Friday Faves - Your Weekly Strong Towns Roundup

Chuck, Michelle, and Michelle’s son Tommy (who fell asleep after the long, eventful day) at the conference’s evening reception.

Earlier this week, Chuck gave the keynote presentation at the West Virginia Municipal League's 52nd annual conference. It was the first big event that Chuck has done in a while, so it was a pretty exciting occasion. Not to mention, Strong Towns Event Pathfinder Michelle Erfurt lives in West Virginia, so she and her family got to hang out with Chuck! We're looking forward to having more moments like this, especially as we gear up for the Confessions Book Tour. Learn more here about where we'll be touring (including virtual events), and fill out this form if you want to bring the tour to your community.

On top of events, we've got a lot of good content coming your way in the next couple of weeks, including several series that we've been working hard on. We can't wait to finally reveal them, but until then, we'll have to leave you on a cliffhanger—at least you'll have the Friday Faves to tide you over in the meantime!

Here’s what Strong Towns staff were up to this week:

Image via Unsplash.

Rachel: The Onion is killing it lately with infrastructure- and housing-related headlines. Here’s a recent favorite: “Infrastructure Bill To Fund 11,000-Mile-Long Detour Around Nation During Construction.” A choice quote from the piece: “While acknowledging the detour could delay commutes by up to three weeks, Schumer remarked that the temporary inconvenience would all be worth it once the nation’s construction was complete in 2065.” It’s so painful but real. This is satirical, of course, but it’s also a repetition of what we hear nearly every time a new road project is proposed: Spend billions in taxpayer dollars to pay for something that will destroy homes and businesses—all in pursuit of shaving off a few seconds of commute time (something we, at Strong Towns, know is not what will happen in reality). Oh, and by the way, during road construction, your commute time will increase by far more than that few seconds the project claimed it would save you… All I can say is: #NoNewRoads.

Volunteers helping the trapped orca. Image via Twitter.

John: When my best friend texted me a link to this article, he introduced it as “a not-sad orca story.” David has been my best friend for coming up on three decades, since we were in our mid-teens. Among the many gifts I’ve inherited from him over all those years is my love of whales. The article tells the story of how some boaters saw a 20-foot-long killer whale stranded on the beach of an Alaskan island. The creature was calling out in vain to members of its pod in the water; birds had gathered to start eating it alive. But people worked tirelessly to keep the whale cool and safe until the tide came in. “Good Samaritans,” the New York Times sweetly (and accurately) called them—for in those tense hours, who were that poor whale’s neighbors? The ones who had mercy on it.

P.S. My youngest daughter asked me recently what my favorite animal is. I couldn’t decide between killer whales and wolves. If you want to read an amazing book about both, check out Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel, by Carl Safina. It was, hands-down, my favorite reading experience of the last 10 years. I heard about it from David.

Author Dorothy A. Brown. Image via the author’s website.

Sarah: I just started reading the book The Whiteness of Wealth by Dorothy A. Brown, based on a recommendation from Joe Minicozzi (one of our long-time friends over at Urban3). It takes an in-depth look at how Black people have long been at a disadvantage when it comes to the tax system. It does a great job of painting the picture of what exactly is systemic racism. As a Black woman, I find Dorothy’s story inspiring, though at the same time it’s heartbreaking to be confronted with the reality of how entrenched the racial wealth gap really is. I appreciate the book taking a logical, data-driven approach to explain such a touchy subject. If you haven't read it yet, please do! Bonus for me: it was available on my library app as an audiobook.

Lauren: I’ve been hyped about this video for the whole week. It’s a preview for an urban design course from the Strong Towns Academy, where Chuck talks about how we can utilize ages-old strategies for creating beautiful, productive places through thoughtful design. It was edited by Mercedes Ronnander (as are many of our videos these days, including the “30 Days of Confessions Series” launching on Monday). And since watching it, I’ve definitely been noticing more how carelessly we plop infrastructure into the human habitat, as well as how much better we could be doing.

Image via Unsplash.

Linda: Sky-watchers and stargazers are in for a treat next week, as the annual Perseid meteor shower peaks from the 11th to the 13th, just a few days after the new moon. The lunar timing means that skies should be dark and conditions favorable for the “world’s safest fireworks.” The Perseids are one of the few celestial events that can be easily seen and enjoyed without a telescope. I’ll be setting my alarm for some pre-dawn walks on the beach next week. If the weather cooperates, I hope to share some pictures next Friday!

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Finally, from all of us, a warm welcome to the newest members of the Strong Towns movement: Kat Stork Blaher, Karen Chaddick, Tanner Stout, Zachary Newman, Sophia Prince, Robert Storch, Celia Walden, James Weathers, Samantha Schaevitz, Theresa O'Connor, Paul Reinheimer, Zachary Cox, Larry Gould, and Loren Jordan.

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What stories got you thinking this week? Please share them in the comments!