Community Building Tip: Love

For my current set of tips, I'm using the list "101 Small Ways You Can Improve Your City.

93. Fall in love. "I think if we love the places we live, we'll make better decisions about them. Even in communities that are lacking, we can at least love the way the morning light hits the trees or any little thing. And with a little space for love to grow, we can transform our own expectations, inspire others to do the same, and over time, make real changes to improve the world around us." — Ryan Gravel, founder of Sixpitch and the originator of the Atlanta Beltline

If you have a healthy community and a safe location, "fall in love" is good advice.   The more you give, the more you receive.

If like most places, your community okay rather than ideal or awful, then liking  it and looking for the good parts is worthwhile.  Especially, think about what it needs to become truly lovable, and what you can do to move it in that direction.

If it's unhealthy, dangerous, and/or abusive, then falling in love is a terrible idea because it could encourage you to stay there even if you had a chance to escape.  So no.  If your community is like bad boyfriend, don't fall in love with the asshole, watch for an opportunity to split.

Creative Jam

The October 2021 crowdfunding Creative Jam is now open with a theme of "Maturity." Come give us prompts or claim some for your own inspiration.


What I Have Written

"Stand in the Storm of Time"
After the Omaha cape incident, Stan and Lawrence make it to Stan's house and talk with Stan's father.
266 lines, Buy It Now = $133


From My Prompts

Indigenous Coastal Technology

I've seen several references to different types of indigenous aquaculture technology, but this is the first I've seen that compares the types and how they relate to local water conditions.  So often, white people look but they don't see.  If they describe something or someone as primitive?  It's more likely they either don't know what they're looking at, or they are deliberately lying about it.

This is why we need tribal people who are historians, archaeologists, environmentalists, engineers, etc.  They see things differently, and they have remnants of lore that can illuminate findings. 

Tuning Cities for Young Families

This article talks about how today's young adults want to raise a family in dense urban neighborhoods. Okay, great, density is good for both environmental and economic reasons. But the article makes it seem "hard" to meet family needs in current downtown infrastructure. It's not hard, people used to do it a lot. So let's look at what we could do with a modern downtown to make it more family-friendly.

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