Cruising Through the Midwest

The joy of these days are in reunions with good friends and vistas from my upbringing in the Midwest.  The first stop after Pittsburgh was Columbus Ohio for a night with Deanna, a good friend I hadn’t seen since she moved from Arlington.

We had slightly less than 24 hours to catch up and barely caught our breath as we talked non-stop while meandering through the Ohio State University campus, viewing a provocative exhibition of works by contemporary artist Cindy Sherman, enjoying dinner with her friend Bernard at Guild House in the Short North Arts District and eating pancake balls (you’ll need to ask me later).  We packed a lot in but most importantly we had an opportunity to renew our friendship.

On the way to the next reunion, I stopped in another Columbus prompted by an article in the Washington Post travel section heralding this “small Indiana city of 45,000 people, known to modernist design geeks the world over for its concentration of buildings.”  I only scratched the surface but it was well worth the detour.  It is also worth reflecting on the role of the Cummins Engine Company in sparking this investment in architecture and in its long-standing commitment to investing in the community – a model that few major corporations seem to follow these days.

Indianapolis was the location for the next reunion with Kent Mitchell, one of my first hires at Pew and one of the true talents I had the privilege to work with during my tenure.  The day was filled with my first experience duck pin bowling, great conversations throughout the evening with Kent and Anastassia and hilarious entertainment by five year old Sadie.  Most importantly, my car now has a name for the journey thanks to Sadie – BLUEBERRY.

Blueberry and I have been enjoying the long flat highways of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois and will soon set off on the next journey tracing my roots.  I’ll leave you with some of those vistas.