All posts by Kristen Jeffers

Kristen Jeffers has always been interested in how cities work. She’s also always loved writing things. She went off to a major state university, got a communication degree and then started a more professional Blogger site. Then, in her graduate seminar on urban politics, along with browsing the urbanist blogosphere, she realized that her ideas should have a stronger, clearer voice, one that reflects her identity as a Black southern woman. And with that The Black Urbanist blog was born. Seven years, one Twitter account, one self-published book, two podcasts and a litany of speeches and urban planning projects later, here we are.
Greensboro, Links, New York City, Rail, Retail, Transportation

Placebook: The Make Your City Edition

Hope everyone has enjoyed the holiday season! My goal is to spend a  little more time on this page (and with you) for 2014 and figured it would be better for me to start this resolution in 2013. Part of that is bringing out a daily(or roughly daily), round-up of things I’ve been pinning, ‘framing, tweeting and Facebooking.

I also want to encourage folks to start a new hashtag trend, #makeyourcity. My return post discusses some of the things I’m doing to make Greensboro better, in lieu of always feeling like nothing ever works here. Since I posted that on Saturday, I’ve seen several other articles encouraging people to leave other expensive areas, especially if one is in the creative class. Of course that turns the theory on it’s head. I’ll be tweeting out some articles under that hashtag as well and hope to get some conversation started about what it means to be creative class or even tech entrepreneur class, in a small city.

Also, if you see articles, photos, meme quotes or whatever that you want me to pay attention to, please hash those #tbuplacebook or simply #placebook. You can also tag @blackurbanist on Instagram and Twitter, Kristen Jeffers or @The Black Urbanist on Facebook.

Now some bonus links:

  • After years of battling, Miles Davis’s contributions to placemaking are remembered by naming the area of the street where he used to greet and socialize with his neighbors after him.
  • You’d never know it, but Norfolk Southern has a huge presence in Greensboro and it’s well up the alley of those who want us to be a logistics powerhouse.
  • Trader Joes is coming to Greensboro, once again, not without a major fight. New developers, smaller, but same site, more buffers this time though.
  • Belk Home Store expansion at Friendly Center is progressing quite fast. It’s also quite large. Then again, there’s nothing like the High Point showrooms or even Rooms-to-Go at Friendly Center,  so this may prove me wrong and the market research folks right.

Have a great day and I’ll see you around!

Book Club, Cities, Civic Inferiority Complex, Family and Place, Greensboro, New York City, Raleigh

Make Your City

Kristen on Swing

 

This weekend marks five adult years of residence in my hometown of Greensboro, NC. To say that I moved back here kicking and screaming is an understatement. To say that staying here is what I imagined myself doing at this point in time is also inaccurate.

However, the one thing we all have to learn in our youth is that where we live is what we make of it. We also learn that the big cities can’t shield us from the changes of life. In fact, according to Salon and the Pacific Standard, if you move to one, you may never move again. Not good for a person who loves to travel like myself.

I recently fell upon Justin Alvarez’s account of studying abroad and staying at college in New York to avoid family in Chicago. I used to have similar feelings. Even though I did undergrad just 90 miles away and masters degree while at home, I did all I could at times to not be engaged or active with various family members.  I’m not sure Alvarez learned fully the impact of missing family things, even with the revelation that his grandfather held on to life just for him.  Thankfully, I was around for my father’s passing, but missed some times with my grandfather and some aunts that passed. My mom is retiring, and I’m thankful that I’m only 10 minutes away and that I’m finally taking up sewing, one of her beloved hobbies. Check out my first garment below(it’s the skirt).

Me in my skirt that I made

The point of the above is first and foremost, that family does matter. If they are halfway decent people, then make an effort to be a part of their lives. I don’t know what I would do without my mom, my aunts and uncles, and my sibling-cousins. The family village is alive and well here in Greensboro and I cherish being close enough to take advantage of that.

Moving on to the feeling of ambition and the wanderlust that moving to bigger cities creates and feeds, Goodbye to All That , both the original essay and the new compilation of essays,  all speak to the need to move on from New York and how it’s not the holy grail.  As I begin my 28th year, much like Didon herself when she left New York, I am seeing the merits of a life well lived in a small city. This line is the real kicker:

Of course it might have been some other city, had circumstances been different and the time been different and had I been different, might have been Paris or Chicago or even San Francisco, but because I am talking about myself I am talking here about New York.

And since I am talking about myself, then, I’m talking about my choice, both active and inactive, to remain in my hometown, the small city, the car-dependent, the less diverse, but still full of fun and surprises and family. I had remind myself of words I wrote in the early days of this space, to check my civic inferiority complex. To appreciate the beauty of all places.

The other link also mentions the need to care for everyone in all cities. For some of us, the best way we can do that is to stay in our hometowns and contribute to the civic environment. To not go into debt to prove something, but to save money and be something.

To make YOUR city and no one else’s. So let’s just call it home.