So we are halfway(ish) through 2018!!!
Welcome to the blog post edition of my weekly newsletter! Right now, if you read both the email version and the blog version of this letter, you’ll notice that things are slightly different.
Namely this opening section and a few other things, like typos, misspellings, wrong information (like the fact that June 1 is midpoint and not July 1) and sometimes extra links that I forgot to put in the Friday edition. Expect the edition here to go out on Sunday mornings just in time to compliment your pre-brunch reading patterns.
I’m doing a dual version because I want a copy of the letter on web space that I own, as well as the opportunity to bring you here to this page, as I begin to launch more content and goodies, and because the social sites can be so fickle.
Anyway, here we are and I thank you for coming back. You can thank me in an even bigger way via my Patreon on a monthly basis and through one-time Paypal.me or Cash app donations.
On the email, I went through some GDPR related information. Coming soon to this site, there will be new privacy notices and cookies information. Please don’t sue me for not having these things up and running by May 25th!
Also, I gave everyone on the email list a grace period to unsubscribe or open for the first time in a while, before I did a major purge. The list will be purged for the next email by next Friday, June 8. If you want to read this in email, are on the list currently and haven’t opened the email in the last two months use this box and re-subscribe/update your settings.
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If you are ok with this link being the only place you read the newsletter, then you don’t have to do anything. Also, you can re-subscribe on your own accord down the line if you decide you want to come back and be on the email list.
Anyway, like I mentioned in Friday’s version of this note, as we approach the halfway point of 2018, I’m doing a mid-year assessment based on this post. I may or may not publish it publicly, as true to the post, but you will start to see a lot of changes to both this site and the greater Kristen Jeffers Media platform and me as a person over the next few weeks. And yes, I saw the pictures at the National Portrait Gallery. It was a wonderful Saturday afternoon excursion.
My Life as a Professional Urbanist
As nervous as I was, I feel like I did great holding it down for the millennial generation (and let’s admit, a few other groups) at CNU 26 a couple of weeks ago.
Also, I’m so happy to be featured in Modacity talking about my work as its evolved over the years.
Hopefully, the third time is the charm with appearing on Black Kids in Outer Space. If you haven’t been watching, do check out that podcast. In fact, until I get another episode of my show out, go binge those.
Next week (June 8-9) is the Association for Community Design’s annual conference where I will be moderating a version of the Complete Streets in Baltimore panel I did in Nashville.
I decided to do my career questions and guidance podcast episode as a semi-live webinar. Hold the date for June 19 at 8 p.m. I did not actually make the Eventbrite, partly because I continue to brainstorm how I want to do this, where I want to do it and also, depending on if I can recruit some special guests, the date may change. But hold on to this date for now and know that you will be getting updates on this.
In the meantime, If you are interested in booking me for speeches, panel discussions, workshop facilitation or your podcast/media outlet for the summer, fall and next winter, this is a perfect time!
Personal Urbanism, Shoutouts, and Recommendations
To open this section, I want to say that Savannah was adorable. I mostly saw its sprawl, in conjunction with the historic district, but even the sprawl felt different. At least on the corridor, I was staying in, all the box stores, despite their parking setbacks, lined up nicely down the US highway corridor. There was also a clear path to the historic district and key scars of what happened when highway development came in.
But I opened this section with a photo of their local Mellow Mushroom’s menu. One, because Mellow Mushroom is yet another Georgian thing that is going national and two, not only does it allude to certain substances, I think some of those substances are in the pizza to make them so addictive.
Also, true to most Mellow Mushroom trends, they tend to be in areas that are convenient to walk in and this one was no exception, sitting right next to the main conference hotel and right at the point in the walk between it and the Civic Center you might give up anyway. Anyway, enough about Mellow and its Kosmic Karma goodness. Here are some other things worth seeing.
From this profile of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, I learned that she is also a Baltimorean, having come here to figure out her writing and that she also longings for her homeland, where she also spends a good deal of time.
If you want to keep up with everything that media outlets write on education, as well as some of their reporter’s tweets, add The Grade to your newsletter list. Don’t stop reading this newsletter, but definitely spend some time with it too. Also, note this specific article on how to better write articles about race and identity issues in our schools.
A friend of the newsletter Brandon T. Harden partnered with DJ Jazzy Jeff to school folks on how to throw a block party in Philly. While there’s some Philly specific stuff here, I want to say that the music and the food at your outdoor gathering— whether it’s a cookout, bbq, block party or something else altogether—matters to its success.
A new park in D.C. is holding a vote for potential names and one of them is after a black woman. Learn more about the life and times of Alethia Tanner.
Looking forward to seeing this equity map of Baltimore grow with more resources and tools.
Really excited to see Brian C. Lee, Jr. on Fast Company’s most creative list, along with Hannah Beachler who we have to thank for Wakanda. There are a lot of other dope folks on the list and number of them are black and from other marginalized groups.
And I just want to note here that there are several other islands that are still dealing with issues surrounding these storms, this is day 1 of hurricane season and being on a coastline of my own has me a bit nervous, especially after last Sunday and honestly this whole time I’ve been in Maryland and D.C. Oh, and a developer, in Houston, is already re-building on a floodplain.
The last surviving witness to the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, who went on to break some amazing barriers of her own.
One Last Thing
The bigger our love, the better we all are! Thanks for this lovely welcome sign, Virginia! This is at the rest area on Northbound I-85. They have a guestbook and a Virginia Is for Lovers sticker too!
That’s all for now. Remember, if you want to get this link in your email after next Thursday night, please update your information here:
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