Weekly Newsletter–June 3, 2018–Halfwayish through 2018? More or Less Traveled?

So we are halfway(ish) through 2018!!! Welcome to the blog post edition of my weekly newsletter! Right now, if you read both the email version and the blog version of this letter, you’ll notice that things are slightly different. Namely this opening section and a few other things, like typos, misspellings, wrong information (like the … Continue reading Weekly Newsletter–June 3, 2018–Halfwayish through 2018? More or Less Traveled?

The Black Urbanist Weekly Newsletter–Graduation or Commencement?

I am writing this from the kitchen table of my teenhood home. Yes, I’m right back again on what was a planned trip home to celebrate one of my cousins who is following in my footsteps and graduating from the Department of Communication at N.C. State University. I’m not going to lie. I miss it … Continue reading The Black Urbanist Weekly Newsletter–Graduation or Commencement?

Weekly Newsletter, April 29, 2018 — A Tour of Cities, A Gratitude for For You

Hello From Where it All Began, But The End of this Journey… Also known as my teen-hood home (but it’s 9 p.m. Monday so I’m technically back in Baltimore). I thought I’d be writing this from the plane home from my excellent and life-changing speaking tour and you’d get this on Wednesday the 25th. And I planned on … Continue reading Weekly Newsletter, April 29, 2018 — A Tour of Cities, A Gratitude for For You

How Do You Define Your City? And Does Your City Define Itself In the Same Way?

When I go home to Greensboro, this is what’s around the corner. My little edge city. (Image from a YouTube screenshot). My whole writing existence, at least at this blog and a little bit at my one just before that, has been making sense and defining the cities I’ve lived in, against how they, and … Continue reading How Do You Define Your City? And Does Your City Define Itself In the Same Way?

On a Woman and Her Bikes

Anyone who’s owned at least one bike, even if it was just a tri-cycle, has a story. As I’ve added to my fleet recently, here’s my story. It was Christmas of 1988. I can’t spell out any other details, but there’s photographic evidence,  snapped by a parent of mine really being geeked out by my third Christmas. … Continue reading On a Woman and Her Bikes

If You Are Using this Blog To Justify Displacement–STOP.

As we pass another Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and as I prepare to launch something to help us tell stories better, a small, but necessary rant. Yes, I’m a card-carrying new urbanist. I love pretty buildings, bike lanes, fancy hipster crafts, and restaurants. Yet, I’m still a black American young woman, who is tenuously … Continue reading If You Are Using this Blog To Justify Displacement–STOP.

My Placemaking Wishes for 2015

Happy New Year folks! I’m posting this with about 12 hours to go on the East Coast, but I believe we’ll make it just in time. And as always at year’s end, I am here with a few things that I hope all of us placemakers and citizens can see in 2015: Truly Open Streets … Continue reading My Placemaking Wishes for 2015

Inspiring People: Mitchell Silver, Commissioner of the New York Parks Department

  You know how you admire someone’s work from afar for years, hear all kinds of wonderful things about them, meet them once, and twice and over and over, and continue to learn more? That’s how I feel about the inspiring person I’ve chosen for this week, Mitchell Sliver, FAICP, Commissioner of the New York … Continue reading Inspiring People: Mitchell Silver, Commissioner of the New York Parks Department

A Gathering of Leaders-A #ThrowbackThursday Reflection

This week I attended with my mayor, several other councilpeople, local foundation leaders and other civic and educational leaders this year’s CEOs for Cities National Meeting in Nashville. That experience took me back to this moment: This is my first major panel session, at CNU 19 in Madison, Wisconsin in 2014. I organized this group and … Continue reading A Gathering of Leaders-A #ThrowbackThursday Reflection

#NaBloPoMo with The Black Urbanist

  Hey everyone and welcome to November 2014! November 1 means that we are 30 days from the launch of my book, A Black Urbanist, and we are six weeks from my birthday! In honor of the book launch and because I love writing so much, I am posting every day in November as part … Continue reading #NaBloPoMo with The Black Urbanist