Notices by JNL (jnl@hcommons.social)

My cheeks were red, for real, halfway to Montreal- I do not know why exactly (I don't even think it was mostly my fault) but omg it was EXTREMELY EMBARRASSING.

Anyway, thank you Canada for having a sense of humor and basic humanity so this can be funny instead of a thing that makes us all question the meaning of life.

Borders are a questionable invention but I swear to you the experience does not have to be terrible even when it goes somewhat poorly.

It is a CHOICE to make things terrible when accidents happen.

@FlashMobOfOne that's good because it was not a good time

So, I'm in my car at whatever the Quebec crossing is called that is Highgate on the Vermont side, and doing the whole interview thing, and bro is like, Do you have your study permit, which is my visa to live in Canada and thus this is a normal and expected question.

And, semi prepared person that I am, I said yes, and grabbed the file where I keep it, leafed through to find the one that is mine, and reached out with it to hand it to friendly border agent.

Who reached out to grab it.

And then we both look at each other. Silently.

And then I am like ... Can ... I go get that?

And he goes, YOU PROBABLY SHOULD

THEN, OUT OF NOWHERE, A HUGE GUST OF WIND COMES AND RIPS IT OUT OF BOTH OF OUR HANDS.

MY STUDY PERMIT **BLOWS** **AWAY** AS WE BOTH STARE AT IT, HORRIFIED

It has disappeared from view and I'm sort of having a slow motion heart attack but then I see it. But then as I approach it it blows. But then I catch up to it. But then it blows ... anyone who has ever chased paper in wind knows how this goes.

I reach out again, VERY FIRMLY this time, to hand my permit to the agent who is trying very hard not to laugh.

Who then says, we used to staple these into the passports.

Maybe we still should.

Have a good night.

I finally pounce and step on it because FML you have got to be kidding me.

In front of two cop cars, 2 lines of people, and god knows who inside the building (are they replaying the video on this as entertainment? Maybe.)

And then do the walk of shame back to my car, which I have to SQUISH INTO BECAUSE YOU ARE ACTUALLY NOT SUPPOSED TO EXIT YOUR VEHICLE ADJACENT TO THE ACTUAL BOOTH

Uh, wanna hear a wholesomely horrifying story of crossing the Canadian border today 😱 😂

(Everything is fine. Because Canada.)

"Americans speaking up to say that it's not ok to wholesale condemn an entire group of people is the most American thing ever"

It is not.

But y'all, I wish it were.

In other news, the Providence part of our weekend was lovely, but my longtime favorite coffee spot (Dave's on Main!) is no longer making their fabulous vanilla bourbon latte and it's apparently because it was actual bourbon and they got in trouble with the state of Rhode Island for in effect having underage bartenders. 😂

This explains why writing days in Rhody went so smoothly.

Me every 45 min: WHY AM I READING THIS SHITE

Also me: I think because it seemed important that people offer a moral critique of austerity as theology

Still me: Barf? Barf.

At one point I actively, using my agency, *decided* that economic geography is what would be most useful to my goals.

Trying to recall why that might have been as I deal with day three of the place where Fordist takes meet straight austerity neoliberalism

Me: Who even IS this guy

[answer, hilariously: these days he is the President of the University of Toronto]

good news everyone: it is the demands of and from low-skilled workers that make it unappealing for industry to remain in the urban core, and automation thus has a solution!

also the 'proliferation' of mid-skill jobs that remain will mean that industry HAS NO CHOICE but to remain urban tied! Woohoo! Robots for the people. Triumphing over the lowly of status as they always must, but preserving a better future for those who matter!

-the word from 1988

like what if planning considered people's BODIES and the quality of the human experience unfolding across space to be its north star?

the truth is that urban planning as a discipline makes me madder than almost anything

it's probably that theological neoliberalism makes me mad and planning ate it for breakfast

well well well

Out on a limb here- does anyone here have a social science book proposal they'd be willing to send me? Especially if it has an annotated table of contents? I would be eternally grateful. 🙏🏻

Remember how I mentioned that that situation in which one of the Vermont border patrol team was killed in a shootout on the highway was actually really weird?

Update ... it's **REALLY** weird.

https://torment-nexus.mathewingram.com/how-did-rationalism-lead-to-the-creation-of-a-murder-cult-2/