Compact Housing Is The New Urban Living

UHURecently, I had the chance to take a peek at this new trend in urban housing – compact living.  With the growing rate of people moving back into cities globally, urban developers are exploring new ways of making housing more efficient, comfortable and still affordable.  

Like most cities in the United States, there is a crunch for housing and people in most economic brackets are being priced out.  I know quite a few people fighting with landlords over rapidly rising rents. Most of the time the high rents are not justified because the landlords don’t properly maintain properties.  There are small apartments and houses that haven’t been renovated in YEARS and the landlords are charging ridiculously high rents.  

Something has to change.   

The City of Boston is touring a 385-square-foot model housing innovation unit around to different neighborhoods to start the conversation about alternative housing options.  The units are examples of potential spaces the city could create for future housing.  As you can see in the model above, the units have separate spaces for sleeping, bathing, storage, and dining, and are built so that up to four of them could be stacked on top of each other.  The compact living spaces have lower square-foot minimums than are currently mandated by the city, which is currently 450 square feet.

I like them a lot, but they may not be for everyone.  I can totally see myself living in this particular unit.  Technically, there is only one room – the bathroom – as the other spaces in the unit are separated with curtains like the kitchen/living room and bedroom. Ideally, these tiny spaces could work for single people, young couples, students, empty nesters or anyone who doesn’t have much property.  I did take some pictures, but I wasn’t able to get good ones because the space is so small.  This one-bedroom/studio unit would go on the market for $1,000 – $1,400.

But I think compact living would be a hard adjustment for most Americans because we celebrate a culture of “going big.”  The size of your property is usually a sign of success or the American Dream achieved – big houses, big cars, big screen TVs etc.  

Also, America is a nation full of hoarders who just don’t throw anything away!

Maybe it is time to change this mindset and be more open to new housing ideas and consumption.  A few years ago I went to Tokyo to visit a colleague who just moved into her 200 square-foot apartment with her husband and their toddler!  I don’t know how they did it, but they made it work.  I wish I had taken pictures of it at the time, but I did find plenty of YouTube videos about other people’s experiences with compact living in Japan, like this one.

Some people think it is a joke when New Yorkers say they live in closets…

Olympics Recognizes The Plight of Refugees

Refugee Olympic Team

I have enjoyed watching the Olympics the last two weeks. I really love cycling, gymnastics, track and field, tennis and even weightlifting.  However, I was particularly touched by the inclusion of a refugee Olympic team.  Sports has always been used to promote a political message, and this is not different.  The Olympics created a special team of 10 refugees to highlight the global problem of forced migration, and to give hope to other refugees who feel their lives are doomed.

“These refugees have no home, no team, no flag, no national anthem,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “We will offer them a home in the Olympic Village together with all the athletes of the word. The Olympic anthem will be played in their honour and the Olympic flag will lead them into the Olympic Stadium. This will be a symbol of hope for all the refugees in our world, and will make the world better aware of the magnitude of this crisis. It is also a signal to the international community that refugees are our fellow human beings and are an enrichment to society. These refugee athletes will show the world that despite the unimaginable tragedies that they have faced, anyone can contribute to society through their talent, skills and strength of the human spirit.”

 

Revisiting Black Martha’s Vineyard

villa rosaLast week I went with a group of friends on a day trip to Martha’s Vineyard. I have only been to the island three times in my life. Many people are surprised when I say this because I am a lifelong Bostonian, and it seems like the place every black person goes to vacation.

Most of the black people who go to the Vineyard tend to be upper-middle-class, college-educated professionals. Since I was raised in a working-class household, the Vineyard wasn’t a place my family would think of going to when I was growing up, mostly because of the cost to stay there (and still the reason I only make day trips there).

When we went on our day trip, I also went on a three-hour tour of the island. During the tour, I met with tour guide and hot sauce proprietor Gregg Wilson, or Mr. G, a longtime Vineyard resident who says he will be giving the Obamas and his traveling press pool a private tour of the island this week. In talking to him, he gave me tidbits about black Martha’s Vineyard.

The Inkwell: Contrary to common belief, the Inkwell was not given its name because it was the beach for black people. According to Mr. G, the beach got its name because of all the Harlem Renaissance writers who visited the island over the years and found literary inspiration, including Dorothy West, the author of The Wedding.

Villa Rosa: The Villa Rosa is a grand mansion (above) overlooking the Inkwell that Harlem union activist Joe Overton once owned. It is better known as the “Summer White House” because of all the famous civil rights activists who have stayed there, including Dr. King, Malcolm X, A. Philip Randolph, Harry Belafonte, and Jesse Jackson. It is believed that Dr. King found inspiration to write his “I have a dream” speech while looking out the front of the mansion and over the Inkwell.

Slavery: Slavery ended in Massachusetts in 1790. New England was the most active slave-trading area in America during the 1700s, and there were slaves on Martha’s Vineyard during that time. However, even when slavery ended, most former slaves were still limited to the jobs they were doing when enslaved, mostly in cranberry bogs and whaling.

Edgartown: While most of the island’s black history tends to center around Oak Bluffs, many black notables are from Edgartown. William Martin, the grandson of a slave, became the island’s only whaling master. Martin’s nephew also became a successful fisherman. His grandmother, Nancy Michael, or Black Nance, was like the “whaling whisperer” or “conjure woman” of Edgartown. Sailors would pay her in gifts in exchange for good luck during their voyages. Whalers that didn’t pay her were believed not to come back from their voyages alive. Another man named Daniel Webquish, who was of mixed African and Native American heritage, also became a whaling captain.

I guess you can say that William Martin led the way for future elite blacks who would come to the island. I would love to go back and learn more about this history shortly!

Racism in the Entertainment World: Nothing New

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yellowfaceThis past weekend I saw David Henry Hwang’s thoughtful play, Yellow Face, which is a semi-autobiographical sketch of his professional and personal life dealing with race in the media and entertainment world.  Although, it was written over a decade ago, it is unfortunate that many of the play’s themes are still alive and well today.  People of color are still relegated to some really bad stereotypes in the media.  If you haven’t seen the play, you can check out this “Made for YouTube” version.

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