Exploration. That’s what I have been doing with my writing in the last year.

What irks me about standard tourism lit is that it is mostly vapid and assumes a person needs only super processed photography and the faintest hint of what a place is to pack up the bike and ride there. I think this is what we get by those driven by the dollar instead of by curiosity.

When I want to learn more about a place I know nothing about I may first check the glossy tourism bureau; then, I see what regular people have to say on their blogs — which range from super-detailed to those that might not be of any use to me (the ones that exclusively focus on traveling with kids).

So, I have extended my range in 2019, and here is some of what I’ve published:

That does not mean that I have abandoned writing, talking, or photographing Hartford. The “Look” series, published daily starting on January 8, 2019, shows something seen usually on city streets or in parks, but occasionally indoors. Sometimes I photo is simply titled; other times, more wants to be said about it.

It’s hard to pick favorites from 300+ posts, but here are a few:

And, with Johnna Kaplan, I am continuing to produce the Going/Steady podcast, which is about exploring Connecticut and beyond. Here’s what we created in 2019:

Exploration can happen vicariously, to an extent. I think about the social media groups that are heavy with nostalgia and made almost exclusively of people who no longer have contact with the region they are fawning over in memory. Occasionally a current resident will pop in to disrupt that sense that time froze or that everything was better back then. These groups strike me as both sweet and potentially toxic, the latter being especially the case if moderators do not remind participants that people still live in the place they left.

Exploration should also happen directly, and that means mobility. Having worked as a multimodal transportation advocate, my perspective in this area is shaped by studies and data, but humanized through anecdotal evidence shared by those in the community, along with my own direct experience. My approach is that we already walk, bike, or take the bus in Hartford because our wallets tell us to, but that our planet is demanding those who can afford otherwise to make smarter choices. Expecting our world to not look dramatically different in ten years from what it looks like today is as much climate denial as widening highways.

Here are a few pieces about transportation from 2019:

I think it’s important to hold those in power accountable, yet before blaming an administration for a problem, a little homework should be done to see when that issue started. There’s no quicker way to sound like sour grapes than to lash out at a mayor for whatever is irritating us that day, when a simple Internet search reveals that the issue has been brewing for decades. (By the way, I don’t think that absolves the current administration from working to resolve the issue, but let’s not be blinded by nostalgia. It’s possible to demand a proactive, ethical, and problem solving administration while acknowledging that they did not create every mess we have today. It’s like buying a blighted property. Somebody else let it go to shit, but if you decide to take it over, you have an obligation to make things right.)

Here are a few articles about improving life in Hartford, and some general “how-to” pieces:

Aside from the work on Real Hartford and Going/Steady, I have done writing about art, science, and history elsewhere. I am also working on two longform writing projects: one about the industrial transformation of natural places, the other about wandering, al fresco, through public places, as an unchaperoned 5’0” female.

Question: what unusual and/or lesser known places in Connecticut (or the neighboring states) would you like to know more about? What in Hartford are you most curious about? Leave your responses in the comment section below! Thanks for reading. Happy New Year!

* * * Edited to add: How did I forget? I also created an interactive map of the Park River Watershed. * * *