A Moon Over Berkeley

A Moon Over Berkeley [We Became Art for a Moment] There is no need to seek her For she is the Moon Her stunning face hangs over me Never lets a night go without The ache of her beauty Do you see the small star by her? Her shadow is cast over the city Like [...]

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This Is How Violins Are Made

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Wabi Sabi, Dwellings for Imaginary Civilizations, Nightverses

Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional. From Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers Charles Simonds began building clay villages, ruins and what he termed ” dwellings for imaginary civilizations of little people” in the [...]

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What a Difference a Year Makes {Escape Velocity}

Escape Velocity I wake up in San Francisco. I attained Escape velocity From you and your gravity Your slate roofs ( to my terracotta tiles). The bee drinks from the flowers in the fields Liberally There is only So much happiness in one day. I lost words They slipped by and became dreams And in dreaming, perfect [...]

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Confession of a Lurker | Entry for ONE LIFE International Photography Competition

I decided to participate ( characteristically last-minute) to ONE LIFE, an international photography competition, in the ‘City Imagery’ category. Click here (or on the image above) to see the entry at a higher resolution and, if you like what you see, vote and share my photograph. The prize is $10,000 or a trip around the world. [...]

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Quotes from Jeremy Till’s ‘Architecture Depends’

  On April 08, 2011 I attended Till’s  provocative  lecture on his new book ‘Architecture Depends’. Here is a review from The Architects’ Journal (UK). Here are some quotes from that day, from my notes, which i hope to be as faithful as possible: The book was initially titled ‘Architecture and Contingencies’. The publisher made [...]

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It’s April: New Shoes for Everyone

History of Coffee   Ethiopian sheperds discovered coffee when they realized their goats began to dance.   Michelle Ramadan From Coffee Poetry          

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New Cashmere Scarf

Ink and Watercolor on paper. September 30,2010.

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The Subject Tonight is Love

A Time for Everything There is an appointed time for everything.  And there is a time for every event under heaven ~ 2 A time to give birth, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted. 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; [...]

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Book Love @ City Lights [For you, Professor]

   All the following images have been taken at City Lights Booktore in North Beach (Little Italy) , San Francisco, on June 29, 2010. I dedicate this post to my dear English and Literature Professor at NDSU, Steve Ward. Long live The Beats.

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Architecture as Poetry (a book wishlist)

I always used to say to my students ‘Architecture is constructed politics’, but lately, after (re) reading Le Corb’s Vers Une Architecture, I have been known to spur on my students with my rallying whispher of  ‘Architecture is built poetry’.  As in Le Corbusier’s assertion that the plan is an expression of the spirit, as [...]

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Motorcycle Diaries,Lawrence of Arabia, and Dreams

” I have to more or less trip over work before i touch it” John Wesley (thankyou Karen for giving me The Times Magazine every month, full of literary/art pearls-see pg.147) It has been a rainy, blustery weekend–albeit mentally invigorating. I noticed my posts come after some sort of revelation, or rumination, or happenstance. It [...]

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[CED] Library Love or in Defense of Libraries (and books…on paper)-Part Deux

    My absolutely favorite part of Wurster Hall building is the CED library- which is so up to date it has its own facebook and twitter page. In it, we find large, custom-designed tables with great lighting and comfortable wooden chairs. Plenty of room to spread out and a wonderful atmosphere for working and [...]

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[CED] Library Love or in Defense of Libraries (and books…on paper)-Part I

This post started (two weeks ago)  as a celebration of my favorite library, the CED library in Berkeley. I was just going to show you the sketch of Mies’ Barcelona chairs and tell you how much I liked there– and how conducive the environment is to getting things done and eating your frog, and call [...]

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Berkeley Diaries 3

Looking For Your Face From the beginning of my life I have been looking for your face but today I have seen it. Today I have seen the charm, the beauty, the unfathomable grace of the face that I was looking for. Today I have found you and those that laughed and scorned me yesterday [...]

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Berkeley Diaries 2

These orchids smelled like bakhoor . I had to get them down in my sketchbook before they wilted away. Caffe’ Strada in Berkeley has- in my humble opinion- the best cappuccino this side of Firenze. The foam (crema, really) is so thick it actually lifts up from the glass Strada baristas serve their famous cappuccino [...]

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Berkeley Diaries I

The respite from teaching means more time to dedicate to looking around and showing up daily to my sketchbook.  I have been experimenting with watercolor, a medium that I am enjoying more and more since my Rendering and Delineation class, and the coffee paintings. I have been visiting Ghadah’s website daily and leaving what probably [...]

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