It was the morning of May 7, 1978 that remained etched in my memory as I drove across the Ben Franklin Bridge with the sun rising in my rearview mirror. I was returning to Powelton Village from New York City with two other alumni staff members of The Triangle after seeing James Taylor play a sold out show at the Bottom Line Club – and all tickets were eight dollars. During that same decade, I recall taking the Market-Frankford line from 34th Street to Upper Darby in order to attend a Carole King concert at the Tower Theatre.

Those memories came colliding together on Tuesday night at the Wachovia Center when I attended the Troubadour Reunion Tour, a concert tour by Carole King and James Taylor. This tour celebrates the 40th anniversary of their first performance together in November 1970, the Los Angeles club that was the primary venue for up and coming singer-songwriters in the early 1970s. In Philadelphia, we had The Main Point.

Normally, softer rock does not do too well in large sports arenas, yet these two artists have made their shows something more akin to a “best friends” reunion. They performed more than two dozen of their individual hits, while providing harmony vocals and instrumental support for each other (Taylor on guitar, King on piano). The core of their band – the guitarist Danny Kortchmar, bassist Leland Sklar and Russ Kunkel on drums – further rounded out the reunion. All of these musicians played with King and Taylor at the moment of their ascent four decades ago.

The golden age of the artists was not lost on the audience as both Taylor, 62, and King, 68, periodically joked around about not being able to remember the original play set from forty years ago, and at one point Taylor picked up Tuesday’s night playlist from the floor to prove to both the audience and King that he was up next.

Taylor’s voice remained calm and firmly assured whether he was offering up such hits as “Sweet Baby James” or “Carolina In My Mind.” If your eyes were shut during his version of “Copperline,” the one audience request of the evening, you would have known this was James Taylor singing, yet it could have been thirty years earlier, as his vocals have not aged nearly as much as the audience.

King in her tight fitting jeans and stiletto heals remains very much able to continue to bring out the oomph in her music. For “I Feel the Earth Move,” she got out from behind her grand piano to shimmy and shake all over the in-the-round stage. Her piano concert highlight came when she turned in a glorious and emphatic rendition of “Jazzman.” The tune ended with much of the sellout crowd on its feet, asking for more.

The worst part of the concert came after Tuesday night’s show ended, when you realized all the songs they didn’t play.

That’s what happens when you’ve had a 40-year career as one of America’s most famous singer-songwriters. Taylor and King had to leave a lot of stuff out that they loved, too, Taylor said, or else the show would have lasted seven hours as compared to the almost three – not that the audience would have minded.

From June 21 to July 23, the Leonard Pearlstein Gallery is holding “40 Years of Friday,” an exhibition celebrating Friday Architects/Planners’ 40 years of commitment to inspired design and service to society as well as the Drexel community.

The exhibition was designed by AWCoMAD graphic design student and graduating senior Sheena Lewoc. An opening reception was held June 22, with most of Friday’s design team present and available to answer questions about the firm as well as the exhibit.

Friday Architects/Planners is a Philadelphia-based architecture, design and planning firm that began in 1970 as more of a “design collective” than a traditional architecture firm. Friday’s unique legacy is evident as soon as one enters the exhibit. Mock animal-head trophies, which are small-scale models of some of Friday’s actual office decorations, run along the walls of the gallery. According to Tina Geary, a current Friday architect, the animal heads are all over the office, just “on a much larger scale.”

Also adorning the walls of the exhibit are several large plaques, which describe Friday’s history, projects and future as a Philadelphia design firm. A recurring theme throughout the exhibit is Friday’s commitment to collaborative design. Arlene Matzkin, one of Friday’s founding principles, said, “It’s always been a team. And that’s how we like it, so we’re happy.” Another founding principle, Don Matzkin, said during the reception, “We’re very happy with not only the work we produce, but also the way we produce it.” According to Mr. Matzkin, Friday has not only persisted as a successful collaboration-oriented firm, but has also influenced the profession by creating a “model” which other architecture firms have since tried to replicate. Tony Bracali, Friday’s current president, added, “The nice thing about [collaboration] is it kind of acknowledges the things that often come best from design, which don’t always come from one brilliant idea from one person – and that’s what our practice is predicated on. The work gets better because lots of people have a say in how it looks, and that’s something that, throughout the history of the practice, has always been important.”

Friday’s commitment to community service is also clear throughout the exhibit. According to Mr. Matzkin, Friday Architects/Planners ” … set out to work with and serve underserved populations.” Paul Hirshorn, head of Drexel’s Department of Architecture said, “They’re the architects for the underrepresented … they do wonderful work for modest clients. It’s really quite admirable what they do.” J. Brooke Herrington, a Philadelphia architect who attended the reception on Tuesday said that Friday’s commitment to accessible design “… made very popular and meaningful contributions to people who needed architects at all levels.” Projects portrayed in the exhibit such as the 1983 University City Housing project provide testimony to Friday’s unique tradition of community involvement.

The final panel of the exhibit discusses Friday’s future in the architectural community. Although architecture, as a profession, has undergone some considerable changes over the past 40 years, Friday hopes to maintain, according to Bracali, the values to which much of its success can be attributed. “We’re actually trying not to change too much,” Bracali said on Tuesday. “I think we’re trying to maintain the continuity of the things we’ve done well over time. I think the change for us is mostly in new people who are interested in doing the things we’ve always done- so we’ve got a lot of new staff. We’ve got a lot of Drexel staff [and] a long time Drexel relationship. We’re just trying to kind of retool, but not shift too far away from the things the firm’s always done well.”

Friday has indeed long been involved in the Drexel community. Many of Friday’s current architects – including president, Bracali – are graduates of Drexel’s 2+4 architecture program. Many have also contributed to the Drexel Architecture Program as professors at some time or another, including founders Mr. and Mrs. Matzkin as well as Bracali. Friday’s history of involvement with Drexel made the Leonard Pearlstein gallery an obvious location for the exhibit. According to Bracali, Friday’s decision to work with Lewoc in designing the exhibit was largely influenced by this tradition of involvement.

Although “40 Years of Friday” may seem to be geared towards those with some kind of direct involvement in contemporary architecture, anyone who is interested in architecture or design to any extent is sure to enjoy and benefit from the exhibit which, to quote Hirshorn, is a “great exhibit for students to see – as an example of what can be done and what, in fact, should be done.”

June 15 was a historic day for Drexel’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, thanks to the University’s fashion design students who presented the largest ever, end of the year fashion show. Held at Urban Outfitters Corporate Headquarters, an unprecedented 40 collections by both seniors and graduates hit the runway for an amazing display of creativity and technical talent. The design and merchandising students produced the show and demonstrated their continued excellence in putting together a successful production.

The show contained eveningwear, men’s and women’s wear, sportswear, swimwear, children’s wear and lingerie pieces created by students of all levels of the fashion design program. The 80-minute show moved surprisingly quickly, despite the considerable number of looks that came down the runway. The Urban Outfitters space proved to be an amazing setting; located in the Navy Yard, the warehouse-type venue had the perfect blend of natural and industrial décor to complement the varied aesthetics of the Drexel designers.

As always, family and friends, faculty, staff and industry professionals attended both shows, held at 4 and 8 p.m. About three weeks prior to the event, designers, boutique owners and editors, many local to the Philadelphia area, judged each individual piece for a variety of awards. Among those judges were representatives from Lily Pulitzer, Carole Hochman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neimen Marcus, Destination Maternity, Joan Shepp and more.

The inspiration of the senior and graduate collections shown was as diverse as it was interesting. Students drew from the natural: dinosaurs, sea creatures and arthropods, to the man-made: Russian wind dams, Native American details and a variety of films. Some highlights of the show included the following collections:

Emily Terpak, a graduating senior, presented a stellar six-look activewear collection inspired by “energy in all forms.” She used “color rays found in fireworks” for her color story and the collection was upbeat and wearable. Emily received the Destination Maternity award for Most Saleable Senior Collection.

Lucy Butler’s senior collection demonstrated the growth of the knitwear program at Drexel. She “experimented with tubular and full-fashioned knitting” and integrated these pieces with woven garments. Her color palette in blacks and grays also contained a pop of lime green that further highlighted the “urban architecture” inspired looks.

Anthony P. Noce III presented his senior collection, which included an eveningwear piece that received the award at the Red Carpet Scholarship Fashion Design Competition earlier this year. Drawing from a plethora of inspiration, including “S&M culture … classic Greco-Roman sculpture” and Philly’s “Cira Center,” Anthony created a sexy collection that utilized “couture techniques.”

Perhaps one of the most controversial collections shown this year was that of graduating senior Diana Bader. Her stunning five looks had a “villain vibe” and won the Neiman Marcus award for Most Creative Senior Collection, which Bader said, was the “sprinkles on top of an already delicious cake.” Diana integrated leather, feathers, and even fake hair to create an “unusual variety of surfaces.” Her accessories included molded leather bags that looked like machine and handguns.

Two exciting awards presented to students this year included the opportunity for employment from Lilly Pulitzer and Carole Hochman; both donated fabric for students to use in the creation of their garments. Students competing for the Lilly Pulitzer Awards faced the challenge of taking the signature Lilly prints and translating them into glamorous eveningwear pieces. This was a successful endeavor; gowns were shown both on the runway and on forms in the show’s reception area.

In addition to the awards given at the show, the graduating class included recipients of such prestigious awards as the grand prize at the international Arts of Fashion competition, held last year in Philadelphia, and the Charles Evans Scholarship for Fashion Design students.

As Bader put it, “[The] fashion design class of 2010 are all amazing designers,” and while they are all most likely “[shocked that their] lease is up in room 618 of Nesbitt Hall,” we can all expect great things to continue coming from both the largest graduating class and the entire fashion design program in the future.

The women’s Henley regatta takes place on the Thames River in England and is considered one of the most prestigious and respected rowing events in the world. With that said, placing in the world-renowned regatta is exceptional, let alone winning the entire competition. The Dragons’ women’s varsity eight proved to be the best of the best when they took first place over all of their fellow competitors.

“It has been a remarkable journey from Dad Vail in Philadelphia to Henley-on-Thames for the Henley Women’s Regatta,” assistant coach Matthew Owyang wrote in the crew blog.

The Dragons certainly made their coaches proud with their immense success in both the Dad Vail and the Women’s Henley regattas.

The Dragons completed their time in England with the Elite-8 championship and the Sports Council Cup after winning their semi-final race against a boat that was composed of the top English women rowers. Not only was the English boat talented, but they were also picked as the favorite of the competition, and probable winners.

After Drexel defeated their undeniably difficult English competition, they finished the race by beating Grand Valley in the finals. With that said, overcoming Grand Valley was no easy feat.

Grand Valley defeated Saint Joseph’s by one-third of a boat at the finish line prior to facing the Dragons. Ironically enough, the final match-up against the Dragons was somewhat of a deja vu considering Grand Valley and Drexel had competed against one and other in the Dad Vail.

As foreshadowed by the Dad Vail outcome, where Grand Valley finished fifth while Drexel finished third, it seems as though history repeated itself.

Grand Valley was denied a lead against Drexel as the Dragons won by a one and one-half boat margin to attain the most prominent and historic award of the women’s crew program to date.

The winning varsity eight consisted of senior bow Mary Kain, junior Cassie Clawson, sophomore Emily Coyle, sophomore Juliana DeMarici, freshman Mallory Sykes, sophomore Julia Jackson, junior Dana Haneman, senior stroke Candice Webb and sophomore coxswain Cate Khella. Considering that six of the eight rowers aren’t seniors, their talent will be key for future rowing endeavors of the Drexel women’s crew team.

The gold medal at the women’s Henley regatta was merely the icing on the cake for an already exceptional season. The Dragons not only received a bronze medal at the prominent Dad Vail regatta, but they also finished with a victory in the Bergen Cup Regatta.

“We’re back! The flight from Heathrow to Newark took seven hours and then we all piled onto a Drexel bus for the drive to Philly where we were greeted at 30th and Market by the Drexel Police for an escort to the DAC,” Owyand wrote in the crew blog. “To the athletes that represent Drexel here and abroad, to our friends and family and to all our supporters: ‘Well Rowed!’”

Well rowed indeed; the women’s eight deserves much praise and congratulations.

Yes, it’s true what Tony Harrison said so politely in the June 4, 2010 Triangle article about the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s an environmental atrocity of historic proportion, and it is a monumental failure of government. This has not been lost on the current administration either. Anyone who has been following this from the start and listening to the language being used is, like me, sensing that this is becoming one of the biggest political cover-ups of all time.

The fact is federal government crumbled under the influence of “Big Oil” interests while drafting what would have been the safety regulations for off-shore drilling operations. In a piece by CNN only days after the incident, it was revealed that coercion by the petroleum industry produced legislation which allowed BP to, in effect, regulate itself. The result was that a key safety feature, namely the intermediate cutoff platform located between the main platform and the gulf bottom, used to stop the flow of oil in case of an emergency, was deleted as part of the overall rig design. The device was a small percentage of the overall platform cost but was eliminated, as Harrison pointed out, in the interest of profit thanks to freedoms granted by relaxed safety regulations.

Still worse, our own U.S. Environmental Protection Agency continues to approve the use of the chemical dispersant that has been part of the systematic destruction of America’s most productive fishing grounds. This, to me, is unforgivable. The EPA has access to the most current science and is composed of people we pay to anticipate this sort of thing in the public interest. Now that we need them, and deserve a return on the tax dollars we’ve invested into the agency, I can’t defend our president’s plea for “understanding” during a “trial and error” period of learning. I’m sorry; there is no excuse. We pay these people to know what they’re doing.

Finally, National Public Radio revealed just recently that regulatory officials in Louisiana, charged with the oversight of local BP practices were, among other things, taking gifts from local BP employees, downloading porn on work equipment and, in some cases, dating the very people whose conduct they were charged with monitoring.

It’s a total implosion of the system, but no one is talking about it. All the talk is about how it is BP’s fault and government intends to see to it that BP is held responsible. Responsible? You’re joking, right? Where were the do-gooders during policy craft? Where is the expertise we pay for and keep on reserve for times like this? Where were these “champions of justice” when the people’s business was in order? Notice there is no finger pointing at, or within, government now. If all of these facts were held up together, and at the same time, people would scream for blood, which, by the way, would include the federal representatives that approved the relaxed safety regulations in the first place.

The media then becomes a place for our government to not so much lie to or misled the public, but rather to hide from scrutiny and create a simulacrum of concern that redirects the inertia of public consciousness away from any inquiry that would reveal the extent to which government has let us all down in a very big way.

I believe we live in a time when it’s reasonable to consider a healthy environment part of the “general welfare” promised us under the Constitution. The problem is our institutions of government are bound by their conservative nature to preserve an outdated economic structure and, as a consequence, our representatives are having trouble realizing oil is an antiquated technology that is nothing but a drag on enlightened progress. We have no choice then but to carry on the sustainable project regardless of how old the issue may seem to get or how tired people may become of it. For our time this means continuing the press for implementation of renewable energy, and if this requires remaking cultural production for ourselves one item, one day, at a time until our representatives “get it,” then so be it.

- Michael Hyatt is a Drexel U. alumnus who majored in architectural engineering and philosophy.