SAH Chicago Dual Subject Tour at U of I - Chicago

The Society of Architectural Historians – Chicago Chapter invites you to join us for a tour and reception on Saturday, September 29th, 2007.

Dual Subjects: Netsch Design for the U of I at Chicago

& The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition Collection at Henry Hall

Hosted by David Sokol and Keith Bringe

The tour kicks off from Henry Hall (click here for printable map), 935 West Harrison \

at 1:00 pm. A reception will follow.

Takamura Ko-un's Ram-ma from the Hooden – or Japanese Pavillion.

Collection: U of I - Department of Art History

RSVP to Keith at 708-358-1394.

Free for members of SAH-Chicago. $10 for non-members.

Take advantage of this special offer; join SAH-Chicago for a full year of great tours, receptions and events at just $25 for individuals and tour for free.
Download this form and bring it with you.

The tour will include a viewing of the Ram-ma - two monumental carved screens that were featured in the Japanese Pavillion, or Hooden in 1893. This popular and influential feature of the Expo exerted tremendous influence on Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as the community. Unfortunately, these rare surviving 19th century gifts from the Imperial Government of Japan are in terrible condition and are in dire need of conservation and restoration. They were “rediscovered” in the early 1970’s – wrapped in canvas stored under the bleachers at Soldier’s Field. This is an excellent period overview on the Hooden including the Ram-ma. The Ram-ma were positioned at the level of a clerestory and served as ventillation panels.

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U of I Tour Part 2: Netsch Campus Design

Walter Netsch original design for the U of I represents a watershed in the history of urban campus design. Netsch was inspired by the idea of a drop of water with waves emanating from a central court - or "forum". The design was visionary and was the first true expression of his Field Theory, but the political circumstances of the University's development and community response have combined to dilute the original vision. We will view surviving buildings and discuss the evolution of the campus. Read Betty Blum's "Chicago Architects Oral History" interview with Netsch (pages 191 - 218).

The Behavioral Sciences Building expresse a jump forward

in approach to academic form andd function.

Rock Steady - Greenspan on the Bushes ('s) Grasp

It;s a revelation that a Friedman scholar, among the most trusted figures of the last millenium goes on record against the reactionary elite. And he praises Bill Clinton. Ouch, Rove. {Also. New Yorker, Page 45. Biggest Urbana Head.}

Once and always thank you Alan Greenspan.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan in a memoir to be released on Monday criticized President George W. Bush and congressional Republicans for abandoning fiscal discipline and for putting politics ahead of sound economics.
In his book, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," Greenspan said he was surprised Bush was unwilling to temper his campaign promises with fiscal reality once elected in 2000, as previous Republican administrations had done.
"Little value was placed on rigorous economic policy debate or the weighing of long-term consequences," he said. The book was made available by its publisher, The Penguin Press.
"Much to my disappointment, economic policymaking in the Bush administration remained firmly in the hands of White House staff," he said.
Greenspan, now 81, was the second longest-serving chairman in the Fed's 93-year history when he stepped down in January 2006.
Praise has been heaped on the New York native and self-described "libertarian Republican" for overseeing the longest U.S. economic expansion on record.
Greenspan built his reputation as Fed leader with his calm handling of the stock market crash of 1987, the 1997-1998 Asian and Russian financial crises, and the economic turbulence that followed the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
But he has also come under fire for policies that some say led to bubbles in technology and housing. His successor, Ben Bernanke, is coping with a prolonged housing downturn and credit-market turbulence.
Greenspan's long association with Republican administrations and his reputation for independence add clout to his criticism of Bush and of other Republicans who led Congress until 2006.
TAX CUTS AND SPENDING
Greenspan said Bush's combination of tax cuts and spending on the military and prescription drug benefits, while not "unrealistic" in 2000 after several years of federal budget surpluses, was not appropriate with growing deficits that returned in 2002.
The former Fed chair said he urged Bush to veto a string of "out-of-control" spending bills, but to no avail. He was told the president wanted to avoid antagonizing Republican political leadership.
"To my mind, Bush's collaborate-don't-confront approach was a major mistake -- it cost the nation a check-and-balance mechanism essential to fiscal discipline," Greenspan said.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said on Saturday the administration conducted "rigorous" analysis and that tax cuts sped up the U.S. economic recovery after the 2001 recession.
"Because Congress worked with us, vetoes weren't necessary. We're not going to apologize for increased spending to protect our national security," Fratto said.
But Greenspan said Republican lawmakers sowed the seeds of their political defeat in 2006 by abandoning fiscal prudence.
"They swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither. They deserved to lose," he added.
A consummate Washington political insider linked to former presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford before becoming Fed chairman in 1987, Greenspan also has been criticized for backing Bush's tax cuts plan before Congress in January 2001.
Greenspan said that position was balanced with a call for safeguards in case the fiscal situation deteriorated. But in his memoir, he ruefully acknowledged he underestimated how his words would be selectively interpreted.
"While politics had not been my intent, I'd misjudged the emotions of the moment," he said.
Fending off criticism that rock-bottom borrowing costs early this decade fueled the housing bubble that has caused a burst of foreclosures, Greenspan said the unusual risk of a downward price spiral was serious and had to be dealt with.
"We wanted to shut down the possibility of corrosive deflation; we were willing to chance that by cutting rates we might foster a bubble ... It was a decision done right," he wrote.
Looking at the U.S. economic future, Greenspan warned that to keep the inflation rate between 1 percent and 2 percent in coming years the Fed may need to force interest rates into double digits.
If the Fed succumbs to political pressure to keep interest rates low, inflation rates could rise to an average of 4 percent to 5 percent by 2030, and yields on 10-year Treasury notes would rise to at least 8 percent, he wrote.

Blogging Rationale: The Abrams Archive

There are a few rules of blogging that have been proscribed during the recent history of the form. One of the cardinals is "avoid apologizing for blogging". This stems from the sullen voice inside our heads that shouts "nought is reading you and you're a pure egotist to spew your excretion into the interweb."

In contrast, I've had great confirmation of the power of blogging before but this instance combined subject, circumstance or context and result in a miraculous way and with extra juicy karma. I've been thinking about how to present it. I may be circumspect, because the experience is a work in progress.

It boils down to this; I have an old friend, who I love dearly and is truly rare among souls of women or men. I've written about Nancy Abrams several times on Rarenest. She is a journalist, photographer and spent a big chunk of her middle life living in small towns in West Virginia, which is contrasted by her early life as the daughter of charming, upward hoteliers in St. Louis.

To paraphrase an old Apalachian coloquial - she looks fabulous in evening wear at an art opening in Manhattan and she can piss in the woods. Or put chains on a Subaru. Or light a kerosene stove. Or make mouthwatering borscht, etc.

In her post grad years she participated in several photographic internships and fellowships - some as part of U.S. Government programs including DOCUMERICA. This was in the early part of her career which led to her settling near the Uptop Farm, which is where we met. She worked on small, microscopic newspapers in the hills and hollers. This is where we met twenty something years ago...

Here's where I put my thumbs under my arms: as a result of my blog entries and amazingly, while I was at the farm, a representative of the U.S. National Archive {National Records and Archives Administration (NARA)} emailed me to find Nancy. They have a group of her studies from the 70's. It seems they have been looking for her for awhile to develope a complete biography and to help contextualize her work.

It's at this point that the rationale for blogging becomes clear for me.

It's a great thing for a photographer to have any level of integration into the digital and literal documentary NARA empire. A casual search on the farm's locus parenti (nearest town - in this case - Terra Alta, West Virgina) only provides 4 photographs by one other, minor American documentarian: Walker Evans.

What the National Records and Archives Administration (NARA) doesn't realize is that what they possess now is a tiny fragment of a chip of a crystaline vision of three decades of rapidly shifting Allegheny culture because...get ready....

The unpublished Abrams Archive contains 30 to 50 thousand photographic negatives of everyday life, work, celebrations, society, landscapes and in small towns and valleys of northern West Virginia along the Appalachian Trail. Nancy has them in boxes.

I'm going to update this entry as things progress but I just wanted to get this down tonight. I'll provide more images and biographical text as they come along.

Nancy's life reads as the great American text. I am so glad she is starting, dawning toward some small recognition and integration. And this is only the beginning...She has always been a flourescent source of inspiration for the people around her.

Finally, the timing of this must have a personal and cosmic purpose. I'm as always filled with regret and longing when I leave the farm. I checked my email from a hotel room in Ohio on the endless highway home. For my first meaningful message to be so referential to the farm, such a positive message for someone I love and to be about images of a world I love, well it gives me hope in blogging.

Incidentally. most of the other blogging rules include apologizing too much.