So, last week I attended AIGA's Studio Tour for Chronicle Books here in San Francisco. Their new office building, which they've been in for several months now, was incredible. I met many creative professionals that night, including one Brett MacFadden, Senior Designer. Brett has worked with Academy of Art MFA students as a directed study advisor before, so it was great to finally meet him. Anyways, Mr. MacFadden took an interest in my topic during the course of our conversation, and recommended a book to me — The Unreal America: Architecture and Illusion by Ada Louise Huxtable. I flipped through the book ever so briefly after it arrived from amazon.com, and it's a goldmine. Covering issues like historical representation through vernacular architecture and structural simulacrum (real fake versus fake fake), Huxtable's book has provided a very thorough analysis of some of the issues that THEMERICA™ will touch upon. I will be sure to add this author to the list of scholars and professionals I plan on interviewing later on in the project.