30 September 2002
Why bother buying land for new downtown parks? Seattle’s CityDesign office has proposed a new “green streets” strategy for downtown that could fill 40% of downtown — the public streets — with usable public space.

26 September 2002
Aside from Caltrans’ heroically-scaled, seismically immune freeway-pillar monoliths (which have always seemed more totemic than those elsewhere), Chicago seems big and blocky compared to San Francisco. The wood ornamentation on the buildings certainly seems to hold up better than the masonry, although the arid air probably helps.

18 September 2002
Millennial eschatology is back! “Left Behind,” America’s latest print sensation, is the same old LaHaye Reads Revelation stuff that energized the Religious Right ten years ago. But what of the politics now?

15 September 2002
Surprise, surprise: Bush’s head in the sand approach to climate continues, while flashiness subsides as luxury retailers face a somber economic mood.

11 September 2002
Forget dollars, euros, even Flooz. The new wireless online currency of choice is tasty, fragrant, and organic: garlic.

9 September 2002
Imagine a world (LA, no less!) with no cars [mov]. Peaceful, friendly, unpolluted, calm, uncongested – even spacious. Brought to you, of course, by a car company, to sell you cars.

7 September 2002
True Wisconsin-style cheese curds, custard, and ButterBurgers (just in case the usual cheeseburger didn’t have enough saturated fat) are finally available south of the Wisconsin state line!

5 September 2002
“The time has come for these shoppers to leave the malls and take to the streets.” Arianna Huffington

1 September 2002
A text version of my University of Chicago campus walking tour [rtf] is now available. We will make an HTML version with photos available in October.

28 August 2002
You like pie? How about America’s indifference to climate change? (comic from 15 August Le Monde)

26 August 2002
One writer on procrastination: “I will accept that I am neither smart enough nor talented enough to put all the light and movement and beauty I had hoped for onto paper, and so I will have to settle for what I am capable of pulling off.”

25 August 2002
Government that works, Cicero-style: “So what if she took the money?” Jim said. “The town’s never looked better.”