archizackture

Also known as _Shako or ShakoRam, or just Zachary. Historic architectural preservation student and volunteer, ensemble saxophonist, and long-time Minecrafter from Morgan County, West Virginia. Shepherd University of West Virginia, Class of 2022. Find my architecture and landscape photography on Instagram @archizackture.

[archizackture]

This is by far the best Google Street View screwup I’ve seen yet.

https://goo.gl/maps/yNiUPXuGYFVQuYhU7

[archizackture]

First time posting in two years!

The last time I posted here was in Spring 2018. This blog was called urbanplanningandband and was heavily devoted to marching band stuff, though I got a lot more political later on. I was 19 and studying Urban & Regional Planning at Cornell University, a rather dysfunctional adventure that only lasted one year when I had a mild crisis and realized I was on completely the wrong path. It seems like it’s been so long and so much has changed since then, though not much really has. I may be on a completely different (and much better) track, but I’m still doing college marching band!

I’m not sure yet how active I’ll be here from now on, but I think I could get back into blogging here. Will another post of mine get more likes than my old embarrassing “Band Geeks in Boston” post? Whatever happens, it’s nice to come back here, update and clean up my blog, and follow other bloggers anew.

[archizackture]

I want to bring everyone’s attention to this travesty of a comment thread left on a news article (from the Cornell Daily Sun) about a weapons raid near Cornell University earlier this month.

This thread demonstrates perfectly why our gun debates are going nowhere and nothing is being done to protect us from gun violence here in America. The idea that a violent person could cause harm using means other than a gun has somehow become a popular argument that we shouldn’t try to prepare ourselves for an active shooter, and that idea has turned into actual personal harassment against the people who try to keep us safe and aware. The pro-gun crowd is clearly trying to turn the conversation away from sensible action and instead confuse, harass and gaslight anyone who may be a threat to their ability to own any guns they want.

Professor Law teaches religious studies at Cornell University (where I am a freshman, though I have never taken her classes). She deserves many kudos for the effort she puts into making her classroom safer and her students more prepared. Instead, she was personally attacked by this guy, who also left very pro-gun comments elsewhere on the same page.

[archizackture]

The angry react is definitely one of the worse things about Facebook. People use it to express their disagreement or anger about a post or comment, but then there's no actual constructive explanation about why they disagree. It just appears to be random, meaningless, irrational hostility. Pictures can be worth a thousand words, but emojis aren't those pictures.

[archizackture]

You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.

by Anne Lamott, from “Shitty First Drafts,” 1994

[archizackture]

Living in rural America means your Facebook news feed looks like this

[a-high-school-seniors-band-blog]

I may have already told this story but once I offered to polish my bald band directors head to make it extra shiny for the judges while I was polishing my sousaphone for a competition, he didn't think I was funny 😂

Lol 

[archizackture]

When I read the phrase "string quartet" I imagine some guy on a stage playing fast arpeggios on a cello

[archizackture]

Join college band they said

[archizackture]

I can't express my personal disagreement to anything in any online comment thread without some old guy telling me that my generation is "too offended". What the hell does "offended" even mean anymore?!

[archizackture]

When the folks back home accidentally tell you what they think you're doing at college

[archizackture]

Cornell is proud to welcome the Class of Zozi.

[archizackture]

This is what happens when you print sheet music 30 minutes before an audition.

[sharkboxes]

[archizackture]

I submitted my early-decision application to Cornell University on Halloween and then went trick-or-treating. While I was on a side street, a black cat literally crossed my path. A month later, I was accepted to Cornell.

[archizackture]

When you're 90 years old and watch Winnie the Pooh

[archizackture]

I saw this in a parking lot. I'm so happy.

[archizackture]

I just saw a guy wearing a shirt that has a Confederate flag and says, “Fighting terrorism since 1861.” This in West Virginia, the state that left Virginia so it could leave the confederacy. Let’s take a moment to appreciate all the things wrong with this picture. God help our devolving society.