VBC 5: Cob benches sprouting up along SE Tibbetts

if this is what being a "dirty hippie" is about, then sign me up! ;)

i helped out with the cob structure at new day school at last year's VBC and it was great. it's awesome to walk by it and think of all the people that helped make it such a beautiful thing.

They're nice, it's cool folks turn out to make them but have you ever seen anybody USE them? Or gather in the redesigned intersections? I haven't.

and don't really expect to. When the weather's nice who in their right mind would want to be on the street with cars buzzing by instead of in a backyard or on a porch? It's stretch. The idea of having the benches there is worthwhile, but no village atmosphere will materialize unless the automobile culture shifts.

...at two intersection repairs. The one on 33rd, a block south of Belmont, with the big sunflower in the middle. i often cross that intersection on my bicycle, north to south, which has stop signs. the other direction doesn't have stop signs. i've noticed that, more often than not, the cars going east-west slow down, as if a stop sign is coming, and i've assumed that's because the street is painted. that slow-down makes it much easier and safer to cross the street there. so that's cool.

the other intersection is the one in Sellwood -- "Share-it Square", i think it's called, at like 8th & Sherrit (sp?), where there's a little house, a community garden, a kiosk, and a couple other things. twice i went through there with a friend from the neighborhood and both times it took us a long time to go through because he kept running into people he knew. i myself ran into a friend there i hadn't seen in a while and we ended up hanging out in the garden for awhile. that intersection is definitely something special; you can feel a certain magic as you approach it. it's also been there for years, so perhaps these things take some time to settle and grow.

I have a stupid question, but pl,ease dont give me a stupid answer! :)

What is a "Cob Bench" exactly?

I need to get out of the burbs more often! Thanks!

yo popo:

read the article, it explains exactly what cob is and i think you might know what a bench is

Hey now, that's not the nicest answer. Cob is a mixture of sand, clay, grasses, it can vary actually. There are cob houses in Devonshire, England that have been there since the 15th century, I believe. Sos that lets you know it can last awhile. There is a mixture called "Oregon cob", designed to last in Cascadia. This is not a much better answer, but hopefully not as rude. If you want to know more, you could google, "cob building", "cob houses", "appropiate technology" & "oregon cob". It's all pretty rad creative & conscious stuff. And yeah, you probably know what a bench is.

Thanks...I just wasnt quite sure what it was all about...but I understand now, acually a pretty cool idea!