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DayFour issue 1 Summer in the Cities
Published 2002
Cover: Fiona Hayes
Beam me up, Scotty... Dayfour is an idea that materialised very much in the way things materialise on the teleport deck of the Starship Enterprise. At first all that’s there is a vague, hazy, gleam of an idea. Then there is the anxious bit where you wonder what kind of creature is taking shape in front of you. Then very suddenly there it is, fully-formed, as if it had been there all the time – Klingon or intergalactic deity, you decide. In May 2002 I was in the middle of a career break for the first time in fourteen years. One of the good things about three months without an office to go to is that one is forced to think about The Story So Far: what have I been loving about this business, what have I been hating? And what do I do next?
What I love: when someone shows you a portfolio, or just a few pictures, and that person’s work hasn’t been in print yet, or hasn’t made the big time – but it’s different. That person has an interesting viewpoint, or has unusual passions, or has been to strange places. What I hate: when talented people don’t get the breaks. Or they do, but their words or pictures are edited to death, to fit a formula. In Dayfour there is no ‘editing,' either of who gets in or of their work. There is no advance decision about how long or short a story should be. If it needs fourteen pages, it gets fourteen pages, and if it needs one, it gets one.
The name Dayfour came about because, in an ideal world, we would
spend three days a week working for a living and the fourth day doing our own
work (it goes without saying that the ideal world has three-day weekends). And
that’s what Dayfour is all about: own work – mine and that of friends
with something to show and tell. Hope you like it.
Contributors
| Enrico Sacchetti | |
| Michelle Hayes | Gracey Hitchcock |
| Robin Derrick + Jeni Smit | Steve Way |
| Michael Way |
© All photography and text in Dayfour is copyright the contributors. All rights reserved
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Elevation Like any classic science fiction city, Chicago’s trains run not on the ground but in the air, thirty feet above your head
Despite it’s sci-fi connotations, Chicago’s ‘El’ is over a century old. Four private companies began construction on it in the 1890s. An elevated transport system was simply a practical solution to the city’s traffic problems. When Chicago was incorporated as a town in 1833 it had a population of 340. Within thirty years that figure was over 100,000. Today, Chicago is the third biggest city in the US, after New York and Los Angeles, with a population of 2.78 million. Lots of people, lots of trolleybuses and horse-drawn carriages – lots of traffic jams. In October 1871, fire broke out in the city. It burned for three days, killing 300 people, making 90,000 homeless, and destroying 18,000 buildings. It was a humanitarian disaster, but architects across Europe and the United States saw an opportunity to revolutionise the city. They rushed to Chicago for commissions. Most were young, a few were visionary. What they created became known as the ‘Chicago School’ and their great innovation was the skyscraper...
Contributor Fiona Hayes
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Things to do in Toronto, #1-7 Where to eat, what to drink, and five other ways to spend some time and money in Canada. All suggestions tried and tested
#5:Get high. The financial district has plenty of vertical views to stretch your neck muscles. You can go up the CN Tower (181 storeys, half a kilometer tall) for a view over the city and across to New York state. It’s one of the world’s tallest buildings and arguably the tallest free-standing structure. Join the argument, or be amused by its ferocity, at The Federation of High Rise Websites (This is actually also a very cool resource if you have any interest in skyscrapers in general. Or never knew you had.)
Contributor Fiona Hayes
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In New York, Summer is a Big, Scary Monster Dispatches from the (warm) front
When you live in New York, the phrase ‘Summer in the City’
has a whole different meaning. Not for us the joy of looking forward to sun-soaked
afternoons, the smell of fresh-cut grass, pina coladas in the twilight, lager
and gently charred steaks ‘round your mate’s back yard. No, here
in New York summer is an altogether less eagerly anticipated creature, and the
first hint of summer in the air stirs a disquiet, even fearful reaction in anyone
who has lived for long in this particular hotbed of humanity...
Contributor At the launch of this issue, Michelle Hayes was living and working in Manhattan. She was the very first person to hear about d4 and the first contributor to get her stuff in on time.
More Michelle in d4.2, d4.3 and d4.4
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Cuba Libre The most beautiful restaurant in the world, and other tales from Havana
The best way to experience Havana is to walk. Having read about the crumbling buildings I expected to find a small neighbourhood with a few dilapidated houses, but in fact it is the entire city. Havana is full of grand Spanish colonial buildings which have been decaying over the years, partly due to erosion from sea air and hurricanes, partly due to lack of funds or resources when something breaks down. Every corner you turn is more beautiful and surprising. Almost all of the houses seem totally uninhabitable but just as you are looking at a four-storey building thinking that it might collapse any second, a woman walks out onto the top balcony to hang her laundry.
Contributors Jennifer Smit and Robin Derrick collaborated on ‘Cuba Libre’. Jennifer has her own business as a vintage personal shopper and fashion stylist in Australia. Robin is a photographer and Creative Director of British Vogue.
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Nice Work 2,000 scientists at play on the Bay of Angels
June 29 to July 3, 2002: The European Life Scientist Organisation stages an international biochemistry convention in the Acropolis Conference Centre, Nice, France. About 2,000 ‘mostly young and eager scientists’ (according to ELSO’s website) attend. From the ELSO website: ‘As at ELSO 2000 in Geneva, the Cinema of the Cell attracted the whole congress. Some of the Bioclips were of stunning quality. Even the sessions on Career Development were drawing large crowds and raised a lot of discussion on the problems of being a young scientist in Europe'...
Contributor Dr Michael Way is head of a laboratory with Cancer Research UK. He is available for lectures and juggling demonstrations.
More Michael in d4.2
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On the Beach
Sometimes the best thing about summer in the city is getting out of it...
Contributor In 2002 photographer Enrico Sacchetti was based in London, shooting fashion for magazines like Neo and Amica. Now he is in New York, working on architectural and reportage photography.
More Enrico at www.es-photography.com
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Flag Days Summer in London can be a washout, but this one looked promising...
Friday, May 31, 2002. The World Cup kicked off this weekend, celebrations for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee were taking over the city, plus the sun was shining. Headline writers at the London Evening Standard were breathless with anticipation. On Saturday afternoon The Mall was sealed off from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace. Hundreds of police everywhere, but everyone was in a good mood. It was far too hot to riot. All of central London was bedecked with the Union Jack. Red, white and blue bunting hung the length of Regent Street, where London’s red double-decker buses had been painted gold for the (Golden) Jubilee. They would have been more impressive if we commercially over-stimulated types hadn’t assumed they were to promote some new chocolate bar from Cadbury.
Contributor Fiona Hayes
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Summer is not just a season...
...It’s a rhythm that imparts a gentle sway and undulation, that makes the daily grind a city dance. The city expands as it empties of fleeing holiday-makers. The first scent of summer awakens the city from its winter stupor. The warm air and sunlight coaxes people into the streets. Couples go see obscure foreign films in rep-houses on a weekday evening, unmindful of tomorrow’s workday morning. Young men and women flirt over coffee or cocktails at hastily assembled sidewalk cafes. Legs and shoulders are uncovered. Feet are freed to be their most enticing and erotic, pedicured and sandaled to catch and dance upon the rhythm that is summer. Perfume wafts from sun-warmed flesh in a blatant invitation to sniff and savour. The sun beats down activating primal urges, driving us to prance and preen into the night. Singles gather at pubs and clubs. They sway, gyrate and speculate into the morning, living out the lyrics of the summer songs filling the air as they drive the dance. Lovers old and new walk home hand-in-hand behind the street cleaning machines whispering secrets in the dark. City revellers second every patch of sidewalk. The meanest little terraces are transformed into outdoor salons. Small corners tucked into cement alcoves and grimy terraces become magical under flickering candlelight. In the sweaty, glowy magic of summer love, fire escapes become Juliet’s balcony.
Contributor In 2002, freelance beauty editor and writer Gracey Hitchcock was living in Toronto. Apart from being a health and beauty expert, Gracey is a wonderful hostess, and I am particularly grateful to her and her husband Ken for introducing me to Ontario (‘Things To Do In Toronto, #1-7’). They have since relocated to Atlanta and Gracey has her own lifestyle website, DolceDolce.
More Gracey at www.dolcedolce.com
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Dead Shoe Gallery Because fashion is as much about what you don’t wear as what you do
From left: snakeskin blue/grey. Walked New York, lot of [London] W12, gigs at Borderline. Picked up stones, hiding in heel. Yellow Hush Puppies. Never a favourite, got wear out of them. Did decorating duty. Black stomper, more like real shoes. Red or Dead. Cute stitching, good grip, decorating. Hung about. Didn’t do that much decorating. Had to go.
Contributor Cartoonist and Cartoon Editor (currently of Readers Digest) Steve Way had a bit of a clear-out for ‘Dead Shoe Gallery’.
More Steve in d4.3
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