I. Proximity On a hot Friday afternoon, I was walking downhill toward the Hudson River through the Upper West Side with Alba and Josep, my friends from Barcelona. I was describing the peculiar kind of density found there: the neighborhood is a great example of how even 100 years ago Americans were able to build […]
I: A Semi In A Strange Land These days, Charlotte and I hardly need alarm clocks to wake up in time for our morning walks. Around 7:30 in the morning, three things come to life in the neighborhood which rouse us: first, the robins and mockingbirds ramp up their chatter which flows in through our […]
To all my Cooper Union vets: what do you think of when you think of “9-square grid?” Well, what about this? This is a promotional sign for the Superilla, in Barcelona’s Poblenou neighborhood. Though I had seen propaganda about it for many months since arriving last September, the Superilla remained rather isolated in my head. […]
Every time we pass Spain’s most famous building, we have something to say. “La Sagrada Familia. More like La Sacada Familia. La Chingada Familia. La Putada Familia.” “It looks like someone bought one of those nozzle attachments for cake icing and decided to just try all the settings.” “There was a time when you had […]
My first thought when I saw Black Friday posters ALL OVER the shop windows in El Born the day after Thanksgiving was “What? How on Earth did that American capitalist plague spread over here?” Then, my second thought was “Oh, look, another American capitalist plague has spread over here. What else is new?” (That last […]