Weekly Newsletter–Week of June 26, 2018– Media Allied

Yes, this is activism. Not the only kind, but enough of a kind.

Last newsletter I spoke about the thunder and lightening of anxiety and depression. I’ve done this before, but the recent celebrity ones made me want to dig in a bit more.

This letter, I want to speak to one key thing that gets me into that place of dread or panic.

That key thing is feeling like I’m not doing enough. Especially as someone who has a heart for justice and abundance. 

It would be hard enough if it was just me sounding that call, but unfortunately, there’s always been an undercurrent of this in our progressive and activist spaces.

As of late, it was someone who I won’t name on my Twitter, who has a pretty big platform and role both on and offline. They were attacking two things. One, the idea that writing newsletters and producing other media in service of justice isn’t enough. Two, that we need to only take money from people who are with us 100%.

If you noticed my retweet about this, you know I think this is dead wrong. The first notion is absolutely abelist, as well as disabling to our movements. If we all got arrested or put ourselves on the front lines to be shot down or sprayed by protestors, we would be dead. Now, this doesn’t mean we don’t do street and public protest, nor does it excuse how so many law enforcement entities feel the need to bully folks (or worse) when they come to express their views in a public space. Nor does it mean that there aren’t justified moments when tearing down things and rebuilding them need to happen (like now).

What it does mean though is that you realize that there’s something in every occupation that needs to be bent towards justice. Even the protesters come back to the gathering spot and regroup. And the journalists recognize they literally speak truth to power when doing the work right.

Organizing, planning, taking action is not always a spur of the moment thing. Especially in neighborhoods that need to build up trust and coalition so things can be stable.

To the other point of money, yes, how money is spent matters. Yes, it’s appropriate to not even take money when it comes to a person coming in and creating a negative atmosphere or frankly just triggering people by being present. However, if someone wants to give me money with no strings attached, or even better set up a more permanent divestiture and reparations plan, as well as a personal development plan for themselves to be a better person, then, by all means, let’s get to work making that happen.

Again, though, this does not mean I like strings. We need to get away from the idea, especially when it comes to public good projects, that things need to always yield a financial return or even be perfect out of the gate. And this doesn’t even get into the financing of corporate projects.

Speaking of that, my latest on Greater Greater Washington is a primer for that. Check it out and scroll down for more from Detroit and the Allied Media Conference, my recs and shoutouts and a positive message before you go. Oh and just making this declaration has made me feel more positive about my work and the work of others allied together. Yes, this is a theme…

My Life as a Professional Urbanist

Despite having an aunt who’s been in Detroit for what feels like forever, this was my first time visiting as an adult and alone. The times I’ve been with family only, as well as CNU in 2016 and with family, were great and this time was no exception.

Also, I was unsure what to expect when I went to the Allied Media Conference for the first time, especially knowing that the conference is just getting around to having a design justice track, but I truly enjoyed it.

I included this picture of Wayne State University’s State Hall, because it really felt like being back in school, high school. Not only is the conference open to all ages, there was a real sense of justice and progress that flowed through the halls, much like you feel as a young organizer on campus. Plus, I believe every conference, especially ones where everyone gathers to compare notes, needs a quiet/relaxation space. It felt good just to be encouraged to quiet my mind and take notes. Also, I appreciated all the sessions on financing media and divesting from harmful sources.

I really enjoyed dancing (and holding down the table with the homie Jeffery Nolish) at MOCAD, sampling Detroit food at Cass Cafe, dubbed Dream Cafe for the course of the conference and the view of downtown from my AirBnB near Eastern Market!

I do wish I’d had time to eat at all of these places, but Detroit was fun and I’ll be back soon! 

Personal Urbanism, Shoutouts and Recommendations

More is forthcoming about how I do so much traveling and don’t go crazy, but here’s one piece of travel sanity, my Delsey roll on. This particular model has been discontinued, but I’m considering upgrading to this very similar one that has four(!) wheels instead of two. It is quite roomy for weekend trips and as advertised, it does, in fact, fit under the seat, so you get out of the way of everyone else trying to evade baggage fees and also help the plane take off sooner.

I really enjoyed getting to know Antionette Caroll in the brief time I saw her at ACD a few weeks ago and here’s her design resource. I really like how she emphasized that all of us are designers, much like I believe all of us are journalists and planners, some of us are just a bit more professional (or paid at it) than others. She’s also leading this design conference in August in St. Louis.

I want to give a shout out to the whole Spaces and Places squad. We all worked together on this recent Next City op-ed and I’m delighted to know I’m not alone and you all, who I’ve either met at conferences or known from online, are the real deal. I run into a lot of people, especially marginalized people, who are ready to give up on design and planning as a thing that can heal us. Thank you for reminding the world that we have very unique and very important tools to heal, despite the very real harm some of those tools have caused in the past.

One more person who isn’t in this squad directly, but is in my big urbanist global squad,  but who has also hit a milestone, celebrating 12 years of producing his local blog on June 26th). I said a little more about this on Twitter as well.

Happy to see Red Emma’s in Next City as well. If I have another birthday lecture (or any kind of lecture) there, I’ll be doing it at their new space in Mt. Vernon. The article zooms in on how they are one of many worker co-ops and one that employs marginalized people in sustainable ways.

I’m going to admit that I’d not been scanning my colleague Chuck Marohn’s site Strong Towns (which is really more than a site, but a movement at this point), as much, partly because I’ve felt over the last couple of years, that I can’t relate to the conservative parts of the urbanist movement at all. However, I really appreciated this recent post on why governments can or can’t be run as businesses and why malls are shutting down, which highlights just how much local retail, local service retail, has disappeared, along with the places that promised and gave us so many of our major life memories, such as buying prom clothing. 

This video on what Portland’s (and several cities, but Portland was highlighted) doing to rebuild black neighborhoods is worth watching. However, I want to say that if you watch this and your city has even stronger ties in their black communities, that hasn’t had extreme gentrification happen yet, this is the time to start planning.

Oh, and apparently, this collective of black businesses that still operate in Brooklyn, many that are indistinguishable from their white-hipster-owned counterparts is only four months old! Check the New York Times article and their website directory which is full of all kinds of black folks (still) making things happen in Brooklyn! 

I’d been wondering what was up with this black-led alternative to Uber and Lyft.

Finally, I meant to squeeze this in last week, but check out New York City in all kinds of love with each other.

Twitter‘s always the best place to see what links I think are noteworthy and read what I think, but I’m going to keep including the best right here.

One Last Thing

I told the woman at the AMC booth that had these that I would put this somewhere where it could be seen. Here it is! Taking this to heart and I hope you are too!

That’s all for now. Remember, if you want to get this newsletter in your email, please share your information here:

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