I’m glad to report that last night (Sept. 13, 2021) Evanston’s City Council voted 5-4 against a moratorium on permits for internal ADUs (separate apartments) if the property is not owner-occupied. If that sounds like gobbledygook, it is. That’s the problem with trying to micro-manage human behavior through zoning. It’s also the problem with proceduralism […]
Uncategorized
This blog started out to be a simple feature about an amazing speech that Martin Prechtel documented in one of his autobiographical books. The speech was made directly to him (Prechtel) by a spiritual advisor and mentor (A Sisay) in the Guatemalan village where Prechtel learned how to be a shaman and, by his own […]
Short-term, part-time job for someone who knows Illinois counties from a food & farm perspective.Involves site visits.Deadline to apply is Sept. 9, 2020. Part of a larger project:“Regeneration Midwest: Scaling up climate and health solutions in agricultural communities across twelve U.S. states” See PDF with details: RMW Job posting 9.4.20
According to our family history, September 1, 2020, was the 100th anniversary of my maternal grandparents’ arrival in Quebec, by boat, from Belarus. Because of the anti-Jewish pogroms, my grandmother, Rochel Chepelevsky, and grandfather, Moshe Eisenstadt, had been quickly married in Slonim (150 miles SW of Minsk) so that they could get out of town. […]
Omens, messages, portents, signs, milestones — a strange measuring stick… One of my favorite computer sites—one I use for recreation and meditation—is Jigidi, a jigsaw puzzle site. People can (a) create their own jigsaw puzzles—post a photo, “paint” a picture, etc.— and/or (b) put those puzzles together—from the small 20-piece size to “huge” 500+ pieces. […]
I’ve lived in Evanston, a Chicago suburb, for 43 years. I can confirm that for 43 years, most of the organic growth from Evanston’s soil—grass clippings, leaves, shrub prunings, tree branches—left the city limits. Almost none was returned to the soil. Yes, there was always the occasional composter or real gardener who kept that precious […]
This is an update of an on-going issue in Evanston, IL, a citizen complaint against a sitting alderman. Original details are in my August 25, 2019 post, Part 2 of this series. This update was sent to approximately 30 Evanstonians in my personal networks–media, political & justice groups, and individuals who I think are interested […]
I recently sent a version of this blog to some food-and-farm colleagues as a possible idea for “big picture” system change, without reinventing the wheel. This is basically a re-purposing of two U.S. institutions, to the benefit of both and for the benefit of all Americans—rural, urban, suburban, including non-humans (soil, water, air, plants, animals, […]