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.
Danielle Arigoni: Making Great Places for People of all Ages
David McAlvany: Legacy is an Accumulation of Little Decisions
Jenny Schuetz: Who's To Blame for High Housing Costs?
Tim Carney: "Alienated America" and the Rise of Populism
Liz Swaine: Bootstrapping Downtown Shreveport
Should California Bring Back Redevelopment Agencies?
Go Cultivate with Verdunity
If the “Strong Towns” book is the WHY, this book is the HOW.
Students and the Strong Towns Movement
Aligning Mission with Funding, the Strong Towns Way
What does it mean to be part of a bottom-up revolution?
Live in Kansas City: "We’re a suburban community learning we can be urban."
Gracy Olmstead: It Still Takes a Village
King Williams: The Gentrifiers Will Become the Gentrified
Paul Stewart: You Are the Help You've Been Waiting For
More than Math: Living with Intention in Our Stronger Towns
Minimum Viable Development? How We Let the "Perfect" Be the Enemy of the Good
Building Productive Places (and Showering them with Love)
Breaking Free of the Infrastructure Cult
Spooky Wisdom: What Lessons Should We Be Learning from How Our Ancestors Built Cities?
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