Meet the Burkes.

They’re a lovely young couple living with her folks in East Hartford, Conn. They’re ready for a place of their own, and they’d like a diverse neighborhood. Can you help them? I wrote this for NEXT New England. Photo by Ryan Caron King

Just read “Weapons of Math Destruction”

I’ve been talking a lot about data in my classes, but this book, by Cathy O’Neil (aka Mathbabe), has made me rethink a lot of things, including how data can be used to keep the wealth and income gap firmly in place. Here’s one fer-instance: If you live in a poor neighborhood, algorithms will measure …

Diana Butler Bass: Finding God in neighborhoods

Diana Butler Bass, one of my favorite writers, has a piece in The Atlantic about building communities. The article includes this: Building strong neighborhoods will not necessarily make the world a better place. Old Hope Valley was a very strong neighborhood, with thick history and meaningful ties. Thirty years ago, however, those ties created an insular …

ICYMI: A story behind some gunfire in Hartford

A young man plans a neighborhood event, some yahoos shoot it up, the city turns to blame the young man, for not getting the proper permit to host the event. I wrote this for Mother Courant. And that photo? That’s just a basketball hoop in Hartford. It’s been busted for months.

What a difference a day makes, Hartford zoning version

So I wrote this for Connecticut Magazine, about a group of 11 Harford residents (eight adults and three children) who banded together to form an intentional community in a mansion (pictured) in one of Hartford’s chi-chi neighborhoods. Many of the neighbors don’t want them there, and so the board of zoning stepped in. The group …