Architecture Private to Jen Graves
posted by on November 19 at 16:40 PM
Dear Ms. Graves,
There are creators and there are critics. You are a fine critic.
But your morning attempt at creativity – to suggest I cheered the demise of a concrete box because I was high – showed a dearth of originality. A drug policy writer smoking pot—pray tell, how did you conjure such a jab? The last time someone fancied that an original criticism was in 2001. In the Seattle Weekly. In a letter to the editor, no less.
May the record show that I almost never smoke pot. The last time I tried was months ago, when two bong hits got me so high I could no longer play Mario Kart and had to go lay down. And people who say pot’s not a drug can suck my balls.
But back to the point. The concrete box is a blight, better replaced by something useful. Your defense of the windowless, one-story parking garage, covered in chipping paint and a consortium of mildew reads as follows: “It is the only thing within 30 blocks that speaks the same damn language as the sculpture.” But to borrow words of Dirk Calloway, with friends like these, who needs friends? Right, Wake? (Wake understood that, because we speak the same language.) Here is Wake’s linguistic neighbor.
I would have responded earlier, Ms. Graves, but while you were tapping out a soliloquy defending the temple of decay, I was talking to Martin Selig—who is determined to create even at the expense of paying basic utilities. Although I am unable to make good on his light bill, I told him I was happy to see the building go.
“What, you don’t like my parking garage?” asked Selig.
No, Mr. Selig. It is a covered parking lot with one of the most spectacular views in all of Seattle but the concrete walls are blind to its location’s splendor.
“That’s why we’re trying to do something there,” Selig says. Godspeed, Martin!
In closing, Ms. Graves, you wrote pot should be outlawed. While you’re at it, consider petitioning to annex Hawaii and Alaska to the 48 states or to declare the Bald Eagle our national bird.
As creepy as that damn thing is, I actually sort of like it. I think it's a quirky and even scary part of Seattle that will be missed if it is torn down. It has no architectural qualities worth saving: No charm, no grace, just pure straight lines, bricks, timber, and decay.
But like those odd and decaying concrete half-walls out at the water's edge at the south end of Gasworks Park it has a coolly mysterious air. What strange things took place in its past? Who dwelt in that upstairs office? What did they do? What are all the disconnected electrical conduits for?
*Save the Garage!*
Save the parking lots! Cities are for cars! Just say no to apartments, condos, townhouses, ground-floor retail, and houses! Especially houses!
I wonder what I am.
... Can I be both??
Noone past the age of 25 should be using a bong to smoke out of, Dominic.
"linguistic neighbor"??
+25 points to Dominic for this post.
Marijuana is not a drug. Now can I suck your balls?
This is the best Slog post I have ever read.
I actually love the parking garage as a backdrop to the sculpture park. It gives it something solid and simple to stand out against. When butted up against something busy like a fancy apartment building, will the beauty of the sculpture and of the landscape stand out as much as it did against a beautifully simplistic and decaying building?
fat chance.
Disagree, Carly (#10). Look at Millennium Park in Chicago, butted up against fantastic fancy apartment buildings. Yes, if you're showing old movies on the side of a building, you want a nondescript parking garage. Otherwise, just say no...to urban decay.
If a dilapidated wall makes the ideal backdrop for Wake, then SAM should build one.
all post have been reducted to the trival except the invite to sucks some pretty balls
Dom, you have a rep to maintain, do a U Tube just for Slog
Dude, I don't know how you could be too high to play Mario Kart. That's like being too drunk to fish.
despite everyone's repeated invitation to suck their balls, i don't think many balls actually get sucked.
in any given day, i'd wager that 99% of balls sucked are located in the san fernando valley.
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