Published in Solidarity Hall·Feb 26The death of a city (Kiev)I was not expecting to feel this impending catastrophe quite so keenly. Watching the live coverage coming from the streets, it’s easy to see that the Kiev of today is very different from the dusty, glumly Soviet city I visited for a few days in the summer of 1978. (I’ve…Ukraine Collapse3 min read
Published in Solidarity Hall·Feb 14What is Eutopian Thinking?One of my favorite memes from a few years ago was a woman standing with a sign reading “Rethink everything.” If this idea of a big rethink once sounded fanciful, I think the multiple crises still cascading since 2020 have made it close to obligatory. Now, if ever, is our…Utopia7 min read
Feb 23, 2021Labor & Delivery: Birthing the New Economy7335Jennifer, Mara, Astrid & AniyiaThis is simply a spectacular post. Thanks to all the authors here. Saving, sharing, re-reading...This is simply a spectacular post. Thanks to all the authors here. Saving, sharing, re-reading...1 min readThis is simply a spectacular post. Thanks to all the authors here. Saving, sharing, re-reading...----
Published in Solidarity Hall·Nov 5, 2020The Best Reason South Bend Should Be FamousThe Best Reason South Bend Should Become Famous It’s a stroke of luck when your small city has national exposure because a hometown guy becomes a plausible Presidential candidate. But frankly I’d rather we became famous for a different reason: let’s be the community that finally figured out how to…Gentrification4 min read
Published in Solidarity Hall·Nov 2, 2020Will Our City Just Fade Away?The election is on top of us now and Covid dominates the news as well. But I’m trying to think about the long game here for a minute. The title of this post is the question for lots of lovely, small, seemingly livable Rustbelt places whose populations have declined to…Small City4 min read
Aug 21, 2020Why Your Rustbelt Town Needs Civic Entrepreneurs — Right AwayEarly this year, before the COVID crisis had really emerged, a new documentary film about life in South Bend called Big Enough, Small Enough was released. It’s a mix of great drone footage, interviews, and street-level scenes of this grungy-hip town which several of the interviewees describe as “just right”…4 min read
May 2, 2019Politics and Civic FriendshipSome thoughts on our upcoming city elections here in my town… A few years ago, I heard that our Valpo Mayor Jon Costas was recommending a book called Community, by Peter Block. …Civic Engagement3 min read
Apr 24, 2019What Does a Healthy Downtown Look Like?What Does a Healthy Downtown Look Like? This post is about defining a town’s success in terms of its small businesses and their ability to start up and then thrive. Specifically, it’s asking: how many local families is this downtown supporting? Is that number growing or declining? It is also…Urban Planning5 min read
Published in Solidarity Hall·Apr 5, 2019In a Russian MirrorA Cold War Memoir in the Form of a Travelogue “We [Russians] are an exception among people. We belong to those who are not an integral part of humanity but exist only to teach the world some type of great lesson.” — Pyotr Chaadayev, Philosophical Letters (1836) Introduction My old…Russia47 min read
