Utopia

Two things:

1.  I'm writing this from the inside of my crumbling modernist apartment building.  Perfectly rectangular.  Relatively soulless.  And very tough to grow plants in.  But still, somehow I remain fond of the place and continue to live here.  I think on some level, its modernism's connection to the creation of all-encompassing utopias that keeps me here in Longfellow.  

This building, in its decaying international style glory, surrounds me in an envelope of nostalgia for.... modernism.  I never thought I'd say that - but - I miss those periods of history that were shaped by some sense of moving into a new direction.  However, alienating and failure bound that direction may have been.  

It was the search for Utopia.  Or someplace very much like it.

2.  Next week I am kicking off my first new series of images by making a pilgrimage to a literal utopia:  the city of Utopia, Queens, New York. 

A city with this namesake can only be the perfect place for me to travel.  

After all:

Any map without Utopia on it isn't worth looking at. 

-Yoko Ono