surrounded by ugly

So, I started writing this post on January 13th, and since then two things have happened.  First, we were hit with a massive snowstorm with high winds, meaning we're left, after hours and hours and hours of shoveling and snow blowing with the absolute beauty of glistening, sparkling immaculate snow.  What that does for the spirit is hard to characterize - suffice to say that as I glance frequently out my home office window at the snow and the papa cardinal who's been visiting the feeder all day, I am cheered and awed by the beauty of it all.

Second, since the furnace at our office chose one of the coldest days of the year to malfunction, I'm working at home today which meant I took a little more time than usual on social networking.  Thanks to a Tweet from Traditional Building, I came across this video series about beauty, why it's important, and what its loss means to us as spiritual beings.  It's an amazing perspective on art, architecture and music and how they impact us on a daily basis.  And it made me realize that, yes, I was right.  Being surrounded by ugly is soul-deadening.  Beauty in all of its forms keeps us alive, keeps our connections to the spiritual, and to other humans, intact and real.

Perhaps my favorite quote from the series is this, building on an original quote of Oscar Wilde, "Put usefulness first and you lose it.  Put beauty first and what you do will be useful forever."  Spot on.  Watch the video series and tell me what you think.

And now, for the original post:

It's been so difficult of late to come up with something fun or interesting to write about. Don't get me wrong, there are many topics upon which I could easily expound; the unfortunate truth is that few of them are design-related. I could go on at length about politics, about leadership, about the terrible tragedy in Tucson, about yoga and mediation, and hey, even about child-rearing and family life. But, that's not what this blog's about.

So I started wondering why I've been so uninspired. I work in an architecture office which, while certainly challenged by this horrible economy, is always working on something - devising solutions

to someone's problems through thoughtful design. And I spend a lot of time researching and writing the monthly newsletter and designing new print and website pieces. The office where I spend most of my work day is light-filled, well-designed and comfortable.

My home, the big old thing, is quite lovely despite it's age-associated high maintenance personality. My back garden, though snow-covered, is quietly beautiful during these cold, cold, winter days. The birds race between the feeders, the dried branches, grasses and foliage and the heated (!) bird bath , reminding me of the vital life force that exists even in extreme Midwestern winter temps. The night sky is brilliant with constellations tossed across its blackness, and the moon in its first quarter offers a bright hint of the light yet to come as she begins to display her lovely lunar effulgence with each passing night.

Buddha meditates, day in and day out, on my deck, heedless of winter's bitter bite; gazing out my kitchen window at this peaceful visage, I am mindful always of life's beauty and of its impermanence. Nothing lasts, not even winter with its cruel isolation.

Despite the beauty in which I walk and that I gratefully see and acknowledge every day, I feel like I am truly surrounded by ugly. All around me, buildings are failing, untended and unloved. Owners who are without the resources to tend to their properties seem to outnumber those who do. Some, it would appear, simply don't care. And it's not just downtown buildings, sitting woefully empty, victims of a depressed economy, it's the neighborhoods - even the venerable old church buildings, the public spaces, the shops - sit despondent on their shabby haunches sliding further and deeper into decay.

It is a truism in design circles that a space well-designed to both function and delight the senses, enhances well-being, productivity and mood. Could the opposite also be true? Is there a connection between bad design and depression? Between decaying infrastructure and sorrow? It's hard to find just the right words for a Google search, and my first attempt turned up all sorts of interesting pages, including one about sex-starved wives (!) but nothing that really touches the issue of the blues that descend when surrounded by something soul-killing (is that too harsh? I don't think so).

One website offered some insights, at least from the perspective of some architects. And there seems to be a lot of time and energy spent on dissertations regarding urban design and well-being, particularly in the UK, Europe and Australia. And this, taken from a scholarly publication suggests that what I'm feeling isn't out of the ordinary:

"Modern society is increasingly aware that humans and culture are components of the natural environment, and that human health is inextricably linked with environmental condition. Therefore, it is useful to explore methods and patterns of human settlement and landscape modification for their potential adverse effects on human as well as environmental health. The fields of landscape ecology and landscape architecture, among others, have generated a rich literature on the environmental consequences of urban land use. By comparison, research and discussion are highly limited on the related issue of human effects."

Aha! That explains why I can't find much online - the web's fantastic, but the study has to be done by someone before it can be published.

So if the place I'm living in doesn't feed my soul and in fact has the opposite effect, can I assume that the architectural and urban surroundings - the gritty, grimy small city feel of everything - is the cause of my lack of inspiration? Can I be THAT hard on my chosen community?

Well, yes, I can.

But I can also take a moment or two to meditate on some simple facts: 1) It's winter, everything looks worse when dressed in frozen, dirty slushy snow/salt/sand. Painted houses look so sad at this time of year but brighten considerably when the spring sun shines once again on their blisters and cracks. 2) Life's pretty tough 'round these parts thanks to a sluggish - no, let me re-phrase that - a treacle-slow economy. Everyone is hoping for better times, better work, better incomes to once again invest in home, hearth and business. 3)Yep, it's up to me. If I don't like what I see, if the platter offered up by this community life is looking mean and meager, perhaps I need to either accept that meanness, or pledge to once again roll up my sleeves and get to work.  Or, just get the heck outta Dodge ~

Hmmmmm . . .