Some of my favorite things in June

This has been a hard few months for everyone. I don’t need to reiterate everything that’s weighing on us - you already see it in the news, on tv, and in your social media feeds. Everything feels extremely important these days: the necessity to stay indoors to prevent the spread of COVID, the importance of protest against the murder of Black Americans by the police, the desire to support struggling local businesses and restaurants, and the deep craving for life to return to some kind of normalcy. We are pulled in every direction every day and how we choose to invest our energy is entirely dependant on our own calculus. My equation will look different than yours - and that’s ok. It’s important for me to note unequivocally that Black Lives Matter. But I’m not yet sure how I will bring this advocacy into my life. I have been reflecting on my values and I look forward to sharing more about how I intend to express them in my life and in the world.

But despite all this draining complexity, I find bright highlights in life . There are things on the internet that made me laugh, smile, cry, and think. I wanted to share a few of the things that I’ve found interesting this month. If I can get my act together, I would like to share some of these highlights monthly! Here it goes:

• Transit, Density, and COVID. When COVID exploded in New York, many online commentators were quick to blame the city’s density and the transit system. Although this line of thinking quickly took over the internet and produced a seemingly endless series of takes on the “death of the city,” the assumed correlation between density and COVID risk was frankly wrong. Just look at cities like Tokyo or Seoul. Both have transit networks larger than New York. Neither shut down their transit networks during the pandemic, and - combined - these cities had a tiny fraction of New York’s case counts. What really caused the explosion of cases in New York was the failure of the government. So as people reconsider their commutes and how they get around, they shouldn’t be scared of transit. To learn more, read “Fear of Public Transit Got Ahead of the Evidence” by Seth Solomonow and Janette Sadik-Khan (the visionary director of NYC DOT who pedestrianized Times Square and other major urban spaces in the city).

Even though transit is safe, we should continue to invest in advanced bike and pedestrian infrastructure. I’ve loved the photos from Paris showing the extraordinary expansion of bike lanes in the city. (From Emmanuel on Twitter)

• The CHOP. For a while, it seemed like Seattle would have it’s own counter culture neighborhood. Despite how it was shown on the national media, the CHOP (Capitol Hill Occupied Protest) was a fascinating and mostly harmless experiment around collective action. As a firm believer that the streets are for people, I was excited to see citizens claiming the space that was theirs; But as a supporter and advocate for Black lives, I was a little confused how this occupation advanced the BLM cause. Regardless - judging by the number of “what’s going on with CHOP?” texts I got from out-of-towners, this protests generated tons of fascinating discussion among family and friends. Unfortunately, it seems like the CHOP is going to have a sad ending. There are shootings almost every night and even the protests most ardent activists seem to be losing steam. For the sake of the residents, and the larger BLM movement, I hope that the physical presence of the CHOP is cleaned up safely and its revolutionary ideas live on in other mediums. For their amazing coverage of the protests, I want to give a HUGE shout out to my favorite local news source - the Capitol Hill Blog.

• The BNet Newsletter. If you like weird stuff on the internet, you’ll love this twice-weekly newsletter. I have been a fan of Brian’s since he was writing at New York Magazine. Come for the meta-philosophical discussion of memes and internet culture, stay for the weird tik toks and technology updates. One of my favorite recent issues was about how the K-Pop Stans ruined the Trump rally. Besides the fact that this was a wonderful, fascinating story in itself - hooray for teens expressing themselves and flexing their strength using technology! - Brian’s write up provided a ton of context about how this group of young people distinguishes themselves on the internet. If you need a laugh, check out this twitter thread of some of the videos that tik tok users created to spread the devious plan. Sign up for BNet and enjoy!

Advocacy During COVID-19

If I were to ignore the outside world, life would feel pretty normal right now. Food still tastes good, 30 rock is still funny, sunny weather still means walks and deck time. But the second I open the news, it feels like the world is falling apart. As any reader of this blog knows, the food industry is one of the great loves of my life and I feel heartbroken and sick to my stomach watching the industry crumble before my eyes. While I’m humbled by the ingenuity and hustle of some restaurants and vendors in the city (check out the good work from Canlis and Salmonberry Goods), there is no doubt that COVID will devastate the food scene for a long time. While I’m trying my best to order take out, wine, and groceries from all my favorite restaurants, I’m not going to be able to save the industry by myself. We need help from the government, and not only for the food industry.

I wanted to share a letter that I’ve sent to my governor, and my national and state senators and representatives. I encourage you to think about the things that are important to you and take this time to advocate for something you believe in - whether that means sending a letter, calling a representative, or however else you want to make an impact. Sending my love and energy to those who need it.

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Dear Representative,

Thank you for your work during the COVID crisis. I am sure you are working many late nights and spending a lot of time away from your loved ones as you work on behalf of the rest of us. You are essential and I am proud to have you as my representative.

I know there are a huge number of issues exploding into the world right now and I can say with confidence that I will support any campaigns, policies, initiatives, or new taxes that support my fellow human beings during and after this crisis. While I don’t have enough time or energy to advocate for every issue, I am writing this letter to advocate for a few of the things closest to my heart.

Housing

• Our cities are already in a housing emergency. Many of our neighbors have no homes and even more are at risk of housing instability. We need immediate assistance for renters and homeowners. Rent and mortgages should be paused for as long as restrictions on travel and work are in place.

• Our neighbors experiencing housing instability are more at risk for COVID and have less support than anyone. It’s a travesty that we don’t already have suitable public toilets and adequate shower facilities - this should be the bare minimum at all times, but apparently it takes an emergency to make this happen. We also need to prioritize safe places for homeless people to shelter and develop long term plans to shift them into stable housing.

Transportation

• King County’s public transit system is one of the best things about our region. I love our buses, trains, and ferries and I’m grateful for the heroic commitment of our transit operators right now - helping essential employees make it to their jobs at this dangerous time. But our transit systems need support now more than ever. We need additional funding to get them through this challenging period and we will need support after the crisis to encourage people to return to public transit.

• While we’re cooped up inside, we need more options for going outside. With extremely reduced traffic on our streets, many cities are blocking the roads to cars and opening them to bikers, walkers, and runners. We need to do this too. Seattle is doing a tiny little pilot - but it’s not nearly enough. I hope to see more soon.

• When people begin to commute to their offices again, they will most likely want to drive… since the car provides a sense of “social distancing.” On the other hand, we should consider the opportunity to shift these commuters to different modes of transportation - after all, you can stay 6 feet away from other people on your bike. Bike lanes and pedestrian infrastructure will require a major investment… but this is a MUCH bigger topic than I can handle in one letter.

Hospitality

• Food brings us together and restaurants are the heart of our communities. The food industry is extremely important to me and even though local restaurants are demonstrating extraordinary generosity and fortitude, there is no doubt that COVID will devastate the industry for a long time. If I had a blank check, I would cover every hospitality worker’s salary for as long as the restrictions are in place. Countries like Denmark are already doing this. Why can’t we?

• It goes without saying that the first support package is insufficient. And seeing which companies are receiving funds from the package is comical - chains like Shake Shack and Ruth Chris are getting millions of dollars, while small local restaurants are getting nearly nothing. We have to ensure the next support package starts from the bottom up - saving the tiny cafes, eateries, and restaurants that are feeding America.

• We can’t take our food supply chain for granted. Workers in the fields need protection to do their jobs. We need to mandate that big farms implement new protection and sanitation protocols and support small family farms to do the same.

• I hope we can use this moment of disruption to prepare for something new - a robust safety net for workers in the hospitality industry. We need to develop solutions for HR, health care, sick time, and child support. Working in the food industry is a noble calling and we should honor the people that dedicate their lives to nourishing us.

I look forward to continuing this conversation with you and with the community. The best solutions will come from the community and be powered by the community. I’ll be there every step of the way.

With optimism and gratitude,

Taylor

I Love Trains

The Portland Train Station - From my last train trip to Portland!

Trains - how I love thee? Let me count the ways…

Personally, my least favorite forms of travel are cars and airplanes. In the car, you have to grapple with traffic, parking, and the craziness of other drivers on the road. Air travel can be a little more relaxing… but only once you’re in the air. The experience of getting to the airport, checking in, getting through security, and waiting in line after line… does not feel good.

This weekend, I read and loved this article “Trains > Planes and Automobiles” by Clare Coffey. Ironically, I read this article on the plane home from Mexico! Clare captures the beauty and romance of train travel. Discussing little towns along the tracks, she writes “Each little town has a brewery worth visiting, a trail worth walking, a vignette worth a longer look. As the train pulls out, the lights twinkle in the darkness for a long time.”

Clare advocates for high speed rail AND the preservation of these historic Amtrak routes. I totally agree on this. We should be able to connect American big cities with efficient trains AND keep other routes available to smaller cities in between.

This article has inspired me to take an overnight train trip in the next few months - most likely Seattle > San Francisco. Stay tuned for a full travel report!

2019 in Review

Two thousand and nineteen. A year of tremendous personal and professional growth! From a recommendation from my friend Jess, I decided to use Ink + Volt to do some reflection on 2019 and some goal setting for 2020. I enjoyed the process and found the questions thoughtful and insightful. It prompted me to look back over the year and take in everything that happened.

In 2019,

• I read 48 books through my Goodreads challenge. I will set the goal at 48 again in 2020 because I barely made that goal this year (I finished 2 books, ~ 300 pages on December 31…).

• I did 275 workouts, including workouts with my trainer on Future, swim workouts, yoga sessions, and more. I expect this will stay consistent as well.

• I traveled A LOT more than normal. I made it to Lopez Island, Lancaster and Philadelphia, PA, New York, San Francisco, Iceland, Copenhagen, and Rome. I’m thinking a lot about the carbon costs of my air travel so I’m planning to travel less in 2020, but I hope to make each trip meaningful. I am currently thinking about a trip to France in April and have no other plans!

• I finished the biggest work project of my career thus far, an extensive partnership with Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC. I had the privilege of visiting the hospital in October to see the results of the work - I was so proud!!

• I ate many extremely delicious meals. I had the great privilege of eating at noma in Copenhagen, but I also had many exceptional meals around Seattle and also during my week in Rome.

I only had one comical mishap during the goal-setting process: One of the questions was “what do you want to leave behind in 2019?” I interpreted that as a question about legacy…. in the sense of “so and so left behind a library, a wife and three children, an award-winning collection of poems, etc.” Without a library with my name on it, I decided my best response was “many great memories of gatherings and food.” Once I learned what this question actually was reaching for - the things you want to discard from the previous year - I realized my response was the exact opposite of my intention. Oh well - goodbye to my good memories!!

Part of the Ink + Volt process involves setting a yearly theme and a series of goals/intentions that you’d like to achieve over the course of the year. Using that system, I’ve come up with a few new goals for 2020. Some of them are immediately actionable in my life and others are more about the philosophical direction of my life.

• Refine my diet: If you know anything about me it’s that I love food. Food is an essential part of my life. It’s what I earn money to eat, what I travel to find, and what I look for in a career (eventually). But I know I have some vices… the worst being sugar. I have such a weak spot for pastry and candy. I believe in eating everything in moderation so I would never cut any of these things out of my life completely, but I want to take a step back for a few months to observe what I’m eating in order to understand just how much sugar I’m eating. A few Swedish Fish in the afternoon is a fine treat… several dozen during a movie night is too much. The other thing I’m watching is my gluten intake for the month of January. As many of you know, I’ve had a variety of gut issues over 2019 including a delightful bought of E. Coli. I’m going off gluten to hopefully give my gut a rest from extra processing. As I said before, I have a soft spot for pastry… so not being able to eat ANY gluten is extremely challenging. This is something that I’d appreciate your support on - if we’re out to eat or going for coffee and I look like I’m going to pounce on a croissant, give me a reminder and encouragement - “you’ve done great so far, keep it going!” As of now, I’m 5 days in and I’m not dead.

• Bring people together around food: This is a joint goal - A) I want to increase the size of my social circle by gathering friends with frequent dinner parties and socials, and B) bring them together around food that I’ve learned to make. Oftentimes when I talk about my love of food, I will acknowledge that I enjoy eating more than I enjoy cooking. But increasingly, I’m interested in both sides of the process. I’ve had the good fortune of attending many phenomenal cooking classes at Book Larder and I’ve consequently purchased many great cookbooks there. In 2020, I want to actually cook from those books. I haven’t quite decided how to make this goal actionable or measurable - perhaps 1-2 new recipes per week? But I’m sure of one thing - whenever I make food I want it to be an excuse to bring people together. Old friends, new friends, everyone who wants to bravely eat something I’ve thrown together.

  • A side-branch of this goal is to increase my knowledge around wine and particularly the remarkably diverse world of natural wine. I am thankful to my parents for getting me the Wine Bible for Christmas!

• Pursue brand: Over the last 2 years, through challenging and interesting projects at the foundation, many networking conversations with mentors, many nights spent googling fonts and colors, many daydreams of products I’d like to launch, I’ve realized that brand is something that gets me excited everyday and is a niche I’d like to pursue in my career. I like the touchy-feely stuff - the philosophical mission of a brand that can make it emotionally resonate with you - and I like thinking through the tactile ramifications of that brand philosophy - touching on the logo, colors, layouts, product, pricing, packaging, delivery, marketing, and digital experience. To start the year, I’ve bought a bunch of brand books to put on the “business” shelf of my library and I hope to learn as much as I can about the processes and lingo that are used in that industry.

• International work: Although I had a wonderful time in college and loved my time in New York, I was unable to study abroad because of my swim team’s schedule. At the time, I reminded myself that 4 years in New York was almost like a study abroad… the people, the languages, the amazing food, the art, the architecture. But in retrospect, it was not the same as a total immersion in an entirely different culture. Over the next few years, I want to chart a path that will give me an opportunity to work internationally. I’m not wedded to where, when, or how… but I will make it work somehow.

  • A side-goal is my continued learning in French. I’ve spent the last year working with a tutor to polish my skills and get as close to fluent as I can. I’ve made progress, but I still feel like I have a bunch of cogs in my brain that aren’t quite fitting together. I think my next step will be an immersion program to eat, think, and breathe nothing but French. Hopefully the cogs will slide into place and I’ll have a functional French brain!

All of these goals derive from my yearly theme - which I’ve decided is “Live Whole-Heartedly. Rest, Recover, Reflect.” When I reviewed my goals, I realized they were all about passion and engagement: I want to cook and eat more, I want to spend more time with friends, I want to dive deeper into the career skills that I’m excited about, and I want to live abroad. To me, that meant truly inhabiting myself and engaging with the world as fully as possible. In order to power that lifestyle, however, I know I’ll need more rest - sleep, stretching, and alone time. I included the word “recover” to incorporate health, athletics, and diet - it’s important to me that I’m treating my body right. And last but not least, I included the word “Reflect” because I really want to make sure that I’m living intentionally, reflecting on my actions and my path forward. I will schedule check ins with myself - take myself out for a coffee (and pastry!) - in order to track if I’m on track to meet my goals and whether these goals are still meaningful to me.

If you can’t tell, I’m excited and optimistic about the year ahead. I can’t wait to go on adventures and learn more about myself.

What are you working on in 2020? Reach out and let me know :)

Biking in Europe and America

I will be the first to admit that I am a coward on my bike. I rarely get in the saddle unless the weather is impeccable and once I’ve started pedaling I stick as close as I can to the safest, most-protected bike lanes… preferably the ones in parks or greenways, as far as I can get from cars. I especially love the Burke-Gilman trail here in Seattle. Not only is it extremely well-protected from the city - it’s also very flat and easy!

Biking in Copenhagen

All that being said, I’ve had wonderful experiences biking in Scandinavian cities like Copenhagen and Oslo. Not only do these cities have wonderful pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure, they seem to have a totally different civic philosophy around biking.

I recently read a wonderful piece by Dan Kois, How I Learned to Cycle Like a Dutchman. In the article, he describes how he and his family adapted to the bike lifestyle during a 3-month visit to the Netherlands. Although it took them a few weeks to adapt, Kois learned how to navigate the unspoken rules of the road. Eventually, he even learned to trust the cars, buses, and trucks around him, knowing that almost every one of those drivers was also a bicyclist themselves. Kois describes these psychological differences between biking in Europe and biking in the United States with phenomenal insight. I hope we can learn to bike more like the Europeans!

The Shape of the City

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Broadacre City (Image from CityLab)

Whether I’m day dreaming out the window at my office or walking around running errands, I think a lot about the shape of the city. I am fascinated by the intersection of humanity, capitalism, and nature. Before building a city, us humans see a landscape with lakes, rivers, forests, hills, and valleys. For better or worse, we bridge the rivers, we flatten hills, we shape the shoreline, and we carve streets into the hillside. While we try to follow a plan - usually a grid - we often end up with a smorgasbord of layouts. Throughout this network of streets, we build all sorts of buildings shaped by the funny confluence of economics, policy, and aesthetics. While the natural world that we bulldozed emerges here and there in our parks, the weeds cracking through a sidewalk, and the bunnies procreating in my neighborhood, the business of human life builds through decades of routine. People make simple choices: What’s the fastest route to my job? What’s the most convenient form of transportation available? How far am I willing to walk for a little errand? These little decisions have huge consequences into how the city is laid out, valued, and built. And none of this is a straight-line: it’s a messy, beautiful mixture of many forces working in all sorts of ways we don’t understand.

I recently read this fascinating article in CityLab called The Commuting Principle That Shaped Urban History by Jonathan English. English explores the idea of the Marchetti Constant - the principle that most people are willing to commute 30 minutes to their job each day. In practice, this means “that the physical size of cities is a function of the speed of the transportation technologies that are available.” From ancient Rome to medieval European cities, the dimensions of the city were determined by how far someone could walk in 30 min - about a 1 mile radius. Fast forward to the 18th century when trains and streetcars were introduced to cities like Chicago and Philadelphia - now the city could grow in scale to accommodate new commuting technologies. Then skip to the mid-1950s when cities grew by another order of magnitude… this time determined by the scope of their freeways and automobile infrastructure. The car reigned supreme for half a century and created cities of massive sprawl.

The growth of cities based on the technology most people used to commute. (Image from CityLab)

The fascinating Marchetti Constant renders one of the many complex factors that shape our cities into an incredibly simple rule - a 30-minute commute. Although this phenomenon is based on quantitative data about the sizes of cities over time, if you look at it the other way, it suggests that a 30-minute commute is one that is reasonable and satisfactory for most people. More urban planning principles should be grounded in beliefs about a satisfactory city life - What is a reasonable proximity to parks? To public transit? To shops and restaurants? And to our neighbors? - instead of around which technologies are the most efficient or groundbreaking.

But when we do pause to think about the technologies that shape our cities, it’s clear we have to take a step back from cars. Since cities with robust public transit and pedestrian and bike access are not only more sustainable but so much more pleasant to live in, it is time for a fundamental rethinking of the shape and size of our cities.

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Recreating History

Seattle of 1908 (Image from the Seattle Times)

Seattle of 2019 (Image from the Seattle Times)

While on the topic of cities and change, I also wanted to give a shout out to a semi-regular feature in the Seattle Times that I love. It compares historical photographs with their modern day equivalent. I loved the image that was shared today. In a city changing as quickly as Seattle, it’s sometimes hard to imagine the city 20 years ago and it’s nearly impossible to recognize the Seattle of 1908, but it’s wonderful to imagine what it would have been like. So many things we take for granted - how did you even get to Mercer Island without the bridge!? - are not yet built. Comparing the historical photograph taken somewhere in Fremont with the modern recreation, not only are the forests gone and the shoreline changed, but an entire bridge is blocking the view! In fact, the Seattle Times photographer describes how it is impossible to perfectly recreate the photograph because of the buildings and physical changes! Wow - how fast the city changes! I can’t wait to imagine the next 20 years!

The Joy of Transit

I recently had the pleasure of riding on one of Sound Transit’s beautiful double-decker busses. These busses operate on some of the longer routes from North and South Seattle to downtown. Now I have a weekly routine of catching the bus by UW and riding downtown to work.

The experience of riding a double decker bus is wonderful and delightful. Riding on the second floor, you are above the chaos of the city and all of the other cars on the road. The views of the city and the surrounding environment are unimpeded and, since you’re not at the wheel, you can relax and savor the scenery passing by. The double decker busses I’ve ridden have also been sparkling clean, especially the large windows. Riding on these busses is a truly magical experience that will make you fall in love with transit.

Although Seattle has a relatively well-used and loved transit system, one often hears a general dissatisfaction with transit. Whether it’s complaints about cleanliness, speed, timeliness, or other passengers on the bus, public transit is burdened with extensive stereotypes (some true due to poor funding) and negative emotions. From my daily ride on the faithful 49 to my thrilling experiences on double decker busses, that is NOT my experience. Last week I read this fantastic blog post by James Brasuell called The Joy of Public Transit that captured some of my love for busses and trains. Whether you’re a daily rider or an infrequent user, I hope you experience a moment of wonder or joy the next time you hop on the bus.

Using Technology Intentionally

I recently finished Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport and I really appreciated his ideas about meaningful technology use. Instead of demonizing technologies like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter or saying not to use them, Newport makes a more nuanced argument.

All these digital technologies - like iPhones and Twitter - sprang into our lives seemingly overnight. As a culture, we simply didn’t have enough time to figure out how to use them in a way that aligned with our principles and social lives. In addition, the fact that so many of these technologies were designed to trigger the addictive circuitry of our brains has deeply ingrained them in our lives and habits.

As a young millennial, it feels like so much tech has been in my life forever and it’s hard to imagine life without them. But I’m also cognizant of the fact that I use this technology to meet my needs - socializing with texts, looking at pictures of food on Instagram, or browsing news on Twitter - because it’s the default, not because I consciously choose to do so or it’s the best way to meet that need. I can only imagine the challenge is worse for younger generations.

After reading and reflecting on this book, there are a few concepts that I want to integrate into my life.

1. Evaluation of existing tools & maximizing my use of technology

   As someone who works in a tech-adjacent field, it’s hard not to want to try the best and newest technologies. But as Newport says, nothing is inherently bad about technology itself. Instead of adopting everything that comes out, my goal is to evaluate each tool and consider it’s value. If it can replace a tool I already use - great! If not, it should probably be skipped. I’d like to do the same process with some of the apps I already use. Is Instagram the best way to learn about new foods and restaurants? I think so! Is it the best way to burn time with dumb memes? Probably not!

2. Focus on scheduling - work, play, and downtime

   In this book and on his blog, Newport advocates for scheduling everything! Whether it’s a networking coffee, deep work time, or relaxing time, creating schedules and calendars ensures that you get your work done… and don’t feel guilty when it’s time to relax! I know this affects me already. I often feel overwhelmed when I have too many chores to do or have to coordinate multiple plans with friends on the same day. Sometimes this paralysis is so bad, I end up doing nothing at all! This anxiety is easily solved by a checklist and a well organized calendar! (shoutout to Todoist, my favorite todo list app!)

3. Crafting!

   One of the most important parts of changing your relationship with technology (and the best way to make sure the change is permanent) is to replace your mindless technology use with other meaningful activities! Newport recommends investing in crafts, especially those done by hand. While I’m not big on traditional crafts like housework, sewing, etc., I think anyone can find an activity that suits their passions. For me this is cooking! There’s so many recipes I want to cook and techniques I want to learn. Next time I get bored on a saturday, I’m not going to scroll on instagram… I’m going to cook something I’ve never made before!

Digital Minimalism feels like essential reading in our digital age. I recommend this book for anyone who would like to use technology in a more meaningful and mindful way. Cleaning up my technology use isn’t going to be easy… Blog readers and friends - please hold me accountable!