It’s hard to look It’s hard to look away Pictures of happy days – her radiant smile, those eyes that glisten The way she fills any room with her manic presence It’s hard to focus I drift away Memories of happy days – her right answer to every Trivial Pursuit question I try to catch […]
Kapoor v. Kapoor
I’ve read most of the back and forth regarding the newly installed Cloud Column in Houston as compared to the Cloud Gate in Chicago – both sculptures by Sir Anish Kapoor. Some have written that the only difference between the two is that Houston’s is vertical while Chicago’s is horizontal. In fact that is only […]
Texas High Speed Rail
I attended the Public Hearing held on 5 February 2018 at the Woodward Elementary School in Cypress, Texas. The following are my comments. 1. I was surprised that the project was called “Dallas to Houston” for an event in Houston since the train will go back and forth. 2. The preferred route is myopic. […]
Mild Makeover
I was attacked by a bollard. This was not the first time – not sure what they have against me. This one had a pretty sharp edge and tore the side of my front bumper cover as I innocently scraped by – it just stood there silent, as if nothing had happened and bore no […]
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Salt Lake City
I complain a lot about certain companies – here’s a story with a happy ending. On my way to Utah for my nephew’s wedding, I had forgotten my earphones and, for the first time, I bought something from one of those vending machines at the Houston Hobby Airport’s Southwest Airlines terminal – a pair of […]
The War On Reality
I started writing this when Philip Seymour Hoffman died of a self-induced drug overdose early in 2014 – I couldn’t get past the first few sentences and set it aside. A tragic event that made me angry but it wasn’t because I was overwrought by emotion, the words just did not flow. A few months […]
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Glassell School of Art
Design Architect: Steven Holl Architects Executive Architect: Kendall/Heaton Associates General Contractor: McCarthy Building Companies Drone footage courtesy of McCarthy Building Companies
A Three Hour Tour
11 October 2015 Richard Solomons InterContinental Hotels Group Dear Mr. Solomons, Have you ever been to your Holiday Inn in Schaumburg, Illinois? I have and I think you might want to have a look. I’m pretty sure this hotel started out as one of those two story travel lodges next to a major highway, probably […]
From Canaries in a Coal Mine to Elephants in the Room
Some years down the road, when Islam makes peace with Modernity and the recent history of the Middle East in general, and Iran in particular, is written, a few folks will have to reckon with what they have wrought. Soon after the Ayatollahs, the self-proclaimed “verses of God”, began to take over Iran in 1978, […]
9 Cities in 9 Days in 9 Minutes
10 years ago I lived in Spain – my third home after Iran and the USA. My friend Aaron Beasley and I were doing internships in Barcelona. We took a trip through the country plus a “three-hour tour” of Morocco.
the City 