dwelling on the past

a few of the blogs i read were recently abuzz about dwell's revolving editor door. this caught my attention because, when i first discovered dwell i was in the process of going back to school for historical preservation and architecture.

i thought that i had found something i could really believe in with a focus on sustainability, affordability and modern sensibilities. i was very excited. dwell embodied everything that i was imagining for my future. my first issue of dwell was april 2001.
















the first few issues were so great, bursting with new ideas, new materials, and new ways to think about building and architecture. it was all new for ME anyway. they were a total inspiration.

i come from the land (one of the many) of exorbitant real estate. this disheartening fact is one of many reasons i moved away. and ever since i can remember, ever since i didn't even really know how much 100 thousand dollars was, i have maintained that people should be able to buy a house, like the one i grew up in, which was nice but not that fancy: 4 bedrooms, 2 floors, full basement, back and front yard, porch, garage, for 100K (or less). it's just reasonable: people should be able to afford their own home and it should be a pile of slapped together crap.

i did sort of notice as the issues continued to arrive in the mail (i was a dutiful subscriber) that the flavor of the magazine was changing. i didn't really know why, i wondered if it was perhaps not possible to sustain that initial quality long term. i continued to subscribe and to read, but it was never like it was. it gradually became just another design porn mag, and i eventually let my subscription lapse (feb/march 2006). sometimes when i see it at the bookstore, or in the checkout line i still look at it sort of wistfully. wanting it to make me feel what it used to...

which was what? hopeful maybe? is this a lot to ask of a magazine? i suppose.....
the long and the short of it?

i was so excited to hear about the book. founding dwell editor kerrie jacobs has written a book about her cross country search for the perfect $100,000 house. i scooted right over to amazon and ordered it immediately, and am currently eagerly awaiting it's arrival. i love her ideas and her style and her message. i just discovered she has a blog. so i am going to head over there and do some reading.