lot more than toilet stops as they close down their rest areas. They're losing a sense of place:

"There's something immensely gratifying about crossing the line into a new state and being immediately confronted by evidence that this place is culturally unique," writes Badger, who intuitively understands the vital importance of entryway to creating Place. If our entrance to a state is created by a stop at an Exxon or McDonald's, we may as well be anywhere. Rest stops, on the other hand, give states a chance to show how they're different. Hence we have teepee picnic shelters in Oklahoma, oil rig motifs in Texas, and Spanish pueblo bathrooms in New Mexico. They give states the opportunity to make an impression on travelers; "to give the pitch about how Virginia is for Lovers, say. Or about how 400 years ago 103 men and boys crossed the Atlantic in three ships to found English-speaking America here." Perhaps more importantly, they provide a place for people to get out, stretch their legs, walk their dogs, and look out over the surrounding landscape rather than drive past behind glass and steel.

"Mary" felt strongly enough to write in a personal comment about the article: "My family traveled a lot over the past 20 years," she writes, "We counted on the rest areas. In fact, the kids would bring skates or jump ropes and burn off energy so they could endure more car time. Without rest areas, traffic fatalities will go waaaaaaaay up. The poor kids will get yelled at by their parents. But worst of all the pets will suffer; they can't run around at Mickey Deeeeze."

Mary's very human reaction is one of the best summaries I've seen about the effect of No Place on our everyday lives.

Photo courtesy of Joe Shlabotnik

Cul-de-sacs Threaten Planet

2009-05-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

Did you know that the greatest threat to our planet is . . . Cul-de-sacs. "That's right: cul-de-sacs," says the well-done short e-presentation Built to Last, and "tract homes, private lawns, strip malls, traffic jams, subdivisions, franchises, parking lots, clogged roads, and 20 minute car trips to work, eat, play, daycare, church, hospital, post office, anything." Share this presentation with all those you know who care about how No Place is diminishing our environment and our human habitat. Photo courtesy of michaelk42.

14 Powerful Reasons for the Rise of Sprawl

2009-05-28T18:12:00.016-04:00

According to Grant Rimbey in his excellent blog post,
The Roots of Sprawl, there are a variety of powerful reasons for the emergence of sprawl, a phenomenon that didn't exist before WWII:

"Government loans for WW2 GI’s that provided mortgages aimed at new single-family suburban construction
WW2 military-industrial assembly methods applied to the construction and planning of communities
The favoring of simple single-use zoning over complex mixed-use zoning
The Modern attitude of “out with the old, in with the new”

Government subsidies for highways (road creation and widening), parking lots and gasoline

The demonization of mass transit and affordable housing

The ease and affordability of greenfield development versus complicated urban infill
The increasing segregation of society by income and race (the abandoning of cities for the suburbs)

The “back to nature” or “garden city” myth that coincided with the abandoning of cities (the popularity of the S.U.V. is rooted in this)

The erosion of public confidence in the skills of the planner based on post-WW2 planning mistakes

The creation of communities that were developer-led, not planner-led
The favoritism of private and corporate control over citizen input for community plans

The misconception that everyone in America wants to or should own a single-family suburban residence

Creating sprawl is easy and cheap, and doesn’t require expensive consultants like town planners or architects"

The above quote provides numerous excellent links that are worth exploring for those concerned about how sprawl is destroying our sense of Place in America. Photo courtesy of Rob Bellinger

Without Place We Cannot Plan for the Future

2009-04-26T09:00:00.000-04:00

"Americans are woefully ignorant of geography and of place—ignorant, that is, of the natural and humanly constructed worlds that have nurtured us, inspired us, and, sad to say, too often frustrated us. It is hard to imagine concretely how we can envisage the good life (the humane life), and plan for the future, unless we have some clear idea as to the sort of places that we wish to exist."
Yi-Fu Tuan, Founding Board Member

Center for American Places

Photo courtesy of JohnandJulieC

What Is Sense of Place?

2009-04-20T09:00:00.000-04:00

Dr. Thomas A. Woods, President of Making Sense of Place, Inc., provides a lovely, textured definition of Sense of Place and its importance to us:

People develop a "sense of place" through experience and knowledge of a particular area. A sense of place emerges through knowledge of the history, geography and geology of an area, its flora and fauna, the legends of a place, and a growing sense of the land and its history after living there for a time.

The feel of the sun on your face or the rain on your back, the rough and smooth textures of the land, the color of the sky at morning and sunset, the fragrance of the plants blooming in season, the songs and antics of birds and the cautious ramblings of mammals are environmental influences that help to define a place. Memories of personal and cultural experiences over time make a place special, favorite objects that shape to your hand or body with use, songs or dances that emerge from the people of a place, special skills you develop to enjoy your area--these too help to define a place and anchor you in it. Through time, shared experiences and stories (history) help to connect place and people and to transmit feelings of place from generation to generation.

This definition is complex and multi-faceted much like true Places are, blending the physical characteristics of the land with memory, art, story, and the inexplicable feel that Places leave on the skin and mind. I like it very much.
Photo Splash Some Sun On My Face courtesy of ANne

The Direction is Clear

2009-04-16T11:36:00.000-04:00

"The direction is clear, and the first step is to throw your weight around on matters of right and wrong in land use. Cease being intimidated by the argument that a right action is impossible because it does not yield maximum profit, or that a wrong action is to be condoned because it pays. The philosophy is dead in human relations and its funeral in land relations is overdue." Aldo Leopold

Photo The Ecologist courtesy of the procrastinating philosopher

ePodunk: Great Site to Explore 46,000 Places

2009-04-13T11:30:00.007-04:00

Interested in finding out more about your hometown or one of those places you've visited and fell in love with? ePodunk is an excellent web site that allows visitors to discover the uniqueness of thousands of places around America. According to this rich website:

"Despite the growth of fast-food restaurants, national retail chains, suburban sprawl, the global economy and the Internet, geography matters. We see the sense of place thriving in thousands of cities, suburbs and villages. Americans are emotionally attached to multiple places, from the neighborhoods of their childhood to their alma maters, from favorite vacation spots to past homes.

Yearning for one place while living in another is a typically American state of mind. Every year, one out of every six Americans changes address; 8.5 million young adults leave home to enroll in college; and 66 million U.S. adults take a trip that includes a visit to a historic or cultural site. Yet the cultural and historical details that evoke place cannot be conveyed by statistics, maps or lists of Web links. By celebrating the unique and irreplaceable, ePodunk goes beyond population numbers to the ineffable things that define the essence of a neighborhood – with literary excerpts, local events, notable personalities and history.

I urge you to check it out this celebration of the vibrant places in America and share your pictures and knowledge.

Mad World Lyrics Reveal Full Meaning of No-Place

2009-04-08T17:58:00.011-04:00

The lyrics for Mad World, the 1980s song by Tears for Fears captures the incredible loneliness and sorrow that our suburbanized, busy-busy, No-Place world creates. Here are the opening two stanzas:

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
And their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow . . .

The version performed by Gary Jules (worth listening to/watching!) goes even further to capture this sense of placelessness and alienation. Through brilliant vocals and moving images, Jules' rendition brings us into the full meaning of No-Place. Photo Mad World courtesy of cube2.

Blending the Practical with the Beautiful

2009-04-05T09:00:00.001-04:00

"The divorcement of things practical from things beautiful, and the relegation of either to specialized groups or institutions, has always been lethal to social progress, and now threatens the land base on which social structure rests . . . tomorrow we shall find out that no land unnecessarily mutilated is useful. The true [challenge] of all . . . land uses is to achieve both utility and beauty and thus permanence."

Aldo Leopold

Photo courtesy of house of gary

Place Determines Future Success & Quality of Life

2009-04-02T08:00:00.002-04:00

With the rise of the internet and vast improvements in travel, many argue that one Place is as good as any other to live and be successful, but Richard Florida, author of Rise of the Creative Class, argues exactly the opposite. He believes that Place matters more than ever today and is central to quality of life. Says Florida in his new book Who's Your City?:

"The Place we choose to live affects every aspect of our being. It can determine the income we earn, the people we meet, the friends we make, the partners we choose, and the options available to our children and families. People are not equally happy everywhere, and some places do a better job of providing a high quality of life than others. Some places offer us more vibrant labor markets, better career prospects, higher real estate appreciation, and stronger investment and earnings opportunities. Some places offer more promising mating markets. Others are better environments for raising children . . . The point is, where we live is a central life factor that affects all the others—work, education, and love."

Choosing the right Place to live is one of the most important decisions in life, Florida contends, and I agree whole heartedly. I also believe that, absent choosing one of the stellar locations that Florida points out in his book, it is in our best interest to create places that matter. We have the obligation, since Place is so central to our well being and our future, to be Bright Builders. (much more in upcoming posts).

Photo courtesy of emiliano

Consult the Genius of the Place in All

2009-04-01T16:00:00.000-04:00

Consult the genius of the place in all; That tells the waters or to rise, or fall; Or helps th' ambitious hill the heav'ns to scale, Or scoops in circling theatres the vale; Calls in the country, catches opening glades, Joins willing woods, and varies shades from shades, Now breaks, or now directs, th' intending lines; Paints as you plant, and, as you work, designs.
Alexander Pope
Photo, Beauty on Reflection, courtesy of antonychammond

Hotel Bethlehem: Memorable Beauty

2009-03-31T06:30:00.004-04:00

One night years ago, I had a brilliant dinner in Hotel Bethlehem. My husband and I still talk about that dinner and name it as one of Our Favorite Dinners of All-Time, though the food was probably not any better than food we've had in other fine places on our travels. What made it so memorable, was that Hotel Bethlehem, in the old steel town of Bethlehem Pennsylvania is truly a Place that leaves a feel on the skin, a feel on the mind.

It was unexpected really. On a business retreat in faded eastern Pennsylvania with friends, we discovered, like discovering a diamond in a drain, the thriving, artistic Main Street Community of Bethlehem, and there, the vast hulking Bethlehem Hotel that contained the Mural Ballroom, one of the most glorious rooms I've seen in the world. Great columns, sky-high ceilings, hand-painted murals of Bethlehem's heyday, at once making me breathless and able to breathe. I'll always remember how rich the piano sounded, how beautiful all my friends looked, how decadent the food tasted in that magnificent room so unexpected there in that defunct steel town, brought alive again by many who understand treasures and jewels and joy.

In Winchester last week I ran into a gentleman who told me he was born in Bethlehem Pennsylvania. "Have you heard of it?" he asked me. I smiled wide and said, "Oh yes, I love that place. I had one of the best dinners of my life in the old hotel there." And I delighted in recounting the memory, and his eyes were unexpectedly bright as he listened.

We Create Our Own Heavens

2009-03-31T05:42:00.001-04:00

"Eden is that old-fashioned house
We dwell in everyday
Without suspecting our abode
Until we drive away."
Emily Dickinson

Starbucks As Real Place

2009-03-24T18:00:00.004-04:00

People often make a big deal about Starbuck's inflated prices. But to me, it's not surprising that people will pay $3-4 for a cup of coffee there; they're not paying for the coffee really -- they're paying for the Place. And Starbucks is smart enough to capitalize on our drive to find Place in this suburbanized world.

Their expressed mission on http://www.starbucks.com/ reveals this: To inspire and nurture the human spirit— one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.

And they go further to clarify how they see their customers, their stores, and their neighborhoods:

Our Customers
When we are fully engaged, we connect with, laugh with, and uplift the lives of our customers— even if just for a few moments. Sure, it starts with the promise of a perfectly made beverage, but our work goes far beyond that. It’s really about human connection.

Our Stores
When our customers feel this sense of belonging, our stores become a haven, a break from the worries outside, a place where you can meet with friends. It’s about enjoyment at the speed of life—sometimes slow and savored, sometimes faster. Always full of humanity.

Our Neighborhood
Every store is part of a community, and we take our responsibility to be good neighbors seriously. We want to be invited in wherever we do business. We can be a force for positive action— bringing together our partners, customers, and the community to contribute every day. Now we see that our responsibility—and our potential for good—is even larger. The world is looking to Starbucks to set the new standard, yet again. We will lead.

I'm not a fan of chain stores, but Starbucks seems to understand much of what other other chain stores have forgotten: it's all about connection to people and community.

Photo courtesy of rudelovers

Frost Captures Essence of Place

2009-03-09T13:22:00.006-04:00

A Time To Talk

"When a friend calls to me from the road

And slows his horse to a meaning walk,

I don't stand still and look around

On all the hills I haven't hoed,

And shout from where I am, 'What is it?'

No, not as there is a time to talk.

I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,

Blade-end up and five feet tall,

And plod; I go up to the stone wall

For a friendly visit."

Robert Frost

Sir Walter Scott on Place

2009-03-07T11:19:00.000-05:00

"Breathes there the man with soul so dead,

Who never to himself has said,

this is my own, my native land?

Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned,

As home his footsteps he hath turned

From wandering on a foreign strand?

If such there breathe, go, mark him well;

For him no minstrel raptures swell;

High though hs titles, proud his name,

Boundless his wealth as wish can claim --

Despite those titles, power and pelf,

The wretch concentered all in self,

Living, shall forfeit fair renown,

And, doubly dying, shall go down

To the vile dust from whence he sprung,

Unwept, unhonored and unsung."

Sir Walter Scott

Photo Home Sweet Home courtesy of foreby

3 Lessons from Charlottesville

2009-03-06T11:05:00.002-05:00

I had the great pleasure of visiting Charlottesville VA last Friday to talk with city officials about how they've created such a vital downtown. We met in City Space where Gary O'Connell, Charlottesville City Planner, gave representatives from Winchester a solid overview about creating a thriving city center. Accomplishing this mission wasn't easy and it didn't happen overnight. In fact it took approximately 25 years and a great deal of energy, commitment and vision.

After being given the opportunity to talk with other Charlottesville officials and merchants, I discovered three primary reasons, besides their united vision and disciplined planning, that they have been so successful:

1. Embrace of eclecticism and uniqueness -- They play up the things that make downtown Charlottesville a distinct place, don't try to "outmall the malls," and appreciate and encourage the quirkiness of their shops and businesses.

2. Partnership and collaboration -- They partner with all stakeholders and are always looking for the win/win. The University of Virginia, for example, is seen as a crucial partner in building and maintaining the downtown and student internships are used to create a strong connection between the University and downtown Charlottesville.

3. Cooperation and pleasant coercion -- City representatives see their primary job as creating an atmosphere for success and are "always selling" the benefits of downtown as well as the benefits of participating in events. One-on-one, face-to-face communication between stakeholders is ongoing so frustrations are aired, suggestions heard, and connection maintained.

Creating places like Charlottesville is a long-term endeavor that takes the concerted effort of numerous impassioned stakeholders. But the results of their united, collaborative efforts is a downtown that pulses with life and makes Albemarle County one of the best places to live in the United States of America.

Photo courtesy of bobindrums

Ancient Athenian Pledge

2009-02-28T11:00:00.002-05:00

"We will never bring disgrace to this, our country, by any act of cowardice. We will fight for the ideals of this, our country. We will revere and obey the laws. We will strive to quicken our sense of civic duty. Thus, in all these ways, we will transmit this country greater, better, stronger, prouder and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us."

Great Places Are Built By Leaders

2009-02-28T07:42:00.004-05:00

"Great Places are built by leaders, by communities, one step at a time . . . When you look at a great place, it's like reading the hopes, aspirations and pride of everyone who built it."

Hugh Newell Jacobsen

Building Place Protects Health

2009-02-19T06:53:00.012-05:00

Roseto, a tiny town in eastern Pennsylvania has some of the healthiest people in the United States of America. In the 50s before the advent of cholesterol-lowering drugs, heart disease was virtually unknown in Roseto and there was no suicide, no alcoholism, no drug addiction, and very little crime. When people died in Roseto, it was of old age. But why?

In Malcolm Gladwell's breakthrough book Outliers: The Story of Success, we discover that the secret of Roseto wasn't diet or exercise or genes or location. It was Roseto itself. Writes Gladwell:

"As [the researchers] walked around the town . . . they looked at how the Rosetans visited one another, stopping to chat in Italian on the street, say, or cooking for one another in their backyards. They learned about the extended family clans that underlay the town's social structure. They saw how many homes had three generations living under one roof, and how much respect grandparents commanded. They went to mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and saw the unifying and calming effect of the church. They counted 22 separate civic organizations in a town of just under 2,000 people. They picked up on the particular egalitarian ethos of the community, which discouraged the wealthy from flaunting their success and helped the unsuccessful obscure their failures . . .

In transplanting the paesani culture of southern Italy to the hills of eastern Pennsylvania, the Rosetans had created a powerful, protective social structure capable of insulating them from the pressures of the modern world. The Rosetans were healthy because of where they were from, because of the world they had created for themselves in their tiny little town in the hills."

Photo courtesy of dicarloanthony

We Are the Children of Our Landscape

2009-02-14T06:30:00.001-05:00

"We are the children of our landscape; It dictates behavior and even thought in the measure to which we are responsive to it."

Lawrence Durrell

Superb Articulation on the Tragedy of No Place

2009-02-03T06:00:00.002-05:00

"The immersive ugliness of our everyday environment in America is entropy made visible," James Howard Kunstler begins his brilliant presentation on the Tragedy of Suburbia. "We cannot over estimate the amount of despair that we are generating. Mostly I want to persuade you that we have to do better if we're going to continue the project of civilization in America."

I strongly urge you to watch his 20-minute presentation, which succinctly discusses how we can create "places worth caring about" again: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/james_howard_kunstler_dissects_suburbia.html,

Geographic Dislocation: iPhones and Garmins

2009-01-27T06:00:00.006-05:00

I recently purchased an iPhone and have rediscovered the wonders of GPS. Just like my Garmin, which my brother gave me for Christmas, my iPhone can tell me, with a press of the screen, how to get to wherever I'm going no matter where I am, even if I have no idea where that may be. The wonders of technology are astounding.

But this marvelous device is another example of the creeping in of No-Place. By relying on it to guide me, I don't look at the landmarks or the street signs, rather I simply turn right or left when the voice directs me to do so. On a recent business trip, I found myself in White Junction somewhere in New England. Landing in an unknown airport and then following the instructions on the GPS, I didn't really have a sense of where I was (Vermont? Massachusetts? Connecticut?). I didn't know which way was North, South, East or West. And if for some reason the GPS system came up missing, I would have had no idea how to tell a rescuer where I was, let alone where I was going (everything had been keyed into the system ahead of time).

"Welcome to the grid . . . to the Matrix," my husband laughs at me. I've always had a keen sense of direction and, even as a little girl, I could read a map and a compass. No matter where I was (the woods, a strange town, or an airport), I knew how to find my way back because I was actively engaged in getting there in the first place. I wonder if these new directional devices will have the same effect on my sense of geography and my place in it as calculators have had on my ability to run numbers in my head. It will arguably be much easier to get around, but what are we losing in the process?

Little Boxes: Essence of Suburbia

2009-01-26T07:00:00.008-05:00

In the early 60s, Malvina Reynolds captured the essence of suburban life and the beginning of No Place in her famous song Little Boxes. I've set the lyrics down here and provided a link to Pete Seeger's version of the song because the language and melody capture perfectly the happily unconscious diminishing of Place and Individuality that I find so troubling:

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.

And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

Watch Pete Seeger's version of this 60s song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONEYGU_7EqU

Places Have Beginnings & Endings

2009-01-25T07:10:00.007-05:00

One of the truly dislocating aspects of sprawl is that it's impossible to tell where a town begins or ends. Once upon a time I could recognize each Town as a Place because the houses were clustered together, there was a main street or a town square at its center, and the edges showed a distinct demarcation between the town and the countryside around it. Now there are often no edges, only a leakage of development across former cornfields, filling up the spaces between each place, blurring everything together into a hazy Nowhere.

Many of the towns of Western Loudoun -- Bluemont, Hillsboro, Middleburg for instance -- are still places with distinct beginnings and ends. As you drive toward them, you can actually see where the rolling fields stop and the sidewalks and streetlights begin. But Eastern Loudoun has no such visual clues. Though I've lived in Loudoun for nearly ten years, I can not tell you exactly where Chantilly or Ashburn are. They're mixed and melded in with Reston and Herndon and numerous other suburbs stretching into DC and Maryland. The islands of megaplexes that tie them together seem to have more "placeness" than these areas with no edges and no center.

Soon a Matchbox Town Appears

2009-01-24T07:01:00.020-05:00

In response to my "Welcoming Entry" post, jc from Scotland sent this lovely poem which she wrote upon observing what was happening to her village in the Highlands.

INCOMERS

They come in search of blackboard skies and tinsel stars
and land stretched out like patchwork quilts,
they leave behind the mortice locks and glass secured by metal bars,
they find a place where kids can play,
where even if they roam or stray,
it causes not the heart to miss a beat.
And still more come to find this dream
and soon a matchbox town appears,

to eat the land and light the skies.
Now once again the bolts are placed above the doors,
high fences mark the boundary lines of mine and yours,
designed to keep out prying neighbours' eyes.

jc, Scotland

Welcoming Entry

2009-01-16T06:00:00.003-05:00

One of the trends that I find disturbing and a sure sign of No Place creeping in is the big "gated community" entryways or the electronic security gates preferred by many suburbanites who move to the country. My home, Loudoun County, is known for arms-thrown-wide stone entryways and village signs that say lovely things like, "Relax . . . You're in the Village," so these new security gates feel like a particular intrusion here. It's obvious that they're meant to keep people out rather than invite them to come in, and they're certainly a loud declaration that the area inside is not part of the community or people around it.

Bright Cowork: Ultimate Workplace

2009-01-15T06:00:00.014-05:00

Recently an innovative, new-media-savvy guy named Corey Brown, COO of Squidoo contacted me about possibly turning a portion of Bright Center into coworking space. His reasoning was this: There are a lot of people out there who are simply tired of working all by themselves and need a fun, collaborative space to do their work at least a few days a week.

A few years ago, the dream of most creatives and professionals was "to work at home" to avoid commuting and to have more control of time. Companies anxious to reduce overhead and attract the best and brightest allowed many of us to do so. For awhile it was great; but after a while, many "hit a wall" and productivity and motivation plummeted. I think our craving for Place is the reason many sought to work from home originally and, ironically, it's why many telecommuters are hitting the wall now. We ran away from the featureless, cubicle-filled no-places to our home offices which typically cannot provide the personal, face-to-face connection to colleagues and coworkers that inspires and energizes.

Bright Cowork will be unlike "telework spaces," which typically are fluorescent-lit, cubicle farms. In the style of Bright Center, it will be open, bright collaborative space with blazing internet connectivity, and great coffee. It will be a place to talk, meet, share, collaborate, grow, and innovate. It will also be affordable to those who only want a desk and shared meeting space rather than the overhead and hassle of a full office. Best of all it will be a real Place that provides the connection to Old Town Winchester and other creatives and professionals who share common interests.

Dogs and Sense of Place

2009-01-13T06:00:00.012-05:00

Dogs are one of the best ways to create Place. Our two dogs, Jack, a tall, stately Weimaraner, and Sammy, a short, fat dachhund, make up our definition of Home and make us feel connected to our neighborhoods.

Every morning Sam erupts from under the covers to lick our faces and Jack pads up the stairs to lay his flat head on the bed, sigh deeply, and bid us feed him breakfast. Instead of arising jangle-nerved to an alarm clock, we're summoned awake with licks and laughter and gentle requests. After breakfast, no matter how raw or hot the weather we take Jack and Sam for a walk into the neighborhood. We've come to know all the streets, the lay of the land, the comings and goings and names of our neighbors, and the intricacies of weather and trees because of these walks. Our neighbors wave and smile as we parade down the street, Sammy only coming up to Jack's ankles. Then on most days we take the dogs to work with us. The clients love them, smiling unexpectedly when Jack or Sam greets them at the door. Most of our employees love them too, stopping by my office to scratch their backs or rub their stomachs, breaking up the monotony of the day. They're our ambassadors, our stress relievers and many clients have even called them our "best marketing tool."

Many people I've spoken to decide against having pets because they're "too dirty," take "too much time" or are otherwise a hassle. Some have told me that they can't bear the pain of losing another beloved pet; it just hurts too much. In my mind, the pain and inconvenience of welcoming dogs into our homes and workplaces is overshadowed by the strong sense of connection they create to the people and places around us.

Home: Always a Work in Progress

2009-01-08T06:00:00.008-05:00

"Perhaps Home is not one of those things that can ever be finished, just like one can never finish caring for a dog, a garden, a business, or a relationship. Home -- no matter how large or small, expensive or modest, urban or rural -- takes constant care and attention and creativity and when these are diverted elsewhere, the soul leaves the place, and the place ceases to be animated, ceases to be a manifestation of what we love, and often ceases to be Home altogether. But that can probably be said about anything that really matters."

Marilyn Finnemore
Creating Home: A Meditation on Blackberry Wood
(click on badge in right-hand column for a preview)

Loudoun Nostalgia: Crooked Run

2009-01-06T06:00:00.015-05:00

There's an old farm in Purcellville, VA called Crooked Run Orchard. It was around long before the Gourmet Giant came in, long before Route 7 was turned into a four lane, long before Loudoun County became one of the fastest growing places in the nation. Like many Purcellville residents, we go to the farm for apples and pumpkins, lavender and paw-paws, zucchini squash and fresh eggs. It's a place that reminds me of things I've forgotten and Purcellville wouldn't be the same without it.

There's been talk for years now of putting a bypass (The Southern Collector Road) through the farm to ease the traffic on Main Street. Of course there's been opposition from those who support local agriculture, those against development, and from the farmer himself who wishes to work the family farm until the day he dies. But every year the road seems to come closer to reality as the traffic gets worse and more suburbanites move in, and like most things that stand in the way of "progress," the farm appears to have no place in today's world. Mark Dewey, columnist for The Blue Ridge Leader managed to put into words the primary reason I feel so sad to think of the bypass going through, though it's a reason that is rarely talked about because it seems soft and sentimental:

"My reason for wanting Crooked Run to survive seems paltry compared to the larger concerns like controlling development, preserving local agriculture, and honoring the wishes of property owners. My reason is nostalgia. Fifteen years ago I picked apples with my children there, on an afternoon in October, when I was struggling against a life I finally had to leave. But that day there was no struggle. That day I saw the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance for the first time, a sight that lingered for weeks. That day my daughter rode on my shoulders and my son ran through the trees, and we ate apples and drank cider and rolled in the grass and played with a dog, who appeared just when we thought the place could not get any better . . . I remember how we were whenever I see Crooked Run."

Places -- real places like Crooked Run -- create these feelings of nostalgia, and though it may not be reason enough to preserve them, it may be as valid a reason as any, and certainly worth articulating and pondering. For more on Crooked Run and the fight to preserve the farm: http://www.vimeo.com/6131047

Effort & Magnanimity of Spirit

2009-01-05T07:43:00.003-05:00

In reading this blog, Harlan Finnemore identified an underlying theme, and his eloquent comment is worth highlighting because it helps distill other aspects of Place and our individual role in creating it:

"Our sense of place is directly proportional to the effort we as individuals exert to that end. Good examples of that are your recent quotes by John Ruskin and Eli Wiesel. I thought of this as I looked at the photo of the trim painting of the Union Jack Pub, which exhibited a love and pride in one's work. Show me a person who hates their job, feels lost in their community, or does not feel a part of their world, and I will show you one who is directing their thoughts and energy inward. [Whereas] a person who diligently directs their energies to helping others, improving their own lives, and doing a good job at whatever they set their mind, are creating PLACE. The place they create is directly proportional to the energy, direction and effort they devote. It is proportional to their magnanimity of spirit, their love for doing not just for themselves, but for the world at large.

It may be reaching, but our war of independence would not have been possible without a generous quantity of this spirit. Common cause between the colonies, volunteerism as evinced by fire departments, libraries, and self help societies (espoused by Franklin) as well as the postal service (also Franklin), societies like the Masons and others. The accepted thinking of the time held that those most fortunate had a moral obligation not just to themselves, but to benefit society at large."

Reverence

2008-12-17T01:34:00.000-05:00

When men do not love their hearth,
nor reverence their thresholds,
it is a sign that they have dishonoured both ...
Our God is a house-hold God, as well as a heavenly one;
He has an altar in every man's dwelling.
John Ruskin (1819-1900)
The Seven Lamps of Architecture, 1908

Union Jack Pub

2008-12-10T07:00:00.004-05:00

My friend Richard Oram has dreamed forever about opening an authentic British Pub, and this year, despite the bad economy and gloomy business forecasts, he made his dream a reality. The Union Jack Pub will open this month in the heart of Old Town Winchester, Va.

We all can't wait to go, because all of us know that Richie will have created a Place that's authentic, beautiful, and warm; a place where we can drink good British brews, eat fish and chips, and play skittles; a place where we really want to be. -- http://www.wincfood.com/

He spent the last year restoring the Victorian Cast Iron Union Bank Building to its 1878 glory. He stripped out the horrible drywall and drop panels that had found their way in over the years and brought back the 20' ceilings and grand windows overlooking the Old Courthouse. He painted the interior warm shades of red, gold, and sea-foam with deep black trim, and put in a 50' bar with 40 European beers on tap. Upstairs in the "British Invasion" room he put in a sound stage, dart boards and skittle lanes so people will gather.

I feel certain that with the care and attention that Richie has put into this Place the crowds will come despite the economy. Besides, Richie reminds me, "People drink more beer the worse the economy gets:-)" All I know is that the thought of Cream Tea and fresh-baked scones is appealing right now, and I feel certain that this Place will help draw energy into Old Town.