There is always a moment standing off stage, before the lights come up and the show begins, when the calmness of anticipation sets in. All the work to prepare has been done—the stage is set, the lines are rehearsed, the props in place—and now it’s time.
There’s stillness in that moment, but it’s not the kind that you’d associate with peacefulness. It’s more the calm before the storm. The acceptance that, ready or not, things are about to get real.
I’ve been in that place hundreds of times and I must admit to you all: I love that moment. It’s hard to describe, but it’s a sense that, whatever the people in the audience out there think they are about to experience, what’s coming is orders of magnitude beyond. Minds are about to be blown. A whole lot of people are going to be walking out of there different than they walked in.
We’ve been living in that calm moment here at Strong Towns for a few weeks, and I’ve been loving it. The decade-plus that we’ve been at this project has been building towards an unveiling of our ideas on a big stage. We’ve done the work, put in the time, subjected ourselves to the harsh introspection. There is a hush of anticipation around us. I can feel it. Things are about to get real.
This week is our Spring Member Drive, the last one we will do before the October 1 release of Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity (more on that below). It’s the last one before we launch the Strong America Tour. The last one before we kick off a major media campaign that we’ve been putting together for months.
In other words, it’s your last chance to be one of the early supporters of the Strong Towns movement. And we could really use your support.
Programming Update
The Emptying Out of Rural Kansas: An Interview With Corie Brown
The Week Ahead, August 29, 2017
Thoughts on Incremental Development
Young People and CNU
How Relevant is Localism in an Age of Urgency?
Ask Strong Towns #5
E-Scooters and Who Takes Up Space in Cities
From Vision to Policy, Making New Urbanism Work
Suburban Poverty Meets Sprawl Retrofit
What does it mean to build a vibrant community?
Ask Strong Towns #4 (June 2018)
The Week Ahead: From Technical Writer to Grocery Store Owner to Community Builder
Autonomous Vehicles: Separating the Hype from Reality
The Week Ahead: Get to know our new summer intern
Absolution and the Changing American City
The Week Ahead: Bee Season
Even Historic Cities Face Auto-Oriented Design Problems
Why is it so hard to get things built?
How a Productivity- and Efficiency-Obsessed Culture Harms Parents
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
City Manager Unfiltered
Potencial Americano
The ASIC Podcast
The Chris Plante Show
Red Eye Radio