Sorry not sorry

A funny thing happened when the clock rolled over to November 1st: I went a month without dropping anything in this old newsletter for the first time since July 2021.

Really, it's the last 3 months catching up with me - a pretty great three months they've been but also a bit frantic and all over the place. I let myself slow down for just a moment today and realized that the sum total of it all is that my brain has been tired1. There was a time in my life when I would have been very hesitant to acknowledge that, so let's chalk that up to the benefits of growth & change.

I've got a few new entries for this newsletter marinating on the backburner right now, but for today I'm going to give my brain more of the rest it's craving so how about some links?

The Links…

• When I stop to think about it, I'm always mad impressed with how Dutch cities are not car dependent and how they really privilege the cyclist and the pedestrian. It has probably ruined me for life, because there's been maybe 2 times in a year and a half that we've felt like it may have been better to have a car (and even then, we were able to get where we wanted to go without one). So, this article on how Dutch cities design for that desire is great - kind of a set of practices, but really a shift in mindset.
• I hate the headline on this one because it adds to the sense that we can't do anything right when it comes to climate, but the actual substance of the article and the idea that we can build these oases of natural beauty and resilience is really empowering.
• Bringing the two things together, I love the analogy in here comparing car-dependent urban design with agricultural monocropping. Sidenote: I'm trying to decide lately if moving beyond car dependence is an idea that is starting to catch fire, or if I'm just more looped into that conversation.