TALK TUNES
Some summer facts for this sweltering season:
1. Due to the heat, the iron of the Eiffel Tower expands, causing the tower to grow more than 6 inches.
2. Studies show that men are more likely to cheat during the summer months than any other time of the year.
3. Researchers have found that the brain activity peaks when performing attention and memory tests during the summer.
So as minds and other things expand in the summer’s heat let’s remember that this is, and should be, our most fruitful season. The work hard/play hard ethos at Stonefield is never more apparent than during the dog days of the year. Now is the time to turn our attention to eleven as we continue cranking out work. It is also the time to celebrate together at Friday orientations or enjoy ourselves surfing down the shore. As we put our noses to the grindstone, we can dream of our next camping trip or vacation in Hawaii. Cold drinks after a long day of work and all that.
Bring it on, summer. This time was made for basking in the sun’s rays. And if you can’t take the heat, then enjoy the sweet relief of artificial air conditioning. Because this season is a time for extremes. As it should be. Allow the other seasons to be timid and let the dog days reign again.
50 Cent said it best on Many Men; “Sunny Days wouldn’t be so special if it wasn’t for rain. Joy wouldn’t feel so good if it wasn’t for pain.” You can’t have the yin without the yang. In life, contrast is necessary, but it raises the question: Is there such thing as too much contrast? To answer that question, Aaron Chan combined perhaps the two most distant genres into one mixtape. Like a sweet pork dumpling dipped into a savoury soy sauce, two worlds collide in a triumphant explosion of sounds. Mixtape 045 combines country and rap on one playlist. Do these two genres have anything in common? Not really. Do Chris Stapleton and The Notorious B.I.G. have more than a few fashion differences? Absolutely. But there is one article of clothing they can agree on - a bandana. The bandana pictured on the mixtape cover is the visual depiction of the impossible task Aaron achieved with his two-sided mixtape.
Much like the bricks Rick Ross and Biggie rap about moving in their songs, listeners are also transported between New York and the South on an interstate of hip hop bangers sure to make you feel like a kingpin. Inversely, listeners can feel the heat of a heartbreak on the country side of the mixtape that can only be cured by Chris Stapleton’s sweet, soulful voice. We were sceptics in the beginning too, but we highly recommend giving this one a chance!
The number “2” remained a consistent theme between both mixtapes. Much like 045, there are two sides to this one. Mixtape 046, curated by Vicky Epstein is an audio representation of her dual-sided Gemini personality. Just like the twins tessellated in the stars, Vicky’s playlist consists of two fraternal genres: indie-folk and indie-pop. Both halves maintain an introspective demeanour but express themselves through either mellow guitars and pianos or thundering percussion and catchy vocals. Listeners can expect a spectrum of sounds ranging from artists like Steve Lacy and Arctic Monkeys to Courtney Barnett and Run the Jewels.
When you look in the mirror, you probably see a reflection of yourself. When Vicky looks in the mirror, she sees herself split in half. One side, the mellow Vicky. The twin who is chilling in her bedroom. On the other side is her wild counterpart. The twin who is in the driveway burning ants with a magnifying glass. They may not be identical twins, but they’re still related, nonetheless. Whether you’re feeling daring or feeling caring, give this one a listen and find yourself in a better mood than you were before pressing that play button.
Photo of taken by John Corak in Hawaii
DAILY CARRY
In no particular order let’s take a look at the items I can’t leave the house without! First of all, those aren’t sunglasses - well they are, but their main purpose is to get that sweet raccoon-eye tan line all those really cool Little-League baseball dads seem to rock. You can also see my free sanitizer wipes from a past flight. Cleanliness is next to godliness after all. Below that are my safety pins - purely for survival. I consider myself a bit of a MacGyver, so when TJ takes Team Zebra on his infamous Friday fishing trips - I’m able to fashion these little guys into tiny fishhooks. Remember how everybody in high school had a “Black Ice” air freshener hanging from their
rearview mirror? I was also that person many years ago, but I’ve since graduated to “New Car Smell.” My scent palette is quite sophisticated these days. The solar eclipse glasses are for solar eclipses, obvi. You never know when or where one is going to strike. Or maybe you do. What am I, an astrologer? The pepper spray is pretty self-explanatory. Thankfully I’ve only ever had to use it once - on accident... I didn’t realize it was Seckler until it was too late. Sorry! Then we have my little note taker. Tons of doodles of co-workers in that bad boy. If Team Sierra ever wants to add a funny pages section to the newsletter, I’ve got years worth of content ready to go!
With Marcella Traina
ORIENTATION RECApS
A recap of the Princeton and New York Orientations
To kick off the summer the only way they know how, the Princeton office hosted their third annual field day. Four factions split up by color and went head-to-head in tug-of-war, volleyball, flip cup, dizzy bat relays, egg carries, hop races, sack races, and concluded with a pie eating contest. We don’t really want to talk about that last one, you just had to be there. Then, like a moth to a flame, competitors rushed across the field to the sound of an approaching ice cream truck to cool off with some well-earned ice cream. A few people (John Corak) indulged in a double dose of dairy. Whether your team took gold, silver, bronze, or duct tape, we were all winners that day.
It wouldn’t be summer in the city without a proper rooftop party. The New York office hosted their orientation at the Ready Rooftop Bar in the East Village. Tacos were accompanied by shots - the best duo since peanut butter and jelly. And did we forget to mention it was mandatory to match with your drinks the entire night (not pictured, Matthew Checca in his Coors Light T-shirt). After the sun set, everybody made their way downstairs to shoot some pool at Amsterdam where JI mopped the floor with every Stonefielder who stood in his way. A lot of people made a lot of bets to the king of billiards that night. And a lot of people lost.
TEAmS
The Olympic Games bring the most exceptional athletes in the world together to compete to find out who is the best. No matter what time you turned on the Olympic feed, or whichever highlights you decided to watch, you were watching the best human beings on the planet, repping their country, competing to win the gold. It got me thinking about how difficult it must have been to make it all that way to Paris. When did the athlete decide they wanted to be an Olympic competitor – 5 years before, 10 years before? How many people must have supported them along the way, and how many people said they would never make it. How many times did they tell themselves
they wouldn’t make it, didn’t have what it takes, to give up and do something else. And the athlete pushed through that, the external and internal, and found a way to keep going.
Are those Olympic athletes really there to win the gold medal, is that really why they are doing it…or maybe there is something more? Check out the medals from some of the recent Olympic Games, which ones are you eyeing up. Must have been a pretty cool gig to design those bad boys. Maybe Team Sierra will get a crack at the design when the games come to LA in 2028?!
TEAmS
The word “compete” comes from Latin and means to “strive together.” Usually when we think about competing we think about a winner and a loser but if we look a little deeper, and use the Olympic Games as our guide, all those athletes are truly striving together to be the best at their event and drive each other to be better. “Compete” doesn’t mean “strive against one another to win” it means “strive together.” And on that quest to be better, to shatter records, to do what everyone says at the time is impossible. And when we watch them “striving together” we pick up on some things – the look on the athlete’s face, the disappointment, the elation, the shit-talking, the quiet sportsmanship – and we kind of decide which style we like and admire the most. Watching it all is very humbling and inspiring. It was awesome while it lasted. Well, maybe with the exception of that young lady “breakdancing” from Australia but hey, looked like she was having a good time.
If we can find a way at Stonefield to connect to this idea of “striving together” to be the best, it seems like we can unlock the most positive and uplifting element of competition. It starts with you, the individual. In whatever your discipline and department – survey, civil, traffic, planning, landscape architecture, design and whatever comes next – if you can create a feeling of goodwill and great sportsmanship in the way you pursue the highest level of professional performance… well, if you can do that, can you imagine the effect it would have on your team. And if your team had a culture of exceptional performance built into it, driving it forward, can you imagine the impact it could have on a team next to you, on an entire office. We might just be onto something if that happens. Something that could differentiate us from other companies, something that could make a difference in this industry. “But to love the game” and let striving together bring out the very best in us and each person around us…now that sounds like a whole lot of fucking fun to me.
INTERvIE w
With Foster Ting
Foster Ting and I met with our photographer on a hot July afternoon in a small enclave set against a brick staircase alongside the Williams Center. Attempting to pair the setting with his love for Broadway, we tried setting up in a small theater, but opted to move outside. Foster carried a quiet confidence as he sat at ease in the shade, smartly attired after a site visit on a busy day. As he discussed his preferences, a clear theme emerged: Foster is efficient and concise in his movements and speech, a quality seen in his response to an array of questions. Read on to learn about Foster’s preference for short museum trips and his red-hot take on pizza.
Which office are you in, and what’s your responsibility at Stonefield?
I’m in the New York office in SOHO. I’m taking that transition to the secondary team lead. It’s just second in command for more day to day and communications requirements.
Did you come up through Stonefield or did you arrive from somewhere else?
The first time I worked at Stonefield was when I interned in 2016. And then I interned again in the LIC office in 2018.
Did you try any other things in the same field?
I did some utility work and then I was in construction. I was the engineer on the site.
What is an outside interest you have besides engineering?
I enjoy going to shows, going to Broadway, and going to plays. I have gone to mostly musicals. Both of my parents worked on the crew at shows in college. I enjoy watching and experiencing the shows, but I never felt the need to be in the shows at all or work backstage.
When you are away from the office and go out to eat, what kinds of food do you think are overrated or played out?
Honestly, I’m down for a lot of different foods. I’ll try or have anything. I will say that I probably go to get pizza the least often. Unless I’m drunk or coming back from the bar late at night or something, I’m not going to get something in the pizza department.
Do you get experimental with the sauté pan at home? Do you have some knife skills? Do you venture out for food or do you cook your own things that are quick and utilitarian?
Yeah, just quick and dirty–a lot of pasta, a lot of fried rice.
So, overall, do you find food to be more utilitarian or artistic?
Oh, definitely more utilitarian. I’m not nearly talented enough to make a full, proper meal.
So, along the same line of thinking: how about clothes? Are you more utilitarian or purposeful?
Whatever is cheap. I’m really not a fancy-pants dresser, in a literal sense. I feel like if it has a collar and looks presentable, it’s good.
I realize that this is a paradox of sorts, but do you feel like work is utilitarian?
Yeah, I need to work to live, but I enjoy what I do. One of the great things about Stonefield is that I get to do those things that I’m interested in–certain kinds of work, leadership opportunities, etc.
In a negative way, can work be more than work–where you attach yourself and your identity to it? How much of your identity does work take up?
I don’t feel like it’s all-consuming or anything. I don’t go around saying “I’m Foster Ting, Civil Engineer.”
How important is art to you? Do you need to hit museums and see what’s happening aesthetically?
I am a quick participant at museums. I enjoy museums–I’ll go in, I’ll read and if something stands out, I’m going to read about that and try to learn more about it. I’m content to look at it for 10, 15 seconds and then move on.
Do you have an aesthetic preference for the things that you surround yourself with in your space? Or is it more functional? How much effort and care do you have in how things around you look?
I would like for them to be clean and orderly, but I have wall art and plants and stuff on my wall. I think a blank wall is a little bit depressing.
How do you choose the art?
Whatever I look at, and think to myself “that looks pretty cool. I want that.” That’s what goes up. It’s very disorganized. I don’t have an actual eye for it. It’s really just me thinking: oh, this looks funny or this looks cool. If I enjoy looking at it, I’m going to hang it up on my wall.
Is there any other interest that you have besides Broadway that is important to you?
I run, but it’s exercise. I live a little bit under a mile from Prospect Park, so I’ll do that route. Sometimes I’ll run all the way across the Manhattan Bridge. I’m in the Prospect Park Track Club, but I haven’t gone in a while, as I’ve been running on my own.
INTERvIE w
With Megan Ryser-Oatman
The wind on the balcony of the top floor of the Williams Center added some relief to the 85 degree heat as Megan Ryser-Oatman sat on a low bench along the curved wall. At times, a breeze would kick up, causing her to instinctively draw aside the loose strands of her hair that covered half of her face. From the first moments, she recounted personal accounts of her life with ease and would often broaden the scope of the conversation as she spoke. Once we stopped the formal interview, the ideas kept flowing as we made our way out of the Arts Center and back to 92 Park. What follows is just a succinct swath of the free flowing chat that Jordan the photographer, Megan, and I had that felt more like a dinner among pals than a sit-down.
Tell me a little bit about how you landed at Stonefield.
I started working at Stonefield two years ago this October. I was living in Paris at the time I found out what Stonefield was. I was at a point where there was only one direction, and that was going to have to be a hard reset on my life. Before I was living in Paris, I was a kindergarten teacher in Madrid for two and a half years. I loved teaching. It was a wonderful job. Then, for several reasons, I moved to Paris, but that wasn’t really going anywhere. So I could either move back home with my parents in California or move somewhere new in the US. My visa was running out. There was no job. So I changed my LinkedIn location to New York because my best friends live there and I always wanted to be close to them. Then two days later Iman, my boss, messaged me on LinkedIn and said, “I’m looking to hand select someone to work in our New York City office.”
It doesn’t sound like you had previous jobs with that experience. Is that correct?
I think if you’re a teacher, you can do anything. Especially when teaching in a country where you don’t speak the language. I was the language teacher. But it’s a bilingual school, so I taught science, social studies, and English. Anyways, Iman found me, I think on my LinkedIn. There may have been some different jobs that I had done in college, but nothing that had anything to do with engineering. We talked; we interviewed; and I met my team over Zoom. Meeting my team was part of the interview. And then she offered me the job. Everything was falling into place. I got an apartment on this app called Spare Room. I had never been to New York, but my friends were telling me I would love it.
Let’s back up. You mention California; is that where you’re from?
Yes. Sunnyvale. College in Napa–Sonoma State, where I studied History. I wanted to be a US history teacher. I turned 23 and graduated from college, and I really didn’t know if I wanted to teach high schoolers.
What stuff do you do that does not involve work?
I love to travel, obviously. I left California and spent three months sort of living with my roommate from college in Bangkok, Thailand because she was teaching English. I did Asia for two months. And then COVID happened. So we all had to leave because the borders were shutting down. And then I was just sitting at home. I wasn’t going to get a job because everything was shut down. So I applied to the same program in Madrid that my college roommate was teaching with in Bangkok.
Oh, cool. What do you remember most from that teaching experience in Spain?
It felt so concentrated in those two years and a lot of magic was happening while teaching kids that age. During the first year, the first half was extremely hard because they didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak Spanish. I had to pick up Spanish–they taught me how to speak Spanish. I always tell people that I’m not fluent in Spanish by any means, but the Spanish I do speak was taught to me by five year olds, basically. It was tough, and I know it sounds so corny, but you don’t really need to speak to kids that are that young. They just drew me pictures that said, “I love you Megan.” They hug you. So I could become a teacher now, but I don’t know if I would ever experience that again.
How important is selecting places to eat when traveling?
I mean, when I was in Italy, I think I had pasta for four meals a day. That seems gluttonous for food, especially when you’re traveling. And also, well, I think part of the reason why I got into traveling connects to food: I’m obsessed with Anthony Bourdain. And he was always going to eat everything. So when I was in Vietnam, someone said, “This is kidney.” I thought to myself, well sure, I’ll try it.
What about the way you select the items that you surround yourself with at home? What kind of attention and care do you put into what surrounds you?
I came into an apartment that was fully furnished, but I love these built-in shelves at the back of my room. And they’re collected with propagated plants in random jars and a million books. And I love buying my books. And I also love buying postcards or artwork from different places that I’ve been. I was in Lake Como two weeks ago, and the only thing I bought was this oil painting from this guy on the side of the road so that I could put it on my bookshelf on the wall.
Where’s a place that you’ve been that’s overrated to you?
Milan, sorry. I don’t think that there’s really anything to do in Milan unless you like luxury clothing and you want to go to Gucci. I think you could do that anywhere. You can see the Duomo. You can see gorgeous churches in other cities where they have gorgeous people.
What about the USA–what’s a cool place that you love here?
I’m obsessed with Montana. The first Oatman, my ancestor who came to America, founded a homestead in this tiny town outside of Butte in the 1840’s. And we have 200 acres of land in the middle of Montana. The name was different. He was a Schroeder. He was from Sweden. I did a history project about this. A lot of Scandinavian people all migrated together to Montana because there was a lot of mining there. His log cabin is still on the property and people can sleep in it. It’s 20 miles outside of Butte and there’s no cell service and no running water–it’s off the grid completely. And that’s where I grew up going with my family.
DESIgN INSIghT
What’s the meaning of “Lapidem Terra Ingenium Designō” in the SS24 collection?
The SS24 Collection navigates the Villanovan culture that existed in Italy during the Iron Age. Long predating the infamous Renaissance, Latin was the language spoken amongst the people. Latin, although now considered to be dead, was the foundation of many languages we speak today. To pay homage, we designed a trio of T-shirts inspired by this brief, but vitally important moment in history.
For those who haven’t figured it out yet - the embroidered front: Lapidem Terra Ingenium Designō is the (loose) Latin translation of “Stonefield Engineering & Design.” Aside from the difference in color, the backs of the shirts are where each of their identities shine through.
The green Terra Mater tee represents the giver of lifetranslating to “Mother Nature.” It is the lush, green prairie that facilitates and nurtures the growth of us as individuals within those fields. In this scenario, we are the fragrant flowers in the field - featured on the back of the lavender tee. Appropriately titled Flores, Latin for “flowers,” it represents the beauty of life that Mother Nature is capable of giving. However, Mother Nature is equally capable of taking, and the red tee represents that theft. Identified as Angeli Morti, the ladies featured on the back symbolize the “Angels of Death.” Their selfishness is emphasized by their longing for the sword that runs down the spine of the wearer.
The history lesson comes full circle when we consider each garment as its own representatioin of the discovery of iron. Mother Nature provides us with the ore. We craft it into tools to cultivate life, but we also forge it into weapons that are capable of ending it.
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DANIELLE DANIS
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