As I’m writing this collection of thoughts, I’ve been watching the sun set. Both of the evening trains are in the station and I once again marvel at how the sun hits the westside of all the downtown buildings. (More on my city of Greensboro love here).
And above all, I’m just grateful. Watching the sun come up and down is a peaceful sight and that peace gets me in the mindset of gratitude. I wouldn’t even care that people knew what was really going on in their cities and towns if I didn’t have the chance to take moments of clarity and peace. That’s the hallmark of a good place in my opinion, the provision of peace and a spirit of gratitude. When I don’t feel those things and the activity of love that comes from them in a place, then that’s when I feel sad, frustrated and threatened. That’s when I want to speak out the most to make sure that we can spend most of our time working hard for a purpose and then being at rest when the work of the day is done. No place is perfect and has all the right things, but when they do, I cherish it.
And now the news:
NC Roundup
Greensboro City Council meets tonight at 5:30. Here’s the agenda. Remember to mark your calendars for every other Tuesday for city council meetings. Free parking in the Greene Street parking deck. Meanwhile a former city councilman is running for an NC House Seat.
The civil rights museum will stop offering guided tours in the next 60 days, allowing people to move about the museum freely.
NC universities are working to reduce car travel on campus and to campus.
We have cute zoo animals in Greensboro too. Check out our newest ones, the otters.
Duke Energy, our local power providers and the ones whose facility caused the coal ash spill, will no longer operate power-plants in the Midwest. In addition, they supported efforts and laws to take some teeth out of federal environmental regulation.
Every single meme photo and a few more real photos from different angles of the exploded car during the snow in Raleigh last Wednesday. And if it weren’t for timed stop lights, the traffic jam could have been worse.
Speaking of Raleigh, they will be hosting their first Jane’s Walk on May 3, led by City of Raleigh Director of Planning (and friend of the site) Mitchell Silver. (Is anybody in Greensboro interested in doing one? Let me know.)
After several shootings of youth in Rocky Mount, the community is coming together to brainstorm solutions to the issues plaguing the area’s youth.
National and World Roundup
A pooh of the kind found in the hundred acre wood is one of many things clogging up sewers in Scotland.
Xerox may lead the charge of businesses who take into account long commutes as an indicator of employee success and effectiveness
The average highest apartment rent in the country is not in New York, San Francisco or anywhere you would expect it to be.
Check out the 10 buildings that changed America, according to Chicago PBS affiliate WTTW.
How gentrification is so hard to stop.
More and more stories like this one are emerging from the critiques and calls to action for a better criminal justice system.
A nice 18 point list of the history of fast food.
Is it time for regional Olympiads?
Magnet schools are returning to certain areas.
British neighborhood pubs are dying out.
How break-dancing keeps Tunisian youths out of trouble.
And finally, when culture trumps class.