Sense of Place

So I will start my new position as a research intern at the American Planning Association in a couple of weeks. I am making the move to Washington DC for the position, and I am extremely excited to get the process rolling.

It's strange. This position (or so far it seems) is tailored exactly for me. I'm always waxing on about geography and places, and all the wonders you can get from even the places that look the most undesirable on the surface. There was the one time I stopped for Subway on my drive to Washington state in the small town of Lexington, Nebraska.

As I rolled into the town, I realized there was a huge Tyson chicken processing plant from the highway to the town itself. The buildings were grey, featureless, and the town looked to be single family homes, run down with tall grass and weeds. And as I drove in, I noticed the lifeblood of the town (the railroad) was now reserved for freight, and not people. The tracks, and the accompanying fences to keep people out, divided the town into industry and residential. There were no sidewalks, no business fronts, no revitalization.

Yet the town's population consisted of majority latin@s, and their billboards, advertisements, and menus were all in Spanish and English. The people, while not lavishly prosperous in material goods, had created a strong community, full of events, workshops, and seminars, to help the future generation. And with that came a place.

I would argue that nowhere is placeless. There is always something that defines a "place", whether it be from the people that live there, or the people who visit, even the most desolate desert holds value for people, with it's rolling sand dunes and painted cliffs. So that is going to be the hardest (and most rewarding) thing about this upcoming internship. I now have to take all of these places, be it small or large, and research them, and narrow down which ones have the best "placeness" to them.

The kicker is that this program is not necessarily a competition. It is a program designed to showcase the best, and inspire and guide the rest. There are only winners in this program, and it will serves as a way forward to make more accessible and enjoyable communities for all across the country.

Needless to say, I'm quite excited to be in DC, and to start my new role. My time in the garage has been short, yes, but it has been so enjoyable. The parking garage under the statehouse may be dark, dimly lit, and smell of the 60's, but it is full of some of the friendliest and most interesting people I've ever met. While I may be hitching the cart up for the nations capitol, I will never forget the work I did under the state of Ohio's capitol.

LeVeque Tower

The Parking Garage Operations Board (mostly defunct)

Columbus @ Night

There's something about emerging into from the cave of the parking garage and into the crisp night air of Columbus. The lights are ablaze, the moon shines among the clouds, the downtown is falling asleep after an evening of enjoying itself. My car loops around a block to get aligned correctly with the one-ways, and it's off and down the ramp onto I-70 Eastbound, headed back home. City lights follow me until Canal Winchester, where I depart into the countryside. Heading north I can see the radiating skyglow from the city, that ever present sunset to the west.

I took a walk down the Lower Scioto Greenway, more specifically Scioto Mile Park, the other night. The urban landscaping and effort that has gone into such a pedestrian and watershed management place is pretty amazing. Couple that with the fact there is more than ample path lighting, and amazing structures from the Columbus skyline, and you have a park that entirely lives up to its awards and news articles.

Rich Street Bridge @ Night

Supreme Court Building with Hunington Building and the Riffe Building

LeVeque Tower  with it's seasonal lighting

Another shot of the greenway and the park.

The Greenway/Park with COSI (Central Ohio Science and Industry) Museum
to the left, across the river with red lights on it's pillars. 

I think I keep forgetting the value that natural spaces can hold. The weather in Ohio has been quite erratic as of late, and I found myself being shuttered in by the rain and cold (a habit I should have dropped in the Pacific Northwest). But the past couple of days the weather has taken a turn for the better, and it has been some of the most beautiful days I have experienced in a while. The sun is amazingly bright, without a cloud in the sky, and the temperature is perfect. I know these are fleeting days of springtime, but I am now, once again, realizing how much I actually need to get out and enjoy nature and the outdoors.

The "sense of place" (whatever that may be for you) shines through in Columbus. The city has really redefined itself as the capitol of Ohio, or at least from my perception from when I was in high school. There are parks galore (including the amazing Columbus Commons, venue for multiple concerts and festivals), the Scioto Greenway and reclaimed waterfronts, and the restaurant and bar scene is ridiculous for a town that rarely makes it on the radar for places to be. (Although that is changing too.)

This whole process of me coming to work in the Statehouse Parking Garage has led me to look at Columbus as more than a simple job center. Yes, it does host many commuters for the in and out everyday, but it also has developed a placeness of it's own. There are brand new things all around the city, and they are still being constructed as well. Bike paths and markings line the streets, new brick pedestrian crossings and features, and a friendly yet business atmosphere really accentuate the Midwesternness and the progressiveness of the people who live here.

It's amazing what you can feel and experience once you finally hurdle the xenophobia of the rural culture you grew up around. The city is being redefined, and Columbus is pressing forward and is one of the best examples I've experienced of this modern transformation.

The Mountain Goats, Pro-Wrestling, and Storytelling

I've been listening to a lot of The Mountain Goats lately, and their new album "Beat the Champ". I don't know why I've started having such an interest in this album, it never scored really high on my Mountain Goats album-meter until now.

Coincidentally, I learned that one of my coworkers in the parking garage turns out to be a huge pro-wrestling fan. We ended up watching a WWE match yesterday on his phone as we watched cars depart from the Mary Poppins show at the Ohio Theater.

I only found out the truth of wrestling as a performance about a year and a half ago. Before that, if I ever started pondering it, I would rack myself crazy wondering why/how people would/could have beat up people for a living. The idea of having so much hatred and adrenaline was foreign to me. Luckily, the mask was pulled from my face via the Radiolab episode "La Mancha Screwjob", and it all clicked. The sport was for entertainment much more than it was for raw guttural feelings of hatred.

Ever since, it's enticed me to why pro-wrestling is entertaining, how people look at it as being "good or bad", and what about it exactly makes people flock to it. I mean, it's so over the top. Yelling, fireworks, large, almost cartoonish ironclad fonts for their logos and advertising. Are we actually going on pure aesthetic here, or are we just being extremely trolled? Is the sport's ridiculousness why we should enjoy it? How meta are the producers getting? How about the fans?

Going back to the opening: The Mountain Goats' album explores a lot more than simply pro-wrestling. "Beat the Champ" uses the sport as a lens through which many other deeper issues and themes emerge. Relationships with family members and friends, to dealing with internal strife and the feelings of trying to make it in this world, the album delves into those places that I feel I am in right now.

I sat there in the garage, thinking about how much of this world is performance, and how much of it intersects with reality. Of how difficult it is sometimes to discern that line. and those times when you can, and can't. Much like my younger self, ill acquainted with what wrestling truly is; life often seems like reality where it may actually be a performance.

Then that begs the question: What about all those who are a part of the wrestling world? The producers and wrestlers themselves are obviously onto the game, but what about the fans? Do they all take part in this higher level thinking entertainment because they know it is fake? Or is it really fake? I've long been a fan of saying authenticity is bullshit, and this may be one place where that statement might have some sort of cohesive argument behind it.

Few fans seem blessedly ignorant to the fact it's mostly staged. It appears as though many people forward to the performances. Certain move sets, antics, and personalities, not to simply see people beat the crap out of each other. So can we still say that is fake if fans are still deriving positive entertainment from the performance? I would say no. Their experiences are real, and they still come back to watch the matches, and keep up with the sport. They enjoy it.

And I think I'm starting to too.

Under the Statehouse

First off: This blog will catalog and archive some of my thoughts about my experiences in central Ohio as I work towards the next step of my journey. It may be a short one, depending on how my job prospects go as I keep reaching out for that next step.

So. I found part-time intermittent work under the Ohio Statehouse Capitol building. Literally underneath. I am a parking garage attendant. The arrangement is actually quite nice. I work as a state employee, therefore I am a government employee. (Student loan forgiveness baby!) My main responsibilities include: cleaning stairwells, operating gates and troubleshooting pay-on-foot stations. The experience has actually been a lot better than I was expecting.

The Statehouse, and Capitol Square, are totally different places from a workers standpoint. There is clearance needed, officials to keep appearances up for, and lots of events at the theaters around the square. No longer are you marveling at the map room or the rotunda. No tours for the workers. Your job is to make sure the people coming in to park are sought after and have the easiest and best time they can for a parking garage. Your main portion is spent underground, and what you do see of upstairs, it is usually while you are emerging from tunnels to deliver/receive different things.

I do like it though. There's something about being subterranean for eight hours of the day. The position is easy enough, and I have great company to pass the slow times with. It's ideal for working and focusing on your life and others, and to keep your mind working and in shape. (Also keeping my body in a little bit of shape because there is so much walking to do.)

For now I'm underground four days a week, and I don't mind it at all. I'm proud to be the first line of response when someone needs help on how to park, and where to go for events. It gives me some income, keeps me active, and best of all, lets me start to think on next steps for my life.