Post No. 450: Nine years in

I began writing Holy Mountain nine years ago this month. That spring I was on a sabbatical leave from Coe College, gorging myself on literature about the phenomenon of place.  I needed somewhere to park my ideas, to help me process all the stuff I was reading.

At the same time I was encountering for the first time the school of urban design known as new urbanism. Writers such as Jane Jacobs, James Howard Kunstler, Chuck Marohn and other seemed to be on to something, to have found both explanation and antidote for a world gone mad. I listened to podcasts, read books and blog posts, and walked the familiar streets of my town while seeing them through new eyes. Things were awry, for sure, and had been going awry since the end of World War II, but there were ways to start making them right. A housing crisis, rising gasoline prices, falling crime rates, and some popular TV shows were causing young people to consider the attractions of urban life. America, particularly young America, seemed to be discovering the keys to a better, communitarian, inclusive, environmentally- and fiscally-sound future at the same time I was.

In those heady days, I teamed up with a friend and former student, Ben Kaplan, to start a local discussion group which came eventually to be known as Corridor Urbanism (not coincidentally the title of Ben's blog). I got in on the ground floor of Strong Towns' blog roll, which enabled me to exchange ideas with a number of virtual members. Corridor Urbanism hosted Chuck Marohn in 2015, and in 2017 ginned up a grand day in the Mound View neighborhood. Every time I turned around there were new concepts, new insights, new possibilities.

2017: Imagine Mound View, 1600 block of F Avenue NE

I'm still blogging nine years later, and Corridor Urbanism has survived the pandemic shutdowns and is now in its eighth year. In fact, we meet next Wednesday 4/20 at Thew Brewing in Cedar Rapids, and Wednesday 5/18 probably in Marion. Come join us! We are persisting!! Our city has converted one-way streets back to two-way, and added considerable amounts of sidewalks and bike infrastructure. New housing concepts are emerging, at least in the core neighborhoods on the west side of the river.

Nevertheless, something is missing from the early days: A sense that the way forward was simple, and if we explained it enough it could be achieved? That the arc of the design universe was bending towards urbanism? That these ideas, which seemed away around the bitter dualities of national politics, have been incorporated into the conservative movement's pantheon of demons? Or merely the excitement of novelty is no longer with us?

I wrote 14 posts that first month, and 77 posts in what was left of the year 2013. I haven't approached that since. I seem to have less to say. Maybe I can find a book in the piles of words that I've written? Or maybe it's time to stop writing and get involved? 

Kharkiv before Putin moved in (from travelafterkids.blogspot.com. Used without permission.)

It was empowering in 2013 to think that we had found a way to build communities on a local level, while ignoring the political theater of national politics. That was before Donald Trump took political theater way past the threshhold of pain, and begat Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott, and their painful ilk. But are our local conversations about missing-middle housing, roundabouts, or scooters any better? I see my state being run on the politics of bilious cultural rage, my metropolitan area focused on building and widening highways, and a promising urban district devolving into a clot of greasy burgers, hair salons, and condos that cost more than my house. My favorite coffeehouse across the street from my office closed in March 2020. Meanwhile, teaching has its benefits, but I mostly seem to be annoying students who would rather be doing something else.

The core ideas remain. We are better in every way when we live in genuine community. There is value in difference, and virtue in welcoming the stranger. Natural and financial systems work according to their own rules, so we had best learn to live with them. And maybe my thinking gets sharper when I realize how non-obvious is the road ahead.

Most read pieces, 2013-2022:

(1) A Silent But Needful Protest, 1 November 2016: "At Coe College, where I teach, nearly 100 members of the community responded yesterday to a call by the student organization Multicultural Fusion to stand in silent protest during the noon hour." 

(2) Snout Houses? In Oakhill-Jackson?? 16 October 2016: "Oak Hill Jackson is a historic neighborhood located south of downtown Cedar Rapids."

(3) Crime and Our Common Life, 1 August 2016: "Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump is asserting a dark, dystopian portrayal of America in 2016 as overwhelmed by predatory criminals and terrorists, in spite of data that show the national violent crime rate has steadily fallen for 25 years."

(4) Let's Hear It for Cedar Rapids, 5 September 2016: "A great city has places to go and ways to get there, and Cedar Rapids celebrated both this Labor Day weekend." 

(5) Gentrification: What Do We Know, 26 July 2016: "A number of forces--economic, ecological, health and fashion trends--are driving middle-class Americans back to the central cities many of their own ancestors abandoned decades ago." 

Least read pieces, 2013-2022:

(1) I Think This House Will Be OK, 18 March 2021: "It's not often my neighborhood makes the news, but last week the Board of Adjustment was called in to grant a zoning waiver to a house on my very block."

(2) Dear America Brings Light in the Heat, 8 July 2021: "The U.S.-Mexico border right now is a mess, which is not new."

(3) Theater Review: "Respect," 15 June 2014: "Cedar Rapids's marvelous arts venue, CSPS, hosted the premiere Saturday night of the University of Iowa's Summer Rep production of "Respect: A Musical Journey of Women"."

(4) Rollin' Recmobile Brings the Fun, 28 June 2021: "Cedar Rapids Parks and Recreation's Rollin' Recmobile started its week of fun this morning at Redmond Park in the Wellington Heights neighborhood."

(5) Nothing Says Community Like..., 13 January 2014: "...a great big pile of Christmas trees!"

Stronger in community:
Volunteer at the 2022 Maple Syrup Festival