NATIVE PLACES: THE NEWSLETTER
A collection of thoughts and hand-drawn sketches that illustrate the value of looking closely at buildings and places.
A Very Large Array
The road to the Very Large Array goes past the Ponderosa restaurant in Magdalena (population 808) then out into the flat grasslands of New Mexico. Suddenly you see the first of 28 white-painted radio dishes pointing to the heavens, each taller than a 10-story building. You have arrived at the world’s largest radio telescope.
My friends and I visited the VLA on a sunny April afternoon in 2003. It was quiet as we stepped onto an orange shag carpet inside the nondescript control center building. Frank Sinatra sang in the distance.
We climbed the stairs, entered a windowless control room, and discovered that this massive scientific instrument, the largest in the world, was staffed only by one man: a technician wearing jeans, a plaid shirt, and sporting a grey ponytail.
His boombox played “Fly Me to the Moon” as the technician fiddled with the controls of the mighty array. Then I noticed that this master of the universe was eating an Arby’s “Baked Potato with Everything.” He had carefully placed little cups of sour cream and bacon bits like moons around the asteroid-shaped potato.
At 3 p.m., the man tapped a keyboard, took a bite of potato, and caused the giant radio dishes to scan the universe. Frank Sinatra took a breath.
A sixth grader with an iPhone has greater access to the world now than anyone in history. But the internet creates sameness. A mongoose and a galaxy are equal in size and importance on the digital screen.
Our brains are no longer conditioned for reverence and awe.
But that afternoon, I felt both awe and reverence. To go from a bacon bit to black holes in a single breath -- now that was cause for wonder.
Native Places: Drawing as a Way to See: A book by Frank Harmon. To learn more click here.
Frank Harmon is an architect, educator, and writer who is well known for designing buildings that cultivate the “native wisdom” of their place.
He sketches often, finding that the practice enriches his connection to the world. In his recently released book, Frank offers an invitation: drawing as a way to inspire curiosity, presence, and everyday joy.