APA-WI President’s Message 26.02

a note from my role as president of the American Planning Association - Wisconsin Chapter:

I have a lot of things on the walls of my workspaces – and the newest addition is a print from Jen Delos Reyes, former Artist in Residence at the National Public Housing Museum. It’s a line from the poem Invitation by Mary Oliver.

It’s also my new timely reminder that noticing joy in the world is not denial. That lingering in joy is a resistance to what feels broken. That inviting space for joy is a grounding professional practice. And that our profession exists, at its core, to add real, tangible structure to the hope of the world. It’s what we’ve chosen. And it can be life-changing. 

Work in the tension between freshness and brokenness is necessary. And I believe that we’re all here because we know that making things a little more hopeful is well worth our patient work and care. It means something. It could mean everything.

Thank you for the work.