A “possibilist” believes that what we do matters, even when we cannot predict the results.

Art as resistance and repair

What if this is neoliberalism’s last gasp—its turning point?

I read this essay with a sense of relief.

From 2019 to 2023, all 50 states experienced growth in the economic value added by the arts.

Arts and culture add more value to the economy than sectors such as transportation and warehousing, outdoor recreation, mining, and agriculture.

'The drivers of collapse and renewal are one and the same.'

Nafeez M.

Public housing is woven into the fabric of American history. Its policies have shaped generations of families and the communities they call home.

Public housing has often been associated with narratives of poverty, crime, and failure.

The underlying weakness of the very concept of “liberation,” according to Sunsan Sontag

Mothers share the reality of blending careers with caregiving

The creative industries celebrate hustle stories, but for many moms there’s an unseen struggle: balancing parenting with pitching, nurturing ideas alongside children, and building careers while raising families.

“We met as activists, so when we play music together, we also play music for the environment, music for the planet, for saving water … and we are feminists”.

This week my friend and colleague, Emily Miles, and I were sharing weekend highlights.

This year show your support of gender diversity by buying your Girl Scout cookies from a trans scout.

“Doing a ‘women’s job’ does not change my maleness — it changes my ignorance.”

It doesn’t take long to observe that the community of Awra Amba is unlike any other place in Ethiopia — or even the rest of the world.

'The role stories play in redesigning our systems is critical, and we all play a role in their telling.'

In exploring the root causes of our crises, this team found "humility and clarity in ancient wisdom." They offer this website as a gift, a tool, and a reference—a way to discuss the interconnected crises caused by an economic system that fails to prioritize people and the planet.

If women had been the storytellers throughout history our cultural narratives and power structures would be very different.

In this Zoom discussion she talks with Brené Brown about her latest book, Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes.

'I’m an American, not an American’t.'

In this graphic novel economist, Bryan Caplan, presents a compelling case for open borders, envisioning a world where anyone can live anywhere, provided they follow local laws.

How should one face the possibility that one’s culture might collapse?

Shortly before he died, Plenty Coups, the last great Chief of the Crow Nation, told his story—up to a certain point.

'We currently have all the capacity, expertise, programs, leaders, regulations, and wealth required to end unnecessary suffering and create an alternative future.'

Peter Block is a leadership trainer by day.

'Americans have voted for a politics of fear, anger, and hatred, and those of us who oppose this politics are now trying to figure out how we can oppose it usefully.'

In November, 2016, Ursula Le Guin wrote a blog post in response to the election of Donald Trump as president.

How homemaking can foster healing and collective care

Her clear writing and clever initiatives make LaTonya Yvette a welcome voice in discussions about race, motherhood, style and community.

If we think of lonely people as a public health crisis then their disease is now twice as prevalent as cancer and growing rapidly.

We have survived for so long because the environmental devastation we are experiencing today is an exception, not a human norm.

By performing in unconventional spaces, The Multi-Story Orchestra brings classical music to young people who may not otherwise find it.

“The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something we make and could just as easily make differently.”

This month Macmillan published a new collection of the writings of David Graeber, The Ultimate Hidden Truth of the World .

'The places that have better governments are the places that have a long history of social networks and social capital.'

Robert Putnam wrote the book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community in 2000.

“What can I give in return for the gifts of the Earth?”

We are showered every day with the gifts of the Earth, gifts we have neither earned nor paid for: air to breathe, nurturing rain, black soil, berries and honeybees, the tree that became this page, a bag of rice, and the exuberance of a field of goldenrod and asters at full bloom.

'Gratitude, because it’s so easy.'

...Gratitude.

Imagine work being this joyful.

This short film clip captures women "waulking" tweed, or finishing the cloth to remove oil and dirt.

'Women have always been writing and advocating against patriarchy and misogyny.'

As to why Americans would vote for a convicted felon and rapist who said during his campaign that he would be a “dictator” on his first day in office, I agree with Heather Cox Richardson.

'We all live the same problems and now the world is in the highest peak of interconnectedness.'

This is an inspiring film that represents many voices:

It is time to go deep and work deep.

We are clearly living in a world of imbalances and the natural result is chaos, destruction, and uncertainty.

Books + ephemera for collectors just like me

Last weekend Debbie and I visited our son Devan and his family in Portland, OR.

Just under a hundred years ago, the Greenwhich Village’s reputation for attracting iconoclastic, subversive and leftist writers began extending to its music scene.

As I was reminded repeatedly during the four years I spent researching and writing Talkin’ Greenwich Village: The Heady Rise and Slow Fall of America’s Bohemian Music Capital, the Village music scene hardly started (in the sixties); in fact, it went back even further than the stories I’d heard of Billie Holiday singing 'Strange Fruit' at the long-gone Sheridan Square club Café Society in the Thirties.

A bookshop in Scotland will let you run the shop for a few days. They've got a waiting list of people who pay to do it.

A shop on the corner of a small town in southern Scotland might not seem like a prime holiday destination.

The patron saint of Woodstock

56 years ago today, just as Santana was finishing their set and before Canned Heat took the stage, it began to rain at Woodstock.

“We could make a 10-hour series about Brian, and we still wouldn’t be scratching the surface of everything he’s done.'

This is a story about a film about Brian Eno.

A short video that will make you feel good about being a human.

Urban Theory is a creative group based in Italy.

What do historic arts enclaves like Provincetown, Key West, and Taos, and our culture at large, lose when they fail to invest in artists and writers?

“'Bohemia has always been 90% low rent, 10% dream,' wrote Brad Gooch in a prescient 1992 New York Magazine cover story about the budding arts community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

'Hard times require furious dancing. Each of us is the proof.'