by admin | Feb 19, 2025 | Activism, Blogging, Books, Christianity, Civil rights, Government, History, Immigration, Movies, Personal history, Politics, Racism, Religion, Russia, Volunteerism, War, Writing
It is early in the morning as I begin to write this—too early in the view of most people I know. I awoke just before 5 a.m. in part because Tyson, our big Husky-German Shepherd mix, seemed to want to go outside in the bitter cold. (He did not; he merely wanted water,...
by admin | Dec 26, 2024 | Careers, Climate, Disaster, Disaster Recovery, Education, Floodplain management, Hazard Mitigation, History, Iowa, Natural Hazards, Personal history, Public policy, Resilience, Retirement, Texas, Urban Planning, Weather
About the time the rising Cedar River crested in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on June 13, 2008, a torrential downpour from an incoming thunderstorm joined forces with it to create the perfect flood. In the previous flood of record in the city, the river had reached 20...
by admin | Nov 5, 2024 | Activism, Books, Crime, Government, History, Immigration, Personal history, Political philosophy, Public policy, Public safety, Russia
Some time in 1997, I undertook a reading experiment I have never regretted, which was to begin to read, sequentially, biographies of U.S. presidents. I am not sure exactly when I picked up Cincinnatus: George Washington and the Enlightenment by Garry Wills, but it...
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 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 | 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...
