Avaslash comments on What will it take for us to unite and overthrow? The future of the American city. Once, Americans fled inner cities for a suburban paradise.
Now an urban revival is making the suburbs the home of the poor ©Spencer Lowell Shortly after Barack Obama was inaugurated in January 2009, Rip Rapson, head of the Kresge Foundation, a Michigan-based family endowment, got a call from a senior White House official. Student Debt and the Crushing of the American Dream. A CERTAIN drama has become familiar in the United States (and some other advanced industrialized countries): Bankers encourage people to borrow beyond their means, preying especially on those who are financially unsophisticated.
They use their political influence to get favorable treatment of one form or another. ZIP Code History: How They Define Us. Mr.
Zip, a gangly cartoonish figure with wide friendly eyes and a neat blue mail carrier's uniform, emerged fifty years ago to help the U.S. Postal Service promote its newest idea: five numbers added to our addresses to more clearly designate our locations. 10 Ways to Be Happier According to Doctor Who (Part 1) » Ignite The Sky. Due to the nature of this article, it’s inevitable that spoilers will exist.
If you have any plans to watch this show in the future and you are as adverse to spoilers as River Song, please consider this your warning to stop reading now. If you have no interest in watching Doctor Who, this article should have enough clarification that anyone can understand and appreciate the points. Is It Time to Move Past Urban Studies and Toward Urbanization Science? - Eric Jaffe. William Solecki compares the current study of cities to natural history in the 19th century.
Back then most natural scientists were content to explore and document the extent of biological and behavioral differences in the world. Only recently has science moved from cataloguing life to understanding the genetic code that forms its very basis. The Real Estate Deal That Could Change the Future of Everything - Neighborhoods. Dan and Ben Miller began tugging two years ago at a simple question they believe is central to the failings of the American real estate industry.
The brothers – sons of a well-known Washington, D.C. developer – had begun acquiring properties themselves in the city’s emerging neighborhoods where traditional capital seldom goes. Real estate developments are typically financed by wealthy investors who live in the suburbs, or by Wall Street funds even farther away. Barack Obama: Indie Rocker. Indie-rock frontman Jeff Tweedy recently played a benefit concert for Barack Obama with a whopping ticket price of at least $250.
(Let’s hope Republicans don’t find out that Tweedy’s band, Wilco, recorded a song called “Ashes of American Flags”.) As an indie-rock artist who supports Obama, Tweedy is in good company. Arcade Fire, the Decemberists, Superchunk, the Cool Kids, Bright Eyes, Andrew Bird, and others have also rocked for Barack. The fact that Tweedy’s fans are expected to cough up $250 says something about the state of indie rock, but Obama’s status as an indie-rock heartthrob tells us something about his candidacy as well. In the mid-1970’s, French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu coined the term cultural capital to refer to the knowledge, values and skills required to, among other things, appreciate “high art.” Feast of Fools - Politics. Tips for Selling the 'Urban' Experience to Suburbanites - Housing. Today’s article is by my friend Lee Epstein, an attorney and land use planner working for sustainability in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Lee’s last contribution here was The fall - and rise - of small downtown America. Many of us involved in the creation or advocacy of "sustainable" cities, neighborhoods and metro regions know what we’re mostly for. That would be communities that: Grow first within the existing development footprint, taking advantage of existing public infrastructure Integrate functional green space for air, light, recreation, beauty, and stormwater management Improve public transit, bike accessibility and walkability Encourage a healthy mix of land uses and activities – and Embrace a somewhat higher (though not necessarily high, depending upon location) residential and commercial density. TV, Movies, and Anonymous. If you’re the kind who ventures out on foot after dark, you’ve almost certainly noticed a hypnotic blue glow flashing inside windows throughout the neighborhood.
And when you see people held captive by a box of moving light, you can’t help but think that humans seem complicit in their own capture–even if you’re no stranger to a great episode of Planet Earth or Arrested Development yourself. Does it matter whether they’re watching American Idol, Mad Men, or Real Housewives? 8 Signs You've Found Your Life's Work. This month marks the nine-month anniversary of the most natural and obvious, most joyful and energizing decision of my life: to fully commit 100% to my life's work. I've spent every day falling more madly in love with how I live my life and spend my time, the contributions I'm making to society, and the discomfort and growth that I feel each day. My journey getting here was both arduous and enthralling. If My Guy Loses: Confessions of an Anonymous Partisan - Steve King. Whichever side triumphs, the response of disappointed partisans is all too easily predicted.
If my guy loses I will wake up every morning with the name of my enemy on my lips. The man who beat my guy in the election. The man who hijacked my government and stole my country. My enemy, my president. Wikipedia and the Shifting Definition of 'Expert' - Rebecca J. Rosen - Technology. The expert is dead!
Long live the expert! Wikimedia Commons How do we judge whether a person knows what he or she is talking about? How do we gauge someone's credibility? The Cheapest Generation - Derek Thompson and Jordan Weissmann. In 2009, Ford brought its new supermini, the Fiesta, over from Europe in a brave attempt to attract the attention of young Americans. It passed out 100 of the cars to influential bloggers for a free six-month test-drive, with just one condition: document your experience online, whether you love the Fiesta or hate it.
Young bloggers loved the car. Young drivers? Magazine - Why Women Still Can’t Have It All. The culture of “time macho”—a relentless competition to work harder, stay later, pull more all-nighters, travel around the world and bill the extra hours that the international date line affords you—remains astonishingly prevalent among professionals today. Nothing captures the belief that more time equals more value better than the cult of billable hours afflicting large law firms across the country and providing exactly the wrong incentives for employees who hope to integrate work and family. Yet even in industries that don’t explicitly reward sheer quantity of hours spent on the job, the pressure to arrive early, stay late, and be available, always, for in-person meetings at 11 a.m. on Saturdays can be intense.
Indeed, by some measures, the problem has gotten worse over time: a study by the Center for American Progress reports that nationwide, the share of all professionals—women and men—working more than 50 hours a week has increased since the late 1970s. Revaluing Family Values. The Innocence of White People. Former Gov. Charlie Crist: Here's why I'm backing Barack Obama. In Search of the Living, Purring, Singing Heart of the Online Cat-Industrial Complex. Revolt of the Rich. It was 1993, during congressional debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement. Cyborg America: inside the strange new world of basement body hackers. Raise the Crime Rate.
Is it true that living in America has become riskier? The Elusive Big Idea. The Battle for the Soul of Occupy Wall Street. Chunklet to Go Go - Regular Human Beings. Teddy Wayne: Sharing on the Internet. Young Barack Obama in Love: A Girlfriend's Secret Diary. Death by Byline — Gleanings. Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult. Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem. What Are You Going to Do With That? - The Chronicle Review.
How the Internet Fails Us. Facebook in the Age of Facebook. In Nothing We Trust - Ron Fournier and Sophie Quinton.