Caffeinated Gonzo!

A fan of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright long before I moved to Buffalo, the connection that Buffalonian’s feel to Wright architecture is fascinating to me.  I can see why Buffalo has  embraced the architect.  When you see photographs of, or better yet, walk around any of Wright’s building built out here in the east, you can just about feel, touch, and even smell the geology and environment of upstate New York in all of them.

Walking thru FallingWater, although it was built (fittingly I think) in western Pennsylvania, just drips for me in memories of Allegany State Park and exploring streams and cliffs and geology around Rushford Lake nearby in souther tier of New York state.

Many Buffalonian’s are justifiably proud of the Darwin D. Martin house and many other Wright buildings located in Buffalo and nearby.  What a treasure!

The effort to build the Wright Boat House on Buffalo’s long ignored waterfront is an interesting project, now under way.  What is interesting about this project and others being discussed is that they are gaining traction now, so long after Wright’s passing (almost 50 years ago!) and are being touted as a bright spot in Buffalo’s future. Now, I truly admire Wright and have studied his work it as much as any architecture junkie out there, and I will go and see, and admire, and spend my dollars to explore the Boat House as I have the Martin House and FallingWater and others; I promise I will.  But, I have to wonder who will build the next great building for Buffalo, the Buffalo of the year 2007, not 1957?

Personally, I don’t presume to know all the answers or the players.  This is why I find the discussions this very topic on the “All Things Buffalo” blog and others very enlightening.

Support the 100th Anniversary of Buffalo Old Home Week, a “celebration of the American urban ideal” in Buffalo, New York. Events held July 1 – 8, 2007.

Buffaloian’s may find the saga of one man’s recent quest to save a tree from it’s impending bureaucratic doom, alternately fascinating, frustrating, or just plain maddening. Read all about why Buck Quigley is “Stumped” in Artvoice or archived here.

For every tree in my neighborhood that I see standing and still tagged with a FEMA ribbon even after all these months, I say a little prayer for it’s survival, even as my dog, Riley the Lab leaves his own territorial mark upon it. Most of these surviving trees, as odd looking as many of them are to look at, have more leaves on them and life left in them than the crews seemingly charged with determining their fate in the surrounding neighborhoods have so far exhibited in collective brain cells.

Anyone who knows me or any member of my family eventually is likely to realize three things: one that we come from a long line of garage sale / swap meet scroungers, two; we are incurable pack-rats, and three; we all love books, and the more books the better. By all accounts, and surely much to my wife’s mild consternation, I am effected by nearly all of the family’s ancestral traits listed; particularly the book-loving gene.

Those who know me well then would not be surprised to find that the used book sale of the local University of Buffalo chapter of the American Association of University Women is likely to attract my attention. This annual event is a fund raiser for the organization’s scholarship fund is one of the largest and most extensive used book sales I have ever encountered in the western New York area.

This was the second year that I attended the three day sale in Amherst. Last year I spent hours pouring over the tables of books looking for bargains. This year my efforts were a bit more focussed but I still found dozens of treasures to take home. At this event I tend to favor books that cover topics of a political or historical subject matter, however there are literally hundreds of titles by popular authors such as Tom Clancy and Danielle Steel, and Stephen King, if you prefer that sort of thing.

If you like what you see on day one, pick up a handful of your favorites for a buck a piece. On day three return to pick up bagfuls of books at even better prices in preparation for your own Summertime yard / book sale. When you are finished reading all your treasures, check into donating what you can’t fit on your personal bookshelves back to the AAUW’s book sale the following year. Look for the 2008 sale at the end of May. Have fun. Read often.

You know you are from Buffalo if…

You know you are from Amherst if…

and

You know you are from Cheektowaga if…

[Links discovered thanks to the Get Back to Buffalo blog.]

Holy Shit! That is about the only phrase I have been able to come up with that both adequately describes the situation on the ground a week ago tonight as a firefighter while watching trees crumble around our fire trucks and yet accurately reflects the feelings of just about everyone in Buffalo and western New York as we continue to dig out from the debris left by the Columbus Day 2006 snow storm days later.

Who knew as my fellow firefighters received the first alert tones around 5:30pm last Thursday requesting us to respond to our respective fire houses that most of us would not see our homes for 48 to 72 hours after the first alarms?

What seemed like the beginning of a rather routine early October snow storm quickly overwhelmed the citizens of our area. Even by mid-October, many of us, except of course the most practical minded, hadn’t quite given in to the inevitability of cold weather approaching by this point. Frankly we weren’t ready for what hit us. After all, hadn’t we all been outside enjoying clears skies and shirtsleeve weather just a few short days before?

By 6:00pm Friday, slightly more than 24 hours after the first call, my own volunteer fire department (one of several) in Amherst NY had responded to over 200 alarms and received hundreds of direct calls for assistance, information and reassurance from our district’s population. The first 72 hours were nearly as intense. Our department along with mutual aid companies responded to three major house fires in a 24 hour period in our district alone. This is roughly the same number of major fires we see in six months in a typical year.

Less exciting, but with just the same potential for dangers were the scores of calls for checking downed power lines, many of which were on fire. As time progressed our department like all area fire departments would be called out for score after score of CO (carbon monoxide) related alarms and medical emergencies. Of course like in all major snow storms their were the inevitable traffic accidents, vehicles stuck in the snow, and due to the massive power outages, many, many traffic signals out. Throughout the emergency, every major road and most all residential neighborhood street was blocked by fallen trees and other debris which made it difficult and some times impossible to get large fire apparatus and even ambulances through the streets.

Through it all, our volunteer firefighters responded, not unlike hundreds in Amherst and hundreds more throughout western New York, worked hard, long hours with little sleep or rest to do what they were trained to do — help others. Leaving their own homes and concerns behind for days to help others while their families dealt with the power outages and digging out on their own.

My fellow area firefighters – paid and volunteer, along with the members of the police forces, emergency medical services, highway departments, and local utility crews and others whose responsibility it is to respond in times like our recent snow emergency owe many others debt of gratitude. Although are often the first to receive recognition for our efforts in extraordinary times like these, most emergency responders would agree that they are uncomfortable with that recognition. Firefighters are reasonably good at thanking the members of the mutual aid companies that responded to give us rest and assistance (there were many). We do very much appreciate the efforts of the many firefighters who responded from departments all across the region. That being said, we could all probably do a better job recognizing the true heroes in this mess… our families.

We owe or families a great deal in the aftermath of this storm. They carried on, took care of themselves, our homes and us, while we did what we could to take care of others. While we pumped water into houses to put out fires, our families slogged through nasty water in basements to pump water out our own homes. While we checked on the welfare of the elderly and took others to shelters, our families organized to feed the firefighters on duty, and made sure there was always a fresh pot of coffee on.

Even in times of major emergencies, with all the training, planning and adrenaline that emergency responders come to rely on, we couldn’t have done it all without the love, support and understanding of our families and significant others.

While things are beginning to get back to normal in the fire houses and halls, power has only recently been turned on, or is still in need of being restored in many of our homes. Life will soon be back to normal for most of us. It is my hope that my fellow firefighters and emergency responders take a moment as things wind down to reflect on, acknowledge and be thankful for the efforts and contributions during this most recent emergency of the most important people in their lives… their families and other loved ones.

My wife and I are very much looking forward to the upcoming season of Shakespeare in Delaware Park. This year's productions are "Love's Labour's Lost" (June 22 – July 16) and "Twelfth Night" (July 27 – August 20). The plays are to be directed by Saul Elkin and Tom Makar (LLL) and Steve Vaughn (TN).

Each year that we attend, we have become more and more fond of this event.

See you there, Buffalo!