Quote:
Originally Posted by AdrianXSands
i'm just gonna put this out there: how many of you are fans of blair kamin?
i am. in fact, i think it's SO refreshing that we have a voice of reason in this city.
any thoughts on kamin?
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Well, here comes my negativity again!! Haha.
I think Kamin is a part of the problem. His articles are too often retroactive - they are reviews, not serious opinions or vision. He rarely takes a position that isn't going to be well-liked by the Tribune's republican readers and the political system. And he writes like your dog and 6th grader should really dig it, dude! I swear, if he uses "Drop Dead" as an adjective one more time in an article, I might have to demonstrate in person what that really means. (Note - entirely facetious comment of course, but I don't want anyone to take this the wrong way.)
Blair has done some fabulous things, such as writing the 3-part series on demolition of important buildings, which definitely helped convince the city that there was a problem. But again, the tone was, "Oh gee, 10000 amazing buildings have fallen in the last ten years!! Oh gosh, no one did anything about it."
Chicago needs regular, scholarly discourse on architecture, and from more than one regular source. The absence of Lee Bey, even if he was another "populist" critic, has been really hard on the city, IMO. Bey took on issues that Kamin let slide. Lo and behold, what happened to Bey - the City made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
Becker is great, but his voice is not heard widely enough.