Reply To: State of the Profession

[steve phillips]

Lord! So many of these posts are so esoteric, like so many debates of the subtle nuances or the word “Development”. In this case, if you do not have the sense to use the right word to use to your specific audience, too bad. Ok, if you are addressing an angry mob of tree huggers, the word would denote something else than it would to a depressed, hungry, backwoods group. Furthermore, a developer would probably love the word, development. This is not even Speech 101, it is common sense. (Why debate it?)

The two biggest topics are the run-rampant, self serving academia and our identity crisis. Everybody knows this and it is not news. I am sure that the obvious is cliché so much that most people would rather discuss semantics. The real numbers of under and unemployment of L.As is so high 50%?, here in Florida, it is more like 75%. Would it not be prime time to revive these topics since we are not all working 75 hour weeks? We are perceived as unnecessary and frivolous and so misunderstood (again front page news). Let’s get a grip now! Forget about the DUIs now! (Designing Under the Influence) Let’s be positive in these dark times, it will give us hope. Drastic times call for drastic measures. We can deal with issues like semantic and the “landscape sluts” later.

The two biggest problems are:

1) Our self identity, even in good times, being a landscape architect often does not work. OK so let’s try something else. Time to reinvent ourselves, Completely. Even if we reinvented ourselves in name only, that would be a vast improvement.

2) ASLA. Could be wrong but shouldn’t they be the ones regulating and educating the public AND academia about our field? The ASLA is sick, time to send it to the vet or shoot it.

I suspect that most of us are ragged from beating our heads against the wall, the rest are in their egghead ivory towers debating semantics caught up in being intellectual, to impress others with their concepts and hey it works, they are smart and I am impressed. Unfortunately, most of us are not married to brain surgeons.

Everybody! I appeal to your common sense, channel your energies to the obvious problems. Disillusionment and bitterness or soft and cushy intellectual talk really do no one any good, our problems are in our face and are ugly, let‘s deal with them while there is time.

“If this is your best, it is no good, try doing your worst.” – Mae West