So I am watching this Clark Sisters video, because sometimes I need a praise break. While watching it, I realized how much this song exemplifies why bringing more attention to memory and intangible culture in planning is so central to my life and work.

Yes, I am a Doctoral student. And yes, I am interested in truth and science and research in the classical sense.  However, I have to agree with some thinkers, that science is just another form of description, but it doesn’t necessarily tell us why. I like talking about the why of things, of place, of people.

Subjectivity and an often intangible sense of the power of place changed the trajectory of my life from government professional to scholar and writer. My family history, which will show up here in bits and pieces, was a catalyst for looking at solving current problems, and addressing inequities though the lens of history, culture, and heritage. This “sense” is slowly shaping up to become a dissertation. So looking for a miracle, expecting the impossible, feeling the intangible, seeing the invisible hasn’t been magic, it has been more like a  research method. And if you doubt that, don’t tell the people who admitted me to this program.

I changed my blog name from Bustin’ Loose to Sensing Place, because feeling, actually sensing places, buildings, and landscapes are of primary concern to me professionally and spiritually. Bustin Loose wanted to get it all out, make you see everything. Sensing Place wants to interact, discuss, and expose with a purpose. Sense of place requires engagement, sensing place can be a solitary and social experience, bot of which are important to me.

But to be taken seriously you aren’t supposed to talk about scholarship and feelings are you? If you believe that, then maybe this isn’t the blog for you.

It is only fair for you to know that if you read this blog, there are a few assumptions and principles that support my decisions to post media, articles, or my own reflections:

• I am committed to making intangible heritage tangible and manifesting visible change within invisible communities. I do this as a researcher, practitioner, and creative writer . I study African American settlements and unincorporated areas suffering from underrepresented, poor self definition.
  

  Michigan State Troops in full dress set up camp in an empty field on Nevada Street across from the Sojourner Truth Housing projects on “moving day.” Over 1,400 State and Detroit police and 1,000 Michigan State Troops were brought in to protect the 200 African American families moving into the war housing projects from white neighbors, 1942.

  These areas have a wealth of history complicated and significant. I lead planning processes that start with social capital to then build other types of capital and capacity in the community.  My first project  is here.

• I will also being awareness to Austin , Houston, and Texas preservation news. I have my hands in a lot pots.
•  The local, social, and family history is important to solving larger community wide problems. Studying my own history led me to pursue a PhD. Seeing the imprint you and your ancestors lave left on a place being slowly destroyed is horrible. But knowing that people will make decisions about the future of that place without having known any of that history is even worse.
• Preservation should prioritize people over structures and embrace the cultural landscape. I grapple with the gulf that lies between preservation regulations and what individuals and communities actually believe is worth saving. I’ll talk about policies everyone should be aware of like Section 106, Building Standards, etc.  It always helps to know the rules, particularly if you want support for preserving local history, cemeteries, or other spaces that matter.
  

  F.I.S.T.-Farmers Improvement Society Cemetery Working Group in Fort Bend County, Texas

• I am a 7th generation Texan. And I am proud of that fact. The association of whiteness with Texas history is disturbing and something I hope to address on this blog.
• Preservation and planning heritage didn’t begin with rich, white, men. I contend there is a whole lineage of sustainability and history that proceeds the construct of urban history most popular today. This article about how the 40 acre and a mule concept was a policy developed through participatory planning with black ministers proves that. My research looks at ow early black community groups like mutual aid societies were planning agents.
• There are a lot of unsung heroes, griots, cultural workers doing what I am doing without degrees or much support. I like to talk about their process and dedication to exposing truth and protecting memory and story.
• Spirit matters. It is as human as it is divine and permeates all I do and will show up here as well. Putting a wall between that and the work I do is a false dichotomy. And no, I don’t think it compromises the validity of my work.
  

  Zora Neale Hurston and three boys in Eatonville, Florida, her hometown and 1st incorporated Black Town in US

• I love music! I obsessively find and memorize useless facts about music and love learning about new bands from EVERY genre. So you’ll see that here as well.

So leave comments. Disagree. Complain. But above all, tell your truth.