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The great thing about my job is that I get paid to be curious. This week, I'm working on a piece about the fact that you can put a seed in some dirt, and food will eventually come out.
Gardening is something I never thought I'd be curious about again. As a kid, my chores largely centered on mowing and weeding. (Ugh, thanks, Mom.) But now it strikes me that growing plants is a miracle we often overlook—either because we're immersed in our urban and digital lives or because the ordinary inherently becomes unremarkable. It's the same with food: sharing a meal with someone can be a sacred act, but we do it daily. These are the layers of life all the others are built upon.
Tending plants is a ritual you can't rush. (You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles). You have to make a plan, be patient, and hope the weather cooperates. There's peace in a ritual.
Which takes us back to the article I'm writing: It's about community gardens in Chicago and how city kids and novices can find a little peace in growing things.
Do you have a favorite book or resource for beginners? Reply back and let me know.
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My take: The broken-windows theory of policing is well known, but after decades it seems this approach inspires less trust in police and leads to disproportionate engagement in black and brown neighborhoods. As a longtime resident of a neighborhood that has seen its share of broken windows and shootings, I think about the people who have to live in so-called "worse" neighborhoods than mine — and are assigned an identity of crime by nature of their geography.
Best line: "Intrusive, broken-windows-style policing means mass stop-and-frisk interactions, along with tickets and arrests for minor offenses—but it doesn’t come with an equivalent investment in preventing or solving offenses like homicide... Where that’s true, people feel the need to protect themselves and settle disputes through other means, including private violence."
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My take: There's just enough time left in the season to still be thinking about the art of the après-ski. While some like to make a beeline from the slopes to the bar, I'd much rather hole up in one of these cabins for a few more fleeting winter weeks.
Best line: Thanks to its self-supporting design that eliminates the need for interior posts, the A-frame house features an open floor plan with soaring ceilings and triangular end walls typically punctuated with large expanses of glazing. A half-floor is usually inserted to created a lofted space for sleeping or storage.
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My take: Facing our world's precarious environmental future is, well, a bit of a brain basher. It's clear we collectively need to change our habits, but given society's love of disposable things, can we really hope to move the needle? My friend Jed Jenkins is doing a *great* job modeling what this can look like—check out "best stuff" at the bottom to see more.
Best line: "I suddenly saw how much other plastic filled my kitchen, bathroom, and closet. I saw it in my toddler’s sippy cups and toys, in the cling film enveloping the meat and produce at the grocery store, and in the contents of my medicine cabinet. How could I ever hope to curb plastic, given that it’s woven into every part of my life?"
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My take: The motion map on this article shows how undersea cables have evolved since the early 2000s. If you've ever wondered how they got there, meet the giant ship that travels at 6 mph laying them on the sea floor.
Best line: “People think that data is in the cloud, but it’s not,” said Jayne Stowell, who oversees construction of Google’s undersea cable projects. “It’s in the ocean.”
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My take: As Manhattan's first luxury apartment building, The Dakota saw a who's who of celebrities attend house parties within its walls: Truman Capote, Yoko Ono, John Lennon. (The latter was shot outside its doors in 1980).
Best line: "Today, the Dakota remains among the toniest addresses in the Big Apple, with its iron-clad board monitoring new resident applications. Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas, Cher, Billy Joel, and Madonna were all famously rejected by the board."
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What I like: Two friends started Byta out of a passionate hope that they could change our mentality of wastefulness and put a dent in how much garbage heads to the landfill. There may be other reusable mugs, but few are as beautiful as this one.
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As always, I love hearing your thoughts and feedback.
You can reach me at sethjputnam@gmail.com or by replying to this note.
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