Thoughtless acts: all of those intuitive ways we adapt, exploit, and react to things in our environment; things we do without really thinking.

Here you see a grad student in the iSchool lounge adapting to the space given. The table acts as a footrest and the lap as a table:

Here you see patrons of The Cheeseboard Pizza Collective improvising a solution to to make up for the lack of seating available; they are sitting on the median in the middle of the street across from the restaurant. The man in the foreground is also using the tree as a backrest. This is a good example of how we actively shape our environment and how we, in turn, are shaped by it:

My apartment has a very small kitchen with very little counter space. When my roommate and I were both cooking I had all of my stuff sprawled out so she had nowhere to chop her carrots. Here you see her (sporting her iSchool t-shirt) improvising a solution to this problem by co-opting the stool as a makeshift counter:

I love my bamboo Lollapalooza '07 t-shirt but it's not supposed to be put in the dryer. Since I don't have a clothes drying rack I improvised by co-opting my bookshelf and laying the wet t-shirt on top of a pillow (so it wouldn't drip on any of my books) resting on my bookshelf:

Re-interpreting an empty hummus container (Sabra Supremely Spicy Hummus, not as good as the Roasted Red Pepper but my second favorite flavor), now a coin jar:

 

 

 

 

 

What to do when you need to put up a flyer (New School Fall Bazaar & Rummage Sale) with no trees in sight? Co-opt a Stop sign (on Milvia & Cedar) post and tape it to the back of it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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While looking through some of my old photos I discovered some more Thoughtless Acts as well:

My sister, her boyfriend, and I were at Northerly Island (aka Charter One Pavilion, an outdoor, uncovered concert venue) in Chicago seeing Barenaked Ladies in concert this past summer and it was totally raining. You're forbidden from using an umbrella (it would be totally mean to use one anyway and block other people's view) so we improvised and used garbage bags:

Oh and you can see a clip I took of the band adlibbing about the rain here

 

 

 

 

 

Even cats adapt. At my former apartment (in Urbana, IL) we were cat-sitting for a friend's cat, Jack. Jack was displaced from his home (I think he may have actually been a girl that the guy just called Jack - from Lost haha) and made a nice bed for himself in our bathroom sink:

 

 

 

 

 

Re-interpreting shoes --> now flower pots. Re-interpreting flower pots --> now sculpture pieces (creating a garden man). This was at the Idea Garden in Cantigny Park (Wheaton, IL) this past summer:

 

 

 

 

 

 

When cups are too small co-opt a fishbowl (optimal for sharing). Two of my friends at Firehaus in Champaign, IL:

 

 

 

 

 

Someone in Galveston, Texas was exploting their surroundings, the sandy beach (this is from March '05) in order to get their message across In a way they co-opted the sand. The message says GOD AND JESUS.