Welcome back to The Black Urbanist Weekly. I’m Kristen Jeffers and I’m currently producing this weekly digital newsletter on my site, via email and various other places, to share my thoughts, my Black, Spiritual, Southern, Working-Class, Educated, Queer, Femme thoughts on how places and communities work. Think of this as my weekly column, sitting on your proverbial print paper’s editorial page or as so many other of your favorite newsletters do, in your inbox.
This week’s edition is #15 and I am continuing my series I started last week on reflecting on my work over the past popular decade (2009-2019) and getting ready to usher in a new decade and the tenth year of this online platform. This week, those of you here on Patreon will be treated to a preview of what my next book will address, which is the lessons I’ve learned in producing a platform like this and engaging in community work, for the last decade, in addition to my general thoughts on the decade that everyone is getting in their inbox.
A heads up, there will be more off weeks this year for non-Patrons as I work on some cool special projects offline and get us ready for the release of said book: The Black Urbanist Journey: Wisdom, Lessons and Models from Ten Years as The Black Urbanist on October 17, 2020.
But if Patreon support is not in your budget for the moment, I still thank you for being here— now onto the newsletter this week.
Yes, I Have Some Thoughts About This Decade in Urbanism
I do have thoughts about this decade. And a lot of them I already wrote. On the site. In my newsletters. In my tweets. In podcast episodes. In articles and blogs on other platforms.
In 2009, I’d already been making some noise around urbanism and in 2010, I took action by finding a means to make a more declarative statement around my urbanist thoughts, by creating The Black Urbanist.
I struggled under the weight of the platform, but I’m here on the other side of that decade, ready to continue to be a source of information, analysis and commentary. I know that my vantage point is unique and it’s necessary. Even when I have to be creative around funding it or even getting messages out.
And the lessons learned I’ve decided I needed to expand on in book forms. Hence why if you’re a Patreon, you’ll get to read the next section on how the book ties this all together. If not, a few things on my mind.
Other Things On My Mind
If you’re reading this on Friday December 27, then you’re reading this on the second day of Kwanzaa, a holiday created back when we only honored Black History Week, in 1966, to celebrate black culture and communities. Back in 2012, I talked about Kwanzaa and how it fits into the holiday season and the creation of a sense of place, especially in Black communities. And this year, I appreciated this article which talks about how to celebrate the holiday despite #metoo issues with its founder.
Speaking of sense of place and making places (which speaks to self-determination, the Day 2 Kwanzaa principle), I was very intrigued by this article on Black utopias,which the author admitted via Twitter that it took a while to write because it was hefty to think through. She was able to view/patronize three different artistic works and be able to funnel her thoughts on space creating through those lenses and then somewhat put them away and live a life with creature comforts.
In the Twitter thread, she mentions a lot more about how hard it is to create Black utopias. And in my further reading this week, I thought about how this Black queer website editor and the Black LA resident of this article both struggled with space creation and maintaining (specifically homelessness) and yes, I do think it was because of their issues around homophobia and transphobia in created spaces, as well as the class issues that lead the hooks of these articles.
But I’m going to end this with kudos to this sister for making things more humane for those on the LA streets by providing hair and beauty services to the homeless, not just as a way to get off the streets, but as a coping mechanism until those who are there can find a way to more permanent housing.
Before You Go
—Check out the job board. I’ve added a couple of job-seeker and job-poster friendly Patreon levels, and that survey’s coming very soon to help me learn more about what you need, so I can be successful at delivering just that!
—Check out Kristpattern on Instagram and DM me if you’re interested in anything for sale over there. It’s not too late to get one of the cards from the Les’s Lighthouse collection and they’re great for helping you or a friend turn your wishes into reality in 2020.
— If you’re excited about my next phase and how my perspective can help motivate your group of any size Book me for a lecture, workshop or both. Also Les, my wonderful life partner and sales director is great at hyping you up, making you laugh and helping you or your organization make radical changes in your life and health Book her too. And listen to my wonderful podcast mentee’s The Crossroads Podcast, which also discusses environmental issues from a black woman’s perspective. You can hear me on her next episode, discussing the Eastern North Carolina hog waste saga, among other issues.
—Even if you aren’t in the job or opportunity market or have jobs and opportunities to post, I’ve refreshed all my Patreon levels. $1 a month allows you to never miss a newsletter, like next week when it’s Patreon-only. $5 allows you to ask me one question a month that I will research and answer in-depth and make part of a permanent Q&A, $10 gives you first dibs when the podcast relaunches and when we start doing live events again.$20 grants you digital copies of all my future books, including the one I just teased. $50 gets you something free out of the Kristpattern store. Learn more and upgrade!
–Sponsorship opportunities are available! Email les@theblackurbanist.com to learn more on how you could promote your conference, school and yes, even jobs and projects on this website, on future podcast episodes and in the weekly newsletter distribution.
Thanks for reading! You can get these messages in your email, support the platform on Patreon and get special bonuses; follow the platform on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagram and if you missed some of the previous weeklies, check out the archives.