Exploring Concepts of Landscape Architecture: OKLAHOMA: I'm game--I love words

wanderings

I was born in Oakland California. I grew up in North Central Washington, in the eastern foothills of the Cascades and on the Columbia River. I graduated from a school of 250 students K-12. I didn't attend college until after I was 30, so I brought to school my experience: garden designer, carpenter, concrete worker, florist, greenhouse manager, perennial expert, shrub and tree salesman, bus driver, truck driver, apartment manager and maintenance man. Frequently I worked 3+ jobs a day during my go-get-'em-like-your-killin' -snakes years. So I was well prepared for the vigor's of the University and the initiation rituals of the Architecture department. I graduated from the College of Architecture with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design and a minor in Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Environment. College has allowed me to bundle my many paths into a single and wide corridor. I started my Master of Landscape Architecture program at the University of Oklahoma in the fall of 2006.

bearings

Knowing where I've been is the easy part. Knowing where I come from and where I am going is the challenge. I moved into a little rent house out in the country about 15 miles south of Norman Oklahoma. During my first winter in Oklahoma, I dabbled in some genealogy. I found two great-grandfathers and their families buried within a few miles of my new home. It was not just serendipity that my internal way-finder connected and centered me in the place of my forefathers. I have a deep connection with this place.

compass

The spirit of place. Present and past human connections influence our lives. Community, family and place are part of our soul. Regional identity is both cultural and physical. The spirit of place is what nourishes our beginings and tethers our world view. It is also that soul and bond that embraces our community. Technology has allowed us to disregard the environmental aspects of place. The media wants us to believe we are a global society and that our world is getting smaller. Our world gets smaller when we exchange our spirit of place for anothers. The spirit of place must be unearthed again to regain the comfort of belonging.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

I'm game--I love words

I love words, and what better words than landscape words?

NPR writes: Writers Preserve American Landscape Words

Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape

by Barry Lopez (Editor), Debra Gwartney (Editor)

I'm going to add it to my wish list. Of course my wish list is huge, but this book will be up there.

Exploring Concepts of Landscape Architecture: OKLAHOMA

Jord Wilson

DAYS TILL GRADUATION

wanderings

bearings

compass

BLOG ARCHIVE

OU

OKLAHOMA

PROFESSIONAL

ECOREGIONS

PLANTS

RIPARIAN

SOILS

PRODUCTS

PHOTOGRAPHY

PLACES

GIS

MY TOWN GOV.

SUNDRY

LEARNING FROM OTHER PARKS

book wish list

blogline

OK LAs

I love World Fairs

Film

Books

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

I'm game--I love words

I love words, and what better words than landscape words?

NPR writes: Writers Preserve American Landscape Words

Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape