Help Ecology of Absence Grow

Ecology of Absence has grown a lot since its beginning in August 2003. What started as a photo-heavy website now includes a website with sections based on specific places, writing by myself and other contributors, and this blog. In the early days, there was no blog. Then, when there was a blog, it stood alone and was used less than the website for publishing thoughts, photos and ideas. Then the blog and site were about even. Now the blog is the public center of the project, and will be for the foreseeable future.

The downside is that navigation can be confusing or misleading. The site's place-based directories don't reference any blog entries, which in some cases are lengthier than what appears on the site. (In other cases, a place appears only on the blog.)

What I desire is an integrated website that can be accessed through the blog or the indices in a sensible manner. Most of all, I want to continue to emphasize the links between buildings and places that appear in different parts of EOA. The separation between the parts of EOA is hampering its ability to fulfill its mission.

Hence, I issue a call for assistance. I don't have the website skills to make my vision of the project real. Anyone who does should contact me at michael@eco-absence.org.

Searchers

In our site statistics, we often see strange search queries that lead people to the site. These three from yesterday are among the most colorful yet:

philip armour the hot dog guy

lead posioning how much would it cost to fix the problem

illinois brooklyn strip club route 3

Do you think that your neighborhood is safe? (Call for submissions)

Do you think that your neighborhood is safe?

We want to know what you think about where you live. Please tell us, in as many or as few words as you think are necessary, if you think your neighborhood is safe and why (or why not). We aren’t looking for any specific type of answer; we just want you to be honest.

Please send in answers by January 31, 2005. We will publish your response and all the others in a zine (a handmade magazine). If you include your contact information, we’ll send you a copy of the zine when it’s finished.

Send responses to eoa@eco-absence.org, or (if you prefer hand-writing and manual mail) to Neighborhood Safety Zine, c/o Claire Nowak-Boyd and Michael Allen, 1310 N. Artesian #2R, Chicago, IL 60622, USA.

If you know anyone else who’d be interested in responding to this, please let them know about it. Feel free to repost this notice elsewhere (politely).

Thank you for your time!


Name (Pseudonyms are fine. We will print whatever name you give us here.):
Neighborhood:
City:
State/Province:
Country:
My area is (choose one): Rural Urban Suburban Other
How long have you lived there?:
Do you think your neighborhood is safe? Why or why not?: