The Question of Moral

Last month, I heard on NPR that nearly 30 people died in Phoenix, AR for the rising heat while living on the street. There were no war around and there was no crime involved. There was only heat and there was no place for them to go.

In 2000, an estimated 25,000 people in Greater Cincinnati at one time or another had no home. Many are "doubling up" with family and friends or living in shelters.

Sixty four percent of the men who are homeless have a high school diploma and almost 60% of them work, their wages are not adequate to cover the cost of housing. The total number of people experiencing homelessness in a 12-month period from March 2000, to March 2001, was estimated to be 25,308 This represents a 5,000 person increase from the 1993 study, which itself was double the 1986 study estimate. (Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless).

According to HUD, affordable housing consumers no more than 30 percents of income. Housing expenses include rent and mortgage payments, property taxes, and utilities. HUD defined low-income as a ration of household income to area median family income of 80% or less. In 2002, the Cincinnati area family median income was $64,200. For a four-person household, low-income is having an annual income of $51,440 or less.It is natural to cringe at the complexity of these definitions. But they have value, including comparability over time. It must be emphasized that the term low-income encompasses many American households, including not just people who live in poverty, but many, many working adults and retired citizens.

Yesterday, I just talked with my neighbor who has been living in a Mercy Housing apartment for nine years. She said she was just moved to another apartment across the street, while Mercy Housing sold the apartment out to build 100 affordable apartments on Main Street. Where did the people go? I said. She mentioned that they were "relocated." I just hope none of them end up joining the numbers of those living on the street.

It shouldn't happened in the wealthiest country in the world, but it did.

I was more entertained by the Chicago's Downtown Farmer's Market on Daley Plaza (Washington St and Dearborn St) that occupied the Richard J Daley Center's empty plaza. The building itself was designed by one of countless Mies Van der Rohe's followers, SO&M.

Chicago Farmer's Market open all summer long in several locations, Daley Plaza is one of them, and the biggest was the Green City Market on La Salle Plaza. I noticed a variety of fresh peaches from Michigan and Wisconsin, bee farmers, mexican food (both the process and produce; those with a slogan "pain is good" for its spicy sauces), Amish bakeries and cheap stems of flowers (surprisingly cheaper than those in Cincinnati, about $1 a stem!).

Eventhough the concrete doesn't seem to complement the fresh produce, the market can still be called a stopping point among the rush pedestrian feel on every inch of Chicago's sidewalk. It's a different feel you have when you're in New York. Yes, people are in a rush in New York, but there is a free feeling to stop on every vendors; you tend to walk slower and enjoy the crowd.

There is a fountain surrounded by temporary white tends that the vendors use, several rows of seating under not very-green trees. I was lucky to go there in the morning, otherwise, the concrete heat will most likely increase the heat...The market close at 2pm.

Mozart on the Street

I was diving into the flock of people on North Michigan Avenue yesterday in between my sessions (without breaking my shoes) when I found these guys; such an oasis in the afternoon where all I can find is the same old shops, similar as those on Fifth Avenue Manhattan, same as those on every American "mall"; the same coffee shop on every block (you know what they are...). I would only praise the clean street, beautiful trees and neat landscapes hiding on their shades, places for people to sit, and huge sidewalks enough for vendors and bikers and walkers (although almost no vendor I can find here...) and where fine music is performed, what else you could possibly asked for...

Welcome to Over-the-Rhine

Don't be surprised when it's quite busy on 12th and Jackson streets. Very soon Over-the-Rhine will be more crowded with 50 faculty and staff members and 225 students of the Art Academy of Cincinnati. The academy has officially moved into two buildings on 12 th and Jackson Streets and are currently in the packing-and-unpacking stage that they started eleven weeks ago. The final move, from the Eden Park Building next to the Cincinnati Art Museum, will occur on August 12th.

On the next Final Friday, the Art Academy will open its gallery to the Over-the-Rhine community for a 100 photograph exhibit by Howard Wells that chronicles the process of the school's relocation to OTR in Pearlman Gallery: " By Their Labor: Construction Photographs by Howard Wells," consists of photographs of people involved in the move whether as visionaries, designers, donors, and it showcases the actual construction process. "When the freshmen start their first day on Monday, August 29, they will learn about our new facility," said Gregory Allgire Smith, President of the Art Academy of Cincinnati. The gallery will open on every Final Friday. "We want to include ourselves in the creative scene in Over-the-Rhine," said Smith.

The Art Academy of Cincinnati is a 136-year-old independent college of art and design that serves 200 undergraduate students and 25 graduate students, all of whom primarily work in studio courses. The students enroll in its four undergraduate degree programs: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fine Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts with Emphasis in Art History, and an Associate of Science in Graphic Design.

The Art Academy has been active in contributing to the community. Three years ago, its Community Education Department started the Washington Art Project in collaboration with Peaslee Neighborhood Center . They also provide art programs for Cincinnati Public Schools that serve 2,000 students; The program is funded through P&G. The Art Academy offers Community Education classes, which are studio-based and taught by practicing artists. The classes serve over 2,500 children and public each year.

The 40,000 square foot old museum warehouse and an 80,000 square foot industrial building will house this "art factory" for twenty -six student studios, each accommodating four undergraduates . After 118 years, the Art Academy began to search for new facilities back in 1999 as their activities outgrew the two buildings in Mt. Adams and Eden Park with a 10-minute walking distance in between. The new facilities will allow the school not just to expand the space, but also to integrate them into one location. The OTR location also includes a new loading dock and freight elevator.

The renovation cost $13.1 million to transform the two adjacent buildings on 12 th and Jackson Streets into an art school functioning to contemporary standards. The new facilities allow junior and senior students to maintain their own studios and to integrate current technology with the historic media of art making, such as in printmaking and photography, while still allowing the school to expand enrollment over the coming years.

The Art Academy collaborates with the Urban Sites Properties to assist freshman with housing. "We also encourage students and faculty to use public transportation. We installed showers in the building for students who want to ride their bikes," said Smith. Otherwise, the new Kroger Garage facility will be available for students and faculty to park on weekends and week nights, when the Kroger employees do not use them.

"When people asked me why we are moving to Over-the-Rhine, I tell them, `Over-the-Rhine is a growing art s district where we hope we could benefit and give back to the community. The fact that there are the Music Hall, the Ensemble Theatre, many design companies on Main Street, SCPA, and art activities in Over-the-Rhine stimulate s creativity. It's also the character that we're after. Our new facilities have plenty of natural light that every artist need s,'" Smith said.

When asked about the future of the old facilities, which are significant historic buildings in Cincinnati, Smith said that they will return the Eden Park Building to the Cincinnati Art Museum by the end of the month by giving up ninety years on its no-cost lease and will turn the Mt. Adams Building over to the developers who purchased it on the same timetable.

The Present

I feel like a child waiting for her birthday present, when I know exactly that My God knows me better than I do. I still didn't get my Carmen poster and KR is quiting her job from the opera and moved to Clifton. I am glad that I don't have to redo the study I have been staring at for the last month. I am so very tired tonight. I need a vacation, really. I am glad JP removed some monkeys on the back of my shoulder. I love her, she's very nice and full of energy. I ended up going to a gay bar tonight with RM and ST only to find myself praying for forgiveness for everyone including me, they all need forgiveness as much as I do. It felt like de javu, cause I knew I had the same feeling when hoping to RC on main street awhile ago with MJB and DDL. I loved the Cheeseheads, they're the best volunteers, I promise I would take pictures of the dollhouse and send it to HL and KR, both of them had talked to me a couple of times. They made me missed high school, but believe me, I am very happy that I am not in high school anymore. I missed RH, I brought her lunch today, she is definitely gonna regret that she missed my eggplant! I am still waiting, God. If there's anything you want to say to me, and if there's anything I need to say to you, please let me know. I am waiting for PW to come back, I need to talk, but I guess he's asleep cause it's five am in Paris. I am just rambling through my thoughts and I don't know why I am always thinking. Every second. Like everything will explode if I don't talk or write. Why is that? We only use ten percent of our brain capacity and yet, we can't handle the way it is thinking sometimes. Right now, I am thinking about how OTRFoundation didn't do a good job in communicating and engaging everyone in OTR to work together to make the SundayMarketsOnMain a success, last week, they had a marching band, but only ten audience came, well, twelve, if you count me on my fire place and my neighbor on his balcony. It would make so much a difference if they engage every entity to contribute to the event so that everyone will have ownership to the events and they would participate. If not, then, there you go, only ten people participated. I talked with RM about this, and he agreed with me. We always agreed on so many things, it's weird, and it almost scared me. There is this very strange, but true, that happened this morning that I want to remember all my life. God, I think, has been talking with me about how I should, first, believe, before I even asked anything to Him. This is not the first time I had this kind of experience. So, last night, I slept on my couch, hoping that I would woke up early (3:00am) to finish my article that I should send to GS this morning for him to review before he's going to vacation. I thought to myself I won't finish this article today, it seems impossible since I haven't found any lead. Then I thought of something I read but I can't remember where, that said,"If you don't believe it's possible, then it's not gonna happen," Then I started to think differently. I started to think that I will finish this article before I go to work (which is 7:30 officially, count the gym and the shower and all good walk in downtown). And you know, what, I finished the article at 6:59am. I went ahead and sent my article to GS although I haven't heard anything from him. I would call him tomorrow to see if he got it. So, you have to believe on what you asked, or else, you'll never going to get it. I guess it's all relate with the power of dream. When you're dreaming, you have this expectation that you don't know if you could achieve it or not. Like I always dreamt of flying, not in an airplane, but flying like superman or a bird or an angel. And I always dreaming that when I die I would become an angel and help people. What a naive dream...Anyway, dream is important to me and I think part of the pleasure to be a human being is the ability to imagine, and to think and to use our brain in its best potential. And talking about dreams, there is one thing we can achieve if we have dreams: goals. A goal is a dream with a deadline, one wisdom said. I guess that's true. And my goal now is getting enough sleep, which I don't seem to have the desire to, eventhough my body seems to know that I needed. May be the SmookingLoonCarbenet made me hyper, ah, no, it was not that much. Anyway, I am sorry for my rambling, it's not for you to comment to, really, that's not really the point of this blog, although you're welcome to, but I just thought if I could combine sentences without splitting it into paragraphs, it would make it harder for you to read it and you won't be able to catch my ramblings at all. Cause, I just love the way this blogger thingie looks and it's stimulate my fingers and brain whenever I see it evolved...good night...