Morcom Rose Garden
Municipal rose garden in Oakland, California.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| How to Do Nothing — Reader’s Companion | Jenny Odell | subject | Odell grounds the whole of Chapter 1 here: after the 2016 election she goes almost daily to sit and do nothing. |
| How to Do Nothing — Reader’s Companion | Jenny Odell | setting | She argues the garden is a social place, full of diverse people, jays, ravens, towhees and others. |
How to Do Nothing — Jenny Odell (2019)
Source: How to Do Nothing — Reader’s Companion · How to Do Nothing · Readwise highlight
I did that partly because it was in the Rose Garden that I began brainstorming my talk.
- Role: subject
- In the book: Odell grounds the whole of Chapter 1 here: after the 2016 election she goes almost daily to sit and do nothing. She describes its terraced, branching paths and bowl shape in a hill, its 1930s WPA origins, the 1970s near-conversion to condos stopped by residents, the volunteers who maintain it, and the Mother of the Year plaques on the central promenade.
- Why it matters: It is her model of attention-holding architecture, public space and maintenance, and the place the book’s argument is anchored in.
How to Do Nothing — Jenny Odell (2019)
Source: How to Do Nothing — Reader’s Companion · How to Do Nothing · Readwise highlight
Even when I go to the Rose Garden, I’m not really alone.
- Role: setting
- In the book: She argues the garden is a social place, full of diverse people, jays, ravens, towhees and others. There she read Braiding Sweetgrass while a song sparrow pecked nearby and felt ‘species loneliness’ lift.
- Why it matters: It is the book’s recurring retreat site, and here its role flips from solitude to ecology of encounter.