THIS PLACE MATTERS

Recently administration at UNCG has started to discuss the fate of the Quad located in the center of campus. Seven historic buildings are at the point where the decision must be made to build anew or renovate. For those of us who study Historic Preservation, there is no question that the option to renovate and save these historic buildings is the only way. Over the past 10 days, Chancellor Brady has held a Forum as well as an open Board of Trustees meeting. During the first meeting it was clear that preservationists were in the large majority. The second meeting however was stacked with undergraduates who work for Residence Life. (Now I wonder who asked them to come? Hmmm....) It was pretty obvious that they were asked to attend the meeting based on their complete ignorance to the issue at hand. Where were their concerns during the first meeting? No where - they could have cared less. If the decision is made to save the Quad, those who spoke out against it will likely only acknowledge the issue in passing because they were never truly invested in it to begin with. I don't yet know if the decision will be made to keep or demolish the Quad, but I hope that the Board of Trustees listened to what we had to say. 

In a high-tech world where our classes, friends, conversations and relationships can take place over the internet, we truly need our historic buildings to provide us with a tangible connection to our past. I can only hope that Chancellor Brady and the Board of Trustees understand the importance of the Quad in the built landscape of UNCG. It is in their hands now to either save history or destroy it. 

Below are some photos taken of a good number of us on the Quad (minus Sarah who was a huge part of this but unable to attend). The slogan "This Place Matters" is from the National Trust Campaign of the same name which has encouraged readers to take a photo of themselves in front of a historic building and declare to the world that "THIS PLACE MATTERS!"

I'm ENGAGED!

Yippppppeeeeeee! Shawn proposed to me underneath the Middleton Oak tree in Charleston SC! It was amazing and I love him!!! :) Here are some photos! 

Giving in to Temptation

I'm a sucker for anything eclectic or vintage. If it has ruffles or peacock feathers on it -  I want it. It really is quite the obsession, but I've managed to keep myself in check. I shop at Ross, or Target, and I can do sale %s in my head better than anyone else. Usually my connoisseurship of all things cheap, keeps me guilt free in the shopping department. 

Until now. 

Greensboro has recently introduced an Anthropologie store to the consuming masses. Ha! Who did they think they were fooling?? I went to visit it, but I was never going to fall for those overpriced tank tops, fancy furniture, duvets to-die-for and ... OMG that's the cutest dress I've ever seen. 

So that's pretty much how things went. I decided to be good and walk away though - really I did! ... but 2 hours later when I realized that the tax return I had forgotten about was direct-deposited into my checking account ... I pretty much decided it was a sign that the dress and I were destined to be together. 

Although I will admit the internet picture does it NO justice, this dress is really fabulous and just feels like ME! I've vowed to not buy another one until my and Shawn's 3 year anniversary next August ... so until then, my new dress and I will enjoy many adventures like Charleston, my birthday and 4th of July. Yeehee!  

Charleston Hopes

So the Spring Semester is quickly underway and classes actually seem slightly more manageable than last Fall (knock on wood). I will be going with my Architectural Conservation class to Virginia and then Pittsburg in April to see Monticello (I think?) and then Falling Water! Although I'm not a huge fan of the modernist movement, Frank Llyod Wright (architect of Falling Water), is a legend and I'm thrilled to be able to see one of his masterpieces (despite the structural issues that I've heard it's now facing!). Here is a photo of it:

Shawn and I will be heading to Charleston in the mean time, just for a few days though, to renew our spirits and have a little getaway over Spring Break! It should be fun, we're staying at the Inn at Middleton Plantation, which is on National Geographic's Places to Stay list! Below is a photo of the Battery in Charleston, SC. 

Inn at Middleton Place (What our room looks like!) 

It should be a fabulous time, I can't wait, only a month to go until our trip!

I've also been looking into an internship in Charleston at the Historic Charleston Foundation, and if that doesn't pan out, then perhaps Drayton Hall Plantation. I really think Charleston has some amazing preservation examples that I'd be able to learn a great deal from, but as these are tough economic times NO ONE can afford to pay interns, which means that I have to fork over $2000 of my savings to intern in Charleston. It's somewhat disheartening really, but I don't want to pass up what could be an amazing opportunity. Hopefully the Lord will provide something that will allow such a move to be affordable! :) Below is a picture of Drayton Hall

2008 Year in Review & Charleston Planning!

I thought with the brand new 2009 year quickly getting underway that I would update on all that's happened in 2008, along with new info from the few months I've left out since my last entry in October!

2008 saw:

- my acceptance into graduate school

- graduation Magna Cum Laude from college!

- moving to a new city - Greensboro!

- discovering my favorite restaurant: PF Chang's

- Andy got married

- Beck and Bill got married

- started graduate school at UNCG

- went to Philly and learned a TON!

- had the best birthday ever at Biltmore!

- Shawn and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary in Charlotte

- I worked at both SESAH and PNC conferences

- visited Old Salem for the first time

- Engagements of Mike & Danielle, Dawn & Stephen, Arthur & Hayley, Faye & Ryan

- spent my first Christmas eve/day in three years with Shawn

So with all that excitement, classes for my first semester in grad school ended in early December and I managed to make it out of the semester with all A's!! Excitement! I have three more tough classes starting in the Spring though!

In other fabulous news, Shawn and I booked our trip to Charleston over Spring Break in March! I simply cannot wait! I've never been there, but it has always been somewhere I've wanted to visit! We will be staying at the Inn at Middleton, which is a part of Middleton Plantation. We plan on spending the first day visiting plantations and all of the second day in downtown Charleston, trying fun restaurants and picking up souvenirs. I've made a list of things I want to do while we are in Charleston:

- touch baby sheep

- ride in a carriage

- enjoy mossy oak trees

- see ginormous bridge

- walk on cobblestone streets

- kayak

- use the fireplace in our room

- touch peacock

- Happy Hour!

- Visit Boone, Magnolia, Drayton Hall and Middleton plantations

- Shop on King Street

- Visit the public city market

- walk down rainbow row

- put feet in the water!

- sit on a dock

- try their sweet tea

- find one FABULOUS souvenir

- throw penny/make a wish

- listen to live music

- eat at the "flipped" Crab shack, as seen on TLC "Flip this House"

- wrestle alligators

- milk a cow

- take at least 500 photos

I can't wait to see all that 2009 brings! :) 

October Update

The month of October has truly flown by already. With the Architectural Historians Conference, Preservation North Carolina Conference and a midterm, my plate has been pretty full! Sadly, on October 9th, Shawn's cousin Kelly passed away. Although she's had to struggle in and out of the hospital it still came as a shock to us. 

After the funeral and spending time with family I had to leave New Bern at 3am on Tuesday to catch my flight to Philadelphia, but I'm glad that I was able to attend and be there with everyone. 

Once arriving in Philly, I went to the Sacred Places headquarters and did a few hours of research for my project this semester on adaptive reuse of churches. Afterwards Dr. Tise and I met up and walked what felt like every block of Philadelphia's Center City and surrounding districts looking at various preservation efforts in the area. On Wednesday we behind the scenes at Eastern State Penitentiary (now is in a state of ruin and used as a tourist attraction), as well as Girard College and the new Please Touch Museum. 

What a week ... very long and mostly stressful, but things worked out well and I'm happy to have a little break this coming week. 

Shawn and I are traveling out for a wedding today of one of our friends Andy! Quite exciting! My article was also published this week in Landmarks magazine although I haven't been able to get a copy yet! I'll be sure to update on how things are progressing, I hope all is well with everyone!! :)

Perry

Hopefully good things happen in 2's!

With September flying by, I simply cannot believe that October begins TUESDAY!!! I have quite a busy month ahead of me! 

A tough midterm, finishing my editing on the manuscript, two conferences to attend, two weddings and a trip to Philadelphia for two days! I also have have two projects this semester focusing on the adaptive reuse of historic churches and I'll be conducting two tours in of local Greensboro churches in November!! 

I'm having to manage my time pretty closely to make sure I get all of my readings for class done - not fun!!! I can't wait for Fall Break to finally take a mini-break from all this stuff!!! Although much of it is stressful, I have the opportunity to travel to Philadelphia on October 14th! I have to miss a class (Uggh) but I'll have the chance to meet a few key people in the preservation field up at the Sacred Places office! I'm even going to be doing some research in their clearinghouse! 

At the moment I'm trying the best to finish my paper on the "Radicalism of the American Revolution" - quite interesting, but also a little mind-numbing! haha ... I suppose I should get back to it, I'll update more later! :)

Labor Day Weekend

Believe it or not, Shawn and I spent yet another weekend in Charlotte! Although we didn't plan on it, we managed to get some tickets to the ECU/VTech game so we headed to the Queen city for another adventure! Although traffic put us at the stadium just in time to HEAR the kickoff, it was so nice to be back in the atmosphere of a football game! Not to mention ECU WON!!!!! FABULOUS. Just FABULOUS! :) We made it back to our hotel to be pleasantly surprised by the new Hyatt! Our room was HUGE! After walking a few miles at the South Park Mall we hit up the Village Tavern and then headed home to enjoy the King size bed and relax. Shawn ended up falling asleep while I watched MSNBC and worked on reading through Dr. Elliot's manuscript. 

Ahh yes ... classes officially started in my graduate school career! Although I was worried at first, I'm very interested in my classes this semester!! American Landscapes and Architecture, Colloquium in American History and Historic Preservation Principals and Practice - exciting, right? While my professors managed to be energetic and friendly, they also managed to insist that I buy a good $400 worth of textbooks. Ehhh. 

I also started my Graduate Assistantship which will mean I spend 5 hours a week grading papers, and 10 hours editing Dr. Elliot's manuscript on Albion Tourgee. 600 pages of documents written in the mid-1800s, to be completed by the end of the month. I'm making it through though, and its actually quite interesting! 

I am also completing my short article on First Presbyterian Church that will be published in the October edition of Landmarks magazine! I'm set to meet with FPC's PR department to go over my final draft. - I'll keep everything updated! :)

After our anniversary weekend!

We're back home and relaxing after an eventful weekend in Charlotte! We managed to take a walk downtown when we got to the hotel in the morning which was fun ... aside from all the bums on every park bench. After checking in and grabbing lunch we decided to hit up Discovery Place ( I was under the impression it was like a miniature Smithsonian ... instead a large scale 3rd grade science fair). Of all the people I told I was going to Discovery Place too - NO ONE mentioned it was for elementary school students!!! LOL we had fun though and made the best of it, then hit up the mall and later went out to eat! 

Classes are officially starting tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it (for now)! We'll see how my opinions change throughout the semester! 

Orientations & Charlotte!

As I begin my cram session of orientations here at UNCG I can't help but think that everyone must assume I'm walking around confused on the campus because I'm a new freshman. I wish I could wear a sign saying "NO! I'm NOT a freshman and NO I won't be living in the dorm near you!" 

I've found out after my registration session with Dr. Filene that I am the ONLY Historic Preservation student in the History Department! Everyone else is Museum Studies, and I'll instead be sharing a number of classes with Interior Architecture students - pretty neat! I have my History Graduate Assistant orientation tonight and then regular Grad orientation in the morning, followed by the History Grad orientation tomorrow night, followed by a welcome party at Dr. Barton's house. Wish me luck! 

After a packed week, Shawn and I will be heading to Charlotte for the weekend and staying at the Historic Dunhill Hotel in uptown Charlotte to celebrate our 2 year anniversary!!! How exciting! We're dying to get a break from everyday life and spice things up a bit with a night on the town! :) 

A ton of things will be going on in the next few weeks - I'll keep everything posted! 

Perry McKenzie