Noah Mabry

Well I didn’t exactly delve into that so much because I’m at work (not doing LA by the way). But the point of the article I believe is that because of things like oil subsidies the real price of energy is hidden. If the taxes and increased insurance premiums were passed directly through the gas pump rather than spread out in ways that are not…[Read more]

-abolish current farm subsidy policy. replace with incentives for crop diversity and smaller scale agg.

Thanks for this response on the tax issue. And government in general. It might not do things right all the time, but its a hell of a lot better than leaving it all to corporations!

You are absolutely right about the $1.06 vs $1.86. When you cut taxes (especially personal income taxes) on the rich they just put it away because that money is…[Read more]

Andrew, I think you have two separate arguments here. The first one I am in total agreement with. “Green” as a marketing tool is stupid, not to mention meaningless. As Thomas said, it is basically a way for customers to alleviate a guilty conscience. This is especially true in your “e-surance” example. If you recieve your Hummer car insurance bill…[Read more]

Thanks for your always intriguing Terragrams dispatches. I especially appriciate the in-depth nature of the interviews. I think its a great way to encourage discussion on theory, history etc that is often glossed over out of the academic arena.

Keep up the great work!

-Noah

Well I guess that is sort of a different question. I am not a fan at all of 3D rendered trees/plants in photorealistic montages. They look way out of place and distract form the overall usefulness of the image to convey intent. They always look like big plastic trees set in the landscape.

I think there are a few resources online that you could…[Read more]

Hi Jonathan! It really depends on what you’re trying to do exactly and how much you want to spend. For esentially free you can use SketchUp and import some plants. Or for lots of money you can use landFX plug in for AutoCad. Those are probably the two most user friendly options I can think of. It also depends, though, on what your base knowledge…[Read more]

I printed my original portfolio through Lulu. I was very happy with the results and pricing. As I am finishing up my second version I am looking into other options.

I have very strong political views I, and I have a play it by ear attitude on mixing politics and work. This mostly goes for coworkers though. For example I worked in a small architecture office during the 2008 election and the principles had me hang a large Obama poster on the wall. It was the first thing you saw when you walked in. Needless to…[Read more]

Just started blogging a few weeks ago!

Topographically Speaking

I hope to focus on LA as it pertains to social, environmental and economic justice as well as critical thinking in design.

I have a more general question on length and detail. I fall on the side of more pictures with little blurbs. This can make my portfolio a little longer in the strict sense of number of pages, and I don’t want the reader to feel like they’re slogging through something (especially if they have several hundred more to look at).

Opinions?

Tim,

As I have recently been involved in a thread about someone’s folio and saw others popping up, I stopped by to do exactly what you’ve already done with this thread! Great minds I guess.

Anyway I know what you mean about call backs. i do however have a nice pile of rejection letters to keep me company. I suppose thats better than no contact…[Read more]

Like I said before, I’m not really expecting the ASLA to be the only voice to promote the profession. However, I think that an organization that so many LAs pay dues to has some sort of obligation to make an effort at least. I do think it is up to everyone to speak up on their own behalf, but it would be nice to get more benefits from them than a…[Read more]

This is a bit old, but I just found this article and think it might add a little something to this discussion. It’s a small counter to my previous argument about the lack of LA news in the media. However the ASLA doesn’t appear anywhere in it.

boston globe

I’d like to add a definitive “uuuuhhhhh, ok”. I have worked for a both a public planning agency and a planning and architecture firm here in Columbus so I’ve seen both sides of this coin (albeit to a somewhat smaller extent due to my so far short and sputtering career.) I would agree that good design and planning are done by a cooperation between…[Read more]

I’m not saying I expect the ASLA to really do anything to alter the overall economic situation or be the sole driver in publisizing the proffession, or that we have a greater (or lesser) role to play than other fields. All I’m really getting at is that when I see a story on the environmental/ecological impacts of any design, I assume I’m not going…[Read more]

Michele I think your point here is dead on. I read/hear/see a lot of news segments about green and sustainable design and construction. The guests on these shows and segments are almost always architects, sometimes scientists or engineers, but NEVER LAs. It really annoys me that when the opportunity to represent the proffession on issues that fall…[Read more]

I graduated in August with good references and real work experience. After some very promising interviews and discussions with firms last fall everything stopped for me when the bottom fell out of the economy. Many of my talented classmates haven’t found jobs yet either.

I really don’t think this is our fault. That is, that we are not as recent…[Read more]