'The Monument and the Bungalow'

I have always loved looking at older architecture and thinking about when it was built, why, and by who? I will always stop to look at the black and white blown up photos hung on walls of banks, grocery stores, city halls, and newly renovated buildings. It is interesting to see what has change over the years and what has stayed the same.

I think that the most important point made in this short essay by Pierce Lewis was that “students need to develop and cultivate the habit of using their eyes and asking nonjudgmental questions about familiar, commonplace things.” For myself, the concept of asking nonjudgmental questions really strikes me as important. Being judgmental is like building a ten foot wall that disables a person from seeing anything above and beyond their original judgments. In today’s world where everything is about aesthetics, the old architecture is sadly too often overlooked. One should look at their surroundings with the appreciation of what it meant for the people of that era.

If you truly want to be connected to your community then it is important to look from the foundations and upward, to better grasp the true history of your community.