Tag Archives: architecture

POSTCARDS FROM CUBA: behind closed eyelids

This week, instead of asking you to donate to the Postcards from Cuba project, I’m asking you to make a small donation to the Red Cross to support the people affected by the on-going wildfires in Northern Alberta. Our government is matching all donated funds. Text “REDCROSS” to 30333 to automatically donate $5; “REDCROSS” to 45678 to donate $10. Visit MobileGiving or the Red Cross Alberta Fires Emergency Appeal for more information.

26-Fort McMurray

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To discuss another time: should we bother to make art, share art during a crisis? I’ve struggled with the release of this postcard for a couple of days. It’s frivolous, really. Pretty pictures. Why bother?

Because… life is complicated, and we need to find the beautiful amidst the hard.

So, for you: from behind closed eyelids.

& especially for Mark. Who would have seen it another way yet.

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This is what I saw:

25-Vshape Changed

This is what it really looked like:

25-Vshape Original

This is the part of the image that’s permanently carved behind my eyelids when they’re closed:

25-Vshape Close Up

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LANDED here for the first time? Let me catch you up:

Series 1 of Postcards from Cuba is now fully live. Check out the annotated table of contents for a tour, or, if you prefer, hop over to the chronological table of contents.

And if you like what you read/hear/see, please consider expressing your delight by becoming a patron of this project via PayPal:

PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!

You: Why?

Jane: Because you’ve always wanted to be a patron of the arts, and you know that artists can’t pay for groceries with exposure.

You: How much?

Jane: Buy me a cup of coffee, a Cuba Libre, or a Cuban cigar.

You: That’s all?

Jane: My avarice is happy to match your affluence. But I get $1 in royalties for each copy my other self sells of a traditionally published book. It is impossible to disappoint me.

If you would like to make a contribution, but have PayPal issues (I get it), please email me at nothingbythebook at gmail.com, and we’ll work something out.

Thank you!

“Jane”

NothingByTheBook.com / Tweet tweet @NothingBTBook / Instagram NothingByTheBook

25-Banner

 

POSTCARDS FROM CUBA: haunted house

For Cheryl. I thought this kinda looked like your dream house. 

17-Haunted House

There are two audio postcards coming this week, “Safety” and “Matches,” and they both need sponsors! Drop me a line if you’re interested in helping out. Sean Lambert at Aspect Tarot returns to sponsor this week’s images–thank you very much! He takes individual reading bookings by appointment (contact details here) but his speciality is parties, corporate events and fundraisers.

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LANDED here for the first time? Let me catch you up:

Series 1 of Postcards from Cuba is now fully live. Check out the annotated table of contents for a tour, or, if you prefer, hop over to the chronological table of contents.

And if you like what you read/hear/see, please consider expressing your delight by making a contribution:

PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!

You: Why?

Jane: Because you’ve always wanted to be a patron of the arts, and you know that artists can’t pay for groceries with exposure.

You: How much?

Jane: Buy me a cup of coffee, a Cuba Libre, or a Cuban cigar.

You: That’s all?

Jane: My avarice is happy to match your affluence. But I get $1 in royalties for each copy my other self sells of a traditionally published book. It is impossible to disappoint me.

If you would like to make a contribution, but have PayPal issues (I get it), please email me at nothingbythebook at gmail.com, and we’ll work something out.

Thank you!

“Jane”

NothingByTheBook.com / Tweet tweet @NothingBTBook / Instagram NothingByTheBook

17-Haunted House Banner

POSTCARDS FROM CUBA: the ugliest building in havana

8-UgliestBldginHavana

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notes

The Russian Embassy is the ugliest building in Havana. Cinder, who’s got a highly developed sense of architectural aesthetic, is appalled.

Cinder: “Like… they worked really, really, really hard to make it ugly. I mean… could they have made it any uglier?”

We study it for a while.

Jane: “No, I think if that was their goal, they nailed it.”

The second, third and fourth ugliest buildings in Havana are also of Soviet design. But I concede, as a Pole, I may be prejudiced.

No, I take it back.

Social realist architecture was an aesthetic disaster. No caveats.

Also, a practical disaster.

The Spanish-designed villa in which I live in Havana is perfectly designed for Cuba’s climate. It’s built up and on a slope, so when the skies open up, everything drains perfectly off the property. Its high ceilings and thick cement walls—and front and back covered verandahs—help keep the house cool on hot days. Keep heat in on cooler days. The shutters and thick, coloured glass are aesthetically beautiful—and incredibly practical.

The Soviet-designed apartment blocks a block over—a carbon copy, by the way, of the post-World War II apartment blocks my parents grew up in—keep heat in on hot days and leak heat on cold days.

Cinder: “Did they do that on purpose?”

Jane: “No, it was just sheer incompetence.”

Havana is, of course, architecturally stunning. Its decay, its ruined facades as striking as those that are being meticulously renovated for the consumption of the tourists.

I respond to the old and the destroyed.

My children—Cinder especially—respond most intensely to the occasional gem of modern beauty. Generally, though? They suffer.

Cinder: “This is the ugliest city I’ve ever seen.”

Ow-ow-ouch.

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Today’s postcard is sponsored by Tarot By Janine. Thank you very very much!

The second audio Postcard from Cuba, Cuban Math, is coming tomorrow.  If you enjoy the postcard project, you can express your delight and support by  sponsoring a Postcard or  making a donation via PayPal:

PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!

If you’d like to make a contribution but have PayPal issues, email me at nothingbythebook@ gmail.com and we’ll work something out.

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LANDED here for the first time? Let me catch you up:

Series 1 of Postcards from Cuba is now fully live. Check out the annotated table of contents for a tour, or, if you prefer, hop over to the chronological table of contents.

xoxo

“Jane”

NothingByTheBook.com / Tweet tweet @NothingBTBook / Instagram NothingByTheBook