The Deleted Scenes - New and Old #89
Until Christmas, I’m offering 20 percent off annual subscriptions! If you’ve been thinking about subscribing, now’s a good time! This is actually a promotional page for the book of the same title, with a long-ish description. Cary, North Carolina, and the whole Triangle metro area, is an example of this, which one reader pointed me to after I recently wrote about Cary. This is interesting:
And so is this:
These places have the economic growth that many places can only dream of. But they lack the ability or will to focus that growth into an overall coherent pattern. I wonder how much it might have changed YIMBY-NIMBY debates over the last 20 or 30 years had some of these suburban boomtowns instead grown into lovely new urban environments. The Homeownership Society Was a Mistake, The Atlantic, Jerusalem Demsas, December 20, 2022 This article generated some controversy online, in part because some people took it to be arguing against people owning homes—despite the first paragraph telegraphing that the argument is much more nuanced than that:
Demsas argues that the benefits and costs of homeownership are borne unequally, meaning that it is not as simple as tallying them up and weighing them. She also points out that housing as an investment is inherently opposed to housing being widely available and affordable. This is obviously true, it is just something that homeowners can very easily forget. What I get out of this article is the observation that the system of homeownership in America is a sort of odd way to achieve the ultimate result of people being housed. It’s a little bit like how circuitously our health insurance system does (or doesn’t) get us the result of a healthy population. Many Americans are convinced homeownership is the best way to achieve a middle class that has some real assets, and that in that sense it is an engine of opportunity and security. Maybe it is. But give this a read. What it’s like to live full time on a 400-square-foot sailboat, Washington Post, Dan Parsons, December 15, 2022
Interesting. It’s a little bit like “back to the land,” but, you know, at sea.
I can tell you life on a tiny wind-powered boat is absolutely not for me. But I’ve written about this sort of thing before—simplicity, contentment—and I admire people who can walk the walk. Happy Birthday, Jesus, The American Conservative, Addison Del Mastro, December 21, 2016 Yes, this is an old article by me—my very first Christmas article! It’s a summary/analysis of an old piece of science fiction from the 1950s by the kinda-socialist writer Frederik Pohl. In this story of his, he takes midcentury American consumerism and extrapolates it into the future, resulting in such absurdities as people doing Christmas shopping in September. Huh. Read the whole thing, if I may say so myself. Merry Christmas! Related Reading: Thank you for reading! Until Christmas, I’m offering 20 percent off annual paid subscriptions! Please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to help support this newsletter. You’ll get a weekly subscribers-only post, plus full access to the archive: over 400 posts and growing. And you’ll help ensure more material like this! You're currently a free subscriber to The Deleted Scenes. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. |
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Older messages
Christmas Then and Now
Thursday, December 22, 2022
Memory, nostalgia, and bringing traditions into the present
The Dragon Inside
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
What Do You Think You're Looking At? #89
The Craft Meat Revolution?
Tuesday, December 20, 2022
A gift box and some interesting observations
Towns of My County
Monday, December 19, 2022
Part 1 of a central New Jersey photo essay
How Far to the City That's Not on the Map?
Friday, December 16, 2022
What Do You Think You're Looking At? #88
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