me and Robert Rodriguez! (Taken with instagram)
April 28th Letter No. One (Hart Crane, 1931)
HART CRANE to Katherine Anne Porter and Eugene Pressly, April 28, 1931
P.S. NO. HAVEN’T BEEN BUSY WITH “LOVERS”. JUST YEOWLS AND FLEES. LYSOL ISN’T NECESSARY IN THE BATHTUB. HAVEN’T GOT “ANYTHING” YET. IF YOU KNEW ANYTHING WHATEVER ABOUT IT, YOU’D KNOW THAT AT LEAST (AND THE LAST THING SYPHILLUS DOES) IT DOESN’T ITCH. OTHER MATTERS DO, SOMETIMES
This will bring a smile to your face! A very thirsty and hot chimpanzee called Tong drinks water from a pipe that an official turned on to help cool him down as temperatures rise to nearly 40C in Bangkok, Thailand Photograph: Apichart Weerawong/AP
This is how I feel after walking my ass everywhere in this Texas heat.
Whoever wrote this is correct, in terms of defining what a “doughtnut city” is. BUT, using Houston as an example is far from accurate. Houston is quite rich in diversity and industry. Houston is HUGE. Although some older neighborhoods are indeed undergoing gentrification, some (including my neighborhood) are benefiting from the renewed attention and value being invested in the inner-610 loop. You can’t agree with every decision being made around you but as for the building of the Dynamo stadium and the East End light rail that will be making its way down Harrisburg, the inner-city of Houston is anything but empty.
Houston: Doughnut City
The term Doughnut City is used to describe a phenomenon that affects the physical shape of some cities of the North American Sun Belt. It consists of the concentration of urban activity on the ring road (where the newest and most advanced generation of housing estates and office parks are located) and the parallel physical disappearance of all that remains inside (the interior is affected by an accelerated process of obsolescence that leads to the demolition of a multitude of buildings). Viewed from a European perspective, the Doughnut City is a phenomenon that goes against nature. If in the cities of the Old Continent proximity to the center means an added value, in the Doughnut City quite the reverse is true: the most eligible urban areas are on the final periphery.
Hello Out There!
I’m not sure how long it’s been since my last post where I didn’t reblog something. I could say I’ve been busy with school but I’ve been trying to get by doing as little as I can and it’s been working pretty well. I need a break before my last semester in the fall. I am worried about a research paper I have due on May 3. I haven’t started researching. We have to present to the class the last week of April so I have to have something concrete to argue in front of the class (in case someone wants to argue with me). I just want to finish up already. I want to be on campus as little as possible in the fall. I’m ready to move on. Get my two degrees and get the freak out of here!
In the summer I have plans to change up this blog. I want to start WRITING. Not just blogging. I have to start making myself do things. I have ideas but I haven’t been being active. I’ve just been dreaming. It’s time to start making things happen. I’m excited about the future and it’s time I start acting like it.
Anyways, this semester has flown by and it’s not slowing down. I have three papers due this week. Two of which are only 2 pagers. I got this.
—Lola
