May 12, 1966. Lady Bird, President Johnson, Max Brooks, W.W. Heath, and Bill Moyers, among others, meet with architect Gordon Bunshaft to see his concept model for the future Presidential Library which will be built on the UT Austin campus.
In his oral history, Bunshaft describes the presentation:
Bunshaft: The President walked in and he said, “Mr. Bunshaft, I only have five minutes.” God, I ran him back and forth between these two things, and he stayed about fifteen minutes. I didn’t ever figure out how he could understand what I was talking about. This is a complex building, if you see it, especially on drawings. I ran him back and forth. That was a Friday. He didn’t say a word [about] whether he liked it or not. He left and Mrs. Johnson said, “Well, we’ll have to do a lot of thinking and talking about this.” Then that was the end of it. Monday the President called up Heath in Texas and said, “I approve the design.”
Mulhollan: From a lengthy fifteen minute briefing.
B: Yes. That floored everybody, because we assumed it would take at least a month. […] Frank [Stanton] had thought that the President might talk of this. He didn’t know about the approval. In fact, I didn’t either Tuesday. And [Johnson] described the building to his wife. After dinner, President Johnson described every damned detail of this building to Mrs. Stanton.
M: And got it right.
B: Got the whole damned thing. Now, how the hell he could have understood it and remembered it from fifteen minutes is beyond me. In fact, the next meeting I had, I talked to one of the secretaries, Juanita Roberts, and I said, “Look, he must have come back and studied that model.” The model was taken away the next morning, but he could have come back that evening. She’s very close, not his secretary, she’s an assistant; she’s not out there, but she’s in Washington—anyhow, swore up and down that the President never went back.
— Transcript, Gordon Bunshaft Oral History Interview I, 6/25/69, by Paige E. Mulhollan, Electronic Copy, LBJ Library.
Fortune Favors the Brave
101 things in 1001 Days
(Source: museumheygirl)
It’s been a long and terrible week, but I can mark “pet” off my list. Poor Harper Lee. She has no idea what she’s in for with such a crazy human.
Meanwhile, in Manitou, Colorado: Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Taylor (age 13) and her friend are riding donkeys. 1926.
Before picture. Furniture to refinish purchased at Goodwill today. One large mirror in a wooden frame. Now to decide if I should paint it or refinish the wood.
Giving thanks the pilgrim way (minus those pesky small pox blankets that hadn’t been invented yet).
A slow start
I could say I’ve been a little distracted by the season but that would just be a lie. The truth is, I’ve been a little distracted by pure laziness. Despite the laziness, I did have a good practice run on the crafts! And, one could argue that I’ve had several good practice runs on making a fool of myself. Here’s a pic of the hats Lu and I made. Enjoy!
My List
1. Complete one sewing project.
2. Read Swan’s Way
3. Use my passport to travel
4. Spend one week of greeting everyone in the “European” way with air kisses.
5. Take a road trip to a state I haven’t visited yet.
6. Knit a pair of socks.
7. Censored
8. Get a new car.
9. Either sky dive or get a tattoo of what my face will look like sky diving.
10. Be a vegetarian for one month with at least one week as a vegan.
11. Go on a pub crawl.
12. Pet a cow
13. Go camping.
14. Hike Enchanted Rock.
15. Learn how to drive a boat.
16. Audit a class at UT.
17. Apply to one Ph.D. program just to see…
18. Paint a self portrait
19. Censored.
20. Read the poetry of Rumi
21. Publish an article
22. Go to the dentist
23. Drink beer at the Shiner Brewery
24. Dance a polka with a man wearing lederhosen
25. Complete 20 crossword puzzles (0/20)
26. Have a Halloween party after the forthcoming big birthday.
27. Write a letter a week for a year
28. Do a craft with Emily and Lucy
29. Stay up all night playing board games
30. Make and send postcards to friends
31. Visit/see Lani and Alan once a month for a year (0/12)
32. Ride a train
33. Visit Shannon and meet Mira
34. Write a travel narrative
35. Get a pet
36. Make/mail Christmas cards
37. Run a mile
38. Read 30 novels including 3 works of Mark Twain
39. Write in a journal everyday for two months
40. Host a bad movie night with the old gang.
41. Learn to play a musical instrument
42. Host a grown-up dinner party
43. Master roller skating backwards
44. Attend an NFL football game
45. Make a 20 minute documentary on my iphone
46. Visit another city just to go to an exhibit.
47. Go on a garden tour of New Orleans
48. Go ice skating
49. Go on a picnic at Mount Bonell
50. See a classical music performance
51. Go canoeing on Lady Bird Lake
52. Make Will an action figure
53. Build a haunted house (see Lexie)
54. Bike around the Lake District
55. Censored
56. Make a living spice rack
57. Finish a Tuesday NYT crossword puzzle
58. Make my savings account real
59. Perfect a bread recipe
60. Swim Barton Springs in winter
61. Karaoke Extravaganza
62. Spend an afternoon flying kites
63. See NYC with snow on it.
64. Create a book of 1-page biographies of family members and friends
65. Send Birthday cards that arrive on time.
66. Clean and organize closets
67. Refinish a piece of Goodwill Furniture
68. Make a tshirt about a weekend
69. Ask a boy out on an old-fashioned date
70. Let my bangs grow out
71. Go to the beach in fall or winter
72. File and organize grad school papers
73. Collect leaves and press them in a book
74. Attend three different types of religious ceremonies
75. Spend a day acting like a tourist in Austin.
76. Find a picture to submit to Daguerreotype Boyfriends
77. Practice throwing free throws until I can make three in a row
78. Make a walking map for things within walking distance of my apartment.
79. Build a cardboard fort from an appliance box.
80. Go see a play/live theater
81. Make a snow angel
82. Do a cleanse.
83. Write a poem with Lucy.
84. Make one of the old cameras work/figure out how to use it.
85. Blow out Birthday party the weekend of August 30-Sept. 2, 2013.
86. Censored
87. Fall in and out of love (not necessarily in that order)
88. Visit my grandparents.
89. Censored
90. Stay out all night dancing on a work night
91. Make a fool of myself (see above)
92. Take road trip to Dollywood
93. Go Country dancing
94. Go on a trip alone
95. Play Bingo
96. Relearn French, again.
97. Attend a SxSW show no matter how painful the crowds
98. Censored
99. Send thank you notes (again, on time)
100. Adopt a grandparent/volunteer to work with an elderly person
101. Make a new list.
Inspiration?
Making a list
I’ve been floundering in free time since graduation a few months ago and the boredom has almost gotten me into trouble on a couple of occasions. I know I used to have hobbies (can impromptu wine nights be considered a hobby?) but for the life of me, I can’t remember what they are. Then, a week or so ago, Mandy posted a list of 101 things she wanted to accomplish in the next 1001 days. She posted the list on her website and facebook page, and I found it inspiring. It was a good mixture of quick projects to scratch off after an afternoon, long-term goals, things she always meant to do and places both far and near that haven’t been visited. So, about a week ago, I started jotting ideas down for my own list. Coming up with 101 things was harder than I thought it would be. Some are silly and ridiculous. Some are a little un-quantifiable. Most are things I’ve always talked about doing but never gotten around to. So I’m posting the list here. Not as a way of saying, “Look what I can do” but as a way of keeping myself honest and motivated. I’m not making any promises of daily or even weekly list updates. I may or may not document each item on the list. A few of the items (the censored ones) will def. not appear here. And I can’t promise that the list won’t look totally different by the time I’m done. But starting today, Friday, November 18, 2011, I have 101 things that need to be finished by Friday, August 15, 2014. I guess that’s not as much time as I though. Better get moving.
