To the average observer, this just looks like a shallow creek threading through a lightly urbanized area. Nothing special at all. Kind of drab, even. But to the locals, this riverfront image is probably quickly recognizable: the architecture of the buildings, though distant and none too striking, gives it away. Or maybe it’s the bridge
Almost three weeks have come and gone since the tragic crash of American Eagle Flight 5342 with a Blackhawk UH-60 near Ronald Reagan Washington International Airport (DCA), right above the Potomac River, sending the two aircraft and their 67 passengers plunging into the icy water. I visited the George Washington Memorial Parkway, about as close
I’m breaking all of my own rules these days. Averse as I am to including two analysis-free montages in a row, now I’m taking the violations a step further by featuring two consecutive articles that a) offer very timely content (likely to seem irrelevant in a few days) and b) carry heavily political undertones, though
It’s not a rhetorical question, but it’s one that I would have struggled to answer until recently. After all, I’ve spent years exploring some of the dreariest corners of underperforming American retail: one or two dead malls in my hometown of Indianapolis (which has resisted mall decay more than most cities, almost entirely due to
The principle of Occam’s Razor likely applies in design just as often as it would in philosophy, physics, criminology, or military strategy. But that doesn’t mean designers will necessarily abide by it: that is, designers do not always elect for the simplest solution. Popular architectural movements such as Baroque and Art Nouveau deliberately eschewed the
A new day, another update from a very, very recent post. I don’t normally do this, but it’s been a very busy month, so it’s tougher for me to devote the time to five entirely new topics. Barely a week has passed since I covered the travails of old Stumpy, the Yoshino cherry tree at
As spring begins, I’m going to use the changing seasons to pivot toward a recurring theme in my articles: scraggly trees in Washington DC. The first article—which went to print right before the official start of winter 2023—focused on a white mulberry tree (or two) near Washington Monument that depended on braces and scaffolding to
Far be it from me to turn into a crotchety old killjoy who lambastes every pocket park I find, but I already did it once a few years ago, for a tidy but neglected little mini-playground in Alexandria, Virginia. Since a bigger, higher-profile, and splashier (literally) play area stands just a few blocks away, my
The two gnarly white mulberry trees (Morus alba) in the photos below don’t look like much, and they certainly aren’t much aesthetically—at least if one’s aesthetic standard for a tree is something tall and strong and sturdy and proud. Not these guys. The tree in the foreground is a wee bit tilted; it needs a
The battle has been the stuff of legend in South Philly for half a century. Wedged into two triangular blocks formed through an oblique intersection (East Passyunk Avenue, a beloved corridor I have covered many times on this blog) are two of Philadelphia’s most legendary cheesesteak establishments. They’re so close to one another that it
To the average observer, this just looks like a shallow creek threading through a lightly urbanized area. Nothing special at all. Kind of drab, even. But to the locals, this riverfront image is
Almost three weeks have come and gone since the tragic crash of American Eagle Flight 5342 with a Blackhawk UH-60 near Ronald Reagan Washington International Airport (DCA), right above the Potomac River, sending
I’m breaking all of my own rules these days. Averse as I am to including two analysis-free montages in a row, now I’m taking the violations a step further by featuring two consecutive
It’s not a rhetorical question, but it’s one that I would have struggled to answer until recently. After all, I’ve spent years exploring some of the dreariest corners of underperforming American retail: one
The principle of Occam’s Razor likely applies in design just as often as it would in philosophy, physics, criminology, or military strategy. But that doesn’t mean designers will necessarily abide by it: that
A new day, another update from a very, very recent post. I don’t normally do this, but it’s been a very busy month, so it’s tougher for me to devote the time to
As spring begins, I’m going to use the changing seasons to pivot toward a recurring theme in my articles: scraggly trees in Washington DC. The first article—which went to print right before the
Far be it from me to turn into a crotchety old killjoy who lambastes every pocket park I find, but I already did it once a few years ago, for a tidy but
The two gnarly white mulberry trees (Morus alba) in the photos below don’t look like much, and they certainly aren’t much aesthetically—at least if one’s aesthetic standard for a tree is something tall
The battle has been the stuff of legend in South Philly for half a century. Wedged into two triangular blocks formed through an oblique intersection (East Passyunk Avenue, a beloved corridor I have