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  • From: Don Bowen KI6DIU <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] build to last? was: preserving poles
  • Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2007 11:51:07 -0700

At 11/3/2007, you wrote:
Gene, I think what appeals to me more than the
affordability of using local materials is the organic,
almost spiritual, qualities of vernacular architecture,
the embodiment of one's cultural heritage (not that
Americans have a cohesive one, or one that I'd choose to
emulate).

The vernacular of local materials requires more labor and in a society that does not value manual labor (or intellectuals for that matter) the vernacular falls to the wayside. In its place is a system of many interchangeable parts that results in interchangeable houses. Interesting is replaced with safe. Local becomes nationwide. The house you bought in Washington is just like the house your brother bought in Florida. As a part of this we become removed from place. The landscaping in Los Angles begins to look like the landscaping in Boston. Same little houses no matter where you go, same plantings, same franchises. Little boxes that are interchangeable become filled with interchangeable people who live interchangeable lives.


LITTLE BOXES

written in 1962 by Malvina Reynolds

Chorus:
Little boxes on the hillside
LIttle boxes made of ticky-tacky
LIttle boxes on the hillside
Little boxes all the same
There's a pink on and a blue one
And a green one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same

Verse 1:
And the people in the boxes
All went to the university
Where they all got put in boxes,
Little boxes all the same.
And they're doctors and they're lawyers
And business executives
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same

Chorus

Verse 2:
And they all play on the golf course
And they drink their martini dry
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university
And they all get put in boxes
And they all come out the same

Chorus

Verse 3: (by Jodey Bateman)
Politicians, politicians
Politicans making promises
Politicians, politicians
Politicians all the same
There's republicans and there's democrats
And there's liberals and conservatives
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all sound just the same.



Don Bowen Awl Knotted Up KI6DIU
http://www.braingarage.com




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