Writing today about my own plan for Arcosanti.
Of course it's Get Your Own Mesa, and how brilliant is that?! Still, I have a plan.
A smidge of context: there was a get-together for local alumns, after Paolo passed away, and Jeff presented some thoughts for moving forward. He offered three alternatives to consider, and the third one was "corporate Arcosanti," and someone in the audience instantly shouted Boo. My plan is for corporate Arcosanti.
But that is two words. My plan is for corporate, but Arcosanti is Arcosanti, and my plan is also for Arcosanti.
Here's what I just realized: even though I'm for corporate, I can't talk about that now, or here.
Here's what I just realized: Arcosanti is not and never will be a corporation. It's a place, run by a foundation, and, for all intents, it always will or, at any rate, should be that.
Here's what I just realized. Yeah, I want to build and run a corporation, but that's none of Arcosanti's concern. It's not anything Arcosanti even knows anything about, certainly beyond whatever I know about it, which, I then have to acknowledge, is not even enough for me to do it. All I can do is talk about it.
However, I am really interested in finance, and I'm interested in Arcosanti's finances, and Arcosanti can't stop me from being interested, even though it's Not My Mesa. So, Arcosanti needs revenues, and it needs them in the form of grants, and it's working to get those grants, but, when writing grants, it's not just about asking for money, it's about providing something to the grant makers. What's in it for them?! Well, I'll tell you what: excitement.
What I would like to do is build the framework for the West Crescent: 6 or 8 giant footings radiating from the center and atop them 6 or 8 super giant vanes, linked together by a few super giant beams. Just installing 1 footing would be REALLY EXCITING. INSTALLING 3 WOULD BE REALLY EXCITING.
If we swarm the site with workers, to a small extent, we can build 3 footings in, let's say, three years. Fast is great, but Arcosanti is slow, and that's great too.
But, to swarm the site with workers a little bit, I would like to work on camping arrangements ... a park of tent sites and Appalachian Trail Shelters, and, far out at the end of the mesa, almost at the ranch, Spacious mostly outdoor showers for Gentlemen and Ladies. I predict a crunch on The Cafe, and so I also propose some kind of outlier kitchen.
By way of closing it just occurred to me to repeat an thought I laid on another group, at another meeting.
It's about teaching workshoppers architectural techniques, that is, drawing.
Nope. Not done.
It dawns on me that I can understand Paolo not taking too much of an interest in everybody's ideas, especially unless they were trained in the professions. Chaos would have ensued, and what Arcosanti always needs is the exact opposite of chaos, someone in charge, making sure the plan was going ahead and that the result was going to be High Art. Whatever proposal is being acted upon can't be based on all sorts of unrelated suggestions, it has to be completely rationalized and then drawn with precision.
It dawns on me that maybe I should have been more brave - if it had ever occurred to me - and shown Paolo drawings. It's possible he wouldn't have been much impressed, but then, I wasn't trying all that hard. I tried a little harder, for a while. Maybe this is amateurish, but I pine for drawings of what we're going to build on Not My Mesa.
