Salute' Vittorio!

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There he is, as always, in my thoughts when I make my morning espresso. I never drank coffee before meeting Vittorio Giorgini, my architecture professor at Pratt Institute. All-nighters were inevitable nearing the end of the semester, building models and drawing our building design projects. He made me a stiff cup of this elixir in his Wooster Street loft studio one evening, and it was rocket fuel for me. Still is. Thanks, Vittorio!
In my daily design practice, the most frequent reminder of Vittorio for me is the "transition", that step between two architectural elements in a large or small scale, that step between two periods of one's life or situation, those steps between the steps, that define our lives, our cultures, and our built environment. It was a simple lesson he gave me, which has served as a key, a reminder that there is always another way to perceive and to approach any kind of problem or challenge, in design and in life, and to see it in the context of the larger nature surrounding us. Thank you Vittorio, for the keys.

NOAH

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Salute' Vittorio!
This week my voice is in the depth of a winter cold, as is the rest of me.  I am blaming it on a long backcountry hut adventure with my daughter March and friends, in a windy snowstorm.  That's a story for another time, however.  Here's a story about a young man who has a sense about the future of his generation:

Homebrewers Impasse

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Nephew James turned 21 last year. He took me up on my offer to live with us for a winter season, so he could be a ski bum – actually, a “rider” bum, a snowboarder-dude. This guy loves to have fun, he makes lots of friends fast, but he pushes the safety envelope a little far sometimes.

Heritage Fruit Trees - Tracks of the Settlers

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Salute' Vittorio!
In the late nineteenth century, the city of Aspen was discovered for it's silver ore deposits, and was quickly settled and exploited for this precious metal.  Twenty miles away in Basalt, homesteading farmers settled, irrigated and fenced their farmland.  Most of the early homesteaders were Italian immigrants, and they settled here to raise food for the large mining camp in Aspen.  Basalt is elevated 2,000 meters above, while Aspen is nearly 2,400 meters above sea level.  At our latitude of approximately 39 degrees north of the equator, there is a significant growing season difference between Basalt and Aspen, about a month earlier in the Spring and a month later in the Autumn.

Drawing Circles

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Salute' Vittorio!
When I was a child, I enjoyed drawing circles in the sand.  I still enjoy drawing circles, but now I draw larger and more interwoven circles. 

Life in Uncertain Times

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Salute' Vittorio,
Our great friend Sam always keeps me up to date about your life in Florence, and especially likes to tell me about times when you came to his boat.  I always wish I could have been there, and promise myself to make the effort to visit again, to see you, and maybe to get on Sam's boat for once, before he lets it go.

Dear Vittorio - stories for my old friend

Dear Vittorio,

I decided to make a blog for you, where you can listen to stories and essays I write, record and post here. As you recall, I was doing this for a long time for my grandparents, and I will continue it for you.  I am making you the hapless victim of my need to organize thoughts, so I can discipline my perception of the world to be wide awake and open to everything. So you see, this is also a selfish pursuit.

I'll post a new piece once a week, on Saturday my time, so you'll see them on your Sunday mornings.

Caroline can click on the place in the blog where each story has a link titled PLAY AUDIO, then she will need to click STOP when it ends, or it will play over again. I haven't figured out how to fix that. Hopefully, you will be listening with headphones, so you can simply remove them if Caroline is not available to stop the playback on the computer.

I wish you well, my good friend, and I hope to see you again soon.