Welcome. Behold MOCA's new blog! For my inaugural post, I would like to start things off generally with some sentiments regarding the tone of Uptown. If you've stopped by and experienced the full spread of Summer exhibitions you are probably aware of MOCA's new building initiative and the Uptown District which will be materialized simultaneously. If you've noticed, most of these initiatives present a strong contemporary architectural bias (with occasional evidence of innovative contemporary planning) emphasizing strategies which connect people and places, rather than separate. For me, this is an extraordinary proposition which, if achieved unspoiled, would create one of the most significant enclaves of contemporary design in the country. At the same, I am mindful that (in practice) such visions are often supplanted by formulas rooted in nostalgia, expediency and myopia. In viewing the contents of The Uptown Launch Pad, I ask myself what more can be done to bolster the momentum of this contemporary mindset? Is gentile advocacy enough? Or does such a remarkable opportunity demand a more aggressive, more robustly sustained form of activism? As Americans, why haven't we seen more unapologetically contemporary environments realized?