The reading of RootShock was really very disturbing. I am not surprised that this could happen I guess, but I am surprised at the same time. It really gives a great deal of perspective on this class and community engagement in general in urban settings. I was just fooling around on pinterest and saw this image and it I thought I would share it. At first glance I thought the skyscraper was on top of all of the houses, which would be a very relevant image for us. But upon closer inspection, its just in front of.

Lancaster Avenue walk and photos

I drive down the street on a somewhat regular basis, but this was the first time I walked down the street with the intent of really absorbing my surroundings. There was so much art, SO MUCH ART. Things that I never realized before, from murals to mosaics planter boxes to stained glass on the iron gate outside of  an auto shop. I came across two really great attempts to engage the community on how they wanted to transform the neighborhood. There was one instillation of sorts of stickers on the window of a storefront with the pre-printed words, I wish this was.... prompting individuals to fill in the blank. There was also a building facade and door with "make the mark" painted on it promoting an open house engaging local residents to come and share their visions of the lancaster neighborhood.

Lancaster Ave Photos

The smart fork and watch

I have been reading the first reading for class about integrating multimedia seamlessly into our reality. I saw this story on good morning america the other day and it made me think of the reading. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2413943,00.asp There is also the smart watch, becuase reaching into your pocket is so 2012.

http://www.facebook.com/imwatch?group_id=0