—A remarkable argument for shared spaces, and how they can forge the connections we need for health and civic life—
The Non-fiction Feature
Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life
Author: Eric Klinenberg
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Pages: 304 | 2019
When social infrastructure, [the physical places and organizations that shape the way people interact], is robust, it fosters contact, mutual support, and collaboration among friends and neighbors; when degraded, it inhibits social activity, leaving families and individuals to fend for themselves…local, face-to-face interactions…are the building blocks of all public life.
The Memoir Spot
Your Guide to the National Parks, and others
by Michael Oswald
“Joshua Tree National Park possesses some of the most unique landscapes on the planet. Forests of twisted Joshua trees and abstract piles of rocks mark a protected region where the Mojave and Colorado deserts converge in southeastern California.
For at least 5,000 years, Native Americans, missionaries, miners, ranchers, and homesteaders have had their shake at life in this arid environment.”
The Product Spot
Detroit River Story Lab
The University of Michigan’s Detroit River Story Lab partners with regional organizations to connect communities with the Detroit River and its stories. These partnerships amplify marginalized voices–building narrative infrastructure–and lift the river’s role in Detroit and other nearby locations.