Sacked by the "downturn", an unemployed architect touring the country in a bus...




I used to live in New York City. I designed homes for the tycoons of Wall Street; Park Avenue, Scarsdale, Greenwich. It was great fun. And, after years of saving up for a down payment, I was just about to buy my own little place in Fleetwood, half an hour north of the city, when the economy fell apart. Architects are like canaries in a coal mine when the economy slows, and true to form, there were massive layoffs in firms all over the country. Devastation of the profession. So, I decided to try to find something else to do for a while. I bought a 23' school bus and I'm on the road to see if I can figure out what that might be.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Silver City, New Mexico

Silver City is surprisingly urban.  It's fortunes rise and fall with the nearby copper mines, and it's clearly depressed now, with almost a third of it's store fronts unoccupied.  But it's a brick town, built to last, and it seems it will survive the downturn and rise again when copper is back in demand.  For now, there is a vital Bohemia, with many galleries and lots of twenty somethings on the streets.  The fellow to the right had no idea who Denis Hopper is, but his manner echoed any of a number of Hopper characters, particularly the camera man character in Apocalypse Now.

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2 comments:

  1. monique paturelApril 27, 2010 at 6:09 AM

    Hi Roy,
    Arriving late to your blog party, but I've loved reading your adventures. What an amazing thing you’re doing; crazy and brave and honest too. If I sound a little envious it’s because I am.
    Great photos!
    -- Monique

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  2. Roy PertchikApril 28, 2010 at 9:38 PM

    Hi Monique,

    Nice to see you here. Hope all is well back in MA.
    I got rid of the tent! Thanks for the encouraging words. Here are two greatest hits of Tourtoise:

    http://tourtoise.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-time-at-kamp-katrina.html

    http://tourtoise.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-i-made-17-fulfilled-dream-and-other.html

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