5. Archdaily
instagram.com/archdaily

Archdaily's articles are the backbone of so many of my research projects and presentations. I can tell that whoever is behind the website is passionate about architecture. The featured photographs are of high quality, and the interviews are well-written and accessible.

I'm new to their Instagram page, but their website had been of so much help to me over the years.

I hope these accounts help you whether you're still in college or have been somewhere in the field for years.

(part 5/5)

-w

By: @wintaassefa
instagram.com/wintaassefa1

07.04.2020
to a younger writer

I'm cleaning up after 2010's era Winta.
I get that she was a teenager for most of that decade and that she assumed I will always be interested in whatever interested her then.
But man, was she presumptuous.

She has incomplete fictional pieces with characters that are secretly herself, stuff about her crushes, and writing that's full of political angst splattered all over my laptop. I think I assumed I would do something with these pieces someday. I wish I had just finished them though. I don't care about how horrible they were or that they may be used to blackmail me; I just wish I hadn't left them thinking my future self will do with them what she pleases.

But I guess this is what I should have expected when writing was first-and-foremost a therapeutic measure for me.
A lot of my writing from 2010 to 2011 was done on colorful diaries that I still keep in my dusty cupboard. But those journals were not filled up in this land. So, those records feel like illegal immigrants sometimes. They were ripped right out of a time and place that I'll probably never go back to.
Those pieces will never be finished.

Sometimes, I tell myself that no writing should be mourned; it was all good practice. Expecting anything else would just be an exercise of vanity.
But if I had a word with 2010's Winta, I would have told her this:
just finish up what you started and put stuff out on the internet. Please, don't share the political commentary stuff that would have gotten your dad into prison. Just the little fictional short stories, observations and OCD stuff. There is no big book deal to hide work for because there's nothing 'big' when you're just starting out with anything. So put what you have to use. And whatever you're going through, someone else will know what you're talking about. Putting your stuff out is the first step to connecting with people. So, share your concerns and feelings with others; you don't have to go through anything alone.

But hey, your priorities will change beyond your expectations. So, don't assume your future self owes you any work or time. Your future self may not even exist.
So, always work with that in mind. I'm glad you're writing, though.

Love,
-w

by: @wintaassefa
instagram.com/wintaassefa1

4. Leewardists

instagram.com/leewardists
In the middle of some all-nighters, I used to go down some dark mental paths. How am I going to endure more years of this? Will I ever finish? What's the point of all of this? Am I a special brand of stupid? Why are we struggling so much? Deep down, are we some sort of masochists who enjoy romanticizing our suffering by drawing it out even more in unproductive all-nighters like these?

Whoever created this channel gets it. He translates all of those doubts and scenarios architecture students find themselves in into beautiful comic strips.

I definitely wish I knew this page as a freshman.

(part 4)
instagram.com/wintaassefa1

By @wintaassefa

a human city

I have a theory about cities. And I haven't thought this through and through, so you're invited to fight me.

Now, this is mainly about the capital city I moved into around six years ago. I like that Addis Ababa looks the way it does: messy and broken. I think the old patched-up and stitched-together feel that the city has is one of the main reasons it's so resilient.

It may sound like I'm romanticizing the broken infrastructure and systems that are ruining so many people's routines. Perhaps I am.

But I think that ultimately, our environment is an extension of us.

So, the bumpy trains, rickety buses, and pothole-filled roads that fill our landscape are a visible reminder of our own flawed forms.

The bodies which transport us and form our landscape are a continuity of our own. The rotting, eroding, and falling apart that we see outside foreshadows something we know too well. Both earth bodies and metal bodies will feed something new. Mine will probably return to the earth and feed those at the beginning of the animal food chain, and things like will go into making new parts for the city.

So in that aspect, I think no fortress city or rigid masterplan can represent humanity as accurately as cities like Addis Ababa could. One emperor brought his enemies here to live close to him, and the settlement expanded long after he was gone.
And they continue to grow today, like a healthy child.

-w

By: @wintaassefa
instagram.com/wintaassefa1

He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 25:8 NKJV

LET'S SUPPORT ETHIOPIA'S TECH REVOLUTION / IT ONLY TAKES 20 SECONDS / VOTING ENDS APRIL 26/2020

https://solve.mit.edu/challenges/mit-ideas-social-innovation-challenge/solutions/21271

MIT IDEAS Social Innovation Challenge is MIT's social entrepreneurship program for students.

It is set to award up to $20,000 for the winners of this year's challenge.

Ethiopian Diaspora Coalition - A Makerspace initiative is one of the finalist projects competing this year. They intend on collaborating with Addis Ababa University to establish a Makerspace.

-- A Makerspace is a workspace inside a school, library or facility for making, learning and exploring using high tech to no tech tools such as 3D printers, laser cutters, cnc machines, soldering irons and even sewing machines. The space will be open to students and the general public.--

Good morning booboos

I've been planning and working on this Lana Del Ray-esqe music video for about a week now.

It drops at: 6:00 p.m today (12 local time)
(unless electricity goes out which it looks like it will given the rain predictions)

And what a wild time this is to be born, isn't it?

Love,
-w

@wintaassefa

here

written, sang and creepily edited by yours truly.
https://youtu.be/EZiVo0JijjQ

https://youtu.be/QsZf9LwdzV8?t=177

space and sand

I'm trying to revive my shipwreck of a Youtube channel.

So, you're welcome to subscribe. You'll find Breaking Bad reaction videos, short sand art videos and some things about Addis Ababa and Saudi Arabia.

I may soon be putting up videos about my experiences as an architecture student too.

Let me know if you're from here.
Love,

-w
@wintaassefa

https://youtu.be/QsZf9LwdzV8?t=177

Eid Mubarak, folks
.
.
sand art by @wintaassefa

You may have seen these young men, who happen to be my university classmates, on EBS this Sunday.

This is where they release the rest of their handiwork.

-w