January 23, 2013 by shannonchance

Silver Linings of Dublin

I’d never noticed this beautiful weathering panel on the Quay just east of the Four Courts. Lovely, isn’t it?

I’d snuck in one last trip to see the nephews this past weekend while I was back in the States. It was such fun, but I caught a bug that kept me in bed all day Monday. That prevented me from wrapping up my writing in a timely fashion and packing for my return to Dublin. I had to lean on my colleagues for help and then throw my bags together in the wee hours before my flight.

The resulting overweight bag set me back $200. And, I arrived in Dublin sans Irish credit card, bus pass, et cetera. I suppose those documents are at home in some very safe location. Dave has been in bed with the bug today and hasn’t yet located them. I spent the day pulling myself back together.

The sliver lining in this cloud is that a new bankcard is on the way. And on my walk to withdrawal cash I discovered wonderful new delights of Dublin.

Leaving home, the plane flew right over my neighborhood (the gridded one in the foreground).

Leaving Newark, we flew smack over Manhattan. Had I been sitting on the other side, I’d have seen my sister’s apartment in Harlem. (From the runway here, you can see the Chrysler building just off the wing tip and the new Trade Tower on the right hand side.)

I love studying city and land patterns from the sky.

The Dublin airport is shiny and new…

…and it’s well linked to the city by two different bus lines. This one has a stop just four blocks form my apartment.

The parks of Dublin are stunningly green, even in the coldest of weather.

My bank (AIB) recently opened a new brach location on Capel Street…

…the security is so tight that even after you enter, you have to wait in line to go through a double security door. (Wish I’d left my cards here instead of some random safe place at home!)

I discovered a brand new vegan restaurant on Mary Street. It’s been open just two days. The gluten-free foods were tasty.

There was a bassoon player out on Henry Street. Double reeds in this cold weather? Burrr.

I found an alley I’d never passed through before. It led to a place I’d been during Dublin Open House — complete with anther emerald green park.

I captured a view of Dublin’s historic vegetable market before my camera battery gave up the ghost for the day. It must be feeling jet-lagged!

January 20, 2013January 20, 2013 by shannonchance

Learning about Rocks with David

January 18, 2013 by shannonchance

Expedition into a Chance-y Dining Room

Glen, (Jamie), Mark, Marshall, Dave (and Shannon) gathered around the table for dessert.

With the New Year, Dave and I rediscovered our dining room!

As architects, we’re constantly renovating our home. That means it’s usually in no shape to show. And as collector/artists, we tend to fill our space with papers, objects, frames, art and construction supplies, and other materials waiting to be incorporated into some design or other. To be more specific, the dining room in our house has served as Dave’s photographic archive for years. It’s been chock full of framed prints, storage shelves, packing materials, and the like.

Uncovering the room was a challenge and a thrill.

When Dave transferred his photographic archives from our dining room to his downtown studio we knew we had to celebrate.

Two 2012 accomplishments aided our celebration: (1) last fall, Dave installed enough new porch flooring for guests to access the front door, and (2) in July, I had our dining room table re-built (to overcome structural damage that resulted from the tripod-leg design combined with old age).

So although we hadn’t hosted a dinner party in around five years, we decided to give it a go.

The cats were thrilled — they love to meet people and entertain!

We planned a fairly simple meal and invited over some friends who’ve hosted us for dinner more times that I can count: Marshall & Glen McClure and Jamie & Mark Lewis. Together (we six people and four cats), made an expedition into the unknown space. I’m happy to report that we had a blast. Everything turned out well and we look forward to more expeditions into the room next fall….

Shannon assembled hors d’ouvrés….

…Dave cooked up a tasty meal…

…and Dave’s selection for dessert (Liberte yogurt!?!!) was a hit with everyone.

Dave, Glen, and Jamie, clarifying our position on the globe. (Notice Glen’s photos of Mayo, Ireland on the wall behind.)

Lucca (and Pisa, Pescia, and Siena) loved the attention!

January 13, 2013 by shannonchance

Glimpses of Trinity College

Visiting Trinity College’s campus is a highlight of any trip to Dublin. I’ve neglected to show you pictures of this awe-inspiring place. But it’s never too late to make amends….

The main entry to Trinity, as seen at sunset. (Copyright Shannon Chance, 2012.)

Trinity College’s most formal courtyard. (Copyright Shannon Chance, 2012.)

Trinity’s monumental bell tower. (Copyright Shannon Chance, 2012.)

I love the cobblestone paving. It shimmers in the moon light. (Copyright Shannon Chance, 2012.)

Incidentally, you can see more images and read about Trinity at the Sacred Destinations website.

January 13, 2013 by shannonchance

Ode to NYC

A reflection captured by Anthony Henderson that captures some of the essence of NYC. (Downloaded from Anthony Henderson's Facebook page.)

A reflection photographed by Anthony Henderson. It captures the essence of NYC on a rainy day. (Downloaded from Anthony Henderson’s Facebook page.)

I had really, really wanted to make a trip to New York City during my trip to the USA. I won’t get to; my work on the research paper has been slow. That’s due, in part, to a cold that has haunted Dave and me for the past week.

To overcome my sense of loss at not having visited New York in two long years, I occasionally transport myself to The City using images such as the one I’ve posted here. Anthony Henderson, a colleague of Dave’s and mine from architecture school, took it.

I hope you’ll enjoy Mr. Henderson’s dramatic photographic reflection of the Big Apple.

January 12, 2013 by shannonchance

Mapping the Moving Dream

Venetikidis's dream for Dublin. (Image downloaded from http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2012/10/confusing-and-nonsensical-grandeur-dublin-transport/3657/)

Aris Venetikidis’ dream for Dublin transport. (Image downloaded from The Atlantic Cities.)

For an architect/urban theorist/planner like myself, Dublin’s transportation system seems to defy logic. I lack the adjectives to describe it.

But Eric Jaffe depicted the situation effectively in his October 2012 article in The Atlantic Cities.

His piece, titled “The ‘Confusing and Nonsensical Grandeur’ of Dublin Transport,” highlighted solutions posed by Aris Venetikidis, a skilled and clairvoyant graphic designer.

Apparently when Venetikidis arrived in Dublin, he was as perplexed as my sister and I about the lack of a comprehensive transportation network map. It’s a guide we look to in other cities when we want to travel around. We consider it essential.

Venetikidis let this frustration blossom into beauty. Like Colin Broderick, he too created a map of existing routes.

And then Venetikidis took this work a step farther. He researched the history of past proposals. And he designed several new maps. They illustrate how various moves could improve transportation by making the network more coherent.

Jaffe’s article on the topic is worth a read… I thank Fulbrighter Amanda Burnhard for send it my way!

January 12, 2013 by shannonchance

The Magic Lens of Glen McClure

Photo of Glen McClure when he was featured in Insider’s Passport. (Photo by Marshall McClure, downloaded from Insider’s Passport.)

Alt Daily has just published a feature on Glen McClure and his spell binding photography — including images from Ireland, Italy, and Virginia. The feature includes over a dozen photos — just click “next” under the first photo to sequence through the photos and the article about Glen.

As for myself, the most meaningful of the set is the image of “Carl Alston-2100 Colonial Avenue.” That’s because I helped at the shoot where the photo was taken. It was Glen’s first street shoot, a genre in which he has excelled. I was the person who asked Mr. Alston if Glen could take his picture — and thankfully, Mr. Alston said yes. He was carrying a braille newspaper.

Dave and I were also with Glen this past September when he captured “Vortex-Letterkeen Wood-County Mayo Ireland.”

I especially love “Liquid Sky Inch Strand-County Mayo Ireland.” In fact, I purchased a copy of this image for Dave for Christmas a couple of years ago. Today, it’s proudly displayed in our dining room.

There’s also “Achill Island Ireland-ST Pattys Day Parade” that I’ve shown you before. And some treats I haven’t shared before:

“The Joy of Youth-Venice Italy” and

“Silver Strand-County Mayo Ireland” and

“Sheffrey Hills Light-County Mayo Ireland.”

January 10, 2013January 10, 2013 by shannonchance

What to See in Dublin?

St. Patrick’s Cathedral has marvelous exhibits and spectacular Evening Song. (Image from the Cathedral’s website.)

My aunt Kitty Lee is coming to Dublin soon for a visit, along with her friend Patty. They asked:

Are there websites we should check out before we arrive in Dublin for planning our days when you are working or do you have things to suggest? Neither one of us is big on museums. We prefer to see the sights and experience the culture. Obviously we have to visit the Cobblestone Pub with you 🙂. Did you mention some cathedrals in Dublin? We wouldn’t mind visiting/touring one of them.

With their preferences in mind, Dave and I quickly assembled a list of sites I think they should see in Dublin.

The student-led tour at Trinity College (which includes a visit to the old library and the Book of Kells)
Chester Beatty Library (which has some of the oldest fragments of the Bible, among other religious treasures) and its Silk Road Cafe
Dublin’s fabulous theatrical performances (particularly at the beautiful Gaiety, the Olympia, and Brewley’s Cafe Theater)
Evening Song at St. Patrick’s Cathedral
The Queen of Tarts bakery and cafe
The Irish shops on Nassau Street
Walking and shopping on Grafton, O’Connell, and Henry Streets
The Kilmainham Gaol (former jail)
Temple Bar and its Saturday morning outdoor food market

Dublin Castle as seen from the garden of the Chester Beatty Library. (Image from Dublin Attractions.)

We have also found these sites interesting:

Dublin bus tours (you can save money by buying this at the same time as a bus ticket to and from the airport)
St. Patrick’s Cathedral and exhibits
Christchurch Cathedral
Dublin Castle
The Guinness factory
Mummies at St. Michan’s Church
Powerscourt mall and nearby St. George’s Street Arcade

Main Reading Room of the National Archives in Dublin (Image from blog by Librarinista.)

There are many sites in the city I haven’t yet seen. (When I looked through one of my three Dublin guides just before Christmas, I realized that I haven’t seen half of the Dublin sites they list.) I’ve been wanting to visit:

The main reading room of the National Library (people here can help you with researching Irish ancestors)
The Jeanie Johnson tall famine ship
The Lighthouse Cinema
James Joyce sites
The Hugh Lane art gallery

Header from the Jeanie Johnson web site.

January 7, 2013January 29, 2013 by shannonchance

Blog Tips 3: Finding your Blogging Niche

An image downloaded from Blogging Help.

This is the third of a four-part series on blogging. The full set includes:

Blogging can be a daunting task. Fortunately, it’s not too hard to get your self on track to a successful — and rewarding — Fulbright-blogging career. You can lay a strong foundation by considering: what niche your work can fill, what voice you will develop, what look and feel your site will have, and how you can get the most intellectual payback out of your own work. This blog discusses how.

Niche / Topic

Is there some subject you love to tell others about — or a unique perspective you can offer the world? (As your dissertation advisors would have said: is there a hole in the on-line knowledge base that you can help fill?)

If you’re a Fulbright, you likely have a specific area of expertise that you can help others understand!

There is a group of blog-writing Fulbrighters in Ireland this year. We all started by saying we’d describe our year-long experience. That alone is something of a niche… but being event more specific can give a blog more ump. We all sensed that and we each defined some sort of focus: design and photography (for me), language prowess (for Amanda Burnhard), and family growth (for the McDonald family).

An important consideration in defining your niche is that the straightforward diary approach necessitates posting a good deal of personal information (that is, if it is to intrigue a soul). So, when you think about it, you may decided you are more comfortable blogging about the subject you are teaching or studying during your Fulbright.

Know that if you’re teaching as a Fulbright, you’re already practicing the art of explaining ideas to a new audience. Why not break it down a little farther still, and post some intriguing concepts in a way that a general audience can understand?

If you’re researching as a Fulbright, this experience can help you learn to write in more interesting ways.

A cartoon about blogging, posted on the blog Ghost Stories and Haunted Places.

In case you’re still puzzled about how to find your niche, the ETSY Blog Team recommends these simple steps:

Follow your Passion! Write down topics that you would like to talk about, grab a pen and paper and list 20 or so activities and Hobbies that you like {Crafts,Photography,Cooking}.
Narrow down your List! Would you be happy if working on this was your daily job? Do you have any particular skills or knowledge in that field? For Me, Love to write! It makes me happy! So I will write on my blogs for as long as I can.
Access your Competition! As a mom Blogger myself, I can assure you that there are a lot of other “Mom bloggers our there”. That doesn’t get me down, It just make me want to succeed more and more with my blog. It makes me want to be Unique! To Write my own content and in my own way. I advise you to do the same!
Know the Purpose of your blog! Is this your personal blog? Or Business? Are you wanting to make money from your blog? Or do you plan on making money in the future? {Coming soon a post about how to make money blogging}.
Still Don’t have a Niche? Not a problem! I know a lot of successful blogs that write about something different everyday! There is nothing wrong with that! It’s your Blog so make it yours and write about what you are passionate about.

Voice / Tone

It’s important to identify who your audience is likely to be so you can work to engage them. For me, knowing who I am talking “to” helps make the writing more fun. And, as The Blog Maven rightly asserts, “If you sit down to write a post and you leave your personality at the door, you’re selling yourself – and your readers – short.” I completely agree!

Note that your audience may grow and change over time (your blog’s stats feature can help you determine if it’s changing). That’s much of the fun of being a Fulbright. In the past couple months I’ve run into dozens of people — both in Dublin and at home — who have read my blog and want to know more about some topic or other that I introduced on it. As I said before: that helps me know I’m doing my (cultural-exchange) job!

By blogging regularly, adjusting your tone and pace, and determining what you and your audience most enjoy, you’ll find your own blogging voice. Will you, for instance, “speak” slowly and precisely or quickly and casually on your blog?

Tony Teegarden posted the following helpful advice, saying If you want loyal readers:

Stand for something
Provide good, quality content (helpful & useful)
Be unique in your voice (delivery)

Some benefits of a unique voice are:

You attract readers of like mind
You become more engaging
You build more trust with your audience
You have a higher chance of turning readers into customers
You have a lot more fun doing it (enjoy the process)

Look / Format

Once you have determined your tone and favored subject matter, you can chose a blog template to match. Some template are designed for words — others for video, photography, or visual portfolios. This is your opportunity to coordinate the look, feel, and content of your site. I felt lucky to find a weathered looking template in green and blue that reflected the title I’d chosen, Ireland by Chance.

Old fashioned travel diary posted on Bill Sharp’s blog.

Get More Mileage

Clearly, as a Fulbright, you’re an extremely busy person! You’ve got to find ways to get the most mileage possible from your time. I reiterate: You simply must get more out of this task than just meeting CIEE’s expectation that you build a blog.

It’s too good an opportunity to waste!

Please take the time to ask yourself upfront: What do you want to learn?

I wanted to learn about writing for a popular audience. I also wanted to share what I’d be seeing, doing, and thinking with family and friends. I wanted to have a colorful record of my adventures — and perhaps a legacy of sorts.

Other Fulbrigters are at work creating their won legacies. One is using her Irish blog to practice their language skills and another to record her family’s development….

Amanda Burnhard‘s blog is called From Montague to Galway: A Blog about Our Year in Ireland, Studying the Irish Language. It gives her a venue to practice writing in the Irish language. She posts everything in Irish and then, below that, in English.

Amanda’s blogging helps her connect to the people she’s meeting in Galway. It also helps people back home understand her experiences living abroad. But more importantly — in the big scheme of things — Amanda and her husband Jonathan are helping preserve use of Irish language and knowledge of traditional music. Amanda’s blog thus represents a contribution to humanity’s knowledge base about the Irish-speaking parts of Western Ireland. How cool is that?

Leonardo da Vinci "Anatomical drawing of hearts and blood vessels from Quaderni di Anatomia vol 2; folio 3v" http://www.art-prints-on-demand.com/kunst/leonardo_da_vinci/Anatomical_drawing_of-hearts_and_blood_Leonardo_da_Vinci-1.jpg

Leonardo da Vinci’s “Anatomical drawing of hearts and blood vessels from Quaderni di Anatomia vol 2; folio 3v” (Image downloaded from Art Prints on Demand.)

Another interesting thing we can learn from Amanda (the Fulbright) and Jonathan (her husband) is how to use a team approach. Jonathan is active on Facebook and he brings their Fulbright-related experiences to that venue. Amanda has chosen a more reflective working environment. She limits her social media activity to the blog. (Incidentally, Amanda posted a blog about staying at my apartment while I was out of town before Christmas, and an earlier entry that included a photo of Dave and me.)

Scott and Christine MacDonald developed yet another approach. Christine (the spouse of a Fulbright) is the one blogging about their Fulbright experience. Her blog is called A Year in Ireland. Christine’s blog provides a glimpse of what it is like to bring a family along on the Fulbright journey — something Fulbright Ireland encourages and endeavors to support.

In parting, I’d like to note that Leonardo da Vinci made regular practice of journaling. What an incredible legacy he left us in his journals!

So let us proceed boldly in our blogging adventures, my Fulbright friends, in hope that journaling will help us create a better world and inspire others to do the same.

A page from Leonardo DiVinci's journal, downloaded from Ashley Foden's blog http://ashleyfodendesigns.blogspot.com/2011/10/sketchbook-examples.html

A page from Leonardo da Vinci’s journal (downloaded from Ashley Foden’s blog).

January 7, 2013January 7, 2013 by shannonchance

Fulbrights at “Work”

Because I blog about the experiences I’m having much more often than about than the research I’ve been doing, people sometimes ask me if I’ve been getting any work done at all. The answer is, emphatically, YES!

The Fulbright program IS about doing scholarly work. But it’s also about learning. It’s about making the space in our lives to get to know other people and how they do things… to remove ourselves from the ordinary humdrum long enough to learn something that’s radically new to us as Americans, but not new at all in other places.

Fulbright scholars DO have lectures to give, papers to write, and projects to conduct. But in the end, the most valuable part of our experiences overseas rests in the friendships we make and the respect we build for each other’s culture. That, I see, as my primary mission.

This type of cultural give-and-take is evident in the images I brought back from Tanzania — so I’ve decided to share a few here. Most are from the 2005 Fulbright-Hays program I conducted for college students from the US and Tanzania. You can also read about a lecture I gave on the topic of African architecture. I’ll be delivering that lecture again in Belgium this spring….

Kelly Thacker (a student who was studying student affairs in Kansas) learned about urban design by working Tanzanian and US architecture students.

Here, Emmanuel James (from Tanzania) and Lauren Doran (a Virginia Tech landscape architecture student at the time) discuss strategies for city design.