John Pattison

We’ve NEVER done this before. 💪 @StrongTowns is LIVE right now — 4 HOURS of real stories, real action, and real people fixing their places. 💡 Insights. 💥 Inspiration. 🎁 Giveaways. Pop in. Stay a while. Or binge the whole thing. youtube.com/watch?v=czRp-B…

18 minutes of pure gold. 🎙️ The story how the local Strong Towns group in Nanaimo created a campaign that helped eliminate costly parking mandates downtown. 💡 Packed with lessons for advocates building movements in their own communities. 🎧 Listen: strongtowns.org/journal/2025/1…

@JonahDispatch Exit polls will show that Trump was re-elected because I let my subscription to @thedispatch lapse. I just took care of that.

Reminder for pundits trying to establish the “real” reason for an election result, you only have 96 hours after the molten glob of conventional wisdom comes out of the forge to have an impact on it. Then it hardens and everyone must worship it as a golden idol for four years.

@ShaneClaiborne Agreed. The “two-party doom loop.”

The two-party system is part of the problem.

@WillHenke_03 @proximityproj @TheRabbitRoom Totally. If you email me at john@strongtowms.org, I have a couple ideas.

@johnepattison @proximityproj @TheRabbitRoom Is there anyway to get a recap of your session? I couldn’t make it this year but this sounds really interesting! Been wanting to have these conversations with my church and have been intimidated by the overwhelming car-culture of Memphis…

This is so cool. Someone did a sketch notes of a session @proximityproj and I did at @TheRabbitRoom’s Hutchmoot this weekend. The title of our session was “Does God Care How Wide a Road Is? Placemaking as Culture Making.” Folks in our session were awesome, as you can see here.

I was two-thirds of the way through a book called "First We Read, Then We Write: Emerson on the Creative Process," before I realized it had the same cover photo as my first book, "Besides the Bible." I noticed it out of the corner of my eye and it stopped me in my tracks. As Emerson himself said, "The glance reveals what the gaze obscures."

I’m always amused when I see books that share the same basic cover art. It’s especially funny when their subject matters are radically different.

From a hike earlier this year to a local waterfall. On the way out, I turned around for one last look and this is what I saw.

I noticed my wife -- 22 years of door-holding -- does the same thing. The pause. I love it! Someday I may be physically unable to open the door for my daughters. (They'll be opening it for me!) Until then, I hope that subconscious expectation lasts well into their adulthood.

I've been holding doors for my daughters, ages 10 and 16, since they started walking. Today I noticed that if they get to a door just before I do, they wait until I open it. There's no sense of entitlement; I don't even think they're consciously pausing. This delights me.

@KendallHarmon6 @CoffeewClassics It's from "Orthodoxy."

Where is the full citation from in ChesteronI found this in Tremendous Trifles--"I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence cometh my help; but I will not lift up my carcass to the hills, unless it is absolutely necessary. Everything is in an attitude of mind; and at this moment I am in a comfortable attitude. I will sit still and let the marvels and the adventures settle on me like flies. There are plenty of them, I assure you. The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder'

I think about this G.K. Chesterton passage a lot.

We have so many plums and blueberries this year! A photo of this morning’s harvest. What’s coming up in your gardens right now?

I'm loving the new look of @CTmagazine, @jared_boggess! And this cover by @MarcoLawrence_ is incredible. christianitytoday.com/ct/2024/july-a…

The clouds outside Denver look like they were painted by one of the Hudson River School painters.

I’m challenged by this concept today: a REVOLUTION OF RESPECT. It’s the converse of what I’ve heard Sebastian Junger and others say — that contempt is poison to democracy, to local communities, to marriages, etc. “And what I'd love to see for those of us in the Church is that we would begin a revolution of respect. What would happen in our own lives, in the lives of our families, in the life of our nation, if instead of complaining about it, we began, decision by decision, to turn this around and begin to change everything — not by demanding that we get respect, but by showing respect even to those to whom we think don't deserve it?” — @MichaelHyatt, “At the Intersection of East and West Podcast: Sacred Marriage, Part 4” (2019)

@the_transit_guy We took photos last night with the bollards who helped make that street possible.

Oh okay Cincinnati I wasn’t aware of your game.

When you’re at @StrongTowns/@NewUrbanism in Cincinnati, the celebrities you want to get photos with are bollards. Pictured: Rachel, Carlee, Karen, and Norm from Strong Towns; Tony from @Parking_Reform; and five beefy bollards that helped turn a block of West 15th Street into a haven for pedestrians and outdoor dining. #natgat2024

Beautiful evening for an outdoor conversation with @dpherriges about his book on the housing crisis. Thanks @SustainStPaul for organizing this event. @StrongTowns #yimby

I wrote about this here: johnepattison.substack.com/p/we-are-all-f…

Growing up in rural Kansas I was deeply offended by the term "flyover country." I still am. In a way, we're ALL living in flyover country now.