 Am I Alone in This?Bill Bottrell The building tops a gentle rise across the road from the Albion River - close to its mouth. Those grounds become an important part of how people gather there - like a Great Gatsby experience, more, more almost like going to a Grecian temple, as you swoop up the gentle hill. Temples were not only for worship of entities out of reach, but erected to celebrate a best sense of being simply human. The last incarnation of the schoolhouse was as a hippie communal center/funky flop house. But not funky in its freshest, make-do, innovative improvise sense. Funky as in too little ambition, not enough cleaning. That was what - my god, almost thirty years ago. Now, it is like walking into an Asian experience of a building, aware that it is a home and more than a home. -Beth Robinson Bosk |
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I heard you chaperoned a Halloween party for local teens at your house. . . BILL: . . . didn't nearly chaperone it well enough. How does that feel, being a moral authority, in that you are known for your wild man cabaret style? The ghoulish wait person who has a roomful in his hands and can take them anywhere. BILL: That's what I mean. I'm not the best chaperone because the kids know me that way, too. It was my daughter's Halloween party. The kids were great. Great costumes. Great time. And there were no problems except messed up floors. You moved your family into the old |
Albion School-nobody calls it the "historic Albion School" . . . . BILL: You know, I started putting that on posters because people were getting it mixed up with the new Albion School. Saying "old Albion School" wasn't enough. They were still mixing up the buildings. Was that the intent? Did you plan on establishing a community center when you bought a school building to move into? BILL: I planned on this sort of hybrid that I've been doing recently. With a lot more emphasis on . . . I had a young son, so I thought my young son would be there, so I kind of designed it with that in mind. The library was always meant to be a community room. And have learning and dancing and art, |