That's the slogan of the National Building Museum. They're a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and exploring our built environment from the viewpoints of construction, urban planning, design, architecture, and engineering.
What a beautiful day for a walk. What a bonus that I wandered aross this bit of history lingering on the north face of a building on the 1900 block of Bissell in Lincoln Park. (It's now a single family home, but must have once been a storefront.)If you click on the photo, it becomes a bit larger. The "Eventually" is written on a diagonal across the top left, and in smaller letters on the bottom right is the "Why Not Now?"During (1907), Washburn, Crosby launched its long-running advertising slogan, "Eventually-Why Not Now?" B.S. Bull, the company's advertising manager, is credited with the creation of the slogan. As the story goes, he was editing a wordy text about the superior quality of Gold Medal Flour and found, that when he was finished he had edited out all the words except 4: “Eventually." He then added, "Why Not Now?"
Having had this brilliant idea, he was struck with self-doubt and tossed the paper into the wastebasket. It was said to have been found by a young member of the firm, James Ford Bell, who later became the first president of General Mills, Inc. (The slogan was used on billboards, company trucks, train cars, flour bags and in the company's printed advertisements, appearing as late as the early 1950's. . . . "
"You won't allow someone to add a dormer to their cottage, but you're going to allow a skyscraper on top of the New York Life Building?" asks Jonathan Fine, president of Preservation Chicago, which included the structure on its 2002 list of "Chicago's Seven Most Threatened Buildings."
From the quiet beginnings with a snare drum, the relentlessly recurring theme moved in a slow, continuous crescendo from section to section, to the strings, to the woodwinds, each having their own solo turn to shine, before climaxing in blaring brass and full tutti that collapses into a brief, precipitous coda like a lover after climax. The audience leapt to their feet in one of those rare, unforced standing ovations that comes from the giddy delight only great music-making can provide.If you read the entire article, you'll see why I so appreciate his expertise and his service to a better built environment. He makes the leap for the reader from the structures to their relevance in our everyday lives. He recognizes that architecture can be transcendent when it makes the leap . Becker gets it. Chicago deserves that.
We live in the rabid stages of a market economy that seeks to bring every activity to its cheapest, most "efficient", lowest common denominator, whether it be Walmart driving out all local competition and the variety it provided, or Federated destroying the department store as a local institution as it rushes to smear every last one with the Macy's name. To hear the CSO firing on all cylinders is a bracing reminder just what this chronic leveling robs us of.
It is hard to believe that the Chicago Humanities Festival chose "Home & Away" as their theme long before Katrina hit. The timing is uncanny. It's almost as if the universe knew we would need to be talking about this kind of stuff right about now.
I started to post yesterday about the overall situation with the evacuees -- thousands of us out on the road and looking for a place to land. An entire culture on the move. In one place on this forum, I saw us compared to those waiting in Casablanca for the plane to Lisbon. That's as apt as any, since there's an element in us that's not going to be happy until we get out of where we are and back where we belong. Where we are is safe -- and that's exactly what's wrong with it.
Ships are safe in the harbor, but that's not what ships are made for. New Orleans is, as much as New York and a few other cities, a combination of the terrible, the unique and the sublime. Often all in the same room and sharing the same table.
I wangled media credentials for trip over the Crescent City Connection early this morning. We drove past the badly-looted Wal-Mart on Tchoup (carts and racks are scattered for blocks). The place is now a military staging area.
We went down Tchoup, right on Second, left on Constance and left on Third before we parked near Parasols (which lost its awnings, but that's about it). Lots of downed trees and power lines, but brick buildings appeared to have more damage than wooded ones (note to Laura -- your house appears untouched). We lost only one small upstairs window, which I covered with a plastic trash bag.
Down Third, right on Annunciation, then right on Fourth because we were blocked by a crushed truck. I was taking a picture when I hear men talking to Kim nearby. I turn around and see her with three National Guardmen, heavy weapons drawn. Turns out they were chasing a looter who had vanished between houses.
Up to St. Charles, right to Jackson, then back to Tchoup and out the way we came. Took 90 to Houma, Morgan City, then up to Lafayette and finally here.
Weird thing last night wasgoing through the I-10/I-12/I-59 interchange in Slidell. It's usually lit like Vegas on Christmas, but now it's this inky, velvet black except for the headlights. Iffy power until you get to about Covington.
Lots of emotion today. I'm still processing. More later after I catch up.
Area Man Drives Water There His Goddamned Self
We spent a lot of the weekend packing up grocery bags of supplies for Katrina victims. My alderman had sent out a list and notified us of two trucks leaving from Reebie Storage on Clark Street.
My son cleaned up a Power Rangers scooter he had outgrown. He sprayed it with the orange cleaner we use on the kitchen counters and wiped it dry with paper towels. He rode with us to the moving company. Then, he hoisted it to the truck loading bay and watched the Reebie folks move it to a pile with the bedding and canned goods and bottled water.
"When will the trucks get there?" he asked.
I predicted this morning. Was I right? Did it make a difference? Whose little boy is riding the scooter now? Many blessings to them all.
(The header above is borrowed from The Onion's Katrina headlines.)
The Best of New Orleans' Great Space
Here is a summary of the "Great Public Places" in New Orleans via the Project for Public Spaces. I found myself wanting to know more about what might have been lost or saved in NOLA. Thought you might wonder the same.
Artillery Park A combination urban scenic overlook, river overlook and informal
amphitheatre for street performances.
USA
City Park A large city park with activities ranging from weddings to paddle boats to an art museum.
Crescent City Farmers Market A gentle farmers' market made distinctive by its location: the walls of the parking lot are covered in beautiful full-scale murals of rural farming scenes.
French Market New Orleans once had markets in nearly every neighborhood; this place, with the longest and most colorful history, is the last in operation.
French Quarter
Colonial Spanish architecture, great New Orleans food and jazz, plus the highest
concentration of colorful characters in the whole USA.
Jackson Square This lively and heavily trafficked park in the French Quarter is a popular site for artists, street performers and musicians who entertain tourists and locals.
Latrobe Park A small park with ample seating and lush planting.
Lower Garden District Neighborhood with an extensive collection of 19th-century residential and commercial buildings, many pre-dating the Civil War.
Pirates Alley A pedestrian walkway between historic buildings, The Saint Louis Cathedral and the Cabildo.
St. Charles Avenue Streetcar Line Historic avenue, greenway and transportation corridor
Vietnamese Farmers' Market At 5am each Saturday, over 20 vendors set up shop in a dilapidated shopping square, spreading out produce on blankets; live ducks, rabbits and chickens wail to a background chanting of Asian pop music.
