Internship: Day 4

Today has been one heck of a day! Started out this morning by unknowingly dropping my sweater in the crosswalk of 2nd Street and Boulder, needless to say no one felt the need to mention it until I traveled a block further to INCOG when a random lady drove by yelling at me that I had dropped my sweater. I'm pretty sure it had been ran over a couple times, wow...

Once safely inside INCOG I decided to scan the antique newspapers which had been loaned to me several weeks ago. I have been searching for a few weeks for a large enough scanner, so I wouldn't have to scan them in sections and paste them together in Photoshop. I had gotten approval from Kurt, in mapping, to use the large scanner at INCOG. He was not at work today and I had to solicit help from other employees in the area on instructions. After a little trial and error I thought it would be smooth sailing. Well, 80+ year old newspapers which have been laminated can also consist of large amounts of tape, tape + scanner = no bueno. After about two hours I had scanned half the stack of newspapers, when the scanner decided it needed to have cleaning/maintenance (too much tape). An hour later with the help of yet another employee the scanner was fixed and ready to go. I scanned a few more copies and left the remaining papers which were too large and consisted of too much tape to be scanned at a later date (in a smaller scanner). At least I've wiped out the majority of the stack and will only have to scan about four more papers the difficult way. I owe a lot to the mapping department and I'm sure they hope to avoid me for a few days. Thank you so much!
I had a nice break at lunch meeting with my friend Cayla. We went to Billy's in Downtown, somewhere I will most definitely go again. She surprised me with a late birthday gift, including a frame which will soon be adorning my desk. On the way out of Billy's I, not paying attention, caught my wedge heel on the edge of brick and nearly went down. My near disaster made for quite an entertaining afternoon break and a hilarious mental image of what everyone around me must have seen take place.

On my return from lunch I am studying the new CDGB State Plan for 2012 and also looking over some documents to help me further understand impediments to fair housing. The latter is a task which I will be working on in the next few weeks with INCOG for Tulsa County.

Bristow Area Chamber

Last night I met with Bob Wyatt from the Bristow Area Chamber. Bob and I have crossed paths many times, the most recent being at the Depew Town Board Meeting in early September. This was the meeting at which I presented to the board seeking their support for my professional project. Bob and I since then have spoke over the phone and set up a meeting date to discuss possible avenues for my project and also the chamber. Our meeting was a success in my mind and has me very excited about the possible involvement. We spoke for over an hour discussing my project, family, friendships, and most importantly our communities. The neighborly community we once knew is disappearing from modern life. Bob and I are both interested in what it will take to make our communities thriving, viable, and even friendly in the future. We will soon meet again to discuss more in depth about aspects of community development. I believe this is going to be a great partnership or maybe I should say friendship.

Internship: Day 3

It has been a whirlwind of a day! We started off this morning with a staff meeting in which the Economic Development staff updated on all their projects. From there I traveled to Osage County with Barbara and Easton leaving at around 10 AM. Stop #1 Avant to drop off some paperwork. Stop #2 Barnsdall for discussion of their current water project. Stop #3 lunch at an Asian Buffet. Stop #4 Sperry for documentation of an historic building, the armory, and discussion of its historic qualities. We returned to INCOG around 3:00 PM and I will be leaving at 4:00 PM to meet with the Bristow Area Chamber at 5:00 PM.

Yesterday was an eventful day as well, I formed the majority of my steering committee and was very excited about the amount of interest voiced. Depew superintendent was very excited about the possibilities of the project and even volunteered the high school as a meeting place for the first steering committee meeting. This meeting will take place October 8, 2011, at 8 AM in the high school lobby. I can't wait to meet with the community and see what interesting thoughts might come about. 

Western Oklahoma Roadtrip

Had an excellent Saturday, minus waking up at 4:30 AM. The Tulsa Urban Design Studio traveled to Seiling, OK this morning to collaborate with some OU Norman students to present our studio project from last year, The Northland Plan. We also ended up facilitating part of the morning which was very enjoyable. I myself, interested in small towns, found the day very rewarding. Seiling, although a small town, is an exciting place to be with many interesting qualities and exciting events throughout the year. I was inspired by the community spirit and the large amount of people who dedicated their Saturday morning to community planning. I have great hope that Depew can organize themselves as well and have great community spirit also.

Also to add I convinced my husband, Ryan, to accompany me to the event. I've decided he was as well be an honorary member of the studio since he's good about participating :) We stopped for lunch after the event in Seiling at a local place, The Oklahoma Hills Cafe. If you are ever in or near Seiling or just need something to do on a day off I would highly suggest travelling to Seiling and trying out the menu! The little cafe is exaclty what so many small towns need. Locally owned, clean, great food, excellent prices and a  great wait staff, one of the best places I've ate in a long time. Not only that it was definitely a local gathering place with hardly any parking or booths available for the hour or so we were present. These places are what we should be proud of, so much more personable than chain restaurants and franchises, Hills Cafe is a great asset to Seiling.

Seiling is also located near some new wind energy projects consisting of some gigantic wind mills. Having never seen this type of machinery in person I was astounded at their visual impact!

To finish out our day we traveled to Watonga, OK and checked out Main Street and some other exciting buildings there. I took quite a few pictures and fell in love with the local character. I am smitten with old historical buildings and I couldn't seem to get enough in Watonga.

Finally it was Ryan's turn and we made a stop in Yukon, OK to check out Express Ranches. If you are not familiar with me my husband has cattle and is highly interested in anything to do with cattle. Express Ranches are owned by the creator of Express Personal Services and have quite a beautiful compound in Yukon as well as several other locations across the US. Needless to say their black Angus bulls are quite extravagant as well as their sprawling estate.

Streets for People: Jason Roberts Presentation

OU Institute for Quality Communities has posted Jason Roberts presentation on YouTube. This is a great opportunity for those who were interested in his presentation and unable to attend check it out with the link below
http://youtu.be/JXVQrAhtmjQ

Look up OU Institute for Quality Communities on Facebook to receive your own updates like this
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/OU-Institute-for-Quality-Communities/224349357615876

IQC Media

OU Urban Design Studio headlines on the Institute for Quality Communities web page! The Big Night in Tulsa meant a big night of publicity for the studio. I'm very excited about the studio and our recent activity with the community. Tomorrow four of us are headed to Seiling, Oklahoma, to present the Northland Plan to the community there. The best way to gain experience in my opinion is to jump in head first, this is what we do best at the studio.

Link to IQU media
http://www.ouiqc.org/2011/09/22/iqc-students-help-build-community-at-big-night/

Internship: Day One

Today was the first day of my second internship at INCOG in Tulsa. This summer I interned at INCOG through OSU's TIP administration (Transportation Internship Program), as the name might suggest I interned in the Transportation Department. Through my first time at INCOG I became interested in the Rural Development section, something I previously was unaware of. As you might notice from my professional project I have now directed myself that way with my professional project, and now my second internship with INCOG as well. I am now participating in Americorps Students in Service and will be serving 300 hours in the Community/Economic Development Department of INCOG.

To start the day we had a department meeting on the projects which are currently underway within Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) specifically the Rural Economic Action Program (REAP) Grants. Depew (my pilot community) is currently in the middle of a REAP project for its sewer lagoon and treatment plant. The rest of the day I spent studying CDBG and how it works in the state as well as possible projects and the application process.

I am glad to be back at INCOG and to see the many great friends I made over the summer. This looks to be a promising semester and a great step towards my future.

INCOG's Community & Economic Development website
http://www.incog.org/Community_Economic_Development/commdev_main.html

The Big Night

Last night, September 20th, was The Big Night in Tulsa, Oklahoma. What am I talking about you might ask? Martha Schultz, a planner for the City of Tulsa, arranged what we call The Big Night. A gathering of four communities which border the downtown area; Brady Heights, Country Club Square, Crosbie Heights, & Owen Park, and event which cleverly relates to a classic movie called...you guessed it, The Big Night. The event was held to promote the unification of these neighborhoods as wonderful assets to downtown. Myself and my classmates from the OU Urban Design Studio facilitated the event along with Martha leading community SWOT Analysis. What is SWOT? It is a brainstorming exercise in which community members categorize the areas Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Strengths and weaknesses are considered internal, as in controlled by the community itself or things already present. Opportunities and Threats are considered external as in outside the control of the community and things which are yet to be. I hope that is understandable, if not let me know and I'll try to explain further. All together I would say it was an excellent night in which students got more valuable experience and several communities came together, something which is always noteworthy. I myself worked with the Crosbie Heights group and came to know some great community members, they are passionate about not only their history, but their future as well. I expect to see great things come from this event and will post some of the findings of the nights event as it becomes available.

Link to the movie storyline
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115678/

The Better Block Project

Last week as some of you might know was extremely busy for me and I'm still trying to play catch up on my blogging. I traveled to Norman twice last week which also added to the chaos. On Thursday, the 15th, I attended a lecture presented by the University of Oklahoma Institute for Quality Communities. Jason Roberts talked about his idea of guerrilla planning and the Better Block Project idea he created in his Dallas suburb. This is a great video and explanation of the Better Block Project. If you're from the Tulsa area you might be familiar with Polishing the Pearl, another Roberts event. I am inspired by these ideas and how they could possibly play out in my professional project. I need a catchy slogan...Dazzling Depew...I think not, but it's a start.

http://www.youplusdallas.com/stories/jason-roberts

Bristow Newspaper Article

Newspaper article published September 14, 2011, in Bristow News

Productive Week

As you know a week ago today I presented at the Depew Town Board meeting and all went very well. The town is excited about the possibilities and a member of the board will soon be on my steering committee. Also at this meeting was the Bristow Area Chamber, an organization of our neighboring town which was also interested in helping with my project. I will be meeting with a representative of the Chamber within a week or so. Also as a result of my presentation an article covering the meeting was published mentioning my project and intentions (I am in the process of acquiring this paper).

In other good news I met with the Depew Senior Citizens Center on the 14th of September and made some great friends! I chatted with several people about the town history as we passed around photo tiles (previous post) and heard some great stories. Along with great conversation I also obtained some old newspapers, The Depew Independent, one of which dated back to October of 1910. I found images of several buildings which still exist on mainstreet today! Another meeting with this great group of people is in the making.

Time for class, I will update on the rest of the week soon!

Photo Tiles

I wanted to show what I'm talking about when I refer to photo tiles. These were created by the photo survey I took on August 24th. To document the process I started with the photos and plugged them into a template. These images were printed out and attached to foam board and then vacuum pressed to create a permanent base. Once attached to the board the images were individually cut out, creating the individual photo tiles. The pictures above help document the process and also give a small tour of the Urban Design Studio.

Today is the day!

Well today is the day I will be presenting my professional project to the Depew Town Board.

Excited? Yes! Nervous? Definitely! Glad to get the show on the road? Absolutely!

Tonight I will present my professional project to the board asking for support and commitment. I have been practicing the five minute presentation all day, and am confident in my abilities, yet still a little nervous. I'm hoping to have some support on hand and know at least the support from my family will be there. Tonight is the catalyst, in my mind, of the project. I know people have seen me wandering about town and questioning what I am doing. After tonight people will know who I am and what I'm about and hopefully will be interested in contributing to the project.

To update you on the project, I spent many hours yesterday at the studio creating photo tiles out of my visual survey and now officially have 32 tiles documenting Depew Main Street. I am very excited about them and know they will be a great tool in the future of the project.

I have created and ordered business cards (they would have been extremely useful tonight) which should be here in about a week or so. So for tonight I will be printing temporary cards with all necessary contact information. Hopefully there will be a lot of contacting.

Wednesday, the 14th of September, I will be meeting with several community members at the Senior Citizens Center for lunch. They have heard about my project and website and are very interested in partaking in the adventure. I look forward to our meeting and sharing all the information I've gained from these individuals! Until then...

September 11, 2011...ten years later

It was hard to imagine what the world would be like ten years from September 11th 2001, yet somehow here we are, at least most of us. As I drove into the studio today I heard many patriotic songs, people recalling the day, and remembering those who were lost. As a measly little 13 year-old 8th grader I don't know if I truly was able to grasp the true consequences of that day ten years ago. As time has progressed and we've seen the world change all I can hope for is something better. Things are changing, maybe for the better, but sometimes I find it hard to believe so. We are losing soldiers daily, our friends, neighbors, family, for what? I challenge you to examine what it means to be American, be proud of our history and our future, support the ones battling overseas, but also pray (or whatever it might be that you do) to bring them home, safe and sound. Although this might seem a ramble and maybe not so related to my professional project or internship I can see many ways in which it is. One large ingredient in a quality community is the strength and character of the citizens who live there, people are what this world revolves around. Without those risking their lives on a daily basis, fighting for our freedom, the idea of a community might not even exist. We might not be able to sit and analyze, decide for ourselves what we want our communities to be like, it might have been decided for us. I support my troops and send love to their families. Thank you for fighting for me, for giving me this life I love and giving me the freedom to become what I chose in life. God bless America we will never forget 9-11-01

Maintaining & Adapting?

Some of you might wonder the meaning of my blog title, Maintaining & Adapting. As I thought of what to title this ever encompassing blog I wanted to consider my professional project, internship, and myself. What better way to describe my final year at the Urban Design Studio. Survival in itself depends on adaptivity, in order to maintain consistency in life. As I look at myself I realize I've maintained many core qualities, morals, values, etc. but at the same time life is a constant adaptation. In the past year I've adapted into a graduate student, wife, teacher, aunt, intern, and much more. Soon I will become a graduate and merge into the world of a real job and once again adaptation will become a necessity. The title also lends to my professional project, Maintaining Small Town Character through Adaptive Rural Communities, and the importance once again of adaptations.

Survival of the Fittest anyone? We shall see how the semester progresses...