September 2011: Land Heritage Institute, San Antonio, Texas

Penelope Boyer of the Land Heritage Institute invited us to be part of a wonderful weekend in water-starved San Antonio. As part of a benefit event on Friday evening September 2nd, ALI projected film, video, and slides of field work onto the concrete flood control embankments and the mirror-flat surface of the San Antonio River, while a groovy band called Buttercup filled the bend in the river with great music. Saturday's symposium focussed on "Land as Lab"---a "confab" of artists, scientists, activists, and researchers using the environment as exploratory sites for their work. ALI gave an informal keynote on lessons from the field. Architect Mark Oppelt and the LHI organizers made us welcome with a chile feast and an archeological tour of the site, and we enjoyed connecting with other presenters, particularly Nancy Zastudil of PLAND/Tres Piedras, NM and Jennifer Monson of iLAND/Urbana, IL.

On a different note: HUD published a short piece in The Edge, their online magazine of policy development and research, featuring ALI's work in New Mexico.