The title of this first post could be of its place in time as the initial posting on this website, but more accurately it refers to the newest stage of my life, sans automobile. It’s an eerie feeling being entirely liberated from car ownership while virtually encumbered by the perception of immobility.
I am reminded of a quote from Fight Club, a personal favorite movie of mine, “the things you own end up owning you.” And in this, we find amongst the interrelated tangle of the issues of today, the real estate market, oil prices, suburban sprawl, and how we got into the mess where rising construction costs hinder expansion of mass transit while falling home values undercut cities’ ability to pay for what they can’t afford. Fun Times.
I guess somewhere in there is why I’m starting this, partly as a suggestion of a few life passers-by, partly as a free place for expression when those around me tire of listening, and lastly, as a way for me to examine where Dallas stands in its evolution. This is my home (at least for now) and despite all of its flaws and virtues, the city has grown on me. After living, interning, visiting places across the globe, this personal epoch in time finds me here; I might as well catalog it, comment on it, and measure it.
The first measure of a city’s health on the journey from Viability-to-Livability-to-Memorability, is whether a city can be lived in however one chooses (I think there is probably a scale of measurement somewhere in there – all of which is to be worked out as I fumble through this thing).
At this moment in time, I felt like testing it out. Can Dallas, one of the most notorious cities for auto-dependency, be lived in free of the shackles of auto-dependency?
It’s funny where we end up in our lives. Looking back, I remember as a five-year old teaching myself to draw in perspective, which led me to eventually drawing fantastical cityscapes and skylines or as a teen always imagining myself with a loft in the city much like we saw in 90’s sit-coms or the cool penthouses one (me) would always imagine my athletic childhood heroes occupying, thinking someday that would be me.
Well, here I am, drawing not quite as fantastical cities (although I probably could if I ever wanted to work on Chinese projects) and watching, not playing, professional sports (unless pickup bball in the park counts) while still having a loft in the city. And here is the blog. Finally.
So hopefully I work out the kinks and figure out all those fancy shmancy links and pictures and things, so here goes.
