This spring I did some thinking and writing for GOOD.is, as they launched their first new holiday, Neighborday. It was a day for celebrating neighbors, and neighboring, for getting to know where you live and the folks that you live around just a little better. I was part of a team led by Kyla Fullenwider, … Continue reading »
Author Archives: Diana Limbach Lempel
With Taste, Smell, and Imagination
This piece first appeared at History at the Table, as part of the NCPH Working Group on Public History and the Local Food Movement. * I’m standing in the basement of Bondir, the intimate, award-winning Cambridge restaurant, watching Chef Jason Bond dismantle a hindquarter of beef, removing fat from muscle and muscle from bone. As … Continue reading »
mystery treasure hunt!
“You know,” I said, “that’s a really great way to think about it.”
It takes a kid to turn your anxiety on its head like that. Continue reading »
Adventures in neighborhood podcasting
This week I’ve been participating in MIT CoLab’s Storytelling for Planners course. I must admit that it’s felt since the first moment like it was where I’ve always belonged. As you know, I’m committed to helping planners, neighbors, kids and grownups learn and get excited about the world in their own backyards, whether it’s history, … Continue reading »
Love that Dirty Old Boston
A new Facebook page has been blowing up my Newsfeed lately…Dirty Old Boston. This community page, which features pictures and images of “Boston before the gentrification of the 1980s,” started just weeks ago on September 22 and has almost 4,000 likes and 8,000 comments. Last week was its most popular week, with photos of the … Continue reading »
Seeking the Salt of the Earth
Why, hello there. It’s been awhile! This summer I took a break from writing in order to build the first season of programming for my new events practice, terroir studio. I learned a lot about how to (and how not to) put on dinner parties, and I also experienced some changing thinking about the nature … Continue reading »
learning from beginners
Yesterday I had the fun privilege of being one of the guest reviewers for the first studio presentation by Urban Planning students in the GSD’s summer Career Discovery program. It was really inspiring, watching students new to the discipline — and coming from diverse educational and personal backgrounds — discovering and struggling through some of … Continue reading »
Digital exhibition: ONCE in Barre
Digital exhibition: ONCE in Barre Continue reading »
civic culture begins at dinnertime.
I want to tell you today about my favorite holiday. It’s Passover, and while I’m no longer a practicing Jew (in fact I consider myself a Humanist) I’ve found that having a Seder is still extremely important to me. As an adult living away from my family, and just beginning to build my own, I’ve … Continue reading »
scenes from haymarket.
this is a slightly edited version of a talk I gave at the Harvard GSD last week as part of a seminar with Richard Sennett, on the subject of the Architecture of Cooperation. This is Haymarket, Boston’s historic wholesale produce market. It dates to the early 19th century as part of a market district that … Continue reading »
