This is The Black Urbanist Weekly, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen Jeffers, an internationally-known urban planner, fiber designer, and contributing editor. Think of this as an editorial page column, but directly in your email. This year, we are wishing and learning at the same time. This week, my own personal wish-lessons. Also, we have a special message from the University of California at San Diego. Learn more about how you can advertise on this newsletter. Prices start at just $75 a week with a four-week commitment. You can also become a Patreon as an individual and support this work for as little as $5 a month.
My personal urbanist wishes come as I’ve learned key lessons about myself this year, that I want to take into 2023
So last week I talked about what I want to see the industry do. But what about me. What have I learned and how does that play into my wishes. The lesson-wishes are paired, with one pair being about my personal home and the other being about building up this platform.
So, pair one goes like this:
I want want a single-family home with land because I want to create a village with where we honor and steward land and resources. Where no one is a criminal or illegal. Where we can’t be evicted or constantly inspected for “respectability”. Where we have a symbiotic relationship with other urbanisms and collectives. I am also looking at large rowhouses in Baltimore that can be subdivided or how much it would be to pay (and I would need to fundraise) for my level of current healthcare if I moved into DC proper or Old Town Alexandria, because…
…I still want to be able to use transit and walk to more places more consistently. I love going to Planet Fitness especially the urbanist one at Pentagon City and the one across the street from us that’s majority people of color run and patronized while welcoming others who respect our right to exercise in peace. But I would love to live above it or somewhere similar, while also providing the at-home resources I mentioned above.
Meanwhile, pair two is as follows:
My thought-leadership needs to be centered but not at the expense of the collective. However, I know my skill set and I want to use my thought-leadership to build capacities and honor those who are better copy-editors, accountants, and medical professionals than me. I also need to get out of the way of those who need people skilled in those kinds of details. I will be much more selective in how I pick projects this year and I’m finally releasing my book!
And, I want to create a foundation out of the apparatus of this platform I’ve built over the years to share my intellectual wealth. So my textile art can grow and I can nurture folks at whatever stage they need, be it getting into and staying in certain schools or starting and nurturing community-led spaces. Yes, I mean making a portion of my work a proper 501c3 or in tandem with a fiscal sponsor, so I can make my textile art and find the right channels and distributors for it.
Just like my wishes for the industry, my wishes for myself are a journey, plan, and process. However, my last lesson learned this year — doing it anyway, with just enough clarity and a huge dose of faith is the only way to go.
By the Way
If you’re new here, I write out my grand thesis of the week above, then 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.
So much of what I wrote above was influenced by the turn that Nonprofit Quarterly has taken to not just serve those in formal 501c3 institutions, but those of us who are called to participate in active social justice movement work and centering the honest voices of the people we serve.
I wanted to post the full analysis of how our movement spaces can work better, both for individuals and for the collective, in a time of extreme oppression.
I also wanted to post this series on Black women’s barriers to homeownership, which I found after having a lot of the thoughts I’ve had above on how my desire to have a home and craft an urbanism in my own image, is to also provide that for others.
Meanwhile, this recent shooting of a young aspiring Black real estate investor, along with shootings at two of our Metro stations, highlights the need to rethink guns as an answer to anything, and how the presence of them undermines so much of our desired urbanism.
I’ve also been a huge fan of Baltimore magazine, in all my back and forth between there and PG County, Alexandria, and DC. There are so many good stories, but I wanted to lift up the feature on the BLK Ass Market and the Lumbee community in Baltimore. Both of these communities, of which I share some commonalities (A Black migrant to Baltimore from North Carolina), speak to what has drawn me to Charm City over the years (and what may draw me all the way back, more to come on that over the next few weeks).
And yes, I have to include my thread about how one of last year’s wishes (obsolete transit fares) is starting to come true.
Before You Go
Check out some special announcements from me and this first one from the University of California at San Diego.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN URBAN STUDIES AND PLANNING
The Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the University of California, San Diego invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor working in the area of urban studies and planning to begin July 1, 2023.
This is a position for a tenure-track assistant professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at UC San Diego, a rapidly-growing department with strategic emphases on social and spatial justice; climate justice; and multinational planning.
The department is interested in candidates who have demonstrated commitment to excellence by strong engagement in teaching, research, and service toward building an equitable and diverse scholarly environment. The successful candidate will be an excellent scholar with an active research program in one or more of the following areas: transportation planning; climate change mitigation and adaptation; environment and land use planning; health and wellness, and/or spatial analytics.
The University of California, San Diego is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, covered veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy.
Department: https://usp.ucsd.edu
Apply link: https://apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF03452
Open date: November 21, 2022
Next review date: Tuesday, Jan 31, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.
Final date: Friday, Mar 31, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date
will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.
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I’ll be live on LinkedIn and YouTube and Instagram talking about everything I mentioned above and then some for my Open Studio/Office Hours sometime this week. Don’t worry if you can’t watch live, it will be archived publicly on all spaces.
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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 I have embedded my Bookshop.org booklists here as well since we were having so many issues with the link. Go here for all things books I’ve read and my book when it comes out!
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Finally, as we are now in December, all 2022 opportunities for me to work with you will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. I will publish an updated capabilities deck in January 2023. In the meantime, my Calendly links are still open for those case-by-case bookings.
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While I’ll be shifting my capital campaign to a different platform, if you want to send me money for quick expenses or like a tip jar, you can Venmo me.
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Until next time,
Kristen