Our cities, our lives, are depressing sometimes.

Trigger warning for discussion of depression and how folks cope with it, namely me.

Those of you who have followed my work over the years know that I’m no stranger to the struggles of anxiety and depression. Or maybe you didn’t know and wondered why I would disappear offline for weeks. Why I’m not at a particular conference or being friendly at the ones I do attend (including this weekend). Why this newsletter is called a weekly, but sometimes shows up as a monthly. Travel helps, but sometimes it shakes up the routine that keeps me from falling too far on the deep end.

Last month was National Mental Health Awareness Month and I linked to my article,The Continuous Quest to Mentally Cope With Modern Civic Life as a Young Black WomanProfessional. I wrote the article in an especially dark place for me last spring, on coping with being someone like myself, a lover of vibrant cities and creating things, with more introversion and depression than I like to admit, as I adjusted to my third city in three years. (And it’s now up to four and could be more…)

And of course, many of us have seen and been shocked by the deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain. I, unfortunately, had not had the chance to really watch Bourdain’s work, but everything I heard was great and I’m sad that there’s a clear period to it.

Meanwhile, when I still lived in Kansas City, Spade came to Halls at the Crown Center to debut her new line. I readthe article about this in the Starand learned that she was a Kansas Citian who seemed to have all the right connections for the town: white, straight, cis, wealthy from birth and even more so now, husband and kid, Catholic school growing up, now a store that bore her name on the Plaza and even though she’d sold that version of the business, she still had the courage to start another.

Unlike me at the time, who couldn’t put my finger on the fact that what I had was depression, sometimes of the manic nature, but almost always an idea of hopelessness. I was guilty of doing what Brene Brown has called creating a “dangerous” story on what her life must have been like, in the midst of me coming to terms with not having a city, one city, any city, as well as this hobby, turned profession meet everything that I could possibly need.

Now I know that she may have been doing similar things and she even mentioned being afraid that her brand would suffer because people would know that she struggled, if she went to treatment.

I look back and even as I was a child drawing pictures of Apricot Preserves jars taking Amtrak, I was also dealing with a natural propensity to think the worst and assume the worst, so it didn’t just start.

Hearing about her struggle and end has me doing more evaluation and realizing that one, I can’t assume things and two, I need to do what I can to be grateful about where I am and what I have done. Oh and I need to give myself space to be negative, but understand that there’s lots of joy left in this world.

That’s not always easy when you’ve made it your career, and often been forced,  to critique and call out harmful systems. You want to make sure the system knows that its time is up and that in order for all of us to be free of pressure, shame, harm, and violence, we have to let go.

But that’s just it, we all have to examine ourselves, let go and be open to light. For some of us, that’s taking breaks from the work and mentoring others. For others, it’s deciding to shift some of the power and resources to a better good. And for others, it’s both.

You’ve seen this number  a lot of places, but here it is again:

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Call 1-800-273-8255
TTY at 1-800-799-4889

I have called this number several times myself and it’s not just for when you want to end it all, but for any time you feel like you’re at the deep end and just need someone to talk you through. The website also has a ton of resources too.

In my Personal Shoutouts this week, I’m going to include several more tools I use to get myself through the doldrums and as I mentioned before, as we come to the middle of the year, I’m taking more time to assess where I am and where I need to be and how I can get stronger.

Now, on to my professional life, and some other fun things.

My Life as a Professional Urbanist

I had this newsletter ready to go on Friday, but by the time I got down to the Association for Community Design’s annual conference, which was literally right down the street, I realized that meeting and greeting so many of you who were there was going to be the order of the day. That and doing our Baltimore Complete Streets panel. It was great to have this conversation again and also good to see so many of the folks I connected with when I was in Minneapolis two years ago. And yes, you can still find the Minneapolis presentation book online.

I’ll also be at theAllied Media ConferenceFriday-Sunday of this week and I’ll be in LA at the end of July. More details forthcoming about that. Also, still working on the very special live career questions episode, as well as more new regular episodes as well as a few other writing projects.

Personal Urbanism, Shoutouts, and Recommendations

So we are halfway(ish) through 2018!!!

Welcome to the blog post edition of my weekly newsletter! Right now, if you read both the email version and the blog version of this letter, you’ll notice that things are slightly different.

Namely this opening section and a few other things, like typos, misspellings, wrong information (like the fact that June 1 is midpoint and not July 1) and sometimes extra links that I forgot to put in the Friday edition. Expect the edition here to go out on Sunday mornings just in time to compliment your pre-brunch reading patterns. 

I’m doing a dual version because I want a copy of the letter on web space that I own, as well as the opportunity to bring you here to this page, as I begin to launch more content and goodies, and because the social sites can be so fickle.

Anyway, here we are and I thank you for coming back. You can thank me in an even bigger way via my Patreon on a monthly basis and through one-time Paypal.me or Cash app donations.

On the email, I went through some GDPR related information. Coming soon to this site, there will be new privacy notices and cookies information. Please don’t sue me for not having these things up and running by May 25th!

Also, I gave everyone on the email list a grace period to unsubscribe or open for the first time in a while, before I did a major purge. The list will be purged for the next email by next Friday, June 8. If you want to read this in email, are on the list currently and haven’t opened the email in the last two months use this box and re-subscribe/update your settings.

If you are ok with this link being the only place you read the newsletter, then you don’t have to do anything. Also, you can re-subscribe on your own accord down the line if you decide you want to come back and be on the email list.

Anyway, like I mentioned in Friday’s version of this note, as we approach the halfway point of 2018, I’m doing a mid-year assessment based on this post.  I may or may not publish it publicly, as true to the post, but you will start to see a lot of changes to both this site and the greater Kristen Jeffers Media platform and me as a person over the next few weeks. And yes, I saw the pictures at the National Portrait Gallery. It was a wonderful Saturday afternoon excursion. 

My Life as a Professional Urbanist

As nervous as I was, I feel like I did great holding it down for the millennial generation (and let’s admit, a few other groups) at CNU 26 a couple of weeks ago.

Also, I’m so happy to be featured in Modacity talking about my work as its evolved over the years.

Hopefully, the third time is the charm with appearing on Black Kids in Outer Space. If you haven’t been watching, do check out that podcast. In fact, until I get another episode of my show out, go binge those.

Next week (June 8-9) is the Association for Community Design’s annual conference where I will be moderating a version of the Complete Streets in Baltimore panel I did in Nashville.

I decided to do my career questions and guidance podcast episode as a semi-live webinar. Hold the date for June 19 at 8 p.m. I did not actually make the Eventbrite, partly because I continue to brainstorm how I want to do this, where I want to do it and also, depending on if I can recruit some special guests, the date may change. But hold on to this date for now and know that you will be getting updates on this.

In the meantime, If you are interested in booking me for speeches, panel discussions, workshop facilitation or your podcast/media outlet for the summer, fall and next winter, this is a perfect time!

Personal Urbanism, Shoutouts, and Recommendations

To open this section, I want to say that Savannah was adorable. I mostly saw its sprawl, in conjunction with the historic district, but even the sprawl felt different. At least on the corridor, I was staying in, all the box stores, despite their parking setbacks, lined up nicely down the US highway corridor. There was also a clear path to the historic district and key scars of what happened when highway development came in.

But I opened this section with a photo of their local Mellow Mushroom’s menu. One, because Mellow Mushroom is yet another Georgian thing that is going national and two, not only does it allude to certain substances, I think some of those substances are in the pizza to make them so addictive. 

Also, true to most Mellow Mushroom trends, they tend to be in areas that are convenient to walk in and this one was no exception, sitting right next to the main conference hotel and right at the point in the walk between it and the Civic Center you might give up anyway. Anyway, enough about Mellow and its Kosmic Karma goodness. Here are some other things worth seeing.

From this profile of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, I learned that she is also a Baltimorean, having come here to figure out her writing and that she also longings for her homeland, where she also spends a good deal of time. 

One Last Thing

That’s all for now. Remember, if you want to get this link in your email after next Thursday night, please update your information here:

 I will only use this email to send you this email at a maximum of four times a month and a minimum of once a month. New subscribers will get a digital copy of the first edition of my book A Black Urbanist. You can unsubscribe at any time.

I am writing this from the kitchen table of my teenhood home. Yes, I’m right back again on what was a planned trip home to celebrate one of my cousins who is following in my footsteps and graduating from the Department of Communication at N.C. State University.

I’m not going to lie. I miss it here. I’m finally realizing that you really can’t run away from both your own problems and people who have problems. Every place has something that it needs to overcome. We are often just better equipped to handle some systems better than others.

And that’s what a weekend like this forces me to think about. What am I doing, what have I done and how can I make what I’m doing better.

In the meantime, I’ve had not just one, but two conversations with people where we touch on how things have changed in unexpected ways, as well as how to manage expectations and our lists of perfect things.

I talked quality changes, as well as equity issues with autonomous vehicles on my latest The Black Urbanist Radio Show episode with Dr. Richard Ezike, a fellow Wolfpacker, who like myself has lived in many places and has found a good home in the D.C. area to be nerdy and explore both technical and quality-of-life issues related to urban planning, namely transportation and our new equitable future. That’s everywhere you can find podcasts, but you know that I’m pretty partial to listening on Radio Public.

Meanwhile, I dropped by and talked Parks and Recreation with the wonderful women of Waffles Friends Work. We talked about Season 4, Episode 12, Campaign Ad (for those who’ve seen it, it’s the episode of Lesile’s big list). As someone who tries and fails to operate with big lists, many that resemble this list as they go after how to make cities better, this was a good one I thought for me to swing through and talk about.

Oh and I wrote one of what will be more pieces on D.C. Metro station entrances.

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My Life as a Professional Urbanist

Last Saturday I stepped in to facilitate a role-play exercise for the Every Voice Counts Transportation Academy at Impact Hub Baltimore, where I’m a resident co-worker.

The academy is based off a guide published by the US DOT under its most recent prior administration that encourages people to learn how to advocate for themselves and teaches people, especially folks new to transportation advocacy, how to advocate for oneself.

I also got a chance to visit the US DOT and chat with a few employees about why I ride my bike in honor of Bike Month. That’s me right outside the door in the picture leading the newsletter. The picture leading this section is of the academy.

I’ll be in Savannah next week for CNU 26. I hope you’ll stay through Saturday and come to the morning plenary, a discussion where I’ll be talking about my generation and it’s relationship to urbanism with a Baby Boomer and a Gen Xer.

 

And I’ll be moderating the panel we did in Nashville again, in Baltimore, at the Association for Community Design’s annual conference in June.

I’m working on a couple of other events, but  in the meantime If you are interested in booking me for speeches, panel discussions, workshop facilitation or your podcast/media outlet for the summer, fall and next winter, this is a perfect time!

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Personal Urbanism, Shoutouts and Recommendations

This week’s praise starts at the Shop Made in D.C. Six months ago, the D.C. government trusted craft and maker space expert Stacy Price and a few others to curate this awesome space of local food and local craft.

I’d met Stacy back at the CityWorksXPO in Roanoke where I gave a presentation back in the fall of 2016. I’d been meaning to catch up and was so thankful to walk right into the shop and spend an afternoon eating all the wonderful D.C. based food as well as check out some of my favorite and become acquainted with some of the new-to-me makers of D.C.

I also want to give a shoutout this week to my formerly of D.C. entrepreneurship friends Stephanie and Jeremy and their new New York City venture, Eche Verde. It opened last week with a paper flowers course and I hope to visit soon and maybe teach a course there myself.

I also tried out Blue Denim, a restaurant owned by a favorite chef here in Greensboro. It was good. Even the crab leg garnish.

Finally, my cousin Marcus Mintz, the graduate I mentioned above, has a budding video/photography business and he’s got his sights set on Atlanta later this summer. If you need video or photography, especially in North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia (and I’m sure anywhere else if you pay to bring him there), let him know.

One Last Thing

This Atlanta backyard dino is reminding me that zen and peace is something that should never go extinct. Plus, it’s so cute!

That’s all for now. If you want to get these in your email instead of just here, subscribe below:

 I will only use this email to send you this email at a maximum of four times a month and a minimum of once a month. New subscribers will get a digital copy of the first edition of my book A Black Urbanist. You can unsubscribe at any time.

 

Hello From Where it All Began, But The End of this Journey…

Also known as my teen-hood home (but it’s 9 p.m. Monday so I’m technically back in Baltimore). I thought I’d be writing this from the plane home from my excellent and life-changing speaking tour and you’d get this on Wednesday the 25th. And I planned on being home in the second week of May and basking in all of what that means.

But almost like that time I was in New York and got a call, I got a call in Atlanta.

When my dad died, I had a temporary acceptance. Dad had been struggling for a while. But he was winning again in small ways and I’d hoped that he’d have a chance to naturally pass. But I had that temporary acceptance that he was not suffering, even if he couldn’t be an active part of my life.

It’s different this time. Five years have passed. This nephew of his and cousin of mine was only in his 40s. Of all my “big” cousins, Derek was one of most vibrant, goofy, fun-loving people I know.

One of the last times I’ve spent with my Dad’s family before my big move was with Derek and his young family at his house in the Cary/Morrisville/Maybe Durham side of things. Yes, in the suburbs, but this is when it makes sense to have one of those kinds of houses, because your family is there to fill it with all the love your heart can hold and then some.

If you’ve seen my most recent presentation live (and if not, here it is in the Boise version), I talk about how much the Jeffers Thanksgiving Tradition has created a sense of home and place in my life. Derek was a huge part of that, as we often had Thanksgiving at his parents’ house and all of us younger (Gen X, Millennial and younger) would retire to the basement after the main family meal and cheer on the sport teams, dance (in my case horribly) to the latest jams and play (also in my case horribly), the latest video games on the latest systems.

I could go on, but I’ll leave these two memories here and let my family, especially his immediate family step in here and add more.

One of the key reasons I do what I do, in the way that I do,  is because I want it to not be a choice to come home to family. Thanks to tours like I just did, as well as the potential in the podcast and the re-release of my book, I have some flexibility, but even more resilience. I hope to have more, as I help other folks and communities build the same.

And before I get into the rest of the email where I talk about the planned part of the trip, I did release an episode this week!

This is the first of two episodes I’m calling the Atlanta House Episodes and it features Nedra Deadwyler of Civil Bikes.

We talk a lot in the industry about the sense of place. But what about the sense of home?

We sat in Nedra’s home in Atlanta, Atlanta proper, on the East side, and we talked about growing up southern, getting out and why we’ve come back to our homes.

Also, we touch on her inspiration for bikes, who gets to come home, The Chef and the Farmer, the Cooking Gene and food. Lots of food.

Learn more about Civil Bikes and participate in one of their Atlanta-based tours.

The show is live on Radio Public, Patreon, TuneIn, Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Stitcher and at its hosting home on Libsyn, or you can plug in the RSS feed into whatever podcast reader you’d like. (right click and copy the link location if you want to listen that way). I am actively adding and working on getting approval in other places.

Radio Public and Patreon also provide ways for you to support me financially. And on the other platforms that allow it, rating and reviewing also helps me get heard by more folks.

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My Life as a Professional Urbanist

In addition to this week’s podcast  episode in which we talk about our sense of home, I’ve just completed two conference presentations on fair housing.

As we continue to learn almost daily (and sadly live), fair housing is not a human right for many, but it should be. Listen to me talk about my own struggle and my own desire and my own inspirations when it comes to housing (and yes, why I tie that into transportation advocacy,) as I presented it in Boise.

And I want to highlight my quote here from the Chattanooga Times Free Press:

Jeffers said she wants to challenge landlords and developers to rethink service provision and what it means to provide a good home for someone.

“A lot of people use homes as investment vehicles and not as providing shelter or a service,” she said. “People have options and you still have to provide good services — not just make money off the backs of other people.”

Jeffers urges communities to develop a better balance between how we develop and how we maintain an area. For people who want to stay in a neighborhood, it’s about educating them on the things they need to know to stay in that home and that community, she said. For people moving into a neighborhood, it’s about supporting the current “ecosystem.”

“Do your best to come into that ecosystem in a way that doesn’t disrupt it,” she said. “Get to know your neighbors. Say hello. Be a part of the community as much as possible.”

Also, thanks again to the Idaho Business Review, Nooga.com and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for coverage and to the Intermountain Fair Housing Council and the City of Chattanooga for hosting me for these conversations.

Personal Urbanism, Shoutouts and Recommendations

The best part about doing this right after a big trip is that there’s so much to recommend and so many people to shout out. Let’s go in order of cities/states.

Boise

The Boise Airport is small, but has so much pride for its city and it knows exactly what its people need in an airport. First, there’s a nod to rail history with two rail benches from the Boise Depot. Then, there’s a large waiting area for folks who are meeting passengers with glass windows and mirrors (and arcade machines) so that people can see folks approach and get excited, but still satisfy security requirements.

Basically, the airport knows it’s a big deal for folks to come and go and that people still want a place to have those meet-at-the-airport moments. Also, the library has a branch there, that offers computers to rent e-books and also do other online business. And at the Smashburger, a local burger chain, I had the best tater tots ever, a nod to the potato legacy. Lots of souvenirs were potato themed as well, including the Spuddy Buddy I picked up and put into my suitcase (after I paid of course).

Then, when my Uber pulled into the Modern Hotel, I had my doubts. From the outside, it looked like a normal motel. And considering what most normal motels look like, I didn’t know what I had in store. However, after rolling my things into the office, hauling them up the stairs and walking into the enclosed part and then my room, I found a wonderful mid-century modern jewel. I quickly retired to the bed to finish my presentation, got some amazing bread pudding via room service and the following evening, had even more of said bread pudding and let the bed grab me and help me rest until my next destination. Oh and I really enjoyed my loaner bike. More on that in a second, but you can see my on it at the beginning of this letter.

Gordy’s Breakfast Bistro is probably the only place on earth that will scramble just about anything into an egg, cut up your sweet potatoes into hash browns and still slide you a pancake. If you’re like me, you’ll eat that and instead of falling asleep, you’ll still have enough power to give a speech. It also helped that it was right across the street from the venue and for locals and visitors, this is centrally located to a lot of important things, like the convention center and the state capitol.

The Boise River Greenbelt was an absolute jewel. Because of the winter we’ve had, I’ve barely seen spring blooms and leaves on the trees. This was my first opportunity to do so. After taking time on the course (as well as enjoying being able to easily pedal and lock the bike around town), I popped into the Boise Art Museum and just barely missed the Idaho Museum for Black History. There’s an amazing exhibition by Jo Hamilton, a crochet portraitist. Yes. you read that right. It’s only there until May 13th, so hurry up and swing by.

Finally, before we leave Boise on this email, thank you again to the staff of the Intermountain Fair Housing Council and it was great to meet a fellow black urbanist photographer North Carolinian, Lauren Branch! Keep holding it down out there!

Chattanooga

When I return to a city, it’s always nice to see what’s changed, what hasn’t and what new things and folks I can run into. This trip was heavy on the new things and new people.

For starters, food. I hung out with the lovely Beth Bennett and Josiah Golson at The Social. Maybe it was a Friday thing, but we got a chance to chop it up over free chicken wings and amazing faux cocktails. We did it again the following day at the City Diner, where I would like to thank Josiah for allowing me the joy of seeing fried okra on a plate again after so long. I’m also looking forward to that third conversation we’re going to have and everyone should check out your book, visual art (I especially love the parade sketch and if you’re missing Beychella, you will too) and work in Chattanooga. Folks who were in Nashville and in their panel, you already heard about some of it, but I look forward to reading the whole book! And Beth, thanks for just being you. Keep doing more of that. Also special note for Jaleesa Monroe for our chat on being black business owners, women business owners and southern business owners. Plus, I love my lotion sample!

Finally, to James McKissic, first, for recognizing my work way back in my Greensboro days, in front of my mayor, and now allowing me to grace some of your colleagues and friends with a message of not just how to do fair housing, but why it’s so important. And Kerry Hayes for getting the word out, having the mayor’s ear and for introducing me to The Bitter Alibi, its owner and it’s brunch!

Y’all know I’m coming back to see you, so hang tight! And I hope to stay in the Dwell next time, but the Chattanoogan was decent too.

Atlanta

So Atlanta. Let’s start with how most folks encounter you and that’s your airport. I’m forever thankful to former mayor Maynard Jackson, Jr. for having the vision to create an airport that pretty much can take you anywhere in the world, sell and provide just about everything you need in house and make it easy to connect to downtown (hey MARTA hey!) and to getting a rental as needed. And to the Atlanta History Center for helping travelers and locals alike take a moment in the Terminal B to Terminal C tunnel to reflect on this and so many other key moments in Atlanta history!

Meanwhile, Kevin Hamak was one of my first CNU friends and he told me I just had to meet his then girlfriend (now wife) Wanona Satcher. That was in 2011 and in 2013 we made that meetup happen on the streets of Durham at a long community table.

Five years later, it was a joy to return to your West End home and crash after an already long, but amazing trip. Thank you for all that food (especially those cookies and the Sublime Donuts). Thank you for allowing me to see in real life, a place that’s captured my literary imagination for so many years. Thank you for making sure I connected with some of my ATL urbanist squad, namely Ryan Gravel, Marion Liau and Bithia Rathsamy who are pictured at the very beginning of the shoutout section (Ebrik Coffee Room too!) .

And of course, as I said above, for providing a calm space to get another vat of bad family news.

And of course, we are enjoying one of Atlanta’s brightest young  residents right now, but I really enjoyed getting to know more of bungalow Atlanta thanks to Kevin and Wanona and King Williams.

King, thank you for telling me what I needed to hear and I’m looking forward to the world seeing your documentary soon! And introducing me to the best sorrell (S/O to the 640 West Cafe) and showing me just how simple Stankonia started (or maybe re-started, I know there was an actual basement involved at first). The art is not easy, but it’s worth it and the stories can be told (and I can afford to eat and know where I’m laying my head too). Thank you, just thank you.

And if you’ve not had a chance to check out and support Wanona’s efforts to reuse shipping containers for affordable housing, get over there and do that.

North Carolina

The skies parted just right so I could say good evening to Raleigh in just the right way. To honor thy hallowed shrine, much like I am in two weeks on commencement day when I celebrate the graduation (from my own deparment), of my cousin Marcus who’s going to become my absolute favorite ATLien very soon.

But for now, it was time to say farewell and I’m thankful that in this farewell time, I got to see so much of my living family and friends and to feel their love and pride in me.

Thank you mom for keeping my bedroom and desk the way it was when I got this idea.

To my Jeffers family, we will miss them. We will honor them. And know that they continue to love and support us from beyond. And yes, I’m going to be at Thanksgiving this year. Maybe host in the future. And again, thank you all for telling me to keep going, for encouraging me to do what makes me the most happy and praying that it all gets done.

To the Mintz side, Lauren especially, thank you for reminding me to dream and believe. I do miss our Friday nights at Europa and I’m glad we had a bit of that (with Maxie B’s Cake!). And thanks always to my Uncle Phil for being on airport duty and for taking me to Harbor Inn even though I know we eat there too much. Thank you to that family for keeping that as a Burlington institution onward through our generation.

Greensboro as a whole, I hated that I couldn’t get to the concert, but I can see that despite all the sad that’s hit us over the past few weeks, we are still resilient. We are strong.

Traona and everyone at Masterminds Design Studio for making sure I didn’t look a hot mess. No matter your texture or length or how you like to look, they will take good care of you!

And finally, Mitchell and Cat, thank you for blessing me to see how bubbly, smart and wonderful Cameron is. And yeah, y’all made a tiny human. But you’re both about to do big things in your careers and I can’t be more proud of you. Thank you both for your friendship and ear over the years.

And with that, that’s all. I know it’s long. I think I got excited because this started on the blog first and you’re reading it there or in email. Plus, I truly had weeks worth experiences in about 12 days, so here you go.  And if you’re on the blog and want this in your email next time, drop your info below:

It’s time for my weekly email! A few weeks ago, I decided to move my email over to a new provider, InfusionSoft. In addition, I decided that since I’m doing this blog and other parts of Kristen Jeffers Media full-time right now, there’s no reason why I can’t send you guys a letter every week. Want it in your actual email? You can use the top bar, but that won’t give me your name and city. Instead, use the link on the sidebar. (RSS subscribers, you’re probably reading in email or a special reader anyway, so this isn’t so much for you).  And now, the email! Oh and a two regular posts are coming soon, I promise.

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It’s not been a secret that I feel like I’m always home now that I’m in DC and so close to NC. However, there’s really one thing I’ve not been able to properly do since my return: go to a fish house.

For the uninitiated, what many North Carolinians consider a fish house is one styled on the culinary tradition of the town of Calabash, which has dubbed itself the seafood capital of the world.

This Visit NC article has a quick history of the tradition, but for me, the restaurant pictured above, in its second location of both of our lifetimes, is ground zero for my love of Calabash seafood. There are a number of Calabash restaurants called Harbor Inn, but the one in Burlington frequented by my family since they opened in 1985 is the one I’m talking about.

We and we meaning my grandmother and my mom and a handful of her siblings are such regulars there, they know us by face, if not by name at this point. The family-owned restaurant is now being managed by my generation as I saw at the Wednesday lunch I had there with my mom and grandmother and I told the manager on duty how grateful I was that they were keeping the tradition going, especially since like “beach music”, calabash seafood eating seems to be something that only grandparents who came of age in the 30s, 40s and 50s do.

(Yes, even backyard bone-in fish fries fall under that sometimes, even though I requested one for my high school graduation twelve years ago, and this is the seafood I’m talking about when I say seafood is one of my food groups.).

He said he appreciated it and folks like us are why they are there. If you want to visit Harbor Inn, they are located at 2408 S Church St in Burlington, NC and you can check them out on the web and Facebook.

That, learning that Harris Teeter sells gas now, making a scarf on my newly expanded finger loom, watching the Gilmore Girls revival in its entirety, attempting to go to the new Greensboro The Cheesecake Factory just because, and spending much needed time with my family, was how I spent Thanksgiving week. I hope your holidays were as free of drama as mine. And now, my usual weekly reminders:

THIS WEEK ON THE BLOG AND PODCAST

We are still working on that special podcast episode. And I have two actual post drafts coming up.

In the meantime, this year’s holiday gift guide is here. Yes, it’s the same one from last year, but I added several specific products, including my own. More about that in the next section.

Listen to the entire podcast archive here or on your favorite podcast network. Also, I was on the Parkify podcast discussing the election a couple of weeks ago.. And yes, there’s a Bike Nerds episode with me also floating around.

Thanks always to Sustainable Cities Collective for continuing to syndicate my work, like this blog from a few weeks ago!

WHAT I’M WORKING ON AND HOW YOU CAN HELP ME

PlantoSpeak Office Hours, Private Coaching and the Big Event on January 6th in DC!

As I was planning the big gathering, I realized that what I want to do should have some smaller elements, like me coaching folks on their presentations and proposals one-on-one. We all know about that weird RFP or the special member of the planning board who holds all the sway. You can plan for those things, but sometimes it’s better to discuss them and your strategy to combat them, one-on-one.

Join me virtually every Tuesday from 12 noon to 1 p.m. Eastern, using the hashtag #plantospeakQ&A on Twitter, to discuss anything relating to public speaking or proposal writing. I tried doing this on Facebook today, but still having issues. I’ll be tweeting from the @plantospeak account.

Additionally, in addition to doing one big class, I’ll be offering one-on-one coaching on an hourly basis, virtually or in-person if you live in the DC Metro area. The fees include my Six Things to Do When You Present Your Work coursebook (either digital or in print. Schedule your first round of coaching now.

And don’t forget the big half-day course in DC on January 6th! I have great news for you, as I now have a sponsor, cove, and I’ll be holding the class, absolutely free, for both cove members and a few of you! Register here. I do have a suggested donation of all non-cove members of $75, but this is truly pay what you can.

Please fill out the order form and I look forward to seeing you either in my private class, on my weekly Q&A or at the big event!

A few consulting projects from my network: I can be your public engagement team member. Or I can help your office revise, revamp, renew or even just kick off a new media campaign. Take a look at my portfolio page and let me know how I can be of service.

And if you like what I’m already doing and just want to buy me a coffee once a month, click here to contribute to my tip jar . I can slide goodies back in there for you and will start doing so in January. (Because getting presents in January is even more awesome than doing so in December).

2016 The Black Urbanist Holiday Gift Guide. The gift guide is here. And yes, it’s the same as last year, because certain kinds of gifts are timeless. You’ll want to send this to any of your family and friends who need help buying things for you that are sufficiently plannery and bikey.

Also, if If you need wrapping paper, or you want quirky fabric or gift wrap I can help! You have until December 9th to order anything on my Spoonflower site to guarantee shipping before Christmas.

Also, if you click any of the I’ll send you a free copy of the Spoonflower sample book or a swatch of your favorite fabric. Also, my holiday prints are, is a great choice for wrapping paper! Thanks to you, if it was one of you, who purchased my Flowing Woman Christmas print, pictured in the center above. Also, I will be adding a few more finished product options next week, like phone and tablet cases via Zazzle.

WHAT YOU SHOULD BE READING

Still (largely) on Facebook sabbatical, but I’m definitely alive and reading things on other sites and tweeting them if you want more real-time daily commentary.

• Thanks to Ariana of Bizqit.co for sharing this on the Black Urbanist Facebook group. I think all these scenarios for cities under the new administration could come true and all seven are worth a read.
• And yes, I heard about both HUD and Transportation. These probably don’t scare me as much as they should. One of these appointments has held the post before.
• Also, a good explainer on the Dakota Access Pipeline and the latest updates there.

MY TRAVEL AND EVENT SCHEDULE

In DC for the immediate future, save my trip home to Greensboro for Christmas December 23rd-27th. In the meantime, I’ll be around TRB at the happy hours, at Transportation Camp DC Saturday, January 7th and I’m almost always up for happy hour here in DC. Oh and don’t forget the Plan to Speak half-day on January 6th! And in NYC the weekend of the inaugural.

HOW TO REACH ME

@blackurbanist on Twitter and Instagram. kristen@theblackurbanist.com (this goes to my Gmail account) and if you already have my cell number, text me or message me. Otherwise, dial 1-888-207-9391.

See you next week,

Kristen

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We are back to the original program on my email. However, I’m still going to paste them here as posts, so you can get a taste of what I email to my subscribers and you can keep up with me on a weekly basis. And unlike in email, all the links are hot!  And there are pictures! Oh, and they will be weekly for the foreseeable future. Here goes!

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How I’m Feeling and This Week on the Blog

My post from last Wednesday captures a lot of how I feel about what happened last Tuesday.

Another thing that helped? Spending time with other advocates of color and other marginalized peoples, as well as dedicated allies at The Untokening in Atlanta. (Here we are on a bike ride)

Also, finally meeting Katrina in person! We had a great time recording Third Wave Urbanism live at Pipeline Philly yesterday and we look forward to doing so again. We talked a lot about the election and why we decided to do both a joint podcast and why I decided to do my work. The audio will be up soon, but in the meantime, check us out on Soundcloud, iTunes, Stitcher, or at our website .

Instagram has all my travel pictures. I got to foam (train-watch) and spot (plane-watch) like crazy over the weekend. And I need to get back to Redding Terminal Market so I can properly eat my way through it.

What I’m Working On

Getting PlantoSpeak ready: January 6th, location in the DC Metro area, TBD. Cost, $250 until the day of, $499 the day off. You’ll spend a half day with me, critiquing your proposals and presentations, as well as getting a dose of how I make mine awesome. Go to www.plantospeak.com/resources  in the meantime and look for registration forms at the beginning of December.

A few consulting projects from my network: I can be your public engagement team member. Or I can help your office revise, revamp, renew or even just kick off a new media campaign. Take a look at my portfolio page (www.kristenejeffers.com) and let me know how I can be of service.

And if you like what I’m already doing and just want to buy me a coffee once a month, contribute to my tip jar. I can slide goodies back in there for you and will start doing so in January. (Because getting presents in January is even more awesome than doing so in December).

Adding a few new prints to the Kristpattern holiday collection. If you need wrapping paper, or you want quirky fabric or gift wrap I can help! Here’s one of my new  prints, Golden Tea Flight!

What You Should Be Reading

For the best commentary on this election and the effects on cities, Next City and CityLab have been doing a great job with keeping tabs on the work of the new administration.

I, for purposes of self-care, have been avoiding a lot of the news cycle. That includes Facebook. I am still tweeting here and there and I’m sharing a few things I think are great over there.

I am also doing my best to not read too much into the doom and gloom scenarios. Yes, I do believe we will have some damage to human and civil rights. And yes, I do believe we need to take it seriously.

However, some of us more than others have had to cope with negative influences and policy much longer. Some of you have the privilege of being able to influence policy to go another way. Whatever you read or choose to do over the next few days, let us listen and also let’s take calculated and defined action. Also, be mindful of your online chatter and also your mental health.

My Travel and Event Schedule

Next week, I am home for Thanksgiving in Greensboro. I know I’ve canceled several Greensboro trips since I moved back to the East Coast, but this one will stick. Because of that, you’ll get a smaller weekly email, and then the following week I’ll be back in DC and ready for the holiday season there.

How to Reach Me

@blackurbanist on Twitter and Instagram. kristen@theblackurbanist.com (this goes to my Gmail account) and if you already have my cell number, text me or message me. Otherwise, dial  1-888-207-9391.

See you next week!

It’s time again for my weekly email. As it went out wrong again, I’m including it here on the blog, plus, if you scroll down, I’ve included a small note on my election day experience so far. Here’s the email:

I’m sure you noticed that my house, my virtual house that is, has been under construction.

(Especially when you got that other email just a little bit ago, sorry about that.) 

Actually, what I did was build a bunch of little houses that are not structurally sound alone.

And those of you who are architects or architect-adjacent like myself understand how important it is for the house you build to actually stand up by itself.

So first I figured I’d build some connecting paths to my houses.

That’s what Kristen Jeffers Media is, a way to connect all my various ventures under one singular idea, which is me and the channels in which I communicate with the world.

However, I still planned on making sure all those houses were separate things and not one big thing. I am also feeling stretched thin trying to keep the lights on in all these houses when I could just spend my energy in one big house.

That big house being The Black Urbanist, the one you come visit me at all the time anyway.

(I’ll still be Kristen Jeffers Media legally)

What does this mean for PlantoSpeak and Kristpattern? It means they will be living inside two nice big rooms in The Black Urbanist house.

Kristpattern is essentially The Black Urbanist at Home anyway. And that’s how I’ll refer to it. You can still purchase things under the banner of Kristpattern at the Spoonflower site, and on Zazzle.

You’ll also see the phrase The Black Urbanist at Home over there a bit more often and if you need a reference point, think of it as my interior design line. Because even in all my urbanism, I still like to decorate houses and carry my laptop in nice bags and cover my phone and you all know I love dresses. So that’s that room.

PlantoSpeak, which you should totally plan on coming to in January, tentatively scheduled for the 7th in Washington, DC, just before the Transportation Review Board Annual Meeting, is the first of what I hope will be many The Black Urbanist Masterclasses.

You will see that name more often, but you’ll also see PlantoSpeak. You may also see some of my Masterclasses on other platforms and you can always purchase one for your own office or organization and I’ll come to you.

So, that’s it for this week’s edition of The Black Urbanist Weekly. Again, this month as we move into the holidays and making new budgets and goals and buying gifts and such, I wanted you to be aware of ways to support me and also to keep you in the loop about the evolution of my brand and my design practice.

If you want to read curated links and my latest posts, head over to my public Facebook Group and join and make sure you’re still on my email list in December, when we shift back to more regular programming in my email.

And, for those of you who want to support me and might not need anything I’m selling, you can subscribe to The Black Urbanist Tip Jar, for $5 a month. I’ll be launching a bigger subscription service soon, with more content and projects, but for now, click here and you can turn one of your cups of coffee into something that will help me keep my foundation standing and write more of the stories and commentary you want to hear from me.

Oh, and please go and vote! Here are my thoughts on voting from earlier, which I sent out on social media with the photo leading this post. As of this writing, all polls are still open across the U.S.

It is done! I’m going to speak specifically to the privilege, yes the privilege, of voting in the District of Columbia today.

First of all, I walked a block to my poll. I listened to one of my favorite songs as I walked. I met a few folks with materials, but it was mostly our folks for our Advisory Neighborhood Commission, which is like a congress of neighborhoods, that actually holds weight and gets things done. I walked in with my identity documents, not because I needed them with my existing voter registration card, but because I needed them because I needed to register to vote on the same day that I voted. Oh and it wasn’t a provisional ballot, although there was a corner for folks who did that too. It was a normal paper ballot and if I’d wanted to, I could have used an electronic one. There were no lines at around 11 a.m. Eastern when I was there. All the poll workers were friendly.

And I want everyone to know, that this is how it should work in a democracy, a fully open, non suppressive, democracy. I’m not going to endorse anyone here, but if you know me, you know how I voted and that I’m going to get out and do the everyday work of making sure we have a government we can all be proud off.

My buttons are a nod to my home state, which needs to turn blue tonight and start to become turquoise. My other button says think globally, participate regionally, act locally, which is a nod to the Piedmont Together regional plan and all the transit, parks, and rec and other infrastructure bonds that are on ballots today. Please vote for the ones that actually make sense! And vote for people who make sense! I will endorse that measure. And the middle one is my Shower April Beans pattern which you can find at my Spoonflower store along with other cool patterns you can look at to take a break from everything else on your feed today via the link in my bio.
Happy Election Day and may the odds ever be in our favor! Also, newsletter subscribers, it’s weekly email day!#election2016

I’ll be back to writing essays soon. And if you want to be on the email list, go here. And if you want to support me, there are tons of ways to do that above. And for the record, I don’t think the world is going to end today ;).