Isaura

ISAURA THE CITY THAT MOVES ENTIRELY UPWARD NEW YORK

A TAKE OF TWO CITIES, IN ONE JOURNEY.

ISAURA THE CITY THAT MOVES ENTIRELY UPWARD NEW YORK

A TAKE OF TWO CITIES, IN ONE JOURNEY.

This book connects the writings of Italo Calvinos Invisible Cities to my future destination New York city.

I relate the themes of Isaura, the city that moves entirely upward, to those of New York city, a place of opportunity, identity, and structure. My experiences in New York will parallel the everyday life of Isauras population, pointing out similarities and differences.

NEW YORK

My story begins with the rise to my new life. My journey out east brings me to a city of great structure inhabited by thousands and thousands of people. One can feel invisible, deep within this city.

Isaura, city of the thousand wells, is said to rise over a deep, subterranean lake.

The massive structures surround me on a rainy day. The water runs all through the streets and rushes though the underground.

RISE On all sides, wherever the inhabitants dig long vertical holes in the ground, they succeed in drawing up water, as far as the city extends, and no farther.

Rise and shine! The city wakes up early. I begin my day and start my morning routine.

The rain continues.

Its green border repeats the dark outline of the buried lake; an invisible landscape conditions the visible one;

OPPORTUNITY I am prepared for the day, opportunity awaits and the busy streets remind me I am not alone.

Everything that moves in the sunlight is driven by the lapping wave enclosed beneath the rock’s calcareous sky.

As the skies clear in the great city I arrive in a busy office with much to attend to.

Consequently two forms of religion exist in Isaura.

Consequently many forms of oppertunity exist in this city.

IDENTITY The city’s gods, according to some people, live in the depths, in the black lake that feeds the underground streams.

The opportunity is what drives people to become succesfull here. Many before me have made something happen.

According to others, the gods live in the buckets that rise, suspended from a cable, as they appear over the edge of the wells in the revolving pulleys, in the windlasses of the norias, in the pump handles..

The people that I meet in this city speak for themselves and all have an agenda.

STRUCTURE in the reservoirs perched on stilts over the roofs, in the slender arches of the aqueducts, in all the columns of water,in the blades of the windmills that draw the water up from the drillings,in the trestles that support the twisting probes,

Here I am not only surrounded by structures but my personal structure beings to adapt to the city.

Constantly moving upward.

THE LAK E VER TICA L

UPW A UPW RD A UPW RD A UPW RD ARD

E S I R UP

the vertical pipes, the plungers, the drains, all the way up to the weathercocks that surmount the airy scaffoldings of Isaura, a city that moves entirely upward.

T he and scity is bo p throu eaks oultd and e gh signs to me ndles , light s noi s, se.

This book was designed by Dylan Neinas and it was also edited by Dylan Neinas in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Printed and bound in the United States.

The titles and larger font used is Helvetica Nueue, It is the quintessential sans serif font, timeless and neutral, and can be used for all types of communication derived from the Helvetica family.

Adobe Jensen Pro and Avenir are used for the text faces offering a clear contrast between a serif and sans serif to deliver easy readibilty between the two stories.

This paper was made with American trees and in 100% recyclable.

Octavia Octavia Octavia Octavia

Didot Regular

Bodoni72 Book

Gill Sans Light

Grotesque MT Std