Books from March

I am late getting this posted b/c I was on a two-week, 5K mile roadtrip visiting 8 national parks with my sons. It was stunning. A glutinous feast for the eyes, an overdue adventure for my hiking boots, and an underserved care for my soul.

The first three books on my list are ones I pulled from the wine cellar. Meaning...I love whoever articulated the idea on instagram that having more books than you can read or will read is not wasteful...it is like having a wine cellar. Sometimes you buy a bottle and drink it right away. Other bottles you hold and read when you are ready - even if it is many years later. Three of these I have had for a while. But...I really wish I would have treated them like the same-day-buy-and-drink-bottle from Target (clearly I am not a wine person).

The New Urban Crisis, Richard Florida :: During the second half of the twentieth century the word "urban", for many, did not require the qualifier of "crisis." In popular culture (and some theological circles), cities were seen as dangerous dens of inequity. Cities and the people in them - especially and almost exclusively the lower income people of color - were blamed for the conditions of the city. Instead of looking at the pernicious effects of government subsidized white flight, failed urban policy, predatory banking practices, and the like, the ones who were cut got blamed for bleeding. This narrative, in many major metropolitan areas, not longer reflects reality. We are re-urbanizing. People (especially the young and educated) and industry (especially eds and meds) are flowing back to citiies. And the way this is unfolding, according to Florida, is the new urban crisis. The "winner take all urbanism" continues to prioritize corporations over communities, outside dollars versus legacy residents. This isn't just hurting low income residents, the middle class is getting left out too.

Stuck In Place, Patrick Sharkey :: I heard this author present at a conference in Atlanta in 2017 and appreciated his presentation. Thoughtful, well-researched, necessary data, relevant trends. I got the book immediately. Often when I saw the book in the cellar, I assumed that the presentation hit the highlights and I was good to read one of the other books I was eager to get into. Well...I finally pulled it from the shelf. Though some of the data is a bit out of date, it is a must read if you want to see the evidence of how the children of the Civil Rights Era have inherited not rights, wealth, equity, or freedom but the injustice of concentrated poverty and its effects. The Civil Rights Era told us what we did in the past was wrong and acknowledged certain parts of it was unconstitutional, but it did not meaningfully repair the harm done or pave a pathway forward toward wellbeing.

Happy City, Charles Montgomery :: There are a couple famous memes about Atlanta. One says "We Full!" warning people to stop moving here. The other asks the question, "Why is Atlanta one hour away FROM ATLANTA?!" Both memes show pictures of our congested interstates at peak rush hour. The first meme is completely untrue. Atlanta is far, far from being full. What is true about Atlanta is that we are a city designed to center on the automobile, with a preferential concern for the commuter, and with development practices that create sprawl. We lack density. We have so much open land. We have an abundance of space for housing development - as well as for commercial and public development. The problem is we have not designed ourselves around humans and certain not around healthy neighborhoods. This all leads to the second meme. Atlanta traffic is as it is not because of overcrowding or overpopulation or a lack of interstate infrastructure. The lack of density in housing, the lack of public transportation, and the penchant for sprawl got us here. And, according to this author, it is to blame for some of our unhappiness. Better design does just make smarter cities and more environmentally friendly cities and more economically vibrant cities (and it does all that), better design makes happier people.

The data is clear, cities centered on the automobile and the single-family home have made us less happy, more stressed, less connected, and more isolated. The way cities function is often assumed to be natural and normal. (This why the meme says "We Full!" instead of "We Design Poorly!") The way things are is not natural or necessary. It is the product of choice, of design, of a particular ideology that is hurting us. There is a better way. Read Montgomery for a new vision for how our cities can be - and how they can make us happier.

How the Word is Passed, Clint Smith :: The unwillingness of America to reckon collectively and honestly with its racists past and present may be the pathology that is our final undoing. Smith takes us on a fascinating journey to see real people in real places telling their own unique versions of the stories of slavery and racism. He travels to seven distinct places of historic significance - six in the US, one in Africa - recording the varying ways that stories are told and how history is either upheld and faced or minimized and manipulated. There are some moments that make it seem impossible that whiteness will ever relinquish its lies, and yet there are even more moments where the courage to face and tell the whole truth is on full, hope-inspiring display.