This is The Black Urbanist Weekly. I’m Kristen Jeffers and I’m making this weekly digital newsletter to share my Black, Spiritual, Diasporic North Carolinian, Working/Lower Middle-Class, Educated, Queer, CisFemme thoughts on how places and communities work. Think of this as my weekly column, sitting on your proverbial print paper’s editorial page or as so many other of your favorite newsletters do, in your inbox.

This is edition #23 and I’m back this week with the second to last post of my love theme—To City, With Love (Again). This is still Black History Month and I’ll be sharing and tweeting various historical things. However, the way I really wanted to celebrate this month was to dig into what I love about cities, but centered on my identities as a black woman (two weeks ago) black queer woman (last week) and a black queer woman entrepreneur on a budget  (this week). Next week, I have a bonus email that ties together both the love and the time series and has another announcement about my upcoming book.

The title of the series comes from an edition of a prior iteration of my newsletter from 2014. Hence the again, as I’m revisiting the idea of dedicating myself to a city with love.

Before we dig into this week’s edition, just a reminder that you can send all emails related to myself or The Black Urbanist to theblackurbanist@gmail.com.  Plus, Rail~Volution 2020 and author and esteemed Black architect Mel Mitchell have very special announcements below, before you go. You can join them in advertising your company, organization, book, event, school or initiative by emailing theblackurbanist@gmail.com as well. And since this is an advertisement, yes, it helps keep the lights on here as well.

And, if you aren’t already, you can support the platform financially on a monthly basis using Patreon or one-time using Venmo. 

And now, to city with love (again), as a (black, queer) entrepreneurial woman on a budget.

To City, With Love (Again) Part 3: What I Love About the City As a (Black, Queer) Entrepreneurial Woman on a Budget

So last week, I talked about what gets me head over heels for a city from just my black ciswoman perspective. Last week, I stacked my sexual orientation layer on top. This week, it’s back to business, as I discuss what I need, within those identities, for cities to get my love and support as an entrepreneurial black queer woman on a budget.

For those of you have followed all of my moves and travels (for the record it’s Greensboro—>Raleigh—> Durham—> Greensboro—>Kansas City—> DC proper—>Baltimore—> DC proper—> Just over the DC line in Maryland with lots of travel and some apartment moves in between), you probably have wondered how I get work done. 

Plus, I’m working at any moment with less than $2000 average monthly cash flow and have for my entire working career both employed and self-employed, no matter how cheap or expensive the city is known to be. Name a city and my income has probably been between the poverty line and the median income. 

Again, you’re probably wondering how I get it all done. I’ll save the full analysis of that for another newsletter.

I also saved this reflection for last because I wanted to build up the case for why someone like me, an entrepreneur who is supposed to be dedicated to cost-cutting and doing business where it’s the cheapest, would stay in an expensive metro area.

One key reason is that (as I discussed in a previous edition of the newsletter on creating and leaving spaces) capital flows differently based on the two intersections of my identity I talked about in the last two weeks. 

I’ve found that it’s best to feed my soul and then work on stacking my bank account. The following three things are the first level of me establishing my foundation financially in any city:

Affordable Prepared Food Options + Affordable Wages for People Who Prepare Food

It’s really a shame that it’s become harder to find good food. After all, if we don’t eat, we die. But, when you’re busy running a business, especially one like mine that’s basically me and my laptop, the food thing is vital. Even on days when I don’t work out, and days when I don’t have to go outside, I still have to eat.

And sometimes, I can muster up the extra energy, after the information overload, after processing the ups and downs of business, to do more than put rice and beans in my InstaPot. I’m happy that my partner Les loves cooking and will spice up my food life sometimes. But, at other times, the only thing keeping us from the throes of hangry, is a frozen pizza.

I do support higher food prices when that extra cost goes directly to my fellow baristas, line cooks and supermarket clerks. Especially in non-unionized places, the money goes further and in this and other high-cost-of-living regions, the bite is felt even harder when you are on a fixed income. For several months of my time in DC, I’ve worked minimum wage jobs to have the time to work on the platform. Other times, I’ve gotten more lucrative contracts.

Which is why I believe one day my income will increase.  I perform professional services, something for which people pay high rates, especially as you become more well-known. 

However, for folks who will always be punching a clock daily, that’s not guaranteed. We can’t all be in professional services. And one day, some of the service jobs will be completely automated. It’s why I support some form of Universal Basic Income, as do those who released this recent State of the Black Woman Report.

Affordable Fitness and Recreation Options

Working for myself and having a tight budget makes me want to stay in bed and write all the time. But, then after about the sixth hour in bed, I realize I have a random ache. 

Or worse, I’m shutting off my laptop and chucking it on the bedroom floor, frustrated over writer’s block. 

And both come sometimes after reading the sheer amount of information that comes across my social feeds, my email boxes and even sometimes TV if I happen to have it on in the background.

(It’s also why I’m so grateful that you take the time to make this part of my information diet) 

At that point, I realize it’s time to take a break and move around. My preferred methods of doing that are going to my gym (currently Planet Fitness because I can get so much for a good rate and it’s right across the street) or head down to one of the waterfronts. I’ll park the car and I’ll take one of the riverfront trails. 

I also take advantage of helping Les cut down on her office commute time by taking her to work via the car, then stopping at a nearby shopping plaza that has a Planet Fitness, Aldi, CVS, library branch (and bonus arcade) in it. 

I have looked up and realized I’ve spent the whole day in this plaza and then it’s just a quick whip around the corner and evening carpool time is on!

We underestimate the power of recreation centers and natural areas in our communities, even when we can afford other venues like Planet Fitness or an even more pricey gym. I grew up going down the street with my dad to our local rec and I’ve done one of my crafting classes at a then nearby DC rec. All paid for with tax dollars. And the memories and joy that come created from my recent waterfront walks can’t be measured in money.

I finished writing this email after another good night of sleep. Don’t underestimate the time you need to rest and recreate, especially if you are running your own small business.

Affordable and Efficient Ways to Obtain Information and Do Work

This is the time for me to give a full shout-out to the library. In the first part of this series, I talked about how the library was there for me to provide community in craft. However, the first role the library has provided is a free place with wi-fi for me to work on things outside of my prior apartments, which in the case of my first two here in DC, were dark. 

I’ve paid for co-working spaces before and that’s been great, but so far, the nature of my work has been best suited to making time to work from home and then branch out to a library or coffee shop.

The coffeeshop goes back to the affordable food issue I discussed above, as in I still have to pay for something. The library just requires me to find an empty space to sit.

Plus, while I’ve not taken advantage of all the programs many of the local libraries have, they have many. You name the source or resource and if my branch doesn’t have it, another one does and if no branches in that library system do, library systems from other places, places that are sometimes only a block or two away, do.

You also don’t have to be in the library for services. The advent of ebooks and journal access that come to you for having a library card is unmatched.

And so many librarians and library systems are priding themselves on being that third place. They are adding as many programs as they can. Some even let you eat as long as you clean up after yourself and talk, as long as you’re not too loud or in a meeting space.

But, we know there’s a bigger piece to all of this

All these things are well and good when you have the main pillars of affordability: housing, transportation, and utilities. Next week in the bonus round of this series: how income sources, affordable transportation, and affordable housing affects everything else I’ve talked about over the last three weeks, especially this week. If you’ve been reading these and wondering when I was going to address this, it’s coming.

Other Things On My Mind

• Now, I’m ready to do some political endorsements. I’ve been a fan of Elizabeth Warren for a long time, way before the recent debate,  especially considering the economics I talked about at the beginning of this newsletter. I also like how she’s pledged to listen and be held accountable specifically by black women. I’ve decided to be vocal because as much as Bloomberg has sent money, purchased publications and offered training and support to local elected leaders, you shouldn’t have to endorse someone in order to get what you need for your city. Plus, if anyone is shocked at these black community endorsements, I went off on that on a thread. Also a fan of Rhonda Foxx in my hometown congressional district, and wishing the best to friend-of-the -platform Natalie Murdock, and it’s been great to see my hometown learn more about Ayanna Pressley. You can check Ballotpedia and type in your address to learn exactly who is on your ballot and make your own choices. So many of you are voting in the next couple of weeks, and I hope you take that opportunity to do so. 
• I’m saving most of my thoughts on Vision Zero reform for the book and a future newsletter. However, this thread gave me an opportunity to share some thoughts and I couldn’t wait to get them off my chest.
• Visible: Out on Television was worth me spending my Apple TV+ free trial on it. But other than the Peanuts characters…not much else is.

Before You Go

—Two open jobs on the job board! Submit your jobs with this online form for free for a limited time.

–Rail~Volution 2020 is coming up and they’ve reached out to me to let you know that they are looking for speakers for this year. If you live in or plan on being in Miami September 20-23 and want to share a transit or community development-related project, head to https://railvolution.org/the-conference/conference-information/call-for-speakers/. The call for speakers ends on February 28th. There are also scholarships available.

— I’m also working with esteemed architect Mel Mitchell, FAIA, NOMA, over the next few months to get the word out about his newest book of Black architectural history and commentary African-American Architects: Embracing Culture and Building Urban Communities. 

—Check out Kristpattern on Instagram and DM me if you’re interested in anything for sale over there. It’s not too late to get one of the cards from the Les’s Lighthouse collection and they’re great for helping you or a friend turn your wishes into reality in 2020.

— Book me— on your media platform, as a keynote/lecturer, for one of my workshops or as a panel participant. If you are a member of the press and you would love to get my expert commentary on deadline, you can reach me at (301) 578-6278.

—Les, that wonderful life partner and sales advisor you learned so much about above, is great at hyping you up, making you laugh and helping you or your organization make radical changes in your life and health. Join the email list for her company Les’s Lighthouse and look out for a special announcement from her on March 1. In the meantime, you can listen to her podcast.

—Don’t forget to check out my mentee’s Rashida Green’s podcast which also discusses environmental issues from a black woman’s perspective. You can listen to me talk about some of North Carolina’s more notorious environmental issues and the political culture.

— You too can sponsor The Black Urbanist platform as a company, nonprofit organization, conference or event, institution or agency. Email us at theblackurbanist@gmail.com and we can schedule a call to discuss email and social sponsorship options. Or, become an individual monthly supporter via Patreon or send me a one-time Venmo.

Thanks for reading! You can get these messages in your email, support the platform financially on Patreon and get special bonuses; follow the platform on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagram and if you missed some of the previous weeklies, check out the archives.

Welcome back to The Black Urbanist Weekly. I’m Kristen Jeffers and I’m currently producing this weekly digital newsletter on my site, via email and various other places, to share my thoughts, my Black, Spiritual, Southern, Working-Class, Educated, Queer, Femme thoughts on how places and communities work. Think of this as my weekly column, sitting on your proverbial print paper’s editorial page or as so many other of your favorite newsletters do, in your inbox.

This is edition #22 and I’m back this week on the day of love, with my love theme—To City, With Love (Again). This is still Black History Month and I’ll be sharing and tweeting various historical things. However, the way I really wanted to celebrate this month was to dig into what I love about cities, but centered on my identities as a black woman (last week) queer woman (this week) and a woman entrepreneur on a budget(next week).

The title of the series comes from an edition of a prior iteration of my newsletter from 2014. Hence the again, as I’m revisiting the idea of dedicating myself to a city with love.

Before we dig into this week’s edition, just a reminder on how to contact and support me:

• Send all emails related to myself or The Black Urbanist to theblackurbanist@gmail.com.
• Book me for one of my lectures and workshops or your own podcast, radio show, panel discussion or a custom keynote using this Google Form.
• If you are a member of the press and you would love to get my expert commentary on the deadline, you can reach me at (301) 578-6278.
• Submit jobs to the job board, using this Google Form. Note that posting jobs to this board will only be a free service for a limited time.

Rail~Volution 2020 has a very special announcement below, before you go. You can join them in advertising your company, organization event, school or initiative by emailing theblackurbanist@gmail.com as well.

Finally, if you aren’t already, you can support the platform financially on a monthly basis using Patreon or one-time using Venmo.

And now, to city, with love, as a (black) queer woman.

To City, With Love (Again) Part 2: What I Love About the City As a (Black) Queer Woman

So last week, I talked about what gets me head over heels for a city from just my black ciswoman perspective. However, this week, I’m stacking a layer on top, my sexual orientation. I’m a pansexual cis gender-conforming woman in a lesbian relationship with a black lesbian cis, but gender non-conforming woman. 

(A content note here— this is how we choose to identify. Note that another member of the LGBTQIA+ community may identify differently and chose different words. However, everyone is valid and it’s best to ask before assuming.)

We are millennials. We are not native Washingtonians, but we are Southerners. We are college graduates, but we also have working-class roots and understandings. We have an entrepreneurial spirit. We are very political, almost to the point of being left-radical, having both been involved in direct actions and political strategizing over the years. We are of faith, and yes, a faith that has adherents that don’t always accept all of our identities. Yes, even the Southerness, which might surprise some of you.

And so a city that makes me fall in love with it, also have to fall in love with us and what makes us us.

So what three things are those? Here they are from my perspective.

A community that honestly shrugs us off at worst and adores us at best.

We can go to Target without issues, no matter what corner of the community we are in racially and financially. 

Our first date was at one of those breweries that throws picnic tables out front and just enough of a bar in the middle to call itself a neighborhood bar. (Oh and it was in a poorly planned strip mall in the middle of DC, that’s been reclaimed for a post office, a used bookstore, and a storytelling center). We walked to my porch untouched, we had our first kiss un-interrupted. 

We’ve both lived and now live together in an all-black and Latinx neighborhood, and what we haven’t found is people harassing us for who we are and how we love.

A faith community that prays with us, not just for us

I was raised as a combination of Southern Baptist, National/Missionary Baptist, United Methodist and African Methodist Episcopal. The preaching talk radio and the gospel station alternated, with a small slither of the hip-hop station, the R&B station and the country station when my Dad really wanted to be cool. I went to church regularly until my teen years and quarterly throughout high school. 

During my undergraduate years at N.C. State, I still held onto a lot of my conservative social views, but I was absolutely a political liberal. My roommate from freshman year will tell you that I made a big deal about her organic food, and her lack of support for my Kerry/Lieberman poster, but we put that aside to go to events at the design school and to gatherings from a neo-Pentecostal church. I would occasionally attend the black church style service at the African-American Cultural Center and another mostly white Evangelical campus gathering in my Botany classroom. 

Then in 2007, I would leave that group and begin the journey over the last 13 years that led me to my current state not just as an out member of the LGBTQIA+ community, but as a progressive Christian, with a sprinkle of Buddhist Meditative practice (shoutout to our LGBTQIA Sangha meetup) and new agey manifestation and intention-setting. I would attend a very LGBTQIA-friendly United Church of Christ congregation when I was in Kansas City and later join a historic UCC congregation inn Downtown DC that would later close. And Les and I have had the privilege of worshiping at her home church, Metropolitan Community Church- DC (MCC-DC). 

Those of you who watched the recent L Word, will recognize that as the church the “priest” character presided over, and the denomination itself was started as a gay-friendly denomination back in 1968 in Los Angeles. Here in DC, they’ve hosted several recent Trans Nights of Remembrance.

But one of the things that stick out for me, is that at the end of every service, we take communion and we are prayed over, together, by a fellow queer elder.

And if something ever happened to MCC-DC, there are so many congregations of all faith and spirit traditions, that see us as human beings worthy of being vessels of spirit. 

And in cities that have always been havens for LGBTQIA folks, but barely guarantee shelter, employment, food, and even clothing, it’s good to know there’s at least somewhere to go, in addition to the library, that affirms our soul.

Celebrations that honor us, make us proud and expand our political position and civil rights.

For those of you not in the LGBTQIA+ community, or who don’t have a friend or loved one or colleague in the community (and of course, it’s becoming rarer for someone to even say this), the annual Pride Parade and Festival in each area is one of the key, positive ways members of the LGBTQIA+ community are seen and presented.

And for many of us in the community, it serves as a homecoming and a place to organize around issues we need to address. However, these celebrations can err too much on the corporate side, without honoring the history and the work that needs to be done to ensure full civil rights for our community.

I met Les doing transportation-related political work. However, I crushed on her after seeing her march with her church during the 2017 Capital Pride Parade. I’d just left a brunch after meeting a couple of new acquaintances, a brunch that advertised being acceptable to all the other alphabet letters along with L and G. While those acquaintances didn’t stick with me, she did. 

Now, even though we have yet to get to our first Pride together, we are looking forward to the celebration this coming year even as we acknowledge that Capital Pride has issues. There is no excuse for the shooting inspired by homo and transphobia that happened at last year’s Pride. Yet, we understood why the 2018 parade was blocked by those who feel the main Pride Parade and Festival, by allowing in institutions that on other days, actively discriminate, disenfranchise and diminish our quality of life. Which is why we were excited to see the return of a counter political march in 2019.

The securing of basic civil rights goes beyond the festival and march days. Much like I mentioned above, where does one go in the other months, weeks, weekends and days of the year to feel loved and accepted.

This is why it was so overdue that my hometown of Greensboro just opened a centrally-located LGBTQIA+ center. The DC Center has been a huge presence and help for me right here in the DMV. Plus so many other organizations exist here and in larger cities that cover various portions of the spectrum, such as Casa Ruby, that centers trans women and other women-identified members of our community. All places, city, suburban and rural, need safe spaces for all those in the LGBTQIA+ community.

We can celebrate, but we have must be human-first and not just a commodity. 

Those things, on top of what I talked about last week, are pillars of my love for a city. Next week, I’ll add the layer of being an entrepreneur on a startup budget.

Other Things On My Mind

• We feel this black homewownership crunch in DC too, and as renters and entrepreneurs who aren’t as politically tied as we once were, we do wonder if there’s still room, outside of the faith community, for us in DC. We also sympathize with a story in the same publication that zeroed in on a black Millennial woman renter.
• I hope we never become homeless in this area (or anywhere), because clearly, we wouldn’t be citizens and we would be a danger to children.
• And finally, I haven’t endorsed yet, but if you want to know where I’m at with the presidential race, this is where I am + this article that considers the extra burdens carried by women of color in political work.

Before You Go

• Two of these three job opportunities close in the next 48 hours. Submit your jobs with this online form for free for a limited time.
• Rail~Volution 2020 is coming up and they’ve reached out to me to let you know that they are looking for speakers for this year. If you live in or plan on being in Miami September 20-23 and want to share a transit or community development-related project, head to https://railvolution.org/the-conference/conference-information/call-for-speakers/. The call for speakers ends on February 28th. There are also scholarships available.
• Check out Kristpattern on Instagram and DM me if you’re interested in anything for sale over there. It’s not too late to get one of the cards from the Les’s Lighthouse collection and they’re great for helping you or a friend turn your wishes into reality in 2020.
• Book me— on your media platform, as a keynote/lecturer, for one of my workshops or as a panel participant. 
• Les, that wonderful life partner and sales advisor you learned so much about above, is great at hyping you up, making you laugh and helping you or your organization make radical changes in your life and health. Join the email list for her company Les’s Lighthouse and lookout for a special announcement from her on March 1. In the meantime, you can listen to her podcast.
• Don’t forget to check out my mentee’s Rashida Green’s podcast which also discusses environmental issues from a black woman’s perspective. You can listen to me talk about some of North Carolina’s more notorious environmental issues and the political culture on this episode. 
• You too can sponsor The Black Urbanist platform as a company, nonprofit organization, conference or event, institution or agency. Email us at theblackurbanist@gmail.com and we can schedule a call to discuss email, and social sponsorship options. Or, become an individual monthly supporter via Patreon or send me a one-time Venmo.

Thanks for reading! You can get these messages in your email, support the platform financially on Patreon and get special bonuses; follow the platform on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagram and if you missed some of the previous weeklies, check out the archives.

Welcome back to The Black Urbanist Weekly. I’m Kristen Jeffers and I’m currently producing this weekly digital newsletter on my site, via email and various other places, to share my thoughts, my Black, Spiritual, Southern, Working-Class, Educated, Queer, Femme thoughts on how places and communities work. Think of this as my weekly column, sitting on your proverbial print paper’s editorial page or as so many other of your favorite newsletters do, in your inbox.

This is edition #21 and I’m back this week with a new theme—To City, With Love (Again). This is, of course, Black History Month and I’ll be sharing and tweeting various historical things. However, the way I really wanted to celebrate this month was to dig into what I love about cities, but centered on my identities as a black woman (this week) queer woman (next week) and a woman entrepreneur on a budget(the following week).

The title of the series comes from an edition of a prior iteration of my newsletter from 2014. Hence the again, as I’m revisiting the idea of dedicating myself to a city with love.

Before we dig into this first installment though, I wanted to let you know about some changes in how I receive correspondence and requests.
With all the issues I’ve been having with my email and unfortunately are still having with my email and some of the links in this very newsletter,

I’ve gone through and established new, verified communication channels. I still would love to work with you and I am very sorry that’s been hard to do with some of the broken links and emails.
For the time being, you can send all emails related to myself or The Black Urbanist to theblackurbanist@gmail.com.

You can book me for one of my lectures and workshops oryour own podcast, radio show, panel discussion or a custom keynote using this Google Form.

If you are a member of the press and you would love to get my expert commentary on deadline, you can reach me at (301) 578-6278.
You can submit jobs to the job board, using this Google Form. Note that posting jobs to this board will only be a free service for a limited time.

And finally, Rail~Volution 2020 has a very special announcement below, before you go. You can join them in advertising your company, organization event, school or initiative by emailing theblackurbanist@gmail.com as well.

And now, to city with love, as a black woman.

To City, With Love (Again) Part 1: What I Love About the City As a Black Woman

The first time I wrote a newsletter on this topic, back in 2014, I had three things I loved about the city, in general. First, it was the transportation networks. Then it was the literary and artistic culture. Finally, I loved the abundance of food.

I was in my last full year living in North Carolina and having only lived in North Carolina. My mind was looking ahead to my eventual moves. It was deep in the fantasy of what living in another city, a bigger city, and one not named Charlotte or Raleigh or Greensboro would look like.

It was about not needing to drive anywhere because buses and trains were in abundance. How there were so many museum options— for free or low cost. A standout for me was the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, which I’d decided to walk in on a trip to go to a Zara for the first time, during a work visit to Chicago in 2012. And it was all kinds of food and I took for granted how easy it was to get Bojangles or a Carolina-style hamburger or hot dog.

I still love those things, but in my black womanhood, what makes me love a city comes down to these three things in this phase, this post-move, post coming out phase of my life.

First, it’s a hair salon that gets me and what I’m trying to do. Many of you with what’s known in the curly hair world as a 3a texture or above struggle with this, no matter your ethnic background.
For black women, especially those of us whose hair doesn’t actually curl, but kink, this can get even more fraught. I would love to, even if I can’t get back to my salon experience in Greensboro, have somewhere that’s not too much of my budget, knows how to do all the kinds of styles one would want in a healthy manner, isn’t stupid inconvenient to get to and isn’t homo and transphobic or anti-feminist.

Getting my hair done is a refuge for me, even more so than nails. I’m in there longer generally and it’s one of the few places in any city that I’ve been able to find other black women and femme-leaning people consistently and in a state of joy. Hence why it’s first on my list of finding comfort in any city.

Second, I never underestimate the value of having a place that cooks food as my family did back in North Carolina. Or, that cooks food that can take me back to that kind of place. It was sad to hear that so many notable black cooks who try to do this nationwide, still struggle in this world of peak restaurant, namely because racism in lending is still a thing. Folks, comfort food is real. It may not be always “soul food”, but it’s food that feeds my soul and when I feel like the rest of the world is against me, I need to know I can roll up in that drive-thru or that shack door and find a little bit of solace.

Third, this is more of a luxury, but having a handcrafting circle that looks like my mom’s sewing room. I’ve been fortunate to find that here in the DC-area specifically and the generational exchange and knowledge have been top-notch. Much like I was concerned about some black-owned salons being cool with me being queer as a straight-appearing person, I worried about the same thing in my craft circles. So far, no big deal, especially at the ones at the public libraries I try to frequent. Emphasis on try, as I get too busy. (Hence why my Kristpattern venture’s a little dormant, but it’s coming back!).

I alluded to what makes life in the city extra lovable for my queerness, but we’ll leave that to next week, and in the following week, I’ll talk about what’s saved my life as someone who cycles through the challenges of being an entrepreneur, when things seem to not stop being more and more expensive.

Other Things On My Mind

• I couldn’t stomach watching the State of the Union, but I did read and want you to read as well, this one centered on women of color from ZORA Magazine.
• Need a new wine pairing? There’s a black woman that can help you with that and even craft your own wine.
• I also need to shout out the Black Beer Chick who is doing the same for beer.

Before You Go

—Check out the three open job opportunities this week. Submit your jobs with this online form.

—Rail~Volution 2020 is coming up and they’ve reached out to me to let you know that they are looking for speakers for this year. If you live in or plan on being in Miami September 20-23 and want to share a transit or community development-related project, head to https://railvolution.org/the-conference/conference-information/call-for-speakers/. The call for speakers ends on February 28th. There are also scholarships available.

—Check out Kristpattern on Instagram and DM me if you’re interested in anything for sale over there. It’s not too late to get one of the cards from the Les’s Lighthouse collection and they’re great for helping you or a friend turn your wishes into reality in 2020.

— Book me— on your media platform, as a keynote/lecturer, for one of my workshops or as a panel participant.

—Les, my wonderful life partner, and sales advisor, is great at hyping you up, making you laugh and helping you or your organization make radical changes in your life and health. Join the email list for her company Les’s Lighthouse and lookout for a special announcement from her on March 1.

—Don’t forget to check out my mentee’s Rashida Green’s podcast which also discusses environmental issues from a black woman’s perspective. You can listen to me talk about some of North Carolina’s more notorious environmental issues and the political culture on this episode.

— You too can sponsor The Black Urbanist platform as a company, nonprofit organization, conference or event, institution or agency. Email us at theblackurbanist@gmail.com and we can schedule a call to discuss email, and social sponsorship options. Thanks again for your monthly pledge!

Thanks for reading! You can get these messages in your email, support the platform financially on Patreon and get special bonuses; follow the platform on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagram and if you missed some of the previous weeklies, check out the archives.

Welcome back to The Black Urbanist Weekly. I’m Kristen Jeffers and I’m currently producing this weekly digital newsletter on my site, via email and various other places, to share my thoughts, my Black, Spiritual, Southern, Working-Class, Educated, Queer, Femme thoughts on how places and communities work. 

Think of this as my weekly column, sitting on your proverbial print paper’s editorial page or as so many other of your favorite newsletters do, in your inbox.

This is Edition #20 and the last edition in my series “And That’s What Time It Is”.

The series title comes from a saying that my dad used to use after making a bold statement. I’ve used the statement to ask and declare the following:

—  To make more quality media

— To make more inclusive and safe spaces, especially for black women in urbanism.

— For my home state of North Carolina to live up to it’s state motto and to be rather than to seem.

—And that everything is up-to-date in Kansas City.

This week, DC, Maryland and Virginia, specifically the Richmond to Baltimore Corridor, the time is now.

Even though I’d made my customary wishes in December of 2019, I felt inspired by the coming of 2020 and the talk of a new decade altogether, to make even bolder statements about what these times mean for us.

Before we dig in to this last installment though, Rail~Volution 2020 has a very special announcement below, before you go. You can join them in advertising your event, school or initiative. Email us at les@theblackurbanist.com for rates and information on packages.

Or, become an individual monthly supporter via Patreon or send me a one-time Venmo.

Also, our @theblackurbanist.com emails are back up and running. Thanks for your patience.

And now, what time it is for the DMV.

And That’s What Time it Is Part 5: The Time is Now for the DC, Maryland, Virginia (DMV) Metro Region.

For so much of this series, I’ve been calling for changes in areas I  once lived in or that start inside my mind and heart. This week is where the two come together. Originally, I had planned to release this on January 31. However, it’s actually February 2nd (02/02/20) and this month’s theme is love. You’re going to get a bit of the love of city perspective too. 

It’s a good meeting place because outside of Greensboro, DC was one of the first cities I loved. In fact, it was the site of my first out-of-state trip at the age of five in 1991. My mom and I took the train to Union Station and then were picked up by my uncle and aunt and we drove up to their then home bordering Ellicot City and  Columbia, the famously racially-diverse town built halfway between DC and Baltimore. 

I immediately thought Union Station was the best building ever, questioned why there weren’t any two story McDonalds and Wendys at home in Greensboro and I thought electronic dancing flowers were only sold at the Columbia Mall Spencer’s Gifts. Oh and I always thought I was imagining that the mall food court and the platform from the Carolinian were semi-underground, but I’ve sense verified that this is true.

That childhood trip implanted the DC/Baltimore region on my mind as THE REGION and a place to aspire to for growth. It’s been the endpoint to so many of my early solo road trips. GRO/WAS has been the bulk of my Amtrak mileage.  That aunt and uncle from earlier later moved to the Hampton Roads region and I have another aunt and uncle there. It’s also my partner Les’s hometown region. I have several good friends from and living in Richmond. It’s the only place I could think of coming to, after I decided in 2016 that I wanted to take an active role in where I lived and why, that wasn’t quite home, but was home enough.

I used to have this photo of the National Mall hanging in my room at my mom’s house and for those of you who also believe in the power of visualization and manifestation, I think that photo had a huge role in me ending up here too.

But, like all childhood dreams and wishes, even when they do come true, we realize they are imperfect.

I’ve learned that the hard way over the nearly four years I’ve been a resident in this region. 

And that’s why the time is now for this region to step up and meet several wishes that residents have. What are mine in particular?

Statehood for the District 

There are a number of other states that are smaller population wise, so let’s get that criticism out of the way. And, the paperwork and frameworks are set for how at the stroke of the presidential pen, the Douglass Commonwealth would assume all workings of a state seamlessly.  Plus, with us having a state apparatus, but still benefiting from the existing state apparatuses of our adjacent counties, we should absorb all the counties and jurisdictions in the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments into one big state, not just the existing District of Columbia. 

Yes, I know it’s a blue state. I know it may leave other states surrounding it behind. But, it would culturally connect a region that suffers from being more than one state level (and sometimes local level) jurisdiction. 

We have come to gather before on projects like Metro and the Wilson Bridge, could we not expand our thinking as a region and formalize it into a common state?

Finalizing The Transit Corridor That Creates This Super State. 

Yes, the highways and roads exist, but the congestion is high and it’s part of what makes Baltimore’s and DC’s downtown cores seem so far apart. 

Job centers are spread out all over this mega region and some people drive daily from the Northern Baltimore suburbs to the far West and Southern DC suburbs for jobs. 

The talk of expanding commuter rail is at a fever pitch, for good reason. Even though I live in a more suburban portion  at the moment, when I can take the car to a Park and Ride and just worry about using transit in the core of DC daily, it puts my mind at ease. Yet, when I lived in Baltimore City, it was frustrating that for a city of similar density, driving was the only real option, as real-time transit tracking had only just made its way to the city. 

And then there’s the reality that Les’ and I’s  commute is shorter and cheaper when we carpool together and use our proximity to the Wilson Bridge and West Alexandria, where she works, to our advantage. I’ve only worked at L’Enfant Plaza and the Watergate since we’ve been together and I’ve been working, but of course, this could all change. 

That’s why we have to fix our transit systems. We are a region of constantly shifting work and family priorities and we are closer than we think, at least on paper.

Being A Refuge for Queer Black/Indigenous People of Color,  Not Just Honoring Our History

Some of you may have seen this article in the Nation about how black DC residents were holding drag balls not long after becoming free from enslavement. 

If we are going to go as far as making a new state, we could also be a known safe region for once homeless queer youth, beef up DC’s well known youth job program and ensure all members of the queer community regardless of age have steady and fulfilling employment or business funding.

Every jurisdiction should ensure not just the safety of trans and gender non-conforming folks, but in being a place they know they can be employed at high levels. I look to Philly in their hiring of a black trans woman as their Office of LGBT Affairs executive director as a standard bearer. And I’m seeing great things out of Baltimore’s LGBT office. The counties directly surrounding the District and Baltimore have to step up their efforts as well.   

Right now, I feel that we have the presence, but like everything else here, it still requires a degree of assimilation and that’s not the freedom or liberation anyone needs. 

Honoring the History of Being the Chocolate City and a Proud Magnet for Black Wealth and Creativity

We have never needed to diminish our black history and contributions to grow. Part of the childhood dream of getting to DC (or Atlanta) was that these were known as meccas for black excellence and achievement. 

I do feel like efforts to make the city solvent in the late 90s and 2000s swung the pendulum too far to the point that green is the only color that matters, not just in Federal/Beltway/Hill Washington, but regular parts of DC that were refuges for generations of black migrants from more hostile parts of the South. 

Also, this alludes to why we are having housing and education struggles that revolve around who gets to build what and learn what and where, both of which are just flat out racist, despite what some may think covers up the issue.

So yes, this is where I am and where we are. And this is because, I still have love for DC and want the absolute best for they’re people. Next week, the first full newsletter in my love series. This is a month where we declare love for ourselves and specifically love for black people. I’m going lean into that over the next few weeks. 

Other Things On My Mind

— A follow up to last week’s story about Moms 4 Housing— sadly, they still may not be able to purchase the home. But, I really appreciated this perspective on Essence on this issue from a black woman. 

—Speaking of black women telling their own urbanist stories, the blogosphere has grown with the addition of America’s Hidden Gem, highlighting black women architects.

— And yes, I feel some kind of way too, when a business has benefited from gentrification and all they think to do is to put on black music, and “generic” black music at that, and/or cook soul food for “aesthetic”, and then look at a group of black patrons as enemies or fail to consider black folks for staff positions.

Before You Go

—Just one active job opening this week. Submit your jobs with this online form. 

–Rail~Volution 2020 is coming up and they’ve reached out to me to let you know that they are looking for speakers for this year. If you live in or plan on being in Miami September 20-23 and want to share a transit or community development related project, head to https://railvolution.org/the-conference/conference-information/call-for-speakers/. The call for speakers ends on February 28th. There are also scholarships available.

—Check out Kristpattern on Instagram and DM me if you’re interested in anything for sale over there. It’s not too late to get one of the cards from the Les’s Lighthouse collection and they’re great for helping you or a friend turn your wishes into reality in 2020.

— Book me for a lecture, workshop or both.

—Les, my wonderful life partner and sales director, is great at hyping you up, making you laugh and helping you or your organization make radical changes in your life and health. Join her email list.

—Don’t forget to check out my mentee’s Rashida Green’s podcast which also discusses environmental issues from a black woman’s perspective. You can listen to me talk about some of North Carolina’s more notorious environmental issues and the political culture on this episode. 

— You too can sponsor The Black Urbanist platform as an nonprofit organization, conference or event, institution or agency. Email Les at les@thblackurbanist.com and she can send you our media kit and package options. Or, become an individual monthly supporter via Patreon or send me a one-time Venmo.

Thanks for reading! You can get these messages in your email, support the platform financially on Patreon and get special bonuses; follow the platform on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagram and if you missed some of the previous weeklies, check out the archives.

Welcome back to The Black Urbanist Weekly. I’m Kristen Jeffers and I’m currently producing this weekly digital newsletter on my site, via email and various other places, to share my thoughts, my Black, Spiritual, Southern, Working-Class, Educated, Queer, Femme thoughts on how places and communities work.

Think of this as my weekly column, sitting on your proverbial print paper’s editorial page or as so many other of your favorite newsletters do, in your inbox.

Thanks for coming back to this newsletter and if it’s your first time here, welcome! If someone forwarded you this newsletter and you want to keep receiving it, go here.


This is Edition #19 and I am continuing my series called “And That’s What Time It Is”, by asking if everything is really “up to date” in Kansas City.

The series title comes from a saying that my dad used to use after making a bold statement. I’ve used the statement to ask and declare the following this past month:

–To make more quality media.

–To make more inclusive and safe spaces, especially for black women in urbanism.

–For my home state of North Carolina to live up to it’s state motto and to be rather than to seem.

And this week, I’m saying that it’s time to get up to date in Kansas City.The post title alludes to the Rogers and Hammerstein song “Everything’s Up-to-Date in Kansas City” from their musical “Oklahoma”.

Next week, I’ll have a similar mandate for the Baltimore/Washington region and the next couple of months will be newsletters themed around love and chance.


If you would like to support this newsletter financially, you can do so by becoming an individual monthly supporter via Patreon or send me a one-time Venmo. You can also purchase a classified ad in my Before You Go section. Send me and my sales team an email at theblackurbanist@gmail.com and we will get right back to you.


One more announcement before we jump into this week’s letter, we are still working on getting our @theblackubanist.com email boxes sorted out from them suddenly not working at the end of 2019. Please continue to be patient with us and feel free to reply back to this email or email us directly at theblackurbanist@gmail.com if you want to reach me or the team for bookings, advertisements, questions with the job board or to say hello and thanks!

And now, onward to talk about how everything is and isn’t up-to-date in Kansas City.

And That’s What Time It Is Part 4— Is Everything Really Up-to-Date In Kansas City?

I hope so. No, I know so.

And I put that on one line because I don’t want those of you who read this letter and we crossed paths in my brief time in Kansas City to think this is just going to be a drag.

When I moved to KC in 2015, I was still in deep personal turmoil. I was very much still in the more violent points of grieving my father, who had just passed in 2013. I felt like I couldn’t meet certain gender and sexual expectations and I wasn’t fully out to my own self as to how I was different, besides in general not feeling like the “modern Southern Belle” that I was supposed to be.

Myself and my dear 2002 Honda Accord were in the drive-thru lines at Biscuitville every morning and the Stamey’s on what’s now Gate City Boulevard across from the coliseum in the evenings, drowning out my sorrows in my favorite comfort foods.

On Fridays for dinner, the Mayflower calabash seafood restaurant got thrown in that mix.

I’d been fired from my previous job with a prominent architecture firm and I was back living at home, with this platform and feeling miserable. And yes, in a romantic relationship, but there were missing links there too.

I’m including this analysis of my mental state prior to moving to KC, because I want anyone reading to understand that physical design doesn’t always save folks, even some of your favorite urbanists, from feeling some kind of way about how life is going.

Granite countertops can’t stop people from falling out of love in marriages. Shiny new playgrounds don’t always keep kids from experiencing all kinds of violence.

So many of you did your best to help me heal, thrive and grow in KC. And guess what, you did, even though my journey meant that I had to continue to journey and I needed to land in other places, pick up new things and fall in the kind of love that i’m in at the moment in this very place.

There’s a lot that’s going right in Kansas City and that the best thing to do, if you are an urbanist, activist, concerned citizen or even now a member of the KC diaspora, is to continue to check-in and evaluate where our greater mental state is. Check in on yourself, your family, your congregants, your citizens, your staff, check-in on everyone.

So many of you who I knew and knew of during my time in KC are doing bigger and better things that we were doing when I started my portion of this journey with you almost five years ago.

We’re sitting in the KCMO mayor’s office and on the city council. We are joining boards, committees, even staffs that we weren’t privy to in the past. We are taking over new and old pulpits and sacred spaces and injecting the kind of affirming life we need. We’re developing storefronts and stadiums and podcasts in all corners of the city and honoring our ancestors wildest dreams.

We are leading the country in asking and acting on how we can better provide transit services to all people. I felt really sad when I walked away from my bike/ped work and I’m really pleased to see my former organization continue to speak out, not just for bike issues, but pedestrian issues in all neighborhoods of the metro.

We’re being spotlighted on several national TV shows and we may have a recent Super Bowl win to add to our World Series pennant (seriously, cannot wait to see the city turn as red as it was blue back in 2015). Our NPR station continues to be one of the best in the country and their own series on the state of KC is not to be missed.

However, what’s sadly also up-to-date, are the problems with violence, gentrification, poverty and access to business capital, racism, trans and homo phobias that every city is facing and that the entire KC metro is facing in its own way along with everyone else.

The rents are higher. People are still dying, both from illness and from gunfire. The K-12 school situation is still a maze of districts and desires and classism and racism. We are two states, with many local jurisdictions outside of the schools, with all kinds of administrative and political views and ideas. We are getting that new airport, but I hope it’s both unique to the region and friendly to travelers. I can’t ignore what happened around the MLK/Paseo renaming, but I understand that it was complicated in a very specific way.

Every metro region confronts and faces issues differently. And yes, they all still hurt and harm, but in different ways, that don’t always have easy answers.

I think, just like everywhere I’ve lived and live, what wins out at the end of the day, is keeping it real, and listening especially to the concerns and the solutions of the most marginalized.

Yes, we are up-to-date and I’m due for yet another visit back. But, before then, I’m turning my eye next week to my current metro area, one that was always the apple in my eye, but like everywhere else, has a few sour apples rotting. More on what time it is for the Baltimore/Washington region, next week.

Other Things On My Mind

We need to break up real estate firms like the one those Oakland women were battling for the right to purchase the home they occupied last month at an affordable price. Thankful they can now purchase it, but we need to go beyond that and question how we let real estate become what it’s become. We must keep working on ensuring that everyone can have a home and a place to do their life’s best work. And acknowledging that so long ago, lands were stolen and people were enslaved in this country and we continue to steal and enslave in so many different, but just as destructive, ways.

I do agree that transit is systemically sexist, but it’s also systematically racist. And I hope that efforts to fix the sexism don’t fall into the bad intersection of creating safety efforts that turn around and marginalize others unnecessarily.

And finally, I like that this Transit Center report was explicit in evaluating that Nashville’s transit referendum failed by not having proper African-American support and buy-in. Once again, another lesson that far too many cites need to learn if they really expect to grow, without loss of culture or even citizenry.

Before You Go

—Check out this week’s job board. Submit your jobs with this online form.

—Check out Kristpattern on Instagram and DM me if you’re interested in anything for sale over there. It’s not too late to get one of the cards from the Les’s Lighthouse collection and they’re great for helping you or a friend turn your wishes into reality in 2020.

— Book me for a lecture, workshop or both.

—Les, my wonderful life partner and sales director, is great at hyping you up, making you laugh and helping you or your organization make radical changes in your life and health. In fact, you can join her in her Facebook group and her email list where she’s doing a 30 Day Manifestation and Wisdom Challenge to help us get ready to do well in 2020.

—Don’t forget to check out my mentee’s Rashida Green’s podcast which also discusses environmental issues from a black woman’s perspective. You can listen to me talk about some of North Carolina’s more notorious environmental issues and the political culture on this episode.

— Email theblackurbanist@gmail.com for information on advertising on The Black Urbanist platform as an nonprofit organization, conference or event, institution or agency. Or, become an individual monthly supporter via Patreon or send me a one-time Venmo.

Thanks for reading! You can get these messages in your email, support the platform financially on Patreon and get special bonuses; follow the platform on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagram and if you missed some of the previous weeklies, check out the archives.

Welcome back to The Black Urbanist Weekly. I’m Kristen Jeffers and I’m currently producing this weekly digital newsletter on my site, via email and various other places, to share my thoughts, my Black, Spiritual, Southern, Working-Class, Educated, Queer, Femme thoughts on how places and communities work. Think of this as my weekly column, sitting on your proverbial print paper’s editorial page or as so many other of your favorite newsletters do, in your inbox.

This week’s edition is #18 and this is the next email in my series “And That’s What Time It Is”. This week, I’m telling my home state North Carolina what time it is. Next week, Kansas City and finally on the last Friday of this month, it will be the Baltimore and DC region. Yes, the whole thing. Get ready. Before we get started, a few announcements:

This will be a weekends-only newsletter for at least the next few months while I’m on a full-time contract. Look for the newsletter as early as Friday night and as late as Sunday evening.

If you’ve tried to email me or reply back any time after December 27, I’ve found out that my email boxes through Bluehost have had issues connecting with Gmail. In the meantime, you can always reach me and the team at theblackurbanist@gmail.com and feel free to reply back to this email or email again if you still would like to reach us. I’ll update you when @theblackurbanist.com emails are back up.

You all really seemed to respond well to the new job board updates! I’m glad that I can be a help. 

For a limited time, you will still be able to post jobs and opportunities for free Go here to post a job and go here to post a scholarship, fellowship, grant or request for proposal. 

Also, you can place an ad of any kind, like an old school classified, in my Before You Go Section. Reply back (if you’re reading the email) or email theblackurbanist@gmail.com, with your budget and we will set a rate for you. Coming soon, an advertising-specific page.

You can always pledge monthly as an individual via Patreon or send me a one time donation via Venmo. 

And now, what time it is for North Carolina.

And That’s What Time It Is, Part 3: For North Carolina to Be Rather than To Seem

Esse quam videri

That’s our North Carolina state motto. It translates “To be, rather than to seem”. Those words have been our state motto since 1893. 

The more I reflect on those particular Latin words, I feel like that’s what embodies so many of my fellow North Carolinians— both native and transplant, in the diaspora and on the homefront.

However, we still have to be careful that we don’t seem as much as we be.

Thomas Wolfe famously said in his posthumously published 1940s novel You Can’t Go Home Again about his fictionalized, but very much Asheville of the early 20th century:

“They had squandered fabulous sums in meaningless streets and bridges. They had torn down ancient buildings and erected new ones large enough to take care of a city of half a million people. They had leveled hills and bored through mountains, making magnificent tunnels paved with double roadways and glittering with shining tiles — tunnels which leaped out on the other side into Arcadian wilderness. They had flung away the earnings of a lifetime, and mortgaged those of a generation to come. They had ruined their city, and in doing so had ruined themselves, their children, and their children’s children.”

Caveat. I did enjoy driving through the mountain tunnels for their novelty when I was in Asheville over the summer, but I could get to downtown just as well on the bypass that went over the valley. I’m well aware both roads have been the cause of much controversy and so do others today.

Every city in our state is wrestling with gentrification, which in this case I mean not being able to afford places, some of which had gone through a sharp drop in value not more than ten years prior. That also continues the charge of cultural erasure, some of which had started as early as integration and urban renewal, and mutated as we went through de-industrialization and the technology boom.

I feel that the struggle in Raleigh was what prompted Octavia Raineyin the Trinagle-based alt-weekly Indy Week’s 2040 predictions section to predict that black people in the City of Raleigh proper, which is at the moment 144.8 square miles and knocks on the door of every city it’s next to, would no longer have a black population. 

Yeah, whew. 

Meanwhile, in the same article on Raleigh, Carly P. Jones, a singer, arts administrator for the State of North Carolina and cultural activist, and also a woman of color, has hope that the Triangle (and the state) will continue to grow their arts community, a hope I share, as I admire the work she had a hand in with Come Hear NC and seeing so many musicians make it big outside of the state and still have their eyes on home. 

The Durham in the 2040s black commentators had similar things to say, but in a way that was true to the city they call home. Alexis Pauline Gumbs wrote a very Earthseedy reflection of how we came back to ourselves and how we managed to create and listen in the midst of climate challenges. Thomasi McDonald spoke of the need to practice Sankofa, the West African principle of going back and collecting what you’ve lost before you move forward. Specifically, Durham needed to reckon with urban renewal fully, before being able to ensure that we would be better in 2040.

So many of the other Indy Week future predictors though that we can just build and park and transit our way into a future where everything is equal. However, without considering what makes up our soul and manifests through our culture and our care for each other, this kind of building will be doing what seems right, instead of doing what is right.

I already addressed my wishes for North Carolina. But this is my heart. May we continue to centralize our services, create affirming spaces to cultivate spiritual connections and create and adore the culture that makes us who we are.

Next week, everything’s modern in Kansas City. So what time is it really?

Other Things On My Mind

I grew up going to McDonalds once a week for a Happy Meal, and knew of several black franchise owners, but looking forward to digging into this book and learning more about how this was a corporate plan to ensure Happy Meal loyal would grow up to become Big Mac and McFlurry loyal.

I would have loved to grow up though with this book highlighting North Carolina’s black history from A to Z.

And finally, to my fellow Black Americans who can. Take Martin Luther King Day off and participate in service if you want to, but not because you have to.

Before You Go

—Check out this week’s job board. You can submit jobs here. Additionally, there are two job and opportunity seeking and posting centered Patreon support levels.

—Check out Kristpattern on Instagram and DM me if you’re interested in anything for sale over there. It’s not too late to get one of the cards from the Les’s Lighthouse collection and they’re great for helping you or a friend turn your wishes into reality in 2020.

— Book me for a lecture, workshop or both.

—Les, my wonderful life partner and sales director, is great at hyping you up, making you laugh and helping you or your organization make radical changes in your life and health. In fact, you can join her in her Facebook group  and her email list where she’s doing a 30 Day Manifestation and Wisdom Challenge to help us get ready to do well in 2020.

—Don’t forget to check out my mentee’s Rashida Green’s podcast which also discusses environmental issues from a black woman’s perspective. You can listen to me talk about some of North Carolina’s more notorious environmental issues and the political culture on this episode. 

— Advertise your conference, event, project or something else right here in this Before You Go section. Reply back to this email and we will be in touch with rates based on your budget. Or, become an individual monthly supporter via Patreonor send me a one-time Venmo.

Thanks for reading! You can get these messages in your email, support the platform financially on Patreon and get special bonuses; follow the platform on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagram and if you missed some of the previous weeklies, check out the archives.

Welcome back to The Black Urbanist Weekly. I’m Kristen Jeffers and I’m currently producing this weekly digital newsletter on my site, via email and various other places, to share my thoughts, my Black, Spiritual, Southern, Working-Class, Educated, Queer, Femme thoughts on how places and communities work. Think of this as my weekly column, sitting on your proverbial print paper’s editorial page or as so many other of your favorite newsletters do, in your inbox.

This week’s edition is #17 and this is the next email in my series “And That’s What Time It Is”. This week, I believe it’s time to create the spaces we need to be in and walk away from spaces that don’t serve us.

Last week I started out by putting out big goals in the spirit of setting intentions. I’ve already had some major shifts on that front. First, I tackled the job board. Going forward, I’ll do a recap list of the still open jobs in this more legible format. Let me know how that goes. This will also be what I link to in the job board link in the “Before You Go” section.

In addition to this week’s reflection on creation of spaces, over the next three weeks in this newsletter (because I totally forgot last week that there are five Fridays in January) I will be predicting what will happen in North Carolina, Kansas City and the DC/Baltimore region over the next 20 years, in the spirit of this article series from the Indy.

This week though centers on that last goal and I quote myself:
“… for those of us who have one or more of those identities I list every week at the top of the page— I want to be able to encourage you and uplift your work, not to always have to explain it, but to be a place where you can be it and then collect that collective community knowledge.”

Come with me now on that journey to do just that.

And That’s What Time It Is, Part 2: To Create Inclusive Spaces and to Walk Away From Those That Aren’t

“Those of us who stand outside the circle of this society’s definition of acceptable women; those of us who have been forged in the crucibles of difference – those of us who are poor, who are lesbians, who are Black, who are older – know that survival is not an academic skill. It is learning how to take our differences and make them strengths. For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. And this fact is only threatening to those women who still define the master’s house as their only source of support.”

We’ve heard bits and pieces of this Audre Lorde quote a lot over the past few years, especially in the advent of Twitter allowing a lot of concepts of feminism, womanism, queer studies and the like to come out of the classrooms and into the palms of our hands. The phrases “self-care is a form of self-preservation” and “silence will not protect you from being marginalized and oppressed” are also hers.
And when I thought about how I wanted to write this newsletter, this was top of mind.

I also had on my mind Tamika Butler’s reflection on Medium around her journey and issues interacting in our greater urbanist universe. My own partner Les Henderson and I met doing work with what’s now known as the Rail Passengers Association. Her work with them and in other transportation advocacy circles brings her great joy, but also at times rage and sadness. In the past five years, she’s built up a successful career in the health and wellness space. Yet, she’s still very much an urbanist. Both of these women have an extra layer of being gender non-conforming, and getting black male stereotypes on top of having all other stereotypes of black woman implanted on them.

In my case, this is my first full year being completely out as a queer woman professionally and personally. I’m still more feminine and I could easily pass in certain spaces. Yet,I still get and have flashbacks of times of being told I was too loud, my concerns weren’t enough and worse, the time I was fired from an industry job.

The stereotypes Melissa Harris-Perry pointed out in her book Sister Citizen still play out across gender identities and presentations, especially the more politically aligned places. Meghan Markle is bumping up against all of this as well, in her own way.

Some would say that we as feminine and lighter-skinned or biracial women don’t seem like we have the same pain. But, much like my colleague Sherell Dorsey points out in that recent CityLab article and study on the livability of cities for black women in cities with at least 100,000 people in them, the numbers and even some anecdotes don’t always tell the whole story.

We love numbers and data because they seem to merit replication. However, people live. We plan for people to live. We build for people to live in. We transport people to life. We preserve our spaces for life. Life is both linear and circular. Life is both numbers and letters. Life is lived both once and in memory. So, if people aren’t able to live and we continue to marginalize life, we can’t expect people to not bear witness and air grievances. Some of us love to believe that we don’t have triggers, traumas and problems, but that’s not true.

That’s why Greensboro can lead on so many of those factors in the CityLab story, but because of its lack of leadership in black queer life and lack of economic access, especially for funding businesses, I’ve done as Brentin Mock said in the CityLab article and attempted over my adult life to find places that will “fleece me the least”. It’s also why so many other women do so, despite having leaders that look like them in so many cities.

Yes, I believe that the access to black and queer women doing dope things and our relative higher salaries balances out the rent (and hair) expenses relative to what I paid in Greensboro. And with multiple modes of transportation at my disposal, plus having more of the places I do things daily closer together than I did in my detour to Kansas City , I feel even more connected here. Plus, North Carolina is a half-day’s drive and not a whole day’s drive away. Baltimore is also 45 minutes on a good day and I can tap into the benefits they have, without needing to live under the very real and very crushing pressures the city has created. I can connect to all of our various metro area points here in the DC metro proper. I put my car to work for that flexibility, despite the fact that it does contribute to emissions.

Still, me being guilty about my emissions speaks to a statement made by Pittsburgh City Paper columnist Tereneh Idia in her reflection of the original livability study that was centered on Pittsburgh’s black woman population:

Then there was the “Should I stay or should I go?” battle among Black Pittsburghers. The shame of leaving, the pitying of those who want to stay. The “self-righteous” stay-camp, the “selfish” go-camp. The “self-preserving” go-camp and optimistic “we-built-this-city” stayers. Which also meant Black folks were arguing among ourselves (again) instead of looking at the systems, policies, and people responsible (again).

I’ll admit that this statement (swap in Greensboro or any city name for Pittsburgh) is true for not just things pertaining to black women in Greensboro that hit the national press, but for anything that we as a citizenry thinks makes us look bad. Those of us no matter race or class in small cities tend to have these battles. Sometimes we get to have them on an intellectual level. Other times, it’s either we move or we’re homeless, jobless, sick or all three.

And so what time is it this week? The time has come for me to own that I can be every intersection of identity, while also overlaying the intersection of all the identities that encompass urbanism. I’ve got those raw materials. And in that temporary window, I’m going to make my changes and build my house.

Over the next few weeks, it will be time for me to speculate where everywhere I lived will go in 2020 and beyond.

Other Things on My Mind

This article on Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, a black Baby Boomer and her daughter, a Black millennial really spoke to me. Here’s the thread I made on Twitter about it, with comments from the author, another black Millennial, with a cautious Black Boomer mom. I saw this before I saw the CityLab article that leads with Mayor Lyles picture and this is a nice post script about what we talked about above, that highlights how our moms, especially those of us who had moms who were one of the first to enter the middle and upper classes, gave us daughters the privileges and space to take us beyond just surviving and doing what we needed to do.

I’m super excited to see N.C. State University, my first alma mater, truly embodying what it means to live in a pack, by supporting their students in need of housing and food.

I do hope that one day we won’t be able to count our black woman transportation directors and agency leaders in our hands. In the meantime, a salute to IndyGo’s new leader Inez Evans.

And no, you won’t see me at Transportation Camp D.C. or TRB this year. I literally finished the meat of this newsletter in the wee hours of the morning, took another nap, woke up and set everything up to send out and now I’m being a couch potato. However, feel free to DM or text me if you want to set up some time to chat this year. I am still full time temping so my hours are a bit limited, but especially if we share some identity intersections, please reach out as I’d love to hear from you even if we don’t connect.

Before You Go

—Check out this week’s job board. You can submit jobs here. Additionally, there are two job and opportunity seeking and posting centered Patreon support levels.

—Check out Kristpattern on Instagram and DM me if you’re interested in anything for sale over there. It’s not too late to get one of the cards from the Les’s Lighthouse collection and they’re great for helping you or a friend turn your wishes into reality in 2020.

— Book me for a lecture, workshop or both.

—Les, my wonderful life partner and sales director, is great at hyping you up, making you laugh and helping you or your organization make radical changes in your life and health. In fact, you can join her in her Facebook group and her email list where she’s doing a 30 Day Manifestation and Wisdom Challenge to help us get ready to do well in 2020.

—Don’t forget to check out my mentee’s Rashida Green’s podcast which also discusses environmental issues from a black woman’s perspective. You can listen to me talk about some of North Carolina’s more notorious environmental issues and the political culture on this episode.

— Advertise your conference, event, project or something else right here in this Before You Go section. Send us a DM with your budget and we will be in touch with rates. Or, become an individual monthly supporter via Patreon or send me a one-time Venmo.

Thanks for reading! You can get these messages in your email, support the platform financially on Patreon and get special bonuses; follow the platform on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagram and if you missed some of the previous weeklies, check out the archives.

Welcome back to The Black Urbanist Weekly. I’m Kristen Jeffers and I’m currently producing this weekly digital newsletter on my site, via email and various other places, to share my thoughts, my Black, Spiritual, Southern, Working-Class, Educated, Queer, Femme thoughts on how places and communities work. Think of this as my weekly column, sitting on your proverbial print paper’s editorial page or as so many other of your favorite newsletters do, in your inbox.

This week’s edition is #16 and we are in 2020. It’s a new year and in the popular press and online, we’ve already decided this is a new decade. I say this because I also realize we didn’t have a year zero, so technically, we are still in the last decade.

Lately, I’ve had a sense of urgency around this work. It’s prompted me to think a lot about time. So much so, I’ve decided to do another email series for the month of January around time. Get ready for the following four weekly emails/messages this month:

— And That’s What Time It Is Part 1: To Produce More Media, Not Less (you’re reading this one)
–And That’s What Time It Is Part 2: To Create Inclusive Spaces and Walk Away from Those That Aren’t
–And That’s What Time It Is Part 3: A Time for My Home State To Make Sense of the Future
–And That’s What Time It Is Part 4: A Time For Everywhere I’ve Lived to Make Sense

The phrase “And That’s What Time It Is” is one of my dad’s sayings. He started to use it back around 1998 and 1999, in my pre-teen, middle school years, when we were staring the new millennium dawn in the face, he became fond of saying “And that’s what time it is”.

It wasn’t always a note to the new millennium, but he would discuss a news item or an entrepreneurial idea and then he would end the sentence about that item or idea with that statement.

Or, he would co-sign something I was doing with that statement. Ten years ago at this moment, I would still have been able to call him up, and have 100% of his muscle and his brain, to help me do whatever I needed to do. Now the part that I do here on the computer would have stumped him, but not everything else. Of course, I’m going into the 7th year of not having him at all and the tenth year of him not being at 100%.
But I do have support. My lovely partner. Other family members and friends from all over the world. My Patreon supporters. And yes, you, for reading.

But this week it’s time to do more, especially on the creation of media front. Keep reading to learn what that more is:

What Time It Is— A Time To Make More Media, Not Less

When I started drafting this email as we prepared to welcome 2020, I thought I would share a nice casual, semi-motivational reflection on how we should consider that time isn’t equal for everyone.

That those of us who were on vacation last week should remember that so many others weren’t on vacation. That was me in both cases, I’ve taken on some temporary work and that often means you work the holidays when no one else does, even at an office. This was yet another food heavy holiday, so I was also delivering a few grocery loads. But, my office closed the first three days of the past few weeks, so I had a little time to myself to reflect.

However, plenty of folks out here didn’t even have that this holiday season. They worked because someone needs to be at the grocery store so we can enjoy all our favorite holiday dishes (I delivered my fair share of evaporated milk this holiday season). Hardly any metro area is 100% walkable or bikeable without great effort, so someone had to drive our buses, trains and rideshare vehicles. Here in DC, even before the news of the military escalation in Iran, so many of our buildings have security guards 24/7 and so do many of our entertainment venues. And of course that’s just the people working, far too many folks can’t get any employment or have sad memories around the holidays, no matter what set they used to celebrate and they just moved on because it’s another day.

I straddled a lot of these experiences this year and it had me thinking about how I want to go into 2020. Two weeks ago it was about wishes, but now it’s the new year and it’s time for action.
Something else that Kwanzaa as a practice encourages is bringing back the wisdom of and honoring in some way our ancestors. My father was not an ancestor when I started this platform, but he is now and he was already one of my motivations for bridging the gap between those who make sense of city life and who try to plan city life.

So in the spirit of setting intentions, of honoring my ancestors dreams, of wanting to go into the future, not in fear, but in force, I’m putting the following goals out to achieve platform-wise by the end of 2020:

— To derive 100% of my basic, sustaining income from ventures I or Les or a collective that we’ve created with other BIPOC and queer folks, lead. If I want a little extra money I can turn on the apps, or take a temp gig, but it won’t get in the way of doing the main work, which is building these platforms.

—A daily version of this newsletter, which will still have this general format, but I’ll be scanning the news of the day and applying the lens of my intersections and identities to it. Kind of Iike I do in the On My Mind section, but bigger and better.

—This weekly recap, for those of you who don’t want as much in your inbox, but still want to stay in the loop.

—Commissioning (paying and editing and posting) articles from people like myself, with similar perspectives on urbanism and planning. WE are are needed and I’ll go into more detail why next week, but just know, we learn nothing and we will not survive if we listen to the same voices doing the same things and keeping us locked away. Technology may be changing, but people are still people and I want to be in the middle of that, going hard on the people side.

—Producing a job board and a main website that’s completely searchable and workable and can tell you exactly when something is, what it needs AND, if you want to post and manage opportunities, it has similar functionality to some of the other sites. And yes, I will be adding a paywall, but only for those who want to post opportunities and I will work with organizational budgets of any size.

—My book to launch far and wide, with me as publisher, but partnerships to ensure that both in written and audio form, you can hear from me and be encouraged.

—To be able to podcast consistently again and have it be everywhere it needs to be. Currently, it’s only hosted on Patreon, because it’s too expensive to host everywhere AND keep sending this email AND keep the websites running.

—And yes, for those of us who have one or more of those identities I list every week at the top of the page— I want to be able to encourage you and uplift your work, not to always have to explain it, but to be a place where you can be it and then collect that collective community knowledge.

What’s stopping me from doing all this and more right now? Again, time and money.

This is why you will hear me push not just Patreon support, but general sponsorship this calendar year. If you’re in the place where you can provide sponsorship and financial support and you’re ready to be fully open and affirming of all my (and others similar) identities in your conference, school, organization and community, let’s talk.

If you are one of those identities and want to put your money somewhere that supports those identities in the spirit of our own internal diversity and inclusion, there’s a Patreon level just for you and I do take Venmo (@Kristen-Jeffers-3) and Cash App ($kjeffers2).

And so, I want to end this part of the newsletter, the first of 2020, with saying this decade and beyond will not be a small decade for me and this platform. It is no longer a little site I do on the side. It is the main course, the meal, the resource, the independent one, that can help us make sense of what we’ve endured and that will help us claim our worth.

I’ll be back next week with more on what time it is in our spaces and addressing how I want this year to be different in how I interact in our formal planning practice spaces.

Other Things on my Mind

Les and I splurged on Showtime so that we could join the queer women’s moment of consuming The L Word:Generation Q AND Work in Progress. You will find plenty of press around Generation Q and how it’s become a little more inclusive and how the neighborhoods of Silver Lake and Echo Park are portrayed in the show. But Work in Progress brings a huge shot of reality in to what queer life is like when you’re still not loved and feted in this very queer-friendly world. Episode 4 goes deep into the bathroom issue among gender non-conforming and trans folks and it’s good to know that Illinois is taking steps in real life to remedy some of these issues. Oh and a bonus that there’s a trailer and release date for Lena Waithe’s Twenties.

Ava DuVernay’s last decade is a huge inspiration, as I’ll be overlapping some of these years in my life (35-45) in this coming decade. And Nikole Hannah-Jones’s entire feed speaks to the realities of what it’s been like to produce the journalistic side of media work as a black woman. (Also, so many others like Tarana Burke have quote tweeted Ava and you need to read their own stories of triumph and being ready).

If you need a more traditional, “this is what cities need to think about for the decade” list— I co-sign on this one from Curbed, with every issue covered needing to be layered with equity and identity considerations.

Before You Go

—Check out the job board. I’ve added a couple of job-seeker and job-poster friendly Patreon levels, and that survey’s coming very soon.

—Check out Kristpattern on Instagram and DM me if you’re interested in anything for sale over there. It’s not too late to get one of the cards from the Les’s Lighthouse collection and their great for helping you or a friend turn your wishes into reality in 2020.

— If you’re excited about my next phase and how my perspective can help motivate your group of any size Book me for a lecture, workshop or both.

—Les, my wonderful life partner and sales director, is great at hyping you up, making you laugh and helping you or your organization make radical changes in your life and health. In fact, you can join her in her Facebook group and her email list where she’s doing a 30 Day Manifestation and Wisdom Challenge to help us get ready to do well in 2020.

—Don’t forget to check out my mentee’s Rashida Green’s podcast which also discusses environmental issues from a black woman’s perspective. Until I can get my feed back up and running, You can listen to me talk about some of North Carolina’s more notorious environmental issues and the political culture on her latest episode.

—Even if you aren’t in the job or opportunity market or have jobs and opportunities to post, I’ve refreshed all my Patreonlevels. $1 a month allows you to never miss a newsletter and get special book-related bonuses. $5 allows you to ask me one question a month that I will research and answer in-depth and make part of a permanent Q&A, $10 gives you first dibs when the podcast relaunches and when we start doing live events again.$20 grants you digital copies of all my future books, including the one I just teased. $50 gets you something free out of the Kristpattern store. Learn more and upgrade!

—And finally, one last time— you (or your conference, academic program, design firm, event, etc.) can sponsor this newsletter, the site and future podcast episodes. Reply to this email (or DM me on Twitter, Patreon, IG) with your advertising budget and we can send you some customized options. Thanks again for being wiling to support the platform in 2020 and beyond.

Thanks for reading! You can get these messages in your email, support the platform financially on Patreon and get special bonuses; follow the platform on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagramand if you missed some of the previous weeklies, check out the archives.

Welcome back to The Black Urbanist Weekly. I’m Kristen Jeffers and I’m currently producing this weekly digital newsletter on my site, via email and various other places, to share my thoughts, my Black, Spiritual, Southern, Working-Class, Educated, Queer, Femme thoughts on how places and communities work. Think of this as my weekly column, sitting on your proverbial print paper’s editorial page or as so many other of your favorite newsletters do, in your inbox.
 

This week’s edition is #15 and I am continuing my series I started last week on reflecting on my work over the past popular decade (2009-2019) and getting ready to usher in a new decade and the tenth year of this online platform. This week, those of you here on Patreon will be treated to a preview of what my next book will address, which is the lessons I’ve learned in producing a platform like this and engaging in community work, for the last decade, in addition to my general thoughts on the decade that everyone is getting in their inbox.
 

A heads up, there will be more off weeks this year for non-Patrons as I work on some cool special projects offline and get us ready for the release of said book: The Black Urbanist Journey: Wisdom, Lessons and Models from Ten Years as The Black Urbanist on October 17, 2020. 
 

But if Patreon support is not in your budget for the moment, I still thank you for being here— now onto the newsletter this week.
 

Yes, I Have Some Thoughts About This Decade in Urbanism

I do have thoughts about this decade. And a lot of them I already wrote. On the site. In my newsletters. In my tweets. In podcast episodes. In articles and blogs on other platforms. 
 

In 2009, I’d already been making some noise around urbanism and in 2010, I took action by finding a means to make a more declarative statement around my urbanist thoughts, by creating The Black Urbanist.
 

I struggled under the weight of the platform, but I’m here on the other side of that decade, ready to continue to be a source of information, analysis and commentary. I know that my vantage point is unique and it’s necessary. Even when I have to be creative around funding it or even getting messages out.
 

And the lessons learned I’ve decided I needed to expand on in book forms. Hence why if you’re a Patreon, you’ll get to read the next section on how the book ties this all together. If not, a few things on my mind.
 

Other Things On My Mind

If you’re reading this on Friday December 27, then you’re reading this on the second day of Kwanzaa, a holiday created back when we only honored Black History Week, in 1966, to celebrate black culture and communities. Back in 2012, I talked about Kwanzaa and how it fits into the holiday season and the creation of a sense of place, especially in Black communities. And this year, I appreciated this article which talks about how to celebrate the holiday despite #metoo issues with its founder.

Speaking of sense of place and making places (which speaks to self-determination, the Day 2 Kwanzaa principle), I was very intrigued by this article on Black utopias,which the author admitted via Twitter that it took a while to write because it was hefty to think through. She was able to view/patronize three different artistic works and be able to funnel her thoughts on space creating through those lenses and then somewhat put them away and live a life with creature comforts.
 

In the Twitter thread, she mentions a lot more about how hard it is to create Black utopias. And in my further reading this week, I thought about how this Black queer website editor and the Black LA resident of this article both struggled with space creation and maintaining (specifically homelessness) and yes, I do think it was because of their issues around homophobia and transphobia in created spaces, as well as the class issues that lead the hooks of these articles.

But I’m going to end this with kudos to this sister for making things more humane for those on the LA streets by providing hair and beauty services to the homeless, not just as a way to get off the streets, but as a coping mechanism until those who are there can find a way to more permanent housing.

Before You Go

—Check out the job board. I’ve added a couple of job-seeker and job-poster friendly Patreon levels, and that survey’s coming very soon to help me learn more about what you need, so I can be successful at delivering just that!
 

—Check out Kristpattern on Instagram and DM me if you’re interested in anything for sale over there. It’s not too late to get one of the cards from the Les’s Lighthouse collection and they’re great for helping you or a friend turn your wishes into reality in 2020.
 

— If you’re excited about my next phase and how my perspective can help motivate your group of any size Book me for a lecture, workshop or both. Also Les, my wonderful life partner and sales director is great at hyping you up, making you laugh and helping you or your organization make radical changes in your life and health Book her too. And listen to my wonderful podcast mentee’s The Crossroads Podcast, which also discusses environmental issues from a black woman’s perspective. You can hear me on her next episode, discussing the Eastern North Carolina hog waste saga, among other issues.
 

—Even if you aren’t in the job or opportunity market or have jobs and opportunities to post, I’ve refreshed all my Patreon levels. $1 a month allows you to never miss a newsletter, like next week when it’s Patreon-only. $5 allows you to ask me one question a month that I will research and answer in-depth and make part of a permanent Q&A, $10 gives you first dibs when the podcast relaunches and when we start doing live events again.$20 grants you digital copies of all my future books, including the one I just teased. $50 gets you something free out of the Kristpattern store. Learn more and upgrade!

–Sponsorship opportunities are available! Email les@theblackurbanist.com to learn more on how you could promote your conference, school and yes, even jobs and projects on this website, on future podcast episodes and in the weekly newsletter distribution.

Thanks for reading! You can get these messages in your email, support the platform on Patreon and get special bonuses; follow the platform on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagram and if you missed some of the previous weeklies, check out the archives.