Pedestrians

I have come to appreciate essence of the pedestrian and lament that it is not a perspective shared by this town, Charlotte. It can be a rich experience to walk through a community especially when the place is designed with plazas and promenades that support the peripatetic.  Unfortunately, this can be difficult in place like Charlotte where the urban sprawl and corresponding automobile dominates. In Charlotte, Pedestrians put their lives at risk. Here is a recent article from the Charlotte observer that supports my statements:  http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/01/11/2916789/pedestrian-hit-at-stonewall-college.html I have met a woman who lives on one side of South Boulevard and patronizes businesses on the other side. She told me she drives the short distance in her car for fear of crossing that street on foot. Her automobile is a suite of armor that she wears to safely traverse a distance that she would probably, otherwise, walk or bicycle.  I believe traveling around in this way isolates people from their habitat, limits the experience of their city, and denies them the sensation of blood flushing their muscles. Yes, there is some evidence that Charlotte is improving for the pedestrian, but this town still has a ways to go in terms of locomotion.

The Artist Habitat: Does Charlotte satisfy?

When I think of the best places for artists to live, Charlotte, North Carolina, does not immediately come to mind. Perhaps that’s because of my art education, which programmed me to regard Paris and New York as the standard, or maybe I’m deluded with romantic notions about artists hanging-out in interesting enclaves that exist beyond the Charlotte pale. Despite my preconceptions, the evidence seems to suggest that Charlotte has become more inspired. For example, with its strip of museums, theaters and galleries, South Tryon Street has become the new Culture Campus. On North Tryon we have the new Carolina Dance Theater and The McColl Center, which claims to be the leading center for the advancement of creativity. Now, we even have a nascent music scene on Seaboard Street. And, of course, we have the Tango scene. However, returning to my delusions for a moment, I would like to suggest a few modifications to the Charlotte culture that would appeal to my artist sensibilities, and my next series of post will address this.

The Resolution

Ok, so I started this blog in 2008, and since then I accomplished very little blogging. To be exact, I accomplished zero blogging. But that was back in 2008, the year the United States elected its first African American President, Barack Hussein Obama. Other than that event, the only other thing that I can recall about that year was my marriage to my lovely wife, Mariana De Luca. Anyway, it's now about to be 2012 and I aspire to maintain this blog as a way to document my life and my art, or my life in art, as it were.