Today I’m yakking with Kate Wagner, the antic voice behind the marvelous website Welcome to MacMansion Hell, a humorous and opinionated blog that aims to educate the general public about architecture, design, and urbanism by making examples of America’s most despised architectural style. She is currently a master’s student in Acoustics as part of a joint venture program between Johns Hopkins University and Peabody Conservatory. Merry Christmas to all!
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A Christmas Orphan
Ho ho ho! It’s that time of year again. Here’s JHK’s holiday classic: A Christmas Orphan.
11-year-old Jeff Greenaway hears his mom and dad argue one night after an office Christmas party. He infers from their garbled exchange that he is an orphan, found in a willow basket on the welcome mat outside their New York apartment. Thinking now that his parents are imposters, he steals away to Grand Central Station and buys a train ticket to Drakesville, Vermont, where he intends to start life all over again.
World Made By Hand (Fourth and Final)
Amazon Hardcover | Kindle
Autographed Copy Battenkill Books
Northshire Books
New Interview with JHK about The Harrows of Spring
Praise for A History of the Future:
“Kunstler skewers everything from kitsch to greed, prejudice, bloodshed, and brainwashing in this wily, funny, rip-roaring, and profoundly provocative page- turner, leaving no doubt that the prescriptive yet devilishly satiric A World Made by Hand series will continue.” — Booklist
My local indie booksellers… Autographed copies Battenkill Books
Northshire Books
or Amazon
Also: Published as an E-book for the first time!
The 20th Anniversary edition
With an entertaining new introduction by the author
Bargain Price $3.99
Support this blog by visiting Jim’s Patreon Page!
Jim,
the reason for the dual sinks in the master bathroom is partially so women can “put on their face”; but more importantly their sink also serves as a “parking lot” for all the beauty products they use.
Ive lived with a number of women over the years and both the sink and the shower become filled with bottles of their products.
5 different shampoos and conditioners, 5 or 6 different bath gels and soft soaps…
and don’t forget the HAND SANITIZER!
And those flower shaped soaps you ain’t supposed to use.
In addition, all these products taking up counter space also makes it a huge hassle to clean the bathroom.
So….instead of ionic column it is an ironic column.
Excellent podcast with someone who is outside your peer group persuing the same kind of practical, witty, intellectual analysis this country needs! Bravo!
Next on the list is the trend and boom of McHotels. They share a lot of qualities with McMansions in location and design attributes for the sole purpose of ripping people off, providing menial jobs in construction and maintenance for immigrants to fill and allowing cities to triple tax visitors. I am sure Kunstler has a lot of insight into this kind of place since he travels extensively. This topic dovetales nicely with the deminishing returns of technology because of mega traveling websites like travelocity and expedia. It is a visual rep of globalism with all the major actors directly involved including our president elect.
Holy shite James, I really enjoyed your conversation with the young lady who was very well versed and wise in her calling, thank you. Shedding the light on the sham that was the housing boom of yesteryear will certainly have value in the future to keep any of those who are able from buying into the same sham. It was also entertaining as hell! Well done.
It is a shame that you and I will never meet, but you might be glad to know that there are those out here that have not only shared your beliefs, but have been actively living them and waging war against our decaying society to slow down the degradation that such ridiculous crazes such as the McMansion building phase were all about. In 1981 I bought the small home in which I live today, a 24′ x 36′, two level Chalet style cedar home that we heat with a freestanding wood stove without oil, from the deadfall timber (and other found lumber) on the 5 acres piece of land on which it is built.
In 1995 the corrupt mayor of our Township tried to bring in a 700 house development onto a 300 acre lot of farmland so that he could profit from the excavation contract. We banded together, threw the bum out of office, and when I took his place, I was able to stop the development (even though the builder, K. Hovnanian had won a Builder’s Remedy Lawsuit) and was able to purchase the property for $5.4M and turn the land into a park instead. I still fight today on our Township Committee to do the right thing. They say that the only thing that needs be done for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. I hear and respond and I am not alone. There is nothing quite as good as a good fight to bring out the best in us my friend. Keep up your work in this regard and I shall do so as well! Happy new year.
I really enjoyed this conversation. I’m going to defend the dual sinks. Years ago I lived in a modestly-sized apartment that had dual sinks. They were a small luxury but they had a great practical value: two working people who had to leave for work at about the same time could get ready simultaneously. My girlfriend always needed ten minutes with a hair dryer in front of a mirror. I needed a few minutes to shave. With one sink and one place to stand in front of a mirror we’d have been anxiously jockeying for position while watching the clock, and doing this before coffee. So all sexism aside, I think a longer bathroom counter with two sinks is a godsend. Skip the cathedral ceilings, skip the jetted tub, skip the granite countertops, but give me the small luxury of two sinks in the bathroom, and room for two working people to primp simultaneously!
I enjoyed the podcast and talk about housing and neighborhoods. I used to be a big walker as well, and still try to be, but a car is necessary to my life, now, and I’m very happy with it. But I do enjoy being in a neighborhood and have a grocery, library, etc. within walking distance. It’s also a quiet pleasure to stroll through the neighborhood in the afternoon before I go to work.
On the dual faucets. I think they’re excessive, but believe me, women DO load the rim of the sink with their stuff. That’s the fact, Jack. I lived with my mother for several years, and the problem was solved by having separate bathrooms, which just about every house has now. Problem solved.