The Lay of the Land TENTATIVE calendar

At long last, here's an overview of what we'll be up to during the next few weeks. In part, I've been slow to deliver this framework, as so much new information came out of the charrette that will likely influence the trajectory of our projects over the next year. Also, please be aware that as cluster opportunities (for collaborative work) arise, I'll be editing this posting, revising locations and dates as needed; this is just a guideline.

Reading assignment for Mon, 10/15: Anne Lamont, “Bird by Bird” , also purchase Invisible Cities (see prior post for info): we will be utilizing this as our primary text for the next few weeks, followed by a course reader for the last few weeks of the course.

Writing assignment (post on blog) due Fri, 10/12: “Maps”/Kerry Hall sound/music map-- listing spaces, the music they conjure, and brief descriptions of how the spaces & sounds go together. Please consider this as a draft, a document we will build and change throughout the next couple of weeks.

Fri, 10/12: Cluster meeting in MCC 303, viewing Streetwise

Week 7
Reading assignment: Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

M 10/15
Schedule Mid-term conferences, to take place during Week 8
Discussion on Lamont (above), In-class reading/writing on “In Praise of the Humble Comma”, Course evaluation for mid-term discussion during the next week, schedule reading timeline for Calvino, also reading Lars Eighner "On Dumpster Diving"

W 10/17
Class to meet at Cornish Library MCC
Library orientation,

F 10/19
Class to meet at MCC
Fieldwork: Bus tunnel & two parks (Westlake and greenspace adjacent to Taschiro Kaplan)—interview, photograph, physical descriptions of spaces, personal experiences (develop into 2+ page exploration-- more to follow).
Alumni visit to be arranged?

Week 8
Reading assignment: Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities (continued)

Kerry Hall/Capitol Hill focus. Building off of the sound exploration of Kerry Hall (and responding to Invisible Cities), we will be making multiple excursions (physically as well as written) into the building, examining scents, lighting, cinema, etc.

M 10/22
Discussion on Mid-term check-in forms (Charette, readings, course format)

Writing project: As we will not be meeting as a class on either Wednesday or Friday, you will be working independently on a writing piece that will be due next Monday, October 29th. Using the draft that you wrote for the blog (on the sounds triggered by specific areas of Kerry Hall) as a point of departure, you will be developing that work into a fuller piece. Your writing should include the research/music/spaces you've already addressed, but should expand on those in some way. For example, you may be inclined to add locations and music, mapping a route you take through the building and the sounds you hear along the way. Or perhaps you may choose to move outside the building (I wouldn't blame you at all, the weather has been really nice lately), using the first places you visited/wrote about/picked music for as starting points-- where do they lead you in the city? How far can your route go and how does the music/sounds of the city follow along? In writing this piece (and I'm not going to suggest an appropriate length that it has to be, but rather ask that you consider it as a work that you will develop over the course of a week), consider both how the physical route you take is mapped as well as how the sounds/music are related to that route and to one another. Could your writing be similar to liner notes for a cd? Or more precisely, perhaps a soundtrack for the city?

W 10/24
Mid-term conferences SEE SCHEDULE, Writing projects, as above.

F 10/26
Mid-term conferences SEE SCHEDULE, Writing projects, as above.

Week 9

M 10/29
Discussion on Invisible Cities,
Writing project due (see above)

W 10/31
View film with Kim's class: 'The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces" is available from the Cornish library on DVD. For those REALLY interested, there is an accompanying text.

Fri 11/2
Field work: Cal Anderson Park, Tashkent Park-- write response/description/reaction, due Monday 11/5
Reading (in-class) Francis Ponge, "On Water"

Mon 11/5
Writings due.
Continue discussion on Invisible Cities (sections 1-4). Discuss parks from last class. In-class writing on "Invisible Cities": From memory, describe one of the cities Marco Polo discusses with Khan, and compare to a city you know.

Wed 11/7
Parks (continued): Meet at MCC, tour Cascade P-Patch and REI greenspaces

Fri 11/9
Class meeting at Federal Courthouse 2pm. Please remember -- no cameras, food, or drink. Also, you must present a picture I.D. (valid driver's license, state-issued identification, or passport)

Week 11:
PURCHASE COURSE READER FROM PERFECT COPY, BRING TO CLASS WED, 11/14. For Wednesday's class, please read excerpts (the first two articles) from Alain de Botton. Specifics are provided in a more recent post

Mon 11/12 NO CLASS, VETERAN'S DAY

Wed 11/14
Writings due, discuss Federal Courthouse, REI, CPC
Reading assignment (for Friday):
Pierce Lewis, "The Monument and the Bungalow", J.B. Jackson, from A Sense of Place, A Sense of Time, web-based research: Center for Land Use Interpretation, Seattle Parks & Recreation, REI, History Link, others.

Fri 11/16
Field work: Volunteer Park. For this trip, I'd like to try a different format: instead of me leading/framing the experience, I'd like YOU to design what we should be taking from this experience, and examining aspects of the park that interest you, and maybe all of us.

What I'm proposing is this:
We meet at Kerry Hall, and depart (as a group) from there. You (and from here on out, I'll be referring to a collective "you") decide how we get to the park-- bus? walking? carpool?
Bring enough money for bus fare, museum entrance, other costs?

Once we arrive there, my suggestion is we sculpt a scavenger hunt, of sorts, with everyone contributing some places we should see while we're there. In part, this is to frame some of the ways I'd like us to move through the city next semester, but it also reflects the breadth of experiences available at Volunteer Park. Haven't been to Volunteer Park before? An introduction is here.

Week 12:
Mon 11/19
Shared class with Kim Mackay's group-- my class shares drafts of their writings on Volunteer Park with Kim's class, who act as mentors to my group-- providing analysis and feedback on the writing. The suggestions from Kim's class will be utilized in the next version, due Monday 11/26. For this version (keeping in mind that we will continue to work with this paper), please also consider the writings from the Course Reader II, and look for ways to synthesize your views with the views of Pierce Lewis, J.B. Jackson, Nicholson Baker, and Alain de Botton. For example, how does your view of the urban park differ from Jackson's?

Wed 11/21 NO CLASS, THANKSGIVING

Fri 11/23 NO CLASS, THANKSGIVING

Week 13:
Mon, 11/26
DUE Draft #2/Synthesis paper on Volunteer Park/Course Reader II (parks). This writing should include your responses to writings by Alain de Botton, J.B. Jackson, and Peirce Lewis, all located in the course reader. Additionally, it may also discuss the film we viewed, and the Ponge poems we discussed.

Discussion and analysis of Synthesis paper (from Kim's class) IN-CLASS. Discuss peer feedback from last week.

Reading assignment in the Course Reader II: Nicholson Baker (excerpts from The Mezzanine) and Louise Mozingo, "Campus, Estate, Park: Lawn Culture Comes to the Corporation".

Wed, 11/28
Discuss final portfolio design (see recent post, handout in class), in-class writing samples.

Fri, 11/30
Class meeting at MCC: Office field work, 4th & Cherry.

And this is real ambitious, but Offices: 4th & Cherry, City Hall, MCC, others Libraries: SPL, Capitol Hill Branch, Braille Library, others Community-based initiatives (see Department of Neighborhoods), schedule final conferences

Week 14:
Mon, 12/3
DUE Writing on offices: Describe an office you've been to, synthesizing your memories with our experiences in the Columbia Tower and the writings on office spaces/culture from the Course Reader.
Reading assignment for Wednesday, "Generica" (course reader) , "Post-It City" (handout)

Wed 12/5
Portfolio workshop-- bring everything you've written to date, to be organized/assembled
Reading assignment for Friday,
Fri 12/7 To Be confirmed
class meets at MCC
Seattle Central Library, overview, introduction

Week 15:
Mon, 12/10
FINAL CONFERENCES, GROUP 1 (WE'LL CHOOSE IN CLASS)
PORTFOLIOS DUE, with self-reflective writing introduction
Course evaluation, discussion, overview of Proposed Land Use Action, proposals for Spring 08 projects, Post-portfolio writing project, begin conferences

Wed, 12/12
FINAL CONFERENCES, GROUP 1 (WE'LL CHOOSE IN CLASS)
PORTFOLIOS DUE, with self-reflective writing introduction
Course evaluation, discussion, overview of Proposed Land Use Action, proposals for Spring 08 projects, Post-portfolio writing project, begin conferences

Fri, 12/14 cluster meeting, view "The Cruise"