Hello hello friends. My temporary hiatus online is an indicator of the amount of work we've been doing and I hope this entry helps communicate the amount we've learned!
On Monday we got the low down on the Liberia and Prescott projects. Basically an INFORMATION OVERLOAAAAD and when we got home, I was pretty much brain dead and exhausted so I went to bed early (yeah yeah lame I know)
The next day we spent the morning learning about riparian restoration, and checked out the Watson Woods Riparian Preserve, a recent project by the local organization Prescott Creeks, which is dedicated to restoring the watershed system in Prescott. Since Granite Creek runs through the majority of Prescott and could be a great guide for a greenway system, riparian restoration is a definite consideration for our Prescott plan.
On the Ecosa "party" bus
At the park entrance, there's an adoption trailer where you can play with puppies and kitties!
Sorry Todd, didn't see anything. I don't have experienced eyes like you.
Monica surveying the area
Paper produced with windpower! At the local art store.
Sweet mural on the side of the art store
Sweet bike racks right by the mural. SO MUCH CONCENTRATED SWEETNESS
After our lunch break, we did a THREE hour site exploration by foot of the '6th Street District' of Prescott. After exhausting our feet, we exhausted our brains trying to wrap our heads around what we need to research to get these giant projects done.
ideas for research DOUBLE WHAMMY
Wednesday was full of more information overload, just another typical day at Ecosa, haha. An ecological economist came to talk to us about systems thinking as a tool to think about our projects. In the morning we did five different site assessments to survey the systems present.
At the Alberton's shopping center on the corner of our district. Why yes, this kid is jerking! So ridiculous.
Outside one of the quaint houses in an area of the district the city commissioners thought of as rundown and wanted to tear down. We're going to try to convince them otherwise.
An invasive Chinese plant. Apparently a lot of Chinese slaves lived in this area and planted their native plants that ended up taking over
In one of the industrial sections on the outskirts near the Yavapai Reservation
At Granite Creek Park. Look at that guy go!
Since I'm only in Prescott for a month, I've tried to eat at a new place at every day to get a feel for the town. Wednesday we went to the Raven, which is a really sophisticated cafe/restaurant. We ate on the upstairs terrace, where they have really cool glass-inlaid ceramic walls:
Thursday we spent the morning with (prepare your British accent) Barnabus Kane, landscape architect. He's not British but his name sounds so much better if you pretend you are. We basically watched a master at work, doing diagrammatics (overhead views of plans with symbols to designate different areas) and rendering made-up plans.
For lunch, we randomly saw Drew's dad, who owns the Palace, a historical saloon that he renovated to become a restaurant (but still retains the saloon doors!) He invited us in for lunch on him! Suh-weeeeeeeet.
Apparently they shot a Steve McQueen movie at the Palace
Drew, Nancy, Christine, and I with the man himself
There was a skylight with the Arizona flag draped across
The Palace Burger. Now, I try not to eat red meat, but this beauty has A FULL HALF POUND OF MEATS and other delish ingredients
Finally it was Friday, and this morning we had a sketching lesson from Gary Melvin, our resident art teacher. Today's exercise was to draw Tony collaboratively. We each had 3 minutes to try to draw him before handing the pencil to the next person, except for the last one when we had 4 minutes each. First we drew him from memory, then from a photograph, and lastly from real life.
Left to right chronologically and our model
And now, some visuals of the work I've been doing:
The practice diagrammatic of a section of 6th street district
Trace overlays of the 6th street district. Black = built structures
Quick sketch, some of you should recognize what I used as a model
Jet plane! Big jet plane!
So, all in all it's been a tiring but eventful, interesting, and informative week. Tomorrow the Whip girls (Dawnielle, Nancy, Monica, and I -- we live on Whipple Street) and Drew are taking a day trip to Jerome, AZ which is supposed to be a crazy town run by hippies and bikers and stopping by a canyon to hike and (possibly) go swimming at a waterhole there, guided by Drew. Should be exciting!
Tonight we're spending the night in, drinking red wine and watching Dexter. Muahahaha
x-posted rompalime.blogspot.com
p.s. Todd and i are the only ones updating. Whut up foooools?
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