The Black Urbanist Weekly for May 5, 2023
This is The Black Urbanist Weekly with Kristen Jeffers, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen E. Jeffers, an internationally-known urban planner, fiber designer, and contributing editor. Think of this as an editorial page column, but directly in your email.
Let’s get started with our story of the week, then my weekly section on my Black queer feminist urbanist principles, “The Principle Corner”, then By the Way where I highlight articles and projects I had a hand in or think you should know about.; On the Shelf, On the Playlist where I share book and music recommendations, and finally Before You Go, where I share any ads and announcements if I have them and ways to support this work financially and externally.
Story of the Week: I’m always at the top of the class, doing my best work, until I blackout.
In the second grade, I couldn’t wait to get to school.
When I say I couldn’t wait to get to school, I mean that I was loosening my seatbelt in the front passenger seat of our sharp navy blue 1988 Buick Park Avenue as my mom pulled into the parent drop-off area on the west side of Greensboro’s Peck Elementary School.
Most mornings, I would hop out, dash up the sidewalk and into the west side doors of our circa 1920s main building, and head to my classroom. After a day in our school complex, which consisted of that 1920s building with all the K-3 classrooms and the cafeteria, a classroom addition from maybe the 1940s or 1950s, a library addition from the 1970s, and another darker wing that seemed like it could have been from the 80s, I would dash down those same steps at and back to the Park Avenue, which would be parked on Van Wert Street, facing Florida Street, ready to take me back the mile or so to our home on Rockett Street.
You would think it would be that dash down those steps that would have been my big facepalm, but no, it was a different one.
One morning in that second-grade year (1993-1994), we were coming in from the playground, which was behind the teacher’s parking lot and as I was walking in the sidewalk in line, my feet caught a dent in the sidewalk and my face and glasses went flat on the ground. Unfortunately, this fall was witnessed by everyone. As the tears streamed down my face and my nose, now slightly broken throbbed, I insisted on pressing forward anyway. Somehow my glasses survived.
My mom and several teachers asked me if I was ok and told me I could go home if I wanted to. Nope, once I came back to full consciousness, despite my weird feeling, I went back to school.
After all, there was more fun to be had, playing with our class Koosh ball, writing my next book to submit to the 1994 Young Writers Conference at UNCG, and smelling the Mr. Sketch markers that hadn’t become fodder for ants or dried up too quickly. Plus, you couldn’t tell me that my second-grade teacher, Ms. Washam, wasn’t moonlighting as Vanna White at night on Wheel of Fortune.
But, if you ever wondered why I had a hump on my nose, this is why. And if you wondered how I got to the point where I stopped pressing on even though I didn’t feel good, let’s fast forward about 20 years to the fall of 2012.
I’m laying on my office floor, having blacked out, despite my best efforts to staple every paper, put in every comma on the board member packets, and make sure they sit at their assigned seats.
I, the not quite straight-A student, who still managed to win writing and good citizenship awards in elementary school, had grown up into an adult with a master of public affairs who was on yet another performance improvement plan and who got the feeling that many felt, save my more resourceful classmates, one who helped with getting this job and was on the board, I just couldn’t work hard enough and stay in my proverbial place.
I laid on that office floor, dizzy, head-pounding, vision-blurred, while some upstairs believed I’d skipped out on town to go see my beloved Wolfpack play football that Saturday, rather than be a team player where I was, collecting comp time as my head was in internal pound town.
I want to say that I’ve managed to master workplaces and that they don’t cause me stress, anxiety, and blackouts.
I haven’t.
And this week, I sit in that discomfort as I hope that one day, my body will at least stay put together long enough for me to feel truly successful and comfortable. But until then, I’m not getting up unless I have to.
The Principle Corner
Each week, I take a moment to share how I’ve been building the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist practice and ethic, so we can approach this work from a similar starting point. In this section over the next few weeks of these themed newsletters, I’ll be reminding you why I’m ranking spaces in the first place and how that’s building up into launching phase one of the usable Black Queer Feminist Urbanist dashboard. Coming soon, I’ll be sharing some how-tos of living in a place like I do, in a body like mine.
I came up with schools and workplaces being seventh by listing ten places on a vertical scale of 1-10 with 1 being the safest for me and ten being the least. And I decided to combine the two because as a child, you go to school to allow your parents or caregivers to do things, then you start learning things to help you become an adult and succeed, most often in a workplace. I also wanted to show how childhood resilience could easily turn into adult resolve and disappointment.
And for reference, Here’s the vertical version of my Personal Space Comfort Index from most to least comfortable. We’re on public transportation this week and next time (as we’re taking next week off) we’ll be doing schools and workplaces.
Nature Trail/River Kayaking
Bookstores and Libraries
Craft circles, stores, and festivals
Places that sell and serve food (restaurants/grocery stores/bars)
Private residences
Public transportation
Schools and workplaces
Healthcare facilities
Hair Salons
Churches* (I’ll explain this asterisk in a few weeks when I break down why I feel least comfortable in a church but not necessarily in spiritual spaces).
By the Way
Here’s where I share other articles/videos that were noteworthy for me this week in this section. Apologies in advance for things behind a paywall. Some things I subscribe to and others I grab just before the wall comes down on me. I will start marking these articles and describing them.
I know folks have mixed feelings about Tabitha Brown, but she’s also an Afro-Carolinian in the diaspora and she’s making me wish that when I came home to Greensboro for work in 2019, I had nudged the planning department and Action Greensboro who sponsored my visit to do a big screen and celebration in Center City Park, similar to what she’s doing on Saturday, May 5 as she launches her fourth and final Target collection ( I do own a few of the prior collections and I like what I own).
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Jordan Neely should still be here. I’m just grateful that all the times I was having really hard times in public, including last week at a crab house and several times on Metro over the years, I wasn’t deemed worthy of death for just not being able to handle the chaos of the world and having a panic attack. I’m also thankful for scholars like Idil Abdillahi addressing how anti-blackness and sanism intersect and affect us all globally.
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I haven’t dug into all of this Scalawag series, but if you want to understand Atlanta’s battle over Cop City and how this is everyone’s battle, this is a great place to start.
On the Shelf, On the Playlist
My weekly recommendations of books, music, podcasts, and other pop culture
This month, I want to build on our read last month of The Viral Underclass with yet another book that asks us to come together in solitary in the wake of mass physical infection and illness — Viral Justice by Ruha Benjamin. I’m just in the introduction and she gets straight to the point of what we need to do to move forward not just from COVID-19, but all that ails us. She also doesn’t hesitate to name environmental racism (and other isms) as a key factor in why we struggle. However, she encourages us thus far to take small steps and communal steps to progress. If you decide to read along with me, let me know. I hate that I missed her talk at last week’s outdoor Waverly Book Festival.
With Les’s surgery, my presence at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival may or may not happen, but regardless, I have a large bag of yarn at home as she recovers and Emily King’s latest album to stream.
I’ve been a fan of Emily, since 2007, when I was excited to see another sista with a guitar with a major label release. I’ve followed every twist and turn in her career, and it’s been motivating to see her create her own label and then find the right label fit, while controlling her image and sound and I got to tell her this at the Riot Room (RIP) in Kansas City in 2016. I still have our picture from that concert too and the signed album.
And if things go well, I might be donning a 3M Aura mask and catching her Howard Theater show on May 31 and starting my official goal of purchasing the vinyl or at least CD copies of all the folks I like, in an extension of me supporting art not just with my streams, but with my funds, regardless if I can do an indoor show or not. Regardless, this remix EP of several of her songs off her second most recent album is probably my favorite.
Before You Go
This is our last section, where I have classified advertisements for others along with nudges to donate to crowdfunding and social justice campaigns but I also advertise things that I’m doing that are for sale or for hire. Rates start at $75 a week for a four-week commitment and $150 for just one week. Learn more and get started with your ad! First, another position is open with UC San Diego Labor Center.
Position title: Program Director – UC San Diego Labor Center
Apply now: https://apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF03568/apply
View this position online: https://apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF03568
POSITION OVERVIEW
Salary range: A reasonable salary range estimate for this position is $86,000 – $106,000. The posted UC academic salary scales (https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/compensation/2022-23-academic-salary-scales.html) set the minimum pay determined by rank and/or step at appointment. See the salary scale titled, Academic Administrator Series – Fiscal Year for the salary range https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/2022-23/july-2022-salary-scales/t34.pdf.
APPLICATION WINDOW
Open date: April 18, 2023
Next review date: Monday, May 15, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.
Final date: Thursday, Aug 31, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.
POSITION DESCRIPTION
The UC San Diego Labor Center (https://laborcenter.ucsd.edu/) invites applications for a Program Director. The center is administratively housed within the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (https://usp.ucsd.edu/). The UC San Diego Labor Center strengthens and expands the labor movement through advanced research, education, and strategic partnerships with workers, labor organizations, policymakers, tribal organizations, and the broader San Diego region. We place the well-being of workers, their families, and their communities at the forefront of our curricula, community engagement, public programs, and publications. We focus attention on the unique socio-economic circumstances of the border region, including large binational and refugee communities and Indigenous nations in the region. Our research offers innovative policy perspectives on work and workers while our worker-centered approach advances the goals of fair working conditions, living wages, and climate, gender, and racial justice.
We seek a program director to lead the founding and growth of the center. With funding through the University of California Worker Rights Policy Initiative (WRPI), the center aims, in the next three years, to: build our capacity for research, policy analysis, education, and public-facing programming; support unions and community organizations to conduct their work more strategically by developing curricula and providing technical assistance; and develop the next generation of labor and community organizers, researchers, and leaders among undergraduate and graduate students by connecting them with labor and community organizations, and training and involving them in community-engaged action research. We work closely with the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council.
The program director is the senior, full-time person building and leading the center in collaboration with a faculty director and managing its dynamic and growing portfolio of research, training, programming, and community collaboration. The program director is responsible for the independent development and coordination of all aspects of center operations, which includes the following core areas.
Strategic Leadership
Working with the center’s Faculty Leadership Council and the Labor and Community Advisory Board, the program director provides strategic leadership in planning and implementing all research and programming at the center. Represent the center at annual conferences, community-sponsored events, and working groups.
Research and Education Programming
Working with the Faculty Director, as well as the Labor and Community Advisory Board, the program director will help develop and guide the center’s research, policy analysis, graduate and undergraduate instruction, and public-facing programming. This includes overseeing and initiating, if qualified, research projects in collaboration with community partners, as well as teaching courses and workshops related to labor studies and community-based methods.
Fundraising
Planning, developing, and initiating strategies for generating resources and/or revenues, including through fundraising, donor relations, and grant and contract proposals.
Public Relations
Interfacing with the broader community (including the California Labor Federation, San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, unions, worker centers, and community organizations), local and state government officials, foundations, and other community partners. Overseeing all aspects of the center’s communications, including web presence, report review, and external relations.
Event Development and Coordination
Overseeing all center organized and affiliated events.
Research Administration and Financial Management
Overseeing and further developing the organizational structure for the center’s financial and business operations, including the generation, management, and reporting of center budgets and oversight of contracts and grants.
Center Management
Responsible for personnel and program management at the center, including planning and implementing strategic initiatives, supervising and mentoring staff, and ensuring HR needs are met.
CAMPUS INFORMATION
The University of California, San Diego is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, covered veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy.
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Even though I’m probably sitting out Maryland Sheep and Wool and if you haven’t already, consider supporting LolaBean Yarn Co. and Dye Hard Yarns. In addition to the spring fundraiser of Knit the Rainbow, a group that works to ensure that knitwear is donated to LGBTQIA+ youth, and raises awareness of queer/trans folks in the yarn and fiber space, is still ongoing.
For those of you who can and I know it’s tough out here for a lot of us, like our colleague who could still use our support with her partner’s chronic health challenges and of course, Les’s as she recovers at home from her endometriosis surgery, but an extra $20-$50 in these accounts is takeout money, gas/transit money, a doctor’s appointment, whatever they want, which is more than they had before.
I’m adding a link for Project N95 to help folks who still want to use personal protective equipment, but are running into financial hardship now that things like tests and high-quality masks are full price and major institutions have decided to move on. I’m also adding a link for the Entertainment Community Fund and for those in WGA to have relief while they take necessary action to get the funding they deserve for being one of the few industries that can’t be erased (at least for now).
This is how we as planners and makers can practice solidarity and uplift community groups. If not these campaigns, please find some that are closest to you. I also assume that you do have the financial means to do so as planners, but I know things can be tough for us. But solidarity is free and that starts with speaking up and sharing when you can.
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If you want me to show up on your panel, keynote, or podcast, book a complimentary consultation call. I still have open availability for 2023 and 2024.
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I have created a special landing page, www.theblackurbanist.com/books, that’s not only a home for my upcoming volume, A Black Urbanist Journey to a Queer Feminist Future, but all those books in the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist canon. Use this link to purchase from my Bookshop, especially if it’s coming up as an error for you. I’m still trying to figure out why that is and how I can fix it in the future.
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if you want to send me money for quick expenses or like a tip jar, you can Venmo me or buy me a Ko-fi. If you become aPatreon, you can do that on a set monthly basis, along with a special thank you note each week! The GoFundMe is still alive if you want to make large donations quickly and you can subscribe on Substack but know that nothing in this newsletter is going behind a paywall, this is considered a love offering. I do have a special surprise for my Patreon and paid Substack followers, but you’ll be getting early access to a rebooted project I’m doing, that will go public to everyone in June.
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And if you need one more reminder to support my textile and fiber work, head over to www.kristpattern.com.
Until next time,
Kristen