The remote work revolution is already reshaping America, Washington Post, Andrew Van Dam, August 19, 2022

Remote work has ebbed significantly since the height of pandemic shutdowns in 2020, when almost two-thirds of work was done remotely. But it has since stabilized at an extraordinarily high level: Around a third of work was done remotely in the United States in 2021 and 2022.

Read this neat bit showing how even firms that don’t at first appear good fits for remote work can embrace it, and actually do business better that way:

The data hints that the real remote revolution is taking place not at tech giants but at firms like the Inside Out Co., an Illinois construction, roofing and painting outfit that has found it provides a competitive advantage.

Inside Out had never considered a hybrid or remote model for the 40-plus back-office employees in its Batavia headquarters. But when the pandemic hit, the company adapted, jettisoning cumbersome workflows that required staff to pass files around the office, and adopting a streamlined cloud provider. Management learned to work with employee schedules and child-care needs, and didn’t lose a single worker to the Great Resignation.

Also this:

The places with the highest remote-work rates in the country include the dense urban cores of Manhattan, D.C. and San Francisco, along with much of Northern Virginia’s suburban heartland, including Arlington, Falls Church, Alexandria, and Loudoun and Fairfax counties.

That data point about Northern Virginia brings to mind the piece I wrote for Vox recently about the suburbs turning from mere bedroom communities into diverse, lively places. This has been going on for a long time, but remote work seems likely to accelerate it.

‘It’s Brutal:’ A Lot Of Major D.C. Restaurants And Food Companies Closed This Week, DCist, Elliot C. Williams, August 12, 2022

With rising costs of just about everything — including Ubers — diners are much less likely to trek across town for an expensive meal. Fewer commuters want to wait 20 minutes if they miss the Metro to the nearest stop.

On top of that, owners are tired of pivoting business models after doing so for nearly three years. Employees are quitting after being the face of the industry and suffering abuse from customers who are frustrated with the state of the world, mask mandates, and other restrictions. Departures create staff shortages.

It’s a vicious cycle.

Of course, the specific or proximate reasons for closures can differ, but they all point to the same brutal business climate. Restaurants are one of the toughest industries in normal times. I’ve had my own recent experiences with restaurants that do not make me want to go back. I like to support these businesses, but it’s hard to pay increasing money for decreasing quality when you’re not made of money. I hope it gets better.

Rediscovering a Piece of Flemington Speedway History, Speed Sport, Adam Fenwick, May 4, 2020

My little Central Jersey hometown was once famous for its racetrack. When I was a kid, you could hear the distant roar of race cars from our home a few miles away. But it closed, and in the mid-2000s was completely redeveloped into a Walmart/Lowe’s shopping center.

At the time, lots of folks wanted the track to be turned into a walkway with stores in the middle or at the edges, or some such. That would have been cool, though I don’t know if it would have been possible. The Speedway grounds were also used for a fair every summer. This is the sort of local character that I think is worth protecting in some way, or at least acknowledging once redevelopment becomes the most reasonable use for the land.

The story itself is about the wife of a local race car driver finding her now-late husband’s car in a trailer, perfectly preserved. With all evidence of the track itself gone, that’s a really neat, if obscure, piece of local history.

A Deer’s Scream – Beauty and Brutality at Home and in the Hills of Vietnam, Living on the Edge of the Wild, Deborah Brasket, October 30, 2012

[My husband, in Vietnam] trudged through streams with his 30-lb backpack and machine gun strapped to his back, spellbound by the tropical flowers draping the banks, the brilliant birds darting overhead.

It was surreal—such beauty and brutality all rolled into one. Like the fields behind our home where beautiful creatures die every day to feed other beautiful creatures.

I don’t know why I’m writing this.

Perhaps just to bear witness to the beauty and brutality rolled into one all around us everywhere.  We can’t separate it out.  We have to swallow it whole.  There’s no other way.

This is a good old-fashioned blog—and to my surprise it’s still active a decade later. There are so many blogs, many now dead, that captured everyday life in a way that few magazines would find interesting. It just doesn’t fit the editorial or business model. A platform and format that made and makes it possible for amateur but excellent writers to write and find an audience is so cool. Check this blog out.

Related Reading:

New and Old #64

New and Old #65

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