Great piece by @ximenaka.bsky.social on Marda Loop. I’ve met several residents who moved from denser cities and absolutely love the community. Hopefully the recent roadwork nightmare is finally behind them.

It can happen here.

New from me! Unlike other established areas, Calgary’s Marda Loop has evolved organically. While this has created challenges for some, Marda Loop has become one of the city’s most desirable districts, as a growing variety of housing options and amenities increasingly attract young families.

As the saying goes "If someone says it’s raining and another person says it’s dry, it’s not your job to quote them both. It’s your job to look out the window and find out which is true.”

Update regarding @theannamurphy.bsky.social. I am sharing this on behalf of Anna. Anna is awake and has seen the outpouring of support. She is deeply touched by the kindness shown by the community during this incredibly difficult time. Anna is not accepting visitors or calls at this time. 1/

🕵️‍♀️Minor job update. Send me stuff!

I hope folks with a disability in my neighbourhood don’t need to take the bus this winter.

How can Canada align with a country that allows this?

2026: not looking good.

"The above was inspired by the Washington Post Editorial Board’s apology for Trump’s kidnapping of Maduro, to the point that I could lift entire paragraphs and just change a few words." www.halifaxexaminer.ca/morning-file...

A country’s sovereignty is breached by a foreign government and all albertans can think about is how this will impact the price of oil 🫠

A tale of two neighbours.

War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.

Has anyone checked in on Carney yet?

Manifest destiny

Welcoming the new year in the very city i became aware that being/working as an architect was not really my thing feels kind of ominous.

Last day in Guadalajara.

An accurate depiction of me at work. (Remedios Varo, 1959)

A fellow freelance writer wrote 180 pieces this year. I wrote 40 and got an eye twitch. I want to write, but maybe it’s time to consider this isn’t a sustainable career path for me :(

These three buildings are not too far from each other. Is a lack of contextual fit really such a big issue? Hot take: the contextual city is a boring one.

Clericot for lunch. Because.

Barragan!

[street name] brought to you by [corporation]

Guadalajara moderne. (sorry but i know nothing about the buildings, i just liked them.)

Layers of time in place.

Guadalajara: a city that loves trees.

Mexican Santas.

Somebody’s master piece.

[un]walkability

We accept the abuse we think we deserve. Thus, i’m gonna start blocking not people i disagree with, but those who use their reach to gang up on others.

Solving Canada’s housing affordability crisis won’t be cheap, yet the feds remain set on spending as little as possible to bolster the supply of non-market homes. The limitations of this approach are evident in Alberta, where a rental boom has been slow to protect the right to housing of tenants.

Alberta renters have it bad. Part of the reason is the dismal amount of non-market housing options available in this province. In my latest story for @ricochetmedia.bsky.social i write about the limitations of Build Canada Homes’ approach to non-market housing. ricochet.media/justice/hous...

Alberta renters don’t need more ‘supply’ — they need non-market housing options Governments keep chasing the market while community housing providers deliver stable, affordable homes that won’t disappear when profits rise. New from @ximenaka.bsky.social: ricochet.media/justice/hous... #abpoli

The results of Calgary’s civic election left me thinking: Why didn’t more diverse candidates run? So i looked into it for @thetyee.ca

The town of Jasper is building back better, but protecting the remaining two thirds of the town with FireSmart practices remains a discretionary endeavour. Read more about this in my latest story for the Globe and Mail.

For many Calgarians, the Old Y is little more than an aging building whose history harkens back to the early 20th century. For our city’s activist community, however, the Old Y is a beacon of hope. A space where history is written. Today, the building awaits its future. thetyee.ca/Culture/2025...

Alongside the cost of construction, development charges are rising in Calgary’s inner city, as city administrators say it’s only fair builders pay for the infrastructure needed to support increased density in established areas. Yet, it’s homeowners or tenants who end up footing the bill—why?

Since i finished writing this essay, one pedestrian was hit and killed by a driver in downtown Calgary. Speed wasn’t deemed a factor.

As drivers seem increasingly unable to pay attention to the road, should speed limits be lowered? For me, a reluctant driver, lower speed limits seem like a fair trade off to protect the physical integrity of our fellow humans.

I’ve been thinking about what Greg Robertson said last week, that we need to lower average house prices without affecting the value of individual homes—how do you even do that? Then it hit me.

Regardless of statistics showing crime is dwindling, safety is a major concern for Calgarians—why? In my latest essay, i explore this question, alongside the implications of letting our bourgeois fears guide our city’s policy agenda.

The tide is starting to turn in downtown Calgary. In my latest piece, i write about the sixth and latest office-to-residential conversion to reach completion, the iconic Petro Fina building, and how a combination of city-led initiatives is breathing new life into our city's core.

I began writing this story with a naive question in mind: What do we lose when public education is privatized? A lot, actually. By following the MAGA playbook, the UCP’s push against public education not only undermines democracy, it jeopardizes the possibility of a better future for all Albertans.

Progressive Calgarians consistently push against privatization in health care and education, but they're seldom concerned abut the city's offloading of responsibilities to non-profit organizations — why? In my latest ✍️, i write about how privatization produces and reproduces inequality in Calgary.