Award winning books about slavery

COVID-19 rates are spiking around the United States, forcing many regions back into lockdown. In the summer and fall, people were able to spend time outside, even when the temperature started to drop. But now, in the middle of winter, many of us are well and truly homebound. It’s easy to feel gloomy about the long winter ahead, but Andrea Cochran, a prominent, award-winning landscape architect, believes there are plenty of ways to spend time outside, even if you live in a shoebox and the only outdoor space you have is a fire escape. “Staying connected to nature makes your home—and your world—just feel bigger,” she says. … [Read more...] about How to redesign any outdoor space you have—even a fire escape

The solution to this worsening crisis? Policymakers need to step up their game when it comes to connecting people to living-wage jobs, an effort that will prove cost-effective in the long run, according to Flaming. “We’re losing ground on trying to solve homelessness purely by producing affordable housing,” he added. “Giving people the chance to stay in the labor force, improve their skills, earn money, pay rent, is something we ought to be doing a lot more.” … [Read more...] about The pandemic recession could cause an enormous spike in homelessness

Camouflage One of the most common symbols among rioters was camouflage as well as uniforms from previous eras of combat, including faded green helmets from World War II and Vietnam-era camouflage. Sanders says these outfits have become increasingly common among the far right as paramilitary militias devoted to white supremacy have grown tremendously since Obama’s first term. Sanders points out that not everyone who wears camouflage is in a militia, but this symbol ties them to the more militaristic wing of the far right movement. “They are trying to say that they are warriors for the white race,” says Sanders. “They’re saying they’re prepared for the fight ahead to support the purity of the white race and a white America.” … [Read more...] about Camo, flags, and the Kraken: Experts decode the symbols of the Capitol insurrectionists

The agency’s focus is on creating work that attracts both creative and effectiveness plaudits. A constant challenge is managing growth–replacing inevitable business losses and expanding the portfolio of clients with bigger accounts from bigger businesses. “Maintaining creative culture as we get bigger is not hard,” Vinck adds. “This is because it is so engrained within the business that it’s become self-perpetuating.” … [Read more...] about How Rebuilding A Culture Can Reap Dramatic Results: Meet The Viral Wizards Duval Guillaume Modem

When Evan, John, and I needed to make a decision, we could usually do it pretty quickly. We were all deep every day in customer conversations, the architecture of our software, and how all the pieces fit together. We could imagine how our decisions today would play out over time. Even though we each had our areas of expertise (Evan wrote a lot of the infrastructure, John wrote a lot of the core product services, I wrote a lot of the API, web, and billing layers) we all knew enough to act as one brain. When you hold the whole picture in your heads and you work together every day, you can make progress incredibly fast. That’s the power of a small team—there are no proxies; you’re just directly solving customer problems with your code.That’s the magic that makes startups so special and so productive. There’s so little overhead to manage, the coordination energy is negligible, and people tend to have a tremendous intrinsic drive because they’re so close … [Read more...] about The “dozen-bagel” secret to preserving startup spirit as your company grows