2 weeks/country

buckminster fuller

At Nathan's suggestion, went with Josh to see Buckminster Fuller at the Whitney.

You'd think there'd be more Buckminster influences around today, but I guess not so many people want to live in a math equation.

There was one idea I was enamored with, a climate-control dome Fuller wanted to place over midtown Manhattan:

Why air condition or heat ten-thousand separate structures, when you can just do 'em all at once? Fuller claimed the scheme would pay for itself in less than ten years via increased energy efficiency and the removal of snow-clearing costs. I love the image, it's like a jellyfish plunked down on the city. Except. Besides the subway, how were you supposed to get in and out?

Serpent Mound

The most random thing we saw on the road was a 1,000-year-old earth effigy in southern Ohio. Pulling up to this thing after a steady diet of cornfields is something like encountering an Aztec temple on Queens Boulevard.


The site's exact function isn't known, but intriguingly the coils are bisected by the rising and setting sun and moon at various points of the year.


The most dramatic effect is from the sky, a view unavailable to the ancients. Aliens could have enjoyed it, though.


Several more Indian sites are scattered around in the area, including burial mounds which reflect the amazing trade network of the time (both oceans, North Carolina, Colorado, the Gulf of Mexico).

The burial mound above survived cultivation only because it was in an enclosed barnyard area. It's tantalizing to think of what else is out there, destroyed by farming, hidden by tree cover, lost among the mysteries of Ohio.

pennsylvania/ohio

B&B. Classy.


As a motif, though...


Downtown Cincinnati. Unexpectedly Brutalist.

Wheeling: West Virginia all the way.

Moth caviar for all.


(It was hopeful to see the signs of burgeoning environmental consciousness; just about every rest station had an involved explanation of their flushing policy and how many gallons of water it would save.)

back from ohio