San Francisco’s downtown / SoMA is in the process of architectural change. A number of new buildings have cropped up that look modern and unique from the rest of the cityscape. When they first started being erected, I have to admit that I was resistant to the change. I love the city’s architecture and didn’t like the alteration. But as they’ve developed, I’ve started to appreciate the new buildings.
As a result, I’ve gotten more interested in design and architecture than I was before. And I’ve been particularly interested in hyper-modern design. There are a number of different buildings that show off modern styles. Below are three images of just such buildings. The pictures all come from Global Construction Watch and you can learn more about these buildings from their blog.
What’s inspiring about these is the way that the incorporate modern technology into their design. They’re forward-thinking and yet rooted in what currently motivates our lives. It’s an interesting development in design and one I’m intrigued by.
Question of the Day: What do you think are the hottest new buildings around the world?
[Tags] design, art, architecture, high-tech, building, inspiration [/Tags]
There are so many reasons that I live in San Francisco that I couldn’t possibly count all of them. However, the core reason is that San Francisco is a place where the general attitude is one of laidback open-mindedness. People just let each other be here in a way that you don’t always see everywhere else in the country.
This topic came up at a dinner with friends the other night and one of my friends put an interesting spin on it. The specific part of the conversation was that we were trying to describe the difference between the liberalism of San Francisco and the liberalism of other places in the country. It’s something that’s been talked about a million times before because San Francisco pushes the boundaries of permissiveness.
In coming up with a description for the difference, one of my friends made the following (paraphrased but poignant) remark:
“The spectrum of acceptable attitudes in San Francisco is from ”I shop at the Farmer’s Market sometimes” through “I grow all of my organic food and am completely off the grid”. In contrast, the spectrum of acceptable attitudes in most other liberal cities in the United States runs from “I get all of my food from the Wal-Mart grocery store” through “I shop at the Farmer’s Market sometimes”.
Although this obviously only looks at one aspect of life, it boils down the basic difference between San Francisco and the rest of the nation. We take what is considered highly liberal elsewhere and make that the bottom rung of acceptable behavior here.
And although others may not like that way of life, I find it inspiring. The best thing about San Francisco - better than the unique neighborhoods, the rich history and the beauty of both city and nature - is that San Francisco just lets you be whoever you are. What’s more inspiring than that?
Question of the Day: What’s the most inspiring thing about the city where you live?
[Tags] writing, inspiration, san francisco, liberal, attitudes, way of life, farmers market [/Tags]
One of the things that I do as a writer is to regularly immerse myself in a variety of different projects which are designed to keep me interested and engaged in life. It is only through getting out and active in an array of different experiences that we gain the kind of creative inspiration that really keeps us fresh as writers. One of the projects that I have going on this year is called ‘the neighborhood project’. My goal is to focus on exploring one specific San Francisco neighborhood each month. The neighborhoods here are all so unique and interesting, filled with their own histories and cultures and modern attractions, that it is impossible not to find that there’s something to find in every single part of the city. I find that I benefit from this because it lets me explore a topic in-depth for one month (which is great for a writer/researcher to do) and also because it allows me to really go out in search of experiences and images that I wouldn’t otherwise have found.
February was Chinatown month because Chinese New Year fell in February and that meant that it was the time for the annual Chinese New Year parade. I had been saying that I was going to go to that event every year for as many Februarys as I’ve been in San Francisco and I’d never made it before, usually because it was raining. It poured down rain this year but I went anyway and it was a terrific experience. The streets were packed with entertainers and costumes and firecrackers and merriment and it was definitely something worth seeing.
Some of the other things I explored and experienced in Chinatown last month included:
- Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. I had heard about this place on Ross Alley in Chinatown and wanted to explore it. I was expecting it to be a big factory because I knew that you could tour it to see how fortune cookies are made. However, it’s in a small building in an alley that appears unmarked. It’s just one room with handwritten signs saying that you should leave 50 cents if you wish to take pictures. Indeed, you can see how fortune cookies are made and you can sample them. Neat little place and it reminded me that not every famous things needs to be super historic or super modern; there’s an in-between that’s really what real life is all about.
- The alleys of Chinatown. I go through Chinatown nearly every day but there’s so much of it I’d never explored before. Every little alley has its own shops, its own art, its own architecture. You could spend an entire day wandering around the few blocks that make up Chinatown and stumbling across new things all of the time.
- Amy Tan. I knew that Amy Tan’s books are set in and inspired by the time that she lived in Chinatown. That inspired me to go ahead and start reading her books again, starting with the Joy Luck Club. These aren’t the types of novels I typically read and I was interested in the chance to immerse myself in them. I certainly appreciate them in a different way now that I live in San Francisco than when I first read them before I’d moved here.
Related Links: How Annual Projects Inspire Creativity, The Way That Berkeley Inspires
Question of the Day: What similar projects do you have going on that keep you going when you aren’t otherwise feeling motivated?
[Tags] inspiration, writing, creativity, projects [/Tags]
