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Weekly Newsletter

The Black Urbanist Weekly #24– Times When City Breaks My Heart and Inspires Me to Put It Back Together Again

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly. I’m Kristen Jeffers and I’m making this weekly digital newsletter, to share my Black, Spiritual, Diasporic North Carolinian, Working/Lower Middle-Class, Educated, Queer, CisFemme 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 is edition #24 and I’m back this week with something that ties my previous two months series—To City, With Love (Again) and my other series from January ‘“And That’s What Time It Is. I’m calling this week’s newsletter— Times When City Breaks My Heart and Inspires Me to Put It Back Together Again, to move us into the next phase of my work and presentations for you and others.

In case you’ve missed all the prior emails/newsletters/posts here they are:

Before we dig into this week’s edition, just a reminder that you can send all emails related to myself or The Black Urbanist to theblackurbanist@gmail.com.  Plus, author and esteemed Black architect Mel Mitchell has a very special announcement below, before you go. You can join them in advertising your company, organization, book, event, school or initiative by emailing theblackurbanist@gmail.com as well. And since this is an advertisement, yes, it helps keep the lights on here as well.

And, if you aren’t already, you can support the platform financially on a monthly basis using Patreon (and get an exclusive audio version of the newsletter) or one-time using Venmo. 

Times When City Breaks My Heart and Inspires Me to Put It Back Together Again 

It was about 1:30 a.m. I welcomed this rain, because despite the humidity, it was keeping the otherwise hot and balmy July weather at bay. I’d managed to figure out english basement living. 

Find somewhere to go during the day, namely a job or to co-working to work on my projects to get myself some sun. Make dinner with friends at their larger, brighter place so you don’t have to be alone in the dark. Get that Damp-Eze that the Target four blocks away sells in abundance and be ready to swap it out almost daily so it doesn’t smell like wet basement and the bag of water doesn’t explode. 

Remember that the walls can swell and get damp, so don’t put your clothes against them, even when they are dirty. Run the air conditioner and the fan and take comfort that you have more control than the main part of the house upstairs, despite not having central heat and air.

Again, it’s 1:30 a.m. and the fan’s running and it’s making the kind of noises that fans do. In fact, the fan’s running so consistently, it’s making you think of waves at the beach. Rising and crashing, creating a nice rhythm that soothes your anxiety. 

But then you start to hear crackles and pops. You look down and see water rushing out of your fan and quickly spring to action. It’s a good thing you looked down so you didn’t soak your feet in the pool of dark water at the foot of your bed. 

You thought you’d conquered english basement living. But, you weren’t ready to swim in this pool.

——

If anything breaks my heart about city living, it’s how despite the vitality and healing that comes from people joining together to create communities, the capitalized, corporatized, colonized, appropriated version of that is killing us. 

People created their own villages and communities naturally over millennia. However, some communities decided that instead of working together to create their own means of survival,  they needed to colonize and pillage other settlements. Rather than share and uplift, it’s about give and take.

This cycle repeats itself and places and communities often shift roles. However, as much as I try to create a sharing and uplifting community, the give and take community is stronger and larger and been at their work longer.

And my heart gets squeezed and time seems to slow down and close in as the panic combines and then I feel lifeless and that my work doesn’t matter and …

——

So this is where time and heart come together and feed my fatalism. I know I’m not alone, but that’s not enough. When the rent keeps rising. Jobs tell me I’m doing well but I still have one more thing to do to get right. And if I don’t get it right, I’m back on the hunt. A deeper sword is when funding has strings that are easily frayed and cut, despite me making something of myself no matter what. Healthcare that’s either expensive or fragmented and I’m already having a panic attack, so that’s not helping. Faith that claims the doors are open, but not if you keep acting and believing like that. Everyone feeling the crunch and raising their rates to survive and to get what they’re worth, but the worth number seems to be rising. Are we not worth anything at birth, at zero, at the top of the hour?

——

Despite all of this, there’s still a glimmer of hope and optimism in my heart. My favorite time of the day is the early morning. I hearken back to when my dad and I would get in the car and drive to the Waffle House and as the waffles and syrup started flowing in my belly, the sun crests over the east. These days, a similar wonderful moment hits when the sun first hits our bodies and Les and I exchange our first set of I love yous before all the other energy of the day has a chance to push and pull against us.

It’s great to be able to do it in our own apartment. With access to transportation. With the healthcare we need. Finally, with occupations, either self-led or with people who trust us to do the job. And a great village of people to lift us up and keep us out of despair. With huge hearts and plenty of time.

——

Over the next weeks, I’m operating in a theme and spirit of chance and opportunity. This week touched on how much that’s a factor in everything I do. I could be doing well and the shoe drops. But, I’ve been inspired to do a few new things. 

First, I am adding an audio version of these newsletters, to Patreon, which you can access at the $5 and up level. 

Second, I want to zero in on talking with black women, black women entrepreneurs and LGTBQIA+ folks of all stripes around urbanism and placemaking. I’m creating a survey based on February’s love measures, with a few questions thrown in around housing, transportation and healthcare. I want to know if these cities from the recent CityLab study measure up to my own metrics and even some of the metrics they claim to focus on. Look for that in the coming weeks and a report back on results after that.

Third, I’ll be doing less storytelling in this newsletter and more of the things like the On My Mind section a, along with other book reviews, as I get closer to my own book release. I’m aiming to have a pre-order link in the email at the end of the month.

The goal is to center the conversation of urbanism, at least the one I’m having, around black women, black women entrepreneurs and LGBTQIA+ folks, but anyone else is welcome to listen and you’ll want to listen and be part of this conversation, as it will not be inhibited by any institutions, and as my financial support increases, these conversations and data sets can grow and be used for positive change.

So, I’ll be back next week, with the openings of the survey and more thoughts like the next section.

Other Things On My Mind

My tribute to NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson…

I’m giving flowers to our great ancestor Katherine Johnson. If the name doesn’t ring a bell despite being all over science and black excellence social media over the past week, this is the woman who was instrumental in helping calculate equations that allowed not just satellites to orbit the earth (giving us this here internet), but helping people get to the moon. If you’ve seen the movie Hidden Figures, she’s the person Taraji P. Henson portrayed.

What’s so remarkable about this woman is not just what she did for NASA and global spaceflight , but doing so in a black body twice oppressed by white supremacy and patriarchy. The movie touched on how she was a black girl genius who managed through her mastery of equations and the mentorship of communitymembers to get the education she needed. However, despite being one of the first to integrate her graduate school, she opted to marry, have three children and be a classroom teacher in a rural Virginia school.

Yet, she was able to find out about the position to use her extraordinary talent with what would become NASA.  She was able to the permission of her husband to do so during a time when that was something that in some cases was socially required and in other cases, was mandated by law.  He uprooted his life and family to allow his wife to be the breadwinner and pursue her dreams and use her extraordinary brain. 

Now he didn’t live much longer after they moved to Hampton for her to take the position and he could have been sick and that’s what influenced his decision with the thought of having more money in the household and the security of a federal job. 

Still, she was able to bless us and so many others with her talent, her mentorship and her longevity. Rest in power and relax in paradise.

As we roll up in to Super Tuesday…

I know many of you on this newsletter are already voting, and several of you are so involved with the political process, you’re running the board of elections, judging your election precincts, canvassing for candidates and drawing and enacting policy. 

What I want us to remember is that we have that power and no one needs to buy it from us to get it done. It’s tempting to fall prey to the lures of more money or a kickback or even just staying on a job and planning something that you know is going to hurt people down the road. I know many of us have families we care for and the systems that we are trying to dismantle are doing everything they can to draw us in the black hole. But there’s hope and there are options. 

Also, I am including Rebecca Nagle’s tweet for clarity around exactly what Cherokee Nation members are asking for from Elizabeth Warren in terms of informing people on how claims of Native ancestry that turn out to be wrong also hurt other marginalized and minoritized groups. Here’s a thread from LA Times reporter Adam Elmahrek that includes more information about this issue and also their previous article I linked to a while back that discusses how MWBE and similar programs have been hogged by those claiming false Native ancestry. 

And while this is a Charleston-based New York Times interactive article highlighting the black church and Black Youth Project 100 canvassing efforts, you could tell me this was done at any of the smaller churches my family goes to and in the housing projects I grew up next to in and around Greensboro and it would make sense.

Before You Go

  • I’m still making custom infinity scarves and printing Les’s and I’s joint card line via the Kristpattern label. Check out its Instagram and DM me if you’re interested. 
  • Book me— on your media platform, as a keynote/lecturer, for one of my workshops or as a panel participant. If you are a member of the press and you would love to get my expert commentary on deadline, you can reach me at (301) 578-6278.
  • Les, that wonderful life partner and sales advisor of mine, is great at hyping you up, making you laugh and helping you or your organization make radical changes in your life and health. Join the email list for her company Les’s Lighthouse for periodic motivational updates. Follow her on Linked-IN for a very special motivational challenge this month. 
  • You too can sponsor The Black Urbanist platform as a company, nonprofit organization, conference or event, institution or agency. Email us at theblackurbanist@gmail.com and we can schedule a call to discuss email, and social sponsorship options. Or, become an individual monthly supporter via Patreon (which comes with an exclusive audio version of the newsletter and more bonuses) or send me a one-time Venmo. Remember, Patreon supporters get exclusive audio from me and soon video!

Thanks for reading! You can get these messages in your email, support the platform financially on Patreon and get an exclusive audio version of the newsletter; follow the platform on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and Instagram and if you missed some of the previous weeklies, check out the archives.