by admin | Jan 15, 2024 | Activism, Blogging, Books, Chicago, Christianity, Civil rights, History, Religion
Holidays have a way of taming and diluting the real importance of the legacies and events they are meant to commemorate. This tendency is particularly true of today’s holiday celebrating the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. These efforts reflect some...
by admin | Jan 1, 2024 | Activism, Aging, Blogging, Healthcare, Medical, Personal health, Personal history, Resilience
I have never been terribly enthusiastic about New Year’s Eve resolutions. This is not because I lack resolve, but because the start of a new year has usually struck me as a rather arbitrary time to gain such resolve or to turn over a new leaf. If one is committed to...
by admin | Sep 14, 2023 | Activism, Colorado, Disaster, Disaster Recovery, Emergency Management, Housing, Natural Hazards, Public safety, Urban Planning, Wildfire
The field production of Planning to Turn the Tide, the documentary film project of the American Planning Association’s Hazard Mitigation and Disaster Recovery (HMDR) Planning Division, has involved dozens of local volunteers and supporters in several states spread...
by admin | Sep 4, 2023 | Activism, Aging, Blogging, Careers, Death, Personal health, Personal history, Recreation, Retirement, Volunteerism, Writing
“Retire from what?” The Chicago Tribune says Jimmy Buffett asked that question once when they asked him about retirement. He died September 1, just as the Labor Day weekend began, from an aggressive skin cancer called Merkel cell cancer. In his lifetime, he succeeded...
by admin | Jul 4, 2023 | Activism, Chicago, Climate, Environment, Hazard Mitigation, Natural Hazards, Social Equity, Water, Weather, Wildfire
Like most people, I am not worried about the wrath of ancient pagan gods, but I had to wonder. It was just a week ago, amid the horrible air quality in the Midwest, including Chicago, that I told my wife that a good rainstorm might serve to clear the air of many of...
by admin | Jun 21, 2023 | Activism, Blogging, Books, Careers, Climate, Coastal Management, Disaster, Disaster policy, Floodplain management, Florida, Hazard Mitigation, Journalism, Movies, Natural Hazards, Personal history, Philanthropy, Public policy, Public safety, Resilience, Travel, Urban Planning, Weather, Wildfire, Writing
One reason I have long loved being an urban planner is that, ultimately, planning is about imagining a better future. Or should be, anyway. Although I was in my early thirties before I returned to school for a pair of graduate degrees in Urban and Regional Planning...
