The cats, brothers, never moved to Chicago. We brought them along with us—seven hours in the car in their individual carriers crying piteously—in spite of frequent spritzes with a spray that was supposed to mimic a calming feline scent pheromone. We were very calm—a little drowsy driving, even—but the cats were unrelenting in vocalizing their unhappiness. They were older, accustomed to having access to the yard in Minneapolis, to living in proximity to a compost bin that attracted a steady supply of small rodents, to open windows, and the cool cat hideout under the neighbor’s front porch they accessed through a missing slat in the porch skirting.
Lynette D’Amico considers the power of empty space in urban design
“There is something simultaneously appealing and repellant about having a place for all our stuff.”
THE SCHEME OF SPACES BY LYNETTE D’AMICO: Two scenarios about waiting in an age of instant gratification
THE SCHEME OF SPACES BY LYNETTE D’AMICO: Chicago’s meatpacking legacy, from red meat to dead meat in one minute
THE SCHEME OF SPACES BY LYNETTE D’AMICO: Who among us is living so tight, so close to the divide of missed mortgage payments and Walmart wardrobes?
THE SCHEME OF SPACES BY LYNETTE D’AMICO: The Hebrew word eruv means “mixture” or “joining together,” as in the joining together of public and private space.
THE SCHEME OF SPACES BY LYNETTE D’AMICO: What do you think of when you think of Italian?
THE SCHEME OF SPACES BY LYNETTE D’AMICO: Re-imagining the subtext of the doll
THE SCHEME OF SPACES BY LYNETTE D’AMICO: Walls draw a line, keep us in place, shelter secrets, make good neighbors or incite breakthroughs
THE SCHEME OF SPACES BY LYNETTE D’AMICO: Getting better acquainted with Frank Lloyd Wright
AN ESSAY BY LYNETTE D’AMICO: “The knife was in a leather sheath strapped to his leg. I said that’s quite a box cutter you have there and he said he’d never been to Chicago before and didn’t know what to expect. I’d never been to Chicago before either. Maybe I needed a knife too.”
Paul M Davis