I had promised an announcement for readers on Monday (and a contest) but I decided to jump the gun and deliver both today.
First the announcement:
While the last 18 months of rambling about all my passing interests have been fun, I’ve decided what’s best for The Big Stick is to narrow my focus and begin to write about those issues that I feel most strongly about and those areas where I feel my knowledge base is best suited.
Starting next week The Big Stick will start exploring what I have begun to call, “The intersection between rural and city life.” Posts will examine the push and pull dynamics between these two places and also spend time talking about the suburban periphery, which I consider a necessary bridge between the two. Ancillary topics will include architecture, agriculture and rural/urban planning. In addition I will be spending a lot more time talking about education, which I also believe is a key element of this rural-to-suburban-to-city dynamic and perhaps the subject that I am most passionate about these days.
The direction I’ve chosen to take with The Big Stick is one I am excited about and will hopefully appeal to the readers that have gotten me this far. As I always I make no promises that things won’t change again in the future or that I won’t write about off-the-wall topics from time to time. Thanks are in order for those who have gotten me this far and I hope there will be even more of you a year from now.
And now the contest:
I am pleased to be giving away one copy of The New Geography: How the Digital Revolution Is Reshaping the American Landscape by Joel Kotkin. To enter simply leave a comment under this post an tell me what you love best about the place you live. Do you have great mass transit? Tell me about it. Fabulous farmer’s markets? Tell me about that too. Great hospitals, opera, sports or restaurants? Lay it on me.
On Monday at 5pm I will choose one random commenter to receive this prize.
I look forward to hearing your comments.
7 comments
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July 15, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Philip H
What’s best about where I live? I can ride the Metro to some of the best restaurants, museums, and neighborhoods in the country; we have mad cool architecture, and almost no one knows about it. National politics are just local news, but no less . . . entertaining.
But the best part is that, had I not come here, I wouldn’t have met Red, married her, and enlarged my female progeny to three from two. It was, and still is, the best sequence of gifts any city could give me.
July 15, 2009 at 7:34 pm
NP
I’m excited about your plans for The Big Stick! It’s interesting that you’re doing this now because this week I’m condensing my two personal blogs into one to give me a new focus, as well! (Great minds think alike, I suppose!)
I think the thing I love most about where I live is the diversity. Central Florida has a strong Hispanic population, of course, but there’s lots of other diversity, as well, and not just ethnic. There’s religious/spiritual diversity, political diversity, and even sexual diversity. I love surrounding myself with people that will challenge me, and central Florida does that. It’s great!
July 16, 2009 at 10:57 am
Dan Miller
What I love best about where I live? I’m in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington DC, and I’ll say this–DC’s older neighborhoods have some of the best residential architecture I’ve ever seen. I love the feel of the old rowhouse neighborhoods–Dupont, Shaw, Columbia Heights and Adams Morgan, plus many others. The experience of walking through a really great residential neighborhood is one of the best parts of living in DC. Plus most of the places I’ve named make it easy to live car-free–great public transportation and very walkable.
July 16, 2009 at 5:11 pm
prairieflounder
What’s so great about living in Northern Colorado? You asked so here goes…
My little town in Northern Colorado has a lot going for it and very little against. I enjoy a small town atmosphere where people go to high school sports just to watch the game, even if they don’t have kids. Where the local paper is only a quarter and the only bad news is when you read the police report and find one of your son’s friends got caught speeding. The people are pleasant, the crime is low, and the cost of living is realistic. Living in a nice small town is good, but location and diversity male it great. I live between two college towns and have all the luxuries of the big city without having to look at the bones. Boulder is only a few miles away so diversity is pretty much covered. If I have a sudden need for cultural enlightenment, quality entertainment is only a short drive to Denver or Colorado Springs. For outdoor activities the Rocky Mountains are closer yet, with over a dozen 14k’ mountains to climb, mountain streams to fish, hundreds of miles of trails to hike or bike, lakes to swim, and a hunters paradise for those who wish to earn their food, the options are limitless.
I also enjoy the freedom that can only exist where there is plenty of elbow room, and with a zillion square miles of nearly uninhabited prairie and only a smattering of friendly regulators, I am free to do nearly anything that interests me. From launching rockets, building fireworks, hurling pumpkins, to informal target practice the prairie is my oyster. Another bonus about Northern Colorado is, unlike my previous home state of California, we have real seasons. Summer is hot, spring and fall are perfect, and winter makes you long for summer. Oh and also there is the view. There is nothing quite like the view of the snow capped Rocky Mountains in July. Northern Colorado is the only place where people in shorts and a knit cap shovel snow so they can get their Prius out of the drive way just to go to Starbucks. Generally they will end up passing a Hummer in the ditch on the way home. Good weather, small town charm, freedom, and Justice, what else do you need?
-pf
July 17, 2009 at 7:43 am
Gherald L
Great about Madison, Wisconsin? The lakes and encircling pedestrian/bike paths. Pics say it best…
Night
Morning
Winter twilight
Fly-over
July 20, 2009 at 1:29 am
ACG
I like your direction, Mike, but it’s sad for the right to lose a well-spoken and intelligent conservative. I hope you keep some of that content, and continue to comment on my site (after the bar exam!).
As for my city, anything I could say about New York would probably sound trite: hey, there are plays here, that’s cool! But I’ll add two things — the bike trail around most of Manhattan is an underused wonder that brings you face-to-face with how small the island actually is (and, by consequence, the little world we build for ourselves here); I can never get enough of the Statue of Liberty or the Met; and I actually find the people to be almost uniformly pleasant and fun. Let’s shatter some stereotypes!!
But I’ll also answer on behalf of Houston, my home for five years. From a city planner’s perspective, it’s basically a nightmare. The lack of any zoning laws really shows in places; the public transit system is under used and too poorly developed for that to ever change; it’s 90 degrees or raining all the damn time; and the traffic. Ugh, the traffic.
These observations, so frequent among ex-Texans or even Houstonians, miss the point. These macro-level flaws are made up for by a hundred micro-level delights that you can only find and enjoy if you take the time, like the Rice Village, the beauty of the downtown area (ahem, until dark), the food in general, the “water wall,” and the wonderfully diverse cultural venues. And, in general “feel” and population, Houston manages to successfully bring together the big-city elite with what’s best about life in the American country. I’ll never forget the joy of being able to wake up in a college town, spend the afternoon on the beach, and end the day in small-town Texas. Or of walking from a suburban house, five minutes into “the city” (remember, no zoning!). I love New York, but God, I miss Texas.
July 20, 2009 at 10:16 am
Mike
Thanks for the comments everyone! I’ll be closing the contest at 5pm today and announce the winner tomorrow.
Ames, I will still be visiting a lot of other blogs and still talking politics when I do so. I actually find that I feel my writing is better on many of those subjects during the interaction of a healthy comment section. I will remain a frequent visitor to Submitted to a Candid World.