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Reweave
“In the face of public anger and apathy, and democratic decline, the need for desirable transformation goes much deeper than climate. We need institutional and cultural tools and spaces that enable everyone to contribute. In other words, the work of our time is to reweave the fabric of our democracy even as the broken systems seem overwhelming, even as the work we each can do feels so small.”
Safe Streets Connecticut: October 2023
In the annual tradition of fussing over the autumn time change, there have been articles in which the authors discuss how this shift is connected to an increase in street violence. Those working the standard shift (9-5) are suddenly exposed to the risks that second and third shift workers have year-round: commuting in darkness.
Washington Street
If you view old photos of Hartford, you’ll run into plenty of ones that evoke “what were they thinking?!” but none so much as Washington Street, a former tree-lined road of beautiful homes that has had much of its character destroyed in part by the medical industrial complex, by the string of court houses, and then by the street changes itself. There are remnants of what it was — an odd building here or there, somehow remaining with its exterior, at least, intact — but it mainly feels like a mini-highway.
Water Access
One of my favorite things is dumping a pile of receipts on the people who insist that nothing can ever change for the better. A few months ago, I wrote about how leaky faucets. Super sexy, I know. Specifically, I wrote about the leaking mess of a faucet/hydrant in Zion...
Doing
“We can also tell stories of love. Those of us with power must fight for justice, for a new system that values survival over profit and flourishing transformational change over the status quo. This is radical hope: knowing that the future can be better and knowing that we are the ones who must make that future happen.”
Genuine
“I learned that people do genuinely want to help and be a part of something greater than themselves. I learned that many people want to do the right thing for the Earth — they just need that extra little push, and need to see someone else do it first. I learned that positivity tends to create more positivity, as does goodness.”
Elevated Education
Way too often I find myself in rooms where there’s a conversation about a very serious thing and the One Answer is how “we need to start with the children.”. I spent many years working in education. I don’t disagree with any of that, except for how it is stated with a period instead of a comma.
Scrappy Fairy Tale of New York
Years back, when there was a pilot program for food waste collection in part of Brooklyn, I wondered why we weren’t doing something like that here. All these years later, finally, some Connecticut towns are timidly dipping their toes in the water. I am the odd lifelong state resident who is all for simply pushing people in the proverbial water, especially when we don’t need more local project pilots telling us what others have established long ago: it’s fine.
Transform Distress
“Rather than bury our heads in the sand and suppress our discomfort, we can harness and transform the distress we feel into meaningful actions and forms of connection”. Generation Dread is a book about climate anxiety, but interdisciplinary and intersectional thinking opens up ideas such as Wray’s about the importance of connection and meaningful action.
What We Gain From Trick-or-Treating
What Halloween lets people — young and old — do is experience their neighborhood in a more direct way. There isn’t the sense of just passing through that one gets from driving to and from. I sent video of this Halloween house (pictured) to a friend who I know drives by it frequently, and she did not know where it was. This is someone who has independently mentioned the house to me.
Endangered
These photographs show what is surely an endangered species in Hartford. How I know: we have removed parking minimums, those archaic measures that require a minimum amount of parking spaces be provided for buildings — whether we are talking churches that see visitors only one day each week or apartment high rise buildings located in the heart of downtown near mass transit.
Must Be The Season
It’s the time of the season when creativity runs amok and maybe slightly unhinged in Old Wethersfield. The Scarecrows Along Main event — also called Scarecrows On Main — is happening now. The decorations are all outdoors or viewable from the sidewalk, and free. They are at...
National Week Without Driving: Day Four
We’re most of the way through the National Week Without Driving, which is when people who regularly drive — especially those in decision-making positions — are asked to find another way to move around. There is a point to it. Those who control budgets or (re)design roads...
Miles and Miles
It only takes one trip to a farmers’ market to recognize how upside down most of our supermarkets are. At a market I recently visited, it was possible for shoppers to buy the following, all grown/produced in Connecticut: eggs, chicken, turkey, fish, cow meat, pig meat, dog bones and other treats, cheese, honey, maple, olive oil, vinegar, granola, bread, tortilla chips, apples, raspberries, salad greens, cauliflower, green beans, broccoli, squash, potatoes, carrots, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, radishes, peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes, eggplant, pumpkins, corn, cucumbers, zucchini, beets, turnips, kohlrabi, leeks, herbs, kale, and probably other fruits and vegetables I missed. Additionally, there were alcoholic beverages and cut flowers — all from Connecticut.
Safe Streets Connecticut: September 2023
Drivers killed five pedestrians in September 2023 in Connecticut. That’s 39 preventable deaths of pedestrians and cyclists, so far, this year. I’m writing this in the 39th week of the year; the math is too easy. At 1:10 AM on September 21, a ten-minute walk from New Britain’s...
A Little Something (October 2023)
Here’s your curated Hartford event calendar for October 2023. What makes this list? Events that I would either attend or recommend to a good friend. Review events with the host/venue to confirm details have not changed since publication. ADD TO CALENDAR. DOMINGO!: The DominGO! open streets event on October...
Transit = More Than Trains
It’s Thursday. This week has flown by. Instead of cohesion, a list:. By now, you’ve probably heard about how CT DOT has proposed cuts to train and bus service. I wrote about this elsewhere, and I believe the central question is this: efficiency for whom? Always scratch deeper than what’s on the press release, ask questions, and when there is space for public comment, use it.
Reading Trash
Over the course of two hours, four volunteers retrieved about 70 pounds of garbage in the rain from along the Connecticut River, including by the channel near the North Meadows Storage Pond. This is in a well-maintained park — not an area that’s completely ignored — and while some of the litter may have been left by park visitors, most was obviously deposited when the river has flooded.
Bollards!
After this dry cleaners in West Hartford’s Bishops Corner was smashed through twice by cars in the last two years, massive, highly visible bollards were installed between the parking lot and sidewalk. Considering how busy this plaza is, between the cleaners, supermarket, and coffee shop, it’s a miracle nobody was struck either of those times. Perhaps nobody needed to see what would occur on a third building strike.
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Life in Hartford, Connecticut, and beyond. Exploration, wandering, transportation, transit, art, and environment.
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