This week’s song has me spinning around. Plus, the name of this newsletter is inspired by my 2018 Reader’s Survey. Please fill it out and let me know who you are, how I’m doing and if you’d like to pitch in to keep the lights on over here.

I am borderline obsessed with airports

Many of you know me as someone who is obsessed with passenger rail and rail operations period. However, to be honest, as much as I want Amtrak to get its stuff together and for more options like Brightline to come online, and the fact that my main set of professional photographs is sitting in a literal train station (that came back from its own death), I am actually a spotter.

A spotter is a lover of airplanes. I’m not sure if that extends to the airport and the flying experience, but for some reason, I still like flying.

It might be because I’m only five feet four inches tall. It might be because I got to fly first class on my return flight from Los Angeles, which on Alaska Airlines meant both of my bags flew free, I got to hang out and eat and drink in the airline lounge and I got to watch movies for free. Oh and just before our red-eye landed, I got a smoothie shot.

Even when I have to book my own travel and fly like a normal person, I pick airlines like Southwest that despite their abolishment of peanuts, make the experience a good one for everyone on board.

Then it comes down to the airport experience. My perfect mix is an airport that offers ample pre and post-security options. Right now, the only one I know of that does that well, besides maybe Sea-Tac and Denver is Atlanta. I know Atlanta’s a bear to get in and out of, especially when you have to switch flights. However, for options between airlines and even Delta’s connections, you can’t really beat it. Plus, your friends and family can hang out with you at one of five restaurants or in a nice sunny atrium. Pre-Check feels like Pre-Check and the regular lines are bigger, just like the Delta carousels. I do wish all the other ticketing areas were more spacious, but baggage feels just as good.

Oh and finally, all the terminals are connected post-security. It doesn’t feel like jail (Yes, MCI, I’m talking about you).

I remember how afraid I was to fly on my first flight, at the age of 20, to a summer program not unlike what I did with my Maynard 200 cohort, but for pre-law students of color at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. I remember that the flight was only 30 minutes, longer than it took us to drive from Greensboro to Charlotte so I could board the flight. My parents got permission to go back with me to the gate since it was my first time.

On the plane, I strapped in my toy Big Bird and one of my program-mates, who’d just made a flight connection, gave me a hard time about it. He was also cute and somehow the bird eroded some of my chances for other connections.

I also remember being scared that my ears would fall off and it would feel like a roller coaster. None of that happened on this flight and while it’s happened (the roller coaster part, I still have ears), nearly 100 flights later, I feel like a pro. Still, being booked in first class because of one, flight delays and two the fact that I was working with someone who could make that happen was priceless.

And this, my friends, is why I’m a spotter.

Also, as I wrote this to go out via Mailchimp, I heard about the other Alaska Airlines incident. As someone who struggles with their head sometimes (but has not considered that option), here’s a comprehensive list of places you can call if you feel like using a plane the way that person did.

More on why I was flying, my recommendations and other things going on with me as you scroll further.

My Life as a Professional Urbanist

While all of my recent time on the road wasn’t for business, much of it was. I really can’t thank the staff at the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education enough for making me one of the first entrepreneurs in their Maynard 200 cohort of media managers, makers, and entrepreneurs.

As I’ve mentioned already, I’ve wanted to so much more with this platform, but I’ve needed support. While I’ve figured out how to make a website, post on social media and travel over the years, I often get worn down and then I get depressed and then no writing or podcasting or anything is done.

Plus, I am starting a new part-time job, that in addition to my paid travel, will take up a lot of time. And doing my Maynard 200 coursework so that I can be proficient and ready to take advantage of the opportunities that I’ll have when we return to Los Angeles in December.

Speaking of Los Angeles, thanks to the Ahmanson family for having me at their sympoisum on the future of the American Dream last week. I look forward to seeing video from that and presenting to all a version of my remarks there at a future event.

Like this year’s YIMBYTown or the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Leadership Conference.

Also, for the first time in four years, I’m doing a readers survey! Tell me who you are and what you’d like to see on the site.

Personal Urbanism, Shoutouts, and Recommendations

I’m considering not being an urbanist anymore. 

I know, shocking. 

Honestly, like in times past, it comes from seeing all the hurt and pain the mass development machine has inflicted over the past few years, as well as looking at the history of urbanization across the world. Oh, and taking more pride in my Southeastern United States roots.

Now I’m not talking about going back into full-on sprawl support, but we have to admit that urban and suburban development schemes are often flawed and take something—the right to shelter, the right to assemble, the right to feed and clothe oneself and sell it to the highest bidder, often to just leave that house empty and sad, the people locked up and stripped of rights, that food empty and bland, those clothes overpriced but ill-fitting and ill-made.

But maybe if I went and bought a house on some property out in the country, I could start over and do better through the following:

1. The yard could have plants that are edible and beautiful. I’d have a gazebo and a porch swing. I’d have a teaching farmer and a ceremony planner and we’d have a sliding scale on those services so everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the place.

2. The home would be a legit bed and breakfast. I’d use the app to help me build clientele and over time, a transition to being a more standard version. Plus, my staff would be geniuses and adore what they do, and I’d compensate them appropriately.

3. I would have a shuttle that would take people to the airport, hospitals and to the central business and restaurant districts.

4. I’d have my own personal vehicle which I would rent out on GetAround and do Lyft and Uber to cut down on extra trips. I’d also offer some of these rides for free for folks who couldn’t pay.

There’s more I could do, namely commissioning artists and hosting other writers and incubating activist and reformist policy movements and all the other things people do at rural centers like the one I’m envisioning.

At the end of the day, it’s not about rural and urban as much as it’s about people versus development schemes. After all, there has been great harm done to black farmers in rural areas and there’s the whole thing about the United States being a colonized area. No plot of land that I’ve ever lived on is without history or context. No matter what, we need sustainable, systematic, rural and urban community resilience and natural growth plans. 

But if I can be a model in the interim, much like this colleague of mine in Baltimore then I feel like I’ve done a lot.

Speaking of existing models, I’ve talked before about why I don’t publish much or even better, why don’t I have a bigger website or more content.

It’s simple. Content, stories, all of this on the site, is labor.

And labor deserves an equal trade. Actually, an equitable trade as I could pay everyone I write the same amount of money but based on the story content, it could mean psychological trauma or worse, the loss of an anchor job.

But the story must be told and those people at that job are so horrible!

Yes, but as someone who’s been recovering from a multitude of traumas— emotional, financial, physical, spiritual for a good chunk of this project’s eight-year experience, there’s only so much I want to share and want others to share, without the kind of legal, financial and emotional support that some of the big media outlets have.

I’ve been holding so much back because I want a hedge of protection. I know as an entrepreneur, that’s not guaranteed. However, as a young single black woman whose life as an employee was often traumatic and financially unsound, entrepreneurship, where I get to profit first and foremost and then generate and pay others fair and honest wages and provide a positive work environment that supports a positive home environment, and also give back to the larger community, sounds good.

Anyway, I’m taking a huge step at that goal this week as part of the inaugural cohort of the Maynard 200 Journalism Fellowship Program, in the entrepreneurial track.

I’m spending time with leaders in the journalism space, other journalists and Google to learn how to use all these platforms to my advantage, as well as network. Oh and I’ll finally get to see some of Boulder and Denver on the ground. Follow my Instagram Stories to check out my discoveries. 

If you saw my travel itinerary post, this was what I was alluding to. Anyway, I have a new podcast episode, from a D.C. stoop, I’m enamored with The Bold Type and I have a couple new panel/conference announcements. That and my summer jam that’s not Drake in this edition of the newsletter.

My Life as a Professional Urbanist

What you’re witnessing above is the return of The Black Urbanist Radio Show.

If you’ve been paying attention to major development news out of D.C., you’ve heard Ari Teresa’s name bandied around, as he’s filed a number of legal actions on behalf of residents, namely black and poor residents of D.C. who stand to not benefit when a new development comes to their communities.

Thanks to an email chain about all this chatter, I decided to ask him to be on the show, as it sounded like on the surface, we agree that development’s not always bad, but it should actually include people who’ve been there and especially who have been waiting for a city to come back to life after years of dis-investment.

He agreed and you should listen to our conversation live from his literal stoop in Historic Anacostia, where he practices law under the name Stoop Law.

And again, I’m super excited to be in Boulder for the Maynard 200 training and to be part of a new family of journalists and media mavens. Thank you to the Maynard Institute, all of our sponsors and to my cohort for being awesome!

Also, I’ll see you in Los Angeles as a panelist at the What Would Howard Do? event on the first of August and I have Boston and Pittsburgh events that I’m finalizing details for. More on social media and in the next edition.

Personal Urbanism, Shoutouts and Recommendations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Life as a Professional Urbanist

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

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

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

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

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

Personal Urbanism, Shoutouts and Recommendations

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

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

 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.

This platform can’t exist without financial support. Please consider a one-time drop in my tip buckets through PayPal or Cash App, or a monthly recurring support option via Patreon.

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.