This house is designed for release. To succumb, to acquiesce.  All the words that are opposite of “resistance.”

And the woman who lives here designed it that way.  While outside this home her fists remain clenched and punching towards the sky.  Carrying signs and sitting in and pushing back against the huge forces, although she is but one person.

This house allows her to escape this constant force.  At her doorstep the force ceases and waits patiently (and sometimes not so patiently) until morning.  When she can get in her car and head right back to it.

Her home is filled with green plants, and shoji doors.  Stone and cold rock tiles.  Bird feeders and bird fountains placed through the outside.  This is the home designed to decompress.  To let it all out.  To recharge. To fill up for the next day.

Her living is communal for although she owns the building others rent from her.  However, neighbors freely walk up to her open door.  Her kitchen warm, painted a soothing red, her rooms filled with books and couches, paintings, and one or two protest photographs.