Loussac Remodel Update - Atrium Is Gone (Repost*)

Here's Loussac Library (Anchorage's main libray) on May 10, 2016.  They've taken out the whole atrium area.  The geometric metallic grid is, I believe, what held up the ceiling/roof glass.  The whole glassed-in area is now gone.





Below is pretty much the same view on Loussac's opening back in 1986.

Image from 2012 What Do I Know? post

And here's the atrium back on March 23 of this year.  The stairway and the deck with the statue of William Seward are gone.

And today, all the glass is gone.  I think those X's in the top row of windows are the bracing that is sitting out in front now in the top picture (and a couple below.)  It's scary that I only 'think' this,

that I'm not sure.  For all the times I was in there, you'd think I'd be certain.  But I guess I never observed as carefully as I should have.  But it did make enough of an impression that I 'think' that's it.

The top picture was taken from the stairs in the Alaska room to the right of this picture.  But the library wasn't open when I was there tonight, so this is from on top of the grassy slope to where the entrance deck was.

This is looking directly to where the glassed atrium was against the wall there.

Here's a better view of the grid.  It'd make a great playground feature.  I'm wondering if it's going back in as part of the new library or if it's just sitting here until it's taken away.  Based on this picture of what the entrance will look like, it appears this grid is headed for the scrap pile.  I still think it should be a playground jungle gym..

Image from Anchorage Library Foundation

The Alaska Journal of Commerce had a different view of the entrance.  It looks different from the one above.  From what I can tell, the top one was later than the bottom one.

Image from Alaska Journal of Commerce

I wasn't the only one there checking this out and I knew I had to include this next picture, particularly for Michelle.

To put all this in context, here are some excerpts from the 2010 Anchorage Library Master Plan:

"Some upgrades to the Z. J. Loussac building have already been completed and others are underway; however, additional improvements, including the redesign of the Library entrance, are on hold because of the failure of an April ballot proposition that would have partially funded that project." (p. 19)

"Some upgrades to the Z. J. Loussac building have already been completed and others are underway; however, additional improvements, including the redesign of the Library entrance, are on hold because of the failure of an April ballot proposition that would have partially funded that project." (p. 44)

"A concept for redesigning the entrance area exists but has not been implemented due to a lack of funding. A library staff committee produced an excellent report that contained ideas for the revitalization of several of the Loussac Library’s interior spaces. Many components for moving the Loussac Library in the direction of becoming Anchorage’s community living room are available but have not yet been acted upon." (p. 44)

From a September 2015 memo on delays in construction, we do have this estimated opening date.

"Based upon the changed scope-of-work, which has added days and is subject to change again as the project proceeds, the new scheduled opening of the Entry and Upgrades is set for December 31, 2016."

The the Library Foundation website says:

"The Z.J. Loussac renewal began in May 2015 and is scheduled to be finished in early 2017." 

Maybe they can have the opening before every little detail is finished. 

[*Repost - that's a warning to those who subscribe and have already seen this.  Feedburner is being balky again.  As I mentioned in the last post, this seems to be due to Google neglect of this feature (See "Feedburner:  Google's Biggest Screwup") and I have to find a new way to get the RSS feeds to other blogrolls for more consistency and speed.]

How Safe Is Loussac During Construction?

I voted at Loussac Library Wednesday.  Here's the atrium with the original steps removed.  The whole atrium is blocked off.  (From the Alaska Collection silo.)

This next shot shows the wall that's been created to block off the atrium from the inside on the second and third floors.

The library was packed Wednesday, even though it was sunny and nice out.

But there was only one working elevator.  When I was ready to go, the first time the 3rd elevator door opened, it was too full to get in.  (Well, I suspect New Yorkers would have been able to squeeze in, but Alaskans like a little more personal space)  You can see people waiting for the elevator on the right.

There is a big staircase from the second to third floor, except it's in the atrium area that is currently blocked off.  So you can't walk from the second to the third floor.   You have to take the elevator.  And passage ways are much narrower than normal.  With the entrance and checkout on the ground floor, it's disorienting.

While I was waiting for an elevator, I asked a librarian whether there were stairs.  She pointed to the far corner and said there are emergency stairs, but an alarm will go off if you take them.  I pointed out that there weren't any obvious signs leading people to the exit stairs.  "We've mentioned that at staff meetings,"  I was told.

I suspect that the fire marshals assumed there would be two working elevators, but even then, it seems to me that the lack of stairs between the second and third floor is a serious problem.  At the very least, they could open the emergency stairs between those two floors so people who'd rather walk, could do that.  People around me didn't know if there were stairs from the first to the second floor either. (The steps and elevator in the old entrance are obviously - from the top picture - gone now.)


Here's a before and after picture of the steps from February 4 and today.

(Careful readers will note that I said it was a nice sunny day today.  There were clouds and this picture was taken while a cloud blocked the sun.)

Julian Bond In Anchorage

When I heard the news about the death of Julian Bond who'd started the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and been a Georgia state representative among many other things, I thought about the time I got to talk to him when he was here at the University of Alaska Anchorage.  I don't even remember what we chatted about, but it was an honor to have the chance to just be with him.  But then, given my recent experience at my Peace Corps reunion, I began to question my memory - did this really happen? 

Boxes

So I went on line to look up "Julian Bond at UAA."  And there it was - in the UAA Archives.  So I biked over to UAA to see what they actually had.  The first box had a stock pr photo that Bond must have sent in advance.  The second box had negatives of the event in one folder, and negatives with a proof sheet in the second folder. 

So here are some pictures from when he was here.  You can read the mainline obituaries and notices elsewhere - as in this New York Times article.  

   

 

click to enlarge and focus

 For this one I used Photoshop's inverse (under image) function to change it from negative to positive.

All these images are from:

UAA University Relations photographs, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage

There was no more information than than the date 1984 and Julian Bond written on the negative sleeve. 

There were lots and lots of other old photos in the same folders.  You can wander through the collection electronically at http://consortiumlibrary.org/archives/Collections.html

I was experimenting a bit trying to get decent images from the proofs.  I vaguely remembered there was a way to change pictures from negatives to positives in Photoshop and it was pretty easy.  As I mentioned above - just go to Images, then to Inverse. 

 

How Many Of Bin Laden's English Language Books Have You Read?

The Office of the Directory of National Intelligence has a page called Bin Laden's Bookshelf.

"On May 20, 2015, the ODNI released a sizeable tranche of documents recovered during the raid on the compound used to hide Usama bin Ladin. The release, which followed a rigorous interagency review, aligns with the President’s call for increased transparency–consistent with national security prerogatives–and the 2014 Intelligence Authorization Act, which required the ODNI to conduct a review of the documents for release.

The release contains two sections. The first is a list of non-classified, English-language material found in and around the compound. The second is a selection of now-declassified documents.

The Intelligence Community will be reviewing hundreds more documents in the near future for possible declassification and release. An interagency taskforce under the auspices of the White House and with the agreement of the DNI is reviewing all documents which supported disseminated intelligence cables, as well as other relevant material found around the compound. All documents whose publication will not hurt ongoing operations against al-Qa‘ida or their affiliates will be released."

I've highlighted the list of "English Language Books"  but each category has a list on the ODNI website.   I've only read one of the books on the list  and posted about it early on when few people read this blog. 

Here's the list: 

Now Declassified Material (103 items)
Publicly Available U.S. Government Documents (75 items)
English Language Books (39 items)

• The 2030 Spike by Colin Mason
• A Brief Guide to Understanding Islam by I. A. Ibrahim 
• America’s Strategic Blunders by Willard Matthias
• America’s “War on Terrorism” by Michel Chossudovsky
• Al-Qaeda’s Online Media Strategies: From Abu Reuter to Irhabi 007 by Hanna Rogan
• The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast
• The Best Enemy Money Can Buy by Anthony Sutton
• Black Box Voting, Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century by Bev Harris
• Bloodlines of the Illuminati by Fritz Springmeier
• Bounding the Global War on Terror by Jeffrey Record
• Checking Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions by Henry Sokolski and Patrick Clawson
• Christianity and Islam in Spain 756-1031 A.D. by C. R. Haines
• Civil Democratic Islam: Partners, Resources, and Strategies by Cheryl Benard
• Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
• Conspirators’ Hierarchy: The Committee of 300 by John Coleman
• Crossing the Rubicon by Michael Ruppert
• Fortifying Pakistan: The Role of U.S. Internal Security Assistance (only the book’s introduction) by C. Christine Fair and Peter Chalk
• Guerilla Air Defense: Antiaircraft Weapons and Techniques for Guerilla Forces by James Crabtree
• Handbook of International Law by Anthony Aust
• Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance by Noam Chomsky
• Imperial Hubris by Michael Scheuer
• In Pursuit of Allah’s Pleasure by Asim Abdul Maajid, Esaam-ud-Deen and Dr. Naahah Ibrahim
• International Relations Theory and the Asia-Pacific by John Ikenberry and Michael Mastandano
• Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II by William Blum
• Military Intelligence Blunders by John Hughes-Wilson
• Project MKULTRA, the CIA’s program of research in behavioral modification. Joint hearing before the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Human Resources, United States Senate, Ninety-fifth Congress, first session, August 3, 1977. United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Intelligence.
• Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies by Noam Chomsky
• New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11 by David Ray Griffin
• New Political Religions, or Analysis of Modern Terrorism by Barry Cooper
• Obama’s Wars by Bob Woodward
• Oxford History of Modern War by Charles Townsend
• The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy
• Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower by William Blum
• The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly Hall (1928)
• Secrets of the Federal Reserve by Eustace Mullins
• The Taking of America 1-2-3 by Richard Sprague
• Unfinished Business, U.S. Overseas Military Presence in the 21st Century by Michael O’Hanlon
• The U.S. and Vietnam 1787-1941 by Robert Hopkins Miller
• “Website Claims Steve Jackson Games Foretold 9/11,” article posted on ICV2.com (this file contained only a single saved web page)

Material Published by Violent Extremists & Terror Groups (35 items)
Materials Regarding France (19 items)
Media Articles (33 items)
Other Religious Documents (11 items)
Think Tank & Other Studies (40 items)
Software and Technical Manuals (30 items)
Other Miscellaneous Documents (14 items)
Documents Probably Used by Other Compound Residents (10 items)
 

I have to wonder what Bin Laden thought about his access to all this material - that the US was crazy to have this all available, or was there some admiration that a society would allow all this to be read by anyone?  

Rainy Seattle Day

We have had a couple of almost warm sunny days.  (Warm?  In the 50's and comfy sitting in the sun.) And grey days, but the day we decided to go into Seattle to go to the bookstore, today, it was raining. Waiting for the ferry, the windows got so fogged up that we could barely see the cars around us.

Once the engine was back on the windshield cleared, but with a sleeping baby in back, we mostly stayed in the car.

There wasn't too much traffic, and we even found a parking space near the bookstore, with big leafy puddles all around.

The noodle shop we hit up for take out was closed, so we headed down Madison, passed the Seattle public library, and down the hill to catch the 3pm ferry back.

More on the bookstore later.







Meanwhile there's talk of snow.  We'll see:

Updated Friday 5:35 p.m.

"A very busy night around here -- let's start with the snow. We're still rain at times this evening with some mixed snow in Snohomish County, but temperatures will cool later tonight and snow levels will drop. A Snow Advisory is in effect from 9 p.m. Friday through 11 a.m. Saturday for as much as 1-3 inches of snow for King, Snohomish, Island and Skagit Counties plus eastern Clallam County and eastern Kitsap County, with particular emphasis on Snohomish County. Temperatures in the 50s in the morning have plummeted to the 40s and 30s with parts of Snohomish County already had some rain/snow or wet snow Friday afternoon with temperatures in the mid-upper 30s."

It's after 9pm here, but no snow yet.  But it's still raining and colder.  

MENO, ewok, Bisco, and Will - Graffiti Artists At Innovation Lab

I've been posting now and then about graffiti and graffiti artists.  The film Exit Through The Gift Shop gave me some sense of graffiti artists and I've paid more attention to what I see on the streets.  I get curious about who the people are, why they are using public

spaces to put up their messages. 

When I went to the Innovation Lab to meet its director Darla Hane, she told me that graffiti artists were coming.  While I was there they began showing up carrying work.


Arielo Taylor (Bisco)  and ewok were the first two to bring stuff in - their own and others.

Arielo (Bisco) Taylor's spider and wolf

ewok's work

There was some talk about what graffiti actually is.  Is it still graffiti if it's done on wood or canvas and hung on a wall  instead of spray painted on?  What about stencils?  Stickers?  Tags? 


This isn't the first time these artists have had their work displayed indoors like this, but they thought this was probably the biggest collection of graffiti art in Anchorage.

MENO's work

I recognized the name MENO immediately.  I'd seen it around town.  And there was a MENO piece at an Out North event, and I asked if he were around.  But he wasn't.

MENO showed up later at the Innovation Lab. 

And he was ok with me taking a picture.  He doesn't work on public walls since he was arrested and paid a fine of over five thousand dollars.  His signature is very distinct and easy to read.












One of the other artists there was Will.  The eye was inked on paper and then Will cut out all the white areas.  I've seen very good Chinese paper cut art, but this was something else altogether. [Note, font for "Will's Eyes" from fontmeme.]

Here are some of his works there (in addition to the eye).  I immediately assumed the picture in the lower left was a self-portrait and Will confirmed that.


It's clear to me that these guys aren't just guys with spray cans.  They have a real sense of art.  I'd encourage Anchorage folks to drop by the innovation lab at Loussac - 4th floor where audio/visual used to be - while this stuff is up.  And it's for sale.

And try to find Darla and see how you can use or be of use to the lab. 

Maker Space - Fab Labs - Darla Introduces The Innovation Lab At Loussac

I'd heard of Maker Space, but hadn't been to one.  The closest, conceptually, I think, was at Off The Chain and Bikerowave, do it yourself bike repair shops with all the tools you need, most of the parts, and someone telling you how to use them.  But those are aimed pretty much making an existing technology work.

Maker Space, as I understand it, aims at creating things that don't exist yet.  It brings together creative people in a lab space with tools and equipment to make what you can imagine with folks willing to help.  Fab labs I'd never heard of, but Darla, on the video, explains they are MIT related.

Darla's an Americorps volunteer in Anchorage for three months so far, whose job it is to create a maker-like-space at Loussac's old audio/visual room on the fourth floor.








Is this a Maker Space?  Not exactly.  It can't handle some of the tools you'd find in other maker spaces - like blow torches.  And it's not a fab lab.   So what is the Innovation Lab then?

After talking to Darla, I'd say it's an idea that is evolving and that she wants as many folks as possible to help make this a space that will help connect people and ideas that go beyond the mundane.  Given all one can find online, I'd say this space has to take advantage of what you can't do online - have people getting together in person.  It's a great space - the old audio visual room of the library.  And Darla's got a 3-D printer on order.

In the back, there are different projects like this TEDx sign for the Anchorage TEDx day in the Marston Theater at Loussac on March 30.  [29 - noon to 7pm]  [I didn't notice that the Anchorage TEDx page is for 2013.]









When I was there, some local graffiti artists were bringing in work that will be on display in the lab for the next month or two.  I'll do another post on that. 

If you have ideas on how to use the lab, give Darla a call.  The basic requirement is that what you do is open to the public.  And, I assume, priority goes to people promoting the exchange of innovative ideas.

When you're at Loussac, go up to the fourth floor and check out the space.  And say hi to whoever is there and talk to them about how they use the space and what they would like it to be.

Think of this as a piece of social community art that we are all going to create.