Friday Faves - Your Weekly Strong Towns Roundup
Finally today, after four rounds and tens of thousands of unique votes cast, we got to announce this year's Strongest Town Contest winner: Jasper, Indiana! It was a close call between them and runner-up Norwood, Ohio; read more about it here. Congratulations to Jasper, and the team that represented it. And a big thank-you to everyone who participated in the contest and voted; we love getting to celebrate places that are doing what they can to become stronger and more resilient!
Comment of the Week:
Citizens of Jasper, IN (this year’s Strongest Town Contest Champion), showing their civic pride! Check out the discussion on our Facebook Group.
Here’s what Strong Towns staff were up to this week:
(Source: Brené Brown.)
Linda: In a recent Local-Motive session on “How to Make Progress When Political Divisions Dominate,” one of the five strategies identified by guest speaker Michele Martinez was the need to “be thoughtful about language.” She discussed the importance of listening to peoples’ needs, issues, and concerns, and then going back to validate our understanding with them, even if we don’t agree. She explained that, when we don’t have the right language, we can end up triggering or isolating people. Michele recommended the book Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown, which offers a framework and language for understanding the connection between how people think, feel, and behave.
I also enjoyed reading Atlas of the Heart. In the book, Brown explores eighty-seven emotions and experiences, and how they shape our connections to each other. Humans are complex. There is not one size, two sides, four quadrants, or even 16 personality types that capture the full range of our human experience and emotion. Atlas provides language to help us accurately name and understand our own emotions and experiences, so that we can better understand, appreciate, respect, and connect to one another. (And for those who prefer watching to reading, HBO just released a five-part documentary series on the book.)
(Source: The New York Times.)
John: Yesterday was Opening Day of the Major League Baseball season. The season is starting late due to a 99-day lockout, but I’m choosing to look on the bright side: that there is a season at all…and a full 162 games at that. My Kansas City Royals aren’t getting a lot of respect—I’ve yet to see one prediction that we’ll make the playoffs—but there is a lot to be excited about. For example, we’re bringing up the #1 prospect in all of baseball.
There’s another storyline I’ll be following this year, and that’s from our cross-state rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals. After 10 years in Los Angeles, the Redbirds brought back Albert Pujols to play his final season where it all began. Pujols is my all-time favorite player, and I’m happy to see him back in St. Louis to close out his Hall of Fame career. The oldest player in baseball, he’s within shouting distance of a major milestone: 700 home runs, good for fourth highest ever.
For the exciting young talent and the all-time greats, it’s a good time to be a baseball fan. Play ball!
Shina: This week while I was out grocery shopping, I happened upon a group of white lined sphinx moths enjoying some flowers outside of the store. These little cuties look so much like hummingbirds that, at first, I was genuinely unsure whether I was looking at insects or birds. And, much like actual hummingbirds, their speediness makes them tricky to get a clear photo of (unless you're a nature photography whiz like my colleague John Pattison)! They can fly up to 25 mph (40.2 kph), but here's a video of one in slow motion so you can see the amazing way they move their wings.
The Islamic Community Center of Anchorage, AL. (Source: Wikimedia Commons.)
Rachel: I’m especially attuned to Alaska news now that I have two proud Alaskan colleagues (Lauren and Jay). This story about the northernmost mosque in America (and the only one in the state of Alaska) caught my attention. I’m fascinated by the different ways people around the world practice their religion and this was a particular example of blending cultures and foods in celebration of Ramadan. Whereas Muslims in larger communities might attend a mosque specific to their country or region of origin, this small community in Alaska brings all sorts of people together, and with it come their different foods and traditions—plus a healthy dose of Alaskan food and tradition, too. (Shout-out to my former grad school employer, The Pluralism Project, for clueing me into this article. If you want more religion-themed news, visit their site.)
(Source: Twitter.)
Jay: This Twitter post from a potty-mouthed (but funny!) planning site is about the stadium built in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup in November and December. It reminds me of a popular Strong Towns post I loved from my colleague, Lauren Fisher, called “Renderings vs. Reality: A Roundup of 2021s Most Egregious Development Illustrations.” Lauren’s post points out how the drawings used to pitch publicly-funded projects are often much loftier renderings than the projects turn out to be when they are realized. In the side-by-side here, you can see that hoped-for urban development tangential to the Qatar stadium hasn’t quite materialized. Some of the comments are amusing and apologetic, along the lines of, “Well, at least they won’t need to use precious water on grass and trees.”
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Finally, from all of us, a warm welcome to the newest members of the Strong Towns movement: Kayvan Afrasiabi, Gregory Burgin, Lamartrice Daniels, Lucas Deblock, Justin Evans, Molly Guard, Marc Haumann, Hannah Jones, Heather Marriott, Ronn Mooney, Mailinh Nguyen, and Abigail Olvera.
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What stories got you thinking this week? Please share them in the comments!