Because I am trying to write a paper on urban ruins, and reading a bunch of stuff for seminar on same, I've been thinking about causes, typologies, etc.
There's aerial bombardment (Dresden). There's systematic bombardment (Warsaw). There's invasion (Rome). There's abandonment (Detroit - take a look at an incredible documentation of this at www.detroityes.com). There's decay (air pollution in Krakow).
Can we generalize in any way about the causes and forces of ruination, or does each city decay in its own way, for its own reasons, on its own schedule?
I probably have lots more to say about this topic, but I'd best save it for the paper.
All my courses are starting to blend together. I pick up an article from the stack, and without referring to my syllabi, I can't tell if it's an illustration of methodology (Geog 8002), a reflection on political use of space (Geog 8980) or an example of the role of unions in shaping the workforce (Pub Affairs 8204). Or even a possible reading for the course in construction law that I teach!
This convergence is probably a good thing, but right now it's disorienting. I had the same problem last term writing about literary geography in one course phenomenological approaches to literary representations of space in another.
Regardless, in four weeks, it will all be over. That's the great thing about school: every 14 weeks or so you sum up and move on and get to start fresh the next term. You'd have to start a new job to do that in "the real world."
(However, "the fresh start" is also an illusion. I expected a fresh start in Minneapolis and I find instead that my past endlessly complicates and reflects on my present.)
Posted by otto0114 at April 12, 2004 02:27 PM