From the Archives
I’m knee-deep in research mode right now. This might be my very favorite place to be in the timeline of a project because when you start to write it’s suddenly no longer perfect as you imagine it but real and flawed. (But at least it’s real.) I hope to share ideas in this space as I go; consider this gem from Jane Jacobs talking about her hope for the future in 2000..
Notable Non-Fiction
A new-ish book for young organizers and activists tells kids that the world needs their voice.
Asides, Ideas, Miscellany
“Why did locals complain about graffiti in the park, but advocate for commissioned art?”
8 ways to teach climate change in almost any classroom. (Italy is to become the first country in the world to make sustainability and climate crisis compulsory subjects for schoolchildren.)
In my queue: to see and to read.
Ordering books for the holidays? Here’s why you should pre-order all your books from independent bookstores.
How modern policing developed in lockstep with the car.
Looking forward to this new series: History Smashers from Kate Messner.
New Works on Paper
I’m writing about one of my favorite libraries for Muse Magazine this month.
“We are BlackBerry after the iPhone, Blockbuster after Netflix: We’ve got the wrong design, we bet on the wrong technologies, we’ve got the wrong incentives, and we’re saddled with the wrong culture. The founding idea of this place is infinitude — mile after endless mile of cute houses connected by freeways and uninsulated power lines stretching out far into the forested hills. Our whole way of life is built on a series of myths — the myth of endless space, endless fuel, endless water, endless optimism, endless outward reach and endless free parking.” - Farhad Manjoo, It’s the End of California as We Know It
Thoughts? Ideas? Recommendations? I love connecting with fellow readers, writers, parents, and humans. Please drop me a line!
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r.p.
