The Black Urbanist Weekly for April 21, 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 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 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.
When I think of home, I think of both joy and terror. This is the one place in my analysis of places, my lived experience in places, my personal comfort index I’ve been introducing to you over these last few weeks, that’s truly a 50/50 split in how I live my life.
The joy of the beds I often write these letters from. But the terror of being confined to them on days when I just don’t feel well.
The joy of having the right four people over to play a board game or watch a major pop culture event. The terror of one or all of those people having COVID despite all efforts to quarantine and the worst course happening to one or all of them.
The joy of being in my home state around good food like I talked about last week. The terror of those around the table about my full identity and then starting a soft exorcism of me because of my “sin”.
Finally, the joy of that backyard I take y’all back to a lot and the terror of not just a fast-growing tree in it, but the haunting of my father’s memory and the fact his life was taken from him in the home he’d created for us just 18 years before.
For many, being inside of a private residence or sadly at the wrong private residence can mean life or death.
One person’s private place could be another’s site of refuge. And we all become more authentic or try to be a more authentic version of ourselves when we’re in the place called home.
For me, home these days is a feeling. Of soft bedding. Of kind people who remembered to open a window and turn up the air purifier when they came to visit. Of people who see me as human and would never set out to hurt me, even if I was coming to the door for the first time.
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. 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.
I came up with private homes(and the sense of home) being fifth (which makes it our median) by listing ten places on a vertical scale of 1-10 with 1 being the safest for me and ten being the least.
I’m still working on how I want to collect this kind of information from you, and how it would work in an interactive dashboard, but for now, just email me your top ten. Let me know if you’d want me to share it in a future edition of this space!
And for reference, Here’s the vertical version of my Personal Space Comfort Index from most to least comfortable, with this week’s space in bold and next week’s space in italics:
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.
Here’s the story of one of the two Greensboro-based brands responsible for those Home. shirts. Yes, two, and one day, I’ll tell you the full story of how those two happened. (My shirt is the original one, not this one).
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BuzzFeed News defined an era and while I’m sad to see it go, I’m glad I learned the lesson of valuing my own online voice and I welcome all of you who will be doing the same, by joining our cacophony of newsletters, podcasts, and even zines. May you realize that anyone can create an audience and share accurate information, not just billionaires.
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Speaking of news outlets, if you want to continue to keep up with the Black community and solidarity efforts in Kansas City, the Kansas City Defender has set out to be that resource, both on its website and on Instagram. As I still have ties to Kansas City, I’d found out about not just Ralph Yarl, but several other tragedies that would come to national attention there and through other community members and elected leaders on my timeline.
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We need to stop being scared of building affordable housing that’s truly not-for-profit but doesn’t skimp on being livable and accessible. I’m sharing friend-of-the-newsletter Katelin Penner’s Next City article on how Barcelona has started the shift from for-profit affordable housing to a non-profit, but humane affordable housing. Thank you for not being afraid, to tell the truth about our housing markets and their failures.
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And finally, after all we’ve lived through, the last thing we need to do is be ashamed that we are ill or disabled, as we will all be in this state from one time or another. What we do need to push for, is adequate treatment, full accessibility and inclusion from the jump and not as an afterthought, and timely research for treatment. Ed Yong is back in the Atlantic about how Long COVID should be a catalyst, much like acute COVID for us to re-imagine how we treat ourselves and others when we are ill or disabled.
On the Shelf, On the Playlist
My weekly recommendations of books, music, podcasts, and other pop culture.
Going forward, I’m going to be selecting a book (or books) of the month, because as I read The Viral Underclass, I not only am making lots of necessary connections, I’m finding a sense of healing and home through the terror that the book talks about befalling those that force folks like myself into the viral underclass. It’s rare that a book like this is not only giving us “for us by us” vibes, but it talks about issues we deal with such joy and grace. Next week, I’ll tell you more about what this book has done for me and how it’s going to help me bring back something special.
And do yourself a favor and go back and read this email and listen to this version of the song Home. Then watch this version of He’s The Wizard. Learn more about the original Broadway version of The Wiz. Listen to this episode (and every episode) of Black Girl Songbook on what it was like to be not just the original Dorothy, but the first major modern musical with an all-Black cast. And get ready for it to return to Broadway!
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!
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I’m still lifting up the fundraising campaigns of LolaBean Yarn Co. and Dye Hard Yarns, of another urbanism editor and their family and 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.
For those of you who can and I know it’s tough out here for a lot of us, 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 going to encourage you to glance at local GoFundMes/Venmo/CashApp and donate what you can stand to not have come back to you, to lift the spirits of someone that is having a really hard time paying bills, maintaining healthcare, and building up their livelihood in addition to everything else going on.
However, this also leans into how we can practice solidarity and uplift community groups. If not these campaigns, please find some that are closest to you.
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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.
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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