Labors of love — The Sunday Dispatch ~ July 30, 2023 This week I discovered that one of my long term efforts to implement glass recycling in the workplace has finally proven effective. I have achieved success through my ardent insistence. It took more than a year. Despite being laughed at, mind you, often openly. Heathens, I tell you. Glass recycling…

The Sunday Dispatch ~ June 4, 2023 — At times life changes faster than you can scramble. Pillars shift, maybe even crumble, making it difficult to see how to get through. Resilience is the capacity to adapt to changing circumstances and bounce back from adversity, sometimes despite the odds. Being resilient isn’t something one acquires overnight. …

Art for the sake of art — Sometimes the hardest task to accomplish is to not mess up a good thing. It can be easy not to realize how good you have it until something or someone comes along to compromise the whole equation. …

A journey across pages of shared appreciation. — The scent of paper. The promise of knowledge and adventure. A sense of hope and wonder, or perhaps content amusement. These are some of the things I love about a life of reading and being surrounded by books. Simple things sometimes bring the most joy in life. Stepping into a…

The life of a meandering practitioner — The Sunday Dispatch ~ November 12, 2023 Earlier this week I found myself reading up on the citrus industry and some of the challenges within it, such as pest management and the health of fruit trees. Sometimes us northern states folk really don’t understand what goes into having orange juice…

Navigating the matrix of trees and concrete — The Sunday Dispatch ~ November 5, 2023 Soft edges, hard lines, the ambient sound of traffic. When I walk through a city, I instinctively seek the soft touch of nature. I find as much green space as possible to weave into my path. Trails, parks, corner plazas, treed pathways —…

When the roadways are a wild west — The Sunday Dispatch ~ October 29, 2023 Bike lanes. You see them in random display, sometimes with continuous design, sometimes with stops and starts that baffle the observer. Bicyclists can use the bike lanes for increased safety, but they can still ride on regular roadways as legal traffic. Rules vary…

A sense of belonging in the Town Square. — Another Monday Dispatch ~ October 23, 2023 In the center of my city, there is a space that some town folk insist be designated a common space, similar to a European piazza. It has a poetic, romantic appeal. The idea of a public common space in the center of a…

Finding the nexus on old and new modes of travel — A Monday Dispatch ~ October 16, 2023 For this edge series I call my dispatch, I write about sustainability, resilience, and opportunity. Sometimes more specifically on urban development, mass transit, connectivity, regional planning. I realize now I have yet to write about trees. Rather unusual, since I am a devote advocate for urban forests. …