Author: Andrea Cordonier
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Capital Building: A View from Washington – Part 2
Click here for Capital Building: A View from Washington – Part 1 Having finally seen Washington, DC for myself this summer, it was great to connect with this presentation by Marcel Acosta, Executive Director of the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), the Federal Planning Agency for America’s Capital. In it he discusses how the city came to be shaped,… Read more
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Capital Building: A View from Washington – Part 1
In spite of the oppressive heat and humidity of August in Washington, D.C., I did what I like to do best: I walked around, looked at things and talked to people. This being my first trip to the capital, I focussed on the National Mall, exploring adjacent neighborhoods, and my relentless pursuit of Guastavino tile. In D.C., security is the conversational opener in the same… Read more
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Looking at Dogs (and Cats) in Windows
It’s simple. It’s brilliant. And it’s better than tv. Instead of tucking doggy daycare in the back of a building, why not put it out front? Add plate glass windows and a busy pedestrian street and you have universal entertainment and an instant joy generation machine. In the few minutes I stood there watching, a small crowd gathered… Read more
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Alex Janvier at the National Gallery of Canada
Alex Janvier is among the most important figures in the development of contemporary Indigenous art in Canada. This retrospective presents more than 150 works created from 1950 to the present day and recounts the story of a life devoted to art and the re-empowerment of Indigenous cultures. Over a prolific sixty-five-year career Janvier has produced… Read more
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Julia Child Cooks Thanksgiving Dinner
This is Julia’s house. This is Julia’s kitchen. This is Julia cooking thanksgiving dinner with Jacques Pepin circa 1999. In her house. In her kitchen. Wishing a Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends. May your year be filled with blessings. Read more
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Manhattan’s Divine Intervention
Unless you leave room for serendipity…how can the divine enter? ~Joseph Campbell A few minutes one way or the other, heading south instead of north, a conversation, a distraction, a photo or lunch. There’s no good reason I stepped into St. Paul’s Chapel at that precise moment and not another. Filled to the brim – standing room only… Read more
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Don’t be like this idiot
On the gravel shoulder of the road sits an abandoned clothes dryer wrapped in official-looking crime scene tape bearing the words “Under Investigation.” Beside it, a canary-yellow lawn sign screams DON’T BE LIKE THIS #IDIOT. This curious tableau did what it was meant to do: It caught my eye and stirred my imagination. Read more
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Would You Let This Man Sell Your House?
I’m guessing that someone somewhere at sometime told this fellow that he looks like Owen Wilson’s male model in Zoolander. It’s the only reasonable reason I can imagine he would slap his ‘Blue Steel’ face on gigantic posters around White Rock, B.C., to push his unique brand of real estate sales in Greater Vancouver’s steaming… Read more
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Hello, This is The New York Times Calling
It’s not every day that The New York Times calls one for an interview. But I arrived home recently to find a message from Times reporter Sarah Maslin Nir. The topic? Charity house tours in New York City and the potential breach of privacy that cellphone cameras pose to homeowners. Read more
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The Pilgrimage to Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs was a noted urbanist, writer and activist whose book The Death and Life of Great American Cities has become the go-to tome for community planning and urban development. ********** Like the Camino de Santiago, there are prescribed stops on the pilgrimage to Jane Jacobs, including her two former residences in Toronto and New York… Read more