Yes, you can go off vibes and create a space. However, we can’t expect all of our vibes to always vibe together and that’s where the data comes in to meet us.
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 a few words of reflection from me, 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 externally.; 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.
The grocery store used to scare me.
And no, I’m not talking about three years ago when we first went into COVID-19 lockdown, but when I was younger, I thought all these people were staring at me and how weird I was.
As much as I love the mall now, I felt the same way up in there too.
However, and this should have been a clue, I never felt nervous at the fabric store. Well, other than when it came time to cut fabric or use the actual sewing machine. But my body was never an issue and after all, this was a space celebrating creativity, especially for femme-presenting folks. (This was the 1990s, we were just starting to do better about this in the South, only to reverse course in so many ways).
And at Borders in the mid-1990s, there was always another quirky nerdy, even Black, child sitting around and reading just like me every Tuesday and Thursday night that my dad would take me, so I wouldn’t have to spend all my time at the fabric store where my mom worked
Once I realized my hair wasn’t going to fall out, and I had a stylist that wanted my hair to grow and thrive, I started to relax at my hair salon.
It was ok to step in a little mud and frizz out my hair on the nature trails because I was gradually being reminded that I too belong in natural spaces. After all, we all came from the Earth!
Coming out fully gave me a larger voice in matters and spaces of gender and sexuality.
Likewise with spiritual spaces, but depending on the denomination and their commitment to justice and liberation, that can still be a fraught environment.
Work and school can also be hit or miss.
And as much as I know many of you trust my judgment and would make a space better anyway, just because I told you I needed you too, sometimes, we need the kinds of measurements that we can easily distill and use to convince others to make our spaces welcoming.
It’s also how we de-marginalize ourselves so that instead of being history and history alone, we have a role in the present times, exactly where we need to be and nowhere else.
So, are you ready to measure better with me? Let’s go and scroll.
The Principle Corner
Each week, I’m taking 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. This week, I wanted to pause with the specific principles and talk a little more about this Black Queer Feminist Index I’m shaping.
So, I opened up the newsletter with that thought because the big drop this week is my new measure. Introducing the Personal Space Comfort Index. How does it work?
I created 10 space types and I ranked them from one-ten based on one being the least comfortable and 10 being the most comfortable. Sadly, the table is only rendering in some platforms, but not others and I found this out just before I pushed send on Friday afternoon (today).
Be patient with me, we will have an index because we absolutely need a measurement.
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.
First, I really appreciate reading how other urbanists, architects, and planners of color are reckoning with how this work has oppressed us, yet taking it back in ways that can heal us. This architecture firm is one of many and I appreciate their candid thoughts on why it’s harder for us to start and sustain design firms as Black folks.
It’s especially relevant to think about how much control in what we are building as last Sunday I called home to my mom and she told me that Smith Homes, the housing project I spent my first nine years living with my mom and dad adjacent to, and several years visiting my dad in, until his untimely death almost a decade ago, is now being torn down.
And not just bulldozed for replacement housing, of which I’m not sure the terms, but used as a training facility by the Greensboro Police and Fire departments. This was reported on back in November and December, but I was super busy and I didn’t make it to North Carolina in person then after all as I had hoped.
Between this and the well-meaning, but off-base execution of the temporary tiny homes and safe sleeping lot for cars, I feel like my childhood home continues to slip away. No amount of Boomeranging will bring my dad and the lives and community back that seem to require one to have a certain salary or affiliation, even in my mid-sized hometown in the South. Plus, what will come of the community efforts to end violence and provide resources in these areas as the replacement housing is at least five years away, and there’s no guarantee that even if everyone is eligible to come back, they will.
And this news comes to me as we continue to process the aftermath of yet another fire at the apartment complex in Silver Spring, Maryland now known as Arrive Silver Spring. My friend and GGWash colleague Dan Reed spent several key childhood years in this building under another name and has broken down how this building came to be and every single vein of problems it has, past and present. They also manage to slide in their personal story in the most perfect way as they always do when they write about their life vis-a-vis urbanism.
However, Dan’s story was one of my proudest edits thus far as one of GGWash’s contributing editors, This story, from writer Olubusayo Shabi, is the other. She broke down the promised land myth people put on the Black communities of the DC metro area (which we affectionately call the DMV) and I’m so happy to have ushered in her first professional byline! There will be more!
Finally, this may have not left Black feminist and queer/trans-Twitter, but yes Alice Walker has clearly and definitely joined the TERF squad. Unpacking everything around this is a whole other newsletter, but I wanted y’all to know that I saw it and it underscores why we have to make this month about gender marginalization and liberation and not just “womanhood”.
On the Shelf, On the Playlist
It’s something about Omar’s The Anthology that can always bring me comfort. Last March Omar’s song Winner popped up in one of my Get Up! Mixes on Apple Music and I ended up going down the entire rabbit hole of the album as it streams on Apple Music (which leaves out a few songs, for reasons I’m assuming are related to samples and contracts). I’ve not been an Omar fan as long as some, I came into the fold with his 2013 record, The Man. However, listening to this retrospective record, in part or whole can completely shift my mood. It got me through anticipation around my surgery last year and as I await if I have to go onto another round, I am happy to soundtrack it with our very early cherry blossoms this year.
Meanwhile, we talked a lot about Greensboro and DC in the last section and I’m digging into I Am Debra Lee, to learn more about one of my elders who made the NC to DC leap, with a whole lot of other places in the middle. And yes, it’s also a media memoir. I also have Jemele Hill’s memoir in the queue and it was an honor to read Dorothy Gillam’s memoirand meet her in person. Living Black woman/ femme-presenting media legends give me life as I both continue to write for you and nurture other writers! Especially as it continues to be hard out here for many of us to do our work and speak up.
Before You Go
This is our last section, where I have classified advertisements for others, 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!
Mpact: Transit + Community conference (formerly called Rail~Volution) is inviting you to submit a proposal to speak at the 2023 conference coming to Phoenix, AZ, in November. If you work on transit, connected mobility options, supportive land use & development, share your experience via a proposal. Full information here: https://www.mpactmobility.org/conference/speakers/.
The deadline to submit is March 31, 2023.
The conference is known as a place to learn new tools and forge cross-sector connections. It focuses on the whole community built around transit and multimodal investments, from the modes themselves to housing, business and economic development, including the implications for health, safety, equity, sustainability, access to opportunity and overall quality of life.
To submit a proposal, review the Call for Speakers Information packet, download the worksheet to draft your submission, then submit using an online form. (All the links are on this page: mpactmobility.org/speakers.) Your proposal is an indication that you are willing and able to be in Phoenix for the conference. Speakers can attend for free for the day they are speaking (session schedule will be available in July) or will need to pay the full rate to attend the entire conference. Scholarships are available to people affiliated with community organizations and non-profits.
The 2023 conference comes at a time when transit and development models are in flux and (in the US) federal infrastructure funding is rolling out. How are your projects or initiatives changing to respond to challenging times? How are you doing things differently to achieve better outcomes for your community? What are specific approaches to reversing disparities? To innovative financing? To more sustainable energy choices? To engaging community members in decision-making? To success in mitigating heat, fires and flood or taking a systemic approach to
climate change?
The Call for Speakers for Mpact Transit + Community 2023 is your chance to join the conversation and shape the vision for how our communities move and thrive.
***
Postdoctoral Scholar Fellow – Homelessness Hub
Location: University of California, San Diego
Homelessness Hub, a research entity in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at UC San Diego, invites applications for a postdoctoral fellow working in the area of homelessness and/or housing precarity.
The official postdoctoral scholar fellowship appointment will be through the UC San Diego Department of Urban Studies and Planning. The postdoctoral scholar will work under the supervision of the Homelessness Hub leadership team: Dr. Jennifer Nations, Dr. Mirle Rabinowitz Bussell and Dr. Leslie Lewis.
Homelessness Hub is focused on research, education, and communications on housing andhomelessness-related topics for San Diego and neighboring regions. Equity and justice areintegral to our work and we center the experiences of individuals with lived experience of homelessness. We are actively expanding our research agenda and will do so by leveraging new and existing collaborations.
A highly qualified postdoctoral scholar is sought to contribute to all aspects of Homelessness Hub’s research process. Position duties include but are not limited to: developing research design and methods; data collection and analysis; writing manuscripts and grant proposals; and mentoring and supervising students and research assistants.
Program: https://homelessnesshub.ucsd.edu
Department: https://usp.ucsd.edu
Salary range: A reasonable salary range estimate for this position is $64,522-$72,000.
APPLY LINK: https://apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF03524
***
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.
***
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.
***
if you want to send me money for quick expenses or like a tip jar, you can Venmo me. If you become a Patreon, 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.
***
And if you want to support my textile and fiber work, head over to www.kristpattern.com.
Until next time,
Kristen