bjoyce: aesop, architecture and apologies

8/7/2019 BJoyce: AESOP, ARCHITECTURE and APOLOGIES

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AESOP'S FABLE

OF

THE HOUSE DOG

ANDTHE WOLFas interpr eted by

In Aesop's very brief Original of THE HOUSE DOG ANDTHE WOLF, the latter encounters a dog with a log tiedaround its neck. THAT is a circumstance beyond myexperience and less than my l iterary desires. So hereis my fict ional and expanded version.

O n the edge of the Woods, wher e it meets the Pasture,a House Dog and a Wolf startled each other one morning upon meeting. Aftermutual sniffings and examinations the Wolf said, " DOG, you are One, Plump,Canine!"

The House Dog's first thoughts were: " . . . mangy . . . scrawny".



The Wolf continued, "And you're t opped off with such a Fine, Long, Thi ck, Coat!WOW!"

"Well , of c ourse. " said the House Dog. " I am fed rather nicely, you know - - andre gular ly - - by my Master and his Family."

" I can SMELL that." said the Wolf. "Why would the Humans treat YOU so well?And all they do is f ire their bo oming guns at Me?"

"Well, I work.” sniffed the House Dog. “I work for my Master. I look after allhis other animals and all of his Pr operty and Possessions and his wife andchildren. I bark at strangers and beggars. I fawn upon all His Family andFriends. In return I 'm scratched and petted and given their luscious tablescraps to eat . And, I 'mtreated as a member ofthe Family."

"Really?"

"Yes." sa id the Hous e

Dog. “You know, If youWORKED, like me, maybeyou would be tr eatedbetter. And youwouldn't be just atarget for the ri fles . . .maybe you would e atbetter and look better,too . Now that I think

of it - - perhaps I couldget you a JOB!"

"Really?"



"We could try. Let 's go to the House a nd see i f my Master will adop t you."

So the House Dog and the Wolf set off for the house. As they passed throu gh

the farmyard the House Dog pointed out the various landmarks - - the barn, thecorral, the duck pond, the chicken coops, " . . . and do you see that post?”said the House Dog. “ That 's where I 'm chained."

"CHAINED?! "

"Yes. I could "run away" or "get lost" or "get stolen." said the House Dog. "Soat ni ght, or when my Master goes to The Tow n, I am a ttached to that LovelyChain."

"Whaaat?! "

The Wolf thought long and har d - - for about half a second - - a nd then spun onpaws and sped for the Woods howling howling howling :

"May no friend of mineever be in such a plight;

for the weight of th at cha inis enough to spoil the appetite ! "

And just in t ime, too . For no sooner did the Wolf re -enter the woods than theBooming of the Gun was heard . . . no doubt, intended for the protection ofThe Master's beloved House Dog.

Moral: Always be sure to cho ose the right breed of Canine .

Read on for the next Art icle: OUR ARCHITECTURAL DARK AGES

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OUR ARCHITECTURAL DARK AGES:

The following scans are from a book in mypossession published in 1979:

Now, I haven't done a thoro ugh ar chitectural survey ofrecent New England architecture but I know that mostAmericans are capable of grasping the s imple concept :"McMansion. " Meanwhile, I a lso know from experience

that most American college grads would not be able todefine the term "berm" or express an understanding of thebasic principles of "home geothermal design" because suchan understanding is in contradiction to the pursuit of aMcLife.



I beli eve that the energysaving architecturaldesigns in these drawings

have been largely if notentirely ignored by NewEngland developers, atcontractors, and arch itects- - you know - -the alleged"Job Maker s". Take notethat the il lustrated style

of Ar chitecture is rather"Space Age" in appearancewhile the typical"McMansion" has that Grandmotherly appeal of which theAmerica n Man i s so fond.

The Capi talis targument saysthat the pursuitof self - inter est

will drive anefficie nt econ omy and yet the ar chitectural /energyproblem, which has been l ingering and languishing sincebefor e 1979 , is jus t one of so many exampl es of howCapi talism only se rves i tself.



In the instance of re cent Ar chitectur e, Capitalism hasnever served that old "Yankee" value of THRIFT. ButCapi talism i s always - - dependably - - in s erv ice to

consumption.Cap ital is tconsumption pr ofitsthat which le ads toeven mor e Capi talis tconsumption . . . onand on. THRIFT - -

the creative use oflimited resources toget the most out ofthem - - is neveracknowledged orrecommended, preferably shunned and whenever possibleclassif ied as "Kooky".

In the past ten years, whenever visit ing a Big Boxhardware store, I 've made it a point to stop at thebo ok section to see what is currently being offere d insupport of, or encouraging of, sola r/geothermalhome design - - - NOTHING. I 've never even been able to

find a bo ok on simple greenhouse additions. Alwaysseems l ike there 's plent y of bo oks on Gazebos ( now,ther e's a b ril liant Capi tali st i nvestment) andswimming pools . Is this the stupid side of the Iro nCurtain, or what?



In 1979 I was (sort of) just entering Homelessness. Inthe five years pre vious, by circumstance of artistpovert y, I had made an inde pendenthobby/study/lifestyleof THRIFT whichincluded EnergyConservation,Materials Recyclingand Organic Home

Gardening.

In those same years Iwas an advocate ofIndividualist icLibe rtarian ism . That

was the post -Nixonera and I be l ieved inthe "Two Party"cliché. I happened to be in a One Part y (D) state so Ireg istere d as a Republican - - i t seemed sooutrageously avante garde at the time - - what amistake!

Let me bear witness as an artist her e: Despitehaving made some limited, on the face of it ,conservative, national press attention at the time,never has a Re publi can, a Libertarian, or



Conservative ever soug ht me out to engage in that"sacr ed practice" called TRADE. I could pro bablycount on my fi ngers and toes the paying customersI 've had in my l ifetime and s ti l l affor d anamputation or two. (Ah, Van Gogh ) .

American Ar chitectureis so usually bad that,as an ar tist, I have tohesitate to depict it . My

ski l ls ar e inhibited.Ther e is very l i tt le ofthis c ivi l ization that isworth depicting. The"Invisible Hand" ofCapi tali sm has done crappy work. It destr oys and

encourages the destruction of the planetary vehicleon which we are traveling. And corresponding to theArchitectural pr oblems I must add that I just don'tbel ieve that every one hundr ed fift y pound T hinkingTerrestrial Animal is entitled to a machine of severalthousand pounds to pick up a bag of potato chips. Ihave this hunch, supported by loads of evidence andsimple shoe sole pedestrian r easoning, that thephysical r ealit y of this universe is not going tosupport i t . Further, if this World were a Car - - - theConservative would blithely dri ve a beat up SH ITBOX .



My care er (as well as the "car eer" of e nergy savingarchitectural des ign) can only conclude thatCapi tali sm, conservati sm - - in fact modern dayAmeri canism - - ( is for dummi es) has no affinit y forindependent creative expr ession which is advocatingcr eative solut ions. "The Gr eatest McCountry in theWorld" cultivates controllable, standard thinking,EMPLOYEES who, i t is pr eferre d, wil l always be - -and always want to be - - institutionalized.

P.S . A version of Architectural Berming, known as"The Dugout" was the pr efere d architectural st yle ofthe first generations of American Prairie Pioneers.

__^Sometimes, I br eak down when the arrangementof unp lanned shap es cap tur es my eye; when the re 'sno corporate advertis ing, and no architectural visualcl iches:

: :



Advertisement: Her e's a link to a much lauded and r ecommended newpaper-produced Watertown

TAB/WickedLocal.co m slides how about my homele ss solar/g eothermal ar chitectural effortsCambridge, Mass: http:/ /uti l .wickedlocal.com/multimedia/brianjoyce/index.html



APOLOGIES:Lastly, let me just apologize if my opinions s tep onyour toes. I know that I 'm steppi ng all over theinter ests of people for whom I car e. But let me onelast afterthought here . The more oursociet y/country/world/etc . becomes instit utionalized,and the mor e those institutions have their inevitableincli nation to combine and conso lidate (Comcas t/NBC,

the satellite radio mo nopoly betrayal) the harder,Harder, HARDER it will ever become to ever sayanything witho ut offending some es tablis hment, itsmembership and my nearby dependent peasants - - andwith ever mor e serious consequences. Wheneverybody works for the same insti tution or

combi nation of in stitut ions , when it 's all taken forgranted that we ALL agree on the objective (e.g.Sports, Education, Fire works) i t gets prett y hard togive the due consideration to LOVE and to also give acrit ique of social c ir cumstances.

So re member, I love you NAKED becauseeverything else is C rap.

Brian Joyce

bjoyce: aesop, architecture and apologies

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