Artist’s Way2: Week 6

“Guap”

Week 6 reading was largely about finding that sweet, beautiful intersection of doing what you love and making money.  Interestingly enough,  my manicure for that week (which I did for myself before I did that week’s reading) was money-green and I called it “Guap.”

Had some FABULOUS morning pages. Like, seriously fabulous. I got out some good ideas and uncovered  really interesting underlying reasons/motivations for things that have been brewing in my head as of late. One practical thing that came from the Week 6 tasks was writing down documenting every single penny I spent during the week. That’s basic budgeting stuff really, but I live in a neighborhood that has a number of cash-only establishments/services and so even though my bank statement will tell me very clearly how much I took out of an ATM, I don’t really know what I spent my money on precisely unless I make a point to keep track of those cash transactions. So, I appreciated that exercise and I’m going to continue that for at least 30 days to see where my money actually goes on a monthly basis.

Another very cool task for the week was sending postcards to five people. I have tons of pretty stationary, so   I opted for handwritten notecards over postcards. I’ll be mailing them out in the morning, so technically I didn’t execute that particular task until the following week, but the intention and spirit were there.

About to dig into Week 7 reading right now. Looking forward to it!

 

 

Book Review: ‘Detroit City is the Place to Be’ by Mark Binelli

Detroit City is the Place to Be: The Afterlife of an American Metropolis by Mark Binelli is a good read.  What I appreciate most about the book is that it is a random-ish collection of “stuff” about Detroit and the surrounding areas (past and present) that is not a woe-is-me/ruin porn take on the city nor is it an overly sappy cheerleadery book.

Binelli was born into a family of entrepreneurial Italian immigrants in metro Detroit and moved to Detroit proper as an adult. “His” Detroit of his childhood (his dad owned a business in Detroit) and his subsequent observations as an adult Detroiter are of course a bit different than “my” Detroit as a black woman born and raised on Detroit’s west side, but that’s not at all an issue. It’s eye-opening to see things from his perspective and much of the book is from a journalistic approach anyway. Binelli is generous with the footnotes and I like that. I’ll also be adding a number of the books in the bibliography to my “want to read” list on GoodReads. 

There are some laugh out loud moments as Binelli describes some of Detroit’s more colorful characters and when he explains long forgotten pieces of Detroit trivia. There are many sobering passages as well in the form of stark statistics and first hand accounts of almost unimaginable suffering, governmental ineptitude and lowered expectations. The parts about Highland Park are downright depressing.

I’m a bit ashamed to say that outside of family stories and my numerous trips to the Detroit Historical Museum, I have not been vigilant about researching Detroit history. So of course I was loving all of the random bits of D-town history provided in this book. For example (and again, I am copping to my own outrageous level of ignorance here),  I didn’t know that  prior to James Couzens winning Detroit’s mayoral election in 1919, he had been Henry Ford’s  longtime financial manager. Couzens was worth over $30 million by the time he took office. Detroit’s population had more than doubled not long before the Couzens administration and the booming auto industry’s workers made enough money to buy the products they made (Happy Marxists?) and obviously Ford was on easy street in the lobbying department, so that spidery web of expressways found early friends.  Don’t you find this fascinating? I find this fascinating.

Here’s another little gem included in Detroit City that is from a 1934 New York Times article:

In a way Detroit is the birthplace of this civilization. It is as truly a world capital as any city on earth, more fascinating to the outlander than New York, more influential than Washington, or even Hollywood. Paris dictates a season’s silhouette, but Detroit manufactures a pattern of life. As a capital of revolution, it is far brisker  and bolder than Moscow in transforming human habits and communizing the output of the machine.

What a great quote about my hometown. It’s amazing to read such a sentiment about Detroit, in the New York Times no less, considering Detroit’s current state of financial and physical ruin.

Generally speaking, I enjoy Binelli’s storytelling style. He provides a good amount of quantitative and qualitative information without force feeding it to the reader without a particular agenda. You get the impression that he had some experiences, did some research and just has a bunch of data that he’s providing to the readers to do with what they will.

It’s not flawless of course, but the parts that I consider to be “flaws” are so minor. For example, Binelli talks about that Sammy Davis Jr. song “Hello Detroit.” (Which I have always HATED by the way. WJLB used to play it at 6 am every morning and I would set my alarm to 6:05 to avoid it.) In the footnotes Binelli says “At no point, in say, ‘I Love Paris’ did Cole Porter feel as if he had to plead for divine intervention on the city’s behalf whereas one of the couplets of ‘Hello Detroit’ rhymes ‘I will always be there for you’ with ‘I will say a little prayer for you.’”

I think  Binelli missed the fact that “Say a Little Prayer”  is a popular song by Detroiter Aretha Franklin. The line was not so much a “pray for US!!” line as it was a nod to Detroit’s rich cultural and musical depth.  But like I said, Detroit City is a very enjoyable read and I recommend it to native Detroiters and non-Detroiters alike.

 

Artist’s Way2: Week 5

 

Honestly, I can’t write much about Week 5 because it’s way, Way, WAY too personal. Let’s just say that Week 5 was a very transformative week mmmkay? Dat about all I can say.

 

Artist’s Way2: Week 4

 

 

POW! That’s what Week 4′s reading was like for me. In my opinion, the Morning Pages are thee most important part of the Artist’s Way process and this week’s reading had some straight truth about them in there. Here’s a quote from the book:

Over any consierable period of time, the morning pages perform spiritual chiropractic. They realign our values. If we are to the left or the right of our personal truth, the pages will point out the need for a course adjustment.

True. I’ve been doing Morning Pages for a few years now, but it still amazes me that they are so powerful. I mean stuff that I didn’t even realize was swirling around my head comes right out on those pages. New ideas about how to tackle a particular issue appear out of thin air. I find myself uncovering layers of emotions about particular relationships. It’s good stuff, man. It can be a painful process at times, but it is ultimately a good thing for sure.

I try not to say too much about the specifics and focus on my feelings about things as I document this process because I want you to do the Artist’s Way process yourself, but I do want to point out certain things along the way.

This may sound really lame, but my Artist Date was to Staples. Organizational things get me excited and I needed (“needed”) a new label maker. Fun! Fun! Fun!

 

 

Don’t Ask Questions, Just Watch This

 

You’re welcome.

 

Artist’s Way2: Week 3

The awesome bracelet I bought that’s made from old typewriter keys.

Week 3 was kinda tough for me.  Some weeks I struggle with doing all of the morning pages and/or digging into the reading as opposed to zipping through it. This was one of those weeks. However, I still got a lot from it. As with anything, you can’t half-ass your way through this process and expect amazing results, so about midway through Week 3, I had to check myself and get back into this for real.

For me, that was the main “thing” from Week 3: getting my ish together. One particular quote from this week’s reading stood out from me. It’s from Goethe. He said “Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.”  Slow clap for that one.  Well said.

My Artist Date ended up  being a trip to the Green Festival at the Jacob Javits Center here in New York. The event featured tons of vendors offering eco-friendly products. There was everything from body butters to paper made from elephant poo to vegan desserts.

I picked up a couple things, but my favorite was a bracelet made out of old typewriter keys. Very fitting for a writer, no? It was great to be surrounded by all those out-of-the-box thinkers. The place was full of creative and entrepreneurial energy. Another awesome week in the Artist’s Way process.

 

Forest City Ratner CEO Gushes about Affordable Housing

Rendering of B2 by SHoP Architects

Forest City Ratner president and CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin recently told a roomful of real estate honchos that although the arena was/is a big part of the Atlantic Yards project, it’s really the affordable housing that will “truly revolutionize the project.”  The New York Observer reports that Gilmartin went on to heap praise on Jane Jacobs and noted that she just moved from Westchester to a $3.85 million brownstone in Brooklyn.  (By the way, her new brownstone is full of classical fabulousness.)

That’s an interesting statement from Gilmartin, considering that critics pounded the Atlantic Yards project because of the delays, delays and more delays of the affordable housing component. Late last year, groundbreaking finally happened for the first affordable tower of the project. Known as B2, once its 32 floors are completed, it will be the world’s tallest modular building. Yay pre-fab?

Anyway, Gilmartin loves Jane Jacobs and is all about revolutionizing via affordable housing, so we’ll keep an eye on the affordable housing aspect of Atlantic Yards and see if the pre-fab revolution happens.

• MaryAnne Gilmartin Boasts about Building Affordable Housing, Moving to Brooklyn [NYO]
• What’s the Deal with Atlantic Yards’ Modular Construction? [Curbed]

 

Live Like a Vanderbilt for just $23 Million

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The south duplex penthouse at the über chic 10 Gracie Square is up for grabs and the Upper Eastside beauty can be yours for the low low price of $23 million. What do you get for the price? Besides the caché of living next door to Gloria Vanderbilt’s old digs and having ridic East River views, you also get 12 rooms which includes five bedrooms, five bathrooms and a library. The new owner woud also have not one, but two balconies, a private elevator and four fireplaces. Monthly maintenance runs a little over $16,000, but if you can shell out $23 million, that’s probably not an issue. The penthouse has only been on the market for a couple days and units at 10 Gracie Square don’t turn up often. The last sale in 2011 and that was a 2-bedroom for $3.5 million. So we’ll see how long this place stays available.

• $23 Million to Live Next to Gloria Vanderbilt’s Old Penthouse [NYO]
• Listing: 10 Gracie Square [Brown Harris Stevens]

 

The High Line Upside Down: Parks Under Overpasses

[Image via Design Trust for Public Space]

The folks behind the ever-popular High Line are now interested in creating park space underneath elevated structures such as expressways and above-ground train tracks. The project’s very practical title is “Under the Elevated. ” Thanks to a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts–the Design Trust for  Public Space and the Department of Transportation will explore ways to turn the 100 million square feet of grim, shadowy, hella scary space underneath NYC’s elevated structures into functional, community-friendly destinations.  The press release name checks the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the 1 train in Harlem as places that this project would help.  Ultimately the purpose of “Under the Elevated” is to create design and policy guidelines that will help shape future development of the target areas.

If you’re interested (and qualified), there are a few “Under the Elevated” fellowships available. Applications are due May 23, 2013. Check out the deets from the official announcement.

• Under the Elevated [official]

 

Artist’s Way2: Week 2

I did the Artist’s Way process all the way through a few years ago and the beauty of that is I don’t really remember what I read. I recall the overall ideas, but not each little nugget of wisdom, so redoing the process now is pretty awesome. The first go-round I remember feeling like Julia Cameron was so on the money with the weekly topics and her predictions about where I was as a reader. This time is no different.

Week 2 is about recovering a sense of identity and I was completely enthralled with Cameron’s words. On the first page of the second chapter, she said “It is important to remember that at first flush, going sane feels just like going crazy.” Say that again, lady! That’s so real. As I re-align my boundaries and re-prioritize things in my life, it feels weird.

And Cameron went all the way in on people she calls Crazymakers. I don’t have a Crazymaker in my life right now, but I sure did in the not so distant past and Cameron’s description is spot on. This person always has an “emergency” of some sort that requires your full attention right when you need to be focused on something important. The Crazymaker is often a blocked creative him or herself and will be none too pleased as you become unblocked. You might find that the Crazymaker calls you selfish or says that you’ve changed. My Crazymaker did ALL of that. That person recently tried to wiggle back into my life too, so reading this now is right on time as a reminder to keep that door closed. No Crazymakers allowed.

My Artist Date this week was to a dollar store! I gave myself a $10 budget to get supplies for a practical and cute project I’m working on for my place. I was way under budget and got the two main components for my project. I’m a happy camper.