http://fourstory.org/features/ en shivie@fourstory.org Copyright 2010 2010-03-20T13:00:18-08:00 http://fourstory.org/features/story/in-pursuit-of-happiness/ http://fourstory.org/features/story/in-pursuit-of-happiness/#When:13:00:18Z When I was 20 I remember calling my mother to tell her I was divorcing my husband. Horrified, she asked me, “What do you want from life?” I replied, “To be happy.” She laughed and said, “Don’t be stupid, nobody’s happy, now, what do you want from life?” She seemed to be telling me that happiness was not something I, or anyone else for that matter, was going to experience. I remember not believing her then and I certainly do not believe her now. It took me some time to come across people I thought were genuinely happy. The first… Housing & Development, The Economy, La Vie Quotidienne 2010-03-20T13:00:18-08:00 http://fourstory.org/features/story/a-pretty-cool-artist-named-juliet/ http://fourstory.org/features/story/a-pretty-cool-artist-named-juliet/#When:13:00:45Z I’ve been doing all sorts of dating lately. Been dating all sorts of chicks. Tall chicks, small chicks, pretty much anyone who is within my age range and is at all interesting to be around. This isn’t a function of desperation; actually it’s the opposite. I’m having a renaissance of sorts, this being the first time in my ten years of adulthood that I’m truly uncommitted to anyone romantically, and I love it. For the first time, I’m truly happy with life. There’s nobody else’s schedule I have to eat to. And if I want to smoke another cigarette, I… Housing & Development, The Economy, La Vie Quotidienne 2010-03-19T13:00:45-08:00 http://fourstory.org/features/story/the-once-and-future-architect/ http://fourstory.org/features/story/the-once-and-future-architect/#When:13:00:45Z The longer we are forced to fight through this economy, the longer unemployed recently-graduated architecture school alumni will go between jobs. Their once fine-honed drafting or modeling skills will erode as they desperately attempt, one futile resume/cover letter combination at a time, to get a job at the current median rate of $39,262. Yet before they are even able to take the first steps toward their career as a designer, they will see more starkly than most how unqualified they are for a position that requires little to no qualifications aside from architecture school itself. Currently the national unemployment rate… Housing & Development, The Economy, The Arts 2010-03-18T13:00:45-08:00 http://fourstory.org/features/story/the-bus-stigma/ http://fourstory.org/features/story/the-bus-stigma/#When:13:00:27Z My first assignment as a Federal Transportation auditor was an examination of excessive customization of transit buses. Manufacturers were complaining that local transportation agencies across the United States were ordering buses that were custom-made for each locality. Manufacturers wanted to prove that this excessive bus customization was expensive and inefficient; instead, the OEMs wanted to have one standardized bus that could be custom-built for each locality order. An example of such costly customization: when Locality A wants a fire extinguisher installed on one side of the bus, and Locality B demands that it be installed on the other. (This, by… Transportation, Government, The Economy 2010-03-17T13:00:27-08:00 http://fourstory.org/features/story/the-booth/ http://fourstory.org/features/story/the-booth/#When:13:00:19Z I was staffing the booth by myself. I had the 11:00 to 1:00 slot. I reeked of onions when I spoke. (I had stopped off at the Sonic Drive-In for a quick burger because I knew I’d get hungry during my watch. WHERE has my discrimination for healthy food gone?) As I greeted my environmental sisters in the booth, they backed away from me just a tiny bit when I opened my mouth. “It’s fine!” they exclaimed when I asked how bad my breath was. Our environmental booth looked pretty good. Our banner was up. There was plenty of literature… Sustainable Living, La Vie Quotidienne 2010-03-16T13:00:19-08:00 http://fourstory.org/features/story/cuba-communism-and-several-long-digressions/ http://fourstory.org/features/story/cuba-communism-and-several-long-digressions/#When:13:00:59Z If you recall our last installment, I was talking about my trip to the Soviet Union in 1988, and how their version of communism hadn’t worked out so well. The glum giant had a few things going for it, but it was not a joyous worker’s paradise by a long shot. They had excuses: World War II had kicked the borscht out of them; they were surrounded by enemies; they were in a crippling weapons race with the US; they were getting their asses handed to them on a kebab in Afghanistan, etc. But, at heart, the Soviet Union… Cuba, Sustainable Living, Justice For All, The Media, The Arts 2010-03-15T13:00:59-08:00 http://fourstory.org/features/story/this-is-exactly-what-happened/ http://fourstory.org/features/story/this-is-exactly-what-happened/#When:13:00:40Z I have accidentally spent sixty percent of my expected paycheck for this freelance gig, even though they put me up and fed me. (Lavo at the Palazzo is traditional Italian beautifully done, while SAMBAsushi’s good fusion food is overshadowed by the weird fact that the sushi chefs aren’t allowed to talk to you even though you’re ordering omakase and sitting at the bar.) My little brother Cakeyboy has cut off my roulette habit of chasing good money after bad for my 33 that never hit, which was very bad for my self-esteem of somehow thinking I’m magic. Plus we were… The Arts 2010-03-12T13:00:40-08:00 http://fourstory.org/features/story/the-smart-panopticopolis/ http://fourstory.org/features/story/the-smart-panopticopolis/#When:13:00:03Z Back in the 18th century, British philosopher Jeremy Bentham took the general design of a military school and developed a type of building he called a Panopticon. Physically, the Panopticon is meant to be a wild-looking space plan for a structure where a single observer will be able to watch hundreds of people without them seeing him or knowing exactly who is being watched at what time. Philosophically, the Panopticon is meant to be both a prison and an exercise in perceived omniscience: those who are prisoners will live in fear that they are constantly being watched by an… Transportation, Justice For All, Government 2010-03-11T13:00:03-08:00 http://fourstory.org/features/story/bridges-of-imagination/ http://fourstory.org/features/story/bridges-of-imagination/#When:13:00:48Z Years ago there was a TV show called My World and Welcome to It. In the show William Windom played a daydreaming cartoonist who utilized his experiences and his imagination to come up with his cartoons for a slick magazine he worked for located in Manhattan. While sitting at a table and staring out the window seems like a pretty a cool job, it’s brutal, I tell you. Sometimes the ideas flow and sometime they don’t. Fortunately, I’m particularly fascinated about the origin of items we use every day. For instance I have these books on my shelf such as… Transportation, Justice For All, Government, The Arts 2010-03-10T13:00:48-08:00 http://fourstory.org/features/story/close-calls/ http://fourstory.org/features/story/close-calls/#When:13:00:57Z I got to thinking about close calls this morning. It happened as I was taking my vitamins. Politics were playing sweetly on the telly. Sunshine was streaming through the sliding glass doors. All was right with the world. I scooped my vitamins out of their little segmented compartment in my plastic daily vitamin holder. (Yes, I am getting old enough to forget whether I’ve taken them or not.) I threw them all into my mouth, turned on the tap and filled my little juice glass half full and gulped in the water and swallowed. Sort of. I swallowed half way… Transportation, La Vie Quotidienne 2010-03-09T13:00:57-08:00