What I learned at SCI-Arc

I got invited to the interestingly titled “Disappearing Cities” event / book reading over at SCI-Arc. I figure this is all I learned:

* Just because a book is titled for a useful concept (Dérive) it still might just be a book of poems written on a long subway ride. Throwing out all the hot theories and topics you can’t discuss because of the 10 minute time contraint (including one that sounded like paraplegic literature) doesn’t make the poems any more bearable.

* Reading an introduction which drops names of sexy thinkers, jumps from one idea to the next, and includes long convoluted quotes to which you will make reference later, isn’t the best way to keep a crowd focused. Especially when it seems you really have nothing to say.

* Norman Klein, reading made up stories about Freud in Coney Island, even with some sort of laryngitis, is still interesting to hear.

* 10 minutes per speaker coupled with no Q&A session afterwards, is a pretty lousy way to invite a discourse. Sounds just like school.

* Despite all the architecture schooling they provide, the best design for a desk/work area a student could dream up was some trashy mix of stolen LA City street signs and barricades (see pic above). It costs a lot of money for fancy kids to learn the practical skills of the destitute. Still, the poor do it better.

* Even though mommy and daddy pay around $50,000 for that illustrious education, students still can’t figure out how to get their hands on a cheap bottle of wine. Talk to luminaries or head for the wine? As in every school, it’s all about the FREE BOOZE!